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On arriving from Asia at Pera, which is the suburb 
where all the European ambassadors and merchants 
reside, travellers generally disembark at Top-hana, 
another suburb upon the banks of the channel. The 
artillery barracks are established at this latter place, as 
also a battery of twenty-four guns mounted on carriages 
of different forms, to defend the entrance of the port. 
I observed an ancient culverin nearly a foot in calibre 
or interior diameter, and nineteen feet in length. It is 
destined to fire bullets of stone, several of which I saw 
lying near it. The barracks are handsome, and enclose 
a number of gun carriages and covered waggons. 
The suburb of Galata, which joins those of Top- 
hana and Pera, is large and thickly inhabited. It is sur- 
rounded by a wall which touches the houses of the 
adjacent suburbs. A street more than a quarter of a 
league in length crosses it from one extremity to the 
other; but it is dirty, ill paved, and consists almost en- 
tirely of provision shops. The houses, which are built 
of wood, have a dull aspect. One half of the suburb had 
been consumed by fire the preceding year, and was just 
rebuilt. 
The Greek church of St. Dimitri is composed of 
three naves, which, though small, are well proportioned, 
and supported by wooden columns covered with stucco 
in imitation of stone. The sancta sanctorum is poor, 
and the temple dark. I was assured that it. is one of the 
best Greek churches existing in this capital. 
The promenade of the inhabitants of Constantinople 
is the burial ground, called by the Christians The Field 
of the Dead. It is not of course a very gay place, but 
it commands a part of the city and the Bosphorus, and 
there is a charming view from it. On this side also 
there is handsome barracks inhabited formerly by well 
