| Transcript |
60 CONSTANTINOPLE AND ITS ENVIRONS;
all the shops are shut up, and their owners hurry to their respective residences; and
when the evening closes in, the streets are as dark and as silent as the grave. If a
Frank, following the usages of his country, remain at the house of a friend beyond the
limited hour, he is liable to be arrested by the Coolah guard, unless he be attended by
some lights. He often lights himself. He goes into a Baccue, or huckster's shop,
while it is open, and purchases for a few paras a circular fold of paper. This is a
lantern compressed into a flat surface, which may be elongated to the extent of half a
yard. He draws it out, places a light outside, attaches it to the end of his lon<*
chibouk, and smoking in this way, with the light thrust out before him, is protected, on
returning home through the streets, at any hour of the night.
The only places of public resort that seem in any way to remind him of the social
habits of a European city, are the taverns and coffee-houses. Even these are distinguished by customs peculiarly Oriental. The tavern is an open shop, where cooks are
employed in preparing different kinds of refreshment over small counters filled with red-
hot charcoal. Having passed these, he is shown into a dark room behind, or above,
through a narrow staircase. Here he sits down on a tattered straw mat, and a joint
stool is placed before him, on which is laid a clumsy metal tray; presently an attendant
comes with two dishes, of coarse brown earthenware, one containing a mess of thick,
heavy, greasy pancake, made of flour, and the other a skewer of kabobs. Kabobs are
small pieces of mutton, about the size of penny pieces, which they much resemble in
shape and colour, roasted on an iron needle, which is served up with them. There is no
napkin, no knife, fork, or spoon, no wine, beer, or spirits. The entertainment concludes
in about ten minutes with a glass of plain water, or, in extreme cases, a cup of sherbet.
The caffinet, or coffee-house, is something more splendid, and the Turk expends
all his notions of finery and elegance on this, his favourite place of indulgence. The
edifice is generally decorated in a very gorgeous manner, supported on pillars, and open
in front. It is surrounded on the inside by a raised platform, covered with mats or
cushions, on which the Turks sit cross-legged. On one side are musicians, generally
Greeks, with mandolins and tambourines, accompanying singers, whose melody consists
in vociferation; and the loud and obstreperous concert forms a strong contrast to the
stillness and taciturnity of Turkish meetings. On the opposite side are men, generally
of a respectable class, some of whom are found here every day, and all day long, dozing
under the double influence of coffee and tobacco. The coffee is served in very small
cups, not larger than egg-cups, grounds and all, without cream or sugar, and so black,
thick, and bitter, that it has been aptly compared to " stewed soot." Besides the
ordinary chibouk for tobacco, there is another implement, called narghillai, used for
smoking in a caffinet, of a more elaborate construction. It consists of a glass vase, filled
with water, and often scented with distilled rose or other flowers. This is surmounted with
a silver or brazen head, from which issues a long flexible tube; a pipe-bowl is placed
on the top, and so constructed that the smoke is drawn, and comes bubbling up through
the water, cool and fragrant to the mouth. A peculiar kind of tobacco, grown at Shiraz
in Persia, and resembling small pieces of cut leather, is used with this instrument. |
