REFRACTORY KURDS. 157 



tent. We remonstrated at the delay this would occasion. 

 It was quite early in the day, for we had reached the huts at 

 11,15 A.M., and, being anxious to sleep as high as possible, 

 we proposed to the men that they should go on with us at 

 once, carrying our rugs, in which we were prepared to pass 

 the night. We had provisions enough for ourselves, and 

 we pointed out to them, that if they were afraid of sleeping 

 out at such a height, or had not sufficient food to last till 

 morning, they would have time before nightfall to return 

 to the huts, where they might sleep, and remount next day 

 to fetch down our rugs and other baggage. The men, not 

 unnaturally, were averse to the double toil and trouble in- 

 volved in this plan, and utterly declined to carry it out, or 

 to join us in sleeping out without shelter and a fui-ther 

 supply of food. We were therefore obliged to remain at 

 the huts, and await the arrival of the tent and provisions. 



Our position was curiously like and unlike many old 

 Alpine bivouacs. The surrounding pastures might have 

 been on the Riffelberg, and it was delightful to see again 

 many well-known Alpine flowers. The rhododendron in- 

 deed was sought for in vain, and we were too low for 

 gentians * ; but their lack was partially compensated by a 

 new friend, a dwarf wild hyacinth, white delicately streaked 

 with blue, which grew in great profusion. Little Ararat, 

 however, was sufficiently unlike a Swiss mountain to dispel 

 any illusion, and if that had not sufficed, one glance down 

 his side into the brown, bare, burnt-up trough of the Araxes 

 would have been enough to recall to our minds the fact 

 that we were in Asia, far indeed from the old haunts. 



After midday, clouds gathered, and Ararat indulged in 

 his usual thunderstorm. Some hours passed, but the men 

 did not reappear, and we were getting more and more 

 impatient, when about 3.30 p.m. they came into sight, 

 followed by a cow, carrying one of the regular Kurd tents, 



* Wo afterwards found a solitary plant higher on tlie mountain. 



