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CHAPTER XVI

STRATONICEIA, ITS RUINS.-ROUTE TO MOOLAH.~ANCIENT TOMBS.THE PASHA. LONGEVITY.-CHANGE IN THE LAWS. -DETENTION AMONG THE PEASANTS.-MUSIC.-DANCING.-CUSTOMS.-PASSAGE OF THE RIVER.-DOLLOMON.

seven.

March 24th, Esky Hissá.-This morning we left Mellassa for this place, the ancient Stratoniceia; the distance is six hours, but from the bad state of the road it has taken us For four miles we traversed the plain, and then for three hours more clambered up the rocky mountainous road to the south-east. This country is highly picturesque, and it has received additional grandeur of effect from the frequent thunder-storms and partial gleams of light amidst the pelting hail-storms.

I have before spoken of the geology of this district; and its changes, although constant, are in two years imperceptible. I again noticed the singular crumbling sands, white, red, and blue, similar to those of Alum Bay in the Isle of Wight; and the ironstone, in almost pure ore, scattered over the surface of the country. In the people I observed the primitive mode of obtaining turpentine-wood for light; and the felling of the trees is in the last two years as little changed as it has been for three thousand years past*. I this afternoon continued my research amongst the broken fragments of this once large town.

* Described at p. 191.

I have impressed upon paper the inscription I copied on my last visit to this spot, as a specimen of the most beautifully formed Greek letters I have ever seen. On the outer side of the wall of this cella, towards the north, is the long and celebrated edict of Dioclesian, both in Greek and Latin its transcription, a laborious undertaking, was accomplished above a century ago by Sherard, and is among the manuscripts in the British Museum. Colonel Leake has presented me with a copy of it published in the form of a pamphlet, which is an important supplementary document to his valuable work on Asia Minor. It is curious that many of the articles of food mentioned in this edict still retain the same names amongst the peasantry of the country.

The theatre, which I did not examine on my former visit, is on the west side of the town; the whole of the seats remain, but the proscenium is a heap of ruins. The vomitories must have been on the sides of the proscenium, for there are no arched ways visible leading into the diazoma, or lobby.

March 25th. This morning we delayed our departure until eleven o'clock, hoping that the rains would cease; and taking advantage of a fair hour, we travelled slowly over the rocky road towards Moolah. On reaching the plain the rain again fell in torrents, and we were compelled to take refuge at the village of Bozuke, not two hours' ride from Esky Hissá: we have heard the thunder rolling among the mountains around us all the afternoon. The general elevation of this country is 1500 feet above the sea.

Moolah, March 27th.-This large Turkish town, the residence of a pasha, has no doubt, from its overhanging rock and fine commanding situation, been the site of an ancient Greek city; this must be the first impression of all travellers who approach it from its flat plain to the north, west, and south. With this idea, I looked for old materials in every wall, but scarcely saw a stone of that character. In rambling up one of the craggy ravines at the back of the town, we were

attracted by some square holes high up in the cliffs, and spent several hours in exploring what we found to be ancient tombs, cut within the rocks. From their form and construction, they must have been the work of the early Greeks, and the repositories of the dead of a considerable. city; I think we examined above a hundred. The name of the ancient city, I believe, has never been found on inscriptions, but it is supposed to have been Alinda. My inquiry here for coins was answered most liberally, and I have added above thirty to my collection; but among these I find none of the town of Alinda, some of them belonging to the cities on the coast, and one to Samos, together with many Roman and Byzantine. All coins from the neighbourhood naturally find their way to the chief commercial towns. At Mellassa they are quite an article of merchandize with the Jews, and for coins which I bought for a piaster at other places, I was there asked from fifty to one hundred piasters. At present the coins have not been carried far from the places in which they were found, and, like fossils in geology, they may perhaps be useful in indicating a date and name to their different localities.

We yesterday travelled about twenty miles, gradually ascending the valley which gives source to the river Cheena; in its course towards the town of that name it passes the ancient site of Lekena, on the opposite side of the valley to Bozuke, and a little to the north-east of Acruicooe, the village I passed on my former tour. At a few miles before arriving at Moolah, we left the valley in which the Cheena takes its rise, and, crossing a small range of mountains, reached the large swampy plain before this town. Today we start for Hoolah, but, as the distance is only twelve miles, we spend the forenoon here, and shall ride over the mountains after an early dinner.

Our room has this morning been quite a busy scene, with Turks bringing in coins and fancied treasures, some of the

I

most ridiculous kind-Russian and Greek modern coins, buttons, pieces of tin, part of a spoon-all considered by these men as of value, from their ignorance of their use. was amused by the conscientious conduct of one Turk: he possessed, he said, the head of a marble figure, which he promised I should see; considerable delay occurred, and a Russian tailor, who was on his professional tour for the clothing of some young recruits, which we saw on entering the town, brought the little mutilated head to my room, and said that I might have it at my own price. On inquiry, I found that the Prophet has strongly forbidden the dealing in idols, and any representation of man is looked upon as such by the Mussulman; the owner therefore did not choose to offer it to me himself. The strict observance of this law must be a constant obstacle to the progress of art; but the same law given to the Jews did not prevent their following this craft, and the semblance of idolatry continued even in the early Christian church; the Prophet alone has cleared places of public worship of all appearances of idolatry and form.

A general stir among the Greeks in the khan induced me to look out, and I found that among the crowds of turbaned people leaving the mosque, was the Pasha; a few soldiers escorted him from the door to his richly caparisoned horse; his own dress was the modern European, and over it a common blue cloth cloak: the red fez and a diamond locket were the only features unlike an European gentleman. A little eastern form still lingered about his suite; a white horse, saddled and covered with scarlet velvet and trappings of gold, was led in front to prance and display its attitudes, which were beautiful, as it reared and curveted almost upon the same spot; at a suitable distance followed the Pasha, on a black horse, led by grooms on either side, with a number of attendants around. In the rear followed a still more popular personage, with the crowds of children and women who had

assembled at a respectful distance; this officer threw into the air handfuls of small coin, which were scrambled for in an amusing manner by the children, rolling over each other on the road.

March 28th, Cagiolasolhucooe. — After copying a fragment of an inscription, we left Hoolah this morning at half-past nine o'clock, and in five hours arrived here. The change of climate, season, and consequent appearance of the country is most striking. I was prepared for this by my previous travels, but at that time I was carried from spring back to winter: the spring is now opening before me, and this change has taken place within a few hours. Moolah and Hoolah are situated about 2500 feet above the sea. We have already descended considerably to this place, which is still in the mountains, but they are clothed with rich soil, fostering a luxuriant vegetation under the genial aspect of the south. I repeat the opinion I have before expressed, that the most perfectly beautiful scenery I have ever seen is displayed in this portion of Caria, the ancient Peræa, and Lycia; and how little is it known to the lovers of the beautiful in Europe, and how little appreciated by its present pastoral inhabitants! They are however apparently a happy people, and seem to enjoy long lives.

We are now sitting in a kind of stranger's house, the only one of stone or deserving the name of a hut in this village, for the walls of the others are all of wicker-work, with a roof formed of shivers of the fir-tree. This house is the property of an old man, who sits before me, and expresses great anxiety that I should give him something to "cure his eyes;" he says they are of no use to him, and that he might as well have them poisoned at once: I observe nevertheless that he walks about and pries into everything around him. He is more than one hundred years of age, and has been here all his life, excepting a visit to Stambool seventy years ago. He sees well enough to point out at a distance of a hundred