dded as a yacht steamed out from the shore. "I must go
with the captain to welcome them at the head of the gangway."

[Illustration: I. WITHIN SIGHT OF DOMES AND MINARETS.]

[Illustration: II. FAMOUS ST. SOPHIA HAS FOUR MINARETS.]

The Turkish quarantine physician in red fez and handsome fur overcoat,
accompanied by his assistants and the inspector, came on board. Madam
Rumor whispers that a good sized tip sometimes obviates tedious personal
examinations and insures prompt issuance of a clean bill of health
without exasperating delays. However it was, the quarantine physician,
after consulting with the ship physician, quickly found the health
conditions satisfactory, and the inspector of cargoes granted his
permit. The pilot who was to guide the vessel through the swiftly
flowing current of the Hellespont joined us here, and with him came the
dragoman or chief guide who had been engaged by the managers to take
special charge of the sight-seeing excursions of our party while in
Constantinople.

Proceeding slowly on our way, we noticed half a dozen Turkish warships
lying in the stream near by. One who claimed to know said that the
Turkish naval vessels had been gathering barnacles and mussels for four
years and were unfit for active service. But the fortresses guarding the
strait, he said, were in excellent condition and well equipped with
batteries of modern make.

The Strait of Dardanelles, for a distance of forty miles separating the
continent of Asia from that of Europe, varies in width, narrowing to
less than one mile at some places and broadening out to four miles at
others. By referring to the steamer's atlas, consulting guide books,
exchanging historical knowledge, and questioning good-natured officials,
the tourists obtained information about the various points of interest
that they were passing. Beyond the entrance, at the narrowest point of
the strait, the place was pointed out where the Persian king Xerxes with
his vast army crossed the channel on a bridge of boats for the invasion
of Europe in the year 480 B.C.

"Little then," remarked a tourist, "did that imperious invader dream
that within a year, in humiliation and defeat, and with only a poor
remnant of that great army, he would recross that strait to Asia again."

At the same place in the channel, we were informed, Alexander the Great
with his Greek legions crossed from Europe in the year 334 B.C. and
continued his victorious march until all the t