University of Virginia Library

Constantinople

[from the section on Constaninople]Constantinople, called by the Turks Stamboul or Istamboul, was originally called Byzantium. . . .

The city itself is built on hilly ground, and from this circumstance its numerous gardens, mosques, palaces, minarets, and towers, present a magnificent appearance from the Golden Horn. The scenery of the Thracian Bosphorus is of almost unrivalled beauty.

A nearer approach to Constantinople reveals the characteristics of an Eastern town: narrow, filthy streets, and miserable houses. . . . The population of Constantinople in 1873 was 750,000, of whom about one-half were Mahomedans, one-fourth Greeks, and the rest Armenians, Franks, and Jews. . . .

"It would be difficult for any imagination to associate in close array all the incongruous and discordant objects which may be contemplated in an hour's walk in Constantinople. The barbarous extremes of magnificence and wretchedness, and the majesty of nature, crowned with all the grandeur of art in contrast with the atrocious effects of unrestrained sensuality, fill up the varied picture. The howling of ten thousand dogs re-echoing through the streets all the live-long night, chases you betimes from your pillow. Approaching your window you are greeted by the rays of the rising sun, gilding the snowy summits of Mount Olympus . . ."