DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4719#0238
SAEDIS.
217
1 XII.
■
.—in nor.
■ •-:.;• until
oou:.!n Wen
vni of the nootl
-
v> (adnn
equal proportions. The business of collecting the opium
has just commenced. The green seed-pod is wounded or
scratched with a delicate point, when the milky sap exudes;
this is afterwards collected by scraping, and a purifying pro-
cess is all that is then required to produce the opium fit
for the market. The work is chiefly done by women, a
delicate hand being required throughout the process; and
as the whole harvest may be destroyed by a shower, the crop
is a precarious one. The entire produce is monopolized by
the Grovernment at a fixed price, and the sale of opium is not
allowed in any part of the country.
Of the ancient city of Philadelphia but little remains;
its walls are still standing, inclosing several hills, upon
the sides of which stood the town, but they are fallen
into ruins. The walls are of unhewn stone, massed and
cemented together with fragments of old buildings; some
immense remains of buildings, huge square stone pillars,
supporting brick arches, are also standing, and are called
the ruins of the Christian church. All the remains which
have been pointed out to me as ruins of Christian churches
appear to have been vast temples, perhaps erected by im-
perial command, and dedicated to nominal Christianity, but
showing, in the niches and brackets for statues and archi-
tectural ornaments, traces of heathen superstition.
Descending the valley, which widened as it joined that of
the Hermus, after a ride of thirty-six miles we arrived at
Sart, the ancient Sardis, the last of the Seven Churches that
I had yet to see. Its situation is very beautiful, but the
country over which it looks is now almost deserted, and the
valley is become a swamp. Its little rivers of clear water,
after turning a mill or two, serve only to flood instead of
draining and beautifying the country. On the principal of
these streams, the Pactolus, at the distance of a mile from
the city, stand the remains of a colossal temple, the pro-
portions of which resemble those of Agrigentum; but it
217
1 XII.
■
.—in nor.
■ •-:.;• until
oou:.!n Wen
vni of the nootl
-
v> (adnn
equal proportions. The business of collecting the opium
has just commenced. The green seed-pod is wounded or
scratched with a delicate point, when the milky sap exudes;
this is afterwards collected by scraping, and a purifying pro-
cess is all that is then required to produce the opium fit
for the market. The work is chiefly done by women, a
delicate hand being required throughout the process; and
as the whole harvest may be destroyed by a shower, the crop
is a precarious one. The entire produce is monopolized by
the Grovernment at a fixed price, and the sale of opium is not
allowed in any part of the country.
Of the ancient city of Philadelphia but little remains;
its walls are still standing, inclosing several hills, upon
the sides of which stood the town, but they are fallen
into ruins. The walls are of unhewn stone, massed and
cemented together with fragments of old buildings; some
immense remains of buildings, huge square stone pillars,
supporting brick arches, are also standing, and are called
the ruins of the Christian church. All the remains which
have been pointed out to me as ruins of Christian churches
appear to have been vast temples, perhaps erected by im-
perial command, and dedicated to nominal Christianity, but
showing, in the niches and brackets for statues and archi-
tectural ornaments, traces of heathen superstition.
Descending the valley, which widened as it joined that of
the Hermus, after a ride of thirty-six miles we arrived at
Sart, the ancient Sardis, the last of the Seven Churches that
I had yet to see. Its situation is very beautiful, but the
country over which it looks is now almost deserted, and the
valley is become a swamp. Its little rivers of clear water,
after turning a mill or two, serve only to flood instead of
draining and beautifying the country. On the principal of
these streams, the Pactolus, at the distance of a mile from
the city, stand the remains of a colossal temple, the pro-
portions of which resemble those of Agrigentum; but it