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OF THE FIRST VOLUME.

The Golden Horn--Stamboul in Snow--The Sera? Bournou--Scutari--Galata--First View of Constantinople--St. Sophia and Solimani?--Pera--Domestication of Aquatic Birds--Sounds at Sea--Ca?ques--Oriental Grouping--Armenian Costume--Reforms of Sultan Mahmoud--Dervishes--Eastern Jews--Evening--Illuminated Minarets--Romance versus Reason--Pain at Parting--Custom House of Galata--The East versus the West--Reminiscences of the Marseillois Functionaries--The British Consul at Marseilles--The Light-house at Syra--The Frank Quarter--Diplomatic Atmosphere--Straw Huts--Care of the Turks for Animals--Scene from Shakspeare Page 1

Difficulty of Ingress to Turkish Houses--Steep Streets--The Harem--The Tandour--The Mangal--The Family--Female Costume--Luxurious Habits--The Ramazan--The Dining-room--The Widow--The Dinner--The Turks not Gastronomers--Oriental Hospitality--Ceremony of Ablution--The Massaldjhe--Alarm in the Harem--The Prayer--Evening Offering--Puerile Questions--Opium--Primitive Painting--Splendid Beds--Avocations of a Turkish Lady--Oriental Coquetry--Shopping--Commercial Flirtations--The Sultana Heyb?toullah--A Turkish Carriage--The Charshees--Armenian Merchants--Greek Speculators--Perfumes and Embroidery 16

Turning Dervishes--Appearance of the Teki?--The Mausoleum--Duties of the Dervishes--Chapel of the Convent--The Chief Priest--Dress of the Brotherhood--Melancholy Music--Solemnity of the Service--Mistakes of a Modern Traveller--Explanation of the Ceremony--The Prayer--The Kiss of Peace--Appearance of the Chapel--Religious Tolerance of the Turks--The French Renegade--Sketch of Halet Effendi, The Founder of the Teki? 40

Merchants of Galata--Palaces of Pera--Picturesque Style of Building--The Perotes--Social Subjects--Greeks, European and Schismatic--Ambassadorial Residences--Entr?e of the Embassies--The Carnival--Soir?es Dansantes--The Austrian Minister--Madame la Baronne--The Russian Minister--Madame de Boutenieff--The Masked Ball--Russian Supremacy--The Prussian Plenipotentiary--The Sardinian Charg? d'Affaires--Diplomacy Unhoused--Society of Pera 56

The Greek Carnival--Kassim Pasha--The Marine Barrack--The Admiralty--Palace of the Capitan Pasha--Turkish Ships and Turkish Sailors--More Mistakes--Aqueduct of Justinian--The Sera?--The Arsenal--The "Sweet Waters"--The Fanar--Interior of a Greek House--Courteous Reception--Patriarchal Customs--Greek Ladies at Home--Confectionary and Coffee--A Greek Dinner--Ancient and Modern Greeks--A Few Words on Education--National Politeness--The Great Logotheti Aristarchi--His Politics--Sketch of his Father--His Domestic History--A Greek Breakfast--The Morning after a Ball--Greek Progress towards Civilization--Parallel between the Turk and the Greek 65

Difficulty of Obtaining an Insight into Turkish Character--Inconvenience of Interpreters--Errors of Travellers--Ignorance of Resident Europeans--Fables and Fable-mongers--Turkey, Local and Moral--Absence of Capital Crime--Police of Constantinople--Quiet Streets--Sedate Mirth--Practical Philosophy of the Turks--National Emulation--Impossibility of Revolution--Mahmoud and his People--Unpopularity of the Sultan--Russian Interference--Vanity of the Turks--Russian Gold--Tenderness of the Turks to Animals--Penalty for Destroying a Dog--The English Sportsman--Fondness of the Turks for Children--Anecdote of the Reiss Effendi--Adopted Children--Love of the Musselmauns for their Mothers--Turkish indifference to Death--Their Burial-places--Fasts--The Turks in the Mosque--Contempt of the Natives for Europeans--Freedom of the Turkish Women--Inviolability of the Harem--Domestic Economy of the Harem--Turkish Slaves--Anecdote of a Slave of Achmet Pasha--Cleanliness of Turkish Houses--The Real Romance of the East 86

Bath-room of Scodra Pasha--Fondness of the Eastern Women for the Bath--The Outer Hall--The Proprietress--Female Groups--The Cooling-room--The Great Hall--The Fountains--The Bathing Women--The Dinner--Apology for the Turkish Ladies 129

Cheerful Cemeteries--Burial-ground of Pera--Superiority of the Turkish Cemeteries--Cypresses--Singular Superstition--The Grand Champs--Greek Grave-yard--Sultan Selim's Barrack--Village of St. Demetrius--European Burial-ground--Grave-stones--The Kiosk--Noble View--Legend of the Maiden's Tower--Plague Hospital of the Turks--The Plague-Ca?que--Armenian Cemetery--Curious Inscriptions--Turkish Burial-place--Distinctive Head-stones--Graves of the Janissaries--Wild Superstition--Cemetery of Scutari--Splendid Cypresses--Ancient Prophecy--Extent of Burial-ground--The Headless Dead--Exclusive Enclosures--Aspect of the Cemetery from the Summer Palace of Heyb?toullah Sultane--Local Superstition--The Damn?d Souls 138

Character of the Constantinopolitan Greeks--The Greek Colony at the Fanar--Vogoride, Logotheti, and Angiolopolo--Political Sentiment--Chateaubriand at the Duke de Rovigo's--Biting Criticism--Greek Chambers--"What's in a Name?"--Custom of Burning Perfumes--The Pastille of the Seraglio--Turkish Cosmetics--Eastern Beauty 157

The Kourban-Ba?ram--Politeness of Mustafa Effendi--Depressing Recollections--Unquiet Night--Midnight March--Turkish Coffee--A Latticed Araba--The Mosque of Sultan Achmet--Beautiful coup-d'oeil--Dress of the Turkish Children--Restlessness of the Franks--The Festival of Sacrifice--Old Jewish Rite--The Turkish Wife--Sun-rise--Appearance of the Troops--Turkish Ladies--Group of Field Officers--The Sultan's Stud--Magnificent Trappings--The Seraskier Pasha--The Great Officers of State--The Procession--The Sultan--Imperial Curiosity--The Ch??k-Islam--Costume of the Sultan--Japanese Superstition--Vanity of Sultan Mahmoud--The Hairdresser of Halil Pasha--Rapid Promotion--Oriental Salutations--Halil Pasha--Sa?d Pasha--Unruly Horses--The Valley of the "Sweet Waters"--Pera 171

The Military College--Achmet Pasha and Azmi Bey--Study of Azmi Bey--His grateful Memories of England and the English--The Establishment--The Lithographic Presses--Extemporaneous Poetry--Halls of Study--Number of Students--Mathematical Hall--The Sultan's Gallery--The Mosque--The Mufti--The Turkish Creed--The Imperial Closet--The Gallery of the Imperial Suite--The Retiring-Room--The Printing-Office--The Hospital--The Refectory--The Professor of Fortification--Negro Officers--Moral Condition of the College--Courtesy of the Officers--Deficiencies of the Professors--The Turks a Reading People--Object of the Institution--Reasons of its Failure--Smiling Enemies--Forlorn Hope--Russian Influence--Saduk Agha--Achmet Pasha--Azmi Bey--Apology for my Prolixity 194

Invitation from Mustapha Pasha of Scodra--The Ca?que, and the Ca?quejhes--How to Travel in a Ca?que--Hasty Glances--Self-Gratulation--Scutari--Imperial Superstition--The Seraglio Point--Dolma Batch?--Beshiktash--The Turning Dervishes--Begli?rbey--The Kiosks--A Dilemma--A Ruined Palace--An Introduction--A Turkish Beauty--A Discovery--A New Acquaintance--The Buyuk Hanoum--Fatiguing Walk--Palace of Mustapha Pasha--The Harem--Turkish Dyes--Ceremonies of Reception--Turkish Establishment--The Buyuk Hanoum--Turkish Chaplets--The Imperial Firman--Pearls, Rubies, and Emeralds--The Favourite Odalique--Heymin? Hanoum--A Conversation on Politics--Scodra Pasha--Singular Coincidence--Convenience of the Turkish Kitchen--Luxury of the Table--Coquetry of the Chibouk--Turkish Mode of Lighting the Apartments--Gentleness towards the Slaves--Interesting Reminiscences--Domestic Details--Dilaram Hanoum--A Paragraph on Pearls--A Turkish Mirror--A Summons--Scodra Pasha--Motives for Revolt--The Imperial Envoy--Submission--Ready Wit of the Pasha's Son--The Reception Room--Personal Appearance of the Scodra Pasha--Inconvenient Courtesy--Conversation on England--Philosophy--Pleasant Dreams--The Plague-Smitten 216

Procession of Betrothal--Preliminary Ceremonies--The Mantle of Mahomet--The Palace of the Seraskier Pasha--The Palace Square--Picturesque Groups--An Interior--Turkish Children--Oriental Curiosity--Costume of the Turkish Children--Military Music--The Procession--Hurried Departure of the Crowd--The Seraskier's Tower--The Fire Guard--Candidates for the Imperial Bride--Imperial Expedient--Sa?d Pasha--Policy of the Seraskier--An Audience--The Biter Bitten--Ingenious Ruse--Sublime Economy--Brilliant Traffic--The Danger of Delay--The Marriage Gifts--An Interesting Interview 255

Turkish Superstitions--Auguries--The Court Astrologer--The Evil Eye--Danger of Blue Eyes--Imperial Firman--The Babaluk--The Ceremony--Sable Pythonesses--Witchcraft 289

Imperial Invitation--Disagreeable Adventure--Executed Criminal--Efficacy of Wayside Executions--Tardy Conversions--Mistaken Humanity--Summary Mode of Execution--The Palace of Asm? Sultane--Entrance of the Harem--Costume of the Slaves--Nazip Hanoum--Ceremonious Reception--The Adopted Daughter--Costume of the Ladies of the Sera?--Beauty of the Slaves--Extraordinary Arrangement--Rejected Addresses--The Imperial Lover--Sacredness of Adoption in Turkey--Romantic Correspondence--Ladies of the Household--The Mother of the Slaves--Perouss? Hanoum--Crowded Audience--The Imperial Odalique--Music of the Harem--The New Pet--The Kislar-Agha--The "Light of the Harem"--The Poetical Sultan--Indisposition of the Sultana--The Palace Gardens--The Imperial Apartments--The Dancing Girl--Reluctant Departure--Ballad by Perouss? Hanoum 298

Kahaitchana--The Barbyses--The Valley of the Sweet Waters--Imperial Procession--National Interdict--Picturesque Scene--The Princess Salih? and her Infant--Forbearance of the Sultan--The Toxopholites--Imperial Monopoly--Passion of the Sultan for Archery--Record-Columns--The Odalique's Grave--The Lost One--Azm? Sultane--Imperial Courtesy--A Drive through the Valley 321

Feasting after Fasting--Visit to the Patriarch--Gorgeous Procession--Inconvenient Enthusiasm--Indisposition of the Patriarch--The Ceremony of Unrobing--The Impromptu Fair--The Patriarch at Home--The Golden Eggs 353

High Street of Pera--Dangers and Donkeys--Travelling in an Araba--Fondness of the Orientals for their Cemeteries--Singular Spectacle--Moral Supineness of the Armenians--M. Nubar--The Fair--Armenian Dance--Anti-Exclusives--Water Venders--Being ? la Franka--Wrestling Rings--The Battle of the Sects 360

The Mosques at Midnight--Baron Rothschild--Firmans and Orders--A Proposition--Masquerading--St. Sophia by Lamplight--The Congregation--The Mosque of Sultan Achmet--Colossal Pillars--Return to the Harem--The Ch??k-Islam--Count Bathiany--The Party--St. Sophia by Daylight--Erroneous Impression--Turkish Paradise--Piety of the Turkish Women--The Vexed Traveller--Disappointment--Confusion of Architecture--The Sweating Stone--Women's Gallery--View from the Gallery--Gog and Magog at Constantinople--The Impenetrable Door--Ancient Tradition--Leads of the Mosque--Gallery of the Dome--The Doves--The Atmeidan--The Tree of Groans--The Mosque of Sultan Achmet--Antique Vases--Historical Pulpit--The Inner Court--The Six Minarets--The Mosque of Solimani?--Painted Windows--Ground-plan of the Principal Mosques--The Treasury of Solimani?--Mausoleum of Solyman the Magnificent--Model of the Mosque at Mecca--Mausoleums in General--Indispensable Accessories--The Medresch--Mosque of Sultan Mahmoud at Topphann? 373

Antiquities of Constantinople--Ism?el Effendi--The Atmeidan--The Obelisk--The Delphic Tripod--The Column of Constantine--The Tchernberl? Tasch--The Cistern of the Thousand and One Columns--The Boudroum--The Roman Dungeons--Y?r?-Batan-Sera?--The Lost Traveller--Extent of the Cistern--Aqueduct of Justinian--Palace of Constantine--Tomb of Heraclius--The Seven Towers--An Ambassador in Search of Truth--Tortures of the Prison--A Legend of the Seven Towers 405

Baloucl?--The New Church--Delightful Road--Eyoub--The Cemetery--The Rebel's Grave--The Mosque of Blood--The Hill of Graves--The Seven Towers--The Palace of Belisarius--The City Walls--Easter Festivities--The Turkish Araba--The Armenian Carriage--Travellers--Turkish Women--Seridjhes--Persians--Irregular Troops--The Plain of Baloucl?--Laughable Mistake--Extraordinary Discretion--The Church of Baloucl?--The Holy Well--Absurd Tradition--The Chapel Vault--Enthusiasm of the Greeks--A Pleasant Draught--Greek Substitute for a Bell--Violent Storm 434

Figurative Gratitude of the Seraskier Pasha--Eastern Hyperbole--Reminiscences of Past Years--A Vision Realized--Strong Contrasts--The Marriage F?tes--Popular Excitement--Crowded Streets--The Auspicious Day--Extravagant Expectations--The Great Cemetery--Dolma Batch?--The Grand Armoury--Turkish Women--Tents of the Pashas--The Bosphorus--Preparations--Invocation--The Illuminated Bosphorus--A Stretch of Fancy--A Painful Recollection--Natural Beauties of the Bosphorus--The Grave-Yard--Evening Amusements--Well Conducted Population 446

Succession of Banquets--The Ch??k Islam and the Clergy--Sectarian Prejudices--The Military Staff--The Naval Chiefs--The Imperial Household--The Pashas--The Grand Vizier--Magnificent Procession--Night Scene on the Bosphorus--The Palace of the Seraskier Pasha--Palace of Azm? Sultane--Midnight Serenade--Pretty Truants--The Shore of Asia--Ambassadorial Banquet--War Dance--Beautiful Effects of Light 478

Monotonous Entertainments--Bridal Preparations--Common Interest--Appearance of the Surrounding Country--Ride to Arnautkeui--Sight-loving Ladies--Glances and Greetings--Pictorial Grouping--The Procession--The Trousseau--A Steeple-Chase 488

The Bridal Day--Ceremony of Acceptance--The Crowd--The Kislar Agha and the Court Astrologer--Order of the Procession--The Russian Coach--The Pasha and the Attach?s--The Seraskier--Wives of the Pashas--The Sultan and the Georgian Slave 500

A New Rejoicing--Scholastic Processions--Change in the Valley--The Odalique's Grave--The Palace of Eyoub--The State Apartments--Return to Pera 509

PAGE

Military College 196

Palace of the Sweet Waters 324

A Street in Pera 361

Column of Constantine and Egyptian Tripod 407

The Seven Towers 421

THE CITY OF THE SULTAN.

It was on the 30th of December, 1835, that we anchored in the Golden Horn; my long-indulged hopes were at length realized, and the Queen of Cities was before me, throned on her peopled hills, with the silver Bosphorus, garlanded with palaces, flowing at her feet!

It was with difficulty that I could drag myself upon deck after the night of intense suffering which I had passed in the sea of Marmora, and, when I did succeed in doing so, the vessel was already under the walls of the Seraglio garden, and advancing rapidly towards her anchorage. The atmosphere was laden with snow, and I beheld Stamboul for the first time clad in the ermine mantle of the sternest of seasons. Yet, even thus, the most powerful feeling that unravelled itself from the chaos of sensations which thronged upon me was one of unalloyed delight. How could it be otherwise? I seemed to look on fairy-land--to behold the embodiment of my wildest visions--to be the denizen of a new world.

Queenly Stamboul! the myriad sounds of her streets came to us mellowed by the distance; and, as we swept along, the whole glory of her princely port burst upon our view! The gilded palace of Mahmoud, with its glittering gate and overtopping cypresses, among which may be distinguished the buildings of the Sera?, were soon passed; behind us, in the distance, was Scutari, looking down in beauty on the channel, whose waves reflected the graceful outline of its tapering minarets, and shrouded themselves for an instant in the dark shadows of its funereal grove. Galata was beside us, with its mouldering walls and warlike memories; and the vessel trembled as the chain fell heavily into the water, and we anchored in the midst of the crowd of shipping that already thronged the harbour. On the opposite shore clustered the painted dwellings of Constantinople, the party-coloured garment of the "seven hills"--the tall cypresses that overshadowed her houses, and the stately plane trees, which more than rivalled them in beauty, bent their haughty heads beneath the weight of accumulated snows. Here and there, a cluster of graceful minarets cut sharply against the sky; while the ample dome of the mosque to which they belonged, and the roofs of the dwellings that nestled at their base, lay steeped in the same chill livery. Eagerly did I seek to distinguish those of St. Sophia, and the smaller but far more elegant Solimani?, the shrine of the Prophet's Beard, with its four minarets, and its cloistered courts; and it was not without reluctance that I turned away, to mark where the thronging houses of Pera climb with magnificent profusion the amphitheatre of hills which dominate the treasure-laden port.

As my gaze wandered along the shore, and, passing by the extensive grove of cypresses that wave above the burying-ground, once more followed the course of the Bosphorus, I watched the waves as they washed the very foundation of the dwellings that skirt it, until I saw them chafing and struggling at the base of the barrack of Topphann?, and at intervals flinging themselves high into the air above its very roof.

To an European eye, the scene, independently of its surpassing beauty and utter novelty, possessed two features peculiarly striking; the extreme vicinity of the houses to the sea, which in many instances they positively overhang; and the vast number of aquatic fowl that throng the harbour. Seagulls were flying past us in clouds, and sporting like domestic birds about the vessel, while many of the adjoining roofs were clustered with them; the wild-duck and the water-hen were diving under our very stern in search of food; and shoals of porpoises were every moment rolling by, turning up their white bellies to the light, and revelling in safety amid the sounds and sights of a mighty city, as though unconscious of the vicinity of danger. How long, I involuntarily asked myself, would this extraordinary confidence in man be repaid by impunity in an English port? and the answer was by no means pleasing to my national pride.

As I looked round upon the shipping, the language of many lands came on the wind. Here the deep "Brig a-hoy!" of the British seaman boomed along the ripple; there, the shrill cry of the Greek mariner rang through the air: at intervals, the full rich strain of the dark-eyed Italian relieved the wild monotonous chant of the Turk; while the cry of the sea-boy from the rigging was answered by the stern brief tones of the weather-beaten sailor on the deck.

Thus far, I could compare the port of Constantinople to nothing less delightful than poetry put into action. The novel character of the scenery--the ever-shifting, picturesque, and graceful groups--the constant flitting past of the fairy-like ca?ques--the strange tongues--the dark, wild eyes--all conspired to rivet me to the deck, despite the bitterness of the weather.

Evening came--and the spell deepened. We had arrived during the Turkish Ramazan, or Lent, and, as the twilight gathered about us, the minarets of all the mosques were brilliantly illuminated. Nothing could exceed the magical effect of the scene; the darkness of the hour concealed the outline of the graceful shafts of these etherial columns, while the circles of light which girdled them almost at their extreme height formed a triple crown of living diamonds. Below these depended shifting figures of fire, succeeding each other with wonderful rapidity and precision: now it was a house, now a group of cypresses, then a vessel, or an anchor, or a spray of flowers; and these changes were effected, as I afterwards discovered, in the most simple and inartificial manner. Cords are slung from minaret to minaret, from whence depend others, to which the lamps are attached; and the raising or lowering of these cords, according to a previous design, produces the apparently magic transitions which render the illuminations of Stamboul unlike those of any European capital.

But I can scarcely forgive myself for thus accounting in so matter-of-fact a manner for the beautiful illusions that wrought so powerfully on my own fancy. I detest the spirit which reduces every thing to plain reason, and pleases itself by tracing effects to causes, where the only result of the research must be the utter annihilation of all romance, and the extinction of all wonder. The flowers that blossom by the wayside of life are less beautiful when we have torn them leaf by leaf asunder, to analyze their properties, and to determine their classes, than when we first inhale their perfume, and delight in their lovely tints, heedless of all save the enjoyment which they impart. The man of science may decry, and the philosopher may condemn, such a mode of reasoning; but really, in these days of utilitarianism, when all things are reduced to rule, and laid bare by wisdom, it is desirable to reserve a niche or two unprofaned by "the schoolmaster," where fancy may plume herself unchidden, despite the never-ending analysis of a theorising world!

My continued indisposition compelled my father and myself to remain another day on board; but I scarcely felt the necessity irksome. All was so novel and so full of interest around me, and my protracted voyage had so thoroughly inured me to privation and inconvenience, that I was enabled to enjoy the scene without one regret for land. The same shifting panorama, the same endless varieties of sight and sound, occupied the day; and the same magic illusions lent a brilliancy and a poetry to the night.

Smile, ye whose exclusiveness has girdled you with a fictitious and imaginary circle, beyond which ye have neither sympathies nor sensibilities--smile if ye will, as I declare that when the moment came in which I was to quit the good brig, that had borne us so bravely through storm and peril--the last tangible link between ourselves and the far land that we had loved and left--I almost regretted that I trod her snow-heaped and luggage-cumbered deck for the last time; and that, as the crew clustered round us, to secure a parting look and a parting word, a tear sprang to my eye. How impossible does it appear to me to forget, at such a time as this, those who have shared with you the perils and the protection of a long and arduous voyage! From the sturdy seaman who had stood at the helm, and contended with the drear and drenching midnight sea, to the venturous boy who had climbed the bending mast to secure the remnants of the shivered sail, every face had long been familiar to me. I could call each by name; nor was there one among them to whom I had not, on some occasion, been indebted for those rude but ready courtesies which, however insignificant in themselves, are valuable to the uninitiated and helpless at sea.

On the 1st of January, 1836, we landed at the Custom House stairs at Galata, amid a perfect storm of snow and wind; nor must I omit the fact that we did so without "let or hindrance" from the officers of the establishment. The only inquiry made was, whether we had brought out any merchandize, and, our reply being in the negative, coupled with the assurance that we were merely travellers, and that our packages consisted simply of personal necessaries, we were civilly desired to pass on.

This last demand rankles more than all with a British subject, who may quit his birth-place unquestioned, and who hugs himself with the belief that nothing pitiful or paltry can be connected with the idea of an Englishman by the foreigners among whom he is about to sojourn. He has to learn his error, and the opportunity is afforded to him at Marseilles, where the natives of every other country under Heaven are free to leave the port as they list, when they have satisfied the demands of the local functionaries; while the English alone have a special claimant in their own Consul, the individual appointed by the British government to "assist" and "protect" his fellow-subjects--by whom they are only let loose upon the world at the rate of six francs and a half a head! And for this "consideration" they become the happy possessors of a "Permission to Embark" from a man whom they have probably never seen, and who has not furthered for them a single view, nor removed a single difficulty. To this it may be answered that, had they required his assistance, they might have demanded it, which must be conceded at once, but, nevertheless, the success of their demand is more than problematical--and the arrangement is perfectly on a par with that of the Greeks in the island of Syra, who, when we cast anchor in their port, claimed, among other dues, a dollar and a half for the signal-light; and, on being reminded that there had been no light at the station for several previous nights, with the additional information that we had narrowly escaped wreck in consequence, coolly replied, that all we said was very true, but that there would shortly be a fire kindled there regularly--that they wanted money--and that, in short, the dollar and a half must be paid; but herefrom we at least took our departure without asking leave of our own Consul.

"Thick as the leaves on Valombrosa."

But, alas! on the 1st day of January, Pera, Galata, and their environs, were one huge snowball. As it was Friday, the Turkish Sabbath, and, moreover, a Friday of the Ramazan, every shop was shut; and the few foot passengers who passed us by hurried on as though impatient of exposure to so inclement an atmosphere. As most of the streets are impassable for carriages, and as the sedan-chairs which supply, however imperfectly, the place of these convenient articles, are all private property, we were e'en obliged to "thread our weary way" as patiently as we could--now buried up to our knees in snow, and anon immersed above our ancles in water, when we chanced to plunge into one of those huge holes which give so interesting an inequality to the surface of Turkish paving.

Nevertheless, despite the difficulties that obstructed our progress, I could not avoid remarking the little straw huts built at intervals along the streets, for the accommodation and comfort of the otherwise homeless dogs that throng every avenue of the town. There they lay, crouched down snugly, too much chilled to welcome us with the chorus of barking that they usually bestow on travellers: a species of loud and inconvenient greeting with which we were by no means sorry to dispense. In addition to this shelter, food is every day dispensed by the inhabitants to the vagrant animals who, having no specific owners, are, to use the approved phraseology of genteel alms-asking, "wholly dependent on the charitable for support." And it is a singular fact that these self-constituted scavengers exercise a kind of internal economy which almost appears to exceed the boundaries of mere instinct; they have their defined "walks," or haunts, and woe betide the strange cur who intrudes on the privileges of his neighbours; he is hunted, upbraided with growls and barks, beset on all sides, even bitten in cases of obstinate contumacy, and universally obliged to retreat within his own limits. Their numbers have, as I was informed, greatly decreased of late years, but they are still very considerable.

As we passed along, a door opened, and forth stepped the most magnificent-looking individual whom I ever saw: he had a costly cachemire twined about his waist, his flowing robes were richly furred, and he turned the key in the lock with an air of such blended anxiety and dignity, that I involuntarily thought of the Jew of Shakspeare; and I expected at the moment to hear him exclaim, "Shut the door, Jessica, shut the door, I say!" But, alas! he moved away, and no sweet Jessica flung back the casement to reply.

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