Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1859-04-15
THE GAZETTE.
FRIDAY MORNING, APRIL Is, 1859.
uoNsTANrIN0PLE.

CONSTANTINOPLE h.
The Hon. James Brooks senior editor OF
the New York Express, in writing to that pa
per from Constsntinople, among other inter
esting things, says: 90, -
at ia our Sabbath now, and have been to
the British Embassy Church in rain and
storm The Embassy hasa large fine church,
and two chaplains oficiated to day. The
English, the Russians, and the French have
great diplomatic establishments here; Palaces
of their own, in which their ministers re-
side with their retinues. The Englishman
has $4,000 per annum. with Palace, &C..
&C., besides. They all have Post offices Oh
their own, and government other own,
Emporium in impe'io,) and they all struggle
with one and another to cut and carye up the
DOOR Turk. Pera is the. quarter and the
general quarter of the Franks. To these
embassies, az we'll as to ours, and to all other
nations mere represented, come the complaints
of subjects or citizens Of the Frank States
from all parts of the Turkish Empire. so that q
minister must be lawyerand judge as well
AZ minister here. The Turk touches not
Frank subjects, but turns them over to Frank
Courts. Hence on the hill Of Pera We have
ten or twenty different Courts, differently
operating Laws, different states. Strange
to say, the system works pretty we'll. The
conflict with the Turk is seldom, and the con-
ficts ofiurisdiction are slight. Frank Is
safer under this protection of Embassies than
any Turk, even in his own country.
Well started to say, the Christian Sab
bath services being over, hurried in rain
and storm to see the Mahomedan in his Con-
vent Religion, and to mark how he worked.
The guide took US to Turkish quarter, in
streets swimming with water, so marrow that
the currents of water could not we'll be dod-
ged. Umbrellas and coats protected our heads
and bodies, but nothing could protect our
feet There was no riding where we were
going. The gulleys, the ravines, called
streets, were impossible for carriages, and
Dassable only for donkey's, but only people
accustomed to mountain precipices could ride
ND and down the rock scattered, swimming
rayines. We assembled and descended:
and in thickly settled Turkish quarter, we
found the Convent of the Dancing and
Whirling Dervishes A Dervish let us
in at the outer gate, Bachshish Ia gratuity)
being expected. Another Dervish let us In
the Mosaue-Conyent dOOr-after We were
In the rain had taken off our shoes
Rubbers were taken off from the ladies' feet,
and that satisfied the Dervish door keeper
thrust my wet boots into cloth worked slip
pers, and the Dervish, in the hopes Of Back
shish, winked at my sin. The Mosque or Con
vent is very plain AFFAIR." story and half
or two stories high. In the centre, under
dome, was an open Octagon, smooth hocr,
where were the Dervishes, in naked feet, In
trousers and in long robes, that, when they
stood still, draggled, but when they whirled
formed graceful circles, rs of a dancing Taglio-
nj When we went in, they were seated IN a
circle, Turkish fashion, some twenty OF them,
and thew were reciting their profession Of
Faith,-La ilah illelah, (thereis no God but
Allah, and bowling themselves upon the
floor, with their heads touching it, then stand
ing, then bewing again, then marching, then
embarrassing, all in solemn dignity, un-
der most lugubrious chant. After some
halfhour of this ceremony, the very monotony
of which becomes tedious, they begin to dance
or whirl, with their chief, or priest, whose Of
fee is hereditary, standing on mat in their
front. Their dance is very like the waltz OF
single person, though with extended arms,
one hand, open, up, the other, open, down,
all moving in circle very slowly from left to
right. Their expanded robes, whirling IN
the air, their extended arms, and their very
solemn countenances and downcast eyes, give
their ludicrous performance an appearance
of gravity in which you share at last They
thus dance some half hour, under the slim
illus ofinvisible music, apparently a hute and
drum, when they sit, and bow, ana fali,
and shout once more, and the ceremony Is
over. They reminded me, in the SINGULAR
ty of their costume and in their dance, OF our
Shakers, save that they dance or whirl in
circles. while our Shakers dance in straight
lines. The chief of these dervishes is young,
handsome man, graceful in all his motions,
of high dignity and noble bearing, and not a
stray look ever fell from his eyes upon our
little novel circle of wondering Europeans.
These dancing Dervishes. however, are not
the real lions of Constantinople to see-if you
are here on the day ofthe bowling Dervlshess,
when this other sect not only dance, but gri-
mace, screech, yell and howl. Their perfor-
mances are reported to me not only as won
derful but 80 frightful as often to scare OF Flu.
ropeans. They sometimes cut glass, stones and
pieces of metal in the height Of their orgies
and fury. They plunge daggers into each
others breasts. They hold red hot irons in
their mouths, and in their widest fury tread
upon and dance over little children. Ofcourse
they are jugglers, successful jugglers. The
late Sultan cut short most of their mad reli'
eious ceremonies, but under the present Sui
tan they have again taken full rein, and cry
out as loud as ever, "Ya hail. Jehovah. J.
Oh, my soul! Oh, my people! Oh, Mediator!
Oh, Advocate of the Day Of Judgment. En-
listed as am to see everything. l am sorry
thew perform not in the limited time l am
here"