THE GREAT BAZAAR, CONSTANTINOPLE.T. Allom.J. W. Lowry.
Markets at Constantinople, where various commodities are vended, are properly distinguished by three names−Bezesteencontained shops where cloth was sold;Bazaarwas an open market where eatables were exposed for sale; thusEt-Bazaar, andBaluk-Bazaar, are the flesh and fish markets; andCharscheywas a covered street, with stalls or shops on each side, where all kinds of manufactured wares were to be met with. These original designations, however, have merged into one, and bazaar is a general name by which every market is denominated.
The Great Bazaar, or Charschey, was erected by Mohamed II. when he took possession of Constantinople, and began to change its character from a European to an Asiatic city, by introducing the edifices and usages of the East. It was afterwards re-edified by his successors, and its parts distinguished by Eski and Yeni, the Old and theNew Bazaar. They now consist of long avenues covered over with lofty arches of brick, lighted by apertures in the roof, and branching off in various directions. The ceilings of the vaults, and other parts of the walls, are painted with various flowers and devices. On each side of the passage are counters, or stalls, ranged along, leaving a wide way between. On the counter of each stall the merchant sits, generally smoking a chibouque, or narghillai, with his crossed legs drawn under him. If he be distinguished by a calpac, or inverted cone, upon his head, or a large snow-white turban, he is either an Armenian or a Turk; so he quietly abides his time, and suffers you to pass with imperturbable gravity, seldom condescending to ask your custom. If he wear a cross-barred handkerchief, twisted round the crown of a hat, or a coarse muslin wound about a red fez, he is either a Jew or a Greek, and is as importunate with you to buy as a salesman in Monmouth-street. Behind him, his larger wares are ranged against the walls, and his smaller in clumsy glass-cases beside him on the counter, where all articles are confounded in a heap. In his rear is generally a low door, opening into a small room in the thickness of the walls, where his unexposed goods are stored.
These edifices, filled with light and inflammable goods, are liable to danger from the constant fires which occur at Constantinople, though they are in some measure protected by their construction, and the thickness of the walls. When fires have penetrated, they have been attended with the most awful consequences. It has happened that both ends of the covered way have been blazing at once, and all egress prevented to the crowd within, and hundreds have miserably perished, either consumed or suffocated in these vaults of fire. In order to guard against this, no smoking, or light of any kind, is allowed: notwithstanding this, the inveterate propensity of the Turk is not to be controlled, and, relying on his unalterable destiny, he is often seen with the glowing bowl of his pipe thrust among the inflammable materials of his counter. Every evening at sunset, the bazaar is closed with iron gates, and the merchants having locked up their wares behind certain partitions drawn before them, are seen wending their way in groups to the several quarters of the city in which each class is located−the Jew to Galata, the Greek to the Fanar, the Armenian to Ypsomathia, and the Turk to various quarters.
Under cover at all times, and protected from wind, rain, and sun, this bazaar is the resort of crowds every day and all day long. In the heats of summer it is particularly agreeable. People escape from the burning atmosphere, and an exposed unsheltered street, to this retreat. It then resembles a subterranean city, crowded with a busy population of many thousand persons, bustling, buying, and selling in the cool and dim twilight. But the fair sex form by far the majority. It seems a privileged place, where the ordinary distinction of sect or caste is laid aside, and the Turk, Frank, and Raya, all mix and chat and bargain together without restraint; and it seems the only place where the pride and taciturnity of the Osmanli is laid aside. At the entrance are crowds of poor Jews, who proffer their services to conduct you to what you want, and carry home what you purchase.
The first attraction is generally a perfume-stall. Here attar of roses, essence of lemon, extract of jasmine, pastiles of odoriferous gums, which, when ignited, fill the airwith their aromatic scent, are presented to your choice. The last are particularly recommended, as used by the ladies of the seraglio, who burn them in their pipe-bowls. But of all the singular perfumes presented to you, are rats’-tails. An animal of this species is endued with musky secretions, and its tail yields a strong scent, which it retains for an indefinite term. All these and many more odoriferous delicacies, which a Turk prizes, are presented to you; and to induce you to buy, your hands, lips, hair, whiskers, and cravat, are bedewed with them all, and you go forth redolent with animal and vegetable odours. The next attraction is the shoe-bazaar. Here the varied display ofimehandpapoosh, boots and slippers, is very dazzling: a Turk never wears a boot without a slipper. The first are red or yellow morocco, without soles, but sewed below into a pointed bag, into which the foot is first forced; and then, with the boot, into the slipper. The gait of both men and women, thus encumbered, is singularly awkward and helpless. The feet scrape the ground, and the sole of the slipper, which scarcely adheres to the point of the toe, is dragged along, continually flapping against the heel. These characteristic parts of Oriental dress are the particular objects of Frank purchasers. The slippers are made of all materials, and braided with all kinds of embroidery in gold and silver, and often ornamented with pearls and precious stones. In this department are found drinking-cups of untanned leather, and mirrors with morocco frames.
But by far the most attractive display is the pipe department, and the variety of chiboques. It is here the fancy of a Turk luxuriates, and loves to exhibit itself with a dexterity shown in nothing else. The implement consists of three separate parts−tube, bowl, and mouth-piece—in each of which there is an endless variety of shape, size, and material. The most favourite wood for the first is cherry-tree brought from Trebisond, rose-wood and jasmine, sometimes extending to the length of ten or twelve feet. When you choose your rod, the artist pierces it with the aid of his toe, a member he uses with more skill than his finger. The bowl is a red earth, found and manufactured at Burgaz, highly gilt and polished. The mouth-piece is generally amber, imported by Armenians from the Baltic. This is prized above all materials, not only for its beauty, but for its qualities. It is supposed to be unsusceptible of the contagion of the plague; and when that disease is raging, and every man shrinks from contact with his neighbour, the amber chiboque passes from mouth to mouth without any apprehension of pestilent saliva. A pipe is sometimes ornamented with precious stones, and, with the tobacco-bag glittering with spangles, varies in price from 10 to 1000 piastres, according to the workmanship. Besides these and other articles peculiarly Turkish, clothing, stuffs, carpets, shawls, &c. are displayed, and among them the highly-prized manufactures of Manchester.