h
corrugated hands at reeking tubs, but such as painters and poets might
celebrate. Washing is with them a pastime, and an elegance: their
laundry a studio of art. They go right into the water, and splash about
their things like naiads sporting; and anon returning to the bank, put
forth their little strength in beating out the clothes. It would be rash
to say that the process is so effectual as our more homely method; but
it is at least pretty to look at. At evening the banks of the stream
assume another appearance. Gay crowds promenade, and cavalcades linger;
people of many nations congregate to unbend the brow laden with the
cares of the day. Fathers muse, maidens gambol, and matrons chide.

A little farther on, and we come to Caravan-bridge,--of all Smyrna's
objects, perhaps the one best known by reputation. It has its name from
the number of caravans that, entering Smyrna from the interior, have to
pass over it. And see, there is at this moment a string of camels in the
way, so that we may as well halt in this convenient shade till they be
gone by. That little Ethiopian will look after our horses, and Ali will
bring us coffee and chibouques in a twinkling. See how pleasantly these
trees overshadow our resting-place, and how the gliding of the water,
here a broader and more rapid stream, seems to cool our very thoughts.
This is the great picnic place for the citizens--a sort of Turkish
Vauxhall. Yet what a difference between the orderly composure of these
holiday makers, and the noisy mirth of our own compatriots. These folks
take their _kef_, as they do every thing else, quietly. Here you may see
hundreds of revellers, and not a drunkard among them. Perhaps the repose
of the scene draws some of its influence from those sombre burying
grounds, of which two are just opposite. No where is such truth of
funereal effect preserved as in this country. Pere la Chaise, and all
European cemeteries are puerile in comparison. The stately evergreen
which they have consecrated to the overshadowing of the dead fulfils the
idea of solemnity and awe. There is effect in the manner in which the
simple head-stones are planted together, with no separation of rails, no
interspersion of pretending sarcophagi. All have returned to their dust,
and have put off the ephemeral distinctions of life; they have returned
to the bosom of their mother, where there is no aristocracy, and slumber
as brethren till they shall be awakened to new distincti