Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 2.djvu/775

Rh Seanderoon. Butli these rivers have formed great alluvial deposits at their mouths, and it is probable that they have repeatedly altered their channels in flowing through the plain. Hence the accounts of them found in ancient authors are very contradictory. The Cydnus, which flowed by Tarsus, is a very inferior stream to those just described, though its name is perhaps better known than either -of them. It rises in the mass of Mount Taurus called the Bulghar-dagh, and has a course of not more than 50 miles to the sea, but is a clear and rapid river.

Lakes.—The lakes of Asia Minor are numerous, but of no great importance. The most extensive is the great salt lake already noticed, on the borders of Lycaonia and Cappa- docia, which is bounded on the east by a considerable range of mountains called Khodja-dagh, while on the west it is separated only by some low hills from the broad up land plains, or steppes, of Lycaonia. Beyond these to the west, but separated from them by the range of the Emir-dagh, is a string of three lakes of no great extent, having a general direction from N.W. to S.E., and follow ing the line of the valley of Phrygia Paroreios. They bear the names of Eber Gol, Ak-Shehr Gol, and Ilgun Gol, and are all basins of fresh water passing into mere marshy pools during the dry season. Much more important than these are the two lakes now known as the Egerdir Gol and Kcreli Gol (from towns of those names built upon their banks), which are situated between the range of the Sultan- dagh and the northern offshoots of the Taurus, and are both of them extensive mountain lakes of not less than 30 miles in length. The northernmost of the two (the Egerdir Gol, which is described as the most picturesque and beautiful of the lakes of Asia Minor) is situated at an elevation of about 2800 feet above the sea, while the level of the neighbouring Kereli Gol, which is separated from it by an intervening range of mountains, is at least 800 feet higher. Both are perfectly fresh, and their waters clear and deep, though the one has no outlet, and the other communicates only by a small rivulet with the much smaller lake called Soghla Gol, the waters of which occa sionally disappear altogether. They are without doubt carried off by subterranean channels. About 30 miles S. W. of the Egerdir Gol is the Lake of Buldur, adjoining the town of that name; and at a short distance north of this lies the Tchoruk Su Gol, or Lake of Chardak, the waters of which are extremely salt, so that large quantities of salt are collected there, and sent from thence to Smyrna. In the north-western portion of Asia Minor, within the confines of Mysia and Bithynia, are situated three lakes of a wholly different character from the preceding, but having much the same features in common. These are the Lake of Nicoea (still called Isnik Gol), the Lake of Apollonia (Aboulonia Gol), and the Lake of Miletopolis (Manyas Gol). All these are within a few miles of the Sea of Marmora, into which they discharge their waters. The Lake of Apollonia (which is rather the largest of the three) is formed principally by an expansion of the river Rhyndacus, which may be considered as flowing through it. The Lake of Nicoea, on the contrary (called also Lake Ascania), is a mere basin formed by the streams which descend from the surrounding mountains, and discharging its waters into the neighbouring Gulf of Moudania by a channel only about 10 miles long. The lake itself does not exceed 20 miles in length.

Climate and Natural Productions.—The climate of Asia Minor necessarily presents great differences. All travellers have remarked on the striking contrast as they passed from the warm and fertile regions of the west and south to the cold and bleak uplands of the interior. The great central plateau, which constitutes so large a part of the country, is not only much colder than regions in corresponding latitudes in Europe, but is characterised by a great dryness, in consequence of the moisture from the Mediterranean being in great part intercepted by the continuous mountain chain of the Taurus. The result of this, combined with its great elevation above the sea, is to render the summers excessively hot, and the winters extremely cold. In both these respects the climate of the central parts of Asia Minor presents a close analogy with that of Central Spain, as well as with the still more extreme case of the neighbouring Armenia. On the other hand, the plains and low valleys on the south coast, which are in a latitude corresponding to that of Sicily and the south of Spain, have a mean temperature considerably higher than those countries, and the summer heat at Tarsus is said greatly to exceed that of Cadiz or Gibraltar, and to be nearly equal to that of Cairo. Systematic observations for any length of time are, however, almost wholly wanting. The north coast, on the contrary, is ^subject to the depressing influence of the cold winds and fogs of the Euxine, which, as is well known, bring down the mean temperature of Constanti nople (and still more its winter temperature) far below that of places in corresponding latitudes on the Mediter ranean. This effect is, however, found to diminish as one proceeds eastward along the shores of the Euxine ; and the climate of Trebizond, which is situated almost exactly in the same latitude with Constantinople, is much milder than that of the capital, or of the neighbouring city of Broussa, a result, doubtless, produced by the sheltering action of the great range of the Caucasus, which prevents the cold winds from the steppes of Russia to the N. and N.E. from sweeping down on the eastern angle of the Black Sea. The western districts of Asia Minor are in all respects the most favoured, and the coasts of Ionia and Caria may be considered as enjoying one of the finest climates to be found in any part of the Mediterranean. The action of the cold north winds from Thrace and the Bosphorus is, however, still felt as far south as Smyrna, and the winters at that place are somewhat colder than those in corresponding latitudes in Spain and Sicily. The vegetation of the different parts of the peninsula naturally varies with the climate and the soil. The southern coasts present most of the plants and shrubs char acteristic of the southern portions of the Mediterranean, with the exception of the prickly pear and American aloe (both of them originally exotics imported into Europe), which form so important a feature in the landscape of Sicily and the south of Spain, as well as of Syria, but are very rare in Asia Minor, while the dwarf palm (Ckamcerops humilis) is wholly wanting. The date palm is occasionally found, but does not ripen its fruit even at Tarsus, where the summer temperature is almost tropical. The vegetation of Lycia, which occupies an intermediate position between the hot plains of Pamphylia and Cilicia and the compara tively temperate western provinces, is thus described by Forbes:—

1em

Higher up on the mountain slopes and the uplands facing the sea is the chief realm of the oak and pine forests, with which a large part of the chain of Taurus is