The Turks call it Scodra, or Scutari, and consider it a suburb of Constantinople, though on the opposite side of the straits, and in another quarter of the world. The beauty and salubrity of its situation have rendered it a favourite residence. The streets are wider, the open areas more spacious, and the houses better built than in the capital; and the prospect, as you climb the hills above, is exceedingly beautiful. In the ascent to the hill of Bourgourloo, you arrive at a plateau, celebrated for the richness of the scenery it affords. Mount Olympus, the Princes’ Islands, the winding strait of the Bosphorus with its bays and villages, appear with singular beauty from this spot; while the fragrance exhaled from the gardens, and the chant of the nightingale, afford a gratification to every sense. Beside it is a valley called Bulbul Dereci, or “the Vale of the Nightingale,” where these birds abound, and their song is heard all day. When a public functionary is deprived of his office, and suffered to retain his life, he retires to Scutari, and seeks solace in its soothing enjoyments. The Persian ambassador and his suite, excluded, like the Franks, from Constantinople, here take up their abode. With the exception of a few Jews, it is exclusively a Mohammedan city, and contains eighty thousand Moslem inhabitants. It is distinguished by many edifices of piety or utility. Here the daughter of Soliman the Magnificent erected a mosque to the memory of her father; and an inscription recording the circumstance, represents her as “the gem of the world,” and prays that “Allah would render her excellent in every other qualification.” Here Selim established his printing-press, when he revived it, to enlighten his subjects: here he erected a magnificent cotton-factory, to improve them in the industry and arts of life: here he built a noble kisla, or barrack, for his nizam djeddit, or new troops, to discipline a rude and turbulent rabble to European restraints: and here he endowed a mosque, to which he usually repaired to perform his Friday’s devotion. This edifice, given in our illustration, stands on the slope of the hill, surrounded by an extensive area, and exhibits considerable lightness and elegance. Among the group of Turks is seen some in the costume of European soldiers; which he lost his crown and life in endeavouring to establish, though his more energetic successor completely succeeded. The violence and impetuosity of one of those sudden currents of air which burst out in the Sea of Marmora, was strongly marked by its effects on this mosque. The principal minaret was snapped off like the stem of a pipe, and the upper part was carried unbroken to a distance. [Illustration: T. Allom. W. Floyd. MOSQUE OF MAHMOUD II. AT TOPHANA.]