Fig. 101. Aghri Dagh from the Araxes Cañon.
There is seldom wanting to such formations a natural pass or opening, through which the communications with the lower levels flow. Our road availed itself of a deep and gulf-like inlet in the rim of the plateau. The descent along this avenue was comparatively long and gradual, commencing indeed above the village—which has an elevation of some 6500 feet[2]—and ending in the neighbourhood of the Lower Kemurly. Measured on the map from point to point, the distance between the two settlements is about 6½ miles. The road was carried along the slopes through an infinitude of windings, which measured 18 versts or 12 miles.
It was not yet eight o’clock when we proceeded in our carriage down the easy gradients of this descent. Beyond a foreground which was choked by a succession of shelving convexities rose the crags and peaks of the Ararat system—that long range to which in a collective sense this name may not be inapplicable, and which, like Ararat, is known to the inhabitants of these districts under the name of Aghri Dagh. Aghri Dagh! These words, with their roughness on the palate, are just as appropriate to express the ruggedness of the barrier which we were fronting, as they are unsuited to reflect the harmony of the giant in the east. The eye, already accustomed to the vaulted eminences of the tableland, is impressed by the contrast of these sharp, precipitous shapes. It seems some invasion of the border ranges into the area of the great plateaux. The sun was touching the summits of the chain, which were softened by a covering of fresh snow. But the underlying rock still asserted its essential character, moulding the snow into an infinite number of facets, which sparkled in the light (Fig. [101]). The northern wall of the valley—the heights we were leaving behind us—is composed by the lofty cliffs already described. Their even outline was drawn across the sky into invisible limits, as we made our way over the broken ground to which they decline (Fig. [102]).
Fig. 102. Cliffs composing Northern Wall of Araxes Cañon.
Marls and sandstone had taken the place of the layers of volcanic matter; far and wide, the slopes about us were broken into hummock shapes, tinged with delicate yellows and pinks. The only vestige of wood were some low trees and bush, seen on the lower tiers of the opposite mountains in the far west. Again we opened out the distant outline of Ararat, beyond the dark peak of Takjaltu. The Araxes was long invisible; when at length we overlooked the narrow floor of the valley, the river resembled a slender white thread. Kagyzman was distinguished on the first of the slopes which faced us—an oasis of verdure and some faint blue smoke. We felt the power of a southern sun; and, as we neared the end of the descent, bouquets of atraphaxis, with succulent flowers and blaze of madder, clothed the waste and sandy soil. At twenty minutes before ten we were at the Lower Kemurly; and, a little later, our wheels were cleaving the shallow waters of the Araxes, spread in a wide bed of silt and shingle, over which a rapid current flows (Fig. [103]). The ground rises from the opposite margin of the river up the beautiful side valley of Kagyzman. The town is situated at an elevation of some 700 feet above the ford, which crosses a hollow of nearly 4000 feet above the sea.[3]
Fig. 103. The Araxes near Kagyzman.