"I do not wish any one ill," said a tourist who at home was chief of a city Fire Department, "but I would give a ten dollar gold piece if I could see how the fire department of this old city manages to control or extinguish a conflagration after it has gained headway among these tinder boxes. The watchmen on the watch towers surely cannot locate a fire and give the alarm until they see a smoke or flame arising."
CAMEL AND DONKEY WERE BEDECKED WITH TRAPPINGS.
The fountains of the city were one of the peculiar Turkish institutions that attracted the tourists' attention. The Koran enjoins all true believers to abstain from intoxicants, and to perform regular ablutions before prayers; so there are drinking fountains at corners where the thirsty assemble to drink from brass cups, and washing fountains or basins outside and adjoining the mosques, as well as inside these buildings, where Moslems were seen washing hands or feet regardless of our curious eyes. Some of the drinking fountains are very large and beautiful. The fountain erected by Sultan Ahmed surpasses all others in grace of proportion and beauty of design. This magnificent structure is ornamented with carved arabesques, inscriptions in gilt, and delicately colored green tile. Above the water tap may be seen in Turkish characters the builder's mandate:
"Wayfarer, admire this beautiful work; turn the tap in the name of Allah; drink thy fill and bless the founder, Ahmed Khan."
CHAPTER X.
FROM THE BOSPORUS TO PALESTINE.
The program posted for Saturday, February twenty-eighth, announced that the Moltke would leave Constantinople at nine o'clock in the morning for a trip to the Black Sea, a distance of thirty-five miles. As we sailed up the Bosporus, which narrows and widens, twists and turns, a succession of picturesque scenes opened up before us. Scattered along the shores, which for fifteen or twenty miles beyond Constantinople may be considered suburbs of that city, white marble palaces of the rulers, summer residences of the foreign ambassadors, and villas of the wealthy Turks were seen interspersed with modern villages and ruined walls and castles of past ages. Pretty frame summer houses, groves of dark green cypress, gardens, boat-houses, and mosques added interest to the views.
"The sail up the Bosporus reminds me of one taken on the Hudson River, but the scenery on the banks is Oriental instead of modern," remarked one of the tourists.