A RIDE TO TEHERAN IN 1888. 317 



up the broken stone into heaps of the requisite size 

 they sometimes formed the centre of the heap with 

 earth when the Eussian overseer was not at hand to 

 observe this imposition. 



Once we met a large number of either prisoners 

 or conscripts, some in chains, guarded by a company 

 of Eussian soldiers. On our left rose an extinct 

 volcano of remarkable dome-like shape, crowned with 

 snow and encircled by a number of lesser pinnacles, 

 and on our right as we approached Erivan lay the 

 splendid peak called Alagos (13,400 ft.), covered 

 with snow. But these mountains were dwarfed by 

 Mount Ararat (17,212 ft.), which lay immediately in 

 front of us upon the farther side of the river Araxes ; 

 and soon we saw the city of Erivan lying below us in 

 the dusk, down in the broad flat valley of the river, 

 which lay stretched out, green and shining with the 

 abundant moisture of irrigation as far as the base of 

 the great volcano. The scene formed a remarkable 

 contrast to the country through which we had passed 

 since Lake Gotchka. Never was beheld a more 

 magnificent scene. Afterwards we tired of the sight 

 of Ararat day after day. Never was atmosphere so 

 clear yet so full of colour. On one side the eye 

 could pierce for full one hundred miles into Asia 

 Minor, and on the other equally far into Persia, 

 while behind and around us lay the fairest lands in 

 Armenia. The bare earth took on it a tinge of 

 crimson and mauve, while all the little depressions 

 were filled with clear purple shadows, and wherever 



