GARDEN OF THE BOSPHORUS

Wanganui Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 13978, 10 May 1913, Page 7

GARDEN OF THE BOSPHORUS

A finely illustrated article in Scribners’ Magazine shows hov. magnificent are (be gardens which run down to t.tie shores of the Bosphorus. •The Turk has never acquired the reputation of his Arab and Persian cousins in the matter of gardens.” writes H. G. Dwight. “Perhaps it is that be belongs to a younger race and has had more conflicting traditions out t>£ which f<> evolve a style. For he is a man to whom a garden is a necessity. He is given to staying at home, he has a great love of flowers and fresh air. the nar.rir- of his ilomesiie arrangements leads him to screen his private Fife from observation. Hence ii is that the gardens of the Bosphorus are one -•f the most characteristic features of that riv>T-like strait. They have, moreover, a definite cachet of their own. Few of tlenr houses do no: enjoy some view of file water, tmd of the opposite s'urc. rarefv rirnre than a mile or two a n a? . Tin gardens of tie- houses are d I■ i: j' 1 : I {iKltl i>V tile BlfpSK f» i.f the hillside:, on .••hieh they lie. ••Blade, floe it,, and s-clusien are for the Turks riie Hire.- fc.arnrcs of a vanh n To pici, a rose. m sit in an arbor, to s»v "at r framed in trees, to rake their kef. smoke their cigarette, (liar with their family or friends, witltmi' being too clos-'dy spied upon, are the advantages which the gardens of the Bosphorus provide them in great variety. And a t. rraee ten feet long may be as enviable as an estate reaching from the water’s edge to the top of the bills, .since it is the blue panowrrta wt the strait, with its busy boats ,mti its background ol hills, that is the chief ornatu- nr of the garden. “t'onsr.atitinopie is. I believe, the sole diplomatic post to which summer residences are attached. Each enjoy also a steam launch, for keeping in touch with tit- Sublime Port", fifteen tulle* away, and a despatch boat is derailed t.> each embassy except th<* Persian. Tires., dignities came about very naturally. try reason of the epidemics nrt iisord* rs which used to break out ;cl th" city, rlu- habit of Constantinople '•> transport itself bodily to the Bosphorus during the summer, and the generosity of the sultans. The English, French, and Herman Governments all rwn beautiful estates at Therapia. presented to them t>y the different Sultans. wlt lie the Bussians are magnificently established at an adjoining vilage. If 1 might choose I would rather .re the French Ambassador than any other.

"There is riialry between the gardens of the upper, the middle, and the lower Bosphorus with regard to their idvautages of position. The upper dosphurus is, froai the European point f view, the most desirable. The midTe Bosphorus, however, is chiefly avoured by the Turks.