25° -west of Erivan (Researches in Armenia, p. 2G7) ; and remark, in describing it before the recent earth- quake, that in no part of the world had they seen any mountain whose imposing appearance could plead half so powerfully as this a claim to the honor of having once been the stepping-stone between the old world and the new. '• It appeared," says Ker Porter, "as if the hugest mountains of the world had been piled upon each other to form this one sublime immensity of earth, and rocks, and snow. The icy peaks of its double heads rose majestically into the clear and cloudless heavens; the sun blazed bright upon them, and the reflection sent forth a dazzling radiance equal to other suns. My eye, not able to rest for any length of time upon the blinding glory of its summits, wan- dered down the apparently interminable sides, till I could no longer trace their vast lines in the mists of the horizon ; when an irrepressible impulse immedi- ately carrying my eye upward again refixed my gaze upon the awful glare of Ararat" (Trav. i, 182 sq. ; ii, G3G sq.). To the same effect Morier writes : "Noth- ing can be more beautiful than its shape, more awful than its height. All the surrounding mountains sink into insignilicance when compared to it. It is perfect in all its parts; no hard rugged feature, no unnatural prominences; every thing is in harmony, and all com- bines to render it one of the sublimest objects in na- ture" (Journey, c. xvi; Second Journey, p. 312). Sev- eral attempts had been made to reach the top of Ara- rat, but few persons had got beyond the limit of per- petual snow. The French traveller Tournefort, in the year 1700, long persevered in the face of many diffi- culties, but was foiled in the end. About a century later the Pacha of Bayazid undertook the ascent with no better success. The honor was reserved to a Ger- man, Dr. Parrot, in the employment of Russia, who (in his Reise zum Ararat, Berl. 1834 ; translated by W. T. Cooley, Lond. and N. Y.) gives the following par- ticulars : " The summit of the Great Ararat is in 39° 42' north lat., and 61° 55' east long, from Ferro. Its perpendicular height is 1G,254 Paris feet above the level of the sea, and 13,350 above the plain of the Araxes. The Little Ararat is 12,284 Paris feet above the sea, and 9561 above the plain of the Araxes." After he and his party had failed in two attempts to ascend, the third was successful, and on the 27th of September (0. S.), 1829, they stood on the summit of Mount Ararat. It was a slightly convex, almost cir- cular platform, about 200 Paris feet in diameter, com- posed of eternal ice, unbroken by a rock or stone ; on account of the great distances, nothing could be seen distinctly. The observations effected by Parrot have been fully confirmed by another Russian traveller, H. Abich, who, with six companions, reached the top of the Great Ararat without difficulty, July 29, 1845. He reports that, from the valley between the two peaks, nearly 8000 feet above the level of the sea, the ascent can with facility be accomplished. It would appear even that the ascent is easier than that of Mont Blanc ; and the best period for the enterprise is the end of July or beginning of August, when there is annually a period of atmospheric quiet, and a clear unclouded sky. Another Russian, M. Antonomoff, has also as- cended to the top; and an Englishman, named Sey- mour, accompanied by a guide to tourists named Or- vione, and escorted by four Cossacks and three Arme- nians, claims likewise to have ascended the mountain, and to have reached the level summit of the highest peak on the 17th September, 184G. (See extract from a letter in the Caucase, a St. Petersburg Journal, Ath- enwum, No. 1035, p. 914.) That the mountain is of volcanic origin is evidenced by the immense masses of lava, cinders, and porphyry with which the middle region is covered ; a deep cleft on its northern side has been regarded as the site of its crater, and this cleft has been the scene of a terrible catastrophe. An earthquake, which in a few moments changed the
entire aspect of the country, commenced on July 2, 1840, and continued, at intervals, until the 1st of Sep- tember. Traces of fissures and land-slips have been left on the surface of the earth, which the eye of the scientific observer will recognise after many ages. Clouds of reddish smoke and a strong smell of sul- phur, which pervaded the neighborhood after the earthquake, seem to indicate that the volcanic powers of the mountain are not altogether dormant. The de- struction of houses and other property in a wide tract of country around was very great; fortunately, the earthquake having happened during the day, the loss of lives did not exceed fifty. The scene of greatest devastation was in the narrow valley of Akorhi, where the masses of rock, ice, and snow, detached from the summit of Ararat and its lateral points, were thrown at one single bound from a height of G000 feet to the bottom of the vallej-, where they lay scattered over an extent of several miles. (See Major Voskoboini- kof 's Report, in the A thenmim for 1841, p. 157.) Par- rot describes the secondary summit about 400 j-ards distant from the highest point, and on the gentle de- pression which connects the two eminences he sur- mises that the ark rested (Journey to Ararat, p. 179). The region immediately below the limits of perpetual snow is barren, and unvisited by beast or bird. Wag- ner (Reise. p. 185) describes the silence and solitude that reign there as quite overpowering. A rejuri, the only village known to have been built on its slopes, was the spot where, according to tradition, Noah planted his vineyard. Lower down, in the plain of Araxes, is Nakhchevan, where the patriarch is reputed to have been buried (see Am. Bib. Repos. April, 1836, p. 390-416).— Kitto, s. v. See Noah.