8 SPRINGS OF TH E ARAS. [CH A P . I.
degree of heat in summer. The last great plain before
reaching Tokat contains about 70 villages, and produces an
incredible quantity of grain.1
Between Tokat and Tarabuzun there are several considerable
towns, and numerous villages; and the whole district forms
a beautiful, fertile, and prosperous portion of Asia Minor.2
T h e A r a s , o r A r a x e s .
Towards the horth of Armenia we have the second river,
namely, the Araxes, with its numerous tributaries. This
river, which at its commencement, owing to its many affluents,
bears the Persian appellation of Harharas, springs from the
side of the Bin Gol, or “ Mountain of a thousand Lakes,”
about 30 miles south of Erz-Rum, and nearly in the centre
of the space between the eastern and western branches of the
Euphrates.3
Its course, from its first spring near Jebel Se'ihan, is almost
N.E. for about 145 miles through Armenia; when it turns
eastward, being then near the frontier of Kars: this proximity
continues for 110 miles; the river in all that extent running
parallel to the frontier, and eventually touching it for an
instant at the southern extremity, where it is joined by its
first large tributary, the Arpah-chai (the Harpasus), which
comes from the north, and forms the eastern boundary of
Kars. On receiving this stream the Araxes leaves the province,
taking a south-easterly and tortuous course, between
the foot of Mount Ararat and Erivan, opposite to which city
the Kara su runs into it from the north ; and a little farther
east it is joined by the Zenani, which also comes from the
north, and washes Erivan. The general direction, after
rounding Ararat, continues as before, S.E., the river separating
1 Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, Vol. VI. Part II., p. 219.
8 Ihid., p. 220.
8 The sources of the Aras and those of the north branch of the Euphrates
are about' 10 miles from one another.—Journal of the Royal Geographical
Society, Vol. VI. Part II., p. 200. According to Pliny (lib. VI., c. 9), those
sources are in the same mountain, and 6000 paces asunder.