On entering the recess, we had on our right hand, at a distance, the ruins of Tripolis. Smith relates, that he saw there only huge stones, lying confusedly in heaps, besides vestiges of a theatre and of a castle. We could plainly discern the naked site of the former on the slope of Messogis, and beneath it masses of wall, remnants of the fortress. About half an hour to the west is a flourishing town or village. A stream, of which we had a distinct view from the mountains the next morning, winds not far off in the plain, and has been mistaken by several travellers for the Mæander. Smith forded it near Tripolis, in his way to Pambouk, where he arrived about four hours after.

Tripolis is the place where St. Bartholomew taught, and St. Philip is said to have suffered martyrdom. It was afterwards the see of a bishop. John Ducas, the second emperor of Nice, had an interview there with the Turkish sultan in 1244. It was enlarged and fortified for a bulwark to cover Philadelphia. In 1306 it was in the possession of the Turks, who had besieged and taken it by stratagem; and Alisuras made from it his incursions into the empire. It is not mentioned by Strabo; but in the Antonine Itinerary is placed twelve miles from Hierapolis, and thirty-three from Philadelphia; and, in Peutinger's Table, from Tralles fifteen.

We rode on by fine crops of barley, with a large water-course on our left hand; and, after nine hours, arrived in the dusk of evening at Bullada, a Turkish town; the houses numerous and scattered on slopes, with a bridge crossing the bed of a torrent, then

t Survey of the Seven Churches, p. 245. CHANDLER, ASIA M.

X

dry. We were lodged in a new khan, small, but unusually neat; and from the windows, in the morning, had an extensive view over the plain. We could see part of the white cliff of Hierapolis. On inquiry, we found that we were now only a journey of about four days from Smyrna, going the direct road; and were assured, that the plague raged there with uncommon fury.

OUR mode of living in this tour had been more rough than can well be described. We had endeavoured to avoid, as much as possible, communicating with the people of the country; and had commonly pitched our tent by some well, brook, or fountain, near a village; where we could purchase eggs, fowls, a lamb or kid, rice, fruits, wine, rakí or white brandy, and the like necessaries; with bread, which was often gritty, and of the most ordinary kind. We had seldom pulled off our clothes at night; sleeping sometimes with our boots and hats on, as by day; a portmanteau or large stone serving instead of pillow or bolster. But one consideration had softened the sensations of fatigue, and sweetened all our hardships. It was the comfortable reflection, that we enjoyed our liberty, and were, as we conceived, at a distance from the plague; but now we were about to lose that satisfaction, and at

every stage to approach nearer to the seat of infection.

We had agreed to visit Ala-shahir ", or Philadelphia; and, setting out in the morning, ascended the mountain, which is Messogis, and turned to the north-west, through a cultivated tract, the way good, to hills green with flowering shrubs, and in particular with labdanum. The air partook of their fragrancy, and dispensed to us the sweet odours of mount Tmolus. The manner of gathering the gum from the leaves, with the whip or instrument made use of, is described by Tournefort. After five hours we alighted, and dined beneath a tree by a well 3. We then entered a deep narrow track, and came in two hours more to a village, and pitched our tent on a dry spot; with an old castle on the mountain on our left hand, and before us an extensive plain, in which the river Hermus runs.

This region, which is above, or to the east of Philadelphia, was called Catakekaumene, or the burned. By some it was reckoned in Mysia, by others in Mæonia, or Lydia. It was five hundred stadia, or sixty-two miles and a half, long, and four hundred stadia, or fifty miles, broad; and anciently bare of trees, but covered with vines, which produced the wine called by its name, and esteemed not inferior to any in goodness. The surface of the plain, which is now turf, was then spread with ashes; and the range of mountains was stony and black, as from a conflagration, which some, who fa

"Allahscheyr, the city of God.

x a tree by a well.] a tree in a burying-ground by a well. R.

bled that Typho was destroyed there, supposed to have been occasioned by lightning; but earth-born fire was concerned, instead of the giant and Jupiter. This was evident from three pits, which they called Physæ, or the bellows, distant from each other about forty stadia, or five miles, with rough hills above them, formed, it was believed, by cinders from their volcanoes. The wits of old, observing such places peculiarly fertile in vines, affirmed, alluding to the story of Semele, it was no fiction that Bacchus was begotten by firey.

The river Hermus, which divides this plain, begun near Dorylæum, a city of Phrygia; rising on the mountain Dindymus, which was sacred to Cybele, the mother of the gods. From this region it flowed into the Sardian, and received the Phrygius, which separated Phrygia from Caria; and also many other streams from Mysia and Lydia, in its way to the

sea.

In the morning we descended from the mountain, and winding toward the left, soon after met a cow laden with the dwelling, the goods, and chattels of a Turcoman family; a very grotesque and risible figure. A woman followed, trudging on foot, with a child at her back, her naked breasts hanging down before her. In half an hour we crossed a stream rising near, and running eastward; and then passed by a spot where a number of the Turcomans were loading their camels, and busied in removing their booths, their wives, children, and cattle. The plain was cultivated. We entered the caravan road from

y Strabo, p. 576. 626. 628.

Angora to Smyrna, when our course became west, with mount Tmolus on our left hand; and arrived in three hours and a half at Ala-shahir.

CHAP. LXXIV.

OF PHILADELPHIA-ITS MODERN HISTORY-THE PRESENT TOWN-A MINERAL SPRING, AND THE SUPPOSED WALL OF BONES-DISUSE OF THE GREEK TONGUE-CIVILITY OF THE PEOPLE-NEWS OF THE PLAGUE-WE ARRIVE AT SARDES.

ATTALUS Philadelphus, brother of Eumenes, was the founder of Philadelphia, which stood on a root of mount Tmolus, by the river Cogamus. The frequent earthquakes, which it experienced, were owing to its vicinity with the region called Catakekaumene. Even the city-walls were not secure, but were shaken almost daily, and disparted. The inhabitants lived in perpetual apprehension, and were always employed in repairs. They were few in number, the people residing chiefly in the country, and cultivating the soil, which was fertile 2.

John Ducas, the Greek general to whom Laodicea submitted, took Philadelphia with Sardes by assault in 1097. It was again reduced, about the year 1106, under the same emperor, without difficulty. Two years after, the Turks marched from the east, with a design to plunder it and the maritime cities. In 1175 the emperor Manuel, falling into an ambuscade of the Turks not far from the sources of the Mæander, retired to this place. In the division of the

Strabo, p. 579. 628.