CONSTANTINOPLE.

EDITORIAL.

THIS city, so elegantly represented in our engraving, is the metropolis of the Turkish Empire. It is situated on a neck of land between the Black Sea and the Archipelago, and is built upon several hills, which rise in height as they recede from the shore, a beautiful green elevation forming the back ground. The circuit of the city is twelve miles: is surrounded with a wall of free-stone, fifteen feet high, flanked by 478 towers, and has twenty gates. The external appearance of the city is exceedingly fine. Palaces, mosques, seraglios, colleges, hospitals, baths, domes, minarets and spires, interspersed with cypress trees, tower one above another. A multitude of light boats glide through the waters of the harbor. The magic of the prospect, however, disappears on entering the city, the streets of which are narrow, crooked and dirty, while the houses are built of brick, wood, or mud, and covered with cement.

Constantinople contains a population of six hundred thousand, principally Mohamedans, who worship in three hundred mosques, some of which are built of costly materials and in superb style. The prodigious extent of their colonnades, the grandeur and height of their cupolas, astonish the unaccustomed beholder. In mosques, there are neither altars, images nor paintings, but a great number of suspended lamps, between which hang ostrich eggs, crystal rings and other curiosities, making a brilliant display amid the glitter of reflected lights. The grand mosque of St. Sophia, which occupies a central position in the engraving, is a most renowned edifice, the dimensions of which are such as to accommodate a hundred thousand worshippers.

There are two other mosques, which Mohamedans regard with still higher veneration than this. The one located in Mecca, the birth-place of Mohamed, has but a single door of entrance, which is covered with silver plate, and embellished with golden ornaments.

The Koran requires every devout Mussulman to make a pilgrimage to this consecrated spot. It is estimated that seventy thousand, at a stated period every year, congregate there. Multitudes of the poor perish by the way. An individual by the name of Roschid, in company with his wife, performed the pilgrimage on foot from Bagdad, walking on splendid carpets the whole distance. A grandee from Cairo, whose travelling expenses alone amounted to fifty thousand dollars, performed the journey with a hundred and ten camels, and a very large retinue. The closing ceremony of this pilgrimage, when the multitudes are about to disperse, consists in the sacrifice of thousands of animals.

The other mosque, to which allusion has been made, is that at Medina, where reposes the dust of the founder of Mohamedanism. The coffin is covered with a cloth of gold under a canopy of silver tissue, both of which are renewed annually. Over the foot of the coffin is a golden crescent of priceless value, curiously wrought, and adorned with precious stones. This edifice is furnished with three hundred silver lamps, which are always kept burning.

The Mohamedan religion, which is now the faith of a population of one hundred and twenty millions, is the prevailing religion in Constantinople. Protestant missions have, however, exerted a great and salutary influence in this community, and the recent liberality of the Turkish government in tolerating other forms of religion, has excited the admiration of Christendom. We hail with joy tokens of the approach of that day, when the crescent shall be obscured and lost amid the light of the sun of righteousness.

WHAT A PASTOR SHOULD POSSESS.
A FATHER's tenderness- -a shepherd's care;
A leader's courage, which the cross can bear;
A ruler's awe, a watchman's watchful eye;
A pilot's skill the helm in storms to ply;
A fisher's patience, and a laborer's toil;

A guide's dexterity to disembroil;

A prophet's inspiration from above;

A teacher's knowledge, and a Saviour's love. - Bishop Ken.

These mountains are com

posed of huge rocks of granite and gneiss; round their base is a forest of heavy timber, which is succeeded by a belt of stunted fir trees from ten to fifteen feet high; above this is a growth of low bushes, and farther up, the surface is covered only with a shroud of dark colored moss. The snow lies on their summits about ten months in the year, giving them the appearance from which they take their name. The Notch is a remarkable chasm, two miles in length, and at the narrowest place only twenty-two feet wide, forming the only pass through the great mountain bulwark.

In 1826 a violent fall of rain caused a slide of earth, rocks and trees, which choked the streams, swept every thing before it, and filled the valley with ruin. A family of eleven persons living in the Notch House, hearing the rumbling of the avalanche, fled for safety, and were overwhelmed beneath the torrent. Had they remained in the house they would have been safe, as the avalanche was separated to the right and left, just before reaching the house, by a large rock.

Or the relationships of life, none yields a more permanent and powerful influence than the Maternal. No person will doubt its immeasurable strength. And it may not be amiss. to inquire why the mother exerts an influence so controlling over the character, conduct and destiny of her child.

One source of influence is maternal love. And well may the mother love her own child! It is bone of her bone and flesh of her flesh; it draws nourishment from her veins; it is cast helpless and dependent upon her watchfulness and care; she must dress and tend it, and minister continually to its wants. If neglected, even for a very short period, it makes its voice to be heard, and its plaintive cry calls her to the discharge of some office of maternal love. Now it is a remarkable fact, that, under some circumstances, we love those most ardently who cause us the most trouble, and require the most of our thoughts and attention. The little blind child, cut off from many of the enjoyments of playmates, finds the loss of sight partially compensated for in the increased amount of sympathy. It secures the largest share of all the comforts of the family; it becomes the pet child, and receives, like Joseph, the coat of many colors. How