Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1894-05-11
FROM TURKEY
DR.. Porter Writes an Interesting De-
scriptive Letter From Con-
stantinople.
A Visit at Damascus, and an Inspec.
ton of the Magnificent Ruins
at Baalbek.

How a Dissatisfied Sultan Disposes
of His Troublesome Wives
Other News.
CoNsTANTINoPLE, Turkey, April g.
Reached this city last Sunday, and found
q news letter from Editor Jewell wait
ing, for which I was thankful. On March
22d, we left the Oldest city in the world,
Damascus, in fine carriages, three horses
to each carriage, and after a 7O-mile ride
over a beautiful and very smooth wind
ing mountain road, we round ourselves
in Baalbek, where we saw the most
wonderful ruins IN existence. Here is
the great temple, huge columns of the
peristyle, the sole remains of the once
world renowned temple. Some are sixty
feet in height. Here is the Temple of
the Sun. The portal Of the temple is
the gem of the structure, we'll preserved
and the finest stone carving in the in
terror, of anything we have yet seen.
Some Of the huge stones are a marvel,
and how they were ever transported and
raised in position is a wonder, and
shows that those old fellows knew as
much if not more than we smart ones of
the present day. One stone, by actual
measurement, I foand to be GA feet long,
ID feet high, and about the same thick.
ness, which is the largest stone ever
used in a building. Visited the quarry
where these stones came from, and found
n eve1 larger, and moved about twenty
yards. Evidently they could get it no
further, and there it remains, even unto
this day, and probably will for all time
to come.
Another ride of seventy miles over
and around the Lebanon mountains, and
we were in Beyrouth, where we rested a
few days, and then boarded an Austrian
Lloyd steamer for Smyrna and Constan-
tipople. Our trip to this place was all
that could be desired for a rough, I'M
comfortable, mean, dirty passage of five
days. 1t was too stormy to stay on
deck; too crowded with four in a cabin
to breathe. First-class passengers were
obliged to take second class accommoda-
tions, and sleep on the floor, but pay
frst-class rates all the same. The wind
and the waves were so strong and high
n day, that the steamer could make
no Roadway, and had to turn tail and
find shelter near an island, and cast
anchor for twenty-four hours. We called
at Rhodes, Samos, Scio, and remained a
day at Smyrna. Our last day, however,
was fine, and leaving the Grecian archi-
pelago behind us, we steamed through
the Dardanelles and sea of Marmora to
C~onstantinople, with hardly a ripple on
the water. The view and changes we're
grand, and as we neared Constantinople,
the chief city of the Ottoman empire,
and the home of a million souls, the
sight was simply too magnificent for my
feeble power of description. I thought
Naples beat the world, but CONSTANT
nople goes ahead of Naples. Yesterday
I visited the Sublime porte, the Serel-
gio, the Mosque of the Sultan, etc.
In the afternoon we chartered a
steamer and sailed up the Bosphorus
into the Golden Horn and the "sweet
water of Europe" To-day we were
present at the Selamlik, which is the
ceremony that takes place whenever the
Sultan goes to the Mosque to perform
his devotions. We had a fine window
in a building opposite the mosque, re-
served to persons of distinction and to
foreigners of which we we're one, and
where we could get a splendid view of
the Sultan, and the troops as they passed
by.
The Sultan was dressed in a STAN
bouline, wearing a fez without orna-
ments or other distinctive sign. Two or
three carriages followed, carrying some
ladies of the harem. After the prayer.
His Majesty approaches a window and
the troops filed by, which takes nearly
two hours, and a splendid lot of soldiers
they were too. The cavalry are speci-
ally fine, the finest horses I ever saw.
Some of the infantry marched exaltly
like a horse with the string-halt, but
they kept good time and are fine looking
men. The Turks, contrary to my ex-
pectations, are q fine and noble race.
They have large eyes, aquiline noses, white
complexion, sometimes faxen hair. The
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