156 ARARAT. 



of Kurd tents were pitched. A somewhat steep ascent 

 led up to the green plain which fills the space between the 

 bases of the two Ararats. The Little Ararat rose imme- 

 diately before us in an unbroken slope of about 4,000 feet ; 

 it is a typical volcano, uniform on all sides, but least steep 

 on the Turkish, from which a Russian General is said to 

 have ridden up on horseback. 



On our right the base and upper portion of the cone of 

 the Great Ararat were visible ; the lower part being 

 masked by buttresses, and the whole mass most deceitfully 

 foreshortened. On a knoll about 300 feet above the plain 

 we found the group of huts which have been used as a 

 resting-place by most of the explorers of Ararat. These 

 queer dwellings are underground burrows, constructed like 

 the villages on the Georgian steppes. A door of twisted 

 twigs, on being opened, reveals a hole in the hillside, 

 which forms the mouth of a long, winding, dark passage 

 leading into two or more chambers lighted by holes in the 

 roof. The floor of these horrid caverns is the natural 

 soil, and their atmosphere is earthy and tomb-like, while 

 the darkness that pervades them adds to their depressing 

 efffect. The roofs are formed of branches covered with 

 turf, and as there is nothing outside to distinguish them 

 from the solid ground, it is easy to walk over them unawares. 

 One of our horses, while grazing, suddenly sank into one 

 of these dangerous traps, and was left, with only its fore- 

 quarters emerging from the ground, in a position from 

 which it was extricated with great difficulty. 



On the way up we halted, and discussed our arrange- 

 ments with the Kurd chief. We had been told below that 

 we should find all we wanted at the huts ; but they now 

 proved to be uninhabited, and it was therefore necessary 

 to get a further supply of bread at one of the encamp- 

 ments lower down. The porters wished also to borrow a 



