THE TOWER OF GALATA.       116

PLATE: THE FLOATING BRIDGE.

Here they continued for some time, effecting an immense trade with every commercial nation, until the length their increased and increasing prosperity excited the jealousy of Venetians, who, after engaging them in a quarrel, profited by their own superior strength, and prostrated nearly the whole suburb. The Genoese, beaten and unhoused, fled to Constantinople for shelter and protection; where they were favourably received by Cantacuzene the Emperor, who supplied them with means to rebuild their desolate dwellings, and even allowed them to surround their town with a wall, protected by a wide ditch.

It is on this line of wall, now rapidly crumbling away into picturesque ruin, and wholly worthless as a mean of defence, that the Tower of Galata is situated. It was originally built to commemorate the fall of some of the principal Genoese settlers, who died upon this spot in the defence of their lives and properties; but having in process of time partially perished, and become not only useless, but dangerous, the Turks renewed, or rather reconstructed it with great solidity, to serve as a second Fire-Tower; for which service it is admirably calculated, as it commands the shipping in the harbour, and all the European suburbs of the city. A handsome gallery surrounds the "look-out-house," near its summit; and as an object from the Marmora, on approaching the Golden Horn, it is extremely striking.

Notwithstanding the dilapidated state of the walls, the gates which separate Galata from Pera are still closed every night by the Turks, though a kind word and a small coin to the guard will always suffice to open them for any tardy passenger.

The coffee-kiosques are constantly crowded with Maltese, Genoese, Greek, Ragusan, and Italian seamen, who are in want of ships, and who are hired by merchant-vessels to supply the casualties in their own crews; and these lounging and unregulated idlers are, perhaps, with the exception of the bazār near the water's edge, which is always dirty, unsavory, and thronged with the rabble from the ferries - the most intolerable nuisance to the stranger that he has to encounter in his wandering about the city.

A novel feature in the Golden Horn, is the Floating-bridge by which it is spanned, and which has been constructed within the last three years. It is flung across the harbour from the ferry of Galata, and is a great and commodious mean of communication with the opposite shore. Two rather lofty arches admit the passage of small craft beneath the bridge, which is singularly elegant in its design; and a small toll is exacted from each passenger, horse, or carriage, by which it is traversed. Many are the individuals who still, however, prefer the more uncertain and expensive mode of reaching the city through the medium of the caiques which ply between the tow shores;