Warburton, Eliot: Travels in Egypt and the Holy Land, or, The crescent and the cross: comprising the romance and realities of eastern travel (Philadelphia, 1859)

CHAP. XVIII.]

THE HELLESPONT.

195

" The winds are high on Helle's wave,

As on that night of stormy water,
When Love, who sent, forgot to save
The young, the beautiful, the brave,

The lonely hope of Sestos' daughter."

The Grecian States of old and the modern Greek empire were
assaulted from these shores; millions have crossed, and thousands,
perhaps, have perished, in this stream ; yet Leander's daring and
Leander's death monopolize all the interest that the steamer's
rapid transit gives one time to bestow upon the Dardanelles.

There are strong forts here that contain guns of enormous cal-
ibre : one is said to require upwards of three hundred pounds of
powder for each discharge :* the shot consists of enormous stones
of basalt, brought from the Black Sea. Certain it is that this ar
tillery is very terrible where it takes effect, but it is not adapted
for shooting woodcocks or steamers.

* Baron da Tott