it his summer residence; and numerous flocks are seen grazing, during the hot weather, in the vicinity of the Takht.

The common popular tradition regarding these ruins ascribes the foundation of the palace to King Solomon, who here held (say they) his regal court, and here received the Queen of Sheba, for whom he built a summer residence, on a high mountain peak north-east of the Takht, the ruins of which are still visible. A number of natural excavations on the hill opposite, are called Solomon's Stables, and a small steep hill about a mile and a half distant, on scaling which the traveller finds himself on the brink of a most terrific basin, formed by some natural convulsion of the surrounding country, is named Solomon's State Prison; while a rocky ridge, called the Dragon, is supposed to have been a monster transformed into stone by the potent spell of Solomon's signet ring, as he was coming, open mouthed, to attack the city.

Such are the superstitions connected with Takhti Soleïmán; and they may possibly be accounted for; since Sir R. Porter mentions having been told that a Kurdish king, bearing the name of Solomon, had once really reigned there. It may be well to mention here, that a third place, sometimes called Ecbatana, is the Ragau or Rhages of the Apocryphal book of Tobit, and the ruins of which are to be seen at Kal' eh Erig, near Verámín, about thirty miles east of Teheran.

CHAPTER IV.

ARMENIA.

MOUNT ARARAT.-Journey towards Ararat-Passage of the River Araxes -Situation of Ararat-Greater and Lesser Ararat-Village of Arguri -Vineyards-Ascent of Ararat-Second Ascent-The MonastreyThird and successful Ascent.

THE TOP OF ARARAT.-Partial Fall of Ararat in 1840.

"THE ark rested... upon the mountains of Ararat."Gen. viii. 4.

ARAXES.

"At four o'clock we had got to the left bank of the Araxes, and had to seek a passage through its rapid stream, which is without either bridge or ferry for many leagues nor has it even any approach from the plain, to show the place where it is to be forded; . . . No one of our attendants was sufficiently acquainted with the locality to be depended on so far that we might risk our instruments in crossing; we therefore made for some huts, which we discovered at a little distance, though almost concealed among some bushes; but found the

inmates so little disposed to assist us, that we determined to run all risks. However, we met with a Tatar, poorly clad, and dirty in appearance, but who proved to be both intelligent and obliging, and who led us, about three quarters of a mile further on, to a place where the stream was broader, but more shallow, as its channel was partly filled with a wide accumulation of sand and stones. The Tatar here requested the loan of one of the horses, for the purpose of examining the ford, as the bottom was not to be depended on, from changes in the channel of the river. It was not till he had arrived at the other side that the thought occurred to me, how easy it would have been for him, had he been as treacherous as some others of his tribe, to ride off with the horse before our very eyes, and that without any danger of pursuit. But I dismissed the injurious suspicion; the faithful Tatar returned, as soon as he had satisfied himself of the safety of the ford, and assisted us, with every appearance of anxiety, in loading our strongest horses with our effects, which we had taken from the waggons, lest these might be overturned; and which we carried over in this manner, one horseman leading, and two others supporting each of the loaded horses; for the current was strong, and the water reached above their girths. We were all safely landed on the other side, with our baggage, in about an hour. We made suitable acknowledgments to our Tatar friend, and dismissed him, to escort one of our attendants back again to the left bank."

SITUATION OF ARARAT-GREATER AND LESSER ARARAT.

"ARARAT has borne this name for three thousand years. We read, in the most ancient of all books, in the account of the creation left us by Moses, that 'the ark rested. . . upon the mountains of Ararat.' In other passages of the Old Testament mention is made of a land-in Jeremiah, of a kingdom, of Ararat; and we are

likewise informed, by the first authority among Armenian writers, that an entire country bore this name, after an ancient Armenian king, Arai the Fair, who lived about 1,750 years before Christ. He fell in a bloody battle with the Babylonians, on a plain in Armenia, called after him Arai-Arat, the Fall of Arai. Before this event the country bore the name of Amasia, from its sovereign, Amassis, the sixth in descent from Japhet, who gave the name of Massis to the mountain. This is still the only name by which it is known to the Armenians.

"The mountain of Ararat rises on the southern borders of a plain of about thirty-five miles in breadth, and of a length of which seventy miles may be taken in with the eye. It consists, correctly speaking, of two mountains-the Great Ararat, and its immediate neighbour, the Less Ararat ... their summits distant about seven miles from each other . . . and their bases insensibly melting into one another by the interposition of a wide, level valley. . . now used as pasture ground by the shepherds ...

"The summit of the Great Ararat (is) more than three miles and a quarter above the sea... The north-eastern slope of the mountain may be assumed at fourteen, and the north-western at twenty miles in length. On the former, even from a great distance, the deep, gloomy chasm is discoverable, which many compare to a crater; but which has always struck me rather as a cleft, just as if the mountain had been rent asunder at the top. From the summit downward, for nearly . . . three miles in an oblique direction, it is covered with a crown of eternal snow and ice....

"The impression made by Ararat upon the mind of every one who has any sensibility for the stupendous works of the Creator, is wonderful and overpowering."