DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5541#0235
206
elevation of the plain.
[Chap. xiii.
wood to Giimri. Between forty and fifty arrabah loads
are said to pass every day, each load, consisting of one
tree, being sold for fifty piastres or ten shillings. The
peasants stated that it was expected that the whole would
be completed in about seven years. At nine a.m. we
forded the Kars river, very wide and deep, near a place
called Yamuschli, three hours above the spot where we
passed it yesterday. Half a mile below the ford was
a narrow gorge in the hills on our left, through which
the river flowed between perpendicular cliffs at least 200
feet high. For the next six miles we traversed an open
uncultivated plain, until we reached a low range of hills
capped with basalt, and apparently the north-western pro-
longation of those between Kars and Hadji Veli Kieui.
Here we passed several waggons laden with cotton coming
from Erivan by way of Giimri; and as we approached Kars,
we saw a few instances of cultivation. The soil is light and
rich, and much might be done to make it productive, were
it not for that perpetual obstacle to all improvement in
this country, a scarcity of water. We reached the town a
little before four, having met close to the gates a party of
Russian deserters whom the Turkish authorities were re-
conducting to the frontier; a practical proof of the in-
fluence and power which the Russians exercise over their
neighbours.
Thursday, June 16.—Halt at Kars. The elevation of
this country is very great, which sufficiently accounts for
the lateness of the crops, and the severity of the winters.
I had no barometer with me, but the thermometer showed
the boiling point of water to be 200° of Fahr., which would
give an elevation of between 6000 and 7000 feet above
the sea. The neighbourhood of Kars is surrounded by lofty
mountains, and is much exposed to thunder-storms. Ever
since we entered this district we have heard thunder every
afternoon, and on most days we have been overtaken by
heavy thunder-storms about three p.m.
Friday, June 17.—On leaving Kars I separated from my
elevation of the plain.
[Chap. xiii.
wood to Giimri. Between forty and fifty arrabah loads
are said to pass every day, each load, consisting of one
tree, being sold for fifty piastres or ten shillings. The
peasants stated that it was expected that the whole would
be completed in about seven years. At nine a.m. we
forded the Kars river, very wide and deep, near a place
called Yamuschli, three hours above the spot where we
passed it yesterday. Half a mile below the ford was
a narrow gorge in the hills on our left, through which
the river flowed between perpendicular cliffs at least 200
feet high. For the next six miles we traversed an open
uncultivated plain, until we reached a low range of hills
capped with basalt, and apparently the north-western pro-
longation of those between Kars and Hadji Veli Kieui.
Here we passed several waggons laden with cotton coming
from Erivan by way of Giimri; and as we approached Kars,
we saw a few instances of cultivation. The soil is light and
rich, and much might be done to make it productive, were
it not for that perpetual obstacle to all improvement in
this country, a scarcity of water. We reached the town a
little before four, having met close to the gates a party of
Russian deserters whom the Turkish authorities were re-
conducting to the frontier; a practical proof of the in-
fluence and power which the Russians exercise over their
neighbours.
Thursday, June 16.—Halt at Kars. The elevation of
this country is very great, which sufficiently accounts for
the lateness of the crops, and the severity of the winters.
I had no barometer with me, but the thermometer showed
the boiling point of water to be 200° of Fahr., which would
give an elevation of between 6000 and 7000 feet above
the sea. The neighbourhood of Kars is surrounded by lofty
mountains, and is much exposed to thunder-storms. Ever
since we entered this district we have heard thunder every
afternoon, and on most days we have been overtaken by
heavy thunder-storms about three p.m.
Friday, June 17.—On leaving Kars I separated from my