Page:History of Art in Sardinia, Judæa, Syria and Asia Minor Vol 2.djvu/98

 82 A History of Art in Sardinia and Jud^a. depths of the rock, to emerge from its clefts on the other side over- looking the lower plains. Here the river leisurely meanders in the alluvial soil it has formed, deltas increase with marvellous rapidity, and many a deep bay has already been filled up. The harbours of Ephesus and Miletus, once the theatre of life and activity, were within historical times choked up with mud and silt brought down by mountain torrents. The Hermus will do for the magnificent bay of Smyrna what the twin Maeanders did for these brilliant sisters, and, like them, she will become an inland city. Asia Minor has been called "a lesser Iran, which builds itself up out of the midst of three seas." ^ Like the eastern waste of Persia, some of the basins of central Asia Minor are no longer connected with the sea, whither at some remote period they prob- ably carried part of their flood. Open and subterraneous canals have been obstructed by incrustations and other causes, which finding no outlet, were transformed into fresh-water lakes or turned into sheets of salt water by evaporation, extending in winter over a vast area, but almost dried up in summer. The water that then remains, notably that of Lake Tattaea, or Touz-Gheul, is heavier and more saline than that of the Dead Sea. It is collected by the natives, who come from all parts of the country for the pur- pose. In the fair season, long files of '' arabas " or carts drawn by bullocks are seen slowly moving along the roads in quest of their yearly provision. Many such a caravan have I met plodding back to their hamlets, distant perhaps some twelve or twenty days journey.^ Things are not much altered from what they were thousands of years ago, when these inexhaustible deposits were first made, and together with the elements requisite to sustain life to be found here, contributed to render the inland populations stationary. No need was there to travel to the coast for these first commodities, and thus in the seclusion of their Alpine homes they elaborated an independent culture and a history of their own. Scarcity of water is felt in certain districts of Galatia, Cappa- docia, notably in Lycaonia, near Konieh ; the whole region is brown and bare and only fit for pasturage. The spring is the sole part ^ CuRTius, Greek History. The first pages of this able work, with a few broad touches, define with rare precision and clearness the physical features of Hellas and Asia Minor, the twofold theatre on which were enacted the chief events of Grecian history. ^ G. Perrot, Souvenirs d'un Voyage en Asie Mineure/in 8°, pp. 204, 205. M. Levy, 1884.