Lynchburg Virginian

SKETCHES OF TURKEY.

From Commodore Porter's Letters.

THE SITE OF ANCIENT TROY.

You tell me that you will not forgive me if I do not make a pilgrimage to Troy, and give a description of it. I have it fortunately in my power to do so : having, only three days since, drank from the sources of the Scamander, and from that very source too which Hector leaped over when pursued by Achilles, and where Trojan dames, before the war, washed their linen, as well as themselves ; a pure crystal stream gushing from a limestone rock, cool and delicious.

"Like crystal clear, and cold as winter snows.

I here Trojan dames (ere yet alarm'd by Greece)

Washed their fair garments in the days of peace."

I have drank from that very stream, the description of which you will find in the twenty-second book of the Iliad; and I have surveyed from the top of the "high Watchtower," mentioned in the same book, the whole plain of Troy.

After an early breakfast, we landed in a bay opposite to a group of islands, called on the chart Rabbit Islands. I believe the ancients did not notice them, and had no name for them. This bay is about half way between Tenedos and the mouth of the Dardanelles. It is believed to be the same where the Grecian galleys were hauled up. Here a branch of the Scamander, or rather a mill-race cut from the Scamander by the Captain Pacha, to whom the plain belongs, discharges itself.

We walked from thence to the mill, about a mile and a half distant, without seeing any thing whatever that indicated in the slightest degree that a city, ancient or modern, had ever existed, or that it had even been the abode of man. The whole was one barren dreary waste, giving growth to a species of coarse prickly grass, through which it was somewhat difficult to make our way.

We had on our left what moderns call the Tomb of Menelaus, a mound of earth about one hundred feet high, and as many at the base, and exactly like our Indian barrows. My impression is, that it was intended as a signal tower. The one mentioned by Homer, on the top of which I was is perfectly similar, as are the mounds called the tomb of Antilochus, Achilles, Patroclus, and Ajax. And this opinion is reasonable from the distance which separates them, which is such as enables a person to see objects distinctly with the naked eye ; for we do not know that the ancients had telescopes.

On arriving at the mill, which is constructed in the rudest manner, and works, like our tub mills, four pair of stones, we found a Greek and his family of wretched looking, dirty, half-starved children, lodged in some filthy and miserable looking hovels. From hence, after much difficulty, we got two horses, with which we proceeded to a Greek village, about five or six miles off, to procure others for the rest of the party, there being four of us. Here we were delayed some time at a small shop, which we entered for shelter from the scorching rays of the sun. During our stay we received a polite message from the Aga by a noble looking Turkish soldier, inviting us to take coffee with him, which we accepted. On entering his house we found a fine, handsome man, of about thirty-five years of age, richly dressed, who met us with the manners of a perfect gentleman, and a man of the world. He asked us to be seated, when pipes and coffee were presented. The conversation was carried on chiefly in Turkish, but sometimes in Italian.

Although there was nothing outside the kiosk that indicated even comfort, there was within it great luxury. The small and slightly elevated platform which surrounded the inside was covered with rich carpets and mats ; the earthen floor was sprinkled with water to refresh it: and numerous flower pots filled with mignonette, gave a delightful odour to the air.

The appearance of the village was miserable in the extreme. It is inhabited by Greeks who cultivate the extensive plains of Troy, now belonging to the Captain Pacha. It is the office of the Aga to collect for him the revenues derived therefrom, which is done, as the poor Greeks informed me, with great rigor.

On leaving the Aga we mounted our horses, and guided by a Greek, proceeded to the site of ancient Troy, a distance of nine or ten miles, without meeting a human being or a habitation. The greater part of this distance was a barren, uncultivated waste, covered with scrub oaks from four to five feet high, from which they gather the gall nut. Our guide pointed out to us, what he called, the walls of Troy, a piece of stone masonry level with the ground, about three feet thick, and eight or nine feet long. Also some stones, which were evidently the ruins of some half a dozen houses, quite small, from their shape, position and number, compared with other establishments I have seen. I have no doubt of their having belonged to farm houses, perhaps of no very ancient date.

From thence we proceeded to the sources of the Scamander, at one of which we found a granite column, about ten feet in length, protecting one side of the fountain ; while on the other, there were large slabs of beautiful white marble, which, from their size, shape, and the mortices in their edges, had in ancient times served as a lining for it.

A quarter of a mile from this stands a Turkish village, attached to which is a graveyard, and the graves are marked with the shafts of small marble and granite columns, from their appearance very ancient. On a hill, adjoining the village, we found a number of marble and granite columns, standing erect, of a considerable size, with only about one third of their length above the ground. I should judge, from what was visible of them, their whole length must have been from twenty-five to thirty feet. We found here also marble door sills, such as are met with in Pompeii ; and other marbles which were used by the ancients to encrust and decorate the exterior of their houses.

These are said to be the remains of the palace of Priam, on the site of which now stands a miserable Turkish block house, built of sun-burnt bricks.

Near this is a private burying-ground, entirely enclosed with large and beautiful slabs of white marble, every way similar to those we found at the fountain. There was near this also an enormous square block of granite, evidently of great antiquity, with a hole in the upper side in the form of our mortices, a foot in diameter, and about the same in depth. The inhabitants of the village use it to pound their grain in, and, for aught I know, it may have been used for the same purpose in the days of Priam. There were close by this granite block some large pieces of white marble, placed there for the Turks who visit the mosque to mount their horses from.

What I have described is all that is visible of ancient Troy. I asked our guide what they were supposed to be ? He told me Genoese ruins, and this is their reply universally ; for they have no notion of high antiquity than the period when the Genoese occupied part of Turkey and the islands.

History informs us that Alexander built Alexandria Troas, which the natives call Eske Stamboul. This is situated on the sea shore, opposite Tenedos, but we had not time to visit it. In erecting the public buildings there, he no doubt recollected that at Troy there were columns and other valuable specimens of granite and marble at hand, which accounts for the few remaining at Troy.

When Constantinople was building, we know that they supplied themselves with the marble, &c. of Eske Stamboul, so that scarcely any thing but the walls of the latter remain to mark its situation. To look for the materials of these ancient cities you must visit the mosques and other public buildings of Constantinople, and the batteries of the Dardanelles ; in which latter you will find large piles of marble and granite balls, of from 500 to 800 pounds, made from the columns of Eske Stamboul, to suit the enormous cannon mounted in them.

This is all I have seen and know of Ancient Troy ; and as all travellers whose accounts I have read, declare that there is no indication at the spot pointed out that such a city ever existed, I can testify that there is abundant proof to corroborate the description given by Homer, whose story has been pronounced by some to be nothing more than a beautiful fable.