Note 12 — Chapter XXIII · GEOGRAPHICAL

Of the principal communications across Taurus with the tableland of Armenia I have already glanced at those connecting Diarbekr with Kharput and Erzerum through Arghana, and with Erzerum through Haini. The latter is a direct and, in spite of the great elevation of the country which it traverses between the plain of Altun and the northern capital, nevertheless a promising route. Mush plain may be reached from Diarbekr by way of Kulp and the Gozme Gedik Pass (6645 feet). But between this approach and the Bitlis passage the country is ill-controlled, nor am I aware of any favourable and beaten tracks. The Bitlis passage represents the main avenue between the lowlands and the country about Lake Van (Ch. VI. p. 148); from Diarbekr it is entered by way of Zokh and from Mosul through Sert. I shall not stay to discuss the various more or less direct routes across the mountains between Sert and the city of Van; nor can I speak from personal knowledge or even conjecture of those which conduct to Van from Jezireh-ibn-Omar, or from Mosul by the valley of the Great Zab.12 The entire region to the south and south-east of the great lake—Khizan, Mukus, Shatakh, Nurduz—has been scoured in recent years by various travellers whose experiences have not to my knowledge as yet appeared in print.13 I should now propose to dismiss this part of my subject, dealing with the zones of peripheral mountains and the intermediate lines of elevation upon the surface of the tableland which they enclose; and to bring under review some of the remaining features characteristic of the Armenian highlands in their westerly extension from the spine of the Ararat system to the confines of Asia Minor.