nd built in modern style; it is prospering,
having had only 45,000 inhabitants in 1870, while the population is now
150,000. One cannot afford to treat either the Greeks or Athens
flippantly; they are worthy of the highest praise and respect.

TURKEY

CONSTANTINOPLE

After leaving Greece we threaded our way through the islands of the
Aegean Sea, the Dardanelles, the Sea of Marmora and the Bosphorus, to
Constantinople, where we anchored at the mouth of the Golden Horn. I
must leave to the historian the dramatic and sensational history of the
capital of Turkey in its various shifts of ownership; perhaps no other
city has surpassed it as a factor in European affairs for a period of
two thousand years. It was named after Constantine, the Roman Emperor,
who was its chief builder. He tried to call it New Rome, but this
title would not stick. On the Galata Bridge that leads to Stamboul, a
racial panorama may be seen that embraces all the peoples of the
Orient, and everywhere signs appeal in half a dozen languages. The
private histories of its rulers have also been of the most absorbing
and exciting character, and were they described by a pen of authority
and with the necessary inside knowledge and information they would
still further shock and astonish the uninformed.

The city was founded by the Dorian Greeks some seven hundred years
before the beginning of the Christian era; later the Persians captured
it, then the Romans came and took charge. The Goths were the next men
in possession, followed by Basil of Macedonia, who became Dictator.
Then Mohammed was the man of destiny: the city fell into his hands and
from that day to this the "unspeakable Turk" has ruled it. All these
changes were brought about by battles at sea and on land, by sieges and
through treachery, and with great loss of life, treasure and time.

We employed a guide to take us to the Mosque of Sancta Sophia and the
other principal show places. This man had formerly called himself
"Teddy Roosevelt," but he changed his name to "George Washington Taft,"
in honor of our worthy President, thus making his cognomen thoroughly
American and bringing it up to date at a stroke of the pen; but we told
him this was no kind of a name for a guide in Turkey, and then and
there changed it to "Muley-Molech;" he was much pleased with his new
historical title. "Muley-Molech" had a nose of vast proportions--while
not so large as the _Lusitania's_ helm, yet it w