906 



TURKEY IN ASIA. 



tion, the consuls of the respective nations exercising the necessary civil and judicial authority 

 Population, 130,000. 



Pergamos^ not far from 

 Akhissar, on the Caicus, is 

 still a flourishing city with 

 about 15,000 inhabitants ; 

 but it is only the shadow of 

 what it was, when it was the 

 residence of a powerful line 

 of kings ; it was once fa 

 inous for its fine library, se 

 cond only to that of Alex- 

 andria. Here parchment first 

 came into use as a material 

 for writing, the princes of 

 Pergamos not being able to 

 obtain the necessary supply 

 of papyrus. There are ma- 

 ny interesting ruins here, 

 and the monks pretend to 

 show the tomb of St. John. 

 (See cut on page 729.) 



JManissa, a flourishing 

 commercial town, noted for 

 its extensive plantations of 

 saffron, with 40,000 inhabi- 

 tants ; Akhissar, a large 

 but poor town, on the site 

 of the ancient Thyatira ; 

 Scalanova, 20,000, and 

 Guzel Hissa, 30,000, are 

 other considerable places in 

 this part of the empire. 



Konieh, in a rich and well- 

 watered plain, is now much 

 declined from its former im- 

 portance, but it has still a 

 population of 30,000 souls, 

 and contains numerous madrasses or colleges and manufactories. Tocat, upon the Kizil Jrmak, 

 IS a large commercial city with 100,000 inhabitants. Kaisarieh, to the southwest, has 25,000 

 inhabitants. Trebisond^ situated upon the Black Sea, with a fine harbor, and surrounded by 

 a rich territory, remarkable for its delicious climate, was once the capital of an independent 

 Grecian State, and is still important for its commerce, its manufactures, and its population, 

 amounting to 50,000. Copper and slaves are its principal exports. Boli, upon the great cara- 

 van route to Constantinople, with 50,000 inhabitants ; Angora, 40,000, noted for its camels ; 

 and Tarsus, the birth-place of St. Paul, once a rich, populous, and learned city, and still an 

 active commercial town with 30,000 inhabitants, are also important towns. 



10. Industry. Agriculture is in general in a most miserable condition, and, with few ex- 

 ceptions, manufacturing industry is not in a much better state. In the dyeing of silk, 

 cotton, woolen, and leather fabrics, however, the inhabitants are no way inferior in skill to the 

 Europeans. The manufactures of Asiatic Turkey, though there are some of a finer quality, 

 are chiefly of an ordinary kind, coarse, and for internal consumption only. Yet silk, cotton, 

 leather, and soap are stajjles of the Levant ; and the two latter find a place in the markets 

 of Europe. The manufacture of Damascus blades, so famed in the middle ages, ceased from 

 the period when Timour carried to Tartary the artisans employed on them. At Tocat there is 

 great fabric of copper vessels. The women among the wandering tribes in the upper dis- 

 tricts weave the admired Turkey carpets ; but the finest are made in the mountain districts 

 of Persia Western Asia has for centuries been the theatre of vast commercial operations. 



Akhissar 



