DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5541#0445
412
KALAIJIK.
[Chat, xxiii.
below, and the green valley to the north of the town, which,
being well watered, was filled with gardens and fruit-trees
far up towards the hills. It was a most refreshing sight to
look out upon these green and fruitful gardens after the
dust and heat of the day. But it is a remarkable fact,
though not unusual in this country, that, however well
watered this valley is, not a drop reaches the plain which
we had crossed, the whole being consumed in irrigating the
gardens. On the hills to the south a few green patches of
garden-ground also marked where a scanty spring or stream
of water gave its refreshing influence; for here, as in other
parts of Anatolia, the extent of the garden-lands is limited
by the supply of water applicable to the purposes of irri-
gation. Wherever enough can be obtained to last for the
whole year, gardens and melon-grounds are planted; but if
it can be had only during the spring, corn is grown, which
in these elevated districts requires irrigation during that
season ; while the hills and undulating downs, which cannot
be irrigated even in the spring, are condemned to perpe-
tual barrenness, or only afford a scanty pasture to the cattle
of the neighbouring villages. Sometimes the supply fails
in places where gardens have been planted, which is
immediately perceived by their neglected and burnt-up
look.
Wednesday, August 31.—The ruined castle which I
visited this morning is decidedly Turkish, but appears to
be the work of different periods. In the gateway of the
lower or outer wall were a few fragments of ancient
sepulchral monuments and of inscriptions almost illegible.*
Near the summit of the Acropolis was a small postern gate,
which, though it was blocked up with old guns and stones,
we contrived to lift off the hinges, and found in the outer
wall some large Hellenic-looking blocks. In.the Armenian
burial-ground also are many large stones evidently derived
from ancient buildings, some of them of a remarkable shape,
being octagonal and tapering slightly upwards, like frusta
* See Appendix; Nob. 95-97.
KALAIJIK.
[Chat, xxiii.
below, and the green valley to the north of the town, which,
being well watered, was filled with gardens and fruit-trees
far up towards the hills. It was a most refreshing sight to
look out upon these green and fruitful gardens after the
dust and heat of the day. But it is a remarkable fact,
though not unusual in this country, that, however well
watered this valley is, not a drop reaches the plain which
we had crossed, the whole being consumed in irrigating the
gardens. On the hills to the south a few green patches of
garden-ground also marked where a scanty spring or stream
of water gave its refreshing influence; for here, as in other
parts of Anatolia, the extent of the garden-lands is limited
by the supply of water applicable to the purposes of irri-
gation. Wherever enough can be obtained to last for the
whole year, gardens and melon-grounds are planted; but if
it can be had only during the spring, corn is grown, which
in these elevated districts requires irrigation during that
season ; while the hills and undulating downs, which cannot
be irrigated even in the spring, are condemned to perpe-
tual barrenness, or only afford a scanty pasture to the cattle
of the neighbouring villages. Sometimes the supply fails
in places where gardens have been planted, which is
immediately perceived by their neglected and burnt-up
look.
Wednesday, August 31.—The ruined castle which I
visited this morning is decidedly Turkish, but appears to
be the work of different periods. In the gateway of the
lower or outer wall were a few fragments of ancient
sepulchral monuments and of inscriptions almost illegible.*
Near the summit of the Acropolis was a small postern gate,
which, though it was blocked up with old guns and stones,
we contrived to lift off the hinges, and found in the outer
wall some large Hellenic-looking blocks. In.the Armenian
burial-ground also are many large stones evidently derived
from ancient buildings, some of them of a remarkable shape,
being octagonal and tapering slightly upwards, like frusta
* See Appendix; Nob. 95-97.