ON ITS EXTERIOR. VOLCANOES. 341 



petual snow ; the erupted substances are of two kinds ; 

 part being trachytic with glassy felspar, and interspersed 

 pyrites very susceptible of weathering ; and part dole- 

 Titic, consisting chiefly of labradorite and augite, like the 

 lavas of Etna ; Abich regards the latter as, in this case, 

 the more recent. The places from which the streams 

 of lava have flowed (all of which, as already stated, are 

 below the snow limit) are often marked by cones of 

 eruption, and small craters surrounded by scoriaB (for 

 example in the large grassy plain of Kip-Grhioll on the 

 north-western declivity). Although the deep valley of 

 St. James (a ravine which runs up to the summit of 

 Ararat, and gives to its form a peculiar character, even 

 when seen at a very great distance) presents much 

 similarity to the Val del Bove of Etna, and renders 

 visible the very interior structure of the upheaved dome, 

 yet there is a striking difference, inasmuch as in St. 

 James's Valley trachytic rock is found in mass, without 

 lava currents, or beds of scoriaB or of rapilli. ( 483 ) The 

 Greater and the Lesser Ararat, the first of which is, 

 according to the excellent geodesical operations of Vasili 

 Fedorow, 3' 4" to the north and 6' 42" to the west of 

 the latter, rise on the southern edge of the great plain 

 through which the Araxes rolls in a wide sweep. They 

 both stand on the same ellipticaily shaped volcanic 

 plateau, whose major axis is directed from south-east 

 to north-west. Kasbegk and Tschegem are also without 

 summit-craters, although the former has sent forth 

 great eruptions in a northerly direction (towards Wladi- 

 caucas). The greatest of all these extinct volcanoes, 

 the trachytic cone of Elburuz, whi^h has been up- 

 heaved from the schistose, talcose, dioritic, and graniti- 



