t up for nine minutes and three quarters; my brain was swimming
too, so much so, that I could hardly count their evolutions; and it is
extraordinary their heads should escape being affected in the same
manner. I noticed one little fellow who went round at an amazing pace.
The fourth and last time they whirled for five minutes and three
quarters, thus making in all

5 + 3 + 9-3/4 + 5-3/4 = 23-1/2 x 64 = 1504 turns.

Having been highly amused with this extraordinary exhibition, I was most
anxious to ascertain when and where their brethren, the howling
dervishes, performed their antics; I found, however, that they had been
banished Stamboul and Pera, and now went through their orgies at
Scutari, but in secret, and very seldom.

[Sidenote: GREEK BOOKSELLER.] Thence I went to the shop of a Greek
bookseller in Galata, who has English and Italian as well as French and
modern Greek books for sale, all which pay an _ad valorem_ duty of three
per cent. I did not find any worth buying, except a description of the
manners, customs, and new regulations of Constantinople, up to 1832;
written by an Italian attached to the Sardinian mission, and published
in Genoa. The only Greek books were some wretched translations of French
tales, and of one or two German plays.

_Wednesday, 15th._--This morning we took Mustapha, once the consul's
janissary, and now his servant, as a guide to the curiosities on the
other side of the water. He is by birth a Swiss, who, after having
experienced various vicissitudes and adventures, was taken by pirates,
sold as a slave, turned Mussulman, and is now happy and contented in the
service of so good a master. Few English visitors who have remained any
time in Constantinople during the last fifteen years, have quitted it
without making the acquaintance of our friend Mustapha.

[Sidenote: MOSQUE OF SOLIMANIE.] The first object to which he conducted
us was the mosque of Solimanie, the largest and most elegant in
Stamboul; though it does not possess the same interest or renown as St.
Sophia, nor the beauty and lightness of that of Sultan Achmet. The outer
court is surrounded by fine old plane trees, and we looked into the
inner one, which is surrounded on three sides by cloisters, and several
antique pillars, with a fine ornamented fountain in the centre. On
entering by the principal door, we took off our shoes, which was no
hardship, the whole floor being covered with soft carpeting. The dome is
supported