18 ACORN I was somewhat surprised on our arrival in the capital of interesting little Servia, and I will confess I do not envy King Peter his position. Taking the town as a standard, the country does not look progressive, the people are poor and unintelligent, having a love for dowdy wearing apparel and fierce looking weapons. There are, however, people of a better class, who are modern in dress and manners, but the lower class is greatly in evidence. An incident occurred here, which may interest you. We had left Budapest early in the morning and had eaten little or no breakfast, therefore the first thing we did at Belgrade was to hunt up a restaurant. As the waiter could talk, we ordered roast mutton and potatoes after he had explained the "Speisekarte." We waited seemingly an hour before he again appeared with three plates of greasy roast pork, which he gave to the other boys. We had ordered mutton, but we were very hungry, so what was the difference? I told them to eat and not wait for me, which they did without further invitation; but I waited. In about fifteen minutes he appeared again with the whole head of a sheep, baked with eyes, tongue, teeth, brains and all. I had received mutton all right. Needless to say it remained untouched and I remained hungry until we found a cafe where I made dinner from chocolate and cakes. We had a long uninteresting ride from Belgrade to Constantinople, spending the time reading Meyer's Ancient History, and Baedecker's guide books, preparing ourselves for the trip in Turkey, Greece, Egypt and Palestine. Arriving at Constantinople, we were met by a bewildering mass of hotel porters, shouting in every spoken language, and some not spoken, that they represented the best hotels. We took a carriage and drove through the narrow streets. To greet our eyes were the countless, unkept, yellow dogs, for which Constantinople is noted. During our stay we observed the dogs "The Bazaars open directly upon the Street" ACORN 19 and found them to be responsive to kindness and unretaliating, but very lazy. One has to be very careful not to trip over them, for they never get out of ones way, except when kicked or pushed. They are nearly all ownerless, but pick their living from what is thrown from the doorways. They also appear to have apportioned out the streets into districts of their own, for any dog leaving his district is instantly set upon and driven back by the dogs of the other districts. The streets are ill kept, narrow and foul smelling. The shops, or better bazaars, open directly upon the streets and wares are displayed promiscuously. One has to bargain for all one buys. If ten "piasters" be asked offer four and with a little dickering one will get it for at least five or six. We became very tired of this custom, for one seldom knows whether or not the full value has been received. The mosques and some ruins were interesting, especially the mosque of St. Sophia, which was built in 573 A. D. by orders of Justinian as a Christian church, but later in 1453 was changed to a Moslem Mosque. Christians are not allowed to enter all mosques, but a little piece of money shown the attendants opens a way for any one. "The Ruins of the old Walls, which withstood so many sieges." The most refreshing and interesting time at this period of our trip was a steamer ride on the Bosphorus. We ascended on the European side and descended on the Asiatic. On either side, the hills leading down to the shores are literally covered with a mass of green shrubbery and trees, in contrast with the new embassies or the different foreign nations form a picture not easily forgotten. One spot is pointed out where Daruis in 515 B. C. built his bridge of boats over which poured seven hundred thousand soldiers into Europe. Those inter-