AINSWORTH'S TRAVELS IN THE TRACK Or THE TEN THOUSAND.
BEYOND the geographical knowledge, and the account of the Per- .eian empire it enabled XENOPHON to exhibit to the ancient world, the expedition of CYRUS differed but little from any other internal ,commotion excited by ambitious satraps in Persia. The retreat of -the Ten Thousand had larger effects. Their successful defiance of the whole power of the "great King" first opened the eyes of the .Greeks to the real weakness of that mighty-looking empire, and ;paved the way for the conquest of ALEXANDER. In a military point of view, the retreat still remains an unexampled instance of military, skill and political sagacity, or rather of philosophical com- prehension applied my the spur of the moment to one of the most arduous tasks of life. The successful retreat of these ancient ,soldiers, for so long a distance, through unknown and very difficult countries, first in the face of an innumerable army and then sur- rounded by hordes of barbarians, offers a •striking contrast to the
..British disasters in Cabul. It is true that the modern army was :more encumbered by followers than the ancient ; but the distance eto be traversed was very much less, the road was perfectly well 'known, the cold not much if any greater than that experienced by the Greeks on the uplands of Armenia, and the snow apparently not so loose ; whilst in parity of numbers, superiority of arms, and 'time for preparation, the advantage was all on the side of the British.
It is also probable that to a competent military mind the retreat of the Ten Thousand would present those essential principles of Oriental war that are independent of the mechanical character of arms, materiel, and modes of discipline. The principles of con- ducting a retreat, laid down by " the Duke" in his celebrated .criticism on MONSON'S disaster, which have received the loud pane- gyrics of Sir ROBERT PEEL and Sir CHARLES NAPIER, seem really 'to have been discovered by the leaders of the Greeks. The forma- tion of a body of light-armed troops to attack the advance of 'PIMA- PHERNES pressing on their rear, and the bold manceuvre of the Grecian generals in leaving their camp with only a guard, and marching to attack TERIBAZUS in the position whence he intended to stop their advance through the defile below, appear to embody the canon of the modern warrior.
The celebrity of this expedition—arising, perhaps, after all, as :much from the narrative of XENOPHON as from its intrinsic im- portance—has directed the attention of the learned to its exact route, -and been the theme of many elaborate disquisitions ; which, how- ever, have still left points to dispute. This uncertainty arises in part from the general or rather the non-geographical manlier in which XENOPHON mentioned places, and in part from the changes -that more than two thousand years have induced. Another source of difficulty has arisen from the barbarous character of the coun- :tries, which till very lately have been all but closed against tra- :yellers ; whilst the scientific geographers, who undertook to trace the march, got their knowledge at second-hand, and could not .profit by those graphic descriptions of local traits which they would have recognized on the spot.
This great advantage has been possessed by Mr. AINSWORTH, to aconsiderable extent in his capacity as surgeon to the Euphrates 'Surveying Expedition, and subsequently as a traveller engaged by the Geographical Society. He not only traversed much of the route of the Greeks, but sometimes under similar circumstances. On one occasion, Mr. AINSWORTH says, "the illustrator was, by a "curious accident, left by the Euphrates steamer on this very por- tion of the river, and on the same side as the Perso- Greek army, and he had to walk a day and a night across these inhospitable regions ; so that he can speak feelingly of the difficulties the Greeks had to encounter ": and he had some kindred experience among the highlands of their retreat. However, let the author state his own advantages.
"The present illustrator of the Anabasis [says Mr. AINSWORTH in his pre- face] has by accident enjoyed advantages possessed by no other person, of fol- lowing at intervals the whole line of this celebrated Expedition, from the plain of Caystrus and the Cilician gates, through Syria, down the Euphrates, to the "field of Cunaxa ; and of again travelling in the line of the still more memorable retreat across the plains of Babylonia and Media by Larissa and Mes-Pylw, and thence through the well-defended passes of the Tigris and Kurdistan, to the cold elevated uplands of Armenia, which were the scene of so many disasters and so much suffering to the Greeks. Then, again, from Trebizond Westward he has visited on various parts of the coast of Asia Minor localities to which an inte- rest is given by the notices of the Athenian historian, independent of their own importance as ancient sites or colonies ; and where he has not been per- sonally on that part of the route, as well as in the localities of the first assem- bling the troops under Cyrus, the researches of W. J. Hamilton, Pococke, Arundel, and others, fully fill up the slight deficiencies which might otherwise occur. Indeed, out of a journey evalued by the historian at three thousand four hundred and sixty-five miles altogether, there is not above six hundred miles that the illustrator has not personally explored."
Thus informed, with the Anabasis in hand and the various com- mentators by his side, Mr. AINSWORTH has set himself to trace the track of the Ten Thousand Greeks, from the first assemblage of the adventurous mercenaries at Sardis, till their great commander finally took leave of them, or rather of those who still remained under his 'orders, at -Pergamus. The plan which our author has followed is, first of all to abridge the Anabasis, noting the marches as XENOPHON has recorded them, and then endeavouring to fix their course and the position of places. In this task he brings his Own living knowledge to bear upon the subject; showing, where he differs from his predecessors, especially with the greatest, RENNELL and D'Arivuts, the reasons for his difference, and the probable sources of their mistakes, mostly originating in deficient actual knowledge. Mr. AINSWORTH also mentions any doubts he himself entertains as to the position of particular places, or as to the gene- ral route; the last uncertainty chiefly obtaining among the moun- tain-districts of Armenia and Georgia, which he has not traversed. The final results are brought together in a tabular view of the march of the Expedition, exhibiting the places sought to be identi- fied, and the authorities on which the identity rests, together with an account of the distances. A map accompanies the volume, and will be found a useful addition to the geography of the Anabasis.
In a book which aims at fixing the position of a succession of places by minute topographical details, and where the writer's primary purpose has to be extended by discussing the claims of other spots and refuting th(e opinions of other geographers, there must of necessity be dryness. This has perhaps been needlessly increased on the part of Mr. AINSWORTH by a similar want of skill to that which we noticed in his Travels in Asia Minor. He is sometimes too minute; but more frequently he errs by doing what is superfluous. When • he comes to a town, he very often gives its history, or enters into an account of any peculiar custom that was practised there. He also deadens attention by sometimes detain- ing the reader from his drift till he reaches the end of his disqui- sition. On the other hand, the history of the Expedition excites attention : the singular coincidence between natural features and national customs as they still exist in nature and the pages of XENOPHON, together with the author's sketches from his own tra- velling-observations, give more life and interest than might have been at first supposed. Here is an example from the discussion on the passage by the army of CYRUS through Mount Taurus.
THE CILICIAN GATES.
The Golek B6gLitz is decidedly one of the most remarkable passes of Taurus. The road is carried at first over low, undulating ground, the waters of which flow towards the mountains. It enters them with the rivulets tributary to the Sarus, which have an Easterly flow; and follows the waters for some distance, amid precipitous cliffs and wooded abutments, till they sever the main chain, which is composed of a somewhat narrow and rugged belt of limestone reposing on scbists. The scenery at this point is very grand. Rocky projections, fallen masses, and steep, naked cliffs, rise one above the other, till buried in perpetual snows. The pass is, however, wide, and would permit of the passage of three chariots abreast. Beyond this, the road turns off to the South, up the course of a tributary, to the river previously followed. The pathway, carried over wooded rocks and hills, gains the head-waters of this second rivulet; an ex- pansive upland here presents itself, which is the seat of the defences erected by the Egyptians. Beyond this the waters flow no longer to the Bartle, but to the Cydnus—tbe river of Tarsus. The pathway follows these, and they soon lead to a deep gorge or fissure in another lofty ridge of limestone rocks. This is the narrowest and most difficult portion of the pass. It is the point to which Xenophon's description applies as just broad enough for a chariot to pass, and that would be with great difficulty. This portion of the road bears evident traces of ancient chiselling, and must have been widened and repaired by va- rious successive invaders ; but large masses of rock have fallen down into the stony bed of the waters, and the road is perhaps less feasible in the present day than it was in those of Xenophon or Alexander. This pass is now domineered over by a ruined castle, apparently belonging to Genoese times. Below this pass vegetation becomes luxuriant, and affords abundant evidence of a change in climate on the Cilician side of Taurus. At a distance of five miles from this rocky gap is a khan, where the road divides itself into two branches—the one follows the course of the valley and of the tributaries of the Cydnus to Tarsus; the other passes over the adjacent heights, and by another rocky pass to the valley of the Sums, and to the modern Adanah. On the road to Tarsus are the remains of an ancient causeway ; numerous sepulchral grottoes are hewn out of the cliffs ; and nearer to Tarsus is a semicircular arch or gateway, and a sarcophagus lying adjacent to it. An inscription on this part of the road was copied on the occasion of our visit to it. This was the road followed by Cyrus and Alexander. Beyond this pass the army is described as descending into a large and beauti- ful plain, well watered, and full of all sorts of trees and vines ; abounding in sesame, panic, millet, wheat, and barley. The plain of Cilicia Campestris is indeed almost everywhere remarkable for its fertility and beauty, but especially in the values of the rivers Cydnus, Sams, and Pyramus. In its higher por- tions it is at present uncultivated, and covered with green sward ; amid which abound the Christ's thorn, caper-plant, and mimosa agrestis. Every here and there rises a lonely carob-tree, a feature which distinguishes these plains Area almost all others in Syria or Asia Minor.
ANCIENT AND MODERN USAGES COMPARED.
During these four marches from the Euphrates to Khanfis, the Greekm suffered most severely from the snow and from cold ; and the last march was a straggling and interrupted one, so that the distance marched could not have been greater than what exists, with the difficulties of the road, between Ma. lasgherd and Khania. The North wind parched and benumbed the men, which caused the priests to make sacrifice to it. The snow was a fathom deep, inso- much that many of the slaves and baggage-horses died, and about thirty soldiers. Many of the troops contracted from this exposure a disease, which Xenophon designates as a bulimy, characterized by excessive hunger and faint- ness. Cheirisopbus arrived first at the villages, but the rear did not come up the same night. Xenophon had the greatest possible difficulty to bring up the stragglers : many had lost their sight by the snow, and others had lost their toes by mortification; some sat down on a spot where vapours issuing from the earth had dissolved the snow. The next day Xenophon and the rear came up to the villages ; and one of his captains, hastening to the village that fell to Xenophon's lot, surprised all the inhabitants, together with their head-man of the village, in their houses. The custom of having a head to each village in the East appears thus to date from a remote antiquity. Their houses were under-ground ; the mouth resembling that of a well, but spacious below ; there was an entrance dug for the cattle, but the inhabitants descended by ladders. In these houses were goats, sheep, cows, and fowls, with their young. All the cattle were maintained within doors with fodder. There were also wheat, barley, and vegetables; and beer or barley wine in jars, in which the malt floated even with the brims of the vessel, and it was drunk or sucked up through reeds. This liquor was very strong when unmixed with water, and exceeding pleasant to those who used it. This description of a village on the Armenian uplands applies itself to many that I visited in the present day. The descent by wells is now rare, but is still to be met with.; but in exposed and elevated situations the houses are uniformly eemi- subterraneous, and entered by as small an aperture as possible, to prevent the cold getting in. Whatever is the kind of cottage used, cows, sheep, goats, and fowls, participate with the family in the warmth and protection thereof. The
summer is indeed occupied, in these inhospitable uplands, in laying in stores of fuel and provender for the winter; and corn and vegetables are found in them in abundance, but the barley-wine I never met with ; and time has entailed a new evil, that in many places the wandering Kurds force themselves upon the sedentary Armenians, to pass the winter by their scanty fires.
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