XXVI.
Constantinople, Dec. 22, 1841.
I took the steamer for this city, stopping at the island of Syra, which is the concentrating point for passengers changing steamers for Egypt, Constantinople, Malta, &c. The town is built upon the summit of a lofty hill, so remarkable for its conical form that it may be compared to a vast sugar-loaf covered with houses. In the distance it looks well enough, but in the interior everything is dirty and filthy.
From Syra we came to Smyrna, which is prettily situated upon the Asiatic shore, and on entering the city were struck with the Oriental costume of Turks, Armenians, Jews, and Greeks; the women, with their faces covered with a sort of white veil, disclosing only their sparkling black eyes, appeared singular enough. The streets are ranges of houses constructed of wood, mostly one story high, and without chimneys. The population is about one hundred and fifty thousand. The bazaars are crowded with buyers and sellers, while trains of camels with loads upon their backs are passing through the narrow streets, scarcely admitting the foot passenger to pass.
On the 14th I left Smyrna for this city, making the passage in less than two days, passing the ruins of ancient Troy by daylight, the island of Tenedos, stopping at Chesme, where the Turkish fleet was burned in the harbor. On entering the Dardanelles we had a magnificent view of the old forts and villages scattered along the coast. I should think the width of the Hellespont about equal to the Hudson river at Poughkeepsie. Our steamer received and discharged some Turkish passengers at Gallipoli, a city of considerable importance, just before we left the Sea of Marmora, which was the last point touched until our arrival at Constantinople. We arrived about mid-day, having an opportunity of seeing, under favorable circumstances, the most beautiful port in the world. Nothing can exceed the magnificent view that is before you on entering the Golden Horn, the eye resting upon scenery one half in Europe and the other half in Asia, the painted and gilded minarets of the mosques, the swelling cupolas, and immense cypress trees towering above the houses—the forest of masts, the thousands of caiques which cover the waters, all combined, render it perhaps the most remarkable sight of the kind in the world.
On entering the city one finds the scene much changed, although there is a vast deal of magnificence still; the streets are narrow and dirty, thronged by immense crowds of people, and it is impossible to form an idea of the extremes of grandeur and wretchedness that are exhibited. Nothing can be more striking than the contrast in the character and customs of the Turks and the other nations of Europe, and I hardly know where to commence a description.
We procured a dragoman to accompany us, and speak the language, and started to see the sights of the city. After visiting some of the mosques and viewing the exterior—no one except “the faithful” being permitted to enter until a firman is obtained from the Sultan—we strolled along, and I was struck with the sight of an immense cemetery, almost in the middle of the city, the tombstones being in the shape of a turban on the top, with gilded letters, and tastefully decorated; the grounds were filled with stately cypresses, as it is the custom to plant one of these trees at the birth and burial of each person. Singular as it may appear, the cemetery is the grand promenade, and here the Turk sips his coffee and smokes his pipe under the shade of trees when the weather is warm. On passing you observe the coffee-houses, occupied also with groups squatted round the room on a counter, which is raised from the floor and carpeted, and it is amusing to see the attendants glide about through the long pipes and the winding smokes of nargilhès supplying their customers with coffee, without deranging the peculiar apparatuses for smoking.
The next day after our arrival was Friday, the Turkish Sabbath, and it was announced that the Sultan would visit the mosque near the arsenal. We were there in good time, and at mid-day precisely we heard the thundering of cannon from the vessels of the port. Soon after we discovered approaching four gorgeous state barges about fifty feet in length, propelled by twenty-four oarsmen, the canopies glittering with gold. An immense array of officers and military to escort him were in attendance from the barges to the mosque. He walked on a carpet which was laid for the occasion. I observed many prisoners carrying baskets of gravel, and on inquiry learned that it was scattered for the Sultan to walk on after he came from the mosque.
We next went to the place of worship of the Whirling Dervishes. We entered with slippers, according to their custom, and found many Turks squatted on the floor, in their usual position. In the centre was a ring about thirty feet in diameter, where were thirteen priests, dressed in cloth frocks, with a white cloth cap, almost of a conical form, without rim, passing round the circle, and going through many strange evolutions. At length, to the music of the fife and drum, they commenced whirling slowly, and then more rapidly, until the motion was like a top; continuing this and other strange exercises for about an hour, finishing by a tremendous howl, which is intended to make the Christians, or the infidels, as they call them, tremble. The Turks consider all Christians as dogs, of which animals they have thousands upon thousands in Constantinople. They subsist in the streets, without masters, and seem to despise Christians and Turks alike. The people, however, are very kind to animals, that being a part of their religion. Their litters are never destroyed, and they are the only scavengers of the city. They feed upon the offal of the butchers’ shops and private houses, and carcasses of animals. They are never domesticated within private dwellings. The mosques are guarded to prevent their polluting them, as they are very susceptible of the plague. One not unfrequently hears the cry of “Giaour” from the lips of the Turks, in passing, and the growling and barking of hundreds of dogs testify their hatred.
It is unsafe for a stranger to appear in the streets after dark, and never practicable to do so without a lantern. It is a strange sight, on a clear, starlight night, to see perhaps one hundred lanterns at once, flitting about the streets, which are so narrow and dark that all who move about in them are compelled to carry lights. No strangers are permitted to reside in Constantinople; the gates are closed at an early hour, and all foreigners live at Pera, on the opposite side of the harbor.
On visiting the slave-market, we found perhaps one hundred and fifty slaves, all females, the largest proportion black. The blacks are sold for servants, the whites for wives. The latter are mostly Circassians or Georgians, belonging to good families in those provinces, who entrust their daughters to the commissioner, who is responsible for any insult or affront, while the female has the right of refusal to be sold to any whom she may dislike. The female blacks are bought to be the slaves of the mistress, not of the master. He is bound to support them through life. The male slaves rise with the condition of the master.
The population of Constantinople is variously estimated from five hundred thousand to seven hundred thousand, with the environs of Scutari on the Asiatic shore, and Pera and Galata on the opposite side of the Golden Horn, which is an arm of the Bosphorus running up and forming the harbor. The city is well supplied with baths and fountains, and nothing can exceed the luxury of the Turkish bath. It is amusing for a stranger merely to enter one of these establishments. The rooms, of which there are a number, of a circular form and lighted from the top, have different gradations of heat, the last or warmest of which is excessive. The first room entered, which is about sixty feet in diameter, with a dome, is supplied with galleries, upon which are seen, lying on different couches, the bathers reposing after their ablutions, each with a pipe from four to six feet in length in his hand, the servants supplying coffee and other refreshments.
Beautiful fountains are found near the mosques, as well as in other parts of the city. You may see the Turks at all hours of the day, bathing their faces, hands, and feet at the fountains attached to the mosques, ablution being compulsory, under the Mahometan religion, before entering the mosques. We enter a place of worship with our heads uncovered; they shave their heads, upon which they wear a turban, at all times, and enter their mosques with their feet uncovered. Some of their fountains are of a quadrangular form, the roofs of which bend out like a pagoda whose corners are cut off. On all sides are gold inscriptions and Arabic characters.
The covered bazaars have more the appearance of a row of booths, than a street of shops. Here may be found the jewelers, occupying one quarter, the silk merchants another; one alley glitters for hundreds of yards with yellow and red morocco boots and shoes, which are worn by Turkish and Armenian ladies, all classes being distinguished by their costume. The arrangement of the different trades, and the exposure of their gaudy and rich articles, surprise even those who are acquainted with London and Paris.
On Sunday last I found the little Episcopal church which is supported here, and tolerably well attended. The service was all in English, and the scene and associations presented by such a worship, so far from England, were of the most pleasant and interesting character. Generally the Americans attend this church, there being no other Christian church here.
To-morrow we make an excursion upon the Bosphorus as far as the mouth of the Black Sea, and the next day are to visit the seraglio of the Sultan, the mosques, the tombs of the late Sultans, the Mint, and other objects of interest, from which all strangers are excluded, except by the special firman of the Sultan. The Austrian admiral, who is now here, has obtained a firman, and my travelling companion, a young Prussian, and myself, are invited to join the party.