52 SPRINGS, RIVERS, CANALS, LAKES, 



ennobled by antient history should at the same time prove equally 

 eminent in circumstances of natural dignity, is a fact worthy of being 

 related. Its origin is not like the source of ordinary streams, ob- 

 scure and uncertain ; of doubtful locality and indeterminate charac- 

 ter; ascertained with difficulty, among various petty subdivisions, 

 in swampy places, or amidst insignificant rivulets, falling from dif- 

 ferent parts of the same mountain, and equally tributary ; it bursts 

 at once from the dark womb of its parent, in all the greatness of the 

 divine origin assigned to it by Homer.* The early Christians, who 

 retired or fled from the haunts or' society to the wilderness of Gar- 

 garus, seem to have been fully sensible of the effect produced by 

 grand objects, in selecting, as the place of their abode, the scenery 

 near the source of the Scamander; where the voice of nature 

 speaks in her most awful tone; where, amidst roaring waters, 

 waving forests, and broken precipices, the mind of man becomes 

 impressed, as by the influence of a present Deity. f 



The course of the river, after it thus emerges, with very little 

 variation, is nearly from east to west. Its source is distant from 

 Evgillar about nine miles 5 or, according to the mode of computa- 

 tion in the country, three hours ; half this time is spent in a gradual 

 ascent from the village. The rock whence it issues consists of 

 micaceous schistus, containing veins of soft marble. While the 

 artist was employed in making drawings, ill calculated to afford 

 adequate ideas of the grandeur ot the scenery, I climbed the rocks, 

 with my companions, to examine more closely the nature of the 

 chasms whence the torrent issues. Having reached these, we found, 

 in their front, a beautiful natural bason, six or eight feet deep, 

 serving as a reservoir for the water in the first moments of its emis- 

 sion. It was so clear, that the minutest object might be discerned 

 at the bottom. The copious overflowing of this reservoir causes the 

 appearance, to a spectator below, of different cascades, falling to 

 the depth of about forty feet; but there is only one source. Behind 

 are the chasms whence the water issues. We entered one of these, 



* Iliad. *. 1. 



-f> Praesentiorem et conspicinms Deum, 

 Per invias rupes, fera per jiiga, 

 Clivosque praeruptos, sonantes 

 Inter aqua", mcmorumque nortem ! 



