ARARAT. 
183 
Agridagh is the name given to this sublime mountain by the 
Turks ; and the Armenians call it Macis : but all unite in rever¬ 
ing it as the haven of the great ship which preserved the father 
of mankind from the waters of the deluge. The height of 
Ararat, has never yet been measured with any satisfactory 
degree of accuracy ; though Captain Monteith, of the Madras 
Engineers, has gone nearer to the mark, perhaps, than any 
other traveller. The following are the results of several trigo- 
nomical observations, which he made at Erivan, and was so kind 
as to communicate to me. From that place, to the highest 
point of the loftiest head, he found fifty-two thousand yards ; 
and from the same spot, to the minor head, fifty-five thousand 
yards. This head (which is distinguished by the appellation, 
Little Ararat, while the higher part is called Great Ararat) is 
distant from the other, from peak to peak, twelve thousand 
yards. Little Ararat bearing from Great Ararat, S. 60 E. 
Great Ararat bears from the monastery of Eitch-mai-adzen, 
S. 5 W.; and Little Ararat, S. 6 E. 
These inaccessible summits have never been trodden by the 
foot of man since the days of Noah, if even then ; for my idea 
is, that the ark rested in the space between these heads, and not 
on the top of either. Various attempts have been made, in 
different ages, to ascend these tremendous mountain-pyramids, 
but in vain. Their form, snows, and glaciers, are insurmount¬ 
able obstacles: the distance being so great, from the commence¬ 
ment of the icy region, to, the highest points, cold alone would 
be the destruction of any person who should have the hardihood to 
persevere. On viewing mount Ararat from the northern side of 
the plain, its two heads are separated by a wide cleft, or rather 
glen, in the body of the mountain. The rocky side of the 
