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even Gargarus, upon the left hand. I had before obtained this information from the people of the country; so that, if my ascent had been impracticable, the fact would have been tolerably well ascertained. The satisfaction, however, of confirming the truth by actual observation, was now obtained; and the difficulties raised of reconciling the history of Xerxes' march from Adramyttium to Abydus,* with the real geography of the country, were done away. The fact is, that an ordinary route of caravans, from Ydramitt (Adramyttium) to the Dardanelles, now confirms the accuracy of the historian. In the observance of this route, Gargarus, and all the chain of Ida toward Lectum, are upon the left. I have subjoined a statement of this route, and the several distances, in a note below. There is yet another singular appearance from the summit of this mountain; and as this is pointedly alluded to by Homer, it seems to offer strong reason for believing that the poet had himself beheld it from the same place. Looking toward Lectum, the tops of all the Idæan chain diminish in latitude by a regular gradation, so as to resemble a series of steps, conducting to Gargarus, as the highest point of the whole. Nothing can, therefore, more forcibly illustrate the powers of Homer as a painter, in the display he has givenof the country, and the fidelity with which he delineates every feature in its geography, than the description of the ascent of Juno from Lectum to Gargarus ;‡ by a series of natural eminences, unnattainable indeed by mortal tread but presenting, to the great conceptions of poetical fancy, a scale adequate to the power and dignity of superior beings.

On all the points of this mountain, former adventurers have raised heaps of stones, as marks of their enterprise. These were now nearly buried in snow. I availed myself of one of them to ascertain the temperature of the atmosphere, by placing my thermometer in the shade. It was now mid-day, and the

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Iliad E. 283.

During the heat of summer, the glacier on this mountain is dissolved, and tire ascent rendered thereby much more easy. The earl of Aberdeen informed me that he afterward succeeded in visiting the summit without difficulty, by choosing a more advanced season of the year. The guides, however, thought proper to relate that they never had been able to reach the highest point; perhaps to avoid the trouble to which the attempt would expose them.

sky without a cloud. The mercury soon fell to the freezing point, but did not sink lower during the time I remained. As I descended, not a trace of my feet could be discerned, and f unfortunately passed without noticing the particular part of the steep leading to the third point of the mountain, where I had gained the height. In this manner I lost my way, and wandered about for three hours, over dreadful chasms and icy precipices, in a state of painful anxiety; until at last, overcome with excessive fatigue, thirst, and cold, I sunk down upon a bleak ridge, and moistened my mouth by eating snow. To my great comfort, I experienced both refreshment and warmth; my benumbed fingers recovered their sensation, and I again endeavoured to walk. Looking down toward the southwest, I perceived, at an immense depth below, the very guide who had deserted me, endeavouring to climb toward the third point of the mountain, but always returning back, and at last giving up the attempt. Exerting every effort, I succeeded in making this man hear me; he then remained as a mark, directing me to the ridge on which I ascended. When I came to this horrid place, all my resolution forsook me. I could not persuade myself I had climbed a steep so terrible; but presently perceived the holes before made for my feet. Upon this, striking my heels into the hardened snow, so as to form a stay for my support, I sat down, and by slow degrees ventured off the declivity; sliding sometimes for a yard or two, and then stopping, so as not to acquire a greater velocity than I could check, by forcing in the staff of my pipe and one of my heels at the same time. A slip to the right or left would infallibly have carried me over a precipice on either side, the ridge whereon I descended resembling in its form the roof of a house. The guide was now heard bawling to me to steer this way, or that, as he fancied I inclined too much to one side or to the other, and acting as a beacon for my course, until I reached the spot where he stood; when, having caught me in his arms, he cried out with great joy, “Allâ! Allâ!" There was still much to be done; and this we happily got over. About a mile lower down'we found our companions. Having in vain tried to light a fire, they were all huddled together near the higher boundary of the second region of the mountain, waiting in the utmost inquietude. Here our flaggon of brandy was soon emptied; and the guide, who had accompanied me, proved that old customs still pre

The Turkish pipe is sometimes fashioned to serve also as a walking staff. It is then tipped with horn.

vailed in the country, by vowing to sacrifice a fat ram, for the events of the day, as soon as he reached the village. It was two hours after dark before we arrived at Evgillar.

CHAP. VI.

DISTRICT OF TROAS.

Second excursion upon Gargarus-Greck Chapels-Source of the Scamander-Journey to Alexandria Troas-BergasChamale-Decomposition of Granite-Stupendous ColumnHot Baths Form of the Sepulchre called Soros-Alexandria Troas-Splendid remains of public BALNEA-Other Vestiges of the City-Votive Tablet to Drusus Cæsar— Udjek-Tomb of Esyctes-Erkessy-Interesting Inscription-Sigeum-Antiquities-Mount Athos-Tombs mentioned by Strabo-Return to the Dardanelles-Summary of Observations made in Trous.

On the elventh of March, having collected our guides and horses as upon the preceding day, we set out again from Evgillar, and proceded up the mountain, to visit the cataract, which constitutes the source of the Mender, on the northwest side of Gargarus. Ascending by the side of its clear and impetuous torrent, we reached, in an hour and a half, the lower boundary of the woody region of the mountain. Here we saw a more entire chapel than either of those described in our excursion the preceding day, situated upon an eminence above the river. Its form was quadrangular, and oblong. The four walls were yet standing, and part of the roof: this was vaulted, and lined with painted stucco. The altar also remained, in an arched recess of the eastern extremity: upon the north side of it was a small and low niche, containing a marble table. In the arched recess was also a very ancient painting of the Virgin; and below, upon her left hand, the whole length portrait of a saint, holding an open volume. The heads of these figures were encircled by a line of glory. Upon the right hand side of the Virgin there had been a similar painting of some other saint, but part of the stucco, whereon it was painted, no

longer remained. The word ПAPOENON, written among other indistinct characters, appeared upon the wall. The dimensious of this building were only sixteen feet by eight. Its height was not quite twelve feet, from the floor to the beginning of the vaulted roof. Two small windows commanded a view of the river, and a third was placed near the altar.Its walls, only two feet four inches in thickness, afforded, nevertheless, space for the roots of two very large fir trees: these were actually growing upon them. All along the banks of this river, as we advanced toward its source, we noticed ap pearances of similar ruins; and in some places, among rocks, or by the sides of precipices, were seen remains of several habitations together; as if the monks, who retreated hither, had possessed considerable settlements in the solitudes of the mountain. Our ascent, as we drew near to the source of the river, became steep and stony. Lofty stummits towered above us, in the greatest style of Alpine grandeur; the torrent, in its rugged bed below, all the while foaming upon our left. Presently we entered one of the sublimest natural amphitheatres the eye ever beheld; and here the guides desired us to alight. The noise of waters silenced every other sound. Huge craggy rocks rose perpendicularly, to an immense height; whose sides and fissures, to the very clouds, concealing their tops, were covered with pines; growing in every possible direction, among a variety of evergreen shrubs, wild sage, hanging ivy, moss, and creeping herbage. Enormous plane trees waved their vast branches above the torrent. As we approached its deep-gulph, we beheld several cascades, all of foam, pouring impetuously from chasms in the naked face of a perpendicular rock. It is said the same magnificent cataract continues during all seasons of the year, wholly unaffected by the casualties of rain, or melting snow. That a river so ennobled by ancient history should at the same time prove equally eminent in circumstances of natural dignity, is a fact worthy of being related. Its origin is not like the source of ordinary streams, obscure and uncertain; of doubtful locality and indeterminate character; ascertained with difficulty, among various petty subdivisions, in swampy places, or amidst insignificant rivulets, falling from different parts of the same mountain, and equally tributary: it bursts at once from the dark womb of its parent, in all the greatpess of the divine origin assigned to it by Homer.* The early

Niad. P. I.

christians, who retired or fled from the haunts of society to the wilderness of Gargarus, seem to have been fully sensible of the effect produced by grand objects, in selecting, as the place of their abode, the scenery near the source of the Scamander; where the voice of Nature speaks in her most awful tone: where, amidst roaring waters, waving forests, and broken precipices, the mind of man becomes impressed, as by the influence of a present deity.*

The course of the river, after it thus emerges, with very little variation, is nearly from east to west. Its source is distant from Evgillar about nine miles; or, according to the mode of computation in the country, three hours: half this time is spent in a gradual ascent from the village. The rock whence it issues consists of micaceous schistus, containing veins of soft marble. While the artist was employed in making drawings, ill calculated to afford adequate ideas of the grandeur of the scenery, I climbed the rocks, with my companions, to examine more closely the nature of the chasms whence the torrent issues. Having reached these, we found, in their front, a beautiful natural bason, six or eight feet deep, serving as a reservoir for the water in the first moments of its emission. It was so clear, that the minutest object might be discerned at the bottom. The copious overflowing of this reservoir causes the appearance, to a spectator below, of different cascades, falling to the depth of about forty feet, but there is only one source. Behind are the chasms whence the water issues. We entered one of these, and passed into a cavern. Here the water appeared, rushing with great force, beneath the rock, toward the bason on the outside. It was the coldest spring we had found in the country; the mercury in the thermometer falling, in two minutes, to thirty four, according to the scale of Fahrenheit. When placed in the reservoir immediately above the fall, where the water was more exposed to the atmosphere, its temperature was three degrees higher. The whole rock about the source is covered with moss. Close to the bason grew hazel and plane trees; above were oaks and pines; all beyond was a naked and fearful precipice.t

*Præsentiorem et conspicimus Deum,
Per invias rupes, fera per juga,
Clivosque præruptos, sonantes

Inter aquas, nemorumque noctem!

Upon Gargarus we found a beautiful new species, both of crocus. and of anemone. The first we have called crocus candidus, and the second anemone formosa. They Way be thus described:

CROCUS foliis lanceolato linearibus, flore brevioribus stigmatibus antheras subaquantibus profundissime multipartitis, radicum tunica fibroso co: tata; corolla laciniis elliplicis.

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