I went immediately to my good friend Mrs. Balbiani; but,
to my regret, found that she was not in Constantinople; she had
given up her hotel. I was recommended to the hotel "Aux Quatre
Nations," kept by Madame Prust. She was a talkative French woman,
who was always singing the praises of her housekeeping, servants,
cookery, etc., in which, however, none of the travellers agreed with
her. She charged forty piasters (8s.), and put down a good round
sum in the bill for servants' fees and such like.
Since my last stay here a handsome new wooden bridge had been
erected over the Golden Horn, and the women did not seem to be so
thickly veiled as on my first visit to Constantinople. Many of them
wore such delicately woven veils that their faces could almost be
seen through them: others had only the forehead and chin covered,
and left their eyes, nose, and cheeks exposed.
The suburb of Pera looked very desolate. There had been a number of
fires, which were increased by two during my stay; they were called
"small," as by the first only a hundred and thirty shops, houses,
and cottages, and by the second, only thirty were burned to the
ground.
