one in an hour and ten minutes, and the other in one hour and five minutes.  The tide was not in our favour; on the contrary, the great difficulty was to bear up against the current, which, so far from helping us into the Asiatic side, set us down right towards the Archipelago.  Neither Mr. Ekenhead, myself, nor, I will venture to add, any person on board the frigate, from Captain Bathurst downwards, had any notion of a difference of the current on the Asiatic side, of which Mr. Turner speaks.  I never heard of it till this moment, or I would have taken the other course.  Lieutenant Ekenhead’s sole motive, and mine also, for setting out from the European side was, that the little cape above Sestos was a more prominent starting place, and the frigate, which lay below, close under the Asiatic castle, formed a better point of view for us to swim towards; and, in fact, we landed immediately below it.

“Mr. Turner says, ’Whatever is thrown into the stream on this part of the European bank must arrive at the Asiatic shore.’  This is so far from being the case, that it must arrive in the Archipelago, if left to the current, although a strong wind in the Asiatic direction might have such an effect occasionally.

“Mr. Turner attempted the passage from the Asiatic side, and failed:  ’After five-and-twenty minutes, in which he did not advance a hundred yards, he gave it up from complete exhaustion.’  This is very possible, and might have occurred to him just as readily on the European side.  He should have set out a couple of miles higher, and could then have come out below the European castle.  I particularly stated, and Mr. Hobhouse has done so also, that we were obliged to make the real passage of one mile extend to between three and four, owing to the force of the stream.  I can assure Mr. Turner, that his success would have given me great pleasure, as it would have added one more instance to the proofs of the probability.  It is not quite fair in him to infer, that because he failed, Leander could not succeed.  There are still four instances on record:  a Neapolitan, a young Jew, Mr. Ekenhead, and myself; the two last done in the presence of hundreds of English witnesses.

“With regard to the difference of the current, I perceived none; it is favourable to the swimmer on neither side, but may be stemmed by plunging into the sea, a considerable way above the opposite point of the coast which the swimmer wishes to make, but still bearing up against it; it is strong, but if you calculate well, you may reach land.  My own experience and that of others bids me pronounce the passage of Leander perfectly practicable.  Any young man, in good and tolerable skill in swimming, might succeed in it from either side.  I was three hours in swimming across the Tagus, which is much more hazardous, being two hours longer than the Hellespont.  Of what may be done in swimming,