from the circumstances which led to their becoming objects
of particular attention during the late Expedition.
In that division of the work it is likewise intended to give
a succinct account of my individual journeys and researches
in the same countries during the years 1830, 1831, and 1832.
And in the succeeding, or principal division, there will he
given a detailed relation of the Expedition which was undertaken
in the years 1835, 1836, and 1837, in consequence of
the results obtained from the researches previously made in
that part of Asia.
Eabouring under the disadvantage of impaired health, and
being doubtful of my fitness for the present undertaking, I
should have preferred that the Government had permitted
the materials to he placed in hands more able, and consequently
more likely to do them justice than mine; but, as
this has been decided otherwise, I proceed to acquit myself,
to the best of my ability, of the task which it has fallen to
my lot to perform ; and I apply to it the less unwillingly, as
it will afford me an opportunity of showing how the public
money, as well as the other means so liberally placed at my
disposal, were employed during the progress of the Expedition.
I may here state, that through the unwearied exertions of
the officers and men, every end attainable by human skill and
industry was accomplished; and if, in the following pages,
I succeed in doing justice to those who were placed under my
direction, the reader will at least perceive that no commander
was ever better supported throughout an arduous and novel
enterprise. It is not surprising, therefore, that every difficulty
wa,s successfully overcome; and, in recording with no
common degree of gratitude, the support which was so cordially
given to me, I am free to acknowledge that to me
belongs the- blame for whatever may seem to have been
neglected, or in any way deficient, in the prosecution of the
objects contemplated in the plan of the Expedition. But,
leaving my conduct in this respect to be judged by the impartial
reader, I proceed immediately to consider the extensive
basins forming the principal water-courses of Western Asia.
The elevated plateau1 which extends from the base of
Mount Ararat into Northern Armenia, Kurdistan, and part
of Asia Minor, contains the sources of four noble rivers,
having their estuaries in three different seas ; and thus, from
Armenia as from the centre of a great continent, giving an
easy communication to the several nations of Europe and
Asia. A reference to the Index Map will show that by
following the Kizil-Irmak through Asia Minor we reach the
Black Sea ; from whence there are inlets to Russia, Austria,
Turkey, &c. In the same way thè Aras, by terminating in
the Caspian, opens several routes towards Great Tartary, as
well as towards the rest of Central Asia and China ; while
the Tigris and Euphrates, with their numerous ramifications,
afford abundant means of communicating with Persia, India,
Arabia, and the continent of Africa. An extensive mercantile
intercourse is also maintained with the same regions
by means of numerous caravans, which, since the time of
Abraham at least, have traversed the countries watered by
those four rivers.
T h e K iz il - I rma' k .
The most westerly of these rivers, the Kizil-Irmak, has
its sources at two places, both of which are much farther
to the eastward than they are generally represented to be
on the maps. Of these sources, the most northern are on
the sides of Gemin Beli Tàgh ;2 but the others are on the
western slopes of the Kara-bel group, which separate the
springs of this river from those of thè Euphrates,3 at a spot
about 70 miles E.N.E. from Sivàs, the seat of one of the
local governments of Asiatic Turkey. The united watérs of
the several springs alluded to, having scooped a bed through
sandstone and salt deposits, which occasionally form salt
i
' The bridge over the Aras is 5478 feet above the Black Sea.—Mr. Brant’s
Journey, Vol. X. Part III., p. 431, of the Journal of the Royal Geographical
Society of London.
8 In about 40° N. lat., and 37° 45' E. long., as traced by Mr. Consul Snter.
8 Mr. Ainsworth’s MS. on the river Halys and its affluents.
B 2