Observations on some parts of European Turhey. 181 



If one might be allowed to judge from the inclined position 

 of the Molasse near Islivne, it would appear that the uprising 

 of the Hcemus was posterior to the deposition of the superior 

 tertiary rocks ; whilst the horizontal beds of tertiary sand on 

 the central plateau of Maesia would indicate an older epoch of 

 formation for the hills of that country. 



In the vicinity of the Danube, Bulgaria is covered with a 

 great tertiary Jormation^ which becomes broader as we proceed 

 from east to west, in consequence of the oblique direction of 

 the cretaceous beds in Bulgaria. This direction was owing to 

 their having been deposited upon the Jurassic limestone of the 

 Pashaliks of Widdin and Nisha, and on the crystalline slaty 

 rocks of the Balkan. The Danube flows past a series of small 

 hills on the Bulgarian side ; but, on the northern or Walla- 

 chian side, the country is flat. A great part of north-east Bul- 

 garia and the country of the Dobrutscha Cossacks is tertiary. 

 It is only near Babadagh, and between it and Matochin, that 

 we find higher hills composed of older formations, particularly 

 clay-slate. Loss or alluvial clay-marl occurs along the Danube. 

 Erratic blocks are unknown in Bulgaria, as is the case with 

 the other portions of Turkey which I have examined. 



The isthmus between Rassova and Kostendsche, where a ca- 

 nal might be cut in order to shorten the voyage of the Danube, 

 is not only occupied by alluvial matter, but also by some very 

 low tertiary hills ; the Danube can never have had its channel 

 there in historical times. 



South of the Balkan there exists only one pretty distant sub- 

 ordinate chain, viz., the low chain of transition-slate and lime- 

 stone between Kalofer (west of Kezanlik), Eski Sagra, and a 

 place west of Islivne, where the Tondja issues through a defile 

 from its superior alluvial basin. This basin is the plain which 

 extends between Tschipka, Kezanlik, and Czirkua, and it is on 

 it that the roses are cultivated for making the attar of roses. 

 The Vienna map delineates the course of the Tondja pretty 

 well ; but in Cotta''s map it is very ill laid down. 



From Islivne to Burgas on the Black Sea, there is a vast 

 hollow at the base of the Balkan ; the rivers are only separa- 

 ted by very small ridges. The remainder of the Balkan bounds 

 the western part of the great tertiary gulf, whose surface forms 

 the present soil of a great portion of eastern Romelia or Thracia. 



