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head need envy fultan Selim his fituation. As this is the only pri, vileged time of conveying the voice of the people to his ears, and as women in Turkey fay any thing with impunity, it is prefumed that many of the fires are not accidental.

whole diftricts are lain in afhes. At fuch rencounters no crowned Houses are fo foon re-erected, that the former appearance of the ftreets, is fpeedily restored, and little alteration is ever made in their form. Notice of a fire at Conftantinople, or at Galata, is given by beating a great drum from two high towers; the night watch then patrole the ftreets, ftriking the pavement with their staves fhod with iron, and crying out Yangen var-There is a fire,' naming the place. The fultan is then fummoned three times, and when the conflagration has lafted one hour he is forced to attend in perfon, and to bring mules with him laden with piaftres, which he diftributes with his own hands to the firemen, who are very inactive before his arrival. Thefe are armed against accidents in the fame manner as they are in London, and are equally expert and adventurous. Fires are extinguifhed, by pulling down the adjoining houfes, for the engines are very fall, and borne on the fhoulders of two

men.

"The perfect refignation with which a good mufalman fees his houfe confumed by the flames, and himfelf reduced from affluence to poverty, has been often and justly remarked by others; he exclaims Allah Karim' God is merciful, without apparent emotion, and has affured himfelf that the fame providence which hath made him poor and abject, can once more reftore him to wealth if it be his fate. For the women, they have not the praife of fuch philofophy. They affemble in a groupe near the fultan, and unmercifully load him with the bittereft revilings, particularifing his own crimes, and the errors of his government, and charging him with the caufe of their prefent calamity.

"As a grand fpectacle, detaching the idea of commiferation of the calamity from the prefent view, if a volcanic eruption be excepted, none can exceed a great fire at Conftantinople. The houfes being conftructed with wood, and frequently communicating with magazines, filled with combuftible materials, a vaft column of flame, of the moft luminous glow, rifes from the centre, which lighting up the mofques, and contiguous cyprefs groves, produces an effect of fuperior magnificence. In other cities, where the buildings are of ftone, the flames are feen partially, or are overpowered by fmoke.

"The merchandife and trade of Conftantinople are carried on principally in the khans, bazars, and bezeften, according to the custom of the east, each of which requires a fummary defcription.

"The khans are fpacious ftructures, with quadrangles erected by the munificence of the fultans, or fome of the royal family, for the public benefit. They are entirely furrounded by a cloifter and colonade, into which numerous cells open, generally repeated for three ftories; are built with ftone and fire-proof. Here the merchants from every part of the empire, who travel with caravans, are received with accommodations for themfelves and their valuable traffic.

"In the bazars are affembled dealers of each nation under the Turkish government, who have

fmall

fmall fhops in front, and a room behind, for their wares. Thefe are very extenfive cloifters of stone, lofty and lighted by domes; are admirably adapted to the climate, and in fummer are extremely cool. One called the Mifr Chartflè, or Egyptian market, is fet apart for the merchandife of Cairo, chiefly minerals and drugs, and is a great curiofity for the naturalist.

Other quarters are occupied by the working jewellers, where raw jewels may be advantageoufly purchased; and by the bookfellers, who have each his affortment of Turkish, Arabic, and Perfian MSS. of which they do not always know the value, but demand a confiderable price. The oriental fcholar may here find MSS. equally beautiful and rare, as fince the civil commotions in Perfia, the moft elegant books, taken in plunder, have been fent to Conftantinople for fale, to avoid detection.

"The ftaple articles of importation from England are cloth and block tin, as the confumption of both is very great. English watches, prepared for the Levant market, are more in demand than thofe of other Frank nations, and are one of the firft articles of luxury that a Turk purchases or changes if he has money to ipare.

"The national character is here admirably difcriminated, and to inveftigate it with fuccefs no place offers fuch opportunity as thefe mar

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is fixed to his fhop-board with his legs under him for many hours, and never relaxes into civility with his Frank cuftomer, but from the hopes of advantage. One may venture to give him two thirds of his demand; but to thofe of other nations not more than half. The Greek, more pliant and prevaricating, praifes his commodity beyond meafure, and has generally to congratulate himself upon having outwitted the most cautious dealer. The Armenian, heavy and placid, is routed to animation only by the fight of money, which he cannot withstand. As for the Jew, every where a Jew, he is more frequently employed as a broker, a bufinefs which that people have had address enough to engrofs; and fome acquit themselves with honesty and credit. Thofe of the lower fort are walking auctioneers, who tramp over the bazars, and carry the goods with them, vociferating the price laft offered. Each of there nations, which conftitute the vast population of Conftantinople, has a different mode of covering the head, a circumftance foon learned, and which renders the groupes of figures fufficiently amusing, as it breaks the famenefs of their other drefs. The Armenians, Jews, and the mechanical Greeks, ufually wear blue, which the Turks confider as a difhonourable colour, and have their flippers of a dirty red leather.

"The common trades are difpofed, all of one kind in fingle ftreets. Shoe-makers, furriers, and pipe-makers, with many others, occupy each their diftinét diftrict, and are feldom found difperied, as in our cities.

"A room of very confiderable dimenfions, is called the bezeftèn, or public exchange, where are col

lected

lected fecond-hand goods, which are hawked about by the auctioneers. In another part are the farraffs, or money changers, Armenians and Jews.

"I regret my incompetency to defcribe the various mechanic arts, which are practifed in the caft, and particularly by the Turks, fo different from our own; and leave it to fome future vifitant, well qualified to give the hiftory of their manufactures, and the divers modes by which the fame effect is produced, and the fame utenfils are made.

"The neceffaries of life are well managed, and the fhops of cooks, confectioners, and fruiterers, are excellently ftored, and ferved with neatnefs. For the greater part of the year, sherbets with ice are cried about the streets, at a very cheap rate. The bakers exercise a lucrative, but a dangerous trade, if they are not proof againit temptation to fraud. Their weights are examined at uncertain times, and a common punishment on detection is nailing their ear to the door-poft. Upon a complaint made to the late vifier Mehmet Melek against a notorious cheat, he ordered him to be inftantly hanged. The mafter efcaped, but the fervant, a poor Greek, perfectly innocent, was executed. It was remarked to a Turk, that this injuftice was foreign to the character for clemency, which Melek bore, when he farcaftically replied, ‹ The vifier had not yet breakfasted.'

"The coffee houfes, which abound, are fitted up in an airy Chinefe tafte, and curioufly painted. Within, they are divided into partitions or ftages without feats, for the Turks fit as the taylors in England. The refort of all ranks to them is univerfal and conftant; and

fome during the greater part of the day, which paffes there, confume thirty or forty pipes, and as many cups of coffee, boiling hot, thick, and without fugar.

"Befide thefe, near the Ofmanie, are teriaki-hand, where (afioni) opium is fold; and taken in gradation from ten to a hundred grains in a day. Intoxication with this noxious drug is certainly lefs prevalent than we have been informed; and he who is entirely addicted to it, is contidered with as much pity or difguft as an inveterate fot is with us. The preparation of opium is made with feveral rich fyrups, and infpiffated juices, to render it palatable and lefs intoxicating, and refembles elder rob. It is either taken with a spoon, or hardened into fmall lozenges, ftamped with the words Math allàh,' literally the work of God.'

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The Turks take opium as an intoxicant, or occafionally under an idea of its invigorating quality, when unufual fatigue is to be endured. The Tartar couriers, who travel with aftonishing expedition, generally furnish themselves with

Mah allah. A leading caufe of its difufe is, that the prejudices refpecting wine are daily relaxing, which accounts for the fcarcely credible quantity and univerfality mentioned by old writers being unac cordant with modern practice.

"The adminiftration of juftice in Conftantinople is notoriously corrupt. It is placed folely in the hands of the oulemah, or ecclefiaftical body, who are confirmed in their rapacity by being fecured from the interpofition of the body politic, as they receive no falary from the ftate. In these two caufes originates a fyftem of enormous pe culation and bribery, fo that for the poor there is no redrefs. Turk

ifh jurifprudence profeffes the im- are not frequent, excepting in the plicit direction of the koràn, but great roads through diftant provinmore attention is paid to the mul-ces, where they are always punishtèkah, or fouhèt, containing the ed with impalement. There is no traditional injuctions; after all, the place of public execution; and intereft or caprice of the judge when a criminal is condemned, he biaffes the decifion. is led down the nearest ftreet by the executioner, who is provided with a large nail and cord, which he places over the door of any shop where he is not paid for forbearance. The body is raised a few inches only above the ground, and must be left untouched for three days. In inftances of decapitation, the more honourable punishment, it is expofed as long in the street, with the head under the arm, if a mufulman, but if a rayah, between the legs. So horrid a fpectacle excites no emotion in the mind of a Turk, for it is certain, that by no nation, be it as favage as it may, is the life of a man fo lightly regarded as by them. This is a difgufting, but true sketch of their laws and executive juftice.

"The rank of Turkish lawyers is the mufti, or deputy to the fultan; as kalife or oracle of the law, the kadilefcars of Roumily and Anadoly; fupreme in their diftin&t diftricts, mollahs, mufelims, and kadies. Thefe hold their mekemehs, or halls of justice, where they try criminals and hear caufes, in which oral teftimony always prevails against written evidence.Three MSS. of the Koran, the Evangelifts, and the Pentateuch, are kept by the kadies, who adminifter oaths upon them, according to the religion of the perfon to be fworn. Falle witnefles are easily procured; they frequent certain coffee-houfes, where thefe infamous tranfactions are arranged. If one of thefe wretches be too often detected, or has forfeited the interefted connivance of the judge, he is given over to the punishment of the law. Mounted on an afs, with his arms and legs tied, and his face toward the tail, he is led through the ftreets and bazars, where he is infulted with every groffness, and if a Turk fares very ill.

"It is truly remarkable, in fo great a population, that criminal caufes do not occur more frequently. Murders are feldom heard of, and happen amongst the foldiers oftener than other deferiptions of people; they are certainly prevented by the prohibition of wearing arms in the capital. If the murderer efcape juftice for twenty-four hours, he is not amenable to the daw; at least, has a good chance of evading its vengeance. Robberies

"Perfonal combat, unknown to the ancients, but fo universal in modern Europe fince the days of Chibaley, is not practifed amongst the Turks, nor is affaffination, the difgrace of many nations, in any degree frequent. Connections with women, the great cause of inveterate quarrels, are fo arranged as to render interference with each other almoft impoflible. Before marriage they are not feen by their lovers, and after only by their husbands and near relatives. There is likewife an inviolable point of honour between men respecting their harèms, and an avowed libertine would be banished from fociety. Poifon, fecretly given, is the punishment he would probably incur.

"To another occafion of perfonal provocation they are equally ftrangers.

frangers. Gaming is prohibited by the Mohammedan law, and as chefs is their favourite amusement, their fingular proficiency is a proof that the love of gain may not be the only inducement to excel. Wagers, or anticipating the chances of any trial of tkill or common event, they can confider as unlawful.

"To the abfence of these powerful incitements to anger, and to their national fuavity of manners as confined to themselves, may be attributed much focial harmony, though with fewer examples of difinterested friendship than mongst us. The Turk fhews ininfolence or morofenefs to thofe only whom his prejudices exclude from intercourse.

"The Rammezan, or Turkish Lent, lafts for one complete moon, and takes every month in the year, in rotation. No inftitution can be more strictly or more generally obferved; it enjoins perfect abftinence from fun-rife to fun-fet, from every kind of aliment, even from water. Mohammed did not forefee that coffee and tobacco would become the chief luxury of his followers, and various were the opinions refpecting the legality of taking them in Rammezan; which were finally determined in the negative. Thefe are indeed days of penance to the labourer and mechanic, but to the opulent only a pleafing variety, for they fleep all day, and in the evening feaft and make merry; as if they exulted in cheating the prophet. The only thow of mortification is a prohibition from entering the harem during the twelve hours of faiting. Every night of this feafon is fome appointed feaft amongst the officers of the court.

"Nor are the inferior orders deprived of their fhare of relaxation; for the fhops of cooks and confec

tioners, and the coffee-houfes, are unufually decorated and frequented. There are exhibitions of low humour, and the kara-guze, or puppet fhow, reprefented by Chinefe fhades.

"For the graver fort, moft coffee-houfes retain a raccontatorè, or profeffed ftory teller, who entertains a very attentive audience for many hours. They relate eastern tales, or farcaftic anecdotes of the times, and are fometimes engaged by government to treat on politics, and to reconcile the people to any recent measure of the fultan or vifier. Their manner is very animated, and their recitation accompanied by much gefticulation. They have the fineffe, when they perceive the audience numerous, and leeply engaged, to defer the fequel of their ftory. The nightly illuminations of every minareh in the city, efpecially thofe of the imperial moiques, produce a very fingular and fplendid effect. Within each of these, the vaft concaves of the domes are lighted up by fome hundred lamps of coloured glafs; and externally cords are thrown acrofs from one

inarch to another, and the lamps fantaftically difpofed in letters and figures. I was not more agreeably furprised by any thing I faw in Conftantinople, than the whole appearance of the first night in Rammezan.

"As an indulgence from the feverities of Lent, the Turks have their Beyràm, and the Christians their Eafter. At this feason, thofe of every nation appear in new clothes, and exhibit all poffible gaiety. Places of public refort are then particularly frequented, and the paftimes and groupes, excepting in their drefs, exactly refemble an English wake. The Turks are much delighted by a cir

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