RUINS OF THE PLAIN OF TROY. 545 



upon the coast, by the mouth of the Mender. It reaches nearly 

 to a small and almost stagnant river, hitherto unnoticed, called 

 Callifat Osmack, or Callifat Water, taking its name from the Til. 

 lage near which it falls into the Mender: our road to that place 

 afterwards led us along the top of the mound. Here then both 

 art and nature have combined to mark the plain by circumstances 

 of feature and association not likdy to occur elsewhere ; although 

 such as any accurate description of the country might well be ex. 

 pected to include : and if the Poems of Homer, with reference to 

 the Plain of Troy, have similarly associated an artificial tumulus 

 and a natural mound, a conclusion seems warranted, that these are 

 the objects to which he alludes. This appears to be the case in 

 the account he has given of the Tomb of Ilus and the Mound of 

 the Plain. 



Upon the surface of the Tomb itself, in several small channels 

 caused by rain, we found fragments of the vases of Antient 

 Greece. I know not any other cause to assign for their appearance, 

 than the superstitious veneration paid to the tombs of Troas in all 

 the ages of history, until the introduction of Christianity. Whe- 

 ther they be considered as the remains of offerings and libations 

 made by Greeks or Romans, they are indisputably not of modern 

 origin. The antiquity of earthen. ware, from the wheel of a Gre- 

 cian potter, is as easily cognizable as any work left for modern 

 observation ; and, as a vestige of that people, denoting the site 

 of their cities, towns, and public monuments, may be deemed per- 

 haps equal in importance to medals and inscriptions. 



From this tomb we rode along the top of the mound of the plain, 

 in a south. wester n direction, towards Callifat' After we had 

 proceeded about half its length, its inclination became southward. 

 Having attained its extremity in that direction, we descended into 

 the plain, when our guides brought us to the western side of it, 

 near its southern termination, to notice a tumulus, less consider, 

 able than the last described, about three hundred paces from the 

 mound, almost concealed from observation by being continually 

 overflowed, upon whose top two small oak trees were then grow- 

 ing. This tumulus will not be easily discerned by future travel, 

 lers, from the uniformity of its appearance at a distance with the 

 rest of the vast plain in which it is situated, being either covered 

 with corn, or furrowed by the plough. The view it commands 

 of th coast, towards the mouth of the Mender, may possibly en- 



