Fellows, Charles: Travels and researches in Asia Minor, more particularly in the province of Lycia (London, 1852)

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CHAPTER XL

PAET OE THE WEST OE PKRYGIA.

CABOTTKA.—VALLEY OE THE LYCUS.-—LAODICEIA.—REMAINS.—HIERA-
POLIS.—ITS RUINS.—CURIOUS HOT SPRINGS.—VULTURES.

• •_' T .." '1* i j .

May 8th.—Erom G-oojak the valley of the Maeander some-
what changes its character, having a more sandy and poorer
soil, without trees, and with few pastures and little culti-
vation. The hills are formed of the sand from the rocks
of micaceous schist, which glitters on the arid and stony
level plain. The river now approaches the northern side
of the valley, and its course is marked by the verdure of the
neighbouring swamps; the stream is deep and rapid, con-
tained in high banks, or sunk in its own channel; its water
is of a red colour, and its size is about that of the Moselle.

At a house at which I stopped I saw a slice of a fish
which is frequently taken in this river; it is without
scales, round in form, and nearly a foot in thickness. I
am told that it is generally taken weighing as much as
one hundred, and sometimes one hundred -and fifty pounds
(fifty oakes). It has a large mouth, of the common form,
and unlike that of the sturgeon. Does the conger eel
ever attain this size ? This part of the river must, allow-
ing for its windings, be two hundred miles from the sea,
and the water of course is always fresh.