Observations on some parts of European Turlcey, 185 



In these, Molasse is associated with clay and a sand which oc- 

 casionally contains shells, together with numerous fragments 

 of siliceous coniferous (?) wood. One bed, at the height of 800 

 feet, is chiefly composed of shells of the genus mactra. Coralline 

 and shelly limestones are found on thesandsof Malgara,and par- 

 ticularly on the western banks of the Maritza, near the trachy- 

 tic zone around Fered. The greatest height of the Tekirdagh 

 may amount to nearly 900 feet. To the south-east of Aimadt- 

 schik, there is a somewhat more elevated ridge, whicli, in the 

 vicinity of the Sea of Marmora, is probably 300 or 400 feet 

 higher than the Tekirdagh. It is improperly called JSiagridagh 

 in the Vienna map. 



It would appear that, during the epoch of the deposition of 

 the middle and superior tertiary rocks, the sea did not pass 

 through the Dardanelles, as this rent did not then exist ; but 

 that the great sea of Marmora and Adrianople communicated 

 with the Archipelago by means of a vast firth situated more to 

 the west, and of which the deepest part is now occupied by the 

 large and fertile valley of the Maritza. Near Constantinople 

 also, the tertiary limestones and superior sands do not occur 

 beyond the mountains of greywacke and slate south of the 

 Black Sea, although it is probable that tertiary waters existed 

 in the cavities between the groups of the chain running along 

 the Black Sea. The rents of the Dardanelles and the Bospho- 

 rus were formed at a later period, during the alluvial epoch ; 

 as appears from the craggy declivities of their banks, the cor- 

 respondence of the beds on both sides, and the absence of any 

 very old alluvium. I do not suppose that Andreossy's opinion 

 is supported by any geologist, as there are no traces of fluvia- 

 tile or marine erosion on the banks of these straits. 



To the west of the central plateau of Maesia is Upper Alba- 

 7M0, a country occupied to the east and south-east by the high 

 Tschar, (not Tschardagh, which is an Asiatic hill on the Sea 

 of Marmora), between Kacsanik, Kalkandel, and Prisrend; and 

 to the south by its prolongation, consisting of the high ridges 

 interposed between the wild primary valley of the Debres and 

 the plain of Bitoglia (Monastir) and Perlepe, as also the val- 

 ley of Kalkandel, called Tetovo in the Bulgarian language. 

 They are sometimes more than 8000 feet high, and are occa- 



