690 
KERSAWNBOOR, ANCIENT THERMODON. 
of the district, a branch of which, under the local name of the 
Ovadmish, waters the valley of Tamzar ; but here it is called the 
Derimauny, or the Kalket-Chai; and, after a winding course 
through the vale of Koyla- Hissar, during which it is augmented 
by many minor streams and takes the name of the Shawr- 
mawggi-Sou, it flows on west and north, till it pours into the 
Black Sea, under the new designation of the Kersawnboor, or 
Terma-Irmak ; but of old, Thermodon, the great commercial 
river of Pontus. When we had quite gained the level ground 
near the cloud-enveloped hill , we forded this once celebrated 
stream at a point where its present current did not exceed forty 
feet in width j but its deep, stony bed, treble that compass, 
bore witness of an ampler flood at certain seasons. Not far off, 
I observed a bridge of several arches. From hence we speedily 
entered the ravine, the tortuous rocks of which, more closely 
confining the river, increased its depth and turbulence; and 
while listening to the rush and dashing of the water, we began 
to climb one of its craggy boundaries to the west, where all the 
difficulties of such a path, in such an hour, soon enveloped us. 
It was now become perfectly dark ; hence, we could only imagine 
and feel our way ; or now and then derive a transient guidance 
from a faint glimmering of the stars. We had no moon ; and so 
weak a light, hardly gleaming on obscurity before it vanished 
again, seemed in fact rather to increase than lessen our perplexi¬ 
ties ; raising the stupendous objects we had to ascend, in pre¬ 
cipitous piles to the clouds ; and deepening the declivities we 
must attempt, into gulfs of terrific blackness. The silent still¬ 
ness too, of all around, excepting the regular tread of our horses’ 
feet up the stony way, and the distant rushing of the waters in 
the chasm below, gave a more awful impression to the pent roar- 
