THE MOSQUE OF YENI JAMI.
This is called Yeni, or “new,” to distinguish it from those of more ancient structure. It is justly remarked by writers, that no people have selected such excellent sites for their religious houses as the Turks: they are generally seen crowning the summits of hills, and having every advantage of display for their architectural ornaments. This, however, is an exception. It stands near the centre of the Golden Horn, in a low part of the city, but is very conspicuous from its situation. It swells, as it were, from the water’s edge, forming a mountain of edifices. The only place where Turkish beggars are seen is the area or vicinity of a mosque, and even here very few obtrude themselves; forming a strong contrast to the multitudes that beset houses of Christian worship. Those who with us are disabled by age or sickness, are in Turkey supported by their masters, either because they are slaves, or because the charity of the Osmanli will not suffer his brother to want. The few who ask alms are idiots, a respected and privileged class; or Arabs, who bear about standards, which they affirm were the same as those under which their ancestors propagated the faith of the Prophet. In the evening, you are met by a man who proffers you a candle, an orange, or a melon, and you purchase it for double its value: so, a Turkish beggar sells, but receives no alms. In the populous region about this mosque, such persons are more usually met than elsewhere. Immediately below is a great scala, or landing-place, which is constantly crowded with caïques of all shapes and sizes, and forms an animated scene of bustle and activity. Leading to it is one of the aqueducts which convey water for the necessary ablutions of the faithful, when they attend the call of the muezzin to assemble at the hour of prayer.
| T. Allom. | F. J. Havell. |
BALUK HANA AND METHOD OF FISHING FOR THE RED MULLET.
AT THIS SPOT, STATE CRIMINALS ARE THROWN INTO THE BOSPHORUS FROM THE SERAGLIO.
This literally means the house or edifice of fish. It is one of the numerous stages erected on many parts of the Bosphorus, from the Euxine to the Propontis, to arrest the numerous shoals of fish that are migrating from sea to sea through this channel. It is formed in this manner:—posts are driven into the water at a short distance from the shore, with which they sometimes communicate by a platform; these are strengthened by cross-posts, forming a ladder by which the platform is ascended. On the summit is raised a shed, ten or twelve feet above the surface, over which is drawn a rude covering of mats. Below, is an enclosed area, marked by piles, into which the passing fish enter, and cannot again make their way out. A man continually on the watch in the shed gives notice of this to the fishermen on the shore, when the nets are drawn, and the whole shoal generally captured.
The progress of these shoals is frequently marked by flights of gulls and other aquatic birds, which, when the net is drawn, rush down among the fishermen, and fearlessly and clamorously demand their share, which is never withheld from them. These wild fowl are so tame by use and impunity, that they are sometimes seen disputing with a Turk for a particular fish; and the man almost always yields to the bird.
The fish usually taken in these nets are of various sizes, and many peculiar to this region. The largest is the xiphias, or sword-fish, sometimes attaining the length of six or eight feet in the body, and a circumference of three or four. From its snout is projected a flat horn, a yard or more in length, exactly resembling a Highland broad-sword, from whence the fish derives its name. Its flesh is red, and when exposed for sale in the market, a junk of it might be mistaken for a round of beef. The next in size is the thunny; the various kinds of scomber, down to the size of small mackerel fry; the lufer and the kephālos, called so by the Greeks, from the size of its head. Among the flatfish is a species of turbot, of excellent quality, covered with hard cartilaginous knobby scales like a bossy shield, and thence called by the Turks, kalchan, or the buckler-fish. These, and an infinite variety of others, crowd the waters in incredible quantities, for nine months in the year; and the boats engaged in taking them are so numerous, as to stretch from side to side of the strait in such a way as to bridge the current; and the eagerness to take them is so great, that all ranks indulge in it, from the sultan to the hummal. Mustapha, the brother of Mahmoud, was engaged in it when he heard of the insurrection in favour of Selim−and he left his fishing, to strangle his cousin. The present sultan is so fond of it, that one of his apartments at Beshiktash has a trap-door over the water, from whence he often angles. Nor is this amusement confined to the day: by night the waters are covered with many lights, which float in various mazes, and form picturesque objects round the islands of the Propontis. A brazier is projected from the prow, in which a glowing fire is kept up continually, and the fish, attracted by the flame, hover about like moths round a taper, and are harpooned as they approach the boat; when the water is disturbed or muddy, a small quantity of oil is cast upon the surface, which renders it transparent and every object distinct.[10]
The Baluk hané, represented in the illustration, is distinguished by another circumstance. It is situated on the sea of Marmora, below the walls of the seraglio, and above it are seen, towering, the dome and minarets of the mosque of Achmet. The torch in the caïque is not for the purpose of fishing, but for a very different and dismal one. When sentence of death is passed on an inmate of the seraglio, he is brought to the Capi Arasi, a space so called between the second and third gates, and there arrested “within the doors,” as it is ordered. Here the executioners reside who despatch him; and the strangled or headless man is brought down to a kiosk on the sea-wall, from whence a window opens on the water. From hence, in the dead of night, the body is consigned to a caïque in waiting, which rows to a little distance, and consigns it to its watery grave. The sullen plash is sometimes accompanied by a discharge of a gun on a wharf not far distant, and the silence of the night is broken by a solemn sound which comes booming over the water as the knell of the departed. So frequent have these executions been, that a passing boat to ships in the harbour, at this place, might always expect to see at midnight the gleam of a torch attendant on this watery funeral. There is something insuperably revolting in the proximity of the places. The fish are said to be attracted by such bait, and are thus fed and fattened on human flesh in this aquatic charnel-house.
| T. Allom. | J. W. Lowry. |