He was, however, authorized to enter the mountains from the west, in the belief that, once established there, he would soon find his way opened on every side.
On the first of April, 1839, Dr.Grant left Oroomiah, expecting to meet Mr.Homes at Erzroom, who had been appointed to accompany him.
An unusually late fall of snow made the journey perilous.

For more than two hundred miles, it was from two to four feet deep; and for twenty miles, in the mountains beyond Ararat, there was not a single human habitation.

In descending, the only way he could know when he was out of the path, was by the depth to which he sank in the snow.
In the pass of Dahar, near the sources of the Euphrates, where Messrs.

Smith and Dwight had well-nigh perished, the guide lost the path in a snow-storm, and declared it impossible to go on.

The snow was too deep for the horses.