Guard the City, and protect it from all evil.”
The pillar is ninety feet in height, and the pedestal measures thirty feet at its base; it has suffered severely from fire as well as from time, and a strong wire-work has been carefully erected about it to prevent its falling to pieces, as it is rent and riven in every direction. It is to be deplored that this interesting relic is built in on all sides by unsightly houses.
From the Tchernberlè Tasch we proceeded to visit a cistern called by the Turks Bin-Vebir-Direg, or the “Thousand and One,” in allusion to the number of columns that support it. It is an immense subterranean, of which the roof is in reality sustained by three hundred and thirty-six pillars of coarse marble, each formed of two or more blocks.
These pillars are now buried to one-third of their height in the earth, the water-courses having been turned, and the cistern dried up, for the purpose of receiving the rubbish which was flung out when the foundations of St. Sophia were laid. It is now occupied by silk-winders, and they have become so accustomed to the sight of visiters that they scarcely suffer you to descend the first flight of steps before they all quit their wheels, and begin shouting for backschish. The channel worn in the stone by the passage of the water that once flowed into the cistern is distinguishable on three different sides of the subterranean, which is lit by narrow grated windows level with the roof; and the echoes, prolonged and flung back by the vaulted recesses, have a sound so hollow and supernatural that they appear like the distant mutterings of fiends.
As we were about to quit Bin-Vebir-Direg, one of the silk-spinners informed us that there was another smaller Boudroum, or subterranean in the neighbourhood, to which he offered to conduct us; honestly admitting, at the same time, that the atmosphere that we should breathe there was so unwholesome that few persons ventured to indulge their curiosity by descending into it. Thither we accordingly went, and the less reluctantly as we ascertained by the way that this also had been converted into a spinning establishment, where fifty or sixty persons were constantly employed.
A short walk over the rubbish of an ancient fire brought us to the narrow door of this second subterranean. And we had not descended a dozen steps, ere we were perfectly convinced of the accuracy of the information given to us by the guide. Each felt as though a wet garment had suddenly been wound about him; and the appearance of the miserable beings who were turning the cotton wheels, sufficiently demonstrated the unhealthiness of the atmosphere; they were all deadly white, and looked like a society of recuscitated corpses. We had heard a confusion of voices from the moment that we approached the neighbourhood of Bin-Vebir-Direg, but all was silence within the Boudroum where we now found ourselves; while the blended curiosity and astonishment with which every eye was turned upon us, was a convincing proof that the unfortunates who tenanted it were little used to the sight of strangers.
Immediately that we had descended into the vault, they simultaneously desired us to keep in continual motion during our stay, alleging that the exercise consequent on their occupation was their only preservative against destruction; and confirming the truth of their statement by the melancholy tale of a man who had come a few weeks previously to visit one of their company, and who remained quietly smoking upon his mat for several hours, after which he was seized with lethargy, and died.
As the lower orders of Orientals universally believe every Frank to be, if not actually a Physician by profession, at least perfectly conversant with the “healing art,” a group of the pallid wretches by whom we were surrounded immediately began to apply to my father for advice and assistance; when the good-natured Ismäel Effendi volunteered to prescribe for them, and listened with the greatest patience to a list of ailments, engendered by the fetid atmosphere, and quite beyond the reach of medicine.
This cistern, although of considerably less extent than Bin-Vebir-Direg, being supported only by one and thirty pillars, is nevertheless infinitely handsomer, as the columns are at least thrice the circumference of the “Thousand and One,” and uncovered to their base; two only are imperfect; and the coup-dœil from mid-way of the stone stair is most imposing.
On emerging from this dim and vapour-freighted vault, we inquired of the guide whom we had retained, whether he could direct us to any other object of interest in that quarter of the city; when, after some hesitation, allured by the promise held out to him of a liberal backschish, he at length admitted that there was a Boudroum about half a mile from thence, which was but little known, and into which no Frank had ever been admitted. Then followed a host of assurances of the danger that he incurred by pointing it out to us, and of which we readily understood the motive; and, after receiving a second promise of reward, he ultimately led the way through one or two narrow streets; when passing under a large doorway, we found ourselves in a dilapidated Khan, where a dozen old men were seated on low stools, winding silk. Here our conductor procured lights, after which he preceded us down a flight of steps, terminating in a second door, whence a short stair descended into an extensive vault, supported by eight double arches of solid masonry, as perfect as though they had only been completed on the previous day.