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20 July 1878 — Therapia | |
Saturday. 20th July [1878]. At 10.30 went on board the “Antelope” with the M & S., Henry, the Genl, Mr Cartwright & Ld George & Mr Sandison & went down to Beylerbey Palace where the steam launch met us and landed us and we went over the Palace and then up the gardens to see a tiger—as we approached the cage the enormous beast rushed in a fury from one end of the cage to the other & sprang at the bars with a roar making us draw back. I never saw such a fine tiger it was well kept & had a very large cage. We embarked in the steam launch, & had a very rough crossing & all of a sudden Nichols the footman who was sitting in the bow got up to change his place when a lurch—& off went his hat & began floating up the Bosphorus. We stopped & went after it & after 2 or 3 bad shots secured it & went across to Dolmabaghcheh. Here we were met by an ADC of the Sultan’s who showed us the palaces & drew our attention to the collection of modern pictures of wh there are some good ones. The ADC said he was a painter himself and appreciated them. As we came to the Palace Prince Labanoff was leaving it having also chosen today to visit the Palaces. Last night late the Sultan, hearing we were going to see the Palaces sent an ADC to invite Henry & me to breakfast with him but we sent early this morng to say it wd be an impossibility. We begged the ADC to explain & apologize to H.M. From here we returned on board the Antelope and lunched & directly after we went on shore at Sirkeci Iskelesi & got into carriages & drove to the old Seraglio & were taken to see the Baghdad kiosk wh is quite a jewel in its way. The walls are lined with Persian tiles—the divans are white satin embroidered with flowers & there is a curious high extinguisher shaped chased metal fire place. From the windows there is a magnificent view. We went from here to the Treasury. At the door stood in a double row between 20 & 30 servants. The gentleman in charge recd the keys & unlocked 2 doors & broke the Imperial seal wh is set on a cord over the lock & we entered a small room full of beautiful things. The first thing that strikes one is a kind of platform on legs or throne with a footstool of enamel & jewels of every sort & a gold cushion embroidered with pearls. It is of most lovely work. It was taken by Osman from Baghdad– Then there were trappings of horses, aigrettes for the Sultan all set in diamonds, & every kind of beautiful things—jade, crystal, china, all jewelled & a gold prayer carpet worked with pearls & emeralds—an uncut emerald abt ½ foot square—old clocks—armour &c &c. From here we went to the Royal Library where we had to put on slippers before entering—then to another kiosk wh used to be used by the Sultan to rest in after the ceremonies of Bairam & wh has a large kind of divan like a 4 poster wh takes up ½ the room. There we rested & were served with sherbet & coffee & then went and tried to get into S. Irene but found that it was used as an arsenal & we had no order & could not get in. Drove to S. Sofia & arrived there just as they were going to prayer so we had to go up first into the galleries. The way up is by an encline & not by steps as usual. We stayed up in the gallery till prayer was over & it was very interesting to watch. When prayer was over we went down into the mosque putting on slippers, wh we hired at the door, over our boots which made it very difficult to get along. From here we went to Sultan Ahmed but we had no difficulty in going in with our usual shoes as a great deal of the matting was still up. Then we drove to Suleimaniyeh and found it full of soldiers & tents in the court yard. The officer there told us there were 4 battalions there. He was very polite & the soldiers made way for us. We returned from here to the Antelope and went home to Therapia. | |
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