Constantinople and the Scenery of the Seven Churches of Asia Minor: Series One and Series Two in one VolumeWalsh, R. (Robert)
History
Constantinople and the Scenery of the Seven Churches of Asia Minor: Series One and Series Two in one Volume
Walsh, R. (Robert)
Istanbul (Turkey) -- History; Istanbul (Turkey) -- Pictorial works
Among the very agreeable accessories of this place, is the abundance
of pure water with which it is supplied; perennial streams run down
from the hills by which it is surrounded, and, meandering through the
more level ground, and imparting freshness and fertility to the meadows
and gardens of its environs, they enter the city, conducted by various
courses formed for the purpose. This fluid, essential to the Osmanli,
both as a natural and religious want, they prize and cherish so dearly,
that expedients are used to collect it, where it is available. At Ak
Hissar they have taken more than common care; they have constructed
aqueducts consisting of more than 3000 pipes, from whence the water
issues in various channels through the streets, so that the air in the
heats of summer is constantly refreshed by the gushing streams, and the
ear soothed by the gurgling sound. This water is remarkable for its
salutary qualities; it is cool, sweet, limpid, very grateful to the
taste, and light of digestion to the stomach. The country about the
town is rich and fertile to a high degree, and the air remarkable for
its purity, fragrance, and salubrity; it has all those qualities which
the bounty of nature has conferred on the lovely plains of Asia Minor,
and has invited a larger population than is usually found in those
beautiful but now desolate regions.
It is marked, however, by Oriental circumstances revolting to European
feelings. It is surrounded by cemeteries more numerous than those
found near much larger cities. Attracted, perhaps, by the odour of
these charnel-houses, vultures abound here; instead of the cooing of
doves which marks Philadelphia, or the crepitation of the stork’s bill
which distinguishes Pergamus, the scream of this ravenous and unclean
bird is the sound most frequently heard; flocks are constantly seen
wheeling round in the air, or lighting by the road-side, covering
the fields, and so tame as quite to disregard the approach of a
passenger. It is this characteristic of the town which is presented in
our illustration−-one of its cemeteries strewn over with shafts and
mouldings of former buildings now laid to mark the graves, and vultures
flapping their wings over the corpse interred below.
[Illustration: Drawn by W. L. Leitch. Sketched by T. Allom. Engraved by H. Adlard.
CONSTANTINOPLE FROM THE HEIGHTS ABOVE EYOUB.]
This view of the city is a companion for a former. The one presented
it as it appears from the mouth of the Golden Horn, the other from
its head; and it displays many objects of interest on both sides of
a beautiful expanse of water, whose visible circumference may be
estimated at 20 miles; the length of the whole harbour being about 15
miles, and its general breadth from 8 to 10 furlongs.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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