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ARMENIA AND THE NEAR EAST
42
figurements of modernity ! The sultan preferred to kecp his
Eden, his gardens, his harems, his beautiful daughters of Eve
in peace—untarnished by the prosaic vulgarity of the age.
Even a blood-stained monster like Abdul Hamid, who enjoyed
håving the Armenians massacred by the thousand, must have
had a softer sentimental side which sought peace and repose
in the bosom of nature. But Turkey’s hour has come at last,
and the new age of factory-chimneys and oil-tanks will soon
invade the picturesque shores of the Bosporus.
The climate of the strait is not as warm as the latitude
would lead one to expect ; even the ancients knew the chilly
Boreas which blew south through the Bosporus from the
Black Sea and unexplored Scythia.
We sailed past ruins of the old fortifications near Constanti
nople—the Norman towers and walls which kept the Turks
so long at bay.
In the evening we reached the mouth, and the Black Sea
opened out before us as the sun sank close to the outermost
spit with its lighthouse in the west. It was as if we were
såiling into a new world. Through this very strait sailed the
legendary Argonauts on their way to wealthy Colchis ; here
they met the blind old king Phineus who knew the way thither
and was willing to tell them how to steer if they could set
him free from the disgusting harpies who befouled the food,
so that he could never eat in peace. The winged sons of
Boreas easily made short work of them, and Phineus accord
*ngly gave tne Argonauts useful information as to the course
they should foliow. We met no blind old king or harpies ;
but a modern aeroplane and its machine-gun would have
been a still more efficient help to him than the sons of Boreas.
We glided out into the Black Sea and headed eastward
along the north coast of Asia Minor. Next morning
(June uth) wc arrived at Songuldak, where the ship was to
coal. This place is a little to the north-east of the ancient
Greek colony of Heraclea (now Eregli), the last port the
Argonauts came to before Colchis, and the place where their
steersman, Tiphys, died.
Coaling is horribly dull, even in Asia Minor. While it was
going on, therefore, some of us went for a stroll ashore.
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