of eleven, on the morning of the second of July, our small
cavalcade, with the two exasperating donkeys at the head laden with mats,
bags of provisions, extra clothing, alpenstocks, spiked shoes, and coils
of stout rope, filed down the streets of Bayazid, followed by a curious
rabble. As Bayazid lies hidden behind a projecting spur of the mountains
we could obtain no view of the peak itself until we had tramped some
distance out on the plain. Its huge giant mass broke upon us all at once.
We stopped and looked--and looked again. No mountain-peak we have seen,
though several have been higher, has ever inspired the feeling which
filled us when we looked for the first time upon towering Ararat. We had
not proceeded far before we descried a party of Kurdish horsemen
approaching from the mountain. Our zaptiehs advanced rather cautiously to
meet them, with rifles thrown across the pommels of their saddles. After a
rather mysterious parley, our zaptiehs signaled that all was well. On
coming up, they reported that these horsemen belonged to the party that
was friendly to the Turkish government. The Kurds, they said, were at this
time divided among themselves, a portion of them having adopted
conciliatory measures with the government, and the rest holding aloof. But
we rather considered their little performance as a scheme to extort a
little more baksheesh for their necessary presence.

[Illustration: READY FOR THE START.]

The plain we were now on was drained by a tributary of the Aras River, a
small stream reached after two hours' steady tramping. From the bordering
hillocks we emerged in a short time upon another vast plateau, which
stretched far away in a gentle rise to the base of the mountain itself.
Near by we discovered a lone willow-tree, the only one in the whole sweep
of our vision, under the gracious foliage of which sat a band of Kurds,
retired from the heat of the afternoon sun, their horses feeding on some
swamp grass near at hand. Attracted by this sign of water, we drew near,
and found a copious spring. A few words from the zaptiehs, who had
advanced among them, seemed to put the Kurds at their ease, though they
did not by any means appease their curiosity. They invited us to partake
of their frugal lunch of ekmek and goat's-milk cheese. Our clothes and
baggage were discussed piece by piece, with loud expressions of merriment,
until one of us arose, and, stealing behind the group, snapped the camera.
"What wa