Part 11 (1/2)

”Come to prayer.”

”I have no power or strength but from G.o.d most high and great,” all true believers replied.

”Come to do good,” again the Muezzin called.

”What G.o.d wills will be; what he wills not will not be,” answered the people, all responses being muttered in low tones.

”The ringing of bells to call the people to service is forbidden,” said the guide. ”It is written that when the Mohammedan meetings were first held in Arabia, there was difficulty in gathering the people together and propositions were made to 'Ring a bell as the Christians do,' and to 'Blow the trumpets as do the Jews;' but Omar cried, 'What! is there not a man among you who can call to prayer?' The prophet then said, 'O Billal! stand and make the call to prayer.' Since then the melodious voices of the trained Muezzins five times each day summon the Moslems to prayer, and the tall graceful minarets which rise above the surrounding buildings were erected so that the voices could ring out over the city.”

We followed the faithful into the mosque, after paying our fees and donning the slippers, and stood quietly in the rear of the great auditorium. The interior was brightened by beautiful blue and white tiling which lined the arches overhead and covered the immense piers that supported the roof. Inside the mosque, near the entrance, water was running from spigots into stone basins. The Moslems stopped at the basins and washed their hands and feet. Some of the better dressed wors.h.i.+pers appeared to have slippers inside their shoes and went through the motion of was.h.i.+ng the feet, but the poorer cla.s.ses used the water to cleanse their feet, and then walked forward barefooted on the rugs. Each man,--for there were no women at the service,--carried his shoes with him and placed them upon a board on the floor provided for that purpose.

The Koran, the sacred book, which, as the Moslems claim, was revealed to Mahomet by the angel Gabriel and was written by Mahomet under inspiration, commands:

”The clothes and person of the wors.h.i.+per must be clean, the place free from all impurity, and the face turned toward Mecca.” And also:

”O believers! when ye address yourselves to prayer wash your hands up to the elbows, and wipe your heads, and your feet to the ankles.”

The wors.h.i.+pers, scattered around the vast interior, all facing the black stone in the wall which indicates the direction of Mecca, repeated their prayers in low tones. At first they stood with hands close at their sides, then as they muttered the prescribed formulas the hands were raised to the sides of the heads, then with hands clasped in front the wors.h.i.+pers remained for a short time in devout attention. After bowing several times the Moslems knelt on the Oriental rugs continuing the muttered supplications and concluded their personal devotions by bowing forward on their feet. The Iman, or priest, then ascended the pulpit, the wors.h.i.+pers formed in lines, and as the priests read the prayers, they went through the same movements that they had previously made while at their personal devotions.

”Women do not take any part in the public wors.h.i.+p on the floor of the mosque,” said the guide. ”The latticed galleries are provided for them.

There they may sit in privacy during the service. The galleries, however, are rarely occupied.”

The Mosque of Ahmed has six minarets; St. Sophia, only four. The minarets, slender, round towers, are not attached to the main edifices, but stand separate and distinct in the courts surrounding the mosques, with some s.p.a.ce intervening between mosque and minaret.

Resuming our drive through the very narrow streets of Stamboul, which are paved with large rough cobble stones once laid in place but now very much out of place, we pa.s.sed many old unpainted frame buildings with stove pipes projecting from the windows of the second and third floors.

”I do not wish any one ill,” said a tourist who at home was chief of a city Fire Department, ”but I would give a ten dollar gold piece if I could see how the fire department of this old city manages to control or extinguish a conflagration after it has gained headway among these tinder boxes. The watchmen on the watch towers surely cannot locate a fire and give the alarm until they see a smoke or flame arising.”

[Ill.u.s.tration: CAMEL AND DONKEY WERE BEDECKED WITH TRAPPINGS.]

The fountains of the city were one of the peculiar Turkish inst.i.tutions that attracted the tourists' attention. The Koran enjoins all true believers to abstain from intoxicants, and to perform regular ablutions before prayers; so there are drinking fountains at corners where the thirsty a.s.semble to drink from bra.s.s cups, and was.h.i.+ng fountains or basins outside and adjoining the mosques, as well as inside these buildings, where Moslems were seen was.h.i.+ng hands or feet regardless of our curious eyes. Some of the drinking fountains are very large and beautiful. The fountain erected by Sultan Ahmed surpa.s.ses all others in grace of proportion and beauty of design. This magnificent structure is ornamented with carved arabesques, inscriptions in gilt, and delicately colored green tile. Above the water tap may be seen in Turkish characters the builder's mandate:

”Wayfarer, admire this beautiful work; turn the tap in the name of Allah; drink thy fill and bless the founder, Ahmed Khan.”

CHAPTER X.

FROM THE BOSPORUS TO PALESTINE.

The program posted for Sat.u.r.day, February twenty-eighth, announced that the Moltke would leave Constantinople at nine o'clock in the morning for a trip to the Black Sea, a distance of thirty-five miles. As we sailed up the Bosporus, which narrows and widens, twists and turns, a succession of picturesque scenes opened up before us. Scattered along the sh.o.r.es, which for fifteen or twenty miles beyond Constantinople may be considered suburbs of that city, white marble palaces of the rulers, summer residences of the foreign amba.s.sadors, and villas of the wealthy Turks were seen interspersed with modern villages and ruined walls and castles of past ages. Pretty frame summer houses, groves of dark green cypress, gardens, boat-houses, and mosques added interest to the views.

”The sail up the Bosporus reminds me of one taken on the Hudson River, but the scenery on the banks is Oriental instead of modern,” remarked one of the tourists.

”The old castles and ruined walls, and the legends connected with them, suggest the Rhine,” commented another.

At the water's edge on the Asiatic side, a few miles from the city, we saw the beautiful white marble Beylerbey Palace, built in the year 1866 by Abdul-Aziz, the predecessor of the present Sultan, as a residence for his harem. For their pleasure he surrounded the palace with groves and gardens and established a menagerie in the grounds. About eight miles from the city all eyes were turned toward a hill on the European sh.o.r.e, where, above a cl.u.s.ter of buildings, the Stars and Stripes floated in the breeze.

”That is the American College, which is doing good work in Turkey. It was founded by Mr. A. Robert of New York, and is known as the 'Robert College,'” said the guide.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE TURKISH STUDENTS WAVED HATS AND FLAGS.]