• 25 8 SIR ABO. [CHAP.
As the geographer was a native of Asia Minor, it is only natural
that he should pay especial attention to that part of
Asia Minor, ^ W0rld, and accordingly we find that he devotes
to it three books—the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth. The
contents of these are of great value, both because the writer is
frequently drawing on his own observation, and also on account
of the rich store of information which they provide about the
physical geography and products of the country, and the re-
ligious and political condition of the people. These points
may best be illustrated by a few examples. Strabo notices the
absence of trees in Cappadocia, a feature of which he furnishes
the explanation when he says that this country, though lying
further south than Pontus, is the colder of the two1. He also
enlarges on the volcanic activity which at that period still existed
about the sides and base of Mount Argaeus in that province, and
on the strange craters of the Katakekaumene, or Burnt Country,
in Western Phrygia2. He mentions the valuable red earth, which
was called ' Sinopic earth/ because it was brought down from the
interior to Sinope for export8; and the gum of the storax-tree and
the c orris-root/ which were found at Selge in Pisidia*. Observa-
tions, also, are frequently introduced on the strange religious
worship that prevailed in Asia Minor, with its orgiastic rites, the
numerous votaries that were attached to the temples, and the
elaborate festival processions8. Finally, the study of political
constitutions is illustrated by the descriptions that are given of
the federation which was known as the Lycian League8, of the
tetrarchies of the Galatae with their elaborate system of govern-
ment7, and of the municipal organisation that was established at
Ephesus8.
The remainder of Asia—that is, in the main, the lands which
lie to the southward of the dividing mountain
chain—is treated of in the fifteenth and sixteenth
books; the former embracing the eastern portion—
India, Persia, and the intervening districts; the latter the countries
1 12. 2. 7, io. * n. 2. 7; 13. 4. ii.
8 «* *• io. < 13.7.3.
8 12. a. 3; 12. 3. 31, 3*, 36, 37. « I4. 3. 3.
7 ™* 5- *. 8 14. i. -w.