DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5504#0022
116 Travels in Greece, Turkey, and the Holy Land,
others were dancing around me. I had a glimpse of the most
celehrated mosques, with their courts, and their marhle porti-
coes supported by a forest of columns, and refreshed by jets of
water. A few mysterious monuments, the remains of the city
of Constantine, either blackened, or reddened by fires, are
concealed in painted houses, barricadocd, and frequently half
burnt. The figures, the costumes, the usages, present through-
out the most picturesque and most varied spectacle. It is Tyr,
it is Bagdad, it is the great market of the East.
Sultan Mahmoud, followed by an immense retinue, has to
pass through this motley assemblage on his way to prayers on
fridays: I saw him, mounted on a white horse, with trappings
of a tissue of gold and pearls, and the harness ricbly orna-
mented with diamonds. He appeared to me to be under thirty
years of age. His complexion is pale, but his features are
noble and regular : his large black eyes were busily engaged
in surveying his subjects, who received this expression of his
regard with the profoundest silence. He proceeded on, until
sbouts of joy announced at length his entrance into the mosque
of Ayoub, and the forehead of each faithful Osmanli still
touched the dust. Such, in a few words, is the habitual
scene presented by Stamboul, the well protected, and Avell-
beloved of the Prophet.
During the fine autumnal season I met with the greater
part of this population in the plains, constituting the most
charming spot on the Asiatic shore: they were come out to
breathe a pure air, in full freedom, and seemed to have a high
relish for the charms of these elysian promenades. Whole fami-
lies, the men on horseback, and the women shut up in a vehi-
cle named arabat, were to be seen climbing to the summits of
the Tocat, above the valley of the Grand-Seignor.
These heights were gaily decked in pelisses; while the
ruins of the Genoese chateau were concealed by lofty trees :
from the roofs, overspread with ivy, bubbling springs gushed,
to refresh the parties seated around. Groups of young and
beautiful Armenian girls formed graceful dances; and the
tranquillity of the scene was alone interrupted by the hollow
sound of the waves of the sea of Marmora, winch broke in
rude foam against the shoals of the Cyancan isles, and the
rocks of Fanariki.
I was often struck, during my residence in the Levant, with
the contrast between the noble physiognomy and apparent
dignity of the men, and the degradation of their character. We
are disposed to feel a certain respect for individuals of a tran-
quil, and sometimes majestic figure, until we have suffered
from their cupidity and perfidy. To this remark, there are, it
others were dancing around me. I had a glimpse of the most
celehrated mosques, with their courts, and their marhle porti-
coes supported by a forest of columns, and refreshed by jets of
water. A few mysterious monuments, the remains of the city
of Constantine, either blackened, or reddened by fires, are
concealed in painted houses, barricadocd, and frequently half
burnt. The figures, the costumes, the usages, present through-
out the most picturesque and most varied spectacle. It is Tyr,
it is Bagdad, it is the great market of the East.
Sultan Mahmoud, followed by an immense retinue, has to
pass through this motley assemblage on his way to prayers on
fridays: I saw him, mounted on a white horse, with trappings
of a tissue of gold and pearls, and the harness ricbly orna-
mented with diamonds. He appeared to me to be under thirty
years of age. His complexion is pale, but his features are
noble and regular : his large black eyes were busily engaged
in surveying his subjects, who received this expression of his
regard with the profoundest silence. He proceeded on, until
sbouts of joy announced at length his entrance into the mosque
of Ayoub, and the forehead of each faithful Osmanli still
touched the dust. Such, in a few words, is the habitual
scene presented by Stamboul, the well protected, and Avell-
beloved of the Prophet.
During the fine autumnal season I met with the greater
part of this population in the plains, constituting the most
charming spot on the Asiatic shore: they were come out to
breathe a pure air, in full freedom, and seemed to have a high
relish for the charms of these elysian promenades. Whole fami-
lies, the men on horseback, and the women shut up in a vehi-
cle named arabat, were to be seen climbing to the summits of
the Tocat, above the valley of the Grand-Seignor.
These heights were gaily decked in pelisses; while the
ruins of the Genoese chateau were concealed by lofty trees :
from the roofs, overspread with ivy, bubbling springs gushed,
to refresh the parties seated around. Groups of young and
beautiful Armenian girls formed graceful dances; and the
tranquillity of the scene was alone interrupted by the hollow
sound of the waves of the sea of Marmora, winch broke in
rude foam against the shoals of the Cyancan isles, and the
rocks of Fanariki.
I was often struck, during my residence in the Levant, with
the contrast between the noble physiognomy and apparent
dignity of the men, and the degradation of their character. We
are disposed to feel a certain respect for individuals of a tran-
quil, and sometimes majestic figure, until we have suffered
from their cupidity and perfidy. To this remark, there are, it