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                                   A

                          TOUR UP THE STRAITS,

                                  FROM

                               GIBRALTAR

                                   TO

                            CONSTANTINOPLE.


                                WITH THE

                   LEADING EVENTS IN THE PRESENT WAR

                              BETWEEN THE

                  AUSTRIANS, RUSSIANS, AND THE TURKS,

                                 TO THE

                     COMMENCEMENT OF THE YEAR 1789.


                        _By_ CAPTAIN SUTHERLAND,

                        OF THE 25^{TH} REGIMENT.


                                LONDON:
                        PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR;
        AND SOLD BY J. JOHNSON, N^O 72, ST. PAUL'S CHURCHYARD.


                               M.DCC.XC.

------------------------------------------------------------------------


                                   TO

                          THE RIGHT HONORABLE

                          LADY LOUISA LENNOX,

                              THIS VOLUME

                                   IS

                      MOST RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED,

                           BY HER LADYSHIP's

                             MOST OBLIGED,

                           MOST FAITHFUL, AND

                         MOST OBEDIENT SERVANT,


                             D. SUTHERLAND.




                             INTRODUCTION.

The Commander in Chief of the garrison of Gibraltar having indulged the
Author of the following pages with leave of absence, he accepted an
invitation from an amiable Friend, to accompany him on a Voyage to the
Levant.

It was with the most heart-felt satisfaction, that he found himself
enabled to profit by so favorable an opportunity of visiting a country,
not only interesting from the precious remains of antiquity with which
it is still adorned, but from the critical state into which it was
thrown by the war already began, which threatened, sooner or later, to
involve in it many of the Powers of Europe, and to call forth the just
arm of Great Britain, to check the haughty usurpations of the ambitious
Court of Russia.

The Author's friends saw his happiness in embarking on such a Tour; and,
that they might, in some degree, partake of it, one of them insisted
that he should keep, and transmit him, a regular Journal.

This promise the Author readily gave, and faithfully observed.

The compliments paid to this little work, first gave him the idea of
appearing in print. Aware, however, that the ground he had travelled
over, had often been treated upon by much more able pens, he for some
time suppressed his hopes of becoming a candidate for fame in the
literary world: but, after the general encouragement he met, he would
have been guilty of injustice to himself, and of want of confidence in
his friends, had he any longer hesitated to appear before the Public.




                               CONTENTS.


                               LETTER I.

                                                                    Page

  _CEUTA--Goths and Saracens--Almeria--Rocks
  of Abibo_

                                                                       1

                               LETTER II.

  _Carthagena--War of the Succession_

                                                                      12

                              LETTER III.

  _Reception at Cagliari--Lucilla_

                                                                      24

                               LETTER IV.

  _Churches--Ball at the Palace--Trade,
  &c. of Sardinia_

                                                                      37

                               LETTER V.

  _Island of Capria--Tiberius--Malonia_

                                                                      46

                               LETTER VI.

  _Excursion to Baia_

                                                                      49

                              LETTER VII.

  _Mount Vesuvius--The Hermit--Bay of
  Naples_

                                                                      64

                              LETTER VIII.

  _Capo de Monte--Portici--Herculaneum--Pompeia_

                                                                      75

                               LETTER IX.

  _Casertta--St. Januarius--Opera--Government_

                                                                      86

                               LETTER X.

  _Visit to the King of Naples at Castello
  Mare--The Queen--Coast of Salerno--Pestum_

                                                                      97

                               LETTER XI.

  _Lipari Islands--Volcano of Strombolo_

                                                                     106

                              LETTER XII.

  _Messina--Earthquake--Scylla and Charybdis--Sir
  George Byng--Commodore
  Walton_

                                                                     112

                              LETTER XIII.

  _A fireball--Zante--Ithaca--Promontory
  of Leucate--Turks and Greeks_

                                                                     124

                              LETTER XIV.

  _Pirates--Milo--Paros--Attica--Sunium_

                                                                     139

                               LETTER XV.

  _Smyrna--Great Advantages to be derived
  from the Turkey Trade--Necessity of
  a regular Lazaretto in England_

                                                                     158

                              LETTER XVI.

  _Cause of the War--The Russian Minister
  is sent to the Seven Towers--Turkish
  Manifesto--Attempt on Kimbourn--A
  Russian Ship of sixty-four guns gives
  herself up to the Turks--Ambitious
  Views of the two Imperial Courts--The
  Interest of England greatly endangered
  by them--Necessity of our opposing
  the Empress_

                                                                     169

                              LETTER XVII.

  _Journey to Ephesus--The poor Girl--Caravansera--Temple
  of Diana--Character
  of the Turkish Ministers--The
  Vice-Admiral of the Porte beheaded_

                                                                     189

                             LETTER XVIII.

  _Scyros--Idra--History of Athens_

                                                                     209

                              LETTER XIX.

  _Present State of Athens--Battle of Marathon_

                                                                     225

                               LETTER XX.

  _Greek and Mahometan Religion_

                                                                     241

                              LETTER XXI.

  _Voyage from Athens to Leghorn_

                                                                     258

                              LETTER XXII.

  _Journey from Leghorn to Florence--Government
  of Peter Leopold--Public
  Ornaments--Palaces, Ricardi and Gerrini_

                                                                     263

                             LETTER XXIII.

  _Gallery of Florence_

                                                                     275

                              LETTER XXIV.

  _Island of Elba--Mount Vesuvius_

                                                                     292

                              LETTER XXV.

  _Voyage to Palermo--Grotesque Statues--Funeral
  of Prince Patagonia_

                                                                     297

                              LETTER XXVI.

  _Attempt upon Belgrade--The Emperor declares
  War--Operations in Croatia--Prince
  Lichtenstein defeated by the
  Turks--The Emperor takes the Field in
  Person--The Prince of Moldavia deserts
  from the Turks_

                                                                     307

                             LETTER XXVII.

  _The Prince of Saxe Cobourg invests Choczim--Siege
  of Oczakow--Marshal
  Laudohn--Political Observations--Meadia
  taken by the Turks--The Grand
  Vizir defeats the Emperor_

                                                                     325

                             LETTER XXVIII.

  _Passage through the Dardanelles--Constantinople_

                                                                     346

                              LETTER XXIX.

  _Conclusion of the Campaign 1788_

                                                                     360

  _Advertisement_

                                                                     369




                                   A

                                  TOUR

                                  FROM

                               GIBRALTAR

                                   TO

                            CONSTANTINOPLE.


                  *       *       *       *       *




                               LETTER I.


                           TO CAPTAIN SMITH.


                                                Carthagena, August 14th.

    MY DEAR FRIEND,


  In compliance with your request, I
   I have kept a regular Journal of my
  Voyage, which I now inclose you:

                       Tuesday, August 7th, Noon.

At eight o'clock, yesterday morning, we left Gibraltar, with a contrary
wind; and, on the first tack, we passed Ceuta, a place of no great
intrinsic value, but an indifferent port. It is situated on a peninsula
of Africa, which, with Gibraltar, Spartel and Trafalgar, forms the
Straits, and is so strongly fortified by Nature, that, although the
Moors have often besieged it, it has withstood all their efforts.

Count Julian was Governor of this place, at the time Roderigo ravished
his daughter, the beautiful _Cava_. The Count, inflamed with rage at the
dishonor perpetrated on his family, and distracted at the ruin of his
own child, forgot his duty to his country, which no private injuries can
excuse, and engaged to put the Moors in possession of Spain, if they
would revenge him on his abandoned Monarch.

It is not easy to determine who were the first inhabitants of Spain. We
know that it was subdued by the Carthaginians before the Christian æra,
and that they were conquered by the Romans; who, in their turn, yielded
to the Goths, from whom Roderigo was descended.

At this time, the Saracens (the name the followers of Mahomet assumed)
emigrating from Arabia, had overrun the neighbouring parts of Africa,
which they have kept possession of ever since. To these people, Count
Julian, with great truth, represented Roderic as a Prince universally
detested, and whose tyranny promised a general insurrection among the
Goths. The Saracen Chief at first doubted the Count's sincerity, but at
last sent over a large army, which gained a [Sidenote: A. D. 712]
complete victory over Roderigo, who was killed in the action; and the
whole country submitted to the Moors.

Divisions arising among the conquerors, the natives, in less than six
years, again appeared in arms, and the Saracens gradually declined for
near two centuries. Almanzor then arose, and, by his repeated victories,
revived the affairs of his countrymen: But, on the death of this great
General, the Christians again made head, and reduced the Moors to such
straits, that, although Mahomet Ben Joseph, Sovereign of Barbary, came
over to their assistance with all his forces, he was entirely defeated.
A. D. 1212.

The same dissensions, however, which had ruined the Saracens, now broke
out among the Christians, and enabled the former to shelter themselves
in Grenada, the only province now remaining to them in Spain. Here they
continued till the different monarchies which had been erected on their
ruin, were all, except Navarre, united under [Sidenote: A. D. 1492.]
Ferdinand and Isabella. Grenadawas then taken; but the Moors were
allowed to remain in the country, as subjects, till the reign of Philip
the Third, who, in apprehension of an insurrection, banished them
entirely [Sidenote: A. D. 1602.] from out of his kingdom. The
depopulation which this measure occasioned, is sensibly felt to the
present day. Count Julian was himself put to death by the Moors, on a
suspicion that he intended to desert their cause. His fate afforded us
an ample field for reflection.

We continued our course along the Barbary shore till midnight. We were
then obliged to tack, and are now opposite Malaga, twenty leagues from
Gibraltar. This, considering that the wind has been constantly easterly,
is no bad specimen of our sailing.

On the spot we are passing, Sir George Rooke, soon after he had taken
Gibraltar, engaged the Grand Fleet of France, consisting of fifty-two
sail of the line. The English and Dutch had as many ships; but the
French, being later from port, were much better manned, and in superior
[Sidenote: August 13, 1704.] condition. The battle lasted all the day.
Both sides suffered a very severe loss in men; but not one vessel was
taken or destroyed. Each claimed the victory; but the French Admirals
took care not to face us again during the whole of the war.


August 8th and 9th.


Calms and light easterly winds. The sea, for several miles round us, is
entirely covered with the spawn of fish. Philosophers have not been able
to determine how these animals are engendered: I will therefore pass
them over. The Grenada mountains rise to a stupendous height on our
left, and, even at this late season, their heads are covered with snow.


August 10th, Noon.


We have been, all this morning, in sight of Almeria. The more, for two
or three leagues on each side, is almost flat, with a very fine beach;
but the town itself displays all the variety of hill, dale and water. It
stands on a river, whose banks seem in high cultivation, and are
over-hung by prodigious mountains; whilst the low ground, particularly
to the east, rises in a gradual <DW72>, covered with groves and avenues
of olive, and cork-trees, interspersed with vines and green canes. This
beautiful spot forms a kind of amphitheatre, enclosed by the Grenadines,
whose rugged summits appear almost inaccessible.

On a steep ascent, at the West end of the town, stands a large Moorish
castle, in very good repair. At present it is only respectable for its
antiquity; but, in 1147, it made a most vigorous defence against Conrad
the Third, assisted by the French, Genoese, and Pisans; and, after a
glorious resistance, it was taken by assault, and all the Moors most
inhumanly put to death. Vast riches were found in the place,
particularly the famous Agate ship, which is still shewn by the Genoese,
as one of the most valuable curiosities in Genoa. The castle of Almeria
is an exact copy of that at Gibraltar, and, like it, is commanded by an
height immediately above it.

Dusk. Early in the afternoon, a breeze sprang up, and we are now off
Cape de Gatt, about six leagues from Almeria, and fifty-two from
Gibraltar. On the point