CUT-THROAT CASTLE, BUILT BY MOHAMMED H IN I452, ON THE EUROPEAN SHORE 

 OF THE BOSPHORUS, AS A BASE FOR HIS OPERATIONS AGAINST CONSTANTINOPLE 



"And those landlocked waters, at once a barrier and a highway between East and West, 

 have been from the earliest times, as they happen again to be today, the theater of epic 

 events" (see page 435). 



Photos by li. G. D wight 



A VIEW OF THE BOSPHORUS AT THE NARROWEST PART 



On the farther shore, in the center, may be discerned the castle built by Bajezid I (page 

 448). The Bosphorus at this point is about 5S0 yards wide. The current through the straits 

 here is always very swift; in fact, so strong that it is impossible to row against it. 



"The Bosphorus never feels the influence of tides. From the vast bosom of the Mediter- 

 ranean the evaporation is enormous. The contribution of its rivers, moreover, is small in 

 comparison with that of the mightv streams which deluge the Black Sea. _ So in the Bosphorus 

 the flow southward is constant. The current sometimes attains a velocity of four and_ even 

 five miles an hour. So violently does it rush by the promontories of Arnaoutkeui and 

 Rumeli Hissar that the strongest boatmen are unable to row against it. This hasgiven rise 

 to a peculiar guild, or craft— the yedekdjis — whose whole business consists in towing vessels 

 up the stream."- — Edwin A. GrosvEnor. 



439 



