The Argosy — page 236: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

222 Remembrances of Constantinople. when Mohammed fied from Mecca to escape from the fury of the Koreishites, incited by his implacable foe, Abu Sofian, he and his father-in-law, Abu Beker, took shelter in a cave in Mount Thot, about an hour’s distance from the city. On hearing the near. approach of the pursuers, Abu Beker, in alarm, exclaimed, ‘ They are many, we are but two.” The Prophet rejoined, “ Nay, there is a third, for God is with us,” and immediately a miracle rewarded his pious faith. By the time the Koreishites reached the cave, an acacia tree had sprung up, a pigeon had built a nest, and laid two eggs in it, and a spider had woven its web across the entrance. The pursuers turned away disappointed, and the fugitives were saved. None of the sacred pigeons are ever killed; indeed, a wilful injury to one of them is said to be punished with death. Their number is kept within bounds by frequent gifts of pairs to distant mosques and to privileged individuals. The bazaar comprises miles and miles of narrow lanes intersecting each other. They are covered with arched roofs, through which light is admitted but sparingly, because with it enters heat. On each side of the lanes are shops. These are, for the most part; not more than six or eight feet long, by four deep. They are fitted with shelves, on which the goods are ranged, and have no windows. But a large shutter or flap, which is drawn up and fastened to the roof ‘during the day, closes the whole in during the night, and is very suggestive of a locker on shipboard. A row of low counters runs along the front of the shops. On these the masters sit cross-legged, or with one foot under them, quietly smoking their pipes, and languidly transacting business with customers, who not unfrequently seat them- selves in like manner, while they drive a slow bargain, and murder precious time. People following the same trade occupy the same street. Near the entrance of the bazaar are found the trades of least importance, such as sellers of beads, combs, and spoons, There are whole streets with shops full of the last articles of every material, from wood and bone to silver and gold, adorned with coral and precious stones. Here, too, may be seen the chopsticks, which remind one of the vampire lady in the story, who in her husband’s presence ate nothing but rice, which she picked up grain by grain. One can understand how her rose-tipped fingers manipulated the dainty machine for which advahced civilisation, always in a hurry, even in eating, has substituted a many-pronged fork. Very extensive are the stores of wearing apparel: shawls from Cashmere, Paris, and Paisley ; golden tissues and costly embroidered muslins from India; silks from Damascus, Brusa, and Lyons; English cottons, Irish linens, Manchester prints of gaudy Oriental designs, Persian carpets ; every imaginable article is here collected for sale. The boot and slipper shops are among the most attractive, exhibiting dandy comicbooks.com