Journal Of A Visit To Constantinople And Some Of The Greek Islands In The Spring And Summer Of 1833 Part 11

[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 quant.i.ty 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 h.e.l.lespont, 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, is The tumulus--of whom? Heaven knows: 't may be Patroclus, Ajax, or Protesilaus,-- All heroes, who, if living still, would slay us.

[7] Celebrated in history as being the place where the crusaders, under G.o.dfrey 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 [Symbol: circle], and are thin as a gum wafer. A handful of them scarcely equals a shilling in value.

[9] _Balouk_, a fish in Turkish.

[10] Infidel.

[11] All Saints.

[12] Similar changes have been produced in other parts of the East. "An extraordinary revolution," says Mr. St. John, "has been effected since the year 1817, when the Christian, according to a former traveller, was turned away with insult from the Castle (the Pharos); for now a Christian, having examined at his leisure the military portion of the structure, entered into the mosque in his boots, under the guidance of a Turkish officer."--_Egypt and Mohammed Ali_, vol. ii. p. 386.

[13] Cannon foundry: from _top_, the Turkish word for a cannon, and _hana_, a manufactory.

[14] In Turkish, the Prophet is styled Peigshamber: the French, whose vanity induces them to alter and vilify every proper name not derived from their own language, persist in spelling it _Pegchamber_: this, however, seems so ludicrous, when we consider the exalted rank of the individual to whom it is applied, that the reader will exclaim involuntarily with Hamlet,--"To what vile uses may we not come, Horatio!"

[15] Since the above was written, he has returned to London as amba.s.sador from the Porte.

[16] This mode of executing criminals seems peculiar to the East, and is partly explained by the word itself. The Turkish bowstring, which is amazingly strong, is formed of untwisted silk, generally white, bound together at intervals by threads of a different colour. At either end is a large loop attached to the centre portion of the cord, by a very curious and intricate knot: the executioners slip their hands through this, and having pa.s.sed the string once round the victim's neck, who was placed on his knees, they drew it in opposite directions with all their force, and thus produced death by strangulation. Since the gradual decline of archery among the Turks, the bowstring has also been falling into disuse; for the original cause of its being adopted as an instrument of criminal punishment was the readiness with which it could be procured, when every man carried at his shoulder the weapon of which it formed a part.

[17] _At_, a horse; and _Meidan_, a course.

[18] I cannot bid adieu to Lord Ponsonby and his amiable family, without acknowledging how much the pleasure derived from my voyage and visit to Constantinople was enhanced by their unceasing kindness. Indeed, from the first moment I became acquainted with his Lordship in Naples, he has uniformly treated me with a degree of affability as flattering to me as it was kind in him; besides honouring me, up to the present moment, with a confidence which, in general, is the result only of long tried and intimate friendship. This is the more gratifying, because he has always been surrounded by young men in every respect as worthy of the same distinction as myself.

[19] I ought to have mentioned before, that Terapia is a village some miles distant from Constantinople.

[20] Foreign Quarterly Review.

[21] Vignette in t.i.tle-page.

[22] d.u.c.h.ess of Berri.

[23] St. John's Egypt.