Northern and Central Turkey. 263 



by a pretty narrow ridge of limestone and other old rocks from 

 the great tertiary basins of Kostendil and Dubnicza, and Tatar- 

 Basardschik. Alluvium forms its bottom, and molasse with 

 bituminous wood is found in it. 



The greatest part ofServia north of the Morava is tertiary, 

 the country consisting of small, smooth, wooded hillocks, 

 and fertile valleys or plains near the Danube. The primary 

 rocks (transition of authors) are only seen in the highest hills. 

 We can distinguish the tertiary formation of Servia in the fol- 

 lowing localities, viz. the lowest region of the Drina, the great 

 tertiary gulf of the Kolubara, Lipla, and Turia; the other 

 gulf of the Morava from Saemendria to Stolacy, and extend- 

 ing far to the west in the direction of the Tessa wa, Limovaty, 

 river of Kragojevacz, Levazna, and Kalenska-rieka, as also to 

 the east by the Pek, the Mlava, Ressawa, and Ravenatz. All 

 these gulfs were once parts of the great Hungarian tertiary sea, 

 in which there appeared as southern promontories, the hills be- 

 tween Maidan-Pek and Ressawa, the Avala hills, with the 

 Kosinai and Palkovitz, &c. To the south, the Morava is sepa- 

 rated only by a short defile of a league in length, cut in gneiss 

 between Stolacz and Jassica, from the somewhat higher alluvial 

 and tertiary basin or plain of Kruschevatz. This last extends 

 to Tschatschak, but diminishes considerably in breadth. It is 

 also connected with a still higher basin, that of the Raschina, 

 which is pretty extensive, and filled up chiefly with marls and 

 calcareous rocks, with or without fresh-water shells and lacus- 

 trine deposits, as at Osretze, Riberia, and Bruss. At Bobota 

 we observed impressions of plants in the marls. This deposit 

 overlies greywacke. 



Another considerable basin, also higher than that of the Mo- 

 rava, extends from Turkish Banja, near Nissa, to Bulovan, 

 and along a part of the course of the Morava and Toplitza. 

 South of Nissa it is alluvial as well as tertiary, having marls 

 and molasse with sands above, and lastly alluvial loam or loss. 

 The Nissava cavity, with its two natural dykes, the one south 

 of Banja, the other 1 league north of Scharkoe, is only filled 

 up with alluvial matter. At Mustapha-Palanka it forms a 

 vast triangular plain. 



