Over the summit of this chalky cliff appear the remains of Hierapolis. These consist of the ruins of a stadium, and amphitheatre, which no ancient town, yet discovered, has been without; they were the most indispensable, and the most permanently built. The meanest as well as the most insignificant cities seem to have thought them necessary to their well-being. Mixed with these are numerous sarcophagi, with and without covers; the whole occupying a space of one mile in length; and among the inscriptions found are some celebrating this city for its hot springs, declaring it to be revered over Asia for its salubrious rills. It was, therefore, dedicated to Apollo, who, with Æsculapius and Hygeia, appear on the medals which remain. They had another property, that of assisting the tincture extracted from vegetable dyes, and imparting to wool its richest purple. Besides its hot springs, Hierapolis was distinguished by a very remarkable and deleterious exhalation, called very properly, _plutonium_, as appertaining to the key of the infernal regions. This was a small excavation in an adjoining mountain, having an area before it of four or five hundred yards in circumference. This space was always filled with a dense vapour, so that the bottom could not be discerned. Like the modern Grotto del Cane, this vapour was mortal to those who breathed it; bulls and other animals were driven into the enclosure, and immediately fell down suffocated; and birds, as at Averno, dropped senseless when attempting to fly across it. The priests of Cybele, availing themselves of this mephitic cavern, pretended to work a miracle. They alone were able to walk through the exhalation unhurt. The imposture is easily detected; the vapour is carbonic acid gas, like that of the grotto in Italy; it is a dense and heavy fluid, which does not rise high above the ground. Animals, whose heads are immersed in it, are immediately suffocated; but those who walk erect, above the surface, pass through it with impunity. [Illustration: T. Allom. W. Floyd. PHILADELPHIA. CALLED BY TURKS ALLAH SHER, THE CITY OF GOD.] Of all the churches of the Apocalypse, Philadelphia retains more of its former Christian character than any other. Ephesus and Sardis _are not_ but Philadelphia _is_; and the profession of Christianity is not only cherished there by a large population, but it is presided over by a Christian bishop; and while the cooing of turtle-doves in every tree, the mansion of the filial stork in every roof, and sundry other objects of nature, of soothing sound and placid aspect, reminds the traveller of its Christian name, Philadelphia, or “brotherly love,” the Turks, as if to mark its former sanctity, now call it Allah Sher, or the “City of God.” The inhabitants, too, are of a most urbane character, and have obtained for themselves, in the barbarism that surrounds them, the eulogy of being a “kind and civil people.”