Twenty years around the world

by John Guy Vassar

After a sojourn of a few days I took passage for the island of Cyprus, interesting for its historical reminiscences and famous for its sweet wine; then proceeded to the island of Rhodes. The old city is in a dilapidated condition. Earthquakes have made sad havoc from time to time, one of which is said to have destroyed the great Colossus. The old streets of the Knights of St. John, with their armorial insignia upon the fronts of the houses, are well preserved.

Smyrna I found improved. The rebuilding of good, substantial stone houses upon the sites of the burnt districts, where miserable, rickety wooden buildings stood, has greatly changed the appearance of this large commercial city. The fruit trade brings vessels of all nations into its capacious bay. A view from Mount Pagos, where are the remains of an old Genoese fort, embraces one of the most beautiful of panoramas.

Having had three passages by the Lloyd Austrian steamers, I there took the French Messagerie, imperial packet, via the Dardanelles and Sea of Marmora, touching at Gallipoli and other points, for Constantinople.

My souvenirs of this renowned capital of the Sultan are now revived. The visit to the Seraglio and palaces, the church of St. Sophia, the mosques of Sultan Mahmoud and others, and the tombs of the distinguished monarchs, is made by means of a firman. The visits to the bazaars, excursions on the Bosphorus, and to Scutari on the Asiatic shore, and the sweet waters of Europe and Asia, are delightful beyond description. And as I gazed from my windows from the lofty Frank quarters of Pera down upon the Golden Horn, separating old Stamboul from Galata; the Bosphorus, dividing the two continents; the lofty minarets of the white mosques; the deep evergreen cypress of the cemeteries, in contrast with the blooming trees of the Seraglio Point gardens; the forest of masts of all nations; the numerous war and commercial steamers, I am led to exclaim, “This is certainly the most magnificent view of the kind which the eye can behold.”

Rio Janeiro for its majestic scenery can only surpass it. The Bay of Naples has its peculiar beauties. The harbor of New York we all admit is lovely. Stockholm, situated upon its seven islands, is entitled to consideration. San Francisco can boast of a noble sheet of water, as well as many other countries, but the palm must be awarded to the position of the Turk.

The allied armies have fought, bled, and expended great treasure, but one discovers few changes for the better. The improvements are in the European quarter chiefly. The sick man may linger along for an indefinite period, but it is doubtful if he can be resuscitated.

We are in the midst of the Ramadan, or fast of the Mussulmans. The faithful partake of neither meat nor drink from sunrise to sunset, during forty days, and consequently cannot be very good-humored. Joyous voices may be heard at the evening meal if one dares thread the narrow, ill paved streets, lantern in hand, and prepared to resist the multitudes of half starved dogs without masters, who are the public scavengers, and breed, live, and die in the streets.

The minarets are now illuminated, and present a pretty appearance on a dark night. During the war the mosques were easily entered, now greater rigor is exercised, and the devout follower of Mahomet who makes his five ablutions daily, washing his hands, face, and feet, at the fountains in front of the mosques, and fasts from morn till night, cannot look with favor upon the Christians eating and drinking, and treading the sacred precincts of his Holy Temple, and defiling it with their unwashed feet.

They look with surprise and astonishment at the wars of the sects in Jerusalem, at the threshold of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and the Turkish soldiery preserving order at the point of the bayonet. Fortunately for the reputation of Christianity the late ceremonies of the Holy Week passed off without scandal in the sacred city.

The Greeks, notwithstanding the efforts of consuls to suppress rejoicings after Lent is over, have had their fireworks, discharges of cannon, &c., with loss of limbs, much to the annoyance of the Turks. The Latins have their rejoicings, and illuminate as in Rome, and the faithful will have feastings and a jubilee when the season of Ramadan comes around, and the penalties of the Koran are complied with.