Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1923-01-03
Airplane View of Constantinople.

! prepared by the National Geographic So
ciety, Washington d. Co
! Few places in the world have eXer-
! ciSed such a power of attraction for
travellers as ConstantinOple, or have
had such widespread reputation for be,
/ ing picturesque.
The severe, classic art of Athens is
not found here; nor the dignity OF
! Rome; nor the exciting, sullen spirit
4 that permeates Picking 1t is not gay
! like Paris, nor learned like Berlin. An
/ archeologist would be better pleased
with Egypt But this is the place be-
fore which Gautier, Byron. Lott, De
/ AmiCiS and Lamartine wept and
swooned with delight before they sat
! down to fill books with ecstatic praises.
/ But practical modernity has left its
mark everywhere.
Already there are on all sides the
/ changes due to western influence
| trans, electric lights, telephones and a
new safe bridge.
Constantinople's geographical posi-
ton has made her sanguinary history,
for she controls a high road of com
merce between Asia and Europe, and
/ Nature herself planned the ports The
city is divided into three separated
quarters, STEAMBOAT and Pera- Galata lie
on the European side, the Golden Horn
/ between them, and Scutari SquatS on
! the .ASiatic side, across the BoSpOrus.
Like outstretched arms, the two straits
come up from the Sea of MarmOra to
the south
Galata and Pera are the European
quarter. opposite StambOu, where the
representatives of foreign powers have
long maintained their embassies and
homes Once the suburbs of StambOul,
this part of the city was known as
JustinianapOiS until the Genoese made
it into an italian town and fortified it
with walls and many towers, one Of
which, the Galata Fire Tower, still
stands, a lofty lookout station from
which fires are reported and signals
flashed to ships after dark.
Nowadays Pera's crooked streets
are alive with allied soldiers, refugees,
I
beggarS, and few tourists. Pass
ports, unless one has business, are diff
ficult to get. and tourists are rarely
seen.
The American residents number
about four hundred, the largest colony
between Rome and Manila. There is
but little social life, and the only
places of amusement are the cafes and
restaurants, with their adjoining caba-
rets and moving-picture screens
GaIata Bridge Its Keynote.
While the Galata bridge between the
European quarter and STEAMBOAT still
lives up to its tradition of having every
nationality in the world cross 1t at
least once an hour, it lacks some OF
it's old charm, because of the Turkish
peoples remuneration of color. The
men for the most part have adopted
the European business suit, with
which they wear q red feZ, and the
womens costumes are usually of black.
What the Rialto bridge is to Venice,
the Pont Neuf to Paris, the West
minister to London, so is the Galata
bridge to Constantinople-the keynote
to the city
A constant stream of polyglot peo-
ples flows across the Golden Horn
Russian refugees, in pajamacOats
tucked into trousers grown too large;
Armenian and Greek merchants and
refugees; British, French and italian
army and navy officers; American sail
ors; Chinese, Japanese and Persian
merchants; the last of the outmoded
eunuchs; dervishes in brown, with
conc-shaped hats; Cretans in baggy
trousers and embroidered vests; Greek
priests with black chiffon wells
streaming from their hats; hamals
(porters) with roonfuls of furniture
on their backs; Arabs in yellow bur-
nOoses manned and diseased beggars
Mohammedan priests in pink or green
robes; black troops in red caps ana
sashes; Jewish guides; American re-
lief workers; Hindustani guards in
twisted turbanS and scarlet capeS; an
occasional woman gypsy in baggy
trousers; Levantine tradesmen; Al
bantam peasants in embroidered white
leggings; Hawaiians, Filipinos, and
few drummers from points west OF
Chicago"-all these pass back and
forth in the course of day.
The taxes were recently doubled on
the bridge, and the eight Turkish col
lectors were ordered to make the Turk
lsh women, previously exempt, pay for