BEAUTIES OF THE BOSPHORUS. 6
PLATE: PALACE OF THE SWEET WATERS.
THE VALLEY OF THE SWEET WATERS
"From its base emerged
A vital spring of water; which thence flow'd
In winding rills across the flow'ry glade
At which the beasts of earth end fowl of air
Refreshed their palates, after dainty feed."
ABINGTON'S Chaos.
KYAT-KHANA, called by the Franks the "Valley of the Sweet Waters", is a lovely glen, nestled at the base of a chain of hills, and situated between Eyoub and Hassa Kuï, the quarter of the Jews. It is entirely shut in on all sides; and looks from the heights above, which are bleak and arid, like a huge emerald. Through the thick grass of the valley, and under the shadow of its magnificent trees, flows the Barbyses; a limpid, but inconsiderable stream, upon whose banks rise two of the most fairy-like edifices that ever sheltered prince of peasant! The larger building is a summer-palace, where the favourite wives of the Sultan lounge away many of the long sun-shiny days of the warm season in comparative freedom; and exchange the closely-latticed apartments of the Imperial harem for the shadow groves and grassy paths of the palace gardens; dreaming through the hot hours in gilded kiosques(1) on the river bank; or driving amid the tall plane trees in arabas(2), bright with gilding, and drawn by cream-coloured oxen.
It must not be supposed, however, that, in addition to these enjoyments, the fair Sultanas are even here permitted to look upon a world from which they are elsewhere so jealously shut out; I have already enumerated all the privileges of their summer residence. When the harem is about to remove to Kyat-Khana, a military cordon is established along the whole range of the heights overlooking the valley, and the public are entirely shut out from that portion of it which immediately surrounds the palace. Occasional glimpses of the pretty prisoners may, nevertheless, be obtained, as they glide along the Barbyses, in their magnificent caïques(3) closely veiled, and followed by other boats, filled with a portion of the guard of the negro guard of the household.