184 Dr Boue's GeograpJdcal and Geological 



the Maritza, and six leagues south-west of Adrianople. The 

 decKvities on the northern side are generally pretty steep ; and 

 magnificent views of this portion of the Rhodopus are obtained 

 from Philippopolis and Banja. Pine trees occur highest up 

 on the hills, next to them are elms, and lower down, the oak 

 forests. A certain number of rents running north-south form 

 deep valleys, which are adorned with monasteries (Stanimak) 

 and villages or cottages. These fissures are the passes by which 

 people cross the mighty wall from Philoppopolis, Tatar-Ba- 

 sardschik, Banja, Samakov, and Dubnitza. Along the Archi- 

 pelago, the lofty crags, the island of Tassos with its marbles, 

 as well as the high Semedrek, all indicate that the crystalline 

 slates, the gneiss, the granite, and the granular limestone of 

 the Despotodagh or Rhodopus have experienced considerable 

 depressions, as, otherwise, the chain would be united to the 

 old ridges of the Troja country and the Ida. Some isolated 

 portions of the Rhodopus are found in the northern tertiary 

 plain, as, for instance, the hills of gneiss and granite between 

 Harinani and Haskoe. At Philippopolis, sienite forms four 

 small hillocks in the town, or close to it : this formation is con- 

 nected with the granitic eruptions from west to east at the base 

 of the Rhodopus, to the west and east of Samakov, and at Dub- 

 nitza. 



From the Archipelago to beyond Karabunar (south of Di- 

 motika) there is a long stripe running south-north of trachyte 

 and trachytic conglomerate. Here one finds all the compact, 

 semivitrified, and vitreous varieties of these igneous masses 

 which made their appearance during the tertiary epoch. These 

 eruptions must be connected on the one side with those north 

 of Adrianople, and on the other with those of the high island 

 of Semedrek. In this latter, as also to the east of Fered, there 

 is a hot sulphureous spring. On the northern base of the Rho- 

 dopus, hornblendic trachytes are found in some parts of the 

 Semisdsche valley. The trachytic country is partly a stony 

 barren soil, and partly covered with low trees of the Paliurus 

 aculeatus. It is only fertile where the conglomerates are in 

 connexion with the tertiary argillaceous-calcareous beds. 



South of Edrene (Adrianople), between the Maritza and the 

 Dardanelles, are the low ridges and plateaux oi the Tekirdagh, 



