“The glow of the fire gilded the black clouds hovering over Tsar Grad, and, reflected in the quiet streams of the Bosphorus, the light water was likened to fiery lava; the flames cracklingly devoured the homes of humble citizens, and flowing in waves over the roofs, threatened to turn the proud capital of the East into ashes. Black smoke, curling in clouds, settled, spread across the ground, or suddenly rose into the air and rose in pillars to the clouds. The wind, with sudden gusts, tore apart the black curtain of smoke and clouds, and exposed the moon, which, like a bloody stain, shone in the sky, to the horror of the superstitious Muslims...”