The shoes were very light ones, made particularly for the

purpose.

General Grant has also placed all the presents which he has received while abroad under the care of Mr. Childs. They were for a time on exhibition in Memorial Hall, Fairmount Park, Philadelphia. There they proved one of the most attractive centres of interest and were visited by thousands of people. The gifts consist of twenty-four engrossed and illuminated scrolls, albums and portfolios, containing addresses of welcome from working-men and corporations, the freedom of cities and other expressions of esteem for General Grant. Some are in gold and some in silver caskets of very rich workmanship. In some instances the seals also are enclosed in gold cases. One of the most interesting souvenirs is a beautifully carved box made of mulberry wood from the tree at Stratford-onAvon, planted by Shakespeare, and presented to General Grant by the corporation of the town.

One of the most interesting places in Constantinople is the Slave-Market. To this no Frank is allowed to enter without an authorized janissary of one of the embassies. The visitor upon entering is at once saluted with "Backshish! Backshish!" The area of the square was filled with groups of Nubian and Abyssinian slaves, mostly children, and in a state of almost perfect nudity. They were crouched together in groups, but seemed to be by no means disconsolate at their lot. They were cheerful and full of merriment. Around the court-yard, under the sheds, were compartments for the better order of slaves. These were chiefly African women. We saw only two white female slaves, and these were Georgians, destined for the harems of the rich. We were very solicitous to get a look at these Georgian beauties, but were only indulged with a glance through the bars of their cages. We saw

only the bright black eyes of these imprisoned ones; they were merry enough.

The slave-merchants were quietly reposing on carpets under the sheds, smoking, and answering with usual Turkish nonchalance the propositions of customers. Their stoical indifference to the condition of the slaves, and the manner in which they handled and spoke of them as mere merchandise, disgusted us, and we were glad to leave the place where humanity sinks to the level of the brute crea tion.

Our next visit was to the bazaars. These consist of a long range of shops running parallel with each other, with an intervening paved avenue dividing the two rows; the avenue is covered over. There are numerous bazaars, each division being appropriated to the sale of different objects. There is the silk bazaar, the provision bazaar, the arm bazaar, etc. The purchaser is not, therefore, obliged to wander through the whole range of bazaars to seek the object of his wants, but at once goes to a particular bazaar and finds it. The shops are very small, and contain but scanty stocks; but there is a great number of them, which may, in some degree, compensate for the lack of quantity in their stock.

The next point visited was the Mosque of the Sultan Ahmed. The exterior walls of this, as the walls of all other mosques, are painted white. From the centre rises a hemispherical dome, and at the four corners of the building shoot up tall minarets, the points of which, tipped with gold, appear lost in the air. Passing through an open court-yard, we came to the portal of the mosque. We pulled off our boots, slid our feet into yellow slippers, the color worn only by the faithful, removed our hats, and entered. The interior was very plain; the floor was spread with rich carpets, and variously-colored glass lamps, like

those in public gardens, were suspended around the walls, with here and there an ostrich-egg, the offering of some pious devotee. A pulpit of carved wood faced the east. Several Turks were prostrating themselves in prayer upon the carpets, the countenance turned to the sacred east.' From the floor to the ceiling the breadth and width of the great space beneath the roof was unbroken by a gallery or any other object. The roof rested upon arches which sprang from the. walls. This great void, with the overhanging roof unsustained by a single pillar, had a most majestic effect, and I have rarely seen boldness and simplicity of architecture so happily combined as in this mosque. The walls were naked of ornaments, with the exception of a rude drawing of the Caaba at Mecca.

In the centre of the court-yard of the mosque was a beautiful fountain, ornamented with that light tracery work which is characteristic of Saracenic architecture. An immense number of pigeons had assembled there at that time to be fed, as some kind Mussulman had left a legacy to procure grain for the daily feeding of the pigeons which

belonged to the mosque. They nearly covered the yard, and children were walking about in the midst of them, without causing them the least alarm. Such is the friendship between man and the brute creation in Mussulman countries.

The next point of interest was the city of Athens. Among the points visited by the travellers was the Acrop

olis. It is thus described:- Having obtained the necessary ticket of admission, we ascended it by a pathway that winds up the eastern side. On our way we passed the Theatre of Bacchus, which lies near the foot of the Acropolis, on the same side. Here were performed the tragedies of Sophocles, Eschylus, and Euripides. The seats of the spectators and a part of the façade yet remain. The theatre was open to the air, and, like all the other Grecian

theatres, it was placed upon the side of a hill. The seats for the audience were cut out of the earth, and rose in amphitheatrical form from the scene, which lay at the foot of the hill. In this theatre Demosthenes received the crown of gold which was voted to him for his repair of the fortifications, and for other services.

The Acropolis is a precipitous hill of rock rising from the bosom of the Athenian plain. Like most of the other Greek towns, Athens was built around the base of the

Acropolis, which served as a citadel to dominate the country for leagues around. The Acropolis is about eight hundred feet high, and some four hundred broad. Its crowning glory was the Parthenon. This magnificent building, which, even in its present ruined condition, commanded the admiration of every beholder, was in its perfect state the finest piece of architecture in the ancient world. It was built of the purest Pentelican marble, which, to this day, though discolored by the dews and rains of more than ten centuries, yet contains most of its original purity.