TARSUS. 45 



aqueduct from the mountains to the north, and not far 

 from the shore a long Hne of stone pillars, surmounted 

 by well-preserved carved capitals. 



The 16|- miles to Tarsus can be covered in fifty 

 minutes by the railway, and I found a hearty welcome 

 awaitinof me on arrival from the Kev. Dr Christie, who 

 presides over a college for young men known as St 

 Paul's Institute, which boasts of nearly 200 students, 

 129 of whom at the time of my visit were boarders. 

 Here I saw Greeks and Armenians being instructed in 

 French and trigonometry, and competing later in the 

 sports which one inevitably associates with an English 

 public school. The present town, which has a large 

 and well-supplied bazaar, has a population of about 

 25,000. To the archaeologist and the historian it pre- 

 sents many problems of the greatest interest — problems 

 still, thanks to the objection raised by Turkish auto- 

 cracy to the revelation which excavation invariably 

 makes of the perished splendour of a former age, 

 which casts so searching a glare on the decay and 

 squalor of the present. Oil the eastern side of the 

 town the river Cydnus forms a fine cascade. At one 

 time it undoubtedly flowed through the city, but its 

 course was diverted by Justinian (a.d. 527-563) to 

 prevent a recurrence of a flood which had on a former 

 occasion washed away part of the town. 



Situated on the outskirts of the town, among the 

 many gardens of fruit-trees which surround it, stands a 

 massive rectangular construction of hard concrete, or 

 rather a series of blocks separated by open spaces, 

 known as the Dinek Tash or overturned stone, which 

 has for some reason or other succeeded in arrogating to 

 itself a certain measure of distinction as the tomb of 

 Sardanapalus. The futility of any such pretension is 

 sufficiently obvious in light of the fact that, given to 



