from hundreds of brazen mouths, and some of such enormous size that they seemed to shake the very waters under us. It was some fête day; and the sultan, going to mosque, was being saluted, as is the custom here.

At the quay I found that there were oilcloth cloaks provided for us, in order to prevent contact with any person who might possibly communicate the plague to us.

We had to scramble up the steep hill through Galata to Pera, where our hotel is situated. That, and the excitement and fatigue of this most eventful day of my life, have so exhausted my mental faculties and prostrated my physical strength, that I am sure no other excuse need be given you for the many exceptions you will have reason to take with this present tedious letter.

Once more, good-night.

LETTER III.

Stamboul.-The Caique.-An Oriental Landscape.-The Land of the East.-Seraglio Point.

Constantinople,

You doubtless expect me now to enter into much detail respecting the interior of Stamboul; but I am sorry to say that I fear your anticipations on that point will meet with some disappointment, for it would ill become me to pretend to give you even a faint idea of things which in themselves are to me so new and as yet unstudied; besides, it would be altogether superfluous to waste your valuable time in repeating over, in my hurried and discursive manner, that which you can at any moment find so much better done by abler pens than mine. Would you not consider as unworthy of acceptance any gleanings which I might gather from

a field so lately and so faithfully harvested by such a master-hand as that of our present worthy and able minister at the Sublime Porte, Commodore Porter? The commodore has just presented us with a copy of his valuable and inter. esting work on Constantinople; and, besides the thanks we owe him for his politeness, I feel doubly indebted to him for having thus put me in possession of a mass of information which I might have sought for elsewhere in vain. In addi tion to which, also, this agreeable book, of which, until this day, I had no knowledge (it having been published since I left home), will spare me the necessity of going into many details with which I had proposed to myself to furnish you.

However, as no two persons ever take exactly the same view of that which comes under their observation, I will record some of my impressions, merely for your own private gratification, referring you for details to the commodore's book, which I am sure will suit your taste better than all the dry volumes that have appeared on this interesting subject since that now obsolete work of Lady Mary Wortley Montague.

Since my last we have made our first journey and voyage of discovery in this amphibious world of Stamboul. excursion can be made without two or three, or more, trips across the water, and that in those little eggshell caiques, which seem every moment as though they would topple over. Apropos of a "caique:" as I shall frequently have to mention it, better now that I should try to describe one to you. They are of various sizes, with one to four pairs of oars, and sometimes more. All over three pairs of oars are reserved especially for persons of some importance in the state and diplomatists; no plebeians like ourselves may pretend to encroach upon the dignity of those grandees, by assuming the privileged number of oars, under penalty of some punishment: just as the custom prevails in Russia, that none save the family of the Czars are permitted to wear

the imperial ermine, or in Tuscany, as I am told, to drive more than four in hand. The caiques are all, large and small, built upon the same model, extremely light and long, with a round bottom and no keel. They are quite as light and tottering as our Indian bark canoes, and extremely dangerous to those unaccustomed to their manage. ment. They are generally handsomely carved within, and kept extremely neat and clean. There is but one ele vated seat for passengers, and that is for one person only; it is in the extreme stern. The other part of the com. pany must be seated "à la Turque," on a carpet in the bottom of the boat, in order to keep the greatest weight be. low the centre of gravity. The least unskilfulness in the manner of sitting alters so much the trim of the boat, that the surly boatmen will not dip an oar until we "Giaours" place ourselves just as they direct; and we, of course, must needs submit to the dictation of these dingy Charons, or we should have to wait until Doomsday to be ferried over.

I felt the full force of the old saw that says, when in Turkey one must do as Turks do, and I am now beginning to lose my national importance and impatience, and am be. coming as resigned and apathetic in matters of discomfort and inconvenience as the most devoted follower of the Prophet. Before we ventured to dive into the dark and mysterious labyrinths of Stamboul, we thought it best to take our usual precaution, that of ascending some tower to observe well how the land lies, and to take a fair departure. We have always found, by so doing when we first enter any foreign city and when we are about to leave it, that we obtain an indelible impression of its general location, form, and extent, the proportionate size and peculiar appearance of its principal monuments and other prominent features. I would recommend all young and persevering travellers to adopt this practice, although too fatiguing a one, perhaps, for the listless tourist, who, like his portmanteau, is carried

AN ORIENTAL LANDSCAPE.

37

along by the current from place to place, indifferent to any. thing which is certain to require personal exertion, or induce the least mental or bodily fatigue, satisfied if he can but return home and say "Veni, vidi," "Vincit" belonging not to the same category of his associations.

The tower of the Genoese being very near our hotel, just below the summit of the hill of Pera, we hastened to ascend its giddy height. And oh! such a glorious sight as here burst upon my view what pen can describe! At this moment my fingers refuse to do their office, and my trembling pencil does not aspire even to trace the outline of this wonderful and gorgeous picture. My impressions and opinions, however, belong to myself. The former you desire always to participate in; and as you are ever generous enough to respect the latter, however erroneous they may be at times, I shall suppress my timidity, and give you an unreserved expression of both whenever I think they will in the least contribute to your amusement and satisfaction. I now say, without fear of contradiction, that the view from this point of Stamboul is far more magnificent than any other view that Europe can present. I am informed by persons here, who have travelled the wide world over, that they never have seen anything to compare with this view of the Queen of the East, as she is seated in Oriental majesty upon her seven-hilled throne. Her back towards Europe, her fixed regard on Asia, her either arm reaching from the Euxine to the Marmora, and, surpassing Canute, presents her either foot to two seas at once, saying, "Thus far shalt thou come, and no farther." And to all the nations that may venture in peace upon her glorious waters, she says, Bow thy head, pay tribute, and pass on! Should an enemy have the foolhardy temerity to attempt a passage of her threshold, she would laugh in derision at his puny efforts and bid defiance to the navies of the world. It was a glorious morning when I looked out for the first time in my life upon this VOL. I.-D

rich and extended Oriental landscape, in the midst of which is enshrined the mightiest city of the East. Every feature marks it as a truly Oriental scene. The domes and minarets of the mosques, the star and crescent waving over the ships, the cypress forests, the vine-clad hills, all betokened this the land of the East, the very personification of poetry, even brighter and more enchanting than those beautiful lines of Byron, wherein he asks,

"Know ye the land where the cypress and myrtle

Are emblems of deeds that are done in their clime ?
Where the rage of the vulture, the love of the turtle,
Now melt into sorrow, now madden to crime?

Know ye the land of the cedar and vine,

Where the flowers ever blossom, the beams ever shine,

Where the light wings of Zephyr, oppress'd with perfume,
Wax faint o'er the gardens of Gul in her bloom;

Where the citron and olive are fairest of fruit,

And the voice of the nightingale never is mute;

Where the tints of the earth, and the hues of the sky,
In colour though varied, in beauty may vie,

And the purple of ocean is deepest in dye;

Where the virgins are soft as the roses they twine,

And all, save the spirit of man, is divine?

'Tis the clime of the East, 'tis the land of the Sun."

Who is there that, looking down upon this peculiar scene, can feel other than a tumult of contending emotions, powerful as they are opposite, and intensely interesting from the high excitement which they produce and the glow of satisfaction which they inspire, arising from this rare privilege of visiting a spot fraught with so many, so great, and such extraordinary associations. Has not the poet just said,

"Know ye the land of the cedar and vine,

Where the flowers ever blossom, the beams ever shine?"

Yet is not this also the land of pestilence and plague?

"Where the virgins are soft as the roses they twine,"

and yet is it not also the land where "man is a despot and woman a slave," and sold as cattle in the market-place?