having been satisfied by displacing them. Occasionally in the line of tombs are circular seats, as at Pompeii; but these ruins are on a considerably larger scale than those of the Roman city, and many of the remains are equally perfect. Several are highly ornamented, and have inscriptions; others are as large as temples, being twenty or thirty feet. square: the usual length of the sarcophagus* is from ten to twelve feet.

My guide called every ruin an "old castle;" and even with these tombs open before him, he said that he was ignorant that they were such, till an Englishman who was here six years ago informed him. He supposed the chambers, or large sarcophagi, were for the angel or spirit to wait in. The Turk's grave has a stone at the head and foot, with a turban or rag upon it, and is planted with cypress-trees. In returning to the town I found a wall of the very early and singular style called Cyclopean, considered to be older

*The Anglicised word sarcophagus is a Roman one, of not very early date. The Greek term on all tombs is Soros. Pliny says that a peculiar stone, found in the territory of Assos, has the property of wasting the bodies entombed in it; hence the term sarcophagus, meaning 'flesh-eating.'

than the common architecture of the Greeks. It is here clearly proved to be so by the Greeks having repaired this wall, and built over it with the beautifully squared stones of their later style.

This town is perfectly open to the antiquarian, and seems preserved for his examination, appearing to have been unoccupied since its destruction, and inscriptions being exposed on innumerable stones. Many tombs of a Greek date remain unopened. There appears no trace of the Romans, nor, except in the instances I have noticed, of the Christians. The material of which the town was built not being fine, the sculpture is not of much value, but the hardness of the stone has combined with its want of intrinsic worth to preserve the inscriptions.

The Turks have no traditions of the country, and are more ignorant than can be conceived, being not only unlearned, but resolved not to learn. They call all buildings which they have not themselves constructed, whether bridge, bath or aqueduct, temple, theatre or tomb, all Esky kalli, "old castle." The uses of the two latter buildings are unknown to the Musselmans, and they can scarcely comprehend even visible objects. When curiosity has led them to examine my baggage, or the spring-lock of my carpet-bag, they have, after I have given a simple explanation, turned away, saying, "I cannot understand." At Smyrna, the

Governor and the Judge both made a tour of the Consul's dining-room, fingering everything on the side-board, and asking questions like children.

The horses in Asia Minor are shod with plates of thin iron, thus,

The nails project considerably and a small square hole is left in the centre to admit air and moisture, but not large enough to catch a stone. The wear is almost wholly upon the nails, and the plate is little thicker than tin. I do not remember to have seen any specimen of ancient Greek sculpture with shoes on the horses.

The houses of the villages in Turkey seem very much alike. I have been into many, and will describe the one appointed for me last night at Beahráhm. On the outside it looked like a square box, and the inside measured from twelve to fourteen feet: it was built of stones, of all shapes, put together with mud. The roof was flat and covered with earth; a small roller, generally a piece of a column, lying on the top to make this compact, in order to keep out the wet. There was no window, and consequently light was admitted only by the door, which had no lock or fastening, except a piece of wood suspended over the top withinside, and falling down when the door shut, whilst on the outside hung a peg, with which this inside fastening might be pushed up on entering. The walls and floors were of mud, mixed with short pieces of straw; the roof was a tree laid across, and boards placed transversely; the interior was black with the smoke from a large open fire-place, and on entering, the house appeared quite dark.

The lamps here are of tin or earthenware, and of the beautiful forms used by the Greeks and Romans.

S

8

When the traveller arrives, the owner of the house, or servant appointed by the authorities, sweeps out the room and puts down a mat, the only article of furniture provided. My servant presses into the walls three or four nails, on which to hang his gun, whip, our caps, and my hood; and then places the hammock and mattress upon the carpet, whilst the canteen-box serves for table, spread with food, papers, sketch-book, or whatever I may desire. Any one who were to see the travellers' room thus occupied, would acknowledge it to be extremely enjoyable. Hitherto I have retained my English habits, am never required to smoke, and have tasted Turkish coffee but once since I entered Asia that specimen was not at all to my liking, which will be readily believed when I describe the process of making it. Each cup is made separately, the little saucepan or ladle in which it is prepared being about an inch wide and two deep; this is more than half filled with coffee, finely pounded with a pestle and mortar, and then filled up with water: after being placed for a few seconds on the fire, the contents are poured or rather shaken out, (being much thicker than chocolate,) without the addition of cream or sugar, into a china cup, of the size and shape of half an egg-shell, which is inclosed in one of ornamented metal of the same form, for convenience of holding in the hand,

:

"Gold cups of filigree, made to secure

The hand from burning, underneath them placed."

March 3rd.-I left Beahráhm at half-past eight o'clock this morning, and travelled until five in the evening, a distance of about thirty miles. The first part of the road lay over barren hills, and it was only in the valleys and ravines that the rich evergreens and the pink blossom of the almond, with hundreds of Angora goats browsing upon them, reminded me in what country I was rambling. On descending I came to lower hills, covered with a most beautiful species

of oak, which exceeds our own in size; the acorn, or rather its cup, is exported in large quantities to Europe for dye: the planes also were enormous. I am much struck with the beauty of the trees in this country.

As we approached Doósler, about sixteen miles on our way, a range of hills lay before us clothed with little vegetation, and the valley below seemed barren, the greater part of it looking like fields covered by a flood; but as we approached, I found that these expanses of waters were saltpans. The face or cliff of these barren hills (barren from the nature of their soil,) was singularly beautiful, and strongly resembled Alum Bay in the Isle of Wight, the strata being considerably inclined, and delicately coloured in ribbons of red, grey, white, and green, of every shade, all softened by a pearly film of transparent salt, which had filtered over the face of the cliff: on closer examination I found that the whole of these colours were caused by a soft, fine, adhering sand, like fuller's-earth to the touch. The hills now became less lofty, and were entirely clothed with oak: the collecting of the large acorn and shells and the gall-nut (the formation of an insect disease) for dye employs the people for great part of the year; indeed this labour and attending the goats seem their sole occupation.

The composition of these hills is limestone, but as we approached Alexandria Troas they became a mass of shells, with scarcely any combining earth; one of them, about two miles east of the ancient city, has many hot springs, strongly chalybeate, but my thermometer only indicated a temperature of 140°, to which the mercury rose quickly; I do not think it would in any of them have far exceeded that height, as many were only 135° and 137°, varying according to the nature of the apertures whence the water gushed. The whole of the hills that I have mentioned are surrounded on the south-east and north-east by a chain of bare craggy mountains, of the grey granite of which all the columns