Thus we see the Hittites as a purely inland people, not taking to the sea more kindly at any rate than do the Turkish peoples of to-day. The centre of their monuments is the mountainous region of the Taurus and Anti-Taurus systems, whence on the one hand they lead us down to the hot plains that lie between the right bank of the Euphrates and Mount Amanus (the Giaour Dagh), with a continuation to the south by the valley of the Orontes as far as its sources in the Lebanon; and on the other hand widen out to embrace not only the northern fringe of the Taurus Mountains, and the basin of the Halys River, but practically the whole broad tableland of Central Asia Minor, with one finger pointing down the Hermus valley past Sardis to the west. The inference to be derived from these preliminary considerations will receive confirmation as we proceed with our inquiry, when we shall find reason to believe that the peoples whose land we are trying to map out were of mountain origin. The problem of their settlement, however, remains obscure; we must await the results of further investigations to determine whether it was a combined movement of peoples, bringing with them the elements of their civilisation, like the Turks in modern history, or whether for ages they endured the rigours of mountain life before they became strong enough to descend upon the hospitable plains below. The wilder mountains of Greater Armenia, east of the head-waters of the Euphrates, show no definite sign of Hittite settlement;[3] but they form a distinctive boundary to our region, being the culmination of the system of which the Taurus are a part. Here too is the centre of mountain-ranges which, like the rivers rising in their heights, descend in several directions. To the north the towering peak of Ararat, seventeen thousand feet in height, looks down upon the green upland valleys of the Caucasus. Towards the east, the range which skirts the Caspian Sea connects beyond with the systems of Central Asia. Towards the south, another chain holds up as it were the highlands of Asia, on the one hand, giving way on the other to the basins of the Euphrates and the Tigris, and touching eventually the eastern waters of the Persian Gulf.