CONSTANTINOPLE. 183 
having engaged one of the Turkish four-oar'd chap. 
boats, which in beauty and cleanliness surpass v, -y ,» 
even the elegant gondolas of Venice ; and are in 
both incomparably superior to any of our 
wherries upon the Tliames. The Turkish boat- 
men excel our London watermen in rowing ; 
notwithstanding the boasted skill of the latter 
iw this exercise. As we passed along the 
shore on its northern side, we noticed several 
eoffee-houses, frequented by Jews, who were Jewish 
making themselves conspicuous in their recrea- ^^'^^^ ^' 
tions by the most flagrant acts of indecency ; 
thereby manifesting the justice of the appellation 
bestowed upon them by the Turks*; a name 
denoting every thing that is vile, and strongly 
marking the consideration in which they have 
long been held in Turkey. How different the cha- 
racter borne by the Karaite Jews of the Crimea ! 
whose virtues have rendered even the appro- 
brious name, derived from their Turkish 
brethren, an honourable title ; their place of 
residence being called Tchifitt-kaleh, the " Castle 
of Miscreants y — Having reached the extremity 
of the Sinus Byzantinus, which, according to 
Strabo\ measured about seven English miles 
(4) Tchi/ilt, a vile miscreant. 
{5) KiXxa; iti^an u; irjof iifiv ici frnHtut \\riH»ira. Slrabon. Geog, 
lib. rii. p. 463. ed. Oxon. 
