SUBLIME VIEW OF ARARAT. 
397 
build up the remainder with huge stones, like Cyclopean walls. Upon 
this they lay very thick rafters, and then cover the whole with earth, 
in so solid a manner, that in walking about the village it is difficult 
to say if you are walking upon a house top, or upon the bare 
ground. They only leave one aperture at the top, which lights the 
room inhabited by the family. This room is partitioned off with large 
planks and railing from the great body of the interior, which is left as a 
stable for the cattle. In some cases, the inhabitants descend into their 
dwelling from above ; but generally they and the cattle have one com¬ 
mon entrance, as they have one common place of abode. The inhabi¬ 
tants and the cattle keep each other warm; the former by making a fire 
in their lodging, and the latter by the heat of their exhalations. 
From Ekrek to Kars, which I must conceive to be one of the highest 
parts of Armenia, the whole country was covered with deep snow. 
This was only the 11th of November, and snow had already been a fort¬ 
night on the ground. Upon the clearing away of a dense fog, from the 
highest eminence above Ekrek, I had one of the most extensive and 
sublime views, perhaps, in the world.- The grand outlines of Ararat 
were on the one side; the extensive plain of Erivan, watered by the 
Araxes, was in front; and the mountains of Alisez and Georsia on 
the left; whilst below me was the junction of the Arpachai and the 
Araxes, delineated as on a map. I also observed the junction of the 
Kars river with that of the Arpachai. The extreme and piercing 
cold that I felt at this height totally disabled me from making use of 
my pencil, or of taking geographical bearings with my compass; and 
it will be a matter of regret that I have lost so good an opportunity of 
bringing away at least a sketch of so vast and sublime a scene. 
I must then have been upon part of the mountains in which the 
ten thousand Greeks wandered about for twenty-one days* without a 
guide; a disaster which the heavy fogs that are common to this part of 
Armenia must have considerably increased. : 
* Vide Rennell’s Illustrations,: chap. li. 
