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VII
TO ARPA-CHAI AND LENINAKAN
At ten in the evening wc left by tram in our own carriage,
and arrived at four o’clock next morning (Saturday, June 2oth)
at Alagoz station, on the highest part of the Sardarabad
plain. Cavalry horses and soldiers had been sent by the
same tram for our use and protection. The officer in command
of the military post at the bridge over the Arax, which wc had
visited a couple of days before, had ridden across the plain
to meet us. It all gave me a vivid impression that protection
was necessary against the possibility of attack. It appeared
that the Kurdish tribes on the Turkish side sometimes indulged
in marauding expeditions and carried off live stock from this
side ; they had been there as lately as the same spring ; but
no such attack was expected now, and in any case nothing
could be gained by kidnapping us.
Wc were ready to start at an early hour. The first thing
was to find a good horse and a good saddle among the many
that were waiting ready saddled. They were decidedly fresh,
and none too willing to let us mount them ; several of the
party had to dance round and round on the plain for some
time before they could get into the saddle. Then wc set off,
accompanied by a strong bodyguard of soldiers, westwards
across undulating country towards Arpa-chai. In the far
distance ahead of us the volcanic peaks of the mountains rose
into the sky. The undulating plain consists here of a stony
lava-field covered with a brownish decomposed layer. The
vegetation is scanty—just a few parched brown tufts of coarse
grass or of our old friend the spiky camel-thistle here and
there ; but once irrigated this soil is rich enough to make
the most wonderful gardens.
The ground was firm and good for riding on, and wc could
gallop as fast as the horses would go. Armenian horses are
rather small, slightly larger than ordinary polo ponies or the
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