Photo by Stephen Van R. Trowbridge 

 AN ARMENIAN WOMAN, A MOUNTAIN DWELLER, CARRYING A GREAT LOAD OE 

 FIREWOOD DOWN THE ROUGH MOUNTAIN SIDE 



The Armenians are the workers of the Near East. Added to a business ability superior 

 to that of the peoples around them, they have, in sharp contrast to their Asiatic neighbors, 

 great capacity for work and well-directed frugality. 



pronounced that to those who are akin 

 to them they seem often very handsome, 

 while to westerners they seem a little too 

 foreign-looking. Of course, the type is 

 not always preserved ; white skins, even 

 an occasional rosy cheek may be seen, 

 and there is a small number of fair- 

 haired and blue-eyed Armenians. 



The resemblance to the Jews does not 

 stop with physical features, for the fate 

 of the two peoples has been sufficiently 

 similar to bring out common traits. Like 

 the Jew, the Armenian has been op- 

 pressed and persecuted, and has devel- 

 oped a strength of nationality, a love for 

 his own people, and a persistence of type 



rarely seen elsewhere. Like the Jew, he 

 has learned to bend, not break, before 

 the oppressor, and to succeed by artifice 

 when opposed by force. How else had 

 he survived ? Like the Jew, he has de- 

 veloped strong business instincts, and 

 like him he has a talent for languages, a 

 power of concentration, and unusual 

 artistic gifts. Both Jews and xArmenians 

 are very clever actors. 



These resemblances have made many 

 scholars question whether the two races 

 are not akin ; whether the Armenians 

 may not be descended from the lost Ten 

 Tribes of Israel. But the philological 

 basis for such an hypothesis is lacking, 



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