DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4719#0044
THYATIBA TO PERGAMUS.
23
»n three b4
up one of \\
imtn.
before ai
peakof arod
so compkteh
hich I had ^
'■luropem
m
e in '
J ducks rail
-bout m
h 1 found oi
. with his.
■>oftk
«eakf;^t. anil
writing
j beeri
v.nvnii
ounl
find th
for thameta*
;listomb]w
maoabraDce.
lish patent wax candles cheaper and better than their own;
this is also the case in Italy.
On leaving Soma, after a gentle rise from the valley, a
new and beautiful country opened before me, not so bold,
but more expanded, and surrounded by a chain of moun-
tains I saw the plains of Pergamus, watered by the
Caicus and its tributary streams; we crossed one of them,
or rather passed its source; it sprung up by the road-side
so strongly, that within fifty yards it turned a mill, and was
a stream a foot deep and ten or twelve wide. It is said to
be tepid, but I did not stop to take out my thermometer.
The birds here are all either very bold or very tame, not
moving until you are close to them. Three large eagles sat
by the road, and did not rise until we were so near that we
could almost feel the wafting of' their immense wings ; the
noise was startling, but our horses were not timid. I had
never before been so near eagles at liberty, and this was on
an open plain; but rocky mountains shadowed us, in the
craggy sides of which these aspirants soon found their
home. "We had a delightful ride of seven hours and a half,
about thirty-two miles, through a country so swampy with
the heavy rains of yesterday that we had to travel slowly.
The road varied but little in interest until within eight miles
of this place, the ancient Pergamus, now Bergama; nor did
we see even in the burial-grounds any trace of what my
servant calls " old stones;" but on stopping at that point to
let the horses drink, I observed that the trough was the in-
verted lid of a sarcophagus; and a little further on I had
the baggage unpacked, and remained an hour to copy some
long Greek inscriptions built sideways into a fountain^.
* One inscription appears to relate to the planting of a garden with
cypresses at a certain period, and to its boundary, together with dwell-
ings annexed to it. Another is as follows :—■
" May it be fortunate.
" In the Treasury ship of Demetrius, on the second day of the month
23
»n three b4
up one of \\
imtn.
before ai
peakof arod
so compkteh
hich I had ^
'■luropem
m
e in '
J ducks rail
-bout m
h 1 found oi
. with his.
■>oftk
«eakf;^t. anil
writing
j beeri
v.nvnii
ounl
find th
for thameta*
;listomb]w
maoabraDce.
lish patent wax candles cheaper and better than their own;
this is also the case in Italy.
On leaving Soma, after a gentle rise from the valley, a
new and beautiful country opened before me, not so bold,
but more expanded, and surrounded by a chain of moun-
tains I saw the plains of Pergamus, watered by the
Caicus and its tributary streams; we crossed one of them,
or rather passed its source; it sprung up by the road-side
so strongly, that within fifty yards it turned a mill, and was
a stream a foot deep and ten or twelve wide. It is said to
be tepid, but I did not stop to take out my thermometer.
The birds here are all either very bold or very tame, not
moving until you are close to them. Three large eagles sat
by the road, and did not rise until we were so near that we
could almost feel the wafting of' their immense wings ; the
noise was startling, but our horses were not timid. I had
never before been so near eagles at liberty, and this was on
an open plain; but rocky mountains shadowed us, in the
craggy sides of which these aspirants soon found their
home. "We had a delightful ride of seven hours and a half,
about thirty-two miles, through a country so swampy with
the heavy rains of yesterday that we had to travel slowly.
The road varied but little in interest until within eight miles
of this place, the ancient Pergamus, now Bergama; nor did
we see even in the burial-grounds any trace of what my
servant calls " old stones;" but on stopping at that point to
let the horses drink, I observed that the trough was the in-
verted lid of a sarcophagus; and a little further on I had
the baggage unpacked, and remained an hour to copy some
long Greek inscriptions built sideways into a fountain^.
* One inscription appears to relate to the planting of a garden with
cypresses at a certain period, and to its boundary, together with dwell-
ings annexed to it. Another is as follows :—■
" May it be fortunate.
" In the Treasury ship of Demetrius, on the second day of the month