Two, and only two, distinct chains of heights were visible in the south. The first, which was apparently the lower, was that on the south of Erzerum, the Palandöken and the continuing eminences toward the west. Behind this outline rose a second and also horizontal series, which were identified by my informant, a zaptieh who lives on the mountain, as the range on the north of the Murad or Eastern Euphrates, known to him under the same name as that of the district of Terjan. Between these two chains lay a mass of vapour, suspended above the river which joins the Western Euphrates below the town of Mamakhatun. A third and further range, that of the Kurdish Mountains, beyond the Murad, was not, and, according to the same authority, could not be descried from this pass.[4]
Proceeding on our northward journey at ten minutes before two, we entered, a little later, a break in the mass. In the hollow flowed a torrent, partially encrusted with ice, the first of the streams which find their way to the Black Sea. As we advanced, this shallow opening became a deep gorge, leading, almost directly, towards the north. The road was taken by easy gradients down this convenient valley, and, after a course of over five miles from the culminating point of the pass, reached the shelter known as the Northern Kop Khan. Here we rested for an hour and a half, continuing our ride at half-past four o’clock. We kept the torrent on our left, still adhering to the gorge, which displayed a fine view backward to the top of the mountain mass. A wall of stupendous height crowned its uppermost end, and displayed the familiar flat edge. The strata, of a marmorised limestone, which overhung the glen were much contorted, like the grain of a knot in a tree. After crossing a stream, in part icebound, which we recognised as the Chorokh, we arrived at a quarter-past six at the little settlement of Maden Khan (5455 feet) near Halwa Maden, distant some 6½ miles from our last halting-place, or about 29 miles by the road from Ashkala.
Fig. 172. On the Banks of the Chorokh above Baiburt.
I do not propose to follow in detail the further stages of our journey to the coast of the Black Sea. But I have not yet taken my reader to the extreme geographical limits of the country which in the present work I am endeavouring to describe. From Maden Khan it was still a ride of one and a half days to the pass where you bid farewell to the Armenian plains. This northerly extension of the highlands of Armenia is watered by the Upper Chorokh.
February 8.—Leaving the cluster of wayside hospices in which we had passed the night, our course was directed westwards down the stream. On either bank rose hills of marble with no great relative elevation, covered, like the valley, with deep snow. The current sometimes flowed in an open channel, and as often plunged beneath a continuous crust of ice. Not a single tree, nor even a bush, was visible in the landscape. A little further down the hills opened, and gave place to a stretch of plain ([Fig. 172]). At the western end of this expanse they again circled inwards, and the valley took an abrupt turn towards the east. At the mouth of this passage is situated the castle and town of Baiburt, barring the approach to these uppermost reaches of the Chorokh.
But on the west of this picturesque and ruinous fortress the heights which deflect the river to its long course toward the east command the stronghold and detract from its value in modern war. Indeed they constitute an undulating upland or plateau, framed by the convex shapes of distant hills. At about its highest point this plateau has an elevation of some 5620 feet. Leaving the town, we made our way across this upland in a direction of west to west-north-west; and, in a little over an hour, overlooked one of the flat depressions which have already been so often described. Upon its snow-clad surface was placed an Armenian village with three fine buildings, now in ruins, a relic of the old times. What an eloquent memorial those shapely forms and that finished masonry still preserved to a cultured and beneficent race! Varzahan was the name of the village; but we had again been placed under surveillance, and it was impossible to perpetuate the image of these decaying remains.[5]
Fig. 173. Armenian Cemetery at Varzahan.
The ova or plain of Varzahan, to which we descended, is, in some sense, a westerly extension of that portion of the valley of the Chorokh which lies below the town of Baiburt. Yet it was separated by a range of hills from the trough in the surrounding outlines through which we knew that the river must flow. These hills circle southwards from the latitudinal chain of distant heights which confine this ova and the Chorokh valley alike. A passage is no doubt found by the streams which collect in the plain and find their way to the Chorokh. We were reminded by its appearance of the plain of Erzerum, of which many of the features were reproduced on a smaller scale. It seemed to strike the last note of the distinctive theme to which we had been listening for so many long months. The plain has an elevation of about 5300 feet, and it is possible to scale the heights on its northern border and, in summer, to pursue the journey to Trebizond.[6] But in winter you are taken up an opening at its westerly extremity which we may call, after a considerable village which lies within it, the valley of Balakhor. This valley conducts you in a westerly direction, to the ridge or ridges which form the water-parting on the south of the Lycus, and on the west and east of the Kharshut and Chorokh.