A MOOXLIGHT WALK. 159 



manding a view of the ground between us and our moun- 

 tain. In front lay a deej) hollow, such as in the Alps 

 would be filled bj a glacier ; the ridge along which we 

 were proceeding appeared to be connected with, or rather 

 to form a continuation of others, by which it was pos- 

 sible to make the circuit of the hollow, and reach the 

 foot of the great rocks, which we had, for convenience and 

 old acquaintance' sake, named ' les Grands Mulets.' 



In the first hour and a half we had cleared a good deal 

 of ground, and I remarked to Tucker how well we were 

 getting on, and how 'fit' I felt. Nemesis was at hand. 

 In another half-hour, though the ground was easy and 

 the inclination trifling, I began to feel unwell, and ex- 

 perienced all the sensations of mountain-sickness, generally 

 ascribed to the rarity of the air. In the present case, 

 too much telega-travelling and want of training supj)lied 

 a sufficient cause. Meantime the moon was shining 

 gloriously in a cloudless sky, lighting up the huge white 

 cone above us, and the distant ranges beyond the Araxes. 

 Unluckily, I got worse instead of better, and was obliged 

 to delay our progress by frequent halts. We were now 

 beginning to climb the actual cone, and the rock-ridge, 

 though still easy, became steeper. When fairly on the 

 face of the ' Grands Mulcts,' after three hours of feeble 

 and intermittent progress, ' the force of nature could no 

 further go,' and I sadly succumbed, leaving rran9ois and 

 Tucker to go on and, as I hoped, to prosper. This was 

 about 6 A.M. The sun was ah-eady high, and the aii* was 

 pleasantly warm. 



I was left on a shelf of the rock with a cup of wine and 

 some food. For the latter I felt no inclination; as for 

 the wine, it was soon disposed of by my dozing off and 

 upsetting it with my arm, leaving barely a wineglass- 

 fiil of liquid as my provision for the morning. 



