1.52 ARARAT. 



any other means of conveyance tlian the hateful carts. We 

 arrived at Nakhitchevan in the middle of the day, and I 

 wasted the afternoon in an ineffectual struggle to hire 

 some kind of spring-carriage. Having called on the 

 governor, who expressed his readiness to do anything for 

 us, I told him that my friend had been knocked up by telega- 

 travelling, and that we were most anxious to hire a carriage; 

 but in this particular he could afford us no aid. There were 

 only two carriages in the town — one his own, the other an 

 old ' tarantasse,' which we at first thought might serve our 

 purpose, but which proved to have suffered so much from 

 exposure and neglect that it was practically useless. Its 

 owner was a curious character. He had been at one time 

 in business in London, spoke French, and a little English ; 

 but having failed, as he gave us to understand, through his 

 own extravagances, he had returned to Russia, and was now 

 fixed as a sub-ofiicial of the custom-house in this remote 

 corner of the Empire. The poor man complained bitterly of 

 the dulness of his situation and the barbarism of his com- 

 panions, and sighed after the theatres and diversions to 

 which he had been once accustomed. There was a heavy 

 thunderstorm in the afternoon, and the continued uncer- 

 tainty of the weather made us rather despondent about 

 Ararat. 



June oth. — We started late, in the usual * telegas.' The 

 big river, which had been so formidable ten days before, 

 was now much lower; but we were nearly upset in it, owing 

 to the stupidity of our driver, who let one of his horses 

 flounder into a hole and break the harness in the middle of 

 the stream. At the next station there were no post-horses, 

 so we hired some peasants' animals, and sent on our men, 

 with instructions to procure and cook some supjDer for us 

 at the next station. We followed two hours later, and 

 before we had finished the long stage of twenty-two versts 



