The Tabor independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1913-19??, 1915-06-10
BY Arthur symons in "Cities.

Water, camels, sand, then broader
water, boats, q little station, with a
yelled woman standing in a doorway:
then more water and sandy grass, a
few trees, then waste land, a long line
OF bullocks ploughing; then, between
the railway and the water, cluster OF
colored houses, mostly Of wood; then
trees, more waste land, a little hay,
with hills beyond; then field, more
clusters of houses. ploughed land and
water; at last h wall, with Its gaps
and towers; a grave yard. gardens;
then between roofs and walls, the
long curve of Constantinople. A dense
smell, dogs, houses. then an actual
sea shore, with men wading bare
legged in the water, n boats coming
In laden with melons; then streets OF
houses, with fragments Of turreted
walls, two birds on every turret; ide
streets cutting deeply between two
lines of low red roofs; faces OF many
colors, TRANCE clothes; then, over the
roofs, but close, the water, houses,
domes, minarets of h city, in a flash.
yelled suddenly by the walls Of the
station. fastened about one.
AT the end Of my first day In Con-
stantinople, / find myself bewildered,
as IL j have lost my way in my own
brain. seem to have been blown
through a whirlwind, out Of which /
can clutch. nothing tangible. / recall
the drive from the station, near mid
day, through dense, moving, red
capped crowds, an angry mob, as 1t
seemed. surging about one, each going
his own way, heedlessly and violently.
I tried to catch every detail, as 1t
changed before me; tt fix my attention
and my memory upon a fluid spectacle.
The timbers Of the bridge creaked and
pitched under me; these unintelligible
figures came towards me, passed, went
on their way; and beyond them, on
both sides Of me, lay the water, a
knptted forest OF masts along the
quays, from which caiques glided out
wards; In front, tier above tier, GAL
alta, the tower, the new town, Pera.
walking back in the afternoon, down
unpayed cataracts of streets, across the
torrent OF the bridge, / found myself
again in STEAMBOAT. remember lifting
q chain to pass under ore of the gate
ways into the Bazaar, the wom-
an wrapped in a bright green mantle
who squatted there, only her black
face visible, the droping voice Of a
beRRar reciting the Koran; and then
the narrow lanes hung with flippery,
the dirty, mountainous paths under
painted arches, crossing one another
In q jungle Of gaudy hedges. Then l
remember only a confused mingling OF
hamals, bent double under mountain
Gus weights; the tall, black hats and
black cossacks of Armenian priests,
the pleated turbans of Arabs, the thin,
black Grape over the faces OF yelled
ONE hooded in dominoes; and
everywhere, the dogs, lying in the roads
and on the pavements, meek, sickly
creatures, like poor relations, only
asking not to be trodden on.
To walk. In Constantinople, is like a
ferce and active struggle. One should
look at once before, behind, and under
meath ones feet: before, behind, under
meath ones feet some danger or dis
rust Is always threatening. / never
walked up the steep road which leads
from the bridge to Pera without the
ceiling that l was fighting my way
trough a hostile city. A horn blows
4 lriously, and a black man runs up the
Till. clearing the way before the dash
z and struggling horses of the tram.
&c the same moment a cab drives at
full speed down the hill, and the horses
net their feet on the pavement. In front
al YOU a man balances slices OF offal on
a IonK mole across his shoulder: they
dangie before and behind; he swings
cheerfully with his burden through the
crowd. A Kurd STOPPING unde q
uvelRht higher han himself follows stel
nv nfep behind you. Your feet slip In
-iunhy mud, and catch on the cobbles
81 IA the gaps OF the road. A dog with
4 red wound behind his ear, and a LONG
afrip OF NANCY skin on his back lies
aaIeep Ia the middle of the pavement
Yni step into the road to avoid the
doos and the hamals, and wheel ant
horses are upon you You step {
illfo the midst Of the dogs 4 the
hamaia: as you stand ag@As Tor a mo
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