WHERE THE SULTAN LIVED.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 802, 22 January 1910, Page 3

WHERE THE SULTAN LIVED.

THE FABLED ROOMS AT YILDIZ. an interestin'!: description. LONDON. Nov. 19. A verv iiiieresliiig description of Ids visit to' tin: fabl'd rooms at Yildiz, where t In? ex-Sultan Abdul lived, has been written by the Constantinople correspondent of the London Times. “It is nearly five months,” he says, “since the park of Yildiz was thrown open to the public, but the Palace of Yildiz remains closed, and none may enter it save in the company of a Minister. P>y the kindness of Taluat Bey. Minister of the Interior, who invited several foreign correspondents to the pa lace, and did them the honour of accompanying them during their visit to tin- ex-Snltan’s private apartments. I have bad that good fortune, and have been able to form a judgment concerning certain aspects of what I may call lint ‘Yildiz legend.’ A POOR PLACE. “There is no truth in that pari of the legend which describes the immensity of tln> palace, the sumptuous magnificence of its treasures, and hints that every mesh of the web which bid the imperial spider was of gold, frosted with diamonds and pearls. The truth is that the strands of the well were gilt at best, the diamonds but paste, and the pearls artificial; that the master of the ‘treasures’ of Yildiz paid far more than Iheir true value for i hem ; and that, in short, Alidnl Jlamid was a very inartistic despot. “To enter the inner palace you must go through Ihe gateways and bear to the left, passing the stripped and deserted quarters of the palace servants and women. Another gale'jmtsl, be entered lo reach the door of a while two-storeyed building, linked by Hying bridges to the harem buildings on one side, and the Imperial theatre on the other. Though unpretentious and indillerently built, this struct tire is the centre of Yildiz, and was for many a year the cent re of the Empire. “The mazy house reflects (he tortuous, active, and yet terror-ridden soul of a. despot, whom all men felt red and who feared all men. It is the creation of a mind that had grown to hale the open and feared groat chambers and straight, wide corridors.

Wll HUE THE SULTAN SLEPT. “For Hie liisl fen years of In* reign tin; ex-Sultan scarcely ever slept in the Stale bed-chamber, preferring to He on solas fitted with rests for the feet, now in tills room, now in that. All the passages but one leading to Hie group of rooms on the ground floor which he most frequented after I lie earthquake were, blocked lip. while the ’one which remained open was filled with chests, cupboards, and even the humblest pieces of bedroom furniture, so that two melt could nut pass down it abreast. Against a single enemy Ahdnl Hamid fell; himself secure, for he wore mail, and could make deadlv use of I lie revolvers that lay everywhere to hand. His holt-holes, iron doors leading to the gardens, were firmly seemed within and watched by sentinels without. ROOMS AND FURNITURE. “Three rooms stand out most clearly in my memory. The first, a reception-room on Hie second floor, witli while and blue ceiling, and carpels to match, witli gold and crimson curtains, and moth-eaten Polar bearskins for rugs. “The second is a smaller room, wherein Abdul Hamid often slept. It is full of portfolios and photographic albums contabling photographs of crowned heads, Imperial princes, and vessels of Hie Turkish licet. Two bookshelves contain recent works on the Turkish Umpire in English, French, and .Gorman. “When the Young Turks entered Yildiz, arms lay everywhere. There were loaded revolvers in the bathrooms, in cupboards, by bedsides, and on the writ-ing-tables. Some were carried oil' as trophies, but moat were stowed away for safety. In this particular room they had found more than ten. Even now, two shirts of mail, with thin plates of hardened steel covered with brown drib, are lying upon an arm-chair. “Lastly, (here is the room where the prisoner of lbs own soldiers heard Ida sentence of deposition. It is small —less heavily furnished llianv many others. Cigarette-ends and scraps of crumpled paper be in one corner, in another are tho .Sultan’s goloshes, for tho conquerors have, whenever possible, left all as they found it. THE TREASURES OF YILDIZ.

“Th<‘ri> is little that L valuable and less (hat is beautiful either in the palace or in ils neighbouring kiosks. The jewellery and (date, together nith the few really valuable pieces of porcelain and tapestry which wore discovered in them, were taken to the Seraskierate. The objects which remain are more impressive, for their hulk titan for their hen uty. “So much for the ‘art lrea>ures' ot Yildiz. Far more interesting are the byways ot the palace—empty quarters of the .servants and of the womenfolk, who were crowded into small rooms, and slept on mattresses laid on the floor; the empty house of the ‘Sixth Favourite;’ and tip; museum, where arc to be seen, timid tropical birds and beasts, a stuffed horse, stuffed dogs, cate, and pigeons, the pets of Abdul Hamid, and a shark, with its tail at right angles to its vertebrae. Stranger still are some of the storerooms in Yildiz.”

'l'll K ARCHITECTURE OF FEAR. “Tho seals upon tin; double; doors are broken, and the Minister enters; you follow, expecting to seo a wide hall. As a matter of fact, you outer a., vestibule, small and plainly furnished. One wanders in a maze of rooms, passages, and

-fairways. For Abdul Uamid was for ever changing ibc arrangumnnt of his (hvolling-piucn. Doorway* wore bricked up and others were driven through outer walls, passages were closed or narrowed, rooms divided by partitions, windows wen* made and unmade at random; new quarters, new rooms, new walls were ever being added to (ho main building, and wore, in turn, altered and remodel* led as tin* old had been. And so it is impossible to describe Vildi/, as if it were an ordinary palace. it is only after you have wandered through for some time that you understand the design that underlies all this seeming confusion.