LOFTUS— TURKO-PERSIAN FRONTIER. 315 



town of Bayazid, which is situated near the summit and commands a 

 fine view of the plains at the foot of Mount Ararat. On the descent, 

 the blue marls, which rest on limestone, exhibit unequivocal evidence 

 of there having been considerable volcanic agency at work during 

 their deposition. Numerous layers of large rounded lumps of basaltic 

 lava lie closely packed together in the marl matrix. 



The descending order of stratification here is — 1. Red marls. 

 2. Blue marls. 3. Blue compact limestone. The last constitutes 

 the lofty range at the back of the town, and shuts out the view of 

 Mount Ararat. It is thrown down nearly vertically towards the 

 S.W., i.e. towards Bayazid, and the marls have been shot off from it 

 in the same direction. Upon these Bayazid is built. A broad plain 

 intervenes between Bayazid and Mount Ararat. The two peaks of 

 this great monarch of the Persian Mountains are apparently a solid 

 mass of basaltic lava, similar to that of Tendurli, but, of course, on 

 a much more gigantic scale. Immense streams have flowed into the 

 plains at their foot, passing in their course over the extremity of a 

 lofty range of limestone, and again overflowing it at its base. 



A hollow cone, broken down at its S.W. side, is situated in the 

 centre of the lava flood a great distance up the slope of the Greater 

 Ararat, but far below the top of the saddle which connects the two 

 peaks. The layers of the crater are distinctly seen in the interior, 

 dipping from the centre, and an enormous stream of lava appears to 

 have flowed from the fractured side of the cone. At the point where 

 the connecting saddle meets the slope of the cone, there are ap- 

 parently relics of several ancient and decayed craters. 



There is another on the lower part of the Lesser Ararat. 



The limestone to the east of Bazirgan contains numerous casts of 

 fossils, apparently of the same species as those from the nummulitic 

 rocks of Kirrind. 



A severe illness prevented my making further investigations in 

 this highly interesting district, which had, however, been previously 

 examined by Russian geologists. 



A violent shock of earthquake was experienced at Bayazid, on the 

 19th Sept. 1852, — a suflicient proof that the internal fires, which in 

 ancient times produced such elevatory movements throughout this 

 region, are not yet extinguished. 



Section from Bayazid to Ardish. Fig. 21. 



From Bayazid the red and blue marls bear away to the west in a 

 lofty range called Dizzenen Dagh. The road follows along the north 

 base of this range for 3^ miles, and then strikes across a rough 

 plain of basaltic scoriae. Here the vast lava-torrents of Ararat and 

 Tendurli meet ; and of such extent have been these flows of molten 

 matter, that, if a line be drawn in a S.W. direction from the N.E. 

 base of Ararat, over Tendurli to the extremity of the Kharpanak 

 promontory, on the east shore of the Lake of Van, it will pass 

 uninterruptedly over basaltic lava for 110 English miles, — a distance 

 exceeding the greatest length of the two longest streams from the 



