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 ASIA — ASIAMINOR

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se'iischaftlichen Ergebnisse der Reise des Grafen li'da Szechenyi in South,” vol. iii. Jour. R. G. S., 1894, and vol. vii. Jour. R. G. S., Ostasien. Wien, 1893.—Oldham. “ Evolution of Indian Geology, ” 1896.—Robertson, Sir G. The Kafir of the Hindu Kush. vol. iii. Jour. R. G. S., 1894.—Toll, Baron. “Siberia,” vol. iii. London, 1896.—Stiffe, Captain. “Persian Gulf Trading Jour. R. G. S., 1894.—Delmae, Morgan. “ The Mountain Sys- Centres,” vol. viii. ix. andx. Jour. R. G. S., 1897.—Elias & Ross. tems of Central Asia.” Scottish Geological Magazine, No. 10, of A History of the Moghuls of Central Asia, from the Tarskh-iRastisdivol. of vi. Alirza Haidar. 1894. —Goldsmid. “Persian Geography,” Jour. R. G. S.,London, 1898.—Grenard. Alission Scientifiquc la Haute Paris, 1898.—Sven Hedin, Dr. 1895. —Warkington Smyth. “Siam,” vol. vi.surJour. R. G. Asie. S., 1895.—“Siamese East Coast,” vol. xi. Jour. 1898.—Kropotkin. Through Asia. London, 1898.—Geographic des Hochlandes von “Siberian Railway,” vol. v. R. G. S. Jour., 1895.—Lawrence, Pamir. Berlin, 1894.—Wellby, Captain. “Through Tibet,” W. R. The Vale of Kashmir. Oxford, 1895.—Vaughan, Captain. R. G. S. Jour., Sept. 1898.—Sykes, Captain. “ Persian Explora“Persia,” vol. viii. Jour. R. G. S., 1896.—D’Orleans, Prince H. tions,” vol. x. Jour. R. G. S., 1898.—Kronshin. “ Old Beds of “Yunan to India,” vol. vii. Jour. R. G. S., 1896.—“Tonkin to the Oxus,” Jour. R. G. S., Sept. 1898.—Hunter, SirW. History Talifu,” vol. viii. Jour. R. G. S., 1896.—Holdich, Sir T. “Ancient of British India, vol. i. London, 1898.—Deasy, Captain. “Western and Mediaeval Makran,” vol. vii. Jour. R. G. S., 1896.—Wood- Tibet,” vol. ix. Jour. R. G. S., and February and June numbers thorpe, Colonel. “Shan States,” vol. vii. Jour. R. G. S., 1896. of R. G. S. Jour, for 1899.—Durand, Colonel A. The Making —Report of the. Pamir Boundary Commission. Calcutta, 1896. of a Frontier. London, 1899.—Cobbold, R. Innermost Asia. (t. h. H.*) —Littledale. “Journey Across the Pamirs from North to London, 1900.

Asia, the first Roman province east of the /Egean, was formed 133 b.c. out of the kingdom left by the will of Attains, king of Pergamos, to the Romans. It included Mysia, Lydia, Caria, and Phrygia. In 84 b.c., on the close of the Mithradatic wax, Sulla reorganized the province, and it was then or later divided into conventus. In 27 B.c. it was made a senatorial province under a pro-consul. By the reorganization of Diocletian, a.d. 297, Asia was broken up into several small provinces, and one of these, of which the capital was Ephesus, retained the name of the original province. Asia. Minor, the peninsula on the extreme west of Asia, bounded on the N. by the Black Sea, on the W. by the ./Egean, and on the S. by the Mediterranean, and at its N.W. extremity is only parted from Europe by the narrow straits of the Bosporus and Dardanelles. On the E. no natural boundary separates it from the Armenian plateau, but, for descriptive purposes, it will suffice to take a line drawn roughly from the Giaour Dagh, east of the Gulf of Alexandretta, to the Black Sea, east of Trebizond. The term Anatolia is sometimes used by geographers as synonymous with Asia Minor; and the same country, excluding Cilicia, is locally called Rum, a name which perpetuates the memory of Rome. The greater portion of Asia Minor consists of a plateau rising gradually from west to east, 2500 feet to 4500 feet, until, east of the Kizil Irmak, the ground rises more sharply to the highlands of Armenia (see Armenia). On the south the plateau is buttressed by the Taurus range, which stretches in a broken irregular line from the /Egean to the Persian frontier. On the north it is supported by a range of varying altitude, which follows the southern coast of the Black Sea and has no distinctive name. On the west the edge of the plateau is broken by broad valleys, and the deeply-indented coast-line throws out long rocky promontories towards Europe. On the north, excepting the deltas formed by the Kizil and Yeshil Irmaks, there are no coast plains, no good harbours except Sinope, and no islands. On the west there are narrow coast plains of limited extent, deep gulfs, which offer facilities for trade and commerce, and a fringe of protecting islands. On the south are the plains of Pamphylia and Cilicia, the almost land-locked harbours of Marmarice and Makri, the broad bay of Adalia, the deepseated gulf of Alexandretta or Iskanderun, and the islands of Rhodes, Castelorfzo, and Cyprus. The geology of Asia Minor is imperfectly known. The Taurus range is, for the most part, formed of Cretaceous limestones, and the Black Sea coast range of saccharine limestones, mica schists, and metamorphic rocks. The interior is partly occupied by a vast plain of Tertiary lacustrine formation;

igneous rocks are found in nearly every part of the peninsula. In the south-west, serpentine occurs; round Kula and in the Phrygian monument country there are extensive volcanic deposits; and in the north-west there are granites and various forms of trachyte. In the southeast a remarkable series of volcanic mountains, apparently of the Tertiary period, stretches from Mount Argseus to Kara Dagh, and around them are soft volcanic rocks in which dwelling-places have been cut from a remote period. Mountains.—The Taurus range, perhaps the most important feature in Asia Minor, attains in Lycia altitudes of 9800 and 10,500 feet, and in the Bulgar Dagh of 8000 and 9000 feet. East of the Bulgar Dagh the continuity of the range is broken by the Sihun and Jihun, and their tributaries. The principal passes across the range are those over which Roman or Byzantine roads ran :—From Laodicea to Adalia; from Apamea or from Pisidian Antioch to Adalia ; from Laranda to Germanicopolis, and thence to Anemourium or Kelenderis; from Laranda to Claudiopolis, and thence to Kelenderis or Seleuceia; from Iconium or Csesarea-Mazaca through the Cilician Gates to Tarsus; from Caesarea over Anti-Taurus to the valley of the Sams, and thence to Flaviopolis on the Cilician Plain; from Caesarea over Anti-Taurus to Kokusos, and thence to Germanicia. Large districts on the southern slopes of the Taurus chain are covered with forests of oak and fir, and there are numerous “ yailas ” or “ alps,” with abundant pasturage, to which villagers and nomads move with their flocks during the summer months. Anti-Taurus is the line of heights and mountain peaks which separates the waters running to the Black Sea and the Anatolian plateau from those falling to the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean. It has its origin in the high land, near the source of the Kizil Irmak, and thence runs south-west to the volcanic district of Mount Argseus. Here it loses its distinctive character, but southwards it terminates in the lofty sharp-peaked ridge of Ala Dagh. South of Sivas a line of bare hills connects Anti-Taurus with a range of high forest-clad mountains, which loses itself southwards in the main mass of Taurus. This range, held to be the true Anti-Taurus by some geographers, throws off, in the latitude of Kaisarfeh, a third, the Binboa Dagh, which separates the waters of the Sihun from those of the Jihfin. The principal passes are those followed by the old roads :—From Sebasteia to Tephrike and the Euphrates ; from Sebasteia to Melitene; and from Caesarea to Arabissus. The range of Amanus (Giaour Dagh) is sharply separated from the mass of Taurus by the deep gorge of the Jihfin, whence it runs S.S.W. to Ras el-Khanzfr, forming the limit between Cilicia and Syria. It attains its greatest altitude in Kaya Duldul, 6500 feet, which