V. 
138 DISTRICT OF TROAS. 
CHAP, it as somewhat more than a hundred feet. la 
certain periods of the year, it inundates all the 
neighbouring territory ; and the marks of such 
an inundation, caused by the branches of trees, 
reeds, and rushes, left by the water on the 
land, were visible a considerable distance from 
its banks, at the time we passed. It has been 
u«ual to consider this river, which bears every 
characteristic of the Scamander, as the Simojs 
o( Homer ; but there is positive evidence to the 
contrary'. All the principal battles of Homer 
were fought either on the banks of the Simois, 
testimony to Sir IVilliam Cell's accuracy, in all the engravings whicli 
have been made from his drawings. We were together in Constantinople, 
in 1800; and both visited Troas in the following year. Our journey 
took place in March 1801 : Sir IV. Gell did not arrive until December. 
(I) It is quite amusing to observe the freedom of citation, and 
palpable errors, which have been tolerated in the discussion of this 
subject. In Mons'". Chevalier's Description of the Plain of Troy, we 
find the author (p. 3.) supporting the following observations, by references 
to the text of Homer : " I shall distinguish the impetuous course of the 
rapid Simois, and the limpid stream of the divine Scaviander." In the 
margin, the Reader is directed to tlie 12th book of the Iliad, v. 21, 22 ; 
the 21st, 1^307; the 7th, f. 329; and also to the 12th, v. 21, &c. for 
authorities concerning the epithets thus given to the two rivers. If he 
take for granted the fidelity of M. Chevalier, it is all very well ; but th« 
slightest examination of the passages referred to, dispels the illusion. 
Nothing is there said, either of imjjetuous and rapid Simo'is, or of the 
limjiid stream of the Scamander. Yet the same author had found in 
Jiatjle's Dictionaiy, under the article 'Scamander,' {see p.4S.) that 
Julia, the daughter of ydvgusius, met with the fate of Sir William Gell's 
Journals, which we also narrowly escaped, in fording the torrent of the 
Mender. 
