Scarcely a less prominent surface feature are the Pliocene lacustrine deposits,[17] 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.
[1] I must not omit to record the assistance which I have received from the map of H. Kiepert, Provinces Asiatiques de l’Empire Ottoman. The sheets which cover the Armenian country embody the results of my predecessors, which have been compiled with great judgment. I have also had access to two Russian maps embracing portions of the country, (1) scale 10 versts = one inch, 1889, (2) scale 20 versts = one inch, 1899. But the map of Kiepert with all its merit is necessarily sketchy; and the last Russian map is flagrantly incorrect. [↑]
[2] See the map of Loftus in Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, vol. xi. London, 1855, p. 247. [↑]
[3] See the map of Abich in Geologische Forschungen in den kaukasischen Ländern, Vienna, 1882, Atlas, Karte I.; and part ii. p. 141. [↑]
[4] A fine view of the range at this point is displayed by Abich, op. cit., Atlas table iii. [↑]