The Figure of _Constantinople_ is triangular, the Base of which is that Part of it which lies Westward: The top Angle points to the East, where the _Peninsula_ begins. But both the Sides of this Triangle are not equal; for that Side which lies westward winds round the Angle of the Bay in the Figure of a Half-Moon. At a great Distance from thence, it winds about again from North to South. But the South Side of this Triangle veers about to such a Breadth, that if you should draw a strait Line from one Angle of it to the other, it would cut off a Creek, which, in the Middle of it, is at least a quarter of a Mile over. But that Side which faces the North, and is call’d _Ceras_, the Bay or Horn, should you draw a strait Line over it from one Angle to another, it would cut off not only the whole Bay, but also a part of _Galata_. For this Side inflects inwards in such a manner, that from each Point it circulates in the Form of a Bow, having two smaller Windings of the same Figure in the Middle of it, but lies inwardly into the Continent so far, that the two Horns or Ends of the Bow, which includes them, no ways intercept the Prospect of the Angles of the larger Arch. ’Tis upon this Account that _Constantinople_ may rather seem to be of a triarcular, than a triangular Figure. For right Angles never project beyond their Sides, nor do they inflect inwards. But all semicircular Figures are in a manner both convex and concave also. So that if these three Angles, so far as they project beyond the main Body of the City, were divided from it, _Constantinople_ would form a square oblong Figure, little more than a Mile broad, and almost three times as long. But be that as it will, all are of Opinion, that this City ought to be look’d upon to be of a triangular Figure, because it has three Sides; one of which that faces the _Propontis_, and the other on the side of the _Thracian_ Continent, are of an equal Length; the third, adjoining to the Bay, is about a Mile shorter than the other two. This City is computed to be near thirteen Miles in Compass, although _Laonicus Chalcondylus_, in his History of the _Ottomans_, assures us, that _Constantinople_ contain’d in Compass an hundred and eleven Furlongs; the Length of it, extending itself over the Promontory with six Hills, is no more than thirty Furlongs; but if the Figure of it was an equilateral Triangle, it would not be much above nine Miles in Circumference; and could we suppose its hilly Situation to be widen’d into one large Plain, yet then it would not be so large in Compass as the Inhabitants generally reckon it, _viz._ eighteen Miles. It is observable, that _Constantinople_ does not contain more Bays of Building, as it is situate upon Hills, than it would if it were built upon a Plain; because you cannot so conveniently build upon a Declivity, as you can upon a Level. Nor does the Reason equally hold good, as to the Number of its Houses, and the Number of its Inhabitants.