Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - V. To Erivan. The physical features of Armenia
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
TO ERIVAN 119
republic, which embraces part of the mountainous country
called Karabagh, and its capital Nakhichevan.
This present-day Armenia is divided into three, or perhaps
four, parts by a number of high mountain ranges which
stretch from its north-western corner—north-east of Lenin
akan—westward and southward towards the great Sevan or
Gokcha Lake, and then curve round west of it in a southerly
direction. North of this range of mountains lies a moun
tainous region where the rainfall in parts is plentiful, and where
the valleys are green and fertile, the slopes often well wooded,
and the hills rich in pasturage. Round the Sevan Lake there
is a small district shaped like a punchbowl, and surrounded
on all sides by high mountains. To the south and south-west
of this lake is another mountainous region, part of which is
called Karabagh, where there are fertile valleys and high,
wild stretches of mountain with rich pasturage. Then there
is the south-western part of the country, formed by the wide
plain of the Arax Valley.
Near the eastern edge of this plain is Erivan. The scenery
is remarkable, utterly different from what a northerner
usually considers beautiful, accustomed as he is to the moun
tains, valleys, fjords, forests, and lakes of his own country.
For here there have been giants of an altogether different
world at work—the dimensions, the great masses which have
been lifted up or pressed down are of quite another magnitudc.
Look at Mount Ararat in the south. From the plain down
by the Arax it rears itself up with its vast snowy dome 4,300
metres into the air. Surely there is no mountain like it
anywhere in the world. And on the north of the same plain
a second Titan, the volcano of Alagoz, stretches up to 4,095
metres above sea-level, or about 3,200 metres above the plain ;
and between the crests of these Titans the distance is 87 kilo
metres. Vet the slopes are so gradual and continuous, and
the proportions so well balanced, that one does not realize
the immense height of these mountains ; and the clearness
of the atmosphere prevents one from seeing that the distances
are so great.
This region is a world of its own, and has a distinctive
character of its own. It is one of the central features of the
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
