CASTLES OF EUROPE AND ASIA.-BAY OF STEIN. 249

to the castles of Asia and Europe. Here the mountains press upon the waters, and confine them within straits scarcely half a mile wide. Two massive gray castles stand in the edge of the water, one on either hand, and are the northern keys of the capital, as the castles of Anatolia and Roumelia at the Dardanelles are the southern. Here Darius, by means of a floating bridge, crossed on his Scythian expedition; at this point Xenophon led back his Ten Thousand again to Europe; here Godfrey of Bouillon, with his host of Crusaders, crossed on his way to Palestine; and at this point Mohammed the Second, who built the castles, ferried over his troops to besiege the city.

Above the castles, the villages, kiosks, and palaces are placed at some distance from each other, and their positions are regulated by the little bays and promontories, which correspond so well, that if the two continents were advanced until they met, their rocky indentations and projections would fit into each other so as to close up the passage. The chasm of the Bosphorus lies not through a valley, but through mountains, which press down to the water on each side, and doubtless has been produced by some convulsion of nature before the period of authentic history.

Shortly after passing the castles we entered the little Bay of Stein, the scene of many bloody naval engagements. An hour more brought us to Therapia, a beautiful village, remarkable for its salubrity and situation. It was once called Pharmacia, because here Medea, in pursuit of Jason, cast poison on the shore. Before the Greek Revolution, it was the residence of the princely Greek families, whose palaces the Sultan seized, and gave as presents to the representatives of the European powers. Hence Therapia has become the summer resi

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THERAPIA.-FORTS AND BATTERIES.

dence of the corps diplomatique-the Brighton of Constantinople, where court fêtes and balls are held. It was during the absence of Sir Robert Gordon, the English ambassador, as I have before said, at a ball given by him in Therapia, that the British ambassador's palace in Pera was recently destroyed.

On the north side of Therapia the Gulf of Buyukdere opens deep into the European shore, at the mouth of the only valley of any size on the Bosphorus. It extends several miles inward, and is spanned by a lofty aqueduct, whose ranges of white arches, rising one above another, are seen in the distance to great advantage. Opposite the Gulf of Buyukdere is the Giant's Mountain, the loftiest in the vicinity, on whose summit two dervishes reside, to guard the gigantic tomb of Joshua, strangely enough transferred from Palestine to Bithynia.

Emerging from the Gulf, the expanse of the gloomy Euxine is seen in the distance, through the deeply-sunken, narrow chasm of the Bosphorus, whose shores are hallowed by the sites and remains of temples and altars erected by the Argonauts, the Greeks, the Romans, the Christians, and the Moslems. On every commanding position is a fortress or battery, whose open-mouthed cannon bear point-blank on the hull of the passing ship. They are so numerous and so distributed that a vessel is never beyond the reach of a battery, and it would seem impossible that a fleet could pass between these double lines of cannon, a distance of twenty miles from the Euxine to the city, without being blown to pieces.

Escaping from the "Ocean Stream," as Lord Byron calls the Bosphorus, we rowed to the European group of the Cyanean rocks (the Symplegades of the ancients), and looked abroad upon the stormy Euxine as our caique rose and fell amid the same dangerous breakers

through which Jason passed with the loss of the stern of his ship. Here we took leave of the track of the Argonauts, who adventured into the sea, which was then called Axinos, or unfriendly to strangers, but, owing to their successful expedition, and the opening of this highway to commerce and wealth, was afterward called Euxinos, or friendly to strangers.

We were five hours ascending from the city to the Black Sea. At one point the current was so strong against us that it was necessary to tow our caique for half a mile. The return voyage was accomplished in three hours.

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RETURN OF CIVILIZATION.

CHAPTER XXXI.

THE TURKISH

EMPIRE.

Return of Civilization from West to East.-The Empire of Mohammedanism. -Its rapid and extensive Diffusion.-Fall of Constantinople.-The Turks at Vienna.-Defeat.-Rise of Russian Power.-Virtual Extinction of the Ottoman Empire.-Its present Prospects.-Internal Weakness of Turkey. --Decay of Trade. Decrease of Population.-Frankland's Account-Elliott's-Sandys', two hundred years ago.

THE attention of the Western World is turned strongly to the East. Human influences and the movements of Providence have reversed the direction they had maintained for the last thousand years, and are now returning from the New World to renovate the Old. Those indestructible principles of society, morality and religion, which the West received from the East, have produced their legitimate fruits in elevating young and barbarous nations to the highest state of civilization and power, and these now seek to repay the blessed boon by redistributing those principles eastward for the renovation of the decrepit nations of the Old World. In the way of this distribution and renovation lies the vast empire of Mohammedanism, which has long covered the fairest portions of Europe, Asia, and Africa. This empire, rising upon the ruins of Christian nations, spread itself over every spot of earth consecrated in the sacred history both of Jews and Christians. It extinguished the light of Christianity, and wellnigh blotted out the name of Christ in the East. The principal churches were changed into mosques, and tribute or death was the alternative offered the vanquished Christian; and it frequently happened that when the first had been paid,

THE EMPIRE OF MOHAMMEDANISM.

253

until even tyranny itself could wring out no farther contribution, death was the penalty of failure. Yet such were the mutual jealousies of the Christian nations of the West, and the bitter hatreds between the various sects of the Church everywhere, that instead of combining to resist a common enemy, whose avowed motive of conquest was to extinguish or degrade all other religions but their own, they not unfrequently joined the common foe against their brethren. The rapidity with which the successors of Mohammed made their conquests spread dismay among the nations, and the immense wealth which they acquired by plunder, and the vast armies they marshalled as if by enchantment, gave a prestige to their name which was more powerful than their military prowess.

When the empire of the Caliphs, in the twelfth century, gave symptoms of decay, a semi-barbarous people, that had been converted to Mohammedanism long before, descended from the mountainous districts of Central Asia, and, animated by the same invincible fanaticism that had inspired the immediate successors of Mohammed, carried the triumphs of the Crescent northward beyond the Danube, and westward to the shores of Italy. Constantinople alone remained to represent the empire of Christianity in the East. On the 29th of May, 1453, she fell, burying the last and the greatest of the Constantines in the breach through which the Turks passed into the capital. The conquerors, hurrying to the great Cathedral of St. Sophia, pulled down the Cross, and erected the Crescent in its stead. From henceforth the capital of the first Christian emperor became the capital of the commander of the forces of the False Prophet. Europe felt the shock, and awoke to a sense of her danger. She saw the enemy of her religion VOL. II.-Y