But at this season of the year when elevation is of no consequence, the snow having long since disappeared, it is just as well to follow the most direct line, and keep as high as possible and near the water-parting. From one side of the flat vaulting the streams will flow westwards, and from the other towards the east. We crossed no less than six tributaries of the Araxes. Of these the first three converged rather closely together, and they probably compose the stream upon which is situated the village of Khedonun. Their valley or valleys have lofty parapets which required to be turned. I observed that the lavas upon the hillsides had in some places cooled in a columnar fashion. The direction of the first and most imposing of these valleys was towards south-south-east. North of the series the country again became flat, and the views far-reaching; we were in fact approaching the spine of the whole block of heights. Two new branches were crossed, both flowing into a wide depression which we overlooked in all its extent. They were separated by a considerable stretch of very elevated land. Their situation points to the conclusion that they take their waters to the stream which skirts the village of Duzyurt. Making our way from one to the other, we rode at the foot of outcrops of lava upon our left hand. Some were circular in form. Blue gentians are found in the grassy places, and the more northerly of the two streams is placed at a level of no less than 9400 feet. The highest point along our route lay some little distance further north, and may have been some 200 feet more elevated. It may be called the pass over this plateau region. The block of heights is separated from those of Palandöken by a depression, which is crossed by a saddle-shaped neck of land. On one side of this vaulting water flows to the Euphrates, and on the other to the Araxes. The affluent to the Araxes is one of the branches of the Madrak river. We forded it near the head of the trough.
We did not pass a single village, not even a yaila, during our ride from the encampment of Zireki Kurds to the Palandöken ridge. The surface of the plateau consists of a slabby lava, which probably overlies the limestone with no great depth. The lavas appear to have issued from approximately east-west fissures at a time when the country had been already carved out into the main features of its present contour. Especially remarkable, as we neared the Palandöken line of heights, was the whiteness of their face where the rock was exposed. The limestone, which perhaps constitutes the bulk of that block, is probably of Eocene age. We struck a course up the slope of those heights a little west of the more westerly of the two forts; and we issued into the so-called crater of Palandöken-Eyerli Dagh, where we encamped by the margin of the first northward-flowing stream.
On the following morning I made the ascent of the peak of Palandöken. The result of my test of boiling-point on this single occasion gives it a height of 10,690 feet. It is therefore about at the same level as the highest points on the Bingöl ramparts on the opposite side of the whole wide basin. Like its close neighbour on the west, the equally bold Eyerli Dagh, it is of eruptive volcanic origin. But the cirque between the two has probably never been a crater; it seems more likely that its peculiar form is mainly due to the erosive action of snow and ice. We had not time to make any careful examination of the wide area which the cirque covers. But this view was suggested by all the phenomena which came under our notice.[1] The basin has been cleared out by two gorges, and the matter is deposited on the wide detrital fan which extends some distance into the plain of Erzerum. A patch or two of snow were still visible in the hollows; but the peak and steep, boulder-strewn sides of Palandöken were completely free of snow.
From Erzerum to the coast we took a fairly direct route, travelling by the pass of the Jejen Dagh (8600 feet) to Baiburt, and thence by the passes of the Kitowa (8040 feet) and Kazikly (8290 feet) Daghs to the monastery of Sumelas.[2] But the great height of the passes and the general ruggedness of the country are against the prospects of this route as a possible avenue of constant communication between Trebizond and the Armenian fortress. A future railway will probably follow the devious course of the existing chaussée by way of Gümüshkhaneh, or will strike a direct course for the seaboard, issuing at the port of Rizeh.[3] But to the traveller who is in search of romantic scenery one may confidently recommend the summer road which we adopted. The passage of the first barrier will afford him a near view of the beautiful peak of the Jejen; while the later journey lies among the summits of the Pontic alps and among some of their wildest glens. The last stage will introduce him to one of the most remarkable valleys in this or any other land. He should endeavour to arrange his visit during his return homewards, when the features of the tableland, with their majesty of form but bareness of surface, are freshly graven upon the mind. The contrast to that landscape which he will find in the Vale of Meiriman is at once sudden and complete. Vegetation of bewildering beauty takes the place of grandeur of outline; and only the impressive scale upon which Nature has moulded her work in Asia remains constant to the end.
[1] Both Oswald and myself had read Abich’s account of this so-called crater. He appears to regard it as a volcanic crater in the strict sense. I am inclined to think that his drawing is very much exaggerated (Geologische Forschungen in den kaukasischen Ländern, Vienna, 1882, II. Theil, pp. 73 et seq.). [↑]
[2] For the stages see Ch. XI. p. 240. [↑]
[3] An account of this route which I have before me gives the distance between Rizeh and Erzerum as only 119 miles. It leaves Ispir (in the Chorokh valley) a little to the east. [↑]