The circumference of the city, as determined by the walls, probably exceeds 5 miles. […] Nearly the whole of this area is occupied by buildings, only a small interval of rocky ground being left between the city and the fortress. The interior of Salonica presents the same irregularity, and many of the same deformities common in Turkish towns. The rapid ascent of the hill diminished this evil in the upper part of the town; and on the whole, as respects cleanliness and internal comfort, Salonica may contrast favorably with most other places in Turkey of large size and population. […] Except in those quarters where the principal Turks reside, there is a general appearance of life and movement which forms a striking contrast to the monotony of a Turkish town. The quays are covered with goods; numerous groups of people are occupied about the ships or the warehouses, and the Bazars are well stocked, and perpetually crowded with buyers and sellers. They are in fact Greeks or Jews who are thus occupied, people ever ready to seize any opening which may be offered to commercial industry and ever ingenious in meeting and frustrating the political oppressions. […] At the time when we visited Salonica, the great and sudden influx of trade to that port had afforded such an opening of the most favourable kind; and the character of Yusuf Bey’ s government was such, as not, in any material degree, to check the progress of industry.
