een as you approach it. It is a large place, and boasts a
fine mosque, but contains nothing worth seeing. The bazaar, after that of
Konia, was the largest we had seen since leaving Tarsus. The greater part
of the shopkeepers lay at full length, dozing, sleeping, or staying their
appetites till the sunset gun. We found some superb cherries, and plenty
of snow, which is brought down from the mountain. The natives were very
friendly and good-humored, but seemed surprised at Mr. Harrison tasting
the cherries, although I told them we were upon a journey. Our tent was
pitched under a splendid walnut tree, outside of the town. The green
mountain rose between us and the fading sunset, and the yellow moon was
hanging in the east, as we took our dinner at the tent-door. Turks were
riding homewards on donkeys, with loads of grass which they had been
cutting in the meadows. The gun was fired, and the shouts of the children
announced the close of the day's fast, while the sweet, melancholy voice
of a boy muezzin called us to sunset prayer, from the minaret.

Leaving Ak-Sheher this morning, we rode along the base of Sultan Dagh. The
plain which we overlooked was magnificent. The wilderness of shrubbery
which fringed the slopes of the mountain gave place to great orchards and
gardens, interspersed with fields of grain, which extended far out on the
plain, to the wild thickets and wastes of reeds surrounding the lake. The
sides of Sultan Dagh were terraced and cultivated wherever it was
practicable, and I saw some fields of wheat high up on the mountain. There
were many, people in the road or laboring in the fields; and during the
forenoon we passed several large villages. The country is more thickly
inhabited, and has a more thrifty and prosperous air than any part of Asia
Minor which I have seen. The people are better clad, have more open,
honest, cheerful and intelligent faces, and exhibit a genuine courtesy and
good-will in their demeanor towards us. I never felt more perfectly
secure, or more certain of being among people whom I could trust.

We passed under the summit of Sultan Dagh, which shone out so clear and
distinct in the morning sun, that I could scarcely realize its actual
height above the plain. From a tremendous gorge, cleft between the two
higher peaks, issued a large stream, which, divided into a hundred
channels, fertilizes a wide extent of plain. About two hours from
Ak-Sheher we passed a splendid fountain of crystal