The Irish standard., 1888-01-14
q sTAMBouL MOSQUE.
The Strength of Its Bea ntiful Pillars IN,
Their Imperishable Stability.

a STAMBOuL MOSQUE.
The Strength of It's Beautiful Pillars aad
Their Imperishab,e Stability.
4 You enter this mosque through .
bronze door, haVing Of course previ-
ously shod yonr profane feet with pro-
tecting babouches; and then yen ars
free to examine and adm i,e- Tue first
feature that strikes you is four enofm-
Gus pillars. which might be compared
to four huted towers, and which sup
port the weight of the principal cuposa.
The capitals of these pillars are carved
into the form of mass of stalacCites,
Il style Of ornament which may be OBJ
served in many fine Persian m,nu-
ments; and halfway up they are en,h-
cled by band covered with inscr T.
tons in Turkish characters. The
strength and sin p lefty of these four
pillars, which at once explain to the
eye the constructive system Of the
building, give II striking impression
Of robust majesty and imperisha-
BILE stability. souyutes. Or verses
from the Koran, form bands
Of running ornament around the
great cupola and the minor dolnes and
the cornices. From the roof are sus-
pended, TO within eight or. ten feet Of
the ground, innumerable lustres conl-
posed of glass cups full of tallow, set
in circular iron frame and decorated
with balls of crystal, ostrich eggs, and
silk tassels as in Saint Sophia and all
the other mosques. The mihrab. which
designates the direction of Mecca
the niche where res:s the sacred book,
the Koran, the ''nobie book taken from
a prototype kept in hexven"--is inlaid
with ]apis-laznliagate, and jasper. Then
| there is the usual member, surmouutea
by conical sound board; the a.astnch-
es, or platforms supported by colo
nettes. where mueZzins and other clergy
sit. AS in all the mosques the side
aisles are encumberetl with trunks and
and bales of ,ne' c,landise, deposited by
p;ous Mussulmans under divine safe
guard; and finally, the floor is covered
with fine mating i'll summer and car
pets IN winter.
While T. was lost in wonderment st
the sp]endor of this mosque, several
Moslems came in to pray, with tho
usual prostrations and bear6-stroking
and yawning. Two or three women
also came to pray, clad in feridjis Of
brilliantly striped silks rose and
white, azure and white, yellow and
red--and they, too, kneeled on the
mating, and bowed and touched the
ground with their brows; and their lit
tie baly girls, with their fine eyes and
white walls wrapped round their heads,
stood patient and motionless beside
them, not being yet old enough to
pray, or perhaps not strong enough
ON their legs to prostrate themselves
without irremediably losing their
balance. Some Of these little baby
girls seemed us ceautiful as fresh
flowers, and reminded one of the fair
dreams of rosy bhjldhood which we
find in the pictures OF the French
painter Diaz Then, in odd corners
of the mosque, We're boys learning
the Koran under the direction OF
old turhaned priests, aud others
learning all alone, squatting cross
legged, ss with the sacred book
open before them Oh IL reading-stsnd
in the shape of an x. These queer
title boys produced the 1nontonous
aud melancholy sounds which alone
re-echoed in the vast silence Of the
mosque; and in the imn1eusity Of the
place, dotted as they were here and
there, near the n1ihrab and the mas
taches, they looked like big black !
fungi that had sprung up through the
pale straw-colore,l nl:ttting. Huadlea |
up into sort Of sphere with fiat
base these boys, each one acting in-
aependently, would rock themselves
rapidly backwards and forwards, while
they read aloud, in q sharp, nasal
voice, q verse from the Koran. Then
they would stop, look round, retnain
silent for a Minute or two, and then /
begin rocking and reading again.
Sometimes s.ng,e voice would be
heard, to.which another voice would
seem to respond. Another time two
or three voices would be heard to- |
gether, and the immense vaults would |
receive and reyerberate the sounds,
which composed a kind of nonoto-
nous and shri!l music, for the Koran is
full Of rhythmic prose. similar to that
Of which we find specimens in the
Pentateuch and the Ps Inns. Theodore
Child, an -At}a1stSc.
Plantation Philosophy.