ELAI& OF ItROY. 
m 
IT tins Had been found by a late respectable and learned 
'■author!* it might have confirmed him in the notion that the 
Thymbrius was io fact the Simois, as he believed ; and per¬ 
haps have suggested, in the present name of the place, Halil 
H i, (or, as I have written it, Halil E%, to conform to the 
mode of pronunciation,) and etymology! horn XAION. 
From the ruins at Halil Elly we proceeded through a de¬ 
lightful valley, full ofvineyards, and almond-trees in full bloom, 
intending to pass the night at the village of Thymbreck. We 
found no antiquities, nor did we hear of any in the neigh¬ 
bourhood. The next day, returning toward Halil Elly, we 
left it upon our right, and crossed the Thymbrius by a ford. 
In summer this river becomes almost dry; but during win¬ 
ter it often presents a powerful torrent, carrying all before it* 
Hot one of the maps, or of the works yet published upon 
Troas, has informed us of its termination : according to some, 
it empties itself into the Mender near its embouchure ; others 
describe it as forming a junction near Tchiblack; a circum¬ 
stance of considerable importancefor if tins last position be 
true, the ruins at Tchiblack may be those of the temple of the 
Thymbrsean Apollo. Strabo expressly states the situation of 
the temple to be near the place where the Thymbrius dischar¬ 
ges itself into the Scamander.J After we had passed the ford, 
we ascended a ridge of hills, and found the remains of a very 
ancient paved way. We then came to the town or village of 
Tchiblack, where we noticed very considerable remains of 
ancient sculpture, but in such a state of disorder and ruin, that 
no precise description of them can be given. The most re¬ 
markable are upon the top of a hill called Bey an Mczalcy r 
near the town, in the midst of a beautiful grove of oak trees, 
toward the village of Caliifat. Here the ruins of a Doric 
temple of w hite marble lay heaped in the most striking man¬ 
ner, mixed with broken stelse, cippi, sarcophagi, cornices and 
capitals of very enormous size, entablatures, and pillars.— 
All of these have reference to some peculiar sanctity by which 
this hill was anciently characterized. It is of a conical form, 
and stands above the town of Tchiblack, appearing as large as 
^ The author of the History of Ilium, &c. &c. 
j Elly, in the language of the country, signifies a district-, so that the name of 
this place admits a literal interpretation, signifying “ The District of' Halil which 
may be further interpreted, “ The District of the Sun,” from one of the nair.es ot '- 
Apollo, Al 'L or AEAIOS. 
y-Strah, Geogr.-lib. xiii, p. 86L Ed. Ox. 
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