On the 19th of January 1800, I quitted Constantinople, on my way to Egypt, in company with the late Brigadier General Koehler, the late Sir Richard Fletcher, the late Archdeacon Carlyle, Arabic professor at Cambridge, and Mr. Pink, of the corps of Royal Military Surveyors, and Draftsmen. We were well armed, and dressed as Tatár Couriers; and the whole party, including servants, baggage, Turkish attendants, and postillions, formed a caravan of thirty five horses. At this time, there were two roads across Asia Minor, used by messengers and other persons, travelling post between the Grand Vizier's army, and the capital; the one meeting the south coast at Adália, the other at Kelénderi. We deferred deciding as to which we should follow, until we should arrive at the point of separation.

We left Iskiodár (in Greek, Σϰοντάϱιον, Skutári) at 11 a.m., and travelled for four hours along the borders of the sea of Marmora, through one of the most delightful tracts in the neighbourhood of Constantinople ; its beauty heightened by the mildness of the weather and the clearness of the atmosphere. On our right was the tranquil expanse of the sea of Marmora, as far as the high woody coast on the south side of Nicomedia, surmounted by the majestic summits of the Bitbynian Olympus. In the midst of this magnificent basin were seen immediately before us the Princes Islands, with their picturesque villages and convents, amidst pine groves and vineyards.