4] 
TO" THE PLAIN OF TROY* 
a Small merchant vessel, belonging to an Englishman of the name 
of Castle. This we had left lading with stores for the troops 
destined to Egypt. It had been, originally^ nothing more than 
a bomb-boat, captured by Sir Sidney Smith from the French; 
yet the desire of gratifying our curiosity with the sight of the 
highly classical territory, then within our reach, subdued all our 
fears of venturing across the Mediterranean in this little bean- 
cod; and we resolved to dismiss the corvette, with all thecapu- 
dan pacha’s intended liberality, as soon as daylight should 
appear. 
In the morning, therefore, we took leave of the crew, and 
landed again. Upon the shore we were met byjmessengers from 
the pacha of the Dardanelles, who desired to see us. Being 
conducted to his palace, and through an antechamber filled with 
guards, we entered an apartment in which we found him seated 
on a very superb divan. Fie placed me opposite to him ; and 
the Russian consul, beeing on his knees by my side, acted as 
interpreter. The attendants in the mean time supplied us with 
coffee, conserves, and rich pipes of jasmine. The pacha was 
dressed in a robe of green embroidered satin. He told us he 
was going to Esky Stamboul f Alexandria Tracts,J and would 
take us with him in his boat, in order to entertain us there. 
Fearing the interruption this might occasion, we begged to be 
excused : upon this he added, that he had an estate in the 
recesses of Mount Ida, and begged we would visit him there. 
This we also declined, and afterward had reason to regret that 
we had done so; for his services would have materially assisted 
our researches in the country. We then had some further 
conversation, in which he mentioned the names of Englishmen 
whom he had seen, and expressed great desire to procure some 
English pistols, for which he said he would give all the anti- 
quities in Troas. After this we retired. The pacha went on 
board his boat, and as we followed him in ours, the guns fired 
a salute from the castle. 
The day was most serene; not a breath of wind was stirring, 
nor was there a cloud to be seen in the sky. No spectacle 
could be more grand than the opening to the yEgean Sea. The 
mountainous Island of Imbros, backed by the loftier snow-clad 
summits of Samothrace. extended before the Hellespont, toward 
the northwest. Next, as we advanced, appeared Tenedos 
upon the west, and those small isles which form a group opposed 
to the Sigean promontory. Nothing, excepting the oars of our 
boat, ruffled the still surface of the water; no other sound was 
M 2- 
