200 MOUNTAIN PASS. 



Avova. We then descended into the plain of 

 Kemer, which runs parallel with the shore, as 

 far as the base of Climax. Leaving the village 

 of Kemer and two remarkable basaltic isolated 

 peaks, noticed by Captain Beaufort, on the right, 

 our course lay towards a gorge opening between 

 a spur of Taktalu and a naked and rugged 

 mountain called Segheer-dagh. Entering the 

 gorge, the scenery became very grand, the cliffs 

 on each side towering to the height of above 

 two thousand feet, and overhanging the bed of the 

 torrent rushing through the narrow pass between 

 them. In some places, the road was scooped out 

 of the side of the rock, so as to avoid the narrow 

 and rugged bed of the river, strewed with great 

 water-worn blocks, between which the stream 

 rushed with great force and noise. Such a pass 

 might have been defended by a handful of men 

 against the mightiest army; and had not the 

 people of the country been favourable to Alex- 

 ander, he had better have led all his troops 

 amid the dangers of the sea-coast route, than 

 have sent them to Pamphylia through this 

 formidable natural gate. After preserving for 

 some distance this grand and gloomy character, 

 the pass then opened into a deep valley, pene- 



