mple--sometimes exhale acid fumes;
while hot springs exist in the neighbourhood, from which steaming
waters escape in cascades to the valley, and earthquakes and strange
subterranean noises are not unknown. The backbone of these Armenian
mountains joins towards the south the line of the Grordyasan range; it
runs in a succession of zigzags from south-east to northwest, meeting at
length the mountains of Pontus and the last spurs of the Caucasus.

[Illustration: 079.jpg THE TWO PEAKS OF MOUNT ARARAT]

Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by A. Tissandier.

Lofty snow-clad peaks, chiefly of volcanic origin, rise here and there
among them, the most important being Akhta-dagh, Tandurek, Ararat,
Bingoel, and Palandoeken. The two unequal pyramids which form the summit
of Ararat are covered with perpetual snow, the higher of them being
16,916 feet above the sea-level. The spurs which issue from the
principal chain cross each other in all directions, and make a network
of rocky basins where in former times water collected and formed lakes,
nearly all of which are now dry in consequence of the breaking down of
one or other of their enclosing sides. Two only of these mountain lakes
still remain, entirely devoid of outlet, Lake Van in the south, and Lake
Urumiah further to the south-east. The Assyrians called the former the
Upper Sea of Nairi, and the latter the Lower Sea, and both constituted
a defence for Urartu against their attacks. To reach the centre of the
kingdom of Urartu, the Assyrians had either to cross the mountainous
strip of land between the two lakes, or by making a detour to the
north-west, and descending the difficult slopes of the valley of the
Arzania, to approach the mountains of Armenia lying to the north of Lake
Van. The march was necessarily a slow and painful one for both horses
and men, along narrow winding valleys down which rushed rapid streams,
over raging torrents, through tangled forests where the path had to be
cut as they advanced, and over barren wind-swept plateaux where rain and
mist chilled and demoralized soldiers accustomed to the warm and sunny
plains of the Euphrates. The majority of the armies which invaded this
region never reached the goal of the expedition: they retired after
a few engagements, and withdrew as quickly as possible to more genial
climes. The main part of the Urartu remained almost always unsubdued
behind its barrier of woods, rocks, and lakes, which protected it from