Journal of a Visit to Constantinople and Some of the Greek Islands in the Spring and Summer of 1833. Auldjo John

id="n1">

      1

      As we sailed through the strait formed by it and the mainland, – and a very beautiful scene it affords, – I was informed by those on board, that a shoal is marked down upon the ship's chart as being in the centre. Having never before heard the slightest allusion to this fact, I intend to ascertain its accuracy, by actual inspection, at some more favourable opportunity.

1

As we sailed through the strait formed by it and the mainland, – and a very beautiful scene it affords, – I was informed by those on board, that a shoal is marked down upon the ship's chart as being in the centre. Having never before heard the slightest allusion to this fact, I intend to ascertain its accuracy, by actual inspection, at some more favourable opportunity.

2

"The ridge of the Somma forms a semicircle, the curve of which lies north-east, its two extremities stretching out south-east. The front, which faces the south-west and the cone of Vesuvius, is almost perpendicular; but the side towards the north is a sloping plain, cut lengthwise by deep ravines, and covered with vineyards, except a few hundred feet near the summit, which are clothed with small chestnut and oak trees." —Sketches of Vesuvius, p. 2.

3

Wingless Victory.

4

"About 170 yards distant from the warm springs of the Scamander, towards the west, the cold sources are found, throwing out a considerable quantity of water from many openings in the rock. It has been discovered, by the help of a thermometer, which was thrust into a fissure as far as the arm would permit it to go, that this spring is equally warm with the former. The pool, however, which contains the water being of so considerable a size as to suffer it immediately to acquire the temperature of the atmosphere, it must undoubtedly have appeared cold before the invention of an instrument for ascertaining the real degree of heat. It would, therefore, have been thought cold in the days of Homer; and the poet is not incorrect who describes places and things as they appear to the generality of mankind. Several other sources contribute to swell this division of the stream of the Scamander before its junction with the rivulets which proceeds from the warm springs." —Sir W. Gell's Topography of Troy, p. 76.

5

"The women of Bounarbashi yet frequent the spring, as their predecessors, the Trojan virgins, did before the invasion by the Greeks. The convenience afforded by the blocks of marble and granite to the women of the country, who always beat their linen on stones or boards during the time they are washing, added to the sensible warmth of the water, has, in all probability, continued the practice of resorting to this spring in preference to any other. The Count de Choiseul Gouffier was informed by the Aga of Bounarbashi, that the water threw up a very perceptible steam in the winter; and later experiments, made with the thermometer, prove beyond doubt that this is a warm source." —Ibid.

6

There, on the green and village cotted hill, is(Flank'd by the Hellespont, and by the sea,)Entombed the bravest of the brave – Achilles, —They say so – (Bryant says the contrary);And further downward, tall and towering still, isThe tumulus – of whom? Heaven knows: 't may bePatroclus, Ajax, or Protesilaus, —All heroes, who, if living still, would slay us.

7

Celebrated in history as being the place where the crusaders, under Godfrey of Bulloigne, were encamped.

8

These pretty diminutive coins are called dust by the common people; a name not at all inapplicable, as in size they resemble the following mark ◯, and are thin as a gum wafer. A handful of them scarcely equals a shilling in value.

9

Balouk, a fish in Turkish.