102 RUINED CASTLES IN ASIA MINOR. 
When you leave the sea-coast and strike inland you 
soon find that you have not left the castles all behind 
you. On the great post road from the seaport of Sam- 
soon to Bagdad, the first large town, sixty-five miles 
from the sea, is Amasia, the chief capital of Mithridates, 
and birthplace of that most enterprizing of ancient geo- 
graphers, Strabo. His description of the castle and its 
surroundings would answer for a page of a modern 
guide-book, so accurately and in detail does he set forth 
many points justas they are. The river Ivis at this point 
winds its way tortuously through a deep gorge between 
high, steep cliffs, like the canons of some of our western 
rivers. Down in the very bottom of this gorge lies the 
city of Amasia, the victim of furious winds in winter 
and fierce heat reflected from the rocks in summer. 
Near to the narrowest point in the ravine the river is 
joined by a small tributary, which at a sharp angle cuts 
its way through the hills, leaving between the two riv- 
ers a narrow rock six hundred fifty feet high, with 
two faces almost perpendicular, and only accessible on 
the rear where it joins the mountain range. Here the 
Kings of Pontus built their castle, and here they de- 
fended their treasure and asserted their authority. And 
truly a noble site it is! commanding a view not only of 
the river and the city immediately beneath, but far up 
and down the several valleys which converge here, and 
are filled with an almost tropical wealth of trees, vines 
and shrubbery, dotted here and there with silk factories 
in the mulberry orchards, and flour mills on the river 
bank. The castle itself isa huge structure with an im- 
mense amount of massive masonry, but with very little 
of what we should call method and plan. Much energy 
has been wasted in modern times in excavations at 
various points within these ancient walls in the vain 
hope of discovering buried treasure. This passion ex- 
hibits itself in ill-directed efforts in connection with al- 
