ordinary telescope from the plains of the Araxes. In the direction toward the summit, a shorter but at the same time a steeper declivity than the one we had passed lay before us; and between this and the extreme summit there appeared to be only one small hill. After a short repose we passed the first precipice, which was the steepest of all, by hewing out steps in the rock, and after this the next elevation. But here, instead of seeing the ultimate goal of all our difficulties, immediately before us appeared a series of hills, which even concealed the summit from our sight. This rather abated our courage, which had never yielded for a moment so long as we had all our difficulties in view, and our strength, exhausted by the labor of hewing the rock, seemed scarcely commensurate with the attainment of the now invisible object of our wishes. But a review of what had been already accomplished, and of that which might still remain to be done, the proximity of the series of projecting elevations, and a glance at my brave companions, banished my fears and we boldly advanced. We crossed two more hills, and the cold air of the summit blew toward us. I stepped from behind one of the glaciers, and the extreme cone of Ararat lay distinctly before my enraptured eyes. But one more effort was necessary. Only one other icy plain was to be ascended, and at a quarter past three on the 27th of September, O. S., 1829, we stood on the summit of Mount Ararat!"

Having thus happily accomplished his fatiguing and perilous enterprise, our author's first wish and enjoyment was repose; he spread his cloak on the ground, and sitting down contemplated the boundless but desolate prospect around him. He was on a slightly convex, almost circular, platform, about 200 Paris feet in diameter, which at the extremity declines pretty steeply on all sides, particularly toward the S. E. and N. E.; it was the silver crest of Ararat, composed of eternal ice, unbroken by a rock or stone. Toward the east, the summit declined more gently than in any other direction, and was connected by a hollow, likewise covered with perpetual ice, with another rather lower summit, which by Mr. Federow's trigonomical measurement was found to be 187 toises distant from the principal summit. On account of the immense distances nothing could be seen distinctly. The whole valley of the Araxes was covered with a gray mist through which Erivan and Sardarabad appeared as small dark spots; to the south were seen more distinctly the hills behind which lies Bayazeed; to the N. W. the ragged top of Alaghes, covered with vast masses of snow, probably an inaccessible summit; near to Ararat, especially to the S. E. and at a great distance toward the west, are numerous small conical hills, which look like extinct volcanoes; to the E. S. E. was little Ararat, whose head did not appear like a cone, as it does from the plain, but like the top of a square truncated pyramid, with larger and smaller rocky elevations on the edges and in the middle; but what very much surprised Professor Parrot was to see a large portion of Lake Goktschai, which appeared in the N. E. like a beautiful shining dark blue patch, behind the lofty chain of mountains which encloses it on the south,

and which is so high that he never could have believed he should have been able from the top of Ararat to see over its summit into the lake behind it.

Mr. Parrot, having allowed himself time to enjoy this prospect, proceeded to observe his barometer, which he placed precisely in the middle of the summit. The mercury was no higher than fifteen inches, three quarters of a line Paris measure, the temperature being 3 7-10 below the freezing point of the centigrade thermometer. By comparing this observation with that which Mr. Federow made at the same time at the Convent of St. James, the elevation of the summit appears to be 10,272 Paris feet above the convent, and adding to that the height of the latter, the top of Ararat is 16,254 Paris feet, or nearly five wersts, above the level of the sea. While the professor was engaged in his observations, the deacon planted the cross, not precisely on the summit, where it could not have been seen from the plain, as it was only five feet high, but on the N. E. edge, about thirty feet lower than the centre of the summit. The professor and his five companions, viz. the deacon, two Russian soldiers, and two Armenian peasants, having remained three-quarters of an hour on the summit, commenced their descent, which was very fatiguing; but they hastened, as the sun was going down, and before they reached the place where the great cross was erected, it had already sunk below the horizon.

"It was a glorious sight to behold the dark shadows which the mountains in the west cast upon the plain, and then the profound darkness which covered all the valleys, and gradually rose higher and higher on the sides of Ararat, whose icy summit was still illuminated by the beams of the setting sun. But the shadows soon passed over that also, and would have covered our path with a gloom that would have rendered our descent dangerous, had not the sacred lamp of night, opportunely rising above the eastern horizon, cheered us with its welcome beams."

Having passed the night on the same spot as on their ascent, where they found their companions, they arrived the next day at noon at the convent of St. James, and on the following day, Sunday, the 28th of September, O. S., they offered their grateful thanksgiving to Heaven for the success of their arduous enterprise, perhaps not far from the spot where "Noah built an altar to the Lord."

Having thus brought our author to the conclusion of his main object of his journey, our readers will probably be surprised to hear that doubts were soon raised of his having really reached the summit. Many orthodox Armenians had expressed their doubt even before he left the country, and it being afterward publicly asserted by a man eminent in the scientific world that it was impossible, the professor found it expedient to request that all persons in that country who had taken part in the expedition might be examined upon oath, and he has inserted their depositions at full length, entirely confirming his statements.

Beside the account of the ascent of Ararat, to which, as being the most important, we have confined our remarks and extracts, the work contains many interesting observations, especially on the geology of the country, illustrated by a map, and views of Mount

Ararat, &c. The second part contains some scientific observations, measurements, &c. Among these papers there is one "on the Difference of Elevation between the Euxine and the Caspian, and the Connection that may have formerly existed between those two Seas," from which, as the point has been considered by geologists as highly important, we extract a few particulars:

"Since the publication of the result of the barometrical measurement, which I undertook in the year 1811, with M. Engelhardt, on the north side of the Caucasus, between those two seas, it has been pretty generally taken for granted that the level of the Caspian is 300 Paris feet lower than that of the Euxine. But the more interesting this result has become to the science of physical geography, and the more attention and confidence have been given to it by naturalists, the more important has every experiment become to us, the original authors, which seems either to confirm or to contradict this result."

The professor, having observed that some facts which he details had excited in his mind doubts of the correctness of his former conclusions, thus proceeds:

"I hoped that my journey to Mount Ararat would afford me a fit opportunity for solving those doubts, by means of a barometrical survey through the steppe north of the Caucasus, along the banks of the river Manetsch, where the two seas are only between 500 and 600 wersts apart. I was assisted in my operation by Mr. Behagel."

Mr. Parrot details very minutely his proceedings on this occasion. He was not able to go the whole way to the Caspian, but he travelled more than half the way, and found his doubts much strengthened. He was therefore very desirous of visiting the country on his return from Mount Ararat. The season was unfavorable; but he obtained a great deal of interesting information, and surveyed a great extent of country, all the particulars of which he gives, and states the results, which we add in his own words:

"I cannot place less confidence in our measurements than in the survey of 1811, and must therefore consider the position which I formerly laid down, viz. that the Caspian is about 300 feet lower than the Euxine, to be disproved, however flattering it might have been to me to be able to do the contrary. But what higher object can the naturalist, as such, aim at than truth? and what more important duty can he have with respect to the learned world, whose confidence and approbation he desires ?"

In an Appendix Mr. Parrot informs us that after the Essay on the comparative height of the Caspian and Euxine was printed, he had received a letter from Baron Alexander von Humboldt; in which, considering several new facts and arguments on both sides of the question, he expresses a wish to see the matter more thoroughly examined in a future treatise. Baron von Humboldt himself, in his journey through Southern Russia to the Caspian, made numerous barometrical observations, with his learned fellow-travellers, Messrs. Rose and Ehrenberg, which, at least, do not indicate a lower elevation of the Caspian than the sea. These doubts are strongly confirmed by the results of the observations of other scientific travellers in those countries. But, notwithstanding these

reasons, Mr. von Humboldt, considering the rigorous accuracy which is now justly demanded in such matters, thinks that the result of the survey of 1811, which makes the Caspian 300 feet below the Euxine, ought not to be rejected till another can be opposed to it which has higher claims to confidence. He therefore thinks it necessary, if the new survey is to be opposed to that of 1811, that the professor shall enter more fully into details, to show the value of the new operations compared with the former. Mr. Parrot enters into various reflections on the subject, and in the end is induced to infer "that, in the operations of the year 1811, there may have been some defect in one of the two barometers; and, the measurement being also in the open air, at the mean temperature of 16 deg. Reaumur, on our journey out, and of 5 deg. Reaumur on our return; if the second barometer-that is, mine-had a small portion of air in it, it must on the way out have been too low, and on the return too high, (and of this no notice was taken in the calculations,) and the termination of the first survey, being the Caspian, would appear too low, and that of the second, being the Black Sea, too high. Three hundred feet divided among fifty stations, requires only a constant error of eight-hundredths of a line; and this might occur if the second barometer had a portion of air in it, which at one time was 5 deg. R. above, and at another 5 deg. R. below, the temperature which was fixed upon as the mean differences of the two barometers." Mr. Parrot is positively certain that there was no such defect in the barometers employed in his operations in 1830.

We might have extended our remarks by comparing Professor Parrot's observations with the works of Chardin, Tournefort, Morier, Ker Porter, Kotzebue, Sir William Ouseley, and others; but as none of these ascended, nor, except Tournefort, made any serious attempt to ascend, the mountain, they can convey no information on the point to which we have confined ourselves. We must add, to the honor of the Emperor Nicholas, that, on the return of the travellers, he ordered the whole of their expenses to be repaid, conferred on Professor Parrot the order of St. Anne, and gave to Mr. Federow, the fine theodolite which he had used in his surveys, with a sum of money, and a diamond ring to the Jager, whose zeal and activity had been of the greatest service.

We have lately received an account of an ascent of Mount Ararat in the middle of August, 1834, accomplished by a Mr. Antonomoff, a young man holding an office in Armenia, who was induced to make the attempt partly to satisfy his own curiosity, and partly out of regard for the reputation of Professor Parrot; who having actually reached the summit of the mountain is still obstinately denied, particularly by the inmates of the convent, who fancy that the truth would lower the opinion of the people with regard to the sanctity of their mountain. Mr. Antonomoff succeeded in reaching the summit: the large cross set up by Parrot was nearly covered with snow; the smaller cross planted on the summit was not to be found, and was probably buried in the snow. One of his guides, who had also accompanied Mr. Parrot, showed him the spot where it had been set up. He asked some persons to look while he was at the top, and try if they could see him. On his coming down,

however, nobody would admit having seen him there; they all affirmed that to reach the summit was impossible; and though he and his guides agreed, the magistrates of the village refused, not only to give him a certificate of his having ascended the mountain, but even of his guides having declared that he had done so.

For the Methodist Magazine and Quarterly Review.

THE MARTYR'S TRIUMPH, OR LAST HOURS OF ST. PAUL.

BY J. T. A.

PAUL was dragged before the furious Nero a second time. Knowing the relentless disposition of the tyrant, he had nothing to expect from him but the most cruel torture his malignity could invent. His guardian angel, who, in all similar cases of peril, had intimated that he would be delivered out of the hands of his enemies, now gave him no such assurance. On the contrary, he had an unequivocal premonition that his last battle was about to be fought. For this he girded himself. As he surveyed the fields of his labors, Damascus, Jerusalem, Corinth, Athens, Laodicea, Decapolis, Ephesus, Galatia, Collosse, Sardis, and others, his bowels of compassion yearned over the flocks he had been instrumental in raising up, and whom he must now leave in the midst of the devouring beasts of prey let loose by the demon of persecution to glut themselves with the blood of the saints. Never again would he be permitted to encourage and animate their hearts by his presence and his counsels-never again witness their expressions of ecstasy at his arrival among them. His sun was fast sinking below the horizon. But it brought in a tranquil night.

Solicitous rather to fill up the fragment of time yet remaining in doing good, than to avoid the sufferings before him, he hastened to write his last Epistle to Timothy. He addressed him as his own son in the Gospel, and affectionately exhorted him to a faithful discharge of all his duties as a minister and a Christian. Under circumstances which would have agitated an infidel philosopher, and caused the mighty men of the earth to quake as Belteshazzar did when he saw the mysterious hand-writing upon the wall, he calmly said, "I am ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand." Already he had become familiar with the howlings of the wild beasts roaming through the tyrant's parks, and the shrieks of the dying whom they were by turns employed to devour. The fires which were kindled around the bodies of his suffering companions had illumined the heavens above him, and the light thereof had stolen into the gloomy recesses of his prison. The coarse and blasphemous shouts of throngs of impious pagans, at witnessing the cruelty practised upon the dying martyrs, fell discordantly upon his ear. He knew they awaited his arrival, as the potent enemy of their gods, their altars, and their licentious abominations, to swell their notes of vengeful triumph to the full. But none of these things moved him. He longed with intense desire for the final hour, but it was with becoming submission and Christian patience. He paused to survey the past; and all was right. All he could