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ALI DAGH AND ARGAEUS 185
Cross a ravine from the romantic streets of Talas, and
you are on the steep slope of Ali Dagh, which goes up
so abruptly and with such economy of distance that,
in spite of snow, I reached the top by a zigzag path
in an hour and a half, and returned down a gully of
rolling stones in half the time. No position gives
so good a view of Argaeus as the ridge of Ali
Dagh,—the two summits are only twelve miles apart
by air-line, and the one becomes a grand-stand for
the other. From Ali Dagh the giant is seen as a
whole, and his detachment from outlying heights
becomes more apparent than ever, A deep narrow
valley, in which roads and fields are seen as in a
map, separates the great mountain from the lesser.
You see the whole profile of Argaeus from base to
summit on two sides, see the lower slopes steepen,
see the domical mounds which surround the mountain
at about a third the way up, and then see the upper
bulk heaved into air in an unsymmetrical obtuse cone.
I saw Argaeus from the top of Ali Dagh on a day of
strong sunlight, when a few clouds hung trapped in
his lower valleys. Higher up a bar of cloud floated
aslant with the carelessness of wind-blown lace ; and
above it rose five or six thousand feet of mountain,
in rock and snow and ice, going in blue and glistening
white towards the sky.
August is the best month for ascending Argaeus
November altogether too late. On inquiring when
and how one should go about this climb, I was referred
to a Canadian missionary in Talas, who had
served through the Boer War in a Canadian mounted
He had climbed Argaeus thrice, and knew
regiment.
more about the mountain than did any one else ; he
was also said to have another ascent in view. This
projected fourth ascent, however, proved to be very
much in reserve. The soldier-missionary would not,
for himself, go up again—he had seen enough, and
more than enough, of Argaeus already. But when
King George should come to Kaisariyeh— an event
perhaps seeming less unlikely within Asia Minor than