The Arkansas banner., 1850-10-08
FOREIGS CORRESPONDENCE.
CoNsrArINoPLE ls49.


 lack the floral beauties of Laurel H; they are des- titae of the picturesque wiidness and cultivated charms of Mount Auburn, but there IS something m The gloom ot their dsTk cypress groves most im- pressive and sublime. No man can tail in wander- ing through these melancholy shades 10 feel some thing oi that awe experienced in the presence of death itself. Their gloom, their grandeur, and deep silence are the proper attributes of the great des- troyeT, whose victims sleep beneath their mourn- | tul shadows; and the hdeous, detructive owls and 1 innocent doves, who strangely enough share their dense coveris, seem the living mblems of those two | worlds winch are 10 come after death
 On account of tradition, still preserved among the Turks, which foreelIs the loss of all their Enro- pean conquests, the more superstiiious among them prefer hnal resting place upon the opposite shores ot the continent from which their ancestors origi- nay came. that their tombs may not be desecrated nor their ashes disturbed by victorious invaders This apprehension of future evil has rendered the burial grounds near the village of Scutar situated on the Asiac shore, the most extensive of Consan. | tlnope.
 In crossing the Bosphorus to visit Scutari, I had an opportunity of more closely observing the c1qGes | whose light appearaace and gaiy attired boatnen mentioned in a former letter These slight shells of boais sharp al both ends, have no seats for passen- 1 gers. who must squat themselves upon a carpet which IS spread in the bottom at the stern. They sometimes have one but generally two oarsmen, each of whom manages with consummate skill a pair of small oars, with which they shoot boats with | lightning speed across the waters. But the oars themselves are cunsly constructed and badly ar ranged. That portion of the between the han dle and the part which forms the fucrum of the
 lever is very large but slightly taperng like an i'm mense ten-pin, and, instead or having an oar-loek the is tied 10 single pin with strips ofraw-hide. But the general effect of these caiques, with the 1 loose, flowing costume of the boaiinen and their own grace in sitting npon the water or skimming along it's surface, Is graceful in the extreme. 1 The Turkish cemeteries consist Of immense un. ihclosed groves of evergreen cypress beneath which the upright tombsones, shaped very much like those place at the head and foot of graves with us, thlckly scattered without any attempt at order or arrangement in rows. The head-stone of a man, upon which is recorded the name, birth, and death of the deceased, with some appropriate verse from 1 the Koran, IS suImounted by turban, which IS al- ways of the .ashion that prevailed during his life, but does not indicate the profession of be individual further than his having been in military civil ca pacity. The head-stone of woman is destitute of the turban, but has instead a carved and gded bou quet of flowers "mbiematic at once qf their sweet ness and their iailty. The letters oi the name and inscription usually gided upon colored z ound of either red or blue, which present gay and gau- dy appearance, litte in accordance with the pre- vailing gloom. Most fthe tombs are of dark, gray slone, anu look old aud neglected, but occasionally I new one ot white marble Is seen giancing amidst
 its moss-covered and diIapdated fellows like the pale ghost of the departed. The iomb stones being 1 but slightly buried in the ground, many Of them l have already fallen and others thIesteningy
 leaning, presenting evidences ot neglect which had l not expected in a Turkish burying-grc And the poetcal effect ot that beautiful futile supersii- | ton, which cuts into the slabs sometimes ald upon the graves a small cavity for water. which Is 10 at 1 tract birds among the ton5s 10 hold silent commu- nion with the spirits of dead friends, IS almost uni versally destroyed by the little basins being filled with earth and rubbish instead of the impld eie- meut.
 l In lettering among the tombs. l observed many massive stone turhans of peculiar fashion, which had l been stricken of like many human heads and lett | lying among the rubbish on the ground. In answer | 10 my inquiry 10 this peculiar nu,stiOn of ombs 1 in land where everytng connected with the grave is esteemed so sacred. was told that these were the graves of the Janzaries, whose dead members the revengetul fury ot Mahomoud thus pursued even after death had eit him nothing to attack but their tombs. ThIs once formidable body of soldiers was originally composed of the finest of the Christian ] slaves who had been eGucuted in the Mahom mnedan faith and was estab ished a body guard by Anu. rath II, who began hls reign m l422. Under Amu- Iah andshls son Mahommed'lI, the greatest warrior l oi the Ottoman suans, these new troops, who had l been solemnly consecTaed by religious ceremonies, carried victory and terror wherever they went. But gradually yielding 10 the alluremenls of d vOuptu- ous court, they lost their wariike character they for got glory m the lap oi luxury, and vany aitemp
 ted 10 conceal the loss of former prowess under ihe 1 pomp and masnlhcence of their equipments. But, although they ceased 10 be formidable to foreign l enemies, although in every battle they shamed by dasiardly flight the former reputaton oi the body, vet their insolence only grew al home. Like the i Pretoran bands of Rome, they assumed 10 them selves the chiet power m the direction ot the affairs Of the Empire, and became the rebelous tyrants oi the sultans whose power and person they were orgi nay formed 10 protect. They pulled down and put up sultans at will, and death was the pIce paid for his rashness by him who dared to resist their supre macy. The late Sultan Mahomoud, warned by The bloody fate of his cousin Selim and his brother Mustapha, both of whom had fallen Tn revolutions excited by the turbulent JanizaTes, conceived, in addition to the hatred felt by all the sultans, deep rooted determination 10 destroy them. Fearing at first to measure his strength with that formidable body before whose power so many oi his predeces- sors had fallen, he vainy attempted by promises and rewards to induce them to dlsband, But, all efforts of this kind falling, and believing himself sufficient ly strong m his new troops, disciplined according 10 European tactics, who hated the wild JanizarIes almost as cordially as himself. he finally in the year 1926, sent them peremptory order to surrender their arms. This being of course contemptuously refused, orders were immediately issued for al- tack upon them, and their irregular bands being un- able 10 stand against the trained troops and the tillefv ot the sultan, bloody extermlnatIon of the whole order ensued. But the exasperated Sultan, not satisfied with this massacre, commanded the turbans which adorned he tonbs of dead JAnizaIes 10 be stricken oil, as stigma that should rest upon the memory of the whole order.
 In the cypress groves ol Constantinope, had ex- peeted to recognize old acquaIntances, winch hat made in hunting through the s~amPs of Arkansas, out these trees, bearing The same nane, ate alto. gether different. The cypress Of the East, instead 0i being loity and wide .spreadng like our own, is in shape almost exactly that oi the tspering Lom- bafdy poplar, and its leaves so nearly resemble the arborvitae, that if sptigs o each placed side by side, it would be exceedingly difficult to dishn guish one from the other. The cypress being an evergreen, il IS considered the most appropriate ot' nameht of the cemetery as an emblem ot the etef- nal lite winch is promised in another world by the Mahomedan religion. The Turks have made it sacred to their aith, and the cypress ia not permit led 10 shade any other than Moslems grave.
 1 was surprised to discover abandoned womeal laiking among the tombs, but was informed that the cemeteries were their ordinary resorts. and almost their dwelling places. It was shocking 10 think how mournaly the desolatlon of those silent abodes oi