CHAPTER XIV.
THE GOLDEN HORN.
Since the English and French armies had established themselves in the
Crimea and the magnitude of their undertaking grew more and more apparent,
they had found their true base of operations at Constantinople. Here were
collected vast masses of supplies and stores, waiting to be forwarded to
the front; here the reinforcements--horse, foot, and guns--paused ere they
joined their respective armies; here hospitals, extensive, but still
ill-organised and incomplete, received the sick and wounded sent back from
the Crimea; here also lingered, crowding the tortuous streets of Mussulman
Stamboul and filling to overflowing the French-like suburb of Pera, a
strange medley of people, a motley crew of various faiths and many
nationalities, polyglot in tongue and curiously different in attire, drawn
together by such various motives as duty, mere curiosity, self-interest,
and greed. Jews, infidels, and Turks were met at every corner: the first
engaged in every occupation that could help them to make money, from
touting at the bazaars to undertaking large contracts and selling bottled
beer; the second, representatives going or coming from the forces now
devoted to upholding the Crescent; the third, mostly apathetic,
self-indulgent, corpulent old Mussulmans riding in state, accompanied by
their pipe-bearers, or sitting half-asleep in coffee-houses or at the doors
of their shops.
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