DISTRICT OF TROAS. 
87 
longer remained. The word n apgeno n, written among oilier 
indistinct characters, appeared upon the wall. The dimen¬ 
sions of this building were only sixteen feet by eight. Its 
height was not quite twelve feet, from the floor to the begin 
ning of the vaulted roof. Two small windows commanded n 
view of the river, and a third was placed near the altar,— 
Its walls, only two feet four inches in thickness, afforded, 
nevertheless, space for the,, roots of two very large fa* trees 
these were actually growing upon them. All along the banks 
of this river, as we advanced toward its source, we noticed ap¬ 
pearances of similar ruins; and in some places, among rocks, 
or by the sides of precipices, were seen remains of several ha¬ 
bitations together; as if the monks, who retreated hither, had 
possessed considerable settlements in the solitudes of the moun ¬ 
tain. Our ascent, as we drew near to the source of the river, 
became steep and stony. Lofty summits towered above usj^n 
the greatest style of Alpine grandeur; the torrent, in its rugged 
bed.below, ?Jt the while foaming upon our left Presently we 
'entered one-of the sublimes! natural amphitheatres the eye ever 
beheld y am! here the guides desired us to alight. The noise 
of waters silenced every other sound. Huge craggy rocks rose 
perpendicularly, to an immense height; whose sides and fis¬ 
sures, to the very clouds, concealing their tops, were covered 
with pinesgrowing in every possible direction, among a vari¬ 
ety of evergreen shrubs, wild sage, hanging ivy, moss, and 
creeping herbage. Enormous plane trees waved their vast 
branches above the torrent. As we approached its deep gulphy 
we beheld several cascades, all of foam, pouring impetuously 
from chasms in the naked face of a perpendicular rock. It is 
said the same magnificent cataract continues dining all seasons 
of the year, wholly unaffected by the casualties of rain, or 
melting snow. That a river so ennobled by ancient history 
should at the same time prove equally eminent in circumstances 
of natural dignity, is a fact w orthy of being related. Its origin 
is not like the source of ordinary streams, obscure and uncer¬ 
tain; of doubtful locality and indeterminate character; ascer¬ 
tained with difficulty, among various petty subdivisions, in 
sw T ampy places, or amidst insignificant rivulets, falling from dif¬ 
ferent parts of the same mountain, and equally tributary: it 
bursts at once from the dark womb of its parent, in all the great- 
ness of the divine origin assigned to it by Iiomer. # The early 
* Iliad. r. 
