59S TURKEY IN* EUROPE. 



It nine gates, but only two of them magnificent ; and from one of these 

 the Baba Hoomajun, or sublime gate, the Ottoman court takes the 

 name of the Porte, or the Sublime Porte, in all public transactions 

 and records. Both the magnitude and population of Constantinople 

 have been greatly exaggerated by credulous travellers. It is surroun- 

 ded by a high and thick wall, with battlements after the Oriental 

 manner, and towers, defended by a lined but shallow ditch, the works 

 ©f which are double on the land side. Some authors have estimated 

 it to contain above 800,000 inhabitants, and others 600,000; but, ac- 

 cording to Mr. Dallaway, they do not exceed 400,000, including the 

 suburbs of Galata, Pera, Tophana, and Scutari. Of these, 200,00® 

 are Turks, 100,000 Greeks, and the remainder Jews, Armenians, and 

 Franks of all the European nations. The city has frequently suffer- 

 ed great damage by fires, either owing to the narrowness of the streets 

 and the structure of the houses, or the practices of the Janisaries B 

 who, it is said, fire the city as often as they are discontented with the 

 government. In 1633, 70,000 houses were burned; in 1784 a fire 

 consumed 10,000; and in 1788, there was so extensive a conflagra- 

 tion as to threaten the entire destruction of the city. 



The seraglio, or palace of the emperor, is so extensive that it is 

 said to occupy the whole of the ground on which the ancient city of 

 Byzantium stood. The treasures contained within this imperial resi- 

 dence, are prodigious ; and its furniture is distinguished not by its 

 variety, but the richness of the materials of which it is composed j 

 silk and cloth of gold are substituted for cotton and woollen stuffs : 

 fringes are strung with pearl and inferior jewels, and the walls are 

 wainscotted with jasper, mother-of-pearl, and veneered ivory. In the 

 audience-chamber, where the ambassadors are received by the sultan 

 in person, is a throne as resplendant as the mines of the east can 

 make it, with a canopy of velvet fringed with jewels, under which 

 he sits in state for a few minutes, to hear the compliments of the 

 sovereign who solicits his friendship. 



The ladies of the seraglio are a collection of beautiful young wo- 

 men, chiefly sent as presents from the provinces and the Greek is- 

 lands, most of them the children of Christian parents. The brave 

 prince Hetaclius, some years since, abolished the infamous tribute 

 of children of both sexes, which Georgia formerly paid every year 

 to the porte. The number of women in the haram depends on the 

 taste of the reigning monarch, Sultan Selim had two thousand; Ach- 

 met had but three hundred; and the present sultan has nearly 1600. 



On their admission, they are committed to the care of old ladies, 

 taught to sew and embroider, music, dancing, and other accomplish- 

 ments, and furnished with the richest clothes and ornaments. They 

 all sleep in separate beds, and between every fifth there is a precep- 

 tress. Their chief governess is called katon kiaja, or governess of 

 the noble young ladies. These ladies are scarcely ever suffered to 

 go abroad, except when the grand seignor removes from one place 

 to another, when a troop of black eunuchs convey them to the boats, 

 which are enclosed with lattices and linen curtains; and when they 

 go by land, they are put into close chariots, and signals are made at 

 certain distances, to give notice that none may approach the roads 

 through which they march. Among the emperor's attendants are a 

 number of mutes, who act and converse by signs with great quick- 

 ness ; and some dwarfs, who are exhibited for the diversion of his 

 majesty. 



