Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1924-04-13

|
| way down the Bosporus between
villas and villages. which dot the
shores OF the strait in both Europe
, and Asia. There are many hotels
| rising up from the waters, and here
and there are great balances built by
! the sultans. The largest palace is
Dolmabaghcheh, where the last of the
| caliphs lived until about six weeks
ago. 1t is a mighty structure of
| with a marble court fifty feet wide
| between il and the water.
! The Bosporus is walled with hills
| from the Black sea to Constantinople
There are castles on some of the hills
! and both shores are fairly well set
| tied The country seems ragged and
rough, but many of the villas have
beautiful gardens. The poverty of
! the Turks and their desire to avoid
taxes By showing no signs of prosper
ity is everywhere in evidence. All the
buildings lack paint. and the windows
are like great, blearly eyes, looking
out of aged and faded faces. Many
of the houses are of wood, almost
falling to pieces. Here and there are
groups of fine stone structures, some
of them flying the American flag.
| One of these is Robert College, which
is the greatest educational institution
/ in this part of the world, and another
is the Constantinople College for
Women, which takes the place in the
Near East that Vassar. Smith. and
Wellesley have in our country. Among
it's students are many Turkish girls,
! who, as the wives OF statesmen, will
have their influence on the politics of
the future. Another building with the
American flag is the summer home
OF c. B. Ravndal. the American consul
general. who has represented United
States trade on the Bosporus for
many years.
As we near Constantinople. the Bos-
porus is filled with shipping and
great steamers are lying in the har-
Dor There are barges of lumber and
other cargoes, Turkish craft OF vari-
Gus kind, and ferFyboats filled with
commuters red-feZzed passengers
who are riding back and forth from
their home on the strait. There are
fifteen different stations on the Bos-
porus and the Princess Islands, and
morning and evening the boats are
packed like those of New York. There
are also hundreds of caiques, the ia
nous canoe-like boats of the Turk,
Bangkok.
Coming down the strait / had a fine
view of this great city of more than
a million with it's hundreds of nina
rets cutting the sky and standing out
like so many white pins on a huge
cushion of green. The city seems to
rise, as it were, from the edge of the
sea. Its hills are crowned with
mighty mosques, some of which cover
acres, and from the minarets you can
hear the shrill tenor voices of the
muezzins calling the hours of prayer.
Copstantinople is divided into three
parts. You first pass Pera, where most
of the foreigners live, where modern
business has it's headquarters. and
where the caliphs had many of their
palaces. At the left across the water
in Asia is Scutari, where the most
fanatieal OF the Turks have their
homes, where many of the dervishes
live, and where until recently there
were tens of thousands of refugees,
cared for by the Near East Relief uR-
der American doctors and nurses, and
right in front of you is Stamboul.
which is the most important part of
the city. Stamboul lies across the
, Golden Horn from Pera- 1t contains
the bulk of the Mohammedan popula-
ton. 1t is the seat of all the great
mosques, it has mighty bazaars. COW
ering many acres. the sublime porte,
where were the Offices of the Turkish
empire before the new government
was instituted at Angora, and in short
everything that is essentially Tur-
kish and Mohammedan. The Golden
Horn, which separates it from Pera,
is a deep inlet. about mile wide
where it joins the Bosporus and mar
rowing as it curves in between the
two cities and goes back into the
country, forming the sweet waters Of
Europe.