126 FROM THE COUNTRY OF THE CICONES, 
CHAP, at the beginning of the sixth century, which 
^^^' , extended from the Euxine to the Propontis'. 
When Byzaniium became Constantinople, it caused 
the decay of Heraclea ; whose See, notwith- 
standing, enjoys the pre-eminence of metro- 
politan, in that province of Thrace which is 
distinguished by the title of Europa"-. We 
regretted that we did not visit this place, as we 
had been advised to pass the night there : but 
its being an hour's distance out of the main 
road, while we expected to find the remains of 
the old city at Eski Eregli, prevented our going 
thither. 
( urious A very curious circumstance in the natural 
^swanow. history of the swallow was made known to 
us, accidentally, at this village. In the course 
of our search for antiquities, happening to 
visit the shop of a poor barber, we observed, 
as we were speaking to the owner, in a 
room with a ceiling so low pitched that our 
heads almost touched it, a swallow enter, two or 
(1) It began to the east of Heraclea, and terminated near a place 
called Dercon, upon the shore of the Euxine. The Emperor j^nastasius 
caused it to be constructed as a barrier against the incursions of many 
foreign nations, who had penetrated even to the environs of Con- 
stantinople. 
(2) V^nvilUyAnt. Geog. Part I. p. 940. Lmd.Md'^. 
