The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1886-03-12
CoNsTANTINoPLE.
The Turkish Capital and It's Cosmopolitan
Population.

The Turkish Capital and It's Cosmopolitan
Population.
Some one has said that to see Con-
stantinople is to see the entire East;
and, judging from the different cos
TUNES and people one meets on the
streets and in the bazars, the saving is
certainly not far amiss. From its geo
graphical situation, as well as from its
history, Constantinople naturally takes
the front rank among the cosmopolitan
cities of the world, and the crowds
thrOnging its busy thoroughfares en-
brace every condition OF man between
the kid-gloved exquisite without q
wrinkle IN his clothes and the repre-
sentative of half savage Central Asian
states encased in sheep-skin garments
Of rudest pattern. The great fast of
Ramadan is under full head-way. and
all true Mussulmans neither eat nor
drink particle of any thing through
out the day until the booming of can
non at eight in the evening announces
that the fast is ended, when the scene
quickly changes into a general rush for
eatables and drink. Between eight and
nine o'clock in the evening, during
Bamadan, certain streets and bazarS
present their live1iest appearances, and
from the highest class restaurant,
patronized by Bey and Pasha, to the
vendors of eatables on the streets all
do rushing business; even the suies
(water yenders), who with leathern
water bottles and a couple of tumbIers
wait on thirsty pedestrians with pure
drinking water, at five paras glass,
dodge about among the crowds, an
| nounclng themselves with lusty lung,
fully alive to the opportunities of the
| moment. A few of the coffee houses
provide music of an inferior quality,
COnstantinOple not being a very music
al place. A forenoon hour spent in a
neighbOrhood of private residences
Will repay stranger for his trouble,
| since he viii during that time see a be-
| WIIderlng assortment of street vendors,
from peregrinating meat mar
ket, with complete stock dangling
from wooden framework attached
to horse S back, so a grimy individual
worrying along beneath a small mount
ain OF charcoal, and each with cries
more or less musical. The sidewalks
of Constantinople are ridiculously
narrow, their only practical use being
to keep vehicles from running into the
merchandise of the shOpkeepers, and to
give pedestrians plenty Of exercise in
Jostllng each other, and hopping on
and off the curbstone to avoid incOn-
veniencing the ladies, who of course
are not to be jostled either off the side
walk or into a sidewalk stock of mis-
cellaneous merchandise. The Constan-
tinOple sidewalk is anybOdy's territory;
the merchant encumbers it with his
wares and the coffee houses with chairs
for customers to sit on, the rights of
pedestrians being altogether ignored;
the natural consequence is that these
latter fill the streets, and the Constan-
tinOple Jehu not only has to keep his
wits about him to avoid running over
men and dogs, but to use his lungs
continually, shouting at them to clear
the way. If a seat is taken in one of
the coffee house chairs, a watchful
waiter instantly makes his appearance
with tray containing small chunks of
paSty sWeetmeat, that the English
call Turkish delight" one of which
you are expected to take and paw half
piastre for, this being polite way of
obtaining payment for the use Of the
chair. The coffee is served steaming
hot in tiny cups holding about two
tablespoonful, the price varying from
ten paras upward, according to the
grade of the establishment. A fayOrite
way OF passing the evening is to sit in
front of one of these establishments,
watching the passing throngs, and
smoke a NarghiIeh, this latter requir-
ing a good half-hour to do it properly.
l undertook to investigate the amount
of enjoyment contained in a NGrqhileb
one evening, and before smoking it
half through concluded that the taste
has to be cultivated Outing.