It is interesting to compare this impression of the country, formed during our journey along the river, with the conception of its character already present in our minds before we had reached Tutakh. It was while descending from the upland plain above the left bank of the Kersik, as far north as the village of Alkhes, that we had for the first time obtained a prospect from a comparatively low level over the expanse in the direction of Sipan. We stood nearly at the bottom of a wide valley through which trickled a little stream. Yet the view towards that landmark was almost uninterrupted; we appeared, indeed, to be crossing a gulf-like extension of the great plain from which the mountain soars. As often as we became involved in the intricate down country, while pursuing our easterly course to Tutakh, so, not less often, we emerged upon similar openings, where the downs seemed to tongue into the plain. The Kartevin Dagh was the only eminence which in part screened the volcano; but it did not extend beyond a portion of its westerly slopes. A fierce sun had already browned the scanty herbage of the hillsides, and at noon the thermometer registered 85° in the shade. We were constrained to abandon our tent, and to seek the shelter of a stone building, one of the few above-ground edifices in Tutakh. A spacious room was placed at our disposal by the authorities, with thick walls and a lofty ceiling, constructed of logs. A carpet of thick felt and the gay trappings of the divan added an appearance of comfort to a sense of coolness. But the carpet was overlying a layer of filthy hay, and the divan was nothing better than a stage of mud and straw. The place was indeed a hotbed for noxious insects; legions of fleas continued and intensified the torments which had been interrupted at the approach of night by swarms of flies. Our visitors in the apartment--one might almost say our companions--were an officer of police, a most intelligent individual, and the Colonel of the Karapapakh Hamidiyeh. The former informed us among other matters that the post to Erzerum is always carried by way of Karakilisa. Caravans proceed in summer across the Kilich Gedik to Zeidikan, and so by Pasin to Erzerum. Between Tutakh and Melazkert one has the choice of two ways; one may follow either the left or the right bank. But the fords lower down are said to be less reliable, and we were recommended to proceed by the left bank. The colonel of Karapapakhs was attired in a Circassian dress and spoke Russian fluently. He told me that his people had emigrated from Zarishat (in the Kars-Kagyzman district) after the last Russo-Turkish war. Their earlier seats had been in Daghestan. By remote origin he asserted that they were pure Turks. They contribute altogether three regiments to the Hamidiyeh, of which two are furnished by Tutakh and by Karakilisa, and the third by the tribesmen of Sivas.