Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 2.djvu/773

Rh between the towns of Tokat and Sivas. It is here called Chamla Bel, and the passes by which it is crossed from one of these towns to the other attain to above 5000 feet. It is apparently this range to which Strabo gives the name of Paryadres, and which he describes as continuous with another mountain chain called Scydises, and connected also with the mountains of the Moschians, which occupied the sea-coast from Trebizond to the borders of Colchis. But though the great geographer was himself a native of Amasia, his ideas of the orography of his native country were apparently very vague, and he certainly has not supplied us with any definite ideas on the subject, while in modern times the region has still been very imperfectly explored. The whole tract on the borders of Poutus and Armenia is very rugged and mountainous, and is still, as in the days of Strabo, inhabited by wild and lawless tribes, which render it very difficult of access to strangers.

Rivers.—The rivers of Asia Minor are of very little importance in comparison with those of countries of similar extent in Europe. This is owing principally to the exist ence of the great table-land in the interior, the climate of which is remarkably dry, and a considerable part of which, as has already been pointed out, does not discharge its waters to the sea. The much steeper inclination of the river-beds, resulting from the high elevation of their sources, tends, moreover, to give them the character of mere torrents, rather than of placid and navigable streams, while at the same time none of them are fed, like the Rhine and the Rhone, by the unfailing supply of glaciers. The want of navigable rivers is, indeed, one of the great defects of the country, and one which, so far as the interior is concerned, must always remain a disadvantage not to be surmounted. Much the largest river of the peninsula is the Halys, called by the Turks the Kizil Irniak, or &quot;Red River,&quot; which derives additional interest from its having formed in early ages the boundary between the kingdoms of Lydia and Persia. It takes its rise in the mountains on the borders of Cappadocia and Pontus, in the district called by Strabo Camisene, about 70 miles above the modern town of Sivas, and flows in a direction nearly S.W. for above 200 miles, till it passes within 20 miles of the city of Kaisariyeh ; soon after which it turns to the N.W., and then makes a vast bend round till it assumes a north easterly direction, which it pursues as far as the town of Osmandjik. Here it makes a sharp and sudden turn, caused by its encountering the range of mountains which extends from Paphlagonia into Pontus, and which it traverses by a winding course through narrow gorges, between precipitous cliffs, until it emerges into the level country near the sea, which it enters about half way between Amisus (Samsoun) and Sinope. Its whole course (as measured on the map, without taking account of the minor windings) is not less than 560 miles, though, from its describing so great a curve, the direct distance from its sources to its mouth is only about 180 miles. In length of course, therefore, it is about equal to such rivers as the Elbe and the Loire, but it is far inferior to them in body of water, in which respect it scarcely equals the second class rivers of France. Even in the lower part of its course its breadth frequently does not exceed 100 yards. The Halys has but few tributaries of importance. The most considerable are the Delidji Tchai, which traverses the great upland plains of Galatia, and after flowing near the town of Yuzgat, joins the Kizil Irmak about 70 miles above Osmandjik; (2), the Gb k Irmak (&quot;Blue River&quot;), which rises in the mountains of Paphlagonia, a short distance above the town of Kastamuni, and flows through a deep and narrow valley till it joins the Kizil Irmak in the midst of the narrow gorges above described. At a short distance east of the mouth of the Halys is that of another of the most considerable streams that fall into the Black Sea the Iris of ancient geographers, now known as the Yeschil Irmak, or &quot; Green River.&quot; This has its source in the same range of mountains as the Halys, but flows from thence towards the N.W. It passes within a short distance of the town of Tokat, and under the walls of Amasia, the birth-place of Strabo, near which it bends abruptly to the N.E., as far as the site of the ancient Eupatoria, where it receives a tributary stream from the E., and thence pursues a course nearly due north for about 40 miles, till it enters the Black Sea about 15 miles east of Samsoun. It has a course altogether of about 200 miles. Its most important tributary is the one above noticed, the Lycus of Strabo, now called the Ghermeli Tchai, which is nearly equal to the main stream. It rises in the moun tains on the borders of Armenia, nearly due S. of Trebizond, and flows under the walls of Niksar (the ancient Neo- Cassarea). But great part of its course is still very imperfectly known. The most important of the northern rivers of Asia Minor, after the Halys, is the Sangarius, which still retains its ancient name in the corrupted form of Sakaria. It falls into the Black Sea, &quot;W. of Heraclea, about 80 miles from the mouth of the Bosphorus. It has its sources in the uplands of Phrygia, not far to the N. of Afiom Kara Hissar, and flows by a very winding course through the great table land of Galatia, as far as a place called Bei Bazar, about 50 miles W. of Angora, where it turns abruptly to the west, and traverses the mountainous regions of Phrygia and Bithynia, till, after approaching within a short distance of the Sea of Marmora, it again turns to the X.E., and pursues its course to the Black Sea. Its course has a length of more than 320 miles, while its sources, which are situated almost due south of its mouth, are distant from it only about 160 miles. Its two chief tributaries are the Enguri Su, or river of Angora, which flows past the city of that name, and the Pursak (the Thymbres of ancient writers), which passes near the towns of Kiutahia (Coticeum) and Eski Shehr (Dorylasum), and falls into the Sakaria about 20 miles below the latter place. The most considerable rivers which have their outlet to the Sea of Marmora are the Rhyndacus and Macestus, which unite their waters at a distance of about 15 miles from the sea. They both take their rise in the range of mountains known as the Demirdji-dagh, the Macestus having its source in a small lake called the Simau G61, a few miles north of Simau (Synnaus), the Rhyndacus in the neighbourhood of ^Ezani, about 25 miles further east. They flow at first in widely divergent directions, but ulti mately both turn towards the north ; and the Rhyndacus (now called Adranas Tchai), which is the most considerable of the two, after forming the Lake of Apollonia (an exten sive sheet of water), receives the waters of the Macestus a few miles lower down. The streams which flow from the mountain mass of the Ida are of little importance in a geographical poitit of view, but two of them are of the highest interest from historical associations the Granicus, so celebrated for Alexander s first victory over the Persians, and the still more famous Scamander, which flowed beneath the walls of Troy. The- first of these rivers rises in the northern slopes of Mount Ida, and flows northwards to the Sea of Marmora, after a course of little more than 40 miles. It is now called the Khodja Tchai, but it is a very inconsiderable stream. The Scamander has its sources in Kaz-dagh, the highest part of Ida (Mount Gargarus), and flows at first towards the west, but then turning northwards, pours its waters into the Dardanelles, near the point of Kum Kaleh, which marks the entrance into that remarkable strait.