Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1892-06-15
A SHORT RAMBLE IN CONSTAN.
TINUPLE.

!
the gllded domes and tapering pinnacles
OF mosque and minaret, that the Aus
trlan Lloyd steamer EIbe, which had
brought us from the Pir@us, cast her
anchor in the busy waters of the
| Golden Horn and we realized as we
gazed on the brilliant animated scene
| spread out before our eyes, far surpas-
sing IN beauty and richness of coloring
| our most extravagsnt expectations,
that the great wish OF our hearts was
at last gratified, and we had really
reached the once mighty capital of the
| great Eastern empire.
| To carry away a favorable impress
| sion OF Constantinople, one must accept
the statement that distance lends en-
chantment to the scene" and never
land, and so never penetrate into the
scenes of dirt, squalor, and wretched-
ness which meet the eye on all sides,
once the traveller has made up his
mind to investigate for himself more
closely the manners and customs of the
| people of the East.
The great and most striking cnarac-
terlst1cs of the streets of Constantine
! pie, which makes them distinct from
the streets of every other European
capital, are the dogs. A miserable sick-
! ly race, crippled, trodden on, beaten,
driven over, always quarrelling, ex-
posed to every kind of weather, living
on the filth and refuse thrown into the
! street, they exc out an existence which
Is by no means devoid of usefulness.
They have divided Constantinople
! amongst them, and woe betide the un-
lucky dog who dares to leave his own
! quarter and trespass into that of an
/ otherl He never gets out of it again
! alive, but his half-starved corpse serves
as an example to all other iutruders,
and few bones left TO whiten n the
rays of the sun are all that remain in a
| few hours of the venturesome, unlucky
| trespasser. The Greek finds vent for
his innate love of cruelty in ill-treating
In every possible way these poor, pa
tlent, harmless animals; but the Turk,
on the other hand. extends to them
not inconsiderate measure of kindness
and humanity, putting mats and bas-
| kets for the newborn puppies, and
| taking care that there should be always
a plentiful supply of tempting mCrsels
to eat and wateI to drink. Loafng
/ about in the daytime, singly or in
/ companies of ten or more, they awaken
/ the dark empty streets at night with
! their dismal howls. But in spite of
their miserable, degraded appearance
! they give very material assistance to-
wards the sanitary condition of the
! town; if it were not for them, who else
would do the work of scavengers of
! streets in which all that is foul and
refuse is daily thrown from every
house?
We took a cursory look round before
+ starting for any particular point, and
were much struck by the strange in
congruity of the different buildings ad-
! Joining one another. Side by side
/ with the ruins of what had
once been richly ornamented palace
might be seen miserable little wooden
/ huts, hardly worthy of the name of
/ human dwelling places, and a little
! further on our eyes lit upon a heap of
blackened ashes, which no one had
! tlken the trouble to clear away or re-
| build since fire had reduced them to
; their present diIapItated condition.
The town Of Constautinople is
divided into two great divisions, those
4 of Pera and STAN mboul There are two
or three fairly comfortable but expen-
sive hotels IN Pera, the Royal, the
| Angleterre, and the Bellevue; the
| Royal and the Bellevue occupy the
/ best situation, being on a hill; the
Augleterre is in the heart of the town,
shut in by houses on all sides, and
therefore more subject to outbreaks Of
! diphtheria.
The streets IN Pera are lighted up at
night, and up to a late hour the Corso
| offers a warm welcome to those inclined
| to enter, but in Stamboul if by any
! chance traveller gets benighted he
I runs a very considerable risk of being
arrested by one of the watchmen as a
| thief or a murderer, for the streets are
| in total darkness, there Is not even so
/ much as a solitary oil-lamp here and
there to help to disperse the gloom.
There are many large and beautiful
| shops in Pera which would not do dis
/ credit~to London or Paris, but they
are nothing like so fascinating or at
| tractive as the primitive arrangement
of stalls in the ''bsZaars" of STAN Doul.
/ The "bazaars" form the commercial
/ centre of the whole mercantile life of
| ConstantinOple, and are encircled with
massive stone walls, and closed at sun
down to every living soul, with heavy
iron door, over which two stalwart
watchmen, fully armed, stand as senti-
nels. The necessity for these precau-
tionary measures Is apparent when one
realizes the fact that, as so many of the
palaces and bouses are built of wood,
I fires are not iDfrequent; but the whole
of CoEstantinople might be burnt level
with the ground before the flames
/ would have any effect on those solid
walls and massive doors, which so
securely protect from harm the costly
treasures stored within. The long
labyrinth of paths is lighted by sky
lights, let into the arched roof; and
seated on the ground, with their legs
crossed under them and their goods
spread out all round them, may be seen
7 the Turkish shOpmen, arrayed in tur-
bans, pointed shoes or slippers, and
caitan, smoking their long pipes aud
filling the air with sweet aromatic
fumes.
The bazaars are divided into differ
ent quarters. In one place one may
notice twenty color merchants, or drug
stores, all arranged side by side, and
each seeking to outdo the other by the
I artistic yet silent display of their
several oods The most fascinating
of ell the quarters, and the one most
calculated to attract strangers, is that
/ in which the ricL Persian and Smvrna
carpets and shawls are display ed in
ell their wealth of blended color and
delicate texture. The Oriental en-
broidery is simply lovely, especially
the tablecloths which come from Ara
bia. Specialities of the toilette. essen
TALLY Turkish are also exposed to the
vulgar gaze of the unbelieving; one
important article of import being
curiously bent brush, with a handle
made of sweet smelling root found in
Arabia, and which is used by the
ladies of the harem as a ooth-brush
/ There is also the ornamental case, filled
with black-looking powder for dark
ening the eyebrows and eyelids, and
the crocodile shaped plaster scratcher
for tickling the soles of the feet.