The second cistern is no longer employed as a reservoir for water. It lies beneath an open area in the vicinity of the Atmeidan, and is converted into a silk manufactory by a number of industrious Jews and Armenians. The Turks have named this subterranean palace _Bin-bir-derek_, in allusion to its supposed original number of columns, 1001, although 212 are all that can now be distinguished. Each column is said to consist of three shafts with their respective capitals, but the lowest is, at present, buried beneath the material of the flooring. The whole enclosed area occupies 20,000 square feet, and is capable of containing 1,237,000 cubic feet of water, a quantity sufficient to supply the population of Constantinople for fifteen days. The pillars of this cistern are distinguished by monograms deeply cut on the shafts and capitals, like hieroglyphics on an Egyptian obelisk, and so obscure as equally to puzzle the learned. One of them consists of the Greek initials for _Euge philoxene_, “Hail, thou strangers’ friend.” This cistern, under the Greek empire, was decreed to be public for the use of all strangers, and was therefore called _philoxenos_. [Illustration: T. Allom. H. Adlard. THE SOLIMANIE, OR MOSQUE OF SULTAN SOLIMAN. FROM THE OUTER COURT.] The Franks have so changed the terms of the Turkish language, that they are hardly to be recognized. _Moslem_, which signifies a “professor of the true faith,” they have corrupted into _Mussulman_; _and Mesjid_, the temple in which he worshipped, into _mosque!_