The plough, which is drawn by oxen, is formed something after the one used in the Holy Land, excepting that the horizontal pole to which the cattle are attached is longer, with the view of keeping them at a greater distance from each other. The penetration of the plough into the earth is very shallow, and the furrows are long. This struck me as a commentary on one part of revealed truth.* The mode adopted to smooth the ground after it has been sown, to cover and press down the grain, is by a plank of wood near one foot in breadth, instead of a roller, to which a pole, similar to that of a coach, is fixed, having a cross at the top to attach the oxen. The husbandman stands upon this plank, to increase its weight and keep it flat upon the surface, moving the oxen forward at a slow pace.

Many of the Greeks abstain from eating beef, as they conceive that the animal which tills the ground, and is so laborious a servant, ought to be preserved.

In proceeding through the town, about the distance of a quarter of a mile from the theatre, I came to extensive ruins of palaces, houses, baths, with blocks of marble, fragments of columns, statues, and enormous stones bearing mutilated inscriptions, and jumbled together as if by an earthquake or bombardment, the wrecks of time and of devastating barbarians, conveying most abundant proofs of the former magnificence and extent of this renowned city. In stumbling among such remains, it was impossible not to contemplate with interest the remarkable events which have given renown to this corner of the earth, where the ingenuity of the architect and the power of the orator were so eminently displayed. At the same time, however, that it exhibits the wonderful productions of man, it shows on the other hand his frail and perishing nature. What Ephesus must have been anciently, the imagination of a traveller

* Psalm cxxix. iii.

will be able, even from its present fallen state, to form some opinion of. To the idolatry of paganism succeeded the worship of the true God by the primitive Christians, which is now followed by that of the Mahomedan impostor. These will remind him of the words of Scripture, that the candlestick should be removed out of its place here *; and that city, which was once filled by a proud and luxurious people, now furnishes a miserable asylum for its few indigent inhabitants.

And here I am prompted to ask, what would be the grief of the great apostle, whose warning voice and that of his son in the faith, was raised within its walls were they to witness those heaps of ruins, and the scene of desolation which this once great and goodly city now presents. Alas! how is the mighty fallen. Contrasting its present deplorable state with its former grandeur, opulence, and prodigious population, the mind is lost in contemplation. The very sea itself has now retired some distance from the city, shunning its former connection with it, and the place it anciently occupied now forms a pestilential morass.

I know that all beneath the moon decay;
And what by mortals in this world is brought,
In time's great periods shall return to nought.

Some have been of opinion that the mother of our Lord was not interred at Jerusalem, but in this place.

Among many coins presented to me for sale by a shepherd, I was told that not a single one bearing the effigy of Diana, which I was so anxious to obtain, could be procured. The most appropriate emblem of this city seems to have been the bee, which occurs on [several ancient medals, with the head of Minerva, and on the reverse the river Cayster. There are also the Ephesian Diana, her head surrounded by a glory; again, Diana attired as a huntress; and a

*Rev. ii. 5.

marine Diana of Ephesus: all which may convey a good idea of the craft of Demetrius, who was a maker of silver medals and images of the goddess for the temple. One also represents the union of Diana with Serapis, the deity of Alexandria, and Isis, the Egyptian goddess, which farther shows that Ephesus was not a worshiper of Diana exclusively, but that other deities were included as sacred objects. Perhaps the priests, who derived profit from those sources, co-operated with Demetrius, who are called "the workmen of like occupations*," for these appear to be distinguished from the "craftsmen."

My curiosity in this secluded spot having been satisfied, I indulged in mournful reflections, which the consideration of its original splendid architecture and consequence, now lying in such woful destruction, was calculated to inspire. Unfortunately time would not allow me to proceed to Thyatira, or, as called in the language of the country, Ask Hissar, Laodicea or Ladik, Sardis or Sart, Pergamos or Pargmè or Bergima, Philadelphia or Allat Sheir†, which had been favoured with the light of revelation, and where Christian churches were planted; places, it may be remarked, that form nearly a circle in the country. According to information, however, there are at the former place a few walls standing; at the second, many remains of antiquity; at the third and fourth, a few, and at the fifth there are none. I now departed from Ephesus, during a charming evening, which

* Acts, xix. 25.

With a silent pace,

Slowly moving in the west,

Show'd an emblem of his grace,
Pointing to eternal rest.

+ I have given both the names of these places for the sake of future travellers, as I found the natives altogether unacquainted with the European appellations of them.

Taking another track, said to be shorter than that from Smyrna, and over the mountains, partly through a woody country, where I often lost my way, and it was altogether a miracle I was not encountered by banditti, I returned in safety to Smyrna, or Izmier, as called by the Arabs.

CHAP. XV.

SMYRNA.

PLAGUE.

DESCRIPTION. - CITY..

- PORT. POPULATION. BIBLE SOCIETY.—BRITISH SYSTEM OF EDUCATION. BIRTH-DAY OF GEORGE THE THIRD. ENGLISH CONSUL. - CASINO. REMARKABLE FACT OF

VILLAS.

ON my return to Smyrna, it afforded me no ordinary gratification to find the horrors of the plague and apprehensions of its further ravages to have in some degree subsided. This enabled me to walk about the town with the Rev. Mr. Williamson, but observing the peculiar precaution which is taken by the Franks, who even avoid treading on the smallest rag, from which infection might be dreaded, or touching any person in passing. Most of the shops, however, of the Europeans were still shut up, and the principal families having fled to a distance, a dead silence, which was very affecting, reigned throughout this place. Tents, under which those afflicted with the disease had been placed, were still pitched along the shore. Many had died since my departure from Ephesus, and "the mourners went about the streets." Several, also, who had performed kind offices to the sick had themselves caught the infection and been cut off. The inveterate obstinacy of the Mahomedans in refusing to adopt any remedy to counteract the effects of this disease, cannot fail to be condemned by every one who has a spark of *Habak. iii. 7.