This day I took my passage for Constantinople on board the King William galley, captain Nehemiah Winter commander, and accordingly went on board at six a clock in the evening; being favoured with the company of Mr. Dunster, Mr. Turner, and Mr. Clotterbooke, who after a short repast returned a shore. On the same ship imbarked for Constantinople the barút agá of Smyrna, with his harém, and a numerous family.
We set sail this morning with a gentle gale, which served us as far as St. George’s island, that lies before the harbour of Fochia Vecchia, that is Phocaea; betwixt which and the sand head, occasioned by the discharge of the river Hermus, we came to an anchor at the approach of the evening.
We set sail early this morning with little or no wind, the whole day continuing calm till towards the evening; when the gale began to grow fresh, and favouring us all night advanced us betwixt the main land of Aeolia and the island of Mitylene, or Lesbos, leaving the bay of Cuma, now called Sotaléa, upon our right hand.
This morning with a contrary and very gentle gale we turn betwixt the island and the main, having a fair view of the harbour, city, and castle of Mitylene[57]; the last of which seems to be large and well walled, declining with a moderate descent on the side of a gentle hill. The same coast of the island is stored with many pleasant and considerable villages, well furnished with arable and pasture ground, and large woods at a distance, said to abound with deer. This day we advanced no farther than the isles of Musconisia, formerly Arginusae[58], situated betwixt the continent of Aeolia and the island of Mitylene. Here therefore we came to anchor about midday, lying opposite to the mouth of the Idaean or Adramyttian gulph, made by the two promontories of Cana on one side, and Lecton on the other, and fenced towards the continent of Troas (for so that whole region may be called) with the snowy and aspiring top of mount Ida.
This morning the wind springing fair about four a clock, we advance betwixt the island of Mitylene and the main of Aeolia, the narrowed bogáz is made by cape Siguri, antiently Sigrium, on the island side, and cape Babá, formerly Lecton, on that of the main. Near midday we begin to turn this latter cape, and thereby to gain the sight of Imbros and Tenedos; Lemnos not discovering itself till some hours afterwards, as we advanced with calm weather betwixt Tenedos and the Trojan shore; when the low land of Lemnos, with the round and exalted top of Athos on the other side of it, gave us a delightful prospect.
This day turning to windward, we advance by nine a clock between the town of Tenedos and the Trojan shore, the narrow distance of about six or seven miles allowing us a distinct prospect of each. Tenedos is a middle sized compact town, fortified with a castle, seated immediately on the shore, and fenced toward the land with a round hill; but exposed to the sea without the advantage of any deep gulph, or commodious harbour. The whole island is green and level, and has the appearance, as well as reputation, of a rich and fertile soil. The wind not favouring us from hence, we proceed slowly the whole day with calm and serene weather; and turning betwixt Tenedos and the Phrygian continent, after enjoying the delightful sight of the Trojan campain on one side, and of Tenedos, Imbros, and Samothracia on the other, we anchored about six in the evening under the celebrated promontory of Sigéum.
Early in the morning we endeavour to make sail from Sigéum, but being taken in a dead calm, we were employed the whole day in warping, that so passing the mouth of the Hellespont we might lie (if occasion should so require) sheltered by the new castle, and the point on which it stands. Having with great fatigue made two or three warps, the wind at length favoured us so far, as to advance us two leagues within the said new castle of Natolia, when the captain thought it better to anchor, than to proceed in so narrow a chanel and so dark a night.
At this place it will be most proper to set down my thoughts of Troy, and the whole Trojan shore, which for the space of three days I viewed at a convenient distance in calm and serene weather from the poop of the ship, feeding my eyes and mind with an eager and boundless curiosity. That, which in a large sense was called of old by Strabo, as at present by the modern Greeks, the campain of Troas, begins at the promontory of Lecton, and then fronting the isle of Tenedos ends in a delicious green and level country, as far as the strait of the Hellespont. But from the begining of this strait we sail by the main of that, which is properly to be called the campain of Troy. And because our modern travelers give a wild and indistinct account of this famous place, I shall endeavour to describe the bounds, and situation of it, in as clear and distinct terms as possible.
From cape Sigéum (whence antiently was computed the entrance of the Hellespont) you sail about five miles, till you come opposite to the mouth of the Scamander; and from thence about two miles farther to a small prominence of land, by the antients called Rhoetéum. Betwixt this Rhoetéum and Sigéum, the marine, which bent in an even uninterrupted semicircle, afforded a commodious station for the Grecian fleet[59]. But as Strabo well observes, that in his time the Scamander began to interrupt this station, by the sand it discharges on the shore; so it has since gained more considerably on the sea, and formed that whole tongue of land, on which is now built the new castle of Natolia. However in the days of Priam the shore was undoubtedly more regular, as well as more retired. And opposite thereto in the adjoining continent, at such a distance as would admit the engagements, the flights, the pursuits, and the encampments of each army (as they are all described by Homer) we are to conceive of the walls and buildings of antient Troy. But still we must be cautious of pointing out, and distinguishing the very place; since in the reign of Tiberius Caesar we are assured by Strabo, that there remained not the least footstep of antient Troy to satisfy the curiosity of the most searching traveler[60]. So vain are the accounts of our modern journalists, who pretend to have seen the walls, the gates, or other ruins of Troy; that, which now remains, being nothing but the rubbish of new Ilium, or of that city once attempted there by Constantine.
We endeavour this morning to continue our voyage, but make no considerable progress; because the gentle gale, that favoured us, could not prevail against the current of the Hellespont, which perpetually flows with a full and rapid course into the Aegéan sea. We therefore drive back, and content ourselves with coming to an anchor in the same place, from whence we weighed this morning; taking the opportunity of going to dine on the Asian shore. After midday a fresher wind advanced us within a small distance from the old castles; where it again deserted us, and obliged us to drop anchor a second time, to maintain the way we had gained in opposition to the violent stream of this chanel.
We continue anchored at the same place, being all this day entirely becalmed. And the day following, the calm having changed into a contrary wind detained us still at the same anchor. But however disagreeable this interruption in the course of our voyage might prove to some others of the company, the leisure of those two days was to me very grateful. Nor could I esteem it any loss of time, but rather an advantage, on account of the favourable and unexpected opportunity it afforded me of visiting two so famous castles, together with the villages adjoining to them[61]. Going ashore therefore in the captain’s pinnace to the town on the Asian side (formerly called Abýdos[62], but by the Turks Eskí Natolia Hisar) with great pleasure I walked about the place, but found no footsteps of antiquity[63]. The town is large, but mean; yet famous for a curious sort of earthen ware finely glazed, which is made here, and vended in great quantities. The castle is intire, of a square figure, with bastions projecting at each corner, and with one side flanks the water on a level shore; where are to be seen betwixt twenty and thirty vast guns, such as perhaps are no where else to be found, except in some other parts of Turkey. They are of brass, and have a bore at least three quarters of a yard diameter; and are charged with stone bullets of the same dimensions, which lie at hand spherically cut. The charge of powder, as I was informed on the place by the barút agá of Smyrna, is an hundred and five okes. From Abýdos I crossed over in a small wherry to Sestos[64], that is, from Natolia to Rumeli Hisar, and in the way observed the art of the boatman in avoiding the force of the current, a circumstance mentioned by Strabo[65]. This town stands on a precipice, descending steeply towards the sea shore; and is better built, tho less, than Abýdos. It has a castle consisting of a triangular tower, enclosed within an high wall of this figure, and that again with another triangular wall, all surrounded with a deep foss. In the same level with the water are mounted about thirty guns, of the same or rather bigger size than those of Natolia Hisar; and by each lie great heaps of stones, cut spherically to the dimensions of each canon. In relation to this town of Sestos, and the tower of Leander, once adjoining to the shore a little above the town, I remembered that request of Musaeus:
This morning a fresh wind favouring us at south west we set sail by six a clock, and passing the forementioned castles, within a league on the European shore, arrive at the town Maitos, antiently Madytos[67], seated on a low land within a small recess of the sea, and inhabited intirely by Greeks. The campain on each side is delightful to the traveler, as well as fertile to the inhabitants; being for the most part of a level situation, and in the neighbourhood of the villages it possesses, well cultivated and distinguished into pastures. About three leagues from Maitos we view on the same shore two pleasant and well situated villages, by the name of the Lesser and Greater Galata. Thence about the distance of two leagues we arrive betwixt Lampsacus on the Asian, and Callipolis on the European shore; the former a small town, and the latter a city of no inconsiderable extent; so that now they have changed their fortune, and that character, which they bore in the time of Strabo[68]. About twelve leagues from Callipolis lies the island Marmora, exceeding high ground, abounding with rich veins of durable and pretious marble; the same of which has given it the name of Marmora, instead of the ancient Proconésus. Adjoining to this are two lesser isles, Kutali and Alonia, the latter eminent for the product of excellent wines. Betwixt these islands and the beautiful Thracian shore, which here graces the Propontis, we were advanced by a brisk and favourable gale at the approach of the evening, and from thence are now continuing our voyage, with the same auspicious wind, and hopes, if God permit, to arrive at Constantinople early by to morrow morning.
Before ten last evening the wind having changed to our disadvantage, we find ourselves this morning but little advanced from Marmora; however by the benefit of turning to windward, we proceeded this day about the distance of ten leagues. Every other tack brought us near to the Thracian shore, and entertained us with a fair view of the most green and fertile campain I ever yet beheld. By the same means we enjoyed the opportunity of seeing the famous port and city of Heracléa, built behind a small eminence, which protends itself into the sea, and forms an haven on each side of the city. Not far from hence stands on the same shore the fair town of Selymbria; near which the night now overtakes us, and deprives us of that delicious prospect, which the whole day afforded us, of the feilds of Thrace. It was on this day, that captain Winter wanting his log line to be brought him from a chest in the great cabin, was not permitted by the barút agá to send any person down for it, by reason of his harém being there. At length he yeilded to let the captain’s son go, a child of about eight years of age.
Early this morning I betake myself to the enjoyment of the same diverting prospect, whilst the ship, by the benefit of tacking, passes by Grande and Piccolo Ponte; and so betwixt nine and ten of the clock comes to an anchor within a short league of the Seven Towers, a castle which forms the extreme point of Constantinople. Here we continued wind bound the remainder of this day, because the narrowness of the chanel, into which we were now to enter; and the force of the current, which runs very rapidly out of the Thracian Bosphorus; did not suffer us to advance against the violent north wind.
This morning about nine a clock the wind, which changed nothing of its point, yet abated so much of its strength, that it permitted us to turn from the Seven Towers along the bending walls of Constantinople, as far as the Seraglio point. But the violence of the current prohibiting us to make the harbour of Galata, the ship was again obliged to drop anchor, and wait till she could either make sail with a fair wind, or take the opportunity of a calm to be towed in by hamáls. We had not long cast anchor, when my esteemed freind, Mr. Matthias Goodfellow, was pleased to visit me on board the ship; and carrying me ashore in the boat, which brought him, first introduced me to his excellency, the Lord Paget, and then kindly allotted me a pleasant and convenient apartment in his house at Galata.
This day I attended the funeral of Signior Demetrasco, chief dragoman to the English ambassador, who tho by faith a Latin, yet by birth was of the Greek nation. And accordingly in the way of burying proper to this latter, I observed the manner of carrying the corps of the deceased barefaced, clothed in his late usual habit, and supported by four of his nearest relations; who were followed by women slaves, hired to make a hideous pomp, by tearing their hair, extorting forced and counterfeit tears, and repeating in a continual loud and frightful lamentation, ὦ ἀφέντη μου; that is, O my master!
I paid a visit to Signior Rombarts, a gentile and ingenious merchant of the Dutch nation, at his house in Curuchesmée, a village on the Thracian Bosphorus. Here I observed a sophá room remarkably adorned after the richest Turkish fashion, the roof formed into a cupola, and the gilding and painting of the whole so splendidly curious, that it amounted at first to the sum of four thousand hungárs, or two thousand pounds sterling.
I took the opportunity of passing over the chanel to Constantinople, in company of Signior Wright, the Dutch minister of this place, with whom I visited the mint; the Grand Signior’s lions; and the mosques of Sultan Solymán, Sultan Bajazet, Sultan Achmét, and the Validée. That of Bajazet and the Validée are adorned only with two minarées, that of Solymán with four, and that of Achmét with six. They all much resemble one another, both in the inward and outward figure. They first consist of a spatious court, enriched all round with fair and regular cloisters formed by pillars, some of whose shafts are carved with white marble, some with serpentine stone, and some with porphyry; but all the capitals are of the modern Turkish figure. Next is the body of the mosque, covered outwardly with domes, and supported inwardly with four massy pillars, from the tops of which rises a regular cupola, forming the roof of the whole mosque. Whoever exactly compares the beauty and grandeur of these several mosques, will find that of Solymán more regular, and artificial in the outward frame; that of Achmét more magnificent in the whole, and on the outside more beautiful in the work of the pillars; that of the Validée, tho less in bulk and extent than the other two, yet more curious in the inward ornaments and workmanship than either; and that of Bajazet, which is the oldest, inferior to the rest both in bulk and beauty, except that some cast pillars, which form the cloisters of the court, consist of a more polite, shining, and pretious stone.
The same morning I visited the antient cirque of this city, a large oblong space flanked on three sides with the houses of the city, and on the fourth with the walls of the mosque of Sultan Achmét. Therein stand three pillars, the first of square stone, formerly covered with gilded brass, at the end of the cirque, and supposed to have been the goal of the stadium. It now declines much, having suffered greatly by time, and openings in the several joints of the stones. The second pillar is of wreathed brass, not above twelve feet high, lately terminated at the top with figures of three serpents rising from the pillar, and with their necks and heads forming a beautiful triangle. But this monument was rudely broken from the top of the pillar by some attendants of the late Polish ambassador, whose lodgings were appointed in this cirque, opposite to the said pillar[69]. The third pillar is a long square stone, or obelisk, decreasing gradually from its basis, till it ends almost in a point. The matter is granate, or Theban marble; and each side is engraven with birds, beasts, and other hieroglyphical figures[70]. This had once lain upon the ground, and, as we may conceive from the inscriptions, a considerable time; till Theodosius erected it on a large and square basis, adorned on each side with various images; and having fixt on the top of this basis four brass supporters, on these he set the aforesaid hieroglyphical Theban column. There is a Latin inscription on one side of the basis, and a Greek one on the other, importing what I here mention concerning the erection of the pillar. The Greek runs thus:
The Latin thus:
The remaining verse, mentioned by Sir George Sandys, is now covered in the ground[74].
This day having first visited Mr. Schrever (then ill of the plague, of which he died two days after) in a small boat of the countrey, in company with Mr. Goodfellow and Mr. Evans, I made a tour up the Thracian Bosphorus. This chanel we may conceive to begin from the point of Scutari on one side, and that of Tophana on the other; from whence in a winding figure, graced on each side with seraglios of the chief courtiers of this empire, and on the marine with almost continued villages, as also two castles in the narrowest part, it extends about eighteen or twenty miles, as far as the antient rocky isles of the Symplegades, which seem to open and shut, as one advances to them in the Bosphorus[75]. The largest of them is situated on the European shore, and till lately bore an antient Corinthian pillar, to which a vulgar error has given the name of Pompey’s column. It was erected not on a regular basis of its own, but upon an antient heathen altar, that now only remains; the shaft and capital of the pillar, which have lately fallen, being yet visible in four pieces among the cliffs of the rock. On the aforesaid remaining altar may be read this inscription in large Roman letters.
Returning from this pillar we stept on the adjoining shore, to see the large and lofty lantern there erected for the direction of mariners at the entrance of this difficult strait. About four miles from hence, in returning thro the chanel, we go ashore on the European side to visit a famous convent of Greek priests, by the name of Mauromolos, seated in the cliff of an hill, and enjoying a beautiful church, adorned with many rich pieces of religious furniture; as books bound in covers of massy silver; an ἁγία πύλη, or sacred curtain[77], wrought both richly and artfully in silk and golden figures; and a set of painting not of the vulgar sort, but regular and proportionable, the most curious of which was done in Muscovy. These fathers are exempted from their harách, on account of a present of excellent fair cherries, once presented to the Grand Signior. Over a fountain, that serves the convent with water, they have this device, not more proper for the place, than ingenious for the contrivance, in making the same words read forwards or backwards:
I was this day a witness of the strong current flowing towards the Propontis from the Euxine sea, as I had before observed it to force into the Mediterranean from the ocean. Both which are taken notice of by Lucan:
This day I crossed the water from Galata to visit the antient Chalcédon, where I saw the poor Greek church dedicated to St. Euphemia[80]; and a little distant from the present village, the place where was held the fourth general council. Returning we row under the shore, to see the Grand Signior’s beautiful seraglio near Scutari. When Chalcédon was an eminent city, which is now reduced to a slender village; Scutari, which by a contrary event is at present a fair and spatious city, was a poor and ignoble village, tho it then had the name of Chrysopolis, as we find by Zosimus[81].
I retired to Belgrade, a small Greek village, seated about twelve miles from Constantinople, and about five from the Euxine sea; where the English ambassador has a countrey seat. It is pleasantly situated among large woods of oak, beech, chesnut, and other trees, and enjoys an healthy air and water. Here I took the opportunity of riding to visit the famous aqueducts of Constantinople, distant from this village about six miles, which were built by Valentinian the first[82], accurante Clearcho praefecto, as Cassiodorus says[83]; and afterwards repaired by Solymán the Magnificent, who exempted twelve adjacent Greek villages from the customary tribute of this empire, for the care he enjoined them of keeping these aqueducts in repair. The most remarkable of them are three great and lofty fabrics, built over so many valleys betwixt the adjoining hills, of which the longest has many but less arches, and may possibly be the entire work of Solymán. The other two have the appearance of a more antient and regular architecture, consisting of two rows of arches one over the other; and those of the second row enclosed by pillars cut thro the middle, so as to render the fabric both passable like a bridge, and useful for the conveyance of water. The more considerable of these two consists only of four large arches, each twenty yards long, and something above twenty high, supported by octangular pillars of about fifty six yards in circumference towards the bottom. The village of Belgrade is likewise honoured with two royal kiosks, the one of the Grand Signior, the other of the Validée; each situated in two delightful recesses of the neighbouring wood, and adorned with natural avenues thro lofty groves of beech, oak, and chesnut. At each of these kiosks the waters of the public aqueduct are gathered into fair and ample cisterns of hewn stone, from whence they pass in arched chanels under ground to the royal city.
After a pleasant retirement of ten days at Belgrade I returned to my lodgings at Galata, to take the opportunity of seeing the remaining curiosities of Constantinople.
I walked almost thro the extent of the whole city to visit the famous pillar of Arcadius, a lofty and aspiring fabric, of the Doric order, built with a wonderful regularity and exactness of architecture, bearing on the basis, and on the whole shaft from top to bottom, various warlike figures of men in arms, chariots, galleys, and other ornaments, which in a spiral manner encircle the whole pillar; every figure being so well proportioned to the distance, from whence it is seen, that those at the top, the middle, and the bottom, appear to the eye exactly of the same size. Returning from this pillar I passed by the old pillar of Aurátbasar, defaced by the several conflagrations of the city, and bound in several places with rings of iron by the care and charge of the emperor Manuel, as is witnessed by this inscription on the top.
From this pillar I was desirous of passing thro Atmeidan, that is the hippodromus, or cirque above mentioned, to review the mosque of Sultan Achmét, and make a stricter observation on the three pillars there erected. Here I was informed, that the brass serpentine pillar was erected by the emperor Leo, as a charm against the noisom number of serpents, which in his time infested the city; the same person superstitiously affirming, that since the late defacement of this pillar, by the breaking of the serpents heads, the city was again molested by innumerable noxious serpents. At the foot of the old pillar, formerly covered with brass, I read the remains of that inscription once taken by Sir George Sandys, but since his time part of it buried with earth, and part broken away; which is very erroneously printed in his Travels[84]. On the basis of the hieroglyphical pillar I observed the carved representation of the pillar it self, together with the figures of men labouring to erect it.
By the interest of a Greek, who serves the bostangí bashá as his surgeon, I was admitted in company of Mr. John Philips, an eminent merchant, into the great seraglio of Constantinople, where we passed thro two courts, that form the entry of the palace; the first of which has a small arsenal, furnished with arms and ammunition; the second has piazzas on two sides, in which the janisaries are wont to eat, and opens at the upper end into the diván. From these two courts we were permitted to walk round the full extent of the garden, on each side of the palace. They are rude and wild places, affording nothing that is entertaining, but that wherewith nature has furnished them, which is an admirable situation rising into convenient ascents, and capable of infinite improvement, if it were happily in the possession of a Christian prince. The whole plat of ground, which they call the gardens of the seraglio, is covered with cypress and other trees, thro which are cut shady walks, where kiosks are seen of various sorts; the most eminent and remarkable of which is that called the Blew kiosk, fronting the town of Scutari. This and the other called the Alaí kiosk, fronting the city of Galata, are rich and splendid pleasure houses, covered with a gilded cupola, and adorned in their several walls with Indian tiles, and stately chimneypieces of solid brass. Passing thro the extent of the seraglio towards the extreme point, that looks up the Thracian Bosphorus, you observe a Corinthian pillar consisting of white marble, of which the ignorant Turks report a fabulous and ridiculous account; but its true original is discovered by this inscription on one plane of the basis:
On the opposite plane is likewise this religious device:
| ΙϹ | ΧϹ |
| ΝΙ | ΚΑ |
Near this pillar we were admitted thro a gate, which opens into a green court, and that again into a garden kept in somewhat a regular order. From hence we ascend by a few steps into an apartment of the Grand Signior, where are two rich kiosks, a fish pond, a paved walk, and an open gallery. Here we were shewn the lodgings, where the unhappy princes of the empire are detained prisoners, as also the dark chambers of the ichoglans, and the door that leads into the harém of the Grand Signior. There also are shewn two or three instances of the strength and the activity of Sultan Morát; as a ponderous round stone, which with one finger he is said to have lifted by a ring fixt therein; likewise five thick and substantial sheilds, which being placed upon one another were peirced thro by a cast of his jiríd still sticking in them; also several silver pellets thrown by him with that violence, as to stick in an iron door. The above mentioned gallery is rich and splendid, adorned with various gilding of flower work, and supported with beautiful serpentine pillars. In the sides of one of the kiosks are three orbicular stones of fine porphyry, the middlemost of which is curiously polished, and thereby serves to reflect the prospect of the seraglio and adjoining city, in the nature of a looking glass. At the further end of the garden of the seraglio are the intire walls of an antient Christian church, and near to that the aviary of the Grand Signior, where I observed the hens of Grand Cairo, having blue gills and feathers curiously coloured with grey circles, and in the center of each a spot of black.
This day I retired again to Belgrade, for the advantage of its healthy air and water, and the entertainment of its shady situation. Hence on the twelfth instant I made a tour towards Domuzderé, and the shore of the Black Sea, on which we rode for some space of ground, and returned by that called Ovid’s Tower, thro a fertile tract of ground, curiously varied with corn, grass, and shady woods.
I returned again to my lodgings at Galata, and the next day crossed the water in company with Mr. Goodfellow to Constantinople, where after a visit to the mosque of Solymán the Magnificent, we obtained leave to ascend one of the minarées, from which the muezins call the Turks to their namáz, being about an hundred and twenty feet high. Here we took a delightful prospect of the whole situation and extent of Stambol, as likewise of Galata, Pera, and Scutari, with the neighbouring seas, canals, and land that encloses them. But the peculiar happiness of this day was the employment of about two hours, which we leisurely spent in viewing the stupendous church of Sophía[86], now profaned by its conversion into a Turkish mosque. It chiefly merits the regard of any curious traveler for the reliques of its rich mosaic work; the variety of pretious marble[87], which adorns it, consisting of serpentine, alabaster, and porphyry; and the architecture of its large and flat tho sublime cupola[88], in which are still the entire figures of Christ and the twelve Apostles, and in the windows many inscriptions in mosaic work from the New Testament.
I returned again to Belgrade, as well for the opportunity of confirming my health, as for continuing my respects to his Excellency the Lord Paget.
I waited on his Excellency from Belgrade to Pera, going first to Boiukderé and thence down the Bosphorus by boat.
I waited on his Excellency, as well to wish him a good journey, as to receive his commands for Smyrna.
I returned to the house of my esteemed freind, Mr. Goodfellow, in Galata; and the day following took leave of the Dutch ambassador and his family.
I made a visit by boat to the Seven Towers, now a prison for persons of quality, since by the fate of war it has fallen into the hands of the Turks, but antiently the Porta Janicula of Constantinople. The beautiful remains of this gate are still admirable, tho by the Turks suffered to be almost concealed by a dead wall, and the shade of the neighbouring trees. It is a regular and carved arch of white marble, supported by two beautiful pillars, adorned in the pilasters with a sculpture representing several military affairs, and flanked on each side the pillars with twelve tablets of carved work extremely well performed, which contain several poetical stories. Among the rest is Hercules and the Nemeaean lion, the beast prodigious and terrible, but confessing its conqueror by an agreable posture; Luna and Endymion; a winged Pegasus, managed by some of the Muses; a pourtraiture of the known combat of whirlbats; and an imperial figure, crowned by two celestial machines.
Returning by boat along the walls of the city, I observed its crooked figure and posture to the sea; and noted also the several square towers variously interspersed at unequal distances, each bearing an inscription much to the same purport, as may be seen by the following copy, which I took of them in the boat.
On a tower near the Porta Janicula:
On a tower in that part of the wall, which includes the seraglio:
Round the same seraglio:
About the same place:
About midday I saw the ceremonies of the dervíse convent of the order called Meuleví at Pera, consisting of their namáz, somewhat longer than is ordinary at other times and places. After which followed a sermon, that is, a gallimaufry of dreams and nonsense, pronounced by the prior of the convent, as he sat cross-leg’d on the seat of a two elbowed wooden chair. This was succeeded by their music in a gallery over the door; during which about fourteen dervíses led up a religious dance in the area of their theatre (for such is the figure and contrivance of it) in which they turn round almost in the same place with incredible swiftness, without either weariness or giddiness, for the space of half an hour. By this exercise their brain is so habitually fortified against dizziness, that one of them was able to hand upon the half moon of a minarée belonging to the Solymanjá, and from thence to salute the Grand Signior at his palace of Cushcui, at the same time firing off a pistol, and drinking a dish of coffee.
About five this evening I took leave of Mr. Goodfellow, and embarked upon a boat manned with seven hands, which I had hired for ten dollars to transport my self, my horse, and two servants from Galata to Montagnia, being the space of two leagues. When having a fair wind, which by degrees increased, and exposed me to the fatigue of a nauseous sea sickness, after midnight I entered the two capes, which form the Sinus Cianus. In this bay is that famous fountain mentioned by Virgil: