372 
this city, I shall give an idea of all that I saw there 
during my short residence, I shall describe the objects 
exactly as they presented themselves to my view, with, 
out any regard to what other travellers may have said; 
and as I remained several days at Pera, at the house of 
my friend the ambassador before I entered the city, I 
shall first speak of the objects which engaged my atten- 
tion there. 
The Bosphorus of Thrace, called El Bogaz by the 
Turks, and the Channel by the Christians, because it 
unites the Euxine or Black Sea, to the Sea of Mar- 
mara or the Propontis, called the White Sea by the 
Turks, is situated in a direction almost N.E. with dif- 
ferent sinuosities, which occasion variations in its 
breadth from one mile to four. The channel has a cur- 
rent as rapid as a river, and its direction is from the 
Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara. This phenomenon is 
caused by the great number of rivers which empty 
themselves into the Black Sea, and the small surface 
which it presents for evaporation in so high a latitude; 
so that if it had not a vent by the Bosphorus, it would 
necessarily increase, and extend itself until it would 
present surface enough to establish the equilibrium be- 
tween the quantity of water gained from the rivers and 
the mass absorbed by evaporation* 
The rapidity of the current is such, that it is neces- 
sary to have men posted at different parts of the bank, 
to draw the boats and sloops along, which could not be 
rowed up the channel on account of the strength of the 
current. There even some^ places where the water forms 
whirlpools so rapid, that the water is covered to a great 
distance with their foam. 
On the other hand when I consider that the waters of 
the Black Sea and the Channel are equally as salt as 
