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ASIA MINOR. 



flock was but small, yet that he paid an extraordinary war-tax last 

 year of 200 piastres (or 15/.) He then abused the corrupt govern- 

 ment of the Porte, and said that the Turks themselves would not be 

 sorry to see it overturned. He next complained of the excesses com- 

 mitted by the troops on their route to the Vizier's camp in Syria, 

 adding that whenever news came that they were on their road towards 

 Jouragee, the wretched inhabitants run off to the mountains with 

 their little property, and live in tents there, until the soldiers have 

 passed. 



In one of the cottages we saw the fragment of a Greek inscription, 

 and another on a small stone altar near it, now used as a block for 

 mounting on horseback ; it informs us that Lucius Valerius Eutychus 

 consecrated or erected it to the memory of his mother and daughter. 



As the accommodation for sleeping consisted only of a dirty mat 

 and an uneven mud floor, we were not induced to pass a long night 

 at Jouragee. We therefore set off at three o'clock in the morning 

 by moon-light, and riding through extensive woods we again came 

 to the shore of the Hellespont. On our road we met some caravans 

 of loaded camels ; they were in strings of five, with an ass for the 

 leader of each division. We now and then saw a sculptured turban, 

 or a heap of earth without any head-stone, by the road-side ; these, 

 our guide told us, marked the graves of travellers who had been mur- 

 dered there, probably itinerant Jews or Greeks, about whose fate no 

 inquiry was ever made by the Aga of the district. The face of the 

 country was diversified with well wooded hills, and in every valley 

 was a little glittering stream, meandering into the Hellespont. In a 

 large plain, we saw the huts of the herdsmen, who breed great num- 

 bers of camels here. At this season, the males of this quiet race of 

 animals entirely change their character, and become so ferocious, that 

 it requires all the care of the herdsmen to prevent them from tear- 

 ing each other to pieces. At Smyrna, and other great towns in 

 Anatolia, camel fights are among the favorite amusements of the 

 people. 



