Page:Travels & discoveries in the Levant (1865) Vol. 1.djvu/394

342 are Byzantine or mediæval, but there are some remains of Cyclopean and Hellenic architecture. The view from the top of the mountain looks down on one side to the dark and grand gorge, on the other across the plain. There are two or three rock tombs on the sides of the mountain, and two rock tombs and a sarcophagus cut out in a point of rock behind the mill.

Tuesday, 28th.—From Deriaghassy we proceeded to Myra, about seven hours' journey, on camels. We passed through the Dembra Gorge; the river was too full and rapid to permit of our proceeding on horseback. We crossed and re-crossed the stream at least twenty times. The scenery was very grand. At one place the mountains are rocky and barren, at another covered with shrubs and trees; at intervals fine pine-trees lined the path near the river bank. Sometimes the mountains curved in on either side, thus widening the gorge; at others spurs of the hills stretched out nearly across the narrow ravine. We saw three bears, a mother and two cubs, gently trotting along the side of a barren mountain. We halted at a mill near the centre of the gorge, not far from which are some ancient ruins. In six hours we reached the end of the defile. A ruined Hellenic watch-tower commands the entrance on the left. We took up our lodgings at the Monastery of St. Nicholas, about an hour further on, in the plain of Myra. It is situated in the centre of a large square, formed of walls composed of large cushioned blocks of stone of the Roman period; each wall is about 300 feet in length. Spratt conjectures that this building may have been an agora or market-place. The two gateways face the sea and the ancient port. The monastery formerly contained the bones of St. Nicholas, the patron of Greek sailors; but these relics were taken away by the Russians during the Greek revolution, the Emperor Nicholas sending in exchange a portrait of the saint, which is placed in the church and held in due veneration. The old priest who attended to the church, and was well known to travellers, died six months before our arrival.

The ruins of Myra are most interesting, but are well known. The theatre is situated on the western edge of the plain at the foot of the mountain, and close to a fine group of rock tombs. It is an immense building, the diameter of which, according to Mr. Cockerell, is 360 feet. It is of the Roman period: nearly all the seats are perfectly preserved, and on either side are vaulted entrances, through which galleries conducted the spectator to the body of the building. Part of the proscenium is preserved. The