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PREFACE
PREFACE
This book contains the account of two separate journeys in Armenia, the first extending from August 1893 to March 1894, and the second from May to September 1898. Before embarking upon them, I was already familiar with the contiguous countries, having spent a considerable portion of the years 1889 and 1890 in Mesopotamia and Persia. The routes shown in my map from Aleppo to Diarbekr and down the Tigris, and from Batum across Georgia and the Caspian to Resht, were taken during the course of these
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LIST OF MAPS AND PLANS
LIST OF MAPS AND PLANS
For the topography and antiquities of Trebizond I would refer the student who may be desirous of going more closely into the subject to the following works:—Ritter, Erdkunde von Asien , vol. xviii. pp. 852 seq. ; and in particular to the following authorities, cited by Ritter, viz. Travels of Evliya , translated by von Hammer, London 1850, vol. ii. pp. 41 seq. ; Tournefort, Voyage du Levant , Paris 1717, vol. ii. pp. 233 seq. ; Hamilton, Researches in Asia Minor, etc. , London 1842, vol. ii. app
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SUPPLEMENTARY NOTE
SUPPLEMENTARY NOTE
The successors of Laskaris fought their way back to Constantinople, which was recovered from the Latin barons in 1261. A much less splendid fate was reserved for the family of Alexius Comnenus; yet the little empire on the Black Sea survived the restored Byzantine Empire; and a space of nearly a hundred years separates the fall of the last of the Greek cities of the interior (conquest of Philadelphia by the Sultan Bayazid in 1390) from the overthrow of the rule of the Comneni at Trebizond (1461)
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CHAPTER II ASCENT TO ARMENIA
CHAPTER II ASCENT TO ARMENIA
August 22. —Rain was falling as we slowly steamed away from the station; it is almost always raining at Batum. The clouds cannot leap the gigantic bulwark of the mountains at this south-eastern angle of the sea; they cling to the fir-clad slopes or put out hands and scale the escarpments until they become exhausted and dissolve. The town was soon behind us as we wound along the foot of the range on the narrow respite of the shore—Batum, with her grim defiance of the written law of Europe, with h
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CHAPTER III TO AKHALTSYKH
CHAPTER III TO AKHALTSYKH
Where were the villages? For it seemed that there must be inhabitants who had gathered this scanty harvest and ploughed the surface of the darker soil. They select the slope of a hill or the rise of an undulation; the door and front of their dwellings are alone visible, the back is caverned into the shelving ground; you must pass close to such a settlement and by daylight to notice the incidence of a human element in the scene. We came upon four villages of this pattern before the mid-way statio
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CHAPTER IV TO AKHALKALAKI
CHAPTER IV TO AKHALKALAKI
The weather was delightful; a cool air, a brilliant sun, a few white clouds floating in the blue. Eagles, a small species, circled against the heaven or alighted on grisly crags. The sides of these low mountains are composed of a lava, dry and barren, which in places is disposed in layers of conglomerate, like the masonry of a Cyclopean wall. We passed the seventh verst-stone from Akhaltsykh, having covered over 4½ miles. A short space further and we were opposite a Georgian village, placed on t
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CHAPTER V AT AKHALKALAKI
CHAPTER V AT AKHALKALAKI
Akhalkalaki has belonged to Russia since the campaign of 1828, when it was taken under Marshal Paskevich by assault. It was not the first time that Russian troops had entered the fortress; it had fallen in 1812 to the arms of General Kutlerusky, who marched from Gori and took the garrison by surprise. In the time of Paskevich the defenders were a determined body of men, recruited from among the most warlike of the inhabitants of these countries, and serving in their own land and under their own
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CHAPTER VI PROSPECT FROM ABUL
CHAPTER VI PROSPECT FROM ABUL
Horses were impressed on the morning after our arrival to take us to the foot of the higher slopes. We were informed that it was necessary to make the half-circuit of the mountain and to start climbing on the eastern side. But why reject the tempting gradients of the nearer western slope, sweeping towards you with a succession of harmonious curves? Yet where obtain a satisfactory answer to this question? The actual experiment might involve the loss of a day. So we bowed to the decision of our na
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CHAPTER VII GORELOVKA AND QUEEN LUKERIA
CHAPTER VII GORELOVKA AND QUEEN LUKERIA
To Sembat the Russian colonists were an object of peculiar interest, not indeed in the same capacity in which they appealed to the Governor, but by reason of the kind of religion which they professed. Here was a people who, like himself, were exiles for the sake of religion, who resembled, in their aversion to the trammels of ecclesiasticism, the congregations in whose bosom he had himself been reared. The history of the Dukhobortsy or Dukhoborians—I became familiar with the latter termination,
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CHAPTER VIII TO ALEXANDROPOL
CHAPTER VIII TO ALEXANDROPOL
For myself, I could not sleep, for all the comfort of my camp bed, and memories of sound slumbers which it evoked. Was it the grave faces of the Russian peasants and the strange irony of their history and circumstances that haunted and kept the mind strung? Or were the senses fluttering under the presence of the fair woman whose soft breathing one could almost hear? God residing in those frames of steel, God incarnate in her voluptuousness!—Yet their God was not the God of the pantheist, but a s
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CHAPTER IX AT ALEXANDROPOL
CHAPTER IX AT ALEXANDROPOL
Our experiences at Akhaltsykh had warned me to proceed with caution in endeavouring to realise the topography of the site. It was not often or in public that I could have recourse to my compass; yet I contrived to collect sufficient particulars of an innocent nature to supply my own wants and those of my lay readers. Conceive in the first place a fordable river flowing on a southerly course through a plain of vast extent and slightly basin-like surface. On the left or eastern bank beyond a strip
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CHAPTER X TO ERIVAN
CHAPTER X TO ERIVAN
ἄστρων κάτοιδα νυκτέρων ὁμήγυριν καὶ τοὺς φέροντας χεῖμα καὶ θέρος βροτοῖς λαμπροὺς δυνάστας ἐμπρέποντας ἄιθερι 2 Yet the floor, the walls, the companions were all real—everything, except those figures at the door. The flicker of a lamp was reflected upon their bearded faces and bare necks, upon the heavy folds of the brown draperies hanging about their shoulders, upon the blunt ends of their wooden staves. Did they proclaim the line of bonfires?—Watchmen, stationed by an unseen hand to guard us
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CHAPTER XI TO ARARAT
CHAPTER XI TO ARARAT
On either side of the extensive plain which borders the course of the Middle Araxes rise mountains of astounding proportions and of large variety of form. Let us dwell for a moment on the character of the northern barrier, which closes the prospect from the slopes of Ararat at a distance of from 30 to 50 miles . The immense bulk of Alagöz extends across the horizon from the longitude of Ararat to the districts adjoining the left bank of the Arpa Chai. In that direction the mass occupies a space
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CHAPTER XII ASCENT OF ARARAT
CHAPTER XII ASCENT OF ARARAT
Fig. 31. Our Cavalcade on Ararat. At the mouth of this valley, on the gently sloping platform which its even surface presents, we marked out the spaces of our bivouac, the pickets for the horses, and the fires. Our men were acquainted with every cranny; we had halted near the site of their summer encampment, from which they had only recently descended to their winter quarters in the plain. As we dismounted we were met by a graceful figure, clad in a Circassian coat of brown material let in acros
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CHAPTER XIII THE HEART OF ARARAT
CHAPTER XIII THE HEART OF ARARAT
Fig. 36. Summit of Ararat from the South-East, taken at a height of about 13,000 feet . Relieved of the tension of a fixed purpose, we were able to turn with real enjoyment to the contemplation of the surroundings in which we were placed. There can scarcely exist in the world another such standpoint as the platform of the sirdar’s well. You never tire of the contrasting shapes of the massive dome and the graceful pyramid; below you in the plains the silent operations of Nature proceed on their d
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CHAPTER XIV RETURN TO ERIVAN
CHAPTER XIV RETURN TO ERIVAN
We were scarcely beneath the walls when the figure of a horseman springs forward from some recess into the road. Throwing his white Arab on to his haunches at a few yards before our carriage, he challenges and constrains us to pull up dead. This proceeding on his part, no less than his forbidding countenance, throws me completely off my guard. On Russian soil one is obliged to smother the irritation which is always threatening to burst forth from a British breast. I shout to him to move aside, o
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CHAPTER XV AT ERIVAN
CHAPTER XV AT ERIVAN
Fig. 41. Alagöz from a house-top in Erivan. All this verdure is mainly due to the river Zanga, the Hrazdan of the Armenians, which collects the drainage of a section of the southern slopes of the border range, and which is fed by the waters of Lake Sevan, called also Gökcheh, from its sky-blue colour, and by Armenian writers the Lake of Gegham. This beautiful alpine sea is surrounded by lofty mountains and has an area 2½ times as large as that of Geneva. It produces salmon trout of delicious fla
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CHAPTER XVI EDGMIATSIN AND THE ARMENIAN CHURCH
CHAPTER XVI EDGMIATSIN AND THE ARMENIAN CHURCH
October 14. —We left the cloister at half-past eight, our little party of five persons including the Armenian cook. We had hired in the district ten miserable ponies, of which five carried our effects. The most direct way to Ani crosses the basal slopes of Alagöz, from the southern to the most westerly extremities of the shield-shaped mass. You proceed from Edgmiatsin in a north-westerly direction, the ground rising at every step of your advance. On the point of course, beyond oases of verdure i
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CHAPTER XVII TO ANI AND TO KARS
CHAPTER XVII TO ANI AND TO KARS
The essential majesty of the Armenian landscapes derives enhanced value from the presence at all seasons of clouds. In this respect Armenia is more favoured than Persia, where month after month you long for a cloud to temper the glare. To the radiance of her pellucid atmosphere is added the charm of effects of vapour; but the vapour has already been tamed in the passage of the border ranges, and floats in quiet masses over the central regions of the tableland. We awoke on the following morning t
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CHAPTER XVIII ANI, AND THE ARMENIAN KINGDOM OF THE MIDDLE AGES
CHAPTER XVIII ANI, AND THE ARMENIAN KINGDOM OF THE MIDDLE AGES
While Ani, the deserted stronghold and capital on the banks of the Arpa, appeals to the patriotism of Armenians, her neighbour Kars, that fortress at once of ancient and modern repute, awakens a feeling of national pride in the bosom of the English visitor. Few, indeed, of my countrymen have been privileged to gaze upon a site and scene which is associated in their memory with a most brilliant achievement of British officers. Of the sieges which Kars has sustained during the course of the presen
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CHAPTER XIX KARS
CHAPTER XIX KARS
At the commencement of our era the district but not the town is described by Strabo under the name of Chorzene. 2 It is possible that the Chorsa or the Kolsa of Ptolemy occupied the position of the present Kars. 3 But it is not before the Middle Ages that we become apprised of its certain existence, when it is mentioned under its present name by the imperial author Constantine, and under that of Karutz by Armenian writers. 4 From both sources we learn that it was a capital of the Bagratid dynast
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CHAPTER XX ACROSS THE SPINE OF ARMENIA
CHAPTER XX ACROSS THE SPINE OF ARMENIA
A little beyond this village—in which is placed the eleventh verst stone—the road bifurcates. The well-metalled and well-maintained chaussée , which we had been following, pursues its course to the confines of the Turkish frontier at the station of Sarikamish. The other branch—which is in places a road, but more often a simple track—stretches off towards the south. Taking the latter direction, we drove for some distance over even ground, where here and there the rich, brown soil had been exposed
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CHAPTER XXI GEOGRAPHICAL
CHAPTER XXI GEOGRAPHICAL
If we enquire of the geologist the origin of these phenomena, we receive an answer which, while it leaves many points obscure and doubtful, still enables us to trace the operation of fixed principles in the mighty work unfolded before our eyes. Our globe sails through the wan expanse of æther, diffusing the heat with which it is charged. The cooling crust shrinks and gathers inwards towards the centre; but the material of which it consists is inelastic and is thrown into gigantic wrinkles or fol
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CHAPTER XXII STATISTICAL AND POLITICAL
CHAPTER XXII STATISTICAL AND POLITICAL
The admirable volume of statistics for Transcaucasia which we owe to the labours of M. de Seidlitz, and which was published at Tiflis by order of the civil government in 1893, supplies us with the most detailed information concerning these Russian provinces—the numbers of the different races and of the votaries of the various religious sects, and how the inhabitants may be classed and labelled as nobles or clergy, as tradesmen or as tillers of the soil. The figures are derived from the census of
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Corrections
Corrections
The following corrections have been applied to the text:...
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LIST OF MAPS AND PLANS
LIST OF MAPS AND PLANS
October 24. —The track which we were following winds for some distance along the spine of the range. You cross and cross again from the one to the other watershed, overlooking now the open spaces of the southern landscape, now the narrow and encumbered cañon of the Araxes below the adjacent cliffs of the tableland. The rocky parapets and gloomy valleys appear to extend from basin to basin, at right angles to the axis of the chain. West of the crags about us, and isolated from them, rose a shapel
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CHAPTER I DESCEND INTO TURKISH TERRITORY
CHAPTER I DESCEND INTO TURKISH TERRITORY
The great plain of Alashkert was outspread before us, bounded on the further side by the snow-capped mountains of the Ala Dagh, which stretched across the horizon from the east. Just before us, this lofty range was seen to recede into the misty background, the outlines bending away towards south-west. But the barrier was resumed at no considerable interval by a chain of hills, less distant, although of humbler proportions, called Kilich Gedik, or the sharp sword. We could just descry the site of
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CHAPTER II TO LAKE VAN
CHAPTER II TO LAKE VAN
The little township does not possess more than about a hundred houses; yet it is the seat of a Kaimakam whose administrative area includes Patnotz, and meets the boundary of the vilayet of Van. It stands on rising ground, at some little distance from the bank of the river, facing the lofty hills which rise on the opposite shore, and push the Murad towards the west. It is about equidistant from Karakilisa and from Patnotz, a ride of some twenty-three miles from the first, and of twenty-eight mile
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CHAPTER III ACROSS LAKE VAN
CHAPTER III ACROSS LAKE VAN
Little is left above ground of the once important borough of mediæval repute. The crumbling walls of a castle, a ruined chapel, a minaret are the principal monuments still erect. The method of building is that of a more cultured age. A recent fire had converted the brushwood into black patches. We looked across the silvery waters to the opposite shore of the lake, from which a range of hills rise. Behind this barrier towers a rocky ridge of serrated outline, which, commencing at a point about ea
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I.—The Lake of Van
I.—The Lake of Van
We need not discuss in this place the phenomenon last mentioned, except to remark that the story may well have been suggested by the propinquity of the sources of the Diarbekr branch of the Tigris to the stream of the Murad, the ancient Arsanias. The country of Arrhene is probably the same as that better known as Arzanene, which is comprised within the present vilayet of Diarbekr. Our present interest in the passage lies in the statements relative to the Tigris, that it flows through two lakes c
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II.—The Ancient Empire of Van
II.—The Ancient Empire of Van
It has been reserved for our own age to penetrate the mystery, which, indeed, is only now as I write being dispelled. Quite early in the nineteenth century, while the future excavators of the Assyrian cities were either unborn or were still in their nurseries, a young French student, Jean Antoine Saint Martin, the son of a tradesman in Paris, was fired by the account of the inscriptions at Van contained in the pages of Moses of Khorene . 19 Mainly through his efforts the French Government—always
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III.—Van towards the Close of the Nineteenth Century
III.—Van towards the Close of the Nineteenth Century
The journey from Van to Bitlis may be performed in four days; it is a ride of about a hundred miles. But no traveller will desire to omit a visit to the isle of Akhtamar, which will occupy another day. Nor is it well to press in haste through a country of such manifold interest, and along a coast which for beauty of feature and grandeur of surroundings can scarcely have an equal in the world. It was at Van that, for the first time since setting foot upon Armenian soil, we had been introduced to
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CHAPTER V FROM VAN TO BITLIS
CHAPTER V FROM VAN TO BITLIS
Artemid! the Greek name, and the memorials in the neighbourhood of that early civilisation which is revealed by the inscriptions of Van, suggest, no less than the striking site, the possibility of further discoveries, when the place shall have been thoroughly explored. 3 A hasty examination would have been of small service, and we were anxious to reach Vostan. So we rode, without halting, through the straggling settlement, and did not draw rein until we had reached a point some two miles beyond
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CHAPTER VI BITLIS
CHAPTER VI BITLIS
Yet, in spite of the comparative openness of such a situation, you do not see Bitlis until you are well within her precincts. The body of the town—the mediæval castle, the minarets and the bazars—lies in the trough of a deep gorge. The river which threads the valley is composed by the union of two main streams, the one coming from the north through a direct passage from the plains of the tableland, the other from the east, the direction of the Güzel Dere and the road to Van. The waters meet at s
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CHAPTER VII FROM BITLIS TO MUSH—MUSH
CHAPTER VII FROM BITLIS TO MUSH—MUSH
Fig. 151. Nimrud Crater from the Volcanic Plateau. The prospect from this position was at once far-reaching and instructive. On our right hand, a few miles off, rose the caldron of Nimrud from the table surface upon which we stood. Behind us there was nothing but the undulating steppe. Our barometers were now sensible of a slight decline in elevation—a decline of about 350 feet . We were placed at a level of 5500 feet ; abruptly before our eyes the ground fell away to the head of the plain, 1000
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CHAPTER VIII FROM MUSH TO ERZERUM
CHAPTER VIII FROM MUSH TO ERZERUM
Fig. 155. Monastery of Surb Karapet from the South. Following with the eye the course of the river, we searched in vain for a gap in the mountains among which it disappeared. These describe a bold half-circle at the western extremity of the plain, not many miles from where we stood. The heights on the north join hands with the heights upon the south, and appear to prevent all issue from the plain. From the ford we proceeded in a north-westerly direction to the village of Ziaret. It is an Armenia
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CHAPTER IX ERZERUM
CHAPTER IX ERZERUM
There does exist, I believe, a narrow passage through an irregular valley between the Deveh Boyun main ridge and the northern wall. But this approach by the flank is commanded by some of the forts already mentioned. Nor would the fate of Erzerum be necessarily determined if both the ridge and the works which protect it had been occupied by the enemy after a series of frontal attacks and great loss of life. There would remain the defences of the Top Dagh, a hill mass, or, as they would say in Sou
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CHAPTER X RETURN TO THE BORDER RANGES—ΘΆΛΑΤΤΑ, ΘΆΛΑΤΤΑ!
CHAPTER X RETURN TO THE BORDER RANGES—ΘΆΛΑΤΤΑ, ΘΆΛΑΤΤΑ!
But the river was quite invisible, buried beneath the canopy which stretched to the opposite mountains without a break. After doubling the horn, which was low, and was succeeded by gentle eminences, we made our way down the valley, between these hills and the northern barrier, through a dreary landscape upon which the mist hung. A fine fox with a sweeping brush made off across the snow, and found it difficult to escape from sight. I viewed him away with a shout which surprised our followers, giv
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CHAPTER XI REVISIT ARMENIA
CHAPTER XI REVISIT ARMENIA
Fig. 175. Monastery of Sumelas. The traveller to Erzerum who is in search of romantic scenery could not do better than follow this valley of Meiriman. It is the route which I selected upon our return from this second journey; but it is not practicable during the winter months. A steep ascent from the head of the glen leads to a country of grassy uplands, rising gradually to the pass of the Kazikly Dagh. This pass is the more easterly counterpart of the Zigana, but exceeds it in height by more th
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CHAPTER XII ACROSS THE CENTRAL TABLELAND TO KHINIS
CHAPTER XII ACROSS THE CENTRAL TABLELAND TO KHINIS
Tekman lies before us—a vast plateau, a continuous basin, stretching towards the foot of a gently vaulted opposite mountain with long horizontal outline and shield-shaped slopes. It is the outline of the Bingöl Dagh; such its appearance at this distance; it is thirty-two miles away as the crow flies. It constitutes the opposite rim of the basin, the counterpart of these heights in the north. Snow is lying in large quantities even upon its lower contours, a fact explained by their northern aspect
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CHAPTER XIII FROM KHINIS TO TUTAKH
CHAPTER XIII FROM KHINIS TO TUTAKH
From Gunduz we made our way over some grassy heights which continue the outline of the Akh Dagh. They are composed of intrusive rock, mainly basic in character. The marble of the Akh Dagh, dipping to the south-east, is interrupted by them; and the range, as such, is brought to an end. The pass across them is low ( 6265 feet ), but it commands fine prospects over the country beyond the plain of Khinis. A portion of the Akh Dagh comes to view, seen on its reverse side. Two bold ridges were observe
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CHAPTER XIV DOWN THE MURAD TO MELAZKERT1
CHAPTER XIV DOWN THE MURAD TO MELAZKERT1
We passed through several villages; but they are, for the most part, mere hamlets. One of the largest was Gargalik. With the exception of Baïndir, a Karapapakh settlement, they are inhabited by Sipkanli and Hasananli Kurds. We did not meet a caravan; there were few wayfarers; but from time to time an ill-miened Kurd, armed with a muzzle-loader, rode by, taking stock of us as he passed. At Gargalik, where there is a ford between two villages of this name, we were ushered into the largest of the a
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CHAPTER XV FROM MELAZKERT TO AKHLAT
CHAPTER XV FROM MELAZKERT TO AKHLAT
Our further progress was a procession. We were sorry to lose the cavalry, who were under orders to return to the guardhouse. They manœuvred in admirable fashion; and the motley zaptiehs, careering in all directions, were a poor substitute to the eye. The Kaimakam rode by our side. But this little touch of humanity was quickly lost and soon forgotten in the emotions which were inspired by the unfolding scene. The landscape of Lake Van, overtake it where you may, can scarcely fail, with a travelle
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CHAPTER XVI AKHLAT
CHAPTER XVI AKHLAT
The latest aspect of the scene is at once the richest and the most mysterious. All blue has passed from the sky and from the face of the sea, except here and there, under a lingering breath of wind. A dull golden tint is spread over the waters, cloaking the underlying green. In the distance, towards Van, great shadows of indigo lie on the lake, and envelop Varag to half height. From these emerges the crested ridge, a pink madder. Varag rests against a background of vague clouds, purplish-blue, t
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CHAPTER XVII OUR SOJOURN IN THE CRATER OF NIMRUD
CHAPTER XVII OUR SOJOURN IN THE CRATER OF NIMRUD
From the high land, over which we were again making, and which is here covered with pumice sand, we obtained a view of Bilejan. But our attention was soon diverted by the picturesque situation of a large village on our left hand. A rapid if only momentary change in our surroundings had taken us by surprise. It is due to a bed of dark, glassy lava, perhaps an ancient flow from Nimrud, or from a fissure about its base. A deep stream, which is crossed by a bridge, eats its way through the hard rock
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CHAPTER XVIII ROUND NIMRUD BY LAKE NAZIK
CHAPTER XVIII ROUND NIMRUD BY LAKE NAZIK
The plateau descends to the plain by two lower terraces, the descent being fairly gradual in each case. The Kerkür is also screened by a bastion-shaped terrace of talus which sinks into the plain. I have already described this stage of our journey (Ch. VII. p. 162); and I shall only pause to give some account of our visit to the pool of Norshen, which I had omitted to examine during my first journey. About fifty yards west of the tomb of Karanlai Agha lies an almost circular pool. It is slightly
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CHAPTER XIX ASCENT OF SIPAN
CHAPTER XIX ASCENT OF SIPAN
Two villages had been mentioned as both presenting a good base from which to climb Sipan. One was Norshunjik, and the other Uran Gazi. The first is situated on the south-western side of the mountain, and the second rather more round towards the west. Uran Gazi—a Circassian settlement—was, after some debate, selected, owing chiefly to the reputation and resources of its head men. It may be reached in about two hours from Adeljivas. Riding in a northerly direction, we pursued a winding track which
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CHAPTER XX BACK TO THE CENTRAL TABLELAND
CHAPTER XX BACK TO THE CENTRAL TABLELAND
It was nothing more than a low hill, an isolated mass of lava rising up from the plain. It was crowned by a little chapel, put together with stone and mud, and provided with a wicker door. Looking through, we discovered a large stone, engraved with a cross, which was, no doubt, the object or symbol of worship. Before it, three little lamps reposed on a horizontal slab. From this standpoint we overlooked the extent of the waters, of which the nearest shore was still some two miles off. The lake i
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CHAPTER XXI OUR SOJOURN ON BINGÖL
CHAPTER XXI OUR SOJOURN ON BINGÖL
August 16. —It was afternoon before we were ready to start on our journey towards the still distant outline of the Bingöl cliffs. After fording the river, we made our way up its right bank, along the pebbly alluvial bed, which had a width of about a quarter-mile. In half-an-hour we crossed an outlier from the ridge on the west, leaving the river on our right to flow through a gorge between this ridge and that upon the east. Emerging on the further side, we stood in an extensive depression with n
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CHAPTER XXII HOME ACROSS THE BORDER RANGES
CHAPTER XXII HOME ACROSS THE BORDER RANGES
We did not pass a single village, not even a yaila , during our ride from the encampment of Zireki Kurds to the Palandöken ridge. The surface of the plateau consists of a slabby lava, which probably overlies the limestone with no great depth. The lavas appear to have issued from approximately east-west fissures at a time when the country had been already carved out into the main features of its present contour. Especially remarkable, as we neared the Palandöken line of heights, was the whiteness
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CHAPTER XXIII GEOGRAPHICAL
CHAPTER XXIII GEOGRAPHICAL
This range, to which collectively we may apply the name of Aghri Dagh or Ararat system, constitutes the principal intermediate line of elevation between the northern and the southern zones of peripheral mountains. It has been subjected to intense folding pressure, and during the process of bending over from an east-north-easterly to a south-easterly direction a partial fracture of the arc it describes has taken place. From the western shore of Lake Balük, an upland sheet of water lying at a leve
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CHAPTER XXIV STATISTICAL AND POLITICAL
CHAPTER XXIV STATISTICAL AND POLITICAL
The Sublime Porte, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, No. 191. To the Prudent Representative of the Patriarch ( Locum tenens ) Prudent and dear Sir —The Imperial Firman concerning reforms requires that each community shall take into consideration within a given time the privileges and prerogatives which it enjoys, and, after due counsel, shall decide upon the reforms which are in accordance with the circumstances, the civilisation and the learning of the present time. It shall present a list of such r
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PRELIMINARIES
PRELIMINARIES
To the Sublime Porte, Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Imperial Government has from ancient times granted to the different nations under its righteous protection privileges and prerogatives for their religious liberty and the special administration of their internal affairs. These prerogatives are in their principles uniform for all nations, but they are at the same time adapted to the particular religious regulations and customs of each nationality. And each nationality has used and enjoyed the
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Document presented to the Sublime Porte by the National Committee and the Committee of the Government
Document presented to the Sublime Porte by the National Committee and the Committee of the Government
Now that Mixed Committee considers it proper according to the outline of the Constitution presented for confirmation to the Sublime Porte, I. That the office of the Patriarch as the medium between the nation and the Sublime Porte should remain as it was in the old system, II. That the organisation of the General Assembly should be reformed. The national delegates, instead of being elected by the Esnafs (Artisans)—since the condition of the Esnafs is no longer what it used to be—should be elected
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Ordinance of the Sublime Porte
Ordinance of the Sublime Porte
The privileges granted by the Ottoman Empire to its non-Mohammedan subjects are in their principles equal for all, but the mode of their execution varies according to the requirements of the particular customs of each nationality. The Armenian Patriarch is the head of his nation, and in particular circumstances the medium of the execution of the orders of the Government. There is, however, in the Patriarchate a Religious Assembly for religious affairs and a Political Assembly for political affai
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INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
1. Each individual has obligations towards the nation. The nation, in its turn, has obligations towards each individual. Again, each individual and the nation have their respective rights over one another. Hence the nation and its constituents are bound together by mutual duties, so that the duty of the one is the right of the other. 2. It is the duty of each member of the nation to share according to his means in the expenses of the nation, willingly to accept any services asked of him by the n
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ARMENIAN NATIONAL CONSTITUTION
ARMENIAN NATIONAL CONSTITUTION
His Election and Resignation Article 1. —The Patriarch of Constantinople is the President of all the National Assemblies and the representative of their executive authority, and in particular circumstances he is the medium of the execution of the orders of the Ottoman Government. Hence the person to be elected as Patriarch should be a man worthy of the confidence and respect of the whole nation, and he should possess all the qualifications and dignity required by his position. He should belong t
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LAKE VAN.
LAKE VAN.
Quantities of solids in solution estimated in parts per 100,000 parts of water. The specific gravity in the two cases were determined as 1.175 and 1.113 respectively. The remaining four analyses by Mr. Thorp were made from our small samples of water taken from fresh-water lakes. Quantities estimated in parts per 100,000. The water of Lake Bulama is slightly ferruginous and yet slightly alkaline. The unpleasant odour from the lake doubtless arose from the fermentation of much vegetable matter in
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LAKE URMI.
LAKE URMI.
Quantities estimated in parts per 100,000. The water of Lake Bulama is slightly ferruginous and yet slightly alkaline. The unpleasant odour from the lake doubtless arose from the fermentation of much vegetable matter in suspension and solution; it could not be due to sulphur compounds, since there is an absence of sulphates, and the low proportion of chlorine indicates freedom from animal contamination. Lake Nazik. —A soft water, with very little contamination. Nimrud crater. —An accident to the
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I. TRAVEL and TOPOGRAPHY
I. TRAVEL and TOPOGRAPHY
Rubruck (William of) (Guillaume de Ruysbroeck or Rubruquis; Flemish monk (Franciscan); envoy to Khan of Tartary from Pope Innocent VI. and Louis IX.; travelled across Armenia in 1254.) New translation from Latin by W. Rockhill. Hakluyt Soc. ser. 2, iv. Lond. 1900, 8 o . Marco Polo (Venetian merchant; travelled in Tartary, India, Persia, and across Armenia to Trebizond, 1271–95.) First ed. in Italian, Venice , 1496. Eng. trans. with notes by Col. H. Yule, Lond. 1871, 2 vols. 8 o . Many other edit
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II. ARMENIAN PEOPLE
II. ARMENIAN PEOPLE
Burgin (G. B.) An Armenian Wedding, Chambers’s Jour. , Edinburgh , 1896. The Armenian at Home, Cassell’s Family Mag. , Lond. 1897. Conybeare (F. C.) Armenia and the Armenians, National Rev. xiv. pp. 295–315, Lond. 1889. Filian (G. H.) Armenia and her people: the story of Armenia told by an Armenian scholar, Hartford, U.S.A. 1896, 8 o . Gatteyrias (J. A.) L’Arménie et les Arméniens, Paris , 1882, 8 o . Macfarlane. Mœurs arméniennes, demande de mariage, Nouv. Ann. de Voy. xlix. 118–21, Paris , 183
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III. ARMENIAN LITERATURE
III. ARMENIAN LITERATURE
Neumann (C. F.) Versuch einer Geschichte der armenischen Litteratur, Leipz. 1836, 8 o . Nève (F.) L’Arménie Chrétienne, Louvain , 1886, 8 o . Patkanean (K.) Catalogue de la littérature arménienne depuis le commencement du iv e siècle jusque vers le milieu du xvii e , Bull. Acad. Sc. ii. pp. 49–91, St. Pet. 1860. In Russian. Bibliographical Sketch of the historical literature of Armenia (from Trans. of Intern. Congress of Orientalists, St. Pet. 1876, pp. 455–511), St. Pet. 1880, 8 o . Sukias Soma
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IV. VANNIC INSCRIPTIONS
IV. VANNIC INSCRIPTIONS
Deutsche Rundschau ( Berlin ), 1894, pp. 402–18. Hyvernat (H.) L’histoire ancienne de l’Arménie et les inscriptions cunéiformes du bassin de Van (in Müller-Simonis’s Du Caucase au Golfe Persique), Paris , 1892, 4 o . Basmadjian (K. J.) Note on the Van Inscriptions, Jour. R. Asiat. Soc. xxi. ser. 3, pp. 579–83, Lond. 1897. Brosset (M. F.) Notice sur deux inscriptions cunéiformes (Armavir), Bull. Acad. Sc. v. pp. 428–35, St. Pet. 1863. Rapport sur diverses inscriptions (Armavir), Bull. Acad. Sc. v
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V. ARMENIAN CHURCH
V. ARMENIAN CHURCH
Die Anfänge der armenischen Kirche, Berichte Verh. Sächs. Gesell. Wiss. Phil. Hist. Cl. pp. 109–74, Leipz. 1895. Article “ Armenien ” in Real-Ency. f. protestantische Theologie , Leipz. 1897. Issaverdentz (J.) The Armenian Ritual, Venice , 1872–76, 16 o . Armenia and the Armenians, part iii., Ecclesiastical History , Venice , 1875, 16 o . Jacob (R. P.) The ordinal of the Holy Apostolic Church of Armenia, Indian Church Quart. Rev. xi. pp. 211, 363, 465, 1899. Malan (S. C.) Life and times of St. G
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VI. POLITICAL
VI. POLITICAL
The Case for the Armenians, Lond. 1893, 8 o . Atrocities, Armenian and others, Lond. 1895, 4 o pam. Violations of the Hatti-Humayum, New York , 1895. The Armenian Question, by a Diplomatist, New Rev. xii. pp. 62–66, Lond. 1895. Our obligations to Armenia, Macmillan’s Mag. vol. lxxi. pp. 340–45, Lond. 1895. Historical sketch of Armenia and the Armenians in ancient and modern times, with special reference to the present crisis, by an old Indian, Lond. 1896, 8 o . La vérité sur les massacres d’Armé
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Corrections
Corrections
The following corrections have been applied to the text:...
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