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TO ERIVAN 125
the nomads who used to roam about these parts in by
gone days did the same, in which case it would naturally
be impossible for the trees to grow again, and practically
only plants with roots deep down in the ground would
survive.
As one travels through these desert-like tracts one often
lights upon traces of former dwellings, although the ground
is completely parched in the late summer, with nothing
growing on it but a few desert thistles. There are mins of
big churches and houses in places where not a soul lives now ;
and one’s thoughts turn to the legends of great towns which
flourished in the fertile Arax Valley in remote historical times,
especially Armavir, which was built on this plain as long ago
as the eighth century b.c.
The question naturally occurs : Can the climate have become
drier since those days ? It has been quite a fashion for the
last few decades for geographers to explain all such cases—
with which wc are familiar in Mesopotamia, Palestine, and
other places—by supposing that the climate of large areas,
especially in Asia, has become drier ; and they speak of a
general desiccation of the country and of former lakes. The
American writer, Mr. Ellsworth Huntington, has been a
particularly vigorous champion of such theories ; and he is
of the opinion that these changes in climate account for the
great migrations, the military expeditions of the Mongolians,
and so forth.
Although some such hypothesis offers a plausible explanation
of many vicissitudes in the history of the human race, I cannot
help thinking that the majority of these theories of climatic
changes have been too superficial, and based upon very
unstable foundations. In the case wc are considering in the
Arax Valley there is no need for such an explanation. On the
whole people appear to be too ready to forget how largely
the human race and their deeds or misdeeds may have influenced
the conditions.
No doubt it is to flåtter our own superiority that wc are
so prone to underestimate the cleverness of mankind in past
ages, and believe that they were so far inferior to ourselves in
their capacity to conquer and exploit Nature, especially if they
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