between the banks of the
Frank and Moslem--Pera and Stamboul. Where on the earth shall we find a
panorama more magnificent?

The air was filled with the shouts and noises of the great Oriental
metropolis; the water was alive with caiques and little steamers; and all
the world of work and trade, which had grown almost to be a fable,
welcomed us back to its restless heart. We threaded our rather perilous
way over the populous waves, and landed in a throng of Custom-House
officers and porters, on the wharf at Galata.

Chapter XXVI.

The Night of Predestination.

Constantinople in Ramazan--The Origin of the Fast--Nightly
Illuminations--The Night of Predestination--The Golden Horn at
Night--Illumination of the Shores--The Cannon of Constantinople--A Fiery
Panorama--The Sultan's Caique--Close of the Celebration--A Turkish
Mob--The Dancing Dervishes.

"Skies full of splendid moons and shooting stars,
And spouting exhalations, diamond fires." Keats.

Constantinople, _Wednesday, July_ 14, 1862.

Constantinople, during the month of Ramazan, presents a very different
aspect from Constantinople at other times. The city, it is true, is much
more stern and serious during the day; there is none of that gay, careless
life of the Orient which you see in Smyrna, Cairo, and Damascus; but when
once the sunset gun has fired, and the painful fast is at an end, the
picture changes as if by magic. In all the outward symbols of their
religion, the Mussulmans show their joy at being relieved from what they
consider a sacred duty. During the day, it is quite a science to keep the
appetite dormant, and the people not only abstain from eating and
drinking, but as much as possible from the sight of food. In the bazaars,
you see the famished merchants either sitting, propped back against their
cushions, with the shawl about their stomachs, tightened so as to prevent
the void under it from being so sensibly felt, or lying at full length in
the vain attempt to sleep. It is whispered here that many of the Turks
will both eat and smoke, when there is no chance of detection, but no one
would dare infringe the fast in public. Most of the mechanics and porters
are Armenians, and the boatmen are Greeks.

I have endeavored to ascertain the origin of this fast month. The Syrian
Christians say that it is a mere imitation of an incident which happened
to Mahomet. The Prophet, having lost his camels, went day after day
seeking