122 THE PERSIAN POST-EOAD. 



Francois went off at once into somewliat Colenso-like 

 speculations as to tlie mode of tlie elephant's descent, and 

 liow many years the tortoise must have taken to reach the 

 bottom ; and he was scarcely satisfied with the suggestion 

 that the tortoise turned on his back and made one long 

 glissade of it, while a ' special ' avalanche was engaged to 

 transport the more unwieldy animals. As we thus ex- 

 amined and talked over the mountain, we were glad to 

 observe that, though steep, it did not appear to ofier any 

 serious difficulties ; still the quantity of snow was so great 

 that we decided to postpone our attack on it till after 

 our return from Persia, when we might hope to find the 

 weather more settled, and the slopes in better order for 

 an ascent. Already we fancied we discovered a ' Grand 

 Mulets ' in a rocky tooth which projected from the eastern 

 side of the greater peak, and anathematised anew the 

 faithless Frenchwoman at Kutais, by whose carelessness 

 in failing to forward our mountain- tent we were likely 

 to be prevented from sleeping at so great a height. After 

 we had gazed our fill at Ararat, we noticed that away to 

 the west spread the broad upper basin of the Araxes, 

 bounded by the snowy mountains of Armenia and Kurdi- 

 stan. The last station before Erivan, perhaps an old 

 caravanserai, stands in a most picturesque gap, the rocky 

 sides of which serve as a frame to the stupendous snowy 

 mass of the two Ararats. We were required to write our 

 names and nationality, by an officer of unusually courteous 

 manner. A few versts more, over bare downs, where herds 

 of -camels were picking up the scanty herbage, or kneeling 

 with lugubrious grunts to receive their loads, brought 

 us to a large village on the verge of the last steep descent 

 into the valley. Thence we got our first view of Erivan ; 

 a grey flat-roofed town, nestling under the shelter of the 

 hill we were about to descend, and embowered in groves of 



