BEAUTIES OF THE BOSPHORUS.       39

PLATE: VIEW FROM MOUNT BULGURLHU.

VIEW FROM MOUNT BULGURLHU

"This hard to quit the East's inspiring sky,
From citron groves and spicy gales to fly;
To look on Nature in her brightest dress,
Nor have a sigh for her lost loveliness.
MS.

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THE scene which is spread out before the wanderer, as he stands upon the dusky mountain of Bulgurlhu, with the town of Scutari immediately at his feet, and the city of Constantinople mapped out in the distance in its frame of clear and pellucid water, is one which throughout his after life, be it of what duration it may, he can never cease to remember. He looks down into the mysterious gardens of the Serai Bournou, far over the glittering Propontis, along the shores of the Bosphorus, into the Golden Horn, upon "St. Sophia's gleaming dome;", on the seven hills of the imperial city, the gloomy remains of the Seven Towers, the ancient walls of Byzantium, the modern palaces of the Sultans, the fair islands of the Sea of Marmora, and the far-off and snow-crested Mount Olympus, lording it over the fertile plains of Broussa.

It is well for those who wish to form a correct idea of such a scene as this, that the pencil of the artist can call it up and place it palpably before them; for mere words could never succeed in creating so bright a vision. Hours are necessary to the traveller to enable him to appreciate all its glory; and it is an additional enjoyment to pitch his tent among the wild thyme and olive-trees of the mountain, and in the midst of the camels, which, after gaining the summit of the hight, repose there for a time in some shadow spot, as they are on their way to the interior, laden with merchandise from the basârs of the capital. As these animals are never seen on the European side of the channel, they give s localizing effect to the picture, and the wanderer at once feels that he is in Asia.