CHAPTER XXII

HOME ACROSS THE BORDER RANGES

August 24.--We found our camp a long distance south of the western summit, and, after a short sleep, resumed our journey. We simply followed a compass course to the head of that river valley along which the Bingöl plateau breaks off on the side of the west. The general flow of the lava over which we rode was towards north-west. We crossed the first zone of serpentine hills through a deep valley with heights on either side. Beyond the passage we issued upon a lower plain of lava, where the stream of molten matter had been diverted by the serpentines, and had circled round them, flooding down into the plain. In the section displayed by a river cliff within the limits of this region we observed a bed of columnar lava some twenty feet in thickness, overlying lavas to a depth of some eighty feet. Near this point we reached the first village, the Kurdish settlement of Bastok. It is placed upon one of the head streams of the Aras, which we forded, and, not long after, arrived on the banks of the main channel at the Kurdish hamlet of Shekan. The Aras had already become a little river, and was known to the villagers under that name. We crossed it, leaving it to flow off into an alluvial plain, along the marginal heights of which we rode. This is the first plain in the proper sense of the word through which the Araxes winds. It is situated at an altitude of about 7000 feet, and may be called, from a village on its northern confines, the plain of Altun.

We discovered a Kurdish village at the eastern foot of the hill which had been our landmark and point of course. It bears the name of Gugoghlan. It fronts the plain of the Aras, which, on the north of the hill, is only separated by a low lip of ground from the basin of the Murad. Such is the habit of these water-partings. I remained for two days in this village, drawing and mapping on the hill. Oswald preceded me to Erzerum. Our journey thither led us across the central tableland, a little west of the route pursued during our outward march. I have already dealt with the general characteristics of the region, and shall only add a short account of any fresh features.

Gugoghlan already belongs to the district of Shushar, while the villages on the further side of the Sheikhjik mountain are included in that of Kighi. The western and north-western sides of the Altun plain have been flooded by a lava which appears to have issued from the neighbourhood of Sheikhjik and also from the heights upon its northern margin. Our way to Erzerum took us over this sheet of lava. In a depression between two such flows we passed an extensive yaila, belonging to Zireki Kurds--a tribe of which the main body live about Diarbekr, and of whom these people are a colony. North of the yaila we commenced the ascent of that latitudinal wall of mountain which at once forms the limit of the plain of Altun, and sends the Araxes off towards the east.

It consists of lava overlying lacustrine deposits, and the summit is perfectly flat. You may ride in any direction until you are stopped by a river valley, which will be deeply cut and bordered by commanding heights. I had for guide an old and almost toothless Kurd, whom I had instructed, with some misgivings as to his knowledge, to lead a course as straight as possible to Erzerum. The usual route from Gugoghlan would be by way of Madrak, keeping to lower levels but rather longer.

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. [276] 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. [277] 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. [278] 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.