Nortfarn and Central Turkey. 59 



Ibali and the confluence of the two Drinas ; the fractures in the 

 Tschardagh, extending from Kalkandel to Prisrend ; the course 

 of the Kutschuk Karasu, in Bitoglia (Erigon), especially from 

 Fiorina to where it joins the Vardar (the Axius). The course 

 of this last river, particularly between Negotin or Gradiska, and 

 Devrethissar ; the course of the Karasu, or Strymon, which 

 runs in true fissures between Kosnitza and the confluence of the 

 river of Dubnitza with the Strymon, then south of Djumaa 

 (Dzumaa), through the Kreshna Hill, then between Vistritza 

 and Skola, north of the plain of Seres, and, lastly, west of Or- 

 phano. 



The Bhodope, also, presents similar rents, running N. and S. 

 on the Nevrekop, between that place and Kasluk. They are also 

 observable in the course of the Karasu or Mesto, where it flows 

 into the sea opposite the island of Tassos, and in the course of 

 the Maritza or Hebrus from Dimotika to the sea. 



I have still to speak of the remarkable rents from N. to S., 

 which cross the middle of the low part of the central chain, be- 

 tween Sophia and Uskub. These fissures are so deep, and the 

 hilly plateau so low, in comparison to the more western and 

 southern chains, that travellers scarcely encounter any ascent 

 whatever, when they cross these imaginary Alps of geographers, 

 in passing from Northern into Southern Turkey. These rents 

 not only admit of roads for horses, but even for carriages ; or, 

 at least, they could often be made suitable for the latter with 

 very little labour ; a fact of great importance as regards geogra- 

 phy, as well as commerce and military operations. 



In proceeding from the plains of Pristina to Uskub, we 

 found the points from which the waters begin to flow in oppo- 

 site directions, to the north and south, not on a chain of hills, 

 or even a hillock, but on a very small plateau covered with wood 

 and black earth, so as to give it the appearance of having once 

 been a bog. This is in reality only a higher part of the Kos- 

 sova plain, and is attained by an imperceptible ascent, so that 

 it is probably not eighty feet above the level of the plain. It is 

 situated between Babach and Sessnia, and is only three quar- 

 ters of a league in breadth. The descent from it leads gradu- 

 ally through vast alluvial deposits, formed from crystalline slaty 

 rocks, talcose gneiss, and protogine, to Kacsanik, where a deep 



