while listening to the music of the horn bands, which
played on a hill close to our anchorage; and the beauty of these
national airs, somewhat compensated for the rudeness with which they
turned us off the shore. It was very cold in the afternoon; the shifting
of the wind to the north caused a great change in the weather, and
towards evening we were glad to keep below.

_Thursday, 2d._ It is a most lovely morning: all nature seems to rejoice
in the freshening breeze, which, blowing from the Black Sea, tempers
even the hottest days with its refreshing coolness, and extracts the
sweets from millions of roses, which ever bloom on the shores of the
Bosphorus. From the jasmine or orange flower, it floats with its odorous
burthen along the current, and lays all its perfume at the foot of
Stamboul.

[Sidenote: THE CAIQUE.] A party of us embarked in a sort of light boat
called a caique, than which no species of vessel, save the gondola, cuts
more softly and noiselessly through the waters. It is a narrow wooden
canoe, with a long beak; the outside is painted black, with a strip of
bright red inside the stern piece; and is ornamented with carvings of
flowers, and a thousand other devices. A Persian carpet, or a piece of
oil cloth, covers the part on which the foot steps in entering, and here
the slippers are left or retained, as the owner pleases. Those who ride
in them do not sit on benches, but in the bottom of the caique, on a
Persian carpet. The interior is white as snow, and there is an
ornamented back board which runs across, and separates the stepping
place from that appropriated to the purpose of a seat. It has no keel,
and the paddles are long, and broad at the end. Some caiques are rowed
by one, others by two boatmen, with two oars or sculls each; but the
most elegant of these vessels have three rowers. The _employes_ of high
station about the Porte, and the ministers of the different foreign
courts, keep superb caiques, rowed by eight, ten, or even twelve men;
but although these boats are very striking in their appearance, they
want that air of comfort and neatness which distinguish the smaller
caiques.

[Sidenote: TURKISH BOATMEN.] The rowers are either Greeks or Turks, and
wear a fez just large enough to cover the crown of the head, which is
close shaved. The remainder of their dress consists of a thin
transparent shirt, with large sleeves reaching to the elbows; and cotton
drawers fastened to the knees; both as w