pushed, up stairs again,
where I took my place upon my couch with feelings of great joy and
thankfulness.

I now began to think that all the horrors I had undergone were balanced
by the delicious feeling of repose that stole over me. I felt that I
could have stopped there forever, with the fragrant coffee steaming at
my side, and the soothing bubble of the _narghiles_ sounding in every
direction. I went off into a day dream--my last clear vision being that
of a man having his head shaved all but a top knot, which was long
enough to twist round and round, under his fez--and could scarcely
believe that an hour had elapsed, when the dragoman suggested our return
to the bustling world without.

* * * * *

THE SLAVE MARKET AT CONSTANTINOPLE.--No European goes to the East with a
clear idea of a Slave-market. He has seen fanciful French lithographs,
and attractive scenes in Eastern ballets, where the pretty girls
appeared ready, on the shortest notice, and in the most bewitching
costumes, to dance the Gitana, Romaika, Tarantella, Redowa, or any other
characteristic _pas_ that might be required of them. Or if not schooled
into these impressions, he takes the indignant view of the subject, and
thinks of nothing but chains and lashes, and finds, at last, that one is
just as false as the other.

There is now no regular slave-market at Constantinople. The fair
Circassians and Georgians reside in the houses of the merchants, to whom
many of them are regularly consigned by their friends, and of these it
is impossible for a Frank to obtain a glimpse, for the usual privacy of
the harem is granted to them. The chief depot of the blacks is in a
large court-yard attached to the Mosque of Suleyman. In a street
immediately outside the wall was a row of coffee-houses, where opium,
was also to be procured for smoking, which is by no means so general a
practice as is imagined; and over and behind these were buildings in
which the slaves were kept. It is true that these were grated, but the
lattices through which only the Turkish women can look abroad, gave a
far greater notion of imprisonment.

There were a great many women and children grouped about in the
court-yard, and all those who appeared to possess any degree of
intelligence were chatting and laughing. Some were wrapped up in
blankets and crouching about in corners: but in these, sense and feeling
seemed to be at the lowest ebb. I should be very so