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TO CONSTANTINOPLE 29
There, on the spit, was Leander’s Abydos ; and across the
strak on the north shore was Sestos, and Aphrodite’s temple,
where the priestess Hero waited in the tower. When the
dawn reddened, as now, her watching eyes saw the beloved
swimmer’s body being washed towards the strand, and she
east herself into the waves—
That tale is old, but love anew
May nerve young hearts to prove as true
Byron swam across this strait, though no priestess awaited
him. And it was near this shore that the bride of Abydos, the
lovely Zuleika, " soft as the memory of buried love," broke
her heart.
Here, on the same shore, the Persian king, impatient to
bring Hellas under his yoke, new into a rage and commanded
his soldiers to beat the sea with three hundred strokes and to
put it in chains, because his bridge from Abydos to Sestos
had been destroyed by a storm.
It was past midday when the slender minarets and broad
domes of the mosques on the Stamboul peninsula showed
above the blue waters of the Sea of Marmara. To the south,
on the other side of the strait, were the white masses of houses
at Scutari, in long rows like barracks, rather unpicturesque
for Asia. Then wc entered the mouth of the Bosporus and
slid in between the ships in the harbour outside the Golden
Horn. On our left lay Stamboul, with huge mosques and
minarets against a deep blue sky ; in front and to the right
were Galata and Pera, the Greek and Armenian quarters of
the city, their houses perched in groups up the steep slopes.
The harbour and the Golden Horn were thronged with ships
and masts.
As wc neared land several boats came out to meet us.
Suddenly our Jewish friend came to life ; he began to gesticu
late vigorously, waved, and pointed to a boat, crying, " Look,
there’s my father ! And there’s my brother, too ! " He
beamed with delight, and for the moment all his sorrows
seemed to be forgotten.
Then the Turkish officials came on board and our passports
were examined in the saloon. Most of the passengers got
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