CHAP. III. town, is the best situation for viewing the narrow part of

the strait, where Xerxes is believed to have passed with his army; and here the two castles have a very striking appearance. Tournefort objects to the story of Leander's enterprise, reasoning on the impossibility of a man's swimming so great a distance as that which separated Abydus from Sestus. The servant of the Imperial Consul at the Dardanelles performed this feat, more than once, in a much wider part of the straits, passing from the Asiatic side to the European castle; whence, after resting himself a few minutes, he swam back again.

When we arrived, we found all the shops shut. The Turkish fleet had passed the day before; and the greatest terror prevailed among the inhabitants, who upon these occasions are exposed to plunder from the promiscuous multitude of barbarians, drained from the provinces of Anatolia to man the fleet. It often happens that these men have never seen the sea, until they are sent on board. Whenever the fleet comes to anchor, they are permitted to go ashore, where they are guilty of the greatest disorders. The Capudan Pacha himself told me that it was in his power to bring them to order, by hanging ten, or a dozen, a day; "but then," said he, "how am I to spare so many men ?"

The wine of the Dardanelles is sent to Constantinople, to Smyrna, to Aleppo, and even to England. It will keep to a great age, and, if the vintage be favourable, is preferable to that of Tenedos. Both sorts are of a red colour. That of the Dardanelles, after it has been kept twenty or thirty years, loses its colour, but not its strength. It is made chiefly by Jews, and called, in Italian (the language spoken throughout the Levant), Vino della Lege; because it is pretended, that the Jews, by their law, are prohibited the adulteration of wine. Its price, when of a good quality, equals eight parás the oke; about two-pence a bottle.

On the European side of the straits, precisely on the spot where it is believed Sestus was situated, and where it is laid down by D'Anville, are three Tumuli. Concerning these a silly fable is related by the Turks, which affirms that they were formed by the straw, the chaff, and the corn, of a Dervish, winnowing his grain. The largest is called Sest' Tepe. Sest, in Turkish, signifies an echo ; but there is no

echo, either at the tomb or near it; whence it is not too CHAP. II. much to conclude that Sestus afforded the original etymology of this name, and perhaps the site of it may be thus ascertained. Near it is a place called Akbash, where there are said to be Ruins, and where a Dervish resides, who has frequently brought medals and other antiquities, found there, to the Dardanelles. Farther up the straits, towards the Sea of Marmora, at about the distance of three English miles from Akbash, and on the same side, are the remains of a Mole, having the remarkable appellation of Gaziler Eschielesy, the Pier or Strand of the Conquerors; whether with allusion to the passage of the Geta, who from Phrygia and Mysia, erossing the Hellespont, first peopled Thrace, Macedonia, and Greece; or to the Persic invasion, many ages after; or to the conquests of the Turks themselves: cannot now be determined. That this people have retained in their language the original interpretation of many antient appellations, may be proved by various examples. in the names of rivers and places.

the Corvette.

Having procured at the Dardanelles proper persons to attend us as guides, during our intended expedition to the Plain of Troy, and a four-oared boat to conduct us thither by daybreak on the following morning, we returned on board the corvette. I informed the captain, as well as the crew, that it would not be possible for us, consistently with the plan Dismissal of we had in contemplation, to sail for the Mediterranean in less than a fortnight. Our ambassador had sent his cook on board, with money for the army, and had previously urged the impropriety of delaying the vessel during her voyage: therefore, as all seemed desirous to overtake the Turkish fleet, which we were informed had not passed Tenedos, we resolved to send an express by land to Constantinople, to ensure a passage, upon our return from Troas, in a small merchant vessel, belonging to an Englishman of the name of Castle. This we had left lading with stores for the troops destined to Egypt. It had been, originally, nothing more than a bomb-boat, captured by Sir Sidney Smith from the French; yet the desire of gratifying our curiosity with the sight of the highly classical territory then within our reach, subdued all our fears of venturing across the Mediterranean in this little bean-cod; and we resolved to dis

CHAP. III. miss the corvette, with all the Capudan Pacha's intended liberality, as soon as day-light should appear.

Visit to the
Pacha.

Voyage down the Helles

pont.

In the morning, therefore, we took leave of the crew, and landed again. Upon the shore we were met by messengers from the Pacha of the Dardanelles, who desired to see us. Being conducted to his palace, and through an antechamber filled with guards, we entered an apartment in which we found him seated on a very superb divân. He placed me opposite to him; and the Russian Consul, being on his knees by my side, acted as interpreter. The attendants in the mean time supplied us with coffee, conserves, and rich pipes of jasmine. The Pacha was dressed in a robe of green embroidered satin. He told us he was going to Esky Stamboul [Alexandria Troas], and would take us with him in his boat, in order to entertain us there. Fearing the interruption this might occasion, we begged to be excused upon this he added, that he had an estate in the recesses of Mount Ida, and begged we would visit him there. This we also declined, and afterwards had reason to egret that we had done so; for his services would have materially assisted our researches in the country. We then had some further conversation, in which he mentioned the names of Englishmen whom he had seen, and expressed great desire to procure some English pistols, for which he said he would give all the antiquities in Troas. After this we retired. The Pacha went on board his boat, and, as we followed him in our's, the guns fired a salute from the castle. The day was most serene; not a breath of wind was stirring, nor was there a cloud to be seen in the sky. No spectacle could be more grand than the opening to the Ægean Sea. The mountainous Island of Imbros, backed by the loftier snow-clad summits of Samothrace, extended before the Hellespont, towards the north-west. Next, as we advanced, appeared Tenedos upon the west, and those small Isles which form a group opposed to the Sigean Promontory. Nothing, excepting the oars of our boat, ruffled the still surface of the water; no other sound was heard. The distant Islands of the Ægean appeared as if placed upon the surface of a vast mirror. In this manner we passed the Rhotean Promontory upon our left, and beheld, upon the sloping side of it, the Tumulus, considered, and with

Mender.

reason, as will presently appear, the Tomb of Ajax. Com- CHAP. 111. ing opposite a sandy bay, which Pliny, speaking of that tomb, precisely alludes to as the naval station of the Appearance caused by the Greeks (38), we beheld, at a distance upon the Sigean waters of the Promontory, those other Tumuli, which have been called the Tombs of Achilles and Patroclus. Upon a sand bank, advanced into the Hellespont, and formed by the deposit of the principal river here disembogued, which I shall for the present designate by its modern appellation of Mender, appeared the town of Koum-kalé.

A very singular appearance takes place at the mouth of this river as if it refused to mix with the broad and rapid current of the Hellespont, it exhibits an extensive circular line,bounding its pale and yellow water: this line is so strongly traced, and the contrast of colour between the salt and the fresh water so striking, that at first I believed the difference to originate in the shallowness of the current, at the river's mouth, imperfectly concealing its sandy bottom; but, upon sounding, this was not the case. An appearance so remarkable, characterizing these waters, would not escape, an allusion at least, in the writings of a Poet who was lavish in the epithets he bestowed upon the Scamander and the Hel. lespont. It has been reserved for the learning and ingenuity of Mr. Walpole, to shew that the whole controversy, as far as it has been effected by the expression ΠΛΑΤΥΣ ΕΛΛΗΣΠΟΝΤΟΣ, is founded in misconstruction; and that instead of “ broad Hellespont," the true reading is " salt Hellespont" (39).

66

Coming opposite to the bay, which has been considered as the naval station used by the Greeks during the war of Troy, and which is situated on the eastern side of the embouchure of the Mender, the eye of the spectator is attracted by an object predominating over every other, from the singularity of its form, as well as the peculiarity of its situation, so admirably contrived to overlook that station, and all the low coast near the mouth of the river. It is a conical mound rising upon a line of elevated territory, which appears behind the bay and the mouth of the river. It has Udjek Tape therefore been pointed out as the tomb of Esyetes, and is now called Udjek Tape. If I had never heard or read a single syllable concerning the war of Troy, or the works of Homer, it would have been impossible not to notice the

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CHAP. III. remarkable appearance presented by this Tumulus; so peculiarly placed as a post of observation, commanding all approach to the harbour and the river (40). I afterwards observed that it afforded a survey of all the Trojan Plain; and that, from whatsoever spot it was regarded, this cone, as a beacon, was the most conspicuous object in the view.

Koum-kale.

After these few observations, concluding this short chapter, the Reader is perhaps better prepared for the inquiry which may now be introduced. Notwithstanding the numerous remarks which have appeared upon the subject, it is my wish to assure him, that our local knowledge of the country is still very imperfect; that the survey carried on by travellers has always, unfortunately, been confined to the western side of the river; that my researches will add but little to his stock of information; but that, while much remains to be done, it is something for him to be informed, there still exists sufficient evidence of Homer's frequent allusion to this particular territory, to remove, from the mind of any admirer of truth, all doubt upon the subject.

We landed at Koum-kalé, literally signifying Sandcastle, and hired horses for our expedition. The neck of land on which this place has been built is usually considered of recent formation, and it is true that no soil has been yet accumulated. The castle stands, as its name implies, upon a foundation of sand; but it may be noticed, that the rapidity with which the waters of the Hellespont pass these straits, must prevent any considerable deposit from the river near its mouth.