in the I emperature of TVinter. 53 



lie says, tliey were obliged to encamp at night in u^et and 

 miry places — so that it was not cold enough to freeze wa- 

 ter. But we must not conclude from these facts that the 

 climate of that country is altered ; for Chardin and Tour- 

 ncfort, in the 17th and 18th centuries, found the tem- 

 perature of the winter precisely as described by Xeno- 

 phon and Plutarch. Chardin informs us, that when he 

 passed Caucasus, the snow was, in some places, ten feet 

 deep — his guides wore snow shoes, and in some places, 

 shovelled for him a path. At Tefflis, on the river Kur, 

 it snowed all day, when he first an'ived ; and he repeat- 

 edly mentions that the mountains of Armenia and Geor- 

 gia, ^vhich are in the 40th, 41st and 42d degrees of north 

 latitude, are never destitute of snow.... See pages 166, 

 171, 241, 242, 247, 413. Lond. fol. 1686. 



Tournefort arrived at Erzeron, at the foot of a moun- 

 tain near the head of the Euphrates, in the 40th degree 

 of latitude, on the 15th of June, and found the neigh- 

 boring hills covered with snow. The nights were so cold 

 that his fingers were too numb to write, until an hour 



after sunrise. The wheat harvest was in September 



See his Travels, vol iii./?. 75, 81, 82, 94, 102, 107, £s?c. 

 Lond. 8i;o. 1741. 



AtErivan, in the 41st degree of latitude, says Char- 

 din, the winter lasts long, so that it sometimes snows 

 in April ; the country produces v/ine in abundance, but 

 the people are obliged to cover the vines in v^dnter..../?. 

 247. From these authorities we may infer that the win- 

 ter temperature of Armenia and Georgia has not abated 

 within 2000 years,* 



It has been already remarked that snow formerly fell 

 occasionally in Greece, even in the Peloponnese ; and 

 the most credible testimonies agree that mount Ida, in 



* Herodotus, book i. relates that at Babylon, \\'hich was in a mikl 

 climate, far south of Armenia, the ancient inhabitants did not culti- 

 vate the vine, olive and fig ; but he insinuates that this neglect was 

 owing- to the peculiar fitness of the soil for corn. That it could not 

 be on account of the climate, is certain ; for the same author relates 

 that the palm tree was cultivated wiih success ; and caprificalion was 

 then practiced as in modern times. Herodotus also says, that palm 

 wine was an article of merchandize, transported from Armenia doAvn 

 the Euphrates, in boats made of willows covered with skins. 



