762 
AQUEDUCTS, 
constituting the body of the aqueduct, the two in the centre 
being of wide compass, while those on either side are narrow 
and rounded. Several, indeed, on the upper range, have pointed 
summits ; which I should ascribe to the repairs of a later age, and 
probably by the Sultan Solyman. The aqueduct stands to an 
elevation of full one hundred feet, and presents a solidity and 
character truly magnificent. Its buttresses are of a peculiar 
construction ; while the inclined and angular way in which they 
seem to melt into the steep face of the structure, consolidates 
the whole to the eye, into one vast and harmonious mass. But I 
regret to add, that the venerable and picturesque appearance of 
so grand a monument of antiquity is almost entirely destroyed 
by the barbarous addition of a coat of white-wash, with which 
the bad taste of the Turks have covered it. Indeed, this wretched 
obliteration of the mellowing tints of time, which spread the 
most magic hues over the natural as well as artificial landscape, 
now plasters almost every ancient work, great and small, within 
the vicinity of Constantinople. 
From hence we soon entered a more thickly wooded country ; 
in fact, a commencement of the immense trackless forests which 
fringe the shores of the Black Sea. This was the region of 
subterraneous water-courses; and all underground, wherever we 
went, and to a great extent in the neighbourhood, they vein 
the earth in a variety of admirably-constructed canals ; shewing 
occasional openings, something in the form of wells, protected 
by stone building, and altogether much on the same principle 
as the kanaughts of Persia. The whole communicate by their 
hidden channels, with tanks, reservoirs, aqueducts, &c., all leading 
to the great vortex of consumption, the city. From Constan¬ 
tinople being entirely dependent on the free circulation of water 
