[Illustration: MOSQUE OF ST. SOPHIA, CONSTANTINOPLE, TURKEY.--This is the finest and most important ecclesiastical building of the city. The first stone of the building was laid in 532. No fewer than ten thousand workmen are said to have been engaged under the direction of one hundred master builders, and when the work was completed, it had cost the imperial treasury $5,000,000. The dome rises to the height of one hundred and eighty feet, and is one hundred and seven feet in diameter. To render it as light as possible, it was constructed of pumice stone and Rhodian bricks. Not long after its completion, the dome was shaken by an earthquake, but was immediately restored.] [Illustration: INTERIOR OF THE MOSQUE OF ST. SOPHIA, CONSTANTINOPLE, TURKEY.--The whole interior of this noted structure is lined with costly marble. To add to its splendor, the temples of the ancient gods at Heliopolis and Ephesus, at Delos and Baalbec, at Athens and Cyzicus, were plundered of their columns. To secure the building from ravages of fire, no wood was employed in its construction except for the doors. The visitor cannot fail to be impressed by the bold span of the arches and the still bolder sweep of the dome, while his eye is at once bewildered and charmed by the rich, if not altogether harmonious, variety of decorations, from the many colored pillars down to the mosaics and inscriptions on the walls.] [Illustration: STREET SCENE, CONSTANTINOPLE, TURKEY.--The American traveler upon entering this city is almost bewildered at the many novelties that confront him before he reaches his hotel. Nothing strikes him more forcibly than the awful silence that pervades so large a place. The only sound heard is an occasional cry of some vender, with a large wooden tray on his head, selling sweetmeats, sherbet, fruit or bread. Dogs at intervals disturb the pedestrian. Hundreds of them lie in the middle of the street, and only move when aroused by blows. At ten o'clock at night, the city is as silent as death.] [Illustration: MOSQUE OF SULTAN AHMED, CONSTANTINOPLE, TURKEY.--Of all the mosques in the Ottoman Empire, this is the principal one. It is not as richly decorated as St. Sophia, but it is the only one that possesses six minarets. It is located on a square called the Hippodrome, named after the spot that was in former years used for circus purposes. The exterior view gives it a magnificent appearance. The place is one of the chief objects of interest in the city. The crumbling monument in the foreground is a relic of antiquity.] [Illustration: TURKISH LADY, CONSTANTINOPLE, TURKEY.] [Illustration: STREET MERCHANTS, CONSTANTINOPLE, TURKEY.]