On the southern plains, indeed, skirting the main range of Taurus, westward progress was less restrained;[26] but that the Halys in the north presented a real barrier[27] is borne out by the fact that when the Lydian Crœsus crossed the Halys in the sixth century B.C. he found a strange and presumably non-Aryan people surviving upon the eastern side, who were indeed, according to Herodotus,[28] called Syrians by the Greeks, and by that historian spoken of as Syro-Cappadocians. With our two eastern divisions we must include the plain and district westward of Cæsarea, a tract which on the north lies partly in the basin of the Halys, and on the south is practically continuous with the plains of Tyana, from which it is separated only by a low ridge of hills. Towards the west are the remarkable troglodyte villages,[29] where, probably from remote antiquity, the inhabitants have hewn out their dwellings in the soft surface rock and conical mounds which are the peculiar feature of the locality. There is little evidence as yet, however, to make this region of importance in our subject, and it is only recently that Cæsarea has yielded trace of Hittite handiwork.[30] None the less the continuation of exploration will certainly bring to light new monuments, for the district lies in the heart of the Hittite country; and Old Cæsarea (Mazaca) was the residence of Cappadocian kings. [Illustration: PLATE IX CÆSAREA: CLOISTER OF A SCHOOL, WITH THE CITADEL BEYOND] The position of Cæsarea is geographically of great importance, and from Roman times at any rate has marked the focus of the trade and traffic, and consequently of the road-systems, of the interior. The soil locally is of great fertility, owing to its volcanic nature. Vines and fruit-trees grow and thrive luxuriantly. The middle heights of slumbering Argæus are covered thickly with pine-woods. The snow-capped peak of this mountain towers in the heavens, the conspicuous feature of the horizon and the landmark for two days’ journey on every side. Its form is conical: to the west and south, where it rises directly from the plain, its base is washed by great lakes and marshes of variable extent. Towards the east it is connected up by broken ridges with the Anti-Taurus system. On its northern slope is Asarjik, overlooking Cæsarea, which lies at the foot of the mountain on that side. The site of the ancient city (Mazaca) is probably that marked by the ruins of Græco-Roman times, to be found in the vineyards on a low spur of the mountain about a mile south of the modern town.[31] Here is a spot that will one day reward excavation by a volume of unsuspected history. In the modern town, apart from its bazaars and industries and its splendid mediæval remains,[32] one of the most interesting sights is the ever-changing stream of human faces to be seen in its streets, for its traffic and position bring to it daily caravans from every side. In its resident population there