( 255 ) 



Ararat, Pison, and Jerusalem — a contribution to Biblical Geo- 

 grajpliy. By Chaeles Von Raumek. 



Ararat. 



JxiTTER, in his excellent geography, assigns the following boun- 

 daries to Armenia : He draws a line from the mouth of the 

 Kur, in the Caspian, to that of the Phasis (Poti), in the Black 

 Sea ; a second line, from the Phasis to the Bay of Issus (the 

 NE. corner of the Mediterranean) ; a third, from this bay, 

 back to the mouth of the Kur. The triangle comprised within 

 these three lines forms his Armenia. " Armenia," says Ritter, 

 " is principally a table-land, similar to those of Thibet, Quito, 

 and Habesh. Arzeroom is elevated 7000 on this table-land, to 

 which point the ten thousand Greeks under Xenophon ascended 

 for five days' journey over the high mountains of Kurdistan, and 

 descended again from the north declivity of the latter to Tra- 

 pezus on the Black Sea. They found the plain of Armenia 

 partly covered with snow, six feet deep ; and as, from later ob- 

 servations, snow falls at Arzeroom even in the beginning of 

 June, Upper Armenia should present a uniform snowy cover for 

 six months, and the temperature in the plain of Ararat descends 

 to 16° — 18° Fahrenheit * ; and as Armenia lies in the same lati- 

 tude as Naples, this is a strong proof, independent of other cir- 

 cumstances, of the great elevation of the country. On this 

 table-land rises Ararat, which, with Sinai, is a magnificent wit- 

 ness of ancient sacred history. 



Sir Robert Kerr Porter approached Armenia on the northern 

 side from Teflis. " When," says he, " we left our resting place, 

 the great plateau of Ararat gradually unfolded before our eyes, 

 and the colossal mountain itself seemed, in all its majesty, to 

 touch the clouds." t When on our descent (from a height in 

 the plain of Ararat), the valley opened below us, my whole at- 

 tention was attracted from the prospect before us ; an immense 

 plain, covered with innumerable villages ; the minarets and 

 spires of Eitch-mai-adzen, which towered above the rest ; the 



• Kerr Porter's Travc-ls, from the English. Weimar, 1«23. T. 213. 

 t Ibifl- p. 212— 21i. 



