Beyond Yasun Burnu (Jasonium Promontorium), the name of which commemorates the legendary voyage of Jason and the Argonauts (see p. [560]), the coast recedes far to the S.
Without touching at the little seaport of Üniyeh or Unia (once Œnoē), the steamer passes the Chiva or Chalti Burnu (Heracleum Promontorium) and the large delta of the Yeshil Irmak (formerly Iris; beacon), which is navigable for small vessels in winter only, and steers direct towards the broad Bay of Samsun (landing or embarkation 7½ pias.), which is enclosed by low hills clad with plantations of tobacco and maize.
Samsun.—Hotel. Mantika, near the Banque Ottomane, R. 2–5, pens. 15 fr. (bargain advisable).— Restaurant Yanni, near the tobacco-factory.
Banks. Banque Ottomane, Banque d’Athènes, Banque de Salonique.—Post Offices. Turkish, French, and others, near the custom-house.
Consuls. British, B. Ch. Papadopulos.—United States Consular Agent, William Peter.
Samsun, a town with about 30,000 inhab., was in antiquity an important Greek colony under the name of Amisus and is now the chief trading-place on the N. coast of Asia Minor. The chief exports are tobacco, flour, grain, and linseed. The manufactured goods it imports are forwarded mainly by trains of wagons or camels to such inland places as Mersifun, Amasia (once Amasea, the home of Strabo), Tokat (Comana), Sivas (Sebastia), and Kaisarieh (Cæsarea).
From the custom-house we turn to the left to the Market Place with its clock-tower. A well-paved street leads thence to the Banque Ottomane. Farther to the E., on the shore, are the Seraï (see p. [483]) and several Consulates. The attractive Villa Quarter, occupied by Armenian and Greek merchants, conveys an impression of great prosperity.
Beyond Samsun the sandy coast juts out far towards the N.W. We pass the strip of land separating the sea from the large lagoon Ak Göl, the vicinity of which is infested by fever. Cape Bafra (beacon), a little farther on, is near the delta of the Kizil Irmak (Halys), which in B.C. 301–183 formed the boundary between the kingdom of Pontus and Paphlagonia. Though the largest river in Asia Minor the Kizil Irmak is not navigable.
Beyond the month of the Halys we come to a broad semicircular bay. On its N. shore, beyond the peninsula of Boz Tepeh Burnu (about 650 ft.; beacon), is a tongue of land on which stands Sinōpe (Turk. Sinob), the oldest of the colonies established on the coast of the Black Sea by the Greeks of Miletus (p. [491]) and long the most powerful. Sinope was the home of Diogenes the Cynic (about B. C. 412–323). Here Xenophon’s Ten Thousand (p. [574]) took ship on their way back to Byzantium (p. [541]) at the conclusion of the toilsome Anabasis. It was also the residence of Mithridates VI. (B. C. 120–63; comp. p. [507]), the last king of Pontus, who was famous both for his linguistic accomplishments and his military powers. He extended his sway over the whole of Asia Minor and the Crimea (p. [568]), but was finally subdued by the Romans in three hardfought campaigns. Sinope, formerly the starting-point of an important caravan-route to Cappadocia and the lands of the Euphrates, now possesses, notwithstanding its excellent harbour, little more than the shadow of its former greatness. The poor little town, inhabited by about 8000 Greeks and Turks, entirely lacks roads to the interior. The barracks at the W. end of the headland serve as a quarantine lazaretto.
We next steam past Injeh Burun (Syrias Promontorium; beacon), the northmost point of Asia Minor, and skirt a hilly, well-wooded, but thinly peopled stretch of the shore.