Photo by H. G. Dwiglit 



ALBANIANS IN CONSTANTINOPLE; 



The resident population today can be but little less than one million. Like the audience 

 that listened to St. Peter on the day of Pentecost, they are "out of every nation under heaven" 

 (see page 459). 



distinct and more exact details than any 

 table of statistics, however elaborate and 

 dry. 



In the polyglot multitude, he who 

 speaks but a couple of languages is con- 

 sidered ignorant and is often helpless. 

 The common handbills and notices are 

 usually printed in four. The sign over a 

 cobbler's shop may be painted in the lan- 

 guages of six different nations, and the 

 cobbler on his stool inside may in his 

 daily talk violate the rules of grammar 

 in a dozen or more. Still the resident 

 who is possessed of four languages will 

 almost always be comfortable and at ease. 



First in importance is his own ver- 

 nacular ; then French, for intercourse 

 with the high Ottoman officials and for 

 general society ; then Turkish, for deal- 

 ing with the humbler classes ; and Greek, 

 as an open sesame among the native 

 Christian population. Howsoever many 



additional languages one can speak — - 

 Italian, Russian, English, German, Ara- 

 bic, Armenian, Persian, or a dozen be- 

 sides — they are not superfluous, and on 

 occasion each will be of advantage and 

 use. 



A DISAPPOINTING CLIMATP, 



The only disappointing thing at Con- 

 stantinople is the climate. Only rarely 

 does it correspond to the city's natural 

 loveliness. Constantly it contradicts those 

 conceptions wherein imagination pictures 

 the East : 



"The land of the cedar and vine, 

 Where the flowers ever blossom, the beams 



ever shine ; 

 Where the citron and olive are fairest of 



fruit. 

 And the voice of the nightingale never is 



mute ; 

 Where the tints of the earth and the hues of 



the sky. 

 In color, though varied, in beauty may vie," 



460 



