acrossasiaminoro00chiluoft

454 ACROSS ASIA MINOR ON FOOT
sidered. Call Alexandretta of the future one of the
greatest, perhaps the greatest seaport on the Mediterranean,
and its full possibilities will not be exag
gerated. That is, of course, if railways be constructed
with an eye to serving the most central outlet of the
greatest fertile area, and not to creating an artificial
outlet farther south.
While waiting for the steamer at Alexandretta the
fancy seized me to look into the question of where
the battle of Issus had actually been fought. Some
authorities say one thing and some another, and differ
by as much as fifteen miles in fixing the spot. To
find the battlefield on a narrow plain, which, if you
do but follow it from one end to the other you must
of necessity pass over the scene of action, seemed
a matter simple enough ; so I started one morning
meaning to make a long day and see for myself just
where the clash took place. If Alexander's army, I
thought, turned back from Beilan at midnight and
reached the battle ground - next morning— as the
authorities say—I could make a pretty good estimate
of how far it had marched in the time—or could at
least be sure how far it had not marched. For it had
been moving during many previous hours to reach
Beilan, and such heavily laden men could not cover
an indefinite distance in the time between turning
back and fighting the battle.
The day was very hot, but I went along pleasantly
on a stony path betwixt sea and mountain, stopping
now and then, and making a sort of holiday excursion
after the business of the longer journey. And
then the path rose on a low ridge and I came
to a spot to which belongs a strange tradition.
Here, and nowhere else, it is said, Jonah landed
from the whale. The tradition is very old, and goes
back to the time when a temple of some kind stood
on this rise. There are now two fragments of
masonry remaining, known as Jonah's Pillars, and
"Jonah's Pillars" the place is named on maps, and
the name therefore is secure. You are brought to a