The greatest number of streets occupied by the followers of any one
trade are those inhabited by the makers of shoes and slippers. A
degree of magnificence is displayed in their shops such as a
stranger would scarcely expect to see. There are slippers which are
worth 1000 piastres {53} a pair and more. They are embroidered with
gold, and ornamented with pearls and precious stones.

The Bazaar is generally so much crowded, that it is a work of no
slight difficulty to get through it; yet the space in the middle is
very broad, and one has rarely to step aside to allow a carriage or
a horseman to pass. But the bazaars and baths are the lounges and
gossiping places of the Turkish women. Under the pretence of
bathing or of wishing to purchase something, they walk about here
for half a day together, amusing themselves with small-talk, love-
affairs, and with looking at the wares.

THE MOSQUES.

Without spending a great deal of money, it is very difficult to
obtain admittance into the mosques. You are compelled to take out a
firmann, which costs from 1000 to 1200 piastres. A guide of an
enterprising spirit is frequently sufficiently acute to inquire in
the different hotels if there are any guests who wish to visit the
mosques. Each person who is desirous of doing so gives four or five
colonati {54} to the guide, who thereupon procures the firmann, and
frequently clears forty or fifty guilders by the transaction. An
opportunity of this description to visit the mosques generally
offers itself several times in the course of a month.

I had made up my mind that it would be impossible to quit