Page:Adventures of Baron Wenceslas Wratislaw of Mitrowitz (1862).djvu/119

 dead bodies, and sing mournful hymns. It is impossible not to admire the masterly manner in which this temple, and the sepulchral chapels round it, are built. Whichever way you go to the temple, there are open squares, with a very handsome marble cistern in each, in which the Turks purify themselves after their fashion, before they enter the temple. We saw not only this temple, but, by means of fees, almost all their conventicles, which are adorned with beautiful marble columns, and are certainly objects of great admiration to a person previously unacquainted with them.

The same day we also saw their imarets, or hospitals, and also their baths, and bathed in them. It is true that the Turks do not spend much money on buildings, nevertheless, the principal people lay out large sums on mosques, baths, hospitals, and inns, and have them built in an astonishingly handsome style. As regards the remaining houses, we lounged as much as we liked up and down the city, but sought in vain for beauty in either the buildings or the streets, the latter of which, by their narrowness, put an end to all agreeable appearance. Amongst the historical reliques there is the wide site of the ancient Hippodrome, or measured space for horse-racing, in which you see two copper serpents. There is also a stone column, square and wide below, and pointed at top, and two other columns worthy of mention; one opposite the caravanserai, or hotel, where we lodged, and the other in the market-place, which they call the Auratpasar, or woman-market. On this column, from bottom to top, is engraved the history of the campaign of the Emperor Arcadius, who had it erected, and his own statue placed on the top. This