THE MOUNTAINEERS OF THE EUPHRATES 



149 



Photo by Ellsworth Huntington 

 A COMPLETED RAPT OP IN PL, AT ED SHEEPSKINS 



portion which contains the grave, and 

 there, in a recess, all manner of filthi- 

 ness is gathered — the bones, sinews, and 

 gristle of sacrifices which pilgrims have 

 devoured beside the grave. Outside the 

 cave the place of sacrifice appears — a 

 great altar, four-square, of rough stones, 

 covered with the dark gore of countless 

 victims offered through the ages by 

 Turks, Kurds, and Armenians, all of 

 whom hold the spot in equal reverence. 

 Beside the main altar stands a smaller 

 one piled high with the horns of sacri- 

 fices. Great beams have been put up be- 

 tween this altar and a neighboring rock, 

 and from them hang large copper cal- 

 drons, donated by pilgrims for the use 

 of the offerers of sacrifices. No man 

 dare touch the sacred objects except for 

 their legitimate uses, and the caldrons 

 and the offerings of tinsel and cloth 

 within the cave remain unmolested in a 

 region where all things else are constantly 

 subject to theft. 



The crowning holy place in this bend 

 of the Euphrates is the ruined church of 

 Mushar Killisseh, or Surp Aharon 

 (Saint Aaron), as the Armenians call it, 

 on the top of the mountain, 2400 feet 

 above the river. The men who built it 

 must have had great love of scenery or 

 else a great desire for safety or seclusion. 

 Otherwise the church would scarcely 

 have been built in so inaccessible a spot, 

 unless, perchance, the site was originally 

 chosen as a holy place by worshipers 

 of the sun. The chief interest of the 

 shrines of Mushar Dagh lies in the fact 

 that they indicate how closely the various 

 and apparently diverse races of the upper 

 Euphrates region are actually united to 

 one another. In spite of conquest and 

 racial difference, in spite of the diversity 

 of life occasioned by the contrast between 

 the fertile plains and the barren moun- 

 tains, all races still reverence the shrines 

 of their remote predecessors. 



