l take them two years to execute.
Went again in the afternoon to the Valley of Sweet Waters, where a
greater crowd had assembled than even on the former occasion. I walked
to the village, where there is a coffee-shop in a very agreeable
situation, overshadowed by plane trees, one of which is nearly as large
as that of the seraglio, and also quite hollow. In one part of the
canal, near the palace, where the water is very deep, the favourite
sultana of Selim drowned herself. She was young and exceedingly
beautiful, but grew so jealous of the attentions paid by her lord and
master to a Greek slave whom he had recently purchased, that she
determined on committing suicide. Accordingly, having succeeded in
eluding the vigilance of the guards and eunuchs, she one night escaped
from the palace; and having procured a large stone, she carried it to
the edge of the canal, and there fastened it to her person by means of
the Cashmere shawl which she wore round her waist. On her absence being
discovered next morning, the utmost consternation prevailed throughout
the harem; and her slaves and attendants trembled at the fate which
awaited them when the Sultan was informed of his favourite's escape. The
harem, the palace, the gardens, the whole neighbourhood, were instantly
searched, but in vain; no one had seen the sultana, and her absence
remained a mystery. The eunuchs were threatened with death, if she were
not found; and the horror of all was aroused by the suggestion that she
might possibly have eloped with some giaour[10], and several of the
slaves were sent to atone for their neglect with the forfeit of their
lives. In the mean time, the poor Sultan remained inconsolable: all his
former love returned, and the Greek slave was sent as a present to one
of the Pashas. At the expiration of a few days, as the disconsolate
Selim was seated smoking on the borders of the canal, the body became
detached from the stone, and rose to the surface of the water.
Overwhelmed by the heart-rending spectacle, which too well explained the
mystery of his beautiful queen's disappearance, he was with difficulty
prevented by his attendant slaves from throwing himself upon the corpse.
When he retired, it was taken out, and sent into Constantinople to be
buried. Thus ends this little episode in the life of the mighty Selim.

[Sidenote: IBRAHIM PASHA.] _Saturday, 18th._--I went up to Terapia in
the evening, and dined at the palace. Ibrahim's army is passing