Identifier: turkhislostprovi00curt (find matches)
Title: The Turk and his lost provinces : Greece, Bulgaria, Servia, Bosnia
Year: 1903 (1900s)
Authors: Curtis, William Eleroy, 1850-1911
Subjects: Eastern question (Balkan) Greece -- Description and travel Bulgaria -- Description and travel Serbia -- Description and travel Bosnia and Hercegovina -- Description and travel
Publisher: Chicago London : F.H. Revell Company
Contributing Library: University of California Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

View Book Page: Book Viewer
About This Book: Catalog Entry
View All Images: All Images From Book
Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book.

Text Appearing Before Image:
Sultan issued an orderrequiring all dogs to be held sacred, as the prophethad made them, the vehicle of the Divine will. Sometimes I think the firemen are more interestingthan the dogs. Fires are of frequent occurrence, andoften very destructive, because the greater part of theold city is composed of wooden dwellings, which arevery dry and burn like tinder when a flame is oncestarted. Great precautions, from the Turkish point ofview, are taken to protect them, but they are onlyludicrous to those who are familiar with modern firedepartments in our cities. Watchmen keep a lookoutday and night from three commanding spots whichoverlook the roofs of the entire city—the Galata towerin the foreign section, the Serasker tower in Stamboul,the Mohammedan city, and another tower upon ahigh hill on the Asiatic side of the Bosphorus. Cannonare fired from the last-mentioned place as a warning tothe public and a notice to the firemen, but at the othertowers large balls made of bamboo and painted a
Text Appearing After Image:
SCENES IN CONSTANTINOPLE 117 brilliant red are hung out in the daytime, and a red bal-loon at night with a number of flags of differentdesigns, like signals from a ship, which indicate to thefiremen the section of the city in which their servicesare needed. Upon these towers watchmen with telescopes arealways on guard, walking around the balcony andcarefully inspecting every roof within the limits oftheir vision. When a suspicious sign is discoveredthere is a consultation, and, if it appears to be a fire,half-naked runners are started to give an alarmthrough the streets and the signals are hung out. Therunners yell at the top of their voices the localitywhere the fire has been discovered. The firemen, whoare in waiting at their various headquarters, stripthemselves to a shirt and a pair of drawers, seize handengines, which are carried upon their shoulders, andstart at full tilt for the point of danger. They arespurred to a high rate of speed because of rivalrybetween the different org

Note About Images