GEOGRAPHICAL
My purpose in the present chapter is to collect the threads of that
part of the narrative which was occupied with the natural features,
and to endeavour to weave them together into a composite but single
fabric, capable of being appreciated as a whole. In the pursuit of
this object I shall postulate familiarity on the part of my reader
with the contents of the companion chapter dealing with the same
subject which belongs to my first volume; and it is not without
misgiving that I compare the scantiness of my present material with
the multitude of facts with which the researches of Hermann Abich
have enriched our knowledge of the Russian provinces. I am dependent
almost entirely upon the gleanings of my own journeys and of those
accomplished by my friends within quite recent years; and it has
been impossible to commence the writing of this chapter before the
completion of the map embodying these results. What it may, perhaps,
be hoped without excessive presumption is that the framework, at least,
of our subject, the geography of South-Western or Turkish Armenia, can
now be established with some degree of certainty; and that succeeding
travellers may be enabled to recognise at a glance the more imperfect
parts instead of losing themselves in the almost unknown or falsely
known. [279]
No better standpoint could be selected from which to commence a survey
of the geography than the spine of that range whence we descended
into Turkish territory during our journey southwards from Kagyzman
(Vol. I. Ch. XX. p. 409, and Ch. XXI. p. 436). It carries the present
frontier between the Russian and Turkish Empires, and in fact divides
the area of Armenia into two parts. In a political sense it forms
a boundary of considerable significance, shutting off Russia from
the waters which issue in the Persian Gulf. More than once have her
victorious armies flooded across this barrier, and not less often have
they been compelled by the provisions of the ensuing peace to withdraw
to its further side. The length of the range, its ruggedness and the
relative height of the passes, compared with the plains on either
flank, are features which must have operated throughout history to
invest it with an importance unrivalled by the other systems which
furrow the surface of the Armenian tableland. From the Kuseh Dagh
(11,262 feet) in the west to Little Ararat (12,840 feet) in the east is
a distance of nearly 100 miles; and throughout that space the chain
is made up of such lofty peaks as the Ashakh Dagh (10,723 feet),
Perli Dagh (10,647 feet), Sulakha Dagh (9644 feet) and Khama Dagh
(11,018 feet). The passes reach from 7000 to 8500 feet; while the
level of the plain of the Araxes does not exceed 3000 feet, nor that
of the plain of Alashkert 5500 feet. In appearance the barrier as a
whole resembles the mountains of the peripheral regions; there are
the same deep valleys, jagged outline, precipitous slopes. It seems
some daring invasion of those mountains into the plateau country; and
the semblance is accentuated by the beds of marl along its northerly
base into which the long transverse parapets plunge (Vol. I. Fig. 106,
p. 419). Highly crystalline rocks, such as diabase, and even syenite,
of which the spine of the more westerly portion is probably composed,
have played the principal part in its configuration, where recent
eruptive action has not built up a sequence of volcanic fabrics, such
as Kuseh Dagh, Perli Dagh, the peaks about Lake Balük, the Great and
the Little Ararat.
This range, to which collectively we may apply the name of Aghri
Dagh or Ararat system, constitutes the principal intermediate line of
elevation between the northern and the southern zones of peripheral
mountains. It has been subjected to intense folding pressure, and
during the process of bending over from an east-north-easterly to a
south-easterly direction a partial fracture of the arc it describes
has taken place. From the western shore of Lake Balük, an upland
sheet of water lying at a level of 7389 feet, we are, perhaps,
justified in tracing the extension of one branch of the system along
the water-parting between the Murad and the Araxes south-east to the
Tendurek Dagh, and through that volcano into the line of hills which
divides the basin of Lake Van from the streams which find their way
into the Araxes. Thence the elevation may be followed into the southern
peripheral region, forming, as it were, a splinter from the chain
of Zagros which has struggled upwards through the plateau country to
its very heart. The prevalence of crystalline rocks, which have been
classed by Loftus as granite, has been attested along the inner edge
of Zagros all the way from near Khorremabad in Persia past Hamadan
to the sources of the Great Zab; and they extend from the western
borders of Lake Urmi at least as far as the district of Bayazid. [280]
It seems probable that they are in connection with the granite rocks
of the Aghri Dagh, where they are found to the west of the Perli Dagh
along the axis of this northern intermediate system. [281]
The more northerly and principal branch in an orographical sense would
appear to consist almost exclusively of recent volcanic mountains,
stretching from Perli Dagh in an east-south-easterly direction to
the Pambukh Dagh, west of Great Ararat. In this neighbourhood the
line is taken up by the fabric of Ararat, raising the barrier by slow
stages to nearly 17,000 feet, and having an axis from north-west to
south-east. [282] The sequence comes to an end in the Little Ararat,
whose slopes descend on three sides to fairly level plains. An
interesting feature about the range in its more westerly portion are
the outbreaks of andesitic lava along its base upon the north. These
eruptions appear to have culminated in the peak of Takjaltu (8409
feet) near Kulpi, which forms a landmark to the districts on that
side. Thence the fissure which gave issue to the andesite may be
traced westwards, keeping parallel to the chain. The eruptions have
disturbed the sedimentary rocks, and their incidence can be certainly
attributed to the Miocene period. [283] Further east the upwellings
of lava along the slopes of the mountains have all the appearance of
having been discharged into a sheet of water spread over the surface
of the Ararat region. [284]
West of the Kuseh Dagh, the bell-shaped mountain, this intermediate
line of elevation may be plainly followed upon the map along the
southern confines of the plain of Pasin through the limestones which
the Araxes threads in a landscape of savage grandeur before its entry
upon the level expanse. From the left bank of the river the heights
are continued for many a mile, until they are distinguished by the
Palandöken-Eyerli Dagh volcanic system (10,694 feet) just south of
Erzerum. A slight inclination southwards through the Karakaya Dagh
into the volcanic Keupek Dagh, and further south into the Khach Dagh,
the southern boundary of the province of Terjan, takes the line with
clear definition through the Girdim Dagh and the Baghir Dagh into the
lofty and extensive barrier of the Merjan-Muzur Dagh (about 12,000
feet), facing the plains about Erzinjan. The progress of the elevation
across the Euphrates through Asia Minor to the Mediterranean appears
to be indicated on the map of Kiepert by the Sarichichek Dagh, west
of Egin, whence it is probably protracted between the Taurus and the
Anti-Taurus chains. The Anti-Taurus would appear to be represented in
Armenia by the system which enters the country in the Chardaklu Dagh
(long. 39, lat. 39.55), and extends in the form of an elevated block
of tableland through the Sipikor Dagh, Dadian Dagh (11,000 feet),
Kop Dagh into the Dümlü Dagh, north of Erzerum, and the Chorokh region.
The importance of the orographical system which we have now traced from
Ararat to Muzur Dagh, and from Lake Balük to the Zagros range, may be
appreciated in a geographical sense by one or two reflections. In
the first place it provides the natural frontier between the
country about Lake Van and the Persian province of Azerbaijan. This
frontier may probably be regarded as the natural eastern boundary
of Armenia during its course from behind Bayazid to the Avrin Dagh,
overlooking the valley of the river of Kotur. At the present day
it forms the Turko-Persian border; while the more northerly branch,
which effects a junction in the neighbourhood of Lake Balük, divides
the Russian and Turkish Empires. As the most pronounced constituent
of the Asiatic structural design within the limits of the tableland,
the system carries over the Tauric lines of elevation into those
which have determined the configuration of the Iranian highlands. It
encompasses this result in a most impressive manner, standing up
from the plateau region with precipitous slopes on either side and
suggesting to the mind the conception of a backbone to the country
as a whole. It is at this point that in the Shatin or Aghri Dagh it
effects the bend over into Persia, but not without partial fracture
and consequent dislocation. At the same time we should be mistaken
in attributing to the system functions analogous to those of the
mountains of the peripheral regions. Even the Aghri Dagh is deprived
of many of the qualities essential to a barrier by its narrowness
and by the extension of the open plains on either flank. The border
between the Lake Van basin and Azerbaijan consists of a line of hills
rather than of mountains in the proper sense. The extension of the
elevation along the southern confines of the plains of Pasin and of
Erzerum takes the form of the lofty rim of the central region of the
tableland, and not of a mountain range. That term might, perhaps,
be applied to the cretaceous heights of the Merjan-Muzur Dagh; but
these again are probably due to the resistance of the Dersim block,
the plateau-like country which they limit upon the north.
I have already traced the course of the mountains of the northern
peripheral region, the effective barrier between Armenia and the coast
of the Black Sea, throughout their prolongation upon the confines
of the tableland, and have drawn the natural frontier inwards in the
neighbourhood of Ispir across the valley of the Chorokh to the northern
border heights of the plain of Erzerum (Vol. I. Ch. XXI. p. 431). The
analogous zone upon the south is composed by the main chain of Taurus,
separating the highlands from the low-lying plains of Mesopotamia
and buttressing them up on that side. This chain appears to have
succeeded in accomplishing the curve into the Iranian direction
without undergoing fracture to any material extent. The symmetry of
the arc described as seen from the plains about Diarbekr has already
enlisted our admiration (ibid. p. 424). The spine of the range may be
followed along the southern shore of Lake Göljik to the Palu Dagh,
east of the town of Palu. Thence it is taken along the plain of
Chabakchur and the left bank of the Murad to the confines of the plain
of Mush. Conspicuous with sharp peaks which are seldom free from snow,
it stretches past the depression of Mush into the landscape of Lake
Van, where it recalls the sombreness of the Norwegian coast. Through
the Karkar Dagh (long. 42.47), and, further east, through the Bashit
Dagh, west of Bashkala, it makes steps southwards to the threshold
of the basin of the Great Zab; and the elevation may be traced on
the further side of the river in the peaks of the Jelu Dagh, said to
attain a height of between 13,000 and 14,000 feet. [285]
An impressive feature of this Taurus range, and one which ought not to
escape the attention whether of geographers or of political students,
is the manner in which it appears to have sunk down along its southern
edge between the 39th and 42nd degrees of longitude. In places
the girdle of mountains becomes so narrow that its effectiveness
as a barrier is much impaired. From the town of Arghana, which
must lie almost at the southern foot of the chain, it is a direct
distance of not more than 28 miles to the confines of the plains
about Kharput. These may be attained from Diarbekr on the lowlands
without encountering a greater altitude than less than 5000 feet. The
position of the town of Haini (2800 feet) appears to correspond to that
of Arghana; and thence the Murad may be reached in 22 miles direct
by a pass of only 4200 feet. In such a climate heights like these
are quite insignificant, and they would not offer at any season an
obstacle of much importance to an army operating from the lowlands in
the direction of the Armenian plains. This sinking-down of Taurus has
been accompanied, as indeed one might expect, by volcanic action on a
considerable scale. The Karaja Dagh, which lies to the south-west of
Diarbekr, is not a mountain of much relative height. You may ride at a
trot across its long-drawn undulations, admiring the sea-like expanse
of the plains around. Yet it represents an extensive outpouring of
lavas in recent geological times. It would appear to be in connection
with some of the greatest of Armenian volcanoes, and with a string
of depressions extending across the plateau. The line may be easily
recognised through Nimrud and Sipan to Tendurek and Ararat.
With the exception of the Dersim block, lying to the south of the
Merjan-Muzur Dagh, which has not yet been satisfactorily explored,
the remaining lines of elevation within the limits of the tableland
are probably for the most part derived from the Taurus system. In this
connection it is most interesting to take due note of the phenomenon
that, side by side with the results of the later earth movements which
have most largely determined the existing configuration of the land,
an older movement may be discerned with a wide extension in Turkish
Armenia, rearing mountains along a south-west--north-east line. We
ourselves remarked this phenomenon on an impressive scale in the Akh
Dagh, an elevation of highly marmorised limestone, which may well be
older even than the Cretaceous period. It rises up on the north of
the plain of Khinis (Ch. VIII. p. 186, Fig. 159), which it confines
in an east-south-easterly direction. Though we were unable to test the
strike of the stratification, the appearance of the ridges of which it
is composed almost demanded the conclusion that they were originally
members of a series of heights with a north-easterly course. Even as
far east as the region to the south-west of Lake Van, where the Taurus
is pursuing a general trend towards east-south-east, the strike of the
older rocks was ascertained to be north-east. A glance at the map will
show that the heights which confine the course of the Gunek Su pursue
a north-easterly direction. Those on the right bank, extending to the
basin of the Kighi or Peri Su, may be clearly traced into the Taurus
on the west of Palu, to be represented further south by the Chembek
Dagh and Mastikan Dagh, constituents of Taurus to the south-west
of Kharput. In the opposite direction the line may not unreasonably
be regarded as extending beneath the volcanic accumulations of the
Bingöl Dagh through the Akh Dagh into the hills confining the plain of
Alashkert upon the south, known as the Mergemir or Khalias Dagh. The
younger movements may find expression in the present trend of the two
last-named systems, and, further south, in the Köshmür Dagh, Shaitan
Dagh and Javresh Dagh, mountains through which the Kighi Su breaks in
a narrow defile after leaving the Khindris Ova or plain. These last
extend with impressive orographical distinction to the south-western
edge of the Bingöl plateau.
The Köshmür Dagh effects a junction with the mountains of the Dersim;
and it would almost seem as if that region had refused to submit to
the folding pressure, causing the earth waves to work round it and,
like the plateau of Azerbaijan, on the east of Armenia, favouring
fracture rather than subordination in any complete sense to the general
structural laws. [286] Yet I cannot doubt that the Dersim should be
included within the limits of the country which forms the subject of
the present enquiry. The name appears to be applied more strictly to
the mountainous region lying to the east of the upper reaches of the
Muzur Su, between that river and the town of Kighi Kasaba. But it may
be used to embrace also the country to the south of the Merjan-Muzur
Dagh, as far west as the great bend of the Western Euphrates and
up to the right bank of the Murad on the south. Separated from the
important Turkish military station at Erzinjan by a range of mountains
covered with snow during six months in the year, it slopes gradually
towards the river on its southern confines, well wooded in many parts,
abounding in minerals, but broken and rugged especially in the northern
and eastern districts. The original home of an Armenian population,
who probably entered their historical seats from the west, it is dotted
over with the ruins of Armenian churches, monasteries and villages,
and is mainly but sparsely inhabited by Kizilbash Kurds. [287] The
natural boundary between Armenia and Asia Minor is the course of
the Western Euphrates between the town of Kemakh, the burial-place
of the Armenian Arsakid kings, and its passage through Taurus below
Keban-Maden. North of the Euphrates the line may be drawn in a more
or less arbitrary manner from above Egin to the mountains of the
northern peripheral region.
The boundary of Taurus is clearly defined from one end of Armenia
to the other, describing a symmetrical curve along the threshold
of the Armenian highlands, and affording a number of standpoints
whence the contrast may be appreciated between the plateau country
and the peripheral mountains. A string of great plains extend on
its inner or northern side, but plains quite different in character
from the lowlands about Diarbekr, and framed in a landscape never
wanting in the long-drawn outlines of the loftier levels. The plain
of Kharput, with an altitude of something over 3000 feet, commences
the series on the west. It is reached from the west and the south
by a number of easy approaches, the Tauric barrier being readily
surmountable in this neighbourhood. The town is built upon a hill,
not far south of the Murad, on the northern confines of the plain;
and the old castle overlooks the expanse at a difference in level
of about 1000 feet. Various estimates assign a population of from
13,000 to 25,000 souls to this ancient Armenian borough; and, although
the Armenians are in great minority in the city, they have a large
preponderance among the inhabitants of the surrounding region. It
has been estimated that not less than from 130 to 150 villages are
situated in the vicinity. The vine flourishes and is cultivated at
this moderate elevation; and the dwellings are for the most part
constructed of mud and brick with two storeys, in striking contrast
to the unhealthy underground burrows in which the peasantry cheat the
rigour of an Armenian winter over the greater portion of the area
of the tableland. Pear and plum trees grace the outskirts of the
settlements, and the mulberry grows in such profusion that the silk
crop is often of considerable value. Kharput has become a centre of
American missionary effort--on the whole a salutary and civilising
influence in these lands. Their educational activities are represented
by a well-equipped institution founded in 1876 and bearing the name
of Armenia College. Thither flock the Armenian youth from all parts
of the country, to grow up beneath the example of the most progressive
of Western peoples. Within recent years the value of that example has
somewhat diminished in their eyes, owing to the impunity with which
the organisers of Palace policy in Constantinople have applied the
torch to the property of American citizens and the ban of the censor
to the loftiest creations of Western literature. These are little
misunderstandings which will disappear.
A fairly level country extends from the territory of Kharput eastwards
to the confines of Palu. The Murad wanders in many channels over the
expanse, approached at an interval which is always diminishing by
the Tauric barrier. The river is forded to the right bank before the
castled rock is reached, past which it flows in a single stream. It
washes on three sides the steep declivities of the platform upon which
the town is built. Palu is described to me as a thriving borough
with about 2000 houses, which gives a population of from 10,000 to
12,000 souls. Six hundred are said to belong to Armenian families
and the remainder to Kurdish people. A bridge with eight arches and a
length of 190 yards connects the place, just to the east of the loop
described by the river, with the opposite or left bank. On the north
extends a plain in connection with that of Kharput and productive
of abundant crops. Rock chambers and a cuneiform inscription of the
Vannic king, Menuas, recording his conquests and emblazoned with
the name of Khaldis, his supreme god, remind the traveller that he
is already approaching the centres of that old civilisation which
existed before the Armenians, and was perhaps the highest that these
lands have known. [288]
From Palu a fair track leads through Temran into the Khindris plain,
and thence to Erzerum. The passage of the Shaitan Dagh into the plain
may be effected at different points, but the pass to Lichig has an
elevation of over 8000 feet. The Government are proposing to carry
their new carriage-road between Kharput and Erzerum through the gorge
of the Kighi Su. Two routes are offered between Palu and the next
great plain at the foot of Taurus, comprised within the territory of
Chabakchur. The upper route proceeds through Khoshmat to Chevelik
in the valley of the Gunek Su, crossing a mountainous region and
attaining elevations of 6000 to 7000 feet above the sea. [289] The
lower follows the gorge of the Murad and is more in use during winter,
but it is described in no very favourable terms. The narrows commence
just east of Palu and extend to Chabakchur. A waterfall brings to
an end the navigation of the river, which is conducted with no small
difficulties by means of rafts. When at length the plain is reached
communications become better; and the valley of the Gunek Su affords
an easy approach to Erzerum, though one which would not be agreeable
during winter. Between Chabakchur and the plain of Mush the Murad is
again confined in a gorge, and its course is still requiring to be
explored. A mule track is forthcoming, which keeps close to the river,
passing through the district of Genj. I am informed that it would be
impossible to convert into a good road. The more usual route is by
Menaskut, entering the plain below Surb Karapet after traversing a
mountainous but well-wooded country.
One may say in general terms of the extensive region we are now
leaving that the pleasant plains along its southern margin are by no
means the dominant feature. The territory lying between the two great
rivers, the Western and the Eastern Euphrates, which is bounded on
the north by the Merjan-Muzur Dagh with its continuation eastwards in
the Baghir Dagh, Girdim Dagh and Khach Dagh; and on the east by the
westerly edge of the Bingöl plateau and the water-parting from Bingöl
to Palandöken, the mountain landmark just south of Erzerum--all this
area, measuring some 140 miles from west to east and on the average
50 miles from north to south, is intersected by a sea of mountains,
threaded, indeed, by considerable streams, but always difficult and
in winter almost impossible to cross. The constant acclivity towards
the north, the height of the barrier on its northern confines, and
the indifference of the approaches from the east combine to shut it
off from the stream of human movement, which is diverted into other
channels. We can scarcely understand the history of these countries
without appreciating this fact. Be the movement from east to west
or from north to south, the main current is sure to eddy along
the outskirts of this territory, either pursuing the broad avenue
of the valley of the Western Euphrates, or turning aside from the
plateau region and flooding across the peripheral mountains into the
lowlands of Mesopotamia. As might be expected under such conditions,
the country is for the most part under little control. Strange people
who are classed as Kurds, but speak a dialect called Zaza, and for the
most part profess a liberal religion which holds the scales between
Christianity and Islam, compose the bulk of the inhabitants in the
mountainous parts. The Government works from the upland plains, of
which there are many and of ample extent, and from such centres as
Kighi Kasaba and Pülümer. If my reader will turn to my sketch from
the hill of Gugoghlan (Fig. 195, p. 373), he may realise at a glance
the rugged nature of this region and the contrast which it offers to
the normal surface features. It comprises the ridges in the west and
south-west of the panorama; and the Merghuk Su, which meanders towards
them, is the name of the head waters of the Kighi Su, issuing in the
plains about Kharput. Travellers praise the woodlands which clothe
great parts of the country, though they were not visible from the
standpoint of my drawing.
The next great plain at the foot of Taurus derives its name from the
town of Mush, built against the wall of the range. It extends from
north-west to south-east for a distance of over 40 miles, crossed at
its lower end by the wandering stream of the Murad, to which it sends
a dull and almost stagnant tributary. How clean the line of Taurus
stands out on the southern margin of this flat and almost limitless
expanse! Under happier human conditions the plain would soon become
a garden and granary, favouring the vine and the luscious growth of
the tobacco plant as well as all kinds of cereals. At the present
day marshes extend over a great part of the area, and the Armenian
peasantry--one of the brawniest and most sturdy in the world--have
been reduced by the excesses of the Kurds to abject indigence. Mush
is in communication at all seasons of the year with the great
grain-growing districts of Bulanik and Khinis, and with the plains
of Pasin and Erzerum. It is little more than a step--indeed a step in
the literal sense--up to the fertile territories on the north of Lake
Van. Ready access is always forthcoming through the Bitlis passage to
the Mesopotamian lowlands. The Mush plain represents a considerable
subsidence of the plateau region, the average elevation being only
4200 feet. Thence you pass across the dam formed by lavas from Nimrud
to the much higher level of Lake Van (5637 feet). That inland sea,
with the gulf-like extension of the even area up the valley of the
Khoshab, the district of Hayotz-dzor, forms the appropriate termination
of the string of level spaces outspread at the base of the chain which
comes from the Mediterranean during its passage along Armenian soil.
In the companion chapter of the first volume I have endeavoured
to suggest the characteristics of the mountains of the northern
peripheral region. The corresponding zone upon the south which is
occupied by Taurus is distinguished by many similar features. There
are the same sharp peaks, precipitous slopes, narrow valleys and
swift streams and rivers, composing a landscape which, except for
the greater scale of the phenomena, is essentially and constantly
alpine in character. Unlike our Alps but like the barrier on the
side of the Black Sea, one valley is ever higher than the trough
which lies behind it, each crest more lofty than the last, as you
journey towards the edge of the tableland whether from the coast
of the northern waters or from the alluvial flats which extend to
the Persian Gulf. Of moisture there is less among these southern
mountains, and we miss the exuberance of the Pontic vegetation. But
forests of dwarf oak relieve the sternness of the scenery, and the
knots or whorls on the trunks of the numerous walnut trees sustain
an industry which attracts the most adventurous of native traders,
causes them to sojourn in these wild districts, and enables them to
supply the markets of Europe with excellent material for veneering
purposes. The summits attain their greatest elevation in the Jelu Dagh,
a group of peaks just east of the valley of the Great Zab which are
at least as high as 13,000 feet. But by the time the summer is well
advanced the landscape is almost free from snow. West of the Zab a
labyrinth of valleys feed the long course of the Bohtan Su across
the mountainous belt. The barrier has more than trebled in lateral
extension since confining the territories of Kharput and Palu. Even
the Tigris, which has been idly spreading over the vast alluvial
flats about Diarbekr, is compelled to become a mountain stream. Above
the primeval village of Hasan Keif it enters the narrow gorge which
pierces the foot of Taurus as he reaches out into the plains in the
hill range of Midyat. It is in that gorge that the Bohtan effects the
confluence; and well I remember the roar of the tributary and the
genuflexions of my companions as the swirling water eddied around
our raft. The Tigris is henceforward a noble river at all seasons,
and when Jezireh is soon passed its brief activity is over and it
luxuriates in open spaces till reaching the Gulf.
All this alpine country between the edge of the tableland and the
plains of Mesopotamia, which is watered by the numerous constituents
of the Tigris, is the original and natural home of the Kurdish people,
the true Kurdistan or Kurd-land. These shepherds love the mountains
as the Arabs affect the plains; but they need the warm plains during
the winter season when their fastnesses are covered with snow. They
descend to the foot of the chain with their numerous flocks and herds,
and camp on the lower course of some southward-flowing tributary
or even upon the banks of the great river. The winter climate of
the lowlands is temperate and delicious; the long Kurd with his
loose limbs, hollow cheeks and beak nose meets the neat and nimble
Arab. The coarse but perky little highland horse is watered from
the same flood to which the Arab leads the graceful creature prized
beyond all other possessions, of skin like satin, limbs like ivory,
and head which is the supreme embodiment of high courage, docility
and intelligence. The noiseless raft surprises a group of Kurdish
women bathing quite nude upon the margin of the sandy bed. A man is
watching over them, and they seem without concern. Two specks are
descried upon the bosom of the waters; the current brings them nearer;
they are swimmers from the opposite bank with the chest supported on
an inflated skin. Within a few yards of your calek they emerge upon
the bank, Arab maidens who would delight a sculptor with their slim
forms resembling deer, and who have never learnt the sin of human
nakedness. Slowly they free the air from the buoyant skins, unbind
the bundle on their heads containing their loose cotton garment,
and make their way to an invisible village or encampment.
When summer comes the annual migration to the recesses of the mountains
has taken place, and whatever Kurds are not detained in the lowland
villages, which are fairly numerous in spite of the aversion of
the tribal Kurd to a life within walls, have already ended their
brief sojourn in the country of the Arabs and are stretching their
goat-hair tents upon the upland pastures. Streams of cattle, sheep,
horses and goats obstruct the passes; the shepherds have doffed their
felt cloaks and clamber over the boulders, their women beside them,
mounted or on foot. The glades and gorges become bright with red and
blue cottons, and Kurdish girls with comely faces and white ankles are
seen on the mountain paths. Long-drawn shouts are carried far across
the hiss of the torrents, and wurra, wurra! or ho, ho! announce the
locality of the speaker or awake the attention of callous ears. The
Kurd is a picturesque and welcome presence among these solitudes,
and it is only when he has been severed from his natural surroundings
that he becomes odious and an enemy of the human race.
Of the principal communications across Taurus with the tableland
of Armenia I have already glanced at those connecting Diarbekr
with Kharput and Erzerum through Arghana, and with Erzerum through
Haini. The latter is a direct and, in spite of the great elevation
of the country which it traverses between the plain of Altun and the
northern capital, nevertheless a promising route. Mush plain may be
reached from Diarbekr by way of Kulp and the Gozme Gedik Pass (6645
feet). But between this approach and the Bitlis passage the country is
ill-controlled, nor am I aware of any favourable and beaten tracks. The
Bitlis passage represents the main avenue between the lowlands and the
country about Lake Van (Ch. VI. p. 148); from Diarbekr it is entered by
way of Zokh and from Mosul through Sert. I shall not stay to discuss
the various more or less direct routes across the mountains between
Sert and the city of Van; nor can I speak from personal knowledge or
even conjecture of those which conduct to Van from Jezireh-ibn-Omar,
or from Mosul by the valley of the Great Zab. [290] The entire region
to the south and south-east of the great lake--Khizan, Mukus, Shatakh,
Nurduz--has been scoured in recent years by various travellers whose
experiences have not to my knowledge as yet appeared in print. [291]
I should now propose to dismiss this part of my subject, dealing
with the zones of peripheral mountains and the intermediate lines of
elevation upon the surface of the tableland which they enclose; and
to bring under review some of the remaining features characteristic
of the Armenian highlands in their westerly extension from the spine
of the Ararat system to the confines of Asia Minor.
Hitherto our study of the orography of this Tauric Armenia has been
mainly occupied--it is interesting to recall the fact--with lines
of folding of the earth's crust. Indeed the country as a whole has
not been subjected to recent volcanic action in the same degree as
the plateau regions lying to the north of the spinal mountains--the
territories of Akhaltsykh, Ardahan, Akhalkalaki, Alexandropol and
Kars. At the same time it has not escaped the operation of these
agencies; nor have they worked upon a less impressive scale. Be
it lavas flooding over the sedimentary deposits and levelling the
inequalities of the ground--what more startling manifestation could
be offered of the process than the Bingöl plateau with its piled-up
layers of lava and tuff? Or if volcanoes in the strict sense be matched
against volcanoes, there are Nimrud and Sipan to enter the lists with
Alagöz and Ararat. Several mountains which are due to eruptive action
have been added to the map in the course of my own journeys. Such are
Bilejan and Kartevin. The roll will be increased as our knowledge is
carried further of the districts on the west of Bingöl and Palandöken.
A striking analogy in some respects to the Russian territories which I
have just specified is provided by the surface features of the Bingöl
plateau, with its continuation northwards in the shape of a deeply
eroded block of land to the confines of the plains of Erzerum and
Pasin. This extensive region lies about south-west of the corresponding
area of rectangular shape within the Russian frontier. It performs
the same function of a roof to the adjacent countries; and just as
the one stage gives birth to the Kur and the Arpa Chai, so the other
feeds with countless channels the earliest course of the Araxes and
contributes the largest proportion of the waters of the Murad. The
streams which decline from its north-westerly extremities swell the
volume of the Western Euphrates. Built up on the south with lavas
and tuffs to the extent of thousands of feet, it has throughout been
flooded with volcanic matter. Taken in relation with the general
structure of Tauric or Turkish Armenia, we may apply to this elevated
stage of the plateau country the designation of the Central Tableland.
My reader is already familiar with the characteristics of the
region--the basin-like appearance, the long parapets on the northern
and southern edges, in the one case culminating in the volcanic peaks
of Palandöken (10,694 feet) and Eyerli, in the other distinguished
by the eminences of Bingöl (nearly 10,800 feet). The limits of the
Bingöl plateau are clearly defined on three sides, and may readily
be recognised on our map. On the north it merges insensibly into the
Shushar and Tekman districts, though at some points, as, for example,
the cliffs just south of Kherbesor, lines of demarcation may be laid
down. How the waters of this plateau converge together in the shape
of two fans, as they are precipitated from the highest levels towards
the north and towards the east, burying themselves ever deeper into
the volcanic soil! The one group is collected in the plain of Khinis,
and the other by the course of the Araxes between the plain of Altun
and the narrows on the north of Kulli. There in the hollow of the
basin the levels are still lofty--the Altun plain with about 7000 feet
and Kulli with about 6000. Ascend to the table surface from the beds
of the rivers, and you register heights which range between 7000 and
at least 9000 feet above the sea. A country with down-like outlines,
composed of limestones with intrusive serpentines and Pliocene lake
deposits capped by sheets of the ubiquitous lava--an expanse sterile
and vast at all seasons, and in winter covered with snow--a softly
billowing surface dappled by the shadows of cumulus clouds and shot
with colour from a network of blue streams--such, I think, are the most
permanent impressions of our journeys across the Central Tableland.
Volcanic action is largely responsible for the configuration of this
tract of country, filling up hollows, preserving the sedimentary
deposits with overlying sheets of lava. The extent of the operation
may best be gauged on the south-western extremities of the Bingöl
plateau. There the ridges in the west are seen stepping up, one after
another, almost to the margin of the elevated platform where your
tents are spread. The setting sun invests them with an added glamour of
gold and purple; yet how futile this fretful array against the solid
land about you, dimly spread in horizontal spaces beyond sight! The
yellow mullein which scents the air springs from the ruin of all those
ridges, growing upon the tomb of their deeply-buried remains. But
further north, where the sway of the lavas has already become feeble,
the same phenomenon, a little modified, may be observed. Survey
the scene as it is unfolded northwards from the western summit of
Bingöl or from the hill of Gugoghlan (Ch. XXII. p. 373, Figs. 194 and
195). What a contrast between the landscape of the west and that of
the east! All those ridges in the west are dying by themselves into
the down-like spaces of the Central Tableland. Here the lavas have
been a contributing but not the principal cause.
The truth is that we should here be standing quite near the point of
greatest constriction between the inner and outer arcs. In other words,
it is just west of this region that the greatest compression of the
Armenian highlands by earth movements may be supposed to have taken
place. A natural consequence of the process would be the ridging
up within a narrow space of the normal surface elevations. East
of an imaginary line between Bingöl and Palandöken the area becomes
enlarged. Room is given for the ridges to spread; they flatten out and
almost disappear. At the same time the change from the Tauric into
the Iranian direction soon commences to make itself felt. Mountain
and gentle hill, the rocks on the heights and those in the hollows are
all imprinted with the stamp of a new-born force. In the most central
districts we recorded this change in what geologists call the strike
between the villages of Kanjean and Alkhes in the region called Elmali
Dere or Vale of Apples. There the stratified rocks have been flooded
with sheets of lava, which have presumably welled up from fissures. A
glance at the map will show that all the outlines are bending over,
those on the north-east and those to the south-west of this point. And
a little looking brings home the fact that most of the great Armenian
volcanoes are situated at or near the bend.
The tendency to a strong-pronounced plateau country is in Armenia,
and especially in the south-western territories, independent of
volcanic action. Hermann Abich aptly describes the effect of this
tendency upon the mountain masses when he speaks of their constant,
nearly horizontal summit line. [292] Yet the heights which elicited
this appreciation belong to the system west of Bingöl, and are
mainly composed of stratified rocks. Horizontality is the prevailing
characteristic of the outlines on the north of the series of plains
from Pasin in the east to Erzinjan in the west. Those outlines belong
to a block of elevated land from over 9000 to about 8000 feet above
the sea. Lavas have accentuated the feature in the case of the border
heights of Pasin (Ch. VIII. p. 193, Fig. 163); but when, further west,
the barrier consists of limestones and old igneous rocks, the same
appearance of a flat-topped mass, representing a higher stage of the
plateau region, is only varied by some beautiful shapes emerging upon
the sky-line, such as the Cretaceous peaks of Akhbaba and Jejen. If
you draw a section between the western extremity of the plain of
Mush against Taurus and the maze of valleys which feed the Chorokh
on the north of Erzerum, the true character of the land will be
exhibited in a striking manner. You will commence with a level plain
of immense extent from west to east and with an average elevation of
4200 feet. Proceeding northwards, you scale a wall of 8000 feet, only
to find yourself upon a platform almost as flat as a billiard-table,
over which the track leads without much change in level for a distance
of many miles. This stage breaks off upon the north to a little plain
even as water, lying in the lap of an extensive depression of not
more than 5000 feet. You cross the depression with a parapet of 8400
to over 9000 feet closing the landscape with gigantic cliffs before
your eyes. It is the edge of the Central Tableland. The journey is
long from this, its southern margin, to the corresponding rim upon
the north--water-worn downs with an average altitude of over 7000
feet. After registering heights, always on the level, of about 9000
feet, a descent is made to the vast expanse of the Erzerum plain (5700
feet). The mass which rises on the north of that plain contains the
sources of the Western Euphrates and leads over to the deep valleys
which sustain the Chorokh. It is flat-topped, and attains a level of
about 9000 feet.
The most fertile and agricultural districts lie to the east of this
section; they are generally separated one from another by mountains
of recent volcanic origin, upon which, however, with the possible
exception of the Tendurek Dagh, a wreath of smoke is never seen. The
plain of Khinis (5500 feet) is screened by Khamur from the plains of
Bulanik and Melazkert (5000 feet), where some of the finest grain in
the world is grown. Bulanik is divided into a western and an eastern
territory by the radial volcanic mass of Bilejan. The line of heights
which are interposed between Western Bulanik and Mush plain are
probably partly due to lavas which have welled up from fissures, and
are easily crossed almost at any point. The plain of Mush (4200 feet)
and the level country of almost endless extent between Sipan and the
Murad are shut off from the cornfields and orchards of the basin of
Lake Van (5637 feet) by the immense circumference of the Nimrud crater
and by the block of limestones and lake deposits upon which Sipan is
built up. The region between Lake Van and the hills of the Persian
border is parcelled out into a number of districts by such volcanic
eminences as Varag Dagh, Pir Reshid Dagh, [293] and Tendurek Dagh,
which last-named mountain has sent its lavas a great distance south
into the Abagha Plain. [294] All the way from Tendurek to the plain of
Khinis eruptive agencies have fastened upon the land on a considerable
scale. A large area is occupied by the radial volcanic system known as
the Ala Dagh, but very scantily explored. It is succeeded further west
by the Kartevin Dagh. The extensive territories between Kartevin on
the south, the plain of Khinis on the west, and the Sharian-Mergemir
Dagh barrier on the north, are for the most part covered with sheets
of lava. But the plains of Alashkert (5500 feet) and Pasin (over 5000
feet) are worthy to rank with the most favoured regions; and this
sequence is continued westwards by the plains of the Western Euphrates,
commencing with that of Erzerum (from 5750 to about 3800 feet). North
again of this series one may specially instance the plain of Baiburt
(5000 feet), which is a typical Armenian plain.
As you travel from plain to plain, from one basin to another, the
horizon is most often filled by some shapely volcanic outline, slowly
rising from the floor of the expanse. Yet the stratified rocks are
seldom absent, emerging from the volcanic layers or only capped by a
thin sheet of lava. Dominant among them are the limestones of various
geological periods, from the Cretaceous and probably earlier, to the
Pliocene deposits, when the greater part of the country must have been
covered by a lake of fresh or brackish water. Intrusive in the earlier
limestones are found a variety of old igneous rocks, such as diabase,
gabbro and serpentine. The serpentines combine with the limestones to
form rounded hills or downs with soft outlines. Sometimes a cap of
lava has preserved a particular piece of limestone, and the result
has been a summit with a point like that of a needle overtopping
adjacent and undulating forms. Where the old igneous rock occurs in
a zone, a sombre landscape is forthcoming, as for instance above the
northern shore of Lake Van between Akhlat and Adeljivas. Or when
the highly marmorised older limestones have the upper hand, there
ensue sterility and glaring light. These latter rocks have a fairly
wide extension and compose prominent lines of mountain. For example,
they have bestowed upon the plain of Khinis its northern boundary;
and nowhere are they seen to greater advantage than in that shining
and richly modelled barrier appropriately named the Akh Dagh or
White Mountain. During the journey from Gopal to Tutakh on the Upper
Murad they were constantly emerging from the sheets of lava; and in
the south we found them in the vicinity of the southern peripheral
mountains. They alternate with mica-schist in the Elmali Dere and
Güzel Dere, districts at the south-western extremity of Lake Van. And
they stretch across the water to form the promontory of Tadvan.
A rather later series of limestones would appear to be represented by
the slopes over which we climbed to the Vavuk Pass between Gümüshkhaneh
and Baiburt. There they are placed on the very threshold of the
Armenian tableland; and they are distributed in a wide zone over
the northern districts of Armenia, extending all the way from the
Merjan-Muzur Dagh in the west to be represented by many a summit
of the deeply eroded Chorokh region. The block of heights on the
north of the Western Euphrates is composed to a great extent of such
limestones; and both in the neighbourhood of the Kop Pass, and during
the descent northwards from the pass of Khoshab Punar, we have been
able to identify them by the evidence of fossils as belonging to the
Cretaceous period. The several startling eminences from the surface of
this elevated stage--a surface which is characterised by prevailing
flatness and horizontality of the summit-line--are mostly due to
upstanding masses of limestone, such as Akhbaba and Jejen. In the
south we recognised the fossils of this same series of rocks upon
the line of hills which border upon the north the great depression
of the plain of Mush, where these give passage to the Murad.
Later still in date, and of almost constant prominence in the
landscapes both of the plateau region and of the peripheral mountains,
are the limestones of Eocene age. They are, perhaps, more usually
associated with softer features, especially when they are interbedded
with shales. Writing from memory, one may best recall the incidence
of their impressive features at such widely distant points as the
Palandöken line of heights, on the south of Erzerum and Pasin,
and where they whiten the waters of Lake Van in the neighbourhood
of Adeljivas. This pretty town with sweet-sounding name lies at
the foot of a lofty cliff composed exclusively of white chalk. As
you lunch in one of the caves along the road from Akhlat, numerous
corals are observed imbedded in the rock. Even where volcanic action
has fastened upon such heights with greatest persistency, the white
face of this rock or of the softer Pliocene deposit is seldom absent
from the scene. Eocene limestones and Pliocene deposits are prominent
over the area of the Central Tableland; and the limestone emerges
on the further side of the plain of Khinis to compose the Zirnek
Dagh, continuing the outline of Khamur. The almost limitless expanse
through which the Murad winds between Tutakh and Melazkert reveals
most clearly its essential character as a country of rolling chalk
downs beneath the covering of a cloak of lava. The southern limit
of that expanse would seem to the eye to be volcanic, misled by the
precedent of the immense extension of the train of Ararat. But when
the barrier is at length reached it is found to consist of Eocene
and Pliocene limestones, forming a pedestal for the fabric of Sipan.
Scarcely a less prominent surface feature are the Pliocene lacustrine
deposits, [295] crumbling in the hand with masses of freshwater
shells. There can be no doubt that at an epoch contemporaneous with
the outpouring of lavas a lake or lakes extended from Erzinjan, Erzerum
and Pasin across the region now occupied by the Central Tableland, and
through Khinis to the plains of the Murad and Sipan. The interior of
Asia Minor and the tableland of Persia were covered with lakes at the
same date; but that these were salt in the case of Persia is proved by
the melancholy saline deserts which disfigure immense tracts of the
soil of Iran. In Armenia they have been productive of the greatest
fertility, their wholesome sediments having mingled with volcanic
matter and become constituent of rich brown loams. It seems likely
that the purple sandstones and conglomerates along the northern shore
of Lake Van are the representatives of similar conditions within that
basin. One is justified in supposing that the waters became gradually
more shallow, until they remained only on the surface of the numerous
greater and smaller depressions, which still bear their imprint to a
degree which must be convincing even to an unpractised eye. A chain
of separate lakes was formed, spread broadcast over the land, and
washing the promontories of the heights. Such lakes appear to have
existed at Alexandropol and in the plain of Erivan; over Pasin, the
plain of Erzerum, and that of Erzinjan; in the districts of Khinis,
Alashkert, Bulanik and probably Mush, to say nothing of the smaller
sheets of water. They were drained away as a result of the increasing
elevation of the land as a whole; and, probably, in some cases the
process was accelerated by uptilt, causing erosion of the adjacent
barriers to be accelerated. The lakes which exist at the present day
are almost exclusively due to lavas filling up the mouths of valleys
and forming dams on an immense scale.
The relation of geology to geography must always be intimate; and in
such a country as Armenia it is scarcely possible to travel without
becoming absorbed in the open book of that fascinating study, as day
by day the eye is greeted by a new page. The architectural quality of
the structural features is perhaps the main incentive, stimulating
the curiosity to comprehend the underlying design. But the absence
of wood and the sparseness even of vegetation permit and invite the
interest to centre in the forms and hues and texture of the material
which has been the vehicle of the large idea. Nature is revealed in
her sculpturesque rather than picturesque beauties; nor will her
admirer regret the nakedness of his love. But the climate suffers
from the prevailing treelessness of the landscapes, being deficient
in moisture for the most favourable development of the human race. One
feels the skin growing contracted as in most Eastern countries, and the
native sappiness of the flesh becoming impaired. There is no reason
why this country should not be strewn with woodlands, and her plains
verdant with a kinder rainfall and extended irrigation. Patches of
forest, but thin and miserable, still struggle towards the interior
from the luscious zone in the north. They are seen on the sides of
the passes at a distance from the villages. But with the exception
of the very thinly populated districts of Kighi and the Dersim,
and the slopes of the Soghanlu mountains south-west of Kars, the
land has been denuded of any covering as a result of progressive
economical decline. Centuries of unchecked licence on the part of
tribal shepherds--Tartars, Turkomans, Kurds--have brought about the
destruction of a source of salubriousness and wealth which under any
circumstances would require careful husbanding.
So the clouds are little tempted to descend upon the earth, and the sky
lowers without bringing rain. The country streams with light, and the
pavements of ubiquitous lava burn like an oven beneath the untempered
rays of the sun. In winter the glare is blinding; for the ground is
covered with snow, though not generally to any great depth. These
are disadvantages which are not entirely without remedy; and there is
nothing needed but less perversity on the part of the human animal to
convert Armenia into an almost ideal nursery of his race. The strong
highland air, the rigorous but bracing winters, and the summers when
the nights are always cool; a southern sun, great rivers, immense
tracts of agricultural soil, an abundance of minerals--such blessings
and subtle properties are calculated to develop the fibre in man,
foster with material sufficiency the growth of his winged mind and
cause it to expand like a flower in a generous light. One feels that
for various reasons quite outside inherent qualities this land has
never enjoyed at any period of history the fulness of opportunity. And
one awaits her future with an expectant interest.
Both branches of the Euphrates wind their way by immense stages
at the foot of these mountains, in the lap of these plains. The
eastern branch, called Murad, contains the greater volume, rising
in the neighbourhood of Diadin near the base of the Ararat system
and traversing Armenia almost from one extremity to the other. The
principal affluents are the Bingöl Su, bringing the drainage of the
plain of Khinis; the Gunek Su, and the combined waters of the Kighi and
Muzur rivers. The more westerly channel is composed in its infancy by
two streams of almost equal size, one descending from the Dümlü Dagh
and flowing sluggishly through the plain of Erzerum; the other, and
perhaps the greater, springing in the neighbourhood of the sources of
the Chorokh in the elevated district of Ovajik. The Kelkid and Chorokh
are both in their upper courses typical Armenian rivers. The Araxes
takes its birth upon the Central Tableland, and its true source is
probably represented by the little lake which appears in my drawing
from the western summit of Bingöl (Ch. XXII. Fig. 194, p. 373). What
a contrast between this wealth of waters, many of which might be
rendered navigable, and the hopeless sterility of great parts of the
interior of Persia, from which no river finds its way to the ocean!
All these rivers wind slowly and silently over the surface of the
tableland, threading landscapes which most often expand beyond
the range of sight. They find a tardy issue through the zones of
peripheral mountains, where they meet the hiss of torrents and
the spray of waterfalls. When one reflects with closed eyes upon
the experiences of travel it is not the dividing heights that fill
the mind. What are these for the most part but the higher stages of
the plateau country? It is the plains, great and small, with their
lake-like or sea-like surfaces; and it is the ever-present feature of
the volcanic outlines, spaced at large intervals. The streams part on
their course to widely distant oceans from a scarcely perceptible rise
in the ground. Earth is spread about you, nude and quite unconscious of
the restless presence of man. A variety of delicate and transparent
tints are shed over the modelling, due to the atmosphere and the
volcanic nature of the soil. The hues deepen in the blue ribands
of the flowing waters, in the gem-like appearance of those that are
still. And when the vision has nearly faded there remain the shapes
of Ararat and Sipan, the campagna of Erivan, the ineffable beauty of
the lake of Van.... The area of the country which has been delimited
within the Turkish frontier measures 35,599 square miles. If we add
this figure to the Russian territory (Vol. I. p. 445) we may conceive
a geographical unity nearly equal in extent to England and Wales.