| Show Simy mm ATHENS greeck greece april 11 I 1 s 1873 editor news in my last I 1 closed with our arrival at beyrodt Bey rout the locality of this city is very beautiful ml lul it stands on a promontory of a triangular trian cular vular form the apex projecting into tho the mediterranean and its base extending along tile the foot of the lebanon mountains groves of pine and mulberry are seen on the rising hills bills and covering the mountain acclivities and here and there groups of palm balm and cypres cypress cyp rese beg seq our close upon tile the shores commands a splendid view of the bay of st george on which are floating ships and steamers the mediterranean the finest portion of the city and some of the picturesque tur esque esquo scenery of lebanon it isa is a mental luxury to look from my window or out from the open balcony and contemplate these lovely scenes wrought hy by the hand of god and by his inspirations in man the city contains over fifty thou sand sanel inhabitants one third of these are Muss lAuss ulmen the rest christ christians ans jews and strangers its numerous shops capacious warehouse sits busy quay and numbers of bazars ships and steamers exhibit life and commercial enterprise for forming formino g a striking contrast with the old threadbare wom worn out and moth eaten systems of doing business still practiced in the towns and ea cities of palestine with regard to foreign trade and commerce bey rout stands foremost in syria th thy s largest imports are for damascus it forming formino the seaport sea port of that city the claer chief article of export is raw rany silk the trade in which is ft fast increasing and every year becoming more moro important in the vicinity of the city and through the r region e on of lebanon the country Is being be 1 n filled with mulberry orchards and an little doubt is entertained of it its ita proving provin a permanent perm ament source of b business U ad imd profit the new portion of the city is handlo handsomely mely built tile the private dwellings and public edifices are chiefly constructed of stone substantially ly built with some artistic dl display lay some of the streets are broad and an iff well paved and nearly nea r ly everywhere signs igns crimp of improvement and enterprise ter prise are visible insomuch that one could almost fancy himself ina lna in a european city american and English missionaries have established a Po college and several schools in beyrodt and in lebanon these institutions are accessible to students of every sect and party who are willing to conform to the regulations w which leh ieh are skillfully arranged with a view of f p ros e ing all boarders are r required eq ul red to be ba present at morning j a and d evening ning prayers and attend protestant worship and college j classes classe upon the scriptures durin duning during the week the bible is aiso also also aiso u used c asa as a text book for common dinst instruction c ac those educational departments are sustained by contributions from europe and america some seventy students attend the protestant college the british syrian at beyrodt number over six hundred scholars and including the branch schools in lebanon rising one thousand march we embarked on an austrian lloyd steamer for constantinople stantin ople opie we passed the island of cyprus had a view from the deck of mount olympus the summit of which was once crowned with the celebrated temple of venus passed the island of rhodes where we saw the fortifications of the knights knight of stjohn st john their bastions battlements overhanging buttresses and lofty towers the Is island landof of patmos was pointed out in ohp distance where the rovela bovela tor john received his bis wonderful visions wo called at smyrna the city honored with many euphonious names tho the ithe ornament of asia the crown of lonia ionia 11 gy 11 sweet smelling smyrna ac passed pled the island matilene My tilene tene dos went through the dardanelles Darda nelles and and were shown the tile place where leander and afterward lord byron performed feats of swimming then steamed nied over the sea of marmora nd at length arrived at constantinople the celebrated capital of the tile ottoman empire the port was crowded with ship steamers mers barges ferries and sma small smail 11 boats so numerous that they appeared as if swarming on the waters numbering many thousands this magnificent bay accommodates twelve undred hundred li sail sall and ia Is clentry deep to float ships of war of the largest magnitude for advantages of trade and commerce and for beauty of situation constantinople undoubtedly excels all other cities in tile the world it stands upon two continents europe E drope and asia and upon two seas the black sea and the sea of marmora its population is variously estimated at from five hundred thousand to eight hundred thousand of these about three hundred thousand are greeks and armenians Armen ians sixty thousand jews and thirty thousand europeans it contains forty colleges one thousand mosques man mau many y jewish synagogues and numerous catholic churches we visited the american minister and spent a few hours in his company very pleasantly prest smith has made it an invariable rule to call on our american ministers bersand and consul sand without an exception cep tion we have been courteously and kindly received and in several instances our company has been solicited Our cards and our letters ot of introduction from pres pros young on every occasion have been noticed and honored while in constantinople we visited the principal mosques the tombs of the sultans the offices of the sublime porte perte the treasury armory mint repository of an ties the bazars and the palace of the sultans the royal seraglio the mosque of st sophia which we inspected in in several respects is the most remarkable edifice in the turkish empire it is three hundred and fifty feet in length b by two hundred and thirty nive five in ln breadth it was built bulit for fora forn a catholic t temple emple in the sixth century by the emperor justinian and was sixteen years in course of construction at that time it was celebrated as the most remarkable and magnificent temple in the whole empire in the fifteenth century it was converted intha mosque through the conquering sword of iro tro Ifo mohammed hammed the second at the capture of constantinople it has two flags suspended on either side of the pulpit indicating the victory of islam over judaism and christianity and the koran over the old and new testaments the roof is constructed in such a manner that it exhibits nine cupolas cu the great dome forming the highest summit and so a arranged that it appears as if suspended i the air the whole seen to together ether presenta presents an appearance of singular grandeur and magnificence ence enee the walls and numerous arches are built of brick the interior of the building is adorned with tile the richest and most costly materials granite marblo marble and porphyry of f every description black marble with white veins white marble with rose colored stripes green and blue marble and marble with black veins we counted eight large porphyry columns which were taken from the temple of the sun at albeck Ba and six or eight green columns of porphyry which our guide guidi informed us w were ere from the temple of diana dian a at ephesus the floor is formed of variegated marble with waving lines imitating the of the ocean the tiles which cover the arches of the cupolas cu were made at rhodes of chalk white clay of peculiar pecullar lightness being only one twelfth of the usual weight and had inscribed upon them go god yd has founded it and it ift will not be overthrown god will support it hi in the blush of the tho dawn it has sixteen gates of bronze adorned with crosses cromes the spaces between them are decorated with beautiful marble and above them are mosaic pictures the central dome is one hundred and s seven even feet in diameter with a rise of for ty six feet and with an elevation of one hundred and eighty feet above the ground with semi somi domes domos on two sides of equal diameter the grand dome is supported on arches resting on four immense pleis s supported ley tsy abutments its numerous arches pillars and cupo las as are all inlaid with marble mosaics of the most beautiful designs in n the cupola are inscribed the following words from the koran god is tile tilo light of the tile heavens and the earth on ceremonial occasions during the night these expressive words are illuminated by thousands of lamps suspended in circles one above another which aided by attachments tach ments of ostrich egge and quantities of tinsel and nu numerous artificial flowers are said eald to produce a wonderful effect one hundred architects the construction of this mosque su ssu per intended ten thousand masons five thousand working on ono one side the other halfac the same time engaged on the opposite side of tile tho building it is said of the emperor that during the progress of the work he paid occasional visits to inspire the workmen dressed in coarse linen a cloth around his bli head and a rough stick in his hand W when hen the walls had reached about six feet above the ground an expenditure of about twenty two tons of gold had been incurred and a account is given that when this extraordinary structure had been completed as far as the V cu the funds were exhausted and the people groaning and murmuring under the heavy burden of or imposed taxes whereupon an angel adgel appeared ana and leading the mules of the treasury to a su subterranean vault loaded them with four tons of gold we went aboard an austrian lloyd steamer april ath and steered for athens the capital of greece in going down the archipelago the usual dullness and monotony of ocean life were partially relieved by the changing scenery and charming views constantly exhibited on the numerous islands wo we were passing syra syna especially attracted attention attenni on the fhe picturesque appearance of its cap capital city of thirty thousand people drew expressions of surprise and admiration stopping a few hours at anchorage gave opportunity of ins inspecting e ting this locality the city is built built bulit on a gigantic conical hill rising steeply from the shore in a semicircle semi cl circie circle rele overia overla over a mile in width extending to t an immense immense height its narrow and pointed summit crowned with a large cathedral the whole hill with its indentures inden taros tares and depressions covered from base to summit with elegant 1 buildings painted white w with ith gr green en window shutters blue cornices cornicks cor nices and balustrades it chanced to be a holiday with the greeks they were celebrating their independence flags were floating from the tops of and tall masts of the ships in the harbor at night before our depart 1 ure there was a grand illumination in which the entire city and ships at anchor participated the app appearance barance ea rance ranee altogether was very striking we arrived at sea port of athens ath uit having experienced a favorable passage we took carriage and drove to athens five miles distant over a beautified beautiful fiu fid road skirted with poplar ani anel pepper trees LORENZO SNOW |
