were then engaged with fome of our countrymen in a fhooting
party, and in traverfing the mountains, I had a diftinft view of
Menimen. It is fituated on a riling ground by the Hermus, and
appeared a« a nortfiderahle place, with old .caftles. I have fome-
times fufpedted it ,to have been antsiently called Neorrtichos 5 but
thefe parts, with the whole country of fEolia, ,-ftill remain -unexplored.
T he Hermus, which in ithe "winter had fpr.ead a wads flood
over the -plain, now, after paffing Menimen, purfued its way t®
the fea, through low grounds in fome places Aill .under water
j the ftream not wide, but full, and winding [toward the
mouth, by which the foil appeared bare, and as mud undried.
In Hammer -it has a har at the entrance, and is often £hallow.
The plain had -many channels formed by torrents from the
mountains,
N e a r the mouth of the river is a land-bank or Ihoal. The
channel there is very narrow, the land on the oppofrte fide running
.out, and forming a low point, on which ,is a fortrefs ,erei3>
ed;, ,to fecnretfoe .approach :to -the city, foon after the battle ,©£
the .Dardanelles in U656, when the Venetians defeated .the fleet
of -Mahomet the fourth. It is called Sangiac caille, hecanfe the
Grand Signior’s colours are on feme occafions hoifted there.
He si die s the vifible acceffion .of land by theHermus, and on
the margin-of the gulf, feveral banks lie concealed beneath the
water, on either hand, failing apto-Smyrna. The principal one
nest the river., at is faid, was formerly a .dry and green flat;
which Suddenly funk after an earthquake, probably that which
happened in 1739, and was £b great, .as to occafion a general
terror, many families from apprehension abandoning their houfes
after it, and deeping all the fummerin huts in their gardens .and
court-yards. Ships often go upon it, without much danger, and
are foon afloat again, if the wind fet in. The end is driven out
in .an elbow toward the Sangiac caftie by a flrong current from
the
77
the bay of old Smyrna; but the head is firmly fixed, and it will
gradually re-emerge,and become dry and green as.before. Ihave
failed often by ihoals on .the .feme fide as the. .-cattle in the way
to the olive-groves, which, I was told, »had »rifen. above.the fur-
face of the fea, within a few years. On one »or two of them was
a .hut belonging to fame poor fifhermen.
T'H* beautiful and e-xtenfive plains, which were of old regarded
as peculiar to ‘the country, have -been juftly filed -the
offspring of its rivers. The Hermus, the»Cayfter, and the Ma-
ander, were each noted for producing new land; and had each
a dilfoidt aptly called by its name, as by that of the parent.
'T he mouth of the Hermus has been continually fluffing and
■ changing place in confequence of the encroachments made on
the fea. Hence Pliny writes, “ The town of Temnos has been,
but the rodks called Myrmeces, The Pifmires, within the extremity
of the gulf, now are, at the mouth ofthe Hermus.” It is
at prefent much nearer to -Smyrna than appears in the maps in
general, and perhaps than it was a Few centuries ago.
T he fame author mentions, that Leuce, then a promontory
In the Smyrnean gulf, had once been an ifland. This fpot had
on it a fmall town of the feme name, founded in the fecond year
of the ninety ninth Olympiad by Tachos a Perfian malecontent,
who died foon after. The people of Cyme and of Clazomene
contended for it, and agreed to fubrnit their caufe to the deci-
fion of the oracle at Delphi, when the Pythia gave Leuce to the
claimant, which thould firft fecrifice there in the temple of
Apollo. The Clazomenians were the more remote, but by their
management obtained the place. Ariftonicus, an illegitimate fon.
of king Eumenes, got poffeflion of it on the death of Attalus
Philometor. The Roman conful Craflus was fent againft him,
and killed fighting near it.
I t