St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1876-10-13
A Week in the Troad.
BY c. A. SAVAGE.
Continued from last reek. I

ABOUT the place and kept the Sabbath
us well as we could under the circum-
stances. Bidding good bye" to our
friends the Bounarbashians who had
entertained us to the best of their ahil-
Ity, and who seemed meaSlIr;lbly well
c"ntented with the two mejideas we
gave them, we struck across the plain
for Mr.. Calvert's farm. After finding
the Scamander, we reached the bor-
ders of this magnificent estate of sev-
eral thousand acres, which is owned by
Her Maiesty's late consul ut the Dar-
danelles, and brother of the American
consular agent of whom | spoke in the
first part of my letter. He was former
ly very wealthy, but has been swindled
out of most of his property by shrewd
jew. Still, if those broad acres are
free from mortgage, DIR. Washburne's
tpithet ''poor as jobs cat could hard
ly apply. On all sides men were plough
ing ard preparing the soil. The i'll
strnments they used would have ex-
tracted i groan fIom Vermont farmer.
but aS have described them in pre-
ceding letters | need say no more of
them here. The carts however which
We SAW there and all over the Troad.
were new to me. though | understand
they are common all over Turkey. The
wheels and aXleS were either made of
one solid block of wood. or We're fas-
tened So that they revolved together.
The Use of grease has evidently never
been brought into trvor with the Tro-
jams of to-day, for they seemed really
to enjoy the screcchcs of these loaded
wains, which sounded To us us they roll
ed along the plain. like the funeral
dirge of a demon.
Before going to the house, we rode to
Il mound which bears the name "IIanaI
Tcpe." 1t is So large that many have
considered it natural. but MI Frank
Calvert of DardancllcS excavated it Il
few Years ago, and found it To contain
II illsiSS vi tublltu IOIlt'>. NlltI
proved it to have been an artificial bur
ial place. He showed us Il great many
beautiful vases and funeral urnS us we'll
a> II variety of other articles taken
from this mound. the character of
which prove conclusivelN that they
were placed there many hundred years
before the Christian era perhaps as
early as the time of Troy. In fact. 10y
some this has been considered Us the
general burial place of the Troians
during the truce as described III the
seventh book of the Had. 1t also goes
by the name of the Tomb of Troilus.
the son of Priam, ,-Intciir puer. impair
cOnJreSsus -4chiHi. as described 10y Nir-
gil. You can adopt whichever theory
you prefer.
From IIanaI Tepc we Iodc up to
Mr.. Calvert's house. No less an
authority than Strah". and some of
note since his time, have fixed upon the
place now occupied 10y Mr.. Calvclt's
farm as the site of Troy. 1t is on II
slight elevation from the surrounding
plain, and at present called Atchi- kcni
but So far as | can see has nothing in
favor of its hcing the site of Troy. 1t
may have been the Callicolonc where
Mars and Appollo sat to watch the for
tunes of the city. We came for diff
ferent purpose. After our hard fare ut
Bounarhashi. the principal thing we
wanted WAS Il good dinner. and when
the servant in charge of the estate dur
ing its master absence told us we could
have it, we were happy. The woes of
Troy and its untimely fate were for
gotten. There are those who argue the
supremacy of mind over matter. What
would these visionaIies say of the
claims of the stomach
The house of Mr.. Calvert is low and
extensive, with large open rooms, and
surrounded by a long veIandah, such
as YOU will see in warm climates. 1t is
intended for occupancy only in the
summer months. though the winters
are short on the Plain of Troy. The
owner and his family being away, we
took possession of the easy chairs, (for
which you know l have weakness, }
and rested our saddle weary limbs,
waiting for dinner. After some delay.
it came-beautiful ham and eggs, and
such brown bread as | have not seen
in Turkey. 1t reminded me of the
productions of my mothers oven. Af-
ter dinner we rested for some time, and
then took stroll over some parts of
the estate that at all events our feet
might rest Oh the soil of ''Sacred Troy"
On our return we gave the servants Il
liberal buckShish, mounted our horses
and rode away.
| must not neglect to mention again
| those curious carts, from the impression
they made upon me as | saw them
standing with their poles elevated
against the outbuildings at Mr.. Cal
vert's. They We're low and open be
hind, and withal had just the shape of
the ancient war chariot; and wonder
ed how much different from these or
how much better was the "well wrought
car" with its polished beam" and
"shining axle" that Homer dilates 81
much upon. Their position suggested
to me the passage in the Ilad where the
Hours unyoked the heaven-born steeds
of the two warrior goddesses.