370 Mr. L. N. G. Ramsay on the 



the surrounding plains, however, at the end of May a good 

 deal of water was still lying — the preceding spring having 

 been marked by an unusually heavy snowfall. 



As might have been expected, the vegetation of the 

 Kara Dagh was far from luxuriant. Everywhere were rocks. 

 Most of the lower parts had a scanty soil, sometimes com- 

 posed of volcanic scoriae or of gravel washed down by the 

 spates, but everywhere studded with boulders or rock-debris. 



The main features of the vegetation were as follows : — 



Oak-woods clothed considerable areas of the southern and 

 south-eastern slopes of the central mass. The trees were 

 small, not reaching a greater height than perhaps 25 feet. 

 Ground-vegetation in the woods was scanty. The woods 

 reached an altitude of considerably more than 6000 feet. 



Oak-scrub was a distinct type of vegetation, which clothed 

 many of the slopes between 4000 and 6000 feet, sometimes 

 continuously over large areas, sometimes in scattered clumps. 

 The mode of growth of these oaks was always as though 

 they had been coppiced, several stems rising together from 

 the root. A specimen has been identified (with some doubt) 

 as Quercus lusitanica Lam. 



The rounded bottom of the great crater and some of the 

 higher slopes of the central mass were covered with grass. 



The gravel-slopes often supported an open, tufted, her- 

 baceous vegetation ; at other parts on the rocky hill-sides, 

 scattered bushes and herbs grew on the scanty soil between 

 the boulders. 



In the past, in early Christian times, the Kara Dagh was 

 the site of the town of Barata, situated in a sheltered 

 hollow between some of the outlying hills (Goz D. on the 

 one hand, Kizil D. and Tchet D. on the other). Around 

 this ancient site grew trees and shrubs, such as Pyrus mains, 

 P. salicifolia, Prunus kotschyi, Elceagnus angustifolia, Celtis 

 caucasica, Rhamnus oleoides, Colutea arborescens, and others. 

 In one of the high glens, where a spring was situated, 

 there were also a good many deciduous trees, some of large 

 size. 



At the time of our visit, the human inhabitants of the 

 Kara Dagh were few, and were living in two small villages of 



