Skanderoon (M&D)

[mikebailey at speakeasy.net]

Mason and Dixon would have rather gone there than Capetown.  Apparently it's still a major Turkish seaport, and would have offered rigors of its own for Englishman back then.

looked at only a few references for that place, here is a nice one:

http://www.mun.ca/rels/restmov/texts/bjohnson/yfbl/YFBL02.HTM

 It was nine o'clock by the time that we were mounted. Our horses, gathered in so hurried a manner, were not all the beasts, and our Turkish saddles were not entirely comfortable to an American rider, but we had ardor enough to make light of all hindrances and discomforts, and were soon moving east through a pass in the Mount Amanus chain, on the road to Aleppo. The road was steep in place, but a moderately good one, as there has been some effort of late years to make a wagon road to Aleppo. Riding up to Mr. Crunden, our London conductor, I said to him:

      "I have seen some accounts of an English scheme to build a railroad from Alexandretta to the Euphrates, and from thence down the river to the Persian Gulf, so as to form a quite route to India. Is it the design to run it through this pass?" [58]

      "It is," he replied, "if it is ever built. Thus far the imbecile Turkish Government has hindered the project. It would start at Skanderoon (Alexandretta), run east to the Euphrates, which is only a hundred miles from here at this point, and thence down its valley to Bagdad. It will be built sometime, because England must have it, but no one can tell how soon."

      "This place we have just left seems to have two names," said Will. "Why is it called Alexandretta?"

      "Because Alexander the Great founded it just after the battle of Issus. Before he marched further he had to make a base of supplies. Hence he improved the harbor and made it the port by which he kept up communications with Greece. The Turkish name of Alexander is Iskander. Hence the name Iskanderoon, or Skanderoon for sort, means the same as Alexandretta. But see! the dragoman is turning us off from the Aleppo road."

      (And there also is really a Sanjak of Novi Pazar)