Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-08-04

i've to the true believer" on that account.
The Moslems believe that their sacred places
would be contaminated by the presence of a
'dog of Christian" though they do not
entirely exclude them. Admission can only
be obtained by permission of the Sultan, who
is the head Of the faithful. There are usual
ly a number of travellers in the city, dozen
or 20 of them, and a ''frman''is obtained for
the whole of them to 60 at once OF course
fee has to be paid for each visitor, a portion
of which probably goes into the pockets of
the guides, who are generally Greeks, and
thrifty people.
One does not find much difficulty in
Hooking two ways for Sunday" in Constan-
tinople as in most other places, for three of
them come all in heap. They begin with
the Mahometan Sunday, which is on Fri
day; the Jewish Sabbath comes on Satur-
day, followed by the Christian in its proper
place. There are people of nearly all
nations in the city, but none of them seem
to take any especial notice of their holy
days.
On Friday the Sultan goes to the mosque
in state, and grand parade is made of the
occasion. When one lands at the custom
house on the Golden Horn, this Fart of the
city is Galata. Walking up the hill on
which is Pera, ard descending on the other
side he comes to Tophana. This is the To-
situated, and here also, with a MOSQUE at
one end of it, is the only piece of good road
in the city. 1t is broad and well built, and
would rank with the thoroughiares of Italy
and England.
TURKISH BEAUTIES.
For this great occasion my man Dimetri
brought out the handsome carriage. OF
course the ladies on the street looked at us,
ad af fha
dressed in the traditional costume, and the
ladies are not perplexed here by the con-
slant changes in the fashion plates, for the
dress is the same now that it was a hundred
years ago, and that it probably will be a
hundred years hence. The ladies were
dressed just as they are in the pictures in
the Arabian Knights" looked at oneas
a specimen. She weighed 200 pounds or
more. She was great, fat, slouchy-looking
woman; but this element OF her composition
was in accordance with the Turkish idea of
beauty. But she was not to be regarded as
a houri by American eyes. Her dress was
loose and flowing, her white cotton stock
ings, or rather socks, were plastered with
mud and rolled into fold below her ankles,
and her yellow morocco shoes were down at
the heels. The muslin covering the women
wear to cover their heads and faces is called
the "yashmak." In the case of this fat
woman it was quite thick. and hardly more
than the end OF her nose could be seen.
Presently we saw another lady who was
certainly better-looking, but her yashmak
was much thinner. These were women of
the ordinary class Great, stout Nubians,
as black as the ace of spades, wore precisely
the same costume, and were just as particu-
lar that no man should see their face I
could speak for the Americans present, and
none OF them wanted to see such faces.
These women, like those of higher estate in
Turkey, eatlargely of sweetmeats, and that
has a bad effect upon their health, from
which better-looking little girls should take
warning.
We drove down to the broad street to wait
tfor the procession. On each side of it was
drawn up column of the Sultan's body
guard. have seen a great many fine bodies
OF soldiers in. the different countries of
Europe, but never saw finer battalion of
troops than this Turkish guard. They were
all evidently picked for their size and shape,
and every one OF them looked like an ath-
lete. They wore full boards, and they all
happened to have handsome boards, from
which 1 concluded that they had been one
element that entered into the selection of
the men. They formed a battalion of about
$50.
On their heads they wore the fez, which
is the national covering for the head, and 1T
is almost universally worn by men of all
ranks, from the Sultan down to the laborer.
They had the great, bagging trousers of the
Turkish costume, made Of blue cloth. with
socks and gaiter boots. For the body of
the uniform they sported blue frock coat
of European style. They we're remarkably
6ne- looking soldiers. and think they
would make sensation in any city of our
country.
A cIRCAssIAN FLIRT.
A considerable collection of people Of all
nat,ons had gathered ct the sides Of the
street 70 see the show, and not Q few car