er his
conquest of the Cilician pirates. From Soli, on account of the bad Greek
spoken by its inhabitants, came the term "solecism." The ruins of
Pompeiopolis consist of a theatre, temples, and a number of houses, still
in good preservation. The whole coast, as far as Aleya, three hundred
miles west of this, is said to abound with ruined cities, and I regret
exceedingly that time will not permit me to explore it.

While searching for the antiquities about Tarsus, I accosted a man in a
Frank dress, who proved to be the Neapolitan Consul. He told us that the
most remarkable relic was the _Duniktash_ (the Round Stone), and procured
us a guide. It lies in a garden near the city, and is certainly one of the
most remarkable monuments in the East. It consists of a square inclosure
of solid masonry, 350 feet long by 150 feet wide, the walls of which are
eighteen feet in thickness and twenty feet high. It appears to have been
originally a solid mass, without entrance, but a passage has been broken
in one place, and in another there is a split or fissure, evidently
produced by an earthquake. The material is rough stone, brick and mortar.
Inside of the inclosure are two detached square masses of masonry, of
equal height, and probably eighty feet on a side, without opening of any
kind. One of them has been pierced at the bottom, a steep passage leading
to a pit or well, but the sides of the passage thus broken indicate that
the whole structure is one solid mass. It is generally supposed that they
were intended as tombs: but of whom? There is no sign by which they may be
recognized, and, what is more singular, no tradition concerning them.

The day we reached Tarsus was the first of the Turkish fast-month of
Ramazan, the inhabitants having seen the new moon the night before. At
Adana, where they did not keep such a close look-out, the fast had not
commenced. During its continuance, which is from twenty-eight to
twenty-nine days, no Mussulman dares eat, drink, or smoke, from an hour
before sunrise till half an hour after sunset. The Mohammedan months are
lunar, and each month makes the whole round of the seasons, once in
thirty-three years. When, therefore, the Ramazan comes in midsummer, as at
present, the fulfilment of this fast is a great trial, even to the
strongest and most devout. Eighteen hours without meat or drink, and what
is still worse to a genuine Turk, without a pipe, is a rigid test of
faith. The rich do the best they