DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5542#0263
Chap, xliv.]
UTCH HISSAlt.
251
and extraordinary sight: in the several valleys spread out
beneath our feet, towards the E. and N.E., many thousand
conical hills, or rather pointed pinnacles, varying in height
from 50 to 200 feet, rose up in all directions, so closely ar-
ranged that their bases touched each other, leaving only a
narrow path between them, and presenting a most strange
and inexplicable phamomcnon. In many places they were
so slender and close together, that they resembled a forest
of cedars, or lofty fir-trees. As we descended through the
village and wound round the base of the lofty rock above
mentioned on our left, its sides were literally covered with
caves, some of which, from the front wall having fallen
away, presented vast apartments supported by columns; on
onr right was an insulated pinnacle, rising up in the centre
of the village, to a height of more than 200 feet, excavated
on all sides, and offering many windows and openings even
near the very summit, an approach to which appears impos-
sible, except by an internal staircase cut in the rock itself.
The accompanying sketch may perhaps give some idea of
this combination of extraordinary forms.
Beyond this valley several table-lands of the same rock
appeared to the E., N.E., and S.E., being portions of that
from which we had just descended, and with which they
must have been continuous, before the valleys were hol-
lowed out, and the pumiceous tuff had assumed its present
singular state. The peculiar nature of the several beds of
which it consists has of course had some influence in modifying
their subsequent forms. In the upper portion are several
bands of hard stone, which have preserved the horizontality
of the table-lands; the middle beds, some of which are
slightly tinged with red, are worn by weathering and running-
streams into these pointed cones, while the lower beds are
still softer, and wear away with a more rounded form. As
our road led down a narrow ridge from the village and
across the valley, I was struck with the fertility of the gar-
dens and orchards on this dry soil. But the apricot was
almost the only tree in abundance, producing fruit of an
UTCH HISSAlt.
251
and extraordinary sight: in the several valleys spread out
beneath our feet, towards the E. and N.E., many thousand
conical hills, or rather pointed pinnacles, varying in height
from 50 to 200 feet, rose up in all directions, so closely ar-
ranged that their bases touched each other, leaving only a
narrow path between them, and presenting a most strange
and inexplicable phamomcnon. In many places they were
so slender and close together, that they resembled a forest
of cedars, or lofty fir-trees. As we descended through the
village and wound round the base of the lofty rock above
mentioned on our left, its sides were literally covered with
caves, some of which, from the front wall having fallen
away, presented vast apartments supported by columns; on
onr right was an insulated pinnacle, rising up in the centre
of the village, to a height of more than 200 feet, excavated
on all sides, and offering many windows and openings even
near the very summit, an approach to which appears impos-
sible, except by an internal staircase cut in the rock itself.
The accompanying sketch may perhaps give some idea of
this combination of extraordinary forms.
Beyond this valley several table-lands of the same rock
appeared to the E., N.E., and S.E., being portions of that
from which we had just descended, and with which they
must have been continuous, before the valleys were hol-
lowed out, and the pumiceous tuff had assumed its present
singular state. The peculiar nature of the several beds of
which it consists has of course had some influence in modifying
their subsequent forms. In the upper portion are several
bands of hard stone, which have preserved the horizontality
of the table-lands; the middle beds, some of which are
slightly tinged with red, are worn by weathering and running-
streams into these pointed cones, while the lower beds are
still softer, and wear away with a more rounded form. As
our road led down a narrow ridge from the village and
across the valley, I was struck with the fertility of the gar-
dens and orchards on this dry soil. But the apricot was
almost the only tree in abundance, producing fruit of an