Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-04-27

when the Padisha himself led the armies and
made 1t his custom to pitch his tent and sleep on
the field of battle.
The whole ceremony of marching to the
Mosque is much changed since the oriental dress
has vanished, Tho flowing robes Crusted with
precious stones, the ewelled turbans and cine
tiers dazzling the sight are to be seen only in
museums and treasure houses. Anciently the
war horse of the king Of hundred kings pranced
on carpets soft as plush spread along the way
from Seraglio Point TO st. Sophia, to be taken
mp and then distributed among the crowd.
Still the troops are of martial and imposing
carriage-picked men of the empire from the
Soudan to Albania. Well do they guard the
banners of green-the colors OF the prophet Che
rests in glory!)-and every man is ready at every
breath to do gallant service if need be, to die
for the true faith. The ISlamite who deserts his
post or flies before his foe is held by the code
military deserving of death in this world and of
hell fire in the next.
Turkish cavalry has long been admitted the
finest IN Europe; and first among them the
Circasians, body-guard of the sultan, whom
Russell of the London Times called the most
picturesque scoundrels in the world. They are
bloodthirsty and treacherous, renowned for
reckless bravery and matchless beauty of the
pure Caucasian type. Even among the meanest
of them you noble, well set heads of finest
mould, testifying to unmixed blood of the most
perfect of living races.
They wear curious arms and silver cartridge
pockets at their breasts in memory of twenty
five years struggle against Russia under their
Prophet-chief, Schamyl, when their power was
first shattered and broken.
The sultan enters the mosque with Imam
to offer the prayer none other is entitled to ut
ter. The ranking officers of the army and navy
in full uniform, with jeweled orders and deco
ratIons. wait at the entrance. The stay within
is short; tie half hour soon passes; the royal
suppliant reappears, remounts the fretting
desert born, the guards close round him, the
multitude cheer, Long live the padisha,' and
then the immense crowd breaks away for the
pleasant afternoon on the banks of the Bos-
phorus.
Let us quit this overcrowded Babylon aad
seek the valley of sweet waters of Asia, and,
that we may be oriental possible, let not
take q steamer, but step into q Caique, a vessel
peculiar to the Bosphorus as the gondola is to
Venice.
Formerly the sultan spent his holiday on the
water, but the present dispenser of crowns to
mOnarchs leaves Yildiz only to seek the nearest
mosque, so the imperial calque is rarely seen,
which is pity, for it is the prettiest thing aoat
"A long, slender boat, sharply taper at both
ends, painted pure white, touched with pink
and gold, and graceful a lily on the waters.
It's twenty-four rowers keep perfect time to-
gether. They are clad in silk, scarlet and en-
glowing color touch the ripples. At the stern is
a gilded peacock, and the airy craft skins the
waves like some swift bird in swimming flight.
generation ago there were 0,000 caiques
plying up and down, darting in every direction
lightly as butterflies. Now there are less than
half that number. The natives call them swal-
low boats, and the motion is so restful to the
passengers (the dear reader and writer,
hardly realizes the hard work required among
the varying currents till we see sweat pour down
the faces of our oarsmen and the muscles of
their bare arms knot like cords.
Thin pIanks of tulip and beechwood appear
too frail to oppose any force. and we shIver
when heavy steamers pass. The erial fabric
rides the tiny waves, and its sharp points offer
small resistance to the sweeper the ever moving
waters. The fragile things have no ballast but
the occupants. and we must sit perfectly still or
upset while we head toward the Asian shore.
Now the Systematically a rapid river between
two seas-is two miles wide. Look back at Sc
raglio Point, the scene of imperial wars and
loves, the residence of masters of ByZsntium
thousand years before the Turks crossed into
TNf,ro In he 1and IL bod rlN,rx
call the Golden Horn, iron-clads bought in En-
gland are idly lying. Beyond them westward,
vast and dark. is the leaden rock OF st. Sophia,
the temple where forty generations mad wor-
SHIPPED before Michael Angelo, in the valley of
vision, beheld against the sky of Italy the peer
less dome of st. Peters.
Every sort of boat that goes by oar and every
thing that can sail, and everything that goes by
steam, passes us. Many vessels carrying mer-
which sailed this way, bound for Colchis, in
the prehistoric mythic period, and some touch
for lading at a wharf which yet bears his name.
The water is blue as though colored by indigo,
clear as crystal, and sparkles fall OF the oars
like pearly beads. Some caiQues are gilt,
richly carved and inlaid with precious woods.
Perhaps the rowers named Aristides and
Themistocles, showing that they have not for
gotten the glory that was Greece, or may be
ments, a native of Interchangeable mountain
eyrie which has dehed the sultan and all his
hosts 400 years.
Here comes the splendid caioue of an Eastern
ambassador, curtained with shawls of finest
fabric and warm and changefal hues. Madame
PAmbassadrice, robed with soft raiment in
wrought with gold, reclines in quietude among
her silky pillows, placid and content as. the
cushat IN her nest; beside her 8 little daughter.
The child has wonderful dark eyes, and looks
about in eager delight. At the age of fourteen
she viii be yelled and guarded. On her tiny
hand is q flaming jewel so precious we may well
believe the legend that, when wrested from q
wandering tribe, only one man knew in which
Of twelve boxes il was kept. or on which of one
hundred caneis it was carried in the march.
The mother wears veil OF lowered cause