Sfo S/r J o H N C H A R D I T^ravels Book III. 
and fuflfer’d Martyrdom in the fame Places where thofe Sefts. Their chief Gain lies in felling the Oil called 
Churches ftand. ^ Myrone, at a dear Rate, which, they teach the People 
Within the Territory of Erivan^ which reaches about to believe is a Remedy that phyfically cures all the Di- 
twenty Leagues round it, there are twenty-three Con- ftempers of the Soul, and confers the Grace of Regene- 
vents for Men, and five for Women, which are fo poor^ ration and Remiffion of Sins, faying, that in Baptilm it 
that being continually employed in getting a Liveli- is the Oil, not the Water, which is the Matter prelcri- 
hood, they never perform holy Duties, but upon Holi- bed. The Patriarch confecrates this Oil, and fells it to 
days. They hold the Opinions of the Monophyfites^ the Blfhops and Priefts, who get great Sums by it. 
but in other Points are very ignorant. Two Leagues 15. April the 8th he parted from Erivan, and tra- 
from Eaftward, is to be feen the famous Moun- veiling through a Country fomewhac hilly, but full of 
tain where Ark is faid to have refted.. The yfr- Villages, came firft to Daivin, and then to Kainer. lea- 
menians hold, that the Ark is ftill upon the Top of the 
Mount called Maus^ but that no Man can afcend to it. 
The Governor of Erivan is a Beglerheg^ i. e. a Lord of 
Lords, and has alfo the Title of Serdar^ or General 
of the Army. His Revenue is 32,000 Tomans, which 
is above 112,000/. Sterling a Year, befides Fines, Pre- 
fents, and indireft Ways of enriching himfelf, which 
amount to 50,000 Pounds more. 
14. While he ftaid at Erivan^ he faw a Wedding of 
the Governor’s Steward’s Brother. Matrimony in Per- 
fta is very expenfive, fo that only Men of Eftates will 
venture upon it, left it prove their Ruin. The meaner 
Sort content themfelves with a Concubine or Slave. The 
Mahometans that follow the Tenets of Haly^ take their 
Wives after three Manners, viz. By Purchafe, Hire, or 
Marriage. All thefe Ways their Religion allows, and 
their Civil Law acknowledges the Children born in any 
bf them legitimate. The Wives, who are Slaves, are 
called Canize, Of thefe the Law allows a Man as 
many as he can maintain, and takes no Cognizance 
how they are ufed. He is Mafter of their Chaftity, 
yea, of their Lives, and it is their Honour to ferve 
their Mafter as his Wives. The hired Wives are 
called Moutaa : Of thefe alfo a Man may take as many 
as he pleafeth, and as long as he pleafeth for the Price 
agreed on, and at |'he End of the Term they may part 
with them, or renew the Bargain. A handfome young 
Maid at Ifpahan may be hired for 35 /. a Year, befides 
Cloaths, Diet, and Lodging. If any break off before 
the End of the Term, he muft pay the whole Sum con- 
trafted for, and the Woman, after Difmiffion, muff 
tarry forty Days before fhe lets herfelf to another. 
Thefe Days they call, Eke Bays of Purification. 
The efpoufed Wives are called Nekaa., and of thefe 
the Mahometan Religion allows a Man to marry four j 
but they never marry above one, to avoid Expence and 
Diforder, for every one will command, and their mu- 
tual Jealoufy caufes a perpetual Confufion *, wherefore, 
if they cannot content themfelves v/ith one Woman, 
. they ufe their Slaves. In Perfia they ufually marry by 
Proxy, becaufe the Man never fees his Wife till after 
he has confummated the Marriage, which fometimes 
he does not till feverai Days after his Wife has been at 
home. One would think, that this Way of Marrying 
Ihould produce unfortunate Matches ; but it doth nor, 
for Marriages are not more happy in any Country than 
this. If either of the Parties diflike one another, and 
refolve to unmarry xhemfeives, the Mahometan Religion 
permits a Divorce, and they may feparate either before 
a Judge, or a Churchman, giving each other a Ealaac., 
or Bill of Divorce.^ and then the Parties are at Liberty to 
marry again where they pleafe themfelves. 
Upon this Diffolution of their Marriage, if the Man 
has fued the Divorce, he is obliged to return the Wo- 
man her Dowry •, yet if the Woman fought it, fhe 
lofeth her Portion 5 but if the Perfons repent the A6f, 
they may renev/ the Marriage again three Times : Yet, 
the Perfians rarely make Ufe of this Licenfe to part 
with their Wives, only fome Citizens and Tradefmen 
make their Advantage of it. Perfons of Quality count 
it fo diftionourable, that they will rather die, than di- 
vorce their Wives, and the meaneft Sort cannot part 
widi the Portion, and fo, if they defire a Divorce, 
which is rare, they effetfl it by iil-ufing their Wives, to 
force them to fue for a Divorce, and thereby facrifice 
ail to their Liberty. 
'Yht Armenian Patriarch lives in this City, and has an 
Epifcopal Palace. ITe, with all the reft of his Clergy, 
is much addided to Simony, as are alfo all the Eaftern 
ving the Mountain of Noah on the Right-hand. On 
the loth he went on the fame Road, which led him 
through a fertile and fair Country, and leaving iSederec, 
a great Town, and the Capital of the Province of Ar- 
menia, called Charour, where the Sultan refides, came 
through Nouratchin, and over the River Harpafiony to 
Nacchivan, which is thought to be the ancient Artaxate, 
It is now little die but a Heap of Ruins, not containing 
above two thoufand Houles- which are inhabited, and 
thole in the Fleart of the City, with Inns, Baths, and 
other publick Houfes, where they fell Tobacco and Cof- 
fee, whereas formerly the PerPan Hiftory affures us, that 
it contained forty thoufand. 
Five Leagues to the North lies a great City called 
Ahrener, i. e. the fertile Field, and feven others near to 
it, all whole Inhabitants are Papifts, and their Bilhops 
and Curates Bominicans, who perform their Church Ser- 
vice in the Armenian Language. Thefe Towns were 
brought into Subjedion to the Pope by an Italian Bo?ni- 
nican Bologna. Twenty Villages more acknowledg’d 
the fame Ecclefiaftical Jurifdidion, but are returned to 
their firft Religion, and their Obedience to the Armenian 
Patriarch •, and it is not likely that the reft can hold 
out long, for the Governors of the Province ufe them 
violently, and lay heavy Impofitions upon them, for 
withdrawing from their Jurifdidion. 
From Nacchivan he paffed to old Julpha, through a 
dry ftony Country, where there is Nothing to be leen 
but Hills of Scones. It is a ruined City, and thought 
by fome Authors to be the ancient Ariammene. It is 
faid to have contained four thoufand Houfes, though the 
Ruins do not fhew above half fo many. At prefent 
there is Nothing but Holes and Caverns in the Moun- 
tains, fitter for Bsafts than Men to five in. 
This City v/as ruined by Abas the Great, for the lame 
Reafon as Nacchivan, viz. to hinder the Invafions of the 
. Eurks for Want of Provifions, Julpha runs the Ri- 
ver which feparates Armenia from Media. It 
rifes in the Mountain where NoaPs Ark is faid to have 
refted, from which perhaps it takes its Name, and emp- 
ties itfelf into the Cafpian Sea. It is very large, and of 
fo rapid a Courfe, efpecially when it is fwelled by 
the Thaws of the Snows that come down from the 
Mountains, that no Bridges can ftand upon it, nor 
Dams refift its Force, and the Noife of the Waters afto- 
nifhes the Ears of the Beholders. 
16. Media, which formerly ruled all Aftawkh an Im- 
perial Dominion, at prefent makes but one Part of a 
Province, though the largeft in the Perfian Empire, 
called Azerbeyan, or Afapaican, It borders on the Eaft 
upon the Cafpian Sea and Hyrcania, on the South upon 
Parthia, on the Weft upon Araxes and the Upper Ar- 
menia, of which AJJyria is a Parc, and on the North on 
Dageftan, which is that mountainous Country that bor- 
ders upon the Mufeovite Coffacks, and Part of Mount 
Eaurus. The P^erfians affirm, that the Name of Azer- 
beyan implies the Country of Fire, by reafon of the fa- 
mous Temple of Fire which was there ereded, where 
was kept that Fire which the Fire-worfhippers hold to 
be a God: Nimrod is faid firft to have brought in this 
Worfhip, and there is a certain Sed, called Guebres, 
which ftill maintain it. 
From Julpha he travelled through a Country full of 
little Hills, leaving a fpacious Plain upon the Left- 
hand, where many bloody Battles between the Eurks 
and Perfians were fought, and particularly that between 
Selim the Son of Solyman theGreat, and Ihnael the 
Great, to Alacou, and from thence, -through a more 
even Country, to Mar ant, a very fair Town, confift- 
