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ANATOLIA. 



ANATOLIA. 



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basalt and other volcanic productions, the innumerable basaltic cones 

 which are spread in all directions on that plateau, the granite which 

 protrudes through the overlying beds of limestone, and finally the salt- 

 lakes, and an extensive tract covered with salt-marshes, we are inclined 

 to believe that the whole was once an inland sea, like the Caspian and 

 the Aral, filled with brackish water, and that the bottom of that sea 

 was raised by volcanic action, whereupon the waters poured forth in 

 all directions ; and on their descent to the surrounding seas formed 

 those deep valleys, which in the southern and western parts of the 

 peninsula lead almost in straight lines from the edges of the table- 

 land down to the Mediterranean, the Archipelago, and the Sea of 

 Marmara. The diminished volume of the remaining waters might 

 then have been absorbed, or have found subterranean escapes, till the 

 tract remained in that state in which it is now. The great quantity 

 of fresh-water shells found on the hills of the table-land are an 

 objection to supposing it to have once been a perfect salt sea. It 

 was either all brackish, or divided into several large lakes, some of 

 fresh-water and some of salt. It would be important to know, if 

 among the fresh-water shells there are many belonging to such shell- 

 fish as live indifferently in fresh and in brackish water. 



3. The Euxine Range. The country between the Anti-Taurus in the 

 south and the Black Sea in the north is filled up with mountains, 

 the centre of which seems to be in the southern part between the 

 Gaur-Dagh, the Almali-Dagh, and the Gujik-Dagh, whence several 

 chains stretch to the west and north ; others stretching eastward 

 connect these mountains with those of Armenia. We shall call this 

 group, which has no general name, the Lazian group, from the Lazes, 

 a warlike nation of Caucasian origin, known in history from early 

 times down to the present day, awl whose original abodes begin on 

 the eastern slopes of these chains. The Lazian group, the third land- 

 mark of Asia Minor toward the east, is the watershed between the 

 Euphrates, which flows into the Persian Gulf, and such of the rivers 

 emptying themselves into the Black Sea as are situated east of the 

 mouth of the KizU-Irmak. On the eastern side of the crest of the 

 Lazian group are the sources of the Choruk, a river about 150 miles 

 long, which flow east and north till it reaches the Black Sea near 

 Batum : its whole course is beyond the limits which are generally 

 ascribed to Asia Minor. Several smaller rivers flow from its northern 

 slopes into the Black Sea. One of these is the Surmel, a small river 

 which has its mouth a little east of Trebizond. A chain of woody 

 mountains, which detaches itself from the eastern part of the Laziau 

 group and stretches as far as the sea, runs east of the Surmel, and 

 may be considered the natural boundary of Asia Minor on this side. 



Among the different ranges which spring from the Lazian group 

 we shall first mention that series of interrupted parallel chains which 

 run west and almost parallel with the coast of the Black Sea. These 

 chains are known under several names. Between Trebizond and the 

 mouth of the Yeshil we find the Mason-Dagh, in the country of the 

 ancient Amazons, whose name it retains with little alteration ; and 

 between that river and the Kizil-Irmak the Nebbian-Dagh with its 

 southern parallel ranges, the Ak-Dagh, and Tawshan-Dagh. They 

 are surmounted by lofty peaks, which are however much lower than 

 those of the Taurus and Anti-Taurus. The whole tract is a plateau, 

 being the first terrace on coming from the Black Sea ; above it run 

 wooded chains, with an average height of 1500 feet above the level of 

 the plateau. Towards the sea the plateau ia broken into numerous 

 ridges and deep valleys, the beauty of which is highly praised by travel- 

 lers, and the picturesque character of the scenery is most striking in 

 the neighbourhood of the coast. The same character prevails west 

 of the Kizil, from the point where it breaks through the chain of the 

 Ada-Dagh. The Ilik-Dagh, with a mean elevation of 4000 feet above 

 the sea, abounds with forests of fir-trees that yield excellent timber ; 

 and the Yeralah-Goz is a plateau of the same description, surmounted 

 by ridges of about 3200 feet elevation. South of these plateaus lies 

 the Alkaa-Dagh, the summit of which was found covered with snow 

 in October ; and north of them are the Kaz-Yusuf-Dagh and others 

 which border on the sea. In 41 25' N. lat., 33 E. long., is the 

 plateau of Iflatn, which begins in the south near the town of Zafaran- 

 Boli, with several projections terminating abruptly in steep acclivities, 

 on which high rock-terraces tower one above the other. On the 

 plateau there are many ranges, partly bare and partly wooded, and 

 large tracts are covered with fragments of rock. West of this plateau, 

 and divided from it by the river Orderi, is Mount Durnah-Yala-si, the 

 ancient Orminius, which has rough slopes, wooded sides, and a bare 

 crest at least 3000 feet high. Limestone and basaltic rocks abound 

 in both of these mountains. Mount Durnah-Yala-si is connected 

 with the Boli-Dagh and the Karam-Ali by the Sarkhun-Yala-si and 

 the Yaila-Dagh (Mons Hypius) in the south, and the Kara-Dagh, the 

 Owah-Dagh, and the Kopekchi-Dagh in the north. West of the 

 Karam-Ali-Dagh is the Gok-Dagh, or Bithynian Olympus, and between 

 them flows the Sakariyeh, or Sangarius. The Gok-Dagh is only a 

 north-eastern beginning of the Keshish-Dagh, or Mount Olympus of 

 Brusa (8000 feet high) ; its western projections stretch through Mysia 

 and terminate in the promontories of the Sea of Marmara, the Hel- 

 lespont, and the Archipelago. 



From the junction of the Lazian Mountains with the Kara-Bel, 

 which has been already described as a northern continuation of the 

 Anti-Taurus, some ranges stretch west, which the natives call Gemin- 



Beli-Dagh, and Koseh-Dagh. They are generally parallel with the 

 40th degree of N. lat., and their western continuation is the Chamlu- 

 Bel. They rise above a high and mostly level table-land, and form 

 the watershed between the Yeshil in the north, and the Kizil in the 

 south. A large mountainous tract, of which we know very little, 

 lies to the west, and is encompassed on the south-west and north by 

 the great bend of the river Kizil : it is a table-land the edges of 

 which towards the Kizil are intersected by deep valleys and ravines, 

 and form a long sharply-indented wall of rocks of the grandest 

 character. Pursuing the right bank of the Kizil, from 36 E. long., 

 we first see the Ak-Dagh right opposite the snowy peak of the Arjish- 

 Dagh, stretching west. Where the river Kizil first takes a north-west 

 direction, the edge of the table-land is called Akjik-Dagh ; farther on 

 in the same direction is the Hasan-Dagh, a bare, sharp, two-headed 

 peak ; and still farther on the Baranli-Dagh, a lofty chain rising high 

 above a table-land more than 3000 feet high, and covered with snow 

 in April. This tract chiefly consists of granite, and has altogether 

 a sierra-like aspect. North of the Baranli-Dagh is the fine plain of 

 Sogher, and north of this lies the Begrek-Dagh, an extensive granitic 

 district, composed of low, rounded, whitish, and bare hills, broken up 

 by deep ravines, and covered with a scanty vegetation. The northern 

 edge of the table-land surrounded by the river Kizil begins at Tokat 

 with a chain of high limestone-hills surmounted by steep and craggy 

 pinnacles, which lower as they stretch to the west, parallel with, but 

 at a considerable distance from, the left bank of the river Tokat. 



At Turkhal the chain is again high, and presents several steep 

 cones. Thence to Zilleh, south-west, and thence north to Amasia is 

 a high table-land, partly fertile, partly a barren plain composed of 

 limestone, which is prevalent near Amasia. The craggy edges of this 

 plateau towards the river Tokat rise to a great height above the valley 

 and are broken by deep ravines. From Amasia a range of low hills, 

 consisting chiefly of peperite or volcanic sand, occasionally stratified, 

 runs westward, and at 13 miles west of this town the hills rise into 

 huge masses of rocks. From Chorum the table-land has the same 

 character, being partly a level plain and partly a hilly tract, which 

 to the northward is bordered by the Kirk-Delim Mountains, forming 

 the most northern projection of the great table-land. The tract from 

 Chorum south-west as far as the Begrek-Dagh is little known ; its 

 edge towards the river Kizil is more craggy and deeply cut than the 

 sides of the table-land towards the Tokat, except the immediate 

 environs of Amasia. About 30 miles west-south-west from Chorum 

 are the rock-salt mines of Chayan-Ko, situated in a rugged ridge of 

 hills of red sandstone conglomerate. The surrounding country, 

 especially towards the river, is a succession of hills, consisting of red 

 marls and gravel of a gray or bluish colour. South of Chorum, 

 towards the interior of the table-land, there is a succession of winding 

 valleys sunk below the level of the plateau, and lying between schistose 

 rocks varying much in colour and consistency. The high plain has 

 a barren aspect. Towards Yozgat, south of Chorum, there are deep 

 ravines and many broken rocks, which amidst protruding masses of 

 trap and other igneous formations bear evidence to the convulsions 

 which have agitated the country. The waters flow north-north-east 

 into the Tokat, a fact which proves that the slope of the table-land is 

 towards the north. A little north of Yozgat is the Habak-Tepe, a 

 lofty hill, and the central culminating point of the tract whence ridges 

 radiate in all directions : some of them consist of coarse sandstone, 

 passing into a loose conglomerate containing pebbles of blue crystalline 

 limestone, secondary limestone, jasper, sandstone, and schistose rocks. 

 South-west of Yozgat there is a range of mountains called Chichek- 

 Dagh, which seems to be the edge of the second terrace of the table- 

 land, on ascending it from the west ; the first being formed by the 

 Begrek-Dagh and the Baranli-Dagh described above. The tract west 

 of these two chains is likewise an elevated table-land, but broken by 

 deep valleys and ravines through which the Kizil and the Sakariyeh 

 have forced their way, and has in many places an alpine character. 

 Many plateaus consist of trappean or granitic rocks, upon which the 

 red-sandstone appears to have been deposited as in a basin. Lime- 

 stone occurs everywhere with masses of trachytic formation overlying 

 it. On the plateaus there are rugged chains of mountains with broken 

 and picturesque outlines; and high cones of volcanic origin bear 

 evidence that this part of the country has been reduced to its present 

 state by the action of fire, and that the work was completed by 

 water. The plateaus, especially that of Haimaneh, are bleak and 

 miserable, but the valleys are fertile, and yield corn, wine, and fruit 

 of evwy description. Among the chains that stretch in all directions 

 are the Ardij-Dagh, south of Angora, about 3600 feet high, and 

 several others, forming one or perhaps more parallel ranges, interrupted 

 by table-lands, which begin about 25 miles west of Angora, and stretch 

 in a north-eastern direction for about 50 miles. The base of the hill.s 

 is formed of an immense number r>{ basaltic prisms of great regularity 

 of form, some vertically disposed, others horizontally. Above these, 

 masses of a similar character tower up in rocky pinnacles of fantastic 

 shape, in which the colossal prisms are variously disposed, their 

 distribution far surpassing anything at the Giants' Causeway. In 

 the northernmost corner of these mountains, in the valley of the 

 Kerimis and near.its source, are the mines of Sahlun. There another 

 table-land begins, the slope of which inclines towards the Black Sea, 

 which is only 75 miles distant. The Kerimis flows south-west, and 



