will not move out of the way.

The city is noted for its dogs, not on account of their beauty or breed,
for they are a disreputable lot of mongrel curs and bear the marks of
many nightly brawls, but on account of the legions of them and their
usefulness as scavengers. At nightfall the residents of Stamboul empty
their garbage cans in the streets and the dogs, howling and fighting,
dispose of every scrap before daylight. When a Turk desires to express
the utmost contempt for a person he calls him a dog.

[Illustration: THE DOG FIGHT HAD JUST ENDED.]

"If you wish to avoid trouble while in this city," cautioned the
dragoman, "neither disturb a sleeping dog in the highways,--for the dog
will resent the interference with his slumbers,--nor call a Turk a dog,
for the anger of a Turk thus reviled is uncontrollable until the
offender who called him by that vilest of epithets is severely
punished."

A drive of one and a half miles along the Grand Rue de Galata, one of
the wider thoroughfares in Galata parallel to the Bosporus, carried the
tourists from the custom house pier to the gates of the Dolmah Bagcheh
Palace. The entrance to the grounds of the palace is through a gateway
of marble, beautiful in design and richly ornamented with elaborate
Corinthian columns and delicate carvings of garlands, wreaths, and urns.

While we gazed at the carvings, the officer in charge of the guard
carefully examined our permit. Then the massive gates were swung open
for our entrance. Within the palace we ascended a magnificent wide
marble staircase, the balusters of which were made of clear glass. We
admired the intricately carved alabaster bath-rooms and wondered if
their neatness had ever been disturbed. We passed through a multitude of
richly decorated chambers and salons where every article was arranged in
perfect order, and walked on carpet strips laid for visitors' feet
around the beautiful ball-room, not daring to tread on the highly
polished hard-wood floor. Every apartment of the palace was immaculate,
and resplendent in marble, porcelain, inlaid woods, and golden mosaics.
The largest mirror in the world reflected the passers-by and costly
paintings attracted the eyes of the visitors. The dark green malachite
and the rich blue lapis lazuli harmonized pleasingly with yellow gold
and white marble. And yet this grand show palace is unoccupied except by
the hundreds of care-takers required to keep it in order. Its quiet is
disturbe