Observations on some parts of European Turkey, 177 



Lastly, to the west of the plateau of Mcesia lies the Pristina 

 or Kossova plain, surrounded by low chains, which are elevated 

 about 800 or 1000 feet above it, whilst its own absolute height 

 amounts to 1400 feet. The hills are chiefly composed of talc 

 or mica slates, together with some serpentines and amygdaloi- 

 dal limestones : they are covered with forests, chiefly of oak, 

 of which the principal varieties are Quercus Robii r, Q. Cerris^ 

 and Q. puhescens. 



The middle plateau of McBsia is occupied by hills a little 

 higher than the preceding, and containing valleys or basins 

 formed by the Morava, the Toplitza, and their defiles. Here 

 the Bulgarians cultivate their fields and gardens in a most ad- 

 mirable manner. The valleys are covered with villages, where 

 maps only indicate a wilderness, and the cultivated fields ex- 

 tend far up among the hills. Unfortunately, however, their 

 neighbours the Arnautes, or Albanians inhabiting the N.W. 

 of Maesia superior, do not profit by their good example, but 

 leave much of their ground in its primitive state of woody 

 wilderness. Vines do not grow well in the Morava valley, ex- 

 cept around Nisha, Leskovatz, Vranja, Prekop (Urkup), and 

 also near Pristina. Indian corn is cultivated in the lower Bul- 

 garian and Albanian valleys. The high mountainous ridges of 

 Servia serve as a protection against the north winds. 



The Morava valley is composed of tertiary beds of an ar- 

 gillaceous or sandy nature, as near Nisha and Leskovatz : allu* 

 vial beds occur higher up, in the Vranja basin. Nisha, Les- 

 kovatz, and Vranja are the chief towns of the three basins, of 

 which the narrowest parts are at Kurvihan, and to the south of 

 Leskovatz between that town and Surdebitza. Some trachy tic 

 eruptions have taken place to the south-east of Leskovatz, and si- 

 liceous limestone, probably of fresh water origin, occurs to the 

 north-east, near Sheshine, at the foot of the hills to the east 

 of the Morava. 



Between Radomir (at an elevation 1614 feet on the eastern 

 side of the Strymon), Bresnik, and Sophia, is a very extensive 

 plateau, nine miles broad, and composed of tertiary augite 

 porphyry. The higher summits of the hills attain an altitude 

 of 2456 feet. To the south rises the mountain called WistosJca 

 or Wistosh^ with its limestones, slaty and granitic rocks, ar- 



VOL. XXT. NO. XLIX. — JULV 1838. M 



