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The plain of Tarsus is cultivated with wheat and barley; exports of which are sent annually to the capital from the neighbouring port: during harvest, the scene on every side is cheerful, with groups of peasants and tents scattered here and there, in which they dwell during the reaping time. The town is about four hours, or twelve miles, distant from the sea, within two miles of which, the Cydnus is 150 feet wide, and is now navigable only by small boats: the stream is full, and rather more rapid than the Orontes; its tide is impeded near the embouchure by a bar of sand and in other parts of its course there are now impediments, through time and neglect, which anciently did not exist. How free and frequent was its navigation in the time of Roman power: how solitary are now its waters: the wild call of the Turkoman, where the harp and the viol were heard, and a pageant of beauty and luxury passed by-such as the world will ne'er see again. "Having crossed the sea of Pamphylia, Cleopatra entered the Cydnus, and going up that river, landed at Tarsus, to meet Antony. Never was equipage more splendid and magnificent than hers: the stern of her ship flamed with gold, the sails were purple, and the oars were inlaid with silver. A pavilion of cloth of gold was raised upon the deck, under which appeared the queen, robed like Venus, and surrounded with the most beautiful virgins of her court, of whom some represented the Nereïdes, and others the Graces. Instead of trumpets, were heard flutes, hautboys, harps, and other instruments of music, warbling the softest airs, to which the cars kept time. Perfumes were burning on the deck, which spread their odours to a great distance; the shores were covered with an infinite multitude of people." There is now a flashing of arms at intervals, of the lance of the desert robber-not of the legions and guards of Antonythe smoke is rising from the rock, where some wild family prepare their meal: the Cydnus sweeps almost uselessly by, to be, in the prophetic words, "a place of broad rivers and streams, wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby."

The fall of the Cydnus is not remarkable for its height or grandeur, although the river is here tolerably broad and deep: a cataract, that meets the stranger every day in the Alps, is in the East an unwonted sight, and he pauses long and entrancedly before its flashing volume-as if the lost palaces of Bali suddenly rose from the waves at his feet. The fall is broken in many places by rocks, from one of which a tree overhangs the torrent: a small isle of shrubs and a few palms is at a small distance above: the shores on each side are wooded, and backed by bold ascents. Mount Taurus is in the distance. The moon was in her midnight beauty, and beneath her soft and cool light the traveller pursued his way: the snow slept on the crests of Taurus, in such transparent lustre as if freshly fallen from heaven, and about to tarry but for a night: each peak, each grove, each lonely tent, was visible, as at noon-day. The bank beneath the fall was a pleasant resting-place, where the time fled unheeded away: and in the silence of the Eastern night there was something solemn in the rushing sound, as if the voice of the past was there, the glorious, the mournful, the indelible past. On these shores rested the army of Alexander, in its resistless career. Let their solitude be peopled again! and the

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