132 



ASIA MINOR. 



tended. Next morning, accompanied by some guards of the Aga, 

 we were allowed to go up a hill adjoining the town ; we saw from it 

 the course of the river Tousla Chya, which, they told us, enters the 

 sea about three hours or leagues north of Baba Bournou (Cape 

 Lectum), and at three leagues to the south of Eski Stambol (Alexan- 

 dria Troas). The plain in which the mouth of the river is situated, 

 is called Tchesederesi-alti. 



Our road hence was by the side of a craggy glen, called Tchaytan- 

 deresi, or the Devil's ditch ; until we came to Tousla-Dag, a moun- 

 tain which forms the western extremity of the chain of Gargarus or 

 Ida. We halted at a Turkish village called Baba-Deresi, seven miles 

 from Tamush. Here our friendly guide the sailor, who had been our 

 host at Beyram, gave so interesting a description of a place in the 

 neighbourhood called Tousla, its boiling springs, and salt works, that 

 when he added a visit to it would only make a deviation of an hour 

 from our route towards Alexandria Troas, we resolved to proceed 

 thither. At Baba-Deresi is a poor mosque with mud walls ; but it 

 has a porch supported by three ancient columns, with capitals of dif- 

 ferent orders, and of unequal workmanship. In the burial ground of 

 the village there are also a few ancient marbles. 



Within the hour we reached the shallow ponds, in which the brine 

 is exposed to evaporation. The salt-springs here are so copious, that 

 after collecting as much of their waters as is wanted, the rest is suf- 

 fered to run into the river Tousla Chya, which carries it to the sea. 

 About 100,000 bushels of fine white salt are thus made annually. 

 Hadim Oglou has the monopoly of it, which he purchases or farms of 

 the Sultan. At one of the hot springs a bath has been built ; the roof 

 is covered with locks of hair and other votive offerings, such as pieces 

 of cloth and ribbands from the patients who have used it. After 

 passing through the town of Tousla, we reached the principal hot 

 spring, which bursts * from the solid rock at a considerable height 



* " Strabo, lib. xiii. mentions the saline of Tragasea, near Hamaxitus, on the coast of 

 Troas. This is no doubt the one now in use at the mouth of the Tousla river, a league to 



