How Different Was The Behaviour Of These English Sailors From That Of The Three Well-Bred Russian Gentlemen At Jalta!

The passage into the Bosphorus, as well as the objects of interest in Constantinople, I have already described in my journey to the Holy Land.

I went immediately to my good friend Mrs. Balbiani; but, to my regret, found that she was not in Constantinople; she had given up her hotel. I was recommended to the hotel "Aux Quatre Nations," kept by Madame Prust. She was a talkative French woman, who was always singing the praises of her housekeeping, servants, cookery, etc., in which, however, none of the travellers agreed with her. She charged forty piasters (8s.), and put down a good round sum in the bill for servants' fees and such like.

Since my last stay here a handsome new wooden bridge had been erected over the Golden Horn, and the women did not seem to be so thickly veiled as on my first visit to Constantinople. Many of them wore such delicately woven veils that their faces could almost be seen through them: others had only the forehead and chin covered, and left their eyes, nose, and cheeks exposed.

The suburb of Pera looked very desolate. There had been a number of fires, which were increased by two during my stay; they were called "small," as by the first only a hundred and thirty shops, houses, and cottages, and by the second, only thirty were burned to the ground.

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