The Sun.
London, England, 1853-12-03 00:00:00

THE EitTN. L

N`DON2 •

GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY.

A meeting of this society was held on Monday night,
Lord Colchester, R.N., in the chair.
After the election and admission of new members,
The CHAIRMAN announced to the society that the sub-
scription for erecting a monument to Lieutenant Bellot
bad now reached the sum of 1,5001.
A paper by General JOCHMUS, ex-Minister of Foreign
Affairs to the Germanic Empire of 1848, communicated
through Sir Roderick Murchison, was then read, des-
cribing a journey undertaken in September and October
of the year 1847, into the Balkan, or Mount Hsamus of
the ancients, with an account of the defiles through this
celebrated mountain range, and a comparison of the
routes pursued by Darius Hytaspes, Alexander the
Great, and Marshal Diebitsch. The principal passages
of the paper are as follows :

RECAPITULATION OF DISTANCES.—Serai to Wysa, 4
hours ; do. to Bunarhissar, 8 hours ; do. to Jena, 9
hours : do. to Kikkelisia, 13 hours. We proceeded in
the afternoon to Dewletagatch, 7 hours' distance, by the
Turkish village of Ereki (50 fires), 4 hours ; and another,
Bulgarian (about 45 fires) 6 hours from. Kirkkelisia,
seeing en route a couple of depehs, and having several
times on our left, as the road meanders through the hill
country before reaching Ereki, a mountain, apparently
V, hours distant, crowned by picturesque ruins, called
Eski, or Samopolis by the peasantry. Our ride lay over
barren, stony highlands, chiefly covered with underwood
but showing generally along the different rivulets grass
and arable soil, and numerous vineyards in the neigh-
bourhood of the villages. At nightfall, after having tra-
versed a temporary gipsy encampment, we reached the
new Bulgarian colony of Dewletagatch, holding about 40
houses. The village is recovering only slowly from its total
destruction during the late war, although situated in the
rich valley of the T4k4 river, which the traveller is
obliged to cross in its meandering course three times
before he reaches the village from the southern side, and
as often on leaving it, in the northern direction, by the
high road to the Balkan. This main branch of the Tek4
river is the most considerable water-course (not except-

ing the affluent of the same river an hour before
kelisia) which crosses the main route from Bunarhissar to
the foot of the Haemns, in the direction of Aidos and
Misivria ; and there can be no doubt that it is the Ar-
biskus of Herodus, even if its modern name of T4k4 did
not etymologically show the identity. Darius, on his
arrival at the Artiscus, " which flows through the coun-
try of the Odryssae," is said to have fixed on a certain
spot, and to have commanded every one of his sol-
diers to throw a stone as he passed ; this was done ac-
cordingly, and Darius, having thus raised an immense
pile of stones, proceeded on his march (Melp., lib. iv., sec.
92). This pile of loose stones is not to be found near
Dewlet, but just opposite the village, upon the heights
on the eastern bank of the Artiscus, or T6ke, are still
to be seen six large tepehs, or tumuli, and it is likely
that the same spot, as the most conspicuous eminence
of the neighbourhood, was also chosen by Darius for his
head-quarters, and for the erection of the commemora-
tory pile. His army was encamped along the river.
Its winding bed and the adjoining low grounds are cover-
ed in this part of its course with innumerable large loose
stones, a circumstance which probably caused Darius to
give the pre-Cited order to his soldiers. The double con-
dition of an immense mass of loose stones in and near the

bed of the only watercourse with propriety called " river"
on the line of march pursued by Darius from Bunarhissar
to the Balkan indicates the immediate neighbourhood
of Dewletagatch as the station mentioned by Heredotus
in the King's further advance towards the later, or
Danube, which was preceded by the defeat of the
Getae, and the submission of the people and towns along
the Black Sea, from Midia or Salmidessus to Mesam-
bria of Misivrio. So far, the general line of operations
of Darius appear to be clear. He crossed the Bosphorus
on a bridge of boats, connecting the two continents at
the site of the present new castles of Asia and Europe
(Gibbon and Herod., Melp. iv., sec. 87), encamped suc-
cessively at the sources of the Tearus (Bunarhissar) and
on the banks of the Tek4 or Artiskus (at Dewletagach),
and following the direction of Burgas and Aiholi, and
submitting the sea towns, he passed afterwards the
Balkan by the defiles parallel to the sea coast, from Mi-
sivria, to lowan Derwish, moving thus from south to
north by the same roads which were chosen by Generals
Roth and Rudiger, and by _Marshal Diebitsch himself,
from north to south, in 1829. The Russians also, in
1828, and Darius, about 2,300 year before them, passed
the Danube "at that part of the river where it begins
to branch off" (Melp. iv., sec. 89), that is near the
modern Issatscha. Sunday, Oct. 3.—From Dewleta-
gatch, northwards, the country becomes finer. Hitherto
it had a character of rather barren highlands, partly
covered with underwood, and intersected by numerous
rivulets, and now and then by rich valleys. A more
luxuriant vegetation becomes now predominant, and the
cultivation of the soil improves, especiallyas one approaches
Kizilski Klesi, four hours from Dewlet. Park scenery,
chiefly along the banks of a rivulet, for the remaining
hour, conducts to Faky, a post station in times of war, but
now unable to supply us with animals for our onward jour-
ney. Longdisputes arise between my sabtieh Ali Aga and
the tschor-badshis, who are accused by him of having
driven their horses in the woods (most likely being
afraid of not being paid the hire). At last Ali Aga decides
that he will take on our Kirkkelesia horses of far as Aidos,
threatening the tschor-badshis with the wrath of the
Ferik commanding there, in the evident hope of extort-
ing from them a good backshish, if on his return he pro-
mises to be silent. The whole seven hours of our after-
noon's ride from Faky to Rusukastro lie through a fine
oak forest, extending several hours right and left over a
hill country, with occasionally open, but uncultivated,
though naturally rich soil. Half-way we get a cup of
coffee from the dervend guard, established in a log-hut
by the roadside. Like most dervendsides in lonely posi-
tion; these people eke out their scanty pay by furnishing
an excellent and refreshing draught of coffee to the weary
traveller. The sturdy mountaineer, or Albanian guards-
man, armed to the teeth with pistols, yatagan, and
sword, squats down to prepare a cup of the favourite
Eastern beverage, whilst he suspends his musket, ready
for eventual use, on a neighbouring tree. At four hours
from Faky is the Bulgarian village of Carabuner (30
fires), on a d4r6 or rivulet running into the Gulf of Bur-
gas. A kind and truly Turkish hospitable reception
awaits us for the night at Rusukastro, a tschiftlik, or
great farm, administered by Ahmed Effendi, for Abdul
Ehad Aga, of Drama, himself an intendant of Wehidgi
Pacha. On the tschiftlik are five Turkish and thirty
five Bulgarian houses • its vast grounds are but indiffe-
rently cultivated. "Rusukastro was plundered and
burnt in 1829 by the revolted rayahs, not by the Rus-
sians," added Ahmed Effendi, " who usually behaved
much better during the war than our own Christian sub-
jects. Sultan Mahmoud, however, forbade us to punish
the latter after the war ; on the contrary, they kept what
they have taken, and they are ready again to rob and
murder the sons of Islam, if the tide of war brings back
here the Russian armies." A report was prevalent at
Rusukastro that there were just now a good many rob-
bers and military marauders in the defiles and approaches
of the Balkan, and especially in the district of Aidos, ;
but as the road to the latter place lies over open ground,
I declined an additional escort, very readily prof-
fered by Ahmed Effendi. Distances :—Kirkkelisia to
Erekli, 4 hours ; do. to Dewletagatch, 7 hours ; do. to
Topshiler,* 8f hours ; do. to Kaibilar,t 94 hours ; do.
to Kizilski Klesi, 11 hours ; do. to Faky,:t: 12 hours ;
do. to Carabuner, 16 hours ; do. to Rusukastro, 19
hours ; do. to Benli,§ 204 hours ; do. to Kutsehuk Ali, II
23 hours ; do. to Aidos, 24 hours. The whole road
from Constantinople to Kirkkelisia, and thence to
Aidos, is a good country road for carts and artillery, ex-
cept in the rainy season, when it is soft and muddy,
and eventually nearly impracticable. Oct. 4. The un-
dulating soil between Rusukastro and Aidos is generally
fertile. The waters run off in the direction of the lakes
and marshy grounds towards Burgas. In the " Expe-
dicion de los Catalanes y Aragoneses contra Turcos y
Griegos," por el Conde de Osona, it would appear that
Montaner must allude to Burgos and its marshy neigh-
bourhood when he speaks of an important Byzantine
arsenal on the Black Sea coast, good forty leagues from
Paccia, Rodisto, and Modico, calling it " Estanara,
pueblo de mucho trato, donde se fabricaren la mayor
parte de los navios de Thracia (in the beginning of the
14th century). Ganado el lugar, acometieron los navios
y galeras del puerto, que afirma Montaner que fueron 150
vexeles. Fu4 notable el espectAculo de aquel dia, porque
turbado el orden de la misma naturaleza anegaren de
tierra, rompiendo algunos diques que detenian el
agua de las acdquias y en el mar pegaron fuego h los
navios, sirviendo los elementos de ministros de su
venganza, y saliendo de sus limites y juridiccion para
ruins, de sus contrarios, parceian que volvian a su primur
confusion segun andaba todo trocado. Murieron nuchos
quemados en el agua, ostros atrogados en la tierra" (cap.
xlii.) Estanara, from the coinciding three conditions o
the forty leagues' distance, of its arsenal, and its marshy
neighbourhood partially protected by dikes, can only be
identified with Burgas. The Turkish Burgas is the
Greek Pyrgos (tower or castle) ; and the Catalans very
probably gave to the present Buigas (on the Black Sea)
the name of Pyrgos of the Stranjea, or, by corruption,
Estanara. Aidos, the chief place of the casa or district
of the same name, at the foot of the Balkan, is situated
on sloping ground, with its 200 Turkish and 100 Bulga-
rian houses, on the banks of a rivulet which flows into a
lake north-west of Burgas. A plain, with ten or eleven
tumuli, in the neighbourhood of the modern town, ex-
tends for a couple of hours west and east, parallel to the
mountain ridge north of Aidos. With the exception of
the tepehs, known to have been erected by the Turkish
armies, the numerous tumuli strewed over the country
between Constantinople and the Balkan are often seen
in clusters of half a-dozen and more, near the chief
usually
suall of
ff a
t
places of modern districts and departments, or in situa-
tions which indicate the sites of ancient towns or resi-
dences northernro srace.
Ther
permanentreminiscences
also n
otthem
of
ooccupationo eor tradi-
tions
y with
itheth present
n
temporary
st inhabitants
the country by Moscow or Scythian nations. Vide the
description by Herodotus of the tumuli erected for their
dead by the Scythians and Thracians (Melp, iv., sec. 71,
and Terps. v., sec. 8). "Ingens aggeritur tumulo tellus"
(Virgil). October s.—From Aidos to Misivria the road
runs for the first four hours over the Aidos mountain
ridge, by Schimanti (30 Turkish fires), and Karatep4
(25 Turkish fires), to Achly (25 Turkish fires), where
again is a cluster of six or seven ancient tumuli--
fine scenery through forests of oak and northern trees,
indicating a considerable elevation of the country,
which is only partially cultivated in the neighbourhood
of the villages. We leave to our right the village of
Glidstra, celebrated for its hot springs, and situate at two-
and-a-half hours' distance from Aides on the direct read to
Misivria. We change horses at Achly, where an ex-
press order of the Governor of Aidos had directed them
to he prepared for our journey to Misivria. To change