Part 36

In the Island of _Corfu_: _Thymus capitatus Dioscoridis._ _Lysimachia Hysopi folio._ _Scabiosa caule altissimo, flore nigrescente, fortè peregrina ~Bauhin.~_ _Cyperus grumineus miliaceus._ _Scammonea._ _Acarna flore patulo rubente._ _Centaurium major. album._ _Centaurium rubens Spicatum._ _Centaurium ramosum rubens._ _Centaurium ramosum album._ _Vitex flore cæruleo & albo._ _Consolida regalis fœtida._ _Glicyrrhiza._ _Pulegii Species erecto caule, latifolia, incana, & hirsuta._ With many others mention’d before.

In the island of _Zant_: The Curran Grape. White and yellow Melons. A large thin-skinn’d Lemon without either seed or stone, as also the Curran Grapes are. _Genista seu spartium foliis argenteis._ _Convolvulus Sagittariæ foliis._ _Prunella spinosa._ _Coris Matthioli._ _Gossipium seu Xylon._ _Glaux Dioscoridis._ _Cistus plantaginis folio._ _Cicer Creticum, &c._

In the isle of _Cerigo_: _Dictamnus falsus._ _Chamædrys Alpina minima hirsuta._ _Thymi capitati secunda species foliis minoribus densius Stipatis._ _Salvia pomifera seu gallifera._ _Stæchas citrina._ That species of Thyme is in Dr _Plukenet_’s _Phytographia_, _Tab. 116. F. 4._

In the isle of _Tenos_ or _Tine_: _Limonium caule sinuato._ _Frutex Spinosus Jaceæ albæ capitulis._ _Stachys parva foliis argenteis._ _Genista spinosa floribus rubris._

Near the ruins of _Troy_: _Quercus glande majore._ _Gossipium._ _Sesamum._ _Anguria._ _Tragacantha._ _Tartonreira Massiliensium seu Thymelæa incana Sericea, longifolia & latifolia._ _Pastinaca echinifera ~Colum.~_ _Jacea lutea capite spinoso._ _Papaver corniculatum flore tricolore._ _Pancratium_ in flower. _Verbascum marinum laciniatis foliis._

Near _Constantinople_: _Abrotanum humile flore Chamæmeli._ _Serpilli species foliis Satureiæ._ _Androsamum flore & thecâ omnium maximis._ _Guaiacum Patavinum._

On mount _Olympus_, near _Bursa_ or _Prusa_: _Abies conis sursum spectantibus, foliis subtus argenteis._ _Cistus laurinis foliis._ _Aster montanus, Linariæ folio, flore flavo._ _Coris seu Hypericum foliis crispis._ _Hypericum foliis hirsutis, margine crinifero._ _Aster Conyzoides ~Gesn.~_ _Astragalus Matthiol. flore cæruleo._ _Pyrola frutescens Arbuti folio._ _Gentianella verna._ _Senecio incana pinguis._ _Cerinthe minor._ _Cistus argenteis foliis._ _Cymbalaria Italica._ _Calamintha montana præstantior._ _Elichryson sive Gnaphalium comâ aureâ._ _Gramen junceum Echinatum._ _Millefolium nobile odoratum._ _Hypericum seu Ascyron magno flore._ _Panax Heracleum._ _Gnaphalium repens._ _Herba Tuitia Auriculæ Affinis._ _Tragacantha._ _Helleborus niger._ _Ephedra seu Polygonum Scandens bacciferum_; climbing up to the tops of the vast Plane-trees, according to _Bellonius_.

In our Journey to _Mandragorai_ and _Courougouli_: _Scordium lanuginosum sive Creticum._ _Alsine Lotoides seu Anthylloides, sive spergulæ facie ~C. B.~_ _Gingidum Hispanicum._ _Leucoium Alyssoides Clypeatum maj. ~C. B.~_ _Origanum Spicatum Montis Sipyli foliis glabris._

Near _Thyatira_: _Spartium alterum Monospermum, Pseudospartium Hispanicum Aphyllon._ A _Thapsus minor longifolia_; or rather a _Sideritis_ or _Stachis foliis Salviæ argenteis pilosis mollibus_; which is the _Panacea_ of the country people. _Scabiosa argentea min._

About _Smyrna_: Two kinds of _Jujubes_ or _Ziziphus_. Turpentine-trees, and Mastich-trees. _Smyrnion Creticum._ _Origanum perenne lignosum odoratissimum._ Several sorts of Olive-trees. _Tamarisk_ and _Ricinus_, or _Palma Christi_.

Near the gulph of _Lepanto_: _Tithymalus Spinosus._ The Fust or yellow wood used to die with, call’d by the _Greeks_ _Chrisoxulo_. _Cedrus Lyciæ._ _Arisarum angustifolium._ _Lamium moschatum foliorum margine argentato._

About mount _Parnassus_, _Athens_, and other places of _Attica_ or _Achaja_: _Stachys viscoso flore luteo, odore Narcissi juncifolii._ _Petromarula Cretica_ or _Rapunculus Pyramidalis altera_. _Sabina._ _Crocus Albus & Luteus._ _Poterion Plinii_, smaller than _Tragacanth_. _Polium Gnapholoides._ _Ilex Chermifera._ _Acacia Secunda Matthioli._ _Anemones_ of all colours. Many _Asters_ and _Arisarums_. _Aristolochia Clematitis._ Two _Asphodils_. _Brassica frutescens._ _Borago variegata Cretica._ _Cneorum Matth. & Clusii, sive Thymelææ affinis facie externâ._ Several _Cisti_. _Jacea Moschata_, with other knapweeds. _Leontopetalum_ all over the plain of _Athens_. _Oleander._ _Scilla._ _Scorzonera Cretica Asphodeli sistulosi facie_, _Galocorta Græcorum_, it is the womens _Cosmetic_, and Milk-plant. _Siliqua Edulis_ or _Carob_. Two _Thymelæa_’s, _argentea_ & _tomentosa_. _Tithymalus Spinosus._ _Equisetum frutescens Aphyllon_ (perhaps a sort of _Tithymal_) _Lychnis frutescens_: With many more, which we have either mention’d in other places, or else were doubtful of, as a kind of small silver-leaved _Scabious_, and a _Dandelion_ or _Hieracium_, with Pilewort or small Colts-foot-leaves, with a root like so many Scorpions following one another. A sort of _Medica lunatâ siliqua_, or _Loto affinis siliquis hirsutis circinatis_. _Astragalus argenteus_ or _Syriacus_.

Near _Corinth_ and the _Isthmus_, _Pinus Maritima_ with small cones. _Cedrus Lycia vel Sabina baccifera._ _Ceratia_ or _Siliqua Arbor_. _Lentiscus._ _Olea Sylv._ _Scabiosa argentea petræa._ _Aristolochiæ Clematitis species._ _Linaria latifolia valentina Clusii_, the flowers beautiful with three colours. _Androsemum umbelliferum._ _Scorzonera bulbosa._ _Arbutus folio non serrato_, _Comarea Dioscoridis Adrachne Theophrasti_.

For these the reader may consult Mr _Ray_’s _Collection of Exotic Catalogues_, especially the _Oriental_ one, where the synonymous names are added.

_Historical Observations relating to ~Constantinople~. By the reverend and learned ~Tho. Smith~, D. D. Fellow of ~Magd. Coll. Oxon.~ and of the ~Royal Society~._

_Constantinople_, formerly _Byzantium_, was by _Constantine_ the Great called so after his own Name[6], who being mightily pleased with the beautiful and advantageous situation of the place between two seas, and defended by narrow streights on both sides, removed the seat of the Empire hither, and laid the foundation of it’s future splendor and greatness. It was also by a special Edict or Law of the same Emperor[7], which he caused to be engraven on a marble pillar, placed near his own statue on horseback, in one of the piazza’s of his new-built city called _Strategium_, where the Souldiers used to muster as in the _Campas Martius_, called _Second_ or _New Rome_, in emulation of old _Rome_, which he designed and endeavoured this should equal in all things. Accordingly he endowed it with the same Privileges and Immunities, and establish’d the same number of Magistrates, and Orders of People, and divided the whole extent of it into fourteen Precincts or Regions[8], according to the division of _Rome_. And the _Greek_ writers were as elegant and extravagant in their commendations of it; but the usual title in their ordinary discourses and writings, when they had occasion to mention it without any flourish, was ἡ βασιλεύουσα, or ἡ βασιλὶς, that is, the imperial city, to the same sense with that of _Sidonius Apollinaris_[9].

_Salve scepturum columen, Regina orientis,_ _Orbis Roma tui._

The country about it was afterwards called _Romania_ in a limitted and restrained sense, (for that _Romania_ was anciently the same with _Orbis Romanus_, seems clear from _Epiphanius_[10]) and the people Ῥωμαῖοι. But I suppose this was not done till about the middle times of the empire, when it began to decline. The _Greeks_ still retain this name: For if you ask any of the _Greeks_ born upon the continent of _Thrace_ what countryman he is, he answers forthwith, Ῥωμαῖος, _Romios_, for so they pronounce it. The _Turks_ in like manner called a _Greek_ Christian _Urum Gaour_, or the _Roman Infidel_, as they will call sometimes the Emperor of _Germany_, _Urumler Padisha_, or Emperor of the _Romans_. Hence it was that the latter _Græcian_ Emperors stiled themselves βασιλεῖς Ῥωμαίων, Kings of the _Romans_, that is, such as were born in _Romania_, and the other countries, which made up the eastern division of the empire. Though perchance by this flourishing title they pretended a right to the government of the west; upon which vain presumption they assumed also the title of Κοσμοκράτορες, or _Emperors of the World_, as if they had been true successors of _Augustus_, and the western Emperors, usurpers; whom they called by way of contempt and indignation, Ῥῆγες, _Reges_, as _Luitprandus_[11] informs us in the account of his embassy to _Nicephorus Phocas_, and afforded the people of _Italy_ no other title than that of _Longobards_ or _Lombards_[12]. The present _Greeks_ call all the western Christians Λατῖνοι, or Φράγγοι, _Latins_ or _Franks_, the _Turks_ only making use of the latter, when they speak civilly of us, and calling _Christendom_ _Phrenkistan_, in the present _Greek_ Φραγγία. The _Turks_ now as proudly call _Constantinople_, _Alempena_, or the refuge of the world; where indeed seems to be a medly of all or most nations of three parts of it, and of all religions, which are allowed to be publickly profest and exercised every where throughout the empire, except the _Persian_. For they look upon it as a corruption of, and deviation from the rules and doctrine of _Mahomet_, their great false Prophet, and therefore absolutely forbid it, as repugnant to, and destructive of the doctrine of life and salvation, as they speak. And accordingly they condemn with all imaginable fury the professors of it, who pretend to follow _Ali_, as sectaries and apostates, and entertain worse opinions of them, than of _Christians_, or _Jews_, or _Infidels_. The _Persians_ are not behindhand with them in their hatred and disrespect, deriding them as gross and stupid, and looking upon them as little less than barbarous: Interest and zeal for their several tenents heightening their differences so much, that in time of war they destroy one anothers mosques. I remember, that there was a great discourse in _Constantinople_ among the _Turks_, concerning an impudent hot-headed _Persian_, who publickly in the new mosque, built by the mother of the present Emperor, asserted that _Ali_ was equal to _Mahomet_. But it seems he very luckily made his escape out of their hands, at which the priests and the more zealous _Turks_ were very much scandalized.

The _Greeks_ have twenty six churches within the walls of the city, besides six in _Galata_, of which I have given an account elsewhere. They have also two churches at _Scutari_, one at _Kadikui_ or _Chalcedon_. So at _Staurosis_, _Chingilkui_, and several other villages upon the _Asian_ shore of the _Bosphorus_, as at _Beshictash_, _Ortakui_, _Chorouch chesme_, which church is dedicated to St _Michael_ the Archangel, _Jenikui_ or _Neochorion_, _Therapia_, _Bujukdere_, and other villages on the _European_ side. They have also a church at _Haskui_, where is their burying-place, and another near the _Bagno_, dedicated to St _Parasceve_. And at _Tatoula_ about a mile from _Pera_, upon a hill, which from the name of the church is thence called by the _Greeks_ and _Franks_, St _Demetrius_’s _hill_. Next to the holy Virgin, St _Demetrius_ and St _George_ have most churches dedicated to them.

The _Armenians_ have not, if I remember aright, above seven churches, they being few in number in companion of the _Greeks_.

The _Jews_ may have in the city and places adjacent between twenty and thirty synagogues, this being the greatest shelter of that accursed and contemptible people in the Grand Signior’s dominions, next to _Caire_ and _Saloniki_; and I believe there may be about twenty or thirty thousand families of them. They are of great use and service to the _Turks_, upon _account_ of their brokage and merchandise, and industry in several mechanical trades. All these I look upon as natives, or slaves rather, each paying money for his head every year. The _Jews_ indeed very wisely collect this tax among themselves, and according to an agreement made with the _Tefterdar_ or Treasurer, pay a certain sum in gross for their whole nation residing there; by which piece of cunning they are great gainers, and spare the poor among them less able to pay, by a contribution of the rich to make up the sum. The _English_ and _Dutch_ Embassadors have their chapels in their palaces common to their respective nations.

The churches and chapels of the western _Christians_ of the _Roman_ communion in _Galata_, are,

St _Peter_’s, belonging to the _Dominicans_, where is the famous piece of _Madonna di Constantinopoli_, as the _Italians_ call it, or of the Blessed Virgin holding the holy child _Jesus_ in her arms; which they pretend to be drawn by the hand of St _Luke_, celebrated by some of the later ecclesiastical writers to have been a famous Painter. Out of respect to this idle tradition, the credulous and superstitious _Latins_ and _Greeks_ of the _Roman_ communion shew great veneration to it, which otherwise hath little in it of proportion, art, or beauty to derive any reputation upon the designer, or upon his work.

St _Francis_, belonging to the _Conventuali_, Friers of the order of St _Francis_: The ground of this by the wise conduct and intercession of _Cavaliere Molino_, the _Venetian Bailo_, after the surrendry of _Candia_, upon the peace made by the Republic with the Grand Signior, was procured to be restored, and a handsome church rebuilt, with the large contributions of money sent out of _Christendom_.

St _Benedict_, belonging to the _Jesuits_, where is a rich altar curiously adorn’d with several figures in _Mosaic_. This convent was purchased for them by their great benefactor, _Henry_ the fourth of _France_.

St _Mary_, belonging to the _Observantines_ or _Zoccolanti_, a branch of the order of St _Francis_, so called from their going in _Zoccoli_ or wooden clogs.

The _Capucines_ have a little chapel dedicated to St _George_, hard by the _French_ Embassador’s palace.

St _Ann_, a chapel frequented by the _Petrots_.

St _Paul_ and St _Anthony_ were both taken away some years since from the Christians, and turned into mosques. The former of which is now known by the name of _Arab Giamesi_, or the mosque of the _Arabians_. Our interpreters mentioned also to me the church of St _John_, which the _Turks_ have seized upon for their use, St _George_, which the Jews are possessed of, and St _Sebastian_, which was used to be visited chiefly on holy-days.

The north wind blows for the most part at _Constantinople_, which must be ascribed to it’s nearness to the _Euxine_ sea, which bears that point from it. So that for want of a southwardly wind, ships have been forced to lie a month or two sometimes near the mouth of the _Hellespont_; this was taken notice of long since by _Eunapias_, in the life of _Ædesius_ who ascribes the seldom blowing of the south wind to the situation of the mountains, whereas it is checked and overpowered by the exuberence of the vapours continually sent forth from the _Black_ and _Great Sea_, as the _Greeks_ call it in comparison of the _Mediterranean_. _Vide ad finem Codini de Origin. Constantinopol. Edit. ~Paris.~ pag. 80._

The _Hellespont_ is about forty miles in length, and at the castles of _Sestos_ and _Abydos_ the streight may be about three quarters of an _English_ mile over, or less.

The length of the _Propontis_ is about a hundred and fifty miles, both shores may be seen in the middle of it. In it are

_Cyzicus_ an island near the _Asian_ shore, to which it is joined by two bridges. It still retains it’s ancient name Κυξικὸ, and is the seat of a Bishop, being inhabited by a considerable number of _Greeks_.

_Proconnesus_, not far from the former; now, as for some centuries past, called _Marmora_, from the excellent quarries of marble there found, the _marmor Cyzenicum_ also being famous in the time of _Pliny_.

_Besbycus_, now called by the _Greeks_ καλόλιμνο, or the good haven, not far from the entrance into the bay of _Montanea_ to the north-and-by-east; the _Turks_ call it _Imramle_.

There are several islands over against the bay of _Nicomedia_; formerly called _Sinus Astacenus_, according to _Strabo_, about six or seven leagues from _Constantinople_[13].

_Prote_, so called because they approach first to it, coming from _Constantinople_, to the south of this _Prencipe_ and _Pytis_, which I take to be the same with _Pyrgos_, that lies inmost toward the bay: _Chalcitis_, in modern _Greek_, _Chalce_ or _Chalcis_. _Oxia_ and _Platy_ to the north-west. I have expressed the _Turkish_ names of the lesser and uninhabited islands elsewhere, which perchance were fantastically imposed by some _Franks_.

The _Seraglio_ is at the extream point of the north-east angle of _Constantinople_, where formerly stood old _Byzantium_, within which, towards the haven is a stately _Kiosk_, or Summer-house, from whence the Grand Signior usually takes barge, when he passes into _Asia_, or diverts himself upon the _Bosphorus_, at which time the _Bostangibashi_, who hath the principal care of the Emperor’s palace, and hath the command of the _Bosphorus_, sits at the helm and steers.

The seven towers are at the south-east extremity.

The only suburbs are to the north-west, along the haven-side; for above the hill, where the three walls begin, lies an open champaign country, except that here and there at considerable distances farm-houses are Scattered.

The haven runs in from the west, and so opens east.

At the east end of _Galata_ is _Tophana_, where they cast their great guns.

_Pera_ and _Galata_ have about six gates to the seaward. The whole tract of ground was anciently, before the times of the Emperor _Valentinian_, who enclosed and fortified _Galata_ with walls and towers, stiled Περαῖα πέραν τῆς πόλεως, on the other side of the city to the north; which is the reason of it’s name, seated on higher hills, and whose ascent is more steep and difficult.

Our modern _Geographers_, such as _Mercator_ and _Ortelius_, who herein follow _Ptolemy_, place _Constantinople_ in the latitude of 43 degrees and 5 minutes: the _Arabian_ and _Persian_ Astronomers, as _Abulfeda_, _Nassir Eddin_, _Vlugh Beigh_, and so the πρόχειροι κανόνες of _Chrysococcas_, translated out of the _Persian_ tables, place it more northerly in 45°. But by later and better observation it is found, that they have erred in assigning the latitude of this city, as of several other places. To salve these differences, there is no just ground of pretence to say, that the _Poles_ are moveable, and have changed their situation since their time; whereas it may be better imputed to their want of due care, or to their taking things upon trust, from the reports of _Travellers_ and _Seamen_, not having been upon the places themselves; which certainly is to be said for _Ptolemy_, whose Observations, as to places more remote from _Alexandria_, are far from being accurate and true. The learned Mr _John Greaves_, as I find in a manuscript discourse, very worthy of being printed which he presented to the most reverend and renowned archbishop _Usher_, took the height of the Pole at _Constantinople_, with a brass sextant of above 4 feet _radius_, and found it to be but 41°:6′; but by the observation we made in our court-yard at _Pera_ with a good quadrant, we found but 40°:58′ of north latitude.

There is no place between the _Propontis_ and the walls of the city, except just at the _Seraglio_ point, which may be two hundred paces in length, where they have raised on a platform a battery for great guns; but from the point to the end of the haven west, the space to the gates is unequal in some places about twenty paces broad, in others three or four times as many more.

The distance between _Constantinople_ and _Chalcedon_, upon the opposite _Bithynian_ shore, may be about three or four miles.

In the walls are engraven the names of several Emperors, who reigned toward the declension of the _Græcian_ empire, as _Theophilus_, _Michael_, _Basilius Constantinus_, _Porphyrogenitus_, by whose care, and at whose expence the several breaches caused in them, by the sea, or by earth-quakes, were repaired.

_Kumkapi_, or the sand-gate, lies toward the _Propontis_; this the _Greeks_ call in their vulgar language Κονδοσκάλι, _Contoscalium_, or the little scale or landing-place. Here formerly was an Arsenal for gallies and other small vessels it being a convenient passage over sea. Over this gate was anciently engraven a curious inscription, still preserved in that excellent collection publish’d by _Gruterus_[14].

_Jedicula Kapi_, or the Gate of the seven towers, so called from it’s nearness to that _Acropolis_, is that, I guess, which the _Greeks_ formerly called Χρυσῆ or the golden gate, and by some late _Latin_ writers _Chrysea_, in _Luitprandus_, _Carea_, by a mistake either of the Transcriber or Printer, for _Aurea_, for so certainly it must be mended. Over this gate was this Inscription;

_Hæc loca Theodosius decorat post fata Tyranni,_ _Aurea secla gerit, qui portam construit auro._

cited by _Sirmond_, in his notes upon _Sidonius_[15]. This gate is in the twelfth region, and was also called ὡραῖα from it’s beautiful and curious structure.

The gun-gate, formerly called _Roman-gate_, not because it leads towards the continent of _Romania_ or _Thrace_, but from St _Romanus_[16] where the last Christian Emperor was killed at the assault which the _Turks_ made to force their way into the city by it.

Near _Adrianople_-gate is a fair large mosque called _Alibassa_, upon a hill accounted the highest in the city.

The distance between tower and tower in the upper wall to the landward, may be about ninety of my paces; the space between that and the second wall about eighteen paces over.

The place, where the Lyons, Leopards, and such like wild creatures are kept, (where I saw also several Jackals) was formerly, as the _Greeks_ told me, a Christian church dedicated to Παναγία, or the Blessed Virgin, where this verse is still legible:

Κατὰ Σκυθῶν ἔπνευσας θερμὸν ἐν μάχαις.

There is no tide or running back of the water on any side of the _Bosphorus_, into the _Black_ sea, as[17] some have imagined, whose mistake might possibly arise hence, that the wind being at north, and blowing hard, the current sets more violently at such times against the several headlands, jetting out into the channel, which admits of several turnings, and so the waters are forced back to some little distance: or else because when the south-wind freshens and grows boisterous, it makes a high rolling sea in the _Propontis_ and _Bosphorus_, and being contrary to the current, gives a check to it, so that it becomes less sensible, and is easily stemmed. Where it is narrowed, the distance seems to the eye to be scarce a mile over from one shore to another; where broadest, not much above a mile and a half, unless where it runs into the deep bays, which by reason of their shallowness only harbour boats.

The channel certainly is natural, and not cut by art, as some have idly fancied, not considering how the _Euxine_ sea should discharge itself otherwise of those great quantities of waters, poured into it by the _Ister_ and _Tanais_, now called _Don_, and the other rivers, whereby it becomes less salt, even very sensibly to the taste, than several parts of the _Mediterranean_.

The fish, by a strange kind of instinct, pass in vast shoals twice a year, autumn and spring, through the _Bosphorus_, that is, out of one sea into another; of which the _Greeks_, who live several months of the year upon them, take great numbers, and supply the markets at easie rates; the cormorants and other ravenous water-fowl, which the _Turks_ will not suffer to be destroy’d, or otherwise molested, preying also upon them.

The weather in some months is very inconstant, great heats and colds happenning the same day upon the change of the wind.