The Turk is too indolent by nature to care for any sports requiring physical exertion, and he would rather be a spectator than take an active part in them. There is, besides, a feeling among those that have reached the age of manhood, especially if they are holding some Government office, that their dignity would be lowered if they were seen engaged at play.

A very interesting and pretty sport is the djirat. Two companies of horsemen, armed with muffled lances, or in some places the stalks of palm-leaves, give each other chase. The pursuers hurl their missiles when at full speed, and those assailed endeavour to avoid the stroke or to capture the weapon.

Watching ram-fights is a favourite recreation, and crowds gather round the village green to witness these huge creatures, with their long crumpled horns, dashing at each other at full speed. Their heads strike with a resounding thud, and you expect that a skull or two will be broken, but no, it is only fun, and the rams caper gracefully back, to return again to the charge.

Cock-fights are likewise in repute, and in Cyprus a spur is grafted on to the crest of the bird, giving it the appearance of a sort of winged unicorn.

Professional wrestling is much enjoyed. The two contending parties or pehlivans, as they are called, are frequently a negro and a white man; their attire is nothing but a leather pair of drawers. Their bodies are smeared over and made slippery with abundance of olive-oil. The struggle commences by their measuring distances and touching each other's shoulders; then they manoeuvre about and dodge each other, and finally come to grips, until the stronger forces his opponent to the ground. Turkish wrestlers are so celebrated that they often find their way to this country.

Another entertainment is the "Shadow Pantomime." This performance consists in throwing shadows of little cardboard figures against a curtain, on the other side of which the spectators are seated. The exhibitors, carefully hidden from sight, work their marionettes with strings and wires, and are clever in making them move and bow, strike each other, and perform all sorts of feats and somersaults, while a ventriloquist makes them carry on the most animated conversation.

Horse-racing is seldom indulged in in Turkey, except among European residents. An effort made several years ago to introduce racing failed, because, it is alleged, foreign jockeys dared to allow their horses to beat the Sultan's stud. Occasionally, however, Turks get up children's races; they strap the youngsters to the saddle, give them the reins, and speed the horses off with a tremendous swipe.

Fox-hunting is not only unheard of, but is prohibited as cruel, and a Spanish bull-fight was attempted last year for the first time, only on the understanding that no blood would be shed.

Football has recently come somewhat into fashion, but it is only occasionally that the real game is played. Departure from rule is preferred to its observance, and often the game consists of mere kicking of the ball from one to another. This is done with great swagger and conceit, but without any of the true sporting dash.

Tennis is played to some extent, and bicycling is fairly popular, but principally because it allows the rider to show off.

There are some keen sportsmen among the Turks; and hunting the wild boar offers lively sport coupled with a zest of danger, as these savage animals, if not killed outright, often turn and rip their assailants with their powerful tusks.

The "gentle art" of fishing is largely indulged in as a recreation, and the Bosphorus yields excellent sport. The favourite fishing there is that of the lufer, which weighs from 1 to 3 pounds, and is caught by night, with bright lamps throwing down a beam of light from the boat into the water. A peculiar hook, soldered to a sinker, which is brightened with mercury, is used. Gourmet fishers often take a brazier, with live coals, in the boat, and grill and eat the fish as soon as it is secured.

A HOWLING DERVISH.

Chess—that most antiquated of games—is known under the name of satrach, and differs somewhat from our own, but is as highly scientific. However sceptical we may be about the story in the "Arabian Nights" of the monkey which played chess with a Grand Vizier, I can vouch for the accuracy of one regarding an Armenian banker who played it with Sultan Aziz. The stakes were properties belonging to the Crown, and so successful was the banker that, finally, his landed possessions extended from the Bosphorus to the Black Sea.

Backgammon is a favourite game; draughts differs slightly from our own, and there is a peculiar form of it played with pebbles, on a checkered board traced on a stone.

Cards are played to some extent, but as gambling and games of chance are forbidden by the Koran, cards are looked upon with suspicion, and their use discouraged. So also is betting, which ensnares young and old in our own country.

Among games for boys I may mention top-spinning. Turkish tops are made from hard wood, turned in a lathe, and painted with bands of various colours. They are spun with the thumb and the finger, or with a string, and then kept in motion with a whip and cord. A point in the game is to direct the top so that it should bump against the opponent's, and topple it over.

Kite-flying is popular, and in early spring hundreds of kites may be seen flying from the terraces over the house-tops. They are shaped like our own, and are made with bright-coloured paper, with long tails of paper strips. Little splints of wood or cane are attached to the tail for the purpose of entangling and capturing other kites. This is done by manoeuvring them about, letting them drop momentarily or rise suddenly, so as to swoop over their adversary and capture it. When these air-ships have boarded, both the fliers pull in the string as rapidly as possible, and it sometimes happens that the vanquished kite is after all the victor.

Hop-scotch is as ancient as the hills, and is played in Turkey in much the same way as with us. So also are marbles and tip-cat, with the same risks, in the case of tip-cat, to the eyes of beholders as in this country.

Walnuts enter largely into the composition of boys' games. One of these consists in rolling them down a sloping board, each boy playing in turn. The person who hits any of the nuts on the floor appropriates all he can gather. The game goes on, each player retiring when his stock of walnuts is exhausted. Another game is that of placing the walnuts in a ring, and throwing (not rolling) other nuts at them from a distance. All displaced walnuts belong to the displacer.

Knifey, or bitchak, as it is called in Turkey, is popular among girls as well as boys. They sit in a circle on the village green, and, placing an open pocket-knife on the back of their hand, throw it up in the air so that it shall on descending stick in the ground. Knuckle-bones is allied to the above, and is played with five bones, as with us, and with much the same variations.

Pendavola, or five pebbles, is the Greek name of knuckle-bones, when played with stones instead of bones. Both the above games date back to remote antiquity, and exist in some form with every nation.

A practice indulged in by boys and young men is that of bird-catching by means of nets, snares, or bird-lime twigs.

In autumn, when Nature shows the first hectic flushes of decay, and birds know that winter will soon be upon them, innumerable flocks traverse the regions around Constantinople on their way south. Quails arrive by scores of thousands, and, exhausted with their flight over the Black Sea, they alight near the mouth of the Bosphorus, and are easily caught in nets, and served on the tables of even the poorest inhabitants.

Smaller birds also, such as bullfinches, goldfinches, and other finches, linnets and the like, are on the wing, and to secure them bird-lime twigs are placed on an isolated tree, or one improvised for the occasion, and a booth is constructed near it, in which boys hide and watch unobserved. Some half-dozen birds of various kinds are tied by the leg to a long string, one end of which is held by the occupants of the booth, and when a flock of birds is seen in the air these decoys are made to rise. Their chirping attracts the attention of the birds overhead, and, alighting on the tree, the great majority are glued to the twigs. The best are put in cages and sold as song-birds; the remainder are killed, and strung with twine through their bills, they are sold for food. Roasted and mixed with pillaf, the national rice dish, they are most savoury.

In contrast to this inhospitable reception of Nature's winged songsters while travelling through the land, it it pleasant to visit the bird-market, and there see venerable Turks opening their purses and buying as many of these captives as they can afford. They then throw open the prison-doors, and as the birds fly skyward with chirps of delight, the faces of the liberators grow radiant with satisfaction.

My list of games and sports is by no means exhausted, but I must close it by referring to stone-throwing, which, although not exactly a game, is in universal practice among boys, and even girls. To such an extent is it carried that dogs attacking you will often disregard a stick, but, remembering their sad experiences with stones, will take to their heels when you stoop to pick up one.

The writer himself still carries a lively impression of a fight carried on with these missiles. The scene of this skirmish, which took place when he was a boy, was near the seashore of a village on the Bosphorus, where he and one or two English boys met a squad of Turkish children. The latter took refuge behind a row of Turkish houses, and stones were thrown by both parties over the roofs. They fell fast and thick from the unseen foe, until at last one, doubtless thrown "at a venture," hit the writer on the head, and made the impression already referred to.