Durango semi-weekly herald., 1902-05-12

Upon the opposite side ot the Gold
en- Horn, steep hill rising directly
from the water. is occupied by the
City of Galata, corresponding to
Brooklyn Its houses and shops are
arranged in terraces along precipitous
slopes to a height of 500 feet. and on
the other side of the crest, which
slopes to the Golden Horn is the city
of Pera-which means beyond
that is the place beyond the hill.
This completes the group of four
| cities. which. combined. are called
| Constantinople. and from the bridge
which connects STEAMBOAT and Galata.
or at any other point between. thev
| are spread out before the spectator
like an audience in a circus amphi-
| theater, rising in irregular terraces.
and showing patches of whitewashed
walls among unpainted wood-colored
houses. shingled roofs and occasional
| ly a roof of tile.
Here and there appear sauatty
domes like warts. Gueer looking tow
ers and slender minarets which are
peculiar to Constantinople. and are its
greatest attraction. The domes are
mosques and occupy the SUBMITS Of
the hills. Their ugliness heightens
the beauty and grace of the minarets
by which they are surrounded The
minarets are spires. and take the
place of church steeples and the cam
paniles that are always found at
tached to cathedrals In southern Eu-
verv tall rising often to the height of
rome. They look very slender and
200 feet del icate. beautiful shafts.
perhans twenty feet in diameter and
grauallv tapering to needle point at
the ton, upon which a golden crescent
is alwavs placed. About the center
overlooking the roofs of the houses
and the adjoining streets. are balloon
les. sometimes only one. sometimes
two and. on the taller minarets three
protected by beautifully carved balus-
trades and sustained by brackets,
from which the muezzin calls the
Mohammedans to prayer.
In Constantinople most of the min
arets are of marble and other stones.
as they We're built by rich sultans
as monuments to their own memory.
but usually such structures are OF
brick. coated with stucco. and kent
neatly whtewashed. Whatever NAV
be said of the Moslem. his house Of
worship always show evidences of
careful and constant attention You
seldom see a slovenly mosque. and
seldom a mosque out of repair. They
set an example to other religious sects
in this, as in several matters which I
shall take the liberty to mention.
The view from any point of obser
vatioN will comprehend nearly all of
the city of Constantinople. except. of
course. those portions which are on
the opposite side of the ridges. | do
not know of any city of which so
much can be seen from single place.
1t has about ,25O 900 inhabitants. and,
standing upon the bridge that cross
es the Golden Horn, one can easily
see the abodes of two-thirds of them
spread ont before him. But the view
is monotonous. There is a lack of va
riety about the architecture which is
very tiresome. One house differs from
another so little that the eyes become
weary and rest gratefully upon the
picturesque towers and the beautiful
mnarets that rise here and there in
striking relief.
Several conspicuous buildings stand
out boldly, These are the embassies
of Russia, Germany and other Euro
pean powers on the Galata side and
government offices in Stamboul. The
largest buildings and those which
are most conspicuous in every direc
tion are occupied as barracks by the
sultan's army. There are no parks
no promenades, no amusements, no
theaters except one which is insignifi-
cant, and no entertainments or diver
sions for the people except few low
class vaudeville performances.
The streets are irregular, narrow
and crooked. and wind up in serpen-
tine or zigzag fashion to the top of
the town. 1t is evident that they
originally followed the trails of goats.
which are poor engineers, unlike the
buffalo. The straight streets are so
steep that no load can be hauled up
them, and many of them are actually
stairways with the shops on either
side. In building the city no grad
ing was done and no filling. The nat
ural topography was allowed to re-
main unaltered, which, while it adds
to the picturesqueness, is a permanent
embargo on business. Horses cannot
be used for transportation purposes
because the streets are too narrow
and too steep an dthe pavements are
too rough.