THE SOLDIER'S FRIEND. as graceful as a Parisienne." On the 27th, they sailed from Marseilles in the Vect'is steamer, for Constantinople. The " silver city" of Scutari-the ultimate des- iination ofthese brave, noble-souled women-situated exactly opposite to the graceful City of the Sultan, the glittering and poetical Stamboul, is very beau- tiful; its gleaming houses and sparkling minarets causing it to " shine like a pearl" on the rocky coast. Till within a few months of the War in the East, Scutari had been insignificant, and interesting only to the traveller or the merchant. But at that time, how changed was its aspect ! Motley and ever- varying groups were thronging the streets and ferry, vessels crowded the waters of the Bosphorus, sol- diers, boatmen, donkey-boys, fruit and fish-vendors, together with the usual component objects to be seen in a busy town, formed a striking and animated scene. Standing on the ferry, the spectacle was peculiarly singular. " Immediately before us," says the author of 'Scutari and its Objects of Interest,' " glide the sunny waves of the Bosphorus, hurrying into the Sea of Marmora. Across these glittering waves, and washed by their current, rise the castled walls of Constantinople, mingling with and lost amid graceful kiosques, shadowy plane trees, weeping acacias, and that favourite of the Moslems, dark cypresses. Islands lie sleeping on the bosom of the waters, and the extent and variety of wood, water, 17
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