CHAPTER XVIII. CONSTANTINOPLE. Is this the sovereign seat of Constantine? AUBREY DE VERE. I FOUND myself on board a Turkish steamer, with 850 troops strewed along the deck so thickly that they could scarcely turn, and walking was quite out of the question. The forecabin was allotted to the hareems of the officers; the ladies' cabin was occupied by a Persian Princess; and two Persian Princes and I had the saloon to ourselves. They were very agreeable, courteous persons, and spoke with delight of their visit to England some years ago. The Opera and the "fire-carriages" were subjects on which they particularly loved to dwell, but the women of England were the supreme subjects of their admiration. "Persian ladees," said Prince Reza Oglu, "very beautifool; Constantininopoli ladees very beautifool; Engleesh ladees much very better." We past Cyprus the second day-a mountainous island of great capabilities, but withering under Turkish oppression. Paphos, or Baffa, as it is now called, contains only the fragments of one or two broken columns standing upon a promontory, bare, and unmystified by the gloom of surrounding groves. Being in quarantine, we were not permitted to land in this island, still, it is said, so dangerous to travellers. On the third day we made the coast of Caramania; on the fifth we cast anchor in the harbour of the Isle of Rhodes. The city presents very much the appearance one would be led to expect from its situation and its history: a mingling of European with Asiatic dwellings: churches and mosques, spires and minarets, intermingled with cypress and sycamore; and, without the town, a pleasant boulevarde affords shade for the varied population to saunter under, à la Parisienne; or to sit and smoke under, à la Turque. Here, also, we were prevented from landing, on account of quarantine; but I pulled about the offing in one of the ship's boats, and surveyed the inner harbour, across the mouth of which the Colossus strode. It was only twenty-four feet in breadth, so that it requires no great stretch of the imagination to equal that of the image. This island well deserves a visit, and has been hitherto very imperfectly explored: the interior is said to be very beautiful, and many remains of antiquity lie strewn about there, unexamined. In the evening we weighed anchor, and passed along a fine, mountainous coast, (Asia Minor) on our right. Patmos, on the left, with many an island of mythologic fame, keeps alive the attention that has henceforth no time to sleep; for every wave of this historic sea is full of memories. Scio and Mitylene now arise; the Gulph of Smyrna opening within this last; and morning's earliest light shows us Ida's mountain over the level plain of Troy, with the tombs of Hector and Achilles appearing like Irish raths. Soon afterwards, we enter the Dardanelles, against a current that continually runs to the southward at the rate of three or four miles an hour. This strait is generally about three miles wide, but sometimes narrows to half that breadth. There is little that is picturesque in these celebrated Straits: the shores consist of * The author of Eothen has restored to the Paphian site its poetry and classic interest. steep and barren hills, with but few trees scattered along their sides. Their most interesting feature to me was the sloping roofs of the villages, which here, for the first time, met my eye, and spoke of Europe. The fortifications are very respectable, and have some few guns that throw stone balls of two feet and a half in diameter; these guns can only fire in one direction, however; and, should they miss, the object of attack has sailed far away before they can be brought to bear again upon her. In the evening we entered the little Sea of Marmora, which was throwing up as heavy a swell as if it were an ocean. The next morning-the seventh after our departure from Beyrout-revealed to us a distant view of magnificent Stamboul, but we were obliged to bear away to the right, to disembark the troops on the "Princes' Islands," where they were to perform quarantine. Their sufferings during the voyage must have been extreme, exposed during the daytime to a burning sun, and at night to the spray that constantly broke over the ship; yet they showed the same profound apathy in recovering their freedom, as they had done during their painful voyage. I never heard a murmur escape from one of them, though some of their officers remonstrated once or twice with the captain about their unavoidable miseries. These officers were, without exception, coarse, mean, dirty, and unsoldierlike: they seemed to belong to the very lowest class of the population. After a long delay, while the arrival of the Princes was being announced at Constantinople, we were ordered to land at Kartal, a quarantine station on the Asiatic shore. I steered the captain's gig with the royal party in it, while a larger boat took their suite, and a beautiful mare which they had brought from the banks of the Euphrates. And now I found myself floating on the moonlit Sea of Marmora, in the shadows of the minaretted Asiatic shore, with a fair Persian princess in my charge: I could not see her face; but her voice was as soft and gentle as the breeze that breathed through the folds of her long white veil. The princes sate one on each side of me, in high conical caps of black Astrakan fur; and a female slave, enveloped in black drapery, sate opposite her young mistress. We pulled for many a mile along that placid sea, laughing and talking merrily. Prince Timour several times endeavoured to remove his sister's veil, and appealed to me as to whether the most beautiful women in England had any objection to being seen. The khanum, however, resisted the unveiling, good-humouredly but firmly. The moon was shining brightly over the Princes' Islands, and mingling her pale beams with the golden haze that still lingered where the sun had sunk behind the European hills. We floated tranquilly along under the shadows of the Asiatic shore, till silence gradually stole upon our senses, or was scarcely broken by the measured stroke of the sailor's oar, and the low, monotonous chaunt of their Ægean song. The high black caps of the Persians began to glisten with the dew, the veiled figures of the princess and her slave drooped gradually from their unusual attitude, the dolphins played about our prow, and phosphorescent light flashed along the crest of every little wave: the mysterious-looking group, and every thing around, were in harmony with the romantic scene and hour. At length we landed on a tongue of land under a deserted palace, and spread a carpet for the Khanum at the foot of a syca more. I lighted a fire of dried leaves and twigs, at which Prince Timour blew until his bearded cheeks seemed about to burst, and the female slave drew forth from some part of her voluminous dress a little silver saucepan, in which we boiled some tea. This was handed in a tiny porcelain cup to the Khanum, and the Princes and I made merry over the fire with the rest. At length the luggage arrived, and we were admitted into the ruined palace which was to be our quarantine prison, with as many precautions as if we had come to storm it. Travellers! avoid Kartal as you would the plague that it professes to be a guard against. I was shown into a large empty room, with discoloured walls, and a floor thickly covered with dirt and gravel, among which ants and fleas were swarming. The "royal family" had similar accommodations, and we had a narrow courtyard, with high brick walls, in common. We could hear the trees rustle in the gardens outside, but we were never * Khan, prince; khanum, princess, in Persian. allowed to feel their shade; and we could hear the waves laughing along the shore, but never were allowed the luxury of bathing. Here we were detained for a dismal fortnight, half starved and half scorched, without any resource but our pipes and resignation, both of which my companions possessed in a much greater degree of perfection than I did. At length our quarantine was ended; but I was informed that the Persian princes were under surveillance, and that I must remain with them until the Sultan's pleasure was known. Vainly I remonstrated-vainly threatened the superintendent with the vengeance of all the European powers: he shook his head, and resumed his pipe. I then told him that, having fulfilled all the quarantine requirements, I should wait for no permission, but walk out, and he might tell his sentry to fire upon a British subject if he dared. Suiting the action to the word, I returned to the prison, took leave of the princes, put seals upon my luggage, and started, I knew not whither. The sentry stopped me; I shouted at him the only Turkish word I knew, which was anything but complimentary-pushed unceremoniously past him-and found myself upon the seashore. I do not believe that twelve months of captivity could have made freedom more delightful than did the twelve dreary days I had passed in that loathsome prison. My first impulse was to plunge into the sea; and I was scarcely dressed when the superintendent came up, and, to my great surprise, accosting me very civilly, apologized for my detention. At first, I assumed great indignation, but allowed myself to be pacified on a boat being engaged to take me to Constantinople, and all my luggage being carefully deposited therein. A janizary was sent with me, and I gave my parole to present myself at the police-office before I made use of my freedom. I felt great regret in being obliged to leave the princes in their dismal prison. They had been very hospitable and kind to me during our imprisonment, and they now displayed a cheerful resignation to their fate that would have become a philosopher: their chief regret seemed to be that their sister was not to see Constantinople, for which she had travelled so far. I understood afterwards that the Khan of Persia (who had mur |