ror, misrepresentation, and
presumptuousness, of which every writer must wish to prove himself
undeserving.

"Lord Byron began by stating, 'The _tide_ was _not_ in our favour,'
and added, 'neither I nor any person on board the frigate had any
notion of a difference of the current on the Asiatic side; I never
heard of it till this moment.' His Lordship had probably forgotten
that Strabo distinctly describes the difference in the following
words;--

[Greek: 'Dio kai eupetesteron ek tes Sestou diairousi parallaxamenoi
mikron epi ton tes Herous purgon, kakeithen aphientes ta ploia
sumprattontos tou rhou pros ten peraiosin: Tois d' ex Abudou
peraioumenois parallakteon estin eis tanantia, okto pou stadious epi
purgon tina kat' antikru tes Sestou, epeita diairein plagion, kai me
teleos echousin enantion ton rhoun.'--] Ideoque _facilius a Sesto,
trajiciunt_ paululum deflexa navigatione ad Herus turrim, atque inde
_navigia dimittentes adjuvante etiam fluxu trajectum_. Qui ab Abydo
trajiciunt, in contrarium flectunt partem ad octo stadia ad turrim
quandam e regione Sesti: hinc _oblique_ trajiciunt, non _prorsus_
contrario fluxu.'[1]

[Footnote 1: "Strabo, book xiii. Oxford Edition."]

"Here it is clearly asserted, that the current assists the crossing
from Sestos, and the words [Greek: 'aphientes ta ploia']--'_navigia
dimittentes_,'--'_letting the vessels go of themselves_,' prove how
considerable the assistance of the current was; while the words
[Greek: 'plagion']--'_oblique_,' and '[Greek: teleos],'--'_prorsus_,'
show distinctly that those who crossed from Abydos were obliged to do
so in an _oblique_ direction, or they would have the current
_entirely_ against them.

"From this ancient authority, which, I own, appears to me
unanswerable, let us turn to the moderns. Baron de Tott, who, having
been for some time resident on the spot, employed as an engineer in
the construction of batteries, must be supposed well cognisant of the
subject, has expressed himself as follows:--

"'La surabondance des eaux que la Mer Noire recoit, et qu'elle ne
peut evaporer, versee dans la Mediterranee par le Bosphore de Thrace
et La Propontide, forme aux Dardanelles des courans si violens, que
souvent les batimens, toutes voiles dehors, out peine a les vaincre.
Les pilotes doivent encore observer, lorsque le vent suffit, de
diriger leur route de maniere a presenter le moins de resistance
possible a l'effort des eaux. On sent que cette etude