Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1855-05-16
From Primes Travels In Europe and the East.
VISIT TO THE sERAGLIO PALACE.


To visit the mosques and the Seraglio
Palace frman or permit must be had
from the Government, and that is to be
paid for roundly. An officer or two
must attend with his sword and staff,
and they must be feed well. Then at
every mosque and other sacred place
you visit there are servants to be feed,
and if party get through the days ex-
cursion for forty dollars they do very
well. Mr.. Brown, the drogoman of the
United States Legation, kindly procured
for US frman and sent his own cevasse
to lead US. The Government sent anoth-
er, so that we were well provided with
an escort. Several ladies joined our
party, and added largely to the pleasure
of that delightful and interesting day.
Where the Golden Horn sets up from
the Bosphorus, the old city of Byzan-
tium stood, and Mohammed II. selected
this unrivaled site for his palace, and
laid out the grounds, and prepared a
residence that has no equal in the East
ern world. Armed sentinels admitted
us by the great pavilion which is called
the Porte-a gate, and from this the
Ottoman Empire takes its name. Fifty
men are the usual guard at this door.
We were at once in the midst of a vast
courtyard 1.-THE whole palace grounds
are three miles in circuit) and passing
across it we we're conducted into the
palace. A fight of stairs brought US to
the audience. chamber, a white apart
ment carpeted and surrounded with a
rich divan. The throne room was furn-
ished with chairs and sofas, showing a
conformity to Western customs.
Another and another chamber, and
we entered the Sultan's bath-luxurious-
ly fitted up, but without some of the
contlivances for comfort which poorer
people enjoy. A brass bar across the
door We were passing, told US, or at
least the guide informed US, that this
was the entrance to the harem. No pro.
fame foot may cross the. threshold. Nc
man but the husband is allowed to enter
the Turks apartment for his wives.
But long gallery opening near, was
now entered, hung On one side with en-
cravings, chiefly of Napoleon's battles !;
and on the other side, a row of windows
looked out in the court. This is the
hall in which the one hundred and fifty
wives Of the Sultan are daily assembled
for the amusement Of their common lord.
Here each one may exert her art to win
his favor; and it is said that he drops
his handkerchief at the feet of the one
who has been the most successful.
Through this hall we were led along
to the private armory of the Sultan, and
while admiring the pistols, swords, dirks,
yaiaghans, cimeters, sabers, ct cetera, of
elegant workmanship, adorned with gold
and precious stones, my attention was
directed to an adjoining apartment, the
Sultan's bed chamber. Two jsnizaries
with bayoneted guns stood before the
open door, and permitted me to look in
but not enter. 1t was reported among
the company in the other room, that
gentlemen were not allowed to go in
and the ladies presuming on their priv
ilege, FASTENED to step in, but the crossed
guns of the guards brought them to
sudden halt on the the threshold. We
could see the magnificent couch and its
gold and damask. canopy, and the sump.
tuous furniture of the chamber where
the most uneasy man in the Turkish
empire has often sought in vain for sleep,
that comes unwooed to him who earns
it with the sweat of his brow and dees
not wear crown.
In the gardens of the palace, and
near the waters edge, are many beau
tiful but small cottages, which from
time to time have been erected at the
desire of one or another of the Sultan's
favorite wives. Fitted up according to
the taste of each fair inmate, we could
see in the low windows that open on the
walk that they were very elegant and
very oriental. The Sultan has the range
of them all, as cages in which his pet
birds are confined. And then We gath
cred some flowers, for in the last of De-
cember the roses were in full bloom in
the open air, and everything was fresh
and green as May. Underneath the
palace was the kitchen, and fires going
as if an army we're to be fed from the
great ranges and furnaces on which the
dinner was even now cooking. Some of
the pastry was served to Us, and proved
to be excellent. though we did eat it in
the kitchen.
Won Hammer says that there are nine
several Kitchens, and that forty thousand
oxen are yearly killed and here cooked,
two hundred sheep daily, one hundred
lambs or goats, and eight hundred and
fifty fowls. But the Sultan does not re-
side in the Seraglio, he is at one of his
many palaces along the BOsphorus, and
the cooking now in process was merely
for the retainers of the palace. His fu'
ture residence will be in the marble pal
ace on the Bosphorus.