A great deal had been said by the boys and also by the passengers about the Orient; and they had certainly been cruising in the Orient the greater portion of the distance. The Barbary States were Mohammedan countries, and they had been near their shores half the time. The commander was sorry they had not been able to pass through the Sea of Marmora in the daytime; but he had slowed down so that they entered the Bosporus at six o'clock in the morning, and the passengers had seen the sun rise, which most of them were not in the habit of seeing.
The entire party were gathered together in their usual place when they desired to see to the best advantage the surroundings—on the promenade, which was about seven feet higher than the upper deck. A pilot had been taken at the entrance to the Dardanelles, and another on the sea a few miles from the Oriental city.
"The Bosporus here is just about one mile wide," said Captain Ringgold, who had now nothing to do but attend to his passengers.
"What does Bosporus mean?" asked Mrs. Belgrave.
"It means 'Cow-ford,'" replied Professor Giroud, whom the Captain asked to make the explanation. "Perhaps 'Heifer-ford' would be the better name, for it comes from mythology. Io was the daughter of Inachus, king of Argos, Peloponnesus (now called the Morea), which we saw day before yesterday, Cape Matapan being its most southern point. She was a very pretty young lady, and Jupiter, as he was very apt to do in such cases, fell in love with her."
"We haven't much time for long yarns just now, Professor," laughed the commander.
"I will finish in a moment. Juno, who was the wife of Jupiter, properly enough under such circumstances, was jealous of Io, and turned her into a white heifer. She then caused a gad-fly to torment Io, and sent her wandering all over the earth. In the course of her travels she swam over this Strait. 'Bos' is the Latin for ox or cow. It is also said that the name was given because the Strait was so narrow that a cow could swim across it. That is all, Captain."
"Thank you, Professor, for the explanation. I did not wish to hurry you, but I desire to point out some of the localities here. The land on our left is occupied by the site of the ancient city of Byzantium. We are now off the Seraglio, where you see the palaces. It is an enclosure three miles in circumference; but we shall visit it in due time."
"Is that Constantinople also on our right?" asked Uncle Moses.
"That is Scutari," replied the commander.