168

DEPRECIATION OF THE CURRENCY.

piastre at present is only a small copper coin, lightly washed over with silver. At Smyrna I heard it said repeatedly that large quantities of this coin were manufactured in Birmingham, and shipped to Turkey as hardware. In this case, the profit is immense, as the intrinsic value is scarcely one fourth of that for which they are taken in business, and yet they are purer than the Turkish issue.

AVIROMASTI.-ADRAMYT.

169

CHAPTER XXI.

PERGAMUS TO THE PLAIN OF TROY.

Disappointment.-Avriomasti.— Adramyt.-A Manœuvre. A Mountain Journey.-Mount Gargarus.-An Accident.-Plain of Berimitch.-Mount Ida. The Scamander.-Ennæ.-Lower Chain of Ida.-Plain of Troy.Bounarbachi.-Site of Ancient Troy.-The Tomb of Hector.-View of the

Plain.

It was our intention to scale the mountains directly northward by a wild pass six hours to Kemoreh, and thence three hours to Adramyt, at the head of the gulf, and thence over Mount Ida to Troy. But our surrogees deceived us, and went so far down the valley westward towards the sea that we were obliged to proceed by the coast, and lodge at Avriomasti. Although we lost a day by this movement, and the old surrogees made 200 piastres, yet we had a pleasant ride along the coast, off which the beautiful island of Mitylene lay, so close at hand as to show its white Greek villages, situated on the declivities of its hills, amid olive-groves and vineyards.

The Plain of Avriomasti resembled that of St. Jean d'Acre, and, like it, was without inhabitants, and but little cultivated. The ride from Avriomasti to Adramyt was exceedingly agreeable, and occupied nine hours, the last three of which, as well as the first three of next day's journey, were spent in the plains around the head of the gulf, covered with olive-groves of sufficient extent, one would think, to supply a nation with oil. Ships were lying off at anchor, receiving the oil, brought down by carts. This was the first and only instance in which I remember to have seen wheels used in the East in the VOL. II.-P

170

A MANOEUVRE. A MOUNTAIN JOURNEY.

transaction of business; the camel and the donkey generally bear the burdens there.

Adramyt was a populous, active village, and we thought well of the place, for it afforded us fair lodgings in the khan. Next morning we determined to be ahead of our surrogees, and without their knowledge engaged a guide to conduct us directly over Mount Ida to Berimitch, in the upper plain of the celebrated Scamander. This took them all aback, as they had intended to carry us a journey of three days along the coast, around the western extremity of Ida, which forms the promontory of Baba, and thence by the ruins of Alexandria Troas to the plains of ancient Troy. They growled, scolded, threatened; but three hours from Adramyt we turned short to the right, and commenced ascending the mountains, following up a stream whose crystal waters rushed headlong to the plain, soothing in its passage a company of Turks, who sat under two immense sycamores, smoking their pipes and drinking coffee; while their women sat apart at some distance, shrouded in immense white wrappers, and seemed like ghosts just emerged from the gloomy cypress grove at hand, shading the deserted cemetery, now several miles distant from human habitations.

We were three hours scaling the steep, rocky declivities, now and then winding through deep dells shaded with pines and planes. Occasionally the views were magnificent, commanding the gulfs of Adramyt, Sanderli, and Smyrna, and the adjacent islands, among which were Mitylene and Scio. The mountain range has three distinct regions: the lower, which is cultivated; the middle, covered with dense forests, still affording lurking-places for the lynx, the tiger, and the panther; and the upper, covered with eternal ice and snow.

The grandest summit of this upper icy world is Mount Gargarus, which impended over us on the right, and sends down torrents from a thousand snow-springs to feed the Granicus and the Scamander. Homer has well described it as the spring-nourishing Ida.

About noon, our baggage-horse was jogging along, with our provision-baskets projecting far over his sides, when, on the verge of a precipice on the right, he struck the basket on the left against a tree, which whirled him over the steep. He fell on his back, with his head downward, and his feet in the air; but the quilts and luggage made him a soft bed. As soon as the ropes were cut loose so as to disengage him from the load, away he went, first sliding, then rolling down the hill sixty feet into a small creek. I thought, of course, that he was killed, but he immediately rose to his feet, shook himself, and walked off, biting at the herbage as he went, In twenty minutes the load was on him again, and we were under way.

The mountains were covered with heavy forests of pines, which were hacked and hewed on every side, in order to extract the turpentine for the use of the government. Sometimes the path was good, frequently bad, and occasionally dangerous. At one o'clock I observed that the springs began to send their streams to the north; at two, the descent was rapid, and the declivities covered with pines deeply rooted in a rich soil. Suddenly the plain of the Upper Scamander opened out far below us, presenting a vast circular expanse, enclosed on all sides by mountains, and varied by hills and dales, the one beautifully wooded, and the other richly covered with young grain.* The Scamander (now called Menderé) was seen at intervals, like a silver

* It is now called the Plain of Berimitch, from its chief town.

thread woven into the rich foliage. It was one of the most inspiring and gratifying sights I had yet witnessed. Far to the northwest, the mountains appeared like a low wall upon the horizon. In that direction we had expected, from the brow of Ida, to have seen the Mediterranean, the Hellespont, and the mountains of Thrace. All that I had read had led me to expect that the plain of Troy extended from the foot of Ida to the sea. This is not the case. From the base of Gargarus, the highest part of the superior range, where are the sources of the Scamander, this upper plain extends towards the sea, to the inferior range of Ida already mentioned, through which the river finds a narrow, romantic passage of eight or ten miles in length, to the classic plain of Troy, which extends from the north side of this lower range, that shuts in the upper valley, six or seven miles down to the sea.

On the declivity of Ida we halted at three o'clock and rested an hour, the half of which I devoted to sleep on the grass. The remainder of the descent led us through forests of pines, thousands of which had been uprooted or shivered by a tremendous hurricane. Near the base of the mountain we came upon the virgin stream of the Scamander, which gushes from the rocks a little distance above, rushes headlong into the plain, and then quietly winds its way to the Hellespont. Sunset brought us to a nameless little hamlet, where we took up our lodgings in the upper story of the best house, while our horses occupied the lower. The women supplied us with bread, milk, eggs, and chickens, and our own stores with tea, sugar, &c.

At half past six next morning we departed for Berimitch, the principal town in the valley of the Scamander. The road lay among hills richly wooded, or covered to