Note 7 — Chapter XXIII · GEOGRAPHICAL

I have already traced the course of the mountains of the northern peripheral region, the effective barrier between Armenia and the coast of the Black Sea, throughout their prolongation upon the confines of the tableland, and have drawn the natural frontier inwards in the neighbourhood of Ispir across the valley of the Chorokh to the northern border heights of the plain of Erzerum (Vol. I. Ch. XXI. p. 431). The analogous zone upon the south is composed by the main chain of Taurus, separating the highlands from the low-lying plains of Mesopotamia and buttressing them up on that side. This chain appears to have succeeded in accomplishing the curve into the Iranian direction without undergoing fracture to any material extent. The symmetry of the arc described as seen from the plains about Diarbekr has already enlisted our admiration (ibid. p. 424). The spine of the range may be followed along the southern shore of Lake Göljik to the Palu Dagh, east of the town of Palu. Thence it is taken along the plain of Chabakchur and the left bank of the Murad to the confines of the plain of Mush. Conspicuous with sharp peaks which are seldom free from snow, it stretches past the depression of Mush into the landscape of Lake Van, where it recalls the sombreness of the Norwegian coast. Through the Karkar Dagh (long. 42.47), and, further east, through the Bashit Dagh, west of Bashkala, it makes steps southwards to the threshold of the basin of the Great Zab; and the elevation may be traced on the further side of the river in the peaks of the Jelu Dagh, said to attain a height of between 13,000 and 14,000 feet.7