One Friday, I went to see the Sultan go to mosque. Besides myself, and three other Englishmen, there were no spectators near, and we could observe without the ordinary inconvenience of a crowd.

The road was lined with infantry, dressed in their great coats and red fez caps. The Sultan was preceded by a few led horses, and two or three mounted officers. He rode, and after him followed a small body-guard of infantry, and a band playing a polka.

He passed within a few feet; of course, we took off our hats, which he acknowledged by looking hard at us, slightly turning his head as he rode by. This, I heard, was-according to Turkish etiquette-great condescension on his part. He looked bored, pale, and careworn. A Yankee afterwards described him as being like a New York Jew, with the smallpox!-Never having seen a Trans-Atlantic Israelite; I cannot say whether the simile is a

correct one.

The Sultan is having a new palace built on the European side of the Bosphorus, near to Tophanné, now, a well-known place; and

GAME.

9

which I may mention for the benefit of the uninitiated, means cannon foundry, being composed of two words-'top,' a cannon, and 'hanné,' a factory.

I easily obtained admission into this palace, by administering a small backshish, the surest way in the east, if not in the west also. It was in a very unfinished state; the great hall of audience, and the stair-cases, were most gorgeously decorated; but the work was not nearly so well got up and finished, as it would be done in England or on the Continent ; and would not bear a close inspection. It is expected to cost as much money, as would defray the expense of the construction of a railway from Constantinople to Adrianople!

The market of Pera is very well supplied with game. I saw hanging in the shops, roe-deer, wild boar, hares, bustards, pheasants, red-legged partridges, woodcocks; and wild fowl of various kinds. The pheasants are abundant in the forest of Belgrade, and the wooded country in Asia.

Woodcocks are plentiful throughout the

winter, and snipes are to be found in every suitable locality.

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Good shooting may easily be obtained by going some miles into the interior; so as to avoid the crowds of Greek cacciatori,' who infest the neighbourhood of Constantinople with their guns; especially on Sundays and holidays. The great drawback to this, is the miserable accommodation to be met with, and the absence of macadamized roads; for there is nothing in the neighbourhood of Constantinople deserving the name. All journeys are performed on horseback; and the tracks which serve as roads, are, in winter, full of holes and sludge, and impassable for any wheeled vehicle, except a bullock araba. An English dog-cart would soon be wrecked!

In summer, when the ground is hard and dry, the whole country may be traversed. Perhaps, the track most entitled to the honour of being called a road, is that between Pera and Therapia. It is partially macadamized, but soon after the rains have set it, becomes almost impassable.

Fish is also plentiful in the market; but

most of the sorts, exposed for sale, are very different to those we see in England; and I do not know their names.

Among them are mussels, oysters, craw-fish, lobsters, mullet, and sword-fish, mackerel, and turbot. The two latter are different from ours. The mackerel are much smaller; and the turbot are covered with prickly spines. Sword-fish are abundant in the Bosphorus, and are very good eating. The usual way of dressing them, is in thin slices, fried. I used to think that the fish-represented in Raphael's picture of the 'Miraculous Draught of Fishes' -owed their origin to the painter's imagination; but the first time I visited the fish markets in Pera, I saw and recognized the identical species, which used, most of all, to strike me as being unreal. It was, if I recollect right, of a light pink colour, with a very large head, and fins more of the size of wings than anything of the sort we are accustomed to see.

The table d'hôte, at Misserie's, was a great scene, from the variety of the society, and their various opinions. It was composed of

English and French officers and ex-officers, newspaper correspondents, English and American tourists, parsons, civil engineers, merchants, and a host of non-descripts, and Lord Carlisle occasionally appeared there. Quot homines tot sententiæ, was the motto of the company; and the Turkish question was the daily subject of discussion. At times, I used

to think it fortunate that there was a table to separate the various arguers, but all used to end amicably. There was, however, one thing in which nearly all agreed-and that was in dislike and abuse of the Turks. ple, newly arrived, generally had a Turcomania for a few days; but they soon got rid of it by actual experience. .

Peo

The dogs used be one of the sights of Constantinople, but the war has considerably thinned their numbers. While our fleet was in the Bosphorus, the midshipmen used to go about the streets of the Frank quarter, at night, with lanterns and big sticks, and murder the dogs they found lying in the streets. The next day, you might see the live dogs eating the dead ones! The inhabi