BEAUTIES OF THE BOSPHORUS. 72
Clusters of roses, blooming in baskets of gilded wicker-work; fountains, murmuring sweet music under the deep shadows of overhanging boughs: and in every direction, the carefully-latticed and jealously-guarded casements of the harem, which no infidel foot may tread with impunity.
None of the ladies belonging to the household of the present Sultan inhabit the Serai Bournou, save when he is himself an inmate of the palace; and the extensive harem is now solely occupied by half a dozen octogenarian wives of the Sultan Selim, whose age preserved them from the fate of the younger and more beautiful portion of his establishment; who, in accordance with Eastern ideas of expediency, were put to death on the accession of the present Sultan, lest they should dishonour themselves by an alliance with a subject, after having formed part of the household of the sovereign: but notwithstanding this fact, the harem is sacred, and no prying eye nor intrusive foot is permitted to disturb the peaceful repose of the worthy relicts of the unfortunate, misguided, and martyred Selim.
PLATE: FOUNTAIN AND MARKET AT TOPHANNE.
TOP-HANNÈ.
"-----Leave the sail still furl'd, and ply
The nearest oar that's scatter'd by,
And midway to those rocks where sleep
The channel'd waters dark and deep,
Rest from your task."
BYRON.
HAD the noble bard from whóm the lines which head the chapter are derived, written them as a guide to the traveller who first seeks to look on the suburb of Top-hannè, situated between Galata and the valley of Dolma-Batchè, they could not have been more judiciously frames; for, as the caique heaves, unpropelled for an instant by the oars of the rowers, midway between the rocky shore of Asia and the pier of Top-hannè, the eye of taste is greeted by a scene of surpassing beauty.
The Mosque of Sultan Mahmoud, with its slender minarets, dipped in gold for a third of their height, an cinctured with galleries as light as petrified cobwebs - its gilded gates, and noble flight of marble steps - is seen to the rear of the Arsenal, where a long line of brass guns (whence salutes are fired on all occasions of public rejoicing) are ranged along the head of the channel.