124 
A CRUSADE IN THE EAST. 
that in no country where the thermometer ranges for three 
months near the freezing point can a community of people 
enjoy the pleasures of domestic life, or the refining influence 
of social intercourse, without creating a comfortable temper¬ 
ature in their houses. A man must have more than Turkish 
stoicism, or Turkish philosophy, to retain for any length of 
time a kindly feeling toward his fellow-man, or a love of the 
genial pleasures of life, where he is subject to continual phys¬ 
ical discomfort, or, what is equally as bad, reduced to a state 
of torpor, like a caterpillar, or compelled to make a smoking 
chimney of his mouth and nostrils, like a Turk. This custom, 
however, of living without fires, whether from taste or neces¬ 
sity, sometimes has an effect similar to that of the five straws 
a day upon which the horse was fed till he died—it kills 
a good many every winter. The sufferings of the poorer 
classes in Constantinople are very great when the winter is 
unusually severe or protracted; for, unlike the wealthier 
classes, who can cover themselves up in a cloak, and sit the 
season through in a state of lethargy, they are exposed to all 
the inclemencies of the weather, and almost without food or 
raiment. These facts I state to show that, although people 
may exist for months without fire, and sustain life on bread 
and cheese and an occasional scrap of meat, and become 
hardy animals, yet to be frozen or starved are extremes not 
calculated to prolong life. 
The tearing down of a portion of the bridge extending from 
Cfalata to the opposite side of the Golden Horn, and certain 
repairs thereto, which have been in progress for some days past, 
have given me some idea of the manner in which work is done 
in this country. I expected to see laziness in its perfection, and 
am not disappointed. Several hundred workmen are engaged 
upon this extraordinary job. The bridge is constructed of 
wood, and a very creditable piece of work it is—quite as good 
as most bridges of the kind—built, I believe, under the aus¬ 
pices of the present Sultan, Abd-ul-Mejid, by native work¬ 
men ; but I have forgotten my information on that point. It 
is a remarkable sight, this tearing down and putting up of the 
bridge by men in turbans and loose breeches—worth sitting 
