224

THE SEVEN TOWERS.

made is called by the Turks Top Kapusi, or Gate of the Cannon, and is marked by two balls placed over it. It is the only spot where the traveller will pause in his progress from the Golden Horn to the Propontis, and perhaps he will pluck some red berries from the few lone trees that spring out of the breach in which the last of the Greek emperors fell.

The fortifications have not been repaired for centuries, and their decay would be still more rapid were it not for the ivy and other vines, which bind up the rents, and cover the venerable work of Constantine the Great with an agreeable mantle of verdure.

At the southwest angle of the city, on the Sea of Marmora, the land-wall terminates upon the Seven Towers. These are a cluster of fortresses, some of which date back to the time of Theodosius; others have been added, some by the Greek emperors, and one by Mohammed the Second. They were lofty octagonal buildings, finished with battlements, and when they all frowned at once upon the Propontis, must have had a grand effect. At present, only three or four of them rise above the massive embattled walls, and only one bears its spire and crescent aloft. These gloomy fortifications have served successively as a castle for tyrants, a prison for state offenders, and a treasury for imperial spoils. No man may disclose the stories of their "Bloody Well," "Cavern of the Rock," and "Place of Heads." The only remaining tower of the seven is a memento of the ignominy of all Christian nations for centuries. Whenever one of them offended the Sublime Porte, and war was resolved on as a chastisement of the infidels, the declaration was made by shutting up the ambassador of the offending nation in this tower. Yet such was the terror of the Turkish name, together with the jealousy

VIEW OF THE CITY FROM THE SERASKIER'S TOWER. 225

between the Christian powers, that not even a remonstrance was made. It was not until the battle of Navarino that the spell was broken; since that event, the persons of ambassadors have been held sacred at Constantinople.

From the Towers you may either proceed on horseback through the city to the ferry on the Golden Horn, or embark in a caique and sail up the Propontis, directly under the sea-wall, for a distance of six miles, to Seraglio Point. The wall on this side is high, and strengthened with bastions. It is composed of various materials, brick, stone, and fragments of marble, among which may be seen sections, bases, and capitals of columns. The wall does not rise out of the water, as at Malta, but has a narrow terrace at its base, affording a pleasant promenade. Returning to Seraglio Point from whence you set out, you have travelled about fifteen miles in encompassing the city.

The best view of the city and its environs is obtained from the Seraskier's Tower, in the open area of the palace of the Seraskier, or commander in chief of the army. It has the advantage of standing on the highest ground in the city, and near the centre. The ascent is by 180 steps, rising ten inches each, giving the elevation of about 150 feet from the base. From the stone gallery near the summit, the city and suburbs, owing to the numerous sepulchral groves dispersed through them, and the courts of the houses being filled with trees and vines, look like a vast pleasure-ground adorned with houses. The Sea of Marmora spreads out to the south, studded with beautiful islands; to the east, the continent of Asia presents a world of mountains, every one of which is memorable for some deed of heroism, glory, or blood, and over all, the Bithynian Olympus towers majestically,

226

STREETS.

-HOUSES.

clad in eternal snow. To the northeast, the Bosphorus opens like a deep chasm; its shores indented with bays, jagged with corresponding capes, studded with castles, forts, palaces, and villages, and adorned with gardens and groves. Over its eddying floods the armies of Darius, the retreating Greeks under Xenophon, and the enthusiastic hosts of the Crusaders had passed. Directly to the north is the Golden Horn, sunk deep between the city and its suburbs, and cut in two by a truly grand floating bridge. Below it, towards the Bosphorus, lies a fleet of European steamers and merchantmen; above, in front of the arsenal, the huge, dark masses of the Sultan's men-of-war float like castles upon the water. Every where the port is enlivened by caiques, that move like insects sporting upon its surface, darkening it more and more as they crowd to the several landing-places. Beyond the Horn and the Bosphorus, the declivities and summits are covered with the vast suburbs of Scutari, Tophanna, Galata, Tersane, Pera, Casim Pacha, and Demetri. Behind these, running up from the Bosphorus nearly to the head of the Golden Horn, lies the deep ravine through which Mohammed the Second transported his vessels by night; and when the day dawned, the astonished Greeks beheld the Turkish fleet under their walls, and in possession of their harbour. To the northwest are seen the Balkan Mountains, projecting headlong into the Euxine.

Constantinople is much like other Turkish cities, only cleaner and better built. The upper stories of the houses project far over the narrow, crooked streets, presenting latticed windows of various patterns and degrees of richness, through which ladies within look out upon the streets, being themselves invisible. The front doors are small and mean, and always closed, the beauty and

THE BURNT COLUMN. THE VIRGIN'S STONE. 227

richness of the interior being the great object. The private dwellings are nearly all of wood, and most of them new, as they are swept away every few years by fire. Two objects strikingly attest this fact: In the street of Adrianople may be seen the Burnt Column, rising above the houses which conceal its base, so scathed and cracked by the frequent conflagrations around it that it has had to be bound by heavy copper hoops; it is so blackened by the smoke that it is difficult to determine of what material it is composed, and impossible to read the inscriptions. Probably it once bore a brazen statue of the Trojan Apollo, which received the name of Constantine when it crowned the summit of this column that adorned his capital.

The other object is called The Virgin's Stone. It is a pillar of granite, to the southwest of the Burnt Column, and is surrounded by houses, and scathed in the same way by fires. It once bore some ancient statue, perhaps a Venus, afterward called Theodora or Eudoxia. Hard by it are the ruins of the mosque and barracks of the Janizaries, where the last of their blood was poured out upon the ashes of their dwellings, since which event the Mussulman is forbidden to pronounce their name, and their carved and gilded turbans have been struck from their tombstones, and now lie rolling about among the graves, trodden down by the feet of the curious or affectionate, who wander amid the cemeteries of the capital.

228

DERVISHES.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

CONSTANTINOPLE.

Dervishes, the Monks of Moslemism.-Sources of their Influence.-Mosque of the Howling Dervishes. Their Frantic Performances. - Pretence of Healing.-Dancing Dervishes.-Polite Reception.-A Little Worshipper. -The Mosque.- Ceremonies.- Gyrations.- Visit to Scutari.- Military Salutations.-The Sultan's Approach.-The Imperial Caique.-Personal Appearance of the Sultan.-His Attendants.

DERVISHES are the monks of Moslemism: they receive the same respect and reverence from their people that the monks of Christendom did in the Middle Ages, and for the same reasons, their austere lives and reputed sanctity. They are under a vow of celibacy, which confers on them much of the respect they enjoy, another instance of the prevalence of the opinion that chaste celibacy is the highest form of earthly virtue.

These Moslem monks are divided into various sects, two of which principally attract the stranger's attention: the Howling Dervishes of Scutari, and the Dancing Dervishes of Pera. It was three o'clock in the afternoon of Thursday when we entered the small plain mosque of the former, and found them already engaged in their preliminary exercises. Three venerable greenturbaned chiefs, with long white beards, sat at the head of the room, on dyed sheepskins spread on the floor, and every one that entered approached the middle one, bowed, kissed his hand, received his blessing, and then sat down with the multitude at the lower end of the room. At length a still more venerable Dervish came in, to whom all paid homage, and the spectators crowded upon the railings which separated them from the