The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1889-11-13
THE TWO ORPHANS.

quet, and this was no
easy task. continued THE TWO ORPHANS.
to feed them as long US remained IN the
city. 1t was sad to think what became
of them after I left. for doubtless they
were absorbed in the general miserable
dogdom of the place.
My companion was an elderly gentle
man, and neither of us was inclined to
travel long distances on foot. About the
streets are saddle-horses in charge Of
Arabs. When the man finds customer
he mounts him on his steed and walks af-
ter him, urging forward the animal as oc-
casion may require, for he is never one of
the fancy barbs of the desert. We do not
fancy this style of riding and we appealed
to Dimetri Tor something more to our taste.
The next morning he brought up a very
handsome hooded phaeton and suspected
he had borrowed it of the Sultan; but he
assured us he had procured it alta stable
kept by foreigner.
We passed through the Rue de Pera,
occasionally causing tremendous COM
motion among the foot passengers when
we encountered another vehicle. or a
donkey loaded with rocks, cordwood or
lumber. We descended the hill, passing
through a cemetery where the ruthless
hand Of improvement had made road
over the dead, till we came to a wide
street near the Sultan's new palace. Be-
yond this we had to take to the fields for
the want of road. The Palace of the
Sweet Waters was our objective point,
and we got there. We had expected to
gaze in wonder upon scene of Oriental
magnifcence. The name of the place was
certainly pretty enough to lead us to an
ticipate something rich and elegant.
The palace, however, was not equal to
many a mandatory we had seen at
home. There were number of trenches
stoned up to contain the "sweet waters" II"
but there was none in them, sweet or
otherwise. We looked upon it as fraud.
We fancy that the Sultan would open his
eyes if he could sail up the Hudson or
ride through any of the great cities OF
the United States.
The reader has had his palate tickled
in imagination by the sherbets and con-
fections of the Orient. I had, and l
wanted to taste some of them. l asked
Dimetri about sherbet. He took me toa
shop and drank sherbet, expecting to
be thrilled as with the nectar of the gods.
What do you think it was2 Nothing but
what the old ladies of New England call
ssraspberry shrub" 1t is very good for
those who like it; but sherbet comes
down from it's seventh heaven after you
have tasted it.
At the door of the monastery of der
wishes Dimetri brought me quantity of
confections fig paste, candy and other
things of this sort. Not one of them
was eatable; in fact the smell of these
delicacies was more than enough. I
threw them into the street when I went
out, and the Moslem gamins scampered
for them.
I had some curiosity to learn how the
Turks lived, and Dimetri took me into
cafe near the mosque of St. Sophie. The
first dish was made up from the fire be-
fore me. In copper saucepan, like half
a globe, was large quantity of mutton
fat, with bits of meat in it. In another
kettle of the same kind was some rice,
having o pinkish tint. On small tea
plate the attendant put portion of this
rice, spread it out, with a cavity in the
middle. Then he emptied ladeful of
the mutton grease and two bits of meat
into the middle of it. The odor was not
pleasant, and single taste of the COM
pound was enough for this deponent. 1t
smelled bad and tasted worse.
The next dish was pancakes, round
balls of dough fried in fat. They were
soaked with grease, and rancid grease at
that. Press them a little and the fat
flowed out in streams. These two dishes
exhausted the bill of fare. resorted to
fruit.
An Armenian gentleman on the Bos-
phorus had told we that had come IN
season for the best grapes of the year.
I called for some of them, and up to the
present moment they were the finest, the
most delicious I ever tasted. The Turks
sell them from great baskets all over
the city for next to nothing. They look
like the common Malaga grape, but the
skins were hardly perceptible. The
flavor was little spicy, sweet, and rich
enough to be the food of divinities.
Though my worthy California companion
insisted that they had better in his State,
I have never tasted q y that were equal
to them.
Coffee is classed as an original Oriental
dainty, and all have read about it in their
story books of the East. We have all
come to the belief that coffee in the lana
of its origin is another name for nectar.
I went into cafe in Scrutari. on the Ash
attic side of the Bos-phorus. Half a
dozen Turks were
~C smoking chibouks,
o. owned by the cafe
~ h :. and leased by the
[ NH Nimplement is a
I NM jpipe consisting OF
ID @.nf tAA %a glass urn, filled
NN2zAIM VSSa| with water through
,NIEfI}| W. which the smoke
N%lI//ISzA Al& is drawn. The
F1 water is bubbiing
all the time, and
TURKISH COFFEE. the odor of the