'The Expedition for the survey of the rivers Euphrates and Tigris, carried on by order of the British government, in the years 1835, 1836, and 1837; preceded by geographical and historical notices of the regions situated between the rivers Nile and Indus. In four volumes. With fourteen maps and charts, and embellished with ninety-seven plates, besides numerous wood-cuts. Volume the first.' [‎319] (388/905)

CHAP. XIV.]
ITS CASTLES,
319
of the Sea) and Eski Sarlik occupy the horns of a bay close Forts and
to the entrance on the European side; and nearly opposite to batteries -
the former, on the Asiatic side of the Dardanelles, is the more
formidable work of Kum Kal'eh-si, mounting 84 guns, 52 of
which (18 of them being for stone shot) form a cross fire
with nearly 60 guns of various calibres on the other side. The
distance from castle to castle is almost two miles, and there is
the additional difficulty of a current of three miles per hour
to be stemmed by an ascending fleet from thence to Cape
Berber. At this passage, which is one mile and three-quarters
wide, commence those defences which become so formidable
on approaching the narrowest part of the Dardanelles, where
an increased current and a sharp bend combine to give effect
to different batteries mounting about 600 guns, most judi
ciously placed, so as not only to give a cross fire at the
distance of 760 yards, 1 but likewise to rake ships at certain
places ; and this without causing any injury to the works on
the opposite side.
The European castle of Kilidu-l-Bahr (Key of the Sea) The European
resembles some of the baronial castles on the Rhine, but with
the addition of a heavy battery called Namasiyah below it,
and several on different points above ; some of these are armed
with ordinary garrison guns, and others with guns adapted
for stone-shot. They are usually but little above the surface
of the water, and the last, in going upwards, is Chamli Burnu
(Pine Point), a battery of 30 guns, on the point of Sestos, pro
bably near the spot where the famous bridge of Xerxes touched
the European shore.
On a projecting point opposite to Kilidu-l-Bahr is the Asiatic and Asiatic
castles, Tchannak Kalesi, Charnak Kal'eh-si, having, like the cas & '
other, heavy batteries on each flank looking up and down the
stream; in addition to which there is one of a semicircular form
on Point Berber, three miles from thence in the latter direction,
and two others on the horns of the bay eastward of the castle;
the more distant of these, which is called Nakarah Burnu (Cape
Drum), is a stone work, mounting about 84 guns, nearly on the
1 1520 yards from castle to castle. Pliny gives 875 paces for the width
of the Hellespont.—Lib. VI., c. i.