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CHAPTER IV. THE SWEET WATERS SITUATION MODES OF ACCESS FETES—THE SULTAN HIS BODY-GUARD GAY APPEARANCE OF THE MULTITUDE, AND ITS PASSIVENESS APPEARANCE OF TURKS IN THE CAFES OCCASIONAL MENDICANTS—MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF FRANKS—MODE OF GOING TO PARTIES—ALARM OF FIRE. In the month of April, or the early part of May, when the Spring first opens, as it does at Constantinople with great joyousness and splendor, an immense multitude of the inhabitants resort on Friday to the Sweet Waters. This charming spot, through which meanders a little stream that empties here into the Golden Horn, of which this is the northern termination, is a small alluvial plain, encircled by barren hills, and the rich green of the lawn and the luxuriant trees might remind any New Englander of one of his own delicious valleys. The appellation of Sweet Waters comes from the French Les eaux douces, meaning fresh water. There is a pretty kiosk here, built by the Sultan Selim, upon the bank of the stream, which, by means of a mound thrown across, is made rather broad, andforms a perfect mirror for the reflection of the little boats and other graceful objects that heighten the natural charms of the place. A light, neat, arched bridge, and the minaret of the little mosque, peeping from amid the embowering trees, are pretty features in the landscape. It is distant from Stamboul three or four miles, and by far the greater number of visitors reach it by water, but there are roads leading to it from different directions. The Sultan resorts to it on those days, sometimes with his barges, and sometimes on horseback, attended by his showy and gaily equipped body-guard of twenty or thirty men, well mounted onsteeds glittering like their royal master's, in caparisons embroidered with gold and studded with j...