an to make its appearance
on the mountain-sides In the afternoon, we crossed a watershed, dividing
Karamania from the great central plain of Asia Minor, and descended to a
village called Ladik, occupying the site of the ancient Laodicea, at the
foot of Allah Dagh. The plain upon which we came was greener and more
flourishing than that we had left. Trees were scattered here and there in
clumps, and the grassy wastes, stretching beyond the grain-fields, were
dotted with herds of cattle. Emir Dagh stood in the north-west, blue and
distant, while, towards the north and north-east, the plain extended to
the horizon--a horizon fifty miles distant--without a break. In that
direction lay the great salt lake of Yuezler, and the strings of camels we
met on the road, laden with salt, were returning from it. Ladik is
surrounded with poppy-fields, brilliant with white and purple blossoms.
When the petals have fallen, the natives go carefully over the whole field
and make incisions in every stalk, whence the opium exudes.

We pitched our tent under a large walnut tree, which we found standing in
a deserted inclosure. The graveyard of the village is studded with relics
of the ancient town. There are pillars, cornices, entablatures, jambs,
altars, mullions and sculptured tablets, all of white marble, and many of
them in an excellent state of preservation. They appear to date from the
early time of the Lower Empire, and the cross has not yet been effaced
from some which serve as head-stones for the True Believers. I was
particularly struck with the abundance of altars, some of which contained
entire and legible inscriptions. In the town there is the same abundance
of ruins. The lid of a sarcophagus, formed of a single block of marble,
now serves as a water-trough, and the fountain is constructed of ancient
tablets. The town stands on a mound which appears to be composed entirely
of the debris of the former place, and near the summit there are many
holes which the inhabitants have dug in their search for rings, seals and
other relics.

The next day we made a journey of nine hours over a hilly country lying
between the ranges of Allah Dagh and Emir Dagh. There were wells of
excellent water along the road, at intervals of an hour or two. The day
was excessively hot and sultry during the noon hours, and the flies were
so bad as to give great inconvenience to our horses. The animal I bestrode
kicked so incessantly that I could scarcely keep