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THROUGH NORTH ARMENIA TO ERIVAN 183
near Tiflis, while our own road continued towards the
south-east, up the valley which runs north of the Pambak
Mountains.
Everywhere here the country was fertile and beautiful, with
well-wooded valleys and slopes, utterly different from the
plains in the south. Evidently the climate was damper, with
a sufficiency of ram ; the fields were green, and there was
verdure and rich vegetation wherever one’s eye turned.
The villages, Armenian as well as Russian, were built quite
differently from those in the south. The walls seemed to be
made of whitewashed stone and brick, always with a ridged
roof covered with red tiles ; flat-roofed houses of the usual
Armenian type are unsuitable for this climate, even when they
are built of stone instead of sun-dried clay. On the side
facing the street they had verandahs.
The sky had gradually darkened with threatening clouds,
and just as wc were driving through the streets of Karaklis
a drenching downpour caught us, so that wc were obliged to
stop and close the cars. But the ram became worse and
worse, and the deep mud on the roads became more and more
slippery, with the result that wc skidded more than was
pleasant. Wc drove on, but the ram only became heavier.
Wc passed a village named Voskresenka, near a pass where
wc were at an altitude of 1,600 metres ; then descended to
the valley of the river Akstafa. The surrounding country
was picturesque and fertile, with green, wooded hills on either
side, and above them the crests of the mountains veiled in
heavy rain-clouds.
There was now a fair sprinkling of houses along the road ;
evidently wc were getting near a town. Then suddenly wc
turned up a narrow clayey låne. What was the meaning of
this ? Well, wc had to make a brief stop here, because the
town council wished to welcome us. The news came as
rather a shock, for wc had no time to spare if wc were to reach
Erivan before nightfall. Wc drove in through a fine luxuriant
garden to some inviting-looking houses, larger and more
prosperous in appearance than any wc had seen in those
parts. It proved to be a sanatorium. Here wc were
received by the senior doctor, by the director, who was an
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