SCIENCE- aoss/p. 



289 



I'llKVGIA AND AN KARTl Kjl' AKK. 

 Bv J. Bliss. 



T T is only a few years since a journey lo the ruined 

 cities of I'hryuia which were nearest the coast of 

 Asia Minor seemed a slow one to those accustomed 

 to the means of rapid transit in Europe, or a tiring 

 one to those who were not physically strong. It hail 

 to be performed on horselwck, with hard fare and 

 often (xior <|uarters at the close of each day's march. 

 Te<lious or uninteresting it never was to the lover of 

 Nature or the student of history, for every turn of the 

 roiwi disclosed some fresh feature of beautiful land- 

 scape, some group typical of Turkish country life, 

 some old ruin, some wild animal, some new flower, 

 or other interest in the rock formation. The fresh- 

 ness of ihe early morning start, the neighing of the 



plain narrows, and at Ortakchai, some eight miles 

 further on, it is only about a mile wide. This is 

 the great Western door of Phrygia, having on the 

 north the Messi>gis mountains, and on the south 

 .Salliakos. B>ith these ranges are se|)araled from the 

 plain by a line of low hills composed of sedimentary 

 rock and gravel. Those on the north side extend 

 from the const opposite Samos, where they interpose 

 between the .Mycale mass an<l the .Messogis to the 

 junction of the rivers Macander and Lycus, and 

 thence up both si<les of the latter valley, a total 

 distance of considerably over a hundred miles. There 

 are numerous sprin'^s of hot water throughout these 

 hills, the temperature in the centre of those near 



HtERAri)[.is Ci-iKF, siro\vi\(; Upt'KR H.\i.K OF Terraces and Basins. 



horses, the v.-igaries of the armed escort, the halt at 

 the wayside cafe, and the talk with the grave elders, 

 who never seemed in a hurry, but in reality were 

 burning with almost childlike eagerness to hear news 

 fron) the I'rank, the noon siesta under some witlc- 

 spreading tree, the ability to stop whenever bird, 

 beast, or flower tempted one, combined h ith youth 

 and health, all went to make such a journey delight- 

 ful. This is now changed with the extension of rail- 

 ways, and while we <lo not wish to imply thai it is 

 not a change for the better, we cannot and do not 

 desire to forget the old ways. We step into the train 

 at Smyrna, and speed over the country past Ephesus, 

 over a p<-iss in the Mes.sogis mountains, into the wide 

 fertile Macander valley, then on eastwards past 

 .\tagnesia, Tralles, Nyssa, and Antioch. Here the 

 iM.-ir. 1900. No. 70. Vol. VI. 



Ortakchai being 160° Kahr. The water is sulphurous, 

 and it is much resorted to by natives suffering from 

 rheumatism, paralysis, skin diseases, and indeed 

 from all the ills flesh is heir to, for they have implicit 

 faith in the general efticacy of mineral baths. There 

 arc the remains of ancient buildings near by, showing 

 prolxibly that the waters have long been in request. 

 About eight miles beyond the frontier of I'hrygia we 

 leave the Macander valley and enter that of the 

 Lycus, and in seven hours from Smyrna we alight at 

 Gongelli. Our party comprised two ladies, two 

 archaeological friends, and myself. 



Twenty minutes' walk from the railway station up 

 the banks of the .\sopus brought us to the remains 

 of the bridge which once spanned that stream, lead- 

 ing to the western gate of Laodicea. Here our party 



L 



