Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1878-03-30
C0NSTANTIEOPLE'S GATES.

The vast importance of the Bos-
phorus as the gate or passage to
Constantinople from the Black sea,
and of the Dardanelles as its gate
from the Mediterranean, had been
fully recognized by the Roman and
Greek emperors. Gibbon tells us
that the Emperor Constantine built
forts at the Euxine entrance to the
Bosphorus in order to stay the in
cursions of pirates, who had been
in the habit of sailing through the
Bosphorus, the Sea of Narmora,
and the Hellespont to ravage the
coasts of the Mediterranean; thence
in due time to escape to the channel
through which they had come, to
their practically inaccessible har.
bors in the Black sea. In modern
times Europe has never, hitherto,
been threatened from the Black sea,
except by the Turks themselves,
who, to prevent return expeditions
or expeditions Of any kind from the
west against Constantinople, con-
structed the forts, towers or castles,
as they are variously called, off the
Dardanelles. The castles construct
ed by Mohammed II, at the mar
rowest part of the Dardanelles,
were the advanced posts of the
Ottoman empire on the south Eu-
ropean sides. The Venetians, how
ever, disregarded them to the point
of approaching them very closely.
Accordingly, Mohammed ", to
keep the Venetian galleyS from sail
ing so far along the channel built
much nearer the mouth the castles
-one on the European, the other
on the Asiatic side-which have
since been known as the "new"
oAes in contradistinction to the
cold"
The story of the Bosphorus is
less interesting than that Of the
Dardanelles, from which, however,
it cannot we'll be dislpcated. 1t
must sometimes have been supposed
that the Bosphorus and not the
Hellespont was the scene Of Lean
der's celebrated performances, for on
a rock opposite Scutari, facing the
entrance to the BoSphorqs, stands
a tower, which is often, without
reason, called "The Tower Of lie,
ander." The Turks call it "The
Tower of the Virgin :" and in it,
according to a Turkish legend, was
confined the lovely daughter of Mo-
hammed.sultan, -Schegid by
name, of whom it had been pre-
dicted by a mysterious gypsy that
she would die by the bite Of . seyy
pent. Mehar-Schegid's reputation
for beauty spread until it reached
the ears of the prince Of Persia,
who came to Constantinople dc.
termined by some means to gain
admission to the tower He con-
trived, by bribing her attendants,
to get conveyed to her a bouquet Of
symbolcal flowers, expressing to
her, in a language she perfectly an-
derstoOd, the passions with which
she had inspired him. But like
Cleopatra's basket of fruit, Mehar-
Schegid's bunch of flowers con-
cealed an asp. Mehar-Schegid was
stung. Her servants, remembering
the gypSy's prophecy, uttered loud
cries Of distress, and, throwing
open the doors Of the tower, rushed
irantically out, declaring that all
was lost. Then the prince of peFsiq
rushed in, seized Mehar-Schegid in
his arms, and sucked the wound in
her shoulder until be had extracted
from il all the venom left there by
the asp. The sultan, when he heard
Of the young mans noble and in
teresting conduct, declared that he
should be his son-in-law, and the
prince of Persia made Mehar-Sche-
oid his wife, and lived with her
very happily for q nRmbef Of years
and had many children,
II need scarcely be said that the
FIRST passer of the Bosphorous from
shore to shore was 10, transformed
into heifer by the amoroas perse-
cutions Of Jupiter, and driven into