Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1878-05-23

At every step. NOW II IS waie& EAr-
rier with coiored jar upon his beck.
now a Russian lady on horseback alow
squad OF imperial soldiers in x4Iave
dress, and stepping as if 10 an asnlt;
now a crew of Armenian porteFs two
and two, carrying on their shouIdes itr-
mense bars, from which are stsse ded
great bales Of merchandise; and Ha.s q
throng of Turks who dart from isIs 10
right of the bridge to embark Is The
steamers that lie there. There
tread OF many feet, murmutiae.
sound Of voices, gutteral notes, aseira-
tons inte1ectional, incompreheAihle
and strange, among which fhe Inw
French or Italian wofds that reacA lhe
ear seem ike luminous points ufon
black darkness. The figures that &osE
attract the eye in all this crowd q the.
Circassiansi who 60 IN groups y asree
and Eve tsgeiheF, wsth slot.asfxs -
bearded men of terrible countenance,
wearing bears kin caps like the old Ma
poleonic guard, long, black caftans, dag
gers at their girdles and silver cartridge
boxes on their breasts; real figures Of
banditti, who look as they had come to
Cofistantinople to sell a daughter or q
sister-with their hands lmbued with
Russian blood. Then the Syfiat1s, with
robes in the form of Byzantine dalmat-
ic, and their heads enveloped in gold
striped handkerchiefs Bulgarians,
dressed in coarse serge and caps encir-
cled with fur; Georgians in hats Of var
nished leather, their tunics bound round
the waist with metal girdles; Greeks
from the Archipelago, covered from
head TO foot with embroidery, tassels
and shining buttons.
From time to time the crowd slack
ems a little; but instantly other groups
advance, waving with red caps and
white turbans, amid which the cylindri-
cal hats, umbrellas and pyramidal head
dresses of Europeans, male and female,
seem to float, borne onward by that
Musselman torrent. II is amazing even
TO note the variety Of religions.
The shining bald head OF the Capu-
chin friar, the towering janissary tur-
ban OF an Ulema, alternate with the
black veil Of an Armeniafi priest,
Imaums with white tunics, veiled nuns,
chaplains of the Turkish army, dressed
in green, with sabres at their sides, Do
minIcan friars, pilgrims returned from
Mecca with a talisman hanging at their
necks, Jesuits, Dervises, and this is very
strange Detvises that tear their own
flesh in expiation Of their sins, and cross
the bridge under a 'sun-umbrella, all
pass by. II you are attentive, you may
notice in the throng a thousand anus
ing incidents. Here is o eunuch, shsw.
Ing the white Of hts eye at a Christian
exquisite, who has glanced too curious
ly into the carriage OF his mistress; there
is q French cocotte, dressed after the
latest fashion-plate, leading by the hand
the begloved and beieweled son of a
pasha; or lady of Stamboul, feigning
TO adjust her veil that she MY peer
more easily at the tsaiu 6 diady Of
Pers; or sergeant Of cavalry in full
uniform stopping in the middle of the
bridge to blow his nose with has fingers
in way to give one a cold chill; or a
quack, taking his last sous from some
poor devil, and making cabalIstic ges-
ture over his face to cure him of sore
eyes.
Sometimes there passes a mighty
pasha with three tails, lounging in a
splendid carriage followed by his pipe
bearer on foot, his guard and one black
slave. and then all the Turks salute,
touching the forehead and breast, and
the mendicant women, horrible witches,
with muffied faces and naked breasts,
run after the carriage crying for chari-
ty. Eunuchs not on service pass IN
twos and threes and FIVE together, Gig
arctic in mouth, and are recognized by
their corpulence, their long arms and
black habits. Little Turkish girls
dressed like boys, in green full trousers
and rose or yellow vests, run and jump
with feline agility, making way for
themselves with their henna-tinted
hands. Boot blacks with gilded boxes,
BARRIERS with bench and basin in hand,
sellers OF water and sweetmeats cleave
the press in every direction, screaming
in Greek and Turkish. At every step
comes glittering a military division, Of
ficers in fez and scarlet trousers, their
breasts consolidated with medals; grooms
from the seraglie looking ike generals
of the army; gendsrmes, with whole
arsenal at their belts; Zeibecks. or free
soldiers, with those enormous baggy
trousers, that make them resemble in
profile the Hottentot Venus; imperial
guards, with long white plumes upon
their casque and gold-bedizened breasts;
city guards of Constantinople; guards,
as one might say, TO keep back the
waves Of the Atlantic ocean. The con-
trasts between all this gold and all those
rags, between people loaded down with
garments looking like walking bazaars
and people almost naked, are most ex-
traordinary. The spectacle of so much
nudity is alone a wonder. Here are to
be seen all shades Of skin cOlors, from
the milky whiteness of Albania TO the
crow blackness OF Central Africa and
the blush blackness Of Darfur; chests
that if you struck upon them would re-
sound like huge bass, or rattle like
pottery: backs, oily. stony, full of wrln-
| kles and hairy like the back of wild
boar; arms embossed with red and blue,
and decorated with designs Of flowers
and inscriptions from the Koran. But
| it is not possible 70 observe all this In
ones frst passage over the bridge.
While you are examining the tattoo on
an arm your guide warns You that a
Wallachian, Servian, a Montenegrin,
n Cossack of the Don. a Cossack OF