so irresistible an inducement to a contraband disposal of it, that the supply of Constantinople became precarious and scanty, and the city was in consequence disturbed by frequent tumults; the avoidance of which is generally such an object to the Porte, that their policy has always been rather to starve the provinces, than risk an increase of the price of this article in Constantinople.-The evil consequences of their short-sighted policy are every day becoming more apparent, and within a few years the prices of meat and of all the necessaries of life have been more than doubled in most parts of Turkey.

There is no city in the world, of which more frequent and laboured descriptions have been given, both by ancient and modern authors, than Constantinople. For a topographical account of it, I need only refer the reader to Gyllius and Chevalier, whose accuracy is most astonishing, when we consider the difficulties of examination and measurement, presented by the prejudices of the people; and the government, and manners, and the religious institutions of the Turks, are so copiously and exactly painted, the former in the chapters of Tournefort and Olivier, and the latter in D'Ohsson's compendious Picture of the Ottoman Empire, that, as they have undergone no change since the time of those travellers, it would be useless and sumptuous to enlarge upon the subject.

pre

Amid the novelties that strike the European on his arrival, nothing surprises him more than the silence that pervades so large a capital. He hears no noise of c

carriages rattling through the streets, for there are no wheeled vehicles in the city, except a very few painted carts-called arabahs-drawn by buffaloes, in which women occasionally take the air in the suburbs, and which go only a foot's pace. The only sounds he hears by day, are the cries of bread, fruits, sweetmeats, or sherbet, carried in a large wooden tray on the head of an itinerant vender, and at intervals the barking of dogs disturbed by the foot of the passenger. Attracted by the beauty of the prospect, and the advantages promised by the situation of the city, he is bitterly disappointed on walking through it, to find himself in streets roughly paved, if paved at all, encumbered with filth, and crowded with lazy ugly curs, of a reddish brown colour, with muzzles like that of a fox, short ears and famished looks, who lie in the middle of them, and only rise when roused by blows*. He is amused by the endless variety of turbans worn by the Turks he meets, (whose different situations are marked by the form and co

* These dogs are such intolerable nuisances, that even the Turks are sometimes roused from their apathy to adopt measures for diminishing their numbers. In the reign of Achmet I. (in 1613) the physicians having recommended their removal, lest they should communicate yet more widely the infection of the plague, at that time raging in the city, the Sultan consulted the Mufti on the lawfulness of killing them; but on his replying, that each dog had a soul, and therefore it was not lawful to take their lives, these admirable casuists collected them, and transported them to a desert island near Scutari, where they starved to death.

Mignot's History of the Ottoman Empire.

lour of their head-dress), and by the shapeless figures of the women, who are all covered with a large wrapper of crimson, blue, or green, cloth, and with folds of linen on their heads, which so completely hide the whole of their face, except the eyes and nose, that a Turk may pass his wife without recognising her.

The contrast between Constantinople and an European city, is still more strongly marked at night.By ten o'clock every human voice is hushed, and not a creature is seen in the streets, except a few patroles and the innumerable dogs, which being regarded as unclean animals by the Turks, have no other shelter than they can find under gateways and benches in the streets, whence at intervals they send forth such repeated howlings, that it requires practice to be able to sleep in spite of their noise.-This silence is occasionally and frequently disturbed by a fire, which is announced by the patrole striking on the pavement with their iron-shod staves, and calling loudly Yangencar, "There is a fire," on which the firemen, (mostly Janizaries) assemble, and all the inhabitants in the neighbourhood of the conflagration are immediately on the alert.-If it be not quickly subdued, all the ministers of state are obliged to attend, and if it threaten extensive ravages, the Sultan himself must appear, to encourage the efforts of the firemen.-The Turkish women who are assembled in crowds, choose this opportunity to reproach him for the faults of his government, and frequently even launch out into violent personal abuse of him.

1

T