IS 34.] Miscellaneous. , 55 



siderable difficulty we scrambled up to the top of tlie hill, which is higher and 

 steeper than the former, but of a similar formation. On reaching the top, 1 found 

 an immense hollow of the same irregular form, with signs of water having been 

 considerably agitated against its sides ; but in ether respects exactly resembling 

 the crater of a volcano. The eye could not reach the bottom, so that I could not 

 ascertain if there was still water; the diameter of tbis was considerably less (per 

 haps forty feet). We descended with even more difficulty than we had clambered 

 vip, and commenced a strict search round the base, to ascertain if water had ever 

 forced its way through the mass of rock. On the western side the hill appeared 

 to be less compact than in other places, and a considerable channel, in which there- 

 is now no water, has been washed away apparently by a rapid current. I there 

 fore think it not impossible that this hill, like the former, had once been the same 

 kind of basin, gradually formed by a deposit of the water, which, at last, on 

 reaching a height beyond which the sides were unable to resist its pressure, found 

 a passage through the lower part. Whether this is the case or not, I leave to the 

 decision of more able geologists than myself ; but the fact is undoubted, that this 

 mass of mountains in the neighbourhood, 7500 feet high, appears to its very 

 summit to be composed of the same light deposit. In the south-west extremity are 

 extensive mines of sulphur, and a white substance was shown me, which they 

 used in their sherbet, of a pleasant acid taste : they praised it as being an excellent 

 tonic. — Monteith's Tour; Jour.Geoy. Sue. iii. 7. 



3. — Gigantic Natural Arch. 

 At the seventeenth mile we reached the town of Makoo, and its gigantic 

 cavern. The whole party were struck with amazement, and instinctively halted, 

 not able to trust our eyes as to the reality of the scene before us. A vast arch, 

 600 feet high, 1200 feet in span, and 20 feet thick at the top, at once presented, 

 itself to our view. This cavern is 800 feet deep, but, as the sun then shone directly 

 in the height and breadth alone attracted our attention. At the very bottom of this 

 is a castle inhabited by a chief of the tribe of Biaut ; and at the junction of the 

 limestone and lava a number of small caves have been partially excavated, accessible 

 only by a ladder. From one of these a small stream of water trickles down the 

 rock, but the artificial works look, in the vast space of this natural excavation, 

 like ants' nests on a wall. It appears to me that this could only have been formed 

 at the time of some great convulsion of nature. From the breadth of the sheets of 

 lava, I do not think they came from any volcano, but by the sudden rise of a great 

 extent of country. Had a number of small volcanoes at any time existed, the 

 meaning of Azerdbijan (country of fire) applied to the whole province, could not 

 be doubtful. The chief was jealous of a close examination of his fortress, and 

 though a ladder, for which I applied, to examine an inscription at the western side, 

 was promised, it never came. From the ground I could see that the writing was 

 neither Arabic nor Armenian, and had some appearance of Greek or Roman 

 characters. The place is a modern structure, but the upper caves have always 

 been in use as places of refuge. There are about 400 houses in the town : some 

 few stand under the rock, but as masses of stone have frequently fallen, the gene- 

 rality are outside, and protected by a low wall ; they could easily be destroyed 

 from the top of the rock. — Monteith's Tour. 



