(harubas)—which are cars drawn by oxen
dressed with bows of ribbon, hanging
ornaments and bells. Furthermore, innumerable
horses paw the ground, and suffocate the
public. Furthermore, on the road and off
the road, and over the whole plain, when
holiday is made there, orchestras and single
instruments poison the air with noises
either on their own account or as
accompaniments to songs and dances. Italian
cadences break into Greek Klefta songs
—which are all lamentations—while drums
timbrels, and certain iron plates struck
together so as to produce a sound like the
clanking of chains, called the Armenian
harmonies, institute a massacre of their own
among all other sounds.

The Great Field of the Dead is a beautiful
hill flanked by two valleys, which unite
on the shore of the Bosphorus, at Benhik-taf,
where stands the new palace of the Sultan.
It is bounded, as Arrowsmith would say, on
the south by the grand barracks built after
the design of General Sebastiani, in the
reign of Mahmoud, and the vast artillery
park; on the north by the barracks of the
Lancers and the Polytechnic School; on the
west by a long range of houses, and on the
east by the Artillery hospital and the Latin
Archiepiscopal palace, between which the
Bosphorus, the promontory of Scutari, the
cemeteries of the Ich-calè, the Olympus of
Bithynia, and the islands of the Sea of
Marmora, stand out in bold relief between the
blue horizon and the bluer sea.

On our arrival on the ground we found the
troops, consisting of horse, foot, and artillery,
already arranged in two long lines of double
file, forming an avenue of considerable
length, extending from the Polytechnic
School along the northern valley to the point
which leads more immediately towards the
Sultan's palace. The trains of artillery were
planted on the plain which lies over the
school.

Already the cannon had announced his
Highness's emergence from his own abode,
the call to arms was sounded, and the troops
fell into order. We were obliged to retreat
before them, through a crowd of people shouting
joyously and proving wonders as to the
good likely to be done by the Turkish
climate to those troubled with weak lungs. The
dead were close at hand, but happily not
awakened. The air was so transparent that
I could not detect whether it was rent or
not.

The Sultan made his appearance on a
superb black charger, riding at an ambling
pace. The Grand Seraskier and the Grand
Master of the Artillery, immediately followed
him. The Grand Seraskier was appearing in
his character as commander of the garrison
of Constantinople and its environs. Then
came the marshals, the generals of division
and of brigades, the colonels of regiments,
and, after these, the officers of the Imperial
palace, grand-master of the ceremonies, and
the rest of them.

This last group of officials constituted a
great object of attraction in the eyes of
strangers. There was one who carried on
his breast a large box covered with gold and
arabesque ornaments, and foliage, and in the
box were white and coloured handkerchiefs;
this gentleman was the Ciammasergi-agassi,
who takes charge of the linen and dresses in
the palace. Another was provided with a
bundle of canes of cherry-tree wood and
jessamine, ornamented with mouthpieces of
amber and diamonds; pipes of his Sultanic
majesty, their bearer being called after them
the Cibukgi-basci. Another wore a pouch
very much like a large cartouche-box; it was
of black leather, and suspended from his neck
by a string of the same material: this was the
Tutungi-basci or tobacco-bearer; he alone
had the honour of being allowed to light the
Sultan's pipe. Then, because, after the pipe,
coffee is indispensable, this officer was followed
by the Khaffegi, who, in his bag of state,
carried everything necessary for the concoction
of coffee, at whatever instant it might be
required. This individual was followed by
the ibrikgi (water-bearers), and by others
who were designated agas, and whose office
was not fixed. All these noble gentlemen
were mounted, and improved the general
effect of the cortége, by galloping
promiscuously round about their royal master.
This being a Polytechnic field-day, the
Sultan was received at the entrance of the
school by the director, by the council of
public instruction, and by the different
professors, who were chiefly Italians, Frenchmen,
or Germans. By these good people, to
our great discomfort, he was detained about
two hours.

The garrison of Constantinople, including
the body guard, with the troops in the different
forts and castles on each bank of the
Bosphorus, from Scutari and Constantinople
as far as the Black Sea on one side, and to
the castle of Seven Towers on the other,
consists of about forty thousand men; but
not above one-half of this force was to be
seen at the review. There was the first
division of the second class, composed of three
regiments of infantry, each of them containing
four battalions, with two regiments of
cavalry, lancers, and chasseurs, forming
twelve squadrons, and three companies of
horse-artillery, mounting eighteen pieces of
ordnance. Then, there was the second division
of the first class, consisting of sixteen
battalions of infantry, commanded by a chief
who, since his head quarters were at Scutari
in Asia, had not been required to bring
artillery and cavalry across the sea. There
was also a body of reserve, which had been
called out only a few months, and was
expecting to set forth immediately for the
Danube. They represented the first division
of the district of Constantinople, with only