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Family of the Comneni
Isaak I., (Comnenus,) was crowned in 1057, and resigned in 1059. The name of Comnenus is one of the most distinguished of the Lower Empire.
Family of Ducas
Flavius Constantinus XI., (by some IX.) (Ducas,) was crowned in 1060, and died a natural death in 1066. During his reign Jerusalem was taken by the Turks and Saracens, William the Conqueror entered England, and the Norman dynasty began.
Eudocia was crowned in 1067, on the death of her husband, and reigned alone but one year. She was expelled from the palace, and lingered in obscurity till the time of Anna Comnena, who saw her alive in 1096.
Romanus IV., (Diogenes,) was crowned in 1068, and was killed in 1071. He had married Eudocia, and was nominated to the crown in prejudice of her sons. He was taken prisoner by the Turks, who scooped out his eyes; of which he died, covered with worms, and in extreme misery.
Michael VII.,(Parapinace,) crowned in 1071, and resigned in 1078, and retired to a monastery. He was called Parapinace because he had suffered the bushel of corn to be reduced to the size of a quart. He associated his two brothers with him in the empire, under the names of Andronicus I. and Constantine XII.
Nicephorus III., (Botoniates,) was crowned 1078: he resigned in 1081, and entered a monastery. In his reign, Doomsday Book began to be compiled in England, to ascertain the tenure of estates.
Restoration of the Family of Comnenus
Alexius I., (Comnenus,) was crowned in 1081, and died in 1118. He lived to the age of seventy-one, and reigned thirty-seven. His daughter, Anna Comnena, illustrated this era by her writings. The history of her father’s eventful reign is yet extant. In England, William Rufus and Henry I. were his contemporaries, and the first crusade commenced. Johannes II., (Comnenus,) Kalojohannes, began his reign in 1118, and died in 1143, of the wound of a poisoned arrow, accidentally inflicted by himself. He obtained the name of Kalojohannes for his personal beauty. His contemporary in England was Stephen.
Manuel I., (Comnenus,) was crowned in 1143, and died in 1180. In his reign the canon law was drawn up, and the second crusade commenced.
Alexius II., (Comnenus,) was crowned in 1180, and died in 1183. He was murdered by his successor Andronicus.
Andronicus I., (Comnenus,) was crowned in 1183, and died in 1185. He was cruelly put to death, also, by his successor, who caused his eyes to be put out, and his hands cut off, and then led him through the city, seated on a camel, when he was torn in pieces by the multitude.
Isaak II., (Angelus,) was crowned in 1185, and in 1195 his eyes were put out. In his reign the third crusade commenced. His contemporary in England was Richard I.
Alexius III., (Angelus) was crowned in 1195, and died in 1204. The deposition of his brother Isaak was the pretext to the Crusaders for the sack of Constantinople.
Isaak III., Alexius IV., Alexius V., (Ducas Mourzoufle,) 1203. In six months, five emperors were crowned at Constantinople; three were murdered, and two fled. Mourzoufle (so called from his dark eyebrows) was cast from the monument of Theodosius. The Crusaders took and sacked the city, and the empire was partitioned: Lascaris obtained Nicæa and Bythinia; Alexius, Trebisond; and Michael, Epirus.
Frank Family
Baldwin I., (Robert,) crowned in 1204. He was drawn into an ambush by the Greeks and Bulgarians, by whom some say he was cut to pieces. He never afterwards appeared. Aristotle’s works were now first brought from Constantinople, Ghengis Khan reigned in Tartary, and Magna Charta was extorted from king John in England.
Henry was called to the throne on the supposed death of his brother in 1206, and reigned 10 years.
Baldwin II. was crowned in 1228; deposed in 1261. He fled to Italy. The Latin dynasty was extinguished, and the Greek restored. The Inquisition was established in the Latin church. Henry III. reigned in England.
Family of the Palæologi
Michael VIII., (Palæologus) crowned in 1262; died in 1283. He was regent during the minority of John Lascaris, whom he put to death. He endeavoured to effect an union between the Greek and Latin churches without success. The Mamelukes now seized on Egypt. Edward I. reigned in England.
Andronicus II., (Palæologus,) was crowned in 1283, and abdicated in 1328. He retired to a monastery, where he lived to the age of seventy-four. The Turks seized on Bythinia, and Othman established his capital at Brusa. From him they are since called Ottomans, or Osmanli. Edward II. reigned in England.
Andronicus III., (Palæologus,) crowned in 1328, having deposed his grandfather, with whom he had been associated. He died of an irregular life in 1341. Edward III. reigned in England.
Johannes III., (Cantacuzene,) was crowned in 1342, and abdicated in 1355. He retired, with his wife, to a monastery, where he lived till 1411. He there composed the “History of his own Time,” which is still extant. In his reign the Turks first entered Europe.
Johannes IV., (Palæologus,) was crowned on his father Andronicus’s death, in 1341, and died in 1391. In his reign Amurath took Adrianople, and established a capital in Europe. Richard II. reigned in England.
Manuel II., (Palæologus,) was crowned sole emperor in 1391, and died in 1425. In his reign, Bajazet laid siege to Constantinople, which was raised by Tamerlane. Henry IV. and Henry V. reigned in England.
Johannes V., (Palæologus,) crowned sole emperor in 1425, and died of the gout in 1448. In his reign the art of printing was first discovered in Europe. Henry VI. was his contemporary of England.
Constantinus XIII., by some XI., (Palæologus,) was crowned in 1448, and killed in 1453. Mohammed took the city of Constantinople, and put an end to the Greek empire. Constantine had two brothers−Demetrius, who basely submitted to slavery, and permitted his daughter to be received into the conqueror’s harem; and Thonas, who made vigorous efforts to rescue Greece from the Ottoman power. He finally retired to Italy. His children proceeded to England, where he died: and the ashes of the last of the family of the Greek dynasty repose among the free in Britain, where their monument is still to be seen in Llanulph Church in Cornwall. It is remarkable, that the first Christian emperor of the East was born, and the descendants of the last, repose in England.
TURKISH DYNASTY
Mahomet II., (Fatih,) He was proclaimed sultan in 1451, and took possession of Constantinople on the memorable 29th of May, 1453. He died of a colic in 1481. The title of Fatih, or “the Conqueror” was given to him on the occasion, as opening a way into the Christian capital. He prepared an epitaph to be placed on his tomb, containing the names of all the kings, countries, and cities he had conquered. His contemporary in England was Edward IV.
Bajazet II. He was proclaimed in 1481, and ceased to reign in 1512. His son Selim had appointed for him a place of retreat such as he wished, but in the meantime had corrupted his physician, who poisoned him at Tzurallo. His contemporaries in England were Edward V., Richard III., Henry VII., and Henry VIII.
Selim I. (Yavuz) began his reign in 1512, and died of a fever in 1520. His contemporary in England was Henry VIII.
Soliman I. (by some II.) (Kanuni) began his reign in 1520; and terminated it in 1566. He is generally called in Europe the “Magnificent,” but by Turks, Kanuni, or the “Institutor,” as he drew up a list of institutes by which the kingdom was afterwards to be governed, instead of those traditions which had before been their unwritten law. His contemporaries in England were, Henry VIII., Edward VI., Mary, and Elizabeth.
Selim II. succeeded his father Soliman in 1566; he died in 1574. Contrary to the usual temperament of a Turkish sovereign, he was fond of peace, and sighed for repose, particularly after the loss of the terrible battle of Lepanto, in which Cervantes lost an arm. His contemporary in England was Elizabeth.
Amurath III. succeeded his father Selim in 1574; and died in 1595; a victim to melancholy and a morbid imagination. The discharge of a cannon broke the windows of his kiosk, as he reclined on his divan. Supposing that this portended his death, he died in a fever under that impression. His contemporary in England was Elizabeth, who wrote him a Latin letter.
Mohammed III. succeeded to the throne on the death of his father Mohammed in 1595; he died in 1603. He drowned all the odalisks, or female slaves, of the seraglio, suspected of pregnancy, and put to death nineteen of his brothers on the first day of his elevation. He, from policy, was advised by his mother to affect a dissipated life, and contracted a habit which he could not afterwards get rid of. He died prematurely of excess. His only contemporary in England was Elizabeth.
Achmet I. came to the throne in 1603; and died in 1607. He escaped the fate usually attendant on a younger brother in Turkey, by the premature death of his elder. His life was attempted by a Dervish, who hurled a large stone on him from the roof of a house, which bruised his shoulder. He supposed that dogs communicated the plague, and he ordered them all to be killed; but the mufti saved them, by affirming that every dog had a soul. His contemporary in England was James I.
Osman, or Othman II. succeeded his father Achmet in 1617; he was strangled by the janissaries in 1621, at the early age of nineteen years. A meteoric phenomenon, which assumed the appearance of a huge cymeter, was seen in the sky in his reign for a month, which the Turks were persuaded portended to them the conquest of the world. Charles I. was his contemporary in England.
Mustapha I. was dragged from prison, and set on the throne by the janissaries in 1621, on the death of his nephew Osman. In 1623 he was compelled to resign by the turbulent janissaries, and re-entered the prison from which they had taken him. James I. reigned in England.
Amurath IV. began his reign in 1624; and ended it in 1640; having hastened his death by an intemperate use of wine and ardent spirits, so as to break down a strong constitution at the age of thirty-one. He had conceived the extraordinary projects of extinguishing the Ottoman race, by putting his brother Ibrahim to death; but his own death anticipated his intention. He annexed Bagdad to the empire. In his reign, Cyril Lascaris, the Greek patriarch, published, at the patriarchal press, a confession of eighteen articles, declaring the faith of the Greeks on these points, similar to that of the reformed church in Europe. The contemporary reign in England was that of Charles I.
Ibrahim, succeeded his brother in 1640, and was strangled by the janissaries in 1668. He was a miserable-looking man, had a pale visage, scanty beard, seamed with the small-pox, mean appearance, spare person, hypochondriac, and subject to the falling sickness. His contemporary in England was Charles I.
Mohammed IV. the son of Ibrahim, ascended the throne in 1648, at the age of seven years. He was deposed in 1687, and shut up in the seraglio, where he lingered in solitude four years. In the year 1666, in this reign, Sabathi Levi, or Sevi, appeared in Palestine as the expected Messiah, and was invited to Constantinople by the sultan, who promised to restore Jerusalem. Multitudes of people, both Turks and Jews, believed on him. Among other miracles, he professed to be invulnerable; but when he was set up as a mark to be shot at, his courage failed, and he confessed the imposture. Contemporary governments in England, “the Commonwealth,” Charles II.
Soliman II. (III.) brother to the former, succeeded in 1687; and died in 1691, of a dropsy. He was austere and indisposed to accept the throne. He passed his whole time in studying the koran. In his reign Lewin Warner, the Dutch ambassador at the Port, caused the Bible to be translated at Constantinople into the Turkish language. The MS. remained from that time shut up in the University of Leyden, till it was discovered, and lately published by the British and Foreign Bible Society. Some copies were circulated among the Turks of Constantinople in the year 1824, which caused a firman to be issued for their suppression. English sovereigns, Charles II., James II.
Achmet II. the younger brother of Mohammed, succeeded to the throne in 1691; he died in 1695. His mind was mean and powerless, and his person bloated: he had large staring eyes, and a very long nose. Contemporaries in England, William and Mary.
Mustapha II. brother to Achmet, succeeded him in 1695; he abdicated the throne in 1703. His contemporaries in England were William III. and Anne.
Achmet III. the brother of Mustapha, succeeded in 1703; after a reign of twenty-seven years of prosperity, he too was compelled by the turbulent janissaries, to abdicate the throne in 1730; the third whom the caprice of the people had dethroned in fifty years. His contemporaries in England were Anne, George I., and George II.
Mahmoud I., or Mohammed V., the nephew of Achmet, succeeded in 1730; he died in 1754, after a mild reign of twenty-four years. He was condescending and humble, and much regretted. It is a precept of Islamism, that every man should be prepared for his destiny, and able to support it by some useful employment. Many sultans were mechanics, and so was Mahmoud; he was a cunning worker in ivory, which he wrought with a dexterity far exceeding that of a Turk. His contemporary in England was George II.
Othman III. the brother of Mahmoud, succeeded him in 1754; he died in 1757. His reign was distinguished by the persevering and sanguinary efforts of the Russians to effect their great object of advancing to Constantinople, by urging the Greeks to insurrection. His contemporary in England was George II.
Mustapha III. (Gazi,) nephew of Othman, and son of Achmet III., began his reign in 1757; and died in 1776. His uncle had administered poison to himself and two brothers; they perished, but he survived, and ever after retained the traces of it. The approximation of Turks to European habits and improvements, began with him. He ordered Boerhaave and Machiavel to be translated into Turkish, and commanded his son to be inoculated; and he founded a library and an academy. He made vigorous efforts against the Russians, and was thus called Gazi, “The Victorious.” George III. reigned in England.
Abdul Hamed, the last of the sons of Achmet III. succeeded in 1776; he died in 1789. His reign, like his predecessors, was marked by the advance of the Russians to their great object. Sovereign in England, George III.
Selim III. the only son of Mustapha, succeeded in 1789, to the exclusion of the children of Abdul Hamed. He was deposed by the janissaries in 1807, and afterwards strangled for attempting to alter their discipline, and establish a nizam dgeddite, or new corps. He was an amiable and enlightened prince. Contemporary in England George III.
Mustapha IV. was the eldest son of Abdul Hamed, and succeeded in 1807; after a brief reign of one year, he too was deposed in 1808, and afterwards strangled. Sovereign in England George III.
Mahmoud II. or Mohammed VI. succeeded his brother in 1808. He extirpated the turbulent janissaries, remodelled the empire, and, amid more perils, perhaps, than ever sovereign encountered, he still reigns. He is the thirtieth monarch of the Ottoman dynasty, and the twenty-fourth on the throne of Constantinople, and has seen four fill the throne of England−George III., George IV., William IV., Victoria.
END OF HISTORICAL SKETCH
CONSTANTINOPLE AND ITS ENVIRONS
T. Allom. J. Cousen.
1. Mosque of Bajazet, 2. Seraskier’s Tower, 3. Yeni Jami, 4. Solimanie, 5. Mahomet, 6. Selim, 7. Tower of Galata
CONSTANTINOPLE, FROM THE GOLDEN HORN
The situations of Oriental cities, in general, possess advantages, in point of view, of which those in the west are deprived: London, Paris, Vienna, and St. Petersburg present only flat levels; and it is necessary to climb some impending height, to obtain a bird’s-eye view, so as to take in any portion except the first line of houses, and the tops of a few of the more lofty edifices which rise behind them. But in the East, every city has its Acropolis: some lofty eminence is chosen to build on, the summit of which is crowned with a fortress, and the sloping sides covered with streets and houses. In this way ancient towns are described by writers, who compare them to amphitheatres, with their streets, like the seats, rising one above the other. Constantinople participates in this advantage in an eminent degree.
The approach to this magnificent city, from the Sea of Marmora, is more beautiful, perhaps, than that of any other city in the world. Before the spectator lies a romantic archipelago of islands covered with pine, arbutus, and oak woods, from whence emerges, on every summit, some monastery of the Greek church. These lovely islets seem to float upon a sea generally calm and unruffled, and are beautifully reflected from a surface singularly pure and lucid. Beside them is the coast of Asia Minor, from which rises, at a distance, the vast contour of Mount Olympus, not, as the poet describes it, with “cloudy tops,” but usually unveiled and distinct; its flanks clothed with forests, and its summits crowned with eternal snows, glittering in sunlight, imparting to the heated atmosphere below an imagined feeling of refreshing coolness. In some states of the air, the effect of refraction is so deceptive, that the mountain seems almost to impend over the spectator.
From hence the coast sweeps round to the mouth of the Bosphorus, in a recess of which lies the town of Chalcedon. Beside it stretches, for more than three miles, the great cemetery of the Moslems, the most extensive, perhaps, in the world; and rising from the plain, and ascending the side of a hill, is the fine city of Scutari, associated with early historical recollections. It is of considerable extent, covering the inclined plain of the hill on which it is built, till the ascent is terminated by the lofty mountain of Bourgourloo, a detached portion of the great Bythinian chain. From thence a splendid view is commanded, including the romantic windings of the Bosphorus, almost for the whole extent of the strait, from the Euxine to the Propontis.
Below the promontory of Scutari, the Bosphorus rushes out with its rapid current, and, no longer confined within its narrow shores, expands itself into the open sea. The limpid torrent, like that of some great river tumbling down from its source, now wheels and boils, and creates such commotion that boats are oftentimes dangerously entangled.
On the European shore, and opposite to Scutari, two promontories project into the Bosphorus. The first is the peninsula of Pera, its lower part terminated by the ancient city of Galata, where the enterprising Genoese established one of their commercial marts under the Greek emperors, and where their language still attests their origin. The walls, with their ramparts and towers, are still entire; and the gates are nightly shut by the Turks with the same vigilant precaution as they were by their former masters. This is the crowded mart, where merchants of all nations have their stores and counting-houses, and which the active and busy genius of the Genoese still seems to animate.
The town of Pera occupies the elevated ridge of a high promontory between the harbour and the Bosphorus. On the spine of this eminence the European natives have established their residence. The merchants, whose stores and offices are below, have their dwelling-houses on this lofty and healthful elevation, to which they are seen climbing in groups every evening, when the business of the day is over. Their habitations form a strong contrast to those of the Turks. They are lofty, solid, and convenient, and from their height command a magnificent view of the circumjacent seas, with all their bays and islands. Here also the ambassadors of the different powers of Europe have their palaces, among which the British, before its destruction by fire, was the most beautiful and conspicuous.
Below the promontory of Pera, the noble harbour of “The Golden Horn” opens to the view, its entrance formed by the points of Galata and that of the seraglio. Here it is that ships of all nations are seen floating side by side, and indicating, by the peculiarity of their structure, the people to which they belong. But the most remarkable and characteristic are those which are sent from the different parts of the vast Turkish empire, in Europe, Asia, and Africa.
The enormous vessels that compose the Turkish fleet are the most conspicuous objects. Some of them rise out of the water with a length and breadth so imposing, as to excite wonder how a nation, so ignorant of maritime affairs, and limited in their commercial intercourse, could have built such stupendous specimens of naval architecture. Many of them carry 140 brass cannon, of a calibre so enormous on the lower deck, as to throw balls of 100 lbs. weight. They are navigated by crews of 2000 men, and seem capable of opening a cannonade that could instantly sink the largest opponent. The brightness of their guns of burnished brass, the freshness of their cordage, the snowy whiteness of their sails, the gaiety and richness of their painting, always fresh and bright, give an impression that the nation to which they belong must have brought the art of ship-building to the highest perfection. On the bow of each is a colossal lion, highly carved and naturally coloured, which presents the emblem of the Turkish empire in its most formidable attitude. The first impression made by these great engines of naval warfare, is the vast superiority they possess, and the hopelessness of any opposition to them. Yet they are utterly powerless in the unskilful hands that guide them. The Turks, like their predecessors the Persians, are impotent by sea; and as the ancient Greeks with ease destroyed the fleets of the one, so did the modern Greeks those of the other with their tiny ships. Their small craft, like fishing-boats, with decayed timbers, ragged sails, and rotten cordage, which are now sometimes seen in the harbour lying peaceably beside the Turkish men-of-war, were more than a match for those gorgeous but unmanageable masses; and their rusty iron guns, whose explosion sounded like the shot of a pistol in comparison, silenced the immense batteries of ordnance, that seemed capable of blowing a Greek island out of the water.
The galleys of Africa next attract attention; these are always summoned, and ready to join the naval armaments of their sovereign, like the military vassals of some feudal lord. Their habits of ferocity, though restrained, still continue; when attached to the Turkish fleet, they carry ruin and desolation wherever they sail. These allies destroyed, in Greece, whatever the less merciless Turks had spared, and would have utterly exterminated the remnant of that people, had not Christian Europe interfered.
Beside these pirate galleys of the Mediterranean, are to be seen moored the lofty merchantmen of the Euxine. The singular structure of these vessels is peculiar to the eastern coasts of the Black Sea, and has been preserved from the earliest times. These immense and unwieldy ships rise to a considerable height out of the water, both at the bow and the stern, and seem altogether incapable of resisting a gale of wind. They have seldom more than one mast and one immense mainsail, and seem to move with so infirm a balance, that they totter along through the water as if about to upset every moment. Approaching Constantinople, they are overtaken, late in the year, by the violent north-easter of the Melktem, or the misty weather that then prevails; and unable to make the narrow entrance of the Bosphorus, or bear up from a lee-shore, less skilful or less fortunate than the Argonauts, they are either dashed on the Cyanean rocks, or driven on the sands. Against this misfortune they adopt many superstitious precautions. Every vessel has a wreath of blue beads suspended from the prow, as a protection against the glance of an evil eye, which is supposed to expend itself on this amulet.
But the vessel which gives the “Golden Horn” its most distinctive character and striking feature, is the “light caïque,” It is impossible to conceive forms more elegant; from their levity and fragility, they have been compared to an egg-shell divided longitudinally, and drawn out at each end to a point. They project to a considerable elongation at the stem and stern, and, gracefully ascending from below, seem to touch the water only at a point. They are made of thin beech-plank, not grosser than the birch-bark of an Indian canoe, and finished with considerable care and neatness. The gunwale and sides are tastily carved with beads and various devices of Turkish sculpture, and the pure and polished wood is not defiled by paint. The exceeding levity of the materials of which the caïques are composed, the slight resistance they meet with in the water from the small surface in contact with it, and the great strength and dexterity of the caïquegees or boatmen who propel them, give them wonderful rapidity. The oars are not, like ours, confined in rullocks, emitting a harsh sound by their attrition, and impeding the stroke by their concussion; they are paddles of shaven beech, exactly poised by a protuberance on the handle to counteract the length of the blade, and bound to the gunwale by a single pin, with a thong of sheep-skin leather. This is constantly kept oiled, so that the stem slips freely and noiselessly through the loop, and the blade cuts the water with the whole collected strength of the rower. Each caïquegee pulls a pair of oars, and their skiffs glide along the surface with the speed, silence, and flexibility of a flight of swallows. The only objection to their structure is the difficulty of getting into them. If the passenger step on the stem or stern, his footing has no stability, as the boat has no hold of the water beneath the point of pressure: if he step on the gunwale, it turns over at once, as there is no keel to offer resistance. It requires therefore considerable caution to enter a caïque; and when this is effected, the passenger sits on the bottom, either at length or from side to side. Sometimes these unstable skiffs carry a sail, at the imminent hazard of upsetting. As they have neither keel, ballast, or rudder, the passenger must move hastily to the windward side, and watch to counterpoise the pressure of the sail. Caïques are the only ferry-boats to cross from shore to shore, and various wooden platforms, called iskelli, project from the beach for their accommodation. On each of these stands a venerable Turk with a long beard, and generally a badge, which denotes him to be a hadgee, or “pilgrim,” who has made a perilous journey to the tomb of the Prophet. He keeps order with his baton; and when you are safely deposited in the bottom of the boat, he gives you the pilgrim’s benediction−Allah smaladik, “I commend you to God.” From the constant and crowded intercourse between 700,000 people, inhabiting the peninsulas on both sides of the water, and each skiff taking no more than one or two passengers, the water is covered all day long with these caïques in constant motion. The passengers are clad in snow-white turbans, tall calpacs, and flowing pelisses, of scarlet or other dazzling colours, so that this ever-moving scene is a perpetual change of elegant forms and brilliant hues.
Mixing with them, and penetrating through the crowd, are daily seen the larger caïques, destined to convey the sultan, or some high dignitary, from the seraglio or the porte, to some palace or kiosk on the Bosphorus. These long galleys are propelled by sixteen or twenty pair of oars. They are ornamented by a long projecting prow, with various sculpture, curling over or about, and covered with the richest gilding. At the stem is a silken canopy, and within it the stately and solitary personage to whom it belongs. Below the canopy sits the Reis, the important person who guides it, with its valuable freight. This man is often chosen for his humour, with which the sultan is fond of amusing himself on his passage, like an European monarch, of old, with his fool; and he sometimes prefers him, for his talent in this way, to the first post in the empire. The Reis who most distinguished himself was the Delhi Abdallah. He had a loud voice, shouting out his words−a rude humour, very coarse−and a faculty of inventing new and extraordinary oaths and curses. After it was supposed that he had exhausted all the forms of imprecation, the sultan laid a wager one day that he could not invent a new one. To the great gratification of his master, he did so; and he was so pleased with his ingenuity, that he raised him at once from the state of a boatman on the Bosphorus to that of Capitan Pasha; and he who had never been on board a larger vessel than a caïque, now commanded the vast Turkish fleet. His first occupation was that of bostandgee, or gardener, at the seraglio. Such are the incongruous pursuits and rapid elevations of public men in Turkey.
Mixed with these light and elegant forms, are large, deep, and clumsy barges, rowed with long heavy sweeps, and filled with people of all nations crowded together. These are used for conveying persons to their residences in the villages along the shores of the Bosphorus. In a country where there are neither roads nor carriages, these boats are the only conveyance for the lower order of people. They are seen every evening slowly emerging from the harbour, filled with Turks, Jews, Armenians, Arabs, Greeks, and Franks, in all their variety of costumes, covered over with a cloud of tobacco-smoke from their several chibouques, and making the harbour resound with the loud and discordant jargon of the several tongues.
Within these few years a new feature has been added to the moving picture of the harbour. When steam-boats were adopted by all the nations of Europe, the tardy Turks alone rejected them. The currents of the Bosphorus constantly running down from the Black Sea with the velocity of four or five miles an hour, renders it extremely difficult for ships to ascend, unless assisted by a strong wind, and even with this aid they hardly stemmed the rapid stream. It was not uncommon to see lines of twenty or thirty men, with long cords passed over their shoulders, slowly dragging up pondrous merchantmen with a vast labour, which a single steamer would at once render unnecessary. It was among the first reforms of the sultan to introduce any European inventions which could assist human labour; and he not only encouraged the introduction of these boats, but he erected an arsenal in the harbour for building them by his own subjects. This spacious and novel ship-yard is under the superintendence of the laborious and patient Armenians, who are the great mechanics of the Turkish empire. Here they not only build the boats, but cast the machinery, which the stupid Moslems could not comprehend, till they saw their own sultan embark in the wonderful self-moving machine, that issued from their own arsenal, and swiftly climbed the rapids of the Bosphorus against both wind and tide.
