ANATOLIA. 



ANATOLIA. 



Anti-Cragus, surmounted by |aks SOOO. S300. 6490, and 5940 feet 

 bore Uu> ML From Horan a range atrstolMe southeast toward the 

 MB, prnadng daw upon it with a steep nummit of 4800 feet elevation. 

 This u Ute ancient MOM Massicytus. East of it U the high table-land 

 mentioned above, which ban a mean elevation of more than 4000 feet, 

 ytg part of the ancient district of Cibyratis, a name which in the 

 BrxaatUM period designated the whole country of Lycia, the C'ibyrataj 

 being known a* the beet aailon among the Greek*, especially for ahipa 

 of war. On thin table-land there U a river that falls into a cavern and 

 disappears. A few milea louth of the cavern there if the Lake of 

 Awelan, which hat no outlet, U 8 or 4 miles wide and 10 milee long, and 

 lie* in the middle of a highly cultivated plain which U above 8000 feet 

 high. Between the table-land and the Gulf of Adalia U the Taktalu- 

 Dagh, the ancient Mount Solyma, with a snowy summit 7800 feet 

 high. The range of MODS Massicytus and the table-land beyond it 

 form a terrace which U lower than the Taurus, but higher than the 

 elevated tract along the southern shore. The tract along the shore if 

 tnvened by the little river Dembre ; it is a terrace lower than the 

 table-land, and rising with bold precipices above the sea. 



2. Tke A nti-Taoriu, Ike gnat table-land in Iht interior, and it* voter* 

 eomlmmaiion. From the summits of the Akjah or Commagenian 



Mountains the eve discovers beyond the river Tokhmah an immense 

 mountain tract bordered on the horizon by a range of snowy peaks. 

 This U the Anti-Taurus. Through its eastern and southern valleys 

 the waters flow to the Euphrates, and in its western and northern 

 parts are the sources of the rivers Kizil and Yeshil, which empty 

 themselves into the Black Sea, The Anti-Taurus and the Mountains 

 of Commagene are the natural eastern limits of Asia Minor. The tract is 

 little known : the Gol-Dagh and Kara-Bel* are two black basaltic 

 mountains in the east, and on some of the neighbouring mountains 

 snow U found during the whole year. North of these peaks there is 

 a chain called Arab-llaba, and beyond it, in a most picturesque country, 

 the high conical mountain of Sari-Chi-Chak, a Kurdish name meaning 

 the ' highest mountain,' the easterly continuation of which is of 

 basaltic character. In iu neighbourhood are the Dumbugh-Dagh, which 

 has a high rounded summit, the Erumbat and the Yamur-Dagh, which 

 Ainsworth found covered with snow in July. Chalk is found in the 

 environs of the Sari-Chi-Chak; west of it* trachytio rocks are 

 prevalent, and the Dumbugh-Dagh contains granite and euphotidos 

 abounding in iron. West of this tract there is a district of gypsum. 

 Beyond this in the same direction rises the chain of Kam-IVI, the 

 Paryadros of the ancients, covered with fira and oaks, the crest of 

 which has an elevation of 5790 feet The Paryadres is the most 

 northern part of the Anti-Taurus, the principal chain of which 

 stretches west as far as the Arjiih or Ergish-Dagh, the ancient 

 Aryan, in 38 SO' N. lit, 35 20' E. long., the loftiest peak of the 

 peninsula, and once a volcano. On approaching this cone, says 

 Hamilton, the appearance of the country becomes gradually more 

 wild ; the hills consist entirely of trachytic rocks, and the surface is 

 covered to a great extent with boulders of the some formation. 

 Vesicular basalt, boulders of which overlay a yellow feldspathic rock, 

 cover the shoulders of the mountain. After having passed over hills 

 of black basalt, be reached a conical hill, consisting of sand and ashes 

 with a crater partly broken ; then a rocky tract covered with juniper, 

 where the real ascent begins. South of the highest peak stands the 

 Kartun, an isolated rook of feldspathic trachyte, like a gigantic 

 fortress. Two houn' walk farther up, the ground spreads out into an 

 amphitheatre, surrounded by steep and lofty ridges of hills. Higher 

 op snow was to be found in all the crevices, and dangerous glaciers 

 had to be traversed. Hamilton succeeded in reaching the highest 

 attainable point of the mountain, though not the actual summit, 

 which is a mass of rock with steep perpendicular sides, rising to a 

 height of 20 or 24 feet above the ridge on which he stood. The 

 summit is a red braociatcd scoriaceous conglomerate, containing frag- 

 ments of trap, trachyte, and porphyry. To the north and north-east 

 extensive glaciers stretched down in one unbroken slope into a sea of 

 clouds, proving all ascent on that side to be totally impracticable. 

 From barometrical observation combined with the result of two 

 angles of elevation taken from different points below the mountain, 

 Hamilton concludes that the height of Mount Arjwh is 13,000 feet, a 

 trifle more or IMS, above the sea, Ainsworth calculates it about 1000 

 feet lower. Strabo observes (p. 688, Casaub.) that Mount Argams was 

 covered with perpetual snows, but his statement that both the Kuiiue 

 and the Mediterranean are visible from its summit is not true. Mount 

 Arjish and Mount Allah-Dagh, which lies about 30 miles south of it, 

 are the two most western promontories of the Anti-Taurus properly 

 "", the principal chain of which is the Allah-Dagh, according to 

 i. A ridge of hills that stretches south-west of Mount Arjish 

 gradually higher, forms the peaks of Hasan-Dagh and 

 Karajab-Dagh, and is connected with the Taurus by the Kara-Dagh 

 and the southern Allah-Dagh mentioned above. The Arjish-Hasan- 



rmjah-Kars Ijagh chain in the north-west, the Anti-Taurus and its 

 branches in the north and east, sod the Taurus in the south 



"Kg" 1 * "*" Portion of the great table-laml, and form an 



>. part of which i. called the plain of Bor or Nigdeh. 



Uii. '"'" unknown to us ; in the middle part 



souron of the Hihm, which flows south and traverses the 



Taurus M stated above; and Uw western part Is a depression of the 



table-land which has no visible outlet for its waters, the greater 

 portion of which is absorbed by the Ak-Gol, a lake of considerable 

 extent situated east of the trachytic cone of Kara-Dagh, before 

 mentioned. A small stream, which after the melting of the snow 

 increases to a great body of water, flows out of the southern corner of 

 this lake into a deep circular pool, 20 or SO feet lower, and situated in 

 a recess of the surrounding 'marble olifla. The pool is about one- 

 eighth of a mile in circumference, and has no outlet, nor does any 

 stream emerge on the other or southern side of the hills, from which 

 Hamilton concludes that the water must find a subterranean passage 

 through the limestone and reappear on the south side of the Taurus, 

 traversing Cilicia and flowing into the sea. 



From the ridge between Arjish-Dagh and Allah-Dagh in the Taurus 

 several chains stretch out in a western direction. The first, as wo 

 proceed from north to south, is a continuation of Arjish-Dagh, and 

 runs under several names, at first west and afterwards north-w, 

 it joins the alpine tract round Angora ; along its northern and eastern 

 sides flows the Kizil-Irmak. The second stretches out from the range 

 between the Hasan-Dagh and the Karajah-Dagh, north-west as far 

 as the Emir-Dagh in 38 48' N. lat, 31 20' K. long., and thence 

 west to the Morad-Dagh (the ancient Dindymeno), where it divides 

 into different branches that screen the valleys through which the 

 Mvndureh, the Ghiediz, and other streams flow into the Archipelago. 

 The ridges thus indicated surround another much larger basin, forming 

 likewise a depression of the high table-land, of which the greater 

 portion seems to have no outlet ; the eastern port has certainly none, 

 its waters being swallowed up by the great salt-lake Tuz. Iu its 

 north-western port the second ridge divides into two branches, about 

 38 20' N. lat, 32 E. long., and unites again at the Emir-Dagh, after 

 inclosing the basin of the Ak-Shchr and Iber lakes ; the southern and 

 probably principal chain is the lofty Sultan-Dagh. The Lake Iber 

 receives a little river about 40 miles long, which originates not far 

 from the Morad-Dagh, and has an eastern direction, which is rather 

 unusual even with the inlaml rivers of Asia Minor. The waters of 

 Lake Iber flow into the lake of Ak-Shchr. Between the Sultan-Dagh 

 and its continuation in the north-east, the Taurus in the south, and 

 the elevated ridge of the great table-hind in the west, there is another 

 basin, the largest of all, which seems to be subdivided into several 

 smaller basins by transverse ridges. This basin contains most of the 

 great lakes. Its south-western part is still unknown. 



The group of lakes in this basin forms one of the most striking 

 features of the table-land ; they may be divided into two classes, the 

 salt-lakes in the east and the fresh-water (partly salt) lakes in tin- 

 west Among the salt-lakes the Tu: is the largest. Ita centre is in 

 38 42' N. lat, 33 25' E. long. ; its direction is south-east to north- 

 west and north ; it is about 45 miles long and 18 miles brood where 

 widest, but its northern extremity is much narrower, and connected 

 with the main lake by a channel 5 or 6 miles broad. A ruined cause- 

 way connects the opposite banks ; it is covered with a thick coat of 

 salt lying over a coat of soft mud : when the waters are high it is 

 submerged, when low it is quite dry. The banks are flat, the environ 

 barren or covered with saline plants ; along its eastern side extensive 

 salt-marshes stretch from north-west to south-east, and its southern 

 and south-western shores are surrounded by impenetrable marahe* 

 partly covered with saline incrustations. The water has a specific 

 gravity of 1-24, and it contains 32 per cent of saline matter mixed 

 with a considerable quantity of sulphate of magnesia and chloride of 

 magnesium, with n little sulphate of lime and a trace of bromiu.-. 

 The water of the Dead Sea is stated by Dr. Marcet to hove the specific 

 gravity of 1 -21 , and to contain 24 '5 per cent of saline matter. Traces 

 of volcanic action abound in the environs. 



The group of the fresh-water lakes begins with the Ak-Gol in the 

 south-east, which has been mentioned in the descriptions of the first 

 basin of the table-land. It is about 7 miles long and 3 miles wid. . 

 West of it, in the third and largest basin, is the Soghla, the ancient 

 Trogilis, in 37 15' N. lat, 32 15' E. long., which U about 8 mil. < 

 long and 6 miles wide ; and north-west of this is the lake of I5e.i-Sli.-ln. 

 the Carolitis Pusgusa of the Byzantines, in 37 40' N. lat, 31 So' II. 

 long., a magnificent sheet of water, which is above 20 miles long 

 and from 4 to 7 mil' * wide. On its western side the rocks rise 

 abruptly from the water's edge. The two lakes are separated by n 

 lofty ridge of limestone mountains, through which the Bei-Shehr 

 Hiver, the outlet of the Bei-Shehr Lake, has formed a narrow channel. 

 This river empties itself into the Soghla Lake, which has no outlet, 

 and is consequently the deepest part of t.lii* portion of the l.inin. 

 North-west of the lake of Bci-Shchr arc the lakes of E^enlir and 

 Hoiron, which however ore one lake ; tha northern part is call.-.l 

 Hoiran, and the southern Egcrdir. The narrow channel by whieh 

 they are united lies in 88* 8' N. lat, 81 3' E. long. Their combined 

 length is about 30 miles, and each of them is about 6 miles wid.-. 

 They are full of fish, and surrounded by steep and wooded hill*, 

 intersected by picturesque valleys and well-cultivated plains. Tin 

 lake of Egordir has a southern outlet, a deep, clear, and rapid rivn-. 

 the farther course of which in not known ; but it is conjecture. ; 

 it has a subterranean course, and rc-nppeara on the south side of the 

 Taurus. 



If we rnnndnr the most prominent features of the great tabl.>-liind 

 of Asia Minor, the great number of extinct volcanoes, the masse* of 



