fun or Priene, then a village at the foot of Mycale, they paffed
through a large plain to the Mseander, called by the Turks Boiuc-
Minder, or the Great Mceander, which they croffed at a, ferry,
where it was about lixteen fathom broad, and as many deep in,
the middle, as the man informed them, with the current very
fwift. About two hours after this, they arrived at Palatlha,
where they pitched their tents on the banks of a large river,
which, running through a great lake, falls into the Mseander.
T he reader will obferve, that thefe travellers croffed the river:
but once between Samfun and Palatfha. The ferry therefore
was below the junction of the two beds. There the ftream was
called The Great Maunder, probably to diftinguifli it, not, as
has been fuppofed, from the Cayfter, which is remote, but from
the other, or Little River, which it receives. This they miftook
for the principal ftream, being ignorant of the true Masander,
with which the lake of Myus communicates, and which runs by
Palatlha. This alfo lay beneath them, when on mount Mycale,
and was feen diftinCtly, as in a chart. Their draughtfman delineated
its turnings and windings for thofe of the old and famous
river; and its mazes, which helped to impofe on them, prevented
even the fulpicion of an error.
C H A P . LOT.
The Mceander muddy —- The bed— Its courfe to the lake -— To the
fea — Change in the face of the region — Its antient geography
__The ijlands before Miletus— The rocks o f Ofebajhd— Increafe
o f land— Its progrefs unnoticed — Future encroachments
W E have already mentioned the Mseander among the rivers
of Alia Minor, antiently noted, for the production o f new land.
The ftream, it was remarked, in palling through the ploughed
grounds of Phrygia and Caria, colleded much llime, and bringing
it down continually, added to the coaft at its mouth.
T he
T R A V E L S i n ASIA MINOR. *75
T h e Masander was indictable for removing the foil, when
its margin tumbled in ; and the perfon, who recovered damages,
was paid from the income of the ferries. The downfalls were
very frequent, and are fuppofed, with probability, to be the
caufe of the curvity of the bed; the earth carried away from
one part lodging in another, and replacing the lofs fuftained on
one fide by adding to the oppofite bank.
W e have defcribed the ftream as crofting from near mount
Meffogis to the foot of Titanus oppofite to Priene ; and on that
fide it continues, running toward the mouth of the lake of
Myus. Probably the level of the intermediate plain determined
it in that courfe; the foil Walhed from Mycale, or fupplied by
the torrent, railing the furface there, and forbidding its approach.
The current repelled by the rocks of Ofebalha, and contracted
about the ferry, wore its prefent channel, while the mud was
foft and yielding ; and the bed, which we paffed near them, was
created from the fame obftruCtion, the water after floods running
off there more forcibly, as meeting with more refiftance.
T he river turns from the mouth of the lake, with many windings,
through groves of tamarilk, toward Miletus ; proceeding
by the right wing of the theatre in mazes to the fea, which is
in view, and diftant, as we computed, about eight miles; the
plain fmooth and level as a bowling-green, except certain knolls
extant in it, near mid-way, before Miletus. One of thefe, the
northermoft, is feen diftinCt, as a hillock; and on a bigger is a
village named Bautenau. In that part is the union of the water-
courfe of Priene with the river, which winds fouth of the hillock,
and has on its margin, two or more miles beyond, a fmall
fortrefs. The extremity of the plain by the Ihore appeared, from
the precipice of Priene, marfhy, or bare, and as mud. Such
was the face of this region, when we faw it. How different
from its afpeCt, when the mountains were boundaries of a gulf,
and Miletus, Myus, and Priene, maritime cities!
St r a b o ,