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“Adalia is beautifully situated round a small harbour; the streets appear to rise behind each other like the seats of a theatre and on the level summit of the hill the city is enclosed by a ditch, a double wall and a series of square towers about fifty yards asunder…
The gardens round the town are beautiful the trees were loaded with fruit all kinds of vegetation seemed to be exuberant and the inhabitants spoke of their corn grounds as more than commonly productive. The soil is deep and everywhere intersected by streams loaded with calcareous matter which after fertilizing the plain fall over the cliffs or turn the corn mills in their descent to the sea…
Alternate breezes refresh the air in a remarkable manner for the daily sea breeze sweeps up the western side of the gulf with accumulated strength and at night the great northern valley which appears to traverse the chain of Mount Taurus conducts the land wind from the cold mountains of the interior Upon the whole it would be difficult to select a more charming spot for a city.
The population of Adalia probably does not exceed 8000, two thirds of which I understood to be Mohammedan the other third Greek. These Greeks are acquainted with no other language than the Turkish yet though some of their prayers are translated into that tongue the principal part of the liturgy continues to be repeated in Greek by the Papas or priests of whom the greater number are as ignorant of the meaning as their congregation.
In the Bazaar or market we saw cloth hardware and various specimens of English and German manufacture but they had been mostly conveyed by the regular caravans from Smyrna. Few articles for barter were brought by the Greek corn traders ready money was their staple and every vessel that we examined on its way from Malta and Messina to these coasts had many thousand dollars on board. If this demand continues both parties will find their advantage in a mutual exchange of goods as cultivation extends and affluence increases new wants will be generated, new markets for European manufactures will be gradually opened and civilization and industry may one day triumph over the ignorance and sloth that now pervade these semi barbarous regions.”
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