TABRIZ TO ARZ-ROUM. 
309 
spread carpets for us, one was dispatched to the dock to bring a fat 
lamb, the women immediately made preparation for cooking, and we 
had not sat long before two large dishes of stewed lamb, with several 
basins ‘of yaourt , were placed before us. The senior of the tribe, an 
old man (by his own account indeed more than eighty-five years of age) 
dressed in his best clothes, came out to us, and welcomed us to his tent 
with such kindness, yet with such respect, that his sincerity could not 
be mistaken. He was still full of activity and fire, although he had lost 
all his teeth, and his beard was as white as the snow on the venerable 
mountain near his tent. The simplicity of his manners and the in¬ 
teresting scenery around reminded me, in the strongest colours of the 
life of the patriarchs: and more immediately of Him whose history is 
inseparable from the mountains of Ararat. Nothing indeed could ac¬ 
cord better with the spot than the figure of our ancient host. His 
people were a part of the tribe of Jelalee , and their principal seat was 
Erivan ; but they ranged through the country: 
And pastured on from verdant stage to stage, 
Where fields and fountains fresh could best engage. 
Toil was not then: of nothing took they heed 
But with wild beasts the sylvan war to wage, 
And o’er vast plains their herds and flocks to feed; 
Blest sons of nature they t true golden age indeed. 
Castle of Indolence , xxxvii. 
We quitted our hospitable friends, (who appeared to be almost 
more grateful for our visit than we for their kindness), and passed along 
the plain. Mount Ararat bore N. 40 E. and extended itself com¬ 
pletely to our view. Its N. W. ascent is not so rapid as its S. E. and 
I should conceive that in this quarter it might be possible to ascend it. 
In six hours and a half, after leaving our last encampment, we reached 
Diadin. It is a large village with a fort and towers ; under which, in a 
deep channel of perpendicular rock, runs the eastern Euphrates , there a 
shallow stream about twenty feet in breadth. It rises about four agatck 
