THE NOISIEST CITY

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 142, 16 June 1923, Page 14

THE NOISIEST CITY

''.VARIED SYMPHONY. OF CASUAL

SOUNDS."

•There is more noise per cubic foot of tiight .in, .Constantinople than .in any fcown. in' Europe."'lndependently of a jughly-varied symphony of casual sounds, tone's sleep is broken by officially-organ-ised disturbances due to the fact that Jor policing the city after dark the muni- ' ilipality maintains a number of nightwatchmen^ arnled with;-long, thick clubs. 'Lying-abed in the small hours,' one has %i\l cause to recognise their zeal, for at frequent intervals the nearest watchman awakens you by beating heavily upon jtK'e stones with resounding, cudgel, Writes" G. Ward" Price in the "Daily Mail.". It needs a fire, however, to givo tlie watchman full " scope for making iight hideous.- Constantinople"..' being" mainly built. of wood and heated by open charcoal stoves, this opportunity comes all too often. As booh as a. fire is ai|hted. from_the high look-put. post' on 'flaJata Tower word is sent to every quarter of the-city.- - "'■'■■- : .' Till ten years ago this was done by picturesque red-coitted runners armed ifirith javelins,-■ but now it goes by tele-pKone,.-and, for-.th© night-watchmen, -the yeal fun' of the'evening begins. Beatißg a double volley on the pavement, jJa'ach in turn fills his lungs to capacity, (and in a tone of long-winded, lugubrious Uiespair wails out fortissimo at frequent taritervals : "Yanghiu var !"': ("A fire ithere is!"), following on with an announcement of its situation, and ending with more battering- of the- flagstones, as this cry is taken up and repeated (from street to street it sweels' to an appalling clamour. ■ With .cats, dog 3, and discordant '"drunks," 1 Constantinople is well supplied throughout the dark hours, and /then, just after daybreak, when sleep is \pl'ecious because it is precarious, an army wi food-pedlars begins to fill the air with glamour. .

L-.The Greek housewives of this city are pfazy in their habits, and rarely get bewond the dressing-gonn stage until the pfternoon. Their morning marketing is therefor© done from the half-opened shutter of an upper window, so that by 7 yclock. a shrill chatter of haggling over .tee price of fish and eggs begins to keep fedmpany to the diversified howls of the "hawkers, the hoarse shouts of drivers 'Surging overloaded horses up Constantinople's seven hills, the cracking of |whip_s, the rumble of springless carts, jfche jangling even of camel-bells, the conStant hooting ■•■ of unimportant but fussy Steamers. on', the Golden-Horn,- the klax*>nß of. P era* chauffeurs, 'whose; Levantine f yanitymakes them thenoisiestaiid worst j€rivers in the world, and the clanging, [groaning, and screeching of ..Constantinople tramway cars twisting round the Sharp corners of its narrow streets.