On the shores of the Bosphorus, opposite Therapia, on the Asiatic side, is one of those lovely, and extensive valleys, which open on the strait, and add so much to its beauty. Here the sultans possessed a kiosk, to which they sometimes retired for recreation; and for their accommodation, a scala, or slip, was constructed on which they landed from the caïque: hence the valley has been called _Hunkair iskellesi_, or “the landing-place of the Manslayer;” an appellation rendered famous by the treaty recently made there. This noble valley is distinguished by other circumstances. When Sultan Selim wished to excite a literary feeling among his subjects, and a printing-press was reared at Scutari, he converted his kiosk in this place into a manufactory, to supply it with paper. When first established, its arrangements corresponded with its former use, and its princely founder. The reservoirs for water were ornamented marble basins; and the whole gave the idea of a sultan’s palace given up for a mechanic’s workshop, and excited a feeling of respect and admiration for the enlightened and patriotic prince who had surrendered his splendid dwelling and delightful retreat for such a purpose. Paper is an article to which a Turk annexes a certain degree of sanctity, and beyond that which it claims for its ordinary use. It is that on which, they say, the sacred name of Allah is written, and they never suffer it to be defiled, or used for any unworthy purpose. Wherever they see a fragment of it lying about, they carefully take it up, and throw it into some receptacle. It is often seen, in this way, stuffed into any hole or crevice in a wall which may present itself. With the same feeling, they have not yet suffered their Koran to be printed. They think it a profanation of the name of God, to have it squeezed, as it must be, in the press. The more sensible, however, assign what they consider a more reasonable cause. They call their sacred books, as we do, the Scriptures, or “Writings;” and, with an adherence to the mere letter, they say they could no longer be _scriptures_, if suffered to be printed.