SMYTH ON THE GEOLOGY OF THE TAURUS. 33 1 



quainted with the valuable information to be obtained from the 

 published routes of Messrs. Brant and Ainsworth.* 



The line of road which I took enabled me to complete the sec- 

 tion of the country in a direct line from the Euphrates to the town 

 of Sivas, and a stay of some weeks put it in my power to obtain 

 some interesting details concerning the important mines of copper 

 at Arghaneh Maden, and of silver at Kebban Maden, as well as 

 others more or less neglected, which lie in various parts of Ar- 

 menia and the N. E. of Asia Minor. 



The great mountain chain called the Taurus by the ancients, 

 runs from the province of Cilicia (now Adana) in a north-easterly 

 direction, and often forms large irregular elevated groups ; on 

 the eastern side of the Euphrates it spreads in various directions 

 around the great lake of Van, and merges into the high land of 

 northern Kurdistan and the volcanic plateaux of Armenia. At 

 the point where the Euphrates cuts through the Taurus the chain 

 appears to consist of one main ridge, and this afterwards branches 

 off into elevated tracts of very irregular form, one portion ex- 

 tending eastward from the river, and another commencing consi- 

 derably to the west of it and stretching away towards the north, f 

 The division of the Taurus with which we have to deal, is 

 separated into two parts by the valley of Kharput, the waters of 

 which flow to the north-east and join the eastern Euphrates. 

 The first of these two portions, in which the river Tigris takes its 

 rise, contains the most elevated points, varying from 6000 to 8000 

 feet above the sea, and then, proceeding towards the north-east, 

 it joins another range called the Darkush Dagh (Niphates) some of 

 whose peaks are estimated at from 8000 to 10,000 feet high. 



The second portion from Kharput to the Euphrates does not 

 attain an elevation of more than 5000 feet, and on the north sinks 

 gradually towards the valley of the Murad Tchai. 



The eastern or main ridge, whose breadth between Arghaneh 

 and Kharput may be estimated at nearly 50 English miles, pre- 

 sents us with a series of limestones and marly slates belonging to 

 the cretaceous period, and resembling the formations of various 

 countries bordering on the Mediterranean. 



« The higher portions generally consist of calcareous strata, abound- 

 ing in nummulites ; whilst the marls, which for the most part 

 occupy a lower position, are highly metamorphic, being changed 

 in colour and frequently hardened to the consistency of silicious 

 slate. Below both, although sometimes occurring in dykes high up 

 the mountain sides, appear rocks of diallage and actinolite in great 

 variety. 



To the west of Kharput, the mountains exhibit a different cha- 



* See " Journal of Royal Geographical Society " for 1841. 



f The lesser ridge of the Karajah Dagh (Masius) which strikes off from 

 hence to the south-east, should not be considered, as it is represented on the 

 maps, as a branch of the Taurus, being almost wholly unconnected with the 

 greater range, and composed of rocks not seen again nearer than forty miles to 

 the westward. 



