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Dear Baird

On the foot of the Mysian Olympus, or Keshish Dagh, if you like the Turkish name better, where I am writing you this 19' of Nov 1853, there ariseth a spring with a temperature of 187 F., conceived of some to flow out of Tartarus, and to be a branch of Phlegethua, a supposition I am not inclined to dispute. I know that in the rivulets, that flowed from the spring, were found shellfish, and I desired our attendant, who spoke more or less Italian, to show me where the conchiglie were found. He consulted with the keeper of certain baths, who brought me calcareous concretions as the true conchiglie. I told him I wanted conchiglie viventi, whereupon he went into some hole and returned

in triumph with a cockroach, which was very lively indeed. Therefore I resolved to seek for myself, & went paddling about the brook in search of Melanopsis bucinoidea. I began too low, where the water stood at 80, and found none. However I bagged three brown frogs (the green ones were too quick for me, my servant, and two sucking Turks, who philanthropically aided my endeavors) and sundry land snails of different species. Going higher up, where the temperature of the brook was from 90 to 97 I found some two dozen of the Melanopsis, and they, with the frogs & snails, well pickled now ornament the table on which I write. 'Tis too late to climb Olympus, which is not much matter, seeing it is not the true one, and I shall go back

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to Stamboul in a matter of a week, & hope to send you a cask of treasure by an American ship soon to sail for Boston.

Pera Dec 12

Thou art a naughty varlet, seeing thou, how of a long time, writest nothing. At the end of this week I propose to sail for Malta, Sicily, & Civita Vecchia whence I propose to go to Rome & there abide long enough to hear from you. Thy fish and reptiles, alas too few! are pickled in a keg which goes by barge called the Huma, Captain Merritt sailing tomorrow or next day for New York. Write to some friend to get it for you when the ship arrives. At the bottom of the box is 1st an olive bottle with a chameleon I caught at Petra. He lived to see Stamboul, & than his [...] green [...], & finally degenerated into the long string you see, & so he died! There

are also in the same bottle snails of the shores of the Bosphorus and sea weeds from the Black Sea with small shellfish thereto adherents. Besides I think there is a blind-worm or some such vile creeper with the rest 2' a bottle containing a Proteus from a cave in Carniola. 3' bottle contains melanopsis frogs from [...]. 4'- is a square bottle in the bottom of which are shellfish & sacrabs from the Gulf of Akabah. I have forgotten where I got the scarab. There are small shell fish from Jordon, and in a gauze net at the top are shells & fishlings from the Fountain of Elisha at Jericho. If there is anything else in the bottle it must have come from the Red Sea. On further reflection, I remember that the Jordan shells are like a melanopsis & like those in the net, but all the others fished out of the gulf of Akabah, & a fine place it is --

Well, fare thee wellG. P. Marsh

Prof. S. F. Baird

References in this letter:

The peak of Mount Olympus is the highest point in Greece and, according to Greek myth, was the home of the gods.

The lowest region of the underworld in Greek mythology where only the most wicked were sent.

A region belonging to Austria; since 1947 it has been part of northwestern Yugoslavia.

This is a reference to the fountain of Elisha outside of Jericho. According to the Biblical story, drinking the water made women barren. Elisha, a 9th century Hebrew prophet, threw salt into the fountain, destroying it power. (Second Kings, 2: 19-22).