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02 CONSTANTINOPLE AND ITS ENVIRONS ;
The houses leading to the mosque are perfect specimens of Turkish edifices. They
generally have a foundation of stone to the height of eight or ten feet, and then a
superstructure of wood, supported on curved beams, which rest upon the masonry. The
house is covered by a far-projecting roof, which is surmounted by a kiosk, or cupola,
commanding a view of the distant country. The windows are strictly closed with
lattice-work of cane, in the centre of which the incarcerated female endeavours to see
what is passing in the street. Whenever the clattering of hoofs and the yelping of dogs
announce a passing stranger, he will perceive, if he look up, an eye gleaming on him
through the aperture, or the ruddy lips of a mouth hissing on the dogs to attack him.
A Turk seldom builds a house for himself entirely of stone. The insecurity of property
is such, that he never calculates on any possession, even for his own life: and he thinks,
besides, it is irreligious to erect any thing like a permanent dwelling for his own use
on the earth. Hence it is, that while wooden frame-work houses have long since been
laid aside in Europe, a Turk, with Oriental pertinacity, still clings to them; and hence
it is that fires are so frequent, and that they consume not merely houses and streets, but
whole towns, and are never extinguished till the inflammable materials are exhausted.
GUIUK-SUEY,
(SWEET WATERS OF ASIA.)
" Sweet Waters" is a translation of the French eaux douces, and does not imply that
they are distinguished by any remarkable purity or sweetness of taste, but simply that
they are not salt. Two rivulets are so named by the Franks, one in Europe and the
other in Asia; and they both flow through flat alluvial soils, and are generally muddy
and dirty. Their banks, however, in summer are rich and verdant, enamelled with
flowers, and are places of resort, where gay and festive parties of Turks, Franks, and
Rayas meet for recreation. That in Asia is the place represented in the illustration.
It is situated on the shores of the Bosphorus, near the Anadoli Hissar, or Asiatic
castle, in a verdant meadow, through which the river meanders. Here the Sultan has a
kiosk to which he retires in summer, to practise archery or shooting with a rifle, and
amuse himself with various sports, some very coarse, where buffoonery of a very indelicate kind forms the principal part of the entertainment. This kiosk is represented in
the back-ground of the illustration. This retreat of the sultan attracts great crowds of
his subjects, particularly on the evening of Friday, the Turkish sabbath. Those who
resort from the European shore come in caiques; those from the Asiatic in arrhubas.
This carriage, peculiar to Turkey, forms a conspicuous object in the plate. The general
shape is a flooring of planks laid upon high wheels, without springs: on this are
erected pillars supporting a canopy of wood, from which descend fringed curtains of
silk or rich stuff. The body and canopy are sometimes highly carved and gilded: |
