The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1909-05-09

/
were bound from the Piraeus to Con
stantinople, steaming along the water
way between Europe and Asia. We
had left the Aegean Sea behind us,
| and were in the Dardanelles. There
flashed into my mind the old joke about
the newrieh family, who, on their re-
turn from Europe, were asked: when
you were abroad did you see the OAR
danelles?' The family looked puzzled
for a moment, but Materfamilias, with
great presence of mind, promptly re-
piled: "Oh, yes; we met them in
Rome" [ thought of springing this
aged story on my fellow passengers, but
it was so venerable that | refrained.
| At luncheon, however, | heard the
story told by the ships wit; it was
greeted with roars of laughter, and was
| received by all hands as perfectly new.
Beside me, on the ships deck, stood
a European dragoman-one of those
queer mongrels one meets in the Orient
the son of an English father and
Greek mother-speaking heaven knows
how many tongues with equal fiuency.
His English, by the way, was favored
with a strong Coekney accent. Him L
asked: ''What is the name of that
town on the Asiatic side?" indicating
city on the starboard hand
"Better call it Dardanelles, briefly
replied the dragoman.
At this 1 took slight umbrage. Quoth
to myself: Evidently this fellow
thinks l can not pronounce it, so he
gives me the name of the waterway
instead of the town | determined
to look it up, and when / went below
did So In the great atlas on the
cabin table I found this pleasing va
riety of names: 'Sultaniyeh-K alesi, or
Chanak Kalesi, generally called by
: Europeans Dardanelles. - l did not
wonder at the dragoman s laeonicism.
[ noticed that some of my fellow
passengers pronounced the name OAR
daneels,' while their favorite pronun-
citation of 'tBesphorus' did not rhyme
with Phosphorus, but rather with
s'before us.
Before being permitted to land at
Turkish port it is necessary to secure
.stezkereh, - otherwise you may land,
but you may not leave. We already
had passports vised by Turkish con-
sui in America, but tezkerehs' were
necessary in addition-two dollars
apiece. The blanks issued for filling
| out these documents were in French on
one side, Turkish on the other. One
passenger went TO the purser with his
French blank, and pointing to the
phrase couleur des cheveux, asked:
ssWhat does that mean2'
sfThat?' said the purser; "that
means color of hair. -
"The h it does,'' replied the pas
senger. Il s'posed it meant color OF
eyes, and / wrote blue.
The city of the Sultan looks much
better from the water than 1T does
when viewed ashore. The tourist who
/ touches at the port. remains on board
and sees the city only from the sea
| retains an entirely different impress
sion from that of him who goes
| ashore Seen from the water, Constan
tinople is very beautiful. Seen from
4 the shore it is the apotheosis of every
thing that is filthy and foul. | do no
say that it is unworthy of visit, hu
I do say that he who stays on board
| will take away a much more pictur
esque impression.
= The site of ConstantinopIe Isl ideal
There is probably no finer site for
city in the world. 1t is situate on tn
i Bosphorus, between the Mediterranean
and the Black Sea: it lies between
Europe and Asia, for Scutari is par
of Constantinople, and Scutari is OF
! the Asiatic shore: it is cut off by nat
! ! ural boundaries into municipal divi
sions, for the Golden Horn divide
STEAMBOAT, the Mohammedan, from Ga
\ lata, the Christian city; so the Bos
phorus divides Scutari, the Asiatit
from Constantinople, the Europea
city, yet all of these places make on
great city under the general nam
= "Constantinople." And this great cit
is guarded also by nature; it has tn
Sea of Marmora close at hand, wit
Notifications at either end of thi
| great water highway, rendering tn
city unassailable by sea; 1t has a pc
4 ninsular conformation which also reT
ders it, properly fortified, impregnabl
by land as well as by sea. 1t is as
San Francisco were to have batterie
! of heavy artillery all around he
waterfront, from India Basin to tn
II Preside, from the Preside to LAX
MERGED, and then across the neck {
the peninsula from Lake MERGED t
s India Basin. With all these factors i
its favor, no wonder that Constant
! nople has always been looked upon d
s. an ideal site for a city. That so man
y races should have battled over Byzar
tium for SO many hundreds of year
y is not surprising.
q Beautiful. picturesque, though sh
s may be, seen from the sea, Constant
81 | nople is unloveIy from the land. Whe
81 God has done at this meeting of til
y waters is entirely admirable. But tn
m handiwork of man as there set fort
- excites sometimes pity, and sometime
o. scorn.
i The bridges across the Golden Hor
q are such venerable, patched up wreck
Z that I wonder the Turks use them s
. freely. One day. not long ago, piec
a of the lower bridge fell into the waite
4 carrying with it three or four doze
n Turks, who went to the Mohammeda
y heaven sooner than they had intended