Worse than all is the continual dread of conflagration in which we
live. Large chests and baskets are kept in readiness in every
house; if a fire breaks out in the neighbourhood, all valuable
articles are rapidly thrown into these and conveyed away. It is
customary to make a kind of contract with two or three Turks, who
are pledged, in consideration of a trifling monthly stipend, to
appear in the hour of danger, for the purpose of carrying the boxes
and lending a helping hand wherever they can. It is safer by far to
reckon on the honesty of the Turks than on that of the Christians
and Greeks. Instances in which a Turk has appropriated any portion
of the goods entrusted to his care are said to be of very rare
occurrence. During the first nights of my stay I was alarmed at
every noise, particularly when the watchman, who paraded the
streets, happened to strike with his stick upon the stones. In the
event of a conflagration, he must knock at every house-door and cry,
"Fire, fire!" Heaven be praised, my fears were never realised.




CHAPTER III.


Scutari--Kaiks--The howling Dervishes--The Achmaidon, or place of
arrows--The tower in Galata--The Bazaar at Constantinople--Mosques--
Slave-market--The old Serail--The Hippodrome--Coffee-houses--Story-
tellers--Excursion to Ejub--Houses, theatres, and carriages.

I chose a Friday for an excursion to Scutari, the celebrated
burying-place of the Turks, in order that I might have an