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About two hours from Ak-Sheher we passed a splendid fountain of crystal water, gushing up beside the road. I believe it is the same called by some travellers the Fountain of Midas, but am ignorant wherefore the name is given it. We rode for several hours through a succession of grand, rich landscapes.
Wheat was nearly ready for cutting, and the poppy-fields where, the day previous, the men were making their first incisions for opium, here had yielded their harvest and were fast ripening their seed. Ak-Sheher is beautifully situated at the entrance of a deep gorge in the mountains. It is so buried in its embowered gardens that little, except the mosque, is seen as you approach it.
In this way I gave him some relief a service which he acknowledged by a grateful motion of his head. As we descended towards Ak-Sheher the country became exceedingly rich and luxuriant. The base of Sultan Dagh was girdled with groves of fruit-trees, stretching out in long lines on the plain, with fields of ripening wheat between. In the distance the large lake of Ak-Sheher glittered in the sun.
Scenery of the Hills Ladik, the Ancient Laodicea The Plague of Gad-Flies Camp at Ilguen A Natural Warm Bath The Gad-Flies Again A Summer Landscape Ak-Sheher The Base of Sultan Dagh The Fountain of Midas A Drowsy Journey The Town of Bolawaduen. "By the forests, lakes, and fountains, Though the many-folded mountains." Shelley. Bolawaduen, July 1, 1852.
A smaller lake succeeded to that of Ak-Sheher, Emir Dagh rose higher in the pale-blue sky, and Sultan Dagh showed other peaks, broken and striped with snow; but around us were the same glorious orchards and gardens, the same golden-green wheat and rustling phalanxes of poppies armies of vegetable Round-heads, beside the bristling and bearded Cavaliers.
Turks were riding homewards on donkeys, with loads of grass which they had been cutting in the meadows. The gun was fired, and the shouts of the children announced the close of the day's fast, while the sweet, melancholy voice of a boy muezzin called us to sunset prayer, from the minaret. Leaving Ak-Sheher this morning, we rode along the base of Sultan Dagh.
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