98 THERMAL WATERS OF ASIA MINOR. 



THERMAL WATERS OF HIERAPOLIS. 



The ruins of the ancient city of Hierapolis are among the 

 most interesting in the south-western part of Asia Minor. The 

 place is situated about six miles from Laodicea (one of the 

 seven churches), and about one hundred and ten miles from 

 Smyrna. The site is seen for many miles before it is reached, 

 as it rises abruptly from the north side of an extensive plain, 

 and the sides of the hill are covered with an incrustation of 

 dazzling whiteness for upward of a mile in length, and from 

 this it has received its present name, Pambuk-kelesey (cotton 

 castle). 



This place was much admired in former times, if we are to 

 judge from the inscriptions still to be seen on different parts 

 of the ruins, to the following effect : " Hail, golden city, 

 Hierapolis ; the sj)ot to be preferred before any in wide Asia ; 

 revered for the rill of the nymphs, adorned with splendor." 

 The people, in some of these inscriptions, are styled " the most 

 splendid" and the senate "the most powerful." 



It is a place well known to travelers in this part of the 

 world, and therefore I shall confine myself strictly to what 

 concerns its thermal waters, which have ever been its prin- 

 cipal object of note, as evinced by the extensive ruins of baths. 

 In fact, the very hill upon which the city stands owes its 

 formation to the deposition of carbonate of lime from these 

 waters, and it now rises upward of a hundred feet above the 

 plain, with a width of about six hundred feet. Immediately 

 behind the city rises another set of hills of calcareous rock, 

 from which flow the waters in question; they first enter a large 

 pool in front of the theater, and from this the water flows in 

 numerous little streams that course in channels made by in- 

 crustations from the water. The amount of water is very 

 great, and it is so highly charged with carbonate of lime as to 

 incrust all bodies that it comes in contact with, and it takes 

 place so rapidly that the concretion does not possess great 

 solidity, and frequently has a granular form, resembling driven 

 snow. 



It is this incrustation, as I before said, which gives to 

 the immediate site of the city its remarkable character. In 

 some places, as the waters flow over the steeply-inclined 



