LIBEAEY 
 
 1&lxtoU%uv,\ Seminary, 
 
 PRINCETON, N J. 
 
 No. Oase,_ 
 No. Shelf [ 
 No. Book, 
 
 *TcT t 
 
 nt~~ 
 
 Mu- - 
 
 
 The John M. Krebs Donation. 
 
 * 2, 
 
• X / 
 
RESEARCHES 
 
 OF THE 
 
 REV.E. SMITH AND REV. H. G. O. DWIGHT 
 
 IN 
 
 ARMENIA: 
 
 INCLUDING A JOURNEY 
 
 THROUGH ASIA MINOR, AND INTO GEORGIA AND PERSIA. 
 
 WITH A VISIT TO THE 
 
 NESTORIAN AND CHALDEAN CHRISTIANS 
 
 OF OORMIAH AND SALMAS. 
 IN TWO VOLUMES — VOL.11. 
 
 BY ELI S^MITH, 
 
 Missionary of the American Board of Commissioners for 
 Foreign Missions. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 PUBLISHED BY CROCKER AND BREWSTER, 
 
 47 Washington Street: 
 
 NEW YORK : JONATHAN LEAVITT, 
 
 182 Broadway. 
 
 1833. 
 
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1833, 
 
 By Crocker & Brewster, 
 In the Clerk's office of the District Court of Massachusetts. 
 
 Griffin & Co. Printers. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 LETTER XII. 
 
 from shoosha TO date v.... Dishonesty and falsehood of the Ar- 
 menians and moslerns — Route proposed — Leave Shoosha — Kulaah- 
 kishlak — Impressions respecting a republican government — Doctrines 
 respecting the Virgin — Degh — Armenian nobility — Character of the 
 Armenians for industry — Karahoonch — Passage of the river of Datev 
 — Arrival at the convent of Datev — Diocese of Sunik — Family devo- 
 tions of the Armenians — Orders of the Armenian clergy — Moral 
 character and influence of convents — Their influence upon education 
 — Diocesan bishops — Their income — Their influence — Decline of mo- 
 nasticism, ........ 
 
 LETTER XIII. 
 
 from datev to nakhchevan... .Village of Datev — Lor — Substi- 
 tute for ovens and fireplaces — An evening conversation — The Arme- 
 nian parish clergy — Their appointment — Qualifications — Habits and 
 character — Duties — Incomes — Former state of Lor — Low diet of the 
 common people — Condition of the Armenian females — Beautiful win- 
 ter scenery — Sisiyan — Hospitality of the mountaineers — Reception at 
 Shaghad — Observance of the Sabbath — Attendance on public worship 
 — Descent from the mountains — Selasiz — Commencement of Persian 
 manners — Arrival at Nakhchevan, ... - 
 
VI CONTENTS. 
 
 LETTER XIV. 
 
 FROM NAKHCHEVAN TO ERIVAN AND ECHMIADZIN.. ..Description 
 
 of Nakhchevan — Former Dominican mission — Ex-bishop of Aderbai- 
 jan — Leave Nakhchevan — Jews of Armenia — Accommodations at 
 Khoik — A moslem family — Moslem devotions — Mount Ararat — Zi- 
 veh-diidengeh — Valley of the Aras — Dawaly — Magoo— Kurds — Khor- 
 virab — Ardisher — Singular fasting — Reach Erivan — Inhospitable po- 
 lice regulation — Description of Erivan— Ride to Echmiadzin, - 60 
 
 LETTER XV. 
 
 Echmiadzin.... St. Hripsime — Vagharshabad — Description of the 
 convent — Our reception by the monks — The church — Ceremony of 
 the mass — Doctrine of the mass — Communion — Confession — Pilgrim- 
 ages — Accommodations of the vartabeds, - 92 
 
 LETTER XVI. 
 
 Echmiadzin. ...Festival of the Catholicos — His sacrifice — Origin of his 
 title and see — His election — The present Catholicos — His duties and 
 sources of income — Ordination of bishops — The meiron — The novi- 
 rag — Power of the Catholicos — Interview with the vartabeds — Essen- 
 tial articles of faith — Conditions of salvation — Mode of baptism- 
 Confirmation — Extreme unction — Conversation upon our own religious 
 rites — Commencement of the Armenian Sabbath — Ideas of Missions: — 
 Library of the convent — Character of the secretary of the Catholi- 
 cos — Return to Nakhchevan, - - - - - 111 
 
 LETTER XVII. 
 
 from nakhchevan to te briz... .Leave Nakhchevan — Cross the 
 Aras — Benighted in the open air — Pery-kend — Khoy — Delayed by 
 sickness — Conveyed in a takhtirewan to Tebriz— Kindness of English 
 friends — Description of Tebriz — Its trade— -The prince royal, Abbas 
 Mirza — His government, ... 134 
 
 LETTER XVIII. 
 
 tebriz. ...Number and political condition of the Armenians of Tebriz 
 — Their moral character — Their education — Festival of the Purifica- 
 tion—Bishop Israel — His preaching — Conversation with him — Ar- 
 
CONTENTS. Vll 
 
 menian way of salvation — Moslems of Aderbaijan not of the Persian 
 race — Persian civility, and falsehood — Slight prejudices against Eu- 
 ropean customs, with high ideas of ceremonial purity — Fondness for 
 religious discussion, with bigotry or skepticism, - - 151 
 
 LETTER XIX. 
 
 from tebriz to SALMAS....Route proposed — Leave Tebriz — Saha- 
 lan — Condition of the peasantry — Deezeh-khaleel — Inhospitality — A 
 Sabbath in Ramadan — Shehwaly — Lake of Oormiah — District of 
 Gunieh — Salt plains — Dilman — Van and Aghtamar — Khosrova, a 
 Chaldean village— Modern origin of the Chaldean sect — 'Chaldeans of 
 these parts — Their political condition — Their religious rites — State of 
 papal missions in Persia — Pretender to the throne of Georgia — Ex- 
 cursion to Old Salmas — The Jews of these parts — A Chaldean wed- 
 ding, -------- 175 
 
 LETTER XX. 
 
 oormiah... .Origin of Nestorianism— Its establishment in Persia — Or- 
 igin and extent of the patriarchate of Seleucia and Ctesiphon — Dif- 
 ferent residences of its patriarchs — Conversions of the Nestorians to 
 the papal church — Origin of the seceding patriarchate of Mar Shimon 
 in the Kurdish mountains — Our arrival at Jamalava, a Nestorian 
 village in the province of Oormiah — Nestorian fasts — Evening 
 prayers — Bishop Mar Yohanna — Language of the Nestorians- — Ado- 
 ration of the saints — Prayers for the dead — State of the dead before 
 Christ — Independent Nestorians of Kurdistan — Diocese of Mar Shi- 
 mon — Diocese of the bishop of Jamalava — Orders of the Nestorian 
 clergy- — Their support — Ideas of the way of salvation — Sign of the 
 cross — Number of the Nestorian sacraments — Baptism — Sacred leav- 
 en — Eucharist — Mode of communion — Open communion— Marriage 
 — Consecration of churches — Armenian carnival, - - 201 
 
 LETTER XXL 
 
 oormiah. ...Plain of Oormiah — Reception at Ada — Mar Yoosuf— 
 Nestorian fasts — Evening prayers — Number of the Nestorian sacra- 
 ments — Baptism — Forgiveness of sins — Eucharist — Nestorian clergy 
 — Education — Regard for papacy — Education of the clergy — Political 
 discontent — Town of Oormiah — Disregard to truth — Reception at 
 Ardishai — Dress of the Nestorian clergy — Mar Gabriel and his dio- 
 cese — Evening prayers — Eucharist — Baptism — The bishop's 
 
Vlil CONTENTS. 
 
 and family — Fasting — Argument with a Chaldean — Reasons for not 
 proceeding farther — Koosy — Evening prayers — Nestorian manuscripts 
 — Interview with Mar Ooraham — The Takhsa — The Siinhediis — 
 Celebration of the eucharist — Suggestions respecting a mission in 
 Persia, - - - - - - - 233 
 
 LETTER XXII. 
 
 from tebriz to kara-keleeseh... .Leave Tebriz — Precaution 
 against robbers from Khoy — Enter the country of the Kurds— Arts 
 of our guide at Zoraba — And at Keleeseh — Cross the Turkish fron- 
 tier — Bayezeed — Diadeen — Uch-keleeseh, or Soorp Garabed — In- 
 civility of the Kurds — Peculiar doctrines of the Armenians respecting 
 the nature of Christ — Habits of the wandering Kurds — Pastoral ob- 
 servations — Kara-keleeseh, ----- 266 
 
 LETTER XXIII. 
 
 from kara-keleeseh to erzroom... .District of Alashgerd — 
 Hospitality at Mollah Soleiman — Papal Armenians — Causes of the 
 similarity between the papal and Armenian churches — Difficult and 
 tempestuous passage of a mountain — Treatment by the Kurds at 
 Dahar — Descent of the mountain — Civility of the Armenians at 
 Komatsor — Reach Erzroom — Present state of the city — Visit to the 
 mosks — Ineligible location for a mission, - - _ 286 
 
 LETTER XXIV. 
 
 from erzroom by trebizond to malta... .Leave Erzrooin — 
 Want of wood in Armenia — Sheitan-deresy — Kara-koolak — State of 
 the season at Chiftlik — Sanjaks of Erzroom — Road through Baiboort 
 — Passage of a mountain in the night — Porodor — Accident in the 
 mountains — Beautiful gardens in a valley — Giimish-khaneh — Danger- 
 ous passage of Khojah-deresy — Forest scenery — Poisonous honey — 
 Formation of a natural bridge — Cultivation of maize — Secret pro- 
 fessors of Christianity — Reach Trebizond — Its history — Description 
 of it — Its trade — Population — Greek and Armenian moslems — The 
 Laz — Proposed mission at Trebizond — Voyage to Constantinople — 
 Return to Malta — Concluding observations, - 307 
 
RESEARCHES IN ARMENIA 
 
 LETTER XII. 
 
 FROM SHOOSHA TO DATEV. 
 
 Dishonesty and falsehood of the Armenians and moslems — Route proposed 
 — Leave Shoosha— Kulaah-kishlak — Impressions respecting a republican 
 government — Doctrines respecting the Virgin — Degh — Armenian nobility 
 — Character of the Armenians for industry — Karahoonch — Passage of the 
 river of Datev — Arrival at the convent of Datev — Diocese of Sunik — Fam- 
 ily devotions of the Armenians — Orders of the Armenian clergy — Moral 
 character and influence of convents'— Their influence upon education — 
 Diocesan bishops — Their income — Their influence — Decline of monasti- 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 Were we to record all the vexatious and disappoint- 
 ments to which we are subjected in our journey, by the to- 
 tal want of truth that universally prevailed, almost every 
 page of our journals would be disfigured by some com- 
 plaint. As faithful describers of the character of the peo- 
 ple, however, we are bound to report enough to show you, 
 that lying is so common as almost to form a part of their 
 nature. So blinded even is their conscience, as not to be 
 easily persuaded to regard it as a sin, especially when no 
 evil to others is the designed object of it. Mutual confi- 
 dence, of cqurse, hardly exists ; and only by being experi- 
 
 VOL. II. 2 
 
10 DISHONESTY OF THE ARMENIANS AND MOSLEMS. 
 
 mentally acquainted with all the varied modes of deceiving, 
 are they able to regulate their dealings with each other. 
 This total disregard of truth threw indescribable obstacles 
 in the way of our obtaining correct information ; and the 
 difficulty evidently increased as we advanced eastward. 
 In answer to the most common questions, we were many 
 and many a time told what was palpably false, for no other 
 imaginable reason, than either the depraved taste of our 
 informants for falsehood, or a dislike to trouble themselves 
 with the accuracy of truth. And never could we con- 
 fide in what was said to us, without confirming it by cross- 
 questioning, or by otherwise finding a balance of probabili- 
 ties in its favor. 
 
 The difficulty was not less in our dealings with the peo- 
 ple than in our inquiries of them. Deeming it imprudent 
 on account of my feeble health, to leave Shoosha with no 
 other attendant than Antonio, whom we had taken to help 
 us in the languages of the country, rather than to serve us, 
 we endeavored to procure another for a travelling servant 
 and cook. Four were engaged successively by solemn 
 contract, all of whom disappointed us ; some never ma- 
 king their appearance at all after the bargain was completed, 
 and others deserting us after two or three days' service. 
 Our difficulty with muleteers was scarcely less; we contin- 
 ued to hire different sets of them in vain, until the pledge 
 of contract was finally given, and insured our departure. 
 The custom of the pledge is universal wherever I have 
 travelled in Syria, Greece and Armenia. No matter how 
 small it be, nor which of the contracting parties gives it, 
 it binds the bargain, which otherwise, though made with 
 the most solemn promises, might be broken for the merest 
 trifle. I have known its validity fail but once, and then 
 the poor muleteer's horses were siezed by government, and 
 he restored our pledge. Both moslems and Armenians are 
 sufficiently given to falsehood, but the latter more so than 
 
ROUTE PROPOSED. 11 
 
 the former. I must add, too, that the kindred vice of pro- 
 faneness, in all its varieties, is equally common to both 
 sects. It is heard from every mouth, and so lightly is it re- 
 garded, as not to be esteemed sinful. 
 
 It was on the 1st of November that we found ourselves in 
 readiness to bid farewell to our hospitable and beloved 
 brethren at Shoosha. The cholera had ceased in the val- 
 ley of the Aras; and though the plague still continued at 
 Tebriz, where it had broken out to finish the desolation 
 commenced by the cholera, we determined to move in that 
 direction. My own health, too, was not restored beyond a 
 liability to constant relapses, but we hoped that travelling 
 would confirm it. The usual caravan route to Tebriz 
 passes a little to the east of Shoosha, and takes nearly a 
 straight course. But our intention being to visit Echmiad- 
 zin on our way, we took a more untravelled road, direct- 
 ly over the mountains of Kara-bagh to Nakhchevan; antici- 
 pating that the difficulties of the way would be more than 
 compensated, by the opportunity it would present of seeing 
 the Armenians in a more primitive and simple state, than 
 they are perhaps elsewhere to be found. In order to facili- 
 tate our progress, our former friend the commandant of Kars, 
 who had now succeeded to the command of Shoosha, repeat- 
 ed his civilities, by offering us an order for the villages on 
 the road to furnish us with lodgings and guides. 
 
 With an awkward hostler, whom we had taken as a final 
 resort, for a servant and cook, and mounted on five horses 
 owned by two Persian muleteers, we started at 10 A. M. 
 Our course lay directly over the mountains, which rose 
 behind and towered far above our mountain citadel, and 
 had for several weeks been the resting place of dark clouds, 
 that to our impatient eye threatened daily to cover them with 
 impassable snow-drifts. We issued from the Erivan gate, 
 and descending awhile, came upon the top of the ridge, 
 which connects in this direction the base of the rock of Shoo- 
 
12 LEAVE SHOOSHA. 
 
 sha with the mountain. We were still so elevated that the 
 objects at the bottom of the ravines on either side could be 
 but indistinctly seen, and the steepness of the declivity 
 along which we descended into that on the left, put the 
 carefulness of our horses to a severe test. We finished 
 the descent without accident, and then, following a path 
 little better than a goat's track, over sloping rocks and along 
 the edge of chasms, we traced the torrent that washes the 
 bed of the ravine, to the very top of the mountain. 
 
 Though we had yet found no road more difficult, we en- 
 joyed it much. Our spirits, cheered by feelings of return- 
 ing health and freedom to move again after so long a con- 
 finement, and by the providential deliverance we had ex- 
 perienced from the pestilence by which a thousand had 
 fallen at our side and ten thousand at our right hand, 
 were additionally exhilarated by a smiling November's sun, 
 which, shining through a cloudless sky, warmed without op- 
 pressing us. How charming, too, was the chrystal stream 
 that murmured by us, after the briny wells of Shoosha! 
 We felt as if we could swallow enough to quench an ele- 
 phant's thirst, merely for the pleasure of drinking. The 
 party-colored leaves, too, silently dropping from the oak, 
 maple, beech, hawthorn and other trees, which covered the 
 sides of the mountain and partly shaded our path, threw 
 over our feelings a tinge of pleasing melancholy. And 
 nothing interrupted the general stillness, but the sudden 
 start of a lizard among the leaves, or the bark of a dog of 
 some straggling nomad, who with tardy steps was edging 
 his way to join his companions already in their winter- 
 quarters on the banks of the Koor. The height of the 
 mountain may be estimated from the fact, that it divides 
 the waters of the Koor from those of the Aras. We found 
 the topmost ridge entirely destitute of trees, as if even they 
 had retired before the winds and snows that in winter make 
 it their sporting place ; and the green sward that cover- 
 
KULAAH-KISHLAK. 13 
 
 ed it, seemed only to add to its bleakness. We descend- 
 ed immediately, on the farther side, into a ravine as steep 
 and profound as the one we had ascended, but destitute of 
 rocks and precipices. Crossing a torrent at its bottom, 
 and ascending a fatiguing distance the steep declivity of 
 a mountain on its left side, we stopped at Kulaah-kishlak, 
 (called also Kulaah-deresy,) the first village on the road. 
 Its estimated distance from Shoosha is only 4 fursakhs ; * 
 but we were at least seven hours on the road. 
 
 Without a sight of the commandant's order, the kakhia 
 readily received us as his guests. A kind of public room 
 was opened, and after it was cleared of some dishes used 
 for the entertainment of poultry in the absence of travellers, 
 and spread with carpets, we found in it comfortable accom- 
 modations. A supper of rice revived me, and I was en- 
 couraged at finding myself not too fatigued by my first 
 day's ride for a little conversation with our host. The 
 village contained about 50 under-ground houses, all inhab- 
 ited by Armenians, who had one church and two priests. 
 It was the limit of the extent, in this direction, of the diocese 
 of Kantsasar. The kakhia affirmed that no schools existed 
 either here or in any of the surrounding villages ; and de- 
 clared, as a reason, that no one was qualified to teach, and 
 probably none wished to learn. His own manifest indiffer- 
 ence to the subject tended to confirm the latter assertion. 
 He estimated the number in this village who could read at 
 only six. 
 
 Our inquisitiveness respecting his village and nation, led 
 him to take a similar liberty to question us respecting our 
 
 * Though not yet in Persia, we must now adopt the Persian measure of 
 distance, it being here the prevalent one. It is the ancient parasang, 
 still called in Persian fursakh, but in Turkish aghdj, or tree. The latter 
 name is most known where we travelled, but I prefer the former for its 
 classical associations. It is not a measured distance, but varies little from 
 4 miles. 
 
14 IDEAS OE A REPUBLICAN GOVERNMENT. 
 
 country. A conversation ensued resembling many that 
 occurred during our journey, and will afford you a fair 
 specimen of the ideas suggested to the more sensible of 
 the common people in this part of the world, on first hear- 
 ing of a republican government, Learning that we were 
 from the Yengy Diinya (new world), and acknowledged 
 subjection to no European government, he inquired if we 
 had a king of our own. Our reply led him to ask us, with 
 the evident impression that it would be a great privilege 
 and give us respectability, if we could not have one. We 
 assured him that we could, but that not one among us 
 wished it, and were a man to declare himself king, he 
 would inevitably be killed. He demanded, with astonish- 
 ment the reason. Because, said we, we prefer the liberty 
 and privilege of governing ourselves, to the splendor, ex- 
 pense and tyranny of kings ; for now, according to the 
 fundamental principle of our government, every citizen 
 has a voice in the choice of officers, the laying of taxes, 
 and the enacting of laws. After reflecting a moment, he 
 concluded that there could be no baraket (prosperity) 
 under such a government; and upon our declaring that our 
 experience contradicted, his opinion and asking his rea- 
 sons, he added that there could be no public security, peo- 
 ple must fall to robbing and killing each other. Noway 
 desirous to diminish his happiness by persuading him 
 that our government was better than his own, and in com- 
 pliance with our unvarying principle to say nothing against 
 the powers that be, we conceded that from what he knew 
 of mankind his conclusion was natural and just. For 
 such would inevitably be the result, were the people around 
 him to have a government like ours. He must remember, 
 however, we suggested, that we are a different people; 
 that instead of being ignorant and demoralized, a large 
 proportion of our countrymen are educated, under the in- 
 fluence of moral principle, and possessed of integrity. 
 
DOCTRINES RESPECTING THE VIRGIN. 15 
 
 Observing an Armenian Testament among our baggage, 
 he began to read it, and found some difficulty in ascertain- 
 ing what it was. It was evidently new to him, he had 
 never read it, and no one in the village, he assured us, ex- 
 cept the priests, owned a copy. He seemed to care little 
 about it, however, and it only gave him occasion to ask if our 
 church was nearly related to his in doctrine. We chose to 
 answer in detail ; that both believe in the Trinity, and in 
 the incarnation and death of Christ to save the world ; in a 
 word, that both are founded upon the New Testament, 
 and 4 can they fail of being nearly related V He replied 
 that lately some Germans had come among them professing 
 to have the same religion, but they denied the perpetual 
 virginity of the mother of God, the mediation of the saints 
 &c. and thus proved that their faith was essentially differ- 
 ent. We would gladly have siezed the occasion to remove 
 his prejudices, which were evidently strong against our 
 missionary brethren, but the fatigue of the day, and the 
 previous conversation had left us too little nerve for argu- 
 ment. Antonio, however, whose eyes had been opened at 
 Shoosha to many of the errors of his church, continued the 
 conversation respecting the mediation of the virgin ; and 
 finally concluded by pledging himself to believe in it, if 
 proof could be adduced that her body as well as her soul 
 ascended to heaven. 
 
 The veneration of the Armenians for the virgin is not 
 less than that of the Greeks ; and being of necessity fre- 
 quently alluded to in our journals, as one of their most prom- 
 inent superstitions, it demands a moment's attention. The 
 extent to which she is regarded as an object of worship and 
 an intercessor with God, is sufficiently plain from the ex- 
 tracts already made from the Jamakirk in speaking of 
 the nature of the Armenian church services. Her per- 
 petual virginity is held to with an almost inconceivable 
 strictness as an essential article of belief, and is dwelt 
 
16 DOCTRINES RESPECTING THE VIRGIN. 
 
 upon with indecent minuteness. Expressions occur in the 
 creed already quoted from the prayer-book, which a sense of 
 decency would not allow to be published. Others still worse 
 are found in the daily prayers of the church, to which no deli- 
 cate ear would allow itself to listen. The title, Mother of God, 
 (in Armenian Asdvadzadzin, literally parent of God,) as ap- 
 plied to her, has been already frequently repeated. Her free- 
 dom from original sin, which is believed by both the Greeks 
 and the papists, is not, we were assured by the vartabeds at 
 Echmiadzin, an article of the Armenian faith ; and I find 
 it asserted by Nerses Shnorhali, ' that the virgin Mary from 
 whom Christ took his body was of the sinful nature of Adam.'* 
 Very inconsistently, however, the Armenians celebrate the 
 festival of her conception, which originated in the idea 
 of the native purity of her nature. That a sufficiently high 
 opinion is entertained of her holiness after her conception 
 of our Lord, will appear from the same author. " It would 
 be agreeable," he says, " to my ideas, if I might venture 
 to say, that these passions, as well as all diseased operations 
 of mind and body were foreign, not only from that body 
 which was united to the "Word, but also from that of the 
 holy virgin after the indescribable conception. For the 
 place where God literally takes up his residence, obeys not 
 the laws of nature, any more than did the burning bush, or 
 the fiery furnace. We who are in the truth must believe, 
 that after the virgin became the residence of the Spirit and 
 the Word, human passions were entirely removed from her."t 
 Blasphemous as was the assertion of the vartabed at Shoo- 
 sha respecting her equality with the persons of the Trinity, 
 he was almost borne out in it by the ideas of his country- 
 men. Even the Jamakirk calls her " the mediator of the 
 world, seraph of dust, more famous than the cherubim." 
 And it is common to eulogize her by referring to the al* 
 mighty word that called the light into existence, and saying ; 
 
 * Unthanragan, p. 84, 204, f Ibid. p. 212, 213. 
 
ROAD TO DEGH. 17 
 
 As God said *' let there be light, and there was light," so 
 she said to Gabriel, be it unto me according to thy word, 
 and his words came to pass. The assumption of her body 
 to heaven is firmly believed, and the event, as in the papal 
 church, is celebrated by a festival. 
 
 Nov. 2. Refreshed by sleep and a light breakfast, we 
 started at 7 and a quarter A. M. Cultivation, principally 
 of grain, of which we saw none yesterday till we approach- 
 ed the village, was limited also on this side to its vicinity. 
 For a great rarity in this part of the world, where houses 
 for the sake of mutual protection are universally clustered 
 closely together in villages, every farm had its farm-house, 
 as if each proprietor could live quietly under his own vine 
 and fig-tree. Barns, however, were wanting, and the hay- 
 stacks which supplied their place were raised, either on 
 scaffolds or on the limbs of trees, some six or eight feet 
 from the ground, probably to be above the reach both of 
 cattle and the snow. As we advanced, the ravine below 
 us became a chasm of frightful depth, confined between 
 perpendicular precipices. Our road led us up and down 
 long declivities fearfully steep, and passed alternately through 
 groves and pasturage grounds, till we came at length to an 
 open prospect in front, of the heart of the mountainous 
 part of Kara-bagh. It is an extensive table-land, separated 
 from the valley of the Koor by the mountains we had 
 crossed, and from the valley of the Aras by another range, 
 now in sight and white with snow. Unlike both these 
 mountains, it is entirely destitute of trees. In the bottom 
 of a deep valley that separated us from it, we reached, at 
 11 and a half A. M. a beautifully transparent river run- 
 ning to the left toward the Aras. Its size induced us to 
 avail ourselves of a log bridge at hand, but finding it im- 
 possible to pass a large rock on the farther side, we re- 
 turned and forded it without difficulty. On the sunny sides 
 of this warm valley were a few vineyards, the only ones 
 
 VOL. II. 3 
 
18 
 
 DEGH. 
 
 that met our eye between Shoosha and Nakhchevan. As- 
 cending by the bed of one of the ravines that intersected 
 the table-land before us, we reached at 2 and a quarter 
 P. M. the Armenian village of Degh, 4 fursakhs from 
 Kulaah-kishlak. 
 
 Inquiring as usual for the kakhia to furnish us with lodg- 
 ings, we were conducted to the house of a melik. By the 
 side of the others, which were all under-ground cabins, it 
 seemed a large and venerable building. The upper story, 
 built of wood with a shingled roof, was indeed in ruins, but 
 the lower part was solidly constructed of stone. Besides 
 an arched portico in front, it consisted of two large apart- 
 ments, each of which was covered with a lofty dome, and 
 had no window to admit the light, nor chimney to let out 
 the smoke, except a round aperture at the top. Directly be- 
 neath it in the centre of the room, the place for a fire was 
 indicated only by a circle of hewn stone on a level with 
 the rest of the floor, which was likewise of stone. 
 
 The only furniture of these prison-like apartments was 
 _a few piles of carpets, matresses, coverlets and cushions. 
 Carpets were immediately spread around the hearth, and a 
 fire, which the coldness of the weather rendered necessary, 
 was built for our accommodation. Unfortunately a clown- 
 ish Russian soldier, by obstinately appropriating to himself a 
 large share of the circle around it, and the smoke which 
 would not find its way to the outlet above till the air was 
 sufficiently heated to force it upward, combined to ruffle 
 Antonio's temper so much, that, not content with falling out 
 with the soldier, he undertook, also, to let loose his tongue 
 upon ourselves. A warm fire and clear air soon set mat- 
 ters right, however, and the melik in the mean time, who 
 was absent on our arrival, returned to Welcome his guests. 
 The parade made to receive him, and the feudal hom- 
 age paid him by the villagers, reminded me of the state 
 affected by the Emeers of Mount Lebanon. But his equi- 
 
ARMENIAN NOBILITY. 19 
 
 page was a caricature of all hereditary nobility. He had 
 but one or two attendants, and rode upon an ass. We 
 had already ordered a supper of pilav from our own rice, 
 which was now brought in with the addition of a boiled 
 fowl or two from his stock; and he sat down to help 
 himself with all his guests including the soldier, leaving us 
 in the awkward predicament of not knowing whether he 
 was entertaining us, or we them. Neither spoon, nor 
 knife, nor fork appeared; and each tore his fowl in pieces 
 with his fingers, and laded up his pilav with his hands. 
 Our host manifested little inclination to converse with us, 
 and when we thought to lead him to it by telling him from 
 whence we came, a question which he had neglected to ask, 
 a few answers satisfied all the curiosity that was excited. 
 
 MeliJc is a word borrowed from the Arabic, in which lan- 
 guage it means a king, but in Armenian it is only equivalent 
 to noble. The ancient Armenian nobility, which was once 
 so proud and powerful, is now almost extinct. With the 
 exception of a family pretending to be descended from the 
 Ardzroonies, and another from the Mamigonians but bear- 
 ing another name, at Tiflis, we heard of no nobility claim- 
 ing to belong to the ancient stock, out of the mountains 
 of Kara-bagh. These mountains were formerly embraced 
 in the province of Siinik, which was inhabited by one 
 of the most ancient, proudest and most powerful of the 
 Armenian clans, called Siinik, and also Sisagan. Its 
 princes enjoyed for many centuries little less than inde- 
 pendence ; till finally one of them helped to destroy the 
 dynasty of the Pakradians, by aspiring himself to the 
 throne.* Even so late as the early part of the eighteenth 
 century, during the Afghan invasion of Persia, a prince 
 pretending to descent from the ancient Siinik blood, suc- 
 ceeded in these mountains in throwing off the Persian 
 yoke, and contending successfully for several years with 
 
 * St. Mart. vol. 1: p. 207. 
 
20 PRODUCTIVENESS OP THE SOIL. 
 
 his enemies.* The Armenians here have now, with less 
 of civilization % more independence of character, than in 
 any other part of their country ; and their nobles, though 
 poor, are considerably numerous. The title seems to 
 descend to all the male children. 
 
 Nov. 3. Taking a guide from the melik for the convent 
 of Datev, which though not on the direct road we deter- 
 mined to visit, we started at 7 and a quarter A. M. Our 
 route lay across the table-land upon which we entered yes- 
 terday. Its waving surface was arable, and cultivated with 
 grain throughout, in long narrow fields, without a fence to 
 separate them. And, some being green with the crop already 
 above the ground, others sowed and dry, and others still 
 newly ploughed or now undergoing that operation, they 
 presented a landscape of a singular aspect. The apparent 
 fertility of the soil led us to doubt the statements of our 
 host at Degh respecting its productiveness ; but they were 
 confirmed by our guide. A view of the many circular 
 threshing floors for treading out grain, which crowned 
 every little eminence around and were almost as numerous 
 as the houses, had induced us in the evening to express to 
 the melik our surprise at the quantity of grain that seemed 
 to be cultivated by his village. His reply is a specimen 
 of the unmeaning language of piety, which in this part of 
 the world is in the mouth of every body, and seems a gen- 
 uine characteristic of orientalism. l We sow/ said he, l a 
 considerable quantity, but reap only what God gives us. 
 In other parts, the farmers by irrigating their lands increase 
 the natural productiveness of the soil ; but the location of 
 ours not admitting of this, we depend only upon the rain of 
 heaven, and what they produce, therefore, is entirely the 
 gift of God.' To more minute inquiries he replied, that 
 their crops varied from one to five fold ; four fold being 
 the average of a good crop. 
 
 * Chamchean, P. 7 : c. 25. 
 
KARAHOONCH. 21 
 
 The ploughmen whom we passed were cheering their 
 labors with songs, as they drove their ploughs after teams 
 of four pair of oxen, with a boy riding upon one of the 
 leaders to direct their course. In the winter ten and in 
 the summer eight pair of oxen are usually attached to each 
 plough. Respecting the industry of the Armenians gener- 
 ally, I may take this opportunity to say, that if they cannot 
 be called an indolent people, Asiatic want of energy pre- 
 vails in all. The merchants are business men, and in 
 some degree enterprising, but still find much time to in- 
 dulge their ease. Mechanics and peasants do the work 
 that devolves upon them, but with hardly force enough to 
 clear them from the charge of laziness, and with none of 
 the activity of mind that leads to improvements and inven- 
 tions. With them it is most true, that there is no new 
 thing under the sun ; the way their fathers have trod, is 
 that only which they deem it possible for them to pursue. 
 
 The numerous ravines that intersect the table-land over 
 which we were passing, were of great depth, and though 
 their precipitous stratified banks were of a consistency and 
 appearance that left the distant observer doubtful whether 
 they were clay or rock, they seemed to be gullies worn 
 away by violent rains. Their sides and beds bristled with 
 numerous slender cones some twenty feet high or more, 
 each capped with a rock occasionally several tons in weight. 
 The rocks had probably caused the curious formation, by 
 defending the soil directly beneath them from the rains 
 which had washed away the earth around. We at length 
 descended, or almost slid so steep was the declivity, to the 
 bottom of one of them, and there found a beautiful swollen 
 river of the purest water. Then turning an angle, we sud- 
 denly came upon the village of Karahoonch. It was a 
 small cluster of Armenian houses in a little nook, encircled 
 high above on the north by an impending precipice. From 
 the farther angle a cascade poured down its silvery riband of 
 
 VOL. II. 3 * 
 
22 PASSAGE OF THE RIVER OF DATEV. 
 
 water for the accommodation of the inhabitants ; while 
 enormous masses of rock, detached in former times, threaten- 
 ed in no unintelligible terms their very existence. Here 
 our road seemed to end, and for awhile we knew not but it 
 would end for the day. For it appeared that our guide had 
 received orders to conduct us by this route, instead of the 
 direct one of Kiiros, on account of the cholera which was 
 said still to exist there, and he knew the way no farther. 
 Another was soon procured ; but how were we to find an 
 egress in the direction of Datev ? The villagers pointed us 
 to the top of the precipice. We told them it was impossi- 
 ble. They laughed at us, and our guide, tucking the border 
 of his gown in his girdle, led the way with the agility of a 
 mountain goal. A serpentine path conducted us directly 
 to the top, where a break in the ledge unseen from below 
 opened again upon the elevated plain. 
 
 Hastening across it, we found ourselves after some dis- 
 tance, on the brink of the awful chasm through which flows 
 the river of Datev, forming one of the wildest and most 
 sublime of nature's scenes. Its depth from where we stood 
 was at least 800 feet, though its narrowness prevented us 
 from seeing the bottom. Its banks were the rugged and 
 torn sides of precipitous mountains. The projecting per- 
 pendicular buttresses of the one opposite to us, were al- 
 ternated with slightly sloping recesses, covered with suffi- 
 cient soil to support a growth of forest trees, but which with 
 its silvan load had in several places slid far down from its 
 original bed. On one of these dislocated patches, appear- 
 ed a small stone convent, which is affirmed by history, we 
 were assured at Datev, to have migrated uninjured along 
 with its foundation. Though so notable a miracle confirm- 
 ed its sanctity, it seems to have frightened away all the 
 monks, for it is now uninhabited. 
 
 This chasm we were to cross by descending to its very 
 bottom, and ascending the opposite side. The commence- 
 ment of our task was appalling. A sideling path con- 
 
PASSAGE OP THE RIVER OF DATEV. %£ 
 
 ducted us for nearly a hundred yards down the smooth 
 surface of a rock, covered slightly with loose pebbles 
 and 'inclined at an angle that caused our horses to slide 
 much of the way, directly toward the edge of a preci- 
 pice which formed the lower part of the bank below us. 
 We trusted to the sure feet of our horses rather than our 
 own, and got safely over it. Then winding around the 
 base of a basaltic precipice, through a grove of stinted 
 oaks strown with immense rocks long since detached 
 from the ledge above, we came in sight of the convent we 
 were seeking. It stood upon the very brink of the opposite 
 bank, at a height perhaps even above us. From beside it, 
 a silvery cascade bounded from rock to rock into the abyss 
 below. In a sunny nook at the bottom appeared a little 
 convent, with its fruit garden for the luxury of the parent 
 one above. And contrasted with it just in the back ground, 
 rose up a lofty mountain, now almost hidden from our 
 view in a dreary snow-squall which occasionally scattered 
 a few flakes upon us as an earnest of to-morrow. 
 
 The remainder of our descent, through bushes and over 
 rocks, was still steep and hazardous, and to me not a little 
 fatiguing. At the bottom, where we expected to ford a 
 stream that had been murmuring in our ears, to our sur- 
 prise none was to be found. It was hid from our view by 
 a natural bridge, sixty or a hundred feet above it, apparent- 
 ly formed by some mighty convulsion which had dislocated 
 huge masses of rock from the mountains above and chok- 
 ed up the chasm. Our situation on its top afforded no in- 
 teresting view of it, and we amused ourselves at our Mo- 
 hammedan muleteers, whose disappointment at finding no 
 river, heightened into vexation by thirst, was increased to 
 absolute rage by finding some twenty or thirty hogs, (the 
 abomination of a moslem,) wallowing in the only accessible 
 puddle, and grunting at them as they appoached to drink. 
 Had not the ceremonial and physical pollution of the swine, 
 
24 CONVENT OP DATEV. 
 
 however, prevented them from tasting, it would have been 
 found unpalatable, for it came from a warm mineral spring, 
 that issued from the top of the bridge. The only ascent 
 from it was through a passage, scooped for two or three 
 rods out of the perpendicular face of a solid rock, and so 
 narrow and low that one of our loaded animals fell, and 
 all were in the most imminent danger of being precipitated 
 over the low balustrade to the very bottom of the ravine 
 below. The remainder of the ascent, though steep and 
 difficult for the poor animals, rather refreshed than fatigued 
 us. We reached the convent of Datev at sunset, having 
 rode 3 fursakhs from Karahoonch, and 6 from Degh. 
 
 We announced ourselves to two or three monks who 
 were standing in the court of the convent, as American 
 missionaries, or preachers ; and a bishop soon came out to 
 meet us with a welcome and his blessing, and conducted 
 us to his room. A warm fire cheered, and an excellent cup 
 of tea refreshed us, and it was immediately evident that no 
 pains would be spared to make our visit agreeable. With 
 a liberality hardly to be expected in a convent upon a fast 
 day, two fowls were speedily prepared for our supper. 
 
 The bishop of Datev had died a few days before, but 
 our host, his chorepiscopus who was acting in his place, 
 gave us with readiness the information we wished. The 
 see is named, from the ancient province in which it is 
 situated, the see of Siinik, and it was here that bishop 
 Stephen, whose history of the Orpelians forms the founda- 
 tion of Saint-Martin's learned Memoirs upon Armenia, ex- 
 ercised his functions. In the neighboring village, to which 
 the convent has given its own name of Datev, there is 
 still a family of meliks of that ancient race, descended 
 probably from Eligoom the Orpelian, who, in the latter part 
 of the twelfth century, received in this region such large 
 estates from the Atabeg of Aderbaijan.* The diocese of 
 
 * St. Mart. vol. 2: p. 103. 
 
CONVERSATIONS AT DATEV. 25 
 
 Siinik now, according to our informant, besides dividing 
 with that of Kantsasar the province of Kara-bagh, embraces 
 the province of Nakhchevan, and even extends across the 
 Aras. It once contained 796 villages, but their number 
 has been reduced by transportation to Persia, voluntary 
 emigration to Turkey, and oppression at home, to 74, 
 which are served by only 62 priests. There is no school 
 in the whole diocese, except that some 20 lads from the 
 neighboring villages are taught in this convent. The con- 
 vent itself contains two bishops, ten vartabeds, and two 
 deacons. 
 
 To our surprise the bishop not only knew the name of 
 America, but repeated at some length and with tolerable 
 accuracy the history of its discovery. He had read it some 
 time before at Tiflis, probably from Robertson's History of 
 America, which has been printed in Armenian. Like most 
 others in the East who have inquired of me respecting 
 America, he was more curious to be informed of the lan- 
 guage, religion and character of the aborigines, than res- 
 pecting ourselves. But he failed not to ask whether we 
 all bore the name of Christians; and thus betrayed an 
 almost equal ignorance of our present condition, with the 
 lowest peasants. The inquiry was followed by numerous 
 questions respecting our religious state, such as, whether 
 we had churches, priests, &c. He seemed somewhat 
 staggered to learn that we had no convents ; and when we 
 assured him that bishops among us are married, he was 
 amazed, but, with the consenting voice of the whole circle 
 of monks, pronounced the custom a good one. On learn- 
 ing that we had several thousand ministers of the gospel, 
 and a still greater number of churches, they all stared with 
 astonishment, and required no more to convince them of 
 our Christianity or orthodoxy. 
 
 The name of the missionaries at Shoosha being mention- 
 ed, he was disposed to laugh at the idea of attempting to 
 
26 CONVERSATIONS AT DATEV. 
 
 convert moslems. Not one, he said, after so many years of 
 labor had been converted ; and indeed the extreme bigot- 
 ry of Mohammedanism rendered the thing impossible. The 
 same opinion, we told him, once prevailed in our own 
 country respecting the conversion of the aborigines, but 
 experiment had proved its incorrectness. Instances had 
 occurred, also, of missionary efforts remaining fruitless for 
 fifteen or twenty years, and then being crowned with com- 
 plete success. But the Germans, we continued, are for- 
 eigners ; you Armenians are the proper persons to undertake 
 the work, as your constant intercourse with them, and your 
 rights and privileges as citizens of Russia, give you great 
 advantages. Rights and privileges ! he replied ; I will tell 
 you what rights and privileges we have. When the Russians 
 took the country, they gave to the Armenians many desert- 
 ed moslem villages, where they consequently settled and 
 built churches. But the moment their former occupants 
 return from Persia, the Armenians are obliged to yield 
 their claims and retire. In short, we have abundant evi- 
 dence that the Russian laws give us no advantage over the 
 moslems. We inquired if they had ever employed mission- 
 aries or their vartabeds to convert them. No, he replied, and 
 if we attempted it what should we preach to them 1 They 
 believe in God now, and have good prayers. We could 
 only preach to them the Trinity, and the divinity of Christ. 
 We reminded him that Christianity differs in many other 
 very important points, from Mohammedanism. How supe- 
 rior, for example, is the heaven of the Bible to that of the 
 Koran. His answer was ; Why as to that, I will tell you 
 what a vartabed once said to a moslem. ' If I were sure 
 that your paradise is a reality, I should wish to be there !' 
 Shocked at such levity in a Christian bishop, and perceiv- 
 ing that we had by accident touched the wrong string for 
 a convent, we were silent. We would gladly have contin- 
 ued the subject of missions, however, especially as it might 
 
FAMILY DEVOTIONS OF THE ARMENIANS. 27 
 
 now lead us to speak of many important doctrines, but the 
 fatigue of the day and the lateness of the hour obliged us 
 to desist. Lodgings were assigned us where we had been 
 sitting, and four of us, including the bishop, stretched our- 
 selves upon the carpet to sleep, in a space hardly large 
 enough to contain us. 
 
 Nov. 4. The bishop rose before light, at the sound of 
 the convent bell, to attend the morning devotions of the 
 church ; but in his room neither in the evening nor in the 
 morning was there any acknowledgment of divine provi- 
 dence, except in the asking of a blessing upon our food. 
 That duty he seemed to consider as devolving of course 
 upon him. It was done while he was looking around upon 
 the company, and with so little reverence that my compan- 
 ion knew not what he was doing till he had half finished. 
 My own experience in convent devotions prepared me to 
 expect it, as a customary civility to strangers, and prevent- 
 ed me from being surprised, though not from being shock- 
 ed, at such gross indecorum. As I have often witnessed 
 elsewhere in similar circumstances, he wished us a good 
 appetite at the close, without a pause or a change of tone, 
 as if it formed the concluding sentence of his prayer. 
 Family prayer, as practised by us, is believed to be un- 
 known among the Armenians ; and the same, it is feared, 
 may be said also of private devotions. Not uncommonly, 
 however, in these parts, one or more members of a family 
 repeat, either individually or in concert, before lying down 
 at night, so much as they can recollect of the long prayer 
 of Nerses Shnorhali, which forms a part of the ninth ser- 
 vice of the church. It is in fact the usual substitute for 
 the whole of that service. If ignorance or disinclination 
 prevent this formal attempt at prayer, a simple sign of the 
 cross in the name of the Trinity, is the only act of devotion 
 with which they commit themselves to the slumbers of the 
 night. The same superstitious ceremony is believed, also, 
 
28 DESCRIPTION OF THE CONVENT. 
 
 to be their only mode of asking a blessing and returing 
 thanks at table, unless an ecclesiastic is present to go 
 through the mockery just described. 
 
 We delayed an hour or two in the morning to examine 
 the convent. The cells of the monks, store rooms and 
 stables, composing buildings of different ages and forms, 
 surround a square court-yard, in which stands the church, 
 the pride of the establishment. The traditions of the na- 
 tion assert that the convent was founded by St. Eustathius, 
 one of the seventy disciples who accompanied the apostle 
 Thaddeus into Armenia, and derived from him its name of 
 Datev, or Sdatev.* And the bishop this morning showed 
 us a stone in the outer wall of the church with the num- 
 ber 58 upon it, as proof of its claim to that early origin. 
 Still he did not attribute to the present church any greater 
 age than 944 years ; and allowed that it is not the oldest 
 of the buildings now standing. It is in the style of archi- 
 tecture already described at Tiflis ; its walls of hewn stone 
 are of extreme solidity and thickness ; and its arches and 
 domes, and its proportions throughout, are grand and in 
 good taste. Subsequent observation confirmed the assertion 
 of the bishop, that its architecture is better than that of 
 the church of Echmiadzin, and in fact we found it surpass- 
 ed by no building in the country. It was almost destitute 
 of the usual ornaments, having been plundered by the Per- 
 sians in the last war ; and several parts of its walls showed 
 on the inner side marks of fires, built by the same invaders 
 to deface or profane it. The monks were upon that occa- 
 sion treated with great indignities; and the bishop just 
 dead, after suffering many tortures, was carried captive to 
 Tebriz. We inquired until we were weary for the li- 
 brary, and though repeatedly promised that it should be 
 showed to us, we finally left without a sight of it. 
 
 Permit me to avail myself of this advantageous position 
 
 * Chamchean, P. 3: c. 8. 
 
ORDERS OF THE ARMENIAN CLERGY, '29 
 
 to give you an account of the Armenian convents in gen- 
 eral. A brief statement of the different orders of their 
 inmates may serve as an introduction. In the Armenian 
 clerical orders below the deacons, there are four grades^ 
 the occupants of which are named respectively, porters, 
 readers, adjurers or exorcists, and candle-holders. All how- 
 ever are frequently embraced in the generic name of clerk, or 
 in the common language diratsoo, which means, one designed 
 for the priesthood, a candidate. Invert their order, and they 
 exactly correspond with the ordines minores of the papal 
 church, which are acolythi, exorcistae, lectores,, and ostiarii. 
 The duty of each respectively, is to open the doors of the 
 church and prepare it for divine worship, to chant parts of 
 the church service, to prepare the font for baptism, and to 
 light and extinguish the candles. In other words, they act 
 the'part of the anagnostes in the Greek, and of the clerk 
 in the English church. A bishop only can confer upon 
 them their office, and he does it by prayer and the laying 
 on of hands. But no vow of celibacy is connected with 
 the ceremony, marriage either before or after it being sub- 
 ject only to the same rules as that of laymen ; and every 
 one is at liberty to throw off the ecclesiastical character he 
 thus acquires, and to return to the world as if he had never 
 had any duties in the church. These duties indeed are 
 frequently performed in parishes by whomsoever the priests 
 chance to invite, without their being previously consecrated ; 
 and generally, in fact, as we have already seen, they de- 
 volve upon boys. Persons occupying these grades are 
 found in all convents, and are boys sent thither to be in- 
 structed and brought up. They cannot, of course, be con- 
 sidered monks, or permanent residents ; though many of 
 them ultimately take the vow of chastity. 
 
 The fifth and sixth grades are those of the sub-dea- 
 con and deacon. The duties of the former are, to dress the 
 priest for mass, and to serve the deacon in his various du- 
 
 VOL. II. 4 
 
30 ORDERS OF THE ARMENIAN CLERGY. 
 
 ties. Candidates for the deaconship usually remain, how- 
 ever, so short a time in this grade, that it has virtually be- 
 come almost extinct. The duties of the deacon, are to 
 serve the priest at the mass, by bringing to him the cup 
 and wafer to be consecrated, by reading the Gospel, &c. 
 This grade too is little known except in convents and cities. 
 In country parishes candidates usually pass immediately 
 on to the priesthood. Both can be conferred only by the 
 laying on of the hands of the bishop and prayer. No one 
 can marry after entering the first, nor can he go back to 
 the rank of layman. All sub-deacons and deacons in con- 
 vents, therefore, are to be classed among their regular and 
 permanent inhabitants. In nunneries an order of dea- 
 conesses, likewise, is said to be known, who read prayers 
 for the inmates of those establishments. No other deacon- 
 esses are found in the church. 
 
 The seventh grade is that of priest; preparatory to 
 which the six preceding must have been passed through, 
 though the time of remaining in them is not fixed, and all 
 may be, and often are passed in a day. The parish priests 
 will be spoken of elsewhere. Only those who are unmar- 
 ried on entering the grade of sub-deacon, and of course 
 become by that act bound to a life of celibacy, come with- 
 in the scope of my present object. They constitute the 
 monastic priesthood, and are always connected with con- 
 vents. Their distinctive name is vartabed ; though that 
 title is vulgarly applied also to all the inhabitants of convents 
 who wear the conical hood, whether in priest's or bishop's 
 orders. It signifies a doctor or teacher, and is indicative 
 of their peculiar business. For they, in distinction from 
 the parish clergy, are the preachers of the church. That 
 duty, however, devolves principally upon the highest of the 
 three grades into which they are subdivided. The lowest 
 are merely unmarried priests ; and though honored with 
 
ORDERS OF THE ARMENIAN CLERGY. 31 
 
 the title of vartabed, are never called to the important du- 
 ties which it implies. 
 
 The eighth grade is that of bishop. Those who are ad- 
 mitted to it are always selected from the vartabeds, and 
 are of course invariably unmarried. Their special duty is 
 to ordain the seven grades below them ; they being them- 
 selves ordained only by the Catholicos. They are subdivi- 
 ded into many different ranks of honor and office, among 
 which are the chorepiscopi, who act as aids and col- 
 leagues to diocesan bishops ; archbishops, a name applied 
 to almost all who have dioceses ; and patriarchs, who are 
 clothed with authority by the civil government over a large 
 extent of country. Many common bishops besides are 
 to be found, who have no dioceses, and were ordained 
 with no prospect of any, but discharge merely the duties 
 of common monks. All, of whatever rank, reside in con- 
 vents, and are to be classed among their inhabitants. — 
 The ninth grade is that of Catholicos^ of which we shall 
 take a nearer view at Echmiadzin. 
 
 , Lay monks form no part of the Armenian monastic 
 system. Now and then indeed an anchorite is to be found, 
 and more frequently other individuals make a vow to re- 
 side for a time in a convent. But their mode of life, and 
 the length of their continuance in it, both remain subject 
 only to their individual choice. Laymen bound by vows 
 to perpetual celibacy, subjected to the laws of regular 
 monastic orders, and attached for life to convents, are not, 
 so far as we have been able to learn, at present known 
 among the Armenians. 
 
 An interesting question, suggested by this view of the 
 orders of the Armenian clergy, demands here a moment's 
 attention. What more general classification of the nine 
 grades now enumerated, is recognized by the Armenians ? 
 The secretary of the Catholicos, one of the most in- 
 telligent of the vartabeds at Echmiadzin, replied to this 
 
32 ORDERS OF THE ARMENIAN CLERGY. 
 
 question, that all the clergy belong either to the dea- 
 conkood or priesthood, i. e. either to the class which can, 
 or to that which cannot, say mass ; and he denied that 
 any triple classification is recognized. Two of the most 
 intelligent bishops we have found, firmly denied the pro- 
 priety of any classification into less than seven divisions ; 
 which are the seven lower grades,, the bishops and catholi- 
 cos being considered only as branches of the seventh grade 
 or priesthood, differing in dignity. And the leading varta- 
 beds of one convent assented to the idea, that all above 
 deacons are merely priests of different dignity. Only one 
 indvidual, an old bishop at Echmiadzin, admitted three 
 general orders ; and he knew not in which of them some 
 of the grades should be classed. Indeed, the idea seemed 
 to have been first suggested to him by our question, and to 
 have pleased him from its analogy to Paul's triple division 
 of heaven, the reason he assigned for admitting a triple 
 classification of the clergy. If we say there is an essential 
 difference between the priest and the bishop,, because the 
 fatter only can ordain the former, we must admit, for the 
 same reason, as essential a difference between the bishop 
 and the Catholicos. If we go to the ordination ceremony 
 of each grade, and regard its essence as consisting in the 
 laying on of hands, as its name in Armenian imports, we 
 can make no general classification, for each of the nine 
 grades is conferred by the imposition of hands. If anoint- 
 ing with oil be regarded as the essential part of ordination, 
 we shall then leave out the first six grades entirely, and 
 have the priests, bishops, and Catholicos for the three cardin- 
 al orders, since they and they only are anointed with meiron 
 at ordination. The tonsure cannot be regarded as an 
 essential part of ordination in any case among the Arme- 
 nians, though it is customarily performed upon those who 
 are admitted to one of the four lowest grades. A shaven 
 crown is often seen among the common people. 
 
CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE OF CONVENTS. 33 
 
 The primary design of convents was to promote the piety 
 of their inmates, by enabling them to renounce the world 
 and spend a life of devotion and holy meditation. As 
 a secondary object, they have sometimes aided in the 
 work of education, and the promotion of science. The 
 first idea springs from an entirely mistaken view of the 
 nature of man and of Christianity, and we are therefore 
 not surprised at its complete failure. Probably not an in- 
 stance can be found in Armenia, where the retirement of 
 a convent is improved for purposes of devotion. Instead of 
 being retreats from the passions that agitate the world, con- 
 vents are the very centres of the most unprincipled ambition, 
 of the darkest intrigue, and of the bitterest envy. Their 
 history is but a tissue of quarrelling and dissension. Erect- 
 ed for purposes of selfdenial, no where, so often as in them, 
 is the question asked, " What shall we eat, or what shall 
 we drink, or wherewithal shall we be clothed?" If the 
 funds are at hand, no one, sooner than a monk, furnishes 
 himself with good dinners and splendid robes. Under the 
 veil of celibacy, is covered every species of unchastity. 
 Of this so thoroughly are even the common people con- 
 vinced, that no man, we were assured, puts confidence in the 
 continence of a vartabed in his intercourse with his family. 
 So infamous is Echmiadzin for unnatural vice, that we 
 heard it assigned as the reason for its having no school. 
 Parents are reluctant to send their sons thither. In a word, 
 they are ' holds of every foul spirit, and cages of every un- 
 clean and hateful bird.' They can, of course, exert no good 
 influence upon the religion of the people. According to 
 the rules of the Armenian church, indeed, monastic priests 
 are never allowed to have charge of a parish. With only 
 occasional exceptions, therefore, they say mass, confess, &c. 
 merely in convents, where they are expected always to 
 reside. The special duty of the high vartabeds is to 
 preach; and instances have been known of their going 
 
 VOL. II. 4* 
 
34 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE OF CONVENTS. 
 
 through the country, in the discharge of it, not only with- 
 out orders from their superiors, but even under their perse- 
 cuting opposition. But, alas I no such instances now exist. 
 They preach only when ordered by the bishops. The 
 object of their orders will appear when we speak of the 
 diocesans. 
 
 Instead of contributing to enlighten their nation by 
 schools, or the publication of books, or, which is the least 
 that should be expected of them, serving as seminaries for 
 the education of the clergy, the convents of Armenia are 
 themselves seats of great ignorance. The deacons, who 
 are supposed to occupy in them the place of learners, in- 
 stead of being kept to their studies, are employed in the 
 fields, or in going on errands, or in other menial services 
 for the monks, so as generally to get no more than one or 
 two lessons in a week, and in some cases none at all. 
 Hence, when advanced to the grade of vartabed, they have 
 very little knowledge at the best, and sometimes are hardly 
 able to read. They are indeed required by the canons to 
 be acquainted with the Scriptures, and to believe what the 
 fathers of their church have taught, which implies that they 
 have read them ; but very few in fact have done so, or are 
 acquainted with the ancient language in which they are writ- 
 ten. The vartabeds themselves very rarely study or read 
 at all, and are therefore advanced to the episcopate in the 
 same state of ignorance. In a word, visit the library of any 
 convent, and you would almost be persuaded that none of 
 the monks are aware that the books it contains were made 
 to be read. The solitary old vartabed of St. Hagop, already 
 mentioned, is an honorable exception to the general indif- 
 ference of his brethren to their own and their countrymen's 
 intellectual improvement. In the convent of Sevan, too, 
 there is a vartabed who devotes himself to teaching. But 
 these are only glimmering tapers in a starless night of ig- 
 norance. 
 
DIOCESAN BISHOPS. 35 
 
 To complete our view of the Armenian monastic clergy, 
 a few remarks need to be added upon diocesan bishops, who 
 also, when practicable, always reside in convents. Being 
 selected from the mass of bishops with which all the large 
 convents are stocked, more through the influence of in- 
 trigue, money, or respectability of family, than out of regard 
 to real merit, they are apt to be as ignorant as their com- 
 panions, and sometimes actually know little or nothing of 
 the ancient language, or of the books contained in it. A 
 young wekeel of intelligence and education supplies their 
 deficiencies, and transacts their business. Their habits and 
 moral character are not known to differ at all from those 
 of the other inhabitants of convents. One was not long 
 since sent from Echmiadzin to a neighboring diocese, to 
 act as colleague to an aged bishop, who had reached his 
 dotage. He first beat the old man into a disclosure of his 
 treasures, and then forced him to leave his diocese entirely. 
 Two vartabeds died suddenly soon after, as if by poison ; 
 and the new bishop, with a haughty contempt of public 
 opinion, carried his dissoluteness to the extent of keeping 
 mistresses openly in his convent. The people at last made 
 their complaints to be heard by government, and he was 
 recalled to Echmiadzin. Love of gain and of pleasure is 
 rarely carried by bishops, it is true, to this excess of open 
 violence and debauchery; but with hardly an exception, 
 they use every practicable quiet method of fleecing their 
 flocks, as may be seen by a view of their sources of in- 
 come. 
 
 A diocesan's establishment consists of all the inmates of 
 the convent in which he resides, and he is believed to have 
 no purse distinct from its general treasury. Taking into 
 the account, therefore, that all its expences are drawn from 
 his resources, we may reckon his jirst source of income to 
 be the funds of his convent. Convents are generally pos- 
 sessed of property, in lands, tenants and live stock, which 
 
36 INCOME OF DIOCESAN BISHOPS. 
 
 affords the only support of their inmates, unless the resi- 
 dence of a bishop, or the possession of some object of pil- 
 grimage gives them other resources. The convent of Da- 
 tev owns sixteen villages, including that of Datev itself, 
 from which it received under the Persian government both 
 the capitation and the land taxes. The whole of the for- 
 mer, and half of the latter, is now claimed by the Russian 
 emperor. Still, the convent is supposed to have derived 
 from them in 1830, about 500 chetverts (150,000 lbs.) of 
 grain. — A second source of income is ordination fees. No 
 bishop, it is believed, ordains a priest without pay. The 
 bishop of Kantsasar will ordain no one for less than fifty 
 silver roubles, (about $37.50,) and whoever will contribute 
 that sum is pretty sure to receive the imposition of his 
 hands. The bishop of Datev also demands fifty, or at the 
 least twenty-five silver roubles. Such universal simony, 
 besides converting the episcopate into an office for the sale 
 of benefices, introduces the most unworthy men into the 
 sacred profession, and multiplies the priests far beyond the 
 number which can be so supported as to leave them free 
 for the duties of their profession. — The third is marriage 
 fees. No person can marry without a license from his 
 bishop, for which in ordinary cases he must pay, in this 
 vicinity, a silver rouble, (about 75 cts.) And besides, the 
 church has so multiplied the prohibited degrees of affinity, 
 as to leave a man but a very limited circle from which to 
 select his wife, unless he infringe upon some canon, and 
 an sxtra sum only will obtain the necessary license to do 
 that.* A widower, moreover, can take a virgin only by 
 paying his bishop well for the forbidden privilege ; nothing 
 
 * The Jesuit missionaries say, that in the Armenian church, marriage 
 between persons related by blood to the fourth degree, by marriage to the 
 third degree, by spiritual adoption, (standing sponsors at baptism,) to the 
 third degree, and by legal adoption to the second degree, is forbidden. See 
 Lett. Ed. et Cur. 
 
THEIR INFLUENCE. 37 
 
 but a handsome present will render a third marriage legal ; 
 and the expence of a fourth can be borne only by the very 
 rich. — The fourth is the inheritance of all who die child* 
 less. At the death of every man something usually goes to 
 the bishop. If a man die without children, real or adopt- 
 ed, he claims his whole estate, except a seventh which falls 
 to the widow. — The fifth is from the death of priests. All 
 the clothes and furniture of a deceased priest go at once to 
 the bishop. Then, in this vicinity, fifteen silver roubles 
 are demanded for the funeral sacrifice, which however the 
 bishop never makes, but pockets the money. And besides, 
 he exacts four and a half silver roubles for the grave, and 
 the same sum for the burial service. Reflect now that the 
 priests are perhaps never freeholders, and you will see that 
 the bishops get nearly or quite all their estates. — They re- 
 ceive, also, by means of charity-boxes in the churches, and 
 through other mediums, occasional contributions from the 
 people. And in some parts of Turkey they regularly sell 
 each parish to its priest for a stipulated price per annum, 
 besides claiming a fixed per-centage of all baptismal and 
 other fees. That such is their practice in Armenia, I can- 
 not affirm. In fact, you must regard this view of the in- 
 come of bishops as imperfect ; the particular sums, espe- 
 cially, are probably true of only one or two dioceses. 
 
 You will ask, what spiritual services do the diocesans 
 render their people, in return for so much money extracted 
 from them ? It is said that they sometimes preach upon 
 special occasions, but we heard of no instance, except at 
 Tebriz. They sometimes send out their vartabeds to 
 preach, and make visitations as their vicars, but very rare- 
 ly, and then only to collect contributions. Not an instance 
 is known where a bishop keeps his vartabeds preaching for 
 the instruction of his charge. So that, instead of hearing the 
 gospel proclaimed, the people rarely listen to a sermon, the 
 sole object of which is not, to get money. If ever the bishop 
 
OC INFLUENCE OF DIOCESAN BISHOPS. 
 
 makes a visitation of his diocese in person, it has the same 
 pecuniary object. The result is, that his approach, or that 
 of his vicar, is looked upon as a great calamity. As con- 
 firmation, however, in the Armenian church, devolves not 
 upon bishops, and as ordination, their principal duty, can 
 be done in their convents, they never, in these parts, trouble 
 themselves with personally visiting their dioceses. 
 
 With such a view of the character of the bishops of Arme- 
 nia before you, you will be sorry that I am obliged to add, that 
 their influence over the minds of the people is very great. 
 In some instances, indeed, the voice of the laity is sufficiently 
 loud to overrule their wishes, but they are extremely rare. 
 Ignorance and superstition are generally too prevalent, to 
 allow resistance or disobedience to be thought of. The 
 respect yielded to them, however, is the effect of fear rather 
 than of esteem. With them is lodged the tremendous 
 power of excommunication, which is believed both to shut 
 the gates of heaven effectually against all who incur its 
 anathemas, and to bring along with it the severest temporal 
 judgment upon their persons and property. 
 
 I am happy to close these remarks upon the monasti- 
 cism of Armenia, by assuring you that it is on the decline. 
 A new convent was not heard of or seen by us, in any part 
 of that country ; but in every province the ruins of old ones 
 were numerous. While only the three already mentioned 
 in Kara-bagh are inhabited, five have gone to decay. And 
 the province of Erivan, which 150 years ago contained 
 twenty-three for men and five for women,* now has but 
 ten, among which are no nunneries. Indeed, the only 
 Armenian nunneries we heard of any where, are the two 
 small establishments at Tiflis and Shoosha. 
 
 * Chardin, vol. 2: p. 177. 
 
LETTER XIII. 
 
 FROM DATEV TO NAKHCHEVAN. 
 
 Village of Datev — Lor — Substitute for ovens and fireplaces — An evening 
 conversation — The Armenian parish clergy — Their appointment — Qualifi- 
 cations — Habits and character — Duties — Incomes — Former state of Lor 
 — Low diet of the common people — Condition of the Armenian females 
 — Beautiful winter scenery — Sisiyan — Hospitality of the mountaineers — 
 Reception at Shaghad — Observance of the Sabbath — Attendance on public 
 worship— Descent from the mountains — Selasiz — Commencement of Per- 
 sian manners — Arrival at Nakhchevan. 
 
 Dear Sib, 
 
 We left the convent of Datev, at 10 A. M. on the morn* 
 ing of the 4th of November, my last date. The bishop ac- 
 companied us to the village of Datev, about a mile distant, 
 whither he was going to attend the last of the first eight 
 masses said for the soul of his deceased superior. It con- 
 tains according to one informant 50, and according to an- 
 other SO houses. As we stopped only a moment for a 
 guide, we had no apportunity to examine it. A rain that 
 had been drizzling all the morning, now became a driving 
 snow storm, which completely impeded our prospect the 
 remainder of our ride. With difficulty we climbed a 
 mountain ridge, where the snow was already of consider- 
 able depth, and the wind and cold oppressive ; and then, by 
 a declivity fearfully steep, descended into the bottom of a 
 deep confined valley, where we found the quiet village of 
 Lor, at 2 P. M. 
 
 Our muleteers, not at all to our dissatisfaction, refused 
 on account of the storm to go farther, although we had 
 
40 SUBSTITUTE FOR OVENS AND FIREPLACES. 
 
 rode but two fursakhs; and we called upon the kakhia 
 for lodgings. He welcomed us hospitably to his own fam- 
 ily room. It was under ground, like all the houses of 
 these mountains, and lighted only by an open sky-light 
 in the centre, through which the snow was continually fall- 
 ing. In different parts, piles of grain were heaped upon 
 the ground, which formed the floor. Here a deep wicker 
 basket plastered with mud and cow-dung, answered the 
 purpose of a flour-barrel ; there was a large chest of bread, 
 the principal food of the family. In a dark corner was a 
 pile of carpets, matresses, cushions and coverlets for their 
 accommodation at night; and in another direction stood 
 a cradle, with its crying contents. 
 
 What attracted our attention most this stormy day, was 
 the apparatus for warming us. It was the species of oven 
 called tannoor, common throughout Armenia and also 
 in Syria, but converted here for purposes of warmth into 
 what is called a tandoor. A cylindrical hole is sunk about 
 three feet in the ground in some part of the room, with 
 a flue entering it at the bottom to convey a current of air 
 to the fire which heats it. For the emission of smoke 
 no other provision is made than the open sky-light in the 
 terrace. When used for baking bread, the dough, being 
 flattened to the thickness of common pasteboard perhaps 
 a foot and a half long by a foot broad, is stuck to its 
 smooth sides by means of a cushion japon which it is first 
 spread. It indicates, by cleaving off, when it is done, and 
 being then packed down in the family chest, it lasts at 
 least a month in the winter and ten days in the summer. 
 Such is the only bread known in the villages of Armenia ; 
 and even the cities of Erivan and Tebriz .offer no other 
 variety than a species perhaps only twice as thick, and so 
 long that it might almost be sold by the yard. To bake it, 
 the bottom of a large oven is covered with pebbles, (except 
 one corner where a fire is kept constantly burning,) and 
 
EVENING CONVERSATION. 41 
 
 upon them when heated, the sheets of dough are spread. 
 The convenience of such thin bread, where knives and 
 forks are not used and spoons are rare, is that a piece of 
 it doubled enables you to take hold of a mouthful of meat 
 more delicately than with your bare fingers; or, when 
 properly folded, helps you to convey a spoonful safely to your 
 mouth to be eaten with the spoon itself. When needed for 
 purposes of warmth, the tannoor is easily transformed into 
 a tandoor. A round stone is laid upon the mouth of the 
 oven, when well heated, to stop the draught ; a square frame 
 about a foot in height is then placed above it ; and 
 a thick coverlet, spread over the whole, lies upon the 
 ground around it, to confine the warmth. The family squat 
 upon the floor, and warm themselves by extending their 
 legs and hands into the heated air beneath it, while the 
 frame holds, as occasion requires, their lamp or their food. 
 Its economy is evidently great. So full of crevices are the 
 houses, that an open fireplace must consume a great quan- 
 tity of fuel, and then almost fail of warming even the air 
 in its immediate vicinity. The tandoor, heated once or at 
 the most twice in twenty-four hours by a small quantity of 
 fuel, keeps one spot continually warm for the relief of all 
 numb fingers and frozen toes. 
 
 Seated in the family circle with our host, his wife and 
 children, and a few neighbors, around the tandoor, we 
 passed an interesting evening. He was the son of one 
 of the priests of the village, was a sober-minded think- 
 ing man, and possessed much more information than one 
 would expect to find in such a place. His own inclination 
 gave the conversation a serious turn, and to prove or illus- 
 trate the various topics discussed, he brought forth and fre- 
 quently referred to the family Bible ; a treasure which we 
 found in no other instance in Armenia, and even here 
 perhaps an unwillingness to think that it does not exist, 
 rather than the real circumstances of the case, induce me 
 
 VOL. II. 5 
 
42 EVENING CONVERSATION. 
 
 to use the name. It was a quarto printed at Moscow and 
 given by the missionaries at Shoosha to the father of our 
 host ; and though in the ancient dialect, we found him 
 able to understand it, and somewhat acquainted with its 
 contents. His seriousness made him a promising subject 
 for missionary instruction ; and that his candor was en- 
 couraging, may be shown by the effect which only one pas- 
 sage of Scripture had upon his mind. Having learned 
 from Antonio that bishops in our country are married, he 
 appealed to us with the greatest astonishment, for the rea- 
 son of so uncanonical a practice. We simply referred 
 him to 1 Tim. 3 : 2. After examining it attentively, his as- 
 tonishment was completely reversed, and he asked us with 
 quite as great anxiety, why the Armenian church had for- 
 bidden the custom. We replied, that in the face of such 
 plain passages of Scripture we could not be responsible 
 for its decisions, and he must ask his own bishops the rea- 
 son of them. 
 
 Finding that the conversation had continued, before we 
 were aware, to a late hour, we apologized for breaking in 
 upon his hours of sleep. But he assured us that neither he 
 nor his family were at all incommoded, for his father some- 
 times entertained them till almost morning by reading and 
 religious conversation. This declaration, added to the 
 character which the old gentleman had impressed upon his 
 son, made us extremely regret that his having gone to the 
 mass at Datev, and being prevented by the storm from re- 
 turning, deprived us of an opportunity of seeing him. 
 Our host assigned us our lodgings for the night upon car- 
 pets around the four sides of the tandoor ; where, warmed 
 by its heat and the furs in which we wrapped ourselves, we 
 slept comfortably until morning, while he with his wife and 
 children lay down a few feet distant. 
 
 Being himself the son of a priest, the kakhia gave us 
 some important information respecting the secular or parish 
 
ARMENIAN PARISH CLERGY. 43 
 
 priesthood, which you will allow me to combine with what 
 we obtained from other sources and present to you here, 
 while what I have said upon the monastic orders is fresh 
 in your recollection. — Their appointment rests with the in- 
 habitants of the village where they officiate, and of which 
 they are almost always themselves natives. The laity are 
 entitled to a voice in the affairs of the church in some other 
 respects, but their rights seem never to have been reduced 
 to any regular form, either by law or custom. No com- 
 mittees are appointed, and when a question occurs which 
 seems to require the opinion of his people, the priest mere- 
 ly calls perhaps a few of the acknowledged leaders of his 
 parish to the church door after service, for the purpose of 
 consultation. The right of electing their own priests the 
 laity universally exercise, and rarely, if ever, does a bishop 
 attempt to interfere with it, by imposing upon them one 
 without their request, or contrary to it. The inhabitants 
 of a town or village fix upon some one of their number, 
 pay his ordination fee to the bishop, and he of course -be- 
 comes their priest. Should the Armenian church ever en- 
 gage in the struggles of a reformation, this invaluable 
 right, being already in their possession, will not be one of 
 the many for which the laity will have to contend. Its 
 value seems now, however, to be extremely small. Not 
 even do the people avail themselves of it to reduce their 
 priests to the moderate number which they can respectably 
 support. The proportion of priests in the villages, will av- 
 erage at least one to every fifty families ; in the towns, it is 
 somewhat less. I must add, too, that though their election 
 rests with the people, their bishop has the power of depos- 
 ing them at will ; and the apprehension of such an event 
 makes them perfectly submissive to the nod of the higher 
 clergy. 
 
 Of their qualifications the most important in its practical 
 bearing is marriage. So cautiously do the regulations of 
 
44 ARMENIAN PARISH CLERGY. 
 
 the church guard against allowing an unmarried clergy to 
 have the cure of souls, that they require every parish priest 
 not only to be married, but to have one child, before he is or- 
 dained ; and if a priest's wife dies, he is at once to retire to 
 a convent. The latter regulation, however, is not strictly ex- 
 ecuted in case of great age, and where under Turkish law 
 the ecclesiastical authorities are but imperfectly obeyed. A 
 priest thus become a widower and admitted to a convent, 
 takes the rank of vartabed, and is admissible to the highest 
 ecclesiastical grades. The age requisite for admission to 
 priest's orders is twenty-five ; but we are not certain that 
 this regulation is not frequently dispensed with. The least 
 literary and doctrinal qualifications required by law, are 
 that candidates shall be acquainted with the Scriptures, 
 and be orthodox in sentiment. But in practice, the for- 
 mer is never exacted, nor the latter indeed any farther 
 than that they assent by proxy to the question whether 
 they believe in the right creed, without being made to re- 
 peat it. The only education which is actually required as 
 necessary, is an ability to read. To know how to write is 
 not deemed essential, and in some cases at least is actually 
 dispensed with. Much less is a knowledge of the language 
 in which the church books are written demanded. In a 
 word, the priests are often below the common standard of 
 respectability in talent and education. 
 
 Of the habits and character of the parish priesthood, 
 we can give you, with some important exceptions, (of 
 which we were encouraged to hope the father of our host 
 might be one,) but a bad account. They make no effort 
 to improve their own minds, nor those of their people, in 
 literary or religious knowledge ; but are given to indolence 
 and the pleasures of the table. A share of the sacrifices 
 being part of their income, they are of course invited to 
 them all, and their very profession thus leads them to be 
 gormandizers and hard drinkers. It is affirmed that an 
 
ARMENIAN PARISH CLERGY. 45 
 
 Armenian priest will drink twenty bottles of wine at a 
 feast ! The report seems incredible even in the vicinity of 
 the wine-bibbing Georgians and Mingrelians ; still its very 
 existence, though false, shows that the evil is not a slight 
 one. The temptation is so strong, that young men of good 
 habits before entering the profession, have been observed 
 to give way to it, and soon assimilate themselves to the 
 common character of the priesthood, which is decidedly 
 lower than that of the generality of the laity. While we 
 were at Shoosha, a priest once went to evening prayers 
 so intoxicated, that he fell to quarrelling with the people 
 who had assembled, until they were obliged to thrust him 
 out of the church, and go home with their prayers un- 
 said. The occurrence made some talk for a day or 
 two, but was soon forgotten as no very strange thing; 
 and the vartabed, who as wekeel of the catholicos just 
 at that time degraded another priest for sending his chil- 
 dren to the missionary school, did not regard it as worthy 
 of attention. — With such a view of the qualifications and 
 character of the priests before you, you need hardly be told 
 that their influence is very small. They are not respected, 
 and their reproofs are but little regarded, not being backed, 
 like those of the higher clergy, by the dreaded power of 
 excommunic ation. 
 
 In looking at the duties of the Armenian parish priests 
 we must pass over preaching entirely. That belongs to the 
 vartabeds. We heard indeed of two or three priests, (and 
 they were not more than two or three,) who attempt it, but 
 it is considered rather as an extra service, than as devolving 
 upon them by the obligation of their office. Their rou- 
 tine of duty lies in the performance of the church services, 
 in confessing, baptizing, marrying, burying, and the like. 
 Of the church services, the celebration of mass is the prin- 
 cipal, and is in fact the distinctive business of their office. 
 
 VOL. II. 5* 
 
46 ARMENIAN PARISH CLERGY. 
 
 For we shall not get a correct idea of the priesthood of the 
 Armenian, any more than of the Romish church, until we 
 leave the New Testament ministry entirely, and go back to 
 the old dispensation. Like the Jewish priesthood, they 
 are designed to offer gifts and sacrifices for the sins of the 
 people, and that is done by the supposed sacrifice of Christ 
 in the celebration of mass. Even the customs of that dis- 
 pensation are imitated in some of the observances of ceremo- 
 nial purity. In order to prevent the contamination which 
 might otherwise result, and which would entirely disqualify 
 him for so holy a duty, the priest is bound by the canons to 
 separate himself from his family and sleep in the church 
 for fifteen nights previous to saying mass. He then says 
 mass fifteen days ; and remains fifteen days afterward be- 
 fore joining his family. During the first and the last fif- 
 teen days, he makes wafers for the mass, baptizes, admin- 
 isters the viaticum, and the like. When the priests are 
 few, which happens in all villages and in some towns, 
 these rules, of course, cannot be strictly adhered to ; but 
 even then the priests are supposed to sleep in a separate 
 room in their houses. As an initiation to this system of 
 segregation, every priest is obliged, immediately after his 
 ordination, to fast forty days, shut up in the church or some 
 room connected with it, and eating but once a day. 
 
 The income of the priests is derived entirely from per- 
 quisites. We could not learn that any church in this region 
 has funds or glebes, and our informant to-night assured us 
 that if they had, the convents would take possession of 
 them. In some parts of Turkey the churches are indeed 
 rich ; but even there their income, so far as we have learn- 
 ed, is not appropriated to the support of the priests, but to 
 the purchase of candles and other ornaments. Rarely, if 
 ever, do the clergy engage personally in the labors of the 
 field, in any trade, or in merchandize. Though in the 
 latter, perhaps, they sometimes vest their funds through the 
 
ARMENIAN PARISH CLERGY. 47 
 
 agency of another, and in the former their children and 
 hired men are often employed to increase the revenue yield- 
 ed by sources properly clerical. One of these sources is 
 baptism. For it the priest receives, in this vicinity, from 
 one to three penabads.* Another is marriage, which 
 yields him a silver rouble. A third is the burial of the dead ; 
 for which he is paid, according to circumstances, from a 
 penabad to two silver roubles ; besides receiving whatever 
 the sympathies of friends may deposit in a plate that is 
 placed upon the breast of the dead as they go to kiss the 
 cross by his side at the funeral. For confession nothing is 
 directly charged. But whenever an individual goes to the 
 communion, which is of course immediately after confes- 
 sion, he finds the Gospel and a plate placed by his confessor 
 at the church door, one of which he kisses, and in the other 
 deposits a sum of money, perhaps less than a penabad. Or, 
 according to another custom, each confessor receives an 
 extra sum from his parishioners during the fifteen days of 
 his turn for saying mass, either deposited upon a plate that 
 is carried around the church, or given to him privately at 
 his room. Masses for the dead always procure for the 
 officiator a small sum of money, perhaps a penabad, besides 
 his share of the sacrifice that usually accompanies them. 
 Simple prayers are said gratis for the deceased friends of 
 the poor, and a donation is expected only from the rich. 
 For blessing the houses of his parishoners, also, which he 
 does at Christmas and at Easter, the priest receives perhaps 
 half a penabad. In some places, also, where the ceremony 
 consists in saying prayers over bread and salt, while the 
 salt is thrown into the cistern, and one loaf left for the fam- 
 
 * The particular sums here given were mentioned to us in the villages 
 of Kara-bagh. They vary in different places, and can furnish only a very 
 conjectural estimate of the amount of a priest's income. The same items, 
 it is believed, are paid for every where. The penabdd is about 15 cts. 
 and the rouble about 75 eta. 
 
48 VILLAGE OF LOR. 
 
 ily, a second loaf falls to him. The only thing that looks 
 like a regular salary in this system of clerical support is, 
 that some churches have a permanent box for contributions 
 to the priest, and in some villages he receives a small quan- 
 tity of grain from his parishioners. 
 
 How lamentable must be the effect, both upon priest and 
 people, of doling out thus in retail the services of religion. 
 It makes every morsel of spiritual food almost as much an 
 article of merchandize and barter, as is the meat that is 
 sold in the market for the nourishment of the body. And 
 besides, so far as anti-scriptural ceremonies are sources of 
 profit, it must set the priesthood in opposition to missionary 
 efforts, for those efforts touch directly their most sensitive 
 part, the purse. You will recollect, in conclusion, how 
 much of the amount thus scraped together in pittances by 
 the priests from the laboring people, is poured at their de- 
 cease into the laps of the monastic clergy, to be hoarded 
 up in golden church ornaments and costly clerical robes, 
 or to be expended in the support of useless indolence. 
 
 Nov. 5. A heavy fall of snow continuing the whole 
 day, prevented our departure, and confined our observa- 
 tions to the village and the family.— The village in former 
 times was populous, but when Nadir Shah vented his rage 
 upon this province for its rebellion, every soul emigrated to 
 Constantinople. After forty years of desolation, its present 
 inhabitants obtained permission from the khan of Shoosha to 
 rebuild it as his tenants. They number only twelve houses, 
 and are served by two priests, who have also charge of two 
 other neighboring villages of fifteen houses each. One of 
 them, the father of our host, teaches five children. The ap- 
 pearance of the church confirmed this historical tradition. Its 
 size, the thickness and solidity of its walls of stone, and the 
 proportions of its arches within, placed it decidedly before 
 any village church we had seen. It seemed built for ages, 
 and stood up in striking contrast to the under-ground cabins 
 
DIET OF THE COMMON PEOPLE. 49 
 
 of the villages ; though, like them, its scanty furniture and 
 ornaments presented marks of poverty. Local tradition 
 says, it was built by a merchant who was a native of the 
 place, in the time of Shah Abbas. An inscription over the 
 door places the date of its erection 174 years ago, when, 
 according to our informant, the village contained 300 
 families. 
 
 The extreme abstemiousness of the family of our host, 
 though fairly representing the diet of the Armenian peas- 
 ants generally, would be considered almost the extreme of 
 starvation by our well-fed countrymen, among whom the 
 very paupers live better than the respectable farmers of 
 Armenia. No meal was cooked, and, it being Friday, dry 
 sheets of bread taken at the pleasure of each individual 
 from the family chest, and raw onions torn from strings 
 suspended around the room, formed the only food that was 
 eaten. The spareness of this diet was indeed greater than 
 it would have been on any other than a fast day. But 
 you must recollect, that, there being more than 150 such 
 days in a year, nearly the half of an Armenian's life is 
 spent upon fasting food, which cannot in his native country 
 afford him a much greater variety. For so strict are the 
 canons of his church, and the general practice of his na- 
 tion, that no animal food of any kind is eaten ; olive oil, 
 even if in imitation of his less strict brethren of Constanti- 
 nople he might venture to use it, is too scarce and too dear 
 for him to obtain; and, except perhaps a little oil of 
 sesame, his only resort for a greater variety than bread and 
 onions, is to rice and beans, with a few culinary vegetables, 
 and, in places favorable for its growth, some species of 
 fruit. Nor on other days is the table of an Armenian 
 peasant much more plentifully supplied. Flesh of any 
 kind he rarely tastes ; and the productions of the field, the 
 garden and the dairy, appearing in the simple form of 
 bread and cheese or yoghoort, with the addition of an onion 
 
50 ARMENIAN FEMALES. 
 
 or a raw turnip, and an occasional dish of rice or beans, 
 form almost his whole living. 
 
 We generally broke in upon this abstemiousness, by or- 
 dering a few boiled eggs or a fowl to be added to our pi- 
 lav of rice. And in the morning and evening a cup of 
 coffee or tea, articles never used by the peasants of Arme- 
 nia, was sometimes prepared from our own stores, and 
 being shared with our host helped to increase his hospital- 
 ity. This evening, just as our table was about to be 
 spread upon the tandoor, the melik of the neighboring vil- 
 lage of Pernaghoot entered and seated himself in the circle. 
 In despite of the canons of his church, he accepted our 
 invitation to partake with us, and no less in despite of gov- 
 ernment espionage, he indulged himself, as he plunged his 
 hands in the pilav and jointed the chicken with his fingers, 
 in complaints of the semi-barbarism of the Russians. His 
 treatment of both church and state was to us equally 
 inexplicable, in this land where so few venture even to 
 think in opposition to either. 
 
 Our host's wife, like most of the women in the moun- 
 tains of Kara-bagh, was unveiled. But her chin, in the 
 usual style, was swaddled in an enormous muffler reaching 
 to her nose, and a white cloth passing over from her fore- 
 head flowed down upon her shoulders behind. She spoke 
 not a loud word from the time we entered the house. If 
 occasion required her to address a person too distant for 
 a very low whisper to be heard, her little daughter stood 
 by her side, and listening to her whispers, expressed her 
 wishes aloud. Such is the etiquette of female modesty in 
 the presence of strangers, not only here, but extensively 
 among the Armenians. It applies, however, only to the 
 younger women ; as we had to-day abundant evidence. 
 For some old ladies of the neighborhood, who happened to 
 call, were not prevented by it, nor by the still greater 
 obstacle of their mufflers, from almost stunning us with 
 their chatter. 
 
ARMENIAN FEMALES. 51 
 
 The condition of the Armenian females, as you will have 
 inferred from what I have already said of their education, 
 is not a little degraded. They are regarded as inferiors by 
 the other sex, and as made only for their pleasure and 
 service. From the idea that their virtue depends upon 
 restraint, rather than upon principle, an idea probably not 
 far from correct in their present circumstances, they are 
 excluded from the society of the men, and never take a 
 part in the entertainment of visiters, except very intimate 
 family friends. Indeed they are rarely left alone, and are 
 allowed to go abroad but little. The difficulty of obtain- 
 ing female servants and pupils at Shoosha, shows an ex- 
 treme of jealousy, on this point. Probably it is much 
 greater in towns than in the country. The marriage con- 
 tract is made by the parents independently of the parties 
 concerned. Girls are often espoused as early as three or 
 four years of age ; and many are married at twelve. The 
 earliest period at which marriage is allowed by the rules 
 of the church to be consummated, is ten for girls, and four- 
 teen for boys. The matrimonial tie is never dissolved 
 except by death. For, neither in the canons of the 
 church, nor in practice, is any other divorce known, than 
 that termed by the papists divortium quoad torum, which 
 gives the separated paties no liberty to contract another 
 marriage. The relation which the wife sustains to the 
 husband, is that of a servant, rather than of a compan- 
 ion. To give counsel and express opinions, though she 
 sometimes does it pretty loudly, is not considered her de- 
 partment. She is managed more by commands than by 
 advice, and not unfrequently is the rod called in to aid. 
 Her influence is little felt in the family, until she has chil- 
 dren to take her part. Even they respect her but little till 
 she arrives at extreme old age ; then she is sometimes 
 greatly venerated. This degradation of females, and the 
 consequent separation of the sexes in society, has a most 
 
52 WINTER SCENERY. 
 
 deleterious influence upon the habits of both. Without 
 that mutually chastening influence, which in civilized life 
 the presence of each has upon the conversation of the 
 other, the common language of both degenerates to the 
 very lowest degree of indecent vulgarity, and the parties of 
 the men are converted into bacchanalian carousals. 
 
 Nov. 6. The storm passed away in the night, and 
 a morning without clouds unveiled to us the grandeur 
 of the mountain scenery, that shuts out from the world 
 the deep and quiet valley, where we had found a refuge 
 from the blasts of the last two days. A drapery of virgin 
 white snow veiled every part to the top of the highest peaks, 
 and, as the sun rose above the horizon, they were brilliantly 
 gilded by his rays. The bracing influence of a frosty at- 
 mosphere, in which the thermometer stood at 23°, gave 
 elasticity to our spirits, and enabled us to drink in the full 
 effect of the grandeur and beauty that surrounded us. 
 With an affectionate farewell from our host, we started at 
 9 and a quarter A. M. and following the valley through a 
 few windings, soon passed the two little hamlets already al- 
 luded to. The shepherds were just conducting forth their 
 flocks to browse upon the shrubs and weeds that peered up 
 through the snow, while their fleecy backs afforded a warm 
 and undisturbed footing to a species of magpie, which in 
 these parts dares to face the severity of winter. In ascending 
 the mountain beyond, the horse that carried our chief mule- 
 teer, failing by reason of the snow to secure a firm foot-hold 
 in the narrow path, fell, and turned many a somerset as he 
 rolled over and over down the rocky declivity, till arrested 
 by a rock more prominent than the rest some fifty or a hun- 
 dred feet below. Possessed of the exceeding hardiness of 
 the horses of this region, however, he sustained no perma- 
 nent injury, and the incident only served to make us more 
 sensible of the danger to which we had been exposed in the 
 passage of the river of Datev on the 3d. On the summit 
 
HOSPITALITY IN KARA-BAGH. 53 
 
 we found a grove of stinted oaks, the last forest trees we 
 passed on these mountains, and in fact the last we saw in 
 travelling not far from 800 miles in different directions af- 
 terward, till we were beyond Erzroom again on our return 
 to Constantinople ! 
 
 Descending into a broad valley ieyond, we passed through 
 a small Armenian hamlet, and a quarter before 3 P. M. ob- 
 served in a branch of the valley not far to the left, the vil- 
 lage of Sisiyan. It was at the foot of an isolated hill, on 
 the top of which were probably the ruins of an old for- 
 tress ; though the term kulaah (fortress), applied to it by 
 our guide, might mean merely natural rocks upon its sum- 
 mit. It is the principal place in the district, and both its 
 name and position seem to indicate that it is a relic of the 
 ancient Sisagan, which was one of the most important can- 
 tons of the province of Siinik.* It is inhabited in part by 
 moslems ; and I ought to observe, that though since leaving 
 Shoosha we have stopped only in Armenian villages, there 
 are many moslems scattered through these mountains. 
 
 As we passed near the large village of Pernaghoot some 
 distance beyond, six or eight men came out and invited us 
 to spend the night with them, urging with much importu- 
 nity that it was wintry weather, and that we should cer- 
 tainly be benighted in the open air on the mountains ; as 
 would have been the case, had we taken the direct road, 
 there being no village on it for several fursakhs. This 
 was the finishing touch to the uniform hospitality we had 
 experienced since leaving Shoosha. In no case had we 
 found the least occasion to show the commandant's order 
 for guides and lodgings ; for the former were always ready 
 to'accompany us for a trifling compensation, and those with 
 whom we lodged, after giving us a welcome reception, in 
 every case were thankful for the gratuity of two or three 
 
 * St. Mart. vol. 1 : p. 144. 
 VOL. II. 6 
 
54 RECEPTION AT SHAGHAD. 
 
 penabads, (30 or 40 cts.) for a day's food and a night's 
 lodging for us all. We now declined the kind hospitality 
 of our unknown friends, in order that, by pushing on a fur- 
 sakh or two farther to another village a little off the road, 
 we might shorten somewhat the next day's ride. 
 
 On entering Shaghad the village in question, 6 fursakhs 
 from Lor, we were assailed with a deafening jargon of 
 clamorous voices from all directions, the import of which 
 was, that we were fools for passing the good accommodations 
 of Pernaghoot and coming where not a room could be 
 found to shelter us. By dint of reasoning, scolding, and 
 promising, however, of which the last had evidently the 
 greatest effect, and after being shown into one or two sta- 
 bles where the stench was almost suffocating, we obtained 
 a room which was in fact a whole house entirely to our- 
 selves. Now the tone was entirely changed. When once 
 fairly under the wing of our host, nothing was too much 
 for him do for us. Mats and carpets were brought to cover 
 the ground. His wife came specially to cook the pilav be- 
 fore our eyes, that it might be done to our taste ; an atten- 
 tion, by the way, which we would gladly have dispensed 
 with, for, there being no fireplace but the cylindrical oven, 
 and no chimney to that, the smoke almost suffocated us. 
 In the absence of oil and candles, butter was placed in a 
 dish to give us light. And a frame and an old rug were 
 borrowed from a neighbor to make us a tandoor. We 
 were glad to be relieved from the necessity of changing 
 the good opinion we had formed of the hospitality of the 
 people of Kara-bagh, by learning that this village had emi- 
 grated from Khoy in Persia, at the close of the last war. 
 The reception they gave us was truly Persian. They 
 amounted to about 30 houses, and had one church and one 
 priest. 
 
 Nov. 7. All the precautions taken by our host to make 
 us comfortable, proved an ineffectual defence from the cold, 
 
OBSERVANCE OF THE SABBATH. 55 
 
 which increased to such a degree in the night, that at sun- 
 rise our thermometer stood at only one degree above zero, 
 and perhaps would have sunk lower, had it had sufficient 
 range. Our house, instead of being, in the style of Kara- 
 bagh, half buried snugly in the side of a hill and covered 
 with a warm mound of earth, was composed, as is common 
 in the warmer regions beyond the mountains, of four naked 
 walls and a thin terrace, so easily penetrated by the cold, 
 that with only the imperfect means of heating it afforded 
 by a tandoor, the air within was not far from the temper- 
 ature of that without. Our furs were our only resort, and 
 wrapped in them, we succeeded in retaining some portion 
 of animal heat. 
 
 To-day being the Sabbath, we remained at Shaghad, 
 and were pained to observe that a part of the people spent 
 it in the labors of the loom, the employment in which the 
 villagers pass away the winter months. In general the 
 Armenians aim to observe the literal command to do no 
 work on the Sabbath. Especially are the labors of the 
 field almost universally suspended in obedience to it: 
 though at Shoosha the villagers often take that opportunity 
 to carry their wood to market. Shops in the bazar, too, are 
 generally closed, though some do not scruple to sell goods 
 privately. The feeling that the Lord's day is more sacred 
 than their other festivals, is generally clear, and is express- 
 ed in a better observance of it. And conscience is often 
 sufficiently enlightened to extort the confession, when re- 
 proved, that in profaning it they cannot but be guilty. 
 Still, neither in their feelings nor in their conduct, can we 
 find any just views of its sanctity. Travelling seems never 
 to be regarded as an infringement of it ; and that persons 
 should be stopped by it when on a journey, appears to 
 them exceedingly strange. They generally spend it as a 
 holiday in visiting and feasting, and thus commit more sin 
 than they would by laboring. 
 
56 ATTENDANCE AT CHURCH. 
 
 Attendance at church is perhaps more general than one 
 would at first conclude from the small number present at 
 any one time. That nothing like the whole population of 
 a place attends at every service is perfectly evident. But 
 it must be remembered, that, as there is public worship 
 twice every day, one may go in the morning and another 
 in the evening, and one who is absent to-day may be pres- 
 ent to-morrow, and thus every one make out a tolerably 
 frequent attendance even on common days. On the great 
 festivals and Sabbath days, a much more full attendance is 
 observable ; and considering that there are then three ser- 
 vices, of which some may be at one and some at another,, 
 we can believe, what we were assured in Kara-bagh, that 
 nearly all attend church on the Lord's day. I must not 
 forget, however, to except all marriageable and newly 
 married females, whom custom debars entirely from the 
 privileges of God's house ! The term privileges, however, 
 is improperly borrowed from more favored lands. The 
 churches of Armenia afford no privileges, nor do the 
 people have for them any of those feelings, which made 
 the Psalmist esteem a day in the courts of the Lord better 
 than a thousand. Conscience or custom, and not love, 
 causes their attendance. 
 
 Nov. 8. Rising before the break of day, we hastened 
 our departure for a warmer region. The atmosphere seem- 
 ed colder than yesterday, but a smiling sun soon rose with- 
 out a cloud. How cheering were his first rays, as chilled 
 and benumbed we plodded over the bleak and snow cover- 
 ed mountains 1 Shaghad is near the river of Datev, (the 
 ancient Orodnagerd,) here called the Bazar-chai, and we 
 now recrossed it coming down from the south, where lay 
 the lofty peak that rises back of Datev. The highest ridge 
 we crossed was but little more elevated than Shaghad. In 
 passing it, we entered the province of Nakhchevan, and 
 then threaded in our descent, by the aid of a Russian 
 
SELASIZ. 57 
 
 military road, a deep and rugged ravine, in which spring up 
 the first waters of the river of Nakhchevan. In a warm 
 nook at the bottom of the steepest descent, were the bar- 
 racks of a permanent encampment of soldiers, whose com- 
 manding officer demanded a sight of our passports. Follow- 
 ing the same road, which as well as the river continues to 
 the town of Nakhchevan, we hastened on to Kara-baba, 
 6 fursakhs from Shaghad. The ravine here opened a 
 little and presented a moderate extent of arable surface. 
 The village was carefully surrounded with a mud wall, 
 but its houses, which were also of mud, were in a ruinous 
 state. The only spare rooms had been previously engaged 
 for an officer who was expected in the evening, and we 
 could find neither shelter for ourselves, nor food for our 
 animals. At a late hour, therefore, we were obliged to 
 push onward, not knowing but the open sky would be our 
 only covering for the night. But an hour beyond, at a 
 short distance from the road, we found the little moslem 
 village of Selasiz. 
 
 Sela-siz may be resolved into an Arabic word with a 
 Turkish termination, and made to signify comfort-less ; 
 and so the place actually proved to us. Although a whole 
 family left its house to our disposal, it was but a single room 
 so small as hardly to admit ourselves and our baggage. The 
 dust of its mud walls and floor, mixed with ashes, cleaved 
 to every thing that touched them ; its broken door excluded 
 little of the external air ; and the whole village either could 
 not or would not afford us the means for making a tandoor. 
 And bread and cheese, and fried eggs, were the only arti- 
 cles of food to be found, after our long and hungry ride 
 since daylight in the morning. But even such accommo- 
 dations, given with a hospitable intent, would have been 
 acceptable. Instead of this, however, our host in the morn- 
 ing, after we had paid well for every article of food, so- 
 licited a whole suit of clothes as a present for our lodg- 
 
 VOL. II. 6* 
 
5S COMMENCEMENT OF PERSIAN MANNERS. 
 
 ings ! We have now bid farewell to every shadow of hos- 
 pitality, but shall hear more professions of it, than where it 
 really in some degree existed. 
 
 In fact, you must from this point consider us as virtually 
 in Persia. The two provinces of Nakhchevan and Erivan, 
 now composing the province of Armenia, have too recently 
 passed from the Persian to the Russian government, to 
 have been materially modified by the change ; and the de- 
 scriptions of character and manners we hereafter give you, 
 must be put to the amount of what we have to say of the 
 Persian part of our tour. You will understand, of course, 
 that these provinces, having been at the extremity of that 
 empire, cannot be considered as in every respect fairly 
 representing it, All I mean, is, that every thing here has 
 a strong Persian tinge, differing very observably from what- 
 ever we had yet seen. 
 
 Nov. 9. Nakhchevan is but three fursakhs from Sela- 
 siz. As we approached it, the plain opened and discover- 
 ed to us several large villages. Cotton fields, too, of which 
 we had seen the first at Kara-baba, now became frequent ; 
 but the plants were of a very stinted growth, being hardly 
 more than a foot in height. Either from unsuitable food, 
 or from exposure to the inclemency of the weather, my 
 health was this morning extremely disordered, and I en- 
 tered Nakhchevan tormented with excruciating pain. We 
 sought for lodgings in the best of the two caravanserais the 
 town contains. It consisted of a series of apartments in- 
 closing an open quadrangle, with the stable in the centre 
 so low that its terrace was nearly even with the ground. 
 The best room was given us. It was about eight or ten 
 feet square, with walls and floor of clay attaching a thick 
 coat of dust to every thing that touched them, destitute of 
 a fireplace, and with a door so loose that when it was 
 shut, the cats and hens found no difficulty in visiting us. 
 
LODGINGS AT NAKHCHEVAN. 59 
 
 In such lodgings, while the ground was white with snow, 
 and it froze every night, my ague and fever took the oc- 
 casion of the illness just alluded to, to renew its attacks. 
 I did the best I could, with furs, coverlets and warm tea, 
 and by the timely application of quinine obtained speedy 
 relief. 
 
LETTER XIV. 
 
 FROM NAKHCHEVAN TO ERIVAN AND ECHMIADZIN. 
 
 Description of Nakhchevan — Former Dominican mission — Ex-bishop of 
 Aderbaijan — Leave Nakhchevan — Jews of Armenia — Accommodations 
 at Khoik — A moslem family — Moslem devotions — Mount Ararat — Ziveh- 
 diidengeh — Valley of the Aras — Dawaly — Magoo — Kurds — Khor-virab— 
 Ardisher — Singular fasting — Reach Erivan — Inhospitable police regula- 
 tion — Description of Erivan — Eide to Echmiadzin. 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 Nakhchevan claims the honor of being the oldest city 
 in the world. Armenian etymology shows, that the name 
 signifies first "place of descent, or lodging;* and Armenian 
 tradition affirms, that Noah first resided here after descend- 
 ing from mount Ararat. Such a tradition can of course 
 rest upon no satisfactory authority ; but that the whole is 
 not of Christian origin, is proved by the fact that the name 
 Naxuana is given to it by Ptolemy, and that Josephus, fifty 
 years before him, affirms that the Armenians call the place 
 where the ark rested, the place of descent.^ From the 
 first mention of it in Armenian tradition as the spot where 
 the family of Ajtahag (Astyages) was located, it is often 
 noticed both by native and foreign historians, as one of the 
 most important cities in this part of Armenia. But so far 
 back as the time of Chardin, it was a heap of ruins, and 
 formed " in truth," says he, " a pitiable object." It is situa- 
 ted about two fursakhs from the Aras on the edge of a 
 
 * Nakh signifies first ; and chevdn, place of descent. or lodging, corres- 
 ponding exactly with menzel in Arabic, 
 t St. Mart. vol. 1: p. 267. 
 
DESCRIPTION OF NAKHCHEVAN. 61 
 
 higher level than the alluvial plain immediately bordering 
 upon that river. Around and in the city are numerous 
 gardens, which even at this season gave evidence by the 
 size of their trees and shrubbery of extreme luxuriance : 
 and the abundance of quinces, pears, apples, melons, pome- 
 granates, grapes, and almonds, which stocked the bazar, 
 confirmed their character for fertility. The grapes especi- 
 ally were almost unequalled in excellence, and seemed to 
 deserve the honor of growing on the spot, where " Noah 
 began to be an husbandman, and planted a vineyard." The 
 melons too were so plenty, that, together with bread, they 
 seemed to form almost the sole food of the common people. 
 But fruits, with all their charms, are here, as almost wher- 
 ever they abound, both indicative and productive of dis- 
 ease, by the miasmata arising from the well- watered gar- 
 dens which produce them, and the vapid diet to which they 
 lead. Nakhchevan is as noted for its sickliness as for 
 its fertility. 
 
 The city was ruined during the last war, and its inhab- 
 itants have not yet recovered energy to rebuild it. Wher- 
 ever you turn, nothing but dilapidated walls meet your eye ; 
 and these being composed entirely of dried mud, of which 
 almost every edifice is built, have a peculiarly " pitiable " as- 
 pect. The appearance of desolation is increased by the 
 fact, that not a window is open to the street. Lest we 
 were too unfavorably impressed, however, by this our first 
 view of Persian mud walls, and as we saw no other style of 
 building for several months, I reserve a more particular de- 
 scription for some future occasion. That the place was 
 not very inviting to us, you may infer from our accommo- 
 dations already alluded to. On returning from Erivan, 
 we determined to obtain better rooms, and accepted the 
 hospitality of a melik who had invited us to lodge with 
 him. The apartment assigned us was a stable, filled with 
 horses and grooms, and so dark that we could not possibly 
 
62 FORMER DOMINICAN MISSION. 
 
 see to read. At the first sight of it, though persuaded that 
 he was far from intending an insult, we thanked him for 
 his kindness, and withdrew. We then thought of applying 
 to the police, but fearing no better success, as it appeared 
 doubtful whether the town contained any good rooms, we 
 returned to our old caravanserai. 
 
 Nakhchevan contains, besides perhaps 2000 moslem 
 families, between eight and nine hundred families of Ar- 
 menians, of which 100 or 120 are original inhabitants, and 
 the remainder emigrants from Persia. It is the capital of 
 a province of the same name whose governor is a moslem 
 khan. We had a letter to him from the governor of the 
 whole province of Armenia, on our return from Erivan, but 
 he was not in town, and we failed of seeing him. The 
 Russian major commandant, however, who formed one of 
 the body of responsible advisers with which government 
 has, carefully surrounded him, treated us with attention 
 at both visits. Respecting the province we obtained very 
 little statistical information, except that before the war 
 it contained not more than 300 families of Armenians. 
 The number of that nation which subsequently emigrated 
 from Persia, was stated to us by their bishop, from docu- 
 ments lying before him, at 9000 families. But how many of 
 them settled in this vicinity we were not informed. We 
 afterward found several villages of them in the province of 
 Erivan. 
 
 The ancient and extensive Dominican mission, which 
 once had its seat in this province, is now no more. It 
 was commenced about A. D. 1320, by an Italian papal 
 monk of the Dominican order. Such success attended it, 
 that soon nearly 30 Armenian villages embraced the faith 
 of Rome, and acknowledged subjection to a papal bishop, 
 who, after being consecrated at Rome, resided in the village 
 of Abaran (Abarner), with the title of archbishop of Nakh- 
 chevan. Many of the villages also contained convents, 
 
BISHOP OF ADERBAIJAN. 63 
 
 governed by Armenian Dominicans. And " to form good 
 subjects, youth of that nation were from time to time sent 
 to Rome, to be educated in the sciences and in the spirit 
 of the order of St. Dominic." With the exception of mass 
 and the offices of the church, which are chanted in Arme- 
 nian, the Roman ritual was strictly followed. The papal 
 Tournefort extols their holy life, and assures us there were 
 no better Christians in all the East. Already, however, in 
 the days of Chardin, (A. D. 1673,) had twenty of these 
 villages returned to the proper Armenian faith, and the 
 inhabitants of the remaining eight were dropping off 
 daily under intolerable exactions from Persian governors, 
 caused, by an attempt of a special mission from the pope 
 to the Shah to withdraw them from their jurisdiction.* 
 Abarner, Jahoog, and another village the name of which 
 we neglected to note, held out until lately ; but now empty 
 churches are all that remain of their papacy. The bishop 
 of Datev, within whose diocese they fall, assured us that their 
 papal inhabitants had not returned to the Armenian church, 
 but had emigrated. Some of these emigrants, or their de- 
 scendants, now inhabit Smyrna. 
 
 The whole province of Nakhchevan belongs to the bish- 
 oprick of Datev or Sunik ; but we found here the emigrant 
 bishop of Aderbaijan, and paid him a visit. His name 
 was Pasegh. He formerly presided over all the Armenians 
 of Aderbaijan, and part, at least, of the pashalik of Baye- 
 zeed, and resided in the convent of Tateos Arakeal, (Thad- 
 deus the apostle,) in the district of Magoo. His diocese 
 was one of the largest, and his convent one of the oldest 
 and most distinguished in Armenia, built, tradition asserts, 
 on the spot where the apostle whose name it bears was 
 martyred.! At the head of most of his flock, he retired 
 
 * Tournefort, vol. 2: p. 407. Chardin, vol. 2: p. 300. St. Mart. vol. 1: 
 p. 145. 
 
 t St. Mart. vol. 1 : p. 136. 
 
64 BISHOP OP ADERBAljAN. 
 
 within the Russian dominions at the close of the late war, 
 and the movable property of his convent, which was for- 
 merly great in furniture and flocks, was transferred to Ech- 
 miadzin. He seemed less than forty years old, of a vigor- 
 ous constitution well nurtured by good living, and of a 
 naturally acute mind cheered by a fine flow of spirits. 
 Possessed of a pleasing address, he received us in a friend- 
 ly manner, and learning that we were of the clerical pro- 
 fession, inquired what rank we held in it, as if desirous to 
 graduate his attentions accordingly. From a conversation 
 thus introduced respecting our ecclesiastical polity, he pass- 
 ed to the doctrines of our religion, but seemed satisfied as 
 soon as he learned that they resembled those of the Ger- 
 mans. He declared his pleasure, however, at being ac- 
 quainted with the missionaries at Shoosha, and during the 
 whole interview manifested quite a gentlemanly reluctance 
 to express any opinions that might give occasion for ar- 
 gument ; so much so, indeed, as to create in us a painful 
 apprehension that it arose from the indifference of infidelity. 
 He soon inquired, as had almost every one with whom 
 we had conversed since leaving Shoosha, the object of our 
 present journey. We answered as usual, that it was to 
 obtain information respecting Armenia and its inhabitants, 
 of which, in our distant country, little was known. He 
 seemed to feel himself called upon to apologize for the 
 condition in which we found his countrymen, and said, we 
 had come from an enlightened to an ignorant country, and 
 possibly might often feel constrained to laugh at its inhab- 
 itants. We assured him that it was indeed true, that with 
 us the people are generally more or less educated, while 
 here we found them as universally ignorant ; but instead of 
 being an occasion for ridicule, this fact only gave us ex- 
 ceeding great pain. He attributed this ignorance to their 
 having been until recently under the yoke of Mohamme- 
 dan tyranny. But when we expressed to him the extreme 
 
BISHOP OF ADERBAIJAN. 65 
 
 desirableness that they should avail themselves of their 
 present favorable circumstances to become enlightened, he 
 confessed that no attempt had yet been made, and that 
 there was not a school in the whole province. 
 
 A paroxysm of my disease attacking me, cut short our 
 visit ; but Antonio remained awhile with the bishop, and 
 directing the conversation to topics suggested by his own 
 recent inclination to scriptural views, drew from him some 
 concessions by which he was much astonished, and which 
 confirmed our idea of the bishop's indifference to such 
 things. On learning that we had the ultimate design of 
 establishing schools for the Armenians, the bishop said it 
 would be well, if we would not, like the Germans, preach 
 against the mediation of the saints. But when pressed by 
 the argument that Scripture ascribes only to God the pre- 
 rogative of searching the heart, and that the saints cannot 
 of course judge of the sincerity of our prayers, he con- 
 fessed that Scripture mentions only the mediation of Christ, 
 and that others have subsequently introduced that of the 
 saints. In reference to the fasts, too, he allowed that 
 Scripture teaches, that "not that which goeth into the 
 mouth defileth a man," and placed them upon the general 
 ground of penance. Several other points were brought 
 forward, and the bishop finally answered the whole by 
 declaring, that the differences between all sects of Christ- 
 ians might be easily accommodated to the satisfaction of 
 every one by a general council, but he knew not when it 
 would be held. The same idea of a general council had 
 been introduced in his conversation with us, while speak- 
 ing of the several points of difference between the Arme- 
 nian and Greek churches ; and reminded us of the query, 
 already suggested to us by others, whether an attempt will 
 not be made to unite the Armenian with the Greek 
 church, and of the possibility that his mind had been al- 
 ready directed to such a measure. Before we left town. 
 
 VOL. II. 7 
 
w 
 
 LEAVE NAKHCHEVAN. 
 
 he politely sent us, of his own accord, a letter of introduce 
 tion to the secretary of the Catholicos at Echmiadzin. 
 
 We left Nakhchevan at half past 7 A. M. on the 13th 
 of November, for Erivan and Echmiadzin. During the 
 morning, the alluvial of the Aras lay a little below us on 
 the left • on the right was a range of hills, composed of va- 
 riegated and unusual colors, and without a sign of vegeta- 
 tion ; while our road passed over an undulating and uncul- 
 tivated surface. Among the hills not far from us was a salt 
 mine, which we intended to visit on our return ; but were 
 dissuaded in expectation of being able to examine a more 
 remarkable one near Khoy. Two others are worked in 
 the same range of mountains, one a little to the northeast 
 of Nakhchevan, and the other to the west of Erivan. In 
 many other parts, also, along the valley of the Aras and in 
 Aderbaijan, we were assured, mineral salt can be found by 
 digging only a few feet beneath the surface. Large slabs of 
 it, resembling grey marble so much that we at first mistook 
 them for building stones, met our eye, in piles or trans- 
 ported in carts or on animals, in almost every place from 
 Kars to Tebriz. No other salt is used in these parts, and 
 so pure is it, that it is believed to be universally only pul- 
 verized, to fit it for the table. All the water on the road, 
 this morning, brought down so many mineral ingredients 
 from the adjacent hills, as to be unpalatable. 
 
 Among the two or three who joined our little caravan at 
 Nakhchevan, was a Jewish merchant of Akhaltsikhe, whose 
 national timidity induced him, for the sake of company, 
 thus to break, as he supposed, the fourth commandment, by 
 travelling on Saturday. He was uttering lamentations all 
 the way, and every little accident that befell himself or his 
 horse, was interpreted as an expression of the displeasure 
 of God at his sin. But he only got from our moslem mule- 
 teers the taunting consolation, that, as we were to rest 
 to-morrow, he would make up for breaking his own, by 
 keeping the Christian Sabbath. 
 
JEWS OF ARMENIA. 67 
 
 The Jews were once num erous in the valley of the Aras 
 and in the adjacent parts of Armenia. Without reckoning 
 Shampad,the ancestor of the Pakradians, and his compatri- 
 ots, whose descendants had probably lost their distinctive 
 Jewish character long before they were converted to Chris- 
 tianity in company with the Armenian nation ; we are told 
 that Dikran, on taking possession of the throne of the 
 Seleucidse, invaded Palestine, 83 A. C. and carrying thence a 
 company of Jewish captives, settled them in Vartkes, now 
 Vagharshabad ;* and that Pazapran, when in connection 
 with his Persian auxiliaries he had taken Jerusalem, trans- 
 ported Hircanus, the high priest whom he deposed, with 
 a company of his countrymen, to the city of Shamirama- 
 gerd, now Van.f Whatever credit may be due to these 
 traditions, more authentic history informs us, that in the 
 fourth century, besides the colony in Vagharshabad and a 
 large number in Nakhchevan, the Jews amounted in Ar- 
 dashad to 9000, in Zarehavan (now Diadeen) to 8000, and 
 in Van to at least 18000 families*! But they suffered even 
 more severely than the Armenians, from the persecutions 
 of the fire-worshipers ; and under Shahpoor Second, toward 
 the close of the same century, were all either destroyed 
 or transported to Persia. § 
 
 Now, there is not a Jew in the whole valley of the Aras ; 
 nor, except the colony in Akhaltsikhe and Colchis, to which 
 our companion this morning belonged, another in Daghistan 
 and its vicinity, and a third in Salmas and Oormih, did 
 we hear of any within the field of our inquiry in this 
 region. The first have been already mentioned, and the 
 last will come under review hereafter. Of the others we 
 
 * Chamchean, P, 3: c. 3. Mos. Choren. Lib, 2: c. 15. 
 
 f Chamchean, P ? 3: c. 4. St. Mart. vol. 1: p. 139. Mos. Chorea. Lib. 
 2: c. 18. 
 
 t St. Mart. vol. 1: p. 115, 118, 125, 132, 139. 
 
 § Ibid. Chamchean, P. 3? c. 21. 
 
O© JEWS OF ARMENIA. 
 
 can give you little more than statistical information. They 
 seem to have been once more numerous than they now are, 
 as among the moslem villages in the province of Derbend, 
 many are said to have been once Jews. At present, the 
 large market town of Vertashin not far from Nookha, con- 
 tains about 100 families. Near Shamakhy is another 
 market town entirely inhabited by them, to the number of 
 two or three hundred families. In the bazars of Bakoo 
 may be found a number, but they are only transient mer- 
 chants. In the suburbs of Kooba is a large village, of at 
 least 400 families, having seven synagogues. In Derbend 
 they reckon 100 families, and have a caravanserai to which 
 Jews alone resort, indicating a large population in that 
 region. Accordingly, as you advance northward, they are 
 said to be numerous, both in the mountains and in the 
 province of Northern Daghistan, till you reach the large 
 town of Andreva which is entirely inhabited by them. 
 They are all natives of the country, born of ancestors 
 who have lived in it for ages, and speaking its language or 
 languages. Except a few in Derdend who are engaged in 
 trade, they are cultivators of the soil. Since coming un- 
 der the Russian government, their former oppressions have 
 entirely ceased, and their worldly circumstances now differ 
 little from those of their moslem neighbors. In religion, 
 they are believed to be adherents of the Talmud. 
 
 In his missionary tours among the moslems of Daghis- 
 tan, Mr. Zaremba, of the Shoosha mission, once visited two 
 of the synagogues of the Jews in the village near Kooba, 
 on the day of their Sabbath. In one of them the exercises 
 were opened by an address from a learned Rabbi of Jeru- 
 salem in Rabbinic Hebrew, which was interpreted into 
 their language. They were little interested, and after 
 awhile began to disperse. Mr. Zaremba said to them, 
 ' Why do you leave I Ought you not to remain and attend 
 the regular prayers?' They seemed, to understand that 
 
RECEPTION AT KHOIK. 69 
 
 he wished to address them, and called out to him to speak, 
 if he had any thing to communicate. He began by ex- 
 pressing to them his attachment, and that of all Christians, 
 to the Old Testament which they received, as well as his 
 high veneration for Abraham and the other Patriarchs, 
 their ancestors ; and then out of those same Scriptures, he 
 preached unto them Jesus. They listened with attention 
 and interest, and at the close invited him to their houses to 
 hear from him farther concerning the faith in Christ. In 
 other places, also, Mr. Zaremba has had interviews both 
 with Rabbies and the common people, and has found the 
 latter especially disposed to hear him favorably. 
 
 After a ride of four fursakhs, we reached Khoik, the first 
 village on our road, at half past 1 P. M. Its high walls 
 flanked with towers made us, at first sight, hope to find in 
 it the accommodations of a large village for the Sabbath. 
 But a nearer approach showed that its walls were mere ru- 
 ins, and on entering it we found only about twenty squalid 
 mud cabins, all inhabited by moslems. We had bid fare- 
 well to under-ground houses on entering the valley of the 
 Aras, but the custom of lodging in stables still prevailed. 
 And on stopping at the door of the head man, we were di- 
 rected to one of them for our accommodations. Antonio 
 being sent to reconnoitre, pronounced the otdJch, or part 
 appropriated to travellers, uninhabitable, and we petitioned 
 for a room in the house. The owner, having received a 
 hint from our muleteers that we were English, and not the 
 people to make a noise about a copper, sent word from a 
 distance that one was at our service ; but his women met 
 us at the door, and refused admittance. The old man 
 soon appeared, and, with a stentorian voice unequalled for 
 harshness, clearing the way, seized my horse's bridle, and 
 cried, in the same tone that had extorted obedience from 
 his harem, dusk, (dismount, literally fall,) asking if we 
 
 VOL. II. 7 * 
 
?0 ACCOMMODATIONS AT KHOIK. 
 
 thought he would let strangers go away from his door in 
 want of a night's lodging ! 
 
 The house, apparently the best in the village, was built 
 throughout, floor, walls and terrace, of mud. Fortunately, 
 as its owner had two wives, it had two rooms. The one as- 
 signed us, being the principal family apartment, was of 
 course filled with every species of dirt, vermin and litter ; 
 and withal, as they were in the midst of the process of 
 baking, the insufferable smoke of the dried cow-dung which 
 heated their tannoor, or cylindrical oven, detained us a long 
 time before we could take possession. Persuaded at last 
 by impatience that the bread must be done, I entered, and 
 found our host and chief muleteer shaking their shirts in 
 the oven, to dislodge the "crawling creatures " that inhabit- 
 ed them. Though new to us then, we afterward found 
 reason to believe that this use of the tannoor is common, 
 and for it alone we have known it to be heated. In such 
 ovens was our bread baked, by being stuck upon their 
 sides, and though we would fain have quieted our fastidi- 
 ousness by imagining that they were purified by fire, the 
 nature of the fuel of which that was almost invariably made, 
 left little room upon which to found such a conception. 
 And as for the loathsome company of which our host and 
 muleteer had thus attempted to rid themselves, we found 
 them too constantly affecting our senses to think of imag- 
 ining them away ; for the traveller can hardly journey a 
 day here, or in any part of Turkey, without their annoying 
 him, and his only relief is in a constant change of his 
 linen. The apartment was finally cleared and swept, but 
 the old man could give us neither carpet nor mat, and our 
 own painted canvass and travelling carpets were all that 
 covered the ground on which we sat and slept. 
 
 The surrender of the best half of the house to a company 
 of strangers, caused much derangement in the concerns of 
 the family ; and, crowded as the husband, his pair of wives, 
 
A Moslem family. 71 
 
 and a multitude of children were, into so intact, 
 
 some collision, of feeling at least, could not fail to result. 
 The tones of the old man's voice, however, which often 
 thundered upon us from their apartment, possessed, per- 
 haps from frequent use for such purposes, a harshness admi- 
 rably adapted to drown all domestic quarrels, and as they 
 died away, were generally followed by the most perfect 
 quiet. I ought to say, however, to the credit of his wives, 
 that notwithstanding their unwelcome reception of us at 
 first, they treated us, when once admitted to the family, 
 with all motherly kindness : nor did they hesitate to appear 
 in our room unveiled, and converse with us. In fact, little 
 of moslem etiquette appeared in the regulations of the 
 house, for the Christians, and even the Jew of our caravan, 
 found ready admittance into any part of it On our re- 
 turn, the youngest child, taking fright at Mr. Dwight's spec- 
 tacles, set to crying so obstinately as to alarm the super- 
 stitious fears of the old ladies, lest bad consequences should 
 result, probably from the evil eye, and they earnestly beg- 
 ged him to read a prayer over it from the Gospel to break 
 the charm ! Whether the Armenian priests say prayers 
 for children in such circumstances, I am unable to sav : 
 but this request seems to have referred to such a practice. 
 I have seen it done in the Greek church. 
 
 The village is without a mosk. but has one mollah who 
 teaches two or three children, and another who for acting 
 as tax-gatherer was execrated in no measured terms by our 
 host. It is the property of Hassan Khan, the governor of 
 the province, whose father, we were assured, some thirty 
 years ago, seized upon it, and by an arbitrary act convert- 
 ed its inhabitants, who had formerly been freeholders, into 
 tenants. They pay, according to the information of our 
 host, 35 per cent, of their produce to the proprietor, and a 
 capitation tax of a ducat (about #*2/2o) to the emperor. 
 None of the inhabitants of the neighboring villages are 
 now freeholders. 
 
72 MOSLEM DEVOTIONS. 
 
 Nov. 14. At the first dawn of the Sabbath, we were 
 awaked by the devotions of our host. Having performed 
 the prescribed lustrations, he began at that hour to suppli- 
 cate his God, in the same inharmonious tones with which 
 he ruled his family. Their harshness indeed was not a 
 little aggravated, by a very distinct enunciation of the 
 guttural sounds of the Arabic, the language of his devo- 
 tions. His petitions were repeatedly interrupted by a re- 
 proof to his family, a direction to some child to drive his 
 cattle down to the Aras to pasture, or some other order for 
 the business of the day. The burden of them, of which 
 however he understood nothing, was the mercy of God — \ 
 that he neither begets nor is begotten — praises to him — 
 and remembrances of Mohammed and his family. Having 
 extremely few words at command, his repetitions were 
 more frequent than is usual with his brethren, and finally, 
 working himself into an ecstasy, he repeated ya Allah! 
 (Oh God!) twenty or thirty times successively, as fast as 
 his tongue could articulate. 
 
 Our muleteer, having been brought up at the feet of 
 some strict mollah, and obtained the title of Meshedy by ma- 
 king a pilgrimage to the tomb of the Imam Riza at Meshed, 
 was more accomplished and very regular in his devotions. 
 He talked much about them, and often when urged -to do 
 any thing would say, let me pray and then it shall be at- 
 tended to. They were frequently performed in our pres- 
 ence, and on one occasion we were forced to take some 
 notice of them. At Selasiz, crowded as we were, he found 
 a spot to spread his carpet and say his prayers in the midst 
 of us, and did it probably with more formality, as an expres- 
 sion of his feelings at finding himself again in moslem so- 
 ciety, after having been so long among Christians. A comb, 
 Avhich he always carried in a leathern bag suspended to 
 his girdle, was placed on the extremity of his carpet before 
 him, his beard smoothed down, and his limbs nicely adjust- 
 
MOUNT ARARAT. ?3 
 
 ed, as a preparation. His prayer was uttered, sometimes 
 audibly, and sometimes by merely moving his lips ; and the 
 evolutions of his body, always apparently the most essential 
 part of a moslem's devotions, were performed standing, 
 kneeling, and prostrate. One ceremony was added, which 
 I do not remember to have seen performed by the sunnies ; 
 it was the combing of his beard, as an integral part of his 
 devotions. He occasionally stopped to take a part in the 
 conversation of the company, and at the end his friends 
 passed many encomiums upon his performance. 
 
 How directly opposed is such worship to the precepts of 
 the Sermon on the Mount ! What heathen ever used more 
 vain repetitions than these moslems? Surely no Jewish 
 hypocrites were ever more public in their individual devo- 
 tions. Not only do they pray standing in the bazars and 
 in the corners of the streets, but at Tebriz, in the open 
 space " at the entering in of the gates of the city," is a 
 square platform erected for the special purpose of prayer. 
 Subsequent observations and inquiries confirmed our first 
 impressions, that the lower class of Persians are even more 
 regular in the forms of worship than the Osmanlies, and 
 that they are very sincere in their religion. Yet in their 
 prayers, how can they be sincere 1 for they know not their 
 meaning. It is a singular feature of the whole region of 
 Armenia, that every sect and nation inhabiting it, Arme- 
 nians, Georgians, Nestorians, Turks, Persians, and Kurds, 
 address God in an unknown tongue ! 
 
 Sick at heart of these abominations of the false prophet, 
 and wishing to retreat from our dirty den for meditation be- 
 coming this holy day, w r e walked into the fields to gaze 
 upon Mount Ararat, and reflect upon the time when Noah 
 in this very valley builded an altar unto the Lord, and of- 
 fered that aceptable sacrifice of a sweet savor, which pro- 
 cured for himself and his posterity a divine title to the earth 
 and its productions, and the solemn covenant that "while 
 
74 MOUNT ARARAT. 
 
 the earth remaineth, seed time and harvest, and cold and 
 heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall 
 not cease." We first saw that mountain the morning we 
 entered Nakhchevan, and during the three weeks we were 
 in the valley of the Aras, nothing but cloudy weather dur- 
 ing a few days obscured it from our sight. It was nearer 
 at any point between here and Erivan, but perhaps no 
 where did we have a better view of it than from this place. 
 The natives know it under no other name than Mdsis in 
 Armenian, and Agliur-dagh (heavy mountain) in Turkish. 
 The name of Ararat, by which it is called among Europe- 
 ans, is applied in Scripture only to a country, which is in 
 one instance called a kingdom.* The similar name of 
 Arardd was given by the Armenians, long before they had 
 received the Scripture account of the flood by their con- 
 version to Christianity, to the central, largest and most fertile 
 province of their country, the one which, with the doubtful 
 exception of some 230 years, was the residence of their 
 kings or governors from the commencement to the termin- 
 ation of their political existence, and nearly in the centre 
 of which this mountain stands. The singular coincidence, 
 considering the ease with which so distinguished a province 
 might be named by foreigners for the kingdom itself, 
 argues much for the identity of the Ararat of Scripture 
 with the Ararad of Armenia.t It was on the mountains 
 of Ararat that the ark rested after the flood ; and certainly 
 not among the mountains of Ararad, or of Armenia gen* 
 erally, or of any part of the world, have I seen one, the 
 
 * Gen. 8:4. 2 Kings, 19: 37. Is. 37: 38. Jer. 51: 27, 
 
 t The name of Armenia does not occur in the original of the old Testa- 
 ment, unless we consider Miuni, in Jerem. 51: 27, as an abridgement of it. 
 Saint-Martin, however, ingeniously suggests that Minni may refer to" the 
 Manavazians a distinguished Armenian clan descended from Manavaz, a son 
 of Haig; the capital of whose country was Manavazagerd, now Melazgeru, 
 St .Mart. vol. 1: p. 249, 
 
MOUNT ARARAT. 75 
 
 majesty of whose appearance could plead half so powerfully 
 as this, a claim to the honor of having once been the step- 
 ping stone between the old world and the new. It lies 
 N. 57° W. of Nakhchevan, and S. 25° W. of Erivan, on 
 the opposite side of the Aras ; and from almost every point 
 between the two places, the traveller has only to look across 
 the valley, to take into one distinct field of vision, without a 
 single intervening obstacle, the mighty mass from its base 
 to its summit. At Erivan it presents two peaks, one much 
 lower than the other, and appears to be connected with a 
 range of mountains extending toward the northwest, which, 
 though really elevated, are in comparison so low, as only to 
 give distinctness to the impression of its lonely majesty. 
 From Nakhchevan, not far from a hundred miles distant, 
 and also from our present point of observation, it appears 
 like an immense isolated cone of extreme regularity, ri- 
 sing out of the low valley of the Aras ; and the absence of 
 all intervening objects to show its distance or its size, 
 leaves the spectator at liberty to indulge the most sublime 
 conceptions his imagination may form of its vastness. At 
 all seasons of the year, it is covered far below its summit 
 with snow and ice, which occasionally form avalanches, 
 that are precipitated down its sides with the sound of an 
 earthquake, and, with the steepness of its declivities, have 
 allowed none of the posterity of Noah to ascend it.* It 
 was now white to its very base with the same hoary cov- 
 ering ; and in gazing upon it, we gave ourselves up to the 
 
 * Report does indeed say that a traveller has recently ascended it. But 
 the vartabeds at Echmiadzin strenuously and circumstantially denied it as 
 a willful fabrication. Lest they might be biased by their superstitions, we 
 inquired of the governor of the province. He said that a German had pass- 
 ed through the countiy a year before, and published, on his return to Europe, 
 that he had ascended to the top, and planted a cross upon it ; but that it is 
 denied by the natives, and many even of the Russians here do not believe it. 
 The season of the year alone seems to furnish a sufficient denial. He was 
 here in the month of November. 
 
76 
 
 MOUNT ARARAT. 
 
 impression that on its top were once congregated the only 
 inhabitants of the earth, and that, while travelling in the 
 valley beneath, we were paying a visit to the second cradle 
 of the human race. 
 
 Two objections are made to the supposition that Scrip- 
 ture refers to this mountain when it speaks of " the moun- 
 tains of Ararat." One is, that there are now no olive trees 
 in its vicinity, from which Noah's dove could have pluck- 
 ed her leaf. And it is true, so far as we could learn, that 
 that tree exists neither in the valley of the Koor nor of the 
 Aras, nor on the coast of the Caspian, nor any where 
 nearer than Batoom and other parts of the eastern coast 
 of the Black sea, a distance of seven days journey of a 
 caravan, or about 130 miles in the circuitous route that 
 would thus be taken. But might not a dove make this 
 journey in a day 1 Or might not the climate then have been 
 warmer than it is now ? The second objection is drawn 
 from the fact that some of the old versions and para- 
 phrases, particularly the Chaldee and the Syriac, refer 
 " the mountains of Ararat " to the mountains of Kurdistan, 
 where there is, not far from Jezeereh, a high mountain 
 called Joody, on which the moslems suppose the ark to 
 have rested.* But if the ark rested on that, the posterity 
 of Noah would, most likely, have descended at once into 
 Mesopotamia, and have reached Shinar from the north ; 
 while, from the valley of the Aras, they would naturally 
 have kept along on the eastern side of the mountains of 
 Media, until they reached the neighborhood of Hamadan 
 or Kermanshah, which is nearly east of Babylon.f Such 
 is the route now taken every day by all the caravans from 
 this region to Bagdad. The Armenians believe, not only 
 that this is the mountain on which the ark rested after the 
 flood, but that the ark still exists upon its top ; though, rather 
 from supernatural than from physical obstacles, no one has 
 
 * St. Mart, vol 1; n. 260. f See. Gen. 11: 2. 
 
ZIVEH-DUDENGEH. 77 
 
 yet been able to visit it. A devout vartabed, their legends 
 relate, once attempted, for this purpose, to ascend the moun- 
 tain. While yet far from the top, drowsiness came upon 
 him, and he awoke at the bottom, in the very spot whence 
 he had started. Another attempt resulted only in the 
 same miraculous failure. He then betook himself more 
 fervently to prayer, and started the third time. Again he 
 slept, and awoke at the bottom ; but now an angel stood 
 before him with a fragment of the ark, as a token that his 
 pious purpose was approved and his prayer answered, 
 though he could never be allowed to reach the summit of 
 the mountain. The precious gift was thankfully received, 
 and is to this day carefully preserved, as a sacred relic, in 
 the convent of Echmiadzin. 
 
 Nov. 15. We started at sunrise ; and as we hastened 
 over the same undulating and gravelly tract, in a sharp 
 frosty atmosphere, a sleeping fog gave the alluvial of the 
 Aras below us the appearance of an extensive lake. It 
 gradually broke up and vanished, and left in its place a 
 more cheering scene of numerous villages and extensive 
 cultivation. With the exception of one small hamlet, how- 
 ever, and a few fields of grain and cotton around it, we 
 passed no houses or cultivation before reaching the Arpa- 
 chai, at 12 o'clock. Three quarters of an hour beyond, 
 we stopped at the large village of Ziveh-dudengeh, 4 fur- 
 sakhs from Khoik. 
 
 In the Turkish nomenclature of rivers, Arpa-chai (barley 
 river), and Kara-soo (black water), repeatedly occur, and 
 indicate that the streams which bear the one or the other 
 name respectively, are usefully appropriated to purposes of 
 irrigation, or pass on in their beds without contributing to 
 fertilize the adjacent soil. The beautifully limpid water 
 of this river, being scattered widely in artificial canals, 
 gives extreme fertility to a broad tract, as its flows down to 
 the Aras, It forms the present boundary between the 
 
 VOL. II. 8 
 
78 ZIVEH-DUDENGEH, 
 
 provinces of Nakhchevan and Erivan, and in the ancient 
 divisions of Armenia, was the eastern limit of the province 
 of Ararad.* The district which it waters is still called by 
 its ancient name, Sharoor, though it is sometimes corrupted 
 into Sheril. Besides its extreme fertility, it is well peo- 
 pled, and presents an animated scene of about forty vil- 
 lages, some of which seem to be large. 
 
 The crops which we saw were rice and cotton. Rice was 
 the most extensively cultivated. From the abundance of 
 water furnished by the river, it produces a large stalk, heavy 
 ear, and full bright kernel, and yields from five to twenty 
 fold. It was now harvested, and in an open space in front 
 of the house where we stopped, the villagers were slowly 
 treading it out, like wheat, by driving around upon it four or 
 five cattle abreast. In wandering about the village on our 
 return, we found a mill for cleaning it. A machine resem- 
 bling a corn-mill, except that a block or plank of wood sup- 
 plied the place of the nether stone, first loosened a part of 
 the husk. The process of winnowing separated that; and 
 the remainder was removed by its being placed in piles upon 
 the ground, and beaten by a large pointed instrument resem- 
 bling the hammer of a forge. The whole, except the winnow- 
 ing, was done by water, and the rice came out perfectly clean, 
 and but little broken. The cotton here was nearly twice as 
 large as that which we had observed on approaching Nakh- 
 chevan ; but yet would not compare at all, in the height of the 
 stalk, the size of the boll, or the length of the fibre, with the 
 upland growth of our southern States. The peasants were 
 now picking it for the last time. In every cotton field was. 
 another article of produce, which I must not omit to notice. 
 After having been reduced to the necessity of burning but- 
 ter for lights at Shaghad on the mountains, we were much 
 surprised to find our lamps at Selasiz, the first village in 
 the valley, supplied with oil. It proved to be castor-oil. 
 
 *St. Mart. vol. 1: p. 108. 
 
VALLEY OF THE ARAS. 79 
 
 And we afterward found, that, wherever cotton is raised, 
 whether in this valley or in Aderbaijan, the palma Christi, 
 or castor-oil plant, is sowed with it, and its oil used for 
 lamps. Where the soil or climate does not allow of these 
 productions, tallow placed in an open lamp supplies, in vil- 
 lages, the place of oil. In cities, it is made into regular 
 candles. 
 
 The valley of the Aras is much narrower than that of 
 the Koor. Of its comparative fertility we had little oppor- 
 tunity to judge, as our path rarely led us down to the allu- 
 vial which borders on the river. What we saw of it, how- 
 ever, and the extreme productiveness of the tracts watered 
 by the two or three tributary streams that crossed our path, 
 ied us to think its fertility could hardly be exceeded. Yet 
 in no case was any thing produced without constant irri- 
 gation, caused by conducting water, sometimes to a great 
 distance, in artificial canals. Wherever a canal could 
 sot be made to reach, not only was no crop cultivated, 
 but even grass seemed hardly to grow, and unsightly saline 
 weeds covered with thorns, only added to the aspect of bar- 
 renness. If it be true, as some have imagined, that we 
 are to look here for the site of Eden ; surely in no part of 
 the earth is the primeval curse more palpably inflicted, than 
 in the original paradise of Adam. Nowhere is it more 
 true that man ' eats bread in the sweat of his face,' and 
 nowhere are ' thorns and thistles ' more spontaneously pro- 
 duced. The mountains around, instead of being covered 
 with trees as in the Kara-bagh, or clothed with verdant pas- 
 tures as at Erzroom, present nothing but forbidding preci- 
 pices of rock or of earth, apparently without even a spire 
 of grass. Their variegated colors, however, from white to 
 fiery red, embracing in fact almost every shade of the rain- 
 bow, indicate that though so miserably poor in the vegeta- 
 ble, they may be rich in the mineral kingdom. The whole 
 scene of valley and mountain presents not a tree, except 
 
80 DAWALY. 
 
 in the immediate vicinity of the villages. Their mud houses 
 are frequently half concealed in the foliage of fruit trees, 
 Another of their features, also, not less unseemly than this 
 was ornamental, deserves to be noticed. The cow-dung, 
 which had been prepared for fuel during the warm months, 
 was now piled in conical stacks at every door, and formed, 
 by their height and number, wherever we went, a more 
 prominent object than the houses themselves. 
 
 The compound name of Ziveh-dudengeh indicates, what 
 we learned to be a fact, that it is composed of two vil- 
 lages. It contains in all about 100 houses, inhabited en- 
 tirely, like almost if not quite every village in Sharoor, by 
 moslems, and has one mosk and three or four mollahs, one 
 of whom teaches ten or a dozen children. The other vil- 
 lages in the district, are similarly furnished with the means 
 of education ; but they have no central school of a higher 
 order. 
 
 Nov. 16. We arose at the earliest dawn, and started at 
 half past 6 A. M. The summit of Ararat was whitened with 
 the broad light of day, while the obscurity of night still 
 darkened its base ; the first rays of the sun soon crowned 
 it with gold ; then gradually descending, spread over it to 
 its base a robe of similar brilliancy ; and finally shooting 
 across the plain, cheered us with their warmth. The tract 
 fertilized by the Arpa-chai, is bounded in this direction, 
 by a range of rocky hills that shoot out from the mountains 
 nearly to the banks of the Aras. We found a level pass 
 through them at 9 o'clock, and entered upon a tract be- 
 yond as barren as that we had left was fertile. With the 
 exception of a small space, watered by a rivulet coming 
 down from a valley at the foot of the mountain on the 
 right, and ploughed for a scanty crop of grain, we observed 
 no cultivation the whole day. Not a small portion of the 
 plain was incrusted and whitened by a layer of nitre. A 
 ride of 6 fursakhs brought us to the Armenian village of 
 Dawaly at half past 2 P. M. 
 
DAWALY. 81 
 
 Our Mohammedan muleteers first inquired in vain for 
 lodgings, in Turkish. The question was then put by one 
 of our attendants, in Armenian, and a little boy, starting up 
 with an animated countenance, exclained, ' Are you Ar- 
 menians ? Follow me, and I'll see if father can't give you 
 a room.' We were soon furnished with unusually good 
 stable accommodations. Our little friend, and a brother or 
 two of nearly the same size, listened with much eagerness 
 to our conversation in the course of the evening respecting 
 education, and at the end preferred an earnest request, that 
 we would come and establish a school for them, complain- 
 ing sadly that their priests took no pains with them. They 
 were the only Armenians in the country, young or old, so 
 far as I recollect, that exhibited to us any desire for edu- 
 cation. We were much amused, on our return from Eri- 
 van, by their bringing a serious charge against Antonio of 
 not being a Christian, because he had been so heterodox 
 as to kill a fowl with its head to the west. The Arme- 
 nian practice in these parts, it appeared, is to turn the 
 head of whatever animal they slay toward the east, and 
 make over it the sign of the cross in the name of the 
 Trinity. Their church, like the Greek, holding the apostol- 
 ical command to abstain ' from things strangled and from 
 blood,' to be still binding, most strictly orders that the 
 jugular vein of all animals intended for food shall be cut. 
 Consequently a strangled fowl is held in utter abomination, 
 nor will they eat even any kind of game that is shot, unless 
 its throat is cut before it expires. Mohammedans, too, 
 not less carefully abstain from whatever has died in its 
 blood ; and also make a religious ceremony of the simple 
 business of killing a fowl, by cutting off its head " in the 
 name of God most merciful." 
 
 Dawaly contains about 100 families, all of whom emi- 
 grated from Magoo at the close of the last war. Their 
 houses and manner of life indicated flourishing circumstan- 
 
 VOL. II. 8* 
 
82 KURDS. 
 
 ces, and large quantities of excellent wheat, which they were 
 now winnowing upon their threshing floors around the 
 village, proved the productiveness of their lands. It is the 
 only crop they cultivate. Their soil belongs to the crown, 
 but no taxes are yet demanded. They have one mud- 
 walled church, with three priests, but no school. Very 
 few are able to read, and not more than two or three can 
 write. Magoo, from whence they came, is a district of 
 the Persian province of Aderbaijan, on the southern side of 
 the Aras nearly opposite Dawaly, having for its capital a 
 town of the same name. It corresponds with the Arme- 
 nian canton of Shavarshan or Ardoz, in which is the con- 
 vent of Tateos Arakeal. Our host estimated the number 
 who emigrated from it at 1000 families, including all the 
 Armenian inhabitants of the villages. In the town, also, 
 not more than 50 Armenian families remain ; the rest of 
 its present population consists of about 150 moslem fam- 
 ilies, of whom nearly all are Kurds. The Armenians had 
 not a school in the whole district. 
 
 Among the people at Dawaly, numbers wore the Osmanly 
 dress of turban and shalwar. We found that they were 
 Kurds. I have already alluded to that people, as forming 
 a part of the population of Kara-bagh. They inhabit two 
 mountainous districts, one of which separates that province 
 from Erivan, and is not far from this village ; and the other 
 lies in the same range of mountains to the south of where 
 we crossed them, on our way from Shoosha to Nakhchevan. 
 The number in the former district was stated to us at 1500, 
 and in the latter at 1700 families; but the estimate is 
 probably too large. Many Armenian villages are scattered 
 among them. They live a nomadic life, and in the winter 
 migrate to the warm valley of the Aras, much as their pas- 
 toral neighbors of the Turkish language do to that of the 
 Koor, and spend the cold months in tents, or in apartments 
 furnished them by the villagers. Many were lodged in this vil- 
 
ST. GREGORY LOOSAVORICH. 83 
 
 age, and one or two families occupied another part of the same 
 suite of stables in which we were accommodated Like their 
 countrymen every where, they are robbers by nature, bat the 
 Russian police makes them harmless citizens. They are 
 ignorant in the extreme, and their attachment to the mos- 
 lem faith is more bigoted than that of their neighbors. 
 The missionaries at Shoosha once, in a visit to two or three 
 of their villages, found them so easily exasperated by a 
 few words against Mohammed, as to have been ready, 
 but for fear of the Russians, to proceed to open violence. 
 
 Nov. 17. Our day's ride to Ardisher was 4 fursakhs, 
 across a plain as little cultivated, and almost as barren as 
 that of yesterday. From it, at some distance to the left, 
 appeared the convent of Khor-virab, on a rocky eminence 
 rising out of the alluvial of the river. It derives its name, 
 which signifies a deep pit, from the celebrated cave within 
 its precincts, in which, according to the legendary histo- 
 ry of Armenia, St. Gregory Loosavorich was confined by 
 king Durtad for fourteen years, in the midst of serpents, 
 and in the endurance of multiplied torments ;* and from 
 which the conversion of the king and the whole nation to 
 Christianity, by means of his sanctity and miraculous pow- 
 ers, alone released him. The Armenians regard it with 
 the most superstitious veneration, and it is hardly less an 
 object of pilgrimage than Echmiadzin. In explaining its 
 sanctity to Antonio, some^ Armenian fellow-travellers this 
 morning advanced sentiments respecting the character of 
 St. Gregory, which, being opposed by him, led to a storm of 
 words that attracted our attention. One from Bayezeed 
 asserted that he was a prophet; another from Maragha, 
 that he was next to God ; and a third from Kara-bagh, that 
 he was actually divine ! Antonio laughed at their ignorance, 
 and said that for aught he knew he might be a saint, but 
 he was no more than a man, and much like the English 
 
 *St. Mart. vol. 2: p. 419. 
 
84 KHOR-VIRAB. 
 
 and German missionaries, who in our days go to preach the 
 gospel to the heathen. Provoked at his low ideas of their 
 great saint, and taking into consideration that he rejected 
 fasting, by the effects of which they were probably them- 
 selves a little soured to-day, it being Wednesday, they 
 agreed to stigmatize him with the epithet of heretic. You 
 may suppose that they were unusually bigoted and igno- 
 rant, and perhaps they were, but we had already heard, at 
 Shoosha, of a similar expression respecting the divine char- 
 acter of St. Gregory, and even Nerses Shnorhali seems to 
 have attributed to him the most full prophetic rank. " Is 
 a rite," he asks, " appointed by St. Gregory, at all inferior 
 to those which owe their origin to the holy apostles ? — [by 
 him] who, in respect to insufferable torments endured for 
 the name of Christ, heavenly power received from him, 
 and the conversion of such a multitude to his worship, was 
 not at all behind them"!* 
 
 We visited Khor-virab on our return from Erivan. It is 
 about two hours from Ardisher. No bishop resides in it ; 
 and of the three vartabeds who do, only one was on the 
 ground. The church is the principal building, and, though 
 smaller, is in the same style and taste as that of Datev. 
 Being built of fine rose-colored freestone, regularly hewn 
 within and without, it was neat as well as solid. The old 
 vartabed affirmed that it was built in the life time of St. 
 Gregory, by his grandsons. We were not slow to inquire 
 for the sacred pit. A little chapel has been erected over 
 it in a corner of the quadrangular court-yard of the con- 
 vent. Taking each a lighted taper from the altar, we 
 entered a small door beneath it, and descending a perpen- 
 dicular shaft, reached the bottom of the pit by a ladder 
 perhaps 30 feet long. It is circular, 15 or 20 feet in diam- 
 eter, walled up artificially with stone, and covered with a 
 dome. Antonio was disappointed to find the horrible pit 
 
 * Unthanragan, p. 245. 
 
ARDASHAD. 85 
 
 look so comfortable, and, accustomed at the distance of 
 Smyrna to hear that the saint was fed by angels in his 
 confinement, was not a little surprised to be directed by 
 our guide to a small crevice in the dome, through which 
 his daily loaf of bread was conveyed to him by a charitable 
 old woman. 
 
 The position of Khor-virab helps materially to fix the 
 site of the ancient Ardashad (Artaxata), the city which 
 boasted of Hannibal for its founder, and is so often men- 
 tioned by Greek and Roman writers as the capital of 
 Armenia, during the first centuries of the Christian era. 
 For, whether the legend that gave birth to the convent be 
 true or false, it had undoubtedly gained currency while the 
 location of Ardashad was yet well known ; and that the 
 Khor-virab was in the citadel of that city, is an essential 
 part of the story.* Nor does the location disagree with 
 that which is assigned by Armenian writers to Ardashad ; 
 which was at the junction of the Medzamor with the 
 Aras.f The Medzamor was undoubtedly the river that 
 now flows by Ardisher, as there is no other of any kind be- 
 tween the valley of the Zengy and Sharoor.J It enters 
 the Aras but a little above Khor-virab ; and the Aras flows 
 along in plain sight, about half a mije distant. The rocky 
 eminence, too, on which the convent stands, is the only 
 spot adapted for a citadel, and the low soil around, being 
 extremely moist and in many places marshy, must render 
 the spot, as was Ardashad, very unhealthy.§ We ob« 
 served, however, no signs of former fortifications or edi- 
 fices, and the vartabed, (who said that his convent stood 
 within the precincts of that city,) confessed that no ruins of 
 it are now to be found. — We had from Khor-virab, our 
 
 * Chamchean, P. 3: c. 15. 
 
 t Chamchean, P. 2: c. 2. St. Mart. vol. 1: p. 117. 
 
 % St, Mart. vol. 1 ; p. 40, § See Mos. Choren. Lib. 2: c. 46. 
 
OO ARDISHER. 
 
 nearest view of mount Ararat. The limit of the Russian 
 territory here is not the river, but the mountain. So that 
 in Ararat centre the boundaries of the three empires of 
 Russia. Turkey, and Persia. 
 
 Ardisher is inhabited by another colony of emigrants 
 from the Persian territory. They came from the district of 
 Salmas, and form a village of 91 houses, the newness of 
 which is indicated by the entire absence of trees. It had no 
 school. We were the guests of a melik, who seemed to be 
 the head of the village, though not the proprietor of the 
 soil, for that belonged to the crown. The title borne by 
 him is often given by the Shah to Armenians in his realm, 
 and though frequently hereditary, does not indicate any anti- 
 quity of family, much less a descent from the ancient no- 
 bility of the nation. It is itself perhaps no older than the 
 time of Shah Abbas, who gave it to the Armenian magis- 
 trates, appointed to preside over the colonists whom he 
 carried to Isfahan.* 
 
 Within a few rods of Ardisher are the ruins of an ancient 
 city, to the examination of which we devoted a part of our 
 afternoon. Its citadel resembles an artificial hill surrounded 
 by a wall and a ditch. The city itself had double walls, 
 which are now nothing but large mounds of earth, inclosing 
 an extensive tract with one or two small villages. In no 
 part did we discover any traces of stone-work, and the whole 
 seems to have been built, in the modern style of the coun- 
 try, of mud. The name of the modern village might natu- 
 rally be expected to afford a clue to that of the ancient city . 
 but the only trace I find of such a name in these parts is, 
 that Ardashad was called in later times Ardashar.f The 
 location forbids us to suppose that city to have been here- 
 We were inclined to think that they are the ruins of Tovin, 
 a city which, from its foundation in A. D. 350 to A. D. 859, 
 was the capital of the country, and the name of which fre- 
 
 * Chamchean, P. 7: c. 9. t St. Mart. vol. 1: p. 119. 
 
SINGULAR FASTING. 87 
 
 quently occurs in history, especially during the reign of the 
 Persian and Arabian governors. It was situated to the 
 north of Ardashad, in a more healthy spot, on the river 
 Azad or Medzamor, and its name signified a hill.* A 
 river, which must be the same, now comes down from the 
 mountains here, and fertilizes a broad tract ; and though it 
 is so distributed into small canals for purposes of irriga- 
 tion, that the main bed cannot be distinguished, one of the 
 branches passes directly by the ruined walls. 
 
 Nov. 18. Our lodgings the last night, though not entire- 
 ly separated from the stable, were sufficiently elevated to 
 be but little affected by it ; decent Persian felts covered 
 the floor ; and all looked so comfortable, that we began, on 
 entering them, even to meditate upon the advantages of a 
 stable, as a lodging place for travellers. But as evening 
 came on, several other parties were introduced into the 
 same room, and quite filled it. The greatest disadvantage, 
 perhaps, of a crowded sleeping room is, that its inmates 
 can never agree to cease talking, and go to sleep, at the 
 same time. Our companions to-night, however, were so 
 uncommonly taciturn over their fasting supper of dry bread 
 and raw onions, that we still lay down with the hope of un- 
 disturbed repose. But midnight was hardly passed, when 
 the scene entirely changed, and animated conversation 
 interrupted our slumbers. A table, loaded with joints of 
 meat and other substantial provisions, which each had 
 brought in his saddle-bags from home, was spread upon the 
 centre of the floor ; and the canonical hours of the fast 
 being now over, nearly the whole company were indulging 
 heartily in its good cheer, little caring that they kept us 
 heretics awake till near morning. One of our fellow-travel- 
 lers, who had been the most forward, in the early part of the 
 day, to charge Antonio with heresy for not fasting, ate with 
 apparently the best relish, and talked the loudest. Such 
 
 * St. Mart. vol. 1: p. 119. 
 
REACH ERIVAN. 
 
 facts tended to show us, what we were assured by different 
 individuals is true, that the fasts are universally considered a 
 burden, and kept, not from the heart and in a spiritual man- 
 ner, but because they are commanded ; that the mere 
 external act is generally regarded as in some way meritori- 
 ous to cancel sin ; and that they decidedly contribute to 
 promote a self-righteous and censorious spirit. 
 
 We started at half past 7 A. M. In crossing the tract 
 irrigated by the river already mentioned, a new species of 
 plough attracted our notice. The end of its beam rested 
 upon an axle supported by two wheels, one of which, being 
 designed to run in the furrow, was so much larger than the 
 other as to preserve the horizontal level. A boy rode upon 
 each yoke, and cheered himself or the cattle by a song. 
 Uncultivated and barren hills separate this district from the 
 valley of Erivan. In crossing them we met numerous 
 caravans of cattle. Though the sight had now become 
 familiar, I have hardly yet mentioned it. Throughout the 
 valleys of the Koor and the Aras, and in Aderbaijan, the 
 ox is universally used as a beast of burden. A pack-saddle 
 is fitted to his back, and he is driven in caravans like the 
 horse, with almost as heavy a burden. Nothing is more 
 common than to see a man riding upon an ox. 
 
 We entered Erivan a little after midday, and drove to 
 the Georgian caravanserai, with the hope that, being the 
 largest in the city, it might afford us tolerable lodgings. 
 To our surprise, not a key could be turned for us, without 
 orders from the police. Having a letter for the governor 
 of the province of Armenia, from the governor of the 
 Mussulman Provinces whom we had met at Shoosha, we 
 sent it immediately, with our passports and a petition that 
 we might have where to lay our heads. But the governor 
 was absent, and the police office was closed for the Rus- 
 sian siesta, which, in these provinces, suspends all inter- 
 course with official characters, from 12 to about 4 o'clock 
 
DESCRIPTION OF ERIVAN. «y 
 
 every day. There was no remedy, and throwing our bag- 
 gage upon the ground in the open court, we summoned all 
 the patience at our command, to wait till we could be at- 
 tended to. Near sunset, a little room was finally opened. 
 It was a complete prisoner's cell, with naked stone walls 
 covered by a solid arch, and a floor of earth having so 
 many hillocks and stones in its surface, that with only 
 bare carpets for beds, we found much difficulty in adjust- 
 ing our bones to its inequalities. — As we left for Echmi- 
 adzin the morning after our arrival, and on our return had 
 our observations limited by my ague and fever, you must 
 expect but a poor account of the place. 
 
 Erivan seems to have been first fortified and raised into 
 importance, in the earlier reigns of the Sofian dynasty; and, 
 though occasionally taken by the Osmanlies, it has from 
 that period been considered the chief place in the Persian 
 division of Armenia. Under the present dynasty, it was 
 the residence of a governor with the title of serddr, who, 
 for his power and the importance of his territories, ranked 
 among the highest officers of Persia, until it fell during 
 the last war into the hands of the Russian emperor. By 
 him it has been made the capital of the province of Arme- 
 nia, which we found governed by an Armenian with the 
 title of prince, and the rank of a general in the army. It 
 is situated at a distance of many miles from the Aras, in 
 a broken valley through which flows the river Zengy, the 
 outlet of the lake of Sevan, (called in Turkish Gokchch 
 derya, or Azure sea.) Surrounded on the north by arid and 
 sunburnt mountains which concentrate the rays of the sun, 
 its situation is in the summer extremely hot, and prover- 
 bial for intermittent fevers, and the affections of the liver 
 that accompany them. But sickness has here its usual at- 
 tendant of fertility. Erivan is not less proverbial for its fruits, 
 than for its diseases. Though we had found neither vine- 
 yards nor wine since leaving Nakhchevan, all the sunny hills 
 
 VOL. II. 9 
 
90 DESCRIPTION OF ERIVAN. 
 
 which compose the valley around this city, were covered 
 with vines. Some situations are so warm as to allow them 
 to remain exposed to the air the whole winter, but gener- 
 ally they were now slightly covered with leaves or straw. 
 Among the fruits in the bazar, (which were the same as at 
 Nakhchevan,) melons and apples were uncommonly fine, 
 and the latter, unless my taste had become corrupted by the 
 miserable specimens which the Mediterranean affords, would 
 even compare with the productions of American orchards. 
 
 The citadel is separate from the city, at the distance 
 of perhaps a quarter of a mile to the south, and is almost a 
 distinct town. Surrounded by merely a mud wall and a 
 trench, on ground sloping but slightly away from it, it pre- 
 sents to the spectator from the east an appearance of little 
 strength. But its western wall, standing on the brink of 
 the river Zengy, which here flows through a remarkable 
 chasm formed of high perpendicular ledges on either side, 
 seems perfectly impregnable. The city itself is without 
 walls, and though superior to Nakhchevan in the size and 
 structure of its houses, has still an appearance of decay. 
 Connected with our caravanserai was a large and appa- 
 rently new bazar, consisting of two streets of shops cross- 
 ing each other at right angles, arched over in the usual 
 style with a succession of domes, and built of brick. But 
 not even there, was there sufficient business doing to re- 
 move the impression made by our decayed caravanserai, 
 that the trade of the place is in a languishing condition. 
 
 We met, at Echmiadzin, the bishop of Erivan, who is 
 little more than a suffragan or chorepiscopus of the Cathol- 
 icos. He informed us that the province of Erivan now 
 contains 14,002 families of Armenians and 8000 of mos- 
 lems, inhabiting 502 villages. Whereas before the war, 
 there were but 302 villages, and the number of families 
 did not exceed 12,000 in all. The population of the city 
 is said to be about 1800 moslem and 700 Armenian fam- 
 
RIDE TO ECHMIADZIN. 91 
 
 ilies.* We were prevented by ill health from visiting ei- 
 ther the school in town, or that in the neighboring village 
 of Ashterak. — There are now no relics of the branch of 
 the Jesuit mission of Isfahan, which was established here 
 in 1683 for the express purpose of converting the Catholi- 
 cos to the faith of Rome.f No papal Armenians are found 
 in the province. 
 
 Nov. 19. We left Eriyan at half past 11 A. M. for 
 Echmiadzin. Descending into the valley of the Zengy be- 
 neath the walls of the citadel, we crossed its transparent 
 stream by a stone bridge. Cultivation, particularly of the 
 vine, extended perhaps a mile beyond ; and then, nothing 
 but an undulating, uncultivated and gravelly soil succeed- 
 ed, till we reached the convent ; a distance of at least 12 
 miles from the city, in the direction of Erzroom. 
 
 * I am indebted for this estimate of the population of the city, to an arti- 
 cle in the Asiatic Journal, by Klaproth. Vol 6: p. 108. 
 
 f Lett. Ed. et Cur. vol. 3: p. 421. 
 
LETTER XV. 
 
 ECHMIADZIN. 
 
 St. Hripsime — Vagharshabad — Description of the convent — Our reception 
 by the monks — The church — Ceremony of the mass — Doctrine of the 
 mass — Communion — Confession — Pilgrimages — Accommodations of the* 
 vartabeds. 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 The ecclesiastical capital of the Armenians is called by 
 the Turks, Uch-keleeseh, or the three churches ; the number 
 that actually first stikes the view of the traveller approach- 
 ing from Erivan. Two of them are without the precincts 
 of the convent, and of small dimensions. They are dedica- 
 ted to the two virgins Hripsime and Kayane, who, with 
 thirty-seven others, are reported by Armenian tradition to 
 have fled from a nunnery at Rome, during the persecution 
 under Diocletian, to Armenia; where Durtad, then a hea- 
 then and the creature of Diocletian, martyred them, on the 
 spots now occupied by their churches * Though Kayane 
 was the abbess, Hripsime being of the imperial family of 
 Claudius Ceesar, has been most honored by posterity, in 
 the size of her church and the veneration of her relics. 
 Her church, which is said to have been founded by St. 
 Gregory Loosavorich, but has been often demolished and 
 rebuilt since, stands just on the right of the road, perhaps 
 
 * The only other members of this celebrated sisterhood, whose names tradi- 
 tion seems to have preserved, were Nooni and Mani. They separated from 
 the others. Nooni was the female captive that converted the Georgians to 
 the faith; and Mani suffered martyrdom at Kemakh, in High Armenia. ^- 
 See Mukhitar's Arm. Diet, and Mos, Choren, Lib. 2: c. 83, 
 
VAGHARSHABAD. 93 
 
 half a mile before reaching the convent, and is a solidly 
 built structure of hewn stone, bearing an appearance of 
 much antiquity. The urn containing her relics, first de- 
 posited under the signet of St. Gregory, and afterward 
 sealed also by Isaac the Great and the Catholicos Abra- 
 ham, was in the seventeenth century pilfered by two Latin 
 monks. All was recovered, however, by the bereaved 
 monks of Echmiadzin, except four parts; one of which 
 is now adored in the Armenian church at Venice, anoth- 
 er is treasured up by the Latin friars at Goa in Hindos- 
 tan, a third lies deposited under the foundations of a 
 church near Nakhchevan, and the fourth, after remaining 
 long at New Joolfah, found its way at last, through the 
 hands of a pearl merchant of Bagdad, into a church in 
 Galata of Constantinople.* 
 
 Between the church of St. Hripsime and the convent, 
 and just without the walls of the latter, is the village of 
 Vagharshabad, once the royal, as the adjoining monastery 
 now is the patriarchal, capital of the country. It existed 
 many centuries under the name of Vartkes, but was rebuilt 
 in the second century and called Vagharshabad, or the city 
 of Vagharsh, by a king of that name, and became for more 
 than a century the residence of his successors.f It presents 
 nothing but a crowded collection of mud cabins, perhaps 
 500 in number ; and the royal city of Vagharsh is now the 
 exclusive property of the successors of St. Gregory. 
 
 The convent derives its name from the church which it 
 incloses, and in the supposed sanctity of which it had its 
 origin. Echmiadzin is an Armenian sentence which means, 
 the Only Begotten descended, and the church is so called 
 in commemoration of a pretended appearance of the Sa- 
 vior to St. Gregory Loosavorich, upon the spot where it is 
 
 * Chamchean, P. 3: c. 15, 24. P. 4: c. 17. P 7: c. 9. 
 f Chamchean, P. 1 : c. 5. P. 3: c. 13. St. Mart. vol. 1 : p. 115. 
 VOL. II. 9* 
 
94 DESCRIPTION OF ECHMIADZIN. 
 
 built. It claims to have been founded by the saint himself 
 more than 1500 years ago, and local legend even pretends 
 that the original structure was built on a model showed 
 him in the heavenly vision. What order the supernatural 
 architecture assumed, however, we have not now an oppor- 
 tunity to know, for we are told that having gone to ru- 
 ins it was restored and greatly improved by a subsequent 
 Catholicos, in A. D. 618. Though always highly venera- 
 ted, it did not become the seat of the Catholicoses until 
 A. D. 1441, when Armenia proper seceded from the juris- 
 diction of the see of Sis. Since then it has ever remained 
 the ecclesiastical metropolis of the nation.* 
 
 The whole of the premises are surrounded by a high wall 
 flanked with circular towers, and have externally the ap- 
 pearance of a fortress. Within, is a city in miniature. 
 The principal edifices, of different ages and styles, and 
 containing the cells of the monks, magazines, refectories, 
 and various other apartments, surround a quadrangle about 
 two hundred and twenty feet square, in the centre of which 
 stands the church. From hence a gate on the south opens 
 into an extensive yard, with barns and stables around it 
 for horses and other animals, among which a number of 
 camels were kneeling when we entered. Another passage 
 on the same side leads into an open court, surrounded by a 
 continuous building of two stories like a caravanserai, de- 
 signed apparently for the accommodation of pilgrims. Two 
 other passages open on the northern side. One is a private 
 entry to a garden of considerable extent, surrounded on 
 two sides by buildings, and considered the peculiar prem- 
 ises of the Catholicos. It has an air of retirement and 
 comfort. The other conducts to the main gate in the east- 
 ern wall cf the convent, through a bazar of forty or fifty 
 shops, which being within its walls seems to form an inte- 
 gral part of the establishment. 
 
 * St. Mart. vol. 1 : p. 116. Chamcbean, P. 4: c. 17. P. 7: c. 3. 
 
RECEPTION BY THE MONKS. 95 
 
 We arrived with a letter from Serope, the present bishop 
 of Astrakhan, to the Catholicos, and another to his secreta- 
 ry from the bishop of Aderbaijan. They were sent for- 
 ward by Antonio, and the Catholicos immediately ordered 
 the best room for our accommodation. The vartabed, how- 
 ever, who as master of ceremonies was to execute the or- 
 der, declared that the room was to be occupied by prince 
 BebutofF, the governor of the province, and his lady, who 
 were expected in the evening, and another was given us in 
 the back suite of apartments designed for pilgrims. It was 
 good and honorable enough, perhaps, but its position was 
 lonely and seemed completely to exclude us from whatever 
 was going on among the inmates of the convent. The eve- 
 ning of our arrival being Friday, Antonio, probably more 
 from a regard to his own appetite than ours, intimated to 
 the servant who was appointed to attend upon us, that meat 
 would be very acceptable for dinner. But the convent, we 
 were assured, contained that day none but fasting food, and 
 so we satisfied our hunger with boiled beans and peas and 
 onions. Besides being incommoded by a diet so unfit for a 
 stomach weakened by disease, we remembered what hospi- 
 tality had done at Datev, and feared that this strictness was 
 an indication that we were to find none of it here. The 
 morning confirmed our suspicions. Every monk whom we 
 met wore a sombre aspect, and passed us without a saluta- 
 tion. Antonio was told by one and another, that we were 
 of the same school with the missionaries at Shoosha, who 
 had come into these parts to convert the Armenians, and 
 that he did wrong to connect himself with us, being thus 
 in danger of imbibing our sentiments. In fact, non-inter- 
 course seemed to be determined upon. Our food was sent 
 to our room by a servant, and no vartabed called on us. 
 The catholicos did not invite us to wait upon him ; of his 
 secretary we heard nothing ; and repeated overtures on our 
 
96 CHURCH OF THE CONVENT. 
 
 part to obtain interviews with them and with others, were 
 under various pretences frustrated. 
 
 The time of our visit to Echmiadzin was, in one re- 
 spect, peculiarly fortunate, for we were there during some 
 of its most splendid ceremonies. The governor, himself 
 an Armenian holding the rank of prince and a general, ar- 
 rived as was expected on Friday evening, in company with 
 his lady ; and on Saturday morning a mass was celebrated 
 with great pomp for him to attend. The church itself 
 added to the imposing ceremony, by its venerable structure. 
 The main body of it, substantially built of hewn stone in 
 the form of a cross, is surmounted by a dome in the best 
 style of the cylindro-conical order already described. Its 
 belfry, an antique tower terminated in several pyramidal 
 turrets and loaded with bells, rests upon massive square 
 columns, which form the porch to the main entrance at 
 the western extremity. Within, four enormous pillars de- 
 scending from the circumference of the dome, uphold it 
 with all the lofty vaults which support the roof. Portraits 
 of saints, and sketches of scripture and legendary events, 
 cover its walls, and by their grotesque design and clumsy 
 execution, contribute to deepen the impression of the monk- 
 ish scene. One venerable father stands forth in perfect 
 nudity, except that a monstrous beard, extending to the 
 ground, performs one of the most necessary uses of dress. 
 Numerous silver lamps and a few glass chandeliers sus- 
 pended from above, were on this occasion all lighted. 
 More than half of the floor from the altar to the porch is 
 enclosed by a railing for the special use of the clerical 
 attendants, and was covered with carpets, some of which 
 surpassed description in elegance and richness. The prin- 
 cipal altar occupies a high elevation in a lofty alcove, or 
 sanctuary, at the eastern extremity, and groaned under 
 massive gold crosses, silver candlesticks, and many other 
 not less costly ornaments. Two sanctuaries of smaller di- 
 
CEREMONY OF THE MASS. 97 
 
 mensions are furnished with altars on either side of it, and 
 one of them served this morning for a sacristy. In the mid- 
 dle of each of the side walls, too, is another sanctuary, or 
 chapel, and still another small one occupies an isolated 
 position in the middle of the floor, directly under the cen- 
 tre of the dome. The latter was surrounded by curtains 
 of gold cloth of different patterns, and far surpassed every 
 other part, in the exquisite finish and superlative richness 
 of its furniture and ornaments. It is probably built upon the 
 stone, respecting which Chardin reports a tradition of the 
 Armenians, that it covers the hole where Christ, when he 
 appeared to Loosavorich, thrust down to hell the evil spirits 
 which formerly dwelt in the idol temples of Armenia.* In 
 a word, the display of wealth this morning, in candle- 
 sticks, crosses, curtains, carpets and dresses, seemed to 
 me not surpassed even by that which is made at the cele- 
 bration of high mass in the church of St. John at Malta. 
 The protestant Chardin and the papal Tournefort unite 
 in testifying, that much of this wealth has come from the 
 pope in the form of bribes for the conversion of the 
 Catholicos ; and now remains a monument of the credulity 
 of the one, and the deception of the other.f 
 
 The dressing of the officiating bishop was the first im- 
 portant part of the mass, and a distinct prayer or medita- 
 tion is said for every article of dress put on. But the cer- 
 emony being private, we witnessed only the chanting which 
 was performed at the same time in the church. He then 
 entered in a splendid flowing mantle of heavy gold cloth, 
 with a broad upright collar stiff with gold, and a mitre of 
 the same rich materials, ornamented in front and behind 
 with a sun of brilliants set in gold. Having washed his 
 hands before all, read a summary confession of his ^ins, 
 and received absolution pronounced by an assistant, he re- 
 
 * Chardin, vol. 1: p. 175. 
 
 t Chardin, vol. 2: p. 173, Tournefort, vol, 2: p. 333, 
 
98 CEREMONY OF THE MASS. 
 
 tired again to the sacristy to prepare the wine and the 
 bread for consecration. A little wine, not mixed with wa- 
 ter as in the Latin church, is poured into a chalice ; and a 
 thin cake of bread, not leavened as in the Greek church, 
 and stamped with various sacred symbols and letters, is placed 
 on a small silver plate nicely fitted to the top of the cup. 
 Each part of the ceremony has its appropriate prayer with 
 the burning of incense, but a curtain, drawn before the 
 sacristy, veiled the whole from our view. The time taken 
 up was long, and during it the congregation were enter- 
 tained by nothing but the monotonous chanting of a large 
 company of deacons and clerks. 
 
 At length the bishop, leaving the elements behind, came 
 forward with a pompous procession and the burning of in- 
 cense, and proceeded in a circuitous course through the 
 congregation to the great altar. After a series of prayers, 
 a deacon read the lesson of the day from the Gospel, and 
 the Nicene creed ;* and then, with the whole body of as- 
 
 * Bishop Dionysius assures me that the Armenians do not use either the 
 Apostles' or the Athanasian creed in their church services. The following 
 is a literal translation of their version of the Nicene creed. 
 
 " We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, the Creator of heaven and 
 earth, of things visible and invisible. 
 
 " And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God; of God the Father, i. e, 
 of the Father's substance, the only begotten ; God of God; Light of Light; 
 very God of very God; begotten, not created; consubstantial with the Fa- 
 ther; by whom was created every thing in heaven and in earth, visible and 
 invisible ; who for us men, and for our salvation, descending from heaven, 
 became incarnate, was made man, was perfectly born of the holy virgin 
 Mary by the Holy Ghost; whereby he received body, spirit and mind, and 
 whatever is in man, really and not in imagination. He suffered, was cru- 
 cified, and buried; and on the third day he arose; and with that s ame body 
 ascended to heaven, and sat down on the right hand of the Father : with that 
 same body and the Father's glory, he shall come to judge both the quick and 
 the dead ; whose kingdom shall have no end. 
 
 " And we believe in the Holy Ghost, the uncreated, the perfect. Who spake 
 in the Law, the Prophets, and the Gospels. Who descended at Jordan, preach. 
 ed of him that is sent, and dwelt in the saints. And we believe in one only 
 
CEREMONY OF THE MASS. 99 
 
 sistants, went for the elements. They were brought, care- 
 fully veiled, accompanied by several pictures, and followed 
 by a procession. The bishop, whose mitre had in the 
 mean time been removed by an assistant, took them, and 
 prayed ; " Accept this offering from us, and perfect it for 
 the mystery of the body and blood of thine only begotten 
 Son ; grant that this bread and this cup may be a means of 
 the remission of sin to those who taste." The congrega- 
 tion being in the mean time exhorted to salute and kiss each 
 other for the appearance of Christ, a deacon, taking the 
 salutation from the bishop, went and saluted the Catholicos, 
 and from him the ceremony passed through the whole con- 
 gregation, each one bowing this way and that over the 
 other's shoulder, as if to kiss him. 
 
 The consecration followed. In performing it the bishop 
 blessed the bread by making over it the sign of the cross, 
 gave thanks by looking upward, brake it by picking out a 
 crumb, and repeated the transubstantiating words, " take, 
 eat, this is my body," lifting it at the same time above his 
 head for the congregation to worship, instead of giving it 
 to them to eat. The ceremony for the wine was similar. 
 The whole was performed privately, with the back of the offi- 
 ciator toward the congregation, and not a word or a sign in- 
 tended for them to hear or see, except the elevation of the 
 elements. Prayers for the efficacy of the mass to be ap- 
 plied to the communicants, to all believers whether living 
 or dead, and especially to any for whom a particular remem- 
 brance had been requested, followed. Then the bishop, 
 having first dipped the bread in the wine, took it between 
 the thumb and fore-finger of each hand, and, holding the 
 cup also between the palms of his hands, turned to the 
 
 Catholic and Apostolic church: In one baptism for repentance, forgiveness 
 and remission of sins : In the resurrection of the dead, and the eternal judg- 
 ment to soul and body: In the Kingdom of Heaven; and the life everlast- 
 ing." See Jaraakirk. 
 
100 CEREMONY OF THE MASS. 
 
 congregation, and cried ; " Holy, holy, let us with holiness 
 taste of the honored body and blood of our Lord and Savior 
 Jesus Christ, which, descending from heaven, is divided 
 among us. This is life, hope, resurrection, propitiation 
 and remission of sins." Turning, he replaced the ele- 
 ments upon the altar, and a splendid curtain, large Enough 
 to veil the whole front of the sanctuary being drawn, pre- 
 vented us from witnessing what followed, except the chant- 
 ing of the assistants in a semicircle before the altar. But, 
 according to the canon, he had first to break the bread into 
 four parts, and kiss it with weeping ; and then, after sun- 
 dry prayers and supplications, to eat the bread and drink the 
 wine with fear and trembling ; saying, " May thy incor- 
 ruptible body be life unto me, and thy holy blood, a pro- 
 pitiation and remission of sins." The curtain being then 
 withdrawn, a deacon cried, " Approach with fear and faith, 
 and with holiness commune ; " and as the bishop turned 
 around with the elements, the clerks on the part of the peo- 
 ple cried, " Our God and our Lord has appeared unto us, 
 blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord." Eight 
 or ten women came forward and communed ; and bits of 
 unconsecrated bread were distributed, as is customary also 
 in the Greek church, among the rest of the congregation , 
 as they dispersed. 
 
 The ceremony occupied an hour and forty minutes. 
 The lesson from the gospel was read toward the congrega- 
 tion, and with tolerable distinctness, though in a chanting 
 tone ; and it was gratifying to notice the marked stillness, 
 which, as is always the case during this part of the service, 
 prevailed among the audience. Now and then, too, a 
 sentence from a deacon was addressed to them, and the 
 bishop frequently turned round, to wave a little silver cross, 
 and cry, " peace be with you." But most of the prayers 
 were private, and said in an inaudible tone ; and the oth- 
 ers were often completely drowned by the chanting of a 
 
CEREMONY OF THE MASS. 101 
 
 company of some twenty or thirty clerks, straining their 
 discordant voices to the highest pitch. To complete the 
 confusion, four or five deacons standing on the right side 
 of the altar, accompanied the most important parts with the 
 gingling of a quantity of small silver bells, attached to the 
 circumference of circular plates upon the end of long sticks 
 which they held in their hands; and large bells, suspended 
 in the dome, repeatedly added their deafening intonations. 
 Candles were lighted and extinguished at the proper mo- 
 ment, and the use of the censer, both at the altar and 
 among the audience, was liberal. The whole bore no 
 slight resemblance to a theatrical pantomime, and was evi- 
 dently calculated, not to be united in as a devotional ser- 
 vice, but to be gazed at and worshiped. In fact during 
 every part, the more devout of the assembly frequently 
 prostrated themselves and kissed the ground, with many 
 signs of the cross ; and when the elements were formally 
 held up before them after the consecration, the most pro- 
 found and idolatrous adoration was exhibited by nearly 
 all ; some with their foreheads to the ground, and others 
 kneeling with their hands suppliantly extended, their eyes 
 directed to the adored object, and their countenances mark- 
 ed with an aspect of most earnest entreaty. It seemed, in 
 a word, more objectionable in every feature than any papal 
 mass I ever witnessed. — After remaining some time unno- 
 ticed among the crowd, we were invited within the railing 
 among the vartabcds and the general's suite, and a varta- 
 bed directed Antonio to ask me, (Mr. Dwight being else- 
 where engaged,) to come and kiss the cross. He consider- 
 ed himself clothed with sufficient discretionary power, how- 
 ever, to give my refusal, and I was not troubled with the 
 request. 
 
 With such pompous ceremonies does the Armenian 
 church turn into a solemn farce, the celebration of that 
 simple ordinance, at the institution of which, " the Lord 
 
 VOL. II. 10 
 
102 DOCTRINE OF THE MASS. 
 
 Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took 
 bread ; and, when he had given thanks, he brake it and 
 said, take, eat, this is my body which is broken for you, 
 this do in remembrance of me ; and after the same manner 
 also the cup when he had supped, saying, this cup is the 
 new testament in my blood, this do, as oft as ye drink it, in 
 remembrance of me." Nor is the doctrine of the church 
 respecting its nature and object less erroneous. It be- 
 lieves, as fully as does the papal church, in the transubstan- 
 tiation of the bread and wine into the real body and blood 
 of Christ ; and not only so, but with that church it also 
 believes, that the human soul and the divinity of our Lord, 
 as well as his body, are present in the elements. Thus, 
 instead of being regarded as a simple memento of the ato- 
 ning death of our Savior, this sacrament is converted, 
 contrary to every evidence of the senses and of reason, into 
 a renewal of that death itself, and considered an actual 
 propitiatory sacrifice of Christ for the living and the dead ! 
 Let the following extract from a prayer which follows the 
 consecration, testify to the extent of the efficacy that is 
 ascribed to it. " May this [the elements of the mass] be 
 for justification, propitiation, and remission of sins to all of 
 us who draw near. Through it, grant love, stability, and 
 desired peace to the whole world ; to the holy church, and 
 all orthodox bishops, priests and deacons ; to kings, the 
 world, princes and people ; to travellers and seamen ; to 
 those who are bound, in danger and in trouble ; and to 
 those who are fighting with barbarians. Through it, also, 
 grant to the air mildness, to the fields fertility, and to them 
 who are afflicted with diverse diseases, speedy relief. 
 Through it, give rest to all who are already asleep in 
 Christ, first parents, patriarchs, prophets, apostles, martyrs, 
 bishops, elders, deacons, and all the members of the holy 
 church. With them also visit us, we pray thee, O thou 
 
COMMUNION. 103 
 
 beneficent God."* Indeed, in the language already quoted 
 respecting masses for the dead, ' that which Christ offered, 
 and that which the priests offer, is regarded as the same 
 sacrifice.' 
 
 How directly does this whole theory of the mass stand 
 in the face of the apostle's argument, that Christ, unlike 
 the daily sacrifices of the Jewish dispensation, after he had 
 offered one sacrifice for sins, forever sat down on the right 
 hand of God ! (Heb. 10th chap.) By it the gospel is sub- 
 verted, and the ' weak and beggarly elements ' of the old 
 Jewish system of sacrifices are revived. The real death 
 of Christ comes to be practically neglected, or regarded as 
 little more than a simple antidote to original sin, and th& 
 forgiveness of actual sin is expected from the imagined sac- 
 rifice of the mass, the most absurd dogma that was ever 
 palmed upon human credulity. It substitutes a priesthood 
 to offer sacrifices, for a ministry to feed the flock of God 
 with sound doctrine ; it converts the spiritual worship of 
 God into the formal adoration of a ceremony ; it leads to 
 idolatry. In a word, of all the heresies, absurdities and 
 abominations of the papal and oriental churches, the mass 
 is the chief. 
 
 From this perversion of the design of the sacrament of 
 the supper, and the consequent idea that to partake of the 
 elements is not essential to its celebration, the neglect of 
 communion has naturally followed. Although, in parishes 
 which have a sufficient number of priests, mass is peformed 
 almost every day, it is customary for none except the of- 
 ficiators to communicate more than twice a year, the occa- 
 sions usually selected being Christmas and Easter. The 
 limit of frequent attendance upon communion, is seven 
 times, and of rare attendance, once a year. Great effica- 
 cy, however, is ascribed to the ceremony, and the conse- 
 crated elements are carried, as a viaticum, to the bedside 
 
 * See the Armenian Missal, called Khorhurtadedr, 
 
104 COMMUNION. 
 
 of the dying, with the idea that to partake of them is es- 
 sential to the future happiness of the soul. The commu- 
 nicants this morning stood up before the altar, and the 
 bishop put a bit of the bread, which had been previously 
 dipped in the wine, into the mouth of each. In this way 
 only do the Armenians communicate in both kinds. The 
 wine they never drink. One of the women had a child 
 not more than a year old in her arms, and that also com- 
 municated; for infants, from the moment of baptism, are 
 admissible to the table of the Lord. 
 
 The Armenian, like the papal and the Greek churches,, 
 practises close communion. It is indeed inconsistent with 
 its admission of the possibility of salvation out of the church ;. 
 and the inconsistency seemed to be felt by more than one 
 intelligent ecclesiastic with whom we conversed. One con- 
 tended that it was the duty of priests to admit members of 
 other sects, without first confessing them ; and affirmed 
 that Russians, as they spoke only a foreign language, had 
 been thus admitted in his convent, upon their declaring 
 simply that they had already confessed. Another declared, 
 that Armenians were allowed to commune with other sects, 
 when in parts of the world where no Armenian church is 
 found ; and that foreigners are admissible to the Armenian 
 communion upon their confessing and making a profession 
 of their faith. This, however, is conceding nothing, for 
 the act of confessing to an Armenian priest, is equivalent 
 to becoming a member of that church, and it would be a 
 strange sect that should refuse to admit proselytes. Should 
 an Armenian in ordinary circumstances receive the sacra- 
 ment of the supper from the hands of a protestant, or a 
 minister of any other sect, he would be considered as cut 
 off, by that act, from his church, and not admissible again 
 to her bosom, without confessing his sin, and doing penance 
 for it. 
 
 Confession is an indispensable preparation for the com- 
 
CONFESSION*. 105 
 
 munion, and is now practised only immediately before it. 
 The women who communicated this morning, had all con- 
 fessed, during the first part of the mass, to a vartabed in 
 the western end of the church. He had no confessional, 
 nor have we seen one in any Armenian church. Seated 
 on the floor a la Turque, he caused each one successively to 
 kneel by his side, with her head in his lap ; and then, put- 
 ting his hand upon her head, 4 listened to her confession. 
 In another instance, we have seen a confessor, in the pres- 
 ence of company, reclining upon his arm, with the woman 
 he was confessing kneeling by his side, her head being 
 upon his bosom, and his arm upon her person. The sub- 
 stance of the confession is more objectionable than the po- 
 sition of the parties. A prescribed form, the same that 
 follows the creed already quoted, at the commencement of 
 morning prayers in the church, is in every case repeated 
 memoriter, or from the mouth of the confessor. A regard 
 to decency forbids its publication entire. With a few ex- 
 pressions omitted, and the indelicacy of others somewhat 
 modified in giving it an English dress, it is as follows. 
 
 " I have sinned against the most holy Trinity, the Fa- 
 ther, the Son, aud the Holy Ghost ; and I confess before 
 God, and the holy mother of God, and before thee, holy 
 father, all the sins I have committed. For I have sinned 
 in thought, in word, and in deed ; voluntarily, and involun- 
 tarily ; knowingly, and ignorantly. I have sinned against 
 God. — I have sinned with my spirit and its faculties; with 
 my mind and its acts; with my body and its senses. I 
 have sinned with the faculties of my spirit : by cunning, 
 and by folly ; by audacity, and by cowardice ; by prodi- 
 gality, and by avarice; by dissipation, and by injustice; 
 by love of evil, by desperation, and by mistrust. I have 
 sinned against God. — I have sinned with the evil devices 
 of my mind : by artifice, by malice, by vindictiveness, 
 by envy, by jealousy, by dissoluteness, by unchaste propen- 
 VOL. II. 10* 
 
406 CONFESSION. 
 
 sities, ***** and by abominable filthiness of imagination. 
 I have sinned against God. — I have sinned with the lusts 
 of my body : by sensuality, by sloth, by the yawning of 
 sleep ; by the acts of the body, and by the commission of 
 divers kinds of impurity ; by the licentious hearing of my 
 ears, by the shamelessness of my eyes, by the lusts of my 
 heart, *** by the lasciviousness of my mouth, by inconti- 
 nence, by gluttony, and by drunkenness. I have sinned 
 against God. — I have sinned with the evil speaking of my 
 tongue ; by lying, by false swearing, by perjury, by conten- 
 tiousness, by disputing, by defamation, by flattery? by tale- 
 bearing, by idleness, by mockery, by vain conversation, by 
 talking heresy, by cursing, murmuring, complaining, back- 
 biting, and blaspheming. I have sinned against God. — I 
 have sinned with every joint of my frame, and every mem- 
 ber of my body : with my seven senses, and my six opera- 
 tions; by kicking upward, by dangling downward, by 
 straying to the right, and to the left, by sinning against 
 what is before, and being a bad example to what is behind. 
 I have sinned against God. — I have also sinned by [com- 
 mitting] the seven transgressions, the mortal sins : by 
 pride and its varieties ; by envy and its varieties ; by anger 
 and its varieties ; by sloth and its varieties; by covetousness 
 and its varieties; by gluttony and its varieties ; by lascivi- 
 ousness and its varieties. I have also sinned against all 
 the commands of God, both the positive and the negative ; 
 for I have neither done what is commanded, nor abstained 
 from what is forbidden. I have received the law, and 
 have come short of it. I have been invited to the rights of 
 Christianity, and by my conduct have been found unwor- 
 thy; knowing the evil, I have voluntarily debased myself, 
 and of myself have departed from good works. Ah me ! 
 ah me ! ah me ! which shall I tell ? or which shall I con- 
 fess? For my transgressions cannot be numbered, my in- 
 iquities cannot be told; my pains are irremissible, my 
 
CONFESSION. 107 
 
 wounds are incurable. I have sinned against God. — Holy- 
 father, I have thee for an intercessor, and a mediator of 
 reconciliation with the only begotten Son of God ; that by 
 the power given unto thee thou would est loose me from the 
 bonds of my sins, thee I supplicate." * 
 
 Such are the sins that every Armenian, male and female, 
 young and old, acknowledges in the ear of his priest at con- 
 fession, and hears confessed for him every morning that he 
 attends church : sins, some of which would otherwise hard- 
 ly ^enter the imagination, but which being thus suggested, 
 doubtless soon become so familiar that the acknowledge- 
 ment of them is* no longer a falsehood. The document is 
 the nation's own confession of its immoralities ; and, either 
 as causes which occasioned it to be drawn up, or as effects 
 resulting from its frequent rehearsal, the supposition is but 
 reasonable, that those immoralities exist. The fact, how- 
 ever, that a large part of it is veiled by a dead language in 
 an obscurity impenetrable to the common people, hides 
 some of the darkest shades of the picture.! 
 
 * Jamakirk, p. 6. 
 
 t Since the above was written, a papal friend has referred me to the Ta- 
 ble of Sins inserted in the common prayer-books of his church, to aid the 
 penitent in his preparation for confession, by suggesting to him what sins he 
 needs to confess. Perhaps this Armenian form of confession was originally 
 intended only for a similar purpose, and had a similar shape. — If any reader 
 is disgusted, that such an offensive document should be raked up from the dead 
 language of Armenia, to be set before him in this enlightened land; it may be 
 well for him to know, that one similarly offensive is in the hands of every de- 
 tout papist among us, and may be found in the Roman Catholic book-store 
 in Boston, and in similar places in our other cities. If he can do it with a 
 pure heart, let him read the Table of Sins and the other directions for con- 
 fession, in the Christian's Guide to Heaven, the Key of Paradise, and other 
 popular Roman Catholic prayer-books; and reflect upon the corrupting ten- 
 dency of auricular confession ; especially when that confession is made by 
 youth of either sex to an unmarried clergy. Particularly let every protes- 
 tant parent do this, before putting his children into the hands of papists to be 
 educated. 
 
108 CONFESSION. 
 
 Even after the rehearsal of such a long catalogue of 
 crimes, an extemporaneous confession of the particular sins 
 that burden the conscience, is generally demanded by the 
 confessor. In the cases that we witnessed this morning, 
 however, no such demand was made ; and the vartabed 
 pronounced the absolution upon each woman, as she 
 finished repeating from his mouth what I have quoted 
 above. The form of absolution is as follows. " May a 
 compassionate God have mercy upon thee. May he par- 
 don all thy confessed and forgotten sins. And I, by right 
 of my priestly authority, and the divine command, ' What- 
 soever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven ; ' by 
 that same word, do absolve thee from all connection with 
 thy sins, of thought, of word, and of deed ; in the name of 
 the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. And I 
 admit thee again to the sacraments of the holy church ; and 
 whatever good thou shalt do, may it be to thee for a good 
 work, and in the future life for glory. Amen.*" In these 
 few words lies the whole secret of priestly power. Were 
 they blotted out from the ritual of the church, the priest- 
 hood, like Samson shorn of his locks, would become weak, 
 and be like any other men. The pretended power of loos- 
 ing men from their sins, gives them the real power of bind- 
 ing upon their shoulders ' heavy burdens, and grievous to be 
 borne.' It is firmly believed by the people generally, that 
 when the priest pronounces this absolution, their sins are 
 really forgiven. Satisfaction, the last of the three parts 
 into which the doctors of Rome have divided the sacrament 
 of penance,t and of which confession is the second, is also 
 acknowledged and practised by the Armenian church, and 
 will come under consideration hereafter. The first part, or 
 
 * Jamakirk, p. 9. 
 
 f See that very valuable compendium of the doctrines of papacy, the Text- 
 Book of Popery. By J. M. Cramp, p. 184—205. 
 
PILGRIMAGES. 109 
 
 contrition of heart for sin, it is to be feared, is rarely consid- 
 ered essential, and still more rarely felt. 
 
 The Armenians have uniformly declared, in answer to 
 our inquiries, that in their church money is never paid at 
 confession. And yet, each of these women did certainly, 
 before our eyes, put a piece of money into the hand of the 
 vartabed, either immediately before or after the absolution. 
 The reason of it was, perhaps, that they were pilgrims, and 
 the communion being the finishing act of their pilgrimage, 
 they took this occasion to pay to the convent the contribu- 
 tion always expected from such visitors. Pilgrimages are 
 in high repute among the Armenians, as a species of good 
 works. The most meritorious are made to Jerusalem, to 
 the convent of Soorp HovJiannes Garabed (St. John the 
 Forerunner) near Moosh, and to Echmiadzin. He who has 
 acquired the title of mukdesy by visiting the former place, 
 stands in the estimation of his countrymen far above the 
 common standard of sanctity. These great pilgrimages, 
 however, are not so common as formerly. Still, almost 
 every convent, or other place, where a saint has died or his 
 relics are preserved, is visited more or less frequently for 
 this superstitious purpose. 
 
 Having brought a letter from an Armenian friend at 
 Smyrna to one of the oldest bishops of the convent, we 
 caused it to be presented to him on the afternoon of Satur- 
 day. It procured us an invitation to call on him, and an 
 opportunity to see the accommodations of the highest 
 members of the convent. He was sitting with the librarian 
 and the bishop of Erivan, in a spacious and airy chamber, 
 furnished with every thing that oriental custom considers 
 necessary to comfort. A broad and well covered Turkish 
 sofa occupied two sides of the room, a good carpet covered 
 the floor, and a series of shelves above were ornamen- 
 ted with the various rich fruits of the country for the 
 gratification of the eye as well as the taste. Servants await* 
 
110 ACCOMMODATIONS OF THE VARTABEDS. 
 
 ed his commands in an anti-chamber, and brought us the 
 temperate refreshments usually offered to a visitor in 
 Turkey. Every thing had an air of ease, if not of luxury, 
 little corresponding with the ideas usually entertained of 
 the cell of a monk, and confirming what we in other 
 ways learned, that the leading inmates of this establish- 
 ment practise few of the self-denials for which their profes- 
 sion is reputed. His reception of us was friendly, and his 
 answers to our questions unreserved. The information we 
 derived from him, for the sake of better arrangement, is 
 given elsewhere. 
 
LETTER XVI. 
 
 ECHMIADZIN. 
 
 Festival of the Catholicos — His sacrifice — Origin of his title and see — His 
 election — The present Catholicos — His duties and sources of income — Or- 
 dination of bishops — The meiron — The Novirag — Power of the Catholi- 
 cos — Interview with the vartabeds — Essential articles of faith — Conditions 
 of salvation — Mode of baptism — Confirmation — Extreme unction — Con- 
 versation upon our own religious rites — Commencement of the Armenian 
 Sabbath — Ideas of missions — Library of the convent — Character of the 
 secretary of the Catholicos — Return to Nahkchevan. 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 On leaving the room of the bishop, mentioned at the 
 close of my last letter, we found the monks, in their gayest 
 clerical robes, paraded in double file along the pavement, 
 which leads to the church door from the entry to the apart- 
 ments of the Catholicos. It appeared, on inquiry, that 
 to-morrow was to be the twentieth anniversary festival of his 
 inauguration, and that they were now about to conduct 
 him in pomp to evening prayers, as the commencement of 
 the ceremonies of the occasion. He soon came forward 
 tottering with the decrepitude of age, and, leaning upon 
 the arms of attendants, was led through their ranks. A 
 gold cross only upon his cowl, and a staff, his badge of 
 office, in his hand, distinguished him from rest. Two 
 attendants held a broad canopy of crimson over his head, 
 and two or three deacons, going backward before him, 
 perfumed him continually with incense. It was the pope 
 of Armenia in festal show. The mass on Sabbath morn- 
 ing, which constituted the essential part of the festival, was 
 
112 FESTIVAL OF THE CATHOLICOS. 
 
 in some respects more pompous than the one already de- 
 scribed, and the dresses used being different, it served to 
 exhibit more fully the wealth of the establishment. The 
 Catholicos acted no part in it, but to go to the altar to re- 
 ceive the blessing, and to kiss the gospel. A rich cross of 
 jewels, however, upon one of its covers, actually received the 
 salutation ; and thus, in this ceremony, as it has done in most 
 of the observances of the church, it robbed the word of 
 God of its honors. The same device is generally observable 
 in the copies of the gospel that are used in other churches. 
 We now stood near enough to the officiating bishop, to ob- 
 serve also another curious device. The missal from which 
 he read the prayers, was placed a little on one side, and 
 directly before him upon the altar, was a small richly orna- 
 mented picture of the virgin, with the infant Jesus in her 
 arms, so that all his prayers were said as if addressed to 
 that. 
 
 I have neglected to mention, that we presented our letter 
 to the general, prince Bebutoff, on Saturday, and were re- 
 ceived by him with marked civility. We expected that 
 the circumstance would somewhat improve the vartabeds' 
 treatment of us ; but were still a little surprised, on coming 
 from the church to-day, to be invited by the master of cer- 
 emonies into t 1 » apartments of the Catholicos, as we un- 
 derstood, to have 1 interview with him. The object, how- 
 ever, was different. On a broad pavement in his garden, 
 by the side of a salient fountain, was a long line of tables, 
 loaded with a cold collation of meats, pastries and confec- 
 tionaries. One was placed at the head for the Catholicos, 
 but he was absent. By the rest stood a crowd of vartabeds 
 and numerous guests; and in the garden around, was 
 paraded a line of peasants, armed with muskets. As we 
 entered, a vartabed, seizing us by the arm, led us to the 
 table next that of the Catholicos, where stood the general 
 and his lady. They welcomed us politely, and informed us 
 
SACRIFICE OF THE CATHOLICOS. 113 
 
 that this was the sacrifice of the Catholicos, who was him- 
 self too feeble to be present. 
 
 A long prayer was now read by a vartabed, and con- 
 cluded by a toast, which was drunk with brandy, and ac- 
 companied by a salute from the guns of the peasants. 
 Hardly considering ourselves forbidden by apostolic author- 
 ity to partake, though the general had intimated that it was 
 offered in sacrifice ; we seriously set about eating of the 
 good things before us, asking no questions. But as the 
 prince and ourselves were settling the etiquette of priority in 
 inserting the knife and fork, a vartabed invited us, for bet- 
 ter fare, to retire with himself and his companions ; and, on 
 looking about, we found that every morsel had mysterious- 
 ly disappeared from the other tables. Following the crowd, 
 we entered a long and gloomy arched hall, the grand refec- 
 tory of the monks. Two stone tables extended its whole 
 length, at which we seated ourselves, in company with 
 more than thirty in the garb of vartabeds, and perhaps 
 double the number of lay guests. But not a morsel of food, 
 nor a dish, was upon them ; and as each of our neighbors 
 unrolled from his handkerchief his gleanings of the cold 
 collation, we began to fear lest, not having made such 
 provision ourselves, we should fare but badly. 
 
 Plain but substantial dishes of meat and pilavs, followed 
 by a variety of confectionaries, were soon served up, to the 
 abundant satisfaction of our hunger ; and a vartabed, con- 
 tinually passing to and fro between the tables, with a jar 
 of wine, occasioned a flow of mirth from some of our fellow- 
 guests, which proved that the kindred appetite had no rea- 
 son to complain. The dessert was addressed solely to 
 another sense, usually not so exclusively provided for upon 
 similar occasions. It was a single apple, which each 
 smelled of, and then passed to his neighbor. The mind 
 was also fed during the repast, by a long story about Ech- 
 miadzin, read by a monk from a sort of orchestra above us. 
 
 VOL. II. 11 
 
114 ORIGIN OF THE TITLE CATHOLlCOg. 
 
 A still longer oration followed, pronounced from a manu- 
 script by the vartabed at the head of the table, and con- 
 taining, we imagined from its length and the names that 
 occurred, a relation of events in general, from Adam to 
 prince BebutofF. A toast, followed by the blessing, finished 
 the ceremonies. The peasants who filled the court without, 
 accompanied the toast with a straggling salute of musketry ; 
 and a band of strolling musicians added their discordant 
 notes, to complete the deafening confusion. — Such was 
 the Sabbath we spent at Echmiadzin, the residence of the 
 head of the Armenian church, and esteemed the most holy 
 spot in the country ! and such the profanation of that sacred 
 day, not committed by uncontrollable contemners of relig- 
 ious order, but directed as an appendage to a religious cer- 
 emony, by the highest ecclesiastical dignitaries of the na- 
 tion ! We had already observed in the morning, that five 
 or six of the shops in the bazar of the convent, were open 
 for the sale of goods. 
 
 The term Catholicos occurs early in ecclesiastical his- 
 tory, as the title of an office in the church, and was origin- 
 ally a mere Greek adjective, connected with the word epis- 
 copos, to designate a bishop who presided over a whole re- 
 gion. For, while the patriarchs of Alexandria and Anti- 
 och, and the primates of Ephesus, Heraclea and Cesarea, 
 presided over the five dioceses of Egypt, the East, Asia, 
 Thrace, and Pontus, into which the eastern Roman empire 
 was divided by Constantine the Great, we find likewise 
 catholicoses at the head of different sections of the church, 
 without the limits of the empire. The metropolitan of Per- 
 sia, and the archbishop of Seleucia, first bore the title, ac- 
 knowledging still their dependence upon the see of Antioch. 
 And in imitation of them, probably, the head of the Ar- 
 menian and Georgian churches afterward assumed it.* 
 Armenian tradition pretends that St. Gregory, in a personal 
 
 * Assemani Bibliotheca Orientalis, Tom. 4: p. 615. 
 
ELECTION OF THE CATHOLICOS. 115 
 
 visit to Silvester, bishop of Rome, was consecrated by him 
 Catholicos, with the express privilege that his successors 
 might be consecrated by their own bishops;* though it con- 
 cedes that that ceremony was, until A. D. 366, actually 
 performed by the primates of Cesarea, of whose diocese 
 Armenia was still an appendage. Then, Nerses the Great 
 was declared by the king, nobles, and bishops, sovereign 
 Catholicos of the nation, and his successors have never 
 since been dependent upon any foreign dignitary for their 
 consecration or their power. t For that blundering inver- 
 sion of the relative rank of ecclesiastical titles, which has 
 created patriarchs inferior to a Catholicos, who was himself 
 once dependent upon only a primate, the church is indebt- 
 ed to moslem ignorance or heedlessness. 
 
 No laws of election, or of succession to the office, for a 
 long time existed ; and acknowledged merit or successful 
 intrigue, influencing the rulers, nobles, or clergy, (as each 
 or all wished or were able to interfere,) to an informal 
 expression of public approbation, seems alone to have 
 determined the choice. To its validity, also, the approba- 
 tion of the foreign sovereign to whom the nation happened 
 at the time to be subject, was necessary from the begin- 
 ning ; and in return for this approbation, an annual tribute 
 was, as early as A. D. 1058, demanded by the Greek empe- 
 ror.J But, on the occasion of the secession of the bishop 
 of Aghtamar, it was determined in a formal council, that 
 thenceforward the unanimous consent of the four great sees 
 of Puchni, Haghpad, Tuteos Arakeal and Datev, should be 
 necessary to the election of a Catholicos ;§ and we were 
 informed on the spot, that the same sees are still represent- 
 
 * Chamchean, P. 3: c. 15. f Ibid. P. 3: c. 18. $ Ibid. P. 5: c. 15. 
 
 § Ibid. P. 6: c. 4. — Puchni is still a considerable convent a few hours 
 from Erivan, on the direct road to Tiflis by the Red Bridge. (See Char- 
 din, vol. 1: p. 159. And Tournefort, vol. 2: p. 330.) The others have 
 been already mentioned. 
 
116 
 
 THE PRESENT CATHOLICOS. 
 
 ed in an assembly of twelve bishops, by whom the choice 
 is now made, the remaining eight being members of the 
 convent. The necessity, however, of the approbation of a 
 foreign sovereign, which intrigue and money could at any 
 time obtain, or cause to be withheld, has often made the 
 law a dead letter, and thrown the decision into the hands of 
 one aspiring individual, or of a few quarrelsome monks. 
 In fact, after the revival of the modern kingdom of Persia 
 under the Sofies, Echmiadzin became as complete a prey 
 to ambitious dissensions and barefaced bribery, as did the 
 patriarchate of Constantinople under the Osmanlies; sever- 
 al pretended to the office of Catholicos at the same time, 
 and the convent was loaded with immense debts. 
 
 The present Catholicos, Ephraim, wisely sought security 
 from these evils before accepting the office. The sum of 
 about £400 sterling, was stipulated as the unalterable 
 amount of the annual tribute to the Shah; and, being 
 bishop of a Russian diocese at the time of his election, he 
 naturally sought the protection of the emperor. It was 
 readily granted by Alexander in a personal audience, and 
 the new Catholicos entered upon his functions, decorated 
 with the insignia of grand cross of the order of St. Catha- 
 rine, and clothed in embroidered pontifical robes, the 
 fruits of imperial munificence.* The protection thus for- 
 mally promised, was, in an hour of need, not refused. 
 Finding himself exposed to lawless depredations during the 
 war between Turkey and Persia, in 1S22, he succeeded in 
 escaping into the Russian territories, where he was honora- 
 bly received, and resided, principally in the convent of 
 Haghpad, until the late peace with Persia placed Echmiadzin 
 permanently under the Russian government. He was con- 
 secrated in 1810, and is now eighty-one years old, and near- 
 ly deaf and blind. Mr. Zaremba, in his late visit, had two 
 gratifying interviews with him, and found him thankful 
 
 * Aydall's translation of Chamchean, vol. 2: p. 519. 
 
DUTIES OF THE CATHOLICOS. 117 
 
 for what the missionaries has done for his nation, and 
 grieved even to tears that he had not now such bishops as 
 formerly for his coadjutors. He has, in fact, always been 
 reputed for mildness and tolerance, which increased our 
 regret at being denied the opportunity of a personal inter- 
 view. His infirmities were aggravated, by the fatigues of 
 the festival, into a distressing illness, and obliged him at 
 last to decline receiving us. He did it with an expression 
 of regret, at being under the necessity of treating thus the 
 first Americans who had ever visited his convent. 
 
 But while I am able to speak thus in favor of the Cathol- 
 icos as an individual, I must warn you that the administra- 
 tion of his see partakes very little of his character. So 
 long ago as when Marty n was here, it appears that Nerses 
 had contrived, in the name of a synod which he had formed 
 three years before, to get the management of it so com- 
 pletely into his hands, as to reduce the personal influence 
 of the Catholicos to a cypher. Upon his banishment, the 
 synod effectively assumed the rights with which he had 
 nominally invested it, and has since been the only seat of 
 power in the convent. It consists regularly of twelve 
 members, though when we were there its numbers were 
 reduced by vacancies to ten, seven of whom were bishops, 
 and three vartabeds. The present character of its meas- 
 ures you will have learned from the recent events at 
 Shoosha. 
 
 The peculiar duties of the Catholicos, which also indi- 
 cate the extent of his power, and the chief sources of his 
 income, are, to ordain bishops, and to consecrate the meiron. 
 Whoever wishes for episcopal ordination, in any part of 
 the nation, except within the narrow limits of the dioceses 
 of Sis and of Aghtamar, seeks it at Echmiadzin. The 
 ceremony is performed by the Catholicos, aided by six bish- 
 ops. And as it is not required that every candidate have 
 a diocese in view, but merely present a certificate from his 
 
 VOL. II. 11* 
 
118 
 
 ORDINATION OF BISHOPS. 
 
 convent that it has need of his services as a bishop, the 
 number of applicants is sufficient to stock almost every 
 convent with idle bishops, and to bring considerable reve- 
 nue into the treasury of Echmiadzin. For the gift that is 
 communicated by the laying on of hands, is not gratuitous. 
 In the absence of sufficient data for an average of the price 
 of ordination, I can only give the following items. One 
 bishop is credibly reported to have given 200 ducats, 
 (about $450,) besides another hundred (about $225,) at 
 the same time, for a mass for the soul of his deceased pre- 
 decessor. Another bishop declared to us, that in his own 
 case he gave nothing for ordination. But on his arrival 
 at the convent, he made to the Catholicos a large present 
 of cloth, cutlery, and whatever else of choice value the 
 place from which he came afforded, together with a sum 
 of money, called ' kissing the hands. 5 He then solicited 
 the favor of distributing something among the bishops and 
 vartabeds of the convent; and the Catholicos, saying 'you 
 need not give yourself the trouble,' appointed a bishop to 
 direct him how much to give to each. Thus three or four 
 thousand piastres were expended. For the mass on the 
 day of his ordination he gave also three or four hundred ; 
 and a dinner for all the monks, which followed, cost nearly 
 a thousand more. Being from Jerusalem, he probably 
 paid less than usual. 
 
 The meiron is the holy oil which is used at confirma- 
 tion, ordination, and various other ceremonies, and is one 
 of the principal superstitions of the Armenians. Its sancti- 
 ty is commonly believed to be miraculously attested, by its 
 being made to boil by the mere ceremony of consecration. 
 The boiling of the meiron, indeed, is to Echmiadzin, what 
 the light from the holy sepulchre is to Jerusalem ; though 
 less superstition is required to believe the former than the 
 latter. For, without attributing any very wonderful proper- 
 ties to the bit of the true cross, or to St. Gregory's hand, 
 
THE MEIRON. 119 
 
 which are used upon the occasion, the oil may be made, by 
 the many other ingredients which are put into it at its conse- 
 cration, to exhibit all the phenomena of boiling ; while, al- 
 though the light at the sepulchre may originate without 
 fire, from phosphorus or the rays of the sun, to separate 
 from it the property of burning, can only be done by a su- 
 perstitious imagination. Not only is the value of the mei- 
 ron enhanced by many incredible stories of its miraculous 
 properties and effects ; but it is made by the laws of the 
 church absolutely necessary to several ordinances, especially 
 to that of confirmation; and, being a complete monopoly, it 
 becomes not an unprofitable speculation. It is carried 
 through the nation by a novirag, or nuncio, who is a var- 
 tabed or bishop appointed to collect contributions for the 
 convent. Such agents are sent very frequently wherever 
 the Armenians are scattered, to urge the claims of Echmi- 
 adzin upon the purses of all the spiritual children of St. 
 Gregory ; and they are peculiarly successful, when they 
 carry in their pocket a bottle of meiron. For the sacred 
 gift is often carefully withheld until the people have pro- 
 duced what the agent is pleased to consider their quota of 
 the contribution. 
 
 In the vicinity of Echmiadzin, there seems to be little 
 less than a formal sale of it. The vartabed who visited Shoo- 
 sha while we were there, not only acted as wekeel of the 
 Catholicos, for the suppression of heresy, but was clothed 
 with the more profitable office of novirag, for the collection 
 of contributions, and the distribution of the meiron. Dele- 
 gates of the different villages visited him, and while the con- 
 tribution was fixed at so much per head, the conditions of 
 their receiving the meiron were settled in a manner not 
 unlike a formal bargain in trade. If the few data that 
 came to our knowledge afford a correct general average, 
 the province of Kara-bagh contributed upon that occasion to 
 the treasury of Echmiadzin, not far from ten thousand dol- 
 
120 THE NOVIRAG. 
 
 lars. St. James's at Jerusalem is the only other Armenian 
 convent, which custom allows to employ novirags to in- 
 crease its funds. One of them was in this vicinity at the 
 time of our journey ; and although his convent does not 
 manufacture meiron, he was not without an expedient for 
 enforcing its claims. He argued in his preaching, it was 
 said, that all departed spirits have to take Jerusalem in 
 their way to heaven ; and that none are allowed by St. 
 James to pass, except such as have contributed to his con- 
 vent ! In reaping the harvest for his employers, the novi- 
 rag of either convent always gleans copiously for himself. 
 For not only is he entitled to the profits of every mass he 
 says, and to some other special contributions, but no vouch- 
 ers being required to the accounts he renders at the ter- 
 mination of his mission, the widest door is opened for em- 
 bezzlement. And it is a well known fact, at Jerusalem, 
 that almost every novirag returns rich. 
 
 Among the other sources of the Catholicos's income, 
 pilgrimages, and the glebes of the convent, may be men- 
 tioned. Every pilgrim is expected to pay, according to 
 his ability, for the privilege of visiting the shrine of the 
 holy Illuminator. The domains of Echmiadzin formerly 
 embraced twenty-three villages, if we may believe the sec- 
 retary of the Catholicos, who affirmed that its claims to 
 that number were attested by written documents from the 
 Shah. He said, however, that it had presented to the em- 
 peror all of them but three. Among the three retained, is 
 the large village of Vagharshabad. The convent receives 
 the capitation tax of a ducat, and twenty per cent, of the 
 produce. — You need not be reminded, that the Catholicos 
 receives all this income, as head of the convent, and that, 
 of course, all the expenses of that extensive establishment 
 must be drawn from it. The sum to be thus deducted, 
 considering the number and character of its inmates can- 
 not be small. When we were there, the convent contain- 
 
POWER OF THE CATHOLICOS. 121 
 
 ed fourteen bishops, forty-five or fifty vartabeds, and seven 
 or eight deacons. 
 
 The patriarchal power of the Catholicos, in the appoint- 
 ment of bishops to their dioceses and the direct control 
 of their duties as diocesans, has never, so far as we are in- 
 formed, extended over the Armenians in Turkey, since 
 the establishment of the patriarchate of Constantinople. 
 Still, wherever the Armenians venerate him as the spiritual 
 head of their church, are governed by bishops of his or- 
 dination, depend upon him for their meiron, and send to 
 him their contributions at the call of his novirags, his in- 
 fluence cannot be small. These relations the whole na- 
 tion, with the exception of the small dioceses of Aghtamar 
 and Sis, formerly sustained to him. But since he has 
 become a subject of Russia, the Turkish Armenians have 
 felt themselves forced by the Sultan's jealousy of Russian 
 espionage and influence, to renounce them. The patri- 
 arch of Constantinople informed us, in May of 1830, that 
 for about two years they had ceased to have any commu- 
 nication with him, and even to mention his name in the 
 mass. * Not,' said he, ' that we have really deserted our 
 Catholicos ; we are still attached to him, and this is only 
 a temporary measure, which circumstances have forced 
 upon us.' Others affirmed that the Turks had been given 
 to understand, that the Catholicos of Sis was now the head 
 of the Armenian church in Turkey. You will wish, after 
 learning the character of the present administration of 
 Echmiadzin, that this disconnection were something more 
 than a temporary pretence. It would certainly leave the 
 Armenians of Turkey more open to the operations of mis- 
 sionaries. Even let its influence in that empire return to 
 its former state, however, and it will hardly be sufficient 
 to throw insurmountable obstacles in the way of missions. 
 
 The power which the Catholicos is to enjoy in Russia, 
 has hardly yet been defined. We were assured that the 
 
122 ARMENIAN DIOCESES. 
 
 plan of an ecclesiastical establishment for the Armenians 
 had been presented to the emperor and approved by him ; 
 but it was not yet promulgated, and we did not learn its 
 provisions. At present, bishops are appointed to dioceses 
 in the Russian territories, by the synod of Echmiadzin in 
 connection with the civil power. The synod sends the 
 names of two or three candidates to the emperor, and he 
 selects one for the office. The following are the diocesans 
 now subject to Russia, according to a statement given us 
 by the secretary of the Catholicos, and agreeing with in- 
 formation from another intelligent gentleman ; viz. the 
 bishops of Bessarabia, Astrakhan, Tiflis, Akhaltsikhe, Er- 
 ivan, Datev, Kantsasar, Shamakhy, Sheky (subject to the 
 bishop of Tiflis,) and Tateos Arakeal now at Nakhchevan. 
 On the side of Persia, the secretary said there was a bishop 
 at Tebriz, a second at Isfahan, and a third in Hindostan, 
 with Bagdad and Bussorah under him. He added also a 
 written list of twenty-three diocesans in Turkey ; but owing, 
 perhaps, to the constantly varying number and limits of the 
 dioceses in that empire, we did not find it correct, and I 
 shall not enumerate them. Indeed he warned us that the 
 list for the Russian branch of the church, was true only 
 for the present moment, as an order had just come down 
 from the emperor, for an entirely new arrangement. In 
 connection with our conversation upon the dioceses of his 
 church, the secretary asked for our estimate of the number 
 of his nation, and we mentioned about 2,000,000. He as- 
 sented that such is the number usually written, but de- 
 clared it to be his own opinion, that 10,000,000 would be 
 nearer the truth ; for, it being understood by all, that money 
 was to be paid when bishops made their visits, great num- 
 bers concealed themselves, and thus failed of being re- 
 corded ! 
 
 Monday morning found us still in the same state of non^ 
 intercourse with the members of the convent. We had 
 
INTERVIEW WITH THE VARTABEDS. 123 
 
 had a visit from no one, the Catholicos had not sent for us, 
 and every effort, but one, on our part to procure an inter- 
 view with individuals, or to see the curiosities of the con- 
 vent, had failed. We now determined to make one more 
 trial, and if unsuccessful, to depart. A request was accord- 
 ingly sent to Hosep vartabed, the librarian whom we had 
 met with the bishop on Saturday, to show us the library. 
 In reply, he invited us to call on him. We were conduct- 
 ed to the room which the general, who had left the evening 
 before, had occupied, and found the vartabed Hovhannes 
 Soorenean, the secretary of the Catholicos for whom we 
 had brought a letter from the bishop of Aderbaijan, and 
 Lucas vartabed, who had formerly been in Smyrna, togeth- 
 er with one or two others, all evidently among the most ac- 
 tive and intelligent members of the convent. Tea was 
 served up, as a formal act of civility, in imitation of Rus- 
 sian customs in these provinces ; but our reception was 
 marked with much suspicion, and evidently intended to be 
 very cold. The conversation was commenced by Hovhan- 
 nes's inquiring the object for which we were travelling. 
 We replied that it was to obtain information respecting Ar- 
 menia and its inhabitants, especially the religious condition 
 of the latter. He at first intimated, that for this a personal 
 visit to the country could hardly be necessary, as it 4 had 
 often been described by travellers ; but when we remind- 
 ed him, that they had directed their investigations so ex- 
 clusively to other objects of inquiry, as to leave us until 
 now without a satisfactory account of the morals and relig- 
 ion of the Armenians ; he admitted, that even in the an- 
 tiquities of the country, they had made many mistakes, and 
 declared that he was himself publishing a book at Tiflis, 
 to throw light upon the antiquities of Haghpad, which 
 might correct the errors of one traveller whom he named. 
 He then intimated that in order to avoid similar errors, 
 we ought to direct our inquiries to intelligent natives of the 
 
124 ESSENTIAL ARTICLES OF FAITH. 
 
 country ; and thus gave us an opportunity to declare, that 
 for that very object we had come to Echmiadzin. 
 
 Having obtained from us a declaration of the belief of 
 our denomination, that Christ is God and man ; he affirm- 
 ed that the trinity, and the divinity of Christ, are the two 
 essential articles of Christian faith. The declaration ac- 
 corded with a similar expression from the bishop of Datev, 
 and reminds me to say, that, the idea of faith commonly 
 entertained by the Armenians, is a mere belief in the 
 Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, in the name of 
 whom they cross themselves ; or, at most, an assent to the 
 creeds which are repeated daily in their churches. Of 
 justifying faith they have no knowledge ; and when it is 
 announced to them, they look upon it as almost as strange 
 a doctrine, as did the philosophers of Athens upon those 
 which Paul preached upon Mars-hill. We admitted that 
 the trinity, and the divinity of Christ, are essential points ; 
 but added that there was another, which we held to be not 
 less important — the death of Christ for the sins of the 
 world, that men through him might be saved. He barely 
 assented that the Armenians believe that too, and passed to 
 another inquiry, which evidently stood more prominent in 
 his mind, and occupied the next place to the two articles 
 he had already mentioned. It related to the perpetual 
 virginity of Mary. We replied, that we all believe her to 
 have been a virgin till her conception of Christ, because 
 the Bible expressly affirms it ; but of her state afterward, 
 as we have no ecclesiastical canons on the subject, some 
 may incline one way and some another, according as they 
 understand the Scriptures. He declared the belief of his 
 church to be, that she was a virgin both before and after 
 the birth of our Savior, and that she is the mother of 
 God, but not born without original sin. Still his church 
 would not pronounce those not to be Christians who be- 
 lieve differently. 
 
CONDITIONS OF SALVATION. 125 
 
 The two things necessary for salvation, he said, were 
 baptism and the communion. He afterward explained 
 that their doctors distinguish three kinds of baptism, either 
 of which is effectual ; one, the actual application of water 
 in the name of the Trinity ; another, the wish of a moslem 
 or heathen for baptism at the hour of death ; and a third, 
 the desire of a person who is under a master that will not 
 allow him to receive the ordinance. The same distinction 
 he also admitted in regard to the viaticum, or communion 
 at death ; it was necessary, but when it could not be had, 
 the wish for it was equivalent. We replied, that in John 
 3: 5, not only being born of water, or baptism, but also 
 being born of the Spirit, or internal regeneration, is de- 
 clared to be necessary to admission into heaven ; one of 
 which we believe to be an external sign of the other, and 
 not productive of it, nor necessarily accompanied by it ; 
 and then inquired if his church holds baptism to be regen- 
 eration, or acknowledges the necessity likewise of a change 
 of heart. He confessed, in answer, that it knows of no 
 other change than external baptism. I must add, from 
 other authority, that, not only are the Armenians now en- 
 tirely ignorant of that great change of moral character, 
 regeneration, but they seem not to know of any special 
 operations of the Spirit of God upon the heart, almost the 
 only peculiar influences commonly ascribed to him, being 
 those by which miracles are wrought. In fact, in their 
 practical ideas of the economy of salvation, the third per- 
 son of the Trinity seems hardly to have a place. — Ques- 
 tions respecting election and the kindred doctrines, which 
 divide Calvinists and Arminians among us, have never 
 been agitated in the Armenian church, nor do any opin- 
 ions exist respecting them. Possibly something may have 
 crept into its very oldest writers from St. Augustin and 
 others ; but almost, if not quite, all its theological works 
 are entirely scholastic, and probably the Armenian lan- 
 
 VOL. II. 12 
 
126 
 
 MODE OF BAPTISM. 
 
 guage does not contain a clear exhibition of the doctrines 
 of grace, out of the Bible. 
 
 According to the rules of the Armenian church, I believe, 
 baptism consists in plunging the whole body in water three 
 times, as the sacred formula is repeated ; but the present 
 mode of administering it in Armenia, we were assured by 
 more than one intelligent ecclesiastic, is by pouring upon 
 the head of the child, sitting in the font, a handful of 
 water in the name of the Father, another in the name of 
 the Son, and a third in the name of the Holy Ghost, and 
 then plunging the whole body three times, to signify that 
 Christ was in the grave three days. That entire immer- 
 sion, and the triple repetition, are not considered essential, 
 however, is proved by the fact, that the baptism of even 
 heretical sects who only sprinkle once, is considered valid, 
 and persons thus baptized are not required, as among the 
 Greeks, to submit to the ordinance again, on entering the 
 Armenian church. We once inquired of a bishop, what is 
 the effect of baptism, and were answered, with the greatest 
 astonishment at our ignorance, that it takes away original 
 sin. The doctrine, however, that all who die unbaptized 
 are thrust immediately down to hell for Adam's sin, though 
 firmly held by the Armenians, has not led them, as it has 
 the papists, to allow in urgent cases of lay baptism. The 
 ordinance can be performed by those only who have been 
 admitted to priest's orders. Generally it is done, in imi- 
 tation of the Jewish law of circumcision, on the eighth 
 day, though dangerous illness sometimes hastens it, and 
 when no priest is at hand it is postponed. 
 
 The Armenian church holds to the usual number of sev* 
 en sacraments. Baptism, the communion, marriage, ordina- 
 tion, and penance have already been remarked upon, in this 
 and preceding letters. The remaining two, confirmation and 
 extreme unction, also came up in the course of our conver- 
 sation with the vartabeds. The former is always perform- 
 
CONFIRMATION. 127 
 
 ed at the same time as baptism ; and consists in anointing 
 with due ceremony the forehead, and the organs of the 
 five senses, viz. the eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and hands and 
 feet, with the holy oil. In fact, the sacredness of that ma- 
 terial so eclipses every other ceremony of the occasion, 
 that, not only has meiron come to be the common name for 
 confirmation, but in the estimation of the vulgar, at least, 
 it is considered as acting a more efficacious part than even 
 the water of baptism, in making the child an heir of heaven. 
 It is always conferred by the parish priest who administers 
 the baptism, and not, as in the English and Romish church- 
 es, by a bishop. — Extreme unction seems not to be uni- 
 versally practised by the Armenians. One bishop assured 
 us that it is now entirely disused, and a gentleman of infor- 
 mation told us, that he had searched for it in vain in the for- 
 mularies of the church. Still, the vartabeds this morning, 
 in agreement with some others of whom we inquired, con- 
 tended that it is regularly administered at baptism! The 
 reason assigned for so early an application of the last pre- 
 paration for death, was, that the Armenians, being a scat- 
 tered and oppressed people, liable often to die where a 
 priest cannot be had, it is thought best to secure to every 
 one at the commencement of life, what is so absolutely es- 
 sential to the future happiness of the soul. Probably it is 
 united in the ritual with confirmation, especially as both 
 consist in annointing with meiron. Or rather, I sup- 
 pose the Armenian church really has not this sacrament, 
 and has only taken some part of the ceremony of confirma- 
 tion, and called it extreme unction, in accommodation to 
 papal ideas. It is never administered at the hour of death. 
 You will now perceive, that, as the communion also is al- 
 ways given at baptism, four sacraments are then crowded 
 at once upon an infant generally only eight days old ; viz. 
 baptism, confirmation, extreme unction, and communion ! 
 The vartabed Lucas, who from the beginning had shown 
 
128 
 
 SIGN OF THE CROSS. 
 
 much less candor than Hovhannes, and had particularly 
 objected to his liberal concession of the Christian name to 
 such as deny the perpetual virginity of Mary, at length 
 seemed determined upon dispute, and threw out as a bone 
 of contention, an accusation against us of inconsistency, 
 in admitting the crucifixion of Christ, and still not honoring 
 the cross. We replied, that the death of Christ as an 
 atonement for sin, is indeed the foundation and substance 
 of all our preaching ; but we consider that if it be believed 
 with the heart, the external sign is a matter of perfect 
 indifference. At this he only grew warmer, and began 
 to assign reasons for its absolute necessity. Determined 
 not to be drawn into a heated argument, we reminded 
 him that we were not now disputing whether we or they 
 are right, but only conversing for mutual information ; 
 and then, briefly explaining how the doctrine, that what 
 Scripture enjoins must be done and what it does not enjoin 
 is unessential,^liesthe foundation of all our theological views, 
 we told him that we do not deem this ceremony necessary, 
 because it is not ordered in the word of God. A word or 
 two among themselves led them to conclude, that, as the 
 Bible does indeed say nothing of the sign of the cross, we 
 were beyond the reach of argument respecting it ; and im- 
 mediately the conversation assumed a more friendly turn. 
 
 We were happy to have an opportunity, in answer to 
 several questions, to describe to them the simplicity of our 
 own religious rites. — Lucas inquired if we say mass every 
 Sabbath, or once a month, or only once a year. To meet 
 the idea prevalent among them, that the performance of 
 mass is the chief duty of a priest, we replied, that our cler- 
 gy preach regularly once or twice every Sabbath ; but that 
 the elements of the eucharist are never consecrated, except 
 when all who are qualified are expected to commune. 
 Then, the form described in the Gospel is used : the min- 
 ister first prays, breaks the bread, and distributes it; then 
 
OUR OWN RELIGIOUS RITES. 129 
 
 he prays again, and distributes the wine ; and a hymn, 
 sung by all, closes the ceremony. This occurs in some 
 places, we informed them, every month, in others once in 
 two months, and in others still, once in three months. 
 He approved. — Hovhannes inquired if we have the sacra- 
 ment of confession. In order to show them, that, though 
 we are destitute of this, we have another effectual means 
 of preventing unqualified persons from approaching the 
 table of the Lord, we replied, that before admission for the 
 first time to the communion, every candidate is examined 
 as to his faith and practice by certain officers of the 
 church, of whom the pastor is generally one. If they ap- 
 prove, he is proposed to the body of communicants ; and, 
 after sufficient time has elapsed for them to form an 
 opinion of his character, he is admitted by vote, and ever 
 afterward has a right to commune, without any subsequent 
 examination. At the time of his admission, however, be- 
 sides a public profession of his faith, he enters into a 
 solemn covenant with the other communicants, and they 
 also with him, in which is included an obligation to exer- 
 cise a Christian watchfulness over the conduct of each 
 other. So that each is watching over the other, and the 
 pastor over all, and if any one be overtaken in a fault, and 
 private admonitions fail to reclaim him, he is brought before 
 the church, reproved, suspended from communion, or ex- 
 communicated, as they shall determine by vote. We have 
 more than once found an account of the organization of 
 our churches, though a thing never dreamed of before, 
 make a very favorable impression upon Armenians to whom 
 we have given it, and such seemed to be its effect upon the 
 vartabeds. They only inquired, as we had said that none 
 are ever admitted to the communion till they arrive at 
 years of discretion, if baptism is postponed in the same 
 way ; and seemed satisfied at our reply, that it is generally 
 administered the first time the mother is able to attend 
 
 VOL. II. 12* 
 
130 COMMENCEMENT OF THE ARMENIAN SABBATH. 
 
 church, and sometimes earlier if the child is in danger of 
 dying. — They also inquired which way we direct our de- 
 votions. We replied, that, believing God to be present 
 every where, as much in the west as in the east, we never 
 think of the points of the compass when we are about to 
 pray. The Armenians, however, they assured us, are 
 always careful to face the east at the time of prayer ; a 
 thing which we often observed, especially in the position of 
 their churches. Indeed, so well is that understood to be 
 the point toward which they always pray, that we have 
 more than once known our moslem muleteers, when at a 
 loss for the direction of Mecca, inquire of the Armenians 
 for their kiblah, and turning at right angles, begin their 
 devotions. 
 
 Having been already informed, that the Armenians gen- 
 erally labor neither on Saturday nor on Sabbath evening, 
 we inquired when, according to their church, the Sabbath 
 commences. Their reply was, that, though the true day 
 begins and ends at midnight, their canons forbid labor after 
 sunset on Saturday evening, and after the same hour on 
 Sunday evening leave every one to his own inclinations. 
 The same rule applies to the great festivals, but the fasts 
 are kept from midnight to midnight. They argued the 
 correctness of their church, from the expression, ' the eve- 
 ning and the morning,' in the first chapter of Genesis ; and 
 from the declaration that Christ lay in the grave three days. 
 For the Armenians, and, I believe, the Greeks also, never 
 doubt that our Savior arose precisely at midnight, and of 
 Gourse the first day of the week cannot be included among 
 the three that he was in the grave, unless it begins before 
 that hour. Labor is now usually suspended on Saturday, 
 from the termination of evening prayers, which is generally 
 a little before sunset. 
 
 They assured us, in answer to our inquiries, that a time 
 is believed by them to be coming, when the whole world 
 
IDEAS OF MISSIONS. 131 
 
 will embrace Christianity ; and as a proof that it is at 
 hand, they declared that the Persians, as a body, are now 
 prepared for such a step, were they not afraid of their gov- 
 ernment. We suggested that the labors of Martyn had 
 contributed to persuade some of that nation of the truth of 
 Christianity, and reminded them of his visit to their con- 
 vent. They barely said that they recollected his name, and 
 went on to affirm, that the moslems are much more ready 
 to unite with the Armenians, who are their neighbors and 
 well known, than with any foreign missionaries. The 
 German missionaries had been preaching, they said, so ma- 
 ny years, and still had made no converts, while they had 
 baptized, since the war, forty or fifty, who had come of 
 their own accord to the convent, and solicited the rite. 
 They acknowledged, however, that not very strict qualifica- 
 tions were demanded, as, instead of a belief or even knowl- 
 edge of all the dogmas of their church, only an acknowl- 
 edgement of the trinity, and of the divinity of Christ, was 
 required of the candidates ; the latter of which points they 
 explained, when questioned by us if a belief in the atoning 
 sacrifice of Christ was not deemed necessary, as embracing 
 the whole character of the Savior. 
 
 The morning passed away in friendly conversation, dur- 
 ing which many apologies were made that no more atten- 
 tion had been paid us on our arrival, and an invitation was 
 given us to dine with them to-day. We accordingly sat 
 down about twelve o'clock to a plentiful repast. Trout had 
 formed a part of almost every meal we had eaten in the 
 convent; and observing it also upon the table now, we in- 
 quired from whence they were obtained. They replied, 
 that they were from the lake of Sevan ; and affirmed that that 
 lake contains twelve kinds of fish, which succeed each 
 other in regular rotation, month by month: this was the 
 month for trout ! — The visit to the library, our request for 
 which in the morning had procured us this interview, was 
 
132 SECRETARY OF THE CATHOLICOS. 
 
 not forgotten, and after dinner, we were conducted to it by 
 Hovhannes. The books were crowded together without 
 much order, and though numerous, they doubtless fall far 
 short of his estimate, which was 16,000 volumes. Among 
 them were many manuscripts ; some bearing marks of con- 
 siderable antiquity, and others yielding to none that I have 
 ever seen, in any language, in beauty. He declared that 
 the convent has now no school, and that its press is no 
 longer in operation. 
 
 From the library, Hovhannes invited us to his own apart- 
 ments, and in the course of a long conversation, communi- 
 cated a variety of information, which I have given else- 
 where. We became much interested in him. He was 
 educated by the Catholicos, has been with him ever since 
 his appointment to his present office, and is now his secre- 
 tary. No other of the monks knows Russian, nor, I be- 
 lieve, any foreign language. He doubtless, according to 
 the fashion of the country, expressed more friendship than 
 he felt, but many circumstances convinced us, that he 
 really possessed more candor and sense, than is usually 
 found under the cowl of a monk. He visited us in the 
 evening, to request that we would ask him then for any 
 additional information we might desire, as he should be 
 engaged in the synod to-morrow. When speaking of mis- 
 sions in the morning, he had lamented that divisions had 
 hitherto weakened the church, and prevented the conver- 
 sion of the world ; and now he voluntarily expressed great 
 pleasure, that the different sects are becoming more friend- 
 ly to each other, and that the religious wars which disgrace 
 the history of former ages, are heard of no more, and 
 would, in fact, in the present state of the world, be 
 impossible. ' It is time ' said he, ' that those who agree in 
 the doctrines of the trinity, the divinity of Christ, and the 
 atonement, (we feared the latter was suggested only by our 
 repeated mention of it in the morning,) should no longer 
 
RETURN TO NAKHCHEVAN. 133 
 
 be divided by such minor points as fasting and the like.' 
 — A tray of beautiful apples, pears, grapes and melons 
 from Hosep vartabed, in the evening, gave additional evi- 
 dence of a desire to make up for the coldness of our first 
 reception. 
 
 After a cup of tea with the vartabeds, we left Echmiad- 
 zin on the morning of the 23d of November. Before 
 reaching Erivan, I had another attack of the ague and 
 fever, which was repeated for two or three days succeeding. 
 But with no other remedy than riding, it passed away, and 
 we reached Nakhchevan again on the 29th of the same 
 month. 
 
LETTER XVII. 
 
 FROM NAKHCHEVAN TO TEBRIZ. 
 
 Leave Nakhchevan — Cross the Aras — Benighted in the open air — Pery- 
 kend — Khoy — Delayed by sickness — Conveyed in a takhtirewao to Tebriz 
 — Kindness of English friends — Description of Tebriz — Its trade — The 
 prince royal, Abbas Mirza — His government. 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 We left Nakhchevan for Tebriz in Persia, on the 3d of 
 December. The shortest and most usual route is by Esgy 
 Joolfah on the Aras, and Merend, an ancient Armenian 
 city now the capital of a district of the province of Ader- 
 Daijan. But hearing that the plague existed at Merend, 
 we avoided that route, and took the road to Khoy. The 
 general, prince Bebutoff, had politely ordered the police at 
 Nakhchevan, by letter, to furnish us with a guide, and we 
 were detained until 10 A. M. before he was ready. Start- 
 ing at that hour, we descended immediately into the allu- 
 vial, which lies between the town and the river. It was 
 little cultivated, and the villages upon it were few. After 
 a ride of two fursakhs, we reached the Aras at half past 
 12 o'clock, near Abbas-abad, a fortress named after its 
 founder, the present prince royal of Persia. Its mud walls 
 and deep fosse, constructed upon the modern principles of 
 fortification, would give it an appearance of strength ; had 
 it a more favorable location than the mere level plain. 
 We were not allowed to enter it, and passed on to the ferry 
 at the quarantine ground, perhaps a half a mile below. 
 Here was no lazaretto, and only two or three rooms under- 
 ground, and a miserable tent or two, accommodated a com- 
 
ENTER PERSIA, 135 
 
 pany of half starved travellers, who were doomed to a 
 quarantine of ten or fourteen days. Karmir-vank (the red 
 convent,) a monastery of some distinction in the ancient 
 canton of Koghten,* appeared not far below. It was now 
 the residence of the bishop of Aderbaijan, whom we had 
 met at Nakhchevan on our first visit. 
 
 Gur passports had to be examined by the commandant 
 of the fortress, before we could cross the river, and were 
 accordingly sent by the hands of a soldier. He return- 
 ed with the report, that a general being there, the comman- 
 dant was too much occupied to attend to them. Thus, 
 though there was but just time to reach the nearest village 
 on the opposite side before dark, we were detained three or 
 four hours. We had laid in, too, but a small stock of pro- 
 visions in bread and cheese, and the poor people here being 
 unable to spare us a morsel, we had the prospect of a hun- 
 gry as well as a houseless night. At length the general was 
 seen approaching. It was general R. whose kindness in 
 previous embarrassments we have already had occasion 
 more than once to acknowledge. He expressed much sur- 
 prise at finding us so often detained, and instantly des- 
 patched one of his suite, to see that we had our passports 
 immediately. They soon came, but the ferry was so ex- 
 tremely awkward, that before all our company and baggage 
 reached the Persian bank of the Aras, and were ready to pro- 
 ceed, the sun was near setting. Where we landed, about 
 a thousand bushels of barley in bags were lying unguarded 
 upon the ground. It belonged to the prince, Abbas Mirza, 
 who had sent it hither to be passed over the river for a 
 market. The Russian authorities ordered it to undergo a 
 long quarantine before being admitted, and directed him 
 to send men to take care of it. Provoked by such a regu- 
 lation, he caused it to be thrown upon the ground, and 
 there it had lain for three months when we passed, entirely 
 
 * St. Mart. vol. l:p. 134. 
 
136 BENIGHTED IN THE OPEN AIR. 
 
 exposed to the weather, and to the depredations of birds, 
 beasts and men. Our muleteers failed not to allow their 
 horses, to take their share. We pushed on with the hope 
 of finding some village before many hours ; but just as the 
 last ray of twilight left the horizon, we lost the path, and 
 were consequently obliged to spread our carpets in the open 
 air for the night. The dry gravelly lands, which occupy 
 the space between the Aras and the mountains on this side, 
 afford no wood for a fire ; nor would our muleteers, indeed, 
 allow one to be built even of weeds, for fear of attracting 
 robbers ; a caution which showed us that we had now left the 
 safety produced by Russian police. We had left its em- 
 barrassments and hindrances, too ; for the Persian territory 
 opens its arms to every traveller, neither asking him whence 
 he comes nor whither he goes. 
 
 Dec. 4. The night proved calm and mild for Decem- 
 ber in the latitude of 39°. We were up at 2, and started at 
 half past 3. A. M. Our Persian muleteers had begun, al- 
 most from the moment of crossing the Aras, to spit, and 
 throw their curses at the country upon the other side; 
 and now, just before sunrise, they stopped the whole party 
 to say their prayers, apparently as an expression of their 
 satisfaction at finding themselves once more out of the pol- 
 luted territories of the hated Russians. We had, before 
 that hour, left the valley of the Aras. Beyond, our path led, 
 with little perceptible ascent or descent, through defiles be- 
 tween naked hills, exhibiting hardly a sign of cultivation. 
 High mountains around were covered with snow, the weath- 
 er became raw and! windy, and we had no food the whole day 
 to brace us against the cold, and give us strength to ride, 
 but the remnants of our bread and cheese, which we had 
 taken yesterday morning from Nakhchevan for a lunch. 
 Thus we rode twelve hours continuously. 
 
 About 11 A. M. we crossed a fine stream of water, flow- 
 ing to the left toward the Aras, from a plain on the right, 
 
PERY-KEND. 137 
 
 which seemed extremely fertile and contained a number of 
 villages. A draught from the river was the only refresh- 
 ment we found here. A ridge of white and gray marble 
 succeeded, and we entered another much larger plain, 
 and so marshy that it was now partly covered with water. 
 Here we reached a moslem village, called Pery-kend, at 
 half past 3 P. M. and sought for lodgings. It was filled 
 with Kurds, whom the snow had driven from the neighbor- 
 ing mountains to seek here for winter-quarters ; and for 
 that reason, its inhabitants pretended, no good accommoda- 
 tions could be furnished us. We had not yet learned how 
 to manage the inhospitality, which the Persians have been 
 taught by their government and their religion to practise 
 toward foreigners, nor indeed were we acquainted with 
 its nature ; and, being too fatigued to proceed farther, we 
 accepted a dark corner in a stable, filled with horses, cows 
 and asses, and almost suffocating us by its stench. I was 
 myself, in fact, reduced to such weakness by sleeping out 
 in the night, by the chilliness of the weather, and so long a 
 ride upon an empty stomach, in addition to my previously 
 enfeebled .health, that even a resting place among the cattle 
 was acceptable. 
 
 Dec. 5. We spent a miserable Sabbath at Pery-kend. 
 A cold rain storm, and my diseased health confined me to 
 our stable. 
 
 Dec. 6. Our morning's ride to Khoy was three fur- 
 sakhs. When next able to take notes, I could recollect very 
 few circumstances respecting it ; and in fact a thick mist 
 enveloping every object, limited very much the observations 
 of us both. Almost the whole distance was a plain, and at 
 one place a copious spring of warm salt water boiled up in 
 a small pond by the side of the path. As we approached 
 the city, the fertility of the soil increased, cultivation be- 
 came general, and villages were frequent. We viewed the 
 plain of Khoy under more advantageous circumstances, on 
 
 VOL. II. 13 
 
138 KHOY. 
 
 our return from Tebriz. The whole basin, inclosed by 
 the surrounding mountains, is of great extent. Much of it 
 is broken up by hills of a dry soil, and not remarkable for 
 fertility ; though they, as well as the mountains, are desti- 
 tute of the sunburnt and arid aspect of the scenery of 
 Tebriz and of the valley of the Aras, and afford, upon their 
 sloping sides and swelling summits, verdant pastures for 
 flocks and herds. In the vicinity of the city, the plain is 
 extremely level, and watered almost to excess ; and its fame 
 for fertility has not exceeded the reality. Besides numer- 
 ous gardens which beautify it, grain and cotton are exten- 
 sively cultivated. 
 
 We had hardly dismounted at Khoy, before it was told 
 us that an English lady had just arrived from Tebriz, and 
 taken lodgings in the same caravanserai ! Wishing to 
 know if the plague was still at that city, as reported, we 
 informed her by a messenger, who we were, and proposed 
 to call. She replied, that her accommodations were too 
 miserable to allow her to receive a visit without embarrass- 
 ment, and that she preferred calling on us. We had neith- 
 er chair, nor stool, nor anything to sit upon, . but our 
 carpets spread upon the floor. We bethought ourselves of 
 the frame of our tandoor, and covering it with a cloak, offered 
 her a seat upon that. She proved to be French, instead of 
 English, and was the person whom other travellers have 
 mentioned as engaged in instructing the daughters of the 
 prince. She has been in the country many years, some- 
 times travelling in the dress of a man, which doubtless 
 well became her. 
 
 Dec. 7. We spent the day at Khoy, and were almost 
 confined, by the cold and dampness of the weather and 
 my feeble health, to the caravanserai. In our subsequent 
 visit we had a better opportunity to see the city. In 
 former times, it belonged to the Armenian province of 
 Vasbooragan ; now it is one of the cities of Aderbaijan. 
 
KHOY. . 139 
 
 Though its walls, as well as its houses, are of mud or un- 
 burnt bricks, broad and regular streets, intersected by ca- 
 nals with shade trees upon their banks, give it an airiness 
 and regularity unknown in almost every other oriental city 
 I have seen. It has a lofty and well built bazar, too, that 
 would hardly disgrace Constantinople. The extreme mois- 
 ture of the plain, upon the level surface of which it is situ- 
 ated, combined with the warmth of the atmosphere in the 
 summer months, must subject its inhabitants to frequent 
 fevers. A son of the prince royal, named Jihangir Mirza, 
 now resides here, and governs for his father the district of 
 which it is the capital. Its moslem population we heard 
 estimated at from 4000 to 7000 families. A distinct sub- 
 urb contains about 100 families of Armenians, who have 
 two churches and two priests. In the villages around are 
 a few more, but nearly all have emigrated north of the 
 Aras. 
 
 Dec. 8. A tolerably well made and perfectly straight 
 road conducted us from Khoy, for about two miles in the 
 direction of Tebriz, to the principal river that waters the 
 plain. A double ditch of running water lines each side, 
 and waters rows of the sinjid, or silver-leafed willow, which 
 form an avenue the whole distance. The sinjid is a com- 
 mon tree in all the plains of Aderbaijan which we visited, 
 and being invariably planted along the margin of canals, 
 never failed to remind us forcibly of the imagery of the 
 first Psalm. It produces an insipid fruit, resembling the 
 date in form, which abounds in every bazar. About half 
 way from the city to the river, a side avenue conducts from 
 the road to the country-seat of a khan, in an extensive 
 and luxuriant garden of fruit trees upon the side of a hill ; 
 which carried our minds away to other countries, where 
 protecting governments allow private wealth thus publicly 
 to exhibit itself, more frequently than in Persia. The 
 river is crossed by an arched bridge of stone. 
 
140 DELAYED BY SICKNESS, 
 
 Of these ornaments to the suburbs of Khoy, however, t 
 noticed nothing this morning ; for fog, and rain, and the 
 suffering of disease prevented all observation. A return of 
 fever at Khoy had increased my debility, and now my 
 strength soon failed. Pain in my back made the motion 
 of my horse intolerable, and I dismounted to walk. Thus 
 I could proceed but a few rods, and that only by the aid of 
 my companion's arm, before weakness forced me to my 
 horse again. By alternately riding and walking, however, 
 I succeeded with the greatest difficulty, in reaching Ha- 
 ji Seid, 3 fursakhs from Khoy. It was a moslem village, at 
 the entrance of a pass in the mountains, which conducts 
 to the lake of Oormiah. A corner of a miserable stable 
 was the first lodging-place that offered, and the best that 
 the villagers could be persuaded to give us. Dirty as it 
 was, I was never so glad to reach the best American inn ; 
 nor did ever a fire seem more cheerful than the burning 
 cow-dung which was blazing here when we entered. I 
 remember no more, for a stupor, which had been gradually 
 increasing during the morning's ride, now completely over- 
 came me. I sunk upon the ground, and remained uncon- 
 scious of what passed for two days. My companion could 
 not obtain from me an answer to the simplest questions, 
 nor had I the strength to turn in bed, if that name may be 
 given to what was under me. It was a cloak and a car- 
 pet laid upon the ground, and made, at length, somewhat 
 softer by the addition of some coarse weeds, procured with 
 difficulty from our moslem host. The stench of the cattle, 
 which filled our stable at night, polluted the air, and the 
 lowing of calves disturbed us. No motives my companion 
 could use were sufficient to procure another room, or even 
 to cause the cattle to be removed from this. And such 
 was the dread of ceremonial pollution from Christian con- 
 tact, that the slightest conveniences and attentions were 
 denied us, or given with the greatest reluctance, Our 
 
RIDE TO TEBRIZ. 141 
 
 food even had to be cooked in our own dishes, by our own 
 servant. 
 
 On awaking from my stupor, I could neither walk nor 
 stand alone ; but was free from fever, and my first thought 
 was to inquire how we should escape from such a miserable 
 spot. Mr. Dwight had anticipated me, and already sent a 
 messenger to the English gentlemen at Tebriz for whom 
 we had letters, to inform them of our condition, and request 
 the aid of a takhtirewan to convey me to town. I hope 
 never to forget the kindness of Dr. Mc Neill, the physician 
 and first assistant of the embassy, upon that occasion. In 
 a very short time after intelligence of my illness reached 
 him, he entered our stable, though the distance was at 
 Jeast seventy or eighty miles. The takhtirewan also soon 
 arrived, as near as the mountainous road would allow it, and 
 on the 15th, seven days after we reached the village, he 
 made arrangements to remove me. The mountains which 
 separate the plain of Khoy from the lake of Oormiah, are 
 at this point about two fursakhs broad, and composed 
 chiefly of naked sandstone rocks, giving place now and 
 then to small fields of grain. Our progress over them was 
 slow, and somewhat difficult, owing to the peculiar con- 
 struction of my carriage. A takhtirewan resembles a se- 
 dan chair, except that it is carried by two mules or horses, 
 instead of men, requires a person to assume a lying instead 
 of a sitting posture, and is completely closed from the 
 external air. It is the only native carriage known to the 
 Persians. Had a projecting rock, or a stumble of a 
 horse disturbed its balance, I must have been overturned, 
 and perhaps precipitated to a great distance. A kind 
 Providence preserved me from all accidents. As we de- 
 scended the farther side, the windows were opened a 
 moment to afford me a view of the lake of Oormiah : I 
 had no other prospect of the country during the remainde r 
 
 VOL. II. 13* 
 
142 KINDNESS OF ENGLISH FRIENDS. 
 
 of our ride to Tebriz. I might give you in this connection, 
 the observations of Mr. Dwight ; but I prefer to postpone 
 them till another occasion, when we both inspected the 
 same ground again. Especially as this, being the point 
 where we passed beyond the boundaries of ancient Arme- 
 nia, is a convenient spot for breaking the narrative. Dr. 
 Mc Neill passed on before, leaving orders with the heads 
 of the different villages to accommodate us comfortably ; 
 and we reached Tebriz in safety on the 18th of December. 
 The English embassy to the court of Persia, in order to 
 be near the prince royal, into whose hands the Shah has re- 
 signed the management of his foreign relations, has its seat 
 at Tebriz. Mr. Cartwright, the English consul general at 
 Constantinople, had kindly recommended us by letter to Col. 
 Mc Donald the late embassador, well known as a traveller 
 under the name of Kinneir, and to Maj. Willock, former 
 commander of the English forces in Persia. The latter be- 
 ing in the country during the winter, hospitably opened his 
 house in town for our residence. To find, after lodging 
 so long in filthy stables, and being reduced to the extrem- 
 ity of weakness by disease, comfortable and well furnished 
 apartments ready for our reception the moment we arrived, 
 was more grateful than can be conceived, and doubtless con- 
 tributed much to the restoration of my health. For many 
 other attentions, Maj. Willock, and his brother Sir H. 
 Willock, former charge d'affairs, deserve our sincerest ac- 
 knowledgments. Col. Mc Donald had been taken from the 
 world before we arrived ; but Capt. Campbell, then acting 
 envoy, treated us with a hospitality, that could hardly have 
 been exceeded had we been his own brothers. He also 
 readily facilitated our proceedings in every thing that de- 
 pended upon his official capacity ; and, what we esteem- 
 ed not the least of his attentions, he opened his house for 
 religious services on the Sabbath, and took pains to procure a 
 full attendance. Our meetings usually consisted of nearly 
 
DESCRIPTION OF TEBRIZ. 143 
 
 twenty who spoke our language, and are among our most 
 satisfactory recollections of our visit to Persia. While Dr. 
 Mc Neill remained at Tebriz, he not only contributed to 
 the restoration of my health by his medical advice, but by 
 his superior intelligence added much to our information of 
 the country. Diplomatic business at length called him to 
 Teheran ; and he was subsequently appointed Resident at 
 Bushire, one of the highest offices in the gift of the Presi- 
 dency of Bombay. After his departure, Dr. Cormick kindly 
 took charge of my health. He is the same physician who 
 healed Martyn of a similar disease, when he was at this 
 city ; and he seemed to have retained the highest opinion 
 of him, as a Christian, a companion, and a scholar. His 
 long experience in the diseases of the climate was of great 
 utility to me. Among the gentlemen whose civilities we 
 experienced at Tebriz, was Mr. Nisbet, an officer in the 
 commissariat department, who together with his wife en- 
 tered into our feelings as missionaries, and sympathised with 
 us in our views of the spiritual wants of the natives of the 
 country. In a word, though I have invariably received the 
 readiest aid and attention from English gentlemen, whom 
 I have met in travelling, none have equalled our friends at 
 Tebriz in hospitality and kindness. 
 
 Tebriz is the capital of Aderbaijan, (called also Azerbai- 
 jan,) the ancient Media Atopatene, and now one of the 
 most populous and productive of all the provinces of Persia. 
 It stands at the head of a plain, which extends about thirty 
 miles eastward from the lake of Oormiah. Arid moun- 
 tains, without a tree or a particle of vegetation of any kind, 
 and composed of ledges of rocks or gravelly earth, surround 
 it on the east, and extend off on either side of the plain 
 toward the west. Though externally the very picture of 
 barrenness, they are said to be rich in mineral substances ; 
 and green, bright red, and various other unusual shades, in- 
 termingled with brown, their prevailing color, convince even 
 
144 DESCRIPTION OF TEBRIZ. 
 
 the distant observer of the presence of some unusual ingre- 
 dients. In iron, copper and salt, they are known to 
 abound. A mine of the latter is wrought not far from the 
 city, and the river which descends from the mountains on 
 the east and flows through the whole length of the plain, is 
 strongly impregnated with it. Armenian history pretends 
 that Tebriz, which it usually calls the royal Kantsag, was 
 founded in A. D. 246 by Khosrov First, and named Ta-vrej, 
 "this revenge,'' in memory of the vengeance he took upon 
 Ardasheer the first Sassanian, in driving him from Persia.* 
 The Persian geographers assert that it was built by a 
 wife or a general of Haroon el Rasheed, and named Teb- 
 riz, "the fever scattered," from its salubrity .t While Stra- 
 bo contradicts both, by mentioning in his day Gaza, 
 (evidently the same as the Gazakon of the Byzantines, 
 and the Kantsag of the Armenians,) as the royal city of 
 Atropatia. In successive ages it has occasionally fallen 
 for a time into the hands of the kings of Armenia, the 
 emperors of Constantinople, and the Osmanly Sultans ; but 
 generally it has belonged to the rulers of Persia. Though 
 repeatedly overturned by earthquakes, and destroyed by 
 wars, it has as often resumed a rank of the first importance. 
 In the time of the Moghul Hoolakoo, Maragha indeed 
 eclipsed it, but generally it has been the capital of the 
 surrounding region. 
 
 It contains at present, according to the estimate of the 
 English residents, about 60,000 inhabitants. Extensive 
 and populous suburbs around, seem almost to form a part of 
 it, as they probably in fact once did. Among them are 
 many and luxuriant gardens of fruit trees, in which the ap- 
 ple, peach, pear, quince, apricot, almond, and grape abound, 
 and contribute to the abundance and variety of its first ba- 
 zars. Numerous canals run in every direction to irrigate 
 them, and pass the roads by descending in tunnels, so as to 
 
 * Chamchean, P. 3: c. 12. f Chardin, vol. 2: p. 333. 
 
DESCRIPTION OF TEBRIZ. 145 
 
 leave the level unbroken by the unevenness of bridges. 
 The city itself is surrounded by a wall of brick and a fosse* 
 which present some appearance of strength. Its houses 
 are a mockery of every idea of oriental magnificence. In 
 the style, to which we have found no exceptions since 
 entering the valley of the Aras, they are of mud ; built 
 either by throwing a handful of that material in a damp 
 state irregularly upon another, or by first drying it in the 
 form of bricks, and then arranging it in regular layers. 
 The streets, except where the English have made a few side- 
 walks, as causeys through the mud to each other's houses, are 
 unpaved. Not a window opens toward them, nor is hard- 
 ly a house to be 'seen. As you pass along, nothing appears 
 but naked mud walls, broken now and then by an irregular 
 opening with a clumsy door. In some cases a doorway of 
 burnt bricks indicates some attempt at display ; while fre- 
 quently in the gardens of the suburbs, security is more es- 
 pecially consulted by making the door of one entire stone. 
 Enter, and you find an open yard, used either for a garden, 
 or a barn-yard, according to the taste of the owner. The 
 house is almost invariably of one story, in order that no 
 one, either from his window or bis terrace, may pry into 
 the secrets of his neighbor's harem ; and generally presents 
 a model of the most perfect irregularity. Room is added 
 to room successively, as an increase of wives, of children, 
 of servants, or of horses makes it necessary to build great- 
 er, and all are scattered separately in different corners of 
 the yard, or thrown carelessly together so as to inclose 
 court with court, according as convenience or chance may 
 direct. 
 
 Aside from the Ark, an enormous ruined tower or castle 
 within the citadel, and the splendid and even magnificent 
 remains of an old mosk just without the Teheran gate, the 
 city contains no public buildings, ancient or modern, that 
 can compensate at all for the meanness of its private dwell- 
 
146 DESCRIPTION OF TEBRIZ. 
 
 ing houses. Many of its raosks cover a sufficient extent 
 of ground, but they exhibit to the spectator without, hard 
 ly a single feature of beauty. Even the minaret, that abun- 
 dant and sometimes beautiful ornament of a Turkish city, 
 is wanting. We saw but one in Tebriz, and that was 
 broken ; in the towns of the sheeies generally, minarets are 
 extremely rare. The caravanserais are numerous and large, 
 and the bazars extensive ; but there is nothing in the archi- 
 tecture of any to attract attention, except that the new ba- 
 zar is spacious and covered with lofty domes and arches. 
 The inhabitants of Tebriz, indeed, exhibit peculiar skill 
 in the construction of the dome and arch. No frames to 
 support, or forms to shape them are used. The architect 
 guided merely by the eye, and sticking the bricks upon each 
 other as fast as they can be handled, with nothing to uphold 
 them but a cement which assumes almost immediately the 
 •consistency of stone, gives them a turn of perfect regularity. 
 Whatever may once have been the reputation of Tebriz 
 for scattering fevers, it has it no longer. Its winters are 
 not very unlike those of our middle States, and frosts and 
 snows are frequent ; but its summers are said to be extreme- 
 ly sultry, and it has been observed that most English resi- 
 dents have at first to undergo the seasoning of an interrmit- 
 tent. The earthquakes which have repeatedly overturned 
 it, are still so frequent, that some of the best houses have 
 apartments built entirely of wood, for a refuge from their 
 convulsions. One occurred while we were there, which 
 prostrated a wall of some length. 
 
 The causes that have ranked Tebriz among the places, 
 which have been proved by a succession of ages to be con- 
 venient, under almost every combination of circumstances, 
 for the location of important cities, are numerous. Among 
 them doubtless is the fact, that it is in the heart of a large 
 and fruitful region. But the principal is, that in it natural- 
 ly centres an extensive trade. Its bazars are very exten- 
 
ITS TRADE. 147 
 
 give, and constantly so thronged that one can with difficulty 
 work his way through them. Yet with the exception of a 
 few silk goods wrought from materials raised in Mazan- 
 deran, it is the seat of no important manufacture ; and 
 even they are all the work of domestic looms. Nor do its 
 shops generally exhibit any thing but the productions of 
 common mechanics, and merchandise of inferior value. 
 Enter the magazines of its caravanserais, however, and 
 you will find them stored with the riches of India and the 
 skill of Europe. It is as a thoroughfare of commerce that 
 Tebriz is distinguished. At nearly equal distances from 
 the Indus, the Persian gulf, Constantinople, and the marts 
 of Russia, it has commercial relations with all. Merchan- 
 dise to the amount of 600,000 tomans, (about 81,800,000,) 
 passes from it annually over the Caspian sea to Astra- 
 khan. The costly goods of Kashmeer and the East are 
 brought by its merchants from the region of the Indus, 
 and exchanged in the bazars of Constantinople for the 
 manufactures of Europe, While some of the productions 
 sent to India by the British East India Company for the 
 Persian market, find their way hither from the ports of the 
 Persian gulf; and the productions of Arabia are brought 
 from Bagdad. 
 
 The whole of this trade is in the hands of natives. Not a 
 European mercantile house exists at Tebriz, nor has England, 
 after all her splendid embassies, to this moment any commer- 
 cial treaty with Persia. The nearest attempt at direct com- 
 merce with the country, which she has recently made, is 
 the appointment of a consul at Trebizond, with liberty to 
 trade. He has already an agent at Erzroom, and contem- 
 plates the establishment of a branch at Tebriz. Should it 
 prove an advantageous channel for introducing English 
 manufactures, probably they will pursue it in preference to 
 the circuitous one now taken. Distance is in favor of it, for 
 the Tebriz market at least ; for, while from Bushire there 
 
148 THE PRINCE ROYAL, ABBAS MIRZA. 
 
 is a land carriage of 1200 miles at an expense of from ten 
 to thirteen tomans the load ; Trebizond is only about half 
 as far, and the carriage from thence but half as dear. 
 
 The unsettled nature of the Persian government, how- 
 ever, threatens still, as it has done for ages,to deter foreign 
 merchants from risking large depots of merchandise in the 
 country; and the disposition, now so strongly manifested 
 by the native traders, to import their own goods from ex- 
 tensive foreign markets affording the chance of an advan- 
 tageous selection from large assortments, will render the 
 success of any foreign establishment, which may attempt to 
 bring merchandise to them, at least doubtful. At any rate, 
 a mercantile firm that shall extend its branches no farther 
 east than Trebizond or Erzroom, can expect to do nothing 
 in the Persian trade. For the merchants of that country 
 will never stop at a small magazine in either of those 
 places, so long as a little more time, which they know not 
 how to value, and the distance of a few hundred miles, 
 which it costs them almost nothing to travel, will bring 
 them to the extensive depots of Constantinople, which have 
 so long furnished them with goods to the amount of many 
 hundred thousand tomans annually. 
 
 The principal circumstance that has attracted the atten- 
 tion of Europeans toward Tebriz, is its having been for 
 many years the residence of Abbas Mirza, the prince roy- 
 al of Persia. Such flattering accounts were given by trav- 
 ellers of his talents and liberality, when he first entered upon 
 the duties of public life, that the world expected from him 
 important reforms to improve the political, if not the religi- 
 ous condition of his countrymen. He was marching with 
 his army to a distant part of the empire during our visit, and 
 we had no oportunity to see him. The accounts we heard 
 of him, however, disappointed us much. In regard to many 
 European innovations, indeed, he excels his countrymen 
 in that freedom from prejudice, by which many of them are 
 
HIS GOVERNMENT. 149 
 
 distinguished from the Turks. His religious views, too, 
 are liberal, and his practice tolerant. But with his liberali- 
 ty, he is also immoral, indulging in drinking and other spe- 
 cies of dissipation. So long as he had an able prime minis- 
 ter, his defects, as a ruler, were less apparent. But now, not 
 only does he show himself possessed of the most perfect du- 
 plicity, but of a weakness which places him under the 
 control of an unprincipled man, who has only to intoxicate 
 him, to carry the most unwelcome point. 
 
 With the characteristic avarice of his family, he mak«s 
 the heaviest exactions from his province that can be borne, 
 and adopts arbitrary and objectionable modes of collecting 
 them. We met at Tebriz Jaafer Kooly khan, a chief of 
 the powerful tribe of Afshars, and one of the first of the 
 Persian nobility, who had been deposed from the office of 
 governor of Maragha, which he had long held, merely be- 
 cause another had offered a larger tribute than he was pay- 
 ing or would pay. In other instances also has he virtually 
 sold similar stations to the highest bidder. The officers 
 under him are not restrained from flagrant abuses. It 
 was reported, at the time of our visit, that the governor of 
 Tebriz had leagued with the principal thieves in town for 
 a share of their booty. Justice is known to be perfectly 
 venial. A gentleman informed us that he once, for an ex- 
 periment, brought a cause before the chief judge. For his 
 gratification or to pay him for his trouble, in compliance 
 with the customs of the country, a small present was giv- 
 en ; but the opposite party offered higher, and the gentle- 
 man's claims were negatived. In a word, moral principle, 
 political uprightness, and the rights of the subject, are sub- 
 jected to the dictates of sensuality, ambition and avarice. 
 And none, permit me to add, but those whom skepticism 
 leads to forget the benefits that Christianity confers up- 
 on man, ought ever to have expected any other result, 
 
 VOL. II. 14 
 
150 GOVERNMENT OF ABBAS MIRZA. 
 
 under the influence of the false and corrupt religion of 
 Mecca. 
 
 The prince has indeed long succeeded in preserving the 
 public peace in his province. Open robbery, with occa- 
 sional exceptions on the borders of the Kurdish mountains, 
 is unknown ; and the persons and property of foreigners 
 are perfectly safe. Cut it is an interesting question, wheth- 
 er the death of the Shah may not, any day, break up all the 
 foundations of public order and security. The order of 
 succession has hitherto been so perfectly unsettled in Per- 
 sia, that at the death of a Shah, whoever is strong enough 
 hesitates not to aspire to the throne ; and upon such occa- 
 sions, rival parties have often imbrued their hands in each* 
 other's blood, and brought upon the nation all the evils of 
 complete anarchy. In the present instance, the size of the 
 royal family makes the number of candidates unusually 
 large. Abbas has the advantage of all the others, in hav- 
 ing been nominated to the succession by his father, secured 
 in it, as is understood, by a treaty with Russia, and 
 entrusted for a long time with the organization of the 
 whole regular army of the realm. But an army is of little 
 use, when want of punctuality in payment estranges its 
 affections from its leader, as is said to be the case with his. 
 The Russians would perhaps not hinder an insurrection, 
 that might give them occasion to interfere, and .pick some 
 of the richest jewels from the crown they disposed of. And 
 as to the father's wishes, few of his sons, probably, will 
 regard them, after death shall have stripped him of his 
 power. 
 
LETTER XVIII. 
 
 TEBRIZ. 
 
 Number and political condition of the Armenians of Tebriz — Their moral 
 character — Their education — Festival of the Purification — Bishop Israel 
 — His preaching — Conversation with him — Armenian way of salvation — 
 Moslems of Aderbaijan not of the Persian race— Persian civility, and 
 falsehood — Slight prejudices against European customs, with high ideas 
 of ceremonial purity — Fondness for religious discussion, with bigotry or 
 skepticism. 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 I have already informed you, upon the authority of the 
 ex-bishop of Aderbaijan, that, at the close of the late war, 
 9000 Armenian families emigrated from this province to 
 the Russian territories. He also assured us, that there 
 remained behind 2500 families, and that 50 or 60 families 
 of the emigrants had returned; and I am inclined to credit 
 him, rather than the present bishop at Tebriz, who declared 
 that there are now not a thousand Armenian families in 
 the province. The number of families of that nation in 
 the city itself, is not greater than 60 or 70. They have a 
 church, which is served by four priests. 
 
 The political condition of the Armenians of Tebriz is 
 peculiar. When the prince found so many of their nation 
 inclined, at the close of the war, to avail themselves of the 
 protection of Russian laws by emigration, he promised 
 all who would remain, the privilege of an English governor. 
 Maj. Hart, who then commanded the English forces here, 
 was consequently appointed to that office; and was clothed, 
 for their government and protection, with very extensive 
 
152 
 
 ARMENIANS OF TEBRIZ. 
 
 powers, which the prince has always held inviolable. Upon 
 the decease of that gentleman, in 1830, Dr. Cormick was 
 prevailed upon, by the solicitations of the people, I believe, 
 as well as by the request of the prince, to accept the ap- 
 pointment. He held it while we were there, and however 
 much he was troubled by the bad conduct of the Armeni- 
 ans, he never complained of want of countenance from the 
 prince, in protecting them from moslem oppression and 
 abuse. His authority did not extend beyond the city. So 
 well convinced, indeed, is the prince of the value of his 
 Armenian subjects, that, besides this important privilege, he 
 also takes pains to keep their priests in his interest. That 
 he gives them a regular salary, we were assured is not 
 true; but they occasionally receive from him suits of 
 clothing, and other valuable presents. 
 
 Of the moral character of the Armenians of Tebriz, we 
 received the worst impression. Their priests are unprinci- 
 pled hirelings, and besides other irregularities are given to 
 much wine. The people are accused of the basest ingrati- 
 tude. The English, out of regard to their professing the 
 same religion, have always done much to protect them, but 
 have received no thanks. Particularly did they, when the 
 Russians were marching upon Tebriz, take many into their 
 families as servants, merely to defend their lives from the 
 rage of the moslems, who suspected them of acting as spies. 
 Letters from these same persons were afterward intercept- 
 ed, declaring to the Russians that they would have helped 
 them to enter the city much sooner, had not the English 
 prevented their giving the proper information. One day, 
 we were informed, the Jcaim-maMm, (lieutenant of the 
 prince) warned the embassador to caution the English to 
 keep all their servants within doors, as every other Arme- 
 nian was to be slain that night. Not only was the caution 
 given, but English sergeants were stationed as sentinels at 
 all the avenues to the Armenian quarter, to prevent the 
 
THEIR MORAL CHARACTER. 153 
 
 massacre, and the next day a promise was obtained from 
 the kaim-makam that they should not be touched. And 
 yet they conducted themselves, after the entrance of the 
 Russians, in such a manner, that to avoid their insolence 
 was one reason why the English left the city. Without 
 having a doubt that the Armenians are capable of all the 
 ingratitude implied in this statement, it is a question wheth- 
 er the fact, that the English could not but be regarded as 
 aiming expressly to uphold the power of their oppressors, 
 which the Russians were endeavoring to humble, might 
 not naturally make them its victims. In dishonesty they 
 are even below the moslems. For want of a better Arme- 
 nian servant, we were forced to engage one who was 
 known to have stolen his master's carpets when the Rus- 
 sians entered Tebriz, and who, according to his own con- 
 fession, had regularly overcharged his market bills to the 
 amount of four or five tomans, (about $12 or $15,) a month. 
 His former employer assured us, that he could give no bet- 
 ter character to five or six other Armenians who had served 
 him ; and the oldest English resident in the place thought 
 that, considering the habits of his countrymen, we ought 
 not for such conduct to reject him. 
 
 Faithfulness to the charge imposed upon me demands a 
 word upon another point of moral character, which I would 
 willingly leave concealed in the dark parts of the earth, 
 where it is so grossly developed. Concubinage may be prac- 
 tised in other countries, by such as are cast out of the pale of 
 all decent society, without implicating the moral healthiness 
 of public sentiment. But here it exists under circumstan- 
 ces, which plainly show the mass of the Armenian community 
 to be infected with its corrupting influence. Public opinion 
 does not frown upon it. Parents even sell their daughters 
 into concubinage; and not only, we were assured, are 
 these victims of lust admitted to the communion and the 
 other privileges of the church, as good Christians, but 
 
 VOL. II. 14* 
 
154 
 
 ARMENIAN EDUCATION AT TEBRIZ. 
 
 their priests have been found to share in the gain. This 
 sad state of morals does not exist among the Armenians 
 of Tebriz alone. In Erzroom, Erivan, and Nakhchevan, 
 Armenian parents have been known to sell their daugh- 
 ters, for the same criminal purpose, for a limited time. 
 The opinion was expressed to us by a Christian observer, 
 that polygamy even, though not common, exists among 
 the Armenians. He believed, though he knew of no 
 instance, that priests might be induced by money to 
 marry a man a second time, knowing that he had already 
 one wife; and that the connivance of the bishops might be 
 secured by the same means. 
 
 We had been informed at Nakhchevan, by the former 
 bishop, that the Armenians, before their emigration, had 
 nothing in the whole province of Aderbaijan deserving the 
 name of school ; only a few children being here and there 
 taught to read. The same statement was confirmed at 
 Tebriz, in reference to their present condition ; with the 
 additional fact, that not only are the common people 
 extremely ignorant, but many even of their leaders have 
 not the knowledge of letters. In Tebriz, Mr. Nisbet had 
 recently made a benevolent effort to procure the establish- 
 ment of a school. Promises were obtained of a house for 
 the teacher and school, of thirty or forty scholars at from 
 half a toman to two tomans per annum, and occasional 
 presents of grain and the like. Fifty or sixty tomans, near- 
 ly enough for the teacher's salary, were thus pledged, and 
 Mr. Nisbet engaged to aid in supplying the deficiency. 
 He applied to the missionaries at Shoosha for a teacher, 
 and no prejudices were manifested against receiving one 
 from that quarter. There seemed to be even a willingness 
 to concede, that the Scriptures alone should be made the 
 standard of the religious instructions to be given. But just 
 as the necessary documents were about to be signed, the 
 cholera broke out, and diminished and scattered the in- 
 
FESTIVAL OF THE PURIFICATION. 155 
 
 habitants, and the project had not been resumed. We 
 applied to their present English governor to know how he 
 would regard a missionary school for the Armenians, and 
 were gratified to receive a full expression, not only of his 
 own opinion of its desirableness and prospect of utility, but 
 also of his decided belief, that no prejudices against it 
 would be felt by either laity or clergy. 
 
 On the 25th of Febuary, (13th of Feb. old style,) being 
 informed that an important ceremony was to be performed 
 in the church, we attended at the hour of evening prayer. 
 In the yard before the main door, a concourse of people 
 stood around a quadrangular space, in the centre of which 
 was a pile of dry brushwood. A priest read service upon 
 the door-step, while a man by his side enforced silence upon 
 a parcel of boys, by an occasional box on the ear. Oppo- 
 site these officiators sat a bishop in state, with a vartabed 
 or two by his side. A plate for contributions, filled with 
 wax tapers, was circulated among the crowd, and each one 
 as he put in his money took out a taper, which was soon 
 lighted. The bishop, supported by two vartabeds and a 
 number of priests, repeated a prayer on the four sides of the 
 brushwood ; then, after a word of exhortation, the by-stand- 
 ers, especially the boys, pitching over each other, plunged 
 their tapers into it, and it was soon in a blaze. While 
 prayers were still chanted over it, some relighted their ta- 
 pers at the risk of being scorched, others scattered about 
 the burning brands, one leaped through the blaze, and all 
 seemed in the highest glee. It was the eve of the Purifi- 
 cation of the Virgin ; and with such profane mockeries do 
 the Armenians generally introduce that festival. In some 
 places the fire is built within the church. 
 
 You will perceive, that, as the virgin, according to the 
 laws of Moses, must have presented herself for purification 
 forty days after the birth of her son, the Armenians do not 
 agree with either the Latins or Greeks, in the time of eel- 
 
156 BISHOP ISRAEL. 
 
 ebrating the nativity of our Savior. They have in fact re- 
 tained the custom, which anciently prevailed extensively in 
 the east, of observing Christmas on the 6th of January.* 
 The baptism of Christ is also celebrated on the same day, 
 and in token of it a cross, to which they conceive the Sa- 
 vior to be inseparably united by its consecration, is plunged 
 in water previously blessed, with much pomp and ceremo- 
 ny. In regard to most of the great festivals, not connect- 
 ed with Christmas, the Armenian calendar agrees with the 
 Greek. 
 
 The bishop who officiated on this occasion, we met sev- 
 eral times during our delay at Tebriz. His name was 
 Israel. He was formerly bishop of Albagh, a small district 
 in the Kurdish mountains between Salmas and Joolamerk, 
 which, under the name of Aghpag, was formerly a canton 
 in the Armenian province of Gorjaik. The convent which 
 he occupied bears the name of the apostle Bartholomew, 
 who, if we may believe Armenian tradition, was martyred 
 on the spot where it stands.t He was offended at the 
 efforts of the Russians to induce the Armenians to emi- 
 grate, and seems to have obtained the deserted bishopric 
 of Aderbaijan as his reward ; for he assured us that he wag 
 now sole bishop of the whole province. Though his man- 
 ners partook of Kurdish roughness, we were glad to learn 
 that he maintains a good private character, and is not op- 
 posed to the improvement of his people. Vivian's Three 
 Dialogues, lately printed at Moscow for the German mis- 
 
 * A Syrian writer quoted by Asseman says, that in the eastern and 
 northern provinces, the nativity of Christ, as well as his baptism and the 
 Epiphany, was celebrated on the 6th of January until the time of Arcadius. 
 And another says that the former festival was transferred to the 25th of 
 December, in accommodation to a heathen festival, which was celebrated on 
 that day, and which many of the Christians were invited and inclined to 
 attend. Bib. Orient, vol. 2: p. 164. 
 
 t St. Mart. vol. 1: p. 177. 
 
HIS PREACHING. 157 
 
 sionaries, was circulated among his flock while we were 
 here, with his approbation ; and his treatment of us was 
 always friendly, and destitute of any sign of jealousy. We 
 found few ecclesiastics better acquainted with the doctrines 
 and ceremonies of the church, and his readiness to commu- 
 nicate furnished us with considerable accurate information. 
 There was a tinge of Romanism about it, however, which 
 made us suspect that he had sat at the feet of some papal 
 emissary. Though exact in his knowledge of canonical 
 doctrines and ceremonies, his ignorance of every evangel- 
 ical idea seemed complete; and he exhibited, with unusual 
 candor, that pharisaical state of mind, which the religion of 
 the oriental and papal churches tends so strongly to create. 
 He had, at a previous interview, invited us to attend mass 
 at his church, and we accordingly went the next morning 
 after the ceremony just described. Observing us soon after 
 we entered, he invited us to a position next himself, by the 
 platform in front of the altar designed for the officiators at 
 morning and evening prayers. He is distinguished among 
 his brethren for preaching, and, either in compliance with 
 his own disposition, or to gratify us, who had had one or two 
 conversations with him on this important duty of the clergy, 
 he gave us a sermon this morning between prayers and the 
 mass. In the absence of a pulpit, a chair was placed for 
 him in front of the altar, and a rich carpet spread before it. 
 Chairs were also offered to us, but we declined them, and 
 took our seat among the audience on the floor. His sub- 
 ject was the proper observance of the fasts ; and his 
 thoughts were probably unpremeditated, and of little value. 
 But his manner was striking. He commenced sitting, and 
 that seemed the posture which he chose to maintain, but 
 the animation of delivery frequently called him upon his 
 feet, and urged him forward to the edge of his carpet, 
 with a fine effect. No tone marred his enunciation, nor 
 any stiffness his gestures. It was nature that spoke and 
 
158 CONVERSATION WITH BISHOP ISRAEL. 
 
 acted ; and nature indeed in too undisguised a form except 
 for these regions. Violent actions ; varied, often high 
 keyed and passionate tones ; and significant contortions of 
 the countenance, expressed his sentiments more clearly than 
 the words he uttered, and would have astounded a more 
 polite audience, as the ravings of madness. But here, 
 where every man is accustomed from infancy to be kicked 
 and flogged into his duty, all was in place, and was needed. 
 He took occasion in his remarks to reprove the boys who 
 had sported with the bonfire yesterday, by accusing them 
 of bringing upon their church the ridicule of the foreigners 
 who were present ; and, as if unable otherwise to express 
 his feelings, he actually spat at them in contempt. All his 
 violence of action, however, failed of fixing the attention of 
 his audience. The women were repeatedly engaged in 
 loud talk ; once, conversation seemed to be general through- 
 out the house ; and the boys, stationed near the altar for 
 the purpose of aiding in the performance of prayers, mani- 
 fested such a constant disposition to play, that he was once 
 constrained to order them, in a rage, to be silenced by 
 flogging. This was the only Armenian sermon we had an 
 opportunity to attend, and in fact the only one we heard of, 
 except at Shoosha, during our whole journey. 
 
 The bishop invited us, during prayers, to take a cup of 
 tea with him ; and after sermon, which was rather long, 
 we followed him to his rooms. In passing out of the door, 
 he stopped a moment to say a prayer over two corpses, that 
 were laid there in preparation for burial. The ceremony 
 was ended by placing an unconsecrated wafer upon the 
 head of each. The information elicited by our conversa- 
 tion this morning, and by several others which we had with 
 the bishop, is given in different connections elsewhere, and 
 need not be repeated. At our first interview, however, 
 some topics were discussed worthy of a distinct notice. 
 We were introduced to him, by Mr. Nisbet, as priests 
 
CONVERSATION WITH BISHOP ISRAEL. 159 
 
 from the New World ; and his curiosity immediately suges- 
 ted many questions respecting our ecclesiastical polity and 
 doctrines. We replied that we belonged to the American 
 church; acknowledged no subjection to the pope; and 
 were under none of the churches of the Old World. He 
 inquired whether we had bishops of our own; and on 
 learning that, though there are a few in the country, 
 most of the people are not subject to them, he wondered 
 where our priests could get ordination. We informed him 
 that an assembly of priests performs the ceremony ; and 
 met his astonishment at the irregularity of such a course, 
 and his inquiry how priests can make priests, by asking, 
 if bishops, in his church, can make a Catholicos who is 
 greater than they, why cannot priests make a priest, who is 
 their equal? In this case only, during our journey, was 
 such an objection made by an Armenian to our clerical 
 orders, and our answer silenced, if it did not satisfy, the 
 objector. In other cases surprise that we have only priests 
 and deacons, was uniformly removed by a reference to 
 the commonly acknowledged fact, that in the Armenian 
 church all above deacons belong to the general order of 
 priests. The idea of apostolical succession we never 
 heard started, except as implied in the question of the 
 bishop upon this occasion. 
 
 He seemed reluctant to believe that we were not papists, 
 and assured some of the company, even after we had ex- 
 pressed in strong language our abhorrence of the pope, that 
 we were connected with the Romish church. While we 
 were protesting against such a mis-apprehension of our 
 sentiments, a visitor, who seemed better acquainted with 
 western theology than his bishop, inquired whether we 
 were Lutherans or Calvinists. We consented to bear the 
 latter name ; and still the bishop, unable to conceive that 
 we should not belong to some sect within the range of his 
 polemic theology, went on to ask if we were not followers 
 
160 ARMENIAN WAY OF SALVATION. 
 
 of Arius, or Nestorius. We reminded him, that after 
 what we had said in a previous part of the conversation 
 respecting the divinity of Christ, he might have omitted the 
 name of Arius ; and as to Nestorius, we had no connection 
 with him and no acquaintance with his sect. Not content- 
 ed with our bare assertion, he plied us with questions about 
 the virgin, and was at once convinced, by our lax notions 
 respecting her perpetual virginity, that we had imbibed the 
 heresy of Nestorius. We explained, that it was a point to 
 which we attached no importance, and that, so far as we 
 knew, it had never been agitated among us. ' Why,' said 
 he, with great astonishment, ' you are priests ! what have 
 you to preach about when points like this are deemed un- 
 important 1 ' ' The fundamental doctrine of the gospel,' we 
 replied, ' the death of Christ for the sins of the world, and 
 the way of salvation through him. Certainly that is of 
 sufficient importance to be preached.' We then proposed 
 to him the direct question, 4 What must we do to be saved? ' 
 He answered, as if we had asked a very unnecessary 
 question, ' Why, we are saved already, and need only con- 
 fess, do penance, and commune, and we shall go to heav- 
 en ! ' — His conversation assumed this argumentative char- 
 acter, only at our first interview ; for at the next we directly 
 declined all dispute, and he thus expressed his own ab- 
 horrence of it. ' You see,' said he, pointing to the colored 
 glass in the window of his apartment, ' the rays of light, 
 by passing through different panes, are cast in shades of 
 red and green and yellow upon the floor, and yet they all 
 come from the same sun, and are light still ; so with the 
 different sects, they all have one origin, and ought to feel 
 that they are still Christian brethren.' 
 
 The reply of the bishop to the momentous question, 
 1 What must we do to be saved 1 ' was dictated by the doc- 
 trines of his church ; and is, in susbtance, the same that is 
 received by every one who goes to confess his sins in the 
 
ARMENIAN WAY OF 8ALVATION. 161 
 
 ear of his priest. Let us examine it in detail. The sins 
 from which we need to be saved, are considered to be off two 
 general kinds, original and actual Adam's faJl brought 
 all his posterity under the dominion of Satan, to be led 
 captive by him at his will. From this original sin. or in 
 other words, this captivity to Satan, the consequence of the 
 first transgression, Christ died to deliver us. The medium 
 appointed for the application of this salvation to individuals, 
 is baptism. All who are baptized, therefore, are saved 
 from the Satanic dominion brought upon them by the orig- 
 inal sin of Adam, and left at liberty to work out their sal- 
 vation by serving God, or to secure their destruction by 
 serving Satan, acccording to their own voluntary choice. 
 
 But if, after having thus received our share of the salva- 
 tion of Christ, we choose again the service of Satan by the 
 commission of actual sin, what can we do to be saved? 
 We are directed, not to the intercession of our -Advocate 
 with the Father,' nor to his blood, which ' cleanseth us 
 from all sin;' but to the confessional of the priest, and to 
 his absolution. Without confession, no forgiveness is to be 
 expected ; but with it, it is sure upon two conditions. 
 Hearty contrition for having committed the sins confessed 
 is one, and making satisfaction or amends for them is the 
 other. The former, it is to be feared, is almost universally 
 little insisted on by the priests, and neglected by the peo- 
 ple. In prescribing the appropriate satisfaction for partic- 
 ular sins, lies all the difficulty which the confess :r experi- 
 ences in the cure of souls. To aid him. sins are divided 
 into mortal, and venial. The former are embraced under 
 seven general classes, viz. sins of pride, envv, anger, sloth, 
 covetousness, gluttony and lasciviousness : and are consid- 
 ered as deserving the eternal punishment of hell. The 
 latter are not so exactly enumerated, and are deemed na 
 fatal to the soul. The kinds of satisfaction, too, thouo-h 
 
 TOL. II. 15 
 
162 ARMENIAN WAY OF SALVATION. 
 
 many, are carefully arranged into three classes, viz. fast* 
 ing, prayer, and charity. 
 
 In view of this code of crimes and punishments, which, 
 in the books of the church, is subdivided and explained 
 with all the minuteness of a civil statute-book, the priest 
 sits in judgment upon the sins confessed, and condemns 
 the penitent to whichsoever kind of satisfaction seems their 
 most appropriate retribution and best antidote ; and propor- 
 tions the length of the fasts, the number of prayers, or the 
 amount of charity, to their enormity. The effect of this 
 satisfaction, or penance, is supposed, in theory, to be three 
 fold: to give evidence of sincere contrition for sin; to 
 chasten and correct the evil propensities from which sin 
 originates ; and to be acccepted by God as a substitute for 
 the retribution of eternal torment in hell. In practice, it 
 degenerates into a set of mere external heartless observ- 
 ances. The priest, having thus sat in judgment upon the 
 sins of his fellow, and sentenced him to a mock retribution, 
 ends his impious assumption of the prerogatives of God, by 
 pronouncing pardon and the absolution of all connection 
 between the sinner and the guilt of his sins.* This act of 
 absolution declares the penitent to be again made capable 
 of enjoying the benefit of his good works, and he starts 
 afresh to merit heaven, by fasting, alms-giving, pilgrimages, 
 masses, the communion, and other similar ceremonies. 
 
 Such is a brief, but tolerably complete view of what 
 the Armenians are told they must do to be saved. It is 
 not a system of salvation by grace in Christ, for it looks not 
 to him for pardon ; nor of salvation by good works, for it 
 depends not upon morality for acceptance with God ; but of 
 salvation by ceremonies, for it makes the observance of su- 
 perstitious rites a set-off against a life of sin. It neglects 
 
 * In this account of the Armenian way of salvation, I have closely fol- 
 lowed the Armeno-Turkish Catechism, already repeatedly quoted. See p. 
 
 55*86. 
 
PERSIANS OF ADERBAIJAN. 163 
 
 equally the law and the gospel, and would send men to 
 heaven without an atonement, and without morality. In 
 one respect, however, the Armenian church is behind the 
 papal, in its attempts to work out a way to heaven of its 
 own contriving. It has never devised any great reservoir 
 of the superogatory merits of Christ and the saints, the key 
 of which is lodged with an earthly vicegerent of heaven, 
 empowered to dole them out at pleasure to whomsoever is 
 so rich or so fortunate as to obtain his favor. In other 
 words, it knows nothing of the whole system of indul- 
 gences. 
 
 It did not enter into our plan to make many inquiries re- 
 specting the Persians, nor do I deem it important to publish 
 all that we actually learned respecting them. You may 
 wonder, indeed, that I call the mo&lems of this province 
 Persians ; for, with the exception of the Kurds on the west 
 and south, they are all of the Turkish race, and speak the 
 Turkish tongue. A few at Tiirkman-chai, in the direction 
 of Teheran, though they have now no connection with their 
 brethren farther east, have retained the particular name of 
 Turkman. The rest are of the same mixed descent, from all 
 the Turkish tribes that have overrun this region since the 
 days of Toghrul, as those to whom your attention has been 
 already directed to the north of the Aras, and they speak 
 the same dialect of Turkish. Persian is spoken by none, 
 except as a foreign language. — But you must remember 
 that Persia is inhabited by a ' mingled people,' and the title 
 of Mulook-el-lawaif, or kings of the nations, once given by 
 the Arabs to its Sassanian kings, would be perfectly appro- 
 priate to its present rulers. The fixed inhabitants of towns 
 and villages in almost every part, except the provinces 
 bordering upon Turkey and the Caspian, speak the Persian 
 language ; and among them doubtless are the remains 
 of the ancient Persians, though they have also a large 
 amount of Arabic and other blood. But the Persians have 
 
164 PERSIAN EDUCATION. 
 
 almost always been a subject race ; and now the citizen 
 and the peasant hold a less honorable rank than the nomad. 
 Between seven and eight hundred thousand of the inhab- 
 itants of Persia still live in tents ; and while not one of 
 them is of the Persian language, they furnish the flower of 
 her army, and the pride of her nobility. Turkish, Arabic, 
 Kurdish, and Loorish are their native tongues. The Shah 
 himself is of a Turkish nomadic tribe. If we would con- 
 fine the name of Persian to those who are of the Persian 
 language, therefore, we must deny even to the sovereign of 
 the country his title of citizenship. The title of Persian, 
 however, is one of which he is ignorant. The Persians 
 do not acknowledge the name we give them and their 
 country. Fars, or Farsistan, from which it is derived, is 
 known to them only as the province of which Shiraz is the 
 capital. Iran is now, and has been from the earliest ages, 
 the indigenous name of the whole kingdom. Their neigh- 
 bors, the Turks and Arabs, call it, with genuine Grecian 
 arrogance, the land of Ajem, or barbarians. We have 
 perpetuated the mistake of the ancient Grecians, and shall 
 probably continue to regard it as needing correction less, 
 than many of the errors which ' lying Greece ' has told us 
 in history. While we persevere, therefore, in extending the 
 name of a province over the whole realm, I see no objec- 
 tion to applying it also to the whole nation, or at least to 
 all who profess the national religion, so as to include the 
 moslems of Aderbaijan. 
 
 Though Persian is not the native language of the mos- 
 lems of Aderbaijan, however, it is spoken by many. It is 
 the language of trade and of government, and is familiar 
 to some even of the lower orders in towns. It shares with 
 the Arabic the attention of all who enjoy the privilege of 
 schools ; and they are many in Persia. We were assured 
 by an extensive and acute observer, that the Persians set 
 an example to even Christian nations, in the extent of com- 
 
PERSIAN MANNERS. 165 
 
 raon education. He judged that two thirds of the males 
 can read. There are a few schools only for females; but 
 in every village, except the smallest, there are at least two 
 mollahs, one of whom acts as a teacher for boys. In some 
 instances gentlemen of wealth employ private instructors, 
 and then the children of their servants and slaves, as well 
 as their own, enjoy their instructions. Generally schools 
 are kept only in mosks ; and those who teach them are al- 
 ways, either really mollahs, or are ranked with them ; the 
 profession of schoolmaster being regarded as a branch of 
 the priesthood. The objects of education are religion jand 
 business. The first is provided for by learning to read the 
 Koran, and repeat a few prayers in Arabic. An under- 
 standing of the supposed revelation of the will of God, and 
 of what is addressed to him in prayer, however, seems not 
 to be regarded as necessary ; and the Arabic branch is 
 generally carried no farther than to a correct pronunciation 
 of words. But the medium of intercourse with man must 
 be understood, and the meaning, as well as the sound of 
 Persian words is taught at school. Still, I apprehend that 
 only a small portion of the boys in this province study long 
 enough to become proficients in the language. 
 
 The first trait in the character of a Persian, that strikes a 
 traveller coming from Turkey, is his civility. The respect 
 shown by the lower orders to the higher, even of their own 
 countrymen, is greater in Persia than in the neighboring 
 empire. Turks in office are treated with deference by their 
 dependents, but no nobility, nor any hereditary distinc- 
 tion of rank, being acknowledged, much of a feeling of re- 
 publican equality and of individual independence is still 
 discernible, and every Turk seems to regard every other, 
 somewhat in the light of a brother. Persia, on the con- 
 trary, is a land of high-toned aristocracy. Nobles, both 
 hereditary and otherwise, are numerous. The title of 
 khan distinguishes all, except those of the royal blood, who 
 
 VOL. II. 15* 
 
166 
 
 PERSIAN CIVILITY. 
 
 are known by that of mirza appended to their name. It is 
 not confined to moslems ; Armenians also are sometimes 
 graced with it. The nobles and the rich aim at the great- 
 est state in equipage and servants; in tenaciousness for 
 points of etiquette they can hardly be exceeded ; and dis- 
 play and splendor seem to be all that they admire. The 
 lower orders take the attitude of extreme obsequiousness ; 
 no forms of homage savor too much of servitude for them 
 to render ; especially if they are dependents, is their man- 
 ner of service marked with a resemblance to worship, to 
 which noparallell can be found, perhaps, nearer than India. 
 
 The manners of the Persians toward foreigners differ 
 from those of the Turks, even more than their form of in- 
 tercourse with each other. The Turkish gentleman receives 
 you sitting, coolly puts his hand upon his breast for a sal- 
 utation, asks you to sit as if the invitation in any form 
 was an act of condescension, and a few common-place 
 questions, with long intervals of silence filled up by pipes 
 and coffee, complete the ceremonies of your reception. 
 The Persian, not only honors you by rising; but, putting 
 you at once into the position of his lord, and assuming the 
 attitude of your slave, he forces you into his own seat, if it 
 happen to be the most honorable. An active conversa- 
 tion, enlivened by inquisitive thought, and polished with a 
 profusion of compliment, succeeds; and you leave him 
 with the feeling, that he has improved upon the politeness 
 of the politest nation of Europe. Even the moslem peasant 
 of Turkey would fain treat you as his inferior, and disdains 
 to act as your servant ; but the Persian, not only scruples 
 not to fill the most menial station, but makes a more 
 respectful and submissive domestic, than I have found in 
 any other nation. 
 
 Such civility highly prepossesses the traveller, at first, in 
 favor of the society of the nation which exercises it ; and 
 makes the missionary hope that his instructions may be 
 
PERSIAN DUPLICITY. 167 
 
 received with as much deference as his person. Experi- 
 ence soon convinces both, however, that if the Persian ex- 
 cels in politeness, he is forced to it as a mask to cover his 
 deceitful n ess. The commonest man is found almost as dex- 
 terous in plot and intrigue, as if he were practised in man- 
 aging the diplomacy of Europe; and the allurements of the 
 Persian's civility, are soon eclipsed by painful experience 
 of his unequalled duplicity. The traveller finds his hospi- 
 tality converted into a money-making speculation. Not 
 long since a khan, who had been educated in the Persian 
 school, sought out an English traveller and his lady, as 
 they were passing through a neighboring city in the Rus- 
 sian territories, and hospitably compelled them to accept 
 of gratuitous accommodations in his house and at his table 
 for a number of days. At their departure, he saved them 
 the trouble of going to the police office, by procuring their 
 passports himself, and brought with them a pretended 
 charge from the inspector for about 50 or 60 dollars. The 
 traveller, though aware that not a cent is asked of for- 
 eigners for passports in Russia, was ashamed to doubt 
 the word of one from whom he had experienced such at- 
 tentions, and paid the amount; thus replacing in the purse 
 of his host, perhaps twice as much as his entertainment 
 had cost. Not many years since, a missionary, as he was 
 passing through a city in Persia, had an audience of the 
 prince royal, and obtained from him, as he supposed, most 
 liberal offers of patronage and support for a missionary 
 school. But when we were at Tebriz, the khan who act- 
 ed as interpreter boasted of having most egregiously de- 
 ceived both. During a long conversation, he so perverted 
 the remarks of each, in converting them from one language 
 to the other, as to make the missionary propose to the 
 prince a school for teaching only the language and the 
 learning of the English, and argue in its favor, when in 
 fact his proposal and his arguments were all religious ; and 
 
168 ADMISSION OF EUROPEAN INNOVATIONS. 
 
 to make the prince, with no more than such a mere literary 
 institution in mind, approve most fully an attempt to give 
 Persian children a Christian education, and promise to 
 send his own sons. The missionary and the prince sepa- 
 rated equally gratified, the one at having secured such high 
 patronage for his benevolent projects, and the other at the 
 literary prospects opening to his children; and the khan 
 now amuses his friends by the relation of his dexterous 
 duplicity. So much are the Persians given to falsehood 
 and deceit, in their dealings with each other, that mutual 
 confidence is hardly known. In the mercantile profession, 
 good faith scarcely exists among the minor tradesmen, and 
 is strictly observed only by those whose business is so ex- 
 tensive as to render credit absolutely necessary to success. 
 In a word, so disgusted did we become with the smooth 
 duplicity of Persia, that we were not displeased to return 
 again to the blunt, I had almost said honest, incivility of 
 Turkey. 
 
 The Persian, of Aderbaijan especially, differs also from 
 the Turk, in his readiness to admit European innovations. 
 The Sultan has recently, indeed, made havoc of all the 
 prejudices of his countrymen ; but the Turk had formerly, 
 not a strong prejudice only, but an absolute contempt, for 
 almost every fashion that came to him from the west. One 
 would suppose that his religion was bound up in the folds 
 of his turban, and that his honor would vanish with the 
 loss of his shalwar ; so obstinately was he attached to those 
 articles of dress. In his whole routine of habits, too, he 
 seemed to delight in the contrary of the practice of his 
 European neighbors. The moslem of this province of Per- 
 sia, manifests little dislike for what is European. Tread 
 not upon his carpet with your shoes, nor touch his beard 
 with your razor, and he will make few objections to your 
 hat or pantaloons, and will imitate you in the furniture 
 of his house and his table. The military tactics of Europe, 
 
IDEAS OP CEREMONIAL PURITY. 169 
 
 with an imitation of its uniform, were introduced by Abbas 
 Mirza, long before even Mohammed Aly attempted them in 
 Egypt. Chairs and tables are used in the houses of some 
 of the rich at Tebriz ; several beautiful porcelain tea-sets, 
 of the latest English fashion were eagerly bought up when 
 we were there ; and many shops in the bazar were stocked 
 with a variety of European table furniture. In short the 
 rich Persian is fond of fashion, and that which comes the 
 farthest, is in some cases at least liked the best. 
 
 But you must not imagine, because Persians may be in- 
 duced to adopt articles of a European's dress or furniture, 
 that therefore they have no dislike to his religion, or his 
 person. According to the strictest of their tenets, the touch 
 of a Christian, or of what a Christian has touched, is cere- 
 monially impure, and unfits them for the performance of 
 their devotions. A high sense of ceremonial purity is the 
 distinctive trait of the sheey sect. In doctrine, more stress 
 may be laid upon the exaltation of Aly, and the rejection 
 of the first three kalifs, with the traditions compiled under 
 their direction ; but in practice, this stands most promi- 
 nent. One is inclined, indeed, to imagine it to be a plant 
 of Hindoo, rather than of sheey origin, and perhaps it is, 
 but it seems now to be indigenous wherever that sect exists. 
 I have known a Metawaly, (the sheey of Syria,) break a jar, 
 for its having been polluted by the mere touch of a Chris- 
 tian's lips for a draught of water. Such a dread of cere- 
 monial impurity makes a nation exceedingly inhospitable* 
 The rule, indeed, is not observed in all its strictness 
 by the Persians. Some, especially in private, regard it 
 not at all. In the Russian provinces it has less influence 
 than in Aderbaijan, and here less than in other parts of 
 Persia. Even in this province, however, the common peo- 
 ple will often try many expedients to prevent one of an- 
 other sect from entering their houses, and in many places 
 would suffer a foreigner to sleep in the street, rather than 
 
170 RECEPTION OF THE SCRIPTURES. 
 
 open their doors to him. To eat from the same dish with 
 him, is the extreme of pollution, and none but those whose 
 liberality approaches to infidelity will do it. We have 
 known our muleteers to search for a moslem village at some 
 distance from the one where we lodged with Christians, in 
 order not to eat bread of Christian cooking ; and always 
 when we were going into a Christian region, did they lay 
 in a stock of provisions at the last moslem market. In or- 
 der not to pollute the dishes of those who entertained us, we 
 carried our own kitchen and table furniture ; and more than 
 once, I doubt not, we might have been denied a draught 
 of cold water, had we not carried our own drinking cup. 
 Once we were amused to see an old Persian, to whom we 
 had paid a small silver coin, go and wash it thoroughly in 
 a tank of water before he put it in his purse. The whole 
 sect says by its conduct to every other, ' Stand by thyself, 
 for I am holier than thou.' Even the sunny moslems of 
 Turkey are not exempted from the general charge of im- 
 purity. 
 
 The trait of a Persian's character which most gratifies 
 the missionary, is his readiness to discuss religious topics. 
 The Turk meets with a haughty frown .the most distant at- 
 tempt to commend the religion of Christ, takes as an un- 
 pardonable insult the denial of the mission of Mohammed, 
 and despises the Bible as too corrupt a copy of the Law and 
 the Gospel to be worthy of his notice. The Persian re- 
 ceives the New Testament with reverence. The English 
 residents at Tebriz unanimously testified that no objection 
 is made, by either mollahs or people there, to its being cir- 
 culated and read. We found a copy exposed for sale, by 
 the side of the Koran and the Persian poets, in the shop of 
 a moslem bookseller in the bazar of that city. It is in 
 some degree sought after. Mr. Nisbet disposed, while we 
 were there, of the last of his small stock, consisting, I be- 
 lieve, of twenty or thirty copies. The purchasers always 
 
PERSIAN SKEPTICISM. 171 
 
 professed to receive it as the word of God, declared that 
 they were interested by the perusal of it, and in no case, 
 with the exception of the set of passages which speak of 
 the divine nature of Christ, did they object to any part of it 
 as spurious. Three copies were taken by our second Led- 
 yard, already alluded to, on leaving Tebriz for his second 
 visit to the valley of the Indus ; where he hoped to exchange 
 them for some old Greek manuscripts, which he had seen 
 there, and imagined to be relics of the Bactrian colonies. 
 Another was purchased, to be taken to Mecca, by a pilgrim 
 who left after our arrival. No Christian can fail to be 
 gratified at seeing the word of God penetrate, even by sin- 
 gle copies, into such a centre of superstition as Mecca, and 
 such a region of robbery and ignorance as the upper Indus. 
 What a happy exchange for the Afghan, to receive the 
 pearl of great price, while contributing to enrich the his- 
 torical treasures of Europe ! And how delighted would be 
 the pilgrim, to find Jesus Christ the chief corner stone, and 
 be washed from his sins in his blood, so as no longer to 
 trust in the stone of the Kaabah, or seek purification from 
 the water of Zemzem ! 
 
 The Persians are comparatively tolerant, also, of a dis- 
 cussion of the merits of Mohammedanism, and many will 
 argue with all the technical coolness of a dialectician. 
 Most of the higher class of the nobility, and the learned 
 profession, indeed, pay little regard even Jo the external 
 forms of religion, and are at heart infidels or skeptics. In 
 fact, Soofy is known to be little better than another name 
 for skeptic, and the number of that school in Persia is es- 
 timated by Sir John Malcolm, at two or three hundred 
 thousand. I do not adduce the free use of wine, which is 
 said to be indulged in by many of the rich in secret, as an 
 evidence of religious liberality ; for it is both an unwelcome, 
 and a deceitful test. I am no more pleased with the liberal- 
 ity of the moslem, than I am with that of the Christian wine- 
 
172 PERSIAN BIGOTRY. 
 
 bibber; and often is indulgence in the cup united with un- 
 usual bigotry, as if to make up for the breach of one com- 
 mandment, by an over strict observance of the others. 
 Shah Abbas the Second could lie drunk for days in suc- 
 cession, and yet fear pollution from the touch of a ring of 
 Christian manufacture, until it had been purified by water.* 
 As many of the nobility and the learned are assembled at 
 Teheran and Shiraz, those places contain more religious 
 liberality than others. Merchants are in Persia the most 
 bigoted of the respectable classes, and they are numerous 
 at Isfahan. Tebriz has seen much of foreigners, and 
 therefore probably stands first in liberality toward European 
 innovations. 
 
 You must not understand that all Persians are inclined to 
 freethinking. The mass of the people are not only very 
 sincere in their faith, but have decidedly an appearance of 
 greater strictness in the observance of their rites than even- 
 the Turks. I have already spoken of their prayers, and of 
 their regard for ceremonial purity. In their ablutions, too, 
 they adhere nicely to the rigid prescriptions of the sheey 
 sect. Often have we known our fatigued muleteers, on 
 reaching a stream of water with parched tongues, use it 
 for purposes of purification, before quenching their thirst. 
 Their observance of the Ramadan is exact to the let- 
 ter of the law, and attended with an unusual appearance 
 of religious feeling. Even our muleteers, when travelling 
 on foot in that fast at the rate sometimes of more than 
 thirty miles a day, never ate a morsel, drank a drop, or 
 smoked a pipe, from early dawn till sunset. In the bazars 
 of Tebriz r during that period, a large part of the merchants 
 were to be seen reading the Koran, as they sat in their 
 stalls ; and more that once we found them too attentively 
 engaged in it to wait upon us as customers. Even on 
 common days most of them had their Korans by their side ; 
 
 * Chaidin, vol. 6: p. 319. 
 
PERSIAN SKEPTICISM. 173 
 
 and many a time, as I looked upon them, did I ask myself, 
 upon how many merchants' counters in our cities does the 
 Bible appear ! Frequently, in passing through the bazars, 
 we saw persons addressing a crowd assembled around 
 them. They were dervishes preaching or telling tales to 
 the people. Once in Khoy, we found a venerable old man 
 in the public square, seated upon a horse and supported by 
 a long spear which he rested upon the ground, addressing 
 most eloquently a listening multitude around him. He 
 might have sat for the picture of the eloquent dervish, 
 which Hareery has so finely drawn in his first Makdmeh. 
 Dervishes seemed to be more numerous here than in 
 Turkey. 
 
 Even among the free-thinking part of the community, a 
 nearer view will discover hardly an easier access for the 
 truth. They are either wrapt in a bewildering labyrinth 
 of philoshphical speculations, or are utterly regardless of 
 all religion. Sometimes they will carelessly admit all your 
 arguments, and at others reject them merely for the sake 
 of disputing ; depriving you equally, in both cases, of the 
 hope of producing a conviction of the truth. To such a 
 result, there is still another obstacle. The opprobrium of 
 apostasy from Mohammedanism would be universal and 
 great. I have already intimated the prince's willingness 
 that his children should be taught the language and learn- 
 ing of England. A school for those branches would doubt- 
 less be very popular among the higher classes in Tebriz ; 
 and the Scriptures might, be used in it as a class-book, with- 
 out objection. But it is questionable whether, as soon as it 
 was discovered that the pupils were receiving a bias in favor 
 of our religion, every one would not be withdrawn. It is 
 doubted whether any Persian would knowingly allow his 
 child to imbibe partialities for Christianity. A convert to 
 Christianity would probably, we were assured, in any oth- 
 
 VOL. II. 16 
 
174 TOLERATION OP THE PRINCE. 
 
 er part of Persia, suffer the penalty of the Mohammedan 
 law ; but in his province, the probability is that he would 
 not. The mollahs would indeed do their best to influence 
 the people against him, but they are hardly enough res- 
 pected to be able to create any dangerous expression of 
 popular wrath. The prince would be likely to protect 
 him. 
 
LETTER XIX. 
 
 FROM TEBRIZ TO SALMAS. 
 
 Route proposed — Leave Tebriz — Sahalan — Condition of the peasantry — 
 Deezeh-khaleel — Inhospitality — A Sabbath in Ramadan — Shehwaly — 
 Lake of Oormiah— District of Giinieh — Salt plains — Dilman — Van and 
 Aghtamar — Khosrova, a Chaldean village — Modern origin of the Chaldean 
 sect — Chaldeans of these parts — Their political condition — Their religi- 
 ous rites — State of papal missions in Persia — Pretender to the throne of 
 Georgia — Excursion to Old Salmas — The Jews of these parts — A Chal- 
 dean wedding. 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 Our Instructions directed our attention to the Nestorian 
 and Chaldean Christians of Kurdistan, and a deep interest 
 in those almost unknown sects made us determine from the 
 first, if possible, to visit them. Supposing also, from the 
 fact that El Koosh near Mosul has long been the seat of the 
 oldest patriarchate of the former, while the spiritual head 
 of the latter resides at Diarbekr, that they would be most 
 accessible from the southern side of the Kurdish mountains, 
 we proposed likewise to pass through Mesopotamia. Es- 
 pecially, as we should thus comply with another item of 
 our Instructions, which suggested the possibility of our 
 finding it expedient to return by way of Syria. Tebriz 
 was fixed upon, as the best place for obtaining information 
 to direct us, in the accomplishment of this part of our tour. 
 We here had confirmed, what had previously been told us, 
 that the only practicable route for penetrating into Mesopo- 
 tamia, is by way of Bagdad. But disease had already de- 
 tained us from arriving in those warm regions so early ia 
 
176 ROUTE PROPOSED. 
 
 the cool season as was desirable, and we were informed 
 from authentic sources, that civil dissensions had hedged up 
 even that route. The pasha of Bagdad, having not only 
 refused to send his regular contribution to the Sultan, but 
 slain an officer, who had come to exact it, had been de- 
 clared a rebel ; and an army was marching from the neigh- 
 boring pashaliks of Diarbekr and Aleppo, to reduce him. 
 In these circumstances, not only was the rebel pasha using 
 the greatest vigilance to prevent even letters from conveying 
 in that direction any information of the state of his city ; but 
 the Yezeedies near Mosul, absolved from fear of the old 
 government, and not yet submitted to the new, were com- 
 mitting the most daring outrages upon all who passed ; and 
 even under the walls of Bagdad, so great was the disorder, 
 that robberies were frequent. 
 
 To proceed with such prospects would be the extreme 
 of imprudence, and we therefore wrote to Bagdad for the 
 latest information, and turned our attention to the Nestori- 
 ans and Chaldeans on this side of Kurdistan. The English 
 at Tebriz confessed an almost entire ignorance of their re- 
 ligious doctrines and character, and no one at that place 
 could give us much information respecting them. Almost 
 the only important fact we learned, was that a considerable 
 body of Nestorians were accessible in the provinces of Oor- 
 miah and Salmas: and, my health being sufficiently re- 
 stored by the last of winter to allow of travelling again, we 
 determined to visit them. In order not to go and return 
 by the same route, we concluded to make the circuit of the 
 lake of Oormiah. The government, at the solicitation of 
 the acting envoy, furnished us with a rdJcam, or passport, 
 containing an order for the local authorities to pay us every 
 necessary attention, and give us guards if we should need 
 them. And Capt. Campbell, and Maj. Willock, supplied 
 us with recommendatory letters to the chief officers and 
 khans of Oormiah, Maragha, and one or two other places. 
 
SAHALAN. 177 
 
 We started on the morning of the 4th of March. To 
 find myself again on horse-back, after so long a confine- 
 ment, was not a little exhilarating, and feelings of restored 
 strength made me regardless of the piercing wind of a 
 bleak March morning. We crossed the river Ajy by a 
 brick bridge of several arches ; and a gravelly plain, white 
 in spots with salt, extended thence to Sahalan, where we 
 stopped at half past 12, three fursakhs from Tebriz. It was 
 a small village of only 40 houses, and surrounded by a 
 ruined mud wall. All its inhabitants, like those of every 
 village around, were moslems; and, the sun being ob- 
 scured by clouds, they came every ten or fifteen minutes, 
 for at least two hours before sunset, to know from our 
 watches if the time drew near, when, by the laws of the 
 Ramadan, they were allowed to eat. We were the guests 
 of the kethhuda, or lord of the village. Having observed on 
 arriving that most of the terraces were arched, instead of 
 being flat as usual, we inquired the reason. He informed 
 us that the timbers which formerly supported them, were 
 burnt by the Russians, and in the absence of any others to 
 supply their place, it was found necessary to construct 
 arches of unburnt bricks. In this woodless region, beams 
 for a terrace are a rare and choice article. A species of 
 poplar is cultivated in most villages for the purpose, being 
 planted, like the sinjid, along the margin of canals. 
 
 Our host informed us that his village was the property of 
 a khan, to whom and to government its inhabitants pay 
 three tenths of their produce. We afterward learned from 
 an intelligent gentleman, that the law of the land imposes 
 upon all peasants a tax of two tenths of what they reap 
 from their fields; if freeholders, as not a few are, the 
 remainder is their own ; if not, one tenth more is given to 
 the proprietor. The latter cannot increase his demands 
 nor can he 'remove any peasants from their farms. The 
 peasant, however, to escape illegal exactions, often flees 
 
 VOL. II. 16* 
 
178 CONDITION OF THE PEASANTRY. 
 
 of his own accord to the soil of some other proprietor, and 
 there receives land, protection, and freedom from rent for a 
 certain number of years. A powerful check is thus impo- 
 sed upon oppression. Other taxes are exacted by govern- 
 ment. A peasant in another village stated them to be, for 
 his townsmen, two reals (about 75 cents) for every house r 
 ox, cow, and buffalo ; one penabdd (about 15 cents) for 
 every sheep ; one real for every house ; a capitation tax of 
 six reals for every male over sixteen ; and a certain sum for 
 every fruit tree in their gardens, and every batman (a 
 square measure) of ground in their vineyards. The gen- 
 tleman just mentioned declared, that the peasants of Persia 
 are placed by the laws in a more eligible situation than 
 those of any state of Europe ; and that little distinction is 
 made between Christians and moslems ; the former not 
 being forbidden to wear arms, nor, in their own villages at 
 least, meeting with any hindrance to the building of church- 
 es. Another gentleman confirmed the opinion that the 
 laws are very mild ; but said, what our own observation 
 every where confirmed, that their nial-administration, and 
 the abuses of under-officers, now grind the peasant to the 
 dust. From Aderbaijan, for example, the whole of the 
 tribute demanded by government is six or seven hundred 
 thousand tomans ; but the collection of it is so universally 
 embraced as an occasion for filling the pockets of every 
 officer through whose hands it passes, from the lowest col- 
 lector to the minister around the throne, that fifteen hun- 
 dred thousand are supposed to be actually exacted. Though 
 oppressive rulers deprive the subject of his money, however, 
 the want of a police leaves him the full enjoyment of what, 
 in some countries, seems to be almost as highly prized. 
 The liberty of speech is fully enjoyed ; and every one seems 
 to vituperate his ruler, with almost as little scruple as he 
 does his neighbor. 
 
 March 5. From Sahalan to Deezeh-khaleel we took a 
 
DEEZEH-KHALEEL. 17$ 
 
 circuitous road, along the foot of the mountains on the- 
 northern side of the great plain of Tebriz, and found it 
 tolerably dry. On another occasion we pursued a more 
 direct route from the bridge, through Alvar and Aly-shah, 
 and were much impeded by mud. Indeed, the plain as 
 viewed from Deezeh-khaleel, appears, in the vicinity of the 
 lake to the south, to be a marsh. To-day all the moun- 
 tains around were white to their base with snow, which 
 had fallen in the night ; and high and piercing winds oc- 
 casionally brought over us some of the snow squalls which 
 still lingered upon their tops. In the latter part of our 
 ride, we passed at a distance, first on the right, and then 
 on the left, a number of villages, some of which appeared 
 large and flourishing. In their vicinity were many fields 
 of the grain of this year, and the dry cotton of last ; but 
 most of the plain was fallow. Nothing is cultivated with- 
 out irrigation ; and for that every field is divided into small 
 patches, like ponds, a rod or two square. On entering 
 Deezeh-khaleel the road became enclosed between mud 
 walls, from ten to fifteen feet high. In the outskirts they 
 surrounded extensive fruit gardens, in which, besides now 
 and then a house, could be discovered through an occa- 
 sional opening, the apple, pear, peach and vine. The lat- 
 ter had been left exposed the whole winter. The same high 
 walls throughout the village concealed almost every thing 
 from our view, and only a small hole occasionally indicated 
 the existence of a house within. Such are most of the 
 respectable villages in this part of Persia. 
 
 We had sent Antonio forward to request a room of the 
 ketkhoda; but, after travelling through street after street 
 without meeting hardly an individual, we almost despair- 
 ed of finding him. At length a number of boys were 
 seen peeping slily around the corners of the streets, and 
 dodging away, as if a wild beast, or some other fearful 
 object of curiosity were there. It was Antonio. He had 
 
180 
 
 PERSIAN INHOSPITALITY. 
 
 been told that the ketkhoda was not at home, and then 
 conducted to a stable for lodgings. Our rakam had been 
 shown, and boys paid to guide him to the house of the 
 ketkhoda, in vain. They led him only to a house without 
 an inhabitant. A few words from us procured a guide to 
 the ketkhoda' s ; but he was not to be found, and a boy at 
 the door hesitated to admit us. We passed him, and 
 found an elder brother within, who, seeing us fairly enter- 
 ed, apologized for the other's incivility, confessed that his 
 father was the ketkhoda, conducted us to a comfortable 
 upper room, spread it immediately with carpets, brought a 
 dish of fine apples for a peshkesh (present), and offered the 
 house for our own and himself for our servant. The father 
 soon came, but denied at once that he was the ketkhoda, 
 and called his son a foolish boy for saying he was. He 
 soon inquired of Antonio if our rakam ordered the village to 
 bear our expenses. The reply, that we intended to pay for 
 every thing, immediately changed his tone ; we might stay 
 as long as we pleased, every thing we called for was a 
 present, and no one could tell how he loved us. He hes- 
 itated not to acknowledge that he was the ketkhoda. 
 
 The mystery was now explained. The sight of our rak- 
 am, which Antonio had incautiously shown at first, had 
 given the impression that he perhaps was a mihmandar, 
 and that we were to be quartered gratuitously upon the vil- 
 lage, the Persian government being in the habit of procur- 
 ing thus a forced hospitality for travellers. Deezeh-khaleel 
 is the name of two villages separated only by a wall, and 
 each afraid to receive us, had sent Antonio from one to the 
 other. We had ourselves been sent, by the affrighted in- 
 habitants of Khaleel, over to their neighbors of Deezeh. 
 You need not a word from us to understand the faults of 
 a government, and the misery of a people, where an op- 
 pressor is thus feared in every passing traveller. This is but 
 one instance out of many of a similar reception. At Aly- 
 
SABBATH AT DEEZEH-KHALEEL. 181 
 
 shah, a large and respectable village, we labored an hour 
 and a half, on our return, before any one would admit us. 
 In order to manage the thing properly, Mr. Dwight went 
 forward upon that occasion to look for lodgings. The 
 ketkhoda was not to be found. Offers to pay for our lodg- 
 ings were of no avail ; not even a stable could be procured. 
 And though the public square, on Mr. D wight's arrival, was 
 full of gay inhabitants celebrating the Noroz, the greatest 
 festival of the Persians, his appearance dispersed them so 
 suddenly, that when I came up hardly an individual ap- 
 peared in the streets. — Deezeh-khaleel contains 400 or 500 
 houses, and is inhabited entirely by moslems. They are 
 freeholders, but are appropriated to a high officer, who is 
 ordered by government to obtain his salary from them. 
 Villages seem to be often given thus to particular individ- 
 uals in Persia, and from the practice, doubtless, arises much 
 of the oppression experienced by the peasantry. 
 
 March 6. We spent a quiet Sabbath at Deezeh-khaleel. 
 The atmosphere, purified by the squalls of yesterday, was 
 delightfully serene, and we enjoyed much a walk in the 
 fields. Occasionally a keen breath of air came down from 
 the snowy mountain on the north; but only enough to 
 make grateful the warm rays of the sun, which fell through 
 a cloudless sky upon the broad plain to the south. The 
 fields had the quietness of the same holy day at home, as if 
 even the moslems around us had been seized with rever- 
 ence for the sacred ness of the Christian Sabbath. The 
 cause, however, was different. The Ramadan had taken 
 away for the present their strength and inclination for labor. 
 Our house was not altogether so quiet. Last night, before 
 we were aware, and while we were dining by his side, our 
 host began a session of his court, seated upon my bed. Be- 
 fore it was finished, a hint that we were sleepy, caused him 
 to adjourn. On rising to-day, we found him with his 
 neighbors, holding the balance of justice, upon the ground 
 
182 SHEHWALY. 
 
 in the street before his door. The cold soon forced them 
 into the stable ; and from thence loud and boisterous voices, 
 elicited by the progress of the cause, were ascending all 
 the morning. — He informed us that his father lived to the 
 age of 120 years. The prince, on hearing of his extreme 
 longevity, caused him to visit him at Tebriz, and place his 
 hand upon his head, hoping thereby himself to reach the 
 same age ; such an effect being commonly ascribed to the 
 imposition of the hands of an aged man. The anecdote 
 reminded me of Jacob's interview with Pharaoh ; and sug- 
 gested the query, whether such a ceremony and idea may 
 not explain the singular circumstance, that a plain shepherd 
 should bless a powerful king. 
 
 March 7. Our day's ride was from Deezeh-khaleel to 
 Shehwaly, a distance of four fursakhs. The country had 
 an undulating and gravelly surface, and gradually declined 
 from the mountain on the right to the lake, which was not 
 far off, on the left. A number of villages appeared in differ- 
 ent directions. A mile or two from Shehwaly, a road 
 branches off toward Khoy. It was the one by which we 
 had first reached Tebriz. We now turned to the left 
 toward Salmas. The same difficulties in finding lodgings 
 were experienced again to-day. To avoid them, I went 
 forward myself. The ketkhoda as usual was not to be 
 found, and a stable was offered for our lodgings. I plead- 
 ed mildly, and offered to pay well for a better room, but a 
 bold and absolute refusal was the only answer. The rak- 
 am was then shown, and more authoritative language 
 used, but a milder refusal was the only effect. At length 
 a young man, pretending to have learned from a perusal of 
 the rakam that we were distinguished characters, came 
 forward with a smiling face to apologize for the incivility 
 of his townsmen, and to offer us excellent lodgings. He 
 conducted us to the same stable ! We had begun to doubt 
 whether, in so miserable a little village, we could do better, 
 
LAKE OF OORMIAH. 183 
 
 and therefore, responding to his smile, accepted his offer. 
 All were at once on the best terms with us, and the whole 
 village was so glad to see us disposed of with no more in- 
 convenience to themselves, that whatever we wanted was 
 immediately at our command. The fact that we found 
 these difficulties only in moslem villages, and that offers of 
 money did not in every case remove them, seems to show 
 that they are connected with a fear of ceremonial defile- 
 ment, as well as an apprehension of expense. In one 
 case, an old moslem host sat constantly by us, to see that 
 we did not drink wine, and drop it upon his carpets. 
 
 Shehwaly being but a few rods from the lake of Oor- 
 miah, (called also Shahy lake,) we rode down to its 
 shore in the afternoon. Its water was exceedingly saline, 
 and some salt was deposited in crevices of the rocks along 
 its margin. No unusual taste was perceptible, but it is 
 said to have a medicinal effect ; and the fact that no fish 
 of any kind inhabit the lake, indicates the presence of 
 some unusual ingredients. It is nowhere more than a few 
 feet in depth, and is without an outlet. A few boats are 
 said to ply upon it between Oormiah and Maragha. The 
 island upon which Hoolakoo built the castle for his treas- 
 ures, appears distinctly from Shehwaly. Other islands also 
 rise out of its tranquil waters, and with the lofty mountains 
 around, contribute to form a beautiful landscape. The lake 
 of Oormiah is remarkable for the alluvial plains which sur- 
 round it. They extend up between the mountains like 
 bays, and their appearance suggests the inquiry whether 
 they were not once covered with water. We have already 
 viewed the plain of Tebriz. Another lies on the north, 
 where we now were, between the lake and the pass in the 
 mountains through which we came from Khoy. Its extent 
 is not great, but in the vicinity of the mountains it is fer- 
 tile, and contains a number of villages. The principal is 
 Tesooch, or Tesy. We passed through it twice on other 
 
184 DISTRICT OP GUNIEH. 
 
 occasions. It exhibits many ruins indicative of former 
 consequence, among which are two old and well built mosks. 
 At present its inhabitants seem to be few, but it is the cap- 
 ital of a district called Giinieh, which, besides this plain, 
 extends far enough to embrace also Deezeh-khaleel, a dis- 
 tance of five or six fursakhs. Its site is upon the level 
 plain, but the other villages appear upon the foot of the 
 mountains, with their fields and gardens reaching from 
 them toward the lake, until the soil becomes too much im- 
 pregnated with salt to allow of cultivation. — No Armenians 
 inhabit the district of Giinieh. 
 
 March 8. We rode around the northern extremity of the 
 lake. Myriads of large ducks were flying over it, swim- 
 ming upon its surface, and wading in the salt marshes up- 
 on its shore. The flat over which we travelled was white 
 in almost every part, with an incrustation of salt, which had 
 exuded from its surface. The quantity was here unusually 
 great, but similar appearances in these parts are extremely 
 frequent. I have already mentioned instances in the valley 
 of the Aras, and in the plain of Tebriz. Repeatedly were 
 we disappointed on reaching a limpid brook, to find it too 
 strongly impregnated with saline matter to quench our 
 thirst. This plain is nearly destitute of running water. 
 As a substitute, not only for drinking but for irrigation, 
 (without which nothing is cultivated,) the villagers save in 
 successive tanks the water that is brought down by winter 
 torrents from the mountains. To avoid, I suppose, its be- 
 ing impregnated with the mineral properties of the soil, it 
 is conducted from the reservoirs to the villages, in covered 
 canals sunk eight or ten feet under ground. Their course 
 is marked by a succession of open wells, only a rod or two 
 apart, descending to the water. A ride of four fursakhs 
 brought us to Khanadan, at the northwest corner of the 
 lake. It is the last spot in the district of Giinieh. The 
 village was out of sight in some ravine of the mountains ; 
 
DILMAN. 185 
 
 and only a shop stood by the road for the convenience of 
 travellers. 
 
 Here another plain extended westward from the lake, 
 like that of Tebriz toward the east. It was the district of 
 Salmas. Mountains surround it on three sides, and the 
 part nearest the shore is, for some distance, marshy. We 
 took a direction toward its southwest corner, from the grav- 
 elly elevation around Khanadan ; and again entered ancient 
 Armenia, for Salmas was embraced within its limits. The 
 first village was three fursakhs distant, and before we reach- 
 ed it no cultivation appeared, much of the surface being 
 white with salt. Beyond, the soil assumed an aspect of 
 great fertility, and was highly cultivated throughout. One 
 fursakh more brought us to Dilman, the present capital 
 of the province, and finished our day's ride of eight fur- 
 sakhs. Finding no comfortable room in the caravanserai, 
 we sent Antonio to solicit lodgings from the governor. 
 Some refused to show him the house, others gave him a 
 wrong direction ; and when he at last found it, the gov- 
 ernor was not at home. A merchant in the bazar, in the 
 meantime, invited us to be seated by him, and, while a 
 number attracted by curiosity gathered around, began to 
 question us respecting the movements of Abbas Mirza, 
 and our own object in travelling. We learned that there 
 were then several agents of the prince in town, exacting 
 money and soldiers from its inhabitants. At Deezeh-kha- 
 leel, too, the cause of the ketkhoda's court was the imposi- 
 tion of a new tax. And strange as it may seem that we 
 could be imagined to have any connection with government, 
 it is possible that a vague fear lest some additional im- 
 position should follow in our train, increased the universal 
 reluctance to receive us. The return of Antonio seemed 
 to place us in the alternative of creeping into a dirty hole 
 in the caravanserai, or of sleeping in the street. We ap- 
 pealed to a crowd around to know if they would suffer 
 
 VOL. II. 17 
 
186 
 
 VAN AND AGHTAMAR. 
 
 strangers to fare thus, and one stepped forward to offer us 
 lodgings in his house. His room was good, and the enter- 
 tainment he gave us generous. 
 
 Dilman is a market town, fortified by a regular mud wall. 
 Its houses are six or seven hundred in number, all built of 
 mud, and inhabited only by moslems. Salmas, with a part 
 of the neighboring province of Khoy, is the seat of one of 
 the pastoral tribes of Persia called Lek. Their language 
 is the Turkish, and their faith the sheey. A khan of their 
 race is governor of Dilman, and of the district of which 
 it is the capital. — A road leads from this place to Van, a 
 distance of about 24 fursakhs, which. is frequently travelled 
 by small caravans without danger. Another leads from 
 Tebriz to the same place by Khoy, and is not far from the 
 same length. We wished to return to Erzroom by way of 
 Van, and were prevented only by the information that rob- 
 bers beset the road between those places. We regretted 
 our disappointment the more, as Van is said to be in the 
 centre of a fine province, which contains a great number 
 of Armenians. It is the residence of a Turkish pasha of 
 three tails. The vicinity also of the Catholicos of Aghta- 
 mar increases a missionary's interest in it. Saint-Martin is 
 mistaken in affirming that he is of the Greek faith. The 
 branch of the Armenian church of which he is the head, 
 is in regular communion with the others. His diocese, 
 however, is extremely small. Bishop Israel of Tebriz af- 
 firmed that it is limited to the island in which he resides. 
 But the secretary of the Catholicos at Echmiadzin assured 
 us, that some districts in the Kurdish mountains also ac- 
 knowledge his supremacy. 
 
 March 9. We rode to Khosrova, a Chaldean village 
 about two miles from Dilman. — The present Chaldean 
 Christians are of recent origin. It was in A. D. 1681, 
 that the Nestorian metropolitan of Diarbekr, having quar- 
 relled with his patriarch, was first consecrated by the pope 
 
CHALDEAN CHRISTIANS. 187 
 
 patriarch of the Chaldeans. The sect was as new as the 
 office, and was created for it. Converts to papacy from 
 the Nestorian and Jacobite churches were united in one 
 body, and dignified by the name of the Chaldean church. 
 It means no more than papal Syrians ; as we have in other 
 parts papal Armenians, and papal Greeks. The name of 
 the first patriarch happened to be Yoosuf (Joseph), the 
 same was assumed by his successors, and a Mar Yoosuf 
 now occupies the see of Diarbekr, as patriarch of the 
 Chaldeans.* Khosrova is the residence of the bishop of 
 all who are on this side of tha Kurdish mountains. As we 
 rode up to his house, an old man with a long Kurdish cap, 
 green turban, and ragged sheep-skin pelisse, came out to 
 welcome us. It was Mar Yohanna, the bishop. He re- 
 ceived us civilly, but being too poor to lodge us, he refer- 
 red us to his priest for a room. 
 
 The bishop having been educated at Rome, and lived 
 some time at Aleppo, Mosul and Bagdad, spoke both Ital- 
 ian and Arabic with considerable fluency. Bishop's orders 
 were conferred upon him by the pope's vicar at Bagdad in 
 consequence of instructions from Rome. He seemed, per- 
 haps from age, to be possessed of little energy or intelli- 
 gence, and evidently dependent for every thing upon his 
 priest. The priest, too, though a native of the village, had 
 been twelve years in the college of the Propaganda at 
 Rome. He spoke Italian with ease, and being very com- 
 municative, answered our questions with readiness. We 
 afterward found that his information respecting the Nes- 
 torians was strongly tinged by his prejudices against them. 
 The bishop's was still more so ; and we learned to distrust 
 whatever they said of that sect. Both of them were given 
 to profaneness, and an oath, or some similar expression, 
 often slipped from their tongues. The priest informed us, 
 
 * Assemani Bib. Orient, vol. 3: p. 623. Niebuhr, Voy. en Arab. vol. 
 2: p. 328. 
 
188 CHALDEAN CHRISTIANS. 
 
 that the inhabitants of this village are all Chaldeans, and 
 are only 150 families in number ; though another man, 
 who said he had a list of them, affirmed that they amount 
 to 170 families. The are indigenous to the spot, and were 
 converted from the Nestorian to the papal church about a 
 century ago. In the other villages of the province of Sal- 
 mas, there are but few of their sect. Oola contains 26 
 families, Gooleeza 20, Patavor 15, Khaghia 7, and 6 are 
 scattered elsewhere. In the province of Oormiah they 
 reckon about 200 families, most of whom are in the village 
 of Barbary. Add about 30 families who emigrated from 
 this vicinity with the Russians to Sharoor, in the province 
 of Erivan, and, (if the statements of the priest are cor- 
 rect,) you have a complete list of all the Chaldeans of 
 these parts, amounting to about 2300 souls. They have, 
 in all, but four priests besides our informant, three of 
 whom are in the province of Oormiah, and one here ; and 
 none but him has had any other than a native education. 
 The diocese acknowledges the supremacy of the Chaldean 
 patriarch at Diarbekr, and occasionally receives orders 
 from thence, but pays him no money.* 
 
 Besides the diocesan, a second bishop also resides at 
 Khosrova. Being, according to the laws of Nestorian 
 episcopal succession, heir to the diocese, he resented being 
 supplanted by another, and when Mar Yohanna went to 
 Bagdad for consecration, he obtained the same right from 
 the Nestorian Mar Shimon of the mountains. An excom- 
 munication was fulminated against him in consequence, but 
 by going to Bagdad and lining well the pockets of the 
 
 * The following was given us, by the nephew of bishop Shevris, of whom 
 more will be said hereafter, as a complete list of the present Chaldean bish- 
 ops. — Mar Basilius, at Diarbekr. Mar Michael, at Sert. Mar Ignatius, 
 at Mardin. Mar Loientius, at Ain Kawa, near Bagdad. Mar Yohanna, 
 and Mar Yoosuf, at El Koosh. Mar Yohanna, at Khosrova. — The title 
 Mar, which seems to be common to all Chaldean, Nestorian, and Jacobite 
 bishops, is equivalent to lord. 
 
CHALDEAN CHRISTIANS. 189 
 
 pope's vicar there, he got a favorable representation of his 
 case made to Rome, and retained the rank of sub-bishop in 
 this diocese. 'And here he has been,' said Mar Yohanna, 
 our informant, ' for many, many years, and as often as I have 
 said white, he has invariably said black.'' The priest, too, 
 regarded him with extreme contempt, and repeatedly amu- 
 sed himself by calling him semivirumque bovem. — There 
 was also, till recently, another Chaldean bishop, by the 
 name of Shevris, in this region, but, I believe, without a 
 diocese. He was a native of Sert, and was consecrated 
 bishop by Mar Elias of El Koosh, without orders from the 
 pope. To effect a compromise for such an irregularity, he 
 went to Rome, in person, and resided there twelve years. 
 'Then,' said the old bishop, our informant again, 'he 
 came here and connected himself with the Bible Society, 
 from which he received a large annual pension.' He seem- 
 ed prejudiced against him, and called him ' un motto ,-' but 
 still affirmed that he died in the bosom of the papal church. 
 The fact that he was always a firm papist, was declared 
 not only by several Chaldeans and Nestorians, but by a 
 nephew of Shevris himself, who will be mentioned hereafter. 
 The British and Foreign Bible Society employed him to 
 translate the New Testament into the Kurdish language, 
 and the work is now in the hands of the missionaries at 
 Shoosha for revision. An English gentleman at Tebriz, 
 who knew Shevris well, had already expressed to us an 
 apprehension that he had done his work like a hireling. 
 The priest here affirmed that it could be of no use, as he 
 had written it in the Nestorian character, which, besides 
 being entirely unknown to the Kurds, is ill adapted to 
 express the sounds of their language. Undoubtedly, as 
 the Kurds have no alphabet of their own, and are as mos- 
 lems more or less familiar with the Koran, to say nothing of 
 the languages of the Turks and Persians who surround 
 them, the Arabic alphabet ought to have been used. The 
 
 VOL. II. 17* 
 
190 CHALDEAN CHRISTIANS. 
 
 translation, however, will doubtless be worth something as 
 a first attempt, and will be an important help to missionaries 
 who may wish to learn the Kurdish language. He died at 
 Tebriz of the epidemic, during the last season. 
 
 We were hardly seated with the bishop and his priest, 
 before two litigants, with a crowd at their heels, rushed in 
 to plead a cause before the episcopal tribunal. Both were 
 angry and obstinate, and, upheld by their friends, put the 
 reverend judge to his wit's end to pacify them. His con- 
 sultations with his priest, being held in Italian that they 
 might not be comprehended by the people, were of course 
 understood by us ; and the latter, fearing that we might de- 
 tect some machiavelism, deemed it necessary, in the sequel, 
 to apologize. He said that such were the habits of the 
 people and the nature of moslem law, that to tell the plain 
 truth did no good ; quibbles and expedients were necessary. 
 Such a state of things was exceedingly painful to him, but 
 the people must be satisfied, or they would appeal to the Mo- 
 hammedan authorities. — The inhabitants of the village, he 
 informed us, own the soil they cultivate. Though so hedged 
 in by surrounding villages that their possessions are small, 
 they pay a tax of 1000 tomans (about $3000) in money, 
 and about half that amount in grain ! Nor, though fixed 
 by charters, is this all ; through illegal exactions from col- 
 lectors , and the imposition of unjust fines, they actually 
 give much more. Even mechanics, of whom there are 
 only a few weavers, cannot exercise their trade without 
 paying for a license. In fact, he said, they are drained of 
 every farthing they can earn. That they were extremely 
 poor, their external appearance abundantly testified. Their 
 oppression has increased since the war. — Only some twenty 
 or thirty can read, and they have been taught since the 
 priest came here, that they might assist him in church. 
 Besides the few taught by him, the Chaldeans have no 
 school here or elsewhere, in this region. 
 
CHALDEAN CHRISTIANS. 191 
 
 We attended evening prayers in the church. It was an old 
 stone structure, ornamented within by a multitude of coarse 
 shawls and Roman pictures hung around its walls, and its in- 
 terior was extremely dark. Like the common Armenian 
 churches, its floor was strown with sheep-skins and bits of 
 rugs ; and each one, as he entered, left his shoes at the door, 
 and placed himself upon one of them. Few were present ; 
 the service was read and chanted with great rapidity ; and I 
 think I never saw so little reverence, and so much careless- 
 ness in divine worship. In form it resembled that of the 
 Nestorians, which will be hereafter described. In fact, all 
 the Nestorian church books are used by the Chaldeans, 
 with scarcely any other alteration than the substitution of 
 the names of papal for those of Nestorian saints, and the 
 expunging of a few sentences that savor of Nestorianism. 
 The priest seemed to think, that, in conformity with the 
 name of his church, its books must in ancient times have 
 been written in the Chaldean character, but confessed that 
 at present it possesses no such books,, and only uses the 
 Nestorian character, with now and then an old manuscript 
 in the Estrangelo. Only the scripture lessons in the public 
 services are explained in the vulgar tongue. None of the 
 other parts, according to the confession of the priest, are 
 understood by the people. The Chaldeans not only regu- 
 late the time of their fasts and feasts by the oriental calen- 
 dar, but observe the former with all the strictness of the 
 Nestorians, eating no kind of animal food, and in lent ab- 
 staining from every thing until afternoon. Their priests, 
 like those of the papal Greeks and Maronites of Syria, are 
 allowed to marry before ordination, but not after. Like 
 good papists, they receive only the bread at communion. 
 
 This is now the only papal mission in Aderbaijan, nor 
 did we learn of any other in all Persia, except at Isfahan.* 
 
 * Chardin found two Capuchins at Tebriz ', (vol. 2: p. 344,) but their 
 hospice has long since ceased to exist. 
 
192 PAPAL MISSIONS IN PERSIA. 
 
 The priest said that he formerly received from Rome, an 
 annual remittance of a hundred dollars, but for the last two 
 or three years no money had been sent, and he could not 
 even get an answer to his letters. Such neglect provoked 
 from him many bitter complaints ; and he declared, that his 
 two brethren at Isfahan had written to -him that they were 
 in the same predicament, almost starving for want of money. 
 How curtailed are the finances and the influence of Rome, 
 since the time when Chardin found Augustinians, Capu- 
 chins, Carmelites, and Jesuits, living at such ease in the 
 capital of Persia ! Let her continue thus to sink elsewhere, 
 and soon will that great city be found no more at all. We 
 seem, throughout this journey, to have been treading upon 
 her ruins ; and I confess that one of the most pleasing re- 
 flections it has occasioned me, is that we have found so 
 many of them completely buried in the dust. The priest 
 complained that his embarrassment for want of funds 
 deprived him of all energy for his missionary labors. He 
 was anxious to multiply books in the vulgar language, but 
 had yet only translated the Doctrina Christiana, (a papal 
 catechism,) and a few prayers, for his pupils. They are the 
 only books that exist in the vulgar language of the Nestorians. 
 We obtained copies of them, and of a Nestoriano-Turkish 
 catechism. He had projected also a work upon the Nes- 
 torians, but I apprehend it would be little more than an 
 abridgment of Asseman, whom he owned, and followed 
 closely in the information he gave us. As the result of his 
 labors hitherto, he mentioned the twenty or thirty youth ' 
 here whom he had taught to read, and the Chaldeans in 
 the villages around who had been converted by him. He 
 was in expectation of a speedy reinforcement from Rome ; 
 two young men of the village, whom he had sent thither 
 for education, being about ready to return. 
 
 I have already mentioned that one of the heirs to the 
 last waly of Georgia, is supported by the Persian govern- 
 
PRETENDER TO THE THRONE OF GEORGIA. 193 
 
 merit, as a pretender to the throne of that country. He 
 resides in this village, and we called on him after evening 
 prayers. So rejoiced was he to see us, if we may credit 
 his own expressions, that our visit was .worth to him more 
 than a hundred thousand tomans; and offers of services, 
 hardly one of" which it was in his power to perform, were 
 heaped upon us in such profusion, that we were put to our 
 wit's end for civil excuses to decline them all. It was 
 Persian politeness carried to the most disgusting excess. 
 The kings of Imireti, and the princes of Mingreli, he in- 
 formed us, were his relatives, and his ancestors were of the 
 Pakradian family. His wekeel added, that the Pakradians 
 were of the royal family and lineage of David, the son of 
 Jesse. He bears the name and title of Alexander khan, 
 and lives upon a pension of about a thousand tomans 
 which he is ordered by government to take from the taxes 
 of this village. Weakness and generosity of character 
 make him too improvident to manage his own income, and 
 among the Georgian dependents who form his court, is an 
 Armenian khan, named Aghalar, a native of Georgia, who 
 acts as his wekeel. We exchanged calls with him also, 
 and afterward learned that he is brother of a eunuch, who 
 now controls the cabinet of Teheran. He has no lack of 
 sense, nor of providence, and of course fares better than 
 his master. 
 
 March 10. Taking a Chaldean guide from Kh6srova y 
 we made an excursion this morning to Old Salmas, now 
 generally called simply Shehir, or the city. The plain 
 continued of the same character as was noticed at the first 
 village on entering the district. Level almost as the floor 
 of a house, with a soil of rich light loam, and irrigated 
 throughout with canals, it presented a landscape truly charm- 
 ing. Cotton and rice do not flourish here, and only grain 
 is cultivated ; but with that almost every spot was green. 
 Our guide assured us that it produces from eight to twelve, 
 
194 
 
 OLD SALMAS. 
 
 and in some places fifteen fold. Numerous villages ap- 
 peared, and all were surrounded, like Khosrova, with 
 forests of fruit trees, which seem to flourish here with al- 
 most unequalled exuberance. The apple, pear, quince, 
 peach, apricot, walnut, and sinjid, were the principal. 
 Through gardens thickly set with these, we worked our 
 way into Saoora, a village on the road. Our guide assured 
 us that five or six hundred families of Armenians had 
 emigrated from it to Georgia, and that only a few of that 
 nation with a few moslems were left. We found the Chal- 
 dean church in the keeping of a solitary family of that 
 sect. Its door was a mere eliptical hole cut through a 
 single stone, and so small as to admit one's body with 
 difficulty. Within were three small chapels under the 
 same roof, dark and dirty, and without furniture, except 
 a few old shawls and Romish pictures suspended upon the 
 walls. No books even were to be found, and the keeper 
 said the clergy brought them from Khosrova, when they 
 came to say mass on the great festivals. 
 
 Salmas is mentioned by ancient writers, as a town in 
 the Armenian province of Persarmenia.* The modern 
 village is scattered over a considerable space, on the site of 
 the old one. Its houses are poor, and it has an aspect of 
 decay. The only remains of antiquity we saw, were two 
 or three cylindrical monuments, or towers, of an order sim- 
 ilar to that at Shamkor, but much inferior in height. 
 They were constructed Of brick, and marked with inscrip- 
 tions" in the Arabic character, betraying a moslem origin. 
 The plain extends hardly more than a mile southwestward 
 from the town, and then commence the semi-independent 
 mountains of the Kurds. Though so near that lawless 
 people, however, the district is never disturbed by them, 
 except when the Persian government is in a weak and 
 disorganized state. — The entrance to the Chaldean church 
 
 * St. Mart. vol. 1 : p. 179. 
 
JEWS OF PERSIA. 195 
 
 was like that just mentioned at Saoora, and its interior was 
 in a similar state, except that it contained three or four old 
 books, one of which was written in the Estrangelo charac- 
 ter upon parchment. There being no Chaldean or Nes- 
 torian in town, the key was kept by an old Armenian. 
 Still, the clergy come from Khosrova to say mass in it, upon 
 the great festivals. Among other ancient inscriptions upon 
 the stones in the external face of its walls, we noticed one 
 in a character entirely unknown to us. — We found the 
 Jewish synagogue neater and better carpeted than the 
 churches ; and the Jews better dressed than the Chris- 
 tians. Their copies of the law were beautiful, and we 
 tried to purchase one, but in vain. They reckon 30 or 35 
 families here; in Oormiah they amount to 300 families; 
 and in Khoy, I believe, there are a few ; but elsewhere in 
 Aderbaijan we heard of none. In Teheran, Kashan, and 
 Isfahan, they are more numerous. The priest at Khosro- 
 va said that these of Salmas are doubtless much oppressed, 
 but less so than his own townsmen ; for not being cultiva- 
 tors of the soil, their property is not so tangible. Their 
 appearance seemed to justify his opinion. The Jews of 
 Persia generally are the most ignorant, demoralized and 
 oppressed part of the community. They are said to have 
 neither tradition, nor history, to inform them when their 
 ancestors came into the country. We naturally look 
 among them for the remains of the ten tribes; but if such 
 were their origin, all traces of it have been effaced. They 
 now resemble their brethren elsewhere, except that their 
 reverence for the Talmud is perhaps somewhat less, and 
 there is some doubt whether they have all the books of the 
 Old Testament. This resemblance may have been pro- 
 duced by long intercourse with Jerusalem Rabbies, who 
 often pass by them on their way to the north. We found 
 one at Salmas, at the time of our visit. They speak the 
 languages of the country ; but respecting the common use 
 
196 A CHALDEAN WEDDING. 
 
 of a vulgar Hebrew among them, we received contradictory 
 statements. — The Armenian church bore marks of great 
 poverty, and was probably stripped of its furniture and or- 
 naments at the time of the emigration. Upon that occa- 
 sion, we were assured, 200 families left the town. Only 
 20 remained, and 40 have since joined them, so that their 
 present number is 60. In the whole district there are 
 now but about 400 families of Armenians. They have no 
 school, nor had they any before the war. 
 
 We returned to Khosrova in time to attend a Chaldean 
 wedding. It was a nephew of the priest, with whom he 
 lives, that was married, and we therefore had the best 
 chance of viewing all the ceremonies of the occasion. 
 Our host, both because as a priest he had long endeavored 
 to discountenance the frolickings of his parishioners, and 
 because his nephew was a widower with a family of chil- 
 dren, as well as to avoid expense, wished, he said, to have 
 little parade. The friends of the bride prevailed, however, 
 and the wedding took place with some eclat. Yesterday, 
 the bridegroom uncovered a large jar of wine in his yard, 
 (which, according to the manner of keeping wine here, was 
 buried a foot or two in the ground,) and slew a cow also 
 before our door. The whole of the beef, and large quan- 
 tities*of wine, with butter, and rice, were sent to the house 
 of the bride for the wedding feast. The wine was in the 
 greatest demand, and jars were repeatedly filled and sent 
 away, or drunk on the spot, as if it had been water. To 
 stain the hands and feet of the bride, a dish of henna, too, 
 was furnished by the bridegroom. It was applied in the 
 evening by an assembly of women, who had a feast upon 
 the occasion, with music and dancing. The priest would 
 not provide the latter, and the expense of it was borne 
 by the father of the girl. The expense of marrying is 
 here so great, that a contribution is generally taken up 
 for the bridegroom through the village ; otherwise few 
 
A CHALDEAN WEDDING. 197 
 
 young men would be able to marry. The nephew of 
 the priest had already once received this favor at his former 
 marriage, however, and he could not solicit it of his towns- 
 men again. But we were not thus excused from the solici- 
 tation, and in the course of to-day the bride sent us, by the 
 hand of a maid, a tray of pears and lavender. Its mean- 
 ing was easily understood, and, hoping thereby to discharge 
 some of our obligations to our host, we put into the hand 
 of the bearer a small coin. It afterward appeared that 
 the purses of the espoused parties were not yet united, 
 and this was only a trick of the girl's father to spunge us 
 of some money. 
 
 Late in the afternoon to-day, a company of musicians 
 and dancers carried from the bridegroom to the bride the 
 present of her wedding dress. The bridegroom remained 
 at home ; we anticipated the slow movements of the music- 
 al procession, and arrived before them. Along the side of 
 a large room were seated upon the ground, in all the mirth 
 of boisterous conviviality, a row of men, with trays of bread 
 and fruit before them, and waiters passing goblets of wine 
 rapidly around. Their noise ceased for a moment as we 
 entered, and they rose respectfully to receive us. In a 
 corner of the same room, was huddled, also upon the ground, 
 a crowd of women. Against the wall were three or four 
 entirely covered with veils, indicating that they had been 
 married within the year. Between them appeared the 
 bride, also with a veil, but without the flat dish that crowned 
 the heads of the married women. Near them sat one or 
 two with unveiled faces, except that the chin was well muf- 
 fled to the nose, and a red shawl was thrown over their 
 head to show that they were married the year before. The 
 mass of the married dames had likewise the lower part of 
 the visage concealed in a mufler, but a white instead of a 
 red shawl upon the head, betokened that they were matrons 
 of some standing. A complement of unmarried maidens, 
 
 VOL. II. 18 
 
198 A CHALDEAN WEDDING. 
 
 having their faces entirely naked, and nothing upon their 
 heads but a tight cap from which dangled an abundance of 
 gold and silver coins, completed the crowd. These were 
 the relatives of the bride. 
 
 The relatives of the bridegroom soon came with the 
 wedding dress, and filled the room. The bride was clothed 
 where she sat, but the crowd of women around completely 
 screened her from the gaze of the men. The latter were 
 otherwise employed ; for the trays were now loaded with 
 dishes of various kinds of food, which, with large draughts 
 of wane, they hastened to despatch. The uproar, from 
 loud talk, music and quarrelling, soon increased to a deaf- 
 ening and almost fearful height. The bridegroom had 
 given a large dowry, at the espousals ; but custom re- 
 quired an additional present, also, at the marriage, to the 
 father, brothers and nearest relations. So exorbitant were 
 their demands on this score to-day, that the priest had al- 
 ready been forced to refer them to court for a decision. 
 Provoked by this, and half drunk with wine, the father was 
 exceedingly waspish, and vented his wrath in words and 
 actions, which we at one time expected would actually end 
 in blows. The dress-maker, too, clamorously demanded 
 her fee, and a present was claimed in high terms by all 
 who had aided in dressing the bride, among whom the 
 girl who had tied her zone made herself the most conspic- 
 uous. The bride was at length equipped, and having 
 with many pretended or real tears given the farewell kiss 
 to her parents and relatives, was conducted slowly to the 
 door. There a horse was waiting for her, and as she 
 mounted, an infant boy was seated in her lap upon the 
 saddle, to augur the felicitous result of such an offspring. 
 Then, preceded by music and dancing, and attended by 
 an immense crowd, many of whom were well in their cups, 
 she marched slowly to the house of the bridegroom. 
 
 We took a shorter road, and arrived before them. At 
 
A CHALDEAN WEDDING. 199 
 
 the first sign of her coming, the bridegroom, who had re- 
 mained at home, mounted his terrace with a few of his 
 friends. As she drew near, one held a tray of fruit before 
 him, and another poured goblets of wine down his throat, 
 all shouting at every draught. A lump of butter was 
 brought the bride, which she stuck upon the door-post as 
 she entered, to signify that her coming brought plenty and 
 fruitfulness to the house. The last of the demands made, 
 in accordance with marriage customs here, upon the purse 
 of the poor bridegroom, was now met by a promise to her 
 of a new dress, before she would be seated. The court 
 was immediately filled with a crowd of men and women, 
 who continued dancing by torch light to the sound of mu- 
 sic, until a late hour. The wine jar was soon reported to 
 be exhausted, although it had contained about 150 bottles. 
 Another of the same size was soon opened, and when we 
 returned from Oormiah, ten days afterward, that too was 
 empty. Tired of such carousals, we retired to our room 
 and to sleep, leaving a request to be awaked to witness the 
 marriage. 
 
 We were called an hour after midnight, and hastened to 
 the church, where it was to take place. The espoused 
 parties came with no attendance. At the altar, the friend 
 of the bridegroom and the bridemaid stood between them, 
 and during the ceremony repeatedly whispered in the ear 
 of each. They were once brought together for a moment 
 to join hands ; but the bride held back so resolutely, that 
 the union was not effected without much persuasion, and 
 even force. When together, they were observed to be 
 more intent upon treading on each other's toes, than upon 
 joining hands ; for you must know that whichever had his 
 toes well mashed at that critical moment, was to be obedient 
 to the other through life. A ring was dipped in wine and 
 water by the priest, and given to the bridegroom to be put 
 by him upon the finger of the bride ; and the ceremony 
 
200 A CHALDEAN WEDDING. 
 
 was consummated by crowning the head of each with a 
 garland. The communion ought to have been given them 
 before leaving" the church, and, as a preparation, they had 
 actually been made to confess during the evening ; but the 
 priest declared that after so much drinking and carousing 
 he would not administer it. Two attendants, with a cym- 
 bal and a bell, led the way from the church ; the priest 
 and deacon followed them, chanting from their books; and 
 thus the married couple were conducted home. 
 
LETTER XX. 
 
 OORMIAH. 
 
 Origin of Nestoriauism — Its establishment in Persia — Origin and extent of 
 the patriarchate of Seleucia and Ctesiphon — Different residences of its 
 patriarchs — Conversions of the Nestorians to the papal church — Origin of 
 the seceding patriarchate of Mar Shimon in the Kurdish mountains — 
 Our arrival at Jamalava, a Nestorian village in the province of Oormiah 
 — Nestorian fasts — Evening prayers — Bishop Mar Yohanna — Language 
 of the Nestorians — Adoration of the saints — Prayers for the dead — State 
 of the dead before Christ — Independent Nestorians of Kurdistan — Diocese 
 of Mar Shimon — Diocese of the bishop of Jamalava — Orders of the Nes- 
 torian clergy — Their support — Ideas of the way of salvation — Sign of the 
 cross — Number of the Nestorian sacraments — Baptism — Sacred leaven — 
 Eucharist — Mode of communion — Open communion — Marriage — Conse- 
 cration of churches — Armenian carnival. 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 In passing from the Armenian to the Nestorian church, 
 we go backward one step in the history of heresy. Nesto- 
 rius was excommunicated at Ephesus, by the third general 
 council, A. D. 431 ; twenty years before Eutyches was 
 condemned by the fourth general council, at Chalcedon. 
 You will not expect me to review the transactions of that 
 assembly. They form a page in the history of the church, 
 which a sarcastic Gibbon may take pleasure in unfolding 
 for the scorn of her enemies, but which the Christian will 
 not be reluctant to leave veiled in the darkness of the age 
 in which they occurred. That Nestorius was innocent, I 
 am not disposed to contend ; but if he was chargeable with 
 guilt, I should search for it elsewhere than did the council. 
 Its first accusation was, that he refused to the virgin the 
 title of Mother of God. Had he plead guilty to it, surely 
 
 VOL. II. 18* 
 
202 ORIGIN OF NESTORIANISM. 
 
 no protestant would for that have charged him with heresy. 
 But he did not, for he said, " I have often declared, that if 
 one more simple among you, or any others, is pleased with 
 this word ©soto'jco?, I have no objection to it, so be that 
 he make not the virgin God."* It accused him next, of 
 holding not only to two natures, but to tivo persons in 
 Christ. And even had he used such language, no one 
 accustomed to discriminate, will deny, that it might have 
 had in his mouth no heretical meaning. But he perseve- 
 ringly denied the charge to the end of his life. To Cyril, 
 his enemy, he wrote, " I approve that you preach a distinc- 
 tion of natures in respect to the divinity and humanity, and 
 a conjunction of them in one person." And to another pre- 
 late he said, " Of the two natures there is one authority, one 
 virtue, one power, and one person according to one digni- 
 ty."! Nestorius had on the one point, however, in attempt- 
 ing to penetrate beyond the reach of finite powers into 
 the mystery of the incarnation, darkened counsel by words 
 without knowledge ; and on the other, had boldly, and 
 perhaps honestly, endeavored to correct a popular supersti- 
 tion. The opportunity for humbling the occupant of the see 
 of Constantinople, which had begun to eclipse its sister pa- 
 triarchates, was too good to be lost ; and the envious Cyril of 
 Alexandria delayed not to sound the alarm of heresy. By 
 refusing to wait for the delegates of Antioch, (the friends of 
 the accused,) he converted the council of Ephesus into an ex- 
 parte tribunal, and Nestorius was condemned unheard. 
 
 On being cut off from the church, and hurled from the 
 patriarchal throne of Constantinople, Nestorius was first 
 banished to Arabia Petrsea ; thence, after a four years' res- 
 dence near Antioch, he was transported to one of the Oases 
 of Libya ; and finally died in Upper Egypt. But his cause 
 was the cause of his countrymen in the East, and needed not 
 his presence to secure its progress. Others besides himself 
 
 * Assem. Bib. Orient, vol. 4 : p. 193- f Ibid. p. 192. 
 
ITS ESTABLISHMENT IN PERSIA. 203 
 
 had there sat at the feet of Diodorus of Tarsus, and Theo- 
 dorus of Mopsuestia ; and John, patriarch of Antioch, both 
 from partiality to the same opinions, and from chagrin at 
 the neglect shown him by his brother of Alexandria at 
 the council of Epesus, looked with complacence upon the 
 feelings of his flock. Particularly in the famous school of 
 Edessa, (now Orfah,) where many Christian youth of Per- 
 sia were educated, was the part of the condemned patriarch 
 warmly espoused. His partisans were indeed expelled 
 from it before the declaration of peace between the sees of 
 Antioch and Alexandria, and the school itself was finally 
 destroyed in A. D. 489, by order of the emperor Zeno. 
 But Ibas, then a presbyter in Edessa, in the meantime ex- 
 cited by his correspondence an interest in the cause among 
 the Persian ecclesiastics ; the expelled pupils carried with 
 them to the country of their birth and of their banishment 
 a still warmer personal sympathy in it ; and Barsumas, one 
 of their number, added his influence, both as head of his 
 rival school of Nisibis and as bishop of that city, to pro- 
 mote it. It was also fostered by the rivalry of the govern- 
 ments of Constantinople, and of Persia. For, while the or- 
 thodox Theodosius, and the rnonophysite Zeno strove alike 
 to exterminate Nestorianism from their realm, Barsumas 
 easily convinced the fire-worshipper Firoz, that the perse- 
 cuted sect would be favorable to his interests, and that the 
 friends of orthodoxy were at heart traitors to his govern- 
 ment. The archbishop of Seleucia, either from fear or in- 
 difference, stood aloof from the maneuvres of the bishop, 
 and at his death the new sect had so multiplied in his dio- 
 cese, as to appoint (in A. D. 498) his successor. Thus the 
 Nestorians assumed the attitude of the dominant Christian 
 sect of Persia.* 
 
 The archbishop of Seleucia and Ctesiphon has been al- 
 ready mentioned, as one of the Catholicoses beyond the 
 
 * Assem. Bib. Orient, vol. 4: p. 67, ss. 
 
204 PATRIARCHATE OF SELEUCIA AND CTESIPHON. 
 
 boundaries of the Greek empire, who originally acknowl- 
 edged the supremacy of the patriarch of Antioch. The 
 Christians of that diocese claimed Thomas as their apostle, 
 inasmuch as he passed by them on his way to the remoter 
 regions of the east. But their see owed its origin to Maris, 
 a disciple of the Thaddeus to whom the church of Edessa 
 looked up as its founder.* In A. D. 162, long before the 
 diocese was infected with Nestorianism, its occupants had 
 ceased to go for consecration to Antioch, where they were 
 liable to be seized as spies, and had practised receiving the 
 ordinance from the hands of their own bishops.t And 
 when the infection of heresy had completely severed their 
 still nominal connection with that patriarchal see, they as- 
 sumed to themselves the title of Patriarch of the East, as 
 well as the power of spiritually independent heads of the 
 Nestorian church. — The Nestorians did not receive from 
 all the Sassanians such decided protection as from Firoz, 
 and were occasionally persecuted ; but even under the re- 
 ligious intolerance of Nooshirwan, their patriarch was the 
 acknowledged head of all the Christians of Persia.| Under 
 the Arabians, too, though liable like all Christians to ex- 
 cessive exactions and repeated persecutions, they were ad- 
 mitted to many offices of trust, and had the precedence of 
 every other body of Christians.^ 
 
 Their sect was now widely extended. Besides occupy- 
 ing, almost to the exclusion of all other Christians, the 
 region which forms the modern kingdom of Persia ; they 
 were on the one side numerous in Mesopotamia and Ara- 
 bia, had their metropolitans in Syria and Cyprus, and a 
 bishop even in the island of Socotra, at the mouth of the 
 Red sea ; and on the other, the Syrian Christians of Mal- 
 abar in Hindoostan were Nestorians, and received their 
 
 * Assem. Bib. Orient, vol. 4 : p. 3. vol. 3: p. 611. 
 
 f Ibid. vol. 3: p. 612. vol. 4: p. 41. t Ibid. vol. 4: p. 87, ss. 
 
 § Idid. vol. 4: p. 95. 
 
EXTENSION OF NESTORIANISM. 205 
 
 bishops from Seleucia. Nestorian churches existed in Trans- 
 oxiana as far as Kashgar ; in the distant regions of Mongo- 
 lia, the great khan of the Tartars held the rank of presbyter 
 in the Nestorian church ; and, if we may credit a monu- 
 ment subsequently discovered by papal priests, Nestorian 
 missionaries planted churches in the heart of northern 
 China.* In a word, we have on record a list of no less 
 than twenty-five metropolitans, who ackowledged the su- 
 premacy of the Nestorian partiarch.f — Their condition 
 was at first improved by the exchange of Saracen for 
 Moghul masters, at the destruction of the kalifate of 
 Bagdad by Hoolakoo khan, A. D. 1258. For,t hough the 
 house of Chingiz rose upon the ruins of that of Prester 
 John (presbyter Unkh khan), the clerical khan of the 
 Tartars, it was brought, by intermarriages with it, under 
 the influence of its religion. Some of the descendants of 
 the Chingiz openly declared themselves Christians; all 
 were for several generations partial to Christianity; and 
 the branch which invaded Persia showed peculiar respect to 
 the head of the Nestorian church. It learned to persecute, 
 however, on embracing the Mohammedan faith ; a similar 
 spirit was imbibed by the Moghuls wherever its example 
 was followed ; and at length Timoor completed the banish- 
 ment of Christianity from Transoxiana, exterminated or 
 effectually concealed it in Mongolia, and persecuted unto 
 death multitudes of the Nestorians of Persia. J 
 
 The original residence of the Nestorian patriarchs was 
 at Ctesiphon and Seleucia. When Bagdad became the 
 capital of the Saracen empire, in A. D. 762, they removed 
 thither. The destruction of the court whose favor they 
 there cultivated, broke the tie which connected them with 
 that city, and thenceforward their residence seems to have 
 been constantly varying, until the patriarch Elias, in A. D. 
 
 * Assem. Bib. Orient, vol. 4: p. 413, ss. f Ibid - vo1 - 2 : P- 458 « 
 t Ibid. vol. 4: p. 101,481. 
 
206 CONVERSIONS OF NESTORIANS TO PAPACY. 
 
 1559, fixed himself at Mosul. His successors have ever 
 since resided in that vicinity, and have also borne his 
 name ; and a Mar Elias now represents, at El Koosh, the 
 ancient patriarchs of Seleucia and Ctesiphon.* — The mod- 
 ern history of the Nestorians is taken up with the efforts of 
 papal missionaries to convert them to the Romish faith. 
 The few that lived in Cyprus were gained over as early as 
 A. D. 1445.f In A. D. 1599, the Jesuits forced those of 
 Malabar to acknowledge the pope, and expunged from 
 their church books all anti-papal doctrines. £ During the 
 seventeeth century Capuchin and Carmelite monks overran 
 Mesopotamia from Diarbekr to Bussorah, and scattered 
 widely the seeds of papacy. § The defection of the met- 
 ropolitan of Diarbekr from the Nestorian faith, and the 
 consequent establishment of the modern papal sect and 
 patriarchate of the Chaldeans during that century, has 
 been already mentioned. Mar Elias, the Nestorian patri- 
 arch himself, was also gained over, and in A. D. 1616 
 sent in his submission to the pope.|| His successors, how- 
 ever, seem to have regulated their obedience by their con- 
 venience, and the books of their church have not, so far as 
 we have learned, ever been expurgated by papal censors. 
 
 A more serious defection than that of the see of Diarbekr 
 took place in the sixteenth century. Not only had the pa- 
 triarchate then remained, for nearly a century, hereditary 
 in the same family, but the incumbents would raise none 
 but their relatives to the office of metropolitan. Hence it 
 happened, that when the old patriarch died in A. D. 1551, 
 only one Metropolitan was left in the church, and he, being 
 his brother's son, was heir to his office. Unwilling to tolerate 
 
 * Assem. Bib. Orient, vol. 4: p. 622. f Ibid. vol. 4: p. 141. 
 
 % For a valuable account of those iniquitous proceedings, and of Nestori- 
 anism in India, see L'Histoire du Christianisme des Indes. By M. V. 
 La Croze. 
 
 § Assem. Bib. Orient, vol. 4: p. 169. H Ibid. 4: p. 169. vol. 1: p. 543. 
 
MAR SHIMON. 207 
 
 any longer such a system of hereditary ecclesiastical aris- 
 tocracy, an assembly of the clergy and laity met in the city 
 of Mosul, and selected another ecclesiastic, by the name of 
 Sulaka, to succeed to the patriarchate. His consecration, 
 however, exceedingly embarrassed them, for according to 
 their customs the ceremony could be performed only by 
 three or four metropolitans, whereas only one officer of that 
 rank existed in the church, and he had declared himself 
 patriarch. It was determined to seek the performance of 
 the rite from the highest authority, and Sulaka was sent 
 to the successor of St. Peter at Rome, where, after giving 
 in a satisfactory confession of his faith, he was proclaimed 
 patriarch, in April A. D. 1553. Only his immediate suc- 
 cessor received consecration at Rome, where he sub- 
 scribed the decrees of the council of Trent, and we hear 
 of no correspondence between this see and the pope later 
 than A.D. 1653. The fourth in succession from Sulaka was 
 Simeon, archbishop of Jeloo, Sert and Salmas. Since his 
 time, the capital of the see has remained in the mountains of 
 Kurdistan, to the west of Oormiah, and its occupants have 
 always borne the name of Simeon, or, with the native title 
 and pronunciation, Mar Shimon.* 
 
 It was a part of the flock of this patriarch, that we 
 visited in our journey to Oormiah, and which I am now 
 about to introduce to you. I shall give you merely our own 
 inquiries, and leave you to compare them with what La 
 Croze and Asseman have written of the same sect. In- 
 stead of pursuing the plan of general classification adopted 
 in presenting our information respecting the Armenians 
 where our survey was more extensive; it is deemed safer here, 
 considering the shortness of our visit to the Nestorians to 
 relate separately the conversations of each individual in- 
 formant. Such a course will necessarily exhibit some 
 repetitions and contradictions ; but it will have the advan- 
 
 * Assem. Bib. Orient, vol. 1: p. 523, 536. vol. 3: p. 621. vol. 4: p. 164. 
 
208 OUR ARRIVAL AT JAMALAVA. 
 
 tage of referring every fact to its proper authority, leaving 
 the reader to draw his own conclusions, and throwing upon 
 the writer merely the responsibility of faithfully narrating 
 what we saw and heard. The whole is the result of nine 
 days' investigation. 
 
 We left Salmas for Oormiah in the morning on the 11th of 
 March. A projection of the mountains of Kurdistan, extend- 
 ing in the form of a small promontory into the lake, separates 
 the two provinces. As we began to ascend it, a small quarry 
 . of marble attracted our attention. It was translucent and 
 veined, like that which is so abundant at Maragha, and 
 strongly resembled alabaster. It had evidently been de- 
 posited, in successive incrustations, from water. We found 
 three villages and a few fields of grain on the mountains, 
 and in some places snow was lying in our path. On the 
 farther side, a narrow plain, opening at the south into the 
 plain of Oormiah, lies between the mountain and the lake. 
 We descended into it, and found a number of little villages 
 at its northern extremity, in several of which there are a 
 few Nestorians. We selected Jamalava, 4 fursakhs from 
 Khosrova, for its being the residence of a Nestorian bishop. 
 The bishop was absent, but a priest received us hospitably, 
 and gave us the choice of a room in his house, or a stable. 
 We preferred the latter ; and it was soon filled with friend- 
 ly Nestorians, eager to see and converse with us. Our own 
 gratification was great, at finding ourselves at last surround- 
 ed by the people, to whom we had looked forward with the 
 liveliest interest from the moment of leaving Malta, nor 
 were we less eager than they to converse. 
 
 It being Friday, we first questioned the priest respect- 
 ing the fasts of his church. In conjunction with the 
 others who were present, he informed us that they fast 
 every Wednesday and Friday; twenty five days before 
 Christmas ; fifteen days before the feast of St. Mary ; three 
 days before the feast of the cross, which occurs twelve days 
 
NESTORIAN FASTS. 209 
 
 after Christmas ; three days before the feast of St. John ; 
 three days before the feast of Khoodera neby (St. George) ; 
 fifty days before Easter, including Easter Sunday when 
 they eat meat ; and fifty days before Penticost, the obser- 
 vance of which is optional and not regarded by all. We 
 asked, as he finished the list, if there were no more ; and 
 he jocosely replied, ' Why, are not these enough 1 what of 
 the year remains for us to eat? ' But the bishop afterward 
 mentioned another fast of three days, named after the 
 prophet Jonah, during which they remain in the church 
 from morning to night, weeping, praying and fasting. It 
 is not, like the rest, followed by a. festival. In none of 
 their fasts do they eat any animal substance whatever, and 
 in lent, with the exception of Sundays and festivals, they 
 cat but twice, once after midday and once after evening 
 prayers, and some eat only the latter meal. On the Sun- 
 days and festivals of lent, and on the common fasts, whoev- 
 er chooses is at liberty to eat in the morning. The priest 
 assured us, that for the fasts of Wednesday and Friday, 
 they cease to eat meat from the time of evening prayers on 
 the days preceding until the same hour on those days them- 
 selves ; and that for the Sabbath, labor is suspended from 
 evening prayers (or about sunset) on Saturday, till day- 
 light (or morning prayers) on Monday. His statement 
 was afterward confirmed by the bishop. In fact, it is well 
 known, that, for all religious purposes, the Nestorians 
 always consider the day to begin at sunset. The bishop 
 added, that they abstain from labor on their festivals gener- 
 ally ; but the Sabbath, they know to be God's day, and 
 esteem it more sacred than any other. 
 
 They informed us, that throughout the year, except in 
 lent, there are services in the church only morning and 
 evening ; but that during lent, a third service at 11 A. M. 
 is added, unless the Sabbath or a festival occur, when even 
 then there are but two. As we were conversing, the 
 
 VOL. II. 19 
 
210 EVENING PRAYERS. 
 
 priest was called to evening prayers by the clattering of a 
 board suspended near the church instead of a bell, and we 
 followed him. The bishop had now returned, and after 
 washing his hands at a rivulet, he led us into the church. 
 The people took off their shoes as they entered, and stood 
 upon a few mats that covered the ground, the only floor of 
 the building. Before taking his place, however, each one 
 kissed a cross that lay upon a book on a reading desk, 
 and then the back of the bishop's hand who stood by its 
 side. This was done even after worship commenced, so 
 that in the midst of a prayer the bishop had repeatedly to 
 put oat his hand to.be kissed. The bishop, priest and 
 deacons, each had distinct parts in the services ; which 
 consisted of prayers, chants and responses, performed with 
 almost no ceremonies, and having an air of great simplici* 
 ty. All the officiators wore nothing but their ordinary 
 dress ; and no incense was used. The people often joined 
 in the responses ; uncovered their heads two or three times, 
 at particular parts ; repeatedly crossed themselves ; and 
 prostrating kissed the earth like the Armenians, and once 
 all kneeled for some time, as if in private prayer. At the 
 close, the bishop blessed them, and they again kissed his 
 hand. With the simplicity of their forms we were pleased, 
 but were sorry to observe much evidence that their wor- 
 ship had no spirituality. 
 
 The church was a small, dark, vaulted room, entirely 
 destitute of pictures or any kind of ornaments, except 
 coarse shawls which covered the reading desks. These 
 were two blocks of stone on either side of the entrance to 
 the sanctuary, and supported the books from which service 
 was read. Between them and the sanctuary was a narrow 
 space extending from side to side of the building, and en- 
 closed by a wall four or five feet high. The sanctuary itself 
 seemed half as large as the church, and was connected with 
 it by a single door. Opposite the door, on the farther side 
 
BISHOP MAR YOHANNA. 211 
 
 of it, stood the altar, a plain block stone. The bishop 
 conducted us into the baptistery, a small room on the left 
 of the sanctuary, and connected with the church by a dis- 
 tinct door. After looking a moment at a plain stone 
 trough, which served for a baptismal font, I observed that 
 a door conducted into the sanctuary, and was about to enter. 
 But the bishop commanded me, in an authoritative tone, to 
 stop. I told him that I too was a priest ; but he replied, 
 that that place can be entered only by fasting, and betray- 
 ed by his manner such earnestness, that I desisted. The 
 church, as well as an outer court, was entered by a door but 
 just large enough to allow our bodies to pass, being hardly 
 more than two feet high, and narrow in proportion. Af- 
 ter creeping out of them, we inquired the reason of their 
 smallness. The bishop replied, ' Is it not written, " Strait 
 is the gate and narrow is the the way?'" We had ob- 
 served a similar peculiarity in the Chaldean churches of 
 Salmas, and had been told that its object was to prevent 
 moslems from introducing their horses. It was observed 
 to be common to the Nestorian churches of Oormiah, and 
 we never heard it satisfactorily explained. 
 
 The bishop with most of his flock, followed us to our 
 stable, and remained, readily answering our questions and 
 keeping up a friendly conversation, until late. His name 
 v/as Yohanna. He was a sensible man, about thirty 
 years of age, and son of the priest already mentioned. 
 His uncle was bishop before him ; and the office, among 
 the Nestorians, is always hereditary, from uncle to nephew. 
 A bishop himself is never allowed to marry, nor may he, 
 from the day of his birth, eat any other animal food than 
 eggs and the productions of the dairy. 
 
 We had anticipated some difficulty, in conversing with 
 the Nestorians, for want of an interpreter. But Provi- 
 dence furnished us with an excellent, one at Jamalava, and 
 elsewhere we were able to converse with them through the 
 
212 LANGUAGE OF THE NESTORIANS. 
 
 Turkish, with the addition of now and then a religions 
 technical term from the Armenian, which language they al- 
 so partially understood. Our interpreter here was a nephew 
 of the deceased bishop Shevris. He was a native of Mar- 
 din in Mesopotamia, had lived nine years a monk in 
 the convent of El Koosh, and held the rank of deacon in 
 the Chaldean church. He spoke Arabic fluently, and that 
 was the language in which he conversed with me. With 
 the Nestorians, he spoke in their own dialect, which was 
 also his native tongue. We had first heard this language 
 at Khosrova, and it proved to be the domestic dialect of 
 both the Chaldeans and the Nestorians, though all knew 
 likewise something of Turkish. In roughness of sound, it 
 exceeded even the Armenian. I was able soon to detect 
 in it many Arabic and Hebrew words, but rarely enough 
 to complete the meaning of a sentence. Almost every 
 word seemed to end in a vowel. It is in fact a vulgar 
 Syriac, and the deacon testified, that it differs not at all 
 from the dialect now spoken by the Jacobites of Mesopota- 
 mia. Their church books show the original language of 
 which it is a corruption, and they are in Syriac. The 
 character indeed, in which they are written, is peculiar, be- 
 ing but slightly varied from the Estangelo. Many of their 
 oldest books are, in fact, fine specimens of that ancient 
 Syriac alphabet. We procured a copy of the Nestorian 
 alphabet, with the sounds of the letters exemplified. It 
 has not, to our knowledge, ever been printed, and we found 
 none but manuscript books among them. Aside from the 
 character, their church books are in good Syriac. The 
 Chaldean priest at Khosrova showed us a beautiful copy of 
 the Pentateuch, which he had had transcribed into the 
 Nestorian character from the Syriac of Walton's Polyglott, 
 and he assured us that the language is exactly the same as 
 that of their books. All testified unanimously, that this 
 language is not now understood without the instructions of 
 
LANGUAGE OF THE NESTORIANS. 213 
 
 a master, and of course that the church services are not 
 comprehended by the common people. That the vulgar 
 dialect differs not much from it, however, will be evident 
 from various facts hereafter to be exhibited. The bishop 
 and priest this evening were evidently men of the slight- 
 est education, having little more than a knowledge of let- 
 ters. And yet, when we produced a copy of the British 
 and Foreign Bible Society's edition of the Syriac New 
 Testament, which we had brought from Tebriz, they set 
 to reading it without difficulty, and declared that they un- 
 derstood it. They might indeed have been previously 
 familiar with the character, for they called it Yakoby at 
 first sight, and we found among their own books a copy of 
 the Pentateuch in the same. But we tested their knowl- 
 edge of the language, by making them translate several 
 passages, and they did it without difficulty. They affirmed 
 that it differed not at a!l from that of their church books.* 
 
 Our conversation with the bishop naturally turned upon 
 the services which we had just attended ; and we expressed 
 our pleasure at observing no images or pictures in the 
 church. * Is it not written by the Psalmist,' said he, ' " eyes 
 have they but they see not, they have ears but they hear 
 not, neither is there any breath in their mouths I ' " We ad- 
 
 * The bishop gave us, on anotL^r occasion, the following list of the prin- 
 cipal books used in the services of the Nestorian church ; but I am not 
 without suspicions, that it contains some errors. — David, or the Psalter, 
 read at every service. Akddm Dooatha, alternate prayers for every day 
 in the week, containing the names of different saints and martyrs. Kesh- 
 kool, containing prayers for every day in the year. Khoodera, containing 
 prayers for the Lord's day, and other festivals in the year, and for every day 
 in lent. Gezza, containing prayers for the festivals not in lent. Takhsa, 
 or the Missal, containing the communion, ordination, baptismal and other 
 similar services. Werde, containing legends of the saints, and read only 
 in the three days of the fast of Jonah. Ahdedta, or the Gospel, read always 
 at the communion, on the Lord's days and festivals, and in lent, but at no 
 other time. Shleeha, or the Epistles, read like the preceding. None of the 
 Old Testament, except the Psalter, is read in church. 
 VOL. II. 19* 
 
214 ADORATION OF THE SAINTS. 
 
 ded the second commandment to this appropriate quotation, 
 and they all seemed gratified at our agreement upon so 
 important a point. He confessed that they pray to the 
 saints, however, and regard them as mediators. We re- 
 peated the language of Paul, that there is 'one God, and 
 one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus f 
 but he seemed not to feel its force, because, as I thought, 
 neither the deacon, who interpreted, nor himself understood 
 the word mediator. The former, I soon learned, had no 
 distinct idea of the Arabic term waseet, which I used ; and 
 when a copy of the Epistles was afterward brought from 
 the church, it proved that the bishop was equally unac- 
 quainted with the Syriac term for the same thing. When 
 inquiring the contents of their church books on a subse- 
 quent evening, we repeatedly asked if prayers are ad- 
 dressed to the saints whose names are contained in them, 
 and were uniformly answered that they are not, but to God 
 that he would enable his worshipers to imitate them. — 
 The bishop declared that they call not the Virgin, mother 
 of God, but mother of Christ. Still they believe in her 
 virginity, he said, both before and after the birth of our 
 Savior. Respecting Nestorius, he contradicted himself 
 flatly within a few minutes ; first denying that they regard 
 him as a saint, or pray to him, and then confessing that 
 they do both. The mention of the founder of their sect in- 
 troduced quite a dispute between him and the deacon, on 
 the comparative merits of Nestorius and Cyril, and he pro- 
 duced the Werde to read to us a long legend respecting 
 them. — He constantly affirmed that their name is not de- 
 rived from Nestorius, but from Nazareth the town of Mary, 
 and I doubt not that he was correct. For they always call 
 themselves, and are known among their neighbors of other 
 sects, by the name Nusrdny, which is the very word com- 
 monly used in Arabic to designate all Christians, and is 
 generally regarded as equivalent to Nazarene. Indeed 
 
PRAYERS FOR THE DEAD. 215 
 
 they seemed to feel that it is a generic term, and some- 
 times added Siridny to make it distinctive of their sect ; 
 which was equivalent to calling themselves Syrian Chris- 
 tians. Their countrymen of the monophysite church, they 
 called Yakoby. There are none of that sect on this side 
 of the Kurdish mountains. 
 
 The bishop allowed that they say prayers and masses 
 for the dead. Still he resolutely denied the existence of 
 more than two places for departed spirits, and seemed in- 
 clined to laugh at the fires of the papal purgatory. He 
 clearly declared, also, that here is no change of place from 
 misery to happiness for the dead. We asked him of what 
 use our prayers can be to them. He replied, ' What then, 
 shall we stop praying?' * No,' said we, ' pray for ourselves, 
 and others upon the earth ; for such we are commanded to 
 pray ; but stop praying for the dead, it can do them no 
 good.' He replied, that God would have spared Sodom for 
 the sake of fifty, forty, &c. just persons ; and perhaps 
 among those who assemble to pray over the dead, an equal 
 number of just persons may be found, for whose sake God 
 will pardon the dead and receive them to happiness. He 
 seemed to have some idea of the unscriptural distinction be- 
 tween mortal and venial sins ; for he said, that there are 
 some which condemn the soul to hell, while others are too 
 small to be followed by such a consequence. Respecting 
 the soul between death and the judgment, he declared, in 
 another connection, that it goes neither to heaven nor to 
 hell, but if wicked, it is in a state of torment, and if right- 
 eous, in a state of enjoyment. At the judgment, all will 
 be clothed again with the body, the just will be taken to 
 heaven with Christ, and the wicked will be sent to hell. 
 1 Will they remain in hell forever?' we asked. ' Yes,' said 
 he, ' forever and ever.' We could not learn from him, that 
 any other rule than the wishes of relatives decides when, 
 or how often, masses shall be said for the deceased. ' If 
 
216 STATE OF THE DEAD BEFORE CHRIST. 
 
 they choose, no mass is said at all, and the priest is merely 
 requested to repeat a prayer. Even this, also, is omitted at 
 their option. In speaking of the masses, he said, that after 
 them the relatives go home from the church to eat the feast 
 of the mass, and we asked if they have the custom of mak- 
 ing sacrifices. He replied, that Christ had abolished the 
 institution of sacrifices, so that since his death none can be 
 offered ; yet they sometimes slay an animal as a good work. 
 The ceremony is not necessarily done at a church, nor on 
 any special days, nor are prayers said over the victim. 
 The deacon who interpreted was dissatisfied with this 
 statement, and said; 'I will explain to you the matter. 
 Whenever a person has a headache, or other complaint, he 
 vows to make an offering to this or that saint, as a good 
 work. An animal is sent to the church of the saint to be 
 sacrificed, and a feast is made of its flesh, or it is dis- 
 tributed to the poor, according to the wish of the offerer.' 
 The bishop tacitly assented to the explanation, by asking if 
 we do not likewise offer sacrifices to remove pains and 
 sickness. 
 
 We inquired where the souls of the dead were before the 
 coming of Christ. He replied, that the good were not in 
 paradise itself, but in a state of enjoyment around para- 
 dise ; and the wicked were not in hell itself, but in a state 
 of misery. — We. Did Christ change their condition at his 
 death ? — Bish. He took them to heaven. — We. Both the 
 righteous and the wicked 1 or the righteous only 1 — Bish. 
 All except four persons, viz. Jezebel, Herod, Herodi- 
 as, and her daughter. .What is your own belief? — We. 
 We, believe that the souls of the righteous went to heaven, 
 and those of the wicked to hell, at their death ; and that 
 none of the latter were delivered from their torments at 
 the death of Christ. — Bish. But it is written, that Christ 
 came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. 
 The righteous are saved as a matter of course, and if he 
 
MAR SHIMON. 217 
 
 did not deliver the wicked, of what use was his death 1 — 
 We. Why, in the first place, none are so righteous as to 
 have no sin, for it is written, " There is not a just man 
 upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not." In the sec- 
 ond place, he did save the wicked, for some, while in this 
 world, repented of their sins, were converted, and obtained 
 forgiveness on his account. The souls of such, and of such 
 only went to heaven at their death. — Bish. If so, perhaps 
 only a few hundreds were saved from all the generations 
 that preceded Christ ; for very small was the number of 
 those that were good in this world. — We. Their number 
 is unknown to us. Elijah thought that he was the only 
 worshiper of the true God among the Israelites of his day ; 
 but God told him there were seven thousand who had not 
 bowed the knee to Baal. 
 
 March 12. We called upon the bishop in the afternoon, 
 and resumed our conversation. He confirmed what we 
 had previously learned, that his patriarch, Mar Shimon, 
 resides at Kochannes, and claims the title of Patriarch of 
 the East. Kochannes, according to the declaration of a 
 man at Khosrova who had been there, is not more than an 
 hour from Joolamerk ; but the priest at that place said the 
 distance was four fursakhs. The latter informed us that 
 the patriarchate, like what has already been said of the 
 episcopate, is hereditary from uncle to nephew. The suc- 
 cession is not regulated by seniority, but by the wishes and 
 arrangement of the family. The diet of the patriarch is 
 more strictly guarded than even that of the bishops, for not 
 only is he forbidden to taste meat from his birth, but his 
 mother also is allowed to eat none, while he derives his 
 nutriment from her. 
 
 The Hakary country, in the centre of which the patri^ 
 arch resides, and of which Joolamerk is the capital, is the 
 heart of Kurdistan, and consists of almost inaccessible 
 mountains. The Nestorians who inhabit it are called 
 
•218 
 
 NESTORIANS OF KURDISTAN. 
 
 Ashiret, a term which the bishop to-day explained as mean- 
 ing a people who do not pay tribute. They are in fact, he 
 said, independent, and not only pay no tribute themselves, 
 but exact tribute from the Kurds who live among them. 
 The temporal power is in the hands of distinct meliks, but 
 they all acknowledge the authority of the patriarch. He 
 estimated their number at 50,000 families. — The Chal- 
 dean priest at Khosrova said, that the independent districts 
 are deep valleys shut in by the almost impassable moun- 
 tains of Kurdistan. Each has its own melik or meliks, 
 who acknowledge subjection to no common head. They 
 are elected for life, by the the popular voice irregularly 
 expressed, and the office is often, but not always, hered- 
 itary in the same family. The patriarch is clothed prop- 
 erly with only spiritual power, and has no army at his com- 
 mand, except as he may have influence enough, on an emer- 
 gency, to call one or more of the meliks to his aid. The 
 mountains, he said, barely afford them a sustenance, and they 
 are all miserably poor. To complete the diocese of Mar 
 Shimon, we must add other districts in the same moun- 
 tains subject to the Kurds, and also Salmas and Oormiah 
 under the Persian government. The whole contains, ac- 
 cording to an estimated census give us by the same priest 
 at Khosrova, in company with a Chaldean of his village 
 who had travelled through the independent districts, a 
 Nestorian population of 14,054 families, or about 70,000 
 souls.* — The acting English embassador at Tebriz judged 
 
 * The following is his estimate in detail. 
 
 No. of families. 
 Salmas, ,.„.-.-. 4 
 
 Oormiah, including Tergaver and Mergaver, mountainous districts 
 
 of the province occupied by Kurds, ... 4000 
 
 Garvar, Somai, and Chara, small districts of the mountains adja- 
 cent to Salmas, and occupied by Kurds, - 150 
 
 Albagh, a district not far from Salmas in the direction of Joola^ 
 
 nierk, and subject to the Kurds, - 100 
 
NESTOIUANS OF KURDISTAN. 219 
 
 this estimate to be much too small, and declared that 
 a year or two ago he saw a letter from Mar Shimon, 
 stating that he had 40,000 families under him in the Hak- 
 ary county. But, the fact that one of his predecessors, in* 
 writing to the pope as long ago as 1653, made the same 
 statement of the population of his diocese, leads me to sus- 
 pect that it is no more than a hereditary estimate.* Capt. 
 Campbell assured us, also, that the Nestorians are by far 
 the most powerful people of Hakary, that they are much 
 feared by the Kurds, and will perhaps, before many years, 
 be left by them in undivided possession of the country. 
 He entertained a high opinion of their character. 
 
 The priest at Khosrova informed us, that the Nestorians 
 of Oormiah did not join the party of Mar Shimon at its 
 first secession from the see of Seleucia and Ctesiphon, and 
 continued until lately to acknowledge the patriarchal au- 
 thority of Mar Elias of El Koosh. The occasion of their 
 finally leaving him, was his conversion to papacy ; which 
 occurred, according to the estimate of the priest, nearly a 
 hundred years ago, but the bishop of Jamalava placed it 
 back only forty years. The deacon, our interpreter, had 
 left his convent only a year and a half ago, and added the 
 fact of his own staunch papacy to his positive declaration, 
 as proof that both Mar Elias and the convent, as well as 
 
 Mahmoodieh, a district between Sahnas and the lake of Van, 
 
 included in the pashalik of Van, but occupied by Kurds, 
 Waltoo, a district beyond Joolamerk, and subject to the Kurds, 
 Diss, an independent Nestorian district, ... 
 
 Jeloo, " " " 
 
 Tkhooby, " « " - 
 
 Tiary, " « " - . . 
 
 Bass, " " " 
 
 Berwer, " " «... 
 
 Total, 14,054 
 
 In Maragha, Tebriz, Giinieh, and Khoy, there are now no Nestorian?. 
 * Assem. Bib. Orient, vol. 3: p. 622. 
 
220 DIOCESE OF THE BISHOP OP JAMALAVA. 
 
 most of the Nestorians of those parts, are now united to the 
 church of Rome. He said that the convent of El Koosh 
 contains 110 monks. The principal agent of the pope in 
 •those parts is a European bishop at Bagdad. Being like- 
 wise French consul for that city, he contrives to make his 
 influence extensively felt. From what we heard of him at 
 Khosrova, and from the deacon, we inferred that he is par- 
 ticularly active in procuring the conversion of the Nestori- 
 ans. — We questioned the bishop of Jamalava, to ascertain 
 if he was aware of the existence of any relics of the Nes- 
 torian church in eastern Asia. He was quite confident 
 that there are some in India, but he knew of none in the 
 direction of China. His patriarch, he assured us, sent 
 four bishops many years ago to the East, but nothing had 
 been heard from them. 
 
 From the diocese of Mar Shimon, the patriarch, let us 
 turn to that of Mar Yohanna, the bishop of Jamalava. He 
 informed us, that the Nestorians of this village are only 
 twenty-two families in number. Six of them are from Sal- 
 mas, and the rest have recently assembled here from neigh- 
 boring villages. He is himself from Gooleeza in Salmas. 
 Respecting the Nestorians of that province, he contradicted 
 the estimate of the priest at Khosrova, and said that instead 
 of four, they amount to twenty-two families. His diocese 
 consists of twelve villages, eight of which are in Oormiah, 
 and the rest in Tergaver, a mountainous district just back 
 of Jamalava to the west. In this village there is no school, 
 nor can any read, except himself,' his father and two 
 brothers; but in two others some children are taught by 
 the priests. He confessed that none of the Nestorian 
 females are taught letters. 'You,' said he, 'can attend to 
 such things, but we, both men and women, are obliged to 
 labor with all our might to get money for the moslems. 
 Even if a boy sits down to read, a moslem comes up before 
 he is aware, and with a blow upon his neck, says, 'Give 
 
ORDERS OF THE NESTORIAN CLERGY. 221 
 
 us money.' Seeing us smile at his remark, he seemed 
 grieved, and exclaimed with more earnestness; 'Why do 
 you leave us thus ? we are your brethren ; it is your duty 
 to come and deliver us from this yoke of bondage.' He 
 contended that no people in the world are so fond of learn* 
 ing as the Nestorians, but intimated that none except can- 
 didates for the clerical profession, actually receive any 
 education. Of such, there were twelve in his diocese al- 
 ready instructed, and would be admitted to deacon's orders 
 in a few days. Forty-two others were candidates ; besides 
 fifteen more, who were studying, and might be ordained 
 hereafter, if they became good. His diocese is now served, 
 he said, by fourteen priests and eleven deacons. 
 
 The bishop was curious to know how many orders of 
 the clergy we have, and on learning that we acknowledge 
 only priests and deacons, was unable to imagine how they 
 could be ordained without bishops. But he made no 
 objection to our explanation of the system of presbyte- 
 rian ordination. Their own clerical orders, he said, are 
 nine, and he seemed to attach much importance to the 
 number. The following is his account of them. — The 
 first, karooya, or reader, lights the candles and performs 
 other menial services in the church. — The second, hoopo- 
 dydkono, or sub-deacon, is also a servant of the church 
 for sweeping it and the like. — The third, shemmdsJia, or 
 deacon, aids the priest to celebrate the eucharist, but does 
 not read the gospel on that occasion, as is practised 
 by other sects. — The fourth, kasha [Jcasheesha], or priest, 
 says mass, but cannot confer ordination. All his own 
 priests, he affirmed, understand the language of their 
 church books, and preach every day, as he will ordain no 
 other. But his ideas of preaching seemed not very high, 
 and we could not ascertain that he meant any thing more, 
 than that the lesson of the day, and perhaps some other 
 part of the service, is explained in the vulgar tongue. He 
 
 vol. ii. 20 
 
222 ORDERS OF THE NESTORlAN CLERGY. 
 
 declared too that none who have not attained the age o{ 
 twenty-five, can be admitted to priest's orders. But on 
 being contradicted by the company, he allowed that if a 
 youth has a mature mind, and a worthy character, and is 
 acceptable to his village, he may be ordained as early as 
 fifteen.— -The fifth, arkidyakono, or archdeacon, holds a re- 
 lation to the bishop, similar to that of the deacon to the 
 priest. As a priest cannot say mass without a deacon, so 
 a bishop cannot perform an ordination, nor consecrate a 
 church, without an archdeacon. Marriage is allowable to 
 all in the five grades now enumerated, not only before 
 ordination, but as often as their wives die afterward. 
 They thereby, however, become forever ineligible to the 
 office of bishop. — The sixth, hhalfa [episkopa], or bishop, 
 ordains the five lower grades, and consecrates churches. 
 He must pass through all the grades below him, but may 
 be admitted to the first four successively in one day, and 
 on another day to the fifth and sixth. Our informant was 
 no more consistent in telling us the age requisite for admis- 
 sion to the episcopate, than in reference to the priesthood. 
 For he assured us that the candidate must be thirty-two 
 years old, and afterward confessed that he was himself 
 now only in his thirtieth or thirty-first year, and had been 
 ordained five years. The priest at Khosrova said the Nes- 
 torians sometimes ordain bishops only six years of age, and 
 the deacon, our interpreter to-day, affirmed that he had seen 
 them as young as thirteen. Their common episcopal ad- 
 dress, aboona (our father), must seem not a little misplaced 
 when given to such young ecclesiastics ; and it was hardly 
 less amusing to hear the priest at Jamalava, constantly 
 apply the same title to the bishop, his son. — The seventh, 
 matrdn [metrapoleeta], is higher than the bishops, and re- 
 ceives from them a visit of homage three times a year. — 
 The eighth and ninth, katoleeJca and patriarlca, or catholi- 
 cos and patriarch, ordain bishops and matrans. He affirm- 
 
THEIR SUPPORT. 223 
 
 ed that they are offices held by two different individuals, but 
 found so much difficulty in making it out, on being cross- 
 questioned, that we imagined them to to be merely differ- 
 ent titles of the same person. Oil is used only in ordain- 
 ing the patriarch. — He informed us that in the district of 
 Jeloo there are some Nestorian convents. The monks, 
 though forbidden to marry while they profess monasticism, 
 are allowed, he said, to leave their convents, if they dislike 
 them, and take to themselves wives. 
 
 The contributions received by the patriarch from his 
 flock, if we may believe the bishop, are not fixed by any 
 rule, but their voluntary liberality. He never comes to this 
 province in person to collect them, being afraid to leave his 
 mountain fastnesses, but sends his brother once in two or 
 three years. He was here, and also at Khosrova, but a 
 few days before our visit. — The income of the bishop is 
 derived chiefly from a tax of two shahies (about 3 cts.) 
 upon every individual in his diocese ; and a fee of one 
 real (about 35 cts.) for every wedding. He receives also, 
 sometimes, a voluntary contribution for masses for the 
 dead. For ordination, Mar Yohanna positively denied, at 
 first, that any thing is paid, but, being pressed by the dea- 
 con, he at last said, that, as it is commanded, " Freely ye 
 have received freely give," no particular sum is exacted by 
 law, but different amounts are given by different candi- 
 dates. — The income of the priests is exceedingly small, 
 and' most of their support is derived from laboring like other 
 men. In time of harvest, each parishioner gives them a 
 day's labor at reaping, or, if they have no crop of their own, 
 a winnowing fan full of grain. For every marriage they 
 receive a real ; and for baptisms, burials, and masses and 
 prayers for the dead, a voluntary fee. But for communi- 
 cants to contribute any thing to the officiating priest at 
 communion, is a thing, he said, not allowed and entirely 
 unknown. 
 
224 IDEAS OF THE WAY OF SALVATION. 
 
 Wishing to know if the Nestorians have any idea of the 
 doctrines of evangelical religion, we inquired of the bishop 
 the object of Christ's death. He began his reply by saying, 
 that God created man and placed him in Paradise. The 
 angels were then ordered to worship him. But a part, un- 
 willing to worship an inferior who was created after them- 
 selves, disobeyed and became devils. We were pained to 
 hear this fable of the Koran from the mouth of a Christian 
 bishop, and reminded him that the salvation of men, and 
 not the fall of the angels, was the object of our question. 
 He repeated that God created man and he fell. The Fa- 
 ther then said, he has sinned and must be punished. But 
 the Son said, I will save him ; and so he died to save us from 
 punishment, from Satan, and from sin. We inquired if he 
 saved us from original sin only, or likewise from sins of our 
 own commission. — Bish. He indeed saved us, but if we 
 continue to sin, his death, though we may be baptized and 
 be called Christians, will do us no good. — We. But all 
 men do continue to sin. How are they to obtain pardon ? 
 — Bish. By fasting, by sincere hearty repentance, and by 
 confession to God, promising at the same time to sin no 
 more. — We. If we are to obtain pardon for our sins thus, 
 then Christ saved us from original sin only. — Bish. We 
 are saved by Christ ; but how 1 We must obey his com- 
 mands, must fast, commune, repent sincerely, confess to 
 God, and the like. — We varied our question in different 
 ways, to learn if he entertained the common idea, that 
 original sin is cancelled by the death of Christ, and actual 
 sin by our own* good works. But, though he expressly 
 acknowledged the doctrine of original sin, we could not 
 find that he made this distinction, or had any clear idea 
 that all or even any sin is pardoned solely through the 
 death of Christ. He laid much stress upon sincerity of 
 repentance and consistent Christian conduct. 
 
 We changed the subject by saying, you have told us 
 
SIGN OF THE CROSS. 225 
 
 what the Father and the Son have done for man, will you 
 tell us now the work of the Spirit ? — Bish. He descended 
 upon the apostles on the day of Penticost ; he descended too 
 upon Christ at his baptism ; and in like manner he de- 
 scends now upon all men when they are baptized. — We. 
 Does he do nothing for us after baptism? — Bish. Most 
 certainly, he is always with us and does every thing for us. 
 — We asked him, if no instance ever occurred among them 
 of wicked men's becoming correct in their conduct and 
 good Chritians through his influences, in order to ascer- 
 tain whether he had any idea of regeneration and sanctifi- 
 cation by the Spirit, distinct from baptism. But he knew too 
 little of the subject even to understand us ! — Tn regard to 
 the nature of Christ, the bishop expressed his full belief 
 that he is perfect God and perfect man, and added, too, 
 (in agreement with Nestorius, but contrary to the doctrine 
 usually ascribed to him,) that his two natures are united in 
 one person, using for person the word Jcnooma. The Spirit, 
 he thought, proceeded from the Father only. 
 
 At last, the bishop came upon that Shibboleth of party 
 in the oriental churches, the sign of the cross, and asked us 
 to show how we make it. We replied that we do not 
 make it at all. Not that we have any law against it, but 
 if a man is at heart a Christian, we do not consider such a 
 sign necessary, especially as it is not ordered in the New 
 Testament. ' But,' said he, 4 are we not ordered to take 
 up our cross and follow Christ ? ' ' Yes,' we replied, ' but 
 if this sign be the cross of which our Savior, spoke, we 
 ought to make it on the back, instead of the breast ! ' An- 
 other thought that our neglect of this ceremony showed an 
 unwillingness to make an open profession of Christianity, 
 and quoted the words, " Whosoever shall deny me before 
 men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in 
 heaven." We declared that our ideas most fully accord 
 with this important passage, and that in no case should the 
 
 YOL. II. 20* 
 
2*26 NUMBER OF NESTORIAN SACRAMENTS. 
 
 fear of man lead us to deny our religion. We must profess 
 it in the face of danger and of death. In fact this would be 
 what our Savior means by taking up our cross. It is to im- 
 itate him in enduring contumely and suffering for his 
 sake. ' But,' said the bishop, ' without the sign of the cross, 
 how can you show that you are Christians ? ' ' By obeying 
 him,' we replied, • and manifesting in all our conduct, that 
 we love him.' Still it appeared to him very strange, that 
 we should call ourselves Christians, and not make the 
 cross. — The Nestorians perform this ceremony in the same 
 manner as the Greeks. 
 
 The Chaldean priest at Khosrova, in agreement with 
 Asseman, whom he seemed to have diligently studied, as- 
 sured us that the ancient books of the Nestorians treat of 
 seven sacraments, and those the same that are acknowl- 
 edged by the papal church. He declared, that now, how- 
 ever, they have really none at all. For, in the celebration of 
 mass the words of consecration are wanting. Baptism is 
 performed very negligently, and in no uniform manner. 
 They pretend to have marriage, but if the wife be guilty 
 of adultery, the husband is allowed to take another. Ordi- 
 nation too is made to consist with permission for the cler- 
 gy to marry, as often as they become widowers, to the num- 
 ber of seven and a half wives, a widow being considered 
 the half wife. Confession has long since been abolished. 
 And of confirmation and extreme unction, he said, they 
 have at present no knowledge. — We inquired of the bishop 
 at Jamalava, the number of the Nestorian sacraments, on 
 the first evening of our visit. He immediately replied 
 seven; and when requested to enumerate them, repeated 
 baptism, the eucharist, ordination, and marriage, without 
 hesitation. Then he stopped to think and inquire, and 
 finally added, burial, the sacred leaven, and confession. 
 Upon being interrogated, however, he most fully denied the 
 existence of auricular confession^ and affirmed that they 
 
BAPTISM. 227 
 
 confess their sins only to God, and demand absolution from 
 him alone. The practice of anointing the sick as a prep- 
 aration for death, too, or extreme unction, he confessed had 
 no existence among them, and pretended that the burial 
 service alone is a sacrament. Confirmation he never allu- 
 ded to, except to imply that it does not exist, as will be 
 soon mentioned. — After our afternoon's visit to the bishop 
 mentioned above, he followed us to our room, and, with 
 many of his flock, spent the evening in conversation. We 
 now solicited from him a written list of their sacraments, 
 and obtained the following : viz. baptism (maamoodeeta) ; 
 the eucharist (korbana) ; ordination (siam eedat kahna [ka- 
 henoota]) ; consecration of churches (siam eedat oomara) ; 
 marriage (boorakha) ; the consecrated leaven (kodashat 
 khmeera [khmeera kodeesha]) ; and consecrated oil (ko- 
 dashat korna [korna or mashha kodeesha]). 
 
 Baptism, he said, is performed only in churches, and 
 the whole body of the child is plunged three times in the 
 water, because John plunged our Savior three times in 
 Jordan. When we mentioned,. however, that we had heard 
 that they only plunge the body up to the chin, and then 
 pour water three times upon the head, his father confessed 
 that they do so, though they plunge the whole, also, when 
 there is water enough ! When asked the effect of baptism, 
 both replied that it is the regeneration spoken of by our 
 Savior, when he said to Nicodemus, " Except a man be 
 born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." We sug- 
 gested that he explained himself, by saying in a subsequent 
 verse, " Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit." 
 1 Yes,' they replied, ' as the Spirit descended upon Christ at 
 Jordan, so he now, in every instance, descends upon all 
 persons at their baptism.' The bishop would not allow that 
 the souls of infants that die before baptism are doomed to 
 hell, nor did he admit that they are received to heaven, but 
 said that a place is prepared specially for them. — To as- 
 
228 SACRED LEAVEN. 
 
 certain if the ceremony of confirmation is not, as among the 
 Armenians, added to that of baptism, we asked if they have 
 not the meiron. He confessed that a single drop of oil is put 
 upon the forehead of the child, but contended that it is only 
 consecrated by the officiating priest for the occasion, and 
 not by the patriarch, and that it is not a distinct sacrament, 
 but an integral part of baptism. He seemed amused at our 
 question, whether circumcision is practised by them, as if 
 the union of a moslem (as he called it) to a Christian rite, 
 was not only unheard of, but implied an absurdity. We 
 informed him that the Abyssinians both circumcise and bap- 
 tize. He expressed a fear that it would be with them, as 
 with a man near Mosul, who, to obtain a certain woman, 
 turned moslem. On the night of their marriage he died ; 
 and his wife sat to bewailing him, and said, ' Alas man \ 
 you have rejected the Messiah, and Mohammed has not re- 
 ceived you ; where can your soul go ! ' 
 
 The sacrament of the sacred leaven he thus explained. At 
 the institution of the eucharist, our Savior gave two pieces 
 of the bread to John, the beloved disciple. He saved one, 
 and dipped it in the blood and water that flowed from his 
 Lord's side, when pierced with the spear upon the cross. 
 This was the original leaven. It is now renewed once a 
 year, on Holy Thursday. Flour, wine, and oil are mixed 
 and consecrated ; and then always kept in a vessel in the 
 church, to be mixed, like leaven, with the bread of the sac- 
 rament of the supper. 
 
 The bread of the eucharist, he said, is made in the form 
 of small, round, thick cakes, with a cross, and nothing else, 
 stamped upon them. It is kneaded and baked in the 
 church at the time of the celebration of the sacrament, a 
 small oven being provided for the purpose ; and he seemed 
 somewhat stumbled at our taking common baker's bread 
 for so holy a purpose. In fact, it was evident from his 
 whole account, that uncommon saCredness is ascribed to 
 
THE EUCHARIST. 229 
 
 this ordinance. Although in the usual services of the 
 church the priests make no change in their ordinary dress, 
 he said that on this occasion, they are clothed in a white 
 robe with a red fillet around the neck. That we could 
 consecrate the elements with our shoes on, quite astonished 
 him. They, not only remove their shoes, but no one that 
 has not some grade in the church, can enter the part of the 
 church called the sanctuary, at all ; nor can even those 
 that have, do it without previously fasting. The conse- 
 crated elements are never carried from the church as a via- 
 ticum, but persons nigh unto death, if the priest deems them 
 pure and wprthy, are sometimes brought to receive them 
 there. We did not learn whether this is always done, or is 
 deemed essential. He was amazed that we, on similar oc- 
 casions, sometimes celebrate the ordinance by the bedside 
 of the sick ; and exclaimed, ' How is it possible that the 
 body of our Lord should be consecrated in an unconse- 
 crated place ! ' In short, he declared most positively, that 
 the elements after consecration are no longer bread and 
 wine, but truly the body and blood of the Lord, and affirmed 
 that they worship them very much. 
 
 The communicants partake first of the bread, and then 
 of the wine ; and this, we were surprised and gratified to 
 find, is done by all, every time the ordinance is celebrated. 
 4 We do not,' said the bishop, ' like the other sects, conse- 
 crate the elements, and give them to none, or to only two 
 or three, but to all who are pure and worthy to receive 
 them ; to those who are not pure, and to children who have 
 not yet learned their prayers, only bread is given.' This 
 seemed at once to show that the Nestorians have not the 
 abominable mass of the Latin and other old churches, and 
 that their eucharist is only the celebration of the supper for 
 purposes of communion ; and we asked, with eagerness, 
 how often it occurs, — to know if even in frequency of repeti- 
 tion it has any resemblance to the pretended daily sacrifice 
 
230 OPEN COMMUNION. 
 
 of the mass. He said they attend to it only on the more 
 important days, and are not very regular; on another oc- 
 casion he numbered twelve days, when it was most neces- 
 sary; and finally stated, that some years it might be cele- 
 brated no more than three or four times, and others as ma- 
 ny as thirty. Another declaration of the bishop revealed a 
 second equally important peculiarity of the Nestorian church. 
 ' We admit, 5 said he, ' all the twelve Christian sects to our 
 communion, if they will come, but none of them admit us 
 to theirs.' In answer to an inquiry from us, he affirmed 
 that the Nestorians, in return, have full liberty to go to the 
 communion of any other denomination. We explained 
 that we also hold to similar principles of open communion. 
 But, seeming to have an idea that the twelve apostles divi- 
 ded the earth between them, and established twelve ortho- 
 dox sects, with different usages and rites, all of which dif- 
 fer from his own in this respect ; he was perplexed to know 
 where to class us, and asked who was our apostle. We re- 
 plied, that as America was not known to exist till three or 
 four hundred years ago, none of them could have gone 
 thither. Their own apostles, he said, were St. Thomas 
 from among the twelve, and St. Addai (Thaddeus) and St. 
 Mari frpm the seventy-two. To test the truth of our pro- 
 fessions, he asked if we would administer the communion 
 to him, were he to visit America. Our reply that we ad- 
 mit all good men, was unsatisfactory ; and he said, ' Wheth- 
 er I am good or not, if I come in an unknown stranger, 
 would you give me the communion ? ' We answered in the 
 negative ; and asked their own practice in this respect. He 
 declared that the priest explains to the people what charac- 
 ter will render them worthy communicants, and that if they 
 have committed such and such sins they are unworthy. 
 Those who have the character described, he invites to draw 
 nigh ; those who are guilty of the sins, he forbids, saying it 
 is a fire that will consume them. But if a wicked man. 
 
MARRIAGE. 231 
 
 not knowing his guilt, or from presumption, should present 
 himself, the elements would not be denied him. Should 
 an apostate to Mohammedanism wish to return, however, 
 he confessed that he would not be admitted to the commun- 
 ion, till he had fasted fifty days ; repented and bewailed his 
 sin from the heart, and had prayers read over his head by 
 the priest in the church. — He assured us that they do not 
 imitate the washing of the disciples feet on Holy Thursday. 
 
 Marriage is celebrated, he informed us, sometimes in 
 the church, and sometimes in private houses. In the latter 
 case, the communion is not connected with it, but only 
 unconsecrated bread and wine are given to the married 
 couple. Respecting divorce, his assertions were contra- 
 dictory. He first affirmed that none is acknowledged 
 which allows the separated parties to marry again. But a 
 few questions drew from him the admission, that in case of 
 adultery, if the fault be the woman's, the man may take 
 another wife, and if it be the man's, the woman may take 
 another husband. 
 
 The consecrated oil is used, he said, but for two purpo- 
 ses ; the ordination of patriarchs, and the coronation of 
 kings, as Samuel anointed Saul and David. It is conse- 
 crated for the occasion, by the bishops who ordain the 
 patriarch. — Churches are consecrated when a new one is 
 built, or an old one has been desecrated by a moslem's 
 entering the sanctuary. It is done by a bishop. He uses 
 oil, which is consecrated by him for the occasion. 
 
 March 13. We spent the Sabbath at Jamalava. It 
 was the beginning of the Nestorian lent. The Armenians, 
 however, were not to begin theirs until to-morrow, and 
 observed to-day as carnival. Fifteen or twenty families of 
 that nation reside here, and have one church ; their only 
 clergyman is a deacon, and they are obliged to bring a 
 priest from Ada to say mass. In the afternoon, a crowd 
 of them assembled in the yard of one of their houses, for 
 
232 ARMENIAN CARNIVAL. 
 
 amusement. The younger and more playful danced to the 
 sound of music, and the older and more respectably dress- 
 ed sat upon the ground in a corner, quaffing large draughts 
 of wine; all seemed to have equally forgotten the sacred- 
 ness of the day. A curious ornament, but one as ancient 
 as the days of Rebecca, * was observed upon the younger 
 females. It was a large ring inserted in the cartilage of 
 the nose. We had already noticed a girl thus decked at 
 Khosrova ; and here was another, among the dancers, with 
 the nose-ring connected to that of the ear by a heavy chain 
 of ornaments. It reminded me of a similar appendage to 
 the nose, used by some of the women of Cairo in Egypt. — 
 We met no other Armenians in the province of Oormiah. 
 There are others, but they are so few, in consequence of 
 the large emigration to the Russian territories, that we 
 deemed it unimportant to search for them. 
 
 * See Gen. 24: 47. 
 
LETTER XXI. 
 
 OORMIAH. 
 
 Plain of Oormiah — Reception at Ada — Mar Yoosuf— Nestorian fasts— Eve- 
 ning prayers — Number of the Nestorian sacraments — Baptism — Forgive- 
 ness of sins — Eucharist— Nestorian clergy — Education — Regard for papa- 
 cy — Education of the clergy — Political discontent — Town of Oormiah — 
 Disregard to truth — Reception at Ardishai — Dress of the Nestorian cler- 
 gy — Mar Gabriel and his diocese — Evening prayers — Eucharist — Baptism 
 — The bishop's house and family — Fasting — Argument with a Chaldean — 
 Reasons for not proceeding farther — Koosy — Evening prayers — Nestorian 
 manuscripts — Interview with Mar Ooraham — The Takhsa — The Siinhe- 
 diis — Celebration of the eucharist — Suggestions respecting a [mission in 
 Persia. 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 Our delay of two days at Jamalava more than realized 
 the pleasure we had anticipated from visiting the Nestori- 
 ans. The friendliness, simplicity, and unreserved frank- 
 ness of the bishop and his flpck, and the amount of infor- 
 mation he patiently allowed us to draw from him by an al- 
 most uninterrupted series of questions, gave a deep interest 
 to our intercourse. We bade them farewell at an early 
 hour on the 14th of March, to visit another Nestorian bish- 
 op at Ada, about five fursakhs distant. After leaving the 
 few villages in the vicinity of Jamalava, the narrow plajn 
 between the mountains and the lake ceased to be culti- 
 vated. At the distance of four or five miles, the plain 
 of Oormiah opened, projecting for some distance into 
 the lake on the left, and extending up between the moun- 
 tains on the right. It seemed of great extent, and almost 
 perfectly level. A road led directly to the town of 
 
 VOL. II. 21 
 
234 PLAIN OP OORMIAH, 
 
 Oormiah, on its southwest side near the foot of the moun- 
 tains, at a distance of at least ten miles from the lake. We 
 turned to the left, and were soon surrounded by marks of 
 a dense population and of extreme fertility. Villages 
 were separated but a little from each other, and the fruit 
 trees and poplars around them resembled a continuous for- 
 est. Almost every spot was cultivated with grain or cot- 
 ton, and the canals which irrigated them, (some of them 
 so large as to be used for mill-streams,) were so frequent 
 and full as seriously to impede our progress. Nothing 
 could exceed the apparent fertility of the dark loam which 
 formed the soil. In a word, the native province of Zoro- 
 aster, (for tradition pretends that Zoroaster was born in 
 Oormiah,) seemed altogether the finest, the most densely 
 populated and highly cultivated tract we had seen in Asia. 
 — As we passed along, an old Kurdish shepherd by the 
 side of the path cried out, ' Aha ! you are just the men I 
 have been wanting to see for a long time. Our governor 
 here oppresses, beats and kills us. This is Kurdistan ; 
 the Kurds are many, and the Kuzul-bdshes (Persians) are 
 few. When are you coming to take the country and 
 allow us a chance to beat and kill them?' He supposed 
 we were Russians ; and the .inhabitants of a Kurdish vil- 
 lage nor far beyond, seemed equally glad to see us, and 
 asked when we came from Erivan. 
 
 At Ada, we announced ourselves as clergymen, and 
 inquired for the bishop. He was an elderly man, by the 
 name of Yoosuf. We were received cordially, and pro- 
 vided with comfortable accommodations. Hardly had we 
 dismounted, before nearly the whole village crowded around 
 us. They followed us to our room, and filled it almost to 
 suffocation. Pleased as we were to see such an interest 
 excited by our arrival, we feared it would seem to their 
 rulers like a tumultuous rising, and would gladly have per- 
 suaded many of them to retire. But our remonstrances 
 
FASTING. 235 
 
 were in vain, and the bishop, when urged to exert his au- 
 thority, assured us that the whole was but the overflowing 
 of pure love to us, and we must bear with them. They 
 listened to our conversation until late at night, and were 
 finally persuaded to retire, only by our declaring that we 
 were going to bed. 
 
 As we took our seat with the bishop, a pipe was of- 
 fered him, but he declined it, saying that it being lent he 
 fasted all day, without eating, drinking, or smoking, until 
 after evening prayers. He confessed, however, that in this 
 he followed merely his own choice, or at the most a rule 
 binding upon bishops alone, as the common people fast thus 
 only until after the prayers at midday. Respecting the 
 prohibition of every animal production during their fasts, 
 and their commencement and termination at sunset in- 
 stead of midnight, he confirmed what had been said at 
 Jamalava. Our own disregard of all fasting rules excited 
 his surprise, as it did that of all the Nestorians whom we 
 met. We plainly declared, that we acknowledge no dis- 
 tinction between different kinds of food, but hold fasting to 
 be important because the Scriptures approve of it : still, as 
 they have fixed no particular days, we leave individual 
 Christians to their own choice. The explanation seemed 
 not sufficiently satisfactory to remove the impression, that 
 we wantonly trample upon a most sacred custom. His rea- 
 son for the church's fasting fifty instead of forty days was 
 curious. He allowed that our Savior first fasted forty days 
 in the wilderness, and that the apostles in imitation of him 
 observed the same length of time : but said they fasted all 
 the time, without eating night or day ; this we are unable 
 to do, and they have consequently granted us liberty in tha 
 Apostolical Canons to eat at night, but in consideration of 
 the indulgence have increased the number of days to fifty. 
 
 We attended evening prayers with the bishop. No other 
 ceremonies were observed than at Jamalava, except that 
 
236 NESTORIAN SACRAMENTS. 
 
 the deacon, when reading the Psalter, wore, in addition to 
 his ordinary clothes, a white sash around his loins, and a 
 similar band passing over his left shoulder and tucked under 
 the sash before and behind. Burning incense too was car- 
 ried around to each individual of the congregation, for him 
 to hold his hands and face in its smoke. The poverty of 
 the church was similar, and the apparent want of devotion 
 even greater. There were no pictures nor images, and the 
 bishop testified that they are not allowed. But he confess- 
 ed that relics of saints are highly venerated by his country- 
 men, and in fact, that they can build no church without 
 putting a relic under the altar. 
 
 Mar Yoosuf of Ada was as ready as Mar Yohanna of 
 Jamalava to declare the number of the Nestorian sacra- 
 ments to be seven. He enumerated baptism, the eucharist, 
 ordination, marriage, confession, consecration of churches, 
 and burial. But when interrogated, he explained that au- 
 ricular confession is found only in their ancient books, and 
 is now never practised. By the sacrament of burial, too, 
 he intended merely the services connected with putting the 
 body in the ground. And he admitted that the sacred 
 leaven, and the consecrated oil, are likewise sacraments ; 
 remarking, as we reminded him of them, that we must have 
 read their books. 
 
 Baptism, he said, cannot be administered by a deacon, 
 nor indeed by a priest without a deacon, as both have a 
 part to perform. When asked the effect of baptism, he re- 
 plied, in connection with a priest, who seemed a clever man 
 and sat by his side to help him in his answers, ' Christ 
 said to Nicodemus, " Except a man be born again he can- 
 not see the kingdom of God." Nicodemus, being advanced 
 in years, asked, " How can a man be born when he is 
 old?" Our Savior explained by saying, "except a man be 
 born of water" &c. It was baptism of which he spoke.' 
 'But was that all? 5 said we;'* he added something more.' 
 
FORGIVENESS OF SINS. 237 
 
 * True,' rejoined the bishop, ' as the Spirit descended upon 
 Christ at his baptism, so he now descends upon all who 
 are baptized.' He seemed, in this and in some other of 
 his explanations, to quote from a book, and the similarity 
 o.f his remarks to* those of the bishop at Jamalava, made us 
 suspect that some book is in common use among them, 
 which explains their dogmas. When questioned farther, 
 he declared that baptism takes away original sin ; and we 
 then asked him, how we are to obtain the pardon of actual 
 sin. He at first said that we must go and confess our sins 
 to the priest, and then fast and weep; but immediately 
 admitted that no such confession is now practised. Still 
 he contended that when a person, who has apostatized to 
 Mohammedanism, or committed any other great crime, 
 wishes to return, he first goes and tells the priest, then fasts 
 a certain number of days in the church, (the apostate forty 
 days,) praying and weeping, making a certain number of 
 genuflections every day, and putting ashes under him and 
 on his head ; and at the end, the priest, on the morning of 
 the communion, reads over him at the altar an absolution, 
 the tenor of which is, that if he has sincerely repented he 
 is forgiven in heaven as well as on earth, but if he has not 
 repented he is forgiven neither in heaven nor on earth. He 
 is then admitted to the communion. If he fall away into 
 the same crime again, however, a second absolution is nev- 
 er given, nor is he ever after allowed to partake of the 
 eucharist. 
 
 He represented that the eucharist is celebrated oftener 
 than Mar Yohanna had given us to understand ; and even 
 said it ought to be done every day. In practice, however, 
 it occurs, he allowed, only on Sundays, the festivals, and 
 frequently in lent; perhaps from fifty to a hundred times a 
 year. He added his testimony, that on every occasion all 
 who are pure and worthy are accustomed to commune. 
 The priest reads to the audience assembled a warning 
 
 VOL. II. 21 * 
 
238 NESTORIAN CLERGY. 
 
 against certain sins, they say, 'we repent,' and he then 
 administers to them the elements. Should a person pre- 
 sent himself, who is known not to be prepared, one for 
 instance who has quarrelled with his neighbor and not be- 
 come reconciled, he is refused. When asked if members 
 of other denominations are allowed to come to their com- 
 munion, he replied, \ most certainly, all the twelve Chris- 
 tian sects are our brethren, why should they not come V 
 And he allowed, that though he should object to a Nestori- 
 an's going to another sect when there was a church of his 
 own open in the same place, he should be perfectly willing 
 when there was none, that he should commune with the 
 English, the Armenians, or any other of the twelve. We 
 asked, if the Nestorians believe that the bread and wine of 
 the sacrament become the real body and blood of Christ. 
 1 Most certainly,' he replied, ' that is our hope ; by what 
 else do we expect to be saved from our sins ? ' And we un- 
 derstood him to acknowledge it to be a propitiatory sacri- 
 fice. He also said they worship it ; but the words he used 
 might mean no more than reverence. 
 
 His account of the income of the clergy agreed nearly 
 with that of Mar Yohanna. The bishop receives from ev- 
 ery individual in his diocese a tax of two shahies (about 3 
 cts.) per annum ; a fee of one reai (about 35 cts.) for eve- 
 ry marriage ; and for ordination, from five to twenty reals, 
 according to the circumstances of the candidate. A priest 
 receives four batmans (about 40 lbs.) annually from every 
 granary ; for marriages a fee of one real ; and four shahies 
 for baptisms ; with sometimes a few voluntary contributions 
 for other ceremonies. But this income is not sufficient to 
 support the priests, and they are obliged to labor like other 
 men. — The two bishops agreed, also, in the number and 
 names of the ecclesiastical orders ; except that Mar Yoosuf 
 allowed that the two grades of katoleeka and patriarka are 
 united in the person of Mar Shimon. He added that none 
 
NUMBER OF ORTHODOX SECTS. 239 
 
 below the bishop can perform ordination, and that bishops 
 themselves can be ordained only by the patriarch. The 
 patriarch is ordained by two matrans. With the exception 
 of the patriarch, at whose consecration alone oil is used, 
 the ordination ceremony of the other grades consists merely 
 in prayers said over the candidate, the imposition of hands, 
 and cutting so much of the hair on the crown as when 
 grasped in the hand rises above it. The last particular 
 contradicted what had been told us by the Chaldean deacon 
 at Jamalava, that the Nestorians make the tonsure in the 
 form of a cross. The bishop wished to know how our 
 own clergy are ordained, and seemed satisfied with our 
 statement, that the ceremony consists merely in the impo- 
 sition of hands and prayer, without oil or the tonsure. 
 But on learning that we have no higher order than priests „ 
 he wondered how they could get ordination. ' As in your 
 own church,' said we, 'two matrans ordain a patriarch 
 who is greater than they, so in ours, two or more priests 
 ordain a priest, their equal. 5 ' It is right,' he replied, ' but 
 who preached the gospel to you ? ' He went on to say, 
 that our Savior sent his twelve apostles into different parts 
 of the earth, and from them sprang twelve sects. He could 
 not enumerate them, but declared that their names are 
 found in the Nestorian books. His idea was, that although 
 the gospel is one, each apostle gave to his own sect partic- 
 ular institutions, which are binding upon it, and not upon 
 the others. Upon no other sect, he thought, had so oner- 
 ous rites been imposed, as upon the Nestorians. All the 
 twelve are orthodox , but any new thirteenth or fourteenth 
 sect he would immediately pronounce to be heretical. 
 
 The bishop informed us, that there are only 30 houses of 
 Nestorians in Ada, but I am inclined to prefer Mar Yohan- 
 na's statement, that there are 80, especially as it is in his 
 diocese. They have two churches, with a priest and one 
 or two deacons. Its Armenian inhabitants were formerly 
 
£40 REGARD FOR THE POPE. 
 
 numerous, but nearly all have gone to the Russian provinces. 
 It has no school. A year or two ago, the bishop said, he 
 procured an instructor who taught three or four, and they 
 are the only readers in the village. He declared that the 
 Nestorians are extremely fond of learning, but moslem 
 oppression allows them no time for it, and puts it out of the 
 power of parents to educate their children. The priest had 
 a son, and he had a nephew, he said, whom they wished much 
 to educate, but it was impossible. We inquired for schools 
 in his diocese, but he declared that he had no diocese, not 
 even this village belonged to him. Two or three others, 
 he said, were claiming all they could ; he thought such a 
 course unchristian, and claimed nothing. 
 
 The subject of education led him to remark, that bishop 
 Shevris spent much for the instruction of the Nestorians, 
 and that of the few who have any knowledge of letters, a 
 large portion are indebted to him for it. We inquired 
 whether such efforts were acceptable to them. ' Yes,' said 
 he, ' but he told us to turn to the church of Rome, and we 
 would not turn. I w T as at Kochannes once, when he offer- 
 ed Mar Shimon four thousand tomans, if he would become 
 a papist ! ' — We had already inquired of Mar Yohanna at 
 Jamalava, in what estimation the pope is held by the Nesto- 
 rians, and received for answer, that they reverence the see 
 of Rome, but do not acknowledge him who occupies it. He 
 distinctly declared, too, that Peter not merely stood at the 
 head of the apostles in wisdom and energy, but was cloth- 
 ed with authority over all the rest, by the declaration of our 
 Savior to him — " Whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall 
 be bound in heaven," &c. We reminded him that this is 
 said likewise expressly to all the apostles ; but he replied, 
 that to Peter alone was it said, " Thou art Peter, and upon 
 this rock will I build my church." The argument was 
 closed by our declaring, that this does not at all imply that 
 the church is not equally built upon the other apostles ; in 
 
REGARD FOR THE POPE. 241 
 
 Rev. 21 : 14, the New Jerusalem is said to have twelve 
 foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles 
 of the Lamb ; and in Eph. 2 : 20, believers are said to be 
 built upon ♦ the foundation of the apostles and prophets , 
 Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone. — We 
 now expressed our hope to Mar Yoosuf, that his nation will 
 never yield to propositions like those of bishop Shevris, and 
 inquired what they thought of the pope. 'We receive 
 him/ was the reply. * What,' said we, ' are you a JcatoleeJc V 
 (the name by which the members of the papal church are 
 generally known among them.) 'Is the pope a katoleekT 
 he asked. We assured him that he is more of a katoleek 
 than any person he ever saw. * Then,' said he, with deep 
 feeling, ' I dont receive him, for he has departed from the 
 gospel path, has he not V He still declared that he con- 
 sidered Peter the head of the apostles, and contended with 
 some warmth, that Christ ordered them all to obey him. — 
 These remarks of the bishop singularly confirmed what the 
 Chaldean priest had told us at Khosrova, that while the 
 Nestorians are strongly prejudiced against the Roman 
 Catholics, they have great reverence for the pope, and be- 
 lieve that his religion is like theirs, supposing his tenets to 
 have been misrepresented to them by his professed followers. 
 The bishop's quotations from Scripture, especially in 
 proof of his last position, were very incorrect, and betrayed 
 but a slight knowledge of the word of God. With the mod- 
 ern Syriac alphabet, he seemed to be not at all acquaint- 
 ed ; but he could still read our copy of the Syriac New Tes- 
 tament, with a little difficulty in regard to now and then a 
 word. The language of their church books, he declared, 
 is not understood by the common people ; but the priests 
 are accustomed to explain particular parts of the services, 
 especially the lessons from the Gospel. This he called 
 preaching. He affirmed that in the mountains, there are 
 some schools designed specially for the education of the 
 
242 POLITICAL DISCONTENT. 
 
 clergy ; but we obtained from him no information respect- 
 ing them. He confirmed the statement already given, that 
 this province formerly acknowledged the supremacy of Mar 
 Elias of El Koosh, but left him when he became a papist, 
 (as he now is,) and submitted to Mar Shimon. The con- 
 fession of Mar Yohanna, that Christ is perfect God and 
 perfect man existing in one person, was also acceded to by 
 him ; with the additional explanation, that the two persons, 
 human and divine, are so united as to have become one. 
 He declared too, with that bishop, that his nation derive 
 their name JYusrany, from Nazareth, where Christ was 
 brought up \ but added the singular assertion, that they are 
 descended from the ten tribes of Israel. 
 
 Before leaving Jamalava, we had been asked by Mar Yo- 
 hanna, when we thought the authority would pass from the 
 hands of moslem into those of Christian kings. Under- 
 standing him to refer to the millenium, we told him that 
 God has indeed promised a time when all men shall not only 
 be under Christian governments, but shall themselves be 
 Christians, and we hoped it would not be long delayed, 
 but how long, we felt unable to determine from the word 
 of God. We ascertained from him, that he had no ex- 
 pectation of Christ's appearing on earth again till he comes 
 to judge the world, and in fact had no distinct ideas of the 
 millenium at all. But he said he was not speaking of the 
 latter days, when Elias would come, and the gospel be 
 preached to all people, but to a time not far distant, when 
 the government of the nations would pass into the hands of 
 Christian kings. His meaning was not fully understood 
 till we reached Ada. The salutation of the old Kurd, on 
 the road, was an indication of political discontent. On our 
 arrival here, the first Nestorian who entered our room, said 
 distinctly that he wished to go to Tiflis with us. After the 
 company had dispersed at night, another stopped to say, 
 that all the young men in the place had taken an oath in 
 
TOWN Of OORMIAH. 243 
 
 the church, and subscribed their names to a promise, {hat 
 they would leave for Georgia within three days. They 
 could bear their oppressions no longer. Our situation, in. 
 this high excitement, you can readily conceive was delicate. 
 The crowd that collected around us, might be taken by the 
 rulers for a rising of the people en masse to receive us as 
 their deliverers. Two moslem servants of the khan who 
 owns the village, actually came to inquire who we were, but 
 were satisfied by a sight of our rakams. The Nestorians we 
 took every means to make understand our real character, that 
 no false hopes might be raised. And in order not to impli- 
 cate ourselves, not only were all questions that could possi- 
 bly have a political bearing carefully avoided by us, but 
 Antonio was charged to be equally cautious. To harden 
 our hearts thus, however, was difficult in the extreme, and 
 ' while we held our peace our sorrow was stirred. 5 For a 
 poor man was drawn up and bastinadoed near our door 
 just after we arrived. The only occasion of his punishment 
 was, if we may believe his townsmen, that the khan who 
 owns the village, had demanded of him ten tomans or his 
 daughter. The poor man had but two goats in the world, 
 and could not give the money. He loved his daughter, 
 and would not give her. But they expected the cruelty 
 would be repeated, until his resolution to withhold her 
 would be overcome. 
 
 March 15. Ada is two and a half or three fursakhs 
 nearly eastward from the town of Oormiah, (often pro- 
 nouced Oroomiah.) Our intention to visit that place was 
 frustrated by the existence of the plague. It was indeed 
 in many of the villages, also, and one very near Ada was 
 infected. But the danger from .travelling among them was 
 small, as we were able, by careful inquiry, to shun all 
 that had the disease. In the town, according to some ac- 
 counts, it was just at that time attended with much mortal- 
 ity ; and to mingle with a dense city population under such 
 
244 DISREGARD TO TRUTH. 
 
 circumstances, would have been attended with great ex- 
 posure. We determined therefore to avoid it, especially 
 as there was very little inducement to draw us thither. 
 Its Nestorian inhabitants, we were informed at our next 
 station, hardly amount to more than a hundred houses. 
 Of papists, of any kind, there are none. 
 
 Having learned that another Nestorian bishop resides at 
 Ardishai, five fursakhs from Ada and two fursakhs below 
 Oormiah on the road to the southern end of the lake, we 
 started for that place at an early hour this morning. The 
 country was fertile, and villages were almost as frequent as 
 yesterday. Our guide from Ada afforded an instance of the 
 little confidence that can be reposed in statistical informa- 
 tion obtained from this people ; and reminds me to say, that 
 the statements of that kind, which the Nestorians gave us, 
 were so very uncertain and contradictory, that we despaired 
 of making any approximation to the truth. He declared, 
 that besides 50 Nestorian families in Ada, there were 70 
 of papists, and that he was himself one of the latter. But 
 Nestorians and Chaldeans afterward assured us, that he 
 was not a papist himself, and that there were none at Ada ; 
 but that he had probably told us the story, under the impres- 
 sion that we were of that sect, and should be gratified by 
 it. We imagined that some of the statements of the bish- 
 ops, and indeed many of those of Mar Yoosuf, were simi- 
 larly colored for the same reason. We took pains to pro- 
 claim that We had no connection with the pope : still, they 
 could not be persuaded at once that our doctrines were not 
 like those of the papists, and that our esteem for them 
 would not be increased in proportion as we found theirs 
 of a similar character. 
 
 We were hardly in signt of Ardishai, before the people 
 were seen upon their terraces, and running from all direc- 
 tions to meet us ; and by the time we reached the bishop's 
 door, a crowd of hundreds of men, women and children 
 
DRESS OF THE NESTORIAN CLERGY. 245 
 
 beset us, all apparently overjoyed at our arrival. We were 
 actually alarmed for the consequences of such excitement, 
 and begged the bishop to give us a room immediately that 
 we might escape the multitude. He invited us into his 
 own house. But they crowded upon us there, and though 
 often dispersed by his command, given at our request, they 
 as often returned, until we finally stationed a servant at the 
 door to prevent more than a small number from entering. No 
 other reason was assigned for their assembling, than affec- 
 tion for us, and a wish to see us. Curiosity to see Europe- 
 ans, of whom few had ever been among them, was probably 
 one cause of the excitement; nor do I doubt that real 
 friendliness of heart had some influence ; but a hope that 
 we would free them from their oppressions was uppermost 
 in their minds. We took such a course at Ardishai, as to 
 hear few of their complaints. 
 
 None of the Nestorian clergy were distinguished from 
 the laity by their dress, except the bishops. They wore a 
 Kurdish costume, which consisted of a large red cap, hang- 
 ing down behind and wound around with a turban, instead 
 of the conical sheepskin cap of the Persians, and of flowing 
 robes somewhat in the Osmanly fashion. The dress of the 
 bishop of Ardishai, however, was distinguished in nothing 
 from the Persian mode, except that upon his head he had 
 only a tight red skull-cap. His name was Gabriel. He 
 was a beardless youth, aged, according to his own and his 
 mother's declaration, only twenty; and yet he had been 
 ordained to the episcopate seven years ! Though young, 
 his manner was sober enough, perhaps, but he seemed ex- 
 tremely heedless. An oath frequently slipped from his 
 mouth in conversation. So difficult did we find it to draw 
 his attention more than a minute to any topics we brought 
 forward, and his answers were given with so little thought, 
 and in some cases with so little regard to truth, that we 
 despaired, at first, of obtaining from him any accurate 
 
 vol. ii. 22 
 
246 EVENING PRAYERS, 
 
 information. He is the seventh of his family, who have 
 occupied this see in succession. — The village of Ardishai 
 he said, consists of 100 families of Nestorians, who have 
 four or five churches, and as many deacons, but no priests, 
 all of them having died of the epidemic the last year. He 
 affirmed positively that it contains no papists ; but when a 
 Chaldean priest afterward came in, he confessed that there 
 are two priests and four or five families of that sect. The 
 village of Barbary, their principal residence, and where 
 they have another priest, is not far to the south ; and a 
 few live also in another village in the province. The bish- 
 op's diocese, if we may believe his own statements, embra- 
 ces 20 or 30 villages. Ten schools are taught in them by 
 priests, each of which has from five to ten boys, and one 
 as many as twenty. He alluded to the existence of schools 
 in the mountains for the education of the clergy, but added 
 no information respecting them. Convents, he assured us, 
 exist in thoseparts for females as well as males ; and both 
 monks and nuns have completely retired from the world, 
 are under a vow of celibacy, and can never marry. He 
 estimated the Nestorians of the province of Oormiah at 
 four or five thousand families. 
 
 We attended evening prayers with the bishop, but ob- 
 served little to add to what I have already said of their 
 forms of worship. Each one on entering, not only went 
 to kiss the hand of the bishop, as in the other places, but 
 came to us also, and passed around the congregation, for 
 the same purpose, seeming to intend it for a mere fraternal 
 salutation. The church being sufficiently lighted by the 
 sun, the use of candles, which was observed in all the 
 other churches we visited, was dispensed with. Nor was 
 any incense used ; but the reason assigned for neglecting 
 it, was that it had been stolen from the church the night 
 before. The deacon merely loosened the end of his sash 
 and passed it over his left shoulder to read the Psalter. 
 
THE EUCHARIST. 247 
 
 Of devotion there was no appearance. The bishop and 
 deacons talked to each other and to the members of the 
 congregation in the midst of their prayers, and seemed to 
 attach no meaning at all to the words they read. The 
 church differed from those at Jamalava and Ada, only in 
 being a little larger ; and like all we saw, the altar v/as in 
 the eastern extremity. Such a position of the altar, the 
 bishop informed us, is always observed by the Nestorians ; 
 and they never pray without turning the face to the east. 
 
 He confirmed what Mar Yohanna had said respecting 
 the bread of the eucharist, and the cross stamped upon it ; 
 but added, that several loaves are often consecrated at the 
 same time to be given to the people, and that two are al- 
 ways reserved for the priest and deacon. Our consecrating 
 the elements in unconsecrated places seemed also to stum- 
 ble him. He denied that they practise infant communion ; 
 but could mention no particular age when children are first 
 admitted to the ordinance. They are sometimes allowed to 
 come at five, but never at three years of age. We inquir- 
 ed what preparation is deemed necessary before partaking 
 of the communion. He replied, that they fast from the 
 evening before until its celebration, whether it be at morn- 
 ing or at midday prayers ; and that they settle their quarrels 
 so as to be at peace with each other. Auricular confes- 
 sion they never practise, but the priests read to the assem- 
 bled congregation a general confession embracing five sins. 
 The elements are received by the people, standing before 
 the door of the sanctuary. Each one, he said, stoops forward 
 a little with his hand open under his chin, while the priest 
 breaks off a bit of the bread and puts it in his mouth. He 
 then goes in the same posture to the deacon, and drinks the 
 wine from a bowl in his hand. The bishop was careful to 
 say, as if it was a point of some importance, and inquiring 
 at the same time our own practice, that the people are all 
 served first, then the priest partakes, and last of all the 
 deacon. 
 
248 
 
 We could not learn from him that the canons of the 
 Nestorian church designate any particular age for the bap- 
 tism of infants. It can be performed, he said, only on the 
 days when the eucharist is celebrated, and is generally at- 
 tended to on some festival. The body of the child is im- 
 mersed in water up to the breast or chin, and the priest, tak- 
 ing up water in his hand three times, pours it upon his head, 
 first in the name of the Father, then in the name of the 
 Son, and last in the name of the Holy Ghost, making each 
 time the sign of the cross upon the top of the head. When 
 infants die before baptism, he thought like Mar Yohanna, 
 that their souls go neither to heaven nor to hell, but to a 
 place prepared specially for them. 
 
 March 16. A continued fall of rain detained us the 
 whole day at Ardishai, and confined us to the bishop's house. 
 It consisted of one very large room, twenty or thirty feet 
 high, lighted by only small holes in the terrace, and warm- 
 ed by only a tannoor which was used for all the purposes of 
 cooking. Besides carpets, felts, mats, matresses, coverlets, 
 and cushion's, (the usual furniture of a Persian peasant's 
 house,) we noticed an additional article which deserves a 
 description. It was an instrument commonly used here for 
 cleaning cotton ; and consisted merely of two plain cylin- 
 ders about eighteen inches long, one of wood four or five 
 inches in diameter, and the other of iron less than an inch 
 in diameter. The larger was turned by a crank, and being 
 in contact with the smaller turned that also. The fibres of 
 the cotton are drawn between them by the motion, and 
 thus stripped from the seeds, which, being too large to pass 
 through, roll down quite naked. The process is slow, ow- 
 ing to the smallness of the machine, but the work is well 
 done. We slept at night upon the carpets where we had 
 sat during the evening, and the family of the bishop's moth- 
 er, males and females, scattered themselves promiscuously 
 on the ground, each under his coverlet. They were called 
 
FASTING. 249 
 
 to prayers in the church at daybreak, but we observed no 
 devotions in the family while we remained in it, except that 
 one man on rising went through a series of prostrations and 
 kneelings, which might, but for the frequent signs of the 
 cross that accompanied them, have been mistaken for a 
 part of a Mohammedan's prayers. The bishop informed us 
 that the Nestorians have forms of private prayer, which 
 are observed by some, but neglected at the option of every 
 individual. 
 
 The rule of fasting which Mar Yoosuf had prescribed 
 to himself, was not observed by Mar Gabriel. He hesitated 
 not to smoke before evening prayers yesterday ; and he 
 ate to day with the family after midday prayers ; but until 
 that hour, all strictly fasted. The bishop at Ada had grat- 
 ified us by declining to drink wine; on the ground that it is 
 not allowed during lent. But his brother of Ardishai urged 
 us to join him in a glass of brandy. We proposed to sub- 
 stitute wine as a more innocent beverage, but he likewise 
 would not touch it. It could of course be no rule of tem- 
 perance that proscribed its use, as we had at first hoped : 
 and we found on inquiry, that only a little fat, usually put 
 in the jars to preserve it, makes it a forbidden drink ; while 
 brandy not being thus contaminated, may be drunk with 
 impunity. Surely this is straining at a gnat and swallow- 
 ing a camel ! 
 
 All the inhabitants of the village observed the day as a 
 holiday, abstaining entirely from labor ; but not one could 
 tell us why, nor whether it is dedicated to any saint or not. 
 The bishop said, that the time of many of their festivals, 
 and especially of Easter, corresponds with the Armenian 
 calendar, but others fall on different days. Christmas is ob- 
 served on the 25th of December. He admitted that they 
 worship the saints, and that prayers to them are scattered 
 through many of their church books. We inquired if the 
 body of the virgin was taken up to heaven ; and were at first 
 vol. n. 22* 
 
250 ARGUMENT WITH A CHALDEAN. 
 
 answered without hesitation that it is still in the grave ; on 
 recollecting, however, that his church observes the festival 
 of the Assumption, he hesitated, and said he must look in 
 his books. — Observing him and a deacon leaving the house, 
 in the course of the morning, with a prayer-book and cen- 
 ser, we inquired their object. They were going, he re- 
 plied, to say prayers over the grave of a person lately dead ; 
 a ceremony that is performed on the day of the burial, and 
 on the third, seventh, and fortieth days afterward. Masses 
 for the dead ought also to be celebrated on the same days, 
 but none had been said this morning, as their church was a 
 little out of order. 
 
 While we were occupied most of the day in writing, the 
 bishop spent much of it in reading and chanting from our 
 Syriac Testament, and seemed so much pleased with it, 
 that we finally gave him a copy. He declared that he had 
 never before seen the character in which it was printed, 
 and still he read it with perfect ease. It was his opinion, 
 however, that it could not be read by his clergy generally. 
 Its language he pronounced to be the same with that of 
 their church books, and not intelligible to the people. But 
 he showed us a beautiful copy of the Pentateuch, accompa- 
 nied by an explanation which he said the common people 
 can understand. Among his books, was one with now and 
 then an Arabic sentence interspersed, which seemed to in- 
 dicate that it was a Syriac grammar upon the Arabic sys- 
 tem, but the bishop could not tell us what it was. 
 
 In the evening a Chaldean joined the family circle of 
 the bishop, and an animated argument upon several of the 
 doctrines of the papal church was introduced, by our allu- 
 ding to the history of the defection of England from the 
 faith and the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the pope. I can 
 only touch very briefly upon the different topics discussed. 
 — The bishop inquired if we confess to our priests, and 
 expressed his satisfaction at finding that we agree with his 
 
ARGUMENT WITH A CHALDEAN. 251 
 
 own church in confessing to God only. The Chaldean 
 said, 'Is it not written, "Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth 
 shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever ye shall loose on 
 earth shall be loosed in heaven?" ' His argument was an- 
 swered, by our reminding him that this assurance was 
 given to the apostles who were inspired, and not to their 
 successors. He soon found another, by asking if the rite 
 of absolution was not enjoined in the command of our 
 Savior to Peter, to forgive an offending brother not "until 
 seven times, but until seventy times seven 1 " He was made 
 to see, that what Peter was ordered to forgive, was merely 
 a sin against himself, and not sins in general. Christ's 
 direction to the leper to show himself to the priest, was 
 then pleaded as a precedent in favor of auricular confes- 
 ion to the priesthood. But the topic was concluded by our 
 showing, that the custom alluded to was merely a sanitary 
 regulation of the Mosaic law. — We asked the Chaldean if 
 the priests of his church administer the cup to the laity at 
 communion. ' They do,' said he, ' as Christ directed. 
 They break the consecrated wafer in two parts, and dip- 
 ping one in the wine, make the sign of the cross with it 
 over the other, and then give it to the people.' 'Which?' 
 we asked; 'the one dipped in the wine?' He confessed, 
 with apparent reluctance, that it was the other. We then 
 requested the bishop to read Math. 26 : 26 — 28, that we 
 might see how Christ directed the ordinance to be admin- 
 istered. He did so from our Syriac Testament, laying a 
 significant emphasis upon the command — "Drink ye all of 
 it ;" and the Chaldean'was silenced. 
 
 We mentioned, as another difference between us and 
 the papists, that we admit to our communion members of 
 other denominations. ' Why, so do we,' said the bishop, 
 ' we consider all Christians as brethren ; but these papists 
 admit none but papists to their communion.' We assured 
 him, that their church goes still farther, and teaches that 
 
252 ARGUMENT WITH A CHALDEAN. 
 
 none but papists can be saved. The Chaldean would 
 have explained the doctrine into a general declaration, that 
 none can be saved who depart from the fundamental 
 principles of the gospel. But Antonio silenced him by op- 
 portunely declaring that the papists once converted him, 
 and one of the dogmas he learned from them was, that 
 out of the Apostolical Roman Catholic Church there is no 
 salvation. — The principle of the papal church, was next men- 
 tioned by us, which forbids the people to have the Scriptures 
 in a language they can understand. It was new to the 
 bishop, and he asked, with great astonishment, the reason 
 of it. We replied that the papists can best tell ; but as- 
 sured him that it is so strictly enforced, that not only are 
 people who happen to come in possession of them often 
 obliged to give them up, but we have actually known them 
 to be burned. — The subject of images, too, was brought 
 forward in an inquiry by the bishop, if we use them in any 
 of our religious ceremonies. We assured him that we 
 regard them as utterly prohibited by God, and referred him 
 to Ex. 20 : 4, for our authority. He turned to the Penta- 
 teuch, and read the second commandment with evident 
 satisfaction, as a triumphant argument against the Chal- 
 dean. The occasion was embraced to declare to the com- 
 pany many particulars respecting the image-worship of the 
 papists, especially as practised at Malta, most of which 
 were new and surprising to them. The bishop manifested 
 the deepest interest in the whole conversation, and all but 
 the Chaldean seemed highly delighted. 
 
 It was to us, also, an evening of the most intense gratifi- 
 cation. I had never found among the native Christians of 
 Western Asia, any who would go such lengths with me 
 in arguing against the papists. To see that the passages 
 of Scripture appealed to in proof of arguments were so 
 well understood, was likewise pleasing. In fact, in all 
 our intercourse with the Nestorians, their frequent and 
 
STATE OF THE MOUNTAINS. 253 
 
 generally correct quotations from Scripture were quite no- 
 ticeable. They seemed to feel its force as a standard of 
 ultimate appeal. And it is a striking fact, that, with the 
 exception of one reference to the Apostolical Canons, no 
 resort was had at all to the authority of Fathers and Coun- 
 cils. We were also not sorry to give countenance, by such 
 an argument, to the Nestorians in opposition to the Chal- 
 deans. For the latter seemed always to anounce them- 
 selves as Roman Catholics with a tone of self-congratula- 
 tion for their orthodoxy, and assurance that we would es- 
 teem them the more for it. While the Nestorians declared 
 their sentiments with diffidence, as if they expected a frown 
 from every body, and especially from Europeans, for their 
 heresy. It was not unimportant to show them, that they 
 are not alone in their disapprobation of papacy. 
 
 March 17. I have mentioned that we left Tebriz with 
 the intention of performing the circuit of the lake of Oor- 
 miah. We were extremely anxious to extend our journey 
 into the heart of the Kurdish mountains, and visit in person 
 Mar Shimon and the independent Nestorians. But all our 
 English friends at Tebriz united in declaring that region 
 entirely inaccessible. Not that among the Nestorians them- 
 selves, we should not be well received and be perfectly 
 safe, but the Kurds which surround them are treacherous 
 and blood-thirsty robbers, entirely beyond the control of the 
 Persian government. Dr. Schultz, a learned German, trav- 
 elling under the auspices of the king of France, had lately 
 succeeded in reaching Kochannes ; and the patriarch and 
 his people treated him well ; but on his return, he was 
 murdered by the very guard which had been given him by 
 a Kurdish beg for his protection. The impracticability of 
 entering the mountains was affirmed also at Khosrova, at 
 Ada, and at other places among the Nestorians ; and even 
 Mergaver, the nearest mountainous district to Ardishai, was 
 said to have recently defied the power of the governor of 
 
•254 
 
 PLAIN OF OORMIAH. 
 
 Oormiah. We learned also that the Kurds around Sool- 
 dooz, at the southern extremity of the lake, were in a state 
 of insubordination, which very much endangered the pas- 
 sage by that route. The existence of the plague at Ma- 
 ragha had already made us begin to doubuhe expediency of 
 continuing in that direction ; and this additional obstacle 
 now completed our decision to return by the way that we 
 had come. To vary the route a little, we determined 
 to-day to turn to the west of the main road from Oormiah 
 to Salmas, about as far as Ada is to the east of it, and visit 
 another Neslorian bishop named Ooraham (Abraham) at 
 Armood-aghaj. 
 
 We left Ardishai at an early hour, and for awhile took 
 the direct road to Oormiah. To avoid the plague, howev- 
 er, we refased to go through it, and only passed along in 
 sight of its walls. The plain maintained in this direction 
 its general character for beauty and fertility, and as we 
 passed across several ploughed fields, we were made more 
 sensible of the lightness of its soil by the depth to which 
 our horses sunk into it at every step. Vineyards were nu- 
 merous in every part, and like the gardens were invariably 
 inclosed by a wall, while nothing separated the fields of 
 grain from the open common. Both the vineyards and the 
 gardens generally contained small houses, which reminded 
 us of Matt. 21 : 33, and Is. 1 : 8, and we asked our guide 
 this morning what was their object. He replied that they 
 afford shelter and lodgings in the summer, to persons who 
 defend the vineyards and gardens from thieves, and cultivate 
 them and gather the vintage. 
 
 Armood-aghaj is a very small village, inhabited, in about 
 equal numbers, by moslems and Nestorians, lying near the 
 foot of the mountains on the northern side of the plain about 
 two fursakhs from Oormiah, and five from Ardishai. The 
 bishop was absent in a distant village, and though urged to 
 stop while his family should send for him, we preferred 
 
EVENING PRAYERS. 255 
 
 seeking for better accommodations in the larger village of 
 Koosy, about a mile distant. We were received at Koosy, 
 into a room similar in size and appearance to that which 
 we had occupied at Ardishai, and the people treated us, as 
 did the Nestorians generally, with hospitality, attention and 
 respect. Fewer assembled, than at the last two villages, to 
 visit and converse with us ; but they were not without their 
 complaints. Our host affirmed that government exacts 
 from him 20 tomans per annum for his family, and two 
 thirds of the produce of his farm ! 
 
 At evening prayers, we were pained by an unusual share 
 of that want of reverence for sacred things, which was gen- 
 erally observable among the Nestorians, both in church 
 and in conversation upon religious topics. The ceremo- 
 nies differed little from what has been elsewhere noticed. 
 Incense was burned ; the officiators wore only their ordin- 
 ary dress, except the sash and the band for the left shoulder 
 used by the deacon in reading the Psalter, which were in 
 this instance ornamented by several crosses ; and each one 
 as he entered, kissed the cross, the hand of the bishop, and 
 of his fellow- worshipers. The women, who had in every 
 church occupied the farther extremity and never came for- 
 ward to perform this ceremony, were observed here to have 
 a cross suspended upon the wall near them, which they 
 kissed on entering, and then did the same to the hands of 
 each other. 
 
 The priest followed us to our room, and spent the eve- 
 ning ; but we found him capable of giving but little in- 
 formation. He confessed that he was but eighteen years 
 of age, and we judged from his appearance that he was no 
 more than sixteen. His father, who was the former priest, 
 had died the year before of the epidemic, and he had been 
 ordained since. Not that the office of priest is hereditary, 
 for all agreed that it is not ; but the choice of the village, 
 which alone determined the succession, happened to fall 
 
256 NESTORIAN MANUSCRIPTS. 
 
 upon him. They confirmed the fact, that the episcopate 
 is hereditary, and mentioned the see of Nazy, a village not 
 far distant, which is at present vacant, in consequence of 
 the heir's being too young to receive ordination, and not 
 having yet completed his studies. 
 
 I have already mentioned that we found no printed books 
 among the Nestorians, and suggested that their alphabet 
 has perhaps never been printed. We inquired in every 
 place for books, but, with the exception of the grammar at 
 Ardishai, we found only the books of the church ; and they 
 were very scarce. The Psalter, the Gospels, and Epistles, 
 in separate volumes, and divided into lessons for the daily 
 service, were possessed by every church ; but in Jamalava 
 the two latter were carried every night to the house of the 
 bishop, for fear that they would be stolen. Two churches 
 also possessed the Pentateuch ; but no entire copy of the 
 Bible was heard of any where. Indeed the Chaldean priest 
 at Khosrova confessed that one is hardly to be found. He 
 possessed it himself only in the Syriac of Walton's Poly- 
 glott, a work which he had procured, we understood him 
 to say, because the entire Bible does not exist in the 
 Nestor ian character.. He assured us, that the Nestorian 
 catalogues of the books held to be canonical, embrace pre- 
 cisely the same that are acknowledged by the papal church. 
 We asked only a few questions on this point ; but the bishop 
 at Jamalava informed us that the Apocalypse, the epistle of 
 James, and Solomon's song, are among the books received 
 by them as canonical. Some ■ of their manuscripts were 
 fine specimens of the Estrangelo ; especially two, which 
 were copies of the Gospels and Epistles, in the possession of 
 Mar Gabriel of Ardishai. But an extreme unwillingness 
 was universally manifested to part with any, except the 
 Psalter, for the alleged reason that only one copy was own- 
 ed by a village. The missal of the church at Koosy had 
 been recently stolen, and the priest was consequently un- 
 
NESTORIAN MANUSCRIPTS. 257 
 
 able to celebrate the eucharist. We finally succeeded in 
 purchasing at Jamalava a copy of the Psalter in the Nesto- 
 rian character, and another of the epistles in the Estrangelo. 
 The latter was written in 1527 of the era of the Seleucidse, 
 which is still used by the Nestorians, and commences 311 
 years before Christ.* 
 
 We inquired at Koosy, as usual, for manuscripts, and 
 were told that the village possesses a very venerable one, 
 written, according to the date inserted by the writer, three 
 hundred years before the Mohammedan era. We had 
 heard of its fame at Ardishai, and at our request to see it 
 were conducted to the house of the priest where it was kept. 
 He crossed himself, and the by-standers uncovered their 
 heads, as he opened the box which contained it ; and ten 
 silk bags and handkerchiefs which covered it, were then 
 carefully removed one by one. It proved to be a neat and 
 well preserved copy of the New Testament upon parch- 
 ment, in small Estrangelo characters. After examining it 
 awhile, without touching it, we returned to our lodgings. 
 In proof of its great sanctity and miraculous virtues, the 
 company affirmed that even the moslems believe in it ; for 
 they not only bring Christians from distant villages to swear 
 upon it, in order to obtain from them a true oath, but are 
 even afraid to swear falsely by it themselves. When asked 
 for the reason of such a fear, they declared that the falsity 
 of an oath is detected at the time, by a miraculous moving 
 of the leaves of the book, and afterward death, or some ter- 
 rible calamity, invariably befalls the false swearer or his 
 nearest friends. Many instances of such effects of its mi- 
 raculous powers had been known by them, and they con- 
 fessed that so great was their fear that they trembled to 
 speak of it. We inquired if any other manuscripts of a 
 similar antiquity are possessed by their countrymen, and 
 
 * These manuscripts are now deposited in the Library of the Board at the 
 Missionary Rooms. 
 
 vol. ii. 23 
 
258 INTERVIEW WITH MAR OORAHAM. 
 
 were answered, that there are many in the mountains, one 
 of which is not very far distant, in the district of Garvar. 
 They affirmed that it is not so venerable as this, but imme- 
 diately, as if afraid of defaming it, modified the expression 
 by saying, that nothing however could be said against that. 
 — Our offers to purchase such an adored manuscript, were 
 of course not listened to a moment. Other books were 
 brought forward ; but as they had only a single copy of each 
 for their own use, none could be bought. 
 
 March 18. We left at an early hour for Jamalava, dis- 
 tant about five fursakhs. After four or five' miles we were 
 hailed and stopped by a man in pursuit of us. It was Mar 
 Ooraham of Armood-aghaj, who, it appeared, had been 
 sent for yesterday by his friends to a village a fursakh or 
 two distant, contrary to our injunction. Finding, on reach- 
 ing home this morning, that we were gone, he had pushed 
 on after us. His first words confirmed our fears that he 
 supposed us to be political agents. The Nestorians, he 
 said, were the last Christians left in the hands of the mos- 
 lems ; their oppressions had become so great that they 
 could be endured no longer ; and they were determined to 
 leave the country. Would not the kings assist them 1 We 
 replied that we were simple ministers of the gospel, and 
 had no connection with such subjects, nor any information 
 respecting them. ' They told me,' said he, ' near Ada, 
 where you passed, that you travelled under the name of 
 Englishmen, but were really Russians ; are you not Rus- 
 sians 1 ' We assured him we were not, and that he would 
 oblige us by contradicting such a report : that we were 
 ministers of the gospel, who, having come from a very dis- 
 tant land, were now among the Nestorians on a religious 
 visit. Immediately he expressed his regret that we had 
 not found him at home, as he should have taken great 
 pleasure in answering our inquiries, and if we wanted 
 books, he had them. We were ourselves sorry not to have 
 
THE TAKHSA. 259 
 
 more time with him, for he seemed the most intelligent 
 Nestorian bishop we had seen. He was mounted on a 
 good horse, was well dressed in the usual Kurdish costume, 
 had a sword hung by his side, and • a bishop's staff in his 
 hand. 
 
 When speaking of books, he took from his saddle-bags a 
 copy of the Takhsa and Siinhedus. The former, he said, 
 contained the offices for the eucharist, for ordination, and 
 for the consecration of churches ; the three functions which 
 a bishop is most liable to be called upon to perform : the 
 ordination of the five grades below him, and the consecra- 
 tion of churches, being in fact his peculiar duties. The 
 canons of his church, he assured us, require the eucharist 
 to be celebrated every Sunday and Friday throughout the 
 year. It is actually celebrated, every day in three out of 
 the seven weeks of lent, every Sunday and festival general- 
 ly, and whenever a baptism is to be performed or a mass is 
 required for the dead. As a preparation for communion, 
 they practise not that confession, he said, in which sins are 
 told in the ea'r of a priest and money is given ,• but if a 
 man's conscience is burdened, he sometimes goes, of his 
 own accord, to his priest, and tells him he is a sinner. He 
 then fasts three days in the church, praying and putting 
 ashes under him ; and on the morning of the eucharist, the 
 priest, laying his hand upon his head, reads over him an 
 absolution. The communion is then administered to him. 
 — The Siinhedus, he said, contains all the laws and canons 
 of the church, and by it a bishop can decide any question 
 th.at is liable to come before him. In the case of a propo- 
 sed marriage, for example, he can determine from it wheth- 
 er the parties are within the forbidden grades of consan- 
 guinity ; which are, he affirmed, in the Nestorian church 
 sixty-five in number, including, as I understood, some 
 grades of the affinity that exists between sponsors and god- 
 children. The same book contains also the law which 
 
260 CELEBRATION OF THE EUCHARIST. 
 
 allows priests to marry after ordination ; ' for,' said he, ' we 
 do not understand the passage which intimates that an 
 elder should be the husband of one wife, (Tit. 1 : 6.) as 
 limiting the number that he may have successively, but as 
 prohibiting him to have more than one at a time.' We 
 concluded, from his description, that the Sunhediis contains 
 most of the peculiarities of the Nestorian church, and were 
 very desirous of purchasing it, but he would sell neither it 
 nor the Takhsa. — In the course of the conversation, he 
 forced upon us a present of a large quantity of raisins, 
 which he had brought in his saddle-bags. We happened 
 at the moment to pay our guide a penabad for his services, 
 and were embarrassed to see the bishop take it with a smile 
 of thanks, as if it were intended for himself. It seemed 
 doubtful, however, whether an apology was most due from 
 us for giving, or from him for receiving so small a gratuity, 
 and we suffered him to put it quietly in his pocket. 
 
 Our friends at Jamalava seemed rejoiced to see us 
 among them again ; but the bishop, with whom we had 
 conversed so much a week before, was absent. The etf- 
 charist had not been celebrated in any of the churches we 
 had visited, and we expressed to the priest our regret at 
 not having an opportunity to witness the ceremony. He 
 said that to gratify us it should be performed to-morrow, 
 though otherwise it would not have occurred until Sunday 
 morning. 
 
 March 19. We were awaked when the priest went to 
 church at early dawn. Himself and a younger son, who 
 officiated as deacon, were three when we entered, saying 
 prayers alone, and only two or three others came in after 
 awhile. He soon sent word to us, that, as they were only 
 saying the morning prayers which were long, we should do 
 well to return to our room, and he would call us in time to 
 witness the mass. After somewhat more than an hour, a 
 messenger informed us that it was "begun. As we entered, 
 
CELEBRATION OF THE EUCHARIST. 261 
 
 a curtain was withdrawn from the door of the sanctuary, 
 and the priest, with his son the deacon, appeared within. 
 He was clothed in a white flowing robe with sleeves; a 
 dark colored fillet around his loins answered as a sash ; 
 and a second one was passed around his neck and tucked 
 under the other in front A white mantle, consisting ap- 
 parently of only a plain piece of cotton or silk cloth, so 
 long as to trail upon the floor, and so broad as to cover his 
 hands when they were raised in supplication, was soon 
 thrown over his shoulders, and completed his dress. The 
 dress of the deacon was similar* except that he had not the 
 mantle, and instead of the fillet around the neck, a plain 
 white band was passed over his right shoulder and tucked 
 under the sash before and behind. Their heads were bare 
 during the whole ceremony ; and their robes altogether 
 were extremely simple, and not unbecoming. 
 
 While chanting the service, they walked continually 
 about the sanctuary, the deacon burning incense, and the 
 priest repeatedly making prostrations on either side and 
 then directly in front of the altar, approaching it kneeling 
 and kissing the ground at every step, and finally kissing 
 the altar itself as he reached it. Besides occasionally re- 
 sponding, the peo'ple in the body of the church took no 
 part in the services, except that the deacon came forward 
 once and touched the hands of one of them, and then the 
 kissing of hands passed around the company. At length a 
 curtain, being dropped before trfe sanctuary, hid the officia- 
 tors from our view, and a bell commenced ringing within, 
 which nearly drowned the chanting. At the signal of a 
 smaller bell, the whole congregation crossed themselves, 
 and bowed their heads, a minute or two, in silent adoration. 
 The curtain was soon removed, and the priest advanced 
 to the door of the sanctuary with the Gospel, and read it to 
 the people by the light of a candle held by the deacon. 
 He seemed occasionally to chant a verse, and then to read 
 vol. ii. 23* 
 
262 CELEBRATION OF THE EUCHARIST. 
 
 an explanation of it in his natural tone. The people care- 
 fully uncovered their heads, and listened with the greatest 
 reverence ; and though no notice was taken of our neglect- 
 ing to imitate them in their other ceremonies, they now 
 expressed dissatisfaction that one of us should remain with 
 his head covered, saying to him that it was the Gospel. 
 Immediately after, the priest brought out the bread in a 
 napkin, a part of which was passed around his neck, and 
 the deacon brought out the wine in a metal bowl with a 
 napkin under it, which hung down in front. Each com- 
 municant in succession stood before the priest, who broke 
 off a bit of the bread and put it into his mouth, while he 
 held his hand open under his chin to catch any crumbs of 
 the consecrated element that might chance to fall. Then 
 standing in like manner before the deacon, each drank 
 from the bowl in his hand, wiping his mouth afterward 
 upon the napkin that hung in front to remove any drops 
 that might have adhered to his lips or his beard, and then 
 returned to his place with his hand upon his mouth. One 
 or two children went up, and partook of the bread and not 
 of the wine. A passage (perhaps a hymn) chanted from 
 the Takhsa by the priest, succeeded, and the ceremony 
 was closed by his pronouncing the blessing. He soon 
 brought the remnants of the bread to the door of the bap- 
 tistery, and there ate them with several who had commu- 
 nicated. The whole occupied just an hour. We saw 
 nothing of any confession "or absolution read to the people, 
 but it may have been done before we arrived. The only 
 parts of the service addressed to the assembly, while we 
 were there, were the lesson from the Gospel, the passage 
 chanted from the Takhsa, and the blessing. The whole 
 was much more simple than any mass we had ever at- 
 tended; and in the mode of communion at the end, almost 
 a scriptural simplicity might be recognized. 
 
 We left Jamalava immediately after these ceremonies 
 
PROPOSED MISSION IN PERSIA. 263 
 
 were concluded, and reached Tebriz again in health on the 
 23d of March. 
 
 Permit me to add to this report of our visit to the Nes- 
 torians, some considerations respecting the expediency of 
 establishing a mission in this part of Persia, — We have 
 little to say, in addition to the account already given of the 
 Persian moslems, to enable you to judge what would be the 
 prospects of a mission established specially for them. Such 
 a mission we are not prepared decidedly to recommend ; 
 though our persuasion is strong, that a missionary, while 
 directing his attention expressly and primarily to the Chris- 
 tian population, would find many occasions and means of 
 doing good to the followers of Mohammed also, as a sec- 
 ondary branch of labor. — The Armenian population is so 
 small and dispersed that any considerable number could 
 with difficulty be reached ; not to mention another certain- 
 ly important consideration — their extreme degradation. In 
 hesitating to recommend these two classes of people as 
 promising objects of missionary labor in Persia, we are of 
 course to be understood as declining to propose the city of 
 Tebriz for a missionary station. — But to the Nestorians of 
 Oormiah we would specially direct your attention. That 
 Abbas Mirza would, without doubt, patronize missionary 
 efforts for their improvement, and in fact for the improvement 
 of all his Christian subjects, we received the unanimous tes- 
 timony of all the members of the English embassy. Equally 
 decided assurance was given us that missionary families in 
 Oormiah, would be secure from any oppression ; for besides 
 being favorably regarded by the prince, the embassador also 
 would protect them. Among others who accorded with these 
 sentiments, were two gentlemen, who had resided some 
 time in that province ; and one of them added that the 
 climate is very fine. Our own impression respecting the 
 climate, from the location of the district and the dampness 
 and fertility of its soil, is that it must, at certain seasons of 
 
264 PROPOSED MISSION IN PERSIA. 
 
 the year, be hot and productive of febrile affections. To 
 the hostile incursions of the predatory Kurds, too, it seems 
 to us evident that Oormiah must be exposed, whenever the 
 government of Persia is disturbed by either internal or for- 
 eign causes. But we must not calculate too closely the 
 chances of life. Missionaries to any part of the great 
 field — the world, should ever go forth with a martyr's 
 spirit, ' hazarding their lives for the name of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ.' 
 
 That religious instruction is needed by the Nestorians, 
 this and the preceding letter will have sufficiently convin- 
 ced you. How it would be received by them, experiment 
 alone can fully determine. We cannot but refer you, how- 
 ever, to their extreme liberality toward other sects, their 
 ideas of open communion, and their entire rejection of 
 auricular confession, (that efficient police system of the 
 other old churches,) as considerations which have produced 
 in our minds a firm conviction, that a mission to the Nesto- 
 rians would meet with far fewer obstacles, than among any 
 other of the old churches. The week that we passed 
 among them was among the most intensely interesting of 
 our lives. For myself, I felt a stronger desire to settle 
 among them at once as a missionary, than among any peo- 
 ple I have ever seen. A mission family there would indeed 
 be lonely. Its nearest European acquaintances would be 
 the English at Tebriz, about a hundred miles distant ; and 
 even they will remain at that city no longer than it is the 
 seat of Abbas Mirza's government. Among the natives, 
 there would be no intelligent society. If the notions of the 
 Nestorians are like those of the Armenians at Shoosha and 
 Tebriz, of which there is little doubt, no female domestics 
 even could be obtained. Great facilities for communication 
 with home by letter would be afforded through the English 
 embassy, which receives an express by a tartar from Constan- 
 tinople, and returns one, about once a month. The dis- 
 
PROPOSED MISSION IN PERSIA. 265 
 
 tance, which is eleven or twelve hundred miles, is usually 
 performed in eighteen or twenty days. Boxes would come 
 expeditiously and safely from Constantinople, by way of 
 Trebizond and Erzroom, making a land carriage from 
 Trebizond of five or six hundred miles. 
 
 Self-denying indeed, and laborious would be the lot of a 
 missionary in Oormiah. But let him enter the field with 
 the self-devotion which reconciled Brainerd to a wigwam, 
 and inspired Martyn with that noble sentiment — " Even 
 if I never should see a native converted, God may design 
 by my patience and continuance in the work to encourage 
 future missionaries" — and contentment also will be a por- 
 tion of his cup. And as he plants one truth after another 
 in the mind of an ignorant Nestorian, and sees it take root 
 and bear fruit, thus restoring to the oldest of Christian sects 
 1 the faith once delivered to the saints,' and beginning the 
 conquests of Christianity in a kingdom where it has never 
 triumphed, a joy which the world knows not of will likewise 
 be his. He will feel, also, the advantage of his position ; 
 that he has found a prop upon, which to rest the lever that 
 will overturn the whole system of Mohammedan delusion, 
 in the centre of which he has fixed himself; that he is 
 lighting a fire which will shine out upon the corruptions of 
 the Persian on the one side, and upon the barbarities of the 
 Kurd on the other, until all shall come to be enlightened 
 by its brightness ; and the triumph of faith will crown his 
 labor of love. 
 
LETTER XXII. 
 
 FROM TEBRIZ TO K AR A-KE L E E S E H . 
 
 Leave Tebriz — Precaution against robbers from Khoy — Enter the country of 
 the Kurds — Arts of our guide at Zoraba — And at Keleeseh — Cross the 
 Turkish frontier — Bayezeed — Diadeen — Uch-keleeseh, or Soorp Garabed 
 — Incivility of the Kurds — Peculiar doctrines of the Armenians respecting 
 the nature of Christ — Habits of the wandering Kurds — Pastoral observa- 
 tions — Kara-keleeseh . 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 Being unable on our return from Oormiah to obtain any- 
 satisfactory information from Bagdad, we determined to 
 move toward Constantinople, by the usual caravan route 
 through Bayezeed to Erzroom. We at first engaged horses 
 to accompany a large caravan ; but they were seized by 
 government for the transportation of army stores, and our 
 contract of course failed. The disappointment was fortu- 
 nate, however, for the motions of the caravan were so slow, 
 lhat we actually reached Erzroom many days before it. 
 Horses were next engaged to take us alone to Bayezeed in 
 seven days. With them we left Tebriz on the 9th of 
 April, and on the 11th reached Khoy, by the route which 
 has been already described. 
 
 April 12. The acting British envoy had the kindness to 
 furnish us, on leaving Tebriz, with letters to the author- 
 ities at Khoy. We caused them to be presented yesterday, 
 with a petition for passports and a guide to Bayezeed. 
 The passports were given on the spot, and the guide 
 promised in the morning ; but it was late to-day before he 
 presented himself. He was a glioolam^ or page, of the 
 
COUNTRY OF THE KURDS. 267 
 
 prince, and a complete Persian in politeness and duplicity, 
 but was small and young. The part he was to act, howev- 
 er, required neither courage nor strength. The road from 
 Khoy to Bayezeed is not beset by openly lawless banditti, 
 or a regular guard would have been necessary. The only 
 risk is a slight one from Kurdish borderers in crossing the 
 frontier ; and we took this attendant as an insurance in 
 case of accident from them. For his presence made the 
 Persian government responsible for whatever might befall 
 ourselves or our property. 
 
 We left Khoy at a quarter before 11 A. M. and at 1 
 P. M. reached the extremity of the plain, just beyond the 
 village of Pereh. In the warm recesses at the foot of the 
 mountains were a number of black tents of Kurds. They 
 were just leaving their winter-quarters in the villages of the 
 plain, and beginning to ascend the mountains for their no- 
 madic summer residence. The mountains before us might 
 be considered the eastern boundary of the country of the 
 Kurds, being entirely overrun in the summer by their 
 flocks. They are here subject indeed to the Persian gov- 
 ernment, and in the parts nearest Khoy contain some mos- 
 lem villages of the Turkish language and of the sheey 
 faith ; but extending southward between the lakes of Oor- 
 miah and Van, they become more exclusively the posses- 
 sion of the Kurds ; and finally in the Hakary country are 
 entirely independent. Our ascent of them was gradual 
 but long. An arable tract succeeded, with some villages 
 upon it. At the farthest of them, named "Zoraba, we stop- 
 ped at a quarter past 6 P. M. having made five fursakhs. 
 
 A room was prepared for us at the direction of our 
 guide; who claimed, also, to act as mihmandar, and pro- 
 vide not only lodgings but food for us gratis. We had been 
 cautioned against such a mode of entertainment, as being of- 
 fensive to the people, and in the end troublesome to the trav- 
 eller ; and therefore informed him, that we had applied for 
 
268 ARTS OF A MIHMANDAR. 
 
 merely a guide, and if the prince had clothed him with the 
 powers of a mihmandar, it was indeed an act of kindness, 
 but one which we felt at liberty to decline, and we should 
 pursue our usual course of ordering our own dinner and 
 paying for it. He took it ill that we entertained so low 
 ideas of his own importance and of the prince's hospitality, 
 as to suppose that he had been sent merely to conduct us ; 
 and not to be wholly divested of his assumed character, 
 he ordered four or five fowls for himself, and food for our 
 muleteers and their horses. But the supper and the honor 
 of the office, were not all he sought. He should give 
 the ketkhoda, he said, a written acknowledgment for 
 perhaps double the value of what was consumed, which 
 would be accepted at the prince's treasury in lieu of taxes 
 to that amount from the village. "What was gained by the 
 embezzlement would be divided between them. 
 
 April 13. We started at a quarter after 5 A. M. and 
 travelled the whole day over mountains, with the exception 
 of one plain about midway five or six miles in extent. 
 Several villages appeared upon it, and the structure of their 
 houses showed that we were leaving the Persian part of 
 Armenia. Instead of naked mud walls, they had walls of 
 stone half buried beneath the ground, in the style we had 
 noticed on first approaching Erzroom, and which now con- 
 tinued from hence to that city. The mountains retained 
 the striking feature, conlmon to all we saw in Persia, of en- 
 tire nakedness of tree or shrub ; but they assumed more of 
 the swelling form of those around Erzroom, and were adap- 
 ted to afford an immense extent of pasturage. We found 
 upon the higher parts extensive and deep banks of snow ; 
 and it snowed for several hours the early part of the day. 
 
 Toward evening we crossed another elevated plain, per- 
 haps eight miles long, with snow still lying upon it in 
 several places, and at 6 P. M. stopped at a village on its 
 farther side, 10 fursakhs from Zoraba. It is named Ke- 
 
ENTER TURKEY. 269 
 
 leeseh, or the church, from the ruins of an old church 
 around which it is built. Its former inhabitants were Ar- 
 menians ; but they had emigrated to the Russian provinces, 
 and it was now occupied by a few poor moslem families 
 from Erivan. They completely disregarded the authority 
 of our guide ; and after scolding long, and threatening them 
 with the wrath of the prince to the complete destruction of 
 their village, he was unable to procure us even a room. We 
 applied money instead of threats, and obtained whatever we 
 wanted ; not, however, without a serious complaint from him, 
 that we were paying the villagers what was his own per- 
 quisite. For he now confessed that he expected, in addi- 
 tion to the embezzlement already alluded to, to receive 
 himself at the end of the journey, for providing for us gratis, 
 what we should otherwise have paid to those who enter- 
 tained us. Such, he said, is one of the ways in which the 
 prince pays his servants ; and it proved that our muleteers 
 actually paid him last night, instead of our host, for their 
 horses' barley and straw. 
 
 April 14. Leaving Keleeseh at half past 5 A. M. we 
 ascended and rode for an hour or two over a high and 
 dreary mountain, covered almost entirely with deep snow. 
 It is perhaps the Niphates of the Greeks, and forms, we sup- 
 posed, the boundary between Persia and Turkey ; for the vil- 
 lage where we spent the night is in Persia, and the next 
 place is Bayezeed in Turkey. It was not an unfit place 
 for border tales ; and on its top five or six Persians from the 
 district of Ovajik, stopped us to complain, that the men of 
 Bayezeed had stolen from them cattle to the amount of 500 
 tomans, besides inducing five or six villages of their Armen- 
 ian neighbors to remove into the Turkish territory. They 
 had plead for redress at Bayezeed, they said, in vain ; and 
 now begged that we, as elchies (embassadors), would pre- 
 sent their case to their consul at Erzroom. We descended, 
 at 8 o'clock, into the head of a plain extending to the west, 
 
 vol. ii. 24 
 
270 
 
 BAYEZEED. 
 
 and crossed a small stream running also in that direction, 
 being probably one of the first branches of the Murad-chai. 
 Turning northward, we were in full view of the back of 
 mount Ararat, and apparently near it. It presented much 
 the same aspect as when viewed from the valley of the 
 Aras. The foot of it on this side is inhabited by a small 
 body of that singular sect, the Yezeedies, reputed worship- 
 ers of Satan. They number about 300 families, and 
 inhabit three villages, one of which is named Kara-boolak. 
 
 Continuing northward over a few barren hills, we came 
 in sight of Bayezeed. It hangs romantically upon the side 
 of a rugged precipice, which rises some distance above it. 
 A citadel, containing a well-built mosk and the pasha's ex- 
 tensive palace, occupies a lofty projection at the top. West- 
 ward extends a broad plain, which, according to an intelli- 
 gent vartabed at Uch-keleeseh, once formed a part of the 
 Armenian canton of Gokaiovid. If so, the mountain which 
 now separates Persia from Turkey, was anciently the 
 western boundary of Vasbooragan, and we are again in 
 the province of Ararad.* We entered the town at 11 
 A. M. It was in a miserable, ruined state, and we saw 
 not one decent house besides the pasha's. Most of them 
 were constructed like the under-ground cabins of the vil- 
 lages ; the streets were obstructed by every species of filth ; 
 and nearly all the shops in the bazar, originally but very 
 few, were deserted. The Russians had left behind them 
 the same desolation as at Erzroom and at Kars. 
 
 The Armenians of Bayezeed are said once to have been 
 numerous, but now there are only about 190 families of that 
 nation. Their school has not been revived since the war. 
 They have five priests, but no bishop ; nor had they for- 
 merly one of their own, their town being included in the 
 diocese of the bishop of Tateos Arakeal. The moslem in- 
 habitants amount to only three or four hundred families. 
 
 * St. Mart. vol. 1: p. 108. 
 
BAYEZEED. 271 
 
 They are nearly all Kurds, Kurdish is the common lan- 
 guage of the place, and in fact, the whole pashalik of which 
 it is the capital forms an integral part of Kurdistan. The 
 pasha himself is of a native Kurdish family ; but he re- 
 ceives his commands, if- not his office, from the pasha of 
 Erzroom, and has only the rank of two tails. His subor- 
 dination seems now to be complete, and he no longer dares 
 act the robber, as when M. Jaubert was here so long 
 imprisoned, and so cruelly treated. Soldiers of the Sultan's 
 new discipline were maneuvring. with drum and fife in 
 his citadel, and his own son was exercising himself in the 
 European tactics. He was now absent on a visit to his 
 superior at Erzroom, but his kakhia received our fermans 
 with great respect ; a tartar was immediately provided to 
 conduct us safely to Erzroom ; and, no regular posts hav- 
 ing yet been established since the war, an order was offer- 
 ed us for horses from village to village. We accepted the 
 tartar for the same reason that we had taken a guide from 
 Khoy — to make the government responsible in case of ac- 
 cident ; but fearing trouble in procuring the horses we de- 
 clined the order for them, and hired caravan horses for the 
 whole distance. 
 
 April 15. We left Bayezeed at a quarter before 8 A. M. 
 and directed our course westward through the plain. In 
 about an hour a small stream crossed our path, running 
 to the right. It passes, we were told, around the Magoo 
 side of mount Ararat, and empties into the Aras between 
 that mountain and Nakhchevan. It is probably the Dugh- 
 mood of the Armenians, and the Ak-chai of the Turks,* 
 though we did not learn its present name. Our prospect 
 was extremely limited by fog and rain, but what we saw of 
 the country was most desolate; not a village, nor hardly 
 any cultivation appeared the whole day. Deep mud, cau- 
 sed by the storm, impeded our progress ; one of our horses, 
 
 * St. Mart. vol. 1 : p. 41. 
 
292 DIADEEN. 
 
 all of which proved to be miserable, failed entirely before 
 we had accomplished half the stage ; and our tartar, (him- 
 self a Kurd, in nation, language and manners,) occasional- 
 ly pointed to heaps of stones upon graves along the road, to 
 remind us how many murders had here been committed 
 by Kurdish robbers. We finally crossed a small mountain, 
 covered with snow of some depth, a part of which had fal- 
 len during the day, and descended to Diadeen, having 
 accomplished six Turkish hours in nine. 
 
 A miserable ride was followed by more miserable accom- 
 modations. Diadeen, if we may credit the information of 
 the vartabed at Uch-keleeseh alluded to at Bayezeed, occu- 
 pies the site of the ancient Zarehavan (Zaruana), a town of 
 some note in the history of Armenia. The modern village 
 was until recently a place of some importance, and* con- 
 tained many Armenian families with about forty shops. 
 It has now the ruins of a walled citadel, which are oc- 
 cupied by a mutsellim, or governor. All the Christians, 
 except three families, retired with the Russians, and only 
 twenty or thirty poor moslem families occupy a few dilapi- 
 dated cabins. They are all of Kurdish descent, and speak 
 the Kurdish language. We found a corner in the house of 
 an old Kurd, which sheltered us from the storm, but was 
 exceedingly small and dirty. 
 
 April 16. Diadeen stands on the northern bank of the 
 eastern branch of the Euphrates, now called Murad-chai, 
 or the river of Murad. After waiting awhile in the morn- 
 ing for the rain to cease, and for our muleteer to exchange 
 his worn-out horse for one more serviceable, we started, 
 and followed the uncultivated and deserted valley of the 
 river westward to Uch-keleeseh, a distance of three hours. 
 It is on the south side of the river, and, a few rods before 
 reaching it, though the stream was swollen by the rain, a 
 bridge of only three or four logs covered with weeds and 
 earth conducted .us over without difficulty. 
 
UCH-KELEESEH. 273 
 
 We spent the remainder of the 16th, and the next day 
 which was the Sabbath, at Uch-keleeseh. It is. a convent 
 of the Armenians, and is named by them Soorp Garabed 
 (the holy forerunner) after John the baptist, of whom it 
 contains a relic. This relic, however, the monks allowed, 
 does not give to their convent so much notoriety, as has 
 been imparted to another near Moosh dedicated to the 
 same saint, by a relic of him inclosed in a tomb, which 
 has been a great object of pilgrimage. The circumstance 
 which contributes most to its celebrity is, that it stands, 
 according to the traditions of the nation, on the spot where 
 St. Gregory baptized king Durtad. Its inmates assured 
 us, that the church which is now standing, was built by 
 the saint himself 1525 years ago, just after that event. It 
 is an extremely solid fabric of hewn stone, in the best an- 
 cient style of the country, with arches and vaults of fine 
 proportions, and surpasses in size any Armenian church 
 we had seen. Though evidently old, every part was in 
 good preservation; but an almost entire absence of car- 
 pets, lamps, and every species of furniture and ornament, 
 made it appear naked and poor. It stands at the base of 
 an isolated mountain, and is surrounded by a high wall. 
 
 Being a usual station for the numerous travellers and 
 caravans that pass between Tebriz and Erzroom, accom- 
 modations answering to a caravanserai had been fitted up 
 on the outside. We were not honored with an invitation 
 to lodge within, and slept in an apartment Connected with 
 a stable. A Kurdish officer of the pasha, stationed here to 
 secure the establishment from depredations, together with 
 our tartar and muleteer, both likewise Kurds, claimed to 
 share in our accommodations. But by attempering deci- 
 sion with fair words, we finally rid ourselves of them all. 
 Perhaps a recent familiarity with Persian politeness made 
 us more sensitive to the boorishness of the Kurds : bu t 
 
 vol. ii. 24* 
 
274 ORTHODOX ARMENIANS OF AGN. 
 
 we received the distinct impression, that we never met with 
 a more uncivil people. 
 
 This convent is well known in the history of Armenian 
 monasticism, and was for a time in the beginning of the 
 present century the residence of a Catholicos who attempt- 
 ed to supplant the occupant of the see of Echmiadzin. No 
 bishop now resides in it, and it is inhabited by only five 
 vartabeds and a few deacons. They confessed that its 
 former large income from pilgrims who stopped here on 
 their way to Echmiadzin, and from its own glebes, has now 
 almost entirely ceased. It owns several districts, but the 
 emigration to trie Russian territories had stripped them of 
 tenants and of cattle, and, with the exception of what is 
 raised by a few laborers, they remain unproductive. The 
 superior represented that this emigration was effected by 
 much urging and force, on the part of the invaders. They 
 carried him, he affirmed, as far as Echmiadzin, saying that 
 unless led by him, the people would not remove. Nearly 
 all the Armenians have gone from these parts, and there 
 is now no school in the convent nor in the whole region 
 around. 
 
 We had much conversation with the vartabeds on seve- 
 ral topics, most of which have been already exhibited. 
 One or two only have been reserved for this place. An 
 allusion has been made in the Introduction to the com- 
 mencement of the monophysite error among the Armeni- 
 ans, in consequence of which they were cut off from the 
 general church, and have ever been regarded by the 
 papists and the Greeks as heretical. A few seem to 
 have escaped the heresy, and retain until the present 
 time their connection with the oriental Greek church. 
 For there now exists a small body of orthodox Armenians 
 at Agn, on the western bank of the Euphrates to the north 
 of Arabkir. We met one of them at Echmiadzin. He 
 was a banker, and one of the most gentlemanly Armenians 
 
MONOPHYSITISM OF THE ARMENIANS. 275 
 
 we have seen. He informed us that his native place was 
 30 hours from Diarbekr, 30 from Sivas, and- 16 from 
 Maaden. In its vicinity are five villages, whose inhabitants 
 speak the Armenian language, but are of the Greek. church, 
 and have a bishop of their own who is subject to the Greek 
 patriarch of Constantinople. They formerly enjoyed many 
 immunities, he said, from the Turkish government. But 
 the Russians, when at Erzroom, induced them to rise, and 
 .they had since suffered much persecution. Another in- 
 formant declares, that their church books are in Armenian, 
 and when on the pilgrimage to Jerusalem, they often prefer, 
 in opposition to the wishes of the Greeks, to attend the Ar- 
 menian services, because they understand them, while of 
 the Greek they can comprehend nothing. The little clan 
 of Aguntsi, or Armenians of Agn, are well known in the 
 nation, and are especially celebrated as bankers. Some of 
 them are among the wealthiest of that profession in Con- 
 stantinople. We heard of no other Armenians belonging 
 to the Greek church.* 
 
 One of the vartabeds here seemed much better informed 
 than the rest, and as we were conversing upon various top- 
 ics, he introduced of his own accord the monophysitism of 
 his church, by declaring that it receives only the first three 
 of the general councils. Nestorius, he said, held to a 
 perfect separation of the divinity and humanity of Christ, 
 
 * Though the Syrian nation, almost as generally as the Armenian, has 
 been infected with heresy, either monophysite or Nestorian, a remnant of that 
 too seems to have preserved its orthodoxy. We met at Shoosha a poor Sy- 
 rian priest, who was begging aid to redeem his children, who had been 
 seized by the Persians and sold into slavery at Van. His native village, he 
 said, was Bzey, 8 days from Bagdad. He assured us that he was of the or- 
 thodox Greek church, and that in his vicinity in Mesopotamia there are six 
 villages of the same faith. Their church service is in Syriac, which was 
 likewise his native tongue, though he spoke also Arabic and Turkish im- 
 perfectly. They are subject to the Greek patriarch at Damascus, who is 
 nn w the orthodox iricumbent of the see of Antioch. 
 
276 PECULIAR DOCTRINES RESPECTING CHRIST. 
 
 and Eutyches taught that his humanity is absorbed in his 
 divinity ; the Armenians, agreeing with neither, believe 
 that the two natures are united in one, and anathematize 
 all who hold to a different creed. «In this he spoke ad- 
 visedly, for it is well known that Eutyches is acknowledged 
 by neither of the three monophysite sects, the Armenian, 
 the Jacobite Syrian, and the Coptic including the Abys- 
 sinian, to which his controversy gave birth ; and that his al- 
 ledged dogma of a confusion in the natures of Christ is the 
 reason of his rejection, though perhaps a candid investiga- 
 tion will hardly find him chargeable with such an opin- 
 ion.* Another intelligent ecclesiastic had told us, that not 
 only does his nation hold to one nature, but also to only 
 one will in Christ, thus making the Armenians partake 
 in the monothelite as well as in the monophysite heresy .f 
 
 We inquired of the vartabed if his sect does not believe 
 that Christ was perfect God and perfect man, and were 
 assured that it does. Here too he had good authority, for 
 the Armenian church believes and explains, as fully as any 
 other, these two important points.| When asked, also, if 
 the divine nature was so united to the human, as to suffer 
 with it on the cross, he replied that it is impossible for the 
 divinity to suffer. But in this, though his church would 
 agree with his explanation, he seemed at least to contradict 
 her formularies ; for Peter the Fuller's famous addition to 
 the trisagion is still retained in them, and had been men- 
 tioned to us by another ecclesiastic, as one of the points of 
 difference between the Armenians and the papists. 
 
 Perhaps you need to be told what the trisagion is. 
 The following is a Latin version of the Greek account of it. 
 " On the 24th of September, in the reign of Theodosius, 
 
 * Assem. Bib. Orient, vol. 2: intro. dissert. Mosheim, Eccl. Hist. vol. 
 l:p. 438, ed. Murdock. 
 
 t Compare Assem. Bib. Orient, vol. 3: p. 607. 
 
 X Armeno-Turkish Catechism, p. 4, ss. - 
 
THE TRISAGION. 277 
 
 (A. D. 446,) a great earthquake happened, such as is not 
 recorded to have ever occurred before. So incessantly did 
 the earth continue to be shaken, that all the people, with 
 the emperor and the patriarch, went out of the city to a 
 place called Campus. While the emperor Theodosius, the 
 patriarch Proclus, and all the people, were there imploring 
 the divine aid with supplications and litanies, suddenly a 
 little boy from the midst of the crowd was caught up into 
 the air. As all for fear cried out Kyrie eleison [Lord 
 have mercy], the boy descended, and addressing the peo- 
 ple with a loud voice, required that the trisagion should 
 thus be sung ; O holy God, holy strong, and holy immortal, 
 have mercy upon us. Having thus said, he gave up his 
 soul to God, and the earthquake ceased."* So supernatu- 
 ral and so effectual a prayer soon obtained universal 
 currency in the church ; it has retained a place until the 
 present time in the liturgies of several sects, and is still 
 held in the highest veneration. 
 
 An addition was made to it by the monophysite Peter 
 the Fuller, of Antioch, which laid him open to the charge 
 of holding that the divinity was crucified ; and, being adopt- 
 ed by the Armenians, has caused them to be regarded by 
 other sects as fosterers of that heresy .t It occurs several 
 times in services of their church in the following terms : 
 " Holy God, and holy strong, and holy immortal, who wast 
 crucified for us, have mercy upon us." In accordance 
 with this expression, the vartabed went on to say, notwith- 
 standing his previous admission that God cannot suffer, 
 that the divinity and the humanity of Christ were elevated 
 upon the cross together, and both descended into the grave 
 and remained there with the body. The latter assertion 
 seemed countenanced by the clause in the creed already 
 quoted, which says, "His body was placed in the grave 
 
 * Summa Conciliorum, p. 388. 
 
 t Assem. Bib. Orient, vol. 2: intro. dissert. 
 
278 INCORRUPTIBILITY OF CHRIST'S BODY. 
 
 with the divinity united." To our surprise, he added a 
 declaration which seemed to go the whole length of the old 
 Julianist error of the incorruptibility of the body of our Sa- 
 vior ;* saying, that had it remained in the grave, it would 
 never have decayed. That such is the doctrine of his 
 church, he attempted to show by arguing that unleavened 
 bread is used in her eucharist, rather as a symbol that no 
 leaven of corruption was found in the body of Christ, than 
 because our Savior first used it at the institution of the or- 
 dinance, that being a mere Jewish custom ; and he would 
 fain confirm it from the Bible also, by quoting the expres- 
 sion, "Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt 
 thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption" 
 
 To complete our view of the heresies respecting the Trinity 
 charged upon the Armenians, it must be added, that though 
 they believe in the eternal generation of the Son, and the 
 eternal procession of the Spirit, firmly enough to satisfy the 
 warmest admirers of the fathers,! they adhere to the favorite 
 notion of the Greeks, in opposition to the Latins, that the 
 Spirit proceeds from the Father only. — In this single case of 
 the vartabed only, during our whole journey, were these 
 topics introduced by any with whom we conversed, unless 
 in answer to our inquiries. The missionaries at Shoosha, 
 also, assured us that they have rarely been advanced in 
 their hearing, and have in no way interfered with or hin- 
 dered their evangelical efforts among the Armenians. Add 
 to these facts the nature of the subjects themselves, and I 
 am persuaded you will agree with me, that missionaries 
 may convert the whole nation to 'the truth as it is in Jesus, 5 
 without feeling themselves once called upon to agitate the 
 questions, which, in the times of the first councils, rent the 
 church asunder. 
 
 We availed ourselves of the vartabed's declaration, that 
 
 * See Assem. Bib. Orient, vol. 2: intro. dissert, and p. 296. 
 [ f Armeno-Turkish Catechism, p. 4, 12, 
 
STATE OF THE DEAD BEFORE CHRIST. 279 
 
 the deity and the human soul of Christ remained in the 
 grave with his body, to ask him how his church can say in 
 her creed, that Christ preached to the spirits in hades ; 
 and also reminded him of its equal inconsistency with the 
 promise in Scripture, that the penitent thief should be with 
 Christ in paradise, (which we know from 2 Cor. 12 : 2, 4, 
 is in the third heaven,) on the day of his crucifixion. . He 
 seemed willing to pass over the notion he had advanced, 
 and which, so far as related to the human soul of Christ, 
 was probably simply his own ; and called upon us to recon- 
 cile Scripture with the creed, by explaining how Christ 
 could have descended into hell, if he likewise ascended to 
 paradise. Our explanation was direct, that we hold to no 
 such creed, and that he did not descend into hell at all. 
 4 How then,' said he, ' could he save the souls from 
 thence V ' The good were already saved,' we replied ; « for 
 it is impossible for us to believe that such men as Abra- 
 ham, and Jacob, and David went into a place of torment, 
 so long as the Bible does not affirm it. They must have 
 gone to heaven at their death, while only the wicked were 
 sent to hell, where they deserved to be.' He argued that 
 neither did he or his church believe the righteous to have 
 been in a state of torment, but, on the contrary, in a state 
 of happiness, as is represented in the parable of the rich 
 man and Lazarus, yet still not in heaven. Such an admis- 
 sion was declared to him to be equivalent to an acknowl- 
 edgment that they were in heaven, as heaven is rather a 
 state than a place of happiness. 
 
 He hesitated fully to allow such an inference, and asked 
 if we do not believe that they deserved punishment for 
 Adam's sin. We told him plainly, No : but that all men 
 inherit from our first parents such a nature, that not a man 
 upon earth fails of becoming an actual transgressor ; so that 
 in consequence of Adam's fall, all men sin and come to de- 
 serve punishment for their own offences. * But how,' said 
 
280 Christ's descent into hell. 
 
 he, ' could sinful men be saved and go to heaven, when 
 Christ had not yet died ? ' ' Just in the same way/ we 
 answered, ' that they are saved since his death. For we 
 most firmly believe that had Christ not died, no man could 
 ever have been saved. But that event was so fixed in the 
 divine plan, as to be as much an atonement for sin in pros- 
 pect as in retrospect ; and believers were formerly pardoned 
 for the sake of him who was to die, just as they are now 
 pardoned for the sake of him who has died.' 
 
 A word or two from other sources, added to the varta- 
 bed's last two questions, will explain sufficiently the Arme- 
 nian view of the old doctrine of Christ's descent into hell. 
 The idea that his death could have any effect before it 
 actually happened, is apparently lost sight of; and, Adam's 
 sin being regarded as imputed to all mankind so as to place 
 them under the dominion of Satan, it is supposed that both 
 the righteous and the wicked were at their death thrust 
 by him into the prison of hell. Christ by his death, not 
 only so abolished original sin as to free those who were 
 not yet dead, from this satanic dominion ; but he also 
 descended into hell, and as he had dwelt upon the earth 
 thirty-three years, saving all who believed on him here, so 
 he preached thirty-three hours to the spirits in prison, and 
 saved all who believed on him there.* All unbelievers 
 were left still in prison, or rather were thrust down to hell. 
 For I ought to remark, that I have given the name hell to 
 the place of departed spirits before Christ, in accommodation 
 to the common mode of speaking among the Armenians, 
 who usually call it gehen. They do not strictly consider 
 it to have been really hell, however, but a place specially 
 fitted up for this supposed imprisonment, and destroyed by 
 Christ when he carried the redeemed spirits in triumph to 
 heaven; and the Greek hades, or our old term limbo, 
 would better express its more proper Armenian name 
 
 * Armeno-Turkish Catechism, p. 22, 76. 
 
HABITS OF THE KURDS. 281 
 
 tjokhh You will perceive that neither the doctrine nor the 
 place has any connection with purgatory. 
 
 April 18. We arose at 2, and started at a quarter past 
 4 A. M. The road recrossed the river by a stone bridge 
 after a mile or two ; and we continued the remainder of 
 the day along its northern side, generally in a low level 
 near it. Wild geese and several species of ducks started 
 up from its margin at almost every step. Uneven and 
 woodless grazing lands on our right were bounded at a dis- 
 tance by a range of mountains ; on the left was a similar 
 tract without so distinct a limit. Patches of snow were 
 frequent near our path at starting, and increased in num- 
 ber and size as we advanced. No cultivation at all appear- 
 ed the whole day, and the falling walls of a deserted Ar- 
 menian hamlet, now and then, explained the reason. We 
 saw but two or three inhabited villages, and their occupants 
 were Kurds. 
 
 Our tartar, yesterday and this morning, expressed many 
 fears of robbers in to-day's side. Get through this in safe- 
 ty, he said, and we need apprehend nothing more this side 
 of Erzroom. And he would even insure us here, for the 
 promise of a pair of shalwar. Such intimations from one 
 who seemed, from his manners and his nation, likely 
 enough to be in league with all the robbers in the country, 
 might seem adapted to produce some apprehension. The 
 principal feeling actually excited, however, was vexation at 
 the meanness of his conduct. Still we thought best not to 
 betray it ; and merely attempted to make him ashamed, that 
 he a tartar should be so cowardly, where he saw us not 
 afraid ; reminding him, at the same time, that it would be 
 soon enough to solicit a present, when he had satisfactorily 
 fulfilled his engagement. 
 
 Seeing no signs of danger as we advanced, we charged 
 him again with timidity. He attributed the absence of 
 wandering Kurds, either to accident, or to the season's not 
 
 vol. ii. 25 
 
282 
 
 PASTORAL OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 being yet sufficiently advanced : but said, that whenever, 
 as warm weather comes on, they take it into their heads to 
 pasture here, every hill around is black with their tents. 
 He doubtless spoke the truth ; and I would add, that in 
 general the country of the Kurds can be travelled with 
 comparative safety in winter. For then they are confined 
 by the snow to villages ; and having a habitation and a 
 name, the perpetrators of crime can be so easily detected 
 that the power of law is felt. But when scattered over the 
 mountains in their summer tents, they can commit a rob- 
 bery and a murder to-day, and to-morrow, in some distant 
 valley, effectually screen themselves from the search of 
 justice. 
 
 Though no nomadic tents appeared, we passed several 
 shepherds, probably from the neighboring villages, carrying 
 in their bosoms the lambs of the flocks they tended. The 
 same scene had already frequently interested us, by pre- 
 senting the source of the beautiful imagery of the prophet, 
 " He shall lead his flock like a shepherd, he shall gather the 
 lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom." It is 
 exhibited only at this season of the year ; when lambs are fre- 
 quently brought forth during the day at a distance from the 
 fold. The new-comers being too weak to follow the flock in 
 its rovings after grass, are carried in the bosom of the shep- 
 herd, and not unfrequently they multiply so as to fill his 
 arms before night. They are then taken to the fold, and 
 guarded there until sufficiently strong to ramble with their 
 dams. One of these inclosures, when the sheep return 
 anxiously bleating in the evening from their day's pasture, 
 and scores of hungry young ones are conducted by shep- 
 herds' boys each to its own mother, presents an amusing 
 scene. 
 
 Throughout Armenia neither sheep nor larger cattle, 
 not only of professed shepherds, but of the common villa- 
 gers, both Christians and moslems, are ever pastured with- 
 
PASTORAL OBSERVATIONS. 283 
 
 out a keeper constantly to watch them ; and invariably are 
 they driven home, or to some inclosure, at night. The ne- 
 cessity of such precautions arises not so much from the fact 
 that there are no fences in the country, as from danger of 
 thieves and wild beasts. The man who should send his 
 cows or his sheep to pasture alone, would have every reason 
 to fear their being stolen before night ; and to allow them 
 to sleep out, would be making them an almost sure prey to 
 ravenous animals. 
 
 Several beasts of prey abound in Armenia, including, in 
 some parts, hyenas ; but of them all wolves are the most 
 common. We saw but five live ones during our journey. 
 They were all in company, and trotted deliberately away 
 from our path as we rose a hill just before reaching Nakh- 
 chevan, on our return from Erivan. Another dead one 
 was exhibited to us among the Nestorians. He had burst 
 into a sheepfold with such fury, as to wound two or three 
 dogs which attacked him, and be but slightly checked by 
 several deep thrusts from the daggers of the shepherds, 
 until one at last let out his bowels and despatched him; 
 while in the meantime, he found opportunity to feed his 
 hunger upon the tails of several sheep, which, consisting 
 entirely of fat, were first seized as the sweetest morsel. 
 How forcible, when contrasted with such a state of things, 
 (as it probably originally was,) is the language of the proph- 
 et; 'that the Lord will cause evil beasts to cease out of 
 the land, and his flock shall dwell safely in the wilderness 
 and sleep in the woods ! ' To such security Western Asia 
 is now, and perhaps has always been, an entire stranger ; 
 but in our favored country it is fully enjoyed. 
 
 The immense pastures of Armenia, and especially of 
 Kurdistan, supply nearly all the great markets of Turkey 
 with mutton ; and that is the principal animal food eaten 
 by the inhabitants. The large flocks we encountered just 
 after leaving Constantinople have been already mentioned. 
 
284 PASTORAL OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 Mr. Jaubert estimates the number of sheep which annually 
 arrive at that capital from Kurdistan at 1,500,000, and 
 says they make the journey in not less than seventeen or 
 eighteen months. The sheep which are slain for the 
 markets of Aleppo and Damascus, also, and even of Bey- 
 root, come from the same productive pastures. They are 
 all of the fat-tail species ; we saw no other until we de- 
 scended the mountains toward Trebizond. Then a spe- 
 cies resembling the common one of our own country was 
 pointed out to us by a native of Tebriz in our company, 
 with expressions of great astonishment at their slender tails, 
 a sight he had never before witnessed. 
 
 The pastoral habits of the people of these regions have 
 led to the multiplication of a species of dogs of an enor- 
 mous size, and excessively savage in appearance and dispo- 
 sition. So great a nuisance and so dangerous are they in 
 every village, that we could never walk out in safety, with- 
 out a heavy cudgel, or some one to guard us. Failing in 
 one instance, between here and Erzroom, to take any such 
 precaution, three wolf-like creatures pitched upon me while 
 walking over the houses of a village, and threw me upon 
 the ground. I expected nothing less than to be severely 
 mangled ; but the moment I fell, they suddenly dispersed, 
 and a few prints of their teeth in my clothes was the only 
 harm I experienced. 
 
 We reached the Kor-chai, a tributary of the Murad, at 
 half past 1 P. M. Though its course from the mountains 
 on the right can be but short, it was so swollen by the 
 melting snows as to be forded with difficulty, and detained 
 us nearly two hours in crossing it. A mile or two from the 
 river, we reached Kara-keleeseh, 8 hours from Uch-keleeseh, 
 and stopped for the night. It was a miserable hamlet of 
 Persians, (sheey moslems,) who had fled from Erivan upon 
 the capture of that place by the Russians. Among them 
 was one Armenian, and, at the suggestion of our tartar, 
 
KARA-KELEESEH. 285 
 
 who, with the vartabeds at Uch-keleeseh, had recommend- 
 ed his house for its cleanliness, we sought for lodgings with 
 him. The only place he could give us was a little stable, 
 which also accommodated our horses. Our corner was 
 hardly large enough for two to stretch themselves upon the 
 ground ; the terrace was broken in above it ; and the house 
 could furnish neither carpet, felt, nor hay to sleep upon. 
 "We could even procure little else to eat than a scanty por- 
 tion of the coarsest black bread, and every thing bore 
 marks of extreme filth. Our tartar, still adhering to his 
 previous recommendation of the house, obstinately refused 
 to seek quarters for us among the Persians ; and it now 
 first occurred to us, that the cleanliness for which he had 
 extolled the Armenian, was merely ceremonial ! The sun- 
 ny, excluded from the house and hospitality of the sheey 
 for his own alleged ceremonial impurity, retorts the charge, 
 and gives the Christian the preference to his heretical Mo- 
 hammedan brother. 
 
 Not only were we scantily furnished with provisions, but 
 our horses also suffered. The whole village could hardly 
 furnish a peck of straw. Indeed, so much had cultivation 
 been neglected the preceding year, in consequence of the 
 presence of the Russians, that we found a scarcity ap- 
 proaching absolute famine, all the way from Bayezeed to 
 Erzroom. With the greatest difficulty could we obtain 
 food and provender for our small company ; and the large 
 caravan with which we thought of coming, and which we 
 had passed near Khoy, was doubtless obliged to linger on 
 the road until the grass had time to grow. The goodness 
 of Providence in preventing our joining it was now visible. 
 
 TOL. II. 25 
 
LETTER XXIII. 
 
 FROM KARA-KELEESEH TO ERZROOM. 
 
 District of Alashgerd — Hospitality at Mollah Soleiman— Papal Armenians 
 — Causes of the similarity between the papal and Armenian churches — 
 Difficult and tempestuous passage of a mountain — Treatment by the Kurds 
 at Dahar — Descent of the mountain — Civility of the Armenians at Ko- 
 matsor — Reach Erzroom — Present state of the city — Visit to the mosks — 
 Ineligible location for a mission. 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 After much difficulty in settling with our host, who 
 charged as high for our entertainment as if the recommen- 
 dation we had had of his house had been correct, we left 
 Kara-keleeseh at half past 5 A. M. on the 19th of April, 
 the day after my last date. The Murad-chai here turns to 
 the left toward Melazgerd, (the ancient Manavazagerd,) 
 and finds its way, by a pass imperceptible at this distance, 
 through a mass of mountains now entirely white with 
 snow. Inclining more to the right, we crossed in imme- 
 diate succession some half a dozen tributary streams, so 
 swollen by the melting snow as to threaten ourselves and 
 our baggage with serious accidents. We passed them, 
 however, successfully. Beyond, a somewhat more elevated 
 though level tract extended to the mountain, which had 
 thus far been on our right, but now turned southward and 
 crossed our line of march. It is part of a continuous 
 range, which, extending from mount Ararat in a circuitous 
 course toward the junction of the two branches of the 
 Euphrates, separates the valley of the Aras from that of 
 the Murad-chai. The plain was covered throughout with 
 
DISTRICT OF ALASHGERD. 287 
 
 snow, from one to two feet or more in depth, and in a 
 melting state ; the road was only a narrow foot-path worn 
 through it to the ground ; and our horses, too fatigued by 
 sinking at every step into the soft mud at the bottom to 
 walk straight, repeatedly staggered and fell. 
 
 According to the vartabed at Uch-keleeseh, whose con- 
 versations have been reported, we had entered Pakrevant r 
 a canton of the ancient province of Ararad, at Diadeen, 
 and were now in that of Vagharshagerd. The ancient 
 town of that name is still called by the Armenians, and 
 sometimes also by the moslems, Alashgerd, though its 
 more common appellation is Toprak-kulaah.* It is the 
 capital of the district, and is considered almost impregna- 
 ble. We left it at the base of the mountains, an hour or 
 two to the right ; and took a nearer route directly toward 
 the Koseh-dagh, a conical peak not unlike mount Ararat 
 in shape, which rises to a lofty height from the topmost 
 ridge of the same mountains, and is visible at a great dis- 
 tance. After passing four or five Kurdish villages, still in 
 close winter-quarters, we reached Mollah Soleiman, at the 
 farther extremity of the plain, and stopped for the night. 
 
 Fatigued with the exertions of the day, dirty from the 
 filth of our recent lodgings, and chilled with the keen air 
 from the snows around us, we arrived dispirited and in ill 
 humor with the inhospitableness of the country, the people, 
 and the climate. A kind reception in such circumstances 
 was doubly grateful. Mr. Dwight had preceded us to 
 look for lodgings ; and when I came up, two old ladies, 
 with hospitality expressed in their countenances, were 
 taking his travelling accoutrements from his horse. Him I 
 found snugly seated in the corner of a large stable well 
 spread with carpets and matresses. The same kind matrons 
 soon relieved me of my heavy outside garments, and seem- 
 ed as anxiously to study our comfort as if we had been their 
 
 *St. Mart. vol. 1: p. 124. 
 
288 MOLLAH SOLEIMAN. 
 
 own sons. We shall long remember the hospitality of 
 Mollah Soleiman, so far superior was it to any we had ex- 
 perienced elsewhere during our whole journey. Nor shall 
 we soon forget our lodgings. We were the companions of 
 some forty or fifty cattle, in an under-ground stable ventila- 
 ted by only a hole in our corner little larger than a man's 
 hand. By the breath of its inmates, its temperature was 
 raised almost to that of a vapor bath ; so that the frosty 
 external air that rushed in near us, immediately precipitated 
 a vapor resembling rain, and we were drenched in perspi- 
 ration the whole night. 
 
 The village consisted of about 25 papal Armenian fam- 
 ilies, of whom our host was the priest. How long they had 
 been papists we could not learn, any farther than that his 
 father was a papal priest before him, and that his grand- 
 father visited Rome. Their papacy probably dates back 
 to the time of the Jesuit mission at Erzroom, which, as we 
 have already seen, had a station at Bayezeed. He manifest- 
 ed no prejudices against us as protestants, and even seem- 
 ed to consider us, from the mere fact that we were Franks, 
 more like himself than his neighbors. An Armenian New 
 Testament, which we gave him, was an acceptable present, 
 and he thankfully received a Shoosha tract for his son. 
 For, like the Armenian priests, he was married ; and he 
 informed us, also, that in the time of their fasts and festi- 
 vals, his flock, for the sake of peace, observe the Armenian 
 calendar, though they are allowed to eat fish in lent. 
 
 We conversed with him, at some length, respecting the 
 present state of his sect in these parts, and some of his 
 statements are worth reporting. In the town of Moosh, 
 and in the neighboring villages of Norshen, Arinj and 
 Oghunk, the papal Armenians amount, he assured us, to 150 
 families, and have one priest. The district of Alashgerd 
 contains, besides those of his own village, 25 families in 
 another named Khastor, and 10 in a third named Iritsoo- 
 
PAPAL ARMENIANS. 289 
 
 kegh. Khanoos formerly contained one village, and in 
 Pasin there were some, both at Hassan-kulaah and Mejen- 
 gerd ; but they all retired with the Russian army to the 
 Georgian provinces, and now there only remain in Pasin, 
 15 families at Khorasan, 12 at Aljakrak and 10 at Bash- 
 kegh [Bash-koy]. Add to these the few that have assem- 
 bled at Erzroom since its former papal Armenians left with 
 the Russians, and you have a list of all the adherents of 
 that sect in this part of Turkish Armenia, of whose exist- 
 ence he was aware, and of whom we were able to hear 
 from other sources. 
 
 They were formerly w T ell supplied with priests; but 
 when the papal Armenians were driven from Constantino- 
 ple, all, to the number of nearly 50 he thought, were 
 sought out and banished. So that now, with the exception 
 of himself and another in Moosh, there is not to be found a 
 papal priest of any kind out of Erzroom. No ecclesiastics 
 of European birth or education nearer than Khosrova and 
 Constantinople were known to him, nor could we hear of 
 any bishop of his sect nearer than the latter city. He 
 escaped the persecution himself by temporarily abscond- 
 ing, and is now left with the care of three villages, in 
 which he officiates alternately. Neither of them has any 
 school. The privileges recently granted to his sect in 
 Turkey, gave him no little pleasure ; and he related with 
 much satisfaction, an attempt he had just made to retaliate 
 upon the Armenians for their intolerance. Three or four 
 families of them remain in his village; and he had petitioned 
 the pasha of' Bayezeed when he passed by a day or two 
 before, to compel them to become papists or to leave the 
 village, pretending that it was impossible for the two sects 
 to live together. The Kurdish chief seems to have had a 
 better sense of justice than the Christian priest, for he 
 gave him no encouragement. — Nearly all the Armenians 
 of this vicinity left with the Russians ; and our host affirm- 
 
290 IMPERFECT CONVERSION OF THE ARMENIANS. 
 
 ed, that they were urged and almost forced into the meas- 
 ure. His own flock went as far as Toprak-kulaah. While 
 they were absent, the moslems burnt their church. 
 
 You have only to add the papal Armenian congrega- 
 tions at'Tiflis, Gori, and Kotais, and a small number at 
 Akhaltsikhe to those above enumerated, to complete the 
 list of the few professed papists that we heard of among the 
 Armenians to the east of Tokat and Trebizond. But how 
 far are the Armenians themselves from papacy ? That their 
 church partakes largely of the spirit and doctrines of the 
 Romish religion, and in most of its leading corruptions as 
 well as in many minute ceremonies does not essentially differ 
 from it, you cannot have failed to perceive in the course of 
 our narrative. And the interesting question may have sug- 
 gested itself — from whence came such numerous resem- 
 blances between churches so long separated ? The an- 
 swer, I apprehend, is neither difficult nor unsatisfactory. 
 
 The slightest acquaintance with ecclesiastical history 
 may convince one, that, before the commencement of the 
 fourth century, Christianity had extensively degenerated 
 from its original purity as a religion of the heart, into a 
 mere profession of theoretical dogmas and the observance 
 of external rites. Such, it is natural to suspect, was the 
 form of it to which the Armenians were at that period con- 
 verted, and the circumstances of the event, if national tra- 
 dition has correctly preserved them, confirm the suspicion 
 that they have from the beginning known extremely little 
 of the true conversion of the heart. We are told that im- 
 mediately upon king Durtad's embracing the faith, the na- 
 tion followed his example in a body, and were baptized. To 
 say nothing of the doubtfulness of all national conversions, 
 the very hastiness of this proceeding, by allowing no time 
 for competent instruction, shows that the Armenians could 
 not have been enlightened converts ; the fact that the Scrip- 
 tures were not translated into their language until a century 
 
INTRODUCTION OP SUPERSTITIONS. 291 
 
 afterward, is an additional indication of the scantiness of 
 their religious knowledge ; and the confessed backsliding 
 of many of the nobility into the most scandalous immorali- 
 ties and the blackest crimes, even during the lifetime of 
 Durtad, proves how superficial was their conversion.* 
 
 Thus the Armenian church was a soil well adapted to 
 the rapid growth of all the corruptions, which from that 
 time sprang up, in such speedy succession, in different 
 parts of the Christian world. Even those which then ex- 
 isted were, it would seem, not sparingly introduced by St. 
 Gregory. For, by the immediate consecration of four 
 hundred bishops and a countless number of priests, he 
 betrayed a disposition to multiply an idle and unqualified 
 priesthood ; and by the construction of convents and nun- 
 neries, and spending the last of his days in a solitary cave, 
 he showed that he was ready to foster the monastic spirit 
 of his age.f So deeply indeed was the taste for monk- 
 hood implanted, that his fifth successor is said to have 
 built two thousand convents.^ 
 
 Of the rites and dogmas subsequently adopted by other 
 bodies of Christians, there was a free importation, for the 
 two centuries that the Armenians formed a regular branch 
 of the general church. A special messenger was sent to 
 Jerusalem for the ceremonies observed in that church, and 
 brought thence eight canons regulating the sacraments and 
 other rites. For a similar object, a correspondence was 
 carried on with the bishop of Nisibis.§ One Catholicos, 
 who had been educated at Constantinople in the influence 
 of all the secular ideas and regulations introduced into the 
 
 * Mos. Chor. Lib. 2: c. 89. St. Mart. vol. 1: p. 11. Chamchean, 
 P. 3: c. 15. 
 
 f Chamchean, P. 3: c. 15. 
 
 J Avdall's translation of Chamchean, vol. 1: p. 182. See also Mos. Chor 
 Lib. 2: p. 88. 
 
 § Chamchean, P. 3: c. 15. 
 
292 INTERCOURSE WITH THE GREEKS. 
 
 church under the patronage of Constantine and his suc- 
 cessors, brought from thence ' various observances, which, 
 like precious stones, he inlaid into the old.'* And several 
 who followed him distinguished themselves by their im- 
 provements in the services and laws of the church. f So 
 that when, by rejecting the council of Chalcedon in A. D. 
 491, the Armenians cut themselves off from the com- 
 munion of the great body of Christians, they were doubt- 
 less in possession of all the legendary dogmas and obser- 
 vances which had then been adopted by the Christian 
 world. 
 
 The infection of monophysitism suspended indeed this 
 freedom of intercourse between the Armenians and their 
 Christian brethren, and the arrogant efforts of the Greeks, 
 while their empire lasted, to effect a reconciliation, served 
 to widen the breach, and attach them more obstinately to 
 some peculiar doctrines and practices. But the specifica- 
 tion of their refusal to acknowledge the council of Chal- 
 cedon, to put water in the wine and leaven in the bread of 
 the eucharist, to celebrate the nativity of Christ on the 25th 
 of December, to eat fish, oil, wine, eggs, or butter in their 
 fasts, and to commune on Holy Thursday, as the points at 
 issue,! shows that in other respects, they either did not dif- 
 fer from their Greek neighbors, or were willing to conform 
 to them. Nor can it be considered improbable, that every 
 one of the temporary reconciliations that repeatedly occur- 
 red, left behind it, amidst an accumulation of irritated 
 feeling, some new item of conformity to the Greek church, 
 especially as more than one of the Armenian Catholicoses 
 decidedly favored the contemplated union. The last of 
 these was Nerses Shnorhali, to this day one of the highest 
 authorities in the church ; who, by exerting all his great 
 influence for this object, laid matters in such a train, that 
 
 * Chamchean, P. 3: c. 18. t Ibid. P. 3: c. 25, P. 4: c. 1, 4. 
 t Ibid. P. 4: c. 18. 
 
INTERCOURSE WITH PAPISTS. 293 
 
 after his death (A. D. 1173) it was temporarily effected 
 with the general consent of the nation.* The Greek em- 
 perors, too, instead of always driving, sometimes allured to 
 a union, and their allurements, such as a present of a piece 
 of the true cross, bits of the crown of thorns, the sponge 
 and the nails used at the crucifixion, and remnants of the 
 Savior's swaddling clothes, and of his mother's apron, were 
 means of corruption.f The Armenians had, indeed, cen- 
 turies before, begun to venerate relics ;f but such imperial 
 gifts doubtless strengthened the superstition. 
 
 The intercourse of the Armenians with the Romish 
 church commenced at the period of the Crusades. It was, 
 from the beginning, of a more friendly, and therefore of a 
 more corrupting character than that with the Greeks ; and 
 there are doubtless good grounds for La Croze's suggestion, 
 that very many of the peculiar resemblances between the 
 Armenian and the papal churches, sprung from Romish 
 influence and intrigues in the Armenian kingdom of Cilicia 
 during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.§ The ac- 
 quaintance was introduced by a personal visit of the first 
 Catholicos, who resided in Cilicia, to Rome, in A. D. 1075. 
 The third from him, after holding two consultations upon 
 the most friendly terms with a papal nuncio at Antioch and 
 Jerusalem, received a staff of office from the pope ;|| and 
 all his successors, who to the sixth generation were of the 
 same family, continued the acquaintance, until in A. D. 
 1197 a formal union was concluded between the two 
 churches. 
 
 The object of that measure was to obtain the concur- 
 rence of the pope in the coronation of Leo the Armenian 
 king ; it was acceded to by the Catholicos, and twelve bish- 
 
 * Chamchean,P. 6: c. 7. f Ibid. P. 5: c. 1, 7. 
 
 X Ibid. P. 4: c. 12, 17. § Histoire du Christian isme d'Armeoie. 
 
 )| Chamchean, P. 5: c. 17. P. 6: c. 4. 
 vol. ii. 26 
 
294 INTERCOURSE WITH PAPISTS. 
 
 ops swore to abide by it. The same Leo within a few 
 years indeed quarrelled with the Latins, and drove them 
 all, clergy and laity, from his dominions. But by marrying 
 a daughter of the king of Cyprus, he led the way to inter- 
 marriages with Europeans, and introduced papacy perma- 
 nently into the reigning family. In consequence of which 
 his successors were ever firm partisans of the Romish 
 ehurch, and some exerted their influence, even to perse- 
 cution, to induce their subjects to conform in all things to 
 its rites and doctrines. In these circumstances, it is ex- 
 pressly recorded that extreme unction was successfully in- 
 troduced in A. D. 1243 ; and doubtless a multitude of in- 
 novations accompanied it.* 
 
 I need not review the intercourse of the Armenians and 
 the papists since the destruction of the kingdom of Cilicia. 
 Merely add to the preceding statements, the fact that it has 
 been continued by means of papal missionaries down to the 
 present time, with so much success, if we may believe their 
 reports, that not a small number of Catholicoses have sent 
 in their submission to the pope ; and you will have a satis- 
 factory account of the origin of the resemblances that exist 
 between the two churches. 
 
 April 20. The sudorific effects of our vapor bath last 
 night, made the pure mountain air doubly inspiriting, as 
 we mounted our horses at 5 o'clock this morning. Our 
 exhilarated spirits, however, were soon damped by the 
 prospects of the day. We had before us a ride of six hours 
 over the mountain mentioned yesterday. It was the high- 
 est we crossed in any part of our journey, and rose up 
 against the horizon like an immense barrier of eternal 
 snow. A caravan at Mollah Soleiman had informed us, 
 that the difficulty of the passage had obliged them to sleep 
 several nights upon its summit ; and our repeated inquiries 
 of those we now passed, were answered by some that it was, 
 
 * Chamchean, P. 6: c. 10, 11, 12, 15. 
 
DIFFICULT PASSAGE OF A MOUNTAIN. 295 
 
 and by others that it was not practicable. The mud at the 
 bottom of our narrow foot-path, soon gave place to snow 
 still deeper and softer, and of course more fatiguing to our 
 animals ; and a storm of rain and melting snow continually 
 increased the difficulty. 
 
 So gradual was the rise at first, however, that no serious 
 impediment detained us, till we had advanced far beyond 
 the last village. Then, at the first steep ascent, our bag- 
 gage horses, and the one that I rode, failed through weak- 
 ness, and fell. The whole mountain before us consisted of 
 ridges and valleys and abrupt declivities, made doubly diffi- 
 cult by the depth of the melting snow ; and in some places, 
 immense drifts having during the winter transformed val- 
 leys into plains, the caravans had neglected the old and 
 struck out new paths, and the only beaten track conducted 
 us across filled-up abysses of unknown depth. In such a 
 road, few rods were passed without some of our miserable 
 beasts sinking beyond their power of recovery. As often 
 as one fell, he was unladen, raised and laden again ; my 
 own I led up every ascent, and even thus could with difficul- 
 ty get him forward. Once he sunk into a hole so deep 
 that the narrowness of the path alone arrested his body, and 
 perhaps prevented him from entirely disappearing ; for there 
 was apparently a small lake under the snow, and his feet 
 rested upon nothing. Had he had strength, in such a position 
 it would have been useless ; his owner, our muleteer, seemed 
 as helpless as he, and stood aghast, crying, wed ! wai ! ojagh- 
 um batdy ! (literally) alas ! alas! my hearth is sunk ! An- 
 tonio was thrown into contortions of despair by getting 
 his feet wet ; and altogether, serious as our situation really 
 was, our party presented, for a moment, a comic scene. 
 We at length drew the poor animal out by his halter, with- 
 out any more effort on his part than if he had been dead. 
 
 Difficulties increased as we advanced. Our baggage 
 horses fell, and had to be unloaded and loaded again at al- 
 
296 DIFFICULT PASSAGE OF A MOUNTAIN. 
 
 most every step. The storm, becoming a tempest, wetted 
 and chilled us. Our worthless tartar disappeared to seek 
 his own comfort in the nearest village, and left us to find 
 the way over the mountains as best we could. An old 
 Kurd, who had joined our party in the morning, and re- 
 mained to help us as long as he dare, now hastened away 
 to seek shelter in some inhabited spot for the night. He 
 promised indeed to send us assistance from the nearest vil- 
 lage ; but how far it was we knew not, nor whether he 
 would think of us again. The day was evidently drawing 
 to a close ; and the prospect began to stare us in the face, 
 of passing a tempestuous night on the mountains, without 
 food or shelter, and with the snow for our bed. As a last 
 expedient, the bags that contained our most valuable arti- 
 cles, were put upon our own beasts, and we led them for- 
 ward to find a village if possible, and send assistance to the 
 muleteer and servant, who remained with the other animals 
 and the rest of our effects. We had not yet reached the 
 highest part of the mountain ; the road we were unac- 
 quainted with, and it was beginning to be hidden by the 
 newly fallen snow ; the wind had acquired almost the vio- 
 lence of a hurricane, and drove the damp snow and sleet 
 against us with such impetuosity as thoroughly to drench 
 our clothes ; their weight, as our jaded horses obliged us to 
 walk almost every step, impeded our progress ; and all our 
 remaining strength was repeatedly called for to reload the 
 bags, which were repeatedly thrown off in our struggles to 
 master the snow-drifts. As this accident happened once in 
 an exposed situation, a dense dark cloud enveloped us, and 
 a blast so piercing accompanied it that it seemed to pene- 
 trate to the heart. An indescribable sensation of horror 
 came over me, and my companion was completely bewil- 
 dered. 
 
 The clouds at length broke away for a moment, as we 
 reached a lofty summit, and showed us that we were at the 
 
TREATMENT BY THE KURDS AT DAHAR. 297 
 
 top. Far down an unbroken and steep descent appeared 
 the dark sides of naked hills, stripped of their wintry cover- 
 ing by a southern exposure to the rays of the sun. We 
 dragged our horses, with all the speed that our strength 
 and weight could give us, to the bottom ; and then stum- 
 bling as we could, over snow-drifts and through mud, were 
 at last cheered by a view of human habitations. Just then 
 a single horseman, sent (whether by the old Kurd or by our 
 tartar at this late hour, we never learned,) to bring up our 
 party, met us. No remonstrances, however, would induce 
 him to go on to the succor of those we had left behind, 
 and he returned with us. The village we had found was 
 inhabited by Kurds and called Dahar: we entered it at sun- 
 set, having spent thirteen hours in riding six. 
 
 Our tartar we found seated by a fire in a spacious stable, 
 comfortably smoking his pipe with the aga of the village. 
 His first words, instead of expressing sympathy for us, or 
 care for those who were still on the mountain, were a bit- 
 ter complaint of his own hardship, in having had his clothes 
 wet through in one or two spots on his shoulders ! Had 
 we yielded to the feelings of the moment, we could have 
 given him a sound flagellation with an instrument more ef- 
 ficient than the tongue ; but a word from the aga bespeak- 
 ing our sympathy for the tartar, convinced us that there 
 was an understanding between them, and that, would we 
 obtain any favors, we must keep in the good graces of 
 both. Nor were we left to infer that the favors we needed 
 could be obtained by merely bridling our tongues. For the 
 old aga, beginning immediately to tell what an asylum 
 was his village, created here by God on purpose for the be- 
 nighted traveller, and how he, a favorite servant of the pa- 
 sha, was stationed in it specially to save all who are expos- 
 ed to perish on the mountains, added, that it was under- 
 stood, of course, that such services were rendered for money! 
 Making a virtue of necessity, therefore, we held our peace, 
 
 vol. ii. 26 * 
 
298 TREATMENT BY THE KURDS AT DAHAR. 
 
 and engaged him to send out four men on foot, all Kurds 
 like himself, to bring up what we had left, promising them 
 such a reward as he suggested, when their work was done. 
 About 9 o'clock our muleteer and servant arrived in a 
 tremendous shower, having forsaken the baggage and one 
 horse near where we had left them. The servant, an Ar- 
 menian who had hardly been out of Tebriz in his life be- 
 fore he entered our employ, being thoroughly drenched 
 with the rain, completely exhausted by fatigue, and stiffened 
 with cold, fell helpless upon the ground as he entered. To 
 our repeated inquiry, what he would have, his only reply 
 was, sahib dldiun ! oldum sahib ! master I am dead ! I 
 am dead master! Our unfeeling host, as if interpreting his 
 wishes, tauntingly cried, ' he wants a priest ! ' (meaning, to 
 give him the viaticum before he should die.) No one 
 would raise a finger to his aid, and we begged in vain for 
 the least article of dry clothing, for food, and even for a fire, 
 to revive him. The old Kurd only laughed at our solici- 
 tude, as if the life of a Christian dog was not worth saving ; 
 and at the same moment took off his own shalwar for the 
 muleteer, a Kurd as hardy as the beasts he drove, saying 
 complacently to the tartar, that for the act God would reck- 
 on him worthy of a reward! He soon went off to bed, refu- 
 sing to give us even a bit of bread for the sufferer ; and a 
 hard morsel, contributed by a more compassionate camel- 
 driver who lodged with us, was the only nutriment we could 
 procure him. A servant of the house tardily consented for 
 a reward to break off a few sticks from the terrace for a 
 fire ; and our own cloaks, which were not quite so wet as 
 his, contributed to revive him. 
 
 About 11 o'clock at night, the men whom we had sent 
 for our baggage returned without it, declaring that so vio- 
 lent was the tempest they could not possibly reach it. Our 
 lives were now all saved, however, and we lay down with a 
 light heart, blessing God who had so mercifully preserved 
 
A KURDISH AGA. 299 
 
 us. The storm, doubtless, increased the difficulty of the 
 passage of the mountain to-day ; but two English friends 
 who crossed it a few days later in fair weather, were 
 obliged to spread carpets upon the snow for long distances, 
 to enable their horses to pass. We were assured, that for 
 one or two months in the year, the snow entirely disappears, 
 and then it is passable with carts. From the multitude 
 of abrupt ravines and ridges of which it is here com- 
 posed, it has received the name of Geduk-dagh, or fissure 
 mountain. 
 
 April 21. Our first care in the morning was to secure 
 what remained of our baggage upon the mountains; if 
 indeed any remained; for some passing Kurd, or even the 
 inhabitants of this village, who all knew of our misfortune, 
 might have anticipated us, and pilfered every article. No 
 one would move, till those who had been sent last evening 
 had received their reward, notwithstanding they had for- 
 feited it by failing in their attempt. Then, as the morning 
 sun shone out upon the snowy mountains, five or six start- 
 ed, and skipping over them with the nimbleness of deer, 
 in due time returned with all our effects, except two or 
 three articles of slight value. The poor muleteer sustained 
 the heaviest loss, for the horse he had left was found life- 
 less. The accident detained us the whole day ; for it 
 made us completely dependent upon the inhabitants of 
 the village for another animal, and all were so disposed to 
 take advantage of our necessity, that night came on before 
 one could be procured upon tolerable terms. 
 
 Our situation in the mean time was not the most agreea- 
 ble. The old Kurdish aga, our host, laid himself out in- 
 deed to be uncommonly accommodating. By rescuing 
 our baggage from becoming a prey to the thievish propen- 
 sities of his nation on the mountain, he had imposed upon 
 us a real obligation ; and now he took constant precau- 
 tions that none of our effects should be pilfered by his 
 
300 A KURDISH AGA. 
 
 townsmen, who thronged us the whole day. But every 
 favor was conferred with an affected condescension, in- 
 tended to show how much it cost an orthodox mussulman 
 to pay attentions to a Christian and a Frank ; and with a 
 studious exhibition of difficulties in the way of gratifying 
 us, 'designed to magnify our estimation of the slightest ben- 
 efits; and all for the purpose of increasing the peskkesh, 
 which was expected from us in return. All his pretended 
 efforts, however, procured us little to eat besides his favor- 
 ite pastoral dish. It was yoghoort (curdled milk) mixed 
 with water, and thickened with black bread rubbed into 
 crumbs between his hands, differing neither in its ingredi- 
 ents nor appearance, from the dish served out to certain 
 domestic animals from our farmers' kitchens, under the more 
 familiar name of swill. For one meal a few eggs were pro- 
 cured ; but the request for more was repeated in vain, and 
 we were wondered at for supposing that they, like a Chris- 
 tian village, had fowls and eggs. Aga, or lord, of the vil- 
 lage as he was, hardly an article of our dress or baggage 
 met his eye without eliciting an intimation, that it would 
 be a most acceptable memento of our acquaintance. Pen- 
 knives, and even old spoons did not escape, and a polite 
 request was preferred from his harem, for a taste of our 
 sugar. But his cupidity was most attracted by an old cot- 
 ton shawl that I had long worn for a sash. We laughed 
 at him for begging it, when he had already a good silk one 
 of Tripoli manufacture wound around his head for a tur- 
 ban. His reply was, that his religion forbade him to pray 
 in a garment entirely of silk, and he wished, therefore, at 
 the hours of devotion, to substitute a cotton turban, to give 
 acceptableness to his prayers ! To his credit I would add, 
 that if he took great liberties in begging, he allowed us as 
 great in refusing, and was finally satisfied with certainly a 
 moderate present. 
 
 Dahar is the last village in the pashalik of Bayezeed, 
 
DESCENT OF THE MOUNTAIN. 301 
 
 and in it we saw the last of the Kurds. Many individuals 
 of that nation wander indeed over the plains and hills 
 beyond, and particularly was the country between Kars 
 and Akhaltsikhe, formerly infested by them. But their prop- 
 er country, Kurdistan, can hardly be considered as extend- 
 ing to the west of this mountain. To the east of it, the 
 moslem population is as universally and distinctly of the 
 Kurdish race, as that of Asia Minor is of the Turkish. 
 The fact is proved, not only by their manners and charac- 
 ter, but by their language. All are able to converse in 
 Turkish, and generally in Armenian also ; but thus far 
 from the Persian frontier the vernacular language of all the 
 Mohammedans we met, is Kurdish, and so universal is its 
 use, that it is familiar also to every Christian. Oar tartar, 
 besides conversing fluently in Turkish and Armenian, in 
 addition to his native Kurdish, pretended to know the lan- 
 guage of a distinct tribe of about 600 families in the vicini- 
 ty of Moosh, called Zuzijies. We have no evidence of 
 the existence of such a people, besides his assertion and 
 that of the officer of the pasha whom we met at Uch-ke- 
 leeseh. Both affirmed that they are sunny moslems. 
 
 April 22. We left Dahar at 6 A. M. to complete our de- 
 scent of the mountain. Stern tempestuous winter still reign- 
 ed on the heights above, and sprinkled us with some flakes of 
 a snow-squall, as we started ; but ere we reached the bottom 
 his snows had disappeared, and the earth was smiling with 
 the aspect of early spring. The change of climate was 
 more sudden than I had ever experienced, and seemed 
 entirely disproportioned to the change of elevation. We 
 threaded in our descent an irregular tortuous ravine, in 
 company with a dashing torrent; and with it were 'finally 
 ushered into the open province of Pasin, through the Kara- 
 derbend, a remarkable pass between enormous buttresses 
 of perpendicular rocks. They seemed like nature's out- 
 posts, to warn against too close an inspection of her myster- 
 
302 IMPROVEMENT AT KOMATSOR. 
 
 ries on the mountain above. The country beyond present- 
 ed a surface of gentle undulations and swelling hills, and 
 was covered with a soil uncultivated indeed, but almost 
 without exception arable, apparently fertile, and admirably 
 adapted to the growth of grain. Dely-baba, an Armenian 
 village of some consequence, reckoned four hours from 
 Dahar, appeared not far to the right of us at 11 A. M. 
 Afterward the large village of Khorasan was seen at a 
 distance, also on the right, across the Aras. At 3 P. M. 
 we passed through a small Armenian hamlet; and at 4 
 stopped for the night at Kamatsor, nine hours from Dahar. 
 We had intended to reach Amra-koy, an hour farther ; 
 but the tartar urged, that, it being a moslem village, not so 
 good accommodations could be procured, as here among 
 the Armenians ; and the muleteer, with curses upon the 
 aga of Dahar for his inhospitality, repeated his favorite 
 proverb, giaoor evy babdm evy, the infidel's house is my 
 father's house*, to indicate his desire of lodging with Christ- 
 ians. The hospitable intentions expressed in the honest 
 face of an old Armenian, who presented himself as our host, 
 silenced our complaints ; and a stable-room furnished with 
 clean matresses and cushions for our convenience, satisfied 
 us with the arrangement. Dinner was soon served up in 
 a neater and better style than we had seen among any 
 peasants since we were in this vicinity before ; a capacious 
 copper tray being placed upon a regular pedestal, and load- 
 ed with various provisions, each in a neat copper plate. In 
 a word, the general appearance of things and deportment 
 of the people, which ten months before had seemed so 
 deeply tinged with barbarism, being now contrasted with 
 what we had since seen, made. us feel that we were tread- 
 ing again upon the borders of civilization. — Our host said 
 that his village formerly contained 45 Armenian families, 
 but only 15 remain since the war. He estimated the num- 
 ber of his nation that are left in the whole of Pasin, at five 
 or six hundred families. 
 
REACH ERZROOM. 30$ 
 
 April 23. Determined to reach Erzroom to-day, though 
 11 hours distant, we started at 3 A. M. But so slow was 
 the progress of our miserable animals, that we were until 
 half past 6 in reaching the Aras, a distance of only two 
 hours. We crossed it by the Shepherd's Bridge, which has 
 been already described, and came upon the road we had 
 travelled on our way from Erzroom to Kars. Just beyond 
 Hassan-kulaah an accident detained us till it was evident 
 that we could not all reach the city before night, and I was 
 sent forward with the tartar to engage lodgings, leaving 
 Mr. Dwight to bring up the baggage. We separated in 
 fair weather, but a shower of rain soon commenced, which 
 quickly changed to a violent snow storm, and continued 
 until night. The snow of winter was still deep upon the 
 ridge that separates the plain of Hassan-kulaah from Erz- 
 room, and some banks of it were even lying in the streets 
 of the city itself. We arrived at sunset ; the storm detain- 
 ed Mr. Dwight until the following morning. 
 
 Erzroom, which we had regarded as so uninviting at our 
 former visit, when now viewed from the side of Persia, 
 seemed like another city. Its edifices of stone, though 
 few were of two stories, looked solid and spacious ; the 
 pavements of its streets, though made of rocks, had an 
 aspect of neatness ; and the windows of its houses open to 
 the streets, though closely latticed, appeared quite Euro- 
 pean. It still appeared desolate ; its bazars were nearly 
 deserted, and no trade seemed to flourish. Of all its for- 
 mer Christian population there remained only 120 Armeni- 
 an and 48 papal Armenian, families, the latter having 
 recently moved in from other places ; of its former 6600 
 shops, 3000 were now shut; and six tanneries were the 
 only manufactories it contained. During the eight days of 
 our delay we were hospitably lodged by Mr. Zohrab, a 
 papal Armenian, who was acting as commercial agent for 
 the English consul at Trebizond. There were two priests 
 
304 PRESENT STATE OF ERZROOM. 
 
 of his sect in town, and a ferman was daily expected for 
 the completion of a church for them, which had been begun 
 by Russian permission, but left unfinished when the army 
 evacuated the city. No Armenian bishop had yet been 
 substituted for the one who emigrated to the Russian 
 territories. 
 
 An energetic pasha now commanded the city and 
 pashalik, and, entering completely into the views of the 
 Sultan, had introduced his new regulations and established 
 order throughout the province. He treated us politely in a 
 personal interview, and readily granted every facility for 
 continuing our journey to Trebizond. Two English friends, 
 with whom we had spent the winter at Tebriz, and who 
 arrived while we were here, received his more particular 
 attentions. One of them having been recommended to 
 him as a brother-in-law of the acting embassador in Persia, 
 he was pleased to consider him as his guest, and accord- 
 ingly sent him rations of a sheep, a basket of rice, a tub 
 of butter, and other common articles of Turkish diet. An 
 officer was also commanded to accompany him to the 
 principal mosks, and other curiosities of the city. Being 
 ourselves in the same house with him, his politeness allow- 
 ed us to share in the favors that were designed for himself 
 and his companion. 
 
 The most interesting circumstance of our visit to the 
 mosks was the fact, that in a place formerly noted for being 
 among the most bigoted in Turkey, five Europeans were 
 allowed quietly to enter and examine, in the most public 
 manner three of the principal places of moslem worship. 
 The imams, as the sunnies call their priests, were very polite 
 to us, and not only on this occasion, but so long as we were 
 in the city, were we treated by the people generally with 
 every respect. The mosks contained nothing to be observ- 
 ed, except the usual profusion of sentences from the Koran 
 inscribed in gilded letters upon their walls, and ugly chan- 
 
VISIT TO THE MOSKS. 305 
 
 deliers composed of glass cup lamps and tasseled ostrich 
 egg-shells. Only one, the Ooloo jami, which measured 66 
 paces by 41, was remarkable for size, and that was gloomy, 
 and destitute of beauty or grandeur. 
 
 Of the other curiosities, the most worthy of notice was the 
 Chiftehminareli, or pair of minarets. It is a ruined edifice, 
 covering nearly as much ground as the mosk just mention- 
 ed, and not far from it in the northeast corner of the citadel. 
 We were unable to learn its exact date or object, but its 
 antiquity is evidently considerable. A double-headed ea- 
 gle on one of its door posts seems to refer it to the times 
 of the Grecian empire ; but two fluted minarets, from which 
 it derives its present name, rising on each side, show it to 
 have been used for moslem worship; and a profusion of 
 blue glazing, which ornaments them and the doorway, 
 betrays a Persian origin, and reminded us of the towers of 
 Shamkor and Salmas. Its roof has disappeared. Along 
 either side within, an arched corridor shades the doors of 
 a series of small apartments, which may have been the 
 cells of either Christian monks, or moslem devotees. Its 
 farther extremity is occupied by a cylindrical structure, 
 perhaps twenty feet in diameter by forty in height, capped 
 with an acute cone in the style of the domes on many old 
 Armenian churches, and lined throughout with Maragha 
 alabaster. It might be taken for the sanctuary of a 
 church, except that no crosses appear upon its walls ; while 
 its position in the southern instead of the eastern part of 
 the building, intimates rather that it may have been the 
 kiblah of a mosk ; and its form, being like that of three 
 monumental structures just without the walls of the citadel, 
 suggests that it may cover the remains of some departed 
 saint or hero. Local tradition ascribes those, we were told 
 when we examined them at our former visit, to Sultan 
 Mulook, a name which seems to have some connection 
 with the -Seljookian dynasty. But in answer to our in- 
 
 vol. ii. 27 
 
306 INELIGIBLE LOCATION FOR A MISSION. 
 
 quiries now, for information from the same source respect- 
 ing the origin of this building, our informants began to 
 refer it to the daughters of Kai-kobad, and we ceased to 
 question them. 
 
 Were it not for the desolation occasioned by the Russian 
 war, you would doubtless be disposed seriously to consider 
 the expediency of establishing a mission at Erzroom. But 
 now, the small number of Armenians remaining in it and 
 in the country around, must be considered a decisive ob- 
 jection. We may be allowed to remind you, also, of the 
 inhospitable nature of the country and climate, as another 
 obstacle ; though without the former, the latter ought not to 
 be mentioned. But it will not always remain in its present 
 state. We doubt not that an Armenian population will 
 again assemble here ; and then it may be made an impor- 
 tant centre for missionary operations. 
 
LETTER XXIV. 
 
 FROM ERZROOM BY TREBIZOND TO MALTA. 
 
 Leave Erzroom — Want of wood in Armenia — Sheitan-deresy — Kara-koolak 
 — State of the season at Chiftlik — Sanjaks of Erzroom — Road through 
 Baiboort — Passage of a mountain in the night — Porodor — Accident in the 
 mountains — Beautiful gardens in a valley — Gumish-khaneh— Dangerous 
 passage of Khojah-deresy — Forest scenery — Poisonous honey — Formation 
 of a natural bridge — Cultivation of maize — Secret professors of Chris- 
 tianity — Reach Trebizond — Its history — Description of it — Its trade — 
 Population — Greek and Armenian moslems — The Laz — Proposed mission 
 at Trebizond — Voyage to Constantinople — Return to Malta — Concluding 
 observations. 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 The line of posts to the westward of Erzroom had been 
 re-established since we were here before, and we availed our- 
 selves of it to proceed to Trebizond. With a tartar to 
 guide and protect us, we started at 3 and a quarter P. M. 
 on the 2nd of May. Instead of fording the branch of the 
 Euphrates a little below Uluja, as when we came from 
 Constantinople, we continued down its eastern side, some- 
 times on its bank and sometimes at a distance, through a 
 hilly country, till within an hour of Ash-kulaah. Then, 
 crossing it by a bridge of stone, where it rushes between 
 narrow banks of enormous rocks, we reached the post-house 
 at Ash-kulaah an hour and a quarter after midnight, having 
 made nine hours from the city. Our road from Uluja had 
 not passed a single inhabited house ; and here were only 
 a few moslem huts. Its former Armenian inhabitants had 
 emigrated with the Russians, and nothing but dilapidated 
 subteraneous walls remained to mark their abodes, 
 
308 WANT OF WOOD IN ARMENIA. 
 
 May 3. We started at 7 and a half A. M. to make a 
 stage of 16 hours, without an intervening village or an 
 inhabited house, by nearly the same road which we had 
 travelled on a former occasion. For twelve hours, to Shei- 
 tan-deresy, nothing was noticed worth recording, in addi- 
 tion to our observations when we came ; except that the 
 few stunted cedars on the mountain sides, which then ap- 
 peared so diminutive, now seemed of a respectable size, and 
 were a most welcome sight to the eye that for months had 
 seen not a single uncultivated tree. All the way from 
 Tebriz, a distance of more than 300 miles in a westerly di- 
 rection, and nearly the whole breadth of Armenia, we had 
 found no forest trees, except the little cluster of pines at the 
 Shepherd's Bridge ; nor indeed hardly a wild bush, except 
 in one small spot near the Murad-chai ! 
 
 The gloomy dell just mentioned, seemed now even more 
 appropriately named than when we passed it before ; and 
 as we issued from it in safety, our tartar's countenance 
 brightened, and he thanked God that Sheitan-deresy was 
 crossed before night overtook us. The effect of the Rus- 
 sian invasion in quelling robbery seemed still to be felt, 
 however, and it was well known that no accident had oc- 
 curred here since that event. But many are the places in 
 Turkey, which, having once got a bad name, long retain 
 it, and are habitually dreaded for years after they have 
 ceased to be the resort of robbers : and probably years of 
 security will not efface from this frightful dell its charac- 
 ter as a rendezvous for the sons of violence. Reaching 
 Kara-koolak at 8 and a half P. M. our tartar introduced 
 us to an Armenian post-house for the night, recommending 
 its keeper to us by saying, that he also was a chorbajy, 
 (soup-maker). 
 
 May 4. We passed at an early hour over the woodless 
 mountains of Otluk-bely, now spotted with numerous and 
 deep banks of snow, into the extensive plain of Lori. It 
 
SANJAKS OF ERZROOM. 309 
 
 was more cultivated than when we saw it before, as was al- 
 so the whole country from Ash-kulaah to Chiftlik. We ob- 
 served no crops but grain. Descending from the next 
 ridge into a deep wooded glen, the infant river of Niksar 
 conducted us by many a winding into the plain of Kerkid- 
 chiftlik. The garden trees around it were just putting 
 forth their young foliage. The almond had blossomed at 
 Tebriz the last of March, but here, for the first time in 
 Turkish Armenia, did we observe any leaves beginning to 
 appear. We found our post-house at Germery after dark. 
 
 May 5. When passing here before, we understood that 
 this sanjak and the one to the west of it, belonged to the 
 pashalik of Erzroom. Now we were assured that Chiftlik 
 is subject to the pasha of Gumish-khaneh. Then, also, the 
 sanjaks of Erzroom were said to be twelve ; when last at 
 Erzroom we were informed that they are but nine.* Prob- 
 ably Chiftlik and Sheheran had in the meantime been set 
 off to Gumish-khaneh, as its pasha is now subject to that of 
 Erzroom. 
 
 The horses of the post being otherwise employed in the 
 morning, we were detained until 4 P. M. for the menziljy 
 to collect our complement from the neighboring villages. 
 Starting at that hour, we turned to the right toward the 
 mountains of Gumish-khaneh, from the road to Constanti- 
 nople, which we had followed thus far. It had been our 
 wish not to come on that road at all, but to take another, 
 ten or twelve hours shorter, through Baiboort, a place 
 of ancient Armenia containing about 1000 Turkish and 
 (since the war) 60 Armenian families. The want of post 
 
 * Eleven of the twelve sanjaks mentioned to us first, were Sheheran, Erz>* 
 engan, Chiftlik, Terjan, Baiboort, Ispir, Tortoom, Upper Pasin, Lower Pa- 
 sin, Khanoos, and Erzroom; the name of the twelfth we did not learn. — 
 Our last informant, a young man in the service of the collector of taxes, ad- 
 ded, that in the nine sanjaks now composing the pashalik, there are 3800 
 villages. 
 
 vol. ii. 27* 
 
310 PASSAGE OF A MOUNTAIN IN THE NIGHT. 
 
 horses upon it prevented. Our English friends took that 
 direction, and encountered a snowy mountain between Erz- 
 room and Baiboort, (probably a continuation of Otluk-bely,) 
 yielding nothing in difficulty to Gediik-dagh. They were 
 obliged again to carpet the melting snow for some distance, 
 and passed a night upon it in the open air. 
 
 Just where we entered the mountains, perhaps an hour 
 from Germery, a little hamlet occupied a sunny nook, and 
 charmed us by its green parterres and smiling gardens. 
 Thence we followed up a craggy glen, by means of a de- 
 cent carriage road, the origin of which we knew not wheth- 
 er to attribute to the Russians, who made here an abortive 
 attempt to penetrate to Gumish-khaneh, or to the peasants, 
 who draw their timber from the mountains upon it with 
 their carts. Two hours from Germery was another consid- 
 erable village ; and beyond, the mountains began to exhibit 
 pines of some size and a variety of smaller trees. At length 
 the road ceased ; and we improved the last rays of twilight 
 in clambering up a rough and tedious glen, which led us 
 to the top of a mountain ridge exceedingly narrow and 
 sharp. In the darkness of night, the almost precipitous 
 descent beyond seemed to lead into a bottomless abyss. 
 Most of the company dismounted, but considering my horse 
 surer-footed than myself, I kept my seat. How our surijy 
 traced the path, or whether he actually did, we knew not, 
 for so intense was the darkness that no path appeared. 
 However, aided not a little by our specific gravity, we made 
 our way rapidly downward, over rocks and stones, without 
 accident to any one. 
 
 Proceeding thus for an hour or two, though not always 
 with so rapid a descent, we often wished for daylight to dis- 
 close to us the wildness of the spot, which the darkness of 
 night now prevented us from seeing and describing. At 
 9 P. M. six hours from Germery, we reached the village of 
 Porodor; and were first warned of the fact, by finding our- 
 
ACCIDENT IN THE MOUNTAINS. 311 
 
 selves on the top of a house ! After stumbling awhile over 
 the terraces, we obtained lodgings for the two or three hours 
 we intended to stop. No straw, the usual provender, could 
 be obtained for our horses, and after wrangling long with 
 our host, the siirijy, as a last resort, accepted of some hay ! 
 
 May 6. We were awake again at 1 o'clock, and started 
 at half past 3 A. M. Objects were but dimly discernible in 
 the light of the moon and of the early dawn; and our 
 stupid siirijy, instead of pursuing the level bed of a small 
 river along which we travelled, led us by a goat's path up 
 the steep face of a mountain which formed one of its 
 banks. The track was too narrow to afford a firm footing 
 to the loaded horses, and they both lost their balance. 
 One tumbled over and over into the middle of the stream 
 below ; the other, though tied to him as usual by the tail, 
 in some way extricated himself, and continuing upright 
 landed upon his feet. The first also soon recovered him- 
 self, but his load, consisting of our most valuable clothing 
 and books, had turned, and the bag that was lowest be- 
 came thoroughly soaked before he could be got out of the 
 water. This stream was limpid and pure, but a similar 
 accident had on a former occasion plunged the same bag 
 in a warm mineral mud-puddle. The affair caused the 
 surijy to smart under the tartar's lash, and detained us 
 about an hour. 
 
 We had two mountain ridges to cross during the morn- 
 ing, neither of them inferior to the one of last night. The 
 passage in both cases was effected by ascending a ravine 
 on one side, and descending another on the opposite. Be- 
 tween them was some cultivation, but no village appeared. 
 Their sides were rather sparingly covered with trees ; and 
 on one were a few firs. They presented the boldest fea- 
 tures of mountain scenery ; but notwithstanding their height, 
 and near connection with the Giaoor-dagh to the west, very 
 little snow lay upon them. The last ravine, by a long and 
 
312 BEAUTIFUL GARDENS IN A VALLEY. 
 
 nearly a straight course, brought us suddenly upon the 
 banks of a large stream, now swollen above its banks and 
 running to the left. It showed us that we had unawares 
 already begun our descent toward the Black sea, from the 
 elevated regions over which we had so long travelled, and 
 accounted for the novel sight of villages with fruit gardens 
 around them, which had attracted our notice in the ravine 
 from which we now issued. 
 
 The narrow valley of the river, at the point where we 
 entered it, seemed almost a paradise. The naked rocks of 
 the cliffs that" inclosed it, concentrated the rays of the sun 
 to a degree, which might in time have become oppressive, 
 but the first feeling of which to us, recently from such chilly 
 regions, was like a sudden transfer from a bleak November 
 atmosphere to a smiling morning in May. Along the 
 banks of the stream was a continued series of fruit gardens, 
 crowded with a luxuriant growth of cherry, apple, pear, 
 walnut, peach, mulberry, and other trees, now covered with 
 blossoms which filled the air with their odor. Among 
 them were scattered numerous country-houses, to which 
 their owners are attracted in winter, by the mildness of 
 the climate of this charming valley. We were now upon 
 the high road from Erzroom through Baiboort to Trebi- 
 zond ; and every mile or two brought us to a khan, or 
 shop, where provender, butter and cheese, bread and fruit, 
 were exposed for sale. The bread was indeed coarse and 
 black, but it was in regular loaves, such as we had not seen 
 for many a month ; and the sight and taste of well preserv- 
 ed apples on the 6th of May was delicious. Every vestige 
 of inhospitable Armenia and Persia was gone. They offer 
 to the passing traveller no such conveniences as these, 
 humble as they were. 
 
 Gumish-khaneh is on the left of the river, about an hour 
 and a quarter below where we first came upon it, and not 
 in sight of the direct road. Leaving the margin of the 
 
GUMISH-KHANEH. 313 
 
 stream, you climb the mountain by a good path for half an 
 hour, and find its houses near the top, rising one above 
 another along the sides of a ravine, which just below sends 
 out on either hand remarkable projections of perpendicular 
 rock. They seemed to be nature's provision for its de- 
 fence ; but man had not availed himself of them, and not 
 a gun nor a battlement appeared. We reached the town 
 at a quarter before 11 A. M. having come a distance of 6 
 hours from Porodor. Our observations at Gumish-khaneh 
 were necessarily limited ; for, arriving hungry and sleepy, 
 and in haste to proceed, we were obliged to improve the 
 few hours of our delay in eating and sleeping. I have 
 already informed you, that it is governed, as well as the 
 province of which it is the capital, by a pasha of two tails, 
 who is subject to the pasha of Erzroom. Some Armeni- 
 ans of the place had told us at Chiftlik, that its population 
 consists of 200 Greek, 200 Turkish, and 500 Armenian 
 houses; and a papal Armenian of Trebizond had assured 
 us at Erzroom, that, out of 2000 houses which occupy it, 
 500 are Greek, 70 Armenian, from 5 to 10 papal Armen- 
 ian, and the rest Turkish. 
 
 We obtained no information here to reconcile these dis- 
 crepancies ; except that in passing through the bazars, 
 hardly any moslems appeared, and we therefore judged 
 that the Christians far outnumber them. We were in- 
 formed, too, that the Greeks are much the most numerous 
 class of Christians, and have five churches with a bishop 
 of their own ; while the Armenians have but one church, 
 and are subject to the bishop of Trebizond. The pasha- 
 lik, likewise, is said to be full of Greeks ; and perhaps for 
 this reason the high mountain in it, which has been repeat- 
 edly mentioned by the name of Giaoor-dagh, received 
 that appellation, which means infidel mountain. In the 
 ravine near the town is the celebrated silver mine, which 
 has given to it its name of Gumish-khaneh, or place of 
 
314 
 
 GUMISH-KHANEH. 
 
 silver. Specimens of solid ore were given us, but we af- 
 terward understood, that a dust or sand is procured which 
 is richer. It contains lead and silver, but the proportion 
 of the latter is so small as hardly to pay for refining. 
 Copper mines are found elsewhere, at a distance from the 
 town. — The Russians remained here too short a time to 
 leave many permanent traces, or to take away many of the 
 Christian inhabitants. 
 
 We started again at a quarter before 2 P. M. and were 
 soon upon the banks of the river. So long as the gardens 
 continued, our ride was delightful. But at length the val- 
 ley became too narrow for them, and the perpendicular or 
 impending cliffs of the two opposing mountains which 
 formed it, approached so near each other, as to leave but 
 just room for the river's channel. Our path at one time 
 wound like a goat's track, over rocks high up the moun- 
 tain side ; and at another formed a narrow foothold along 
 the margin of the water. The scenery was awfully grand 
 beyond description. But fear often deprived me of the 
 power of admiration, as my eye glanced to the bottom of 
 the abyss, and showed me how inevitably a stumble of my 
 animal would plunge me into eternity in a moment, or 
 caught a glimpse, (as it did in one place,) of the carcase 
 a horse, which, by a similar accident, had been precipi- 
 tated downward, till it was arrested and suspended in mid 
 air between two projecting crags. To travel such a road 
 in the dark was not to be thought of, and so we stopped 
 for the night at a khan, 5 hours from town. 
 
 May 7. The distance from Giimish-khaneh to Trebi- 
 zond is 24 hours. Of course 19 remained to be travelled, 
 and that too with the same horses, for there is no post- 
 house on the road. To accomplish the whole with our 
 baggage by daylight was evidently impossible ; and still we 
 deemed it highly important to reach Trebizond to night. 
 It was therefore concluded to push forward ourselves, and 
 
KHOJAH-DERESY. 315 
 
 leave Antonio to bring up the baggage as he could. We 
 started at 4 A. M. and followed the river along the same 
 sublime chasm, through dangers as constant, and with ap- 
 prehension as much on the rack, as yesterday, for 3 hours. 
 Then we left it, and traced to its source on the right, a 
 tributary stream running through a ravine of precisely the 
 same features. Surely never can we forget the sensations 
 of awful grandeur, and of fearful anxiety, which impressed 
 themselves upon our minds and nerves during the whole 
 of our passage through the Khqjah-deresy, or old man's 
 valley, in the mountains of Pontus. It is nature's master- 
 piece of sublimity ; or rather, an unequalled exhibition of the 
 power and economy of God : a mass of the eternal moun- 
 tains cleft in twain, to drain off the waters that would oth- 
 erwise collect in their bosom ! a canal worthy of the omnip- 
 otent hand that formed it ! Few places occurred, for a 
 distance of six or seven hours, that we were not tracing a 
 narrow path along the face of precipices, where a false step 
 might precipitate one a fearful depth, and plunge him a 
 mangled corpse in the foaming stream. 
 
 Such was the effect upon my nerves, (then doubtless 
 somewhat weakened by illness and fatigue,) that I believe 
 it would have been impossible for me immediately after- 
 ward to have travelled in the night, as we had often done 
 during our journey, trusting implicitly to the guidance of a 
 siirijy, and the carefulness of our horses. But we judge of 
 every thing by comparison. The natives of these moun- 
 tains invariably spoke of it as a good road. And very like- 
 ly I should myself have formed a better opinion, and given 
 a less frightful picture of it, had I never backed any but a 
 strong and sure-footed horse. Thus far from Erzroom, we 
 had not performed a single stage without some of our 
 animals' giving out, stumbling, falling, and lying down, and 
 I could not quiet the apprehension, that these were any 
 moment liable to a similar accident. — This was the winter 
 
316 FOREST SCENERY. 
 
 road to TrebizoncL Another strikes off across the moun- 
 tains a little this side of Gumish-khaneh, and is five or six 
 hours nearer ; but it was not yet opened by reason of the 
 snow. That it is not much safer, may be inferred from 
 the fact, that our tartar having taken it on his return, his 
 horse, a good strong beast which he had purchased at 
 Trebizond, slipped down a mountain and was killed. 
 
 We passed, this morning and yesterday, numerous com- 
 panies of peasants, mostly Greeks, moving as is their 
 custom from their winter residence in the valleys below, to 
 their summer residence upon the mountains. They were 
 generally dressed in the poorest clothing, and had almost 
 no furniture. Three hours from the point where we left 
 the large river, the ravine we followed conducted us, after 
 a long and toilsome ascent, to the top of a sharp mountain 
 ridge, on which some patches of snow were still lingering. 
 We stretched our eyes to the north to discern the sea, as 
 did Xenophon with his Ten Thousand, perhaps from this 
 or from some neighboring height. But, though we imagined 
 that in one direction it ought to be seen, nothing except 
 thin clouds appeared. Not a village was near our route ; 
 all the numerous khans we passed were already deserted, 
 in anticipation that the other road would in a day or two 
 draw away the travel from this ; and having started without 
 eating, we began to feel the calls of hunger. After a 
 descent of an hour or two from the ridge just mentioned, 
 we were scantily supplied at a derbend, occupied by a 
 guard of miserable fellows, with barley bread of the coars- 
 est, dirtiest kind, and dried yoghoort. 
 
 Beyond, the mountainous sides of the ravine we descend- 
 ed were covered from the bottom to the top, with a thick and 
 noble growth of forest trees ; among which the beech stood 
 preeminent for its stately height, and the elegance of its 
 smooth tapering trunk. The grateful shade of the forest, 
 the odor of flowering shrubs, the music of birds, and the 
 
FORMATION OF A NATURAL BRIDGE. 317 
 
 murmuring of a torrent concealed in the bottom of the glen, 
 combined to impress upon us almost as deep a sensation of 
 the beautiful, as we had experienced of the sublime in the 
 morning. Among the flowering shrubs, the blossom of the 
 azalea pontica scented the whole atmosphere with its 
 strong odor. From it, doubtless, the bees obtained the 
 honey which poisoned Xenophon's army. The same 
 poisonous honey is common now in this district, producing 
 when eaten, headache, delirium and vomiting. A stranger 
 ate some by mistake, with all these effects, only a few days 
 before we were at Trebizond. The natives detect it, we 
 were told, by its being strongly scented with the blossom 
 of the shrub just named. That shrub I have never noticed 
 elsewhere. It exactly resembles the wild bush commonly 
 called honeysuckle in New England, from which children 
 in the spring are fond of gathering a watery excrescence 
 to eat, except that its blossom is yellow. 
 
 Ten hours from Trebizond the forest was succeeded by 
 cultivation, and we soon crossed the stream just alluded to 
 by a natural bridge, called by the natives, I believe, Yer- 
 koprust/, or earth bridge. It is remarkable for its forma- 
 tion. Just where the road strikes it, a mineral spring, with 
 a copious ebullition of gas, discharges a small quantity of 
 water, apparently the whole of which is turned to stone be- 
 fore it reaches three rods from its source. Similar appear- 
 ances were also observed on the middle of the bridge, and 
 the inquiry was immediately suggested, whether the bridge 
 itself may not have been formed by such a process. Jump- 
 ing from my horse, I descended so as to have a distinct 
 view of its upper extremity. The same mineral fluid was 
 dripping down its whole length, and had formed shapeless 
 stalactites, which made up the nether arch, and reached 
 almost or quite to the water's surface. The bridge extends 
 some distance up and down the stream, and being covered 
 with earth and vegetation, the traveller might easily pass 
 
 vol. ii. 28 
 
318 CULTIVATION OF MOUNTAINS. 
 
 without noticing it. To confirm such a theory of its forma- 
 tion, another was observed not far below, in a forming 
 state. A similar spring upon a high bank was discharging 
 its water toward the river, and by continual deposits had 
 extended a rock nearly half across the stream. In one 
 part, a large mass had broken off by its unsupported weight, 
 and fallen into the current. The water of the spring evi- 
 dently goes on depositing its layer of stony matter, as it 
 descends the bank, until, reaching the water of the river, 
 it is diluted by it, and the process ceases. Thus a con- 
 stant passage is left open for the stream underneath, until 
 the rock extends quite across, and rests upon the opposite 
 bank. 
 
 The stream continued to flow on, as we proceeded, with 
 the rapidity of a torrent descending from a mountain. 
 Perpendicular ledges of rocks rose up from its narrow 
 banks to a considerable height, and then a steep acclivity 
 extended to the top of the mountain on either side. Neat 
 bridges of a single stone arch, thrown over it every mile 
 or two, facilitated communication between its two banks. 
 Our path generally ran pretty high along the mountain 
 above the precipices ; and though now rough from bad 
 weather, was made with some pains for Turkey. I could 
 not yet divest my nerves of all misgiving, the effect of im- 
 pressions received in the Khojah-deresy ; and had we nev- 
 er seen that, we should probably have spoken of the sublim- 
 ity of the scenery here. The slopes of the opposite moun- 
 tains, were extensively cultivated; and certainly never 
 before did we dream that such steep declivities could be 
 tilled. The inclination of some patches was not many 
 degrees from vertical ; many were evidently too precipitous 
 for the plough to have been used, and must have been 
 worked^ with hand instruments ; and nowhere was a single 
 spot terraced. It proved, in fact, that there was far from 
 being so much exaggeration as we had supposed, in what 
 
CULTIVATION OF MAIZE. 319 
 
 a moslem fellow-traveller had previously told us — that the 
 Laz cultivate mountains so nearly perpendicular, as to be 
 able to stand to sow and reap, only by tying themselves to 
 trees. 
 
 The crops we observed were grain and maize, in nearly 
 equal quantities ; the latter of which they were now plant- 
 ing. We observed much bread made from it in Trebi- 
 zond, and it is known to be almost the only bread corn of 
 Colchis. Some have supposed that maize was first found 
 in America, and transplanted from thence. But the extent 
 to which it is now cultivated far up the Nile in Egypt, and 
 the fact that so long; ago as 1673 Chardin found it to be 
 the principal food of the inhabitants of the retired regions 
 of Colchis,* may convince one that it cannot have been of 
 exclusively American origin. Were an old Greek geog- 
 rapher reflecting upon this singular affinity between the 
 productions of Egypt and Colchis, he would perhaps as- 
 cribe it to the invasion of Sesostris and his Colchian colo- 
 ny. America can much more fairly claim to have origin- 
 ated the potato. That vegetable is not found in the 
 Levant, nor in any part of western Asia, except within the 
 immediate reach of European influence, and there only in 
 small quantities. 
 
 The cultivators and inhabitants of this valley are not 
 Laz, but of Greek descent. Some, I believe, still openly 
 adhere to the Greek faith. But many have been professed- 
 ly converted to Mohammedanism, and pass among moslems 
 as followers of their prophet. But we were interested 
 to learn from good authority, that their profession is a mere 
 pretence. They practise neither circumcision, nor any of 
 the rites of the moslem religion. Secretly they are still 
 attached to the Greek church, and have priests to perform 
 for them its rites. Their names they take from the Old 
 Testament as a common ground between moslems and 
 
 * Chardin, vol. 1: p. 161. 
 
320 SECRET PROFESSORS OF CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 Christians. Though inclined to the opinion, that sincerity 
 even in a false faith is more favorable to the admission of 
 truth than hypocrisy or skepticism, I would still suggest, 
 that the cord which thus binds this people to the forms of 
 Christianity, may perhaps be advantageously seized by a 
 missionary to attach them to its spirit. No villages appear- 
 ed, and their light houses with shingled roofs were perched 
 separately along the declivities of the mountains. We 
 were informed that they are their winter residences, and 
 are in summer entirely deserted. The numerous khans 
 along the road, where they dispose of their produce to 
 caravans and travellers, were already all closed. 
 
 At half past 4 P. M. we reached the bottom of the 
 mountain, at a cluster of houses called Jevizlik, 6 hours 
 from Trebizond. It is the last spot in the pashalik of 
 Gumish-khaneh ; and was, I believe, the limit of the pro- 
 gress of the Russian arms toward Trebizond. Our siirijy, 
 who in fact was the owner of our horses and fearful that 
 we should ride them too far, after trying every expedient 
 during the day to retard our progress, now positively 
 declared that we should go no farther. Our arguments 
 had been already expended, and we told the tartar, that 
 for aught we cared the siirijy might stop, but with him 
 our distinct understanding was, that he should see us to 
 Trebizond to night. His tartar spirit was roused for the 
 first time during the journey, and putting spurs to our 
 horses we skimmed over the first two hours in one. Then 
 the poor siirijy, more alarmed than ever for his horses* 
 overtook us. But he was a Turk, and we had not mis- 
 judged that such a decided step would improve his tem- 
 per. We proceeded on in greater harmony and at a 
 rapid pace. Our road was good, and the aspect of the 
 country improved as we approached the city. The hou- 
 ses of the people were respectable, and on here and 
 there a height appeared a palace. The hills seemed to 
 
DESCRIPTION OF TREBIZOND. 321 
 
 possess an excellent soil, wild fig-trees marked a milder 
 climate, and the improved color of the bread, exposed 
 for sale in the shops, indicated an advance in civiliza- 
 tion. We reached Trebizond at 8 and a half P. M. and 
 were hospitably received and entertained during our stay 
 by the English consul, Mr. Brandt. 
 
 Trebizond was known to the Greeks by the name of 
 Trapezus, and according to them its foundation was laid 
 far back in the ages of fable. As one of the constellation 
 of Greek colonies which illuminated the southern coast of 
 the Euxine, it traced its origin to Sinope, the mother of 
 them all ; and Sinope claimed for its founder a member of 
 the expedition of the Golden Fleece. Four hundred years 
 before the Christian era, Xenophon found it inhabited by 
 Greeks, among whom he happily recruited his Ten Thou- 
 sand, worn out by their retreat of 1600 miles from the 
 plains of Babylon .* It was an important city of the Greek 
 empire of Constantinople, until the subjugation of that 
 empire by the crusaders left it independent. Then its 
 duke, already of the imperial family of Comneni by birth, 
 assumed to himself the dignity of emperor. His dominions 
 extended from Sinope to the Phasis, and his family reigned 
 more than 250 years, from the beginning of the thir- 
 teenth to the middle of the fifteenth century. Then it sub- 
 mitted to Mohammed Second, the conqueror of Constanti- 
 nople, and Trebizond has ever since formed an integral 
 part of the Turkish empire.f 
 
 It is prettily situated along an open shore, at the foot of 
 a hill, which rises behind and commands it, and intercepts 
 the view of mountains at a distance. Hardly any remains 
 of its ancient times appear, except perhaps the piers of a 
 harbor, now used only for kayilcs or small craft; and a 
 distant view left us doubtful whether even they are any 
 
 * Gillies' Hist, of Greece. Chap. 26. t Gibbon's Dec. and Fall, L. 61, 68. 
 
 vol. ii. 28* 
 
322 TRADE OF TREBIZOND. 
 
 thing but natural ledges of rocks just beneath the water. 
 Its present walls, or at least a part of them along the coast 
 now in a falling state, probably date back to the times of 
 the Comneni. Many of its inhabitants, especially the 
 Christians, live without the walls on the east ; and numer- 
 ous fruit trees among which their houses are interspersed 
 and almost hidden, surround them with rural charms. 
 The olive, grape, fig and orange find here a congenial 
 climate ; and the lemon too is cultivated with success, but 
 does not come to maturity in the open air. From the 
 warmth of the climate, fevers are not uncommon in the 
 autumn, but we did not learn that it is esteemed specially 
 unhealthy. The plague committed some ravages the last 
 year, and was said to exist at Jevizlik during our visit. 
 
 In trade Trebizond has long since eclipsed its parent 
 Sinope, and all its sister ports along the coast. It is now 
 the principal port on the southern shore of the Black sea, 
 and almost the only one visited by European vessels. Still 
 its harbor is bad and its trade small. Some vessels anchor 
 here in an open road on the east, and others for more secu- 
 rity stop at Platan a, some distance to the west. Six or 
 eight European vessels only were in port when we were 
 there, and that, I believe, was an unusual number. They 
 all come from Constantinople, and bring little besides salt, 
 and a few European goods for the Persian market. Hav- 
 ing discharged these they proceed to Redoot-kulaah, Tag- 
 anrog, Odessa, or elsewhere, for a return cargo, but rarely 
 find one here. Native vessels, however, often sail directly 
 for the capital. Of course, there is occasional communica- 
 tion with almost every important port in the Black sea 
 Besides the English consul already mentioned, who adds to 
 his official functions the employment of a merchant, there 
 is also a consul for the French, and another for the Sardin- 
 ian nations. Add to these the attaches of their consulates, 
 and hardly another European resident is found in the place. 
 
ITS POPULATION. 323 
 
 The Greeks, both here and in the interior, speak a cor- 
 rupt modern Greek. An Armenian of the place had told 
 us at Erzroom, that they amount in the city to 900 families ; 
 but a more credible informant on the spot assured us, that 
 they are only 500. They have nine parishes, with an arch- 
 bishop at their head, and some of their churches, which are 
 numerous, bear marks of a venerable antiquity. They had 
 had a grammar school of some respectability ; but two teach- 
 ers having died successively, not long since, it was not at 
 present in operation. — The Armenians, also, speak their own 
 language, and amount to 250 families. They are divided 
 into four parishes, with three or four churches, and a bish- 
 op, who commands also Giimish-khaneh. He was at the 
 latter place during our visit, and we failed of seeing him ; 
 but a letter from him to a protestant friend was shown us 
 afterward, which expressed any thing but a bigoted attach- 
 ment to his church. We heard of an Armenian school for 
 males, with about 150 children ; but none for females was 
 to be found, though a few females we were told can read, 
 and perhaps they occasionly teach a few others. — The 
 papal Armenians number from 80 to 90 families, and have 
 one church. They were formerly under the Armenians, 
 and their two priests were banished at the time of the per- 
 secution of their sect. One, however, remained in a 
 neighboring village, and he was now in town. Their pub- 
 lic services, as is the case with the papal Armenians 
 generally, are in their own ancient tongue, and their clergy 
 are of the Armenian nation, educated at Venice, or in 
 mount Lebanon, or, our informant added, at Mardin. No 
 papal convent exists in town, or in its vicinity ; nor are 
 there here any European papal priests. — The estimate of 
 moslem families given us varied from 3500 to 4500. Yet 
 our best informants considered the whole population of 
 Trebizond to be no more than 15000 souls. And our own 
 impression was, that the latter estimate cannot be far from 
 correct. 
 
324 GREEK AND ARMENIAN MOSLEMS 
 
 The head of the pashalik of which Trebizond is the cap- 
 ital, takes a respectable rank among the pashas of the em- 
 pire, and at present bears the title of ser-asker. His 
 province now extends, we were told, from Batoom to Baf- 
 fra on the coast, and reaches far enough inward to embrace 
 Kara-hisar. Being inhabited by a variety of rude people, 
 and abounding in mountain fastnesses, it formerly suffered 
 much from anarchy, and was infested with robbers. In 
 the country, a sort of nobility called dereli-begs, or valley- 
 lords, lorded it over the peasants, had constant feuds among 
 themselves, and despised the authority of the pasha. In 
 the city, assassinations were common, and perpetrated with 
 impunity. Even many of the boldest assassins and leaders 
 of insurrections in Constantinople have originated here. 
 Of course the capital is indebted to Trebizond for some of 
 its ablest men. One of the highest officers in the divan 
 has now a brother here, who is a common papoochjy, 
 or shoemaker, in the bazar. The present pasha, though a 
 dervish, and of course a bigot, has effectually put down or 
 destroyed the dereh-begs. 
 
 A majority of the peasants around Trebizond, we were 
 told, are of the Greek race and speak the Greek language. 
 Some have been already mentioned, who, though still se- 
 cretly Christians, profess the moslem religion. In the dis- 
 trict of Surmene also, near Oof, about 6 hours east of Trebi- 
 zond, are many Greek moslems. Of some 30 or 40 villa- 
 ges, perhaps three fourths of the inhabitants were formerly 
 of the Greek church. But being long ago reduced to des- 
 pair by the oppression of their Turkish masters, they em- 
 braced the Mohammedan faith. They still speak Greek. — 
 Among the Armenians, also, of whom there are some in the 
 pashalik out of the city, a considerable body profess Mo- 
 hammedanism. The district they inhabit is three or four 
 days east of Trebizond, in the interior between Rizeh and 
 Batoom. It is called Hamshen, we were told, and doubt- 
 
THE LAZ. 325 
 
 less it takes its name from the town of Hamshen, formerly 
 a place of some note in the ancient Armenian province of 
 Daik.* Our informant, a papal Armenian of Trebizond, 
 estimated its population at three or four thousand families, 
 inhabiting 70 or 80 villages. The greater part embraced 
 Mohammedanism some 200 years ago ; but they still speak 
 Armenian, and many of their women know no other lan- 
 guage. — These are believed to be unique cases in Turkey, 
 where members of a Christian nation have become mos- 
 lems, without being speedily so amalgamated with Turks or 
 Arabs, as to lose sight of their descent and forget their 
 national language. Long as Mohammedans have ruled 
 over Greeks and Armenians, national landmarks are yet 
 distinctly to be traced, and a body of Greek or Armenian 
 moslems is still an anomaly. How far might the parallel 
 be run between their case and that of the Jews ? 
 
 A prominent division of the inhabitants of the pashalik 
 are the Laz, or Lazians. They live east of the city, along 
 the coast and in the adjacent mountains, bordering upon 
 the frontier of Gooriel. According to the best information 
 we could obtain, they have no original language of their 
 own, but speak a kind of patois, which is a Mingrelian 
 dialect with a large mixture of Turkish. In religion they 
 are moslems, and strict adherents of the sunny sect. 'But,' 
 said a Turkish informant, ' we have a proverb, that as 
 among fruits the worst are cherdz (cherries); so among 
 moslems the worst are the Laz. They will at any time,' 
 he added, 'kill a man for an onion.' They are, in fact, 
 much despised by all their neighbors, and branded with 
 the reputation of being robbers, thieves and villains. 
 
 Before leaving Trebizond, I would say a word respecting 
 its suitableness for a missionary station. Were one estab- 
 lished, it would be rather a mission to Greeks, than to 
 Armenians. The large proportion of the former in the 
 
 * St. Mart. vol. 1 : p. 78. 
 
326 
 
 PROPOSED MISSION AT TREBIZOND. 
 
 city and in the country, you will have learned from what 
 has been already said. Whether a similar wakefulness of 
 mind would make them as promising subjects of improve- 
 ment as their countymen elsewhere, we did not learn ; but 
 we may naturally suppose it, for they are of genuine Greek 
 descent. Our accounts of the existence of their ancestors 
 on the southern shore of the Euxine, as an integral branch 
 of the Greek race, go as far back as we have any that are 
 authentic respecting Greece itself. How numerous may 
 be the relics of the other Grecian colonies along the coast 
 to the westward, we did not learn. But doubtless mission- 
 aries at Trebizond might extend their arms far and to 
 good effect in that direction. At Gumish-khaneh, too, in 
 the interior, an important branch might be established. 
 While, therefore, you plant missions in ancient Attica, 
 Argos, Ionia and Byzantium, let not the descendants of 
 the Argonauts be forgotten. 
 
 In reference to the Armenians, too, Trebizond would be 
 an important station. Twelve or thirteen hundred souls of 
 that people in the city itself ought not to be neglected. 
 But especially would it be valuable as a key to Armenia. 
 It is the nearest port to that country, and the only one by 
 which books and the various apparatus for intellectual and 
 moral improvement can be introduced. Should Erzroom 
 again become the centre of a numerous Armenian popula- 
 tion, as it doubtless will, and missions be established there 
 and around it, Trebizond must be necessarily occupied as 
 an intermediate station. Nor will its importance in a simi- 
 lar relation be hardly less, to a mission among the Nestori- 
 ans. Such a mission will absolutely require an agent, ei- 
 ther missionary or otherwise, at this port. Its vicinity to 
 Redoot-kulaah, the port of Georgia, and frequent commu- 
 nications with it, might make it important, also, in refer- 
 ence to any connection that may be formed with the mis- 
 sionaries in Russian Armenia. Nor perhaps would oppor- 
 
VOYAGE TO CONSTANTINOPLE. 327 
 
 tunities be wanting of sending out an occasional ray of 
 light to all the dark places around the eastern and northern 
 shores of the Black sea. — In reference to houses and other 
 conveniences for families, to society and opportunities for 
 communicating with home, the little we saw of it gave me 
 the impression, that it would not be far behind Beyroot, 
 when that place was first occupied by our missionaries. 
 
 Our old enemy, the ague and fever, which had visited 
 Mr. Dwight before our departure from Tebriz and again 
 at Erzroom, availed itself of our delay at Trebizond to 
 renew its attacks more violently upon us both, and indu- 
 ced a debility, which, added to the excessive tedium and 
 wearisomeness of long journeying by land, made us glad to 
 step upon the deck of a vessel and be carried passively on 
 our way. We embarked for Constantinople on the 14th of 
 May, on board a ship bearing the Austrian flag and belong- 
 ing to the port of Cattaro, on the eastern coast of the 
 Gulf of Venice. Her master and crew called themselves 
 Ulyrians. I had, on a former voyage, become acquainted 
 with some of the same race in sailing on board a vessel of 
 Ragusa, a port on the same coast farther to the north, and 
 well known in the Mediteranean for the number of its ships 
 and the nautical taste and enterprise of its inhabitants. They 
 were papists ; but our present captain was of the Greek 
 church, and we were interested to learn from him, that 
 nearly half of his fellow citizens are of the same faith. 
 The Austrian government, he assured us, makes no dis- 
 tinction between the two in their civil rights and privileges. 
 Their language he called Illyrian, and said its affinity to 
 that of the Russians is so close, that the two nations can 
 with little difficulty understand each other ; but it has no 
 resemblance to the Albanian. The books of his church, 
 he assured us, are in Illyrian, and are the same as the 
 Russian ; to go to a Russian church and to one of their 
 own is the same thing. The whole eastern coast of the 
 
323 VOYAGE TO CONSTANTINOPLE. 
 
 Gulf of Venice, together with Bosnia and Servia, is occu- 
 pied, he said, by the same Ulyrian race. He owned the 
 ship of which he was master, and had grown old in the 
 Black sea trade. 
 
 We found sailing in the Black sea very unpleasant, ow- 
 ing to the state of the atmosphere, and the constant 
 changeableness of the force and direction of the winds. 
 The sky was generally hazy and dark, and occasionally 
 discharged violent showers of rain ; and the wind would 
 vary almost instantaneously from a gale to a calm, and 
 change its course as suddenly. We made the mouth of 
 the Bosphorus at evening on the 24th of May, and cast 
 anchor opposite Boyuk-dereh, to wait for the light of day 
 to conduct us to Constantinople. In the morning a light 
 north wind aided the current in forwarding us onward, and 
 a clear sky advantageously exhibited the exquisite charms 
 of the scenery of the Bosphorus, ever varying as one view 
 after another was disclosed by the windings of the channel, 
 until the Seraglio point with all its splendor burst upon us. 
 After so long a familiarity with the sterile sunburnt hills of 
 Persia, and the bleak mountains of Armenia, followed by 
 the chilling fogs of the Euxine, such scenes were magically 
 enchanting — the pen refuses to portray the sensations 
 they excited. 
 
 At an early hour we anchored at the mouth of the Gold- 
 en Horn ; and soon had the pleasure of meeting again our 
 obliging countryman and friend, Mr. Walley, from whom 
 we had parted at Scutari just a year and four days before. 
 Compared with what we had seen to the east of it, Con- 
 stantinople seemed now to stand high in the scale of civili- 
 zation ; to find ourselves again within the reach of fellow- 
 countrymen and friends, was highly gratifying ; and not the 
 least of our enjoyments was that of hearing again from our 
 brethren. at Malta. Not a syllable had -reached us from 
 thence, nor from our friends at home since we were here 
 
RETURN TO MALTA. 329 
 
 before. In my companion the gratification was heightened 
 by the intelligence of the birth of a first-born son, now 
 several months old, of whose existence he had before had 
 no intimation. 
 
 We embarked again on the 4th of June, and touching 
 at Smyrna on our way, arrived safely at Malta on the 2nd 
 of July, after an absence of fifteen months and a half. — The 
 Lord had delivered us from all our fears. The forebodings 
 of misgiving nature or of wavering faith had not been real- 
 ized. In the midst of pestilence, among barbarous people, 
 and in inhospitable countries, the ' angel of the Lord had 
 encamped around about us for our deliverance,' and we 
 were brought back again in peace. Our friends had 
 been equally protected, and now affectionately welcomed us 
 again to their bosom. Letters awaited us from America, 
 also, and cheered us with the most gratifying intelligence of 
 what God was doing for our kindred and the churches of 
 our land. And in the fullness of our hearts, we blessed the 
 Lord, who had 'redeemed our life from destruction, and 
 crowned us with loving-kindness and tender mercies.' 
 
 In view of the extensive ground we have surveyed, a 
 few thoughts arise with which you will permit us to close 
 the report of our tour. Though our object has been spe- 
 cifically missionary, we have not refused to record, in our 
 progress, whatever of general interest has passed under our 
 observation; but in the end, our minds revert to one sub- 
 ject, to the neglect of every other, and that, we doubt not, 
 will be equally prominent in your own reflections. It is the 
 deeply affecting spiritual condition of the people we have vis- 
 ited, calling upon us to labor for their conversion to Christ. 
 
 Of those people, the nominal Christians have engrossed 
 the most of our attention. — To give them the same promi- 
 nence in your own, we might mention the name they bear 
 
 vol. ii. 29 
 
330 CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 — the same holy name by which we are called. It indi- 
 cates an affinity of origin, of the deepest interest : for we 
 have all sprung from the same vine ; they soon after it was 
 planted, and some of them perhaps while it was yet water- 
 ed by apostolical hands ; we after ' she had sent out her 
 boughs unto the sea and her branches unto the river/ 
 Long since indeed have they been cut off for their unfruit- 
 fulness, and cast out as ' an abominable branch.' But by 
 reason of this should not our hearts be still more deeply 
 affected on their account ? While ' the boar out of the wood 
 doth waste it, and the wild beast of the field doth devour 
 it;' ought we not to be moved to cry with the Psalmist, 
 " Return, we beseech the, O God of hosts, look down from 
 heaven, and behold, and visit this vine 1 " Is it nothing to 
 us that through their degeneracy ' the name of God continu- 
 ally every day is blasphemed among the Gentiles ? ' that 
 the religion we hold so dear, is made the hereditary scorn 
 of Mohammedans ? 
 
 But, of the considerations which above all others deserve 
 to be named, the first is, that they are in a perishing state. 
 Though called Christians, they are all out of the way, and 
 fatally so. Take the Armenians, as our report has exhib- 
 ited them to you, for an example. In what do they exem- 
 plify any of the genuine characteristics of true religion, if 
 we know at all what true religion is? Both in their views 
 and in their conduct we search for them in vain. Look at 
 the nature and manner of their religious worship, their 
 unscriptural perversion of the ordinances of the gospel, 
 their substituting a system of salvation by external ceremo- 
 nies for faith in the atoning blood of Christ and all the 
 evangelical doctrines which hinge upon it, and their at- 
 tempts at posthumous salvation. And add to this, the 
 hireling character and debasement of the clergy, the ex- 
 cessive ignorance and degradation of the great mass of 
 
CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS. 331 
 
 the laity, and the want of moral principle universally man- 
 ifested in conduct immoral or vicious. Surely if in them 
 we are to recognize one of the legitimate forms into which 
 genuine Christianity may throw itself, too much credit has 
 heretofore been given to the gospel as a refiner and purifier 
 of our nature. 
 
 The only apology that can be made for them is the stale 
 one, which would send to heaven in a mass all the nations 
 of the earth who ' have changed the truth of God into a 
 lie' — viz. that they are sincere. The sincerity of their faith 
 I would most fully allow. Judging from its effects, we 
 may well fear that it is more sincere than that of many 
 Christians among us ; for it has more influence upon their 
 conduct. But in what are they sincere 1 In believing that 
 they do what is right? that their daily conduct is pleasing 
 to God ? Far from it ; they know that they do wrong ; 
 that their conduct is sinful. Nor do I believe that the fol- 
 lowers of any false religion in the world are sincere in this 
 respect. So far as we have had opportunity to analyze 
 their sincerity, all are ready to confess that in many things 
 they offend God. They are sincere in believing that their 
 superstitious rites and ceremonies will cancel their sins. 
 But can such sincerity save them ? It is the very thing 
 that encourages them to indulge in sin. It makes them 
 feel secure in courses which they know to be wicked. It 
 leads them blindfold to perdition. 
 
 But, though they are in a perishing state, their rescue is 
 not to be despaired of. For, another consideration we 
 would suggest respecting them is, that their reformation is 
 practicable. It is so because the truth can be brought to 
 bear upon their minds. Christians in Mohammedan coun- 
 tries are accessible to missionaries. — In the Turkish empire, 
 may the missionary enter at every point and labor among 
 them, with no Turkish ruler disposed of himself to hinder or 
 
332 CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 make him afraid in so doing. Wherever he finds them, 
 may he plant the standard of the cross, and moslems, if left 
 to themselves, will look on with indifference. Only from 
 the Christians may opposition be expected to originate. 
 And thus far, we have reason to bless God, that the Orien- 
 tal churches have, with hardly an exception, been indis- 
 posed to resort to it. From papists, wherever we meet 
 them, opposition is to be expected. From them, it is be- 
 lieved, has arisen all that has been experienced. But they 
 are only a few hundred thousands, while their Oriental 
 brethren amount to millions. And the latter, wherever the 
 experiment has been tried, unless under papal influence, 
 allow us to instruct and enlighten them by schools, by cir- 
 culating Bibles and tracts, by religious conversation, and 
 expounding the Scriptures. Already are missions establish- 
 ed among them at several places ; other places have long 
 been known as presenting open doors for us; and our 
 present journey has added to the number of prospective sta- 
 tions, which can be immediately occupied to advantage. — 
 We have been led into Persia, also, and there likewise 
 have found a field ripe for the harvest. In view of what 
 has been already said respecting the Nestorians, we may 
 ask, what shall hinder us from preaching the gospel in 
 Persia also ? There lies, indeed, between it and Europe, 
 an inhospitable tract of country difficult to be passed. But 
 shall that be an insurmountable barrier to Christian be- 
 nevolence, which English travellers annually pass, for 
 wealth, for honor, or for curiosity? Let every Christian 
 blush for the weakness of his love to souls that will not 
 answer, No! 
 
 And when truth can thus be brought to bear upon the 
 mind, are we not, as Christians, bound to believe a 
 reformation to be practicable'? Every scriptural ground 
 of discouragement is removed. God's promises of a bless- 
 
CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS. 333 
 
 ing upon the preaching of his word are made applica- 
 ble ; and to be discouraged is to want faith in God. Be 
 it that obstacles to the triumph of truth, arising from 
 ignorance, from prejudice, or from bias to sin, are exceed- 
 ingly great, yet so long as the truth will be heard, the 
 power of God is pledged for its efficacy. And what other 
 encouragement has an evangelical minister of the gospel 
 anywhere 1 He can in no case change the heart. It is 
 his to use the means, and look to God by faith to give them 
 efficacy. Only one circumstance can clear the Christian 
 from the heavy charge of unbelief in being discouraged 
 from attempting the conversion of men in any part of the 
 world ; and that is, an impossibility, from whatever cause, 
 of bringing the means of grace to bear upon the mind. 
 Nay more, the same circumstance alone can clear him 
 from the heavier charge of disobedience to the command, 
 "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every 
 creature." It was only from those cities that would not 
 receive nor hear them, that the twelve were authorized to 
 depart, shaking off the dust of their feet against them. 
 Jonah was no more excusable for refusing to publish the 
 word of the Lord in the heathen Nineveh, than if he had 
 been ordered to preach it at Jerusalem. Oh! how many 
 like Jonah have there been in the church, shrinking from 
 that obedience to the command of their Savior, which 
 would long ere this have carried her triumphant over every 
 false religion to the final consummation of her glory ! Groan- 
 ing under God's curse upon them, how often has she been 
 tossed upon the billows of war and persecution, or, what is 
 not a less hindrance to her progress, been made to lie still 
 and decay in the dead calm of unevangelical formality ! 
 The remnants of her wreck are scattered through the 
 Mohammedan empires ; and her motionless frame lies rot- 
 ting upon Christian Europe ! May no disobedient Jonahs 
 
334 CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 bring curses like these upon our American Zion ! If we 
 shrink not from our duty to the world, she will glide safely 
 into the haven of millennial rest. 
 
 Another important consideration is, the relation in which 
 these nominal Christians stand toward Mohammedans. — 
 Their present influence is exceedingly to be deprecated. 
 The moslem has hitherto known Christianity only as 
 the religion of the Christians around him. And in such 
 a position are they placed by his oppressive laws, that in 
 all the associations of his earlier and his riper years, they 
 occupy the rank of despised inferiors. Such too, I am sor- 
 ry to say, is their conduct, that he has ever been able to 
 look upon the comparative practical effects of their Christ- 
 ianity and of his Mohammedanism with self-congratulation. 
 Never in the course of their history, have Mohammedans 
 been brought in contact with any form of Christianity that 
 was not too degenerate in its rites, its doctrines, and its ef- 
 fects to be worthy of their esteem. Preach to him Christ- 
 ianity, therefore, and the moslem understands you to invite 
 him to embrace a religion which he has always regarded as 
 beneath him, and as less beneficial than his own. 
 
 But their influence may be made to be as salutary as it is 
 now deleterious. Indeed the missionary, when he sees the 
 pecuniary oppressions, civil disabilities and systematic con- 
 tempt, to which, after centuries of unshaken endurance, they 
 still perse veringly submit for their religion, when a profes- 
 sion of Mohammedanism would at any moment bring relief 
 from them all ; and is led to wonder at the stedfastness 
 with which they have clung to the mere form of re- 
 ligion so long after they have lost its power ; will perceive 
 in it the orderings of a wise Providence, that a door might 
 be kept open through which missionaries may enter, and 
 plant the standard of the cross in the centre of the other- 
 wise impenetrable bulwarks within which Mohammedanism 
 
CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS. 335 
 
 has intrenched itself. If corrupt forms of Christianity have 
 prejudiced moslems against it, and the ungodly lives of its 
 professors give them complacency in their own corruptions, 
 present to them Christianity in its purity, exemplified in lives 
 of piety, and their apology for rejecting it must vanish; the 
 glory of their own religion must be turned into shame. 
 Let every missionary station raise up from the corrupt mass 
 of nominal Christians around it, a goodly number of true 
 followers of the Lamb, and it will be a city set on a hill 
 which cannot be hid, a light to lighten the gentiles also. 
 Had the churches of the East remained as when the apos- 
 tles planted them, how long since would Mohammedanism 
 have shrunk away from their holy contact? Or rather, 
 would it have ever existed 1 Restore to them their primi- 
 tive purity, therefore, and the prop upon which Mohammed- 
 anism has so long stayed itself is gone, and it must fall. 
 Remove it from the darkness, where like an unsightly- 
 weed it has grown so rankly, into the noontide blaze of 
 true religion, and it must wither and die. 
 
 Our encouragement is, that while 'the god of this world' 
 has so carefully defended this strong citadel of his dominions 
 on every other side, he has here left open a point of attack. 
 Mohammedan law denounces death without mercy upon 
 every apostate from Mohammedanism ; and wherever that 
 law is in force, direct attempts to make proselytes may nat- 
 urally be regarded as highly objectionable. But by laboring 
 among Christians, we gain an easy entrance into the heart 
 of our enemy's territory. And if the victory over the false 
 prophet is to be one of the most glorious in the final tri- 
 umphs of the Lamb, should not we deem 'ourselves happy 
 in being able to engage thus early and advantageously in 
 the contest, perhaps hard and long, from which it is to 
 result ? How different would have been the prospect had 
 Mohammedans exterminated instead of tolerating Chris- 
 
336 CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 tianity, in the regions which they conquered ! To be 
 sensible of the contrast, look along the whole coast of 
 northern Africa, where the flock once fed by Augustines 
 and Cyprians has so long been extinct, and a few foreigners 
 and Jews are now the only tangible population. The bear- 
 ing of our labors in Western Asia upon Mohammedanism, 
 increases inconceivably their importance ; and we look with 
 intense interest upon every new station that is formed, as 
 an additional intrenchment thrown up against the armies 
 of the false prophet. 
 
NOTE. 
 
 The value of foreign denominations of money, and meas- 
 ures of distance is generally explained in the body of the 
 work, where their names first occur. The reader, however, 
 may be liable to forget the explanations as he proceeds ; and 
 it has therefore been thought best to arrange them in the fol- 
 lowing table, for the sake of easy reference. 
 
 To prevent mistake, it is necessary to observe, that the 
 rate of exchange is liable to great and constant variations in 
 Turkey. The Spanish Dollar was worth 15£ Piastres when 
 we landed at Smyrna, and that rate is made the basis of the 
 following calculations. But the estimates thus formed would 
 not express the true value of Turkish money a year before, 
 nor at the present time. 
 
 A tabular view is subjoined, of the estimated distances be- 
 tween the principal places visited during the journey, beyond 
 Constantinople. It is calculated from minutes which were 
 kept of the length of each stage as it was travelled, and of 
 course does not aim at perfect accuracy. If two of the dis- 
 tances, which were passed over twice, be doubled, it gives 
 the estimated length of the whole journey. 
 
 MONEY. 
 
 Para, the smallest coin of Turkey, - - about £ ct. 
 Piastre (40 paras), the present unit in Turkish 
 
 currency, - - - - - - ff 6^ cts. 
 
 Silver Rouble or Manet, the Russian dollar, " 75 Cf 
 Ducat, a gold coin of Russia, equal to the ducat 
 
 of Holland, ------ "2,25 Cf 
 
 vol. ii. 30 
 
338 NOTE. 
 
 Abbas, a silver coin of Tiflis, > _ _ about 15 cfcg 
 Penabad, do. Shoosha, $ 
 
 Shahy, a Persian denomination, - - - " 1& <c 
 
 Sahib-koran, a Persian silver coin, - - " 30 " 
 
 Real, do. do. - - "35 " 
 
 Toman, a Persian gold coin, - - - " 3,00 " 
 
 MEASARES OP DISTANCE. 
 
 miles. 
 Hour of Turkey, --__-_ about 3 
 
 Verst of Russia, - - - - -- -"§ 
 
 Fursakh, or Aghaj of Persia, - - - - "4 
 
 DISTANCES TRAVELLED. 
 
 miles. 
 From Constantinople to Tokat - 474 
 
 From Tokat to Erzroom - 300 
 
 From Erzroom to Kars - - - - 108 
 
 From Kars to Tiflis - 1S2 
 
 From Tiflis to Shoosha - - - 120 
 
 From Shoosha to Nakhchevan - - 124 
 
 From Nakhchevan to Echmiadzin 96 
 
 From Nakhchevan to Khoy - 50 
 
 From Khoy to Tebriz 88 
 
 From Tebriz to Oormiah - 120 
 
 From Tebriz to Bayezeed - 164 
 
 From Bayezeed to Erzroom -..'"-- 147 
 
 From Erzroom to Trebizond - - 219 
 Making the whole distance travelled by land after 
 
 leaving Constantinople - 2408 
 
INDEX. 
 
 [Including a glossary of foreign words. 
 
 Abbas Mirza, character and government of, ii. 148. 
 
 Abgar, conversion of, i. 21. 
 
 Absolution, Armenian, ii. 108 — Nestorian, ii. 237, 259. 
 
 Aderbaijan, province of Persia, ii. 143 — Ex-bishop of, ii. 63 — Armen- 
 ians of, ii. 151 — Emigration from, ii. 62— Moslems of, ii. 163. 
 
 A g ho vans, or Albanians, account of, i. 282. 
 
 Aghtamar, Catholicos of, i. 37, 56. ii. 186. 
 
 Agn, orthodox Armenians of, ii. 274. 
 
 Agriculture, mode of, i. 178. ii. 20, 88, 179, 184. 
 
 Akhaltsikhe, brief account of, i. 173. 
 
 Ak-hisar, or Thyatira, i. 49. 
 
 Albanians, see Aghovdns. 
 
 Alphabet, Armenian, i. 25 — Georgian, i. 236- -Nestorian, ii. 212. 
 
 Amasia, i. 91. 
 
 Ararat, mount, i. 15, ii. 73, 80, 86, 270. 
 
 Aras, or Araxes, bridge over, i. 141 — valley of, ii. 79. 
 
 Ardashad, or Artaxata, i. 19. ii. 85. 
 
 Ardisher, ruins of Tovin at, ii. 86. 
 
 Ardzroonies, origin of, i. 18 — reign in Vasbooragan, i. 30™in Sebaste, 
 i. 102. 
 
 Armenia, position of, i. 14 — provinces of, i. 15 — boundaries of, i. 114, 
 196, 260. ii. 142, 185— ecclesiastical capital of, i. 36, 40. ii. 94. 
 
 Armenia Minor, extent and divisions of, i. 17—-proposed mission in, 
 i. 101. 
 
 Armenians, origin and history of, i. 16 — scattered, i. 41 — appearance of, 
 i. 140 — mercantile character of, i. 212 — number of, ii. 122. 
 
 Astrakhan, Armenian diocese of, i. 223. 
 
340 INDEX. 
 
 Baking, mode of in Armenia, ii. 40, 70. 
 
 Bakoo, i. 246, 285. 
 
 Baptism, by papal missionaries, i. 255 — Armenian mode and doctrine of, ii. 
 
 125, 126—Nestorian do. ii. 227, 236, 248. 
 Bayezeed, ii. 270. 
 Berdaah, remains of, i. 272. 
 Bessarabia, Armenian diocese of, i. 217. 
 Black sea, sailing in, ii. 328. 
 Boundaries, of Turkey and Russia, i. 177— of Russia and Persia, ii. 135 
 
 —of Persia and Turkey, ii. 269. 
 Bread, form of in Armenia, ii. 40. 
 Bridges, natural, ii. 23, 317. 
 Buffaloes, habits of, i. 77. 
 
 Caminiec, Armenian Colony of, i. 218. 
 
 Caravan-serai, a caravan-palace, see Khan. 
 
 Carnival, Armenian, ii. 231. 
 
 Carts, description of, in Armenia, i. 117. 
 
 Castor oil, use of, in lamps, ii. 78. 
 
 Catholicos, Armenian, at Echmiadzin ; his festival, ii. Ill — origin of 
 
 his see, i. 40 — his clerical rank, ii. 31 — general account of, ii. 114 — (See 
 
 Aghtamdr, Kdntsasar, and Sis,) — Georgian, i. 237, 243 — Imire- 
 
 tian,\. 249— Nestorian, ii. 203, 222, 238. 
 Caucasus, independent tribes of, i. 250 — missions in, i. 252. 
 Cemeteries, Armenian, i. 128. 
 Ceremonial purity, Armenian and moslem ideas of, ii. 81— in Persia, 
 
 ii. 169, 172, 183, 285. 
 Chai, a river. 
 Chaldeans, visit to, in Saunas, ii. 186 — in Oormiah, ii. 246- -argument 
 
 with, ii. 250. 
 Cholera, ravages of, i. 262, 269, 275. 
 Christmas, time of, among die Armenians, ii. 156— among the Nestorians, 
 
 ii. 249, 
 Church, Armenian, origin of, i. 21, 23. ii. 290— heresy of, i. 27. ii. 275 
 
 — divisions of, i. 36, 40 — officers of, see Clergy — lay influence in, 
 
 i. 63. ii. 43 — services of, i. 180 — sacraments of, ii. 126 — established in 
 
 Turkey, See Patriarch — how assimilated to the papal church ii. 290 — 
 
 capitals of, see Catholicos. 
 Church-books, Armenian, i. 181 note— Chaldean, ii. 191— Nestorian, ii. 
 
 213 note, 256, 259. 
 Churches, Armenian, description of, i. 152, 180, 225. ii. 96— Nestorian, 
 
 ii. 210. 
 Cilicia, Armenian kingdom in, i. 34. 
 Circumcision, rejected by the Nestorians, ii. 228. 
 
INDEX. 341 
 
 Clergy, Armenian, orders of, ii. 29 — monastic, id. — parochial, ii. 42— 
 Nestorian, general account of, ii. 221, 238, 245, 255, 260 — Moslem, 
 
 i. 291. 
 Climate, of Erzroorn, i. 136 — of Kars, i. 162 — of Gerger, i. 190, 193, 
 
 195— change of on entering Georgia, i. 196— of Tiflis, i. 205 — in Kara- 
 
 bagh, ii. 54— from Tebriz to Chiftlik, ii. 309— of Trebizond, ii. 322. 
 Coffee-house, Turkish, description of, i. 52. 
 Colchis, view of, i. 246. 
 
 Colonies, mission, reason of, in Russia, i. 301—see German. 
 Comana Pontica, site of, i. 103, 99 note. 
 
 Communion, Armenian, ii. 103— Nestorian, ii. 229, 237, 247, 251, 262. 
 Confession, Armenian, ii. 105— Nestorian, ii. 226, 237, 247, 250, 259. 
 Confirmation, not practised by the Mingrelians, i. 249 — nor by the Nes- 
 
 torians, ii. 227, 228 — how performed among the Armenians, ii. 126. 
 Consecration of churches, a Nestorian sacrament, ii. 231, 236. 
 Constantinople, arrival at, i. 53 — residence at, i. 71 — climate of, i, 72 
 
 — why called Istambool, i. 75 note. 
 Convents, Armenian, account of, ii. 28 — Nestorian, ii. 223, 246. 
 Cossacks, character of, i. 192 — stations of, i. 197. 
 Costume, change of, on leaving Turkey, i. 179 — variety of, in Tiflis, i. 206 
 
 — of the Nestorian clergy, ii. 245. 
 Cotton, cultivation of, ii. 58, 78 — how cleaned, ii. 248. 
 Creed, Armenian, i. 182 — Nicene, ii. 98. 
 Cross, Armenian adoration of, i. 157. ii. 112, 128 — sign of, i. 159. ii. 27 
 
 — Nestorian veneration of, ii. 210, 255 — sign of, ii. 225. 
 Cyrus, river, see Koor. 
 
 Dagh, a mountain. 
 
 Datev, river of, ii. 22, 56 — convent of, ii. 24, 28 — village of, ii. 39. 
 Derbend, a guard-house, i. 95 — town of, i. 246, 2S5. ii. 68. 
 Dervish, a moslem devotee. 
 Dioceses, Armenian, number of, ii. 122. 
 
 Dishonesty of moslems and Armenians, i. 213, 290. ii. 10, 153, 168. 
 Divorces, moslem, i. 289 — Armenian, ii. 51 — Nestorian, ii.231. 
 Domestic state and manners of moslems, i. 135, 289. ii. 70*— of Armen- 
 ians, i. 293. ii. 50— of Nestorians, ii. 248— of Kurds, ii. 300. 
 
 Echmiadzin, visit to, ii. 92— influence of, i. 321. 
 
 Education, Armenian, earliest notices of, i. 25— view of the present 
 state of, i. 293 — how esteemed, i. 294. ii. 13, 81 — no improvements in, 
 i. 65, 219— in convents, ii. 34— in Georgia, i. 210, 243— in Colchis, 
 i. 249— Moslem, in the Russ. prov. i. 288, 308— in Persia, ii. 164— 
 Chaldean, ii. 190— Nestorian, ii. 220, 240, 246— no means of, ii. 256, 
 VOL. II. 31 
 
342 INDEX. 
 
 El Koosh, infected with papacy, ii. 206, 219, 242. 
 
 Emigration, Armenian, from Turkey; Turkish account of, i. 132 — 
 
 effects of, i. 142— Armenian account of, i. 120, 147. ii. 274, 289— facts 
 
 respecting, i. 164 — appearance of emigrants, i. 140 — fromPersia, ii. 62. 
 English, reputation of in Armenia, i. 145 — embassy in Persia, ii. 142. 
 Erivan, ii. 89. 
 
 Erzroom, visits to, i. 124. ii. 303 — sanjaks in the pashalik of, ii. 309. 
 Eucharist, Nestorian, ii. 228, 237, 247, 259, 260 — Armenian, see Mass. 
 Euphrates, northern branch of, i. 115, 122. ii. 307 — eastern branch of, 
 
 ii. 172. 
 Extreme unction, not practised in Colchis, i. 249—nor by the Nestori- 
 
 ans, ii. 227, 236«-when performed by the Armenians, ii. 127 — when 
 
 introduced, ii. 294. 
 
 Faith, Armenian idea of, ii. 124. 
 
 Fasts, Armenian, rules respecting, i. 155 — practice respecting, ii. 49, S7 
 
 — Moslem, see Ramadan — Nestorian, ii. 208, 235, 249. 
 Female education, Armenian, i. 294, 314 — moslem, i. 288. ii. 165 — 
 
 Georgian, i. 243— Nestorian, ii. 220. 
 Fire-worshipers, under the Sassanidee, i. 24— -now extant, i. 285. 
 Food, of Armenian peasants, ii. 49 — of Kurds, ii. 300. | 
 Fruit, want of in western Armenia, i. 136, 195 — kinds of on the Aras, ii. 
 
 61, 90— in Aderbaijan, ii. 194 — in the mountains of Pontus, ii. 312 — 
 
 at Trebizond, ii. 320. 
 Fuel of Armenia, i. 121. ii. SO. 
 
 Ganjeh, i. 245, 270, 286. 
 
 Georgia, extent and divisions of, i. 234 — climate of, i. 196, 205 — Armen- 
 ians of, i. 221. 
 Georgians, origin and history of, i. 233 — present number and condition 
 
 of, i. 241 — church of, its origin, i. 236 — present state of, i. 243. 
 German colonies, i. 264, 230 — mission at Shoosha; residence at, i, 
 276 — general account of, i. 301 — effort of, in Turkey, i. 137 — among 
 the Kurds, ii. 83. 
 Government, of the trans- Caucasian provinces, i. 209 — of Persia, ii. 
 
 149, 177, 190, 242. 
 Greeks, iu Turkish Armenia, i. 130, 146, 152 — in the Russian provinces, 
 
 i. 199— in Pontus, ii. 313, 316, 323. 
 Gregory, the Illuminator of the Armenians, i. 23— veneration of, ii. 83. 
 Guebres; see Fire-worshipers. 
 Gumish-khaneh, ii. 315. 
 Gymnasium, Armenian, at Moscow, i. 224. 
 
 Haji seid, sickness at, ii. 140. 
 
INDEX. 343 
 
 Hakary, a country in Kurdistan, ii. 217, 253. 
 
 HIsar, a fortification. 
 
 Honey, poisonous, of Trebizond, ii. 317. 
 
 Hospitality, rare instances of, ii. 53, 287 — pretended, i. 109, 121— want 
 
 of in Persia, ii. 57, 179, 182, 185. 
 Houses, under-ground, i. 268 — of mud, ii. 61, 145 — of a prince, ii. 18 — 
 
 of an Armenian, ii. 40 — of a moslem, ii. 70 — of a Nestorian, ii. 248. 
 
 Illyrians, facts respecting, ii. 327. 
 
 Image-worship, practised by the Armenians, i. 229. ii. 112 — rejected 
 
 by'the Nestorians, ii. 213, 236, 252. 
 Indulgences, rejected by the Armenians, ii. 163. 
 Intemperance, moslem, i. 82. ii. 171 — Armenian, i. 188— Georgian, i. 
 
 215— Chaldean, ii. 199. 
 Isnikmid, or Nicomedia, i. 75. 
 
 Jerusalem, Armenian patriarchate of, i. 40, 62. Armenian convent of St- 
 James at, i. 45, 63. ii. 120. 
 
 Jews, at Akhaltsikhe, i. 173 — in Colchis and Georgia, i. 247— in the re- 
 gion of Armenia, ii. 66 — in Persia, ii. 195. 
 
 Kantsasar, catholicos of, i. 281. 
 
 Kara, black. 
 
 Kara-bagh, i. 279,281. 
 
 Kars, plain of, i. 151, 175— city of, i. 162. 
 
 Keleeseh, a church, ii, 268. 
 
 Ket-khoda, or Kdkhia, a majordomo, literally a lord of a village. 
 
 Khan, or caravan-serai, description of, i. 131. ii. 58. 
 
 Khar a j, a capitation tax paid in Turkey by those vjho are not moslems. 
 
 Khor-virab, place of St Gregory's imprisonment, ii. 84. 
 
 Khoy, plain of, ii. 137— city of, ii. 138, 266. 
 
 Kochannes, residence of Mar Shimon, ii. 217, 253. 
 
 Kooba, i. 246, 285. ii. 68. 
 
 Koor, river of, i. 204— valley of, i. 261, 271. 
 
 KoY, a village. 
 
 Kulaah, a fortress. 
 
 Kurds of Kara-bagh, ii. 82 — Scriptures for, ii. 189 — boundaries of their 
 
 country, ii. 267, 301 — incivility of, ii. 273— predatory habits of, ii. 282 
 
 — treatment by, at Dahar, ii. 299. 
 
 Language of moslems in the Russian provinces, i. 28S, 308 — of the Ar- 
 menians, i. 29S — of the Persians, ii. 163 — of the Nestorians, ii. 211, 
 241, 250. 
 
 Laz, character of, ii. 325. 
 
344 INDEX. 
 
 Leaven, sacred, a Nestorian sacrament, ii. 228, 236. 
 
 Leopol, Armenian colony of, i. 218 note. 
 
 Libraries, private, moslem, i. 289 — Armenian, i. 298 — in convents, ii. 28, 
 
 131 — none among the Nestorians, ii. 256. 
 Lying, among Armenians and moslems, ii. 9 — Nestorians, ii. 244. 
 
 Magoo, ii. 82. 
 
 Maize, cultivation of, ii. 319. 
 
 Manuscripts, Georgian, i. 236 note — Nestorian, ii. 256. 
 
 Mar Shimon, Nestorian patriarch, ii. 207- -see Patriarch. 
 
 Marriage, Georgian, early, i. 242 — Armenian, age required, ii. 51 — 
 prohibited degrees of affinity, ii. 36 — of the clergy, ii. 29, 43 — a sacra- 
 ment, ii. 126— Nestorian, ii. 231 — of the clergy, ii. 222, 259. 
 
 Mass, Armenian, description of, ii. 97 — duty of priests, ii. 45 — for the 
 dead, i. 171 — Nestorian, see Eucharist. 
 
 Mediators, acknowledged by the Armenians, i.^184, 324, ii. 15 — by the 
 Nestorians, ii. 214. 
 
 Meiron, consecrated oil, ii. 118, 127. 
 
 Melik, an Armenian prince, ii. 19, 86. 
 
 Menzil-khaneh, a post-house. 
 
 Mihmandar, management of, ii. 267, 269. 
 
 Mills, floating, at Tiflis, i. 205. 
 
 Mises, salt, in Armenia, ii. 66 — silver, at Giimish-khaneh, ii. 314. 
 
 Missions, conversations respecting, i. 222. ii. 27, 130, 242 — in mount 
 Caucasus, i. 252 — proposals respecting, at Tokat, i. 101 — in the Russ. 
 prov. i. 327 — in Persia, ii. 263 — at Trebizond, ii. 325 — why not at 
 Erzroom. ii. 306 — concluding reflections respecting, in Western Asia, 
 ii. 329 — of the Russians, i. 223, 253 — see German, and Papal. 
 
 Mohammedanism, account of, in the Russian provinces, i. 290 — temporal 
 influence of, i. 78. 
 
 Mollah, title of a moslem priest. 
 
 Monophysitism of tlie Armenians, i. 27. ii. 274. 
 
 Morals, in Georgia, i. 211 — in Colchis; 249— among moslems, r. 290 — 
 among Armenians, ii. 152 — in convents, ii. 33. 
 
 Mosks, visit to, in Erzroom, ii. 304. 
 
 Moslems, of the Greek nation, ii. 324 — of the Armenian nation, id. — ac- 
 count of, in theRuss. provinces, i. 286 — missions among, i. 137, 306 — 
 good works of, i. 86. ii. 298— see Persians, and Turks. 
 
 Mutsellim, a governor of a city. 
 
 Nakhchevan, ii. 60. 
 
 Nargeely, a Turkish water-pipe. 
 
 Nerses Shnorhaliji i. 159 note — former archbishop of Tiflis, i. 216. 
 
INDEX. 345 
 
 Nestorians, history of, ii. 201 — visit to, in Oormiah, ii. 207 — name of, 
 ii. 215, 242 — number of, see Patriarch— how received by, ii. 233, 234, 
 244 — political condition of, ii. 242, 255, 258— in the mountains of 
 Kurdistan, ii. 217, 253 — emigrants on the Terter, i. 273. 
 
 Nicomedia, see Isnikmid. 
 
 Niksar, or Neocesarea, i. 104. 
 
 Nomads, in the valley of the Koor, i. 286 — in Persia, ii. 164— customs of. 
 ii. 282— see Kurds. 
 
 Nooni, St. ii. 92, i. 236. 
 
 Nunneries, Armenian, i. 221, 281, ii, 38 — Nestorian, ii. 246. 
 
 Oil, consecrated, a Nestorian sacrament, ii. 231, 236 — see Meiron. 
 Oodi, supposed remains of, i. 272. 
 
 Oormiah, lake of, ii. 183— plain of, ii. 233, 254— town of, ii. 243. 
 Oppression, of the Armenians, i. 144, 152 — of the Nestorians, see Nes- 
 
 torians. 
 Ordination, Armenian, ii. 31, 117, 159— Nestorian, ii. 221, 239, 259. 
 Orpelians, origin of, i. 235 — family of, now at Datev, ii. 24. 
 Orthodox Armenians, ii. 274— Syrians, ii. 275 note — Nestorian ideas of 
 
 the twelve sects, ii. 230, 239. 
 Ovens, see Tannoor. 
 Oxen, used as beasts of burden, ii. 88. i. 161. 
 
 Pakradians, origin of, i. 19 — reign in Armenia, i. 29 — reign in Georgia, 
 i. 237 — a descendant of, now in Persia, ii. 192. 
 
 Papal Armenians, persecuted in Turkey, i. 60. ii. 289 — now establish- 
 ed, i. 60 — present number of, in the region of Armenia, ii. 288, 290. 
 
 Papal Missions, in Armenia, formerly seated at Erzroom, i. 129---extinct 
 at Kars, i. 173 — view of in Georgia, at Akhaltsikhe, and in Imireti, i. 
 253 — in mount Caucasus, i. 252 — extinct in Mingreli, i. 255 — and in 
 Shirwan, i. 321 — also at Nakhchevan and Erivan, ii. 62, 91 — languish- 
 ing in Persia, ii. 191 — remains of, at Mollah Soleiman, ii. 288. 
 
 Papists, influence of, upon missions, i. 321 — upon the Armenian church, 
 ii. 293 — how regarded by the Nestorians, ii. 240, 250. 
 
 Pasha, a governor of a Turkish province. 
 
 Pashalik, aprovince governed by a pashd. 
 
 Pasin, statistics of, i. 146. 
 
 Patriarch, Armenian, of Constantinople; origin of his see, i. 40 — gene- 
 ral view of, i. 53 — see Jerusalem — Chaldean, ii. 187,188 — JVestorian, 
 origin and residence of, ii. 203, 205 — Mar Elias, a papist, see El 
 Koosh — Mar Shimon, origin of, ii. 206 — visit his flock, ii. 207 — num- 
 ber of Nestorians subject to him, ii. 218 — inaccessible, ii. 242. 
 
 Penance, Armenian, ii. 161 — see Confession. 
 
 Persians, tribes of, ii. 163— character of, ii. 165. 
 VOL. II. 31* 
 
346 INDEX. 
 
 Piety, want of among the Armenians, i. 312. 
 
 Pilgrimages, ii. 109. 
 
 Pledge, custom of, ii. 10. 
 
 Ploughs, description of, i. 178, ii. 88. 
 
 Post establishment, Turkish, i. Ill— Russian, i. 174, 197 — post-houses, i. 
 
 197, 271— post-wagons, i. 200. 
 Preaching, Armenian, duty of vartabeds, ii. 30, 33 — not of priests, ii. 
 
 45— character of, i. 223. ii. 37 — instances of, i. 324, 157 — Nestorian, 
 
 ii. 221, 241. 
 Printing presses, Armenian, at Constantinople, i. 67— at Tiflis, i. 220 
 
 — at Astrakhan, i. 224 — at Moscow, i. 225— general view of, i. 297 — 
 
 missionary, i. 318. 
 Purgatory, see Spirits. 
 Purification, festival of, ii. 155. 
 
 Quarantine, pretended, ii. 161, 274 — mode of at Gerger, i. 190. 
 
 Ramadan, a Mohammedan lunar month devoted to fasting, ii. 172, 
 177. 
 
 Rayah, a name given to all subjects of Turkey who are not Moham- 
 medans, literally a flock. 
 
 Republic, ideas respecting, ii. 14. 
 
 Regeneration, Armenian ideas of, ii. 125 — Nestorian do. ii. 225, 236. 
 
 Rice, cultivation of in the valley of the Aras, ii. 78. 
 
 Robbers, a resort of, i. 115. ii. 308 — precautions against, ii. 267, 271. 
 
 Russians, first view of, i. 122 — invasion and battles of, in Turkey, i. 124, 
 150 — their soldiery, i. 192 — manner of their occupyingGeorgia, i. 240 
 — the valley of the Koor, i. 245 — and Colchis, i. 247— police of, i. 207 
 provincial government of, i. 209 — influence of, i. 210. 
 
 Sabbath, observance of at Tiflis, i. 231 — by the Armenians, i. 179. ii. 
 
 55, 114— when begin, ii. 130, 209. 
 Sacraments, Armenian, ii. 126 — Nestorian, ii. 226, 236. 
 Sacrifices, moslem, i. 97 — Armenian, i. 172 — of the mass, ii. 102 — 
 
 Nestorian, ii. 216. 
 Saints, Armenian, relics of, ii. 92 — see Mediators, Gregory, and Virgin 
 
 Nestorian veneration of, ii. 214, 236 — a moslem saint, i. 79. 
 S almas, plain of, ii. 185, 193— city of, ii. 194. 
 Salvation, Armenian ideas of the conditions and way of, ii. 125, 160 — 
 
 Nestorian do. ii. 225. 
 Sanjak, a district or division of a pashalik, literally a banner. 
 School-books, Armenian, i. 65, 100 296, 318. 
 Schools, Armenian, at Smyrna, i. 45 — at Constantinople, i. 65 — at 
 
 Tokat, i. 100 — at Erzroom, Kars, and Bayezeed discontinued, i. 128, 
 
INDEX. 347 
 
 167, ii. 270 — at Tiflis — i. 218 — general view of, in Armenia, i. 295 — 
 at Tebriz, ii. 154 — at Trebizond, ii. 223 — of the Sboosha mission, i. 
 314— Moslem, i. 288, ii. 80, 165— Nestorian, ii. 220, 240, 246. 
 
 Scriptures, how received by Turks and Persians, i. 137, ii. 170 — few 
 among the Armenians, i. 319— fewer among the Nestorians, ii. 256 — 
 how regarded by Armenians, i. 313 — by Nestorians, ii. 252 — transla- 
 tions of, i. 319, ii. 189. 
 
 Serope, bishop of Astrakhan, i. 222. 
 
 Shamkor, ancient pillar at, i. 269. 
 
 Sheet, a heretical moslem, of the sect of Aly dominant in Persia. 
 
 Sheky, i. 246, 284. 
 
 Shepherds, see Nomads. 
 
 Shir wan, i. 246, 284, 2S6. 
 
 Shoosha, delay at, i. 274 — description of, i. 279 — siege of, i. 305. 
 
 Simony, Armenian, ii. 36, 118— Nestorian, ii. 223, 238. 
 
 Sis, Armenian Catholicos of, i. 36, 40, 55. 
 
 Sivas, brief account of, i. 102. 
 
 Slave-trade, in Georgia and Colchis, i. 174, 242, 249. 
 
 Smyrna, i. 44. 
 
 Spirits of the dead, Armenian doctrine and practice respecting, i. 167, 
 ii. 276— Nestorian do, ii. 215, 250. 
 
 Springs, mineral, i. 114, 123, 139, 189, 205, ii. 317. 
 
 Stables, description of, i. 118— lodging in, i. 146, 179, ii. 137, 288— 
 sickness in, ii. 140. 
 
 Sunik, diocese of, ii. 25. 
 
 Sunny, an orthodox moslem, of the sect dominant in Turkey. 
 
 Superstition, instances of, among moslems, i. 90, ii. 71, 81, 300 — Arme- 
 nians, ii. 81, 131, 155— Nestorians, ii. 249, 257. 
 
 Surijy, a Turkish postillion, i. 111. 
 
 Syriac language spoken by the Nestorians, ii. 212. 
 
 Syrians, orthodox, ii. 275 note — Jacobite not found in Persia, ii. 215 — 
 • Nestorian, see Nestorians. 
 
 Tannoor, a cylindrical oven in the ground, ii. 40, 70. 
 
 Tartar, a Turkish courier, office of, i. 112— habits of, i. 92, 110, 119 
 
 — manner of travelling with, i. 83, 85 — contract with ours, i. 72— his 
 
 deception, i. 84, 109. 
 Tateos Arakeal, convent of, ii. 63. 
 Tebriz, description of, ii. 143. 
 Tenure of land, in Turkish Armenia, i. 160— in the Russian provinces, 
 
 i. 286— in Persia, ii. 177. 
 Thyatira, see Ak-hisdr. 
 
 Tiflis, description of, i. 202— statistics of, i. 211, 221, 244. 
 Tokat, i. 97. 
 
348 INDEX. 
 
 Toleration in Turkey, i. 60. ii. 331— in Russ. prov. i. 210, 288 — in 
 
 Persia, ii. 151, 173, 178, 264. 
 Trade, of Tokat, i. 99— of Erzroom, i. 130, ii. 303— of Tiflis, i. 214— 
 
 of Tebriz, ii. 146— of Trebizond, ii. 322— Armenian taste for, i, 212. 
 Trans-Caucasian provinces, i. 209. 
 Transubstantiation, Armenian belief in, ii. 102 — Nestorian do. ii. 
 
 229, 238. 
 Travelling, accoutrements for, i. 72 — mode of, see Tartar, Post, Carts, 
 
 &c. — accommodations in, see Post-houses, Stables, Houses, &c. 
 Trebizond, ii. 321. 
 
 Trees, want of in Armenia, i. 175. ii. 53, 308. 
 Trisagion, explanation of, ii. 276. 
 Turkmans, origin of, i. 38 — met none in Asia Minor, i. 113 — few in 
 
 Armenia, i. 151 — in Persia, ii. 163. 
 Turks, haughtiness of, i. 94. ii. 166 — vanity of, i. 107 — of Erzroom, i. 
 
 133 — a venial one, i. 163 — prejudice of, against the S. S. i. 137. ii. 170. 
 
 Uch-keleeseh, or Soorp Garabed, ii. 273 — see Echmiadzin. 
 
 Van, facts respecting, i. 17. ii. 186. 
 
 Vartabed, title of an Armenian monk in priest's orders, ii. 30. 
 Venice, papal Armenian convent at, i. 256. 
 Viaticum, held essential by the Armenians, ii. 103, 125. 
 Virgin, how venerated by the Armenians, i. 324. ii. 15, 124, 160 — by the 
 Nestorians, ii. 201, 214, 249. 
 
 Wedding, Turkish procession of, i. 76 — Chaldean, ii. 196. 
 
 Wekeel, a vicar, or lieutenant. 
 
 Women, Armenian, condition of, ii. 50 — see Female. 
 
 Worship, Armenian, mode of, i. 227 — nature of, i. 153, 181, 229 — 
 which way directed, ii. 130 — attendance at, ii. 56 — in families, ii. 27 
 —Protestant, i. 230— Moslem, ii. 72— Chaldean, ii. 191— Nestori- 
 an, ii. 209, 235, 246, 255, 260— in families, ii. 249. 
 
 Yezeedies, at the foot of mount Ararat, ii. 270. 
 Yoghoort, sour curdled milk. 
 
 END OF VOL. II.