AMASSIA THE BIRTH-PLACE OF STRABO. 
707 
the bottom of the vale flows the Yekil-Irmak, the town spreads 
over both its banks, but most extensively to the north-east. 
On the opposite side rises a particularly magnificent pile of 
rock, on the nearly pyramidal summit of which lie the now 
mouldering towers of its ancient citadel, surmounting the 
caverned openings into the royal tombs, excavated in the almost 
inaccessible face of the hill. The place is celebrated as having- 
been the birth-place of Strabo ; and it was with an awful pleasure 
I seemed to tread in his steps, and compared the present ap¬ 
pearances with his descriptions. 
On entering the town, the first objects of interest are the ruins 
of a Christian church, a fine specimen of the same style in which 
I found the most beautiful remains of sacred architecture in 
Anni. Part of this superb ruin is now used as a mosque. 
Advancing, the streets were narrow, and so ill paved, our 
horses proceeded with difficulty. The houses are high, having 
projecting stories, so much in the manner of London before the 
great fire, that the attics on each side did not possess more than 
twelve inches between. The air, consequently, was confined, 
and the stench, from accumulated filth below, almost beyond 
bearing. Bad as the road was, under these suffocating pent¬ 
houses, we nevertheless got over the ground at a flying pace, 
lackeyed by the halloos of the surragees, to announce a Tatar’s 
approach; my view, therefore, could only be transient; but my 
eyes clung to every object as we flew along, and on several of 
the old buildings I could discern Greek inscriptions, though to 
stop and copy them was totally out of the question. At length 
we reached our quarters, having ridden through part of the 
bazar, and from the gallery of the choppar-khanah, I had a 
full view of the fortress-rock and the mouths of the sepulchral 
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