Old Post-Road from Tiflis to Erivan 305 



entimes are built on the 

 slopes of the mountains, 

 and of the blocks of lava 

 in such a way as to be 

 almost indistinguishable 

 therefrom at a short dis- 

 tance. The dwellings 

 are made mostly one 

 stor}^ high, with flat mud 

 roofs, and often are sur- 

 mounted with piles of 

 straw. This straw, as 

 we soon observed, is put 

 to a curious use in the 

 making of fuel. It is 

 cut up and mixed with 

 the manure as that is 

 taken fresh from the 

 stable. Cakes about ten 

 inches in diameter and 

 two or three inches thick 

 are made from this mixture and plas- 

 tered on to the sunny side of the house 

 to dry. When thoroughly dry they are 

 piled up in pyramidal and conical heaps 

 beside the front door, usually reaching 

 far above the tops of the dwellings. 

 These great piles beside every house 

 make a striking feature of the landscape, 

 and incidentall}^ indicate the wealth of 

 the householder and the desirability of 

 his daughter's hand in marriage. 



The house usually consists of two 

 rooms, one for the famil}-, while the 

 other is used as a stable. A hole dug 

 in the ground in the center of the front 

 room answers as a stove. The fuel is 

 broken up and put into the hole, while 

 from an iron rod laid across it hangs 

 the earthen vessel which contains the 

 food to be cooked. There is no chim- 

 ney to carry out the dense smoke which 

 this fuel makes ; a simple hole in the 

 roof serves as an outlet, and as one door 

 furnishes light and air for both room 

 and stable, the ventilation cannot be 

 considered perfect. At night the people 

 roll themselves up in rugs and sleep on 

 the ground around the fireplace. Roads 

 are rarel}^ or never repaired. When a 



An Armenian Household 



hole becomes so deep that the wheels 

 of a wagon cannot touch bottom or there 

 is danger of a sheep getting lost in it 

 if it gets larger, a new road is made 

 around the hole. If a bridge tumbles 

 down or is swept awa}^, the people 

 change their route, if possible, so as to 

 cross where they can ford the stream. 



Late in the afternoon of the second 

 da}', as we reached the summit of the 

 ridge we were climbing, the full grand- 

 eur of Mt. Ararat burst upon us, and 

 even the most experienced travelers in 

 the party could but marvel at the view, 

 the peculiar colors of a sunset in an arid 

 region making the snow-capped moun- 

 tain a never-to-be-forgotten picture. 

 The peak is isolated and dominates the 

 country for fifty miles around. It has 

 two summits — one, Great Ararat, which 

 is 17,260 feet in altitude, and the other, 

 Little Ararat, 13,093 feet high — the 

 two being connected by a ridge or sad- 

 dle more than 8,000 feet above the sea. 

 As the surrounding plain has an eleva- 

 tion of but 3,000 feet, these great soli- 

 tar}^ cones are much more impressive 

 than most other mountain masses of 

 equal elevation. There is a belief cur- 



