290 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



separated ; one friend and the two ladies followed the 

 t^rofessor to listen to his learned discourse on the 

 ruins of two early Christian churches he had recently 

 discovered there, while I wandered off alone to hunt 

 for molluscs and other beasts. Scorpions were 

 everywhere. Almost every stone turned disclosed 

 one, which scuttled away with tail elevated and 

 sting carefully bent over the last segment. Under 

 and around the stones covering the scorpions were 

 quantities of broken shells of the smaller kinds, 

 Helix virga/a, H. pisana, H. variabilis, and others 

 I could not identify. Are there any records of 

 scorpions feeding on molluscs ? I think it is pro- 

 bable that they do prey on the small species, whose 

 shells are thin enough to be chipped open by their 

 hard claws. 



The most numerous molluscs were Helix aspersa 

 and H. lucorum, and they were indeed numerous. 

 Every crack and cranny in the ruinous walls con- 

 tained compact masses of them. Next in number 

 came Helix variabilis and H. virgata, clinging to the 

 thistles and rank grasses. I also found a number of 

 small lenticular shells not yet identified, and a few 

 Zonites, which I think are a variety of Z. stnii-nensis 

 Roth, Helix cartusianella, Biiliminus pupa, and 

 Pupa dolioluin. 



A good deal of the stone used in the construction 

 of the inner part of the walls of this town is of a hard 

 cement-like substance, and is full of casts of a spiral 

 univalve, probably a Ceriihiuni, and of a bivalve 

 very like Cardita planicosta Lam., showing that a 

 considerable deposit of fossiliferous rock of marine 

 origin exists in the neighbourhood. On searching I 

 found, in a railway cutting to the west of the hill on 

 which the town stood, a formation consisting mainly 

 of sand and rounded boulders, overlying a deposit 

 of the same cefnent-li'lce stone, though of softer 

 material, containing casts of similar marine shells. 

 Darkness put an end to further search, and taking 

 our seats on a railway trolley we soon shot down to 

 the Gongelli station, close to which stands the small 

 clean hotel, where we found unusually comfortable 

 quarters for the night. 



From here the white cliffs of Hierapolis, some six 

 miles away across the Lycus valley, are a striking 

 feature of the landscape, and the mistake modern 

 travellers have fallen into in calling it Bambuk Kalessi 

 (Cotton Castle) is perhaps pardonable, for its cliffs are 

 white as cotton, and are the most prominent feature 

 on the north side of the valley for many miles; its 

 real Turkish name is Tambuk ICalessi. This was our 

 destination on the following day ; we passed the 

 Lycus by a shaky wooden bridge, and reached the 

 foot of the white cliffs in a little over an hour from 

 Gongelli, crossing en route the great road traversed 

 by Xerxes when on his famous march to .Sardis in 

 481 B.C., traces of it being still visible. 



The town of Hierapolis was built on a flat plateau 



standing some 450 feet above the level of the plain 



. below. Near the eastern end is a beautifully clear 



pool ; the temperature of the water is about 104° 



Fahr. , and it is highly charged with carbonate of 

 lime. It flows by several channels over the edge of 

 the plateau, and, cooling as it falls, precipitates the 

 lime held in solution. This deposit forms a series of 

 irregular terraces, each terrace being composed of 

 semicircular and horseshoe-shaped basins, over the 

 lips of which the water falls, again depositing the lime 

 in stalactites and columns round their outsides. These 

 terraces, stalactites, and columns are pure white, 

 while the water itself is of varying tints of palest 

 blue and green. Strabo says that this water was 

 much used for dyeing in the old times ; now its only 

 use, beyond delighting the eyes of travellers, is to 

 drive the wheel of a flour-mill at the base of the cliff 

 and to ease the rheumatic pains of the natives, who 

 resort hither for bathing. The lime, soft and white 

 as snow when newly deposited, hardens on exposure, 

 and in course of time becomes yellowish-grey in 

 colour. The plateau is about two miles long by half 

 a mile wide, and it is an interesting problem whether 

 it has been entirely built up by the deposit from 

 the spring or not ; my impression being that it 

 has not. The stones used for the old building 

 are large squared blocks, and are of similar sub- 

 stance to the deposits now being formed. They are 

 hard, and very little weathered, notwithstanding that 

 they were quarried a couple of thousand years ago. 



The ladies of our party had no difficulty in climb- 

 ing the precipitous cliffy, as the lime gives good foot- 

 hold. Arriving at the summit, they again preferred 

 to follow the Professor and hear his learned explana- 

 tions of the historybf the ruined buildings rather than 

 help me in searching for living creatures. They did 

 not lose anything, for my walk was particularly 

 barren of result. Helix lucorum and H. aspcrsa 

 were abundant certainly, but no other species of 

 mollusc was to be seen. I expected all the shells 

 would have been ponderous, from the abundance of 

 shell-forming material, but I could_ distinguish no 

 difference between them and those of the same species 

 found elsewhere. 



The only other trace of wild animal life was a 

 pair of eagles soaring over the mountain to the north 

 and a jackal skulking amongst the tombs of the 

 necropolis. 



Since our visit a succession of earthquakes has 

 caused great damage to property and a lamentable 

 loss of life throughout the district referred to. The 

 first and most severe shock occurred at 4 A.M. on 

 September 20th last, its centre being near Saraquoi, 

 some ten miles above Ortakchai. All accounts agree 

 in stating that the first sensation was that of a strong 

 blow from the northward, followed immediately by a 

 counter-blow from the south, then a general twisting 

 or rotatory shake. The effect of this was that the 

 major part of the houses, mosques, and churches 

 were -ruined throughout a great portion of the 

 iMaeander and Lycus valleys. Thus at Denizli out 

 of 4,500 houses, 2,400 were levelled with the ground ; 

 at Saraquoi out of Soo houses, 600 were destroyed ; 

 at Ortakchai all the houses were down ; at Nazli a 



