/. Lawrence Smith on the Thm'mal Waters of Asia Minor. 369 



Thermal Waters of Hierapolis\ 



The ruins of the ancient city of Hierapolis are among the 

 most interesting in the southwestern part of Asia Minor The 

 place is situated about six miles from Laodicea (one of the seven 

 churches) and about one hundred and ten miles from Smyrna. 

 The site is seen for many miles before it is reachedj as it rises 

 abruptly from the north side of an extensive plain, and the sides 

 of the hill are covered with an incrustation of dazzling white- 

 ness for upwards of a mile in length, and from this it has re- 

 ceived its present name, Pambuk-kelesey, (cotton castle.) 



This place was much admired in former times, if we are to 

 judge from the inscriptions still to be seen on different parts of 

 the ruins, to the following effect. '^ Hail, golden city, Hierapolis ; 

 the spot to be preferred before any in wide Asia; revered for the 

 rill of the nymphs, adorned with splendor;" the people, in some 

 of these inscriptions, are styled^ "the most splendid/' and the 

 senate, " the most powerful/^ 



It is a place well known to travellers in this part of the world, 



and therefore I shall confine myself strictly to what concerns its 

 thermal waters, which have ever been its principal object of note, 

 as evinced by the extensive ruins of baths. In fact the very hill 

 Upon which the city stands owes its formation to the deposition 

 of carbonate of lime from these waters, and it now rises up- 

 wards of a hundred feet above the plain with a width of about 

 six hundred feet. Immediately behind the city, rises another set 

 of hills of calcareous rock, from which &ovi the waters in ques- 

 tion ; they first enter a large pool in fwni oi the theatre, and 

 from this the water flows in numerous little streams that course 

 in channels made by incrustations from the water. The amount 

 of water is very great, and it is so highly charged with carbon- 

 ate of lime, as to incrust all bodies that it comes in contact with, 

 and it takes place so rapidly that the concretion does not possess 

 great solidity, and frequently has a granular form resembling 

 driven snow. 



It is this incrustation, as I before said, which gives to the 

 immediate site of the city its remarkable character. In some 

 places as the waters flow over the steeply inclined sides of the 

 hill, it forms a succession of terraces at regular distances, that re- 

 quire but little effort of the imagination to liken to an amphi- 

 theatre with its marble seats. At other places, it flows over the 

 precipitous sides sixty or seventy feet high, and one or two hun- 

 dred feet wide, incrusting the precipice with a snow-white sheet 

 ^bich might be likened to a consohdated cataract, and what adds 

 to the delusion, at the base the incrustations have accumulated 

 an irregular mass not unlike foam. This petrified stream extends 

 several hundred feet into the plain. It has formed walls and 



