The Newtown bee., 1880-03-10
Riches of the sultan's Treasure House,

A Constantinople correspondent of the New York Tribune, describing the immense wealth in jewels contained in the different rooms of the sultan's treasury building, says: But there Is no such thing as describing in detail the splendors of these rooms. There arc an- tique arms and armor heavy with gold and jewels; there are ilnumerable horse-trappings and saddles, covered with plates of gold and studded with semeralds. rubies, topaz, diamonds and pearls; there are saddle-cloths em- broidered with precious stones. Several sofa covers hang in the cabinets as a background to the smaller articles. are heavy cloth of gold embroidered with seed pearls. In one of the cabinets are three uncut emeralds, the largest being the size of mans fist, and the smallest larger than a hens egg. The birds of the palace realized the experi- ence of dwelling in cages of gold, for here they hang these ancient cages of gold wire. Some of the cages have a clock in the bottom, face downward, so that the royal household might see the time of day as they lolled on the divans
 beneath. The imperial princes appear to have gone to school in childhood, for i here are the satchels in which they car
 ried their books-bags of velvet en-
 broidered With gold and pearls and dia-
 monds. In another place you see many
 notices from the Koran, embroidered in
 diamonds on red velvet. There are am-
 Der mouthpieces for pipes, studded
 with diamonds and rubies. There are
 coffee-sets and tea-sets of all degrees ol
 magnificence; and vases ot crystal and
 agate and onyx-some of these pro- ! fusely bejeweled. There are inkstand:
 and snuff boxes innumerable, all gilt
 tering with priceless gems. There art royal knives and forks and spoons O
 solid gold, with jewels on their handles
 There Is an immense array of clocks
 One would suppose that every sultan
 had his private clock which ceased tt
 tick when his heart stopped beating.
 Among the articles in this imperia
 treasure house are many which must b.
 regarded simply as toys. Of such is
 tea-set of tortoise-shell as thin as paper
 Another toy is lady's parasol of whit
 silk exquisitely embroidered with gold the staff of which is 8 single branch c
 coral so long and true and well-adapte,
 to it's purpose that one might searcl for years and fail to find it's like. Ther are also very many fans of varying de grees of splendor. Another one of tn toys is figure of sultan seated on hi throne under golden canopy ribbe with alternate rubies and emeralds. Tn : whole structure is, perhaps, six inche high. The body of the figure is singl huge pearl, the lower extremities ar carved from blue turquoise, and tn
 turban is a solid mass of diamonds There is literally no end to the marve of this place. After every conceivab use has been made of jewels the surplus l unmounted, stones are gathered by hant fuls into crystal bowls at one end of u i cabinets in the second room. The spoi l of all the empires which preceded tt Ottoman empire are heaped up in the: l two dingy stone rooms in the old Ser glio at Constantinople.
 l It requires some time fully to reali; e the enormous wealth of this treasul
 house. But slowly one becomes col p vinced that these treasure can only the accumulation of centuries, and r e e resent the heritage of the Ottomansfro i all their predecessors. Once assured
 this, the traveller will find a peculi fitness in the aspect and attitude of u d guards of the place. They stand, dress' = in spotless black broadcloth, four or if Il apart, in line along the cabinets, perfeo ly motionless. And they are as solen 7 of countenance, as if standing by t
 catafaleue of some deceased monar' a lying in state for the homage of his su " jectS.