the Western Part of Asia Minor. 21 



it has accumulated, and which is approached by a natural bridge of the same sub- 

 stance formed across a stream from another spring. In one place, the water falls 

 over a cliff eight or ten feet high, producing stalactites in its course. 



The hot-springs of Hierapolis, in the upper valley of the Mseander, flow over a 

 cliff which they have encrusted with white travertine and stalactites. The remark- 

 able appearance here presented, has given the Turkish name of Bambouk-kalesi, 

 or " Cotton Castle," to the town, and has excited the attention of many ancient as 

 well as modern authors*. 



Asia Minor presents some interesting examples of the geographical changes 

 effected by the alluvia of rivers. The detrital deposits of the Mseander were so 

 abundant as to excite the attention of Strabo. Since his time, the island of Lade, 

 near which a naval action was once fought between the Persians and lonians, has 

 become a hill in the midst of a plain ; the Latmic Gulf is changed into an inland 

 lake ; and the once flourishing town of Miletus, losing her commerce from this 

 cause, has become a heap of ruins. 



The alluvia of the Cayster have reduced Ephesus to the same state as Miletus. 

 Her port, once the seat of commerce and civilization, is now a stagnant pool, se- 

 parated from the sea by a marshy plain, which infects the surrounding district 

 with malaria. 



A similar fate perhaps awaits the now flourishing city of Smyrna. The Delta 

 of the Hermus is fast advancing across the Gulf : a narrow channel only is at 

 present open to shipping ; and a few centuries may see that populous city, reduced 

 to the condition of Ephesus and Miletus. 



The absence of tide in the Mediterranean is doubtless the chief cause of the 

 rapid extension of these alluvial deposits in historical times. The bays and estu- 

 aries not being cleansed by the daily reflux of the tide, the alluvial matter brought 

 down by the rivers deposits itself close to their mouths, and their deltas are thus 

 pushed into the sea with a rapidity, of which we have no examples in tidal 

 oceans. 



Under the head of modern alluvial formations, we may mention a singular lacus- 

 trine deposit in the valley of the Rhyndacus, above Kirmasli (lat. 39° 56'). A low 

 range of tertiary limestone crosses the valley at that town, and is cut through by the 

 Rhyndacus, which traverses a narrow gorge. A lake once existed on the upper 

 side of the limestone hills, and has left considerable deposits of mud, sand and 

 gravel. The opening of the gorge having drained the lake, the Rhyndacus has 

 since had time to remove the greater part of the lacustrine deposit ; but platforms, 

 of it still skirt one or both sides of the valley, at the height of 50 or 60 feet above 



* See Strabo, lib. xiii. cap. 4. Vitruvius, 1. viii. cap. 3. Chandler, Trav., vol. i. ch. 68. Laborde, 

 Voyages en Orient. Fellowes, Excursion in Asia Minor, p. 283, &c. 



