A couple of days of rest succeeded to the marriage festivities, and during that time all the tents which had fringed the height above Dolma Batchè were transferred to the Valley of the Sweet Waters, whither they were followed by the tumblers, rope-dancers, and jugglers, who had delighted the crowd in the purlieus of the Imperial Palace. A new rejoicing to succeed the bridal fètes; the two younger sons of the Sultan, and eight thousand children, belonging to every class of the Turkish population, from the Pashas to the charcoal-venders of the metropolis and its vicinity, were to be circumcised with much pomp at Kahaitchana. A temporary building, shaped like a crescent, and capable of containing the whole number, had been erected above the upper kiosk, and near the border of the stream, across which a new bridge had been thrown; the pavilion was lined throughout with rich hangings, and well cushioned, and presented a very gay and pretty appearance. The Sultan entertained the Imperial Family at his Palace on the Barbyses; the Pashas gave daily dinners in their tents; and there was not an araba in Constantinople or Pera that was not in requisition. After passing to Eyoub in our caïque, we hired a close araba, in which we drove to the valley. The scene was a very animated one; lines of coffee-tents clung to the sides of the heights; groups of women, seated on their mats, were scattered over the greensward; itinerant fruit-merchants wandered to and fro, with their strawberries neatly arranged in small baskets wreathed with oak leaves, and their cherries heaped in pyramids; mohalibè and yahourt were to be seen on all sides: the little fountains of the sherbet-venders were tinkling like distant sheep-bells; and, high above the heads of the crowd, a rope-dancer was balancing himself in mid-air, with his crimson satin vestment flaring in the hot sunshine. One pretty feature in the scene was the constant succession of scholastic processions; each mosque sending its little troop, headed by an Imam, to parade the valley, and to chant a prayer for the preservation of the Sultan’s sons; after which all the children of the Turkish, Greek, Armenian, Catholic, and Jewish schools, accompanied by their masters, passed before the Sultan, and shared in the festivities, to which they had been especially invited. Nor was the appearance of the Turkish children who assisted at the ceremony less interesting; as they all, save those belonging to the more distinguished families, who wore a vast quantity of gold embroidery about their coats and fèzes, were dressed in a kind of uniform, provided for them by the Sultan; and had their long hair plaited in innumerable braids, and woven together with gold threads, sometimes to a quarter of a yard in breadth.