The first Hill, extending itself from the South-east to the South-west, opens at the Entrance of it to the Breadth of thirty Paces; from thence it widens gradually, and so on, till at last ’tis almost as broad as ’tis long. It rises at the Nook of the _Isthmus_, which joins the _Peninsula_ to the Continent. It projects itself in the Form of a Cymetar, or a Hawk’s Beak, and almost divides the Straits of the _Bosporus_, and the Bay called _Ceras_. The whole Hill projects beyond the others almost to the Mouth of the Bay. ’Tis all upon a Descent, except the Top of it, where there’s a Plain which joins to the Plain of the _Promontory_. The lesser Eminences which stand upon it, and which face the East and the North, have a moderate Descent, others of them are more steep, so that in some Places you are obliged to climb them by Steps, but the tallest of them is not above four hundred Paces high. The Plain, at the Foot of this Hill, is very different. The Eastern Part of it is much widen’d by the Sea Shore, which jets out in a semicircular Manner. The Breadth of the South-east and northern Part of it is encreased by the Valley, which divides the first from the second Hill. The Plain on the Top of the Hill is about seven hundred Paces in Length. This Hill is not only fortified by Nature, as being encompassed on the East by the _Bosporus_, on the North by the Bay of _Ceras_, and on the West by a cool Valley; but ’tis also inclosed within the Walls of the _Seraglio_, which are guarded with numberless Ramparts and Towers, which are equal in Strength to the Walls of the City. Towards the Foot of the Hill, and the Plain near the Sea, lie the Gardens of the _Grand Seignor_. The Imperial Palace, which is partly situate on the Top of the Hill, and partly on the Eminences below it, affords almost an unmeasurable Prospect, both by Sea and Land. In this Plain there are two Imperial _Areas_ or Courts; the first of these Courts is seven hundred Paces long, and two hundred broad. You pass through this into another inner Court, which is a Quadrangle two hundred Paces long, and has round it a magnificent _Portico_, supported with a Multitude of fine Marble Pillars curiously variegated. In the Middle of the Court there’s a fine shady Walk of _Plane_ and _Cypress-Trees_ for the Lawyers, and in the North Angle of the City is the _Forum Judiciale_, which the _Ottomans_ call their _Divan_. On the South-east Side of a large Court stands the magnificent and stately Palace of the _Grand Seignor_, on the North Side of which are built many Imperial _Bagnio’s_, and Kitchens with eight arch’d Roofs, rising like a _Cupola_, in an hemispherical Manner; each of these _Cupola’s_ representing the Figure of a little House, is nothing else but a Chimney with Windows, light at Top, made in the Likeness of a Lantern. There is a two-leav’d Iron Gate which lets you into the first Court, the Leaves of it, when opened, stand at twenty Paces Distance.