The arrangements of the different lines of steamers between Marseilles, Malta, Syra, Constantinople, and Smyrna, are fully described in the General Introduction.

The steamers usually leave Constantinople about 5 o’clock P.M., and make the passage to Smyrna in 36 hours. The landing is effected by boars, as there are no piers.

SMYRNA. — Inns. Hôtel des Deux Augustes is the best. Salvo’s Navy Hotel on the Marina has the best view of the sea.

Rosa’s boarding-house, Marco’s PensionS.uisse, and Madame Maracini’s boarding-house, are comfortable and ..moderate in their charges, being about 1½ dollar a day for bed and board.

The bazar at Smyrna supplies most of the luxuries and comforts of France and England. It contains also a good circulating library and a casino supplied with all the European newspapers, to which admission may be obtained through the British consul or banker. Smyrna possesses 2 or 3 printing presses, and a newspaper in the French language. The traveller desirous of visiting the interior will find a servant of the name of Yani or Yanico at Mille’s, who is also considered an excellent guide and travelling servant. He resides at Smyrna, and is to be heard of at the British Consulate. Two English physicians are established here, and the public dispensary is well supplied with the best medicines. Horses may be hired for a dollar a day.

Smyrna, called by the Turks, Izmir, the queen of the cities of Anatolia, extolled by the ancients under the title of the locely the crown of Ionia, the ornament of Asia, has ten times risen from her ruins with new splendour. Pausanias ascribes the origin of the present city to Alexander the Great, who was admonished in a dream to found a city in this sport for the Smyrnæans, who came from Ephesus. Whoever was the founder, the site was a happy one, and such as the Greek colonists usually preferred. “Their cities, in general,” says Dr. Chandler, “were seated by some hill or mountain, which, as this did, supplied them with marble, and was commodious as well for defence as for ornament. Over against the ancient town stood the famous temple of Cybele. But what the inhabitants most gloried in, is the circumstance of that city having given birth to Homer.” The city flourished under the Romans. In the 11th century it was visited by the calamities of war. Tzachas, a Turkish malcontent, in 1084, obtained possession of a great part of the Ionian coast and the neighbouring islands, and assuming the title of King, made Symrna his capital. In 1097 this city was besieged by John Ducas, the Greek admiral. Smyrna yet lay in ruins in the beginning of the 13th century, except the Acropolis. This was repaired and beautified by the emperor John Angelus Comnenus, who died in 1224. In the following century, it was the scene of repeated contests between the Knights of Rhodes and the Turks. In 1402 Tamurlan (or Timur Leng), hearing that the Christians and Mohammedans had each a stronghold at Smyrna, and were always at war, marched against it in person, and attack it by sea and land. He took the town by storm in 14 days, with great slaughter, and demolished the houses.

The form of the town is elliptical, and it extends for nearly 2m. along the coast. It is built on the acclivity of Mount Pagus, on whose summit are the walls of a ruined castle. Like every great town in Turkey, it is beautiful at a distance; but on a close inspection falls short of the expectations which have been raised. It is thickly inhabited, and the streets are narrow and dirty. The houses are chiefly built of wood, with brown roofs, and without chimneys. The warehouses on the Marina are whitewashed, and no house in the town is above one story high.

The gulf of Smyrna is 33m. long, and from 5 to 15 broad; it is encompassed with high mountains clothed with wood, which rise from the water’s edge, and has numerous headlands and islands intervening between the entrance of the gulf and the town. These islands used formerly to be the resort of pirates. On reaching the castle of the sea the first symptoms of animation commence, and the eye rests on the extensive cemeteries of Mount Pagus, and beyond them, on the mosques, minarets, cupolas, and baths of the town, reminding the traveller that he is in a Mussulman land.

Passports are not demanded — a small fcc satisfies the Custom House Officer — Travellers coming from Syria have a Quarantine of 3 full days.

The usual landing-place for private individuals is the quay in front of the British Consulate. N.B Consuls from Great Britain and the United States, and from most of the European governments, reside here.

The houses belonging to the Christians are distinguished from those of the Turks by being built of stone, and often enclosed in a court-yard, with a fountain in the centre. The eaves of many of them almost meet across the streets. Smyrna was one of the Seven Churches of Asia Minor. The followers of each faith have their distinct quarter allotted to them. The Frank and Greek quarter extends along the shore, and contains many shops, warehouses, and coffee-houses. The Armenians occupy a more elevated position. The Turkish quarter comprises the whole of the upper part of the town, and the western side of the hill. The Jews are confined to 2 small nooks between the Turkish and Armenian quarters.

The Population amounts to 150,000; of whom 80,000 are Turks; 40,000 Greeks; 15,000 Jews; 10,000 Armenians; and 5000 Franks. Each nation is protected by its own Consul.

The new barracks, capable of containing 3000 men, are well organised, and well situated. They are enclosed on the sea-side by a high palisade of iron, and consist of three tiers of apartments, communicating with each other by very long open galleries.

On the castle-hill are the only remains of ancient Smyrna. The path to it leads by the Turkish and Armenian burial-grounds. The former is now of great extent, a grave being rarely opened a second time. The tombstones of the Turkish males are invariably surmounted by a turban, indicative of the rank or profession of its occupier, with a few gilt letters stating his name. Those of the women are plain. Innumerable fragments of ancient columns are seen in the construction of their graves. This burying-ground is the oldest in Smyrna; and its cypresses have attained a prodigious height.

The remains of the ancient city consist of portions of the old Hellenic walls partly visible in the walls of the old castle, which occupies the site of the Acropolis, on the summit of Mount Pagus. Within the circuit are some relics of the temple of Jupiter. The stadium is formed on one side by an excavation in the hill. The seats and ornaments have been removed, but the form may still be traced. Polycarp is said to have suffered martyrdom on this spot. Traces of the theatre may be observed in another part of the hill. Numerous columns, busts, cornices and entablatures are seen built into the walls, throughout all the upper parts of Smyrna.

The old castle is deserted, and fast falling into decay. A considerable space is enclosed within the walls, and in the centre of it is a ruined mosque, said to have been the primitive church of Smyrna. It contains likewise many vaults, cisterns, &c. From the Acropolis, the view extends over the plains to the E., traversed by the river Hermus, and over that to the S., on which may be seen the Meles, the supposed river of Homer, crossed by an aqueduct.

All the mosques of Smyrna are constantly open to the Giaour. The only form necessary to be observed on entering them is, to take off the shoes, and observe the utmost propriety and respect. The floor of the great mosque is covered with matting and carpeting; and from the ceiling a profusion of lamps, ostrich- eggs and horse tails are suspended by long brass chains.

The caravan-bridge is the scene where the Turk terminates the labours of the day; and on Sundays is the centre of attraction to Christians. Numerous coffee-houses are here erected on the banks of Meles; and the scene is rendered animated and picturesque from the beauty and variety of the costumes of every country here assembled.

In the fruit season all is activity and animation at Smyrna, when strings of camels, tied together, are seen coming from all parts of Asia Minor. There are never more than 5 or 6 camels tied together, but many such parties follow one another successively, each 5 or 6 under the care of a separate driver. Their load is deposited in the merchants’ yard; where numbers of women and children employ themselves in picking the figs, the branches and the leaves, and packing them in drums, sprinkling each separate layer with sea-water. This done, the drums are immediately conveyed on board the ships for exploration. The prize of 30l, is awarded to the first ship which arrives in London with new fruit.

Messrs. Hanson and Co., and Messrs. Woolley, Bell and Co,. the agent of Messrs. M’Cracken, the London Custom-house agents, will forward to England any articles which the traveller may wish to send home from Smyrna.

From Smyrna. Excursions may be made to the villages of Bournabat, Budjah, and Sediköi, where the country-seats of the consuls and merchants are situated.

Another very interesting excursion may be made to Nimfi, where the very remarkable monument supposed to be that of Sesostris has been discovered. The town of Nimfi is picturesquely situated about 5 hours E. of Smyrna, in the direction of Casaba and Sardis. The road thence to the monument or trophy of Sesostris proceeds at first eastward, gradually turning more southerly round the mountains into a pass. 1½ hour brings us to a spot where rocks, thickly clothed with trees and underwood, rise close on each side: on the left, a little way up, is a mass of rock, on the flat face of which, at right angles to the road, is the monument. It is obscured from the road by trees and underwood. On getting up to it, it is found to consists of a gigantic human figure sculptured in relief, and sunk in a panel cut into the flat surface of the rock; it agrees exactly with the description given of it by Herodotus (b. ii. C. 106), excepting that the spear and bow are in the contrary hands to those Herodotus describes. If it should prove to be Egyptian, it is undoubtedly one of the most ancient and interesting monuments in the world, dating from about 1300 B.C.

The chief rides round the city are as follows: —1. Windmill point across the country to Bournabat, the Plain of Hadjilar, baths of Diana, Cuklujar, and Caravan-bridge. 2. Caravan-bridge, upper road to Budjah, plain of Paradise, and thence by the lower road back to the city. 3. Caravan-bridge, castle on Mount Pagus; village of Sediköi. 4. Baths of Agamemnon, Sanjiac castle, called St. James’s and Vourla. 5. Windmill point, Cordelio, and Menimen, celebrated for melons and malaria.