this series of basaltic rocks has the same dipping inclination which all the other strata possess, it seems upon the most superficial examination, that they were deposited at the same time, and after the same manner, as the other secondary strata; and, by attending to their internal structure and composition, this truth appears further established. Their form in general is hexagonal; but rarely determined with precision. The substance of which they consist is decomposed and crumbling porphyry, so imperfectly adhering, that upon the slightest shock it falls to pieces. In climbing the sides of the cliff, we found it dangerous even to place our feet upon them, as whole masses gave way with a touch, and, falling down, were instantly reduced to the state of gravel. Nuclei of an aluminous substance might be discerned in the very center of their shafts; and white veins of an exceedingly soft crumbling semi-transparent matter, not half an inch thick, traversed the whole range in a direction parallel to the base of the columns. At the same time, the vertical fissures between all the pillars were filled by a kind of white marble, forming a line of separation between them, which prevented their lateral planes from touching. The vertical veins, thus coating the sides of the columns, were in some instances three inches in thickness. From all these facts it seems evident, that the basaltic pillars of Ineada were the result of an aqueous deposition; and that their prismatic configuration, like that of starch, or the natural columns of trap, seen at Halleberg and Hunneberg in Sweden, and many

CHAP. XXV.

Theory of their Origin.

other

CHAP. XXV.

other parts of Europe, is entirely owing to a process of CRYSTALLIZATION, equally displayed in the minutest and most majestic forms; which, while it prescribes the shape of an emerald, also directs the particles of other mineral substances to assume that regularity of structure, which has been the result, wheresoever they have liberty to combine according to the laws of cohesion.

FROM THE HARBOUR OF INEADA IN THE BLACK SEA,
TO CONSTANTINOPLE.

Voyage to Constantinople-Entrance of the Canal-Return to the
Cyanean Isles-Geological Phænomena-Votive Altar-Singular
Breccia-Origin of the Thracian Bosporus-Antiquities—Of the
Temple of Jupiter Urius, and the Place called Hieron-Probable
Situation of Darius when he surveyed the Euxine-Approach to
Constantinople-Disgusting Appearance of the Streets-Arrival
at Galata-Pera-State of Turkish Commerce.

On Friday, November the twenty-first, at ten o'clock in CHAP. XXVI.

the

CHAP. XXVI.

Voyage to Constantinople.

the evening, we heard a bustle in the little fleet of Turkish boats, and found they were all getting to sea

as fast

as possible. The wind had veered, after a foggy day, to the w.s. w., and the atmosphere became perfectly clear. Our Captain, following their example, as perhaps deeming them more experienced mariners of the Black Sea, ordered his crew to weigh the anchor. When it came on board we found it had lost one of its claws, which the sailors deemed a bad omen; and some of them said, if we left the port with such an anchor, we should never have occasion to use another. We were however under weigh; and, spreading all the great sails to the wind, soon quitted the harbour of Ineada, steering to the south-east. At three in the morning of the 22d, we were becalmed, and a hazy atmosphere surrounded us on all sides. At four, it came on to blow a gale from the North; and we made our course E. and s. until eight, when we discovered the coast near the mouth of the Canal of Constantinople, and then steered s. E. Scarce had we made the land, when a heavy rain fell, which continued till mid-day; and we were involved in such darkness, that those in the poop could hardly see the forecastle. About noon, the wind having abated, and a prodigious sea rolling, the weather again cleared, and we discovered the light-tower on the European side of the Canal, at no great distance. The Boatswain first of all gave us the agreeable intelligence of its appearance from the mast-head; and soon after, we all saw it from the deck, stationed at the base of an immense range of mountains. At the same time the whole coast, both on the European and the Asiatic side, opened with a degree of grandeur not to be described, and appeared like a stupendous wall opposed to

the

the great bed of waters, in which the mouth of the Canal
could only be compared to a small crack, or fissure, caused
by an earthquake. Soon afterwards a fog covered us again,
and we once more lost sight of land. We were then
enveloped in such thick darkness that we began to despair,
and dread another scene of trial in that terrible sea, which the
Antients so properly termed AEENOE, Inhospitable'. The
superstition of the crew served however to amuse us even
in this state of suspense. Our old pilot, a Greek, hobbled
about the ship, collecting small pieces of money from the
crew, which he tied up in a rag, and bound upon the pole
of the rudder. "It was to buy oil," he said, "for the lamp
burning before an image at the light-house; a curious
trace of more antient superstition, when mariners, entering
the Bosporus from the Euxine, paid their vows
the precise spot where the Phanâry, or light-tower, now
stands'. About half after one P. M. our hopes revived;
a general cry on board announced that we were close in with
the land. Two little Turkish boats, like Nautili, had been
flying before us the whole day, and served as pilots to
encourage our perseverance in the course we held. Without
them, the Captain said he could not have ventured to carry
such a press of sail upon a lee-shore, covered as it was by
darkness. The rapidity with which they sailed was amazing.
Nothing could persuade the Captain, but that they were
"due angeli;" and, in proof, he asserted that they vanished

on

as

CHAP. XXVI.

(1)

"Frigida me cohibent Euxini littora Ponti;

Dictus ab antiquis AXENUS ille fuit." Ovid. lib. iv. Trist. Eleg. IV. (2) Xenophon. Hist. Græc. lib. vii. pp. 380. 412.