of hideous dogs, of a fallow
colour, were growling and fighting. A fetid stench arose from the damp
gutters, where neither air nor light have ever penetrated, where
corruptions of all sorts amass, and where one is continually in danger
of stepping upon a dead dog or rat. Such is without exaggeration the
aspect of the greater part of the streets of Constantinople, and in
particular those of Galata. This contrast between the misery of what
surrounds you, and the incomparable beauty of the same spot when seen
from a distance, has never yet been sufficiently remarked upon by
travellers who seek to describe Constantinople. Perhaps they have been
unwilling to cool the enthusiasm of their readers in dirtying with these
hideous, but true details, their gold and silver-plated descriptions.

Perfectly disenchanted by this sudden change of scene, I followed the
bearer of my baggage up a street, which was steep, badly paved, and so
narrow that three men could scarcely have walked along it abreast. On
the right and left hand were disgusting little shops, or rather booths,
filled with green fruit and vegetables. Having proceeded onwards, we
rounded the tower of Galata, which, from a near view resembles a
handsome dove-cote, and shortly afterwards arrived at Pera, and
proceeded to take up our quarters at a kind of hotel, kept by one
Giusepine Vitali, where I immediately went to bed and was soon
afterwards fast asleep.

At ten o'clock, A.M., I was awakened by my fellow-travellers, and
accompanied them to the caravanserai of the Turning Dervishes. A
somewhat lengthened residence in the northern provinces of Persia, where
a Turkish idiom is spoken, had given me a tolerable fluency in that
language, and I was thus enabled to act as interpreter to my friends.
The cicerone of the hotel conducted us to a circular building situated
in the midst of a small garden, whither was hurrying a crowd composed of
Greeks, Armenians, and Turks. Having arrived at the vestibule, we took
off our boots and confided them to the care of a man who kept a sort of
depot for slippers, of which he hired out to each of us a pair. We then
entered a large circular hall, lighted from above, in the centre of
which was an oaken floor, waxed and polished with the greatest care, and
protected by a balustrade. Around this arena were seated a number of
spectators of all ages, country, and costumes, and exhaling a strong
odour of garlic. The ceremony was commenced: for to th