The Water Supply of Constantinople. 



11 



this water used to be emptied into a large mouthed earthen 

 jar, as large as those in which the Forty Thieves hid them- 

 selves. They are sometimes made as large as a hogshead. 



The water is frequently discolored after rains with the 

 light loam of the fields ; but I never knew it to have a dis- 

 agreeable odor or taste derived from microscopic plants. 



The whole direction of the bendts or lake reservoirs, 

 aqueducts and fountains is under an officer of high rank 

 who has three to four hundred Turks and Christians con- 

 stantly employed under him. The pipes, as large as three 

 inches in diameter, are of lead, cemented at the joints with 

 hemp and a glutinous mixture. Some have attempted to 

 calculate the cost of the various public water works and 

 have estimated it as high as §50,000,000. 



Thus much as regards the public provision of water. 

 But the record of their experience has long since taught 

 people of all classes and especially the more provident 

 Christian races, not to rely on the aqueducts alone. 



In all the mosques, churches, khans, and in most of the 

 private houses, there are both wells and cisterns. The 

 water of the wells is obtained without digging to great 

 depths, twelve to thirty feet, but it is invariably disagree- 

 ably bitter. It is thoughtfully used for gardens, for cleaning 

 the house and laundry purposes ; but never for drinking or 

 cooking. 



In constructing a cistern, it is built of stone or brick, well 

 cemented, and of the greatest possible size that the ground 

 of the edifice or house will allow. The cisterns receive all 

 the water they can possibly collect from raiu during six 

 months of the year, ajid the master of the house carefully 

 keeps the key that the water may not be wasted before the 

 dry season arrives. The surface of the roofs is large in 

 proportion to the number of houses, because the houses 

 are usually not more than two stories high. The water of 

 the first rains of autumn is carefully turned off from the 



