Journal of a Visit to Constantinople and Some of the Greek Islands in the Spring and Summer of 1833

BEAUTIES OF STAMBOUL. We now sailed round the promontory of the Golden Horn, when all the beauties of Stamboul, Pera, the Bosphorus, and Scutari, burst suddenly upon the view. Looking towards the seraglio point is seen the richly gilded palace of the Sultan, with a gate that glitters as if formed of polished gold; and backed by a profusion of foliage, and the buildings of the Serai. Farther distant is St. Sophia and the other mosques, whose golden domes and graceful, tapering minarets, tower above the mass of painted buildings interspersed with dark cypresses and beautiful plane trees, which covers the surface of the "seven hills." Thousands of roses hang clustering on the trellis work which adorns the gardens of the numerous villages, summer palaces, and villas occupying the shores of the Bosphorus, and the harbour between Constantinople and Galata appears crowded with ships, and with numberless caiques, gliding rapidly from shore to shore. PERA.-SCUTARI.Lastly, Pera, with its vast range of cypresses, crowns the hill, and extends along the whole length of the town. Looking in another direction, appears the burying ground of Scutari, also with its cypress grove, many miles in extent; the mosque, and barracks of Sultan Selim; Leander's tower in the channel which we have just quitted; and, lastly, the Turkish fleet of many sail lying at anchor, and displaying all their colours in honour of the Bairam.

Meanwhile, the Actæon held on her silent majestic course towards the destined anchorage; and as I stood upon the quarter deck, contemplating the magnificent objects that presented themselves wherever I turned my sight, I felt all those thrilling emotions of rapture and delight which such scenes are calculated to inspire, and which constitute a sort of oäsis in the memory of those who have experienced them. Here nature and art have gone hand in hand, assisting each other, and scattering roses; here every thing that falls from the bosom of the former is rich and luxuriant, and every thing that proceeds from the latter is novel, extraordinary, in a word, it is oriental; and faults, which in more civilised communities would be considered inconsistent with good taste, are here ever pleasing, and seem necessary to the unity of the whole.

TURKISH FLEET. A royal salute was fired as we passed the summer palace of Dolma Bashi, where the Sultan at present resides. It was immediately returned by the Mahmoudie, the Capitan Pasha's ship. What splendid vessels! Among them two are three-deckers, the largest ships in the world, one carrying 140, the other 136 brass guns, and the whole armament appeared to be in a condition that would not discredit an English dockyard. Considering how short a period has intervened since the Sultan lost his entire fleet, it is really miraculous to see him with another, amounting to two three-deckers, four line of battle ships, eight frigates, three corvettes, three sloops, and a number of cutters, all completely equipped for active service. The recently erected palace of the Sultan on the Asiatic side of the channel, next came in sight. It consists of a long range of magnificent buildings, painted a rich colour, between fawn and yellow, picked out with white, and profusely ornamented with gilding. The interior, I am told, displays a singular mixture of European and oriental luxury. Parisian furniture, mirrors, and ornaments from Germany, Persian carpets, and hangings, in short every thing rare or beautiful, from the east and west being collected there. CASTLE OF THE JANISSARIES.We now passed the old castle of the janissaries, the first fortress the Turks possessed in Europe. It lies opposite to the beautiful valley of the sweet waters of Asia, where the Sultan has a kiosk: and hither, in summer, the Turkish ladies come on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Fridays, to pic-nic. Formerly, when a janissary was condemned to die, he was confined in this castle. At the appointed hour, he was led through a small arched doorway, which opens on the Bosphorus, and there decapitated, and the body was thrown into the sea; at the same instant the firing of a long gun, which stands by the side of the gate, announced the execution of his sentence.

Drawn G. C. from a Sketch by the Author.

As I before observed, every portion of the European and Asiatic coast is covered with villas and gardens. The houses are painted of various colours, and have verandas, with trellis work, covered with roses, running round them. Those situated near the water are built with an arched entrance for the caiques, through which, by means of a short canal, they glide into the centre of the court-yard. The water here is very deep, and we were sailing so close to the shore, that the mainyard scarcely cleared the houses. Indeed, instances have occurred, where the inhabitants have been surprised by the visit of a bowsprit pushing its way through the wood-work, and carrying off the roof of their dwellings.

RUSSIAN CAMP. We now came in sight of the Russian encampment, and the tents which covered the summit of an extensive range of hills, called the Unkiar Skelessi, or Giant's Mountain7, resembled so many snowy pinnacles. Their fleet, consisting of ten ships of the line, a number of frigates, and small craft, lay on the opposite side of the channel.

Beyond the village of Jani Keni, and opposite the Sultan's valley, we also found the Russian head quarters established, and a Russian frigate occupying the berth in which the Actæon had anchored twice before. We therefore passed on, and dropped anchor a little a-head of a French frigate, opposite Terapia, and close to the Russian camp. The usual firing immediately commenced, but, by some oversight, the Russian admiral's salute was returned with two guns less than the usual number. In about an hour afterwards, he sent his flag lieutenant, who spoke English, on board the Actæon, to inquire why we had only fired fifteen guns when he had paid the compliment of seventeen. The omission was immediately acknowledged, the two remaining guns discharged, and the gallant lieutenant rowed off again well satisfied. We soon ascertained that this sensitiveness proceeded from their anxiety to convince the Turks that no ill-will existed between England and Russia, and that no insult was meditated by our ship, more particularly as the British ambassador to the Porte, was known to be on board. I doubt much, however, if the Turks, although quite au fait to all matters of ceremony, understood the firing of the two guns afterwards.

FRENCH AND ENGLISH EMBASSIES. The town of Buyukdere, or the deep valley, off which lies the Russian fleet, is also the residence of the Russian, Austrian, and German ambassadors; the very hotbed of plots and etiquette. At Terapia the French and English embassies reside alongside each other; indications of that perfect unanimity which ought to subsist between these two great powers; and, if they remain true to each other, I would confidently back Terapia politics and manouvres against those of Buyukdere. The French palace is a spacious building, with beautiful and extensive gardens. That inhabited by the English ambassador, on the contrary, is small, comfortless, and with only a small slip of ground.

RUSSIAN MILITARY MUSIC.This day was occupied in visits from the secretaries of embassy of the different missions. As the plague was in Terapia a few days since, that village is put in quarantine with the palace; which also lies under the same regulations in respect to the Actæon: and as the Russian sentinels refused to allow any one to land in the Sultan's valley, we had nothing to do but to watch their drills and parade exercises, while listening to the music of the horn bands, which played on a hill close to our anchorage; and the beauty of these national airs, somewhat compensated for the rudeness with which they turned us off the shore. It was very cold in the afternoon; the shifting of the wind to the north caused a great change in the weather, and towards evening we were glad to keep below.

Thursday, 2d. It is a most lovely morning: all nature seems to rejoice in the freshening breeze, which, blowing from the Black Sea, tempers even the hottest days with its refreshing coolness, and extracts the sweets from millions of roses, which ever bloom on the shores of the Bosphorus. From the jasmine or orange flower, it floats with its odorous burthen along the current, and lays all its perfume at the foot of Stamboul.

THE CAIQUE. A party of us embarked in a sort of light boat called a caique, than which no species of vessel, save the gondola, cuts more softly and noiselessly through the waters. It is a narrow wooden canoe, with a long beak; the outside is painted black, with a strip of bright red inside the stern piece; and is ornamented with carvings of flowers, and a thousand other devices. A Persian carpet, or a piece of oil cloth, covers the part on which the foot steps in entering, and here the slippers are left or retained, as the owner pleases. Those who ride in them do not sit on benches, but in the bottom of the caique, on a Persian carpet. The interior is white as snow, and there is an ornamented back board which runs across, and separates the stepping place from that appropriated to the purpose of a seat. It has no keel, and the paddles are long, and broad at the end. Some caiques are rowed by one, others by two boatmen, with two oars or sculls each; but the most elegant of these vessels have three rowers. The...