The slopes are inclined at an angle of about 30° and the rock is much decomposed. Time was wanting for a careful examination; but Oswald favoured the conclusion that it is hard and holocrystalline, similar in character to that of the Kitowa Dagh further east. The descent is long and gradual from the pass to the valley of the Kharshut, which eats its way through wild mountains to the Black Sea. The road is carried along the heights, on the east of a basin of ridges, by a succession of terraces. In winter, when the snow spreads a carpet at the foot of the fir trees, the view is at once inspiring and superb. But in summer the long stretches of barren yellow talus--a trachyte, decomposed and weathered a staring yellow, fatigue the eye and repel the sense. There is a certain contrast in the vegetation of the southern slopes. The luscious forest has disappeared, and so have the rhododendra; but the azalea and the spruce firs still clothe the walls facing the Pontic winds. On the other hand, the Scotch fir takes the place of its slenderer rival on the parapets which are less exposed to the moisture. At the foot of the main descent are placed at intervals three hamlets with numerous caravanserais. The first is Maden; the other two are known respectively as the Upper and the Lower Zigana (4330 feet). The distance from the pass to the Lower Zigana may be about 4 1/2 to 5 miles. Thence it is another 7 1/2 miles to the bridge over the Kharshut (3100 feet). The landscape, of immense extent and of the most savage character, is framed in the south by the serrated outline of the Giaour Dagh, veined with snow and capped by cloud. Between the pass and the hamlets we noticed huge volcanic dikes seaming the hillsides with bold causeways of finely crystalline rock.