The Bosphorus was crowded with caïques, almost as countless as its ripple; and immediately in front of the Palace, and nearly in the centre of the stream, were anchored two rafts, supporting small fortified castles, whence the fireworks were to be displayed.
A survey of these different preparations proved to be the principal amusement of the day, as the rope-dancing on the Esplanade of the Armoury was not sufficiently attractive to detain any individual less indolent than a Turkish woman; and consequently, after having completed our tour of observation, we returned to Pera in order to repose ourselves, and to prepare for the magnificent spectacle that awaited us in the evening.
And now, ye Spirits of Fire, who guard the subterranean flames which are only suffered to flash forth at intervals from the crater of some fierce volcano—Ye, whose brows are girt with rays of many-coloured radiance, whose loins are cinctured by the lightning, and whose garments are of the tint which hangs like a drapery over the cineritious remnants of a conflagrated city—Ye, who must have left your vapoury palaces, and bowed your flame-crowned heads upon your gleaming wings, in blighted pride to see your lordliest pageants overmatched—lend me a pen of fire, drawn from the pinion of your bravest sprite, and fashioned with an unwrought diamond; for thus only can I record the glorious scene that burst upon me, as, at the close of day, I stood upon a height above the channel, when a festive people had recorded their participation in the gladness of their Monarch, in characters of fire.
The moon rode high in Heaven, but her beam looked pale and sickly, as it faded before the brighter light with which men had made night glorious; while the stars seemed but fading sparks, that had been emitted by the stupendous line of fire girdling the Bosphorus—It was a spectacle of enchantment!
Not an outline could be traced of any of the lordly piles which fringe the coast. The summit of the Asian shore was dimly perceptible, as it cut sharply against the clear deep blue of the horizon; but there was no intrusive object of mortal creation for the every day necessities of life, to recall the wandering fancy back to earth. Nothing can be conceived more beautiful than the whole scene. A range of palaces of the most fantastic forms, wrought in fire, and seeming to be poized upon the waves, along which they threw their gleaming shadows, stretched far as the eye could reach. Portals of variegated light—terraces of burnished gold, or of beaten silver—groves of forest trees, whose leaves were emeralds—fruits, heaped in stately vases, each one a priceless gem—altars, upon which burnt flames of liquid metal—pavilions of crystal—and halls, lined with columns of sapphire, and lighted by domes of carbuncles, were among the objects that appeared to have sprung up from the depths of the ocean, and to be now riding upon its bosom.
The sensation which this gorgeous scene produced upon me, for the first few moments, was almost painful. I deemed myself thralled—I doubted my own identity—I almost expected the earth to fail beneath my feet, for earth had no share in the spectacle on which I looked—I saw boats passing and repassing over a lake of molten silver—I saw palaces of fire based upon its surface, and heaving with its undulations—a marine monster, whose eyes were dazzling, and whose nostrils vomited forth flames that shot high into the air, wound its slow way among the gliding barks, and none heeded its vicinity—I beheld huge dark masses covered with stars of light, which were reflected in the stream beneath, looking like rocky craters that would shortly burst, and cast forth the imprisoned fires—carriages and horses, guided by spectral hands, followed over the same cold clear surface—and suddenly, with a hissing sound which startled me from my reverie, and a burst of light almost blinding, up sprang a cluster of fiery serpents into the pure ether, mocking the pale moon with their transient brilliancy, and then falling back in starry showers.
The dream of fancy was dispelled at once:—A handful of rockets sufficed to arouse me from one of the wildest visions in which I ever remember to have indulged—for I no sooner saw them run shimmering along the sky, than I sickened at the memory of the frightful catastrophe which attended their preparation; when eighty-four miserable human beings fell victims to the explosion of the powder-room of the manufactory. My enthusiasm was at an end: but my admiration of the magnificent scene, amid which I stood, continued unabated; the channel of the Bosphorus, beautiful under all circumstances, and at all times, offered facilities, and enhanced effects, in an exhibition like that on which I looked, that cannot probably be exceeded in the world; and I felt at once that, even had man done less, nature would still have made the pageant peerless.
We at length turned reluctantly away from the City of Fire on which we had been so long looking; and, threading among the tents that occupied the crest of the hill, we passed out through the fair of the Great Cemetery. Every booth was thronged. In one, a set of Fantoccini were performing their miniature drama; in another, an Improvvisatore was regaling a circle of listeners with a gesticulation and volubility which appeared to excite great admiration in his auditors; while in a third, a trio of Bohemian minstrels, squatted upon a mat, were accompanying their wild recitative by a few chords struck almost at random upon their mandolins.
In the distance, a wreath of lamps defined the outline of the Military College; while lower in the valley gleamed out the costly chandeliers which lit up the tents of the Pashas. The hills were sprinkled over with lights; the terrace at the extremity of the palace was a wall of fire; and the scene was all life and gladness. Crowds thronged the narrow road; but not a sound of discord, not a word uttered in menace or in defiance, escaped from the lips of a single individual; all were tranquil, orderly, and well conducted; the sole aim of each was amusement; and this great eastern mob, amounting to between forty and fifty thousand persons, collected together from all the surrounding country, from the heart of a great city, and from the shores of two different quarters of the earth, appeared to act from one common impulse, and to have one common interest.
It is questionable whether such a fact as this could be recorded of any other country.