Note 10 — Chapter IX · ERZERUM

The charm of the place—and it has a charm which must appeal to all sensitive minds—consists in the grandiose scale of the surroundings—the sculpturesque beauties of the parallel lines of mountain which meet in the perspective of the west; the subtle effects of light and tint, which are those of some summit in the mountains transferred to the habitable earth. The setting of the sun and the rising of the moon reflect the originality of such conditions. The plain itself must be close upon 6000 feet high; it has a length, from west to east, of eighteen miles, and it is not less than some ten miles across.10 In its trough lies the infant stream of the Western Euphrates, which, rising on the slopes of the Dümlü Dagh,11 a mountain of the northern border, is for some little distance lost in a zone of marshes, almost opposite the city but not less than about five miles away. These marshes are quite an aviary of all kinds of wildfowl, which, besides supplying eggs to the inhabitants of the neighbouring villages, afford most excellent opportunities to the sportsman.