Mavi Boncuk |
Constantinople,Palace of Sultan Mahmoud the 2. print c. 1838
Ancient Constantinople, Fort Beil-Gorod 1840
engraving by W.H. Bartlett and engraved by C. Cousen. Published by Virtue Co., London 1840
Antique steel engraving.THE fortress of Beil-Gorod, which forms the subject of the accompanying engraving, is situated immediately opposite to the Jouchi Dajhi, or Giant's Grave. It is in the most efficient state of any of the double line of forts bristling the shores of the Bosphorus; and is frequently visited by Sultan Mahmoud, who, during the summer months, occasionally spends whole days at Beil-Gorod, whither he repairs in his gilded barge, attended by a train of Pashas and Beys in their graceful caiques, sweeping along the channel like a flight of swans. It is a singular and beautiful sight to watch the action of the rowers in the larger boats, or galleys, pulling six or eight pairs of oars, as, clad in a uniform dress composed of white silk shirts with loose open sleeves, cotton drawers of extreme width, and small red caps scarcely covering the crown of their shaven heads, they bend to the long sweep of the pliant oars with an action as symmetrical as though it were produced by machinery, and increase their speed to the utmost stretch, when two rival boats are striving for the lead,—while on every occasional rencontre with each other on the same course, the foremost boat makes it a point of honour not to lose its place ; the rowers voluntarily exerting their strength and skill in mimic regattas of perpetual recurrence.
The caiques themselves are beautiful; long and narrow, with high prows glittering with gilding, and raised sterns, where the attendants sit behind their employers, who occupy the bottom of the boat, which is always luxuriously carpetted and cushioned, the build of the caique not admitting of transverse seats, even did the habits of the Osmanii favour them: and thus they skim along upon the ripple like wild birds; or bound over the " Devil's current " with the assistance of the yelik, or towing-rope, which, is flung on board by persons who gain a subsistence in assisting the labouring boats through the whirling eddies, where the oars of the boatmen cannot avail.
A small silver coin, its amount depending on the liberality of the traveller, repays this service; and the Sheitan Akindessi once passed, the oars are resumed, the yelik cast off, and the freed caique again shoots forward like an arrow.
There is probably no boat in the world so thoroughly elegant—the canoe of the Indian, the gondola of the Venetian, even the antique classical-looking bark of the Arab, beautiful as it is, must yield the palm to the fairy boats of the Bosphorus. The situation of Beil-G-orod is very fine, as it commands the entrance of the Bosphorus from the Euxine ; and every vessel bound from the "Sea of Storms" to the Golden City necessarily passes before it, producing a constantly varied panorama full of movement and interest.
The Jouchi Daghi frames in the picture on one side, sobering its tints, and recalling the tradition of its former occupant, who, if he did not actually 'sit upon a rock, and bob for whales," was, according to the legend, quite able to have done so, had he wished it; while in the other direction the " ocean-stream," winding between its romantic snores, stretches away far as the eye can reach, now lost behind some wooded height, now seen again beyond it, until earth and water, bay and mountain, become blent in one pure glittering purple, and are lost amid the horizon.