ASCENT OF ARARAT
Next morning the sun had already risen as I let myself down through
the open casement of the window and dropped into the garden among the
dry brushwood encumbering its sandy floor. Not a soul was stirring,
and not a sound disturbed the composure of an Eastern morning, the
great world fulfilling its task in silence and all nature sedate and
serene. A narrow strip of plantation runs at the back of Aralykh,
on the south, sustained by ducts from the Kara Su or Blackwater,
a stream which leads a portion of the waters of the Araxes into the
cotton fields and marshes which border the right bank. Within this
fringe of slim poplars, and just on its southern verge, there is
a little mound and an open summer-house--as pleasant a place as it
is possible to imagine, but which, perhaps, only differs from other
summer-houses in the remarkable situation which it occupies and in
the wonderful view which it commands. It is placed on the extreme
foot of Ararat, exactly on the line where all inclination ceases and
the floor of the plain begins. It immediately faces the summit of
the larger mountain, bearing about south-west (Frontispiece).
Before you the long outline of the Ararat fabric fills the southern
horizon--the gentle undulations of the north-western slope, as it
gathers from its lengthy train; the bold bastions of the snowfields,
rising to the rounded dome; and, further east, beyond the saddle where
the two mountains commingle, the needle form of the lesser Ararat,
free at this season from snow. Yet, although Aralykh lies at the flank
of Ararat, confronting the side which mounts most directly from the
plain to the roof of snow, the distance from a perpendicular drawn
through the summit is over 16 miles. Throughout that space the fabric
is always rising towards the snow-bank 14,000 feet above our heads,
with a symmetry and, so to speak, with a rhythm of structure which
holds the eye in spell. First, there is a belt of loose sand, about
2 miles in depth, beginning on the margin of marsh and irrigation,
and seen from this garden, which directly adjoins it, like the sea-bed
from a grove on the shore. On the ground of yellow, thus presented,
rests a light tissue of green, consisting of the sparse bushes of
the ever-fresh camelthorn, a plant which strikes down into beds of
moisture, deep-seated beneath the surface of the soil. Although it
is possible, crossing this sand-zone, to detect the growing slope,
yet this feature is scarcely perceptible from Aralykh, whence
its smooth, unbroken surface and cool relief of green suggest the
appearance of an embroidered carpet, spread at the threshold of an
Eastern temple for the services of prayer. Beyond this band or belt
of sandy ground, composed no doubt of a pulverised detritus, which
the piety of Parrot was quick to recognise as a leaving of the flood,
the broad and massive base of Ararat sensibly gathers and inclines,
seared by the sinuous furrows of dry watercourses, and stretching,
uninterrupted by any step or obstacle, hill or terrace or bank, to the
veil of thin mist which hangs at this hour along the higher seams. Not
a patch of verdure, not a streak of brighter colour breaks the long
monotony of ochre in the burnt grass and the bleached stones. All
the subtle sensations with which the living earth surrounds us--wide
as are the tracts of barren desert within the limits of the plain
itself--seem to cease, arrested at the fringe of this plantation,
as on a magician's line. When the vapours obscuring the middle slopes
of the mountain dissolve and disappear, you see the shadowed jaws of
the great chasm--the whole side of the mountain burst asunder from
the cornice of the snow-roof to the base, the base itself depressed
and hollow throughout its width of about 10 miles. No cloud has yet
climbed to the snows of the summit, shining in the brilliant blue.
It was the morning of the 17th of September, a period of the year
when the heats have moderated; when the early air, even in the plain
of the Araxes, has acquired a suggestion of crispness, and the sun
still overpowers the first symptoms of winter chills. [71] The tedious
arrangements of Eastern travel occupied the forenoon; and it had been
arranged that we should dine with our host, the Lieutenant, before
making the final start. Six little hacks, impressed in the district
and sadly wanting in flesh, were loaded with our effects; our party
was mounted on Cossack horses, which, by the extreme courtesy of the
Russian authorities, had been placed at our disposal for a week. We
took leave of our new friend under a strong sentiment of gratitude
and esteem; but a new and pleasurable surprise was awaiting us, as we
passed down the neat square. All the Cossacks at that time quartered
in Aralykh--the greater number were absent on the slopes of the
mountain, serving the usual patrols--had been drawn up in marching
order, awaiting the arrival of their Colonel, who had contrived to
keep the secret by expressing his willingness to accompany us a few
versts of the way. My cousin and I were riding with the Colonel,
and the purpose of these elaborate arrangements was explained to us
with a sly smile; the troop with their Colonel were to escort us on
our first day's journey, and to bivouac at Sardar Bulakh. The order
was given to march in half column. It was perhaps the first time that
an English officer had ridden at the head of these famous troops. We
crossed the last runnel on the southern edge of the plantation and
entered the silent waste.
For awhile we slowly rode through the camelthorn, the deep sand
sinking beneath our horses' feet. It was nearly one o'clock, and the
expanse around us streamed in the full glare of noon. A spell seems
to rest upon the landscape of the mountain, sealing all the springs
of life. Only, among the evergreen shrubs about us, a scattered group
of camels cropped the spinous foliage, little lizards darted, a flock
of sand-grouse took wing. Our course lay slantwise across the base of
Ararat, towards the hill of Takjaltu, a table-topped mass, overgrown
with yellow herbage, which rises in advance of the saddle between the
mountains, and lies just below you as you overlook the landscape from
the valley of Sardar Bulakh. Gullies of chalk and ground strewn with
stones succeed the even surface of the belt of sand, and in turn give
way to the covering of burnt grass which clothes the deep slope of
the great sweeping base, and encircles the fabric with a continuous
stretch of ochre, extending up the higher seams. Mile after mile we
rode at easy paces over the parched turf and the cracking soil. When
we had accomplished a space of about 10 miles, and attained a height
of nearly 6000 feet, the land broke about us into miniature ravines,
deep gullies, strewn with stones and boulders, searing the slope about
the line of the limit where the base may be said to determine and the
higher seams begin. Winding down the sides of these rocky hollows,
one might turn in the saddle at a bend of the track, and observe the
long line of horsemen defiling into the ravine (Fig. 31). I noticed
that by far the greater number among them--if, indeed, one might not
say all--were men in the opening years of manhood--lithe, well-knit
figures, and fair complexions, set round with fair hair. At a nearer
view the feature which most impressed me was the smallness of their
eyes. They wear the long, skirted coat of Circassia, a thin and worn
khaki; the faded pink on the cloth of their shoulder-straps relieves
the dull drab. Their little caps of Circassian pattern fit closely
round their heads. Their horses are clumsy, long-backed creatures,
wanting in all the characteristics of quality; and, as each man
maintains his own animal, few among them are shod. Yet I am assured
that the breed is workmanlike and enduring, and I have known it to
yield most satisfactory progeny when crossed with English racing
blood. As we rounded the heap of grass-grown soil which is known as
Takjaltu, we were joined by a second detachment of Cossacks, coming
from Akhury. Together we climbed up the troughs of the ridges which
sweep fanwise down the mountain side, and emerged on the floor of
the upland valley which leads between the greater and the lesser
Ararat, and crosses the back of the Ararat fabric in a direction
from south-west to north-east. We were here at an elevation of 7500
feet above the sea, or nearly 5000 feet above the plain. Both the
stony troughs and ridges, up which we had just marched, as well
as the comparatively level ground upon which we now stood, were
covered with a scorched but abundant vegetation, which had served the
Kurds during earlier summer as pasture for their flocks, and still
sheltered numerous coveys of plump partridges, in which this part of
the mountain abounds.
At the mouth of this valley, on the gently sloping platform which its
even surface presents, we marked out the spaces of our bivouac, the
pickets for the horses, and the fires. Our men were acquainted with
every cranny; we had halted near the site of their summer encampment,
from which they had only recently descended to their winter quarters
in the plain. As we dismounted we were met by a graceful figure,
clad in a Circassian coat of brown material let in across the breast
with pink silk--a young man of most engaging appearance and manners,
presented to us as the chief of the Kurds on Ararat who own allegiance
to the Tsar. In the high refinement of his features, in the bronzed
complexion and soft brown eyes, the Kurd made a striking contrast
to the Cossacks--a contrast by no means to the advantage of the
Cis-Caucasian race. The young chief is also worthy to be remembered
in respect of the remarkable name which he bears. His Kurdish title
of Shamden Agha has been developed and embroidered into the sonorous
appellation of Hasan Bey Shamshadinoff, under which he is officially
known.
From the edge of the platform upon which we were standing the ground
falls away with some abruptness down to the base below, and lends
to the valley its characteristic appearance of an elevated stage and
natural viewing-place, overtowered by the summit regions of the dome
and the pyramid, and commanding all the landscape of the plain. On the
south-west, as it rises towards the pass between the two mountains--a
pass of 8800 feet, leading into Turkish and into Persian territory,
to Bayazid or Maku--the extent of even ground which composes this
platform cannot much exceed a quarter of a mile. It is choked by the
rocky causeways which, sweeping down the side of Great Ararat, tumble
headlong to the bottom of the fork, and, taking the inclination of
the ever-widening valley, descend on the north-western skirt of the
platform in long, oblique curves of branching troughs and ridges,
falling fanwise over the base. The width of the platform, at the mouth
of the valley, may be about three-quarters of a mile. It is here that
the Kurds of the surrounding region gather, as the shades of night
approach, to water their flocks at the lonely pool which is known as
the sirdar's well. On the summit of the lesser Ararat there is a little
lake, formed of melted snows; the water permeates the mountain, and
feeds the sirdar's pool. Close by, at the foot of the lesser mountain,
is the famous covert of birch--low bushes, the only stretch of wood
upon the fabric, which is entirely devoid of trees. The wood was
soon crackling upon our fires, and the water hissing in the pots;
but the wretched pack-horses, upon which our tents had been loaded,
were lagging several hours behind. We ourselves had reached camp at six
o'clock; it was after nine before our baggage arrived. As we stretched
upon the slope, the keen air of the summit region swept the valley
and chilled us to the skin; the temperature sank to below freezing,
and we had nothing but the things in which we stood. [72] Our friends,
the Cossack officers, were lavish of assistance; they wrapped us in the
hairy coats of the Caucasus, placed vodki and partridges before us, and
ranged us around their hospitable circle, beside the leaping flames.
But the mind was absent from the picturesque bivouac, and the eye
which ranged the deepening shadows was still dazzled by the evening
lights. Mind and sense alike were saturated with the beauty and
the brilliance of the landscape, which, as you rise towards the
edge of the platform after rounding the mass of Takjaltu, opens
to an ever-increasing perspective, with ever-growing clearness of
essential features and mystery gathering upon all lesser forms. The
sun, revolving south of the zenith, lights the mountains on the north
of the plain, and fills all the valley from the slopes of Ararat
with the full flood of his rays--tier after tier of crinkled hummock
ranges, aligned upon the opposite margin of the valley at a distance of
over twenty miles, their summit outline fretted with shapes of cones
and craters, their faces buttressed in sand, bare and devoid of all
vegetation, yet richly clothed in lights and hues of fairyland--ochres
flushed with delicate madder, amethyst, shaded opaline, while the
sparse plantations about the river and the labyrinth of the plain
insensibly transfigure, as you rise above them, into an impalpable
web of grey. In the lap of the landscape lies the river, a thin,
looping thread--flashes of white among the shadows, in the lights a
bright mineral green. Here and there on its banks you descry a naked
mound--conjuring a vision of forgotten civilisations and the buried
hives of man. It is a vast prospect over the world.... Yet vaster far
is the expanse you feel about you beyond the limits of sight. It is
nothing but a segment of that expanse, a brief vista from north to
east between two mountain sides. On the north the slopes of Great
Ararat hide the presence of Alagöz, while behind the needle form of
Little Ararat all the barren chains and lonely valleys of Persia are
outspread.... The evening grows, and the sun's returning arc bends
behind the dome of snow. The light falls between the two mountains, and
connects the Little Ararat in a common harmony with the richening tints
of the plain. There it stands on the further margin of the platform,
the clean, sharp outline of a pyramid, clothed in hues of a tender
yellow, seamed with violet veins. At its feet, where its train sweeps
the floor of the river valley in long and regular folds--far away in
the east, towards the mists of the Caspian--the sandy ground breaks
into a troubled surface, like angry waves set solid under a spell,
and from range to range stretch a chain of low white hummocks, like
islands across a sea. Just there, in the distance, beneath the Little
Ararat, you see a patch of shining white, so vivid that it presents
the appearance of a glacier, set in the burnt waste. It is probably
caused by some chemical efflorescence, resting on the dry bed of a
lake. All the landscape reveals the frenzy of volcanic forces, fixed
for ever in an imperishable mould; the imagination plays with the forms
of distant castles and fortresses of sand. Alone the slopes about you
wear the solid colours, and hold you to the real world--the massive
slopes of Great Ararat, raised high above the world. The wreath of
cloud which veils the summit till the last breath of warm air dies
has floated away in the calm heaven before the western lights have
paled. Behind the lofty piles of rocky causeways, concealing the
higher seams, rises the immediate roof of Ararat foreshortened in
the sky--the short side or gable of the dome, a faultless cone of snow.
When we drew aside the curtain of our tent next morning, full daylight
was streaming over the open upland valley, and the vigorous air had
already lost its edge. [73] The sun had risen high above the Sevan
ranges, and swept the plain below us of the lingering vapours which
at morning cling like shining wool to the floor of the river valley,
or float in rosy feathers against the dawn. The long-backed Cossack
horses had been groomed and watered and picketed in line; the men
were sitting smoking in little groups or were strolling about the
camp in pairs (Fig. 32). A few Kurds, who had come down with milk
and provisions, stood listlessly looking on, the beak nose projecting
from the bony cheeks, the brown chest opening from the many-coloured
tatters draped about the shoulders and waist.
The space of level ground between the two mountains cannot much exceed
three-quarters of a mile. On the east the graceful seams of Little
Ararat rise immediately from the slope upon our right, gathering just
beyond the covert of low birchwood, and converging in the form of a
pyramid towards a summit which has been broken across the point. The
platform of this valley is a base for Little Ararat--the rib on the
flank of the greater mountain from which the smaller proceeds. So
sharp are the lines of the Little Ararat, so clean the upward
slope, that the summit, when seen from this pass or saddle, seems
to rise as high in the heaven above us as the dome of Great Ararat
itself. The burnt grass struggles towards the little birch covert,
but scarcely touches the higher seams. The mountain side is broken
into a loose rubble; deep gullies sear it in perpendicular furrows,
which contribute to the impression of height. The prevailing colour
of the stones is a bleached yellow verging upon a delicate pink; but
these paler strata are divided by veins of bluish andesite pointing
upwards, like spear-heads, from the base (Fig. 33).
Very different, on the side of Great Ararat, are the shapes which
meet the eye. We are facing the south-eastern slope of the mountain,
the slope which follows the direction of its axis, the short side or
gable of the dome. In the descending train of the giant volcano this
valley is but an incidental or lesser feature; yet it marks, and in
a sense determines, an important alteration in the disposition of the
surface forms. It is here that the streams of molten matter descending
the mountain side have been arrested and deflected from their original
direction, to fall over the massive base. The dam or obstacle which
has produced this deviation is the sharp, harmonious figure of the
lesser Ararat, emerging from the sea of piled-up boulders, and cleaving
the chaos of troughs and ridges like the lofty prow of a ship. The
course of these streams of lava is signalised by these causeways of
agglomerate rocks; you may follow from a point of vantage upon the
mountain the numerous branches into which they have divided to several
parent or larger streams. On this side of Ararat they have been turned
in an oblique direction, from south-east towards north-east; they skirt
the western margin of the little valley, curving outwards to the river
and the plain. It is just beneath the first of these walls of loose
boulders that our two little tents are pitched; beyond it you see
another, and yet another still higher, and above them the dome of snow.
The distance from this valley of the summit of Great Ararat, if we
measure upon the survey of the Russian Government along a horizontal
line, is rather over 5 miles. The confused sea of boulders, of which
I have just described the nature, extends, according to my own
measurements, to a height of about 12,000 feet. Above that zone,
so arduous to traverse, lies the summit region of the mountain,
robed in perpetual snow. From whatever point you regard that summit
on this south-eastern side, the appearance of its height falls short
of reality in a most substantial degree. Not only does the curve of
the upward slope lend itself to a most deceitful foreshortening when
you follow it from below, but, indeed, the highest point or crown of
the dome is invisible from this the gable side.
If you strike a direct course from the encampment towards the roof
of snow, and, crossing the grain of successive walls and depressions,
emerge upon some higher ridge, the numerous ramifications of the lava
system may be followed to their source, and are seen to issue from
larger causeways which rise in bold relief from the snows of the summit
region, and open fanwise down the higher slopes (Fig. 34). In shape
these causeways may be said to resemble the sharp side of a wedge; the
massive base from which the bank rises narrows to a pointed spine. As
the eye pursues the circle of the summit where it vanishes towards the
north, these ribs of rock which radiate down the mountain diminish in
volume and relief. Their sharp edges commence to cut the snowy canopy
about 3000 feet below the dome. It is rather on this south-eastern
side of Ararat, the side which follows the direction of the axis of
the fabric--the line upon which the forces have acted by which the
whole fabric has been reared--that a formation so characteristic of the
surface of the summit region at once attains its greatest development,
and is productive of a phenomenon which cannot fail to arrest the
eye. At a height of about 14,000 feet, a causeway of truly gigantic
proportions breaks abruptly from the snow. The head of the ridge is
bold and lofty, and towers high above the snow-slope with steep and
rocky sides. The ridge itself is in form a wedge or triangle, cut
deep down into the side of the mountain, and marked along the spine
by a canal-shaped depression which accentuates the descending curve
(see Fig. 34). The troughs and ridges, which you will now be crossing,
have their origin in this parent ridge; you see it bending outwards,
away from Little Ararat, and dividing into branches and systems
of branches as it reaches the lower slopes. Whether its want of
connection with the roof of Ararat, or the inherent characteristics of
its uppermost end, be sufficient evidence to justify the supposition of
Abich that this ridge at its head marks a separate eruptive centre on
the flank of Ararat, I am not competent adequately to discuss. I can
only observe that it is not difficult to find another explanation. It
is possible that the ridge where it narrows to the summit has been
fractured and swept away. This peak, or sharp end of the causeway,
to whatever causes its origin may be ascribed, is a distinguishing
feature on the slope of Ararat, seen far and wide like a tooth or
hump or shoulder on this the south-eastern side. [74]
Although the most direct way to the summit region leads immediately
across the zone of boulders from the camp by the sirdar's pool,
yet it is not that which most travellers have followed, or which
the natives of the district recommend. This line of approach, which
I followed for some distance a few days after our ascent, is open
to the objection that it is no doubt more difficult to scale the
slope of snow upon this side. The tract of uncovered rocks which
breaks the snow-fields, offering ladders to the roof of the dome,
is situated further to the south-east of the mountain, above the
neck of the valley of the pool. Whether it would not be more easy to
reach these ladders by skirting slantwise from the higher slopes,
is a question which is not in itself unreasonable, and which only
actual experience will decide. It was in this manner, I believe,
that the English traveller, my friend the Rt. Hon. James Bryce, made
an ascent which, as a feat, is, I think, the most remarkable of any
of the recorded climbs. Starting from the pool at one o'clock in the
morning, he reached the summit, alone, at about two in the afternoon,
accomplishing within a space of about six hours the last 5000 feet,
and returning to the point from which he started before sunrise on
the following day. We ourselves were advised to follow up the valley,
keeping the causeways upon our right, and only then, when we should
have reached a point about south-east of the summit, to strike across
the belt of rock.
At twenty minutes before two on the 18th of September our little party
left camp in marching order, all in the pride of health and spirits,
and eager for the attack. Thin wreaths of cloud wrapped the snows of
the summit--the jealous spell which baffles the bold lover even when he
already grasps his prize. We had taken leave of the Cossack officers
and their band of light-hearted men. Our friends were returning to
Akhury and Aralykh, the one body to hunt the Kurds of the frontier,
the other to languish in dull inactivity until their turn should
come round again. Four Cossacks were deputed to remain and guard
our camp; we ourselves had decided to dispense with any escort
and to trust to our Kurdish allies. Of these, ten sturdy fellows
accompanied us as porters to carry our effects, their rifles slung
over their many-coloured tatters beside the burden allotted to each
(Fig. 35). With my cousin and myself were the young Swiss, Rudolph
Taugwalder, a worthy example of his race and profession--the large
limbs, the rosy cheeks, the open mien without guile--and young Ernest
Wesson, fresh from the Polytechnic in London, burning to distinguish
himself. My Armenian dragoman followed as best he was able until
the camp at the snow was reached; his plump little figure was not
well adapted to toil over the giant rocks. Of our number was also
an Armenian from Akhury, who had tendered his services as guide;
he was able to indicate a place for our night's encampment, but he
did not venture upon the slope of snow.
A little stream trickles down the valley, but sinks exhausted at this
season before reaching the sirdar's well. In the early summer it is
of the volume of a torrent, which winds past the encampment, like a
serpent of silver, uttering a dull, rumbling sound. [75] It is fed
by the water from the snow-fields, and there is said to be a spring
which contributes to support it at a height of nearly 11,000 feet. [76]
After half an hour's walk over the stony surface of the platform--the
ragged herbage burnt yellow by the sun--we entered the narrows of
the mountain saddle, and followed the dry bed of this rivulet at the
foot of rocky spurs. The tufts of sappy grass sparsely studded on the
margin of the water-course gave place, as we advanced, to a continuous
carpet of soft and verdant turf; here and there the eye rested on the
deep green of the juniper, or the graceful fretwork of a wild rose tree
quivered in the draught. The warm rays flashed in the thin atmosphere,
and tempered the searching breeze. The spurs on our right descend
from the shoulder of Great Ararat, from the causeway of which it forms
the head, and are seen to diverge into two systems as they enter the
narrow pass. The one group pushes forward to the Little Ararat and
is lost in confused detail; the other and, perhaps, the larger system
bends boldly along the side of the valley, sweeping outwards towards
the base. At three o'clock we reached a large pool of clouded water,
collected on a table surface of burnt grass; close by is an extensive
bed of nettles, and a circle of loose stones. This spot is, no doubt,
the site of a Kurdish encampment, and appeared to have been only
recently abandoned by the shepherds and their flocks. The further we
progressed, the more the prospect opened over the slopes of Ararat;
we were approaching the level of the tops of the ridges which skirt
the valley side. Passing, as we now were, between the two Ararats,
we again remarked that the greater seemed no higher than the lesser,
so completely is the eye deceived. In the hollows of the gully there
were small pools of water, but the stream itself was dry.
By half-past three we had left the gentle water-course, and were
winding inwards, up the slope of Great Ararat, to cross the black and
barren region, the girdle of sharp crags and slippery boulders which
is drawn round the upper seams of the mountain, like a succession of
chevaux de frise. We thought it must have been on some other side
of Ararat that the animals descended from the Ark. For a space of
more than three hours we laboured on over a chaos of rocks, through a
labyrinth of troughs and ridges, picking a path and as often retracing
it, or scrambling up the polished sides of the larger blocks which
arrest the most crafty approach. The Kurds, although sorely taxed
by their burdens, were at an advantage compared to ourselves; they
could slip, like cats, from ledge to ledge in their laced slippers of
hide. In one place we passed a gigantic heap of boulders, towering
several hundred feet above our heads. The rock is throughout of the
same character and colour--an andesitic lava of a dark slaty hue. A
little later we threaded up a ravine or gully, and, after keeping for
awhile to the bottom of the depression, climbed slowly along the back
of the ridge. I noticed that the grain or direction of the formation
lay towards east-south-east. From the head of this ravine we turned
into a second, by a natural gap or pass; loose rocks were piled along
the sides of the hollow, which bristled with fantastic, but unreal,
shapes. Here a seated group of camels seemed to munch in silence
on the line of fading sky, or the knotty forms of lifeless willows
stretched a menace of uplifted arms. In the sheltered laps of this
higher region, as we approached our journey's end, the snow still
lay in ragged patches, which increased in volume and depth.... The
surface cleared, the view opened; we emerged from the troubled sea of
stone. Beyond a lake of snow and a stretch of rubble rose the ghostly
sheet of the summit region, holding the last glimmer of day.
It was seven o'clock, and we had no sooner halted than the biting
frost numbed our limbs. [77] The ground about us was not uneven, but
an endless crop of pebbles filled the plainer spaces between little
capes of embedded rock. At length upon the margin of the snow-lake we
found a tiny tongue of turf-grown soil--just sufficient emplacement
to hold the flying tent which we had brought for the purpose of this
lofty bivouac near the line of continuous snow. We were five to share
the modest area which the sloping canvas enclosed; yet the temperature
in the tent sank below freezing before the night was done. Down the
slope beside us the snow water trickled beneath a thin covering of
ice. The sheep-skin coats which we had brought from Aralykh protected
us from chill, but the hardy Kurds slept in their seamy tatters upon
the naked rocks around. One among them sought protection as the cold
became intenser, and we wrapped him in a warm cape. It was the first
time I had passed the night at so great an elevation--12,194 feet above
the sea--and it is possible that the unwonted rarity of the atmosphere
contributed to keep us awake. But, whether it may have arisen from the
conditions which surrounded us, or from a nervous state of physical
excitement inspired by our enterprise, not one among us, excepting
the dragoman, succeeded in courting sleep. That plump little person
had struggled on bravely to this his furthest goal, and his heavy
breathing fell upon the silence of the calm, transparent night.
The site of our camp below the snow-line marks a new stage, or
structural division, in the fabric of Ararat. Of these divisions,
which differ from one another not only in the characteristics presented
by each among them, but also in the gradient of slope, it is natural
to distinguish three. We are dealing in particular with that section
of the mountain which lies between Aralykh and the summit, and with
the features of the south-eastern side. First, there is the massive
base of the mountain, about 10 miles in depth, extending from the
floor of the river valley to a height of about 6000 feet. At that
point the higher seams commence to gather, and the belt of rock
begins. The arduous tracts which we had just traversed, where large,
loose blocks of hard, black lava are piled up like a beach, compose
the upper portion of this middle region, and may be said to touch the
lower margin of the continuous fields of snow. The line of contact
between the extremities of the one and the other stage partakes of the
nature of a transitional system, a neutral zone on the mountain side,
where the rocky layers of the middle slopes have not yet shelved away,
nor the immediate seams of the summit region settled to their long
climb. In this sense the fields of stone about our encampment, with
their patches of last year's snow, are invested with the attributes
of a natural threshold at the foot of the great dome. The stage which
is highest in the structure of Ararat, the stage which holds the dome,
has its origin in this threshold, or neutral district, at an altitude
which varies between 12,000 and 13,000 feet.
Very different in character and in appearance from the region we were
leaving behind was the slope which faced our encampment, robed in
perpetual snow. You have pursued the ramifications of the lava system
to the side of their parent stems; and in place of blind troughs and
prospectless ledges a noble singleness of feature breaks upon the
extricated view. You command the whole summit structure of Ararat
on the short, or gable side; and the shape which rises from the open
ground about you is that of a massive cone. The regular seams which
mount to the summit stretch continuous to the crown of snow, and are
inclined at an angle which diverges very little from an average of
30°. The gradients from which these higher seams gather--the slopes
about our camp--cannot exceed half that inclination, or an angle of
15°. Such is the outline, so harmonious and simple, which a first
glance reveals.... A more intimate study of the summit region, as it
expands to a closer view, disclosed characteristics which were not
exactly similar to those with which we had already become familiar in
the neighbourhood of Sardar Bulakh. It was there the north-eastern
hemisphere of the mountain--if the term may be applied to the oval
figure which the summit region presents--displayed to the prospect upon
the segment between east and south-east. Our present position lay more
to the southward, between the two hemispheres; we were placed near the
axis of the figure, and the roof, as viewed from our encampment, bore
nearly due north-west. The gigantic causeway which at Sardar Bulakh
was seen descending on our left hand from the distant snows, now rose
on our right, like a rocky headland, confronting a gleaming sea of
ice. But, when the eye pursues the summit circle vanishing towards
the west, you miss the sister forms of lesser causeways, radiating
down the mountain side. It is true that the greater proximity of our
standpoint to the foot of these highest slopes curtailed the segment
of the circle which we are able to command. This circumstance is not
in itself sufficient to explain the change in the physiognomy of the
summit region, as we see it on this side. In place of those bold,
black ribs or ridges, spread fanwise down the incline, furrowing the
snows with their sharp edges, and lined along the troughs of their
contiguous bases with broad streaks of sheltered nevé, it seems as
if the fabric had fallen asunder, the surface slipped away--all the
flank of the mountain depressed and hollow, from our camp to the
roof of the dome. The canopy of snow which encircles the summit--a
broad, inviolate bank, unbroken by any rift or rock projection for
a depth of some 2000 feet--breaks sharply off on the verge of this
depression, and leaves the shallow cavity bare. From the base of the
giant causeway just above us to the gently-pursing outline of the
roof you follow the edge of the great snow-field, bordering a rough
and crumbling region which offers scanty foothold to the snow, where
the hollow slope bristles with pointed boulders, and the bold crags
pierce the ruin around them in upstanding combs or saw-shaped ridges,
holding slantwise to the mountain side. On the west side of this broad
and uncovered depression, near the western extremity of the cone,
a long strip of snow descends from the summit, caught by some trough,
or sheltering fissure, in the rough face of the cliff. Beyond it, just
upon the sky-line, the bare rocks reappear, and climb the slope, like
a natural ladder, to a point where the roof of the dome is lowest and
appears to offer the readiest access to the still invisible crown. [78]
In the attenuated atmosphere surrounding the summit every foot that is
gained tells. An approach which promises to ease the gradient at the
time when it presses most seems to offer advantages which some future
traveller may be encouraged to essay. We ourselves were influenced
in the choice of a principle upon which to base our attack by the
confident counsels of the Armenian, which the local knowledge of
the Kurds confirmed. We were advised to keep to the eastern margin
of the depression, by the edge of the great snow-field. You see the
brown rocks still baffling the snow-drifts near the point where the
deceitful slope appears to end, where on the verge of the roof it
just dips a little, then stands up, like a low white wall, on the
luminous ground of blue.
The troubled sea of boulders flowing towards the Little Ararat, from
which we had just emerged, still hemmed us in from any prospect over
the tracts which lay below. The flush of dawn broke between the two
mountains from a narrow vista of sky. The even surface of the snow
slope loomed white and cold above our heads, while the night still
lingered on the dark stone about us, shadowing the little laps of
ice. Before six o'clock we were afoot and ready; it wanted a few
minutes to the hour as we set out from our camp. To the Swiss was
entrusted the post of leader; behind him followed in varying order
my cousin and Wesson and myself. Slowly we passed from the shore of
the snow-lake to the gathering of the higher seams, harbouring our
strength for the steeper gradients as we made across the beach of
boulders, stepping firmly from block to block.
The broad, white sheet of the summit circle descends to the snow-lakes
of the lower region in a tongue, or gulf of deep nevé; you may
follow on the margin of the great depression the western edge of this
gleaming surface unbroken down the side of the cone. On the east the
black wall of the giant causeway borders the shining slope, invading
the field of perpetual winter to a height of over 14,000 feet. The
width of the snow-field between these limits varies as it descends;
on a level with the shoulder, or head of the causeway, it appeared to
span an interval of nearly 200 yards. [79] The depth of the bed must
be considerable, and, while the surface holds the tread in places,
it as often gives and lets you through. No rock-projection, or gap,
or fissure breaks the slope of the white fairway; but the winds have
raised the crust about the centre into a ribbon of tiny waves. Our
plan was to cross the stony region about us, slanting a little east,
and to mount by the rocks on the western margin of the snow-field,
adhering as closely as might be possible to the side of the snow. It
was in the execution of this plan--so simple in its conception--that
the trained instinct of the Swiss availed. Of those who have attempted
the ascent of Ararat--and their number is not large--so many have
failed to reach the summit that, upon a mountain which makes few,
if any, demands upon the resources of the climber's craft, their
discomfiture must be attributed to other reasons: to the peculiar
nature of the ground traversed, no less than to the inordinate
duration of the effort; to the wearisome recurrence of the same kind
of obstacles, and to the rarity of the air. Now the disposition of
the rocks upon the surface of the depression is by no means the same
as that which we have studied in connection with the seams which lie
below. The path no longer struggles across a troubled sea of ridges,
or strays within the blind recesses of a succession of gigantic waves
of stone. On the other hand, the gradients are as a rule steeper;
and the clearings are covered with a loose rubble, which slips from
under the feet. The boulders are piled one upon another in heaps
as they happened to fall, and the sequence of forms is throughout
arbitrary and subject to no fixed law. In one place it is a tower of
this loose masonry which blocks all further approach; in another a
solid barrier of sharp crags, laced together, which it is necessary
to circumvent. When the limbs have been stiffened and the patience
exhausted by the long and devious escalade, the tax upon the lungs
is at its highest, and the strain upon the heart most severe. Many of
the difficulties which travellers have encountered upon this stage of
the climb may be avoided, or met at a greater advantage, by adhering
to the edge of the snow. But the fulfilment of this purpose is by no
means so easy as might at first sight appear. You are always winding
inwards to avoid the heaps of boulders, or emerging on the backs of
gigantic blocks of lava towards the margin of the shining slope. In
the choice of the most direct path, where many offered, the Swiss was
never at fault; he made up the cone without a moment's hesitation,
like a hound threading a close covert, and seldom if ever foiled.
At twenty minutes to seven, when the summit of Little Ararat was
about on a level with the eye, we paused for awhile and turned
towards the prospect, now opening to a wider range. The day was
clear, and promised warmth; above us the snowy dome of Ararat shone
in a cloudless sky. The landscape on either side of the beautiful
pyramid lay outspread at our feet; from north-east, the hidden
shores of Lake Sevan, to where the invisible seas of Van and Urmi
diffused a soft veil of opaline vapour over the long succession of
lonely ranges in the south-east and south. The wild borderland of
Persia and Turkey here for the first time expands to view. The scene,
however much it may belie the conception at a first and hasty glance,
bears the familiar imprint of the characteristics peculiar to the
great tableland. The mountains reveal their essential nature and
disclose the familiar forms--the surface of the tableland broken
into long furrows, of which the ridges tend to hummock shapes. So
lofty is the stage, so aloof this mighty fabric from all surrounding
forms, the world lies dim and featureless about it like the setting
of a dream. In the foreground are the valleys on the south of Little
Ararat, circling round to the Araxes floor; and, on the north-east,
beside the thread of the looping river, is a little lake, dropped
like a turquoise on the sand where the mountain sweeps the plain.
In the space of another hour we had reached an elevation about equal
to that of the head of the causeway on the opposite side of the snow,
a point which I think we should be justified in fixing at over 14,000
feet. [80] We were now no longer threading along the shore of an inlet;
alone the vague horizon of the summit circle was the limit of the
broad, white sea. But on our left hand the snowless region of rock
and rubble still accompanied our course, and a group of red crags
stood up above our heads, just where the upward slope appeared to end.
Yet another two hours of continuous climbing, and, at about half-past
nine, the loose boulders about us open, and we are approaching the
foot of these crags. The end seems near; but the slope is deceitful,
and when once we have reached the head of the formation the long
white way resumes. But the blue vault about us streams with sunlight;
the snow is melting in the crannies; a genial spirit lightens our toil.
And now, without any sign or warning, the mysterious spell which holds
the mountain begins to throw a web about us, craftily, from below. The
spirits of the air come sailing through the azure with shining gossamer
wings, while the heavier vapours gather around us from dense banks
serried upon the slope beneath us, a thousand feet lower down.
The rocks still climb the increasing gradient, but the snow is
closing in. At eleven we halt to copy an inscription, which has
been neatly written in Russian characters on the face of a boulder
stone. It records that on the third day of the eighth month of 1893
the expedition led by the Russian traveller Postukhoff passed the
night in this place. At the foot of the stone lie several objects:
a bottle filled with fluid, an empty tin of biscuits, a tin containing
specimens of rock.
At half-past eleven I take the angle of the snow slope, at this
point 35°. About this time the Swiss thinks it prudent to link us all
together with his rope. The surface of the rocks is still uncovered,
but their bases are embedded in deep snow.
It is now, after six hours' arduous climbing, that the strain of the
effort tells. The lungs are working at the extreme of their capacity,
and the pressure upon the heart is severe. At noon I call a halt, and
release young Wesson from his place in the file of four. His pluck is
still strong, but his look and gait alarm me, and I persuade him to
desist. We leave him to rest in a sheltered place, and there await
our return. From this time on we all three suffer, even the Swiss
himself. My cousin is affected with mountain sickness; as for me, I
find it almost impossible to breathe and climb at the same time. We
make a few steps upwards and then pause breathless, and gasp again
and again. The white slope vanishing above us must end in the crown
of the dome; and the boulders strewn more sparsely before us promise
a fairer way. But the further we go, the goal seems little closer;
and the shallow snow, resting on a crumbling rubble, makes us lose
one step in every three. A strong smell of sulphur permeates the
atmosphere; it proceeds from the sliding surface upon which we are
treading, a detritus of pale sulphurous stones.
At 1.25 we see a plate of white metal, affixed to a cranny in the
rocks. It bears an inscription in Russian character which dates from
1888. I neglect to copy out the unfamiliar letters; but there can be
little doubt that they record the successful ascent of Dr. Markoff,
an ascent which cost him dear.
A few minutes later, at half-past one, the slope at last eases,
the ground flattens, the struggling rocks sink beneath the surface
of a continuous field of snow. At last we stand upon the summit of
Ararat--but the sun no longer pierces the white vapour; a fierce gale
drives across the forbidden region, and whips the eye straining to
distinguish the limits of snow and cloud. Vague forms hurry past on
the wings of the whirlwind; in place of the landscape of the land of
promise we search dense banks of fog.
Disappointed perhaps, but relieved of the gradient, and elated with
the success of our climb, we run in the teeth of the wind across the
platform, our feet scarcely sinking in the storm-swept crust of the
surface, the gently undulating roof of the dome.... Along the edge of
a spacious snow-field which dips towards the centre, and is longest
from north-west to south-east, on the vaulted rim of the saucer which
the surface resembles, four separate elevations may conveniently be
distinguished as the highest points in the irregular oval figure which
the whole platform appears to present. The highest among these rounded
elevations bears north-west from the spot where we first touch the
summit or emerge upon the roof. That spot itself marks another of
these inequalities; the remaining two are situated respectively in
this manner--the one about midway between the two already mentioned,
but nearer to the first and on the north side; the other about south
of the north-western elevation, and this seems the lowest of all. The
difference in height between the north-western elevation and that upon
the south-east is about 200 feet; and the length of the figure between
these points--we paced only a certain portion of the distance--is
about 500 yards. The width of the platform, so far as we could gauge
it, may be some 300 yards. A single object testifies to the efforts
of our fore-runners and to the insatiable enterprise of man--a stout
stake embedded upon the north-western elevation in a little pyramid
of stones. It is here that we take our observations, and make our
longest halt. [81] Before us lies a valley or deep depression, and on
the further side rises the north-western summit, a symmetrical cone of
snow. This summit connects with the bold snow buttresses beyond it,
terraced upon the north-western slope. The distance down and up from
where we stand to that summit may be about 400 yards; but neither
the Swiss nor ourselves consider it higher, and we are prevented
from still further exploring the summit region by the increasing
violence of the gale and by the gathering gloom of cloud. The sides
and floor of the saddle between the two summits are completely covered
with snow, and we see no trace of the lateral fissure which Abich,
no doubt under different circumstances, was able to observe.
We remain forty minutes upon the summit; but the dense veil never lifts
from the platform, nor does the blast cease to pierce us through. No
sooner does an opening in the driving vapours reveal a vista of the
world below than fresh levies fly to the unguarded interval, and
the wild onset resumes. Yet what if the spell had lost its power,
and the mountain and the world lain bare? had the tissue of the air
beamed clear as crystal, and the forms of earth and sea, embroidered
beneath us, shone like the tracery of a shield?
We should have gained a balloon view over Nature. Should we catch her
voice so well?--the ancient voice heard at cool of day in the garden,
or the voice that spoke in accents of thunder to a world condemned
to die. "It repented the Lord that he had made man, and it grieved
him at his heart. The earth was filled with violence: God looked
upon the earth and behold it was corrupt. In the second month, the
seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of
the great deep broken up and the windows of heaven were opened. And
the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights."
We are standing on the spot where the ark of gopher rested, where first
the patriarch alighted on the face of an earth renewed. Before him
lie the valleys of six hundred years of sorrow; the airiest pinnacle
supports him, a boundless hope fills his eyes. The pulse of life beats
strong and fresh around him; the busy swarms thrill with sweet freedom,
elect of all living things. In the settling exhalations stands the
bow of many colours, eternal token of God's covenant with man.
The peaks which rise on the distant borderland where silence has
first faltered into speech are wrapped about with the wreaths of
fancy, a palpable world of cloud. Do we fix our foot upon these solid
landmarks to wish the vague away, to see the hard summits stark and
naked, and all the floating realm of mystery flown? The truth is firm,
and it is well to touch and feel it and know where the legend begins;
but the legend itself is truth transfigured, as the snow distils into
cloud. The reality of life speaks in every syllable of that solemn,
stately tale--divine hope bursting the bounds of matter to compromise
with despair. And the ancient mountain summons the spirits about him,
and veils a futile frown, as the rising sun illumines the valleys
of Asia and the life of man lies bare. The spectres walk in naked
daylight--Violence and Corruption and Decay. The traveller finds in
majestic Nature consolation for these sordid scenes; while a spirit
seems to whisper in his ears, "Turn from him!--turn from him, that
he may rest till he shall accomplish, as an hireling, his day."