Morning journal and courier., 1884-08-23
AROUND THE WORLD.

l SMe D3FQaneAIeS Esc8pe0-The TrOad Obadiah the SuPerAuous-Horses of the Byzantine Age-The Tumulus of Atax-Yeneshehr-A Gorgeous Sun. set-K4fssarlik-The HOmeric I1Ion- The Treasure-Chest of Prian1-Dr. Sehlfemann-The Pseudo I1ium.
 THE DARDANELLEs, Aug. 5.
 To the Editor of the JOURNAL AND COURIER:
 Greece is always prompt and vigorous in times of plaques along the Mediterranean l coast. It thus happened that when I came l to take my departure from that country I found the French, Italian and Egyptian steamers all hampered with more or less heavy quarantines. A good many lines had suspended operations entirely in view of the l losses incurred by lying in quarantine One boat with case of cholera aboard, sporadic
 believe, was not even allowed to enter the I quarantine station near Pirseus but was hustled off to deserted island in the archi- pelago between Greece and Asia Minor There was only one line left to patronize, the Austro-Lloyd. This rested under the incu- bus of possible detention at the DardaneIles I or Constantinople, for the Sultan was report I ed to be in a great scare, and there is no prophesying as to the course to be pursued by the Ottoman government. All must admit
 however inconvenient and annoying the de- tention, that it is the part of wisdom to guard against the introduction of disease into a I country to the extent of closing up every possible avenue of ingress; but there is too I much red tape displayed at times, resulting | in good to nobody. It is certain over-zeal l that bans the visitor who comes from point
 where danger cannot possibly turk After I much inquiry I learned that in all human I probability I might get from Athens to the Dardanelles by the steamer Hungaria. Un- l less some panic took possession of the Porte
 had only five days quarantine to fear at ! the worst, and perhaps not that. From the Dardanelles I could go to Constantinople 1 three days later by an Alexandria steamer, ! the last one to be admitted free of quaran- \ tine from an Egyptian port!
 Accordingly found myself at the Pireus l one evening together with large number of I other passengers. The general suspension is a real bonanza for the Austro-Lloyd compa- ny, since it secures them quite monopoly of the Levantine ports. The cabins were soon all taken and at eight o'clock we steamed cut of the harbor, with gloriously tranquil waters For long time we watched the electric lights of Phaleron burn bluely in the distance and then retired. In the morning a gale was blowing, into the very teeth of which our steamer had to force her way. She battled thus until about noon when the uneven struggle was given up and our course changed. This was fortunate for me, since it afforded an opportunity to see Tenedos and Mitylene which would otherwise have been left far to
 the east. After few hours we passed be- tween these famed islands, which approach
 very close together and then taking the best
 of the north-bound boats from Smyrna we
 had quiet waters the rest of the way. Nifty lene, now called Lesbos was denominated an
 aT mol at hTrT anif1 T failed to understand upon what the Latin
 historian based this claim. Still I merely gaZed from steamers deck and perhaps
 Tacitus went into the interior. Lesbos and
 Tenedos both appeared rather dreary from the steamer, being characterized by the GUS tomary dearth of trees, the usual spectral windmills and of course Mt. Olympus so apiece. Tenedos is only about ten miles in
 circumference, while the Rabbit Islands just
 north are still smaller.
 My object in stopping at the Dardanelles,
 and thus tempting the fates that preside over quarantine matters, was to get a glimpse of Dr. Schliemann's excavations in the Troad.
 In this game of chance Major Henry c. Dane,
 the American lecturer, was my partner. At
 twilight the second evening our steamer en- tered the Hellespont.- Looking to the right we could discern several of the tumuli that dot the plain of Troy, and apparently some
 five miles from the shore huge banks of earth
 in the general form of a circle few hundred
 feet in diameter which we afterwards found to be the famed mound created by Dr. Schlie-
 msnn's excavations. If we could have
 stopped at Koum KaIeh our tour of the Troad
 would have been a comparatively simple matter; but the through steamers go on to
 "The Dardanelles," twelve or fifteen miles further up the Hellespont. At about nine o'clock we were opposite the illuminated bal comics of the dozen Dardanelle mosques, and firing the signal gun we dropped our anchor, yVhi QT1n7 nf settled down upon the passengers. Presently boat came alongside and two men in Turk ish uniform came aboard. Nothing was said but the hatches were opened by the light of lanterns dimly burning and all the mail bags and chests of valuables received from Trieste, whether they were destined for Con- stantinople or points up the Black Sea- were taken ashore to be fumigated. Presently an- other boat came alongside, dialogue ensued between those in it and our devout Mussul- | man captain, and it announced that all the tickets and passports of the two hundred passengers must be surrendered, in order that it might be learned whether anyone hailed from doubtful points. It was also stated that the Dardanelles doctor would make personal inspection of the ship. Both of these formalities were carried out with characteristic Oriental lceremoniousness. We were huddled together like sheep and obliged to give up our tickets and passports Then ensued period of suspense. Until eleven o'clock nearly everybody sat up, speculated and fdgeted The portly Moslem captain utilized the spare moments by retiring to the
 bridge for occasional spasms of prayer-es- pecially becoming during this month of Ram adam. He gave us little hope that we would get off short of five or ten days quaran- tine, and finally nearly everybody retired
 broken hearted. At one o'clock the curtains of my berth parted and the stewards voice proclaimed in broken English: l Make laSte-QO shore PractiO cOIna- no quarantine. Our passports being re- i. turned to us, we joyfully threw our things together and went ashore. After the custom ary struggle with the custom house we fer ireted out dismal place over the main en- trance of which we could read by the pale moonlight "EHotel Hellespont,' and here we secured accommodations for the night, sleep ing on the floor This midnight experience, which would have been thoroughly hideous for one, was semi-jolly for two. l do not propose in the present letter to give anything like technical account of the trip from which have just returned and the sights which it embraced It has occurred to me that as the Troad is 8 little off from the beaten path of the tourist, it may be of more interest to show by narration of personal h experiences the method of reaching and trav- cling this historic though neglected part of N Asia Minor. Of course the most civilized method of travelling is with tents; but for those who have less than week to spare, ana Wno are WlLlng to rough It 0 little, our I experience may be interesting There is at present one guide to the Troad Unfortu- [ nately for himself and all tourists, the trusty dragoman of Dr. Schliemann, who has done ! service in the past, got drowned last season \ while attempting to ford a river. The re- maining guide, whom we engaged, is mon umental ignoramus, and knows nothing whatever of the country, unless he learned ] something while he was piloted about by us 4 that is while he was nominally escorting us through the country Nevertheless, we \ could not have got along without him. be- \ cause we soon learned that we could infalli- ! ply rely upon the contrary of what he said. | Justice demands that this be said in his fla E ver. However, when there were three roads I to choose from, and he pointed to one of \ these three, we were frequently in doubt as ' to which of the other two to take. The only { thing that can be said for him "is that he is { perhaps the best commodity of his kind in the market. The name of this remarkable guide is Obadiah. We dubbed him Obadiah [ the Superfuous, but soon learned to abbrevi-
 ate his Christian name to it's second syllable Bad. Obadiah was character He muti- lated the customary number of languages,
 but his struggles with English were especial