ARZ-ROUM TO AMASIA. 
347 
approaches to Amasia from this side are very striking. On the right 
is a long chain of heights, which appear in many places to have been 
worked by the hand of man. Close to the road, and at the foot of 
these mountains, is a deep channel cut into the rock, which extends 
at least two miles, and is traced up to the river. It is unquestionably 
the bed of an aqueduct, and has been the work of immense labour, for 
the masses, through which in some places it is carried, are of a pro« 
digious thickness. 
On the left in the valley below, are detached houses, embosomed in 
gardens and orchards. These are planted with fruit-trees of every 
kind, and when we passed, were in full perfection. In this direction 
the city of Amasia is hardly seen until almost its very entrance. The 
approach is extremely grand; and every step prepares the stranger 
for a view which his imagination has already pictured as sublime; and 
which realizes every expectation. 
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