biennially by a plurality vote, and meets at Hartford. There are 24 Senators and 255 members of the Lower House, making 279 in all: 87 towns have 2 members of the House each, and 81 have 1 each. This difference in membership is of historic origin, depending on the establishment of the town, except that every town which the decennial census shows to have 5000 inhabitants is entitled to 2 members. With the shifting of population, many old towns with two members each are now smaller than younger towns, allowed only one each. The result has been a demand from the larger towns for more representation. On the other hand, it has been contended that the town is the political unit under the Connecticut scheme of government, that one body is designed to be popular and the other representative, and that the two Houses of the National Congress, agreed upon in the Constitutional Convention of 1787 under the "Connecticut Compromise," illustrate the same scheme with the titles reversed. Several constitutional amendments have accordingly been proposed, including one for the plurality election of State officers. To elect these a clear majority of the votes cast was, in 1901, still required. Otherwise the General Assembly selects one from the two highest candidates for each position. Woman suffrage is permitted in school matters, but very few women vote. Local option prevails as to liquor-selling, and in 1899 there were 79 licence and 89 no-licence towns. The executive officers of the State, chosen biennially, are governor, lieutenant-governor, secretary, treasurer, comptroller. There is also an attorney-general, elected once in four years.

This office was established in 1898. State supervision is very general; 21 State boards and commissions having offices in the State House. In 1883 a State board of pardons was established; up to that time pardons had been granted by the General Assembly.

Finance.-The funded debt in 1901 was $2,131,100, of which $495,000 was at 3 per cent. and $1,636,300 at 3 per cent. From this should be deducted the cash in hand, usually from $500,000 to $750,000. Except for the military commutation tax of $2 per caput on male citizens between 21 and 45 years of age, the revenue of the State since 1890 has been collected by indirect taxation and almost entirely from corporations. The receipts for the year ending September 30, 1899, were $2,749,273, which, however, included the income of various funds. The direct tax laid upon the towns was suspended in 1891. A rapid increase followed in State expenditures, from $1,757,512 in 1891 to $2,550,080 in 1897-an increase of 50 per cent., while the income increased only about 30 per cent. In 1898 and 1899, however, the income exceeded the receipts by ample margins. While there is no direct State tax, citizens are taxed locally by the county, the town, the city, or the borough, and the school district. Many of the tax laws are antiquated, and the need of general revision has long been urged.

Roads. In 1895 a "good roads movement" began, under which in the first six years the State expended about $700,000, contingent upon contributions of about $500,000 from town and county treasuries. When the work began the highway commission reported 5558 miles of main roads and 8530 of side roads in the State-total, 14,088 miles. About 250 miles were improved between 1895 and 1901.

Railways.-There are 1013.35 miles of steam railway. Of these all but the New London Northern, from New London to Brattleboro, Vt. (56.1 miles in Connecticut); the Central New England, from Hartford to the Hudson (67.25 miles in Connecticut); and the South Manchester, from South Manchester to Manchester (2.25 miles), are included in the system of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad Company, which controls 2047 19 miles, of which 887.75 are in Connecticut. It controls all the rail routes between New York and Boston, and the entire Old Colony system in Massachusetts, and also practically all the steamboat lines on Long Island Sound. Between New Haven and New Rochelle, N.Y., where the line divides, the company has four tracks. The company has an authorized capital of $100,000,000, of which in 1899 about $55,000,000 had been issued. It had then 8654 stockholders, of whom 2620, holding $16,036,500 of the stock, were residents of Connecticut. The majority of its board of directors must be citizens of Connecticut. It reported 28,211 employees in 1899. In that year the railways of the State carried 50,269,468 passengers and 15,891,642 tons of freight. Efforts have been made for several years to abolish grade

crossings of rail and waggon roads, but in 1899 there still remained 988 of these death-traps.

Other Means of Communication. The first successful trolley road was established in Connecticut in 1885. In 1899 there were 31 companies working 462.92 miles of trolley, not counting sidings, and these roads carried that year 59,084,702 passengers. Their capital stock aggregated $12,715,948, and their bonded debt $10,608,800. They had 2465 employees. During 1899 the trolley roads injured 324 persons, and the steam roads 327. The trolley has brought wide outlying rural districts into close touch with the cities, and has connected centres of population, so as to make them practically one community. The store, the church, the theatre, and the farm have all received a new impulse from the movement. Besides the trolley, a "third rail" electric system is being developed in Connecticut. The New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railway, at a power-house at Berlin, produces electricity, which is carried on a central rail between the rails of the road bed of one of its regular tracks. The power is taken up by a shoe that travels along the third or middle rail, and heavy cars on the solid road bed can make very fast time. The third rail operates between New Britain and Berlin, 3 miles, and between Hartford and Bristol, through New Britain, 17 miles. Electric lighting is very general, and in many instances water-power is utilized for this purpose.

Manufactures.-The great demand for copper wire and for other parts of electric outfit has given an immense impetus to the copper and brass mills, which are the largest consumers of copper in the world, and are situated chiefly in the Naugatuck Valley in Waterbury, Torrington, and Ansonia. The State holds a leading place in the production of silk, woollen, and cotton goods, fire-arms and ammunition, edge tools, hardware, needles, bicycles, motorcarriages, rubber goods, thread, sewing machines, clocks, hats, silverware, knit goods, &c. Connecticut maintains its reputation for inventions, and for the skill of its mechanics. In 1900 the number of manufacturing establishments in the State (excluding 977 having a product of less than $500 each, but including 4630 classified as hand-trades) was 9128, with a total capital (including land, buildings, machinery, &c., but not capital stock) of $314,696,736. There were 9981 salaried employees receiving salaries amounting to $12,286,050; an average number of 176,694 wage-earners, receiving total wages of $82,767,725; and 9381 proprietors and firm members. The cost of materials (including mill supplies, freight, fuel, &c.) was $185,641,219. The added values of the products in the different establishments amounted to $352,824,106. If from this gross value be deducted, in order to avoid duplication, the value ($144,809,525) of materials purchased in a partly manufactured form-where the finished product of one industry is used later as the raw material for another-the total net value of the products is found to be $208,014,581. The most important industries and the value of their products were: textile manufactures, $49,265,752; brass manufactures (including rolled brass and copper), $48,526,868; foundry and machine shops products, $18,991,079; hardware, $16,301,198; plated and britannia ware, $9,538,397.

Banks. There were, in 1899, 88 mutual savings banks, with deposits of $174,135,195 belonging to 393,137 depositors. Of these depositors 341,362 had each less than $1000 on deposit, whose total deposits amounted to $68,420,853. These banks do much to encourage thrift. They pay as a rule 4 per cent. interest on the deposits. In June 1900 there were 81 national banks in the State; capital, $20,747,070; surplus and undivided profits, about $11,000,000; deposits, $42,700,000. There were also 8 State banks; capital, $2,240,000; surplus, &c., $864,000; deposits, $6,726,563; and thirteen trust companies; capital, $1,317,800; surplus, $880,000, deposits, $7,420,608. The total deposits of all the banking interests were thus $230,982,366.

Insurance.-The 8 stock fire insurance companies had in 1900 $10,250,000 of capital, $13,895,791 of net surplus, and $41,956,826 of assets, and insured about $2,700,000,000 of property. Besides these were 17 mutual companies with $2,000,000 of assets and $111,500,000 of risks. The fire losses paid by Connecticut companies in 1899 were $12,417,000. In life insurance, 6 companies with assets of $156,972,000, including $15,656,721 of surplus, were in 1900 insuring 356,661 persons for a total of $507,245,300. The assets of the fire and life companies of the Stato together exceed $200,000,000. It was in Connecticut that accident insurance was first undertaken in the United States. The deposits of the banks and the assets of the life and fire insurance companies aggregate nearly $475,000,000.

Education.-Almost every town grew up around a church, and every town has also its school. Education has been an object of concern from the founding of the colony, and the State ranks among the first in this respect. Yale University, at New Haven, founded in 1701, has a total of 2542 students and a faculty of 271. Trinity College at Hartford, founded in 1823, reported for 1900, 137 students and 24 instructors. Wesleyan University at Middletown, founded in 1829, had 339 students and a faculty of 26. Common school education is compulsory between the ages of

7 and 16. In 1899 there were 1546 public schools, 76 high schools, 77 kindergartens, and 19 evening schools; also 177 private schools, with 30,083 registered scholars. The State furnishes $200 to establish, and up to $100 a year to maintain, a free public library in any town that will contribute an equal sum. In 1899, 6 years after the passage of the law, 51 towns had established free libraries under its provision, and there were 40 others, making 91 free public libraries in the State, with 566,706 volumes and a yearly circulation of 1,609,788 volumes. There were also 43 "travelling libraries," which move from one town to another, the gifts of individuals or associations. (c. H. CL)

Connellsville, a borough of Fayette county, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., situated in the south-western part of the state, on Youghiogheny river and on branches of the Pennsylvania and the Baltimore and Ohio Railways, at an It is the centre of the well-known altitude of 915 feet.

Connellsville coking coal region, in which most of the coking coal used in iron-smelting in the United States is produced. Out of 47,142 coking ovens in the United States in 1899, 19,294 are in this district; while of the total amount of coke produced in the Union (19,640,798 tons), not less than 10,389,335 tons were made in this district. Population (1880), 3609; (1890), 5629; (1900), 7160.

Connersville, capital of Fayette county, Indiana, U.S.A., situated on Whitewater river, in the eastern part of the state, at an altitude of 828 feet. It is at the intersection of the Cincinnati, Hamilton, and Dayton, the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago, and St Louis, and the Fort Wayne, Cincinnati, and Louisville Railways. Population (1880), 3228; (1890), 4548; (1900), 6836.

In

Conscience, Hendrik (1812-1883), the most eminent of modern Flemish writers, was born at Antwerp on the 3rd of December 1812. Although he invariably signed his name Hendrik, his baptismal name was Henri. He was the son of a Frenchman, Pierre Conscience, from Besançon, who had been chef de timonerie in the navy of Napoleon, and who was appointed under-harbourmaster at Antwerp in 1811, when that city formed part of France. Hendrik's mother was a Fleming, Cornelia Balieu. When, in 1815, the French abandoned Antwerp after the Congress of Vienna, they left Pierre Conscience behind them. He was a very eccentric person, and he took up the business of buying and breaking-up worn-out vessels, of which the port of Antwerp was full after the peace. The child grew up in an old shop stocked with marine stores, to which the father afterwards added a collection of unsaleable books; among them were old romances which inflamed the fancy of the child. His mother died in 1820, and the boy and his younger brother had no other companion than their grim and somewhat sinister father. 1826 Pierre Conscience married again, this time a widow much younger than himself, Anna Catherina Bogaerts. Hendrik had long before this developed an insatiable passion for reading, and revelled all day long among the ancient, torn, and dusty tomes which passed through the garret of "The Green Corner" on their way to destruction. Soon after his second marriage Pierre took a violent dislike to the town, sold the shop, and retired to that Kempen or Campine which Hendrik Conscience so often describes in his books-the desolate flat land that stretches between Antwerp and Venloo. Here Pierre bought a little farm, with a great garden round it, and here, while their father was buying ships in distant havens, the boys would spend weeks, and even months, with no companion but their stepmother. At the age of seventeen Hendrik left the paternal house in Kempen to become a tutor in Antwerp, and to prosecute his studies, which were soon broken in upon by the revolution of 1830. He volunteered as a private in the new Belgian army, and served in barracks at Venloo, and afterwards at Dendermonde, until 1837, when he retired with the grade of sergeant-major.

Thrown in this way with Flemings of every class, and made a close observer of their mental habits, the young man formed the idea of writing in the despised idiom of the country, an idiom .which was then considered too vulgar to be spoken, and much less written in, by educated. Belgians. Although, close by, across the Scheldt, the Dutch possessed a rich and honoured literature, many centuries old, written in a language scarcely to be distinguished from Flemish, a foolish prejudice denied recognition to the language of the Flemish provinces of Belgium. As a matter of fact, nothing had been written in it for many years, when the separation in 1831 served to make the chasm between the nations and the languages one which could never be bridged over. It was therefore with the foresight of a prophet that Conscience wrote, in 1830 itself, "I do not know how it is, but I confess I find in the real Flemish something indescribably romantic, mysterious, profound, energetic, even savage. If I ever gain the power to write, I shall throw myself head over ears into Flemish composition.' His poems, however, written while he was a soldier, were all in French. He received no pension when he was discharged, and going back idle to his father's house, he determined to do the impossible, and write a Flemish book for sale. A passage in Guicciardini fired his fancy, and straightway he wrote off that series of scenes in the war of Dutch Independence which lives in Belgian literature under the title of In't Wonderjaar 1566; this was published in Ghent in 1837. His father thought it so vulgar of his son to write a book in Flemish that he turned him out of doors, and the celebrated novelist of the future started for Antwerp, with a fortune which was strictly confined to two francs and a bundle of clothes. An old schoolfellow found him in the street and took him to his home; and soon various people of position, amongst them the eminent painter, Wappers, interested themselves in the brilliant and unfortunate young man. Wappers even gave him a suit of clothes, and presented him to the King, who expressed a wish, which was not immediately carried out in consequence of some red tape, that the Wonderjaar should be added to the library of every Belgian school. But it was under the patronage of Leopold I. that Conscience published his second work, Fantasy, in the same year, 1837. A small appointment in the Provincial Archives relieved him from the actual pressure of want, and in 1838 he made his first great success with the historical romance called The Lion of Flanders, which still holds its place as one of his masterpieces. To this followed How to become a Painter, 1843; What a Mother can Suffer, 1843; Siska van Roosemael, 1844; Lambrecht Hensmans, 1847; Jacob van Artevelde, 1849; and The Conscript, 1850. During these years he lived a variegated existence, for some thirteen months actually as an under-gardener in a country house, but finally as Secretary to the Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp. It was long before the sale of his books, greatly praised but seldom bought, made him in any degree independent. His ideas, however, began to be generally accepted. At a Flemish Congress which met at Ghent so early as 1841, the writings of Conscience were mentioned as the seed which was most likely to yield a crop of national literature. Accordingly the patriotic party undertook to encourage their circulation, and each fresh contribution from the pen of Conscience was welcomed as an honour to Belgium. In 1845 Conscience was made a Knight of the Order of Leopold. To write in Flemish had now ceased to be regarded as a proof of vulgarity; on the contrary, the tongue of the common people became almost fashionable. The poet K. L. Ledeganck (1805-1849), who celebrated the "Three Sister-Cities" of Ghent, Bruges, and Antwerp, was the

first to follow in the steps of Conscience. national writer who, though much older than the novelist, became his eager disciple, was J. F. Willems (1793-1846), and Flemish literature began to live. In 1845 Conscience published a History of Belgium, but he was well advised to return to those exquisite pictures of Flemish home-life which must always form the most valuable portion of his repertory. He was now at the height of his genius, and Blind Rosa, 1850; Rikketikketak, 1851; The Decayed Gentleman, 1851; and The Miser, 1853, rank among the most important of the long list of his novels. These had an instant effect upon contemporary fiction, and Conscience had many imitators. Nevertheless, not one of the latter has approached Conscience in popularity, or has deserved to approach him. In 1855 the earliest translations of his tales began to appear in English, French, German, and Italian, and his fame became universal. In 1867 the post of Keeper of the Royal Belgian Museums was created, and this important sinecure was given to Conscience. He continued to produce novels with great regularity, and his separate publications amounted at last to nearly eighty in number. He was now the most eminent of the citizens of Antwerp, and his seventieth birthday was celebrated by public festivities. After a long illness he died, in his house in Antwerp, on the 10th of September 1883; he was awarded a public funeral. The portraits of Conscience present to us a countenance rather French than Flemish in type, with long smooth hair, contemplative dark eyes under heavy brows, a pointed nose, and a humorous broad mouth; in late life he wore the ornament of a long white beard. Whether the historical romances of Conscience will retain the enormous popularity which they have enjoyed is much less than certain, but far more likely to live are the novels in which he undertook to be the genre-painter of the life of his own day. In spite of too rhetorical a use of soliloquizing, and of a key of sentiment often pitched too high for modern taste, the stories of Conscience are animated by a real spirit of genius, mildly lustrous, perhaps, rather than startlingly brilliant. Whatever glories may be in store for the literature of Flanders, Conscience is always sure of a distinguished place as its forerunner and its earliest classic. (E. G.)

Consett, a town and railway station in the northwestern parliamentary division of Durham, England, 12 miles north-west of Durham city and 14 south-west of Newcastle. Besides the parish church there are Baptist, Wesleyan, and other chapels; also a town-hall. There are extensive collieries in the district, and large ironworks. Area of urban district, 1024 acres. Population (1891), 8460; (1901), 9694.

Conshohocken, a borough of Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., situated in 40° 04' N. lat. and 75° 18′ W. long., on the north bank of Schuylkill river, 13 miles north-west of Philadelphia, in the south-east part of the state. It is entered by the Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia and Reading Railways. Population (1880), 4561; (1890), 5470; (1900), 5762.

Constance, a city in the grand duchy of Baden, on the south bank of the Rhine at its exit from the Lake

of Constance, and 30 miles from Schaffhausen by rail. It stands at a height of 1316 feet above the level of the sea. The Vincent collection of painted glass in the chapter-house has now been sold. The Dominican convent has been converted into a hotel; in its tower John Hus was confined for three months, before he was burnt on 6th July

1415 on a field in the suburb of Brühl. In the marketplace are two historical houses-one wherein Barbarossa signed the peace of Constance with the Lombard cities in 1183, and the other in which Frederick of Hohenzollern

S. J. CAPPER, The Shores and Cities of the Bodensee. London, 1881.-G. GSELL-FELS. Der Bodensee. Munich, 1893 (Bruckmann's illustrierter Reiseführer).-E. ISSEL. Die Reformation in Konstanz. Freiburg i/B., 1898.-F. X. KRAUS. Die Kunstdenkmäler des Krcises Konstanz. Freiburg i/B., 1887.-J. LAIBLE. Geschichte der Stadt Konstanz. Konstanz, 1896.

Constance, Lake of, or the "SWABIAN SEA," on the north-east frontier of Switzerland. According to the latest measurements, its area is 207 square miles (of which 81 square miles belonged to Switzerland, viz., 59 square miles to Canton Thurgau, and 21 square miles to Canton St Gall), its height above the sea-level 1309 feet, its greatest length 40 miles, its greatest depth 1014 feet, and its greatest width 7 miles.

Constant, Benjamin (1845-1902), French painter. See SCHOOLS OF PAINTING (France).

Constanţa (or KUSTENDJI), a town and seaport of Rumania on the Black Sea, 140 miles by rail from Bucharest. The bridge at Cernavoda across the river Danube was opened by the king in 1896. A line of fast passenger steamers, owned by the Rumanian Government, in connexion with the Orient express and Ostend express, conveys passengers and mails to Constantinople. The town has greatly developed of late years, owing to its improved communications by land and sea, and is now much used as a summer bathing resort. The streets are clean and well kept. Constanța is on the site of the ancient Tomi, where Ovid lived and died in exile. There is a statue erected to his memory in the chief square the town. Population (1895), 10,607; (1900), 12,725, about one-half of whom are of the Orthodox faith, and the remainder pretty equally divided between Roman Catholics, Moslems, Armenians, and Jews.

of

Constantina, a town and railway station of Spain, in the north of the province of Seville. Population in 1897, 9983. The neighbourhood is chiefly agricultural, with some mines, lead and iron, in the sierra not far off. The local industries are those connected with cork, wood, alcohol, and tanneries, and the market days every week are very animated. It is one of the most important towns of the province, though its public buildings offer nothing worthy of notice.

Constantine, capital of the department of the same name in the east of Algeria, picturesquely perched, 2130 feet above the sea, on a rock rising perpendicularly nearly 1000 feet from the bed of the Rummel, which surrounds it on the north and the east, while on the west the city is connected by an isthmus with the mainland. It is 54 miles by rail south by west of Philippeville, its seaport, and has railway connexion also with Algiers, Bona, Tunis, and Biskra. Important strategically, Constantine by its beauty of situation annually attracts crowds of visitors. There are no important buildings of recent erection. Railways have taken away from the city its monopoly of the traffic in wheat, though its share in that trade still amounts to from 10 to 12 million francs (£400,000-£480,000) a year. Its industry also is considerable, its peltry business employing 1000 persons and supplying the wants of 2

millions. It also manufactures woollen stuffs. There is a project to surround the city with capacious reservoirs, The such as would transform the face of the country. population in 1891 was 46,580, and in 1900 it was The indigenous 51,997, of whom 18,387 were French. element, numbering 28,000, grows faster than the colonial.

Constantinople, the capital of the Turkish Empire, situated on the strait between the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmora. The last quarter of the 19th

century wrought little change in the outward aspect of the city, but throughout that period, during the reign of Sultan Abdul Hamid II., many of the conditions of life in the Turkish capital underwent considerable alteration. This arises from the fact that Sultan Abdul Hamid's mode of life and method of government were wholly different from those of his predecessors. Constantly preoccupied with apprehension for his personal security, he transferred his abode, shortly after coming to the throne, from the palace of Dolma Baghtché, on the bank of the Golden Horn, where he did not feel safe, to Yildiz Kiosk, a pleasure resort of his predecessors on a hill behind Beshiktash, overlooking Pera, Stamboul, the lower Bosphorus, and the Sea of Marmora. The park is surrounded by a great wall, in some parts 50 feet high, and contains two small lakes, the

one natural and the other artificial. Early in 1901 the Sultan, in order to extend the park towards Ortakeui, bought a large adjacent estate, consisting of a mansion and extensive grounds, which are now enclosed within the mural fence of Yildiz. Within this carefully guarded enclosure are numerous buildings, which include an observatory, baths, a museum of arms, a porcelain factory, a furniture manufactory, armouries, stabling for 150 horses, and a harness factory, besides a number of châlets and other fanciful edifices. The most conspicuous amongst these latter is the Merassim Kiosk, built specially for the occupation of the German Emperor on his first visit in 1889, and enlarged for his later visit in 1898. Some of the smaller châlets are used as prisons for political prisoners, or as houses of detention for persons undergoing

inquisitorial treatment. Within the main enclosure, a second wall surrounds the kiosk which the Sultan, with his four principal wives, inhabits, and which he himself designed. About it are grouped smaller kiosks in which the other ladies of the harem reside. The doors of this inner barrier are all locked at sunset, and therein, protected by his bodyguard, the Sultan passes his nights in assured security. In March 1901 the Offices of the Privy Purse, from the windows of which-commanding a view of the road between the palace gateway and the Hamidieh Mosque-approved visitors witnessed the Selamlik procession on Fridays, were demolished by Imperial order, called forth by the Sultan's ever-increasing fear of assassination. The palace domain is guarded by two batteries of artillery, and by the whole of the 2nd division of the

Oxford, 1901..

First Army Corps, composed of 12 battalions, each 600 strong. These are lodged in spacious barracks built on the outer side of the park wall, with a mosque adjacent thereto for the special use of the troops. The Sultan's guard consists of (1) the "Tufenkdjis," or bodyguard, of whom there are 94, Albanians and Circassians; (2) the "Silahsors," drilled soldiers, numbering about 300, Albanians and Bosniaks; (3) the "Hademés" (garde de luxe), employed only on State occasions, and comprising the musicians of the Palace, about 500 in number; (4) the Tchaush," of whom there are between 50 and 60, and who are messengers as well as guards; (5) the Bekdjis or watchmen, numbering 200, who keep watch by relays all over the park by day and night.

The most important of the material changes since 1880

is the construction of the quays on each side of the Golden Horn. Begun in 1891 by a French company with a capital of nearly a million sterling, the quay was completed in 1899 on the Galata side to its full length of 756 metres, with a breadth of 20 metres; and the portion on the Stamboul side, of which the total length is 378 metres, was finished and opened in 1900. The appearance of the port is much improved by the demolition of the dilapidated structures which previously bordered. either shore, and which are replaced by substantial buildings. Tramways have also conduced to the embellishment of the city, for-besides causing improvement in the streets they traverse-they have promoted much new building in salubrious localities, commanding fine prospects, which were previously out of reach. On both sides of the

line, extending north-west of Pera, a large number of detached houses with gardens have been built, forming a new and extensive faubourg, which on one side reaches out in the direction of Eyub and the Sweet Waters of Europe, and on the other along the heights overlooking the lower. Bosphorus and the Marmora. Excepting the streets traversed by the tramways, a few of those in which the departments of State are situated, and some of the suburban roads, the other highways and byways remain unimproved, wearing the old ragged pavement, destitute of footways, and flanked by buildings, mostly wooden, of mean design and more or less decayed.

The ravages of the great fire of 1870, which consumed 5000 buildings in Pera, have been almost, though not yet completely, made good. In the renovated quarters stone

buildings mostly replace the wooden structures which the conflagration swept away. All the dwelling-houses are stone-built, and of late the fashion has set in of building large and lofty blocks divided into suites of apartments. This tendency to erect costly and substantial buildings has been promoted by the increased facilities for insuring against fire. Year by year new insurance agencies have been established, and by 1900 no less than forty-three companies (about half of them British) were represented in Constantinople. Some new public buildings in conspicuous positions fix the eye in viewing the city from the

sea.

Such are the Armoury at Matchka, on the heights of Nishan-Tash, above Dolma Baghtché; the Imperial Ottoman Bank, in Galata; the offices of the Public Debt, in Stamboul; and the School of Medicine, between Scutari and Haidar Pasha.

The appearance of the Bosphorus has greatly faded in recent years, owing to the large number of yalis and konaks which, through the dispersal of many old Turkish families, have been left empty and become dilapidated. The new generation eschews the Bosphorus,-where the price of land is still nominally high, although there is no demand for it, and has bought ground largely along the course of the Anatolian Railway, between the terminus at Haidar Pasha and the station of Pendik on the Marmora. This region, which is mild, picturesque, and well wooded and watered, with a very productive soil, is now overspread with newly-built houses of the better sort in more or less spacious gardens, all occupied by the Turks who built them. Since 1855, when Constantinople was much shaken and somewhat damaged by the earthquake which destroyed Brusa, the Turkish capital had not ex