609 



ARMENIA. 



ARMENIA. 



510 



intersected by numerous swamps, in one of which the Delhi Chai a 

 feeder of the Arpa takes its rise. There is little cultivated land in 

 this extensive tract and there are very few villages except for a short 

 distance round Kara where the country is well peopled and highly 

 productive. Kara, the capital of the pashalik, a walled town of about 

 12,000 inhabitants, ia situated on the Arpa, which ia here crossed by 

 two stone bridges. 



The climate in this part of Armenia is very severe : in winter the 

 cold is intense and snow lies long. The wheat, barley, and other 

 corn crops are of excellent quality, and afford a large surplus for 

 exportation, but a great portion of the land is unoccupied and 

 untilled. Many of the Armenians emigrated with the Russian army 

 in 1 830 to escape the oppression of their Turkish masters, and settled 

 in Russian Armenia, where they enjoy the protection of a regular 

 government; the great majority of the inhabitants of the new city 

 and fortress of Alexandropol, built by the Russians on the site of the 

 old Turkish town of Gumri on the left bank of the Delhi Chai, a few 

 miles above its junction with the Arpa, are Armenians. Eastward 

 from Kara on the left bank of the Arpa are the ruins of Anni, for some 

 time the capital of Armenia. [Aral.] The country in that direction 

 is very broken and rocky. 



To the south of Kara lies an extensive plain with luxuriant pastures, 

 abundance of cultivated land, and numerous villages, all except one 

 or two of which are inhabited by Turks. Numerous herds of 

 remarkably large and fine cattle are fed in this district ; it is watered 

 by the Arpa, which flows through it in a north-east direction from the 

 Suvanli-Dagh. 



The Central Table-Land Plain of Pa\n. The central table-land 

 rises in its highest part near Erz-rum to about 7000 feet above the sea; 

 its general slope is toward the south-west, in which ^direction the 

 Murad and the Kara-Su run watering two series of extensive plains, 

 separated by the Dujik Mountains, the eastern termination of which, 

 called Bin-Gb'1-Dagh, lies south of Erz-rum. On the northern side of 

 the Bin-Gol-Dagh the Aras has its source, and the portion of the 

 central table-hind included in its basin slopes away toward the east, 

 through the Plain of Pasin, along the southern base of the Suvanli- 

 Dagh to the junction of the Arpa, whence the inclination is south-east 

 between the gigantic summits of Ali-Ghez on the north and Mount 

 Ararat on the south. These, the highest summits in Western Asia, 

 are respectively 15,000 feet and 17,260 feet above the sea level. 

 [ARARAT.] 



The Suvanli-Dagh is about 5500 feet high ; it has a short and rapid 

 descent to the Araxes, but on the north side the slope is more gradual. 

 The range is covered with snow from the end of October ; its sides are 

 clothed with dark pine forests, which supply the towns of Kars, Erz- 

 rum, otic! the villages of the plain of Pasin with timber and firewood. 

 The plain of Pasin, extending from the base of the Suvanli-Dagh to 

 tli" range of hills called Deven Boyini, or ' Camel's Neck,' which sepa- 

 rates it from the plain of Erz-runi, is remarkably fertile in wheat and 

 barley ; but wide tracts of the plain lie waste, a large portion of the 

 Armenian inhabitants having emigrated with the retiring Russian army 

 in 1830. The plain is about 40 miles in length and from 6 to 10 miles 

 in breadth ; it is very fertile in corn and pasture, and well watered. 

 It contains about 190 villages, of from 1 2 to 1 00 families each. The Aras 

 divides the plain into two parts, each of which is governed by a Bey. 

 [ARAB.] lIa*an-KaVeh, on the Kaleh-Su, one of the head-streams of 

 the Aras, is 5830 feet above the sea, and the principal place in the plain. 

 This was one of the old Genoese trading stations. The town is girt by a 

 double wall, and commanded by a castle built on a mountain spur, which 

 rises 1600 feet above the plain. Hasan-Kal'eh has seven mosques and 

 seven fountains. On the opposite side of the river are a vast number 

 of hot springs, some bituminous, and others containing iron and lime ; 

 the hottest have the temperature of 105 Fahrenheit. The Deven 

 Boyini runs nearly north and south, connecting the Bin-Gol-Dagh 

 with the uplands on the northern side of the central table of 

 Armenia, and forming the watershed between the Araxes and 

 the Kara-Su. The Kaleh-Su coming from the west, and the Bin-Gbl- 

 Su from the south, meet below Kopri-Koi, a village east of Hasan 

 Kul'eh, where they pass through different arches of the same bridge, 

 and uniting their waters form the Araxes, which is here about 100 yards 

 widi;, and 3 feet deep in summer. 



/' ! <tin of Erz-rum and Reyi'jn of the Bin-Gol-Dayh. The plain of 

 Era-rum i.i .iliout 40 miles in length and 20 miles in its greatest 

 I th ; it is traversed by the Kara-Su. The soil is of unequal 

 fertility, the higher parts yielding only about eightfold, while the 

 lower ground near the river returns twelve to fifteenfold. But all the 

 corn grown in this plain is of peculiarly fine quality. On the plain 

 itself and the slopes to the north of it are excellent pastures ; good 

 horses, fine mules, cattle, and sheep are reared in large numbers. A 

 considerable portion of this plain also is waste, in consequence of the 

 emigration of the Armenian population. Many of the villages arc 

 not inhabited, and the nomad Kurds roam over parts of it. The 

 city of Erz-rum, before the Russian occupation in 1830, had 130,000 

 inhabitants ; it has not now half that number, in 1835 the popula- 

 tion was estimated at only 15,000. It is a place of great importance 

 however, both in a commercial and military point of view : caravans 

 are constantly arriving and departing ; and here the great routes from 

 Constantinople, Asia Minor, Trebizond, Persia, Aleppo, and the South 



Caucasian countries meet. [ERZ-RUM.] The climate of the plain of 

 Erz-rum is severe in winter, as might be expected from its elevation. 

 About 6 miles westward from Erz-rum, at the little village of Ilijeh, 

 are two warm springs, which have the temperature of 100 Fahrenheit, 

 and are much used as baths. From this town there are two roads 

 westward, one leading through Baibut and Gumish-Khaneh to Tre- 

 bizond ; the other across the Almali-Dagh and the Gaur-Dagh to 

 Kara-Hisar and Sivas in Asia Minor. Near the Almali-Dagh this last 

 route is joined from the south by the road leading from Erzingan to 

 Trebizond. Between Ilijeh and the Kara-Su the plain has an undulating 

 surface, and is in some places crossed by low hills : in this part there 

 is no cultivation. The Kara-Su rises about 20 miles north-east from 

 Erz-rum, and flows in a general western course for about 60 miles to 

 its confluence with a stream that runs east from Kara-Kulak ; it then 

 turns nearly south-west to its junction with the Murad. At the point 



the river from the cultivated plain of Kara-Kulak ; west of which, 

 but divided from it by a low ridge, lies the extensive and well-cultivated 

 plain of Lori, stretching along the eastern base of the Almali-Dagh. 

 These plains are merely natural subdivisions of the great plain of 

 Erz-rum. 



To the south of the plain of Erz-rum is a rugged country, crossed 

 by some limestone ranges, abounding in excellent pasture, on the left 

 bank of the Bin-Gol-Su, which river rises in the Bin-Gol-Dagh, near 

 41 30' E. long., and flows in a north-east direction through a deep 

 wooded glen between the limestone ridges just mentioned and a black 

 rocky range called Kara-Kaya, which runs along the right bank and 

 forms part of the watershed between it and the Murad, or Eastern 

 Euphrates. This region is furrowed by numerous ravines and glens, 

 but with the exception of the long vale traversed by the Bin-Gol it is 

 devoid of trees. The population is chiefly composed of Kurds, who 

 cultivate some fields which yield a scanty supply of grain ; the main 

 dependence is on their flocks and herds. Pasture in summer ia 

 abundant and good, and plenty of hay is obtained for the cattle during 

 winter. To the eastward of the Kara-Kaya ridge is a district called 

 Tuzlah, from a deposit of rock-salt found there, from which the 

 country around is supplied at an extremely moderate rate. The 

 southern slopes of the Kara-Kaya terminate in a plain cut by deep 

 ravines, the sides of which are formed generally of perpendicular rock, 

 and the bottom is rich grazing ground or tilled land. Some of the 

 ravines have rills of water, others are quite diy. Sheep and cattle 

 among the mountains and plains are numerous and of good breed ; 

 the mountain pastures are excellent, and abound with an infinite 

 variety of beautiful and sweet smelling flowers. The heat in summer 

 in the plain is very great, but it is generally moderated by a cool 

 breeze from the mountains. 



To the west of the region just noticed lie the Bin-Gdl-Tagh 

 (' mountains of a thousand streams '), a long flat range in which the 

 snow lies in patches all the summer. Its general direction is from 

 south-east to north-west. Kara-Kaya seems to be an offshoot from it 

 on the north-eastern side. It also sends off numerous spurs in the 

 opposite direction. At its north-western termination it joins the 

 eastern extremity of the Dujik-Dagh, a long range running south-west 

 and north-east, and containing many lofty summits, capped with 

 perpetual snow. The Char Buhur River, a feeder of the Murad, rises 

 in the angle between the two ranges, and flows east by south ; at the 

 junction the two rivers run in nearly a straight liue from opposite 

 directions, and the united .stream turns off at right angles through a 

 valley vhich gradually opens into the plain of Mush. In the valley the 

 Murad is a deep river about 70 yards wide ; in tho plain its bed expands, 

 and the depth is less. In some of the valleys along the lower course of 

 the Char Buhur the soil is rich, and more laud is cultivated ; the yield of 

 corn is twelvefold. The village of Gurngum, at the foot of the Bin-GSl- 

 Dagh, and not far from the left bank of the Char Buhur, is only 4836 

 feet above the sea. At the junction of the two rivers the elevation 

 is about 4138 feet. Except some willows and dwarf trees on the river 

 banks, all this country is bare of trees. 



Plain of Miah. The plain of Mush extends from the Murad to the 

 foot of the long and lofty mountain range forming a continuation of the 

 Taurus and sometimes called the Mush-Dagh, which runs east and west 

 and separates the basin of the Murad from that of the Tigris. The plain 

 is 40 miles long, 12 to 14 miles wide, and watered by numerous streams ; 

 it contains much pasture and meadow-land. Some portions of it, espe- 

 cially near the mountains on its southern edge, are stony and arid, but 

 the central part is" very fertile. The climate is not so rigorous as in the 

 plain of Erz-rum ; as much snow falls perhaps, but the cold is not so 

 intense ; loaded carts however pass over the ice on the Murad. The 

 summer is warm, often sultry. The elevation of the surface is about 4692 

 feet. The principal products are corn and tobacco ; horses of excellent 

 breed, cows, buffaloes, and sheep are numerous. Grapes are grown on the 

 hill-sides to the southward, and good wine is made ; and abundance of 

 melons and common fruits are produced ; excellent rhubarb grows 

 wild, and is gathered on the slopes of the Mush-Dagh. The only trees 

 to be seen are planted round the villages. In the Mush-Dagh there 

 are oak-forests, chiefly of the dwarf kind, yielding gall-nuts and manna. 

 The villages of the plain are all inhabited by Armenians ; on the skirts 



