DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5541#0277
248
AKJAH KALEH.
[Chap. xv.
driven into the ground, round which a wicker framework
is woven, form a kind of coffer-dam, which is filled with
large stones. As wo advanced the scenery increased in
beauty, and several bold and rocky promontories ran into
the sea between us and Cape Yoros, while the hills, broken
by a succession of wooded glens, and covered with rich vege-
tation and a great variety of shrubs, sloped rapidly to the
blue sea below us. Amongst the causes of this luxuriant
vegetation, in addition to the alternation of great heat and
great moisture caused by frequent rain, I remarked the
excellence of the soil, which was chiefly owing to the disin-
tegration and decomposition of the igneous and trappcan
rocks. After passing round a point of imperfectly columnar
basalt, we reached Akjah Kaleh at 8h. 25m., a ruined fort
with a few wooden houses built on a rocky promontory, in
attempting to gain possession of which some years ago the
Russians are said to have met with considerable loss.
Akjah Kaleh is situated half-way between Platana and
Cape Yoros, on the site of Cordylc, which, according to the
anonymous Periplus, was a maritime station forty stadia
from the Hieron Oros; it possesses a small open roadstead,
called by the Turks a Liman or port, to the east of the pro-
montory. The peasants along this part of the coast were
all armed; each man carried a small carbine over his
shoulder; but I met with neither rudeness nor want of hos-
pitality, although they do not enjoy a high character for
honesty. We have here another proof of the length of time
during which customs will prevail in unfrequented districts,
notwithstanding the change of government, laws, religion,
and even of the people themselves. Xenophon * says that
the Sanni and the Macrones, who inhabited this mountain-
ous district, were a warlike and hostile race; this is confirmed
by Arrian„f who states that, trusting to their fastnesses, they
refused to submit to the Romans. In the present day the
inhabitants of the coast, as far as Lazistan and the Phasis,
are remarkable for their wild and predatory habits.
* Anab. lib. iv. c. S-17. f Peripl. p. 11.
AKJAH KALEH.
[Chap. xv.
driven into the ground, round which a wicker framework
is woven, form a kind of coffer-dam, which is filled with
large stones. As wo advanced the scenery increased in
beauty, and several bold and rocky promontories ran into
the sea between us and Cape Yoros, while the hills, broken
by a succession of wooded glens, and covered with rich vege-
tation and a great variety of shrubs, sloped rapidly to the
blue sea below us. Amongst the causes of this luxuriant
vegetation, in addition to the alternation of great heat and
great moisture caused by frequent rain, I remarked the
excellence of the soil, which was chiefly owing to the disin-
tegration and decomposition of the igneous and trappcan
rocks. After passing round a point of imperfectly columnar
basalt, we reached Akjah Kaleh at 8h. 25m., a ruined fort
with a few wooden houses built on a rocky promontory, in
attempting to gain possession of which some years ago the
Russians are said to have met with considerable loss.
Akjah Kaleh is situated half-way between Platana and
Cape Yoros, on the site of Cordylc, which, according to the
anonymous Periplus, was a maritime station forty stadia
from the Hieron Oros; it possesses a small open roadstead,
called by the Turks a Liman or port, to the east of the pro-
montory. The peasants along this part of the coast were
all armed; each man carried a small carbine over his
shoulder; but I met with neither rudeness nor want of hos-
pitality, although they do not enjoy a high character for
honesty. We have here another proof of the length of time
during which customs will prevail in unfrequented districts,
notwithstanding the change of government, laws, religion,
and even of the people themselves. Xenophon * says that
the Sanni and the Macrones, who inhabited this mountain-
ous district, were a warlike and hostile race; this is confirmed
by Arrian„f who states that, trusting to their fastnesses, they
refused to submit to the Romans. In the present day the
inhabitants of the coast, as far as Lazistan and the Phasis,
are remarkable for their wild and predatory habits.
* Anab. lib. iv. c. S-17. f Peripl. p. 11.