St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1876-09-15


1 we've all mounted and ready for start
: There were five horses one for eacl
one of us and one for our man whom
! will introduce to you by the name q
: Jones. His real name was Mustapha
! We were To pay il migidea Il day fo
) each of the five horses, the man Jonc
being thrown in,-whO was to take al
the care of the horses, find us places t,
sleep and food to eat, carry our bag
gage on his horse, act as guide, etc, etc
!, 1t was a picturesque cavalcade.
may here state that the horses wer,
respectively, Bay, Gray, Black an,
Brindle, while Jones' was old White
Had for them and at last settled dowI
on their colors. If | should tell yol
that galloped over the Plains of Troy
on ii coal-black stallion. it would h,
but half the story. You would no doubt
think of the famous "Black Hawk,
vermont Boy" OF some other similar
Stced and wonder if it were really one
of the heaven born steedS of Achilles
If on the other hand should tell Won
that ii was about as much work t,
navigate him as it is Il vclocipedc and
that we had gone long distance befor,
| found out that he could gallop at all
You might get nearer the truth.
We had soft Turkish saddles that
were very fair, the principal pecuiarity
being the StirrupS which were plates OF
iron ahont the size of an vo. book
and were admirably adapted to the
horses, us the corners could be used as
>puIs.
wish could give you sketch of
Jones as he sat on the back of old
White. pcrched on the top of our bag
gage. Ii WAS picturesque sight hut |
am not equal t" the undertaking. His
horse was the best of all. a> was ucccS-
Sary for he had twice the load of the
rest.
At half-past seven. then. we were of.
Leaving the town we crossed the AN
of the lIcllcSpont for some distance and
then pushed back over the hills. We
did not get far away from it. however.
;iS our route for two days WAS to he
Just along the coast. The day was fine
and all through "ur tIip We had perfect
weather. except that the boiling sun
beat down upon lis as it will upon you
in July. The people We met were very
polite. most of them giving the salaam
with the oriental Salutation, "OpJh0Or
o'idr Osoon, "A prosperous journey
to yon =, or if they were Greeks it WAS
"hdie oiOs."
Very little of interest occurred in the
first forenoon. We crossed several
ranges of hills that Just now are look
ing beautifully, but in IL few weeks will
We're not many large trees. but
large quantities of low bushes. scrub
oak. etc. The site of the ancient city
of Dar,anus did not interest Us much
az nothing is left but the ground, n"r
did the Turkish quarantine station nor
the ruins of the British Hospital used
during the CIimcan war.
Al eleven o'clock We reached the
Grcck Village of Arcu Kcni. where we
halted toI half an hour. To rest our
horses and especially ourselves, as it
WAS new business for us. and get Il
cup of coffee.
Not finding much of interest here we
pushed on through II most charming
section of country under Il high state of
cultivation. We began To find forests.
too. of oak. which looked very hcauti-
ful. Oar first place of destination was
"In-Tcpch' the Mound of Ajax.
In former letters have written YOU
about the earth mound as Il monument
fur the dead. Here III the Troad we
found Il great many of them. and were
again impressed with their wonderful
durability. This mound of AiaX stands
on II spur of IL plateau that rises above
the plain. and would no doubt escape
the notice of any one who had not an
eye for antiquity. as it would he CON
sidcrcd IL natural mound. Our man
Jones was evidently very much dis
gusted at our persistent determination
to see it. Like other inhabitants of the
country he knew nothing about the
Tojan war and his Dardanian ancestors.
and cared less. He wondered no doubt
what had brought us there, and SUP
posed of course every little Turkish
village was an object of interest to us.
We directed him to the place we wished
to go to, ''InTepeh," but what was our
disgust after riding long distance, to
find that he had taken us ont of the
way that we might come near the vii |
lage of Hallilcli. and had left the mound
of Ajax far behind us. We gave him
good scolding for his audacity and told
him to lead us back to In-Tepeh in
hurry.
Whether the mighty son of lebanon
rests under the mound that is called bv
his name can not state. 1t is sufficient
to know that for more than 1000 wears
tradition has so regarded it. In the
time OF the Romans there stood on this
mound IL temple dedicated to this hero
divinity, and the statue which it con-
tanned Mark Antony took AWAY ne a