Eastern times. [volume] (Bath, Me.) 1846-1857, 1853-12-15

extracts - -s.o
"There are two parties in Turkey-dne
that we should cali the orthodox party, and
| the other the liberal party. The Sultan Is at
THE head Of the liberal Party-the other Is rep
resented by the brother Of the Sultan, who ~
prisoner closely confined, ana is a bigot 1t
has been the custom for years, for the Sultan
to put to death every relative who inight
aspire 10, the throne. Ihave seen nineteen
collins Of nineteen brothers who were put to
death by their reigning brother: The liberal dt
4 party wish TO sdopt the customs Of the Euro
psaa cohhtries. On the other hand the ortho;
dox party contends that under the new tangled
notions that have been introduced the govern
lrnent has been deteriorating. Which will
prevaiL cannot tell, but Ithink the liberal
lparty will hold power until their views are
pretty generally diffused. They have no lite
nature. Their language is composed of conso-
nants, and Is very hard to learn. Females
have no fights whatever. They are an ari-
Ecle Of trAdeathey neither read nor wits "a
man said to me, Why should we allow them
to be taught! They make mischief enough
now, and what would they do if they were
learned y % Most Of the boys have bdfone eye,
and all their school masters are blind. An
that they1teach is from the Koran. Il The boys
at school whiles repeating the sentences given
4 bythe. masters, braid mats and make baskets.
They have made some advance in law-they
have large collection of precedents, and
someof which have been spfesefyed for hum
dreds of years. They have Royal library
of which they are very proud. Kscontains
four thousand volumes of all sizes, and each
volume is placed upon the shelf with piece
of ribbon hanging out between its leaves, on
which is written the title Of the book and ev-
cry book in this library is copy of the Ko-
Iran. They have one paper which is of little
value, and q printing Office, but print only
few blanks and these are for the custom house.
The Koran is never allowed to be printed ~
You are obliged to travel the country on
horseback, or on camels-they have no roads
in Turkey. " They have remarkably fine
hbrses-docile and intefigent-tel them to
go, and they will run themselves to, death,
while the slight drawing OF the rein will check
them at once. There is but one street in Com
stantinople wide enough for carriagesto pass
They have no fire places, but use charcoal for
heating and cooking, and il is astonishing with
what economy they use it The country is
full of sea coal, but they won't use it-they
don't like the 'odor! They sleep in their
clothes, on cushions-there is not a bed in the
whole country that / know Of They retire
when the fowls 60 to roost, and use but few
lights. Their fashions never change. Their
dresses are magnificent They are magnif2
cent race fmen--physicallys The ladies of
the highest class dress beautifully. When
the Sultan wants soldiers he sends out into a
village, takes them without warning, and they
never return. This is the reason why there
are so few men compared with the women. M
The ladies in the harems are generally for
eigners. This was the cause of the war be-
tween Russia and Circassia over thirty years
ago, and which has been continued ever since.
The Russians told them that they should not
sell their daughters, and especially to infdels
The Circassians contended that il was their
right and that they would do So. There are
Jews and others who 60 into Circassia TO look
up girls as our droviers look mp cattle. I had
thought that the stories Of the beauty Of these
girls was exaggerated, bn, they were not
they are surprisingly beautiful, They are
sold at auction and the purchaser has the whole
right and control over them, even 10 the taking
Of life. The mother of the present Sultan,
was one ofthese Circsssian girls. She is said
TO have had a knowledge Of christianity, but
kept il 10 herself. Her death was great loss
to the Sultan. Il is often said that Mormon-
ism will come to an end in this country-that
the good sense Of the people will do il away,
but am convinced that it will 90 on. Joseph
Smith introduced into his system precisely the
idea that Malfomet did into his, and this incor-
porated into religion gives i, a tremendous
power.
The city Of Constantinople is continually
subjec. to- 6tes. Sometimes thousands Of
buildings are consumed by one fire. The
Turks take fires very cOolIy. If a house is on
fire the inhabitants come out with their cusE-
lions, seat themselves light their pipes and look
! up 10 see il burn, saying that will stop BY
and by when the great Allah so orders One
peculiar nuisance Of Constantinople is its dogs.
know not but what there are as many dogs as 4
there are inhabitants.Y If, in passing along the
narrow streets You happen ,totread upon the
tail or foot of one, he sets up cry, and this is
taken up BY others until there is continuous |
howl heard as far as the ear can discern
sound. They are The scavengers Of the city, |
and found the story to be true that they have |
their separate districts, the limits often times
being the middle of the street., and if one
should get beyond his limits, as young ones
are often likely 20 do, he il Killed Every
morning there are numbers Of dead dogs found |
in the streets. Mahmound the second, at
tempted TO rid The cry Of dogs. and several |
thousands were killed, but pes,ilence imme- |
dialslyensued, apdv.hs people raised aicIamor,
aItribu,ing it TO the war upon The dogs, and
the Sultan was obliged 20 desist.. w.. ~ @
10 EgT', which was. and IN DOW to some