DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.62355#0168
72
BEAUTIES OF THE BOSPHORUS.
on every side. Clusters of roses, blooming in baskets of gilded wicker-work;
fountains, murmuring sweet music under the deep shadows of overhanging
boughs: and in every direction, the carefully-latticed and jealously-guarded
casements of the harem, which no infidel foot may tread with impunity.
None of the ladies belonging to the household of the present Sultan inhabit the
Serai Bournou, save when he is himself an inmate of the palace ; and the exten-
sive harem is now solely occupied by half a dozen octogenarian wives of the
Sultan Selim, whose age preserved them from the fate of the younger and more
beautiful portion of his establishment; who, in accordance with Eastern ideas of
expediency, were put to death on the accession of the present Sultan, lest they
should dishonour themselves by an alliance with a subject, after having formed
part of the household of the sovereign: but notwithstanding this fact, the harem
is sacred, and no prying eye nor intrusive foot is permitted to disturb the peace-
ful repose of the worthy relicts of the unfortunate, misguided, and martyred
Selim.
TOP-HANNE.
" -Leave the sail still furl'd, and ply
The nearest oar that's scatter'd by,
And midway to those rocks where sleep
The channel'd waters dark and deep,
Rest from your task."
Byron.
Had the noble bard from whom the lines which head the chapter are derived,
written them as a guide to the traveller who first seeks to look on the suburb
of Top-hanne, situated between Galata and the valley of Dolma-Batche, they
could not have been more judiciously framed; for, as the caique heaves, unpro-
pelled for an instant by the oars of the rowers, midway between the rocky shore
of Asia and the pier of Top-hanne, the eye of taste is greeted by a scene of
surpassing beauty.
The Mosque of Sultan Mahmoud, with its slender minarets, dipped in gold
for a third of their height, and cinctured with galleries as light as petrified
cobwebs—its gilded gates, and noble flight of marble steps—is seen to the rear
of the Arsenal, where a long line of brass guns (whence salutes are fired on all
BEAUTIES OF THE BOSPHORUS.
on every side. Clusters of roses, blooming in baskets of gilded wicker-work;
fountains, murmuring sweet music under the deep shadows of overhanging
boughs: and in every direction, the carefully-latticed and jealously-guarded
casements of the harem, which no infidel foot may tread with impunity.
None of the ladies belonging to the household of the present Sultan inhabit the
Serai Bournou, save when he is himself an inmate of the palace ; and the exten-
sive harem is now solely occupied by half a dozen octogenarian wives of the
Sultan Selim, whose age preserved them from the fate of the younger and more
beautiful portion of his establishment; who, in accordance with Eastern ideas of
expediency, were put to death on the accession of the present Sultan, lest they
should dishonour themselves by an alliance with a subject, after having formed
part of the household of the sovereign: but notwithstanding this fact, the harem
is sacred, and no prying eye nor intrusive foot is permitted to disturb the peace-
ful repose of the worthy relicts of the unfortunate, misguided, and martyred
Selim.
TOP-HANNE.
" -Leave the sail still furl'd, and ply
The nearest oar that's scatter'd by,
And midway to those rocks where sleep
The channel'd waters dark and deep,
Rest from your task."
Byron.
Had the noble bard from whom the lines which head the chapter are derived,
written them as a guide to the traveller who first seeks to look on the suburb
of Top-hanne, situated between Galata and the valley of Dolma-Batche, they
could not have been more judiciously framed; for, as the caique heaves, unpro-
pelled for an instant by the oars of the rowers, midway between the rocky shore
of Asia and the pier of Top-hanne, the eye of taste is greeted by a scene of
surpassing beauty.
The Mosque of Sultan Mahmoud, with its slender minarets, dipped in gold
for a third of their height, and cinctured with galleries as light as petrified
cobwebs—its gilded gates, and noble flight of marble steps—is seen to the rear
of the Arsenal, where a long line of brass guns (whence salutes are fired on all