Sharp County record., 1878-01-18
Where Noah Landed The Magnificent
View from the Top OF Ararat.

The London Spectator, speaking of
the recent successful ascension of Mount
Ararat by Mr.. Bryce, says:
Mr.. Bryce has given to the world a
wonderful word-picture of that amazing
and awful spectacle, of that landscape
which is now what it was before man
crept forth on the earth, the mountains
which stand about the valleys as they
stood when the volcanic fires that piled
them up were long ago eXtinguished;" !"
but he could not tell us what were his
thoughts, his feelings there, what the
awe and yearning that came over him
in that tremendous solitude, where
"Nature sits enthroned, serenely calm,
and speaks to her children only in the
storm and earthquake that level their
dwellings in the dust" His visionranged
over the eXpanSe, within whose bounds
are the chain of the Caucasus, dimly
made out, but Kazbeck, Elbruz, and the
mountains of Daghestan visible, with the
line of the Caspian Sea upon the hori-
zOn; to the north, the huge extinct vol
cano of Ala Coz, whose three peaks in
close a snow-patched crater, the dim
plain of Erivan, with the silver river
winding through it; westward, the Tau
rus ranges; and northwest the upper
valley of the AraXes, to be traced as far
as Ami, the ancient capital of the Arme-
nian kingdom, the great Russian for
tress of AlexandropOl, and the hill
where Kars stands-peaceful enough
when the brave climber looked out upon
this wonderful spectacle. While it was
growing upon him, not in
deed in magniicence, but in
comprehensibility, "while the
eye was still unsatisfied with gazing"
the mistcurtain dropped, EMBODIED him,
and shut him up alone with the awful
mountain top. "The awe that fell up
on me,n he says, "with the sense of ut
ter loneliness, made the time pass un-
noticed, and l might have fingered long
in sort of dream, had not the piercing
cold that thrilled through every limb
recalled me to a sense of the risks delay
might involve" Only four hours of
daylight remained, the thick mist was
an added danger, the ice-aX marks were
his only guide, for the compass is use
less on volcanic mountain like Ararat,
with iron in the rocks. The descent
was made in safety, but by the time Mr.,
Bryce came in sight of the spot, yet far
off, where his friend had halted, "the
sun had got beyond the southwestern
ridge of the mountain, and his gigantic
figure had fallen across the great AraXes
plain below; while the red mountains
of Media, far in the southeast, still
glowed redder than ever, then turned
swiftly to q splendid purple in the dy
ING light At O'Clock he reached the
bivouac and rejoined his friend, who
must have looked with strange feelings
into the eyes which had looked upon
such wondrous sights since sunrise.
Three days later Mr.. Bryce was at the
Armenian monastery of Efchmiadzin,
near the northern foot of Ararat, and
was presented to the archimandrite who
rules the house. "This Englishman,n
said the Armenian gentleman who was
acting as interpreter, "says he has as
cended to the top of Massisn (Ararat).
The venerable man smiled sweetly, and
replied with gentle decisiveness, "It
can not be. No one has ever been there.
1t is impossible"