'The Expedition for the survey of the rivers Euphrates and Tigris, carried on by order of the British government, in the years 1835, 1836, and 1837; preceded by geographical and historical notices of the regions situated between the rivers Nile and Indus. In four volumes. With fourteen maps and charts, and embellished with ninety-seven plates, besides numerous wood-cuts. Volume the first.' [‎351] (426/905)

CHAP. XV.]
PASSES OF THE TAURUS.
351
baths, the town contains about 8000 Turkish houses, well
built, and 500 Armenian houses, principally of stone. It has
commercial communications with Aleppo, O'rfah, Mar'ash,
and the port of Alexandretta, and is, on the whole, a place of
more importance than the capital itself: the inhabitants are
occupied with the manufacture of calico.
About midway, on the slope of the lofty Aghr Tagh, and City of
projecting southward, are three remarkable shoulders : of these Mar,asb '
the central one is occupied by the castle, and the two others,
as well as the intervening valleys, by the city of Mar'ash; the
parts of which communicate with each other by several bridges.
The city contains about 25 mosques of an inferior description,
and 3500 houses of wood and clay; these are badly constructed,
but striking from their situation, as this singular mountain
town overlooks a rich plain about 30 miles long and from
12 to 16 miles wide, producing abundance of tobacco, with
rice and other grains. On the slopes of this part of the
Taurus the timber is particularly fine, and there is a mine of
excellent iron, which is worked successfully; there is also a mine
of native steel. Mar'ash, also called Kermania (the Germanicia
of the Lower Empire), probably owed its existence to the pass
through the Taurus, which is situated northward of this place
along the slopes of the Ali-Shehr.
The latter mountain is approached from two different direc- Passes of the
tions, viz., southward from Ain-tab, and westward from the' laurus '
town of Sis. The former route passes through Mar'ash, and
as far as that town it is tolerably good; but northward it
becomes a mere bridle-path, winding along a succession of
steep shoulders and precipitous valleys, which succeed one
another almost to A1 Bostan. In quitting the plains of
Cilicia, near Sis, the other route proceeds through the moun
tain Kasabah of Kars, 1 from whence, as far as the junction with
the Ain-tab road, and even beyond that point, it consists of a
succession of the most intricate, difficult, and dangerous passes.
The first route across the Taurus is, however, to the eastward,
a little way from the Euphrates: it runs through the village
A post-town in England represents relatively the Kasabah of Turkey.