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TO ARPA-CHAI AND LENINAKAN 157
would be reduced to dire straks, and would either have to
migrate or perish.
Accordingly Mr. Dupuis thought it would be better to go
sufficiently far up the river to get the necessary height for the
canal, and then build a small dam there, say 10 metres high,
which could easily be repaired if anything happened. From
that point a tunnel could be made through the mountain to
the plain. The tunnel would then have to be longer, perhaps
4 kilometres ; but this plan would nevertheless be cheaper to
carry out than the project with the higher dam. Of course
this would not allow of making a big reservoir where water
could be stored in winter and spring, when it is not needed
for irrigation, for use later during the drought in summer,
when the Arpa-chai is often rather low. But Mr. Dupuis
was of the opinion that if reservoirs were needed they could
be built above the intake and quite independent of it, so that
the supply of water for the canal should not be entirely cut
off if any accident happened to the dams.
All this seemed very reasonable to the other members of
our commission, and the Armenian engineers admitted that
there was much to be said for the plan.
Our cavalcade returned home in rather disorderly fashion,
for the horses were eager to get back and were difficult to hold.
M. Carle’s horse got quite out of hand and bolted with him
at full gallop until they disappeared from sight on the horizon ;
wc were quite relieved to meet him later at the station—but
the horse had never stopped until it got there.
Our friend the stout and amiable newspaper man from
Tiflis and Mtskhetha was with us on this expedition also ;
but the ride was too much for him ; he had to go to bed after
it, and unfortunately wc never saw any more of him.
Alagoz station is situated, as I have said, on the highest
part of the Sardarabad plain. A little to the east of the
station the country begins to rise in the direction of Mount
Alagoz, but that mighty volcano cannot be seen on account
of several intervening heights, including some cone-shaped
peaks resembling old volcanoes. This part of the country is
waterless ; strange to say, not a single stream comes down
from Alagoz on this side, nor yct from the other heights ; and
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