June 23.—After fording the Aras we made our way for some considerable distance up the fairly broad valley of another little river, which was already close to its confluence. The valley favoured our course, having an almost meridional direction; the river was coming straight down from Bingöl. The peculiar charm of this region is the number of delicious streams which furrow the breezy downs. With their grassy valleys and blue surface they refresh and please the eye, and in part atone for the absence of trees. The sides of the valley were seen to consist of a very white lacustrine limestone; these rocks were varied a few miles further, and at length almost superseded, by sheets of dark brown tuff. Among such surroundings is situated the considerable Kurdish village of Kalaji, backed by a low cliff of rectangular blocks of tuff, and overlooking the stream from its left bank. At this point we crossed the river and regained the uplands; our landmarks were again in view. The snowy peak which we called Sheikhjik lay on our right, above high outlines of these undulating downs. Behind us stretched the outline of the Palandöken heights; while before us rose the western and more pronounced eminence of the long ridge of Bingöl. Our guide was making for a village at the foot of Bingöl which bears the name of Kherbesor.
Hitherto we had been pursuing an almost southerly course; it was time that we should be turning towards the east. This wide curve is dictated by a block of limestone hills, which interposes a sea of peaks, with little relative height, between Khedonun and the plain of Khinis. We had now reached the base of the platform which supports Bingöl; it breaks off just on the south of the village of Kherbesor in a line of cliffs, which concealed the eastern summit. We were in the district of Shushar; our further progress was directed up a wide valley between those cliffs and the block of hills with the rounded peaks. The cliffs appeared to consist of a dark lava, overlying calcareous lake deposits, which again overlay the tuffs of the plain of Kherbesor. At a distance of some five miles, we crossed a col (7340 feet) over a ridge of limestone, joining the block of hills to the uppermost extremity of the cliffs. Thence we descended to a spacious and roughly-circular valley, a kind of caldron among the bleak heights. It sends its drainage to the Araxes in a stream which skirts the eastern outworks of the block of limestone hills. The hamlet of Ali Mur, which nestles in the lap of this hollow, has an elevation of 7180 feet. It belongs to the district of Khinis. It takes its name from a grey-beard who became our guide on the following day, and who was the founder of the settlement. Ali Mur and his people are Kizilbash Kurds. He told me that they had found on this site the relics of a village known as Kharaba, and a cemetery which he believed was Mussulman.
Next morning we made our way in a south-easterly direction up the amphitheatral heights. In less than an hour we arrived at the col (7490 feet), a ridge of limestone hardened to marble, just outside the limits of the lavas of Bingöl. This pass lies some miles south-west of that of Akhviran, and, like that pass, leads down from the plateau country to the lower levels of the plain of Khinis. Our immediate surroundings were lofty downs from which rose the ridge of Bingöl, both summits being fully exposed. Beyond a vast trough, in which the plain of Khinis lay, the mass of Khamur loomed large ([Fig. 177]). In the south-east soared the snowy shape of Sipan, infinitely high.
Fig. 177. Khamur from the Pass between Ali Mur and Khinis.
As we descended we overlooked two deeply-eroded cañons, that on our right hand being much the more pronounced. The stream which flows within it is known as the Bingöl Su; a smaller affluent was coming down the minor cañon. All these waters find their way round the Khamur elevation by a long course to the Murad. The face of the cañon of the Bingöl Su displayed lavas and tuffs to a depth of about 100 feet; these were seen to overlie the limestone, and it was evident that they had come from Bingöl. Similar terraces capped the cliffs of the minor stream. The ride over the tongue of high land which separates the cañons was not only remarkable for the wide prospects which opened before us, but also for the refreshing change to a little vegetation and to a kinder climate. Little oak trees clothe the slopes, and an abundance of wild roses; these and purple peonies were in full bloom. When we reached the bed of the smaller river and, after fording it, followed the Bingöl Su, the pleasantness of our first impression was increased. The valley had become wide, but with high cliffs on either side; that on the right showed a face of lava, capped by tuff. These tuffs in the Bingöl region resemble blocks of masonry, and have the horizontal outline of a wall. The heights on the left bank were of marble. The river winds like a snake through a fairly wide meadow, in which the grass was vividly green. Tall willows spread their shade over the crystal-clear water; and our English fieldflowers, the poppy being most conspicuous, coloured the luscious undergrowth. Grave storks were busy in the marshy places; the song of nightingales was heard in the groves. The limbs relaxed beneath this summer; we were loth to leave the sweet valley after a ride within it of three-quarters of an hour. The river enters a gorge before issuing into the plain; our path took us up the heights above its right bank. For some time we enjoyed fine views over the level country in the east, and then descended to the bed of a tributary. Here I greeted and Oswald admired the lonely “church in the valley.”[3] A little later we arrived on the edge of the cañon in which reposes the town of Khinis (5550 feet).
Fig. 178. Kurdish Dancing Boy at Gopal.
[1] The following are my estimates of the mileage distances along our route to Khinis: Erzerum—Palandöken Pass, 7¼ miles; Palandöken Pass—Madrak, 8 miles; Madrak—Khedonun, 11½ miles; Khedonun—Kherbesor, 8¾ miles; Kherbesor—Ali Mur, 7 miles; Ali Mur—Khinis, 18 miles. Total, 60½ miles. Such estimates throughout this work are based on pace and on time occupied; and the results have been checked by the positions fixed by cross bearings. [↑]