redoubtable fortress,
which is rapidly falling to ruin, though a remnant of the jealousy of
former ages still requires a firman to be obtained, before you are
allowed to visit its once formidable interior.

[Sidenote: TOMB OF ALI PASHA.] Leaving the towers, and proceeding on
towards the village of Ejub, we came to the range of tombs, which formed
one of the principal objects of the day's excursion. It is situated near
the gate Selyori, through which passes the road leading in the direction
of Santo Stefano.

It is a low square piece of rough masonry, erected of oblong stones, in
the centre of a small verdant grove, and canopied by the luxuriant
foliage of a magnificent plane tree.

Intermingled with this mass of smiling verdure and blossom-loaded
boughs, appeared the dark funereal cypress, the emblem of death,
intruding itself in melancholy contrast with the smiling and cheerful
tints by which it is encircled.

The tombs consist of five tall sculptured stones, of unequal height,
surmounted by turbans, and inscribed with the following legend in
gilded characters, explanatory of the fate of the individuals whose
names it commemorates:--"Here is deposited the head of the once
celebrated Ali of Tepeleni, governor of the Sanjak of Janina, who for
upwards of fifty years aspired to independence in Albania. Also, the
heads of his three sons, Mouktar Pasha, Veli Pasha, Saelik Pasha; and
that of his grandson, Mehemet Pasha."

[Sidenote: RUSSIAN INSOLENCE.] Being unable to proceed farther along the
walls, we returned, through the city, to the Golden Horn, and arrived
rather late in Pera, where Hodgson and a friend of his from Beiroot,
were waiting dinner. The latter gentleman is the American Vice-consul in
Syria, and has visited Constantinople in the hope of recovering some
money to which he is entitled for the salvage of a valuable English
ship, lost on the coast near Beiroot. He amused us until a late hour
with many interesting descriptions of Beiroot, Lady Stanhope, and the
monks and cedars of Lebanon. Among other anecdotes, he related a curious
incident that happened to him yesterday. He accompanied a party of
Americans to Buyukdere, where they took a caique, and rowed alongside
the Russian flag-ship. The sentinel at the gangway immediately ordered
them to sheer off, and, on demanding the reason, they were told that
they must not attempt to approach without the admiral's permission.
Nothing daunted, they desired the man