Camels are the only carriages in Smyrna, if I may use the expression, and you not unfrequently meet eight or nine hundred in the course of a walk. The streets are so narrow, that an European, unaccustomed to these animals, requires some nerve when walking under their necks, or standing between them and the wall, while they pass in long strings with their bulky bales of goods suspended from either side. The sheep of the country are the Cape sheep, having a kind of apron tail, entirely of rich marrowy fat, extending to the width of their hind-quarters, and frequently trailing on the ground; the weight of the tail is often more than six or eight pounds. The common pigeon here is the turtle-dove.

In all the confined seas in the Mediterranean I have observed the phosphoric light sparkling in the waves caused by our paddle-wheels; but in the sea here the boats are actually lighted by the illumination from the motion of the oar in the water; and a belt of light, some inches in width, is drawn around the boat by its motion, whilst a stream of light follows its course.

The walls of all the buildings in the upper part of the town are formed out of the ruins of ancient Smyrna; and columns, busts, cornices, and entablatures are seen built in everywhere, and mixed indiscriminately with the volcanic stone of the country. The features of the busts are generally destroyed, to satisfy the scruples of their present owners, the Turks. Hundreds of tombstones are constructed of the ornamental parts of ancient temples, all of white marble. The Jews have bought one hill, formed of a pile of ruins of marble, for tombs for their burial-ground. Near the town I observed a wall loosely built of stone, and thinking that it looked of a lighter colour than the common stone of the neighbourhood, I went to examine it. It was composed of what appeared to be flat stones, about three inches thick, and all of conglomerate or grout; but to my astonishment I found that the surface of every piece (some were two feet

long) was formed entirely of mosaic-work, with beautiful patterns in black, white, and red. There must have been hundreds of feet of this, which had no doubt formed the floor of some temple or bath in the immediate neighbourhood, probably of the Temple of Ceres, which is said to have stood here. These blocks of mosaic now form the walls of a corn-field, out of which they must have been dug, for I observed that the small pebbles in the soil were all square pieces of marble of the same size as the stones of the mosaic. Here I saw the top of an arch, with the capitals of its columns only visible above-ground, and twenty or thirty feet of loose soil around it, containing the ruins of ancient art. Yet no one had been found even to remove the soil, to show the proportions of the building; and this on the side of so steep a hill, that probably the rain will soon do what man has not had taste and energy to attempt: the people now prop up the soil of the hill with the capitals of columns or cornices as they are laid bare.

The spring is rapidly opening; and I have observed today a number of people with flowers tucked most tastefully into their turbans; anemone, jonquil, and iris adding to the endless variety and gaiety of the head-dress. The Greek women form their own hair, of which they have a profusion, into a turban, intermingling it very elegantly with flowers, ribbon, or gauze, and generally putting at the top a skull-cap of gold embroidery. The children have many gold and silver coins. suspended from the head by cords of hair; and some have their hair in twenty or thirty thin plaits hanging down the back, as it was worn by the ancient Egyptians. The edges of the eyelids also are painted by the Turkish women exactly as was done by that nation.

I have several times seen the dance so well described by Mr. Lane as performed by the dancing-girls in Egypt; the dance, music, and costume are precisely the same here.

February 21st.-Tomorrow I shall leave Smyrna for Mag

nesia*. I was to have started this morning, and the horses were brought to the door; but the wind from the north-east, in which direction we were to travel, was so high and so intensely cold that we could not face it. Ice covers every pool, and even the streams are frozen; as the sea is dashed up by the wind upon the Marina it immediately forms a coat of ice. Walking to the south of the town I passed the Jews' burial-ground, which I before noticed, and was much struck by its appearance. It is a hill of almost bare rock, of about a mile in extent, and every level spot has a marble slab upon it. The first idea that the place gave me was its strong resemblance to the pictures of the Resurrection; thousands of | tombstones cover the ground, and in as many forms; from the hardness of the rock, the grave is generally constructed above the surface, perhaps a foot high, and covered with a marble slab; but grave and slab have been continually torn up by the Turks; few remain above a year undisturbed, and they seem the stone quarry for the walls and paving in the neighbourhood. I saw several in the street near, with dates less than two years old, now torn up and used for building purposes.

Scarcely one of these tombstones is without some trace of its earlier history; many have upon them Greek or Roman letters, parts of inscriptions; and cornices, flutings, capitals, or shafts of columns may be recognized in almost all of them.

* Throughout my Journal I have made use of the ancient names of places, as being the best known to English readers, from association both with classic and sacred history. When I have used the modern names (which alone are known to the Turks) I have endeavoured to represent the sound of the word in their language by a combination of our letters in such a manner as will not allow of more than one pronunciation; and in attempting this I have disregarded the orthography of modern maps, which give names unknown in the country, and useless to the traveller. In pronunciation I have presumed that the vowels will be sounded as in the English alphabet. In the few instances in which the a has to be sounded broad, as in father, it is put in italic.

I walked up the hill, and there found the quarry which the Jews had used, on the site of most extensive temples, now only to be recognized by high hills of white chippings, and long deep trenches, from which even the foundations have been greedily dug up; a lime-kiln close by had received. many relics of marble too small for the purpose of tomb

stones.

The view of Smyrna from these heights is very imposing, and this point, as is usual in the sites of Greek temples, is chosen with admirable judgement both for seeing from and for being seen.

I have spoken with many enlightened men here, who much regretted the insensibility of the residents to the arts. and sciences; but all say, "We have a glorious sun above our heads and perfect liberty." Each nation has its own idea of liberty; the Englishman's liberty extends to all those around him; exclusive liberty in a state is by him received as the proof of the worst tyranny. I could not boast of liberty where those around me were treated as the Turkish law allows, or while the slave-market stood open in the town.

February 22nd.—Having breakfasted and packed, which latter is a serious matter with the Turks, I started from the inn at half-past eight o'clock. The first horse was ridden by a black-looking surly Turk, our guide, mounted on a saddle or pile of cloaks and padding, which was a sufficient burden for the horse without the rider; then followed the baggagehorse, bearing my canteen, tent, hammock and mattress, carpet-bag, and saddle-bags containing provisions; this appeared the slightest-made horse, but was the strongest and best suited to its work. My servant and interpreter, Demetrius Scufi*, had a most complete establishment on his saddle,

* Demetrius Scufi was an excellent travelling servant in every department; the character of a servant in a country like this is unknown, and difficult to conceive, to those who have always travelled with the accom

of holsters (used only as bags for knife, string, etc. for the road), and long leathern cases for his umbrella and pipe; over his shoulders was slung a capital double-barrelled gun. I followed on the fourth horse, equipped as an European ; having purchased for myself saddle and bridle, which articles the Turks never provide with the horses.

At nine o'clock we arrived at the Caravan Bridge, an object picturesque in itself, and highly interesting to the people of Smyrna, as it is the land-gate or entrance to the city, and all the produce of the East which is shipped from Smyrna necessarily passes over this bridge. A toll or tax is here levied by the Government upon all caravans, the payment of which gives the title to depasture the camels, free of charge, all over the Sultan's dominions. It is a common and characteristic wish of the people to possess the value transported during one day over this bridge. The continual passing of the camels, and necessary halt for transacting the business required by the collector of the toll, make this at all times an animated scene. The Greeks also frequent this neighbourhood on their gala days, and I have here on such occasions witnessed much dancing and festivity among the lower orders.

After crossing the bridge the road increased in beauty every mile, as we traversed the valley and ascended the mountains to the north-east. For the first ten miles Smyrna, with its rich and beautiful valley, was behind us, and con

modations met with in Europe; it combines interpreter, cook, tailor, and valet, sportsman, secretary, and companion. Demetrius was a man of good private property, and had his house and little estate near Smyrna, and his two pleasure-horses. He travelled con amore, and had pursued this profession for the last fifteen years in all quarters of the globe, and had been several times to England. He was a native of Hydra, but had spent his life in Smyrna. I paid him a dollar a day,—a remuneration which, from his great knowledge of travelling and perfect honesty, consider more economical than the lower price which is usually paid to an inferior person.

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