Note 3 — Chapter V · FROM VAN TO BITLIS

Artemid! the Greek name, and the memorials in the neighbourhood of that early civilisation which is revealed by the inscriptions of Van, suggest, no less than the striking site, the possibility of further discoveries, when the place shall have been thoroughly explored.3 A hasty examination would have been of small service, and we were anxious to reach Vostan. So we rode, without halting, through the straggling settlement, and did not draw rein until we had reached a point some two miles beyond it, where it was decided to rest our horses and take lunch. We were still crossing the barrier of hills which support the gardens of Artemid; our situation was elevated, and the view superb. We were able to follow on the horizon the outline of the Ala Dagh, although those mountains were over sixty miles away. They were loftiest on a bearing a few degrees east of north; and in that direction there was a fine peak, overtopping the neighbouring summits which fretted the edge of the long wall of snow-clad heights. A little further west we could see those heights receding towards the south, to the passage of the Murad. In the ridges which bordered the gap we well recognised the outworks which the river pierces between Karakilisa and Tutakh—the same ridges which, from our standpoint on the slopes of the Ararat system, had composed a distant parapet, so faintly seen that we questioned the impression, between the two blocks of mountain on the southerly margin of the plain of Alashkert.4 The landscape south of Ala Dagh was now outspread before us; it was indeed an instructive view. Whatever eminences broke the expanse were comparatively humble; a zone of plains or vast steppes would appear to be interposed between that barrier and the lake of Van. Recalling the prospects about Tutakh, we arrived at the conclusion that those steppes are continued towards the west; and subsequent travel established the fact that they extend from the foot of the plateau of Bingöl Dagh towards the longitude of Bayazid in the east. The only object which arrested the eye in the direction of Ala Dagh was a high hill on the southern shore of the arm of the lake, with a village and gardens at its base. It was said to be the village of Alur. Ararat was not visible; but for the first time we discerned land between Sipan and the crater of Nimrud. The two mountains appeared to be joined by some low hills.