site of Abydos. About two-thirds of the guns commanding the
Straits of the Dardanelles are on moveable carriages, but the
remainder are solidly fixed on two huge blocks of wood nearly
level with the Hellespont. The calibre of these ponderous
guns varies from 18 inches to 3 feet in diameter ; and, as
their muzzles project beyond the face of the work, they must
necessarily be loaded outside of the embrasures ; and they are,
in consequence, kept ready to fire at any thing coming within
the direct line. No vessel is permitted to pass except between
sun-rise and sun-set, when a Tezkereh, or pass, must
be obtained from the authorities for this purpose. The
castles and defences are intrusted to a Mir Mirân, or
superior pasha, who resides in the Asiatic castle, around
which is the town, containing about 9000 souls, and several
potteries ; but, owing to the marshes westward, towards the
plains of Troy, it is at certain seasons very unhealthy.
The whole of Mysia, if not a greater extent of territory,
was subject to Priam, whose power is made by Achilles to
extend from the Hellespont and Lesbos to the extremity of
Phrygia.1 A colony appears to have passed into Mysia from
the banks of the Ister,2 but the country was previously occupied
by people from Lydia;3 and hence the ancient Mysians
were considered to be Lydians by some, and Thracians by
others.4
Khodâvendi-kâr, the next tract, stretches eastward from
Bighah to Kodjah-ili, and from the shores of the Propontis
southward to Sultan-Qni, beyond Olympus. It contains
the towns of Yeni-Shehr, Bâzâr-keui, and the district of
Brusa ; and, except that it includes a small portion of the
extremity of Mysia, it represents the western part of
Bithynia.
Kodjah-ili, the adjoining A’yanlik, has that of Boli and
the estuary of the Sakariyah on the east, Khodâvendi-kâr on
the west, and Sultân-Oni on the south. It consists almost
1 Iliad, lib. XXIV., v. 544, 545.
2 Pliny, lib. V., c. xxxii.
8 Herodotus, lib. VII., c. lxxiv.
* Strabo, lib. XII., p. 511.
entirely of two remarkable peninsulas projecting in parallel
directions ; the more southern of which runs into the
Sea of Marmora, and the northern between the latter
and the Euxine. This tract contains the towns of
Kádí-Keui and Iscondar, in addition to Isnikmid, the
seat of government ; and it represents the central part
of Bithynia.
Bòli has the Black Sea on the north, the Eyalet of Kasta-
muní on the east, Kójah-ílí and the lower Sakariyah on the
west; and on the south, portions of the districts of Sultán
Ohi and Angora. It contains the towns of Filiyás, Hisár-
Añlú, and Ereklx on the coast, Oura-shehr to the south,
and Bòli in the interior ; the latter is the seat of government
for this portion of territory, which, together with Kójah-ílí
and the chief part of Sultán Ohi, as well as of Khodá-vendi-
kár, is comprehended within the limits of ancient Bithynia.
The chain of the Taurus has already been followed into this
province : it becomes higher, and its northern branches more
numerous, as it approaches the centre ; and it is still more
elevated towards the western limits, where the country is very
mountainous.
In addition to the affluents of the Sakáríyah, already
noticed, the province is well watered by several considerable
streams ; one of the largest of these is the Filiyás, which,
from its source at the foot of Ya'ilá Tágh, has a N.N.E.
course towards the Black Sea, receiving about midway the
Sóghánlí-sú, a river whose affluents rise far to the eastward,
and so close to those of the Parthenius that they have been
hitherto considered as flowing into the latter, instead of
running westward. One of these affluents, the Aráj, flows
from the western side of the Kastamúní hills, and unites
with a western branch, the Namámlí, or Cherkesh ; and, two
hours from thence, it is augmented by the Sóghánlí-sú coming
S.S.W. through Zafarán Bòli : the trunk thus formed,
having forced a passage through the Orminius range at the
foot of the Sarkhún Yáilá-sí, it subsequently receives the
Milán-sú (Hypius) ; and, having afterwards entered the
Filiyás, or Billseús, the latter runs northward into the
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