politics of
south-eastern Europe; see especially their correspondence with the
Venetian Republic, given by Shafarik, _Acta archivi Veneti_, &c.

[7] For details of these events see Umar Effendi, _History of the War
in Bosnia_ (1737-1739). Translated by C. Fraser (London, 1830).

[8] For the Christian rebellion and its causes, see A.J. Evans,
_Through Bosnia and Herzegovina on Foot_ (London, 1876); and W.J.
Stillman, _Herzegovina and the Late Uprising_ (London, 1877).

BOSPORUS, or BOSPHORUS (Gr. [Greek: Bosporos] = ox-ford, traditionally
connected with Io, daughter of Inachus, who, in the form of a heifer,
crossed the Thracian Bosporus on her wanderings). By the ancients this
name, signifying a strait, was especially applied to the _Bosporus
Cimmerius_ (see below), and the _Bosporus Thracius_; but when used
without any adjective it now denotes the latter, which unites the
Black Sea with the Sea of Marmora and forms part of the boundary
between Europe and Asia. The channel is 18 m. long, and has a maximum
breadth at the northern entrance of 2-3/4 m., a minimum breadth of
about 800 yds., and a depth varying from 20 to 66 fathoms in
mid-stream. In the centre there is a rapid current from the Black Sea
to the Sea of Marmora, but a counter-current sets in the opposite
direction below the surface and along the shores. The surface current
varies in speed, but averages nearly 3 m. an hour; though at narrow
places it may run at double this pace. The strait is very rarely
frozen over, though history records a few instances; and the Golden
Horn, the inlet on either side of which Constantinople lies, has been
partially frozen over occasionally in modern times. The shores of the
Bosporus are composed in the northern portion of different volcanic
rocks, such as dolerite, granite and trachyte; but along the remaining
course of the channel the prevailing formations are Devonian,
consisting of sandstones, marls, quartzose conglomerates, and
calcareous deposits of various kinds. The scenery on both sides is of
the most varied and beautiful description, many villages lining each
well-wooded shore, while on the European side are numerous fine
residences of the wealthy class of Constantinople. The Bosporus is
under Turkish dominion, and by treaty of 1841, confirmed by the treaty
of Berlin in 1878 and at other times, no ship of war other than
Turkish m