EDWARD RIGGS. 101 
Mithridates the Great, who ruled in these parts a hun- 
dred years before the beginning of our era, is said by 
contemporaneous writers to have possessed a rare col- 
lection of gems in this line,—cups and ornaments of 
Jasper and amethyst, etc. These were doubtless pro- 
duced near this spot, and I have picked up both there 
and along the neighboring sea coast, pebbles of these 
materials of striking beauty. 
One more of these castles on the Black Sea coast de- 
serves special mention. Farther to the east than Unieh 
and not far from Trebizond is the town of Kerasus, from 
which name, by the way, we derive our word cherry. 
This place is now the chief centre of the filbert-growing 
industry, the whole country round about being devoted 
to the raising of this toothsome nut, of which thousands 
of sacks are shipped annually to southern Russia and 
elsewhere. A huge mass of igneous rock juts out into 
the sea, forming a small, open harbor on each side, and 
the town is situated on the neck of this precipitous 
promontory. On its summit are the ruins of another of 
these old castles, and its claims to very great antiquity 
are well authenticated. This castle was first built by 
Pharnaces, grandfather of the great Mithridates, and 
strengthened and improved by the latter. Here he 
placed his sisters and his wives during his wars with Lu- 
cullus the Roman general, and when hard pressed by 
the Romans he sent his steward Bacchides to the castle 
at Kerasus, with the request that he would kindly 
strangle those ladies rather than let them fall into the 
hands of Lucullus. This delicate mission he performed, 
but whether in such a way as to please the ladies or not 
the historian fails to state. 
In one corner of this castle enclosure the local Turkish 
court holds its sessions, and the learned Kadi placidly 
strokes his long beard, innocently ignorant of the po- 
tent precedents so close at hand for the injustice which 
he dispenses. 
