Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1852-03-13

=
out Suitan'S lirnan and ianissary, what
had freely seen at Cairo was forbidden fruit
here. The pecuiariies OF the Consanti-
nople mosques is not their size or age, nor
their cosliness or peculiar sanctity. The
'Tagliouns" at Cairo is far older, and the
s.. Omar at Jerusalem far boiler. But
these, besides having more domes aud min
arets, have more spacious grounds, better
conyeniences for bathing, finer sepulchra
monuments, and larger colleges of priests
One OF them is very remarkable for a pile
of chests and boxes of Jewels and treasures,
I deposited by individuals for safe keeping,
which remain from century 10 century un-
touched, quite as secure in an open gallery
Of the place of daily prayer, as if guarded
! by all the bank vaults of Christpndom.--
/ Some of the fountains or Sbeels are very
| singular structures. Imagine round mar
| Bile house, with large windows grated with
| bronze, and men Standing within all dav
| long TO pass fresh water 10 The windows
each cup present in fact from some pious
/ deceased person to the public. Sometimes
you ascend flight OF marble steps, and
suck the water from little brass knob /:
and often the overhanging roof, or the en-
tire building, is very iantastically decora-
ted. In sultry land, and general scar
city of water, there is a mercy in all this.
The whring dervshes. very improperly
called sdancing," seemed utterly spirtless,
compared with the bowling brethren OF the
same name whom had met in Egypt
The cream of the exercise was merely that
forty men, in long but full woollen robes,
sailed round their circular hall to some mo-
notonous music, bowing to their superior
once in each revolution, and receiving the
same civility in return. There was no re-
ligious frenzy about it, nothing of the mad
excitement | had witnessed before; the
whole affair was formal and stupid enough
They had attended prayers at the mosque
before, and generally have the Koran read
or recited afterwards, and profess to be still
a body of monkish ascetics, but are charged
with being sad hypocrites, making only
cloak of their godlineSs. When ianaticism
expires, in body like this, it is succeeded
by the worst kind of PhariSeesm. A good
story about the present Sultan is that,
voice coming from a previous Sutan's
tomb, saying, 81 burn" instead of praying
for prayers 10 get the poor fellow out of
the fires of purgatory, he tore open the
tomb, and found a rascally dervish, whose
"burnIng" was quickly cooled down in the
Bosphorus. a..
A very strange sort of cistprn is that
which bears the name of ''the thousand and
one columns containing at present less than
half that number in an underground area.
of two hundred and forty feet by two hun
dred, occupied now by wretched-ooking
silk weavers-not so naked, however, or
sickly as the books declare. Every part
of this structure marks the barbarous period
of art.
The Seraglio is supposed by strangers TO
be merely the residence OF the Sulan's
ladies' so far from that, the principal gov
ernment officers are included within its
walls, and you have perfectly free entrance
as lar as the outer court. Near .he over
praised mosque OF St. Sophia is the "Sublime
Porte," the outside gate OF the Palace,
name now transferred to stiff pile of state
Offices at a little distance; then on the
right as one enters is a Pacha's palace, evl-
deutiy great place OF resort, but huge
pile OF mtannesS. Opposite 10 it stands the
arsenal OF ancient armor, once the church
OF St. Irene and adjoining that some red
tombs Of an unknown antiquity, but placed
here by the Turk for safe keeping then
come the mint and treasury. An ordinary
gateway leads TO the palace proper, whose
grounds are filled with trees and occupied
by buildings of every shape, the beautiful
or magnificent, erected by different Sul'ans,
according to the caprice of the moment
an irregular and vast eXpanse Those say
who have visited it all,) OF kiosks, baths,
fountains, and cypress groves.
The common streets of Constantnople
are mean, filthy, and uninteresting in the
extreme not named or numbered, nor laid
down upon maps, stranger Is absolutely
helpless aud, as there are no lamps at
nights, and some danger of dogs, and an
awkward feeling that you might be robbed
and murdered without anybody's knowing
it, and then the most miserable OF stone
pavements TO stumble over, and very raw,
uncomfortable wind from the Black Sea,
one may be pardoned for not liking Sam
boul any too well. Byron says that s'fye
days out OF every seven you might d-n
the climate, and complain of spleen at
at Constantinople. The never cleaned
streets, the haf-open graves, the extensive
burial grounds in the city, the extreme filth
OF the greater part OF the population and
the absence OF suitable medical treatment,
more than explain the frequency of deSease
and death.
To leave Constantinople and not mention
a bath would BE- objectionable. Even the
smallest Oriental town is thus provided, and
the ''queen city" has over three hundred
for the public, besides many private ones for
the wealthy. The exterior is always un-
promising. The first apartment to which
| was admitted was very lofty and spacious,
dome-ighted, and pierced with numerous
air holes. In recesses along the walls per-
sons were reclining with sherbet and the
chibouque, as if TO recover from extreme
fatigue a small cafe makes corner of this
reception and dressing-room. A halt-naked
fellow assists you to strip, ties up your