CONSTANTINOPLE AND SOME OF THE GREEK ISLANDS IN THE SPRING AND SUMMER OF
1833***


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      +---------------------------------------------------------+
      | Transcriber's note:                                     |
      |                                                         |
      | Turkish names seem to be spelled generally in French,   |
      | which was the Lingua Franca of the period. These have   |
      | not been corrected. The correct Turkish spellings of    |
      | some of these names are given at the end of the book.   |
      +---------------------------------------------------------+





JOURNAL OF A VISIT TO CONSTANTINOPLE, &c. &c.

"You have nothing to do, but transcribe your little red books, if they
are not rubbed out; for I conclude you have not trusted every thing to
memory, which is ten times worse than a lead pencil. Half a word fixed
on or near the spot, is worth a cart load of recollection."

GRAY's _Letters_.

London:
Printed by A. Spottiswoode,
New-Street-Square.


JOURNAL OF A VISIT TO CONSTANTINOPLE,
AND SOME OF THE GREEK ISLANDS,
IN THE SPRING AND SUMMER OF 1833.

by

JOHN AULDJO, ESQ. F.G.S.

Author of "The Ascent of Mont Blanc,"
"Sketches of Vesuvius," Etc.







[Illustration: VIEW IN THE GULF OF CORON. [p. 235.]]



London:
Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green, & Longman,
Paternoster-Row.
1835.




TO

SIR WILLIAM GELL.

DEAR SIR,

On quitting Naples, for those scenes which your pen and pencil have so
faithfully illustrated, I promised to fill my note book. I now offer you
its contents, as a small and unworthy token of my gratitude for the long
continued kindness you have shown.

Your faithful and obedient servant,

THE AUTHOR.

_Naples, April, 1835._



PREFACE.


The publication of the pages of a journal in the crude and undigested
form in which they were originally composed appears so disrespectful to
the public, that it requires some explanation. They were written,
"currente calamo," among the scenes they describe; more as a record of
individual adventure, and to fix the transient impressions of the moment
for the after gratification of the author, than with any hope of
affording amusement during an idle hour, even to those who might feel an
interest in all he saw and noted.

The intense curiosity, however, which exists at present to learn even
the minutest particulars connected with Greece and Turkey, and the
possibility that some of his hurried notices might not be altogether
devoid of interest, have induced the author to submit them to the public
attention. In so doing, he has preferred giving them in their original
state, with all their defects, to moulding them into a connected
narrative; his object being not to "make a book," but to offer his
desultory remarks as they arose; to present the faint outline he
sketched upon the spot, rather than attempt to work them into finished
pictures.

With some hope, therefore, of receiving indulgence from the critics,
whose asperity is rarely excited except by the overweening pretensions
of confident ignorance and self-sufficiency, he ventures on the ground
already trodden by so many distinguished men, whose works, deep in
research, beautiful in description, and valuable from their scrupulous
fidelity, have left little to glean, and rendered it a rather hazardous
task for an humble and unskilful limner to follow in their wake.

While thus disclaiming all pretensions to the possession of their
enviable talents, still, if the author should succeed in affording his
readers a few hours' pleasure from the perusal of his Journal, or enable
any one to re-picture scenes he may himself have visited, the principal
object of its publication will have been attained.

_Naples, April, 1835._


TABLE OF CONTENTS
                                                       Page

Departure of H.M.S. Actaeon with the British Embassy to
  Constantinople                                          1

Island of Capri. Moonlight Scene                          3

My first Night at Sea                                     4

Sunday on Board                                           5

Schoolmaster of the Actaeon. Muster of the Crew            6

Stromboli. Somma. Vesuvius                                7

Scylla and Charybdis. Homer                               8

The Faro. Messina. Preparations to land                   9

Sea-sickness. A Host of Grievances                       10

Man overboard. Life                                      11

Cerigo. Taygetus                                         12

Piping up the Watch. Pursers Bantam                      13

Nauplia de Malvoisie                                     14

Classic Reminiscences. Argos                             15

Sharks. Greek Costume                                    16

Character of King Otho                                   17

Hydra. Egina. Poros. Russian Fleet                       19

Beautiful Landscape. Gulf of Salamis                     20

Athens. The Piraeus. Olive Grove                          21

English Residents at Athens                              22

Visit to the Acropolis. Death of the Chieftain Ulysses   23

Insolence of the Turks                                   24

Grave of Tweddel. Byron's Grave                          25

Armenian Missionaries. Temple of Theseus                 26

Metropolis of modern Greece                              27

Modern Improvements. Sir P. Malcolm                      28

Value of Land. Speculators Plain of Troy. Fidelity of
  Sir W. Gell's Map                                      30

Sources of the Scamander. The Golden Xanthus             31

Tombs of Hector and Paris. Bounarbashi                   32

The Simois. Rural Excursion. Segean Promontory.
  Tombs of Achilles and Patroclus                        33

Passage of the Dardanelles. Influenza                    34

Present to the Ambassador. French Fleet                  35

Feast of the Bairam. Oriental Splendour                  36

Sestos. Turkish Colonel. Castles of the Dardanelles      37

Beautiful Scene. Turkish Salute                          38

First View of Constantinople. The Seven Towers           39

The Pasha's Gate. The Slaves' Gate                       40

Sultanas. Golden Horn. Beauties of Stamboul              41

Pera. Scutari. Approach of the Actaeon to her Anchorage   42

Turkish Fleet. Size and Condition of the Ships           43

Castle of the Janissaries. Royal Kiosk. Turkish Houses   44

Unwelcome Visitation. Giants' Mountain. Russian Camp.
  Saluting the Russian Fleet                             45

Jealousy and Remonstrance of the Russian