of the false prophet in these hygienic prescriptions to the true believers. The supply of water is the only department of public service which is well managed in the city, which is unpaved, unclean, and unlighted. told that the Turks have a superstitious veneration for this monument, which they regard as a kind of talisman of the fate of their capital. Its appearance, certainly, forebodes a most dismal future for them. The three serpents' heads which surmounted the column are broken, and only the three mutilated trunks remain. The mosque of Soliman the Magnificent that of St. Sophia, of which, like most of the others, it is an imitation. Its terraced courts, fountains, and trees, are indescribably charming; but it is inferior in size, as well as in the richness of its ornamentation. It has a window, however, composed entirely of precious stones, presented by a schah of Persia, but its beautiful proportions are its chief attractions. The mosques are divided into two classes; there are about forty dmesdjid, or little mosques, and more than a hundred djami, or grand mosques. About twenty-has, perhaps, a more beautiful exterior than five of the latter are still further distinguished as imperial mosques. They are very similar in form and construction; they are all surrounded with cloisters, where the imans or priests reside with their pupils. Superb trees shade the courts where the fountains murmur their music and spread their delicious coolness. The temple is either square or round, and always surmounted by the swelling dome which characterizes the Saracenic architecture. Four minarets shoot far above the dome with their sculptured stone parapets of different heights, to which the muezzin ascends five times in the day to sound the hour, and as it passes to recall the thought of God to the people. The mosque of Sultan Achmet is one of the most beautiful in Constantinople, rivaling St. Sophia in the estimation of some critics. It has six towers or minarets, a number exceeding that of any other building of the same description, except the holy temple of Mecca, to which the sultan was obliged to add a seventh, in order that this proud monument of his reign should not rival the most holy in this respect. Immense sums were expended upon this mosque, which is one of the grandest ornaments of the city: besides, it contains the standard of the prophet, which Mahmoud displayed in his contest with the Janizaries; it is only used on occasions of solemn emergency. It stands upon the Atmeidan, the largest public square in Stamboul. It was commenced by Severus and finished by Constantine, and was formerly surrounded with porticos, and ornamented with statues. But three of these relics of antiquity now remain the obelisk of Theodosius, which has been once overthrown by an earthquake; the brick pyramid, despoiled of the bronze plates with which it was formerly covered; and the serpentine column which once bore the golden tripod consecrated to Apollo, by the Greeks, after the victory of Platea. I have been The Mussulman always turns his face toward the holy city of Mecca at his devotions, and its direction is indicated in the mosques by a niche called the mihrah, containing the Koran; while the nimbar, or pulpit, where the law is read, is on the right side of the sacred niche. In St. Sophia, the khatib, or priest, ascends the reading-desk with a saber in one hand and the Koran in the other. Not far from the Atmeidan I visited one of the ancient cisterns constructed probably by Constantine, as his monogram is still seen upon some of the columns, and the large Roman bricks of the arches. It is called the Ben Bir Dereck, or the Thousand and One Columns, though there are really but little more than two hundred. It is supposed to have been built for the purpose of supplying the city with water. Some indecipherable Byzantine hieroglyphics are traceable upon the capitals of the white marble columns, and a future Champollion may, perhaps, reveal their history and purpose when this handwriting shall be explained. The space formerly filled by the twelve thousand feet of water, meantime, is occupied by a silk manufactory. Another subterranean reservoir, not far from this, is still more mysterious in its origin and character. Its gloomy arches and columns are still bathed by a dark sheet of water which stretches far into the distance. It is called the Yeri-batan Serai, or Palace of the Nether Earth. Some attempts have been made to explore these subterranean arches in boats, with lighted torches, but it is said no one has choly which are always associated with the idea of mortality in Christian countries, unremoved, though not unrelieved, by the glorious doctrines of immortality, seem to be entirely unknown to the Mussulman with his fatalism, which summarily settles all question and skepticism. The cemeteries bear witness to the tender respect cherished by the living for the dead, though not always in the manner chosen by more enlightened nations. They have a traditional idea, that the corpse is in a state of extreme suffering until it is committed to its mother earth, and, therefore, as soon as the customary preparations are completed, it is hurried to its final resting-place, where it is deposited on its side, with the face toward the holy city of Mecca, while a hole or passage conducts from the ear to the surface of the ground which covers it. One of the priests catechises the departed upon the more important Mohammedan tenets, the attendants replying by occasional responses. The grave is then left by the friends, who suppose their places taken by two angels always ready to attend the departed spirit to its future abode of happiness or misery, according to the replies which may be given to the inquiries of the angelic attendants, respecting the life and character of the deceased. If everything is not quite satisfactory on these important points, a kind of purgatorial expiation of torment and suffering restores the faithful to the presence of Allah and the paradise of houris. The cemeteries are the favorite places of resort for the inhabitants of Constantinople. The Great Field of the Dead at Pera is the grand promenade of the city. A very slight railing in some places separates the line of tombstones from the terrace where the gay idlers lounge with their chiboques and narghiles, or chat over the refreshments which are sold here in great quantities. German and Italian music is constantly sounding from bands of musicians stationed in the cafés, at the extremities of the resort. Everywhere you are reminded of the proximity of death; and yet the idea seems entirely divested of its terror. Is it the balmy atmosphere diffused through your system which softens and even gilds this always dreaded event? or is it the participation in the fatalism of the people? The hill of Pera is entirely occupied by But across its the Field of the Dead. summit extends this frequented boulevard which I have just mentioned, bordered on one side with the finest modern residences of the city, commanding charming prospects. The image of death is here in the midst of the bustle and movement of life; the generations of the past are slumbering amid the activities of the present, and the very abodes of the dead are surrounded by those where man still pursues his ephemeral destiny. Yet no one seems saddened by it: in truth, the grave thoughts or religious emotions which it would naturally suggest, are apparently disregarded by those who are familiarized with the spectacle. The Turks have some pretty conceits in the memorials which they raise to the memory of their dead. Most of their monuments are marble pillars surmounted by a carved turban, indicating by its form the rank of the sleeper beneath. The titles and virtues of the defunct are engraved in gilded letters; while beneath the inscription the stone is hollowed like a bowl, to receive the perfumed waters and flowers with which it is supplied by the bereaved friends. When these are dead or departed, the rains fill the basins, and the birds come to drink or bathe their plumage. The tombs of the women are always decorated with carved wreaths of flowers, or vine or grape leaves, which are their emblems of gentleness, grace,, and fruitfulness. Beside these monuments, which have much similarity in form and size, a cypress is planted at the head of every grave, and the luxurious vegetation of the East, particularly in these constantly-enriched grounds, soon develops their form and foliage, so that the fields of the dead are here forests of the richest shade and verdure. On Friday, which is the Mohammedan Sabbath, these resorts are thronged by women and children, who sit beneath the dark cypresses, in their spectral draperies, like so many ghosts of the place. The pretty children are always relieving points in this picture, which would be sufficiently lugubrious elsewhere, with the turbaned stones, the sentinel trees, each guarding the mysterious passage to the ear of the departed, and the phantom forms reclining in melancholy reverie upon the tombstone. The newer grounds appropriated to the tions, even to the mind of the stranger. The monument of Hussein Pasha has a fountain attached to it, whose cooling waters gratefully recall the name of the dead to the weary traveler in these warm and thirsty lands! Many blessings are called down upon the memory of the Georgian slave, who attained his rank through his abilities, and who, even after death, was mindful of the comfort of the living. His tomb is in the field of the dead at Eyoub, a suburb which receives its name from the imperial mosque of Eyoub, which is supposed to contain the remains of Saint Job, who was the companion in arms of Othman. Both these heroes are said to have perished in the first Ottoman attacks against Byzantium; but Mahomet II. recovered the body of the saint, and raised this temple to his memory. Here the sultans came, after their accession to the throne of the caliphs, for the consecration of their imperial rights. The sheik of the turning dervishes girded the saber of Othman about them with solemn ceremonies. No Christian ever crossed the threshold of this temple until the Russian treaty demanded the opening of its doors. It stands with its gilded minarets and glittering domes in the midst of a field of the dead, which contains the most beautiful tombs I have yet seen in the East. They are of every variety of form and color, and nothing can be more picturesque than their situation in these beautiful grounds, amid brooks, flowers, fountains, and cypresses. Many of the avenues are bordered with tombs in the form of cages, constructed of gilded trellis, overtwined with roses and jasmine. The sketch of the tomb of the Sultane Valide will give you an idea of the smiling poetry and luxury with which the Turks clothe death itself. It is a magnificent mausoleum of white marble, with most exquisite carvings, surmounted, as you see from the picture, with an open dome through which the sunshine streams upon the flowers, and the blossoming vines clinging with tenderness about the perfect proportions of the construction, and giving an air of indescribable loveliness to the spot where repose the remains of the glorious mother of Selim III. The tomb of Sultan Mahmoud is a little hexagonal chapel, with gilded bronze lamps suspended from the ceiling, quite VOL. VI.-35 like those in our restaurants. The coffin is covered with cashmeres and surmounted with the diamond-ornamented fez, which he made fashionable during his life, and for which his subjects have scarcely forgiven him, though he has been dead so long. The The tomb of Sultan Achmet is near the mosque which bears his name. coffin is covered with the richest Eastern fabrics, and the jeweled turban which encircled his brows rests upon the head, while several other coffins, containing the remains of his favorite wives and children, encircle his own. The tomb of Bajazet is also near the mosque known by his name. His coffin is vailed with a gold and silver covering, while, with a most original and incongruous manifestation of humility, his head rests upon a brick, which is said to have been made from the dust worn from the pavements where his unremitting devotions were performed. |