[511] where we had a charming reception by the Sultan, who was flanked by his cabinet and staff. General Wallace presented us all. The Sultan spoke to me very kindly, particularly mentioning the abundant services that he had heard I had rendered my own country, and referred to my armless sleeve as a badge. He was short in stature and had very much the appearance of the educated Japanese; his eyes were exceedingly dark, bright, and piercing, and his smile that came and went was very pleasant..
Captain Henry Otis Dwight, the son of a missionary and a missionary himself, who had come home to America to bear the part of a soldier throughout our Civil War and then had returned to his missionary field, was there at Constantinople. He devoted several days to our entertainment and showed us the walls of the city, the mosques, the old churches, including Saint .Sophia, the Constantine Arch, the Hippodrome, the
Obelisk, and Pera. We passed over to the other side of the Bosphorus (to Scutari) where Dr. Cyrus Hamlin's great work had been done in furnishing the soldiers with bread during the Crimean War, and there we found a splendid girls' school quite equal in quality if not in numbers to Robert College. Miss Williams, the principal teacher, married a missionary while we were there; and we saw the departure of the couple from the institution. The girls were all in tears while they threw rice after the departing couple.
I think that my most instructive visit was to a large room of the harem of a great Turk (Achmet Vefik, Pasha). He had at one time been the governor of a large province, but just then was on the retired list of officials. He had many wives but we were not allowed to see them. He spoke several languages and
