Part 18

13. Mufti Gehat 22

14. Tantah 24

15. Pelenga Gehat 22

16. Psyche 22

17. Fouah 20

18. Genah Baharia 20

19. Cervelli 20

20. Satalia 20

21. Washington 18

22. Semuda Gehat 18

23. Timsah 13

State of the Thermometer at Constantinople, from May 6. to June 3. inclusive.

LOWEST AT NIGHT. A. M.

May 6. 46° 8 56° 7. 42 -- -- 8. 45 -- 60 9. 47 -- 56 10. -- -- -- 11. -- -- 57 12. 44 -- 54 13. -- -- -- 14. 49 -- 56 15. 51 -- 55 16. 47 7 52 17. -- -- 55 18. 52 8 58 22. 59 -- 69 23. 52 -- 55 24. -- -- 57 25. 42 -- 51 26. 49 -- 60 27. 58 -- 62 28. 59 -- 69 29. 56 -- 60 30. 55 -- 65 31. 55 -- 64 June 1. 56 -- 58 2. 52 -- 60 3. 55 -- 59

Here it ceased to be an object of remark.

NOTE TO PAGE 24.

This practice of insulting the religion of such as profess a faith different from their own has ever been a characteristic of the Oriental nations, and is illustrative of a passage in the New Testament, which I have not seen explained by any of the commentators: I mean the expression of our Saviour, where he denounces the votaries of avarice, by declaring that "it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God."

For a long time previous to Christ's appearance, it had been usual for the "Sons of Ishmael," or pagan Arabs of Asia Minor, to make hostile incursions into the provincial towns of Judea, and riding their dromedaries into the synagogues, to desecrate the altar in the manner here ascribed to the Turks. In order to put a stop to these enormities, the Jews hit upon the expedient of constructing the doors of their churches so low, that an ordinary-sized man could only enter by stooping; and thus they completely foiled their persecutors, for the disinclination of the Arabs to dismount, even on the most pressing occasions, is well known to such as have travelled among these sons of the Desert. In the hyperbolical phraseology of the East, these diminished apertures were compared to the eye of a needle; and the impossibility of a camel making his way through them, became at length a proverbial expression for any impracticable undertaking.

THE END.

FOOTNOTES:

As we sailed through the strait formed by it and the mainland,--and a very beautiful scene it affords,--I was informed by those on board, that a shoal is marked down upon the ship's chart as being in the centre. Having never before heard the slightest allusion to this fact, I intend to ascertain its accuracy, by actual inspection, at some more favourable opportunity.

"The ridge of the Somma forms a semicircle, the curve of which lies north-east, its two extremities stretching out south-east. The front, which faces the south-west and the cone of Vesuvius, is almost perpendicular; but the side towards the north is a sloping plain, cut lengthwise by deep ravines, and covered with vineyards, except a few hundred feet near the summit, which are clothed with small chestnut and oak trees."--Sketches of Vesuvius, p. 2.

Wingless Victory.

"About 170 yards distant from the warm springs of the Scamander, towards the west, the cold sources are found, throwing out a considerable quantity of water from many openings in the rock. It has been discovered, by the help of a thermometer, which was thrust into a fissure as far as the arm would permit it to go, that this spring is equally warm with the former. The pool, however, which contains the water being of so considerable a size as to suffer it immediately to acquire the temperature of the atmosphere, it must undoubtedly have appeared cold before the invention of an instrument for ascertaining the real degree of heat. It would, therefore, have been thought cold in the days of Homer; and the poet is not incorrect who describes places and things as they appear to the generality of mankind. Several other sources contribute to swell this division of the stream of the Scamander before its junction with the rivulets which proceeds from the warm springs."--Sir W. Gell's Topography of Troy, p. 76.

"The women of Bounarbashi yet frequent the spring, as their predecessors, the Trojan virgins, did before the invasion by the Greeks. The convenience afforded by the blocks of marble and granite to the women of the country, who always beat their linen on stones or boards during the time they are washing, added to the sensible warmth of the water, has, in all probability, continued the practice of resorting to this spring in preference to any other. The Count de Choiseul Gouffier was informed by the Aga of Bounarbashi, that the water threw up a very perceptible steam in the winter; and later experiments, made with the thermometer, prove beyond doubt that this is a warm source."--Ibid.

There, on the green and village cotted hill, is (Flank'd by the Hellespont, and by the sea,) Entombed the bravest of the brave--Achilles,-- They say so--(Bryant says the contrary); And further downward, tall and towering still, is The tumulus--of whom? Heaven knows: 't may be Patroclus, Ajax, or Protesilaus,-- All heroes, who, if living still, would slay us.

Celebrated in history as being the place where the crusaders, under Godfrey of Bulloigne, were encamped.

These pretty diminutive coins are called dust by the common people; a name not at all inapplicable, as in size they resemble the following mark [Symbol: circle], and are thin as a gum wafer. A handful of them scarcely equals a shilling in value.