VIEW OP ARARAT. 121 



residing at Djulfa, on the Russo-Persian frontier, wliicli 

 proved invaluable. In return he asked for information 

 as to the road we had travelled. We were sorry not to 

 be able to give a better report, as he was considerably 

 perplexed how he should get his wife and heavy baggage 

 over the pass. He started, however, next morning, to try 

 his luck, and we afterwards heard of his safe arrival at 

 Tiflis. 



3Iay 23rd. — The station supplied a comfortless room, 

 where I was privileged to enjoy re230se on a sofa which 

 had once been stuft'ed; but as the middle had, by some 

 incomprehensible means, risen two feet higher than either 

 end, my position was somewhat constrained, and I envied 

 Tucker his level, if hard, boards. The morning was 

 tolerably fine, and on starting we traversed uplands of the 

 same description as yesterday's, only that we could now 

 distinguish the snowy summits of Ak-Dagh on the left, 

 and Alagoz, with two summits about the size of the cone 

 of Piz Languard, perched on an enormously bulky base, on 

 the right. In front a rise of the ground shut out all beyond. 

 As we overtopped the brow, Ararat burst suddenly into 

 view — a huge but gracefully-shaped mass, rising to a height 

 of 16,916 feet, from a base of about 3,000 feet. It stands 

 perfectly isolated from all the other ranges, with the still 

 more perfect cone of Little Ararat (12,840 feet) at its side. 

 Seen thus early in the season, with at least 9,000 feet of 

 snow on its slopes, from a distance and height well calculated 

 to permit the eye to take in its true proportions, we 

 agreed that no single mountain we knew presented such 

 a magnificent and impressive appearance as the Armenian 

 giant. I can only compare it to the popular idea of Atlas — 

 a huge head and shoulders supporting the sky. One is 

 ready immediately to admit that the Ark must have 

 grounded there, if it grounded anywhere in these parts. 



