The Hattiesburg news., 1915-09-28
mt. ARAFAT AGAIN
SCENE OF STRIFE
POINT WHERE NOAH GROUNDED
THE ARK, TODAY ON WARS
BoRDERLINE.

washington, d. T., Sept. 27.-
Mount Ararat, where there has
hardly been moments peace since
Noah and his Ark grounded upon its
massive shoulder, is at present the
huge, troubled boundary mark be-
tween the Ottoman Empire and Rus
sia, and under the shadow of the his
toric peak the fighting lines of Os,
manli and Russia have been swaying
back and forth, never far beyond the
lines of the frontier" begins the bull
1etin issued today by the National Geo
graphic Society. "Ararat is the hub
of Armenia, of the original home of
the Haik people. It is also the center
of what has ever been the most trou-
bled 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, despoil-
ing, massacring one another. Cau-
casian history has always been of
blood and destruction, of savagery
and sudden death, of blackest treach-
cry and heartless cruelty-a book
whose every page is written full of
killings and desolations., Dramatic
horror has ever stalked around Ara
rats broad base, and the border war
fare now in progress forms no hiatus
in the lands normal life.
"Ararat is one OF the most impress
sive of earth's 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. A mighty Mount Everett
is set well within massive sky
touching range of mountains; Mount
Blanc is merely one of several i'm
posing fellows, but Ararat stands up,
with only a background of sky and
plain and a frame of little mountains,
a splendid thing without a peer. The
dominant mountain is split into two
peaks, Great and Little Ararat. Great
Ararat rises to a height of 1900
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,S4O feet. Though the snowline here
is very high-14,O00 feet-the dome
of Great Ararat is covered with gilt
tering 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 it's foot in a
golden plain, plain of golden sands,
splashed with vivid green's and reds,
which shimmers like a Persian car.
pet.
"a vast wealth of legend surrounds
the mountain, which has always deep
ly impressed the imaginations of the
peoples who have wandered passed or
settled beneath it. The Armenian
lpriests long believed that the wonder.
full mysteries of it's summit might
never be surveyed by human eyes,
and all thought of scaling Ararat was
considered almost in the light of sac
rilege. 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 vii
, lage that Noah founded after abandon
ing the Ark was Nakhitchevan, so
] Armenia thinks, that his people were
the first race of men to grow up in the
world after the Flood.
1.-THE name Ararat means high
: The Persian name for the mountain,
Koh-i,Nuh, means 'Noah's mountain.
1t has been determined by the natives
that the Garden of Eden was placed
} in the valley of the Araxes, valley
) which at the present time enjoys bles
, sings that go far toward strengthen
) ing its wonderful claim. Noah's wife
was buried in this valley near the
mountain, and grapes are still grown
, there, whose vines are the direct de
, scendants of vines planted by Noah.
al "Ararat was first ascended by the
[ German, Parrot, in 1929. The success
| of his undertaking is said to have Civ
e en- a rude shock to the Armenian
! churchmen, who strongly advised
lagainst the prying into the sacre'
| mountains summit secrets. The clim|
4 has been made by quite number o
r high tourists since, among then
t being James Bryce, the noted Britisl
e diplomat. The ascent is said to b
s an easy one for the experienced mour
e Itaineer."
n AfnGA nAKlAl lIIIHN DIES