Steamers (Turkish, Austrian, and English) touch at the chief towns on the coast, reaching Samsoon on the 2nd and Trebizond on the morning of the 3rd day. See Rte. 35. The scenery of the coast of Asia Minor is very beautiful.

Erekli (Heraclea). Near this are Coal-mines, worked under the superintendence of 2 English engineers — Messrs. Barkley — yielding at present about 50,000 tons annually. The coal is brought to the shore by a tramway, and conveyed to Constantinople and elsewhere. The coal-field extends from 8 m. N. of Erekli for 75 or 80 m. along the shore of the Black Sea; beyond Amassareh, inland, it has been traced 20 m. It belongs to the true carboniferous formation, and, like the coal-fields of England, overlies the mountain limestone. The coal-seams vary in inclination, the average being at an angle of about 30° with the horizon. They crop out over the entire field, on the sides of the mountain-ridges, 1500 to 2000 ft. high, and are much broken by faults. No evidence of volcanic action has been discovered.

Ireboli, a very pretty little town, at the mouth of a chine or gorge, backed by high land.

Sinope (Sinoub), an ancient town, 8000 Inhab., on a bay or roadstead formed by a hammer-shaped promontory, the safest anchorage between the Bosphorus and Batoom. Within it a small Turkish squadron was destroyed by a Russian fleet of overwhelming force, and the crews, amounting to 3000 men, slaughtered and sunk, after a brave resistance, 30th Nov. 1853.

Of the ancient Greek city, the birthplace of Diogenes, and capital of Mithridates, nothing remains but a vast number of fragments — friezes, hundreds of Corinthian columns, capitals, sculptures, inscriptions (chiefly of the time of the Antonines), and even statues, built up into the walls of its picturesque Byzantine fortifications — and its Castle, which stands on the neck of the isthmus, surrounded by 3 walls and a ditch. The Turkish quarter stands within the walls. Here is an ancient Bath. The French erected some fortifications on the isthmus in 1808, under Sebastiani, but they had fallen into the decay in 1853.

The Turks have a small Dockyard here, where ships of war are built from the timber of the neighbouring mountains.

Beyond Sinope the hills are covered with forests of noble trees of vast extent. The river Halys (Kizil Irmak) enters the sea, having formed a delta of low land at its mouth. On its bank stands the small town of Bafra.

Samsoon, a flourishing trading port, the most important after Trebizond, and the point of departure for Tokat, Diarbekir, &c. (Rte. 35.) A British Vice-Consul resides here. About ½ m. N.N.W. of Samsoon are remains of the port and mole of ancient Amisus (Eski-Samsoon).Many fragments of wall crown the hill, once the site of the Acropolis.

Charshambah is situated on the Iris, about 3 h. from the mouth.

Between Charshambah and Unyeh the road by land crosses the Thermodon, and the splendid plain of that river, which for richness, fertility, and (for a flat country) beauty, equals anything that can be seen.

Unyeh. 4. m. inland there is a curious castle on the summit of a perpendicular rock. On the S. face of the rock, about 50 ft. from the bottom, is a very remarkable cave or entrance, cut in the solid rock, so as to represent the facade of a Greek temple, with its pediment and architrave.

The rude inhabitants of the mountains of this neighbourhood employ themselves in extracting the iron ore, for which the Chalybes, who formerly inhabited this coast, were so famous. There are no mines here, and the ore is found in small irregular nodules imbedded in yellow clay, which forms the surface of all the neighbouring hills. It never occurs deeper than a foot or two below the surface. The metal is extracted in a common blacksmith's forge, and worked by a single family, whose hut is close by; and when they have exhausted the ore in their immediate neighbourhood, they move their hut and forge to some more productive spot. The ore does not yield above 10 per cent. of metal; but it is the only place in the peninsula of Asia Minor where iron is known to exist.

Fatsah, ancient Phadisana, and now the seaport or Scala of Niksar. 2 m. E. of Fatsah is the Pouleman river, and near it are the ruins of a city, the site of the ancient Polemonium.

Ordu is called, by Cramer, Cotyora.

From Fatsah to Ordu the road lies inland, and is almost impassable. By water we pass Cape Jasonium, where there are only the remains of a Greek ch. Between Cape Jasonium and Ordu, we pass the island of the Cilicians, as it is called by Arrian.

Between Ordu and Kerasunt the road crosses the rivers Pharmatenus and Melanthius.

Kerasunt, ancient Pharnacia, a pretty town. Here are very considerable remains of the old Hellenic walls, on which Genoese or Turkish walls have been built. Following the same line across the promontory, the island of Artias is passed between Tireboli and Kerasunt; but it contains no remains of the Amazonian queens. The road by land to Tireboli is almost impassable.

The journey by sea between Kerasunt and Tripolis is described in Rte. 53.

Tireboli, Tripolis, at the foot of high wooded hills, is 3 m. W. of the great river which descends from Gumish Khaneh and Zighana. At the mouth of the river are silver and copper mines, which were rich and extensively worked till the water got in many years ago. These mines are probably the Argyria of the ancients. The road between Tireboli and Trebizond is one continued garden of azaleas, rhododendrons, myrtles, deep wooded valleys, and high wooded hills, intersected with numerous streams.

For the land journey from Tripolis to Trebizond, see Rte. 53

Trebizond is described in Rte. 37.