“It requires some time fully to realize the enormous wealth of this treasure-house. But slowly one becomes convinced that these treasures can only be the accumulation of centuries, and represent the heritage of the Ottomans from all their predecessors. Once assured of this, the traveller will find a peculiar fitness in the aspect and attitude of the guards of the place. They stand, dressed in spotless black broadcloth, four or five feet apart, in line along the cabinets, perfectly motionless. And they are solemn of countenance, as if standing by the catafalque of some deceased monarch lying in state for the homage of his subjects. “I first visited this place shortly after the late war with Russia. The Turkish Government was in sore straits for the means of daily existence. The Sultan had just sent his gold and silver plate to the mint to be coined in order to buy up the depreciated paper currency. The people of whole districts were at the verge of starvation because the $80,000,000 of paper money in circulation had lost its purchasing power. I was naturally incredulous as to the reality of what I had seen. If these jewels were real, their value must be sufficient to pay off the dishonored bonds of Turkey. It did not seem reasonable that the Turkish Government could have passed through such straits as those to which it had been reduced by the war without having recourse to their treasure-house. Multitudes of articles in those rooms have an immense antique and artistic value entirely aside from their intrinsic value. “I spoke in this strain to one of the officers of the Imperial Ottoman Bank, and he replied that the jewels were unquestionably genuine. He said that during the war the Turks borrowed $30,000,000 from the bank. The loan was to be secured by pledge of jewels from this treasure-house, and the bank officials were told to help themselves from its riches. They selected enough of the jewels to guarantee them amply against loss. These jewels were packed in three small boxes and removed to the vaults of the bank. But their removal left no gap in the great accumulation. Afterward I asked a Turk why the Government did not sell this treasure and be at ease. ‘Sell it?’ said the Turk; ‘why, it is the treasure of all the Sultans! It cannot be sold.’ “So there is this treasure-house to-day--a grand relic of ancient splendor--in the hands of the broken, ruined remnant of the house of Osman. The possession of this enormous wealth must be a terrible temptation at times to the worn man who wears the Sacred Sword of Turkey. But he clings to it through all his adversity, for it is the only relic left to the Empire of the glory of its past.”