The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1879-11-29
WHOLE No. 1, 02c


Ararat, unless possibly some exceptionally
cdu atcd Russian official in Errivan, who
| believes that any human foot since Father
/ \ )ah> has troddcn that sacred summit >
! The Professor himself who assembled in 1876
has given he latest and liveliest account o
/ the who'll. region, and of this mountain il
particular
The ascent Of ARAFAT was begun on the
llth Of September at the outset, Prof
Bryce was accompanied by u friend, with d
party Of CossaC!is and Kurds, all Of whom
fell Of from various causes, before, on the
following afternoon, he reached the top,
mos: height alone. ain the mist, he says
(which was now thick, the eye could pierce
only some thirty yards ahead. So / walked
on over the Sno~ five or six minutes, fol-
lowing tn" rise Of its surface which was
gentle, and f2ncying there might still b, a
good long way TO 20. To make { he back
ward track, | trailcd the point Of The ice
axe along behind me in the soft snow, for
there was no longer any landmark: all was
cloud on every side. Suddenly, to my as
tonishment, the ground began to fall away
20 the north. | stopped: puff of wind
which had come. and showed the .traxas
plain at an abyssInal depth below. 1t was
the top Of Ararat
Wonderful rs was the whole view over
the immense plain nYrthward to the distant
Caucasus, southwark to the hills rncircling
the great Lake of Van, the upper course of
the Euphrates and the mountains of South
ern kur'iistan, the historical associations of
the scene were more enthralling still. And
| might, says Prof. Bryce, have fingered
long in a sort Of dream had not the piercing
cold that thrilled through every limb re-
called me 10 q sense of the risks delay might
involve"
The descent was safely accomplished, but
the Professor shared, in one respect, the
fate CT his predecessors. Two days larer he
found himself in the Cermenian Monastery
of Etchlniadzin, near the northern foot of
the mountain, and was presented to the Ar
chimail,'ritr, and says at came ont in
conversation that he had been on the noun
tain, and the Armenian, who was acting as
interpreter, turned to the Archmandrita
and said: "Th$ En.tishmam SAYS he has
assembled to the topof Massis" The veneer
able man smiled swcctly. "No,' he rc-
piled, Ito one has ever been there 1t is
impossible,
THE NiRAC"LouS MESA "ot'TTGY-A CITY
WROUGHT By RAIN.
We left Sierra Amarillo to enter a section
Of Arizona and the northwest corner of
New Mexico.
Our first days march from Sierra Amar-
lila was short and comfortable, and we
rampeti for III" night al: tie Chama, Oh
tanning. some spaclled trout fnr supper. On
the third day we made nearly twenty-ninc
miles III heavy storm, through a section
equallins ana probably surprising the
famous Yellow stone region in its natural
wonders. As in the latter valley, the pcin-
cipal rocks are of mutaGie sandstone
wrought hy wind, dust and rain into forms
u! iii''iItt-' 'IDiS bt.lNIt. lnFTe Is less OF
the ssfoteSque than in the wonderland Of
Montana, or in Colorado's Garden of the
Gods, however, FOX nature has here wrought
the phenomenal without running riot.
From our camp we assembled hill be-
longing TO a ledge that partly incloses Il
small valley, walled in on the opposite side
by white cliffs, oruamcnted with Scrollwork
as b. the chisrl of a sculptor. We followed
trail among great hou}ders of sandstone
on to a plain, the rain falling more heavily
upon us, and OR rlodding horses sinking
up t. their knees in mud, until VIC came to
grove OF pins with dripping am! gl>tening
branches; and emerging from that we dis
covered a scene such rs John might have
dreamed Of in PatIno~, Not Of abnormal
rocks tumb!el togethe: out OF unsiapcly
chaos, bat the prospect Of IL fair city full of
bea;.;iIul forms and c0iors. You can pruha-
bly, recall pictures of Italy in which all
kinds of ti1tS are p"rvadcd by . golden
has that leaves them cleo and brilliant,
while reducing tiInh, 10 a degree Of softunss
and nleliowness like the wi5tfu gray of 4
summer evenings sky. Think, then. Of
such picture, realized with all its Subtletv
of color; think o.! an atnrhitf.4htre o: mirac-
ul"us buildings, fAnciful in form and as
fresh leaking as polished granite, composed
OF Well-;sttned belts Of inauvc, violet, yell
low, pink, gray, blne, and Il score of other
h}ieS: think OF Canstantinupie, or some
other Oriental city, with its shabbiness
wee,led out, and only the palaces, with the
graceful lnncretS, lett. and from these
Thoughts sou may gather an idea of the
view that was first disclosed to us rs we
came out of the pine grove
First we SAW a pyramid-a furm which
nature seems especially fund OF multiplying
200 feet high. Al It's base :; shade of violet,
Witch blends with an earthly brown. Above
these i line Of caru!ine extends, melting
into a soft raso-rUl"T, which, Eg almost i'm
HrreTp;ii.i2 ,!@=:t'@s, changes to :, carnine
3-,;s.tl and 1 he apex is oHly reached ly an
infinite variety OF most astounding chru-
matte transformations. NsNt, aS sc adj
y@nCcd, we saw u large .!,,i more compli-
Gated $tructnrc taa towers connected by Il
wal. III front, with an arrow-like spire mid
way between them; and for r:.iieS farther
Or Interest was au,tt;..cd ~ similar and
II" less I,.1;Hro!ino rocks, seine like crescent
-h::ps't furtrnaseS, others pointed and slim
rs needles, others fairly rouna, like water
batteries, and still others with the fretwork
arches, the solid ahutmentS and spires III
thr great Gothic cHthrdruls,
H. some places tho Ns"nos have been erolnd
INFO thousands % little cells, il<.. a worm
eaten piece OF wood from the tropics, and
occasionally great split opeuS into n dark
some cavern many feet ,i5,.p, 'tne OF the
strangest Things about This strange region
i its nut@sd.nN, l. Is moreo or less hanged
every ,sar; IT,. son clay that coats he sand
stone is pitted with the prints of Il million
rain drops, and the water III every little
channel is rs varicolured rs the rocks them
selves. Icu are amazed at the !s!eiamor-
plloSeS that n thousand Yaa:S must have
wrought, ever Wearing fresh shapes and
ohiteratins old ones Of this fricahlc stone,
while the main rocky range that is not far
| away has remained unalttred and immova-
bic through the ages.
About Promjssory Notes.
| =. aH''h:.,..o SAYS a man drew . promiS-