A STEPPE STORM. 125 



between a succession of orchards and vineyards, nourished 

 by a careful system of irrigation, which has made this 

 part of the Araxes valley like a great garden. These 

 vines are locally reputed to be descendants of these 

 planted by Noah after the Deluge, and some support is 

 given to this tradition by the fact that the juice is still 

 famed among the Russian officers for retaining the pecu- 

 liarly intoxicating quality it possessed in the days of the 

 Patriarch. From Kamirlu, a large village where the 

 track to Aralykh turns ofP, the view of the two Ararats, 

 now close at hand, is superb. The Little Ararat, on the 

 left, is a perfect cone, looking a volcano all over ; the 

 higher mountain rises from the gap between the two 

 summits, in a long slope, broken, about 3,500 feet below 

 the top, by a huge rock-tooth. The snow-dome falls away 

 gently towards the north for some distance, and suj)ports 

 a large neve-plateau, below which the mountain breaks 

 down steeply for several thousand feet. 



We now left cultivation behind, and drove at will over 

 the grassy steppe, passing every now and then a group of 

 Turcoman tents, large and comfortable erections. A sheet 

 of dingy canvas forms the roof, while the sides are con- 

 structed of wicker-framework, hung with gay-coloured 

 carpets, woven by the women. During the fifth stage, we 

 passed through a curious gap in a range of hills, which ran 

 out from the barren chain on our left, and came in view of 

 a broad lagoon formed by the flooded Araxes. Clouds had 

 been for some time gathering round Ararat, and now 

 slowly detached themselves, in black masses, from its 

 sides. We noticed, first, apparent puffs of smoke on the 

 further side of the valley ; then a pillar, as of cloud, rose 

 into the air, and swept towards us across the Araxes ; with 

 it came the howling wind, lashing up the waters of the 

 lake ; and a minute afterwn,rds, we were overtaken by a 



