tention has been paid. An officer of the customs put off from the shore in his boat, but contented himself with merely asking the name of the captain, and did not come on board. After passing the lighthouses there appeared fortresses, the works of French engineers; and their situation, on rugged rocks, had a striking effect. Presently such a succession of splendid objects was displayed, that, in all the remembrance of my former travels, I can recall nothing to which it can be compared. A rapid current, flowing at the rate of a league an hour, conveyed us from the Black Sea. Then, while we were ruminating upon the sudden discharge of such accumulated waters by so narrow an aqueduct, and meditating the causes which first produced the wonderful channel through which they are conveyed, we found ourselves transported, as it were, in an instant, to a new world. Scarcely had we time to admire the extraordinary beauty of the villages, scattered up and down the mouth of this canal, when the palaces and gardens of European and Asiatic Turks, the villas of foreign ambassadors, mosques, minorets, mouldering towers, and ivy-mantled walls of ancient edifices, made their appearance. Among these we beheld an endless variety of objects, which seemed to realize tales of enchantment; fountains and cemeteries, hills, mountains, terraces, groves, quays, painted gondolas, and harbours, presented themselves to the eye, in such rapid succession, that, as one picture disappeared, it was succeeded by a second, more gratifying than the first. To the pleasure thus afforded, was added the joy of

having escaped the dangers of an inhospitable sea; and it may be readily conceived, that a combination of circumstances more calculated to affect the heart could seldom occur. All the apprehensions and prejudices, with which our minds had been stored, respecting the pestilence, barbarity, vices, and numberless perils of Turkey, vanished as ideal phantoms. Unmindful of the inward deformities of the country, we considered only the splendid exterior; which, as a vesture, she puts on; eagerly waiting the opportunity which might enable us to mingle with the splendid and lively scene before our eyes.

The Bosphorus of Thrace, in whatever point of view it is considered, is unequalled in the interest it excites; whether with reference to the surprising nature of its origin; the number of local circumstances attached to its ancient history; the matchless beauty of its scenery; its extraordinary animal productions; the number of rare plants blooming among its towering precipices; its fleets and gondolas, towns, villages, groves, and gardens; the cemeteries of the dead, and the busy walks of the living; its painted villas, virandas, flowery terraces, domes, towers, quays, and mouldering edifices: all these in their turn excite and gratify curiosity; while the dress and manner of the inhabitants, contrasting the splendid costume and indolence of the east, with the plainer garb and activity of the west, offer to the stranger an endless source of reflection and amusement.

It was near midnight when we returned from

this excursion. On the following morning we determined to leave the Moderato, and proceed to Constantinople in one of the gondolas that ply on the canal for hire. These are more beautiful than the gondolas of Venice, and are often richly ornamented, though destitute of any covering. They are swifter than any of our boats upon the Thames; and this fact, I am told, has been ascertained by an actual contest between a party of Turkish gondoliers in their own boat, and a set of Thames watermen in one of their wherries. We passed the gorge of the canal, remarkable as the site of the bridge constructed by Darius for the passage of his numerous army; the grandeur of the scenery increasing as we approached the capital. The sides of the canal appeared covered with magnificent pavilions, whose porticoes, reaching to the water's edge, were supported by pillars of marble; when, all at once, the prospect of Constantinople, with the towns of Scutari and Pera opened upon us, and filled our minds with such astonishment and admiration, that the impression can never be effaced. Would only, that the effect produced upon the mind could receive expression from the pen! As nothing in the whole world can equal such a scene, it is impossible, by any comparison, to convey an idea of what we saw. Le Bruyn, one

of the oldest European travellers, before the close of the seventeenth century, apologized for introducing a description of this astonishing sight, after the number of relations which other authors had afforded. What must then be the nature of an apology used by an author, who, at the be

ginning of the nineteenth, should presume to add one to the number; especially when it is added, that more has been written on the subject since the days of Le Bruyn, than in all the ages which had preceded him, from the earliest establishment of the Byzantian colonies, to the time in which he lived. In the long catalogue thus afforded, no one has been more happy in his description than an author (Gibbon), who had himself no ocular demonstration of the veracity of his remarks. The Turkish squadron, returned from a summer cruize, were, when we arrived, at anchor off the point of the seraglio. One of the ships, a three decker, the construction of a French engineer of the name of Le Brun, surprised us by its extraordinary beauty, and the splendour of its appearance. Its guns were all of polished brass; and the immense ensign, reaching to the surface of the water, was entirely of silk.

After what has been said of the external magnificence of this wonderful city, the reader is perhaps ill prepared for a view of the interior; the horror, the wretchedness, and filth of which are not to be conceived. Its streets are narrow, dark, ill paved, and at the same time full of holes and ordure. In the most abominable alleys of London, or Paris, there is nothing so disgusting. They more resemble the interior of common sewers than public streets. The putrifying carcasses of dead dogs, with immense heaps of dung and mud, obstruct a passage through them. From the inequalities and holes in the narrow causeway it is almost impossible to proceed without

danger of putting an ankle out of joint. We landed at Galata, in the midst of dunghills; on which a number of large, lean, mangy dogs, some with whelps, wallowing in mire, and all covered with filth or slime, were sprawling or feeding. The appearance of a Frank instantly raises an alarm among these animals, who never bark at the Turks; and, as they were roused by our coming on shore, the noise was so great that we could not hear others speak. To this clamour were added the bawlings of a dozen porters, vociferously proffering their services, and beginning to squabble with each other as fast as any of them obtained a burden. At length we were able to move on, but in such confined, stinking, and yet crowded lanes, that we almost despaired of being able to proceed. The swarm of dogs, howling and barking, continually accompanied us, and some of the largest attempted to bite. When we reached the little inn at Pera, where a few small rooms, like the divisions in a rabbit hutch, had been prepared for our reception, we saw at least fifty of these mongrels collected round the door in the yard, like wolves disappointed of their prey. The late storms had un roofed several of the houses Pera; that in which we lodged was among the number; one corner of it had been carried away by the wind, so that, without climbing to the top for a view of the city, we commanded a fine prospect of the Golden Horn, and part of Constantinople, through the walls of our bedrooms, which were open to the air. Pera had recently suffered in consequence of a conflagration which had nearly consumed every house