AQUEDUCT OF VALENS.       99

PLATE: AQUEDUCT OF VALENS. (In the City.)

The Suy-Terrasi, by whose means the water is now convoyed on a summit level, were described earlier in the work; and their effect, scattered for miles over the face of the country, from the Black Sea to Pera, is extremely singular, setting all the conjectures of the uninitiated at defiance. These were invented at a later period by the Turks themselves, in order to avoid the enormous outlay necessary to the erection of Aqueducts; but they were not allowed, nevertheless, to supersede them altogether - a fact which must gratify every lover of the picturesque, as he gazes on the majestic Aqueduct of Validè, which is flung across the fair valley of Buyuk-dèrè, terminating the vista as seen from the Bosphorus, and linking the heights with a range of snowy arches.

Another, of more vast, but, perhaps, less graceful proportions, and certainly less happily situated, is that of Solyman near Pyrgo, of which a sketch has been already given. It dominates a valley one thousand six hundred feet in width, is formed by a double range of fifty arches, and is of very imposing appearance, and constructed with great solidity.

The Aqueduct of Valens is one of the most striking objects that meets the eye of the stranger, as he gazes enraptured on the far-famed city of the Bosphorus. Dark, and hoar, and massy, it links two of the seven hills, and spans the peopled valley with a giant grasp; in strong contrast to the gaiety and glitter of the marble mosques, and party-coloured houses. Festoons of the graceful wild-vine, and the scented honeysuckle, drapery its mouldering masonry; masses of the caper-plant, with its beautiful blossoms, conceal the ravages of time; lichens trail among its arches; and a variety of stone plants, fed by the moisture which is continually oozing through the interstices of the building, flourish in the picturesque luxuriance, and lend a glory to its decay. Historians allude to several other Aqueducts, which they assert to had existence in Constantinople, but no trace now remains within the walls of the city of any, save this; and its origin is thus curiously accounted for by a modern traveller.

"The Emperor, incensed at the conduct of the people of Chalcedon, who had favoured the party of Procopius, ordered their walls to be pulled down. Among the stones was found one with an oracular inscription, implying that 'the walls of Chalcedon would bring a great supply of water to the city;' and, to complete the prophecy, Valens erected his Aqueduct with the materials."(*)

It is impossible to calculate how often this venerable ruin must have overlooked a scene of flame and terror; in 1836, the streets by which it is surrounded were levelled by an extensive conflagration, that lit up the sky of midnight with a wild and lurid gleam, and turned the ripple of the channel into liquid metal.

(*) Dr. Walsh's Journey from Constantinople.