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I left Arax betimes in the morning, in company with a customs' officer, and rode to the town of Natschivan, which lies in a large valley, surrounded by the lofty mountains of Ararat. The country here is fertile, but there are very few trees. I never had so much trouble to obtain shelter in any place as in this. I had two letters, one to a German physician, the other to the governor.
On the 16th of August, Madame Pfeiffer quitted Tabrîz, and in a vehicle drawn by post-horses she set out, with one attendant, for Natchivan. At Arax she crossed the Russian frontier. Reaching Natchivan after an uneventful journey, she joined a caravan bound for Tiflis, the drivers of which were Tartars. Of the latter she remarks that they do not live so frugally as the Arabs.
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.
The air is, on this account, very dry and hot. The valley in which Arax is situated is large, and the extraordinary formation of the mountains and rocks renders it very picturesque. In the extreme distance rise lofty mountains, of which Ararat is more than 16,000 feet in height, and in the valley itself there are numerous rocky elevations.
My supper consisted of some roasted and very salt eggs. 12th August. Our journey for today was as far as Arax, on the Russian frontier. Although only one stage, it took us eleven hours.
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