Page:Collection of notable things worth knowing.pdf/10

10 livid and pale. The kiosk, which contained him and his silver sofa, was not very large, and like a hundred others to be seen on the canal. It is strange how words gain, in other countries, a signification different from the meaning they possess in their own. S or Seraglio, is generally understood as the, or rather the confinement for women; here it is the sultan’s residence; it cannot be called his palace, for the kiosks, gardens, courts, walls, stables, are so mixed, that it is many houses in many gardens.

The streets both of Pera and Constantinople are so narrow that few of them admit of a carriage; the windows of every story project over those under them, so that at the upper people may shake hands sometimes across the street. No Turk of any consequence makes a visit, if it is only four doors from his own, but on horseback; and, on my arrival here, I saw one who landed in a boat, and had a fine grey horse led by four men, that went a long way round, which he mounted gravely, to get off in a few minutes.

As to women, as many, if not more than meumen [sic], are to be seen in the streets, but they look like walking mummies. A large loose robe of green cloth covers them from the neck to the ground; over that is a large piece of muslin, which wraps the shoulders and the arms, and another which goes over the head and eyes. If I was to walk about the streets here, I would certainly wear the same dress, for the Turkish women call