I hope you do not expect to be informed by me, why the _Chalcedonians_, who built a City over-against _Byzantium_ (the Ruins whereof are yet to be seen) were Sirnam’d _The Blind_; nor shall I tell you the Nature of that Sea, which always runs downward with a vast Stream, but never recoils with any Tide; nor will I spend Time to speak of those _Hautgis_ which were brought to _Constantinople_ from the _Palus Mæotis_, such as the _Italians_ call _Moronella’s Botargues_ and _Caviare_; the Description of all these Particulars would swell my Epistle to too great a Bulk, and besides, it would be needless; for both the _Antients_, and also _Modern_ Writers, have given Information of those Particulars at large. To return then to the Site of _Constantinople_. There is no Place in the World more pleasantly seated to the Eye, nor more convenient for Trade. But, let me tell you, the Buildings therein (as in all other _Turkish_ Cities) are not magnificent, nor are their Streets stately or large; nay, in _Constantinople_, they are so narrow, that they much eclipse the Beauty of the Place. Yet there are in it some valuable Relicks of old Monuments to be seen; but not so many as a Man would imagine, considering how many _Constantine_ brought thither from _Rome_. It is not my Purpose to insist upon each of these Particulars; yet, a Word or two of the principal ones. In the _Area_ of the old _Hippodrome_, there are two Serpents cut in Brass; as also, a mighty _Obelisk_. Moreover, _Constantinople_ doth gratifie us with the Sight of two memorable Pillars; _One_ over-against the _Caravaserai_, where I lodged, and the _Other_ in the _Forum_, called by the _Turks_, _Aurat-basar_, i. e. _The Womens Court_, wherein, from Bottom to Top, is engraven the History of a certain Expedition of one _Arcadius_, who built it, and whose Statue, for a long time, stood on the Top of it. And yet it may rather be called a _Stair-Case_, than a _Pillar_, because it goes winding up like a Pair of Stairs. I caused the Shape of this Pillar to be drawn, which I have by me. But the other Pillar, over-against the House the _German_ Ambassadors used to lodge in, the whole Structure, besides the Basis and the Chapiter, consists of eight solid Marble or Red _Porphyry_ Stones, so curiously joined together, that they seem but one continued Stone. For, where the Stones are jointed one into another, upon that Commissure, there is wrought a circular Garland of Lawrels round about the Pillar, which hides the jointing, so that they which look upon it from the Ground, perceive no jointing at all. That Pillar hath been so often shaken by Earthquakes, and so battered by Fires happening near it, that it is cleft in many Places, and they are forced to bind it about with Iron Hoops, that it may not fall to pieces.