24 CONSTANTINOPLE. 
CHAP, but more elegant. Immediately over the sofas 
of the divmi are mirrors engraved with Turkish 
inscriptions — poetry, and passages from the 
Koran. The sofas are of white satin, beautifully 
embroidered by the women of the Seraglio. 
Leaving the platform, on the left hand is the 
Sultans private chamber of repose, the floor of 
which is surrounded by couches of very costly 
workmanship. Opposite to this chamber, on 
the other side of the kiosk, a door opens to the 
apartment in which are placed the attendant 
Sultanas, the Sultan Mother, or any ladies in 
residence with the sovereign. This room cor- 
responds exactly with the Sultans chamber, 
except that the couches are more magnificently 
embroidered. 
A small staircase leads from these apart- 
ments, to two chambers below, paved with 
marble, and as cold as any cellar. Here a 
more numerous assemblage of women are 
buried, as it were, during the heat of summer. 
The first is a sort of antechamber to the other ; 
by the door of which, in a nook of the wall, 
are placed the Sultanas slippers, of common 
yellow morocco, and coarse workmanship. 
Havinof entered the marble chamber immedi- 
ately below the kiosk, a marble bason presents 
