The San Saba news. [volume] (San Saba, Tex.) 1873-1966, 1888-07-06
C0NSTANTIN0PLE.
SOME OF THE STRANGE SIGHTS
OF THE TURKISH CAPITAL.
The Costume of the Moslems-Nar-
row Streets Infested by n Horde
of Dogs The NolubIe
Bazaar Merchant.

1t is bright spring day, and pro-
pose, writes correspondent of the De.
troit Free Pres, 4 walk through some
| Of the principal scenesO Consiantinople :
One Of the first things YOU Will notice
is the feZ, worn by all the Turks. 1t Is a
red Felt cap with no visor, with fat
top and black silk tasSel Turkish law
requires every male subject Of the Sultan
to wear this kind OF a cap. The men
wear very funny trowsers. There are no
close fitting pantaloons, such as men
wear in America; but loose, baggy con-
triyanccs, which look like two large
bags fastened together at the top. These
are gathered around the waist with a
colored girdle, which is sometimes cry
handsome
The streets are not much better than
our narrowest alleys, and so crooked
and dirty We should not enjoy living
in such streets, and business would be
quite impossible You never met 50
many dogs before. They are big yellow
animals and live in the streets They
have no owners, but shift for themselves
as well as they can They organize
themselves into bands. and each com
I pany has its own district. 1t is danger
Gus for a dog to leave his proper terri
tory, and he Is likely TO pay dearly for
trespassing within his ueighborsi limits
/ The dogs are usually harmless. though
sometimes they commit very bold thefts
| They are generous TO each other. At
( the soldiers barracks the dogs receive
[ the fragments after every meal. One
/ day when the food was brought out only
[ two dogs were in sight These might
have had a grand feast by themselves.
/ They did not take a mouthful, but
/ started of at full speed in opposite direc-
tons. Soon their barking summoned
the whole pack, and they ate their din
ner together.
In Constantinople the principal stores
/ are in bazaars. These baLaars are large
one-story buildings, with streets running
through them in every direction. On
each side of these streets are the little
l shops. The floor is about two feet above
I the street, and the owner usually sits on
the floor with his legs crossed under him.
The room Is small, so that he can reach
many Of his goods without rising.
Let IS stop first at this drygoods store.
As soon as the man sees us looking at
his goods, he takes his pipe from his
mouth and begins to chatter away in a
very lively fashion, showing US some
piece of goods If you show any desire
/ to make purchase, he will name a high
price, and pretend he is giving you the
article If You offer much smaller sum
I he will fold up the cloth and put it away
{ with gesture of horror. When you
turn away, however, he will call You
back and take your own price or else
make new offer much below the first
! In front OF a shoe shop you viii see
long strings of shoes hanging up by the
door. The shoes are usually made OF
red leather; the toes are turned up in a
curve and the back folded at the heel
Sometimes the leather is trimmed with
silver thread. They also have wooden
sandals, and these may be very elabor-
ately ornamented with inlaid work of
mother Ieirl.
One of the strangest places Is the ear
penter shop. Here YOU will see man
seated on the floor behind a turning
lathe. Instead Of using a treadle as our
workmen do, he has a bow and string
3 which he draws back and forth with his
right hand, and so makes the wheel re-
( volve He holds the chisel in his left
hand and presses it against the wood
with his bare toes. 1t that not strange
way to use a turning lathe
In some Of the little shops you may see
a professional scribe. lie has very i'm
portant air, and sits gravcly on the mat,
with his ink horn in his lap lie holds
his paper in his left hand while he writes
at the dictation OF his employer. They
do not write on table or desk as we do,
and still they form their letters beauti-
fully, although they do not make very
straight lines across the page. You will
also see money changers sitting beside
their cases of coins. People come to
Constantinople from all parts OF the
world aud must change their money for
Turkish coins. These money changers
have interesting collections OF money. In
one Of their cases l saw an old paper ten
cent piece from the nited States.
You might think, where the stores arc
SO close together and the streets so mar
row, that peddlers would have a poor
chance. Still there are great many o.
them who sell fruit These men carry
trays of fruit on their heads When they
find a good place to stop, they set down
the tray upon high stool, take their
scales from their shoulders and are ready
for business. They sell almost every
thing by weight aud are usually careful,
though the scales may be very rude.
have seen them made simply Of two
wooden saucers, suspended by strings
from straight stick This bar was held
by another string fastened in the middle
and the eye must Judge when the two
scales balanced. The weights may be
bits OF iron or even broken pieces Of
stone or brick. On the tray these ped
oilers have large luciOus grapes, and will
give you all YOU can cal for cent OF
two. There are fresh green figs which do
not look much like the dried ones that
come to US in boxes. The ounces are
large and the people cook them with
meat. The chestnuts are larger than
ours, though not quite so sweet. They
arc roasted, taken from the shell and
cooked with meat and potatoes IN very
nice stew.
Other men carry tanks of water or
ltulNudut bl Llltll bhNho duA lAh-AS AAf
in their hands to attract attention. The
funniest way to carry water and wine IS
in the skins OF hogs or buifaloes.
When full these look almost like the ami
NAL from which the skin has been taken
TIN YOU may often meet "a man with
what looks like one or two hog on his
back. The men who carry these wine
skins, as well rs other burdens. have
queer saddles fastened to their backs,
and put the load on these. ON the
bridge at Constantinopie / saw a man
carving tweuty-four common chairs, tied
together in one bundle.
In Constantinople almost every Ian
guage Of the world Is used | remem-
Der one drug store which modestly ad-
vertises itself in Turkish. Armenian,
/ French and Greek. The children who
are born in that country learn several
languages when they begin to talk, and
speak them all correctly.
/ The Turkish is a strange language 1t
has no alphabet of its own, but is COM
monty written with the Arabic characters
from right to left 1t is alsc written in
Greek and Armenian, letters which run
from right 10 left. 1t is full Of deep
! cultural tones. which seem 10 come up
l from the mans boots We must not