bridge of boats), covering the sea and shores of the adjoining coasts with his hundreds of thousands of men; and it was here also that the gallant young conqueror Alexander came, in his turn, with a mere handful of troops, to avenge the stain which the Persian invaders had inflicted upon Greece, and, following up his march in a succession of splendid victories at the Granicus and at Arbela, pursued the Asiatic hordes even to the mouths of the Indus and Ganges.

The night after leaving Abydos, we found an Austrian steamer on shore above the Hellespont, and, after two or three hours' ineffectual efforts to get her off, were obliged to abandon her and pursue our voyage.

CONSTANTINOPLE.

LEAVING the Dardanelles, we passed the little Sea of Marmora, or Propontis, as it was called by the ancients, and the next afternoon arrived in sight of the wonderful CONSTANTINOPLE, and came to anchor in the GOLDEN

HORN.

As we had come from a plague region, we hoisted the yellow flag at the mast; directly after which a boat with a Turkish officer came alongside, and informed us that we would be obliged to perform quarantine.

Being very anxious to know what disposition was to be made of us, we eagerly inquired whether it was to be performed in a large frigate which lay near us, and was the quarantine hulk, or whether it was to be done on shore at the lazaretto. We made many anxious inquiries of the captain and officers on board of our steamer, what was to be our fate, but could learn nothing. In a short time, however, we were ordered on board of the hulk, to go through our sanatory probation, totally unconscious of what that process was to be. On arriving at our place of destination, we crept through a port-hole, closely watched by Turks in authority; and immediately on reaching the gun-deck, a dark and grimy door, from whence a column of smoke was issuing, was pointed out to us, and we were ordered to enter. The The apartment was as dark as a dungeon, and we could not see each other's faces. Presently, as our eyes became accommodated to our new residence, we dimly discerned

a large brazier, from which columns of smoke were issuing. The fumes, however, had an aromatic and delicious odour, and, as we afterward were informed, were produced by the burning of the sacred wood of Mecca. In this holy smoke-hole we remained less than five minutes, when a door opened on the opposite side, and an officer beckoned to us to come out, deeming that we were sufficiently purified to be admitted into the imperial city of his sublime highness the sultan. We accordingly left the hulk, on the opposite side to that by which we had entered, and by a small boat were conveyed to the capital of the Ottoman empire.

This farcical process of disinfection furnished, no doubt, numberless fat sinecures in its train, but precious little protection against the spread of contagion, even supposing for a moment, what we have by no means had sufficient evidence to believe, that this disease is one of a contagious nature "per se;" and what rendered this smoky mummery perfectly ridiculous and absurd was, that, in a few minutes after we had arrived at the wharf, I found my servant and all our baggage on its way directly from the infected steamer to the shore, without having undergone any of these wise measures of precaution that we had been subjected to for the exclusion of pestilential diseases.

We took lodgings in a private Italian family in a pleasant part of the Frank quarter of Constantinople, called Pera.

A more imposing and beautiful appearance cannot be presented to the notice of any one, than is exhibited to the traveller on approaching Constantinople from the Sea of Marmora. The almost innumerable white mosques and minarets that rise in bold and majestic reGGG

lief amid the houses, and the thick forests of dark-green cypress that denote the burial-grounds scattered through the very heart of the city, together with its elevated and beautiful position, and its background of mountain scenery, give it a rank very justly distinguished among all the cities of the East.

Constantinople is a much less Oriental city than Cairo, but it is in external appearance and situation infinitely more imposing and attractive. Of all the places I have yet seen, this capital presents by nature and art everything that is impressive, grand, and beautiful. It must only, however, be viewed in its approach from the Sea of Marmora or the Bosphorus to be seen to this advantage. Were a traveller to rest satisfied with this alone, he could never cease to award to it the palm of the queen of cities. The bold mountain scenery which surrounds it on the Turkish as well as the Asiatic side, and the wide expanse of water which spreads itself around, present a nobility and picturesque effect which may be said to be unrivalled. As we first approached it from the Sea of Marmora, I counted forty-five minarets, towering, white, majestic, and lofty, towards the heavens, indicating that there were there temples of worship. Presently, on a more near approach, the extensive circular domes gradually arose to our view, and other public buildings by degrees were brought in sight, making the tout-ensemble a fairy scene indeed. At length we arrived opposite Seraglio Point, which juts out into the Bosphorus, and may be said in some respects to resemble our Battery. Here is situated the seraglio and harem of the sultans for many centuries past, but not now occupied by the present potentate. Some of these buildings are pretty good exteriorly. They consist of many

palaces, ancient and modern, and a very extensive range of rooms like prisons for the harem. There is a wall yet remaining, three miles in extent, which denotes the limit of the ancient city of Byzantium, so called when occupied by the Romans under Constantine.

Passing around this point, a new scene opens itself. From Seraglio Point, a noble arm of the Bosphorus, called the Golden Horn, puts up to the extent of perhaps three miles. On each side, for two of these miles, the whole of Constantinople may be said to stand. Across the Bosphorus again, on the Asiatic side, and opposite to Seraglio Point, is Scutari, a large town containing many thousand inhabitants, with several palaces; and one occupied by the present sultan as a summer residence, with the constant appendage to all of them, a harem. The view from Seraglio Point up the Bosphorus is like a fairy scene on each side as far as the eye can reach. It is thickly studded with white villas of every style of architecture, Turkish, Venetian, Chinese, &c.; and among them frequently is seen a palace, once the residence of some of the old and former sultans. The present sultan has a winter palace on the Turkish side, as he always resides on the Asiatic side in summer and the Turkish in winter. The arm of the Bosphorus, or Golden Horn, on each side of which I have mentioned that the greater part of what is called Constantinople is situated, is a noble and magnificent stretch of water. The width and the depth of it make it one of the finest seaports, probably, in the world. This branch of water, called by the Turks the Golden Horn, is no doubt so denominated from the facility with which it may bring an abundance to their favourite city. It winds up beautifully and romantically among the mount