A VISIT TO THE SULTAN'S TREASURY.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1260, 23 April 1896, Page 10

A VISIT TO THE SULTAN'S TREASURY.

Tho papers are full of the poverty of Turkey. Tho debt of the country runs liis/h into the hundreds of millions, and all things arc taxed. The Customs duties never get into the hands of the Sultan. They are paid to the foreign bondholders, and tho tribute from Egypt goes almost directly to England. His Majesty is supposed to be poor, but his private expenditure, have amounted always to many millions a year, and there is a vast amount of money tied up in the jewels of his treasury. “It was," says a recent traveller, “ through the private secretary of the Sultan that 1 obtained access to this treasury. Guarded by Turkish soldiers and accompanied by oilicers whoso swords clanked over the marble Hours, I wandered about room after room filled with jewels and precious stones. “ For one whole morning I feasted my wondering eyes on cases loaded with enough gold plate to have broken the backs of half-a-dozen Government mules, and I broke the Tenth Commandment many times as I examined the jewels, which, by the way, are kept behind glass and under lock and key. “Thero is at least a peck of big diamonds in this treasury. There are quarts of pearls of all shapes and sizes, from the little seeds as big as the head of a pin to the great iridescent beauties larger even than an ordinary hazel nut. “ There is one emerald which i 3 as large as your fist, and there are enough watches, which are set with pearls and diamonds, to fill a two-bushel basket. Thero is a golden cradle, covered with precious stones, in which the children of seven different Sultans are said to Inave

slept, and I counted a dozen hand mirrors with frames of gold and settings of emeralds, rubies, sapphires and diamonds. “ There is one armchair as big as that in which your grandfather sits, which is of solid gold 3ct with precious stones, and which has a satin cushion upon it which is embroidered with pearls. This chair is kept under a glass case, and it has a little gold footsto d placed in front of it. “There is a toilet-table, the top of which is made of lapis lazuli, and the feet of which are claw shaped, the claws being made of diamonds, emeralds, rubies, and carbuncles. Big diamonds hang down from the top of the table, and along the edge of it there is a Hoop fiinge of diamonds.

“Another wonderful Idling is the collection of bed quilts, which are embroi derod with pearls. Take the quilt of a wide bed, and cover it with pearls of all sizes, from those as big as a pin to some as large as the fattest chestnut. hiring thousands of sucli pearls into all shapes, so that they co.er iho quilt with embroidery, and you have some idea of tdie kind of bedclothes under which the most famous of the Sultans of the past have slept.

“And then tho collection of aimour ! There are numerous swords, and upon one sword-hilt I counted fifteen diamonds, each of which was as large as the top of a man’s thumb, and there were otln r swords set with all kinds of jewels “There woro saddles beyond number embroidered with pearls with stirrups of silver. There were pipes set with diamonds, and one case contuued the c,stames of the Sultans of the just, each of which blazed with precious stones.

“Of the gold plate, there were dishes of solid gold large enough for a baby’s bath, and there were plates, cups and saucers, tureens and pitchers, massive and heavy, made of this same precious metal.

“The entire collection—and I that day saw only a part—filled a number of rooms, and it must be worth many millions. It contains the accumulated treasures and relics of the .Sultans of the past, and when the Turkish Empire is finally divided up among tho rulers of Europe, there will be a greatacramble for the most precious objects in these treasury vaults."