THE ARMOURY BAZAAR

AT CONSTANTINOPLE.

BY W. H. BARTLETT.

To run with one's eyes open into a hot-bed of "The Plague," even the boldest must admit to be an act of somewhat culpable rashness; and yet that name of terror was sounding in our cars all the way to Constantinople. On landing at Smyrna we found that it had but just ceased its ravages, after decimating the population; and everybody affirmed that it was still raging at Stamboul, and, what was really alarming, in the European quarter of the city, where we should necessarily have to reside. Not even the spectacle of indescribable splendour which opened around us as we anchored in the port of Constantinople could render us insensible to the actual peril; and as we stood on the deck of the steamer, and looked upon the dense and dirty population of Galata, through which we were destined to elbow our way, we felt half disposed to follow the example of a certain traveller, who was so enraptured with the view of the city from the water, that he would on no account weaken his impression by any rash investigation of its interior.

Overcoming this craven reluctance, we got into a caique, and were deposited upon the quay with our goods, which were built up like a waggon-load upon the shoulders of a stout Turkish porter; and pushing through the filthy street, and filthier population, from whom we endeavoured to keep clear, we ascended to the boarding-house of Madame Babiani at Pera. The good lady came out to receive us,-assured us that the plague was still lingering,-enumerated certain dismal and recent casualties in her immediate vicinity, -and urged us to submit to a precautionary process of fumigation. Accordingly, we stepped into a sort of watch-box, at the bottom of which were bars to stand on, and under them a pan of burning charcoal, together with some disinfecting odour, with which, the door being closed, we were more than half suffocated. On walking up-stairs, and looking out of the window, we found the situation, if critical, was at all events "convenient" to a neighbouring cemetery, which had already received very numerous and recent additions, as we perceived from the fresh clods which seemed scarcely to conceal their foul and festering burden. A still more dismal evidence was immediately beneath us. In the court of an unfinished house cowered the pale wrecks of a family from which the scourge had swept away more than half its members, the rest looking fearfully wan and attenuated, and as though their recovery were hopeless. They were put into the strictest quarantine, and appeared entirely abandoned to their miserable fate. When we went forth into the street we were furnished with sticks to keep at a respectful distance any reckless passenger with whom we might otherwise come in contact; but there was little occasion to use them; every man seemed alarmed at the approach of his fellow, closely hugging the oppo

VOL. VIII.

site wall, or, as it might be, darting nervously into the middle of the narrow causeway. A feeling of terror seemed to brood over the infected neighbourhood of Pera.

And thus it continued for some days after our arrival. It was impossible to throw off the contagious melancholy with which every one was more or less infected. At dinner, with the inmates of the boardinghouse, indeed, we contrived to be gay, and keep one another in countenance. We passed round the Greek wine, and affected to laugh at our predicament; but, with our retiring to rest would come nightmare visions of horrible ulcers and sores, and pains intolerable-of a death among indifferent strangers, "who would bring your coffin," as some one says, "as unconcernedly as your breakfast,"-and a carnival feast over our ill-buried bodies by the hungry dogs of the quarter, which made their loathsome haunt in the contiguous cemetery, and kept up half the night what might well seem, in our nervous mood, a howling for the possession of our remains.

Day after day we heard of some Frank physician who had paid with his life the forfeit of coming rashly into contact with his patients. But one of them seemed to bear a charmed life. He had devoted himself to the study of the disease, and to the alleviation of those afflicted with it during the recent plague at Smyrna, and had received the thanks of the public authorities for his exertions. Whether he had some secret for warding off its deadly contagion, or had no predisposition to take it, or whether he had made a compact with the devil, no one seemed very clear about; one thing was certain-he went fearlessly into the midst of danger wherever his services were required. Yet he could hardly have been a non-contagionist, for to him Constantinople owes the first establishment of a quarantine; a concession he obtained of the late Sultan, whose liberal ideas and numerous innovations, while they procured him the respect of the Europeans, caused him to be looked upon with suspicion and dislike by orthodox Moslems. A building was also appointed him for the purpose of a plague hospital, the "Tower of Leander," standing upon a small island in the midst of the rapid current of the Bosphorus, midway between Europe and Asia. To this spot I occasionally repaired with the doctor, and never shall forget the frightful appearance of certain of his patients as they were carried from the boats into the lazar-house.

This first establishment of a quarantine at Constantinople is remarkable for one thing,-its practical infringement of the old Turkish principle of fatalism. The Moslems are no metaphysicians, nor do they puzzle themselves about reconciling liberty and necessity.

To them all things are equally from God,—and with this wholesome conviction they have ever displayed the utmost practical resignation to his will, and esteem it a flying in the face of Providence to seek to ward off any of its visitations. This, combined with their natural inertia, lent wings to the pestilence, instead of staying its frightful course. As no sort of pre

To combat this infatuation was no easy task for the Sultan. It was necessary to put forth a long and curious ordinance, in which all the resources of casuistry were employed to prove to the unwilling Moslems, that to take precautions against the evils that Providence allows is not irreconcileable with a true submission to its will; and that the religion of the Koran was neither advanced nor recommended by this wholesale and voluntary extermination of its professors. The old Moslems were silenced, but not satisfied; they obeyed, but shook their heads, with a feeling, no doubt instinctive, that the introduction of a new system of ideas would be the death-blow of the old; and that the wedge of innovation once fairly introduced, the whole fabric of the Koran would ere long totter to its foundations.

caution was observed in attending the sick, whole | penetrable to all but pedestrians, of whom the crowd families, in their fearless self-devotion, were suc- is immense, and the murmur incessant. After what cessively carried to the cemetery. Their infected one has heard of the seclusion of the oriental women, garments, instead of being destroyed, were taken to the the number met with is perfectly startling. Muffled bazaar, and sold; the purchasers, in their turn, be- to the eyes in their white yashmaks, or veils, enveloped came victims, and thus the disease passed on, till, like in a loose robe, and shuffling rather than walking the raging fires that swept over the hills of the city, along in large boots of yellow leather-looking one !! it found nothing more to feed upon. through with their dark lustrous eyes-they pass boldly along, preceded by a male servant or black female slave, and are heard chaffering and bargaining in those avenues particularly devoted to their wants and pleasures. For them the shawl or embroidery bazaars put forth their brilliant display, "the terror of many an eastern husband: " the shoe bazaar exposes its heaps of vermilion shoes and yellow boots, or delicate pointed slippers of every colour, in cloth and velvet, gilt and embroidered with exquisite richness and taste; or the confectionery bazaar its variety of tempting delicacies and sweetmeats-the delicious kaimac, and other sugary compositions, the consumption of which in the harems of the wealthy is almost incredible. These are among the most striking and frequented of these intricate passages; but every branch of trade has a separate one. The Bezenstein is the resort of the jewellers; of little external show, and of which the valuables are all concealed, and carefully guarded in recessed chambers, opened only to customers. The treasure thus locked up is said to be of immense value. Then there is the book and paper bazaar, to the eye dullest of all, with no "last reviews," or "illustrated novelties." The tempting tobacco and spice bazaars are redolent of musk and aromatic odours, which almost overcome the sense with a feeling of languid luxury. None, however, is

But to return. The sense of danger is soon blunted by exposure to it-we began to tire of this strict precaution; time was, moreover, slipping away, and Stamboul was yet to be explored. One fine morning we determined to cross the harbour, which separates the European from the Turkish quarters. The sun shone out so brightly upon the rippling waters and the flitting sails that animated them, the mosques upon the seven-hilled capital glittered against the sunny sky, the thousand objects that make up the fascinations of this unequalled scene were all so lustrously relieved-so strikingly picturesque as the Tcharchi, or Armoury such was the multitude of careless passengers that poured over the bridge in endless file, like that of Mirza, that we could hardly realise the fact that "the pestilence that walketh in darkness" had so recently carried off its thousands of victims, and might even now be lurking in the close recesses of its bazaars. Our precautions were gradually relaxed-our sticks were put less and less into requisition-we rubbed first against one and then against another, and, the ice once broken, in a few moments plunged recklessly into the thick of the motley population.

Following the living stream through a succession of narrow streets, picturesque with mosques and fountains, we soon arrived at the entrance of THE BAZAAR. This, in an Eastern capital, is the gathering-place of all the moving population, the seat of traffic, and the depôt of wealth-the centre of flying rumours, and the lurking-place of secret conspiracies. To form an idea of its appearance, conceive of a whole quarter of a city walled round and covered in; a maze of narrow alleys of one story high, with open shops below and vaulted over above-no light being admitted but what falls in fitful rays through certain apertures and domes above, upon the cool and dusky passages beneath. No wheel carriages can enter; a few laden camels or horses pass along the principal avenue, but the remainder is im

Bazaar. It is a heavy, gloomy structure, full of effects in which a Rembrandt would revel; shut in by ponderous doors, carefully closed at night, but flung open during the day, and admitting glimpses into the curious maze of surrounding vaults and columns, and the endless crowd that circulates among them. Here may be seen displayed all sorts of old armour and weapons, so marvellously antiquated and fantastic, that in looking at them, one seems carried back to the romantic ages, and to the feats of half fabulous warriors; or to scenes of the crusades, and the palmy days of Ottoman prowess, when their advancing armies were the terror of the West. Here is the curved scimitar and crescent-bearing buckler which Saladin might have worn, the coat of mail and heavy sabre of the Christian knight, light spears which may have glittered of old in the van of the Turkish cavalry, and weapons which were once wielded by the terrible Janissaries; pistols with richly embossed silver handles, in gorgeous holsters; or long-barrelled guns inlaid with pearl, and richly decorated in arabesquerather ornamental to a collection than formidable to an enemy. While, intermingled with these weapons of a bygone warfare, are others of more modern construction and of greater efficacy. Ornamented belts and sashes, leopard skins frayed and worn

1

F

let me introduce Mr. Arundel, Mr. Frere's friend, about whom I wrote to you yesterday."

A stiff bow, acknowledged on Lewis's part by an equally haughty inclination of the head, was the result of this introduction; when General Grant observed, "Mr. Frere is a man of whom I have a very high opinion, both on account of his unusual intellectual attainments, and his manly, upright character. Have you been long acquainted with him, sir, may I ask?" "He was my guide and protector when I first went to Westminster," replied Lewis, "and we have been close friends ever since."

half bare, housings and trappings-faded, but gorgeous, and a variety of nameless articles, make up the heterogeneous mass, slung from the walls, or piled up upon the benches in picturesque confusion. Half hidden among the musty accumulation appear the grave and turbaned vendors, as antiquated as the rest of the collection; pipe in hand, they recline in dreamy lethargy, from which they are only to be roused by the arrival of some European traveller with his wily dragoman, upon whom all eyes are instantly turned with a twinkle of satisfaction, and every effort made to secure his custom, as a god-send not to be slighted. The sight of the old-clothes bazaar-the Monmouth "A most fortunate circumstance," remarked the Street of Constantinople-with its array of second- General, sententiously. "The mind of youth is easily. hand caftans, jackets, and "very spacious breeches," impressible for good or evil, and, unless such establishwhich might not improbably have adorned some recentments are greatly altered for the better since my time, victims of the plague, had a fusty, ominous look about Satan has no lack of emissaries at a public school. it, that gave us some uneasy feelings as to the pos- Will you allow me a few minutes' private conversation sible result of our rash excursion. But it was too with you, Mr. Arundel? The library is in this direclate we had by this time shouldered half the in-tion." So saying, General Grant opened the door habitants of Stamboul. No one could have divined with frigid courtesy, and signing to Lewis to precede the recent ravages caused by the pestilence, from him, followed, with a stateliness of demeanour adthe crowd in the bazaar: it may be compared to Con-mirable to behold. stantinople itself, to which, as the heart of the sinking Turkish empire, while the population of the provinces is rapidly decreasing, there is a continual influx of fresh life-blood-a succession of new comers. Thus, while the remoter quarters of this great city are gradually thinned by plague and fire, while whole spaces within the walls are assuming the appearance of suburban villages, the bazaar itself exhibits no diminution of its customary throng of busy vendors, purchasers, or idlers.

We returned to our quarters in Pera without having contracted any taint, but were subjected by our nervous landlady to a double measure of the customary fumigation. The plague gradually disappeared; and whether it be contagious or not, this much at least is certain, that since the establishment of a quarantine, this fearful scourge, for which the inhabitants looked almost as regularly as the seasons, has never again made its appearance in the City of the Sultan.

LEWIS ARUNDEL;'

OR, THE RAILROAD OF LIFE.

BY THE EDITOR.

CHAPTER VII.

Scarcely had they left the room, when Annie, clapping her hands joyfully, exclaimed, “What a creature! why, he's as stiff and dignified as papa himself. Now then, Charles, tell me who he is, and all about him; we shall have Aunt Martha or somebody coming, and then I shall never know, and be obliged to die of curiosity. You are asleep, I believe."

"There you go-that's always the way with women," returned Leicester, speaking very slowly, and with an exaggeration of his usual mode of pronunciation, which was something between a lisp and a drawl; "asking half-a-dozen questions in a breath, and resolved to get up a suicidal amount of curiosity if they are not as speedily answered. Why, my dear child, I would not speak as quickly as you do for any amount of money-at least any amount of money I should be at all likely to get for doing so."

"Now, Charles, don't be tiresome-Who is the man?" rejoined Annie, half pettishly. Then, seeing that her imperious manner only induced her cousin still further to tease her, she added, in an imploring tone, which no heart of any material softer than granite could resist, "You will tell me-won't you? I want to know so much, and I have had nothing to amuse me all day."

"There, do you hear that ?" soliloquized Leicester, appealing to society in general. "Trust a woman to

get her own way; if she can't scold you into giving it to her, she'll coax you. Well, you little torment, LIVINGSTONE, AND TOLD WHO IS THE GREATEST I suppose you must know all about it. The man,

WHEREIN

THE READER IS INTRODUCED

MAN OF THE AGE.

ΤΟ

MISS

as you please to call him, is seeking the honourable post of bear-leader to the cub your father has the felicity of being guardian unto."

"Au! General," exclaimed Leicester, as he rose
leisurely from the arm-chair in which he had been
reclining, "I hope they have not disturbed you on
our account. I was criticising one of Annie's sketches
pour passer le temps-really she draws very nicely-not ?"

(1) Continued from page 139.

What a tutor for poor Walter!" rejoined Annie, meditatively; "but, surely, he's a gentleman, is he

"Very particularly and decidedly so, as far as I am a judge," returned Leicester, hooking a footstool