It was with a peculiar feeling of emotion that for the first time in my life I set foot on a new quarter of the globe.  Now, and not till now, I seemed separated by an immeasurable distance from my home.  Afterwards, when I landed on the coast of Africa, the circumstance did not produce the same impression on my mind.

Now at length I was standing in the quarter of the earth which had been the cradle of the human race; where man had risen high, and had again sunk so low that the Almighty had almost annihilated him in his righteous anger.  And here in Asia it was that the Son of God came on earth to bring the boon of redemption to fallen man.  My long and warmly-cherished wish to tread this most wonderful of the four quarters of the earth was at length fulfilled, and with God’s help I might confidently hope to reach the sacred region whence the true light of the world had shone forth.

[Illustration 3.  Burial Place at Scutari. ill3.jpg]

Scutari is the place towards which the Mussulman looks with the hope of one day reposing beneath its shade.  No disciple of any other creed is allowed to be buried here; and here, therefore, the Mahometan feels himself at home, and worthy of his Prophet.  The cemetery is the grandest in the world.  One may wander for hours through this grove of cypresses, without reaching the end.  On the gravestones of the men turbans are sculptured; on those of the women fruits and flowers:  the execution is in most cases very indifferent.

Though neither the chief nor the tributary streets in Scutari are even, they are neither so badly paved nor quite so narrow as those at Pera.  The great barracks, on a height in the foreground, present a splendid appearance, and also afford a delicious view towards the Sea of Marmora and the inimitably beautiful Bosphorus.  The barracks are said to contain accommodation for 10,000 men.

The howling dervishes.

At two o’clock we entered the temple, a miserable wooden building.  Every Mussulman may take part in this religious ceremony; it is not requisite that he should have attained to the rank and dignity of a dervish.  Even children of eight or nine stand up in a row outside the circle of men, to gain an early proficiency in these holy exercises.

The commencement of the ceremony is the same as with the dancing dervishes; they have spread out carpets and skins of beasts, and are bowing and kissing the ground.  Now they stand up and form a circle together with the laymen, when the chief begins in a yelling voice to recite prayers from the Koran; by degrees those forming the circle join in, and scream in concert.  For the first hour some degree of order is still preserved; the performers rest frequently to husband their strength, which will be exerted to the utmost at the close of the ceremony.  But then the sight becomes as horrible as one can well imagine any thing.  They vie with one another in yelling and howling, and torture their faces, heads, and bodies into an infinite variety of fantastic attitudes.  The roaring, which resembles that of wild beasts, and the dreadful spasmodic contortions of the actors’ countenances, render this religious ceremony a horrible and revolting spectacle.