We shall now conclude this part of the article, by presenting our readers with the interesting descrip tion of the appearance of the Thracian Bosphorus, and the nature of the Cyanean Isles, and the ad joinbig strata, as given by the ingenious Dr Clarke, in his Travels into different countries of Europe, Asia, and Africa.
. When Dr Clarke, in his voyage from Ineada, to Constantinople, first discovered the light tower on the European side of the Bosphorus, it appeared situated at the base of an immense'range of mountains. The whole coast, on both sides, opened with a degree of inde ' scribable grand ur, and resembled a stupendous wall, opposed to the great bed of waters, in, which the mouth of the Bosphbrus was like ,a small crack or fissure occasioned by an earthquake.
" As we entered the straits," says Dr Clarke, " a miserable lantern, placed upon a tower on either side, presented to us all that *as intended to serve as a guidance for seamen during the night. Never were light-houses of more importance; or to which less at' tention has been paid. An officer of the customs 'put off from the shore in his boat ; but contented himself with merely asking the name of the captain, and did not come on board. After passing the light-houses, there appeared fortresses, the works of French engi-• neers ; and their situation, on rugged rocks, had a striking effect. Presently, such a succession of splen did objects was displayed, that, in all the remembrance of my former travels, I can recal nothing with which it may be compared. A rapid current, flowing at the rate of a league an hour, conveyed us from the Black Sea. Then, while we were ruminating upon the sudden discharge of such accumulated waters by so narrow an aqueduct, and meditating the causes which first produced the wonderful channel through which they are conveyed, we found ourselves trans ported, as it were, in an instant, to a new world. Scarcely had we time to admire the extraordinary beauty of the villages, scattered up and down at the mouth of this canal, when the palaces and gardens of European and Asiatic Turks, the villas of foreign ambassadors, mosques, minarets, mouldering towers, and ivy-mantled walls of ancient edifices, made their appearance. 'Among these we beheld an endless va riety of objects which seemed to realise tales of en chantment ; fountains and cemeteries, hills, mountains, terraces, groves, quays, painted gondolas, and har bours, presented themselves to the eye, in such rapid succession, that, as one picture disappeared, it was succeeded by a second, more gratifying than the first.
" On the following day, we were determined to ad venture an excursion as far as the islands anciently called Cyanez, or Symplegades, which lie off the mouth of the canal. The accurate Busbequius con: fessed, that, in the few hours he spent on the Black Sea, he could discern no traces of their existence ; we however, in the preceding evening, seen enough of them to entertain great curiosity concern ing their nature and situation, even in the transitory %•iew afforded by means of our telescopes. Strabo correctly describes their number and situation. The Cyanex,' says he, on the mouth of Pontus, are two litticisles, one on the European, and the other on the Asiatic side of the strait, separated from each other by twenty stadia.' The more ancient accounts, represe,,ted them as sometimes separated, and at other times joined together, was satisfactorily ex: plained by Tournefort, who observed, that each of hem consists of one craggy island, but that, when the sea is disturbed, the water covers the lower parts, so as to make the different points of either resemble insular rocks. They are, in fact, each of them join ed to the main land by a kind of isthmus, and appear as islands when this is inundated, which always hap pens in stormy weather. But it is not clear that the isthmus, which connects either of them with the continent, was formerly visible. The disclosure has been probably owing to that gradual sinking of the of the Black Sea, before noticed. The same cause continuing to operate, may hereafter lead pos terity to marvel what is become of the Cyanem ; and this may also account for their multiplied appearance in ages anterior to the time of. Strabo. The main object of ,our was not, however, the illustration of any ancient author in this particular part of their history, but to ascertain, if possible, by the geologi. cal phenomena of the coast, the nature of a revolu tion which opened the remarkable channel at the mouth of which those islands are' situated.