14 



The Water Supply of Constantinople. 



land as regards moisture, and of the conflicting influences 

 which operate. ~No record exists of the destruction of these 

 forests on any occasion except once in 1823, when the Janis- 

 saries were destroyed by Sultan Mahmoud. It was a ques- 

 tion of life or death, and to drive the remmant of them out 

 of these forests, they were set on fire ; and miles of trees, 

 hundreds of years old, were consumed, and the fleeing Janis- 

 saries were shot. 



Other edicts prohibited under severe penalties the di- 

 verting of any portion of the water by any individual, and 

 as is extravagantly reported, requiring a pound of gold for 

 each ounce of water stolen. 



3. The quantity of water furnished by these aqueducts 

 is very small when compared with that furnished for the 

 modern cities of Europe and America. Andreossi, form- 

 erly French ambassador in 1814, the most exact of all who 

 have written upon the subject, estimated that the quantity 

 supplied for each man, woman and child from all the aque- 

 ducts was 400,000 cubic feet a day, which is equal to 

 3,200,000 gallons ; and on the supposition that the city 

 proper contains 600,000 inhabitants, is only two-thirds of 

 a foot or five gallons a day to each person. We know that 

 in many of our cities the draft from the aqueducts ranges 

 from forty to ninety gallons for each person. Dr. De Kay's 

 calculation, one of less exactness, was that 15,000,000 

 gallons were supplied each day. 



4. Water is only provided for domestic purposes and 

 drinking, and religious ablutions. It is not provided for 

 steam engines or breweries. There are no hydrants. The 

 fire engines, carried on the shoulders of four men, squirt the 

 water poured into them only from the skins of water- 

 carriers, in case of a fire. They will hold about a barrel. 

 The water of the Albany aqueduct is used by 144 steam 

 engines, 36 breweries and malt-houses, 313 street hose, and 

 for other similar purposes. 



