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Page 31
"Not at all like a London Bazaar, then. I thought perhaps it was a place
that shut up to itself, with a beadle sitting at the door?"
"I never was in Stamboul at night, but my belief is that the Bazaar is
secured at night by the locking up of gates. You know the people who own
the shops do not live in them, and as most valuable merchandise remains
in the Bazaar, it must be protected in some way. I suppose the watchmen
look after it."
"Have the Turks watchmen like the old London watchmen, Cousin? With
nightcaps, and rattles, and lanterns, and big coats?"
"The Turkish watchmen wear turbans--not nightcaps; but they have
lanterns and big coats, and in one respect they are remarkably like the
old 'Charlies,' as the London watchmen used to be called. Their object
is not (like policemen) to find robbers and misdoers, but to frighten
them away. Just as the old Charlies used to spring their wooden rattles
that the thieves might get out of their way, so the Turkish watchman
strikes the ground with an iron-shod staff, that makes a great noise,
for the same purpose. In one respect, however, the Turkish watchmen are
most useful--they give warning of fires."
"Are there often fires in Constantinople?"
"Very often, Fred. And when a big straggling city is built of wood in a
hot climate which keeps the wood so dry that a spark will set it ablaze,
when the water-supply is small, and the water-carriers, who feed the
fire-engines from their leathern water-pots, are chiefly bent upon
securing their pay for the help they give; and when, to crown all, the
sufferers themselves are generally of the belief that what is to happen
will happen, and that there is very little use in trying to avert
calamity--you may believe that a fire, once started, spreads not by
houses, but by streets, leaving acres of black ruins dotted with the
still standing chimneys. However, I fancy that of late years wider
streets and stone buildings are becoming commoner. There were stone
houses, built by Europeans, in Constantinople even when I was there."
"Did you see a fire whilst you were there?"
"Yes, indeed. One came so near the house where I lived that I had
everything packed up ready for a start, but fortunately my house
escaped. I must tell you that the Turks have one very sensible custom in
connection with these fires. They have what are called fire-towers, on
which men are stationed to give warning when a fire breaks out in any
part of the town. They have a system of signals, by which they show in
what quarter of the city the fire is. At night the signalling is done by
lamps. There is an old Genoese tower between Pera and Galata which has
been made into a fire-tower. The one at Stamboul I think is modern.
These buildings are tall--like light-houses--so that the signals can be
seen from all parts of Constantinople, and so that the men stationed on
them have the whole city in view. Besides these signals, it is part of
the watchman's duty, as I told you, to give warning of a fire, and the
quarter in which it has broken out. I assure you one listens with some
anxiety when the ring of his iron-tipped staff on the rough pavement
is followed by the cry, '_Yan ghun vah! Stamboul-dah_' ('There is a
fire! In Stamboul'); or '_Yan ghun vah! Pera-dah_' ('There is a fire!
In Pera')."
"But there are fire-engines?"
"There may be very good ones now. In my time nothing could be more
futile than the trumpery one which was carried on men's shoulders.
Indeed, until the streets are much less rough, narrow, and steep, I do
not see how one could be _driven_ at any speed."
"Did the men who carried the engine run?"
"Yes, and at a good swinging pace too, their half-naked bodies streaming
with perspiration, and (I should have thought) their labours quite
doubled by yelling as they ran. Their cries are echoed by the
formidable-looking band which follows, waving long poles armed with
hooks, &c., for pulling down houses to stop the progress of the flames.
On the heels of these figures follow mounted officials, whose dignity is
in a fixed proportion to the extent of the calamity. If the fire is a
very very extensive one, the Sultan himself has to be upon the spot."
"It must be very exciting," said Fred, in a tone of relish.
"You've told us lots about Constantinople now, Cousin Peregrine," said
Maggie, who had the air of having heard quite enough on the subject;
"now tell us about why you said Ponto never was in Constantinople. Don't
the Turks keep dogs?"
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