The fountain was in the centre of this magnificent court. Twelve lions support on their backs an alabaster basin, richly decorated, elevated above which was a smaller basin. A great volume of water rose through pipes into the upper basin, which fell into that below, and was thence conducted through the mouth of the lions, to a black marble reservoir, from which, as a fountain head, the water was distributed in marble channels to different apartments.

This palace, and its luxurious and expensive adornments, date back to the twelfth century.

Constantinople had its aqueducts, also, of Roman construction, by the Emperor Valens, in the 4th, and Justinian, in the 6th century, of which the remains in the valley of Bourgas, still exist.

One of our own countrymen, Dr. Dekay, in his sketches of Turkey in 1831 2, thus describes the remains of these aqueducts :

Bourgoanne, Spain, vol. i., p. 19.

PRELIMINARY ESSAY. 41

Under the Greek emperors, Constantinople was supplied with water by the means of aqueducts, and large reservoirs were established in different parts of the city. These latter, however, have now gone into disuse, as expensive and inadequate for the purposes intended. Under the present system, all the water-works about Constantinople are under the management of an officer, termed the 500 naziri, or inspector of waters. It is his business to keep them in good repair, and he is responsible for any accidents which may obstruct or diminish the supply. As no time is to be lost to repair injuries, this officer is clothed with great power, and he compels every one to assist in restoring the line of communication. This resembles the corvee of old France in some measure, but is much more oppressive ; for the 500 naziri fines most rigorously all who dwell in the vicinity of