Alabama state intelligencer., 1831-03-02

ants, employed their time in making repeat . cd experiments with the pendulum and nee dle; the latter was repeated every twenty four hours. The intensity of the magnetic needle at Tiflis, compared with experiments at Dorpat, was found to be 0,933, the mean inclination 55 degrees, S3 minutes, the decli- nation to the W. 3 degrees, 31. They made an excursion to amountain in the Caucasian Kakhethi, the valleys and mountain of which, swarm with Lesghi banditti, to such degree, that the party were obliged to be accompanied. by well armed force of 300 men, command ed by chief of Kakhethi.
 They left Tif1iS on the 1st September, and reached the monastery of Echmiatzin on the 8th, where they were hosptabiy received by the venerable Armenian patriarch, 95 years old, the archbishops, archimandrites, Slc. and q young deacon of the convent, agreed to ac- company them to Ararat. On the 10th, they set out for the formidable undertaking, cross ed the Araxcs, and arrived on the night of the 11th, at the convent bf St. Gregory, on the lower slope of the mo,ntain. This deso- late dwelling was tenante{ by an aged archi- mandrite, 5Yho suffered with christian resig- nation the maltreatment of the Persians The numbers "iich tl.e expedition brought to this isolated dwelling, caused an eXtraordina- " bustle.
 Their first attempt to scale the the noun tain, was on the east; but after reaching the height of 2,166 toises above the level of the sea, it was evidently impossible to reach the summit on that side, by reason of the steep ness of the icy surface. After th's failure, MT Parrot, by the advice of peasant of Ar gure, or Agl;l, a neighboring village, deter mined, few days after, to try the north west side, accompanied by two of his students, Messrs Bchagel and Schlieman, the Armen- | ,,, Akniap fopt a 'oc- sack, and five people from the village. The first day they reached the limit of perpetual snow where they bivouacked for the night At break of day they started for the summit, hoping to reach it before noon; but by that time they had assembled only 500 toiscs of per pendicular height, making an altituted, alto gether, of 2,600 toiscs. There was further ascent of 800 toses to the summit, and per ceiving fogs and clouds collecting about the mountain, which, towards night, would dis charge their burdens of snow, the travellers | thought it prudent to re-descend, after having planted in the snow, large wooden cross, which the archimandrite had blessed before their departure, at the utmost limit of their ascent, with an inscription on it in the Latin language. "Ararat, says MT Parrot, in letter written immediately after the failure of his second attempt, Sis all immense mass of lava. From twenty versts, or whereabouts, to the perpetual snow, we saw, i'll both our as cents, and in all our excursions, nothing but lava We have discovered no crater of ordi- nary shape, if we do not consider an enormous chasm ca the north west side to be one. All over the mountain there is not single tree; around the convent, few fruit trees are planted, but they scarcely deserve the name of bushes. The armies of serpents and car mverous animals, with which we were threa- 1 tenad have dica annparpl. at all thfv did not molest us. The Kurds do not molest
 Ararat on this side, and the plague is com
 pletely extinct"
 On the 25th September, MT Parrot made
 successful attempt, accompanied by Mir
 Aboian, who proved a robust and intrepid , man, five peasants and two Russian soldiers. They reached the crest of the mountain, on
 the 27th, about three in the afternoon. ''The l difficulties" says MT Parrot, "were nume- rous, and l owe much, perhaps the entire success of the attempt, to the zeal of the two soldiers and one of the peasants, the other four being unable to follow us From the first step we took on the frozen snow, to the
 summit, we were obliged to cut, step by step with a hatehet, holes for our feet to rest in, , which were more necessary to us in descend ing than in our ascent; for the couh d'aeH ex- tending from this height over an immense tract scraped with slippery ice, broken by
 deep and dark precipices, presented some
 thing really startling even to me, accustomed to such undertakings. Upon this occasion, as upon our second attempt, the weather was as favorable as could be. We past the night l the region of frost, in an atmosphere so calm
 and serene, that l scarcely felt the cold, which iii other circumstances, is So severe at such ar altitude. The moon kindly guided our doubt | ful steps on the cone of ice, when after sunset
 we found ourselves still very far upon the re-
 zion of perpetual snow.
 The height of the summit above the leve
 of the sea, by barometer, is about 2,70O toses The limit of perpetual snow, is about z, o0( toises, all extraordinary elevation for that la , titude, and which MT Parrot attributes tt
 the circumstance of Ararat being an isolated mountain, the temperature of which is no
 lowered by other mountains in the neghbor hood.
 This further acquaintance with Ararat fur
 nished Mir Parrot with nothing but lavas; nt other volcanic production occurred. "W, may regard it," he remarks. 'sas one of tn, greatest volcanoes, and possessing this re
 markable peculiarity, that it is situated equi
 distant, above 80 leagues, from the Black ant
 Caspian Seas; it should consequently, be con
 sidered as Mediterranean volcano It il
 astonishing to see immense rocks of lava rais
 ed above the rest, like masses that have beer liquitied, and then hardened and fixed in tho
 air. MT Parrot planted upon the icy sum.
 init, cross five feet high, he says, 'as sig nal of the Christian religion, which will short
 ly enlighten these countries" As he is sen,
 respecting the remains of the ark, it is to be presumed that none were found, and that the last relic was transported to the church ol : Yench Kalissa, which will now prize it's ac- , quisition still more.