TO RHODES. 231 
of its ao-riculture does not however entitle its chap. 
products to the high encomium once bestowed ' 
upon them. Its wine is said to have lost the 
reputation it formerly gained®; probably owing 
entirely to the ignorance and the indolence 
of its Turkish masters, and to the disregard 
shewn by them to the cultivation of the 
vine. 
Early on the following morning, passing the Er-iihraan 
Promontory of Melisna, and the mouth of the 
Hermean Gulph, or Gulph of Smyrna, we entered 
the Straits, between Chios, now Scio, and the 
main land. All this voyage from the Hellespont, 
between the continent and adjacent islands, was 
considered by our Captain as mere river sailing ; 
but pirates lurk among the Straits, in greater 
number than in the more open sea. Being 
always in sight of land, and often close in 
with it, the prospects are in the highest degree 
beautiful. 
In the channel between CJiios and the opposite 
peninsula of Ery three"', the scenery is perhaps 
(6) Travels ai Egmont anA Hiymav, vol.1, p. 158. iMid. I75D. 
(7 ) The Ruins of Erythro' are at a jilaco .'ailed Rytropoli, by the little 
river Aloes, near Tchesme. When iMr. 7/^«//.o/c'vvas there, a number of 
very beautiful little bronze medals wcvc discovered, all of Erythr.'e. 
He kindly presented some of them to the aiiihor. They have in front 
t!ie 
