DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5542#0243
232
LEAVE AK SERAI.
[Chap. xwt.
CHAPTER XLIV.
Leave Ak Serai—Beas Su—Ancient Walls—Adjem Kieui—Sarai Kieui—Encamp-
ment—Turcomans—Lake of Kodj Hissar—Kodj Hissar—Salt Lake—Causeway
—Red Sandstone—Granite Hills— Boghaz Kieui—Plain of Ak Bounar—Sari
Karaman—Tatlar — Curious Caves—Nemb Sbener—Utch Hissar—Conical
Hills—Urgub — Bak Tash—Injeh Su —Mount Argseus— Kara Stl—Reach
Cajsarea.
Tuesday, July 11.—At half-past eight we left Ak Serai
for the salt lake of Kodj Hissar, and crossed the Beas Su
(white water), which flows through the town in a S.W.
direction, by a good stone bridge. In walking about the
town, I had already perceived on the left bank of the river,
above the bridge, considerable remains of a long and sub-
stantial wall of Hellenic character. The blocks of trachyte
are beautifully fitted together without cement, but proved
on further examination to be only the casing of a very
coarse wall. With one or two exceptions they are isodo-
mous ; and in some places more recent Turkish fortifications
have been raised upon them. I must add, however, that
part of a very fine but now ruined mosque in the town
is built in the same style, which of course implies a much
more recent date.
If Ak Serai represents Archclais, the Beas Su is probably
the river which was called by the ancients the southern
branch of the Halys, on which that town was said to stand :
this supposition is not at all improbable when we recollect
the meaning of the word Halys, and that the river in ques-
tion falls into the salt lake at a distance of twelve or four-
teen miles from Ak Serai. It is one of the principal cor-
rections in the geography of this part of Asia Minor to have
ascertained that the southern branch of the Halys, or Kizil
Irmak, represented in all former maps, does not exist.
After quitting the mud walls of the town, we passed for
LEAVE AK SERAI.
[Chap. xwt.
CHAPTER XLIV.
Leave Ak Serai—Beas Su—Ancient Walls—Adjem Kieui—Sarai Kieui—Encamp-
ment—Turcomans—Lake of Kodj Hissar—Kodj Hissar—Salt Lake—Causeway
—Red Sandstone—Granite Hills— Boghaz Kieui—Plain of Ak Bounar—Sari
Karaman—Tatlar — Curious Caves—Nemb Sbener—Utch Hissar—Conical
Hills—Urgub — Bak Tash—Injeh Su —Mount Argseus— Kara Stl—Reach
Cajsarea.
Tuesday, July 11.—At half-past eight we left Ak Serai
for the salt lake of Kodj Hissar, and crossed the Beas Su
(white water), which flows through the town in a S.W.
direction, by a good stone bridge. In walking about the
town, I had already perceived on the left bank of the river,
above the bridge, considerable remains of a long and sub-
stantial wall of Hellenic character. The blocks of trachyte
are beautifully fitted together without cement, but proved
on further examination to be only the casing of a very
coarse wall. With one or two exceptions they are isodo-
mous ; and in some places more recent Turkish fortifications
have been raised upon them. I must add, however, that
part of a very fine but now ruined mosque in the town
is built in the same style, which of course implies a much
more recent date.
If Ak Serai represents Archclais, the Beas Su is probably
the river which was called by the ancients the southern
branch of the Halys, on which that town was said to stand :
this supposition is not at all improbable when we recollect
the meaning of the word Halys, and that the river in ques-
tion falls into the salt lake at a distance of twelve or four-
teen miles from Ak Serai. It is one of the principal cor-
rections in the geography of this part of Asia Minor to have
ascertained that the southern branch of the Halys, or Kizil
Irmak, represented in all former maps, does not exist.
After quitting the mud walls of the town, we passed for