BEAUTIES OF THE BOSPHORUS.       122

PLATE: ENTRANCE TO THE SEVEN TOWERS.

while the magnificent views of Stamboul and its environs, which are commanded from the hanging gardens of the principal residences overlooking the Sea of Marmora, are almost beyond description.

Immediately before them runs the glittering current, sweeping the sunshiny waves onward from the Bosphorus into the far-reaching Propontis; girdling with liquid light the rocky foundations of the isle-seated Guz-Couli; and, finally, mingling with the world of waters mapped out before it; while beyond rises the long castellated wall of the ancient city of Constantinople, lost to the view at one point amid a cluster of Imperial kiosques, and at the other, beneath the gloomy shadows of the Yêaidhe - themysterious prison of the Seven Towers - which link the land and seaward sides of the external wall, forming an angle eminently picturesque, from its startling contrast to every surrounding object. The original design of the fortress, as has been elsewhere stated, can no longer be traced beyond the walls, only four of the towers now remaining, the other three having been prostrated by earthquakes, and suffered to moulder away unrenewed.

At intervals along the wall appear the latticed kiosques of the Imperial Serai, whence the incarcerated beauties of the harem look forth upon the bright scene without; while above and about them rise the shadowy plane trees, the leafy beeches, lofty cypresses, feathery acacias, and other magnificent trees of the palace gardens. Away, amid the heaving waves, lies the archipelago of islands formerly called Demonesia, or the Demon Islands (since modified into the Princess' Islands,) lying about nine miles from Constantinople, within a short row of the Asian coast. Of these, four are extremely fertile, and partially inhabited; the nearest to Stamboul is Proté, so called from the Situation, it being the first approached from the Bosphorus. It is about three miles in extent; and is a favourite resort with the Greeks of the Fanar, many of whom spend the summer months in its pleasant valley, situated between tow rather abrupt acclivities. A small village is built on the east side of the island; and on one of the heights stands a monastery, looming out cold and bare against the horizon, without a tree to soften down its rigid outline, - a mark alike for the hot sunshine and the laden storm-cloud.

The second of the group is known as "Platé," from its being a dead flat; though many of the Franks, disregarding the ancient Greek name, call it "Gull Island," from the immense number of those birds which are to be found there, feeding on the clustering marine plants by which it is covered, and rearing their young, undisturbed by the vicinity of a busy and crowded city.

The next island, Oxea, is the highest of the whole, and is surrounded by steep and rugged precipices, which render it extremely picturesque from the water;