of 1200 to 1500 yards, facing N.N.E., and covering the Kamchik and the above-mentioned position of Chenka. Near this important strategical spot the forest is crossed by several roads from Chenka over the Buyuk Kamchik River. Wednesday, October 20th. From Kopri-Koi to Kadi-Koi, 100 Turkish and Bulgarian houses 2 hours. 81, Aiasma, 80 At Köpri-Koi a narrow wooden bridge crosses the river, and near it is a ford 2 to 3 feet deep. The village itself is newly built. It was burnt in 1829, as the Aga told me, by order of Ali Pasha, before the arrival of General Rüdiger with the first Russian column that forced the passage of the Balkan. Since that period the various military lines over the Balkan have been so fully reconnoitered and studied by Russian staff and general officers, that it is probable that should war again break out, the Russian armies will operate on a very different plan from that of the campaigns of 1828-29, when the passes of the Balkan were scarcely known. The positions of Shumla and Varna alone, as hitherto occupied by the Turks in their defensive operations against a northern enemy, are insufficient for covering the Balkan passes that have now been so thoroughly examined. The position taken up by Ali Pasha, in 1829, near Köpri-Koi was a very weak one, and the first serious onset of General Rüdiger obliged the Turks to abandon it. The cart-road from Köpri-Koi to Kadi-Koi, after crossing the above-mentioned ford, leads over the lower undulations of the Liusum mountain-range, for the first hour through forest and along muddy tracks. Near Kadi-Koi are two tépés. In passing on to Fetla-Koi, we left Buldir-Koi (40 Turkish_houses) close by the road, and Kumarova (45 Turkish and Bulgarian houses) about a quarter of a mile S.W. from the highway. The country being clear and open, at least a dozen tumuli, in elevated situations, are seen in various directions between Paravati and Kumarova, sometimes single, sometimes in clusters. of three or four. Markovcha is a flourishing village, with larger houses than usual, some of them consisting of two floors, and most of them neatly tiled (since 1829), whilst the other villages in the plains from Chenka hence are merely straw-thatched. At Markovcha are two Roman fountains, partly decayed, and not far off a large tumulus. From Paravati a good cart-road leads across our morning's line of march to Kumarova, and thence by Yeni-Koi direct to Mereke by a ford of the Akeli Kamchik. We observed many brood mares in this part of the country. Fodder and hay seem generally abundant, and are often even not housed. From Markovcha to Kulefcha oùr road passed over undulating high land. A moderate descent from the heights above Kulefcha led into the plains of Shumla. Enfilading this descent, Marshal Diebitch had chosen his position on the undulating ground under the village of Kulefcha, and separated from the upper position by the rivulet called Bashbunar. Instead of taking up defensively the strong upper position of 1 mile in extent, protected by precipitous limestone cliffs (partly overhanging the course of the Paravati River) on the right, with the villages of Kulefcha and Madara in the centre, and the left covered by steep ravines overgrown with brushwood, the Grand Vizir resolved to attack the Russians in their own excellent position, evidently chosen with the view of drawing the half-disciplined Turks into the open plain. Twenty minutes from Kulefcha the road to Shumla leads over the Bashbunar by a Roman arch. Numerous tépés, or tumuli, are scattered in elevated positions over the plains between Kulefcha and Shumla. Two hours before this latter place the soil can scarcely be said to be cultivated. It is not unusual in Turkey to see the rich plains in the immediate vicinity of the residences of the provincial governors neglected and desolate, whilst the distant valleys, safe from the oppression and rapacity of the governors and their satellites, are teeming with plenty and abundance. Thursday, October 21st. At Shumla.-The Governor of Shumla states the number of Turkish houses to be 5000, whilst those of the Christians are computed at 1000; the number of inhabitants ought therefore to be from 25,000 to 30,000. Formerly the Turks alone amounted to 35,000, besides 6000 Christians. There are 30 mosques and baths, 1 Greek and 1 Armenian church, and 3 Bulgarian schools, with masters from the normal establishment of Kazan. There are also two barracks for the garrison, one for the infantry, and one for the cavalry, besides a new hospital, all built of stone. Three forts in the plain and one on the heights are modern constructions, but the fortifications are far from being finished. The present garrison of this most important fortress is only 1000 infantry and 800 cavalry. Some Roman remains are seen here, in the shape of decaying fountains and arches. The personal security of the inhabitants is far from complete; the roads are infested by robbers, and it is not unusual for children to be carried off from the town to the mountains, and there kept, under menace of torture, until ransomed by the parents. Conversions of Christian girls to the Mussulman faith are of frequent occurrence. Friday, October 22nd. From Shumla to Madara, 40 Turkish and Bulgarian houses 3 hours. Kasbéin, 45 4 The main road from Shumla to Madara leads near the latter village over a Roman arch thrown across the Paravati River. Close to Madara, a little to the S., is the village of Kulefcha. An hour beyond Madara lies Kasbéin; and we passed some minor villages of mixed population, with 15 to 25 Bulgarian and Turkish houses in each. From Kasbéin to Velshin a long defile stretches for 4 hours between calcareous hills, about 200 feet high from the bed of the Paravati river, which runs in a narrow valley, averaging 200 yards in width. At Velshin, 8 hours from Shumla, the main road divides: one branch striking off to Varna, nearly due E., and the other to Paravati, S.S.E., along the river of that name. Madara, Kulefcha, and Paravati were destroyed during the war of 1828-29; the first two have been rebuilt, but Paravati, which formerly contained 1000 Turkish and 80 Bulgarian and Greek houses. is now reduced to à Christian village of 20 Greek and 200 Bulgarian houses. There is but little cultivation, for want of hands, on the whole route from Kasbéin to Paravati. At a short distance E. of Kasbéin artificial excavations appear in the steep limestone rocks, resembling those described near Injekis. At Paravati the remains of the fortifications, thrown up during the last war by order of General Kyprianos, viz. four redoubts on the heights and two in the town, connected by trenches, are still visible. Saturday, October 23rd, 1847.— From Paravati to Testaji-Koi, 40 Turkish and Bulgarian houses Avren, 60 Bulgarian houses From Paravati the highway to Várna leads along the northern shore of the lake of Devne, but the cart-road along the southern shore being of considerable importance, I reconnoitered it by the route leading through the plain, and nearly parallel to the course of the Paravati river to Testaji (2 hours), and thence in 1 hour more to Shükür Köpri, or the Bridge of Thanks (over the same river), so called because travellers having passed the woods between Varna and Shükür Köpri, are supposed to return thanks to Allah for having escaped being plundered or murdered. From this bridge a difficult ascending track leads, in 1 hour, through thick forest, chiefly oak, to Avren, a central point on the Liusum mountain ridge, whence roads branch off by Sultanler to Yovan Dervish and Aïvachik. Though living in a fertile spot, on a rich soil, cleared in the forest for agricultural purposes, the Bulgarians of this hamlet had not rebuilt their houses since the war, but were living on in poor mud-plastered wicker-work hovels and huts, through fear of having their houses again destroyed in another war. Men and women seemed otherwise to be well off, and many of the latter wore in this secluded retreat fine and tasteful silver armlets and wristbands. From Avren the mountainous nature of the country nearly obliged us to turn back in order to reach the village of Yenibekje, on the western Devne lake. It is fordable during its whole length. One hour and a half having taken us to the borders of the eastern Devne lake (nearly opposite Buyuk Aladin), 3 hours more along its banks, through forest and brushwood, brought us to Varna. Sunday, October 24th, 1847.-I spent this day in reconnoitring the environs of Varna, as far as Buyuk Aladin, viz. :— or This road, along the northern shore of the lake of Devne, is the lower or summer road to Paravati; the upper or winter road to the same place runs nearly parallel to it at of a mile's distance, making some windings on account of the higher undulations of the ground. Both roads start from the same gate in Varna, and reunite at some distance beyond Buyuk Aladin. Close to Varna the direct high road to Silistria strikes off through the mountains, which run parallel to the Lake of Devne (Devno), and another road to Silistria through these same mountains branches off from the upper Paravati road, between and just above the villages of Kadi-Koi and Yenijé-Koi. From Buyuk Aladin (N. of the Devne lake) a road leads in one hour to Yenibekje-Koi, on the southern banks of the lake, passing two mills on the principal branch of the Paravati river, which connects the western and eastern lakes of Devne, and inundates the marshy ground between them, to a greater or less extent, according to the dry or wet season. The main stream of the river, and a lateral branch which falls into the eastern Devne lake just below the village of Buyuk Aladin, form an island, which is mentioned in the action between Alexander the Great and the Triballians in his march towards the Danube. The Paravati River has its head-waters in the mountains N. of Shumla, and falls into the smaller or western lake of Devne, near the village of Yeni-bekje (on its southern shore), traverses the south-eastern angle of the lake, and flows in the dry season by two branches, and during the rainy months by various streamlets, through the low and marshy neck of land which divides the two lakes, into the larger or easternmost, whence it discharges itself by a broad stream into the Black Sea, along the foot of the southern walls of the fortress of Varna. The distance from the eastern shore of the lake to the Black Sea is about half an English mile, and the breadth of land between the two lakes, according to the heights of the floods in the dry or wet season, from 1 mile to 1 mile. The Paravati River flows nearly parallel to the Hamus and to the Danube; and considering that from Varna, as well as from Paravati, the distance to Silistria is computed at 24 hours, or 3 days' march, there can be no doubt but that the Paravati River is the Lyginos described by Arrian thus:-" distat id ab Istro, si quis Aemum versus proficiscatur, itinere tridui."* From the description given by the historian, it is evident that he speaks of a river running in the same direction with the Danube at a distance of three days from it, and not falling into the Ister or Danube, as the Lyginos is represented to do by some authorities as well as by the great Austrian map, where this ancient river is made to fall into the Danube at Zibra Palanka, between Nikopolis and Viddin, opposite to some small islands. It is this collateral circumstance of the existence of islands at the mouth of the river at Zibra Palanka which most likely has caused the error, for Arrian speaks of an island of the Lyginost (vide the French translations of that author), whereas river islands, in this part of the country, are only to be found in the Danube. To avoid this apparent difficulty the German translators have altogether omitted the passage referring to the island, and say that after the action with the Thracians, which I have described as having taken place at the defiles of Boghaz or Haramdéré :— "Alexander ascended the heights, advanced against the Triballians across the Hæmus, and arrived at the Lyginos, which is distant from the Danube three days' journey, in the direction of the Hæmus. 66 * Syrmus, the King of the Triballians, informed long before of Alexander's “Απέχει δὲ οὗτος ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἴστρου ὡς ἐπὶ τὸν ̔Αίμον ἰόντι σταθμοὺς τρεῖς.” Arrian says nothing about an island in the Lyginos. The author has apparently been misled by the French translation.-W. J. H. Dr. Borheck, Frankfort-o.-M. Edit. 1790, and others. VOL. XXIV. G |