44 GILIOIA. 



far to confer upon that city its former greatness ; but 

 the Rhegma, — once a lagoon, later an inland lake, — 

 which by the aid of human art was made into an 

 excellent and commodious harbour, is now a marsh, 

 and the Cydnus, which then flowed through it to the 

 sea, now passes by on the east, receiving from it but 

 the overflow of a swamp, which renders useless a large 

 extent of what might under happier circumstances be 

 excellent land. For this reason I have said that the 

 prosperity of Mersina is likely to wane if, as is likely, 

 a branch line is built from the Baghdad railway to 

 some point on the bay of Ayas. It is true that the 

 Pyramus is filling up the latter ; but the day when a 

 port there would be rendered useless owing to land 

 encroachment is too far distant to warrant considera- 

 tion, whereas the silt brought down by the Cydnus 

 and Saros and deposited in the vicinity of Mersina is 

 distributed along the coast-line by a strong current 

 which sets west, so that, though land-encroachment is 

 greatly retarded, the sea is kept constantly shallow for 

 a considerable distance. 



Farther west along the coast may be seen the remains 

 of an artificial harbour at Soli Pompeiopolis, but the 

 facilities oflered by nature are no greater here than 

 they are at Mersina. Little seems to be known of the 

 ancient town that stood there. I drove out one morn- 

 ing over a partially possible road, which, however, had 

 been made use of in one part by a cultivator of the soil, 

 who was in the act of ploughing it when I drove by. 

 Being in Turkey, I could hardly credit it that this over- 

 sight on the part of the son of toil was due to super- 

 abundant zeal, and concluded, therefore, that it was 

 owing to an inability to decide where his field ended 

 and the road began. In addition to the remnants of 

 a harbour, already alluded to, there remain parts of an 



