342 
ARZ-ROUM TO AMASIA. 
myriads of flowers. The oak here is but an indifferent tree; but there 
are walnut and plane-trees, pines and firs of a fine growth. Yet lovely 
as the spring was here, the cold on the mountains is said to be intense 
in winter; and even where we crossed the highest part of the range we 
were enveloped some time in clouds, which came from the North, and 
which now and then broke in frequent and sharp showers. 
The descent to Niksar continues for three hours, and in some places 
is rapid. The road winds through the thickest shrubbery, and at its 
extremity is a collection of lofty plane-trees, which form a fine shade to 
recruit the traveller after the tedious length of the hills. About an 
hour before we reached Niksar we discovered the town, situated in a 
valley, and, in the back-ground, a plain watered by the Kelki Irmak, 
the stream which we had followed under another name near Cara- 
hissar, and which empties itself into the river of Amasia, and thus is 
carried into the Black Sea. The approaches to Niksar exceeded, if 
possible, in beauty and rich vegetation those to Carahissar. The com 
here again was quite ripe, and we got cherries and mulberries. 
Niksar* is a long town crowned by a ruined fort of considerable extent; 
the walls and towers appear works of the Saracenic age, and at a dist¬ 
ance still constitute a picturesque object; though they might now afford 
but a sorry and impotent defence. A stream from the hills rushes 
through the valley, and turns the wheels of many mills for cutting the 
pines into planks. The houses here are no longer terraced; their roofs 
are mostly of wood, shelving and covered with tiles. 
* The Turks in their way have retained so many ancient names, that Neoccesarea may he 
easily recognised under the name of Niksar .—D’An ville, Geogr. Anc. tom. ii. p. 34. It is 
interesting as the city and bishoprick of St. Gregory Thaumaturgus ; who found there 
but seventeen Christians, and left there hut seventeen Pagans. He resolved to build a 
church in his city:—“ Ce qui n’estoit pas extraordinaire en ce temps la, et on avoit toute 
liberte d’en bastir sous Philippe, qui commen^a a regner en 241. Mats celle ci est la 
“ premiere dont I'histoire nous Sonne une connaissance certaine et expressed — Tillemont, 
Memoires Eccles: de Yl. Premiers Siecles. Vol. III. p. 329*30. 
