Omaha daily bee., 1909-04-04

it's many ships passing to and fro con-
tinually and its islands, on one of which
the robber viziers of the old regime
are isolated; beyond this Is the Asiatic
shore with its gigantic snowcapped
mountains dwarfing into nsignificance
the towns and villages that creep along
the waters edge. To the north lies the
great capital with its suburbs, the heights
upon the Bosporous, the long line of an
cient walls upon whose broad terraces one
can still walk for a considerable distance,
and outside these the countryside with its
fringe of cemeteries and its undulating
fertile plains waiting to be cultivated.
While you are lost in admiration OF this
wonderful spot-full of such marvellous
possibilities yet so grossly neglected.
your guide calls your attention to several
large, ugly buildings near the main en-
trance to the fortress. They are the
hospitals, lunatic asylums and orphan
schools belonging to the Greeks, he tells
you with great pride, but If you will de-
scend he will show you the prison and
dungeon in which ambassadors, sultans and
many other people were confined.
Prison of the Ambassadors.
STOPPING in order not to knock your
l6du d6dlAoI NAC VI "a Az" $500
gateway you follow the youth with his
lantern into an unlit passage, down which
It is only possible for one person to walk
at a time, and after turning abruptly twice
/ you enter a high. vaulted chamber. This
I was originally divided into two compart-
ments, one having two openings In the
roof, the other totally obscure; and in
the former Of these it was customary
for the Turks TO imprison the unfortu-
nate ambassador OF a country which
! was at war with them. .
But in the other dungeon none can say
what horrible tragedies have been enacted;
you only know that the mysterious hole
into whose depths you peer in the dim light
is the road many poor, tortured souls have
taken to eternity-falling down, down.,
down, a hundred feet, until the bodies were
lost in the underwsshing sea of Marmora-
With a feeling of depression you return
once more to the daylight. and opposite
you, somewhat appropriately stands the
Golden Gate-the triumphal arch through
which victorious emperors passed on the
return from war. The Byzantine eagle
still sits upon the marble pillars. but the
Turks have sealed up two of the three
great a~rchways. marking in tawdry paint
the sultan's monogram and the Turkish
coat-of-aTms underneath the cross carved
upon the central arch.
Smuggling Made Unpopular.
Passing through the gateway OF the
Seven Towers you find a broad cobblestone
road skirting the walls outside the city,
which is better than many within its gates.
Al frequent intervals along this road are
little red. wooden sheds-guard houses
erected by the Ottoman reggie to prevent
the smuggling of co%ntraband tobacco-and
a too close inspection OF one of these is
apt to bring you a shot in your ribs from
the guardian OF the law.
To your left, fringing the road for miles,
are the Turkish cemeteries, whose thous-
ands OF moss-grown and newly placed
tombstones stand at dangerous angles upon
their pointed base. In one OF these ancient
graveyards a patch Of brilliant color which
proves TO be a funeral procession moves
slowly forward.
There is the priest. a comfortable look
ling old fellow in long robes and bright