THE ARCHIPELAGO. [TURKEY AND GREECE.] CONSTANTINOPLE. We now enter the Dardanelles, stopping a short time at the town of Dardanelles. A few miles farther on we arrive at bydos, celebrated by Leander, and also by Byron in the following verses: SMYRNA stands foremost among the cit- and where the " burning Sappho loved ies of Asia Minor. It contains a popula- and sung." Tenedos, where the Greeks tion of 150,000 inhabitants, and is the em- concealed themselves when they pretendporium of the Greek trade of the Levant. ed to abandon the siege of Troy. The streets are like those of all Turkish towns, narrow and dirty, and the houses mean and gloomy in external aspect, excepting those situated in the Frank quarter. The commerce is chiefly in the hands of the English, French, Italian, and Dutch merchants. Smyrna is the chief seat and home of the Greek race in this portion of Asia. It is one of the seven cities that laid claim to being the birthplace of Homer, and is the only one addressed by the Apostle John which has retained its importance down to the present day. Its origin is ascribed to Alexander the Great. Figs are the great product of Smyrna, and are brought on camels from all parts of Asia Minor. From Smyrna to Constantinople, fare $19. Steamers twice a week; French steamers every two weeks. Steamers sail directly to Marseilles or Messina if you do not wish to visit Constantinople. The trip through the Archipelago is one of the most interesting during our entire route, passing as we do so many beautiful islands so much celebrated in ancient history: Rhodes, so distinguished in ancient times for its liberty, learning, and valor, and in modern times for its defenses, conducted by the knights of St. John of Jerusalem. Patmos, where St. John wrote the Revelations, having been banished here by the Emperor Domitian for preaching the Gospel. Samos, celebrated in heathen mythology, is the birthplace of Juno. It was the birthplace of Pythagoras, and for a long time the residence of Herodotus, who here composed the greater portion of his celebrated history. The natives were noted for their great bravery in the insurrectionary wars of Genoa. Scio, the "paradise of the Levant," and, previous to the extermination of its inhabitants by the Turks, the richest and most prosperous island in the Archipelago. Mytilene, the ancient Lesbos, which rivaled Athens in learning and the arts, the birthplace of the most celebrated of Greek poetesses, "If, in the month of dark December, "For me, degenerate modern wretch, "Twere hard to say who fared the best: For he was drown'd, and I've the ague." CONSTANTINOPLE. The capital of the Turkish empire contains 960,000 inhabitants, and is consequently the third largest city in Europe; 330,000 of these are Christians of various denominations. Hotel d'Angleterre is a very fine house, kept by Misseri, an Englishman, at the modest rate of 18 francs per day, with 3 francs for lunch, making $4 per day-the most expensive in Europe; Hotel Belle Vue, more moderate. Constantinople was founded by Byzas, from whom it derived the name of Byzantium, 656 B.C. It was rebuilt by Constantine in A.D. 328. who made it the capital of the Roman empire, since which time it has borne his name. On the subjugation of the Western Empire by the barbarians, Constantinople continued to be the capital of the Eastern Empire. It has sustained numerous sieges, but has only been twice taken: first, in 1204, by the Crusaders, who retained it till 1261; and lastly by the Turks, under Mohammed II., 1453, when the last remnant of his serail; she stifles the intrigues of his ministers; she quiets the scandals of his court; she extinguishes his rivals, and hushes his naughty wives all one by one: so vast are the wonders of the deep!" Constantinople is surrounded by walls, and, although many of them were built 15 centuries ago, they are still tolerably perfect. The city was originally entered by 43 gates; seven only now exist. of the Roman empire was finally suppressed. The city occupies one of the finest natural situations in the world. It is built upon a tongue of land of a triangular shape, which lies upon the west side of the southern entrance to the Bosphorus. On the northern side of the city is a branch or offset of the Bosphorus, called the Golden Horn, which forms a magnificent harbor; and beyond this are the suburbs of Pera, Galata, and Tophana, the former of which are the principal seats of trade, and the residence of nearly all classes of foreigners. The aspect of the city when approached by sea is very beautiful, exhibiting to view a crowd of domes and minarets, backed by the dark foliage of the cypress and other trees which shade the extensive cemeteries beyond the walls; but the interior is a per-ed suites of apartments, baths, mosques, fect labyrinth of winding, steep, and dirty streets, without names or plan of any kind, and with houses which are, for the most part, built of wood, and present dead walls to the streets, light and air being, as in all Oriental towns, derived from the interior court-yards. The author of Eothen says, "Nowhere else does the sea come so close home to a city as to the Mohammedan capital. There are no pebbly shores, no sand-bars, no slimy river-beds, no black canals, no locks nor docks to divide the very heart of the place from the deep waters. If, being in the noisiest mart of Stamboul, you would stroll to the quiet side of the way, amid those cypresses opposite, you will cross the fathomless Bosphorus; if you would go from your hotel to the bazars, you must pass by the bright blue pathway of the Golden Horn, that can carry a thousand sail of the line. You are accustomed to the gondolas that glide among the palaces of St. Mark; but here at Stamboul it is a hundred-and-twenty-gun ship that meets you in the streets. Venice strains out from the steadfast land, and in old times would send forth the chief of the state to woo and wed the reluctant sea; but the stormy bride of the Doge is the bowing slave of the Sultan. She comes to his feet with the treasures of the world; she bears him from palace to palace; by some unfailing witchcraft she entices the breeze to follow her, and fan the pale cheek of her lord; she lifts his armed navies to the very gates of his garden; she watches the walls The principal objects of interest to be seen are, first, the Seraglio, which is of a triangular shape, and nearly three miles in circumference. It was built by Mohammed II., and occupies the site of the ancient Byzantium. It is shut in by lofty walls with gates and towers, and the interior space irregularly covered with detach kiosks, gardens, and groves of cypress, without any manner of order, the buildings having been erected at different periods, according to the tastes of the successive sultans. The outside court is free to all persons, and is entered by the Sublime Porte, from which the Ottoman empire takes its name. It is very high, and semicircular in its arch, covered with Arabic inscriptions, and kept by 50 porters. On either side of the gateway there is a niche, where the heads of state offenders are publicly exposed. The Seraglio is at present occupied by the wives of the present Sultan's late father, the Sultan residing in his new palace on the Bosphorus opposite Scutari. The Mosque of St. Sophia may be visited by a firman from the Sultan: during some of the feasts, however, this can not be obtained. Apply to our minister, who will make the necessary arrangements. This principal mosque stands on the western declivity of the first hill, near the Sublime Porte. It was commenced in the year 531 by the Emperor Justinian, and completed in 538: 100 architects, with 100 master-masons and 10,000 masons, were employed for seven and a half years. The whole was superintended by the Emperor, under the instructions of an angel, and cost a fabulous amount of money. It is in form of a Greek cross, 270 feet long by 243 wide, and is surmounted in the centre by a dome, the middle of which is 180 feet above the floor. There are, in addition, two larger and six smaller semidomes, mounted by a colossal bronze statue of Apollo, said to be by Phidias. During the earthquake of 1150 the statue and three of the blocks were thrown down. Its height is now only 90 feet. with four minarets added by the Moham- was originally 120 feet high; it was surmedans, the whole forming a magnificent appearance from the exterior. The beauty of the interior is, however, marred by the thousands of cords depending from the roof to within five feet of the pavement, and having at the end of them lamps of colored glass, large ostrich eggs, artificial horse-tails, vases, and globes of crystal, and other ornaments. Of the 170 columns of marble, granite, and porphyry, many of them were brought from the Temple of the Sun at Baalbec, the temples of the Sun and Moon at Heliopolis, and from that of Diana at Ephesus, Athens, and the Cyclades. The gilded crescent of the cupola is 150 feet in diameter, and can be seen 100 miles out at sea. The gilding of it cost $50,000. There are smaller ones on the tops of the minarets. The Mosque of Suleiman the Magnificent is the most beautiful in Constantinople. It was erected about the middle of the 16th century, and is far superior to St. Sophia in the grandeur of its design; the intention being not only to imitate St. Sophia, but surpass it. The mosques next in order, in point of magnificence, are those of Sultan Achmed and Mohammed II. The last conqueror, after converting the splendid cathedral church of St. Sophia into a mosque, tore down the Church of the Holy Apostles for the purpose of erecting on its site the mosque which now bears his name. The Hippodrome is one of the most celebrated squares both of ancient and modern Constantinople; it is 900 feet long by 450 wide. It now contains the granite obelisk from Thebes, set up by Theodosius the Great; here also is the broken pillar of Constantine, stripped of its bronze by the Turks when the city was first captured. Between the two is the spiral brass column consisting of three serpents twisted together; they originally supported the golden tripod in the temple of Delphi. Bordering on the Hippodrome was the imperial palace; also the Senate-house and Forum. One of the principal objects of antiquity in Constantinople is the Burnt Pillar in Adrianople Street, the only real street in the city; it is so named from having been blackened by repeated conflagrations. It was erected by Constantine the Great, and Constantinople is liberally supplied with water conveyed by an aqueduct constructed by the Emperor Hadrian, and fountains ornament almost every street, piazza, or mosque; they are generally finely painted or gilded. The public baths are numerous and very cheap; a hot bath may be obtained for two cents. All houses of any importance are supplied with baths. Among the most important institutions of Constantinople are the public Khans, which are capable of accommodating from 50 to 1000 persons each; they are built by the gov ernment, and intended for traveling merchants, who are here lodged gratuitously while they remain in the city, each having sole possession of his room. The object is to attract merchandise and traders from all parts of the world, no matter what is the condition, religion, or country of the trader. The apartments are built several stories high, around an open court, the entrance beeing secured by iron gates. All public establishments of Constantinople are crowned with cupolas, and the sacred ones with domes or minarets terminating with a crescent. The Bazars of Constantinople are similar to those of Damascus and Cairo, only much more extensive, resembling very much the booths at a fair. They are chiefly crowded with ladies, and it is often as difficult to pass through them as a welldressed crowd at an opera. One long alley glitters with yellow morocco, another brilliant with India shawls, another with meerschaums, another with amber mouthpieces, another with embroidered muslin dresses, another with slippers, another with Damascus swords and daggers, another with robes of ermine and fur; all the different dealers in the same style of goods occupying the same bazar. The Cemeteries of Constantinople are among its greatest beauties, ornamented as they are with the dark Turkish cypress. These trees are supposed to neutralize all pestilential exhalations, and with the Mohammedans it has always been a rule to plant one at the birth and death of every member of the family; consequently for miles round the city we perceive vast forests of these trees. The place of the gondola of Venice is supplied by the light caique, a kind of wherry, of which not fewer than 80,000 are estimated to ply on the waters of Stamboul and its suburbs. They are very elegant in their construction, and glide over the waters with great rapidity. They must be entered with great caution, and the passengers must sit in the bottom in the same manner as in an Indian canoe. The fare to cross the Golden Horn, half a piastre; to land yourself and baggage from the steamer, 5 piastres; from the Customhouse to Tophani, 2 piastres; all day, for 20 piastres or one dollar. The regular fare of a valet de place at Constantinople is 6 francs: Atanase, a very good one, may be seen at the Hotel Byzance. Ten days is the least possible time you can devote to seeing the city and suburbs in a proper manner. tensive ravages, the Sultan himself must appear to encourage the efforts of the firemen." During the month of Ramazan, which is the Mohammedan Lent, the Moslem is forbidden to take food or drink, to smoke or snuff, from sunrise to sunset; on the setting of the sun a cannon is fired, and then commences a scene of revelry; the mosques and coffee-houses are open, the minarets illuminated, and the faithful drink, smoke, and carouse in their quiet way until morning. The Bairam, which succeeds the Ramazan, lasts three days, and is a time for unmixed festivity; every Turk dons his holiday attire, and general hilarity prevails. Seventy days after this comes the Feast of Sacrifice, or Coorban Bairam, which lasts four days, on which occasion business is every where suspended, and oxen and sheep are sacrificed to Allah and the Prophet. The shores of the Bosphorus are lined on either side with numerous villages, castles, and forts, through the whole extent of the channel. Immediately opposite Constantinople is Scutari, situated upon the coast of Asia, and forming the startingpoint of the roads leading to the Asiatic Steamers leave Constantinople weekly for the Danube, Salonica, Varna, Odessa, Trebizonde, Marseilles, and the Syrian coast. Mr. Turner says: "Amid the novelties that strike the European on his arrival, nothing surprises him more than the silence that pervades so large a capital. The only sounds he hears by day are the cries of bread, fruits, sweetmeats, or sherbet, car-provinces of the empire. Scutari is reried in a large wooden tray on the head of garded as a suburb of the Turkish capital, an itinerant vendor, and at intervals the although the arm of the sea is nearly a barking of the dogs, disturbed by the foot mile wide which flows between. Immense of the passenger-lazy, ugly curs, of a red-hospitals were erected here for the sufferers dish-brown color, with muzzles like that in the Russian campaign. of a fox; short ears, and famished looks, who lie in the middle of the streets, and rise only when roused with blows. The contrast between Constantinople and a European city is still more strongly marked To visit the Crimea, you must go by the at night; by 10 o'clock every human voice way of Odessa, taking a weekly steamer is hushed, and not a creature is seen in from thence to Sevastopol. Fifty dollars the streets except a few patrols, and the will be sufficient to pay the passage both innumerable number of dogs, who at inter- ways; and the different battle-fields, as vals send forth such repeated howlings well as the ancient caves of the Crimea, that it requires practice to be able to sleep are well worth a visit. The English have in spite of their noise. This silence is left there two monuments of their nationfrequently disturbed by a fire, which is ality—a splendid macadamized road from announced by the patrol striking on the Balaklava to Sevastopol, the only one in pavement with their iron-shod staves, and the country, and an immense pyramid of calling loudly yungen war (there is a fire), broken porter-bottles, solidified in such a on which the firemen assemble, and all the manner by the weather that its perpetuity inhabitants in the neighborhood are imme- is likely to rival the Pyramids of Egypt. diately on the alert. If it be not quickly Our countrymen's enterprise has been exsubdued, all the ministers of state are emplified here in the most extensive manobliged to attend; and if it threaten ex-ner by Colonel Gowan, of Boston, who has peror Napoleon III. conferred the decoration of the cross of the Legion of Honor. These high honors were all bestowed on our countryman in consideration of his great skill in engineering, as well as for his humane attentions to the remains of the Crimean heroes. raised some seventy ships sunken by the From Constantinople to Genoa, via Athens, the time is 8 days. Fare, 500 f. = $100. To Athens, 41 hours: this fare va |