84 FROM CONSTANTINOPLE 
CHAP, castles, we landed, and walked to the town of 
the Dardanelles. In our way, we observed the 
shafts of several pillars of granite; some of these 
had been placed upright in the earth, as posts, 
by means of which to fasten cables for vessels ; 
others were dispersed and neglected. In the 
recess of a small bay, before reaching the town, 
is the best situation for viewino; the narrow 
part of the strait, where Xerxes is believed to 
have passed with his army; and here the 
two castles have a very striking appearance. 
Tournefort objects to the story of Leanders 
enterprise, reasoning upon the supposed impos- 
sibility of a man's swimming so great a distance 
as that which separated Abydos from Sestos. The 
servant of the Imperial Consul at the Dardanelles 
performed this feat, more than once, in a much 
wider part of the straits, passing from the 
Asiatic side of the European castle ; whence, 
after resting himself a few minutes, he swam 
back again '. 
When we arrived, we found all the shops 
shut. The Turkish fleet had passed the day 
(l) Lord Eyron, in company with Lieutenant Ekenhead of the 
Salsette frigate, swam across the Hellespont, upon the third of May 
1810. They were only an hour and five minutes in completing the 
passage. See Lord Byron's own narrative of the event, and the 
exquisite little poem he composed upon the occasion. Childe Harold's 
Pi/grhmicfe, y. 17B. L>ond. 1812. 
