178 Dr Boue s Geographical and Geological 



gentiferous ores, and abundant springs. Its height may be es- 

 timated at above 4000 feet. To the west it overtops the bare 

 hilly country around Radomir, and to the east the beautiful 

 plain of Sophia, which has only an elevation of 1848 feet. 



The great Isker (Gomela or beuk Isker) flows through the 

 basin of that name, enters into the mountain defiles of Sumughu 

 Balkan, and only leaves the hilly country six or nine miles to 

 the south of Wratza near Butunia. Geographers have con- 

 founded in a singular manner the great Isker with the little 

 Isker (Malo or Kutschiik Isker). This last river comes down 

 the Balkan north of the Ichtiman basin, and joins the great 

 Isker not far from Staro Celo. Etropol, Strigl (the Striga of 

 maps), Tashkisi, and Komartzi, ai'e on the little Isker, and not 

 on the great, as marked in the maps, in which also the bed of 

 the little Isker between Etropol and Starocelo is erroneously 

 delineated as a part of that of the great Isker. The great 

 Isker valley is the chief military highway from Bulgaria to 

 Servia, but that of the little Isker only leads to a pretty high 

 ridge of hills, which must be crossed before descending to the 

 Sophia basin or to that of the Ichtiman, which is situated a 

 little higher up, at an elevation of 1480 feet. The small Isker 

 does not join the Sophia basin. 



The hills of Southern Maesia are united geographically to 

 the Despotodagh, the Rhodopus, and the Balkan or Haemus by 

 means of the Wistoska, together with some granitic and sieni- 

 tic hills at the base of the Rhodopus, and three or four low 

 ridges running west 2° south to east £° north, in an oblique 

 direction from Banja to Ichtiman, between the Rhodopus and 

 the Haemus. These last are composed of mica-slate, gneiss, 

 and granite, with some granular limestones, and their height is 

 from 2000 to ^S56 feet. At the base of the Despotodagh they 

 are crossed by the Kiz Derbend (defile of the girl) running 

 W-E., and composed at its narrowest part of granular lime- 

 stone. The road from Tatar Basardsehik to Banja is carried 

 along it. We must take care not to confound this defile with 

 one of the same name, but much finer, in the Rhodopus be- 

 tween Rasluk and Newrokop. In the latter there are the ruins 

 of an ancient castle, situated on high rocks, which overhang 

 an old road a thousand feet above the torrent. The passage 



