varied little in either its geological or botanical features. The hills on the northern side, which rise at times many hundred feet, are formed of gravel and sand, slightly held together by partial drippings through lime, which have produced a cement; this peculiarity has caused the caverns, which are seen in numbers, and are said to extend far into the hills. The strata of this formation are for the most part perfectly horizontal, and appear to have been left by an earlier bed of the river. These hills, worn and broken down by time, are now standing cut into sections, and sloping in every variety of conical shape to the valley. The Mæander winds on the other side of the plain, about six or eight miles from the road.

In the evening of Sunday, the 6th of May, I pitched my tent at Gooják, a town built like Idín upon the slope of the range of hills. On the other side of the valley I had a distant view of the ruins of the ancient Antiocheia, hanging over the river Mosynus, and commanding the entrance of its valley. On the banks of the Mosynus, higher up the valley, are also the ruins of the city of Aphrodisius.

During the whole day we have had fruit-trees on either side; and indeed this is the orchard of Asia Minor, whence the boasted figs and raisins of Smyrna are chiefly obtained. Among the flowers there was no species to add to my list except the hollyhock.

209

CHAPTER XI.

PART OF THE WEST OF PHRYGIA.

CAROURA.-VALLEY OF THE LYCUS.-LAODICEIA.-REMAINS.-HIERAPOLIS.-ITS RUINS.-CURIOUS HOT SPRINGS.-VULTURES.

May 8th.-From Gooják the valley of the Mæander somewhat changes its character, having a more sandy and poorer soil, without trees, and with few pastures and little cultivation. The hills are formed of the sand from the rocks of micaceous schist, which glitters on the arid and stony level plain. The river now approaches the northern side of the valley, and its course is marked by the verdure of the neighbouring swamps; the stream is deep and rapid, contained in high banks, or sunk in its own channel; its water is of a red colour, and its size is about that of the Moselle.

At a house at which I stopped I saw a slice of a fish which is frequently taken in this river; it is without scales, round in form, and nearly a foot in thickness. I am told that it is generally taken weighing as much as one hundred, and sometimes one hundred and fifty pounds (fifty oakes). It has a large mouth, of the common form, and unlike that of the sturgeon. Does the conger eel ever attain this size? This part of the river must, allowing for its windings, be two hundred miles from the sea, and the water of course is always fresh.

The sandy hills became now more and more varied in colour, being by turns red, perfectly white, and brown; as we advanced, they receded, and the plain stretched into a comparatively open country. Crossing the valley, we left Ghera, the ancient Caroura, on the right, and after a long ride arrived at Caracooe, which stands at the foot of the hills on the southern side. These furnish a plentiful supply of water for irrigating the land, which in consequence is generally under cultivation, although a very light sandy soil.

A ride of sixteen miles up the valley of the Lycus brought us to Laodiceia, now called Esky-Hissá. A place of the same name (which means Old Castle) stood on the hills to our left, half-way from Idín; it is called in the map Sultan, and its site is indicated by a burial-ground by the road-side, filled with old wrought stones. The way to Laodiceia was over perfectly barren sand-hills, with no trace of vegetation; the views were limited by the series of rounded hills, and there was nothing to vary the dreary ride but a flock of bustards, upon which we came suddenly; we had no ball, and our shot only tickled them. As we advanced towards the ruins of the ancient city which stands upon these sterile hills, we saw hovering over a ravine before us three or four eagles, and on coming to the spot we disturbed a grand assemblage of them. I counted nearly a hundred, of which eight or ten were large and black, the others the smaller white eagle, or rather vulture, one of which we shot. Among the tombs of the now deserted city we saw the object which had attracted this winged party, the bones of a camel picked nearly clean; the guests, who were now watching us from the hills around, only waited our departure to renew the feast: they seemed to be the only living creatures that ever visit the spot, except the cutters of gravestones, who have quarries of white marble wherever the remains of a temple are to be found.

All the buildings of this city are constructed of an extremely coarse conglomerate or petrified mass, and the cornices and ornamental parts alone are of marble or other fine stone. I saw many remains of thin slabs of marble for lining or covering the walls, still partially retaining the cement which attached them. This town is said to have been destroyed or injured several times by earthquakes; but the hills on which it stands do not show any signs of volcanic changes; indeed the alluvial strata throughout the whole of these hills are so horizontal and undisturbed that they can scarcely afford any subject of interest. to the geologist, although combined with rock, and bearing cities upon them which are amongst the earliest in history. The change which is taking place, by their being washed down into the valley, is rapid only when viewed by a geologist. There is no trace of any volcanic matter in the stones carried down by the streams, which are all either of white marble or micaceous schist brought from the high mountains which peer over these hills on either side of the broad valley.

At the entrance to the old city stand the massy remains of a bridge, of which the uncemented stones have been shaken apart in a most singular manner, to be accounted for only by attributing it to an earthquake. A paved road leads to a triple-arched entrance to the city; but in the immense space which was occupied by it, and is now covered with its ruins, I could satisfactorily distinguish only a few of the ancient buildings. There are two theatres cut from the side of the hill, of which the seats still remain tolerably perfect, the proscenia being heaps of ruins. The one facing the east has been extremely handsome, with seats all of marble, supported by lions' paws. Many of the seats had initials cut rudely upon them, and in different Greek characters, probably marking the seats as individual property. Several temples may be traced by their foundations; but the

212

principal remains are the vast silent walls, which must have been built about the time of the Romans and Christians, although their purpose is involved in much doubt: for churches they are inapplicable, and in the places in which I have before noticed them such remains would be improbable. There is little trace of the architecture and ornament of churches, and but few tombs are to be seen which appear by their carvings to be of Christian date.

Up the valley towards the south-east stands Mount Cadmus, and I heard that at its foot, about twelve miles from Laodiceia, there were considerable ruins, probably the ancient city of Colossæ. Descending rapidly into the flat and swampy valley of the Lycus, we crossed in a diagonal line to the city of Hierapolis, six or seven miles from Laodiceia. My attention had been attracted at twenty miles' distance by the singular aspect of its hill, upon which there appeared to be perfectly white streams poured down its sides; and this peculiarity may have been the attraction which first led to the city being built there. The waters, which rise in copious streams from several deep springs among the ruins, are also to be found in small rivulets for twenty miles around; they are tepid, and to appearance perfectly pure; indeed I never saw more transparent water, although I perceived at a depth of perhaps twenty feet a dark green hue, visible between the surface and the white marble of the columns and Corinthian ornaments which lay at the bottom. Gas continually rises in bubbles, emitting the noxious smell of hydrogen. This pure and warm water is no sooner exposed to the air, than it rapidly deposits a pearly white substance upon the channel through which it flows, and on every blade of grass in its course; and thus, after filling its bed, it flows over, leaving a substance which I can only compare to the brain-coral, a kind of crust or feeble crystallization; again it is flooded by a fresh stream, and again is formed another perfectly white coat. The streams of water, thus