The Favourite Odalique 79 Smyrna, from the Harbour, Asia Minor 79 The Castle of Argyro-Castro, Albania 81 Town and Castle of Paramythia, Albania 82 The Sultana in her State Arrhuba 83 The Tomb of Ali Pasha and Fatimah, Joannina 83 Halt of Caravaniers at a Seraï 85 The Ruins of Laodicea 86 Castle of Parga, Albania 87 Castle and Valley of Suli 89 Scutari−-and the Maiden Tower 91 Governor’s House, Philadelphia 92 The Gygean Lake, and Place of a Thousand Tombs 93 Map of the Mediterranean, and Turkish Empire. Fisher, Son, & Co. Printers. [Illustration: DRAWN & ENGRAVED BY ALEX^R FINLAY & SON. CONSTANTINOPLE and the BOSPHORUS.] HISTORICAL SKETCH OF CONSTANTINOPLE. The first mercantile expedition undertaken by the Greeks, to a distant country, was that to Colchis, the eastern extremity of the Black Sea, to bring back the allegorical golden fleece. This distant and perilous voyage, could not fail, in that rude age, to excite the imagination; so the poets have adorned its historical details with all the fascinations of fiction; the bold mariners who embarked in the ship Argo are dignified with the qualities of heroes, and their adventures swelled into portentous and preternatural events. The Symplegades were placed at the entrance of this dark sea, which closed upon and crushed the daring ships that presumed to penetrate into its mysteries, and so for ever shut out all access to strangers. But the intrepid sailors, whose names are handed down to posterity for their extraordinary physical powers, overcame every difficulty; and Jason, the Columbus of the ancient world, returned in safety with his golden freight. From that time the hitherto impervious sea changed its name. It had been called by the inhospitable appellation of _Axenos_, because it was inaccessible to strangers; it was now named _Euxenos_, as no longer repelling, but, on the contrary, inviting foreigners to its shores. The dark Euxine, and all its visionary dangers, soon became familiar to the enterprising Greeks, and colonies were every where planted on the narrow waters that led to it. Little, however, was understood of the advantages of selecting a site for these young cities; and one of the first on record still remains, to attest the ignorance of the founders. In the year 685 before the Christian era, Argias led a colony from Megara, which he settled at the mouth of the Bosphorus. The site selected for the town was the shore of a shallow bay that indented the Asiatic coast, and was exposed to every wind. It was first called Procerastes, afterwards Colpusa, and finally Chalcedon.