all completely equipped for active service. The recently erected palace
of the Sultan on the Asiatic side of the channel, next came in sight. It
consists of a long range of magnificent buildings, painted a rich
colour, between fawn and yellow, picked out with white, and profusely
ornamented with gilding. The interior, I am told, displays a singular
mixture of European and oriental luxury. Parisian furniture, mirrors,
and ornaments from Germany, Persian carpets, and hangings, in short
every thing rare or beautiful, from the east and west being collected
there. [Sidenote: CASTLE OF THE JANISSARIES.] We now passed the old
castle of the janissaries, the first fortress the Turks possessed in
Europe. It lies opposite to the beautiful valley of the sweet waters of
Asia, where the Sultan has a kiosk: and hither, in summer, the Turkish
ladies come on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Fridays, to _pic-nic_. Formerly,
when a janissary was condemned to die, he was confined in this castle.
At the appointed hour, he was led through a small arched doorway, which
opens on the Bosphorus, and there decapitated, and the body was thrown
into the sea; at the same instant the firing of a long gun, which stands
by the side of the gate, announced the execution of his sentence.

[Illustration: Drawn G. C. from a Sketch by the Author.

The Russian encampment on the Giant's Mountain from the English Palace
Garden.

Published by Longman & Co. April, 1835.]

As I before observed, every portion of the European and Asiatic coast is
covered with villas and gardens. The houses are painted of various
colours, and have verandas, with trellis work, covered with roses,
running round them. Those situated near the water are built with an
arched entrance for the caiques, through which, by means of a short
canal, they glide into the centre of the court-yard. The water here is
very deep, and we were sailing so close to the shore, that the mainyard
scarcely cleared the houses. Indeed, instances have occurred, where
the inhabitants have been surprised by the visit of a bowsprit pushing
its way through the wood-work, and carrying off the roof of their
dwellings.

[Sidenote: RUSSIAN CAMP.] We now came in sight of the Russian
encampment, and the tents which covered the summit of an extensive range
of hills, called the Unkiar Skelessi, or Giant's Mountain[7], resembled
so many snowy pinnacles. Their fleet, consisting of ten ships of the
line, a number of frigates, and sm