CHAPTER IV 



THE SULTAN OF TURKEY 



At the time we were in Constantinople, to 

 see the Sultan was an event. The only possible 

 opportunity for the public (the very limited 

 public) to get a view of him was at the Selam- 

 lik. This was a sort of religious parade, ac- 

 complished every Friday, when His Majesty 

 drove a few yards out of his palace grounds 

 and down a hill to a mosque for religious wor- 

 ship. 



The custom of centuries, the Mohammedan 

 religious law, even, had decreed that on every 

 Friday the successor of the true prophet should 

 make his devotions at the JNIosque of St. So- 

 phia. And for centuries the Sultans of Tur- 

 key obeyed the law and custom. 



Every Friday saw them proceeding in state 

 to the ancient church erected by Constantine 

 when the cross was above the crescent on the 



[28] 



