over a sandy bottom. This stream, in the place where I saw it is not more than forty feet broad, and three and a half deep; but in spring it rises and runs with impetuosity. Let us hear what Plutarch says: "In the mean time, Darius's generals had assembled an inmense army, and had taken post upon the banks of Granicus; so that Alexander was under the necessity of fighting there, to open the gates of Asia. Many of his officers were apprehensive of the depth of the river, and the rough and uneven banks on the other side; and some thought that a proper regard should be paid to a traditionary usage with respect to the time, for the kings of Macedon never marched out to war in the month Dæsius. Alexander cured them of this piece of superstition, by ordering that month to be called 'the second Artemisius.' And when Parmenio objected to his attempting a passage so late in the day, he replied: "The Hellespont would blush, if after having passed it, he should be afraid of the Granicus." At the same time, he threw himself into the stream with thirteen troops of horse; and as he advanced in the face of the enemy's arrows, in spite of the steep banks which were lined with cavalry well armed, and the rapidity of the river, which often bore him down or covered him with its waves, his motions seemed rather the effects of madness than sound sense. He held on, however, till by astonishing ef forts he gained the opposite banks, which the mud rendered extremely slippery and dangerous. When he was there, he was forced to stand an engagement with the enemy, hand to hand, and with much confusion on his part, because they attacked his men as fast as they came over, before he had time to form them. For the Persian troops charging with loud shouts, and with horse against horse, made good use of their spears, and when those were broken, of their swords. "Numbers pressed hard upon Alexander, because he was easy to be distinguished both by his buckler and his crest, on each side of which was a large and beautiful plume of white feathers. His cuirass was pierced by a javelin at the joint; but he escaped unhurt. After this Rhoesaces and Spithridates, two officers of high distinction, attacked him jointly. The latter he avoided with great address, and received the former with such a siroke of his spear, upon his breast-plate, that it broke in pieces. He then drew his sword to despatch him; but his adversary still maintained the combat. In the mean time Spithridates came up on one side of him, and raising himself on his horse gave him a blow with his battle-axe, which cut off his crest with one side of the plume. Nay, the force of it was such, that the helmet could hardly resist it: it even penetrated to his hair. Spithridates was about to repeat his stroke, when the celebrated Clitus prevented him, by running him through the body with his spear. At the same time Alexander with his sword brought Rosaces to the ground. "While the cavalry was thus furiously and critically engaged, the Macedonian phalanx passed the river, and then the infantry likewise engaged. The enemy made no considerable or long resistance, but soon turned their backs and fled; all but the Grecian mercenaries, who forming upon an eminence, desired Alexander to give his word of honour that they should be spared. But that prince influenced rather by his passion than by his reason, instead of giving them quarter advanced to attack them, and was so warmly received that he had his horse killed under him. It was not however, the famous Bucephalus. In this dispute, more af his men were killed and wounded, than in all the rest of the battle; for here they had to do with experienced soldiers, who fought with a courage heightened by despair. "The barbarians, we are told, lost in this battle twenty thousand foot and two thousand five hundred horse; whereas Alexander had only thirty-four men killed, nine of which were infantry. To do honour to their memory, he erected to each of them a statue in brass, the workmanship of Lysippus. And that the Greeks might have their share in the glory of the day, he distributed among them presents out of the spoil; to the Athenians in particular, he sent three hundred bucklers. Upon the rest of the spoils he put this pompous inscription: Won by Alexander the son of Philip, and the Greeks (excepting the Lacedæmonians) from the barbarians in Asia." It is one single individual, then, who thus immortalizes a little river in a desert! Here falls an immense empire, and here rises an empire still more immense; the Indian Ocean hears the fall of the throne that is overturned near the shores of the Pro pontis; the Ganges beholds the approach of the leopard with four wings, which triumphed on the banks of the Granicus: Babylon, which the king built in the splendour of his power, opens her gates to admit a new master; Tyre, the queen of ships, is humbled, and her rival springs up out of the sands of Alexandria. Alexander was guilty of crimes: he was unable to withstand the intoxication of his success; but by what magnanimity did he not atone for the errors of his life! his crimes were always expiated by his tears with Alexander every thing came from the heart. He began and terminated his career with two sublime expressions. On his departure to make war upon Darius, he divided his dominions among his officers. "What then do you reserve for yourself? cried they in astonishment. "Hope," was his reply. "To whom do you leave the empire ?" said these same officers to him when expiring. "To the most worthy," said be. Place between these two expressions, the conquest of the world, achieved with thirty-five thousand men, in less than ten years, and you must admit that if ever man resembled a god among men, it was Alexander. His premature death adds something divine to his memory, for we behold him ever fair, young, and triumphant, without any of those corporeal infirmities, without any of those reverses of fortune that age and time are sure to bring. This divinity vanishes, and mortals are unable to support the weight of his work. "His kingdom," says the prophet, "shall be divided toward the four winds of heaven."* At two in the afternoon we left Sousonghirli, crossed the Granicus, and advanced into the plain of Mikalicie, which belonged to the Mysia of the ancients. We halted for the night at Tehutitsi, which may perhaps be the Squeticui of Tournefort. The kau being full of travellers, we took up our quarters under some spreading willows, planted in quincunx order. On the 11th we set out at day-break, and leaving the road to Bursa on the right, we continued our route through a plain covered with rushes, in which I observed the remains of an aqueduct. At nine in the morning we reached Mikalitza, a large, dull, dilapidated Turkish town, seated on a river, to which it gives its name. • Daniel. I know not whether this river be not the same that issues from lake Abouilla: so much, however, is certain, that a lake is to be seen at a distance in the plain. In this case, the river Mikalitza must be the Rhyndacus, formerly the Lycus, which took its rise in the Stagnum Artynia: a conjecture which is strengthened by its having at its mouth the little island (Besbicos) mentioned by the ancients. The town of Mikalitza is not far from the Lopadion of Nicetas, which is the Loupadi of Spon, the Lopadi, Loubat, and Ouloubat of Tournefort. Nothing is more tiresome for a traveller than this confusion in the nomenclature of places; and if in regard to this point I have committed almost inevitable errors, I request the reader to recollect, that men of superior abilities have themselves fallen into mistakes. We left Mikalitza at noon, and advanced along the east bank of the river towards the high lands, forming the coast of the sea of Marmora, the ancient Propontis. On my right, I perceived superb plains, an extensive lake, and, in the distance, the chain of Olympus: all this country is magnificent. After riding an hour, we crossed the river by a wooden bridge, and came to the pass of the heigths which lay before us. Here we found the port of Mikalitza. I dismissed my scoundrel of a guide, and took my passage in a Turkish vessel ready to sail for Constantinople. At four in the afternoon, we began to fall down the river: the port of Mikalitza being sixteen leagues from the sea. The river had here increased to nearly the size of the Seine; it flowed between verdant hills whose foot is washed by the current. The antique form of our galley, the oriental costume of the passengers, the five half-naked sailors towing us along with a rope, the beauty of the river, and the solitude of the banks, rendered this trip picturesque and agreeable. As we approached the sea, the river behind us formed a long canal, at the end of which we perceived the heigths that we had passed between; their slopes were tinged by a setting sun not visible to us. Swans were sailing before us, and herons were repairing to land to seek their accustomed retreat. The whole strongly reminded me of the rivers and scenery of America, when, at night, I left my bark canoe, and kindled a fire on an unknown shore. All at once, the hills between which we were winding, falling back to the right and left, the sea opened upon our view. F f From the foot of the two promontories extended a low tract, half under water, formed by the alluvious matters deposited by the river. We moored our vessel close to this marshy spot, near a hut, the last kan of Anatolia. On the 12th, at four in the morning, we weighed anchor with a light favourable breeze, and in less than half an hour we cleared the mouth of the river. The scene is worthy of being described. Aurora dawned on our right behind the high lands of the continent; on our left extended the sea of Marmora; ahead of us appeared an island; the eastern sky of a deep red, grew paler as the light increased; the morning star sparkled in this empurpled radiance; and below that beautiful star, the crescent of the moon was scarcely discernible, like the faint traces of the most delicate pencil. One of the ancients would have said that Venus, Diana, and Aurora, had met to announce to him the most brilliant of the gods. This picture changed whilst I contemplated it; green and roseate rays proceeding from one common centre, soon shot from the east to the zenith; these colours died away, revived and were again extinguished, till the sun appearing on the horizon, melted all the tints of the atmosphere into one universal white slightly tinged with a golden glow. We steered northward, leaving the coasts of Anatolia on our right; the wind lulled an hour after sunrise and we took to our oars. The calm continued the whole day. The sunset was cold, red, and unattended with any accidents of light; the opposite horizon was greyish, the sea of a lead-colour, and without birds; the distant coasts appeared of an azure hue, but had no brilliancy ; the twilight was of very short duration, and was suddenly succeeded by night. At nine o'clock a breeze sprung up from the east, and we proceeded at a brisk rate. On the 18th, at the return of dawn, we found ourselves near the coast of Europe, of Port St. Stephen; this coast was low and naked. It was two months, to the very day and hour, since I left the eapital of civilized nations, and I was now going to enter the capital of barbarous nations. How much I had seen in this short space of time! How much older had I grown in these two months! At half an hour after six we passed the powder mill, a long white building in the Italian style. Behind this edifice, extended the land of Europe, which appeared flat and uniform. Villages, whose situation was |