3-077-682 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Broussa, in Asia Minor, the ancient Turkish capital: the Hissar Gate, 1890. 'Through the Hissar Gate, a portal cut through the thick and rugged wall, can be obtained a striking view of part of the city, with the minarets and cupolas of the mosque of Oulou Djami. There is a suburb outside Broussa which is called Set Bachi, where we have a view of another famous mosque, the Yeshil Djami, or "Green Mosque," so called because its cupola and minaret are of enamelled green. The city is supposed to number about 40,000 inhabitants; but census-taking is a desperate operation in the Turkish dominions, and, when attempted, is unreliable owing to the unwillingness of Governors to reveal the true number of taxable residents. It is stated that modern Broussa can boast of fifty-four spinning factories, employing hundreds of women, producing world-renowned silks and tissues, as well as the Turkish towelling as used for the bath. The primitive hand-looms of an earlier day are still busily worked in private houses, and, though the machinery is rude, the work is very fine'. From "Illustrated London News", 1890.