Norwich bulletin., 1915-09-20
MOUNT ARARAT.
At Present the Troubled Boundary Be- tween Ottoman Empire and Rus sia.
Special to The Bulletin.) )


 Washington, D. C., Sept 1s.-'sMount Ararat. where there has hardly been a moments peace since Noah and his Ark grounded upon its massive shoulder, Is at present the huge, trou- bled boundary mark between the Ot- toman Empire and Russia. and under the shadows of the historic peak the fighting lines of Osmanli and Russian have been swaying back and forth, never far beyond the lines of the frontier" begin the bulletin issued re- gently by the National .Geographic what Society. "Ararat is the hub of Armenia, of the original home of the Haik people. It is also the center of what has ben the most troubled area on earth. Tribes of Europe and of Asia have fought each other here from the dawn of history, and the remnants from the battles have settled as neighbors. hating, despoiling. massac- ring one another. Caucasian history has always been of blood and destruc- tion. of savagery and sudden death of blackest treachery and heartless cruel ty-a book whose every page Is writ ten full of killings and desolations. Dramatic horror has ever stalked around Ararat's broad base, and the border warfare now in progress forms no hiatus in the lands normal life. Ararat is one of the most impress sive of earth'e mountains. for it rises sheer to the clouds out of an immense plain. with no neighboring peaks to soften its isolation and to take from its majesty. mighty Mount Everest is st well within a massive, sky touching range of mountains; Mount Blanc is merely one of several im- posing fellows. but Ararat stands up, with only a background of sky and plain and a frame of little mountains splendid thing without a peer. The | dominant mountain Is split into two peaks, Great and Little Ararat. Great Ararat rises to height of Ii, 900 feet above the level of the sea Little Ararat, where the boundaries of the Ottoman Empire, of Russia and of Persia meet, reaches an altitude of 12,s40 feet. Though the snowline here | is very high-14, 900 feet-the dome of Great Ararat Is covered with glitter ing fields of unbroken white. Pas | lures begin little below the snow-line, and. below the pastures runs a belt of for the most part sterile land. Pur- plish- blue Ararat rests its foot in a golden plain. a plain of golden sands, splashed with vivid greens and reds, which shtmmers like a Persian car pet.
 "A vast wealth of legend surrounds | the mountain, which has always deeply impressed the imaginations of the peoples who have wandered passed or settled beneath 1t. The Armenian priests long believed that the wonder | full mysteries of its summit might never be surveyed by human eyes, and all thought of sealing Arrarat was con- | sidered almost in the light of sacrilege The Armenians have also held that they are the first people after the | flood, the immediate descendants of Noah. so to speak: for the first village that Noah founded after abandoning the Ark was Nalkhitchevan. so Armen- | ian thinks. that his people were the first race of men to grow up in the world after the Flood.
 The name Ararat means high. The Persian name for the mountain. Koh- i-Nuh, means 'Noaf's mountain It has been determined by the natives that the Garden of Eden was placed in | the valley of the Araxear- a valley which at the present time enjoys blessings that go far toward strength entng its wonderful clalm- Nosh's