courtyard, and even peeped into the third. In the last two yards
the buildings are remarkable for the number of cupolas they exhibit.
I saw a few rooms and large halls quite full of a number of European
things, such as furniture, clocks, vases, etc. My expectations were
sadly damped. The place where the heads of pashas who had fallen
into disfavour were exhibited is in the third yard. Heaven be
praised, no severed heads are now seen stuck on the palings.

I was not fortunate enough to be admitted into the imperial harem; I
did not possess sufficient interest to obtain a view of it. At a
later period of my journey, however, I succeeded in viewing several
harems.

THE HIPPODROME

is the largest and finest open place in Constantinople. After those
of Cairo and Padua, it is the most spacious I have seen any where.
Two obelisks of red granite, covered with hieroglyphics, are the
only ornaments of this place. The houses surrounding it are built,
according to the general fashion, of wood, and painted with oil-
colours of different tints. I here noticed a great number of pretty
children's carriages, drawn by servants. Many parents assembled
here to let their children be driven about.

Not far from the Hippodrome are the great cisterns with the thousand
and one pillars. Once on a time this gigantic fabric must have
presented a magnificent appearance. Now a miserable wooden
staircase, lamentably out of repair, leads you down a flight of
thirty or forty steps into the depths of one of these cisterns, the
roof of which is supported by three hundred pillars. This cistern