The area of Lake Van is about fourteen hundred square miles, its surface is over five thousand feet above the level of the sea. It is embosomed in the center of a rich and verdant plain, and this in turn is encircled by an exceedingly beautiful, romantic, undulating mountain chain which culminates, on the north, in the sublime monarch of the mountains of western Asia, “The Armenian giant Mount Ararat.” The beauty of Lake Van and its surroundings always did, and will more intensely enchant the poets and artists--who are more fortunate and enjoy the beauty of nature more than the rest of us. The following is the description of a distinguished explorer: “A range of low hills now separated us from the plain and lake of Van. We soon reached their crest and a landscape of surpassing beauty was before us. At our feet intensely blue and sparkling in the rays of the sun, was the inland sea, with the sublime peak of the Subbon Dagh (mountain) mirrored in its transparent water. The city (of Van), with its castle crowned rock and its embattled walls and towers, lay embowered in orchards and gardens. To our right, a rugged snow-capped mountain opened midway into an amphitheater in which, amid lofty trees, stood the Armenian convent of Seven Churches. To the west of the lake was the Nimrod Dagh and the highlands nourishing the sources of the great rivers of Mesopotamia. The hills forming the foreground of our picture were carpeted with the brightest flowers, over which wandered the flocks, while the gaily dressed shepherds gathered around as we halted to contemplate the enchanting scene.”[9] Many a scene like the above has enchanted the foreign traveler and inspired the native authors and poets, and caused the wandering, expatriated sons and daughters of Armenia to remember her former glory and splendor, now marred by the vicissitudes of the ages (especially under the iron heel of the Turkish tyranny), and in indescribable misery to weep, like the ancient Hebrew prophet “Mine eye runneth down with rivers of water for the destruction of the daughter of my people.” (Lam. 3:48.) It will be easily understood that the climate of Armenia cannot be mild in winter on account of the altitude of the country, which is from four thousand to seven thousand feet above the level of the sea. In general it is very healthful, but in winter the cold is severe and lasts from the middle of October until the beginning of May. In the valleys the weather is mild and very pleasant. The summer is short but warm, especially in certain valleys, which are far away from the reach of the sea breeze, too much enclosed by high mountains and too deep for mountain air. “And while the climate of the city (Alexandropol) on the Arpa may compare with St. Lawrence in North America, that of Erivan resembles Palermo or Barcelona.”[10] The length of the winter should not mislead the reader for neither is it uniformly long, nor is the degree of cold the same all over the country.