The Sun.
London, England, 1846-10-27 00:00:00

MAHOMET'S BIRTHDAY.

6; The fourth of May is the birth-day festival of the
prop het Mahomet or Mohammed ; the evening before,
the festivity began, and th, commencement is undeni-
ably the finest part of it. That it was moonlight, and
that the Osman police laws, even under these circum-
stances, commands every one that nes out after sunset
to carry a candle in a lantern if he would nut be arrested,
I do not regard as the most pleasant regulation ; but I
was obliged to put-up with it, for neither the moonlight

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nor the pollee laws could be changed. A young Rus-
sian, named Aderhas, and I went together, and without
any guide, but, furnished with lights in large paper
lanterns, we hastened away to' see the illumination in
honour of the prophet. We went through one of the
narrow side streets of Pera, and a sight lay before us, so
magnificent, so beautiful, so fantastic, that the like of it
can hardly be expected to be seen in the north in an
oriental dream. From the row of houses where we
stood, and deep down towards the bay, there lay an ex-
tensive cemetery, that is to say, a wood of. cypresses,
with large closely planted trees—pitchy night rested
there.

" The path, which the foot of man and homes' hoofs
have formed, winds over rugged hills, then downward
; under the high trees. Sometimes it is narrow between
the sepulchral monuments, and sometimes it goes over
the ruined gravestones. Here and there moved a red
or blue lantern, which, ever and anon, disappeared and
returned to sight again in the dark ground ; there are a
few solitary houses in the cemetery; the light shone
from the topmost window, or was borne along the open
balcony.
" The bay, filled with vessels, shone over the tops of
the cypresses as blue as a Damascus blade ; two of the
largest ships were ornamented in the richest manner
with burning lamps ; they beamed around the port-
holes, about the gunwale, and the masts ; they hung in
the shrouds, and transformed them into a radiant net.
Opposite us lay the city itself, that great, extended Con-
stantinople, with its innumerable minarets, all entwined
with wreaths of lamps; the air was still red from the
setting sun, but so clear and transparent, that the moun-
tains of Asia and the eternal snow-covered Olympus
were plainly visible, the east with all its broken lines
like a silvery cloud behind the magnificent city. The
moonlight did not diminish the lustre of the lamps, but
only brought out the minarets, which seemed white
stalks with colossal fire-flowers; the lesser ones bore one
wreath of lights, the larger two, and the largest three,
one above the other."

THE SULTAN.
" Surrounded by a large company of young men, all
on foot, and handsome as if they were Oriental women
who had ventured out unveiled, and each with a green
feather-fan in his hand, sat the young Sriltan, Abdul
Meschid, then nineteen years of age, on a beautiful
Arabian horse. He wore a green surtout, buttoned
over the breast, and without any sort of ornament, if we
except a large jewel and bird of paradise feather, fixed
in his red fez. He looked very pale and thin, had fea-
tures that betrayed suffering, and he fixed his dark eyes
steadfastly on the spectators, particularly on the Franks.
We took our hats off, and saluted him. The soldiers
cried aloud, Long live the Emperor!' but he made not
the least motion to the greeting. Why does he not
salute us?' I asked of a young Turk by the side of me.
He saw that we took our hats off ! He regarded
you,' answered the Turk. He looked very closely at
you!' We were to be satisfied with that—it was as good
as the best salutation. I told the Turk that all the
Frankish princes saluted with the head uncovered, as we
greeted him. It appeared to him like the tale of a tra-)
yeller."