and its sides studded with brazen mouths. Multitudes of Turkish
barks circulate through that forest of masts, serving the
purpose of carriages in that maritime city, and disturb in
their swift progress through the waves, clouds of alabastros,
which, like beautiful white pigeons, rise from the sea on their
approach, to descend and repose again on the unruffled surface.
It is impossible to count the vessels which lie on the water
from the seraglio point to the suburb of Eyoub and the
delicious valley of the Sweet Waters. The Thames at London
exhibits nothing comparable to it."--(II. 262-265.)

"Beautiful as the European side of the Bosphorus is, the
Asiatic is infinitely more striking. It owes nothing to man,
but every thing to nature. There is neither a Buyukdere nor a
Therapia, nor palaces of ambassadors, nor an Armenian nor Frank
city; there is nothing but mountains with glens which separate
them; little valleys enameled with green, which lie at the foot
of overhanging rocks; torrents which enliven the scene with
their foam; forests which darken it by their shade, or dip
their boughs in the waves; a variety of forms, of tints, and of
foliage, which the pencil of the painter is alike unable to
represent or the pen of the poet to describe. A few cottages
perched on the summit of projecting rocks, or sheltered in the
bosom of a deeply indented bay, alone tell you of the presence
of man. The evergreen oaks hang in such masses over the waves
that the boatmen glide under their branches, and often sleep
cradled in their arms. Such is the character of the coast on
the Asiatic side as far as the castle of Mahomet II., which
seems to shut it in as closely as any Swiss lake. Beyond that,
the character changes; the hills are less rugged, and descend
in gentler slopes to the water's edge; charming little plains,
checkered with fruit-trees and shaded by planes, frequently
open; and the delicious Sweet Waters of Asia exhibit a scene of
enchantment equal to any described in the Arabian Nights.
Women, children, and black slaves in every variety of costume
and colour; veiled ladies from Constantinople; cattle and
buffaloes ruminating in the pastures; Arab horses clothed in
the most sumptuous trappings of velvet and gold; caiques filled
with Armenian an