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at is opposite to the mouth. The loading of one of the guns occupies him at least half an hour. All vessels coming from Constantinople are obliged to stop at these castles, and show their firman, or an order from the Porte to let them pass ; but in several instances, ships, in bad weather, have passed the channel without receiving any harm, although fired at by the Turks.
CONSTANTINOPLE is the metropolis of EUROPEAN TURKEY.
It is situated on the European side of the Bosphorus or Channel of Constantinople,
Whose headlong current and compulsive course
LATITUDE, 41 degrees North.
Its CIRCUMFERENCE, about 14 English miles.
INHABITANTS,— Turks, ................ 200,000 Greeks,................ 100,000 Jews, Armenians, and ? Franks,............
Total, ...... 400,000
The view of the city, from the Seven Towers to the end of the harbour called the GOLDEN HORN, is allowed to be the finest in the
world, exhibiting the Seraglio, intermixed with gardens and groves of evergreens, and a multitude of magnificent mosques or temples, with their gilded domes and slender minarets. But on entering the city the streets are found to be narrow, the houses of the common people low, and built with boards, and the palaces of the great men concealed by lofty walls.
The most celebrated edifices are the Seraglio, and the mosque of SANCTA SOPHIA.
The principal entrance of the Seraglio is styled “the PORTE,” or “SUBLIME PORTE,” which name distinguishes the Ottoman Court and Government.
One part of the city is called PERA, which is inhabited by the Franks, a name given by the Turks to all European CHRISTIANS.
The chief PRODUCTIONS of Turkey are corn, oranges, lemons, citrons, pomegranates, excellent figs, delicious grapes, almonds, olives, cotton, coffee, rhubarb, myrrh, and other odoriferous plants and drugs. It contains a variety of mines, and its marble is esteemed the finest in the world.
DISTANCE from London, 1340 miles South-east.
FIRST CHRISTIAN EMPEROR.
CONSTANTINE THE GREAT was the first Christian Emperor, and, according to his own account, 'he was converted in a very miraculous manner. He had received from his father, Constantius Chlorus, some degree of love and esteem for the Christians, but he had not expressed any desire to become one: but revolving in his mind that such emperors as had persecuted the Chris