sters, and our dark
glasses afforded but little protection to our aching eyes.

At 11 A. M. we sat down on the snow to eat our last morsel of food. The
cold chicken and bread tasted like sawdust, for we had no saliva with
which to masticate them. Our single bottle of tea had given out, and we
suffered with thirst for several hours. Again the word to start was given.
We rose at once, but our stiffened legs quivered beneath us, and we leaned
on our alpenstocks for support. Still we plodded on for two more weary
hours, cutting our steps in the icy cliffs, or sinking to our thighs in
the treacherous snow-beds. We could see that we were nearing the top of
the great chasm, for the clouds, now entirely cleared away, left our view
unobstructed. We could even descry the black Kurdish tents upon the
northeast slope, and, far below, the Aras River, like a streak of silver,
threading its way into the purple distance. The atmosphere about us grew
colder, and we buttoned up our now too scanty garments. We must be nearing
the top, we thought, and yet we were not certain, for a huge, precipitous
cliff, just in front of us, cut off the view.

"Slowly, slowly," feebly shouted the old gentleman, as we began the attack
on its precipitous sides, now stopping to brush away the treacherous snow,
or to cut some steps in the solid ice. We pushed and pulled one another
almost to the top, and then, with one more desperate effort, we stood upon
a vast and gradually sloping snow-bed. Down we plunged above our knees
through the yielding surface, and staggered and fell with failing
strength; then rose once more and plodded on, until at last we sank
exhausted upon the top of Ararat.

For a moment only we lay gasping for breath; then a full realization of
our situation dawned upon us, and fanned the few faint sparks of
enthusiasm that remained in our exhausted bodies. We unfurled upon an
alpenstock the small silk American flag that we had brought from home, and
for the first time the "stars and stripes" was given to the breeze on the
Mountain of the Ark. Four shots fired from our revolvers in commemoration
of Independence Day broke the stillness of the gorges. Far above the
clouds, which were rolling below us over three of the most absolute
monarchies in the world, was celebrated in our simple way a great event of
republicanism.

Mount Ararat, it will be observed from the accompanying sketch, has two
tops, a few hundred yards apart, sloping, on the