hat portion of the suburbs inhabited by the
Armenians, but presenting no attractions to the stranger, being
exceedingly crowded and dirty; and along the shore are the stations for
washing, slaughtering cattle, and throwing into the sea the filth
collected by the scavengers.

[Sidenote: THE PASHA'S GATE.] If these objects were calculated to excite
feelings of disgust, the scene which next presented itself was beautiful
as fairy land. The ship sailed close under the lofty wall of the
seraglio garden, which is separated from the sea by only a narrow wharf.
Shady groves, bowers of oranges, roses and jasmine, lofty cypresses, and
wide spreading plane trees, embosom the elegant pagoda-shaped buildings,
which comprise the kiosks of the Sultan, and the women's apartments; all
of which, together with the stables and other inferior offices, are
richly gilt and painted of various gaudy colours. Near one of the
seraglio gates is erected a large wooden house, where many a disobedient
Pasha has awaited the decree of banishment issued against him by his
imperious master. There, too, he was shipped on board the vessel
destined to carry him into exile; or, if condemned to expiate his
offences with his life, it was there the bowstring was applied. Hence
this entrance is known by the appellation of the Pasha's gate. A little
further on, we observed a small low door in the wall, scarcely high
enough to admit an ordinary sized man. Through this opening the slaves
newly purchased, for either the Sultan or Sultana, are conveyed into the
palace; through it also, they make their exit, when barbarous jealousy
or revenge prompts their destruction; and many a lovely Dudu or Lolah,
and many a fair Sultana sewn in the cruel sack, have been borne through
this fatal opening, and cast into the

"Rolling waves, which hide
Already many a once love-beaten breast,
Deep in the caverns of the deadly tide."

[Sidenote: BEAUTIES OF STAMBOUL.] We now sailed round the promontory of
the Golden Horn, when all the beauties of Stamboul, Pera, the Bosphorus,
and Scutari, burst suddenly upon the view. Looking towards the seraglio
point is seen the richly gilded palace of the Sultan, with a gate that
glitters as if formed of polished gold; and backed by a profusion of
foliage, and the buildings of the Serai. Farther distant is St. Sophia
and the other mosques, whose golden domes and graceful, tapering
minarets, tower above the mass of painted build