14 JOURNEY THROUGH DISTRICTS N. OF ELBURZ, [Nov. 8, 1858. 



and is both very rapid and of considerable size, was completely- 

 frozen during the night, the water appearing to have been suddenly 

 arrested in its course, and only beginning to flow again when the 

 rays of the sun had played for some time on the solid mass of ice. 



July 25th. — For the third time we were now about to attempt the 

 ascent of the cone of Demavend. On the first occasion we failed, 

 being obliged to return by a storm of wind and snow. The second 

 time we succeeded in reaching the top, but having no instruments, 

 we were of course unable to make any observations. On the two 

 previous occasions the mountain was much more covered with snow 

 than we now found it to be. In fact, the guides told us that they had 

 never seen so little remaining. Many places which before we found 

 covered with snow to a great depth, were, though a month earlier in 

 the season, now quite bare ; and in many places even the glaciers 

 which fill some of the ravines intersecting the mountain-side had 

 partially disappeared. 



The cone of Demavend is doubtless of volcanic origin, and appears 

 to have been formed partially by having been forced up above the 

 level of the mountain by some subterranean agency, but more by 

 the debris and lava thrown out from the summit when the volcano 

 was still in activity. From a distance it appears to be nearly 

 smooth, and to slope evenly at an angle of about 45° from the top 

 to bottom. On a nearer approach, however, it becomes evident that 

 the cone consists of a number of ridges, which run from the summit 

 to the base, leaving between them deep ravines filled in general with 

 snow and ice, beneath which lies a mass of debris fallen from the 

 upper part of the mountain. 



At an early hour after dawn on the 25th we quitted the tent, and 

 after proceeding for above a mile over ground covered with loose 

 gravel and large masses of stone, reached the foot of the snow, where 

 the cone of Demavend may be considered to commence. For about 

 2 hours we then climbed over rocks of lava and basalt broken up 

 into a thousand shapeless masses, and piled in confusion one above 

 the other. At the top of this we scrambled up a small precipice of 

 about 30 feet, and then found before us a long ridge, perfectly even, 

 and evidently formed by a stream of lava having run over the surface, 

 leaving it so smooth and steep that it was somewhat difficult to keep 

 our footing. Before leaving the tent, the guides had made us take 

 off our own shoes, and had tied round our feet pieces of ox hide. 

 We now found the use of this, the hide clinging tenaciously to the 

 rock, where ordinary boots must inevitably have slipped. The 

 ascent of this portion of the mountain was attended with great 

 fatigue, especially as the rarefaction of the air began to tell upon our 



