rned her back upon Tabreez on the 11th of August, and in
a carriage drawn by post-horses, and attended by a single servant, set
out for Natschivan. At Arax she crossed the frontier of Asiatic Russia,
the dominions of the "White Tsar," who, in Asia as in Europe, is ever
pressing more and more closely on the "unspeakable Turk." At Natschivan
she joined a caravan which was bound for Tiflis, and the drivers of which
were Tartars. She says of the latter, that they do not live so frugally
as the Arabs. Every evening a savoury pillau was made with good-tasting
fat, frequently with dried grapes or plums. They also partook largely of
fruits.

The caravan wound through the fair and fertile valleys which lie at the
base of Ararat. Of that famous and majestic mountain, which lifts its
white glittering crest of snow some sixteen thousand feet above the sea-
level, our traveller obtained a fine view. Its summit is cloven into two
peaks, and in the space between an old tradition affirms that Noah's ark
landed at the subsidence of the Great Flood.

[Mount Ararat: page123.jpg]

In the neighbourhood of a town called Sidin, Madame Pfeiffer met with a
singular adventure. She was returning from a short walk, when, hearing
the sound of approaching post-horses, she paused for a minute to see the
travellers, and noticed a Russian, seated in an open car, with a Cossack
holding a musket by his side. As soon as the vehicle had passed, she
resumed her course; when, to her astonishment, it suddenly stopped, and
almost at the same moment she felt a fierce grasp on her arms. It was
the Cossack, who endeavoured to drag her to the car. She struggled with
him, and pointing to the caravan, said she belonged to it; but the fellow
put his hand on her mouth, and flung her into the car, where she was
firmly seized by the Russian. Then the Cossack sprang to his seat, and
away they went at a smart gallop. The whole affair was the work of a few
seconds, so that Madame Pfeiffer could scarcely recognize what had
happened. As the man still held her tightly, and kept her mouth covered
up, she was unable to give an alarm. The brave woman, however, retained
her composure, and speedily arrived at the conclusion that her "heroic"
captors had mistaken her for some dangerous spy. Uncovering her mouth,
they began to question her closely; and Madame Pfeiffer understood enough
Russian to tell them her name, native country, and object in travelling.
This di