142 RUINS. 



shoulders to the baggage whilst they were 

 led singly over the steepest and most diffi- 

 cult places. We were about two hours and a 

 half thus ascending from the tower before we 

 reached the top of the ridge, where there is 

 a small Hellenic fortress or building, and a few 

 broken sarcophagi, in all about eight; one or 

 two had been inscribed, but the letters were 

 now nearly obliterated. After the fatigue of as- 

 cending, we drank with great relish the water 

 half-filling their cavities, although not very tempt- 

 ing from the number of insects and slimy vege- 

 table matter floating in it. Giving the horses 

 a rest for half an hour we continued over the 

 barren, rocky summit of the mountain, at the 

 head of tw T o or three ravines that descend to the 

 sea at Cape Phineka. Close above us on the 

 left was the commencement of an extensive pine- 

 forest encircling the summit of the mountain 

 below the snow which still capped it. The 

 name of the mountain, according to our guide? 

 is Alajah-dagh. Before we commenced our de- 

 scent on the east side, we passed another fortified 

 eminence, and then a glorious view of Solyma 

 and the Chelidonian promontory burst upon us 

 through an opening. In the far distant horizon 



