Morning journal and courier., 1884-08-23


 in antiques, but should say that our an1- malls belonged to the Byzantine age It IS impossible to get good animals After churn- ing my liver for three days on poor old nag succeeded in educating him into sort ot prehistoric canter which was preferable at least to the shambhng trot, which is the pre- vailing style of locomotion. Still there was imminent peril that his legs would get tan gled up while he was in motion. The sad dles might have been exhumed from Hum. The mu1eteer was an ostentatiously devout MosIem, who would not eat anything during daylight on account of the Ramadan fast, but spent the nights in unrestrained hilarity, robbing gardens and orchards for the delec tation of his stomach.
 MT. Frank Calvert, the eminent archRolo- gist, and also American vice consul at the Dardanelles, had arranged our trip for us, communicating the plan to Obadiah. We were to visit Hissarlik the first day and come back via the Tumulus of Ajax on the last. Obadiah professed to be very clear on the subject and we did not burden our minds to study the routes. Judge of our surprise, therefore, when, after four hours of hard riding in westward direction along the Hellespont coast, past large quarantine sta tion, big French Touring gmin and several moles, to find ourselves at the top of mound near one of the Scamander mouths. Fortu- nately we had taken good map with us, and
 
 began to study the situation. It speedily be- came apparent that we were at the top of the Tumulus of Ajax. From that moment we arranged our journey to suit ourselves and made vanguard of the alleged guide and muleteer.
 These tumuli that strew the Plain of Troy are unpretentious artificial mounds of earth, somewhat analogous to the Indian mounds in your own country and the pyramids in Egypt.
 @17,, Inc of AiaY OI1ita a IarOp knoll with exposed masonry work within, the sides
 being strewn, like the whole Plain of Troy,
 with shells
 Continuing along the coast and fording
 both the Scamanders, we led our imposing
 cavalcade to Yeneshehr, a Greek town just south of Koum Kaleh, which is at the cape
 marking the mouth of the Hellespont. En- tering the town from the north we passed between two more tumuE, and saw third further on, that had been distorted by depos it's of rubbish and was now covered with huge windmills These are distinguished by the names Achilles, Patroclus and Antioch us; but the nomenclature is mainly noml- nal, since it is not definitely known which mole to attribute to the men commemora- ted by them. The large tumulus nearest to the shore is commonly regarded as the one of Achilles. Dr. Schliemann opened them all by sinking shafts from the top No treasure was found within, but the one attributed to Achilles was found rich in buried pottery We hunted up new look ing house, with cafe attachment, and there deposited ourselves for the night. Yene- shehr commands a splendid view of the sea- and shall never forget a couple of superb sunsets that I witnessed there. To the right was the long peninsula of Thra- elan Chersonesus, which forms the north ern boundary of the Hellespont. Almost ahead of us the mountains of Imbros of 4bo if T0iIl6 tiers one upon another; while the sun, which had just dropped behind the highest peak, left a flaming vermilion sky behind that was brightest along the very line where it met the picturesque outlines ot the ln- tensely dark mountains. A hundred feet below rolled the waters of the famed Egean Sea. To the left might be seen the whole of Tenedos with its, outlying islets, and just beyond the faint outlines the Les bian city Mitylene. The southern part of Lesbos was too remote and too much locked in by the Adrymittium gulf to be visible. The picture was one worthy of the greatest master.
 We investigated the cafe and managed to silence our stomachs with brown bread, ex- cellent cheese, fried eggs, boiled eggs and mocha coffee. We ate from plates illustrated with blue designs representing scenes from Grecian mythology, and fringed around the edge with score of such names as Attlkay Enbua, Samos, Bptia, Acarnania, etc, printed in Greek We chewed some of the popular mastic gum and then drank a little "a very little-of the mastic beverage which is so universally admired by the Levantine ladies, Neither form of the article was pal atable The beverage smelled and tasted like the anise which American babies often en- counter While we were partaking of our frugal repast man came in to tell us in broken English of Greek in town who had Of oO1 tO invoke medical skill in his behalf-a very common oc- currence in the East. From a selfish standpoint it was well that we had neither the skill nor remedies with which to render assistance; for in any other event we would have soon been surrounded with the lame, deaf blind, halt and otherwise disabled peo- ple of the town Such is Oriental confidence in Occidental medical skill,-th same in every country from Turkey to Japan.
 Early the following morning we aimed for the excavations at Hissarlik now generally ac- cepted as the site of Troy. On the way we forded the Scamanders and passed an old Turkish cemetery The cemetery might have been mistaken for the remains of an ancient city at first, so thickly was the ground strewn with fragments of marble columns, and tab lets bearing Greek inscriptions. It is quite a habit with the unappreciative Turks to thus drag monuments of the ancient Greek or Lat in civilizations to their burial grounds.
 The excavations proved to be on a mound, which doubtless served as the Acropolis of the city. Dr. Schliemann claims to have traced seven distinct cities, but not being an expert failed to find more than half of the strata. Indeed MT. Calvert only discovers four or five cities I believe Dr. Schliemann regards the second city, or the lowest but one, as the Homeric Ilion. Most of the cities would appear to have been mere squalid towns, and indeed it is doubtful if the second Ho,,, oif onx-tbinOr like cpraaf and powerful place as Homer represents. What if it was not? Homer's reputation is not that of historian, but of poet. He merely claims to have utilized a skeleton of history, and it is reasonable to suppose that he enlarged, embellished, clothed and digni- fed that skeleton. It is not even likely that he had the exact facts minutely preserved for usage. Dr. Schliemann has realized the his toricaI essentials by his work with the spade and pick at Hissarlik.
 There are people who still believe Boun arbashi to be the site of the Homeric Ihon. I think this minority stumble because they try to make of Homer 8 historian and conse- uuently are disappointed in Hissarlik as site. The difficulties with Bounarbashi are still greater, however. Even those who in terpret Homer liberally are inclined to accept the ancient chariot races of Troy as fact, and to regard the dragging of Hector around the city walls as an essential But the rugged nature ot the country at BounarDaSnl 1orD1QS both of these things. Thirty centuries may have modified Hissarlik and the topography about it; but the mountains about Boun- arbashi defy time. Moreover the remoteness of Bounarbashi is an almost fatal difficulty. Even in the time of Alexander the Great His sarlik marked the popular hypothetical site 1f lium, and Alexander himself endowed he towns, believing it to be the represen- ,ation of ancient nium.
 We wandered about among the excavations | ;or long time, gathering bones, shells, pieces of pottery, y,-sometimes painted-and m occasional bit of Mosaic It was supreme y bewildering to seek the separate and iden- | ify the different strata of remains In some places large sections of earth have been left l standing to facilitate this process, but it re- Iuires expert to interpret aright. The to- al depth from the top to the native rock is |2 feet The lowest or first city proves to nave been one of considerable civilization, just is implied in Honner's incidental al usions to it. The third city is scarcely less than the second. It is presumed that the first lasted the longest on account of 5he depth of it's rubbish, h,-nearly 20 feet Evidence of intense heat abound in the sec ond, showing that it was destroyed by a con 1agration, ,-one of the most powerful areu ments in favor of Hissarlik to my mind. At Mir. Ca1vert's saw marked and melted silver jewelry that was taken from the debris. Human bones, idols, ,whorls, terra eotta work,