remain, like the isolated monuments of the Hittites in the west, striking witnesses to a vast system of government and economic organisation unlike anything in later times. For our immediate purpose it is sufficient to notice that all the clearly Hittite monuments westward of the Halys are found along this single line of road, a fact which is as significant as it is remarkable. [Illustration: PLATE XVII NEFEZ-KEUI: CARPET-WEAVING (_See p. 31._)] We do not include in the foregoing considerations the region of which Iconium (_Konia_) is the centre, which fills the southern corner of the tableland. Several main roads radiate naturally from this place, which is the chief town of the province; there are, however, only two or three with which we are even indirectly concerned. Of these one leads north-westward, passing Ilgîn at a distance of about fifty miles, and so into Phrygia, which it approaches up the valley of the inland Cayster. The second is that which leads eastward across the plains by Sultan Han and Akserai for Cæsarea; and a third, bending southward to avoid the desert plains, communicates by Eregli with the Cilician Gates and with Tyana (Kilisse Hissar). In ancient times there must have been a more direct road connecting Iconium with Tyana, passing by Ardistama, the site of which is still marked in what is now desert by the name of Arissama, with the neighbouring mounds of Emir-Ghazi.[63] Around and northward from Iconium there are extensive grass plains, the natural grazing ground of horses which are sent in great droves annually to the fairs and markets of the country, even as far as Baghdad. The breeds are not remarkable for quality, and cannot compare with those rare and beautiful animals reared in the plains that border the middle course of the Euphrates; but they are for the most part a hardy species standing little higher than a European pony, useful for transport, and trained for the saddle to the fast walking pace in which long journeys are always made.[64] The rivers of this region are short and local, ending for the most part upon the plains in salt lakes and marshes, which, after the snows have ceased to melt, become almost dry, leaving the ground covered with white incrustation. Some of these lakes are of such volume as to be permanent; the largest of the kind, as has already been mentioned, is Tuz Geul; its waters are more dense even than those of the Dead Sea, and as they recede with the approach of summer they leave behind thick deposits of salt, collected regularly by the natives, who come many days’ journey for the purpose.