DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5541#0211
182
leave erzeeoum;
[Chap. xii.
the latter are sent in great numbers to Persia, which is,
indeed, almost supplied from hence. One family of smiths,
known by the name of Ycdi Kardash (seven brothers), has
acquired a very extensive celebrity. Good horses may also
be obtained here from the Turcoman tribes in the neigh-
bourhood. I purchased a spirited grey horse, about fifteen
hands high, very fast and strong, and well made, for 1200
piastres, or 12/., which carried me during the whole summer
perfectly well.
The winter at Erzeroum is extremely severe, as might
well be expected, from its great elevation above the sea,
which has been estimated at about 6000 feet, the height of
the barometer varying from 23 50 to 24 00 inches. When
we arrived there in the beginning of June, the corn was only
just appearing above the ground; and yet so great is the
heat of the sun during the short summer, that it would be
necessary to have recourse to an extensive system of irriga-
tion to prevent it from being burnt up before it reached
maturity.
Tuesday, June 7.—I started for Kars soon after noon,
in company with Colonel Macintosh, to visit the ruins of
Anni; and, having taken leave of our hospitable friends,
we passed through the gate of Erzeroum, which merely
consisted of the two side-posts between two mounds of mud,
the effects of Turkish idleness grafted on Russian conquest.
For two miles our course was east, between low hills,
crossing several small streams, flowing north towards the
Euphrates; after which, for nearly four miles, we travelled
over low, barren hills of thinly-laminated calcareous marls,
capped with pepcrite, and overlaid with huge boulders of
lava, basalt, and basaltic conglomerate. At half-past one
we reached the summit of the ridge, stretching nearly north
from the high range of hills on our right, and separating
the plain and district of the Euphrates from that of the
Araxes. From thence we descended by a winding, rocky
road into the plain of Hassan Kaleh, the picturesque castle
of which was visible from afar. Soon after two we crossed a
leave erzeeoum;
[Chap. xii.
the latter are sent in great numbers to Persia, which is,
indeed, almost supplied from hence. One family of smiths,
known by the name of Ycdi Kardash (seven brothers), has
acquired a very extensive celebrity. Good horses may also
be obtained here from the Turcoman tribes in the neigh-
bourhood. I purchased a spirited grey horse, about fifteen
hands high, very fast and strong, and well made, for 1200
piastres, or 12/., which carried me during the whole summer
perfectly well.
The winter at Erzeroum is extremely severe, as might
well be expected, from its great elevation above the sea,
which has been estimated at about 6000 feet, the height of
the barometer varying from 23 50 to 24 00 inches. When
we arrived there in the beginning of June, the corn was only
just appearing above the ground; and yet so great is the
heat of the sun during the short summer, that it would be
necessary to have recourse to an extensive system of irriga-
tion to prevent it from being burnt up before it reached
maturity.
Tuesday, June 7.—I started for Kars soon after noon,
in company with Colonel Macintosh, to visit the ruins of
Anni; and, having taken leave of our hospitable friends,
we passed through the gate of Erzeroum, which merely
consisted of the two side-posts between two mounds of mud,
the effects of Turkish idleness grafted on Russian conquest.
For two miles our course was east, between low hills,
crossing several small streams, flowing north towards the
Euphrates; after which, for nearly four miles, we travelled
over low, barren hills of thinly-laminated calcareous marls,
capped with pepcrite, and overlaid with huge boulders of
lava, basalt, and basaltic conglomerate. At half-past one
we reached the summit of the ridge, stretching nearly north
from the high range of hills on our right, and separating
the plain and district of the Euphrates from that of the
Araxes. From thence we descended by a winding, rocky
road into the plain of Hassan Kaleh, the picturesque castle
of which was visible from afar. Soon after two we crossed a