1805. ] 
To confirm what I have juft advanced, 
I fhall take from Tournefort’s journal the 
progrefs made in a fingle day, in which 
only oai's were ted—** On the 2gth of 
April, though our felucca was very large, 
we made forty miles by oars alone, and 
we encamped at noon-day on the hore of 
‘the Dichitiles,” 8c. 
~ Yournefort was on boarda felucca {(mi- 
Jar to our’s: there were on board four 
paflengers, four failors, and a fteerfman, 
jn all nine perfons, with their'effects; we 
had precifely the fame number of failors. 
Our veflel was twenty-three feet long and 
eizht feet wide: as we had no log we 
yeckoned our way by the time which the 
foam of the fea took to pafs from the 
head to the ftern; and we never made 
tmore than two knots an hour by oars 
alone. Can it be fuppofed then, that 
Tournefort, who was in the fuite of a 
Bafha, and all his women, could have 
made thirteen and a third nautical leagues 
in feyen or eight hours: and ‘béfides, he 
was failing againft the current, which, at 
the entrance of the Black Sea, flows from 
eaft to welt. 
' By fumming up the whole of Tourne- 
fort’s route, and reducing the miles to 
five to the league, the diftance from Con- 
ftantinople to Trebizond is made to be 
nearly 880 nautical miles, whilft, from 
my reckoning, it amounts to 975: but as 
Tournefort did not know the language, 
we may fairly queftion whether he un- 
derflood the information which ‘was’ given 
him, and perhaps he ‘did not pay very 
particular attention to diftances. ' 
I found the difference of longitude be- 
tween Geultantinople and Trebizond to 
be 42° 45° of time, equal to 10° 4t’ 15%, 
which gives, in tle parallel of 41° 3'5 v61 
nautical leacues: if the 915 Turkith 
miles be eftimated to be 19§ leagues, 
there will remain 34 leagues for the wind- 
ings of the coaft. -* 
. “According to the plan which I have 
given, the diftange 1s 120 miles (three to 
the league) trom’ Trebizond to the mouth 
of the Phafis, the extremity of the Black 
Sea, in the direstion of fouth- weit to north- 
ealt, which gives 325% leagues for the 
perpentlicular to the meridian of Trebi- 
zond. On the other hand it is eafy to 
fee, by the chart, that the perpendicular 
from Varna, weftward, on the meridian 
ef Conitantinople, is 20 leagues. By 
adding the three fums, the greateft lengch 
of the Black: Sea is found to be 214 nau- 
tical leagues, whereas, according to Cit. 
Bonne, it would be 300. We fhall after- 
wards find, in the fequel of this memoir, 
Geography of the Black Sea. 
he 
when fpeaking of Sinope, what is its 
fmalleft breadth. 
Before quitting Trebizond I fhall men- 
tion what little I have been able to ob- 
ferve concerning this town, which retains 
hardly any other trace of its celebrity than 
its name. I have already told the reader 
that I could not, however, walk out- 
without a guard at my heels, and I did 
not venture to afk many queftions of thofe 
around me. 
A traveller in Turkey excites more or 
Jefs fufpicion, according to his general 
behaviour. If he only paffes through the 
country, he makes his obfervations with- 
out moleftation; if he appears very much 
employed in fome particular branch of 
{cience, in botany, for inftance, he may 
purfue hgs inquiries without giving um- 
brage to the government. “I was in an- 
other predicament—I arrived at Trebi- 
zond with a certain fuite, carefully con 
cealing my charts and my infruments, 
going very little out beyond the bounds of 
the caftle, and always with the confent of 
the Bey.’ The inhabitants, who knew 
that { returned dire@tly from thence to 
Conftantinople, ° have ftill to learn what 
was my bufinefs at’ Trebizond, and muft 
have fuppofed me to be charged with fome 
fecret commiffion. The idlers of the 
coffee-houfes faid that I was a {py of my 
government ; the Bafha and the Beys be- 
lieved, from the high letters of recommen- 
dagon which I brought with me, that f 
was intimately acquainted with the gran- 
dees of the Porte ;'and I perceived, when 
I afked permiffion to return, that they all 
three confented to it from different mo- 
tives. chiding x 
‘There hardly remain at Trebizond any 
‘traces of the refidence of the Greek Em- 
perors. The town is built on the flope 
of a hill, towards the fea-fhore, and ina 
very charming fituation. It forms an im- 
perfect {quare; the walls are lofty, em- 
battled, but very ill kept up; they en- 
clofe a half. ruined caftle, where the two 
Beys refde.’ The ftreets are narrow, and 
have a paved caufeway- All the town, 
except the part adjoining the fea, confifts 
of little elfe than large walled gardens. 
The prefent trade of Trebizond is in 
very little aétivity 5 it exports linen-cloth, 
copper, walnuts, and flaves from Geor- 
ia. 
5 Half a league from the town is the 
church of St. Sophia, which contains no- 
thing remarkable.” 
The Lazes are a fierce-looking people: 
they all go armed, even in the town, with 
a gun.and pitols. 
Their 
¢ 
