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CHAPTER IX. 
Saadatabad, the place of our residence, was situated in the vicinity of 
Julfa, the Armenian suburb. The vast extent of the ruins which 
surround Julfa, and the remains of magnificence still apparent in some 
of the walls of the former houses, confirm the accounts which Chardin 
and other travellers have given of its ancient splendour. The state of 
the present Armenians, when compared with their prosperity under 
Shah Abbas, is quite deplorable. The fine houses which they then 
possessed, the remains of which prove how wealthy must have been 
their owners, are no longer to be seen. Although the few Armenians 
that still remain, have a great patron in the Ameen-ad-Dowlah, who 
encourages others to settle at Julfa, yet there is an appearance of misery 
about them, which indicates a want of confidence in the government 
under which they live. Instead of the three thousand four hundred 
houses of which Julfa could boast in the days of Shah Abbas, at present 
it scarcely can reckon three hundred. Its principal church is a fine 
building, handsomely ornamented inside, and, what is esteemed a, 
great privilege in Mahomedan countries, enjoys the use of a bell. 
Some of their other churches also have bells; but the inferior ones, as 
well as the one attached to the convent of Nuns, have only a board 
suspended between two wooden pillars, which is beaten by a mallet, to 
call the people to prayers. Notwithstanding the smallness of the pre¬ 
sent Armenian community, twelve churches are still appropriated for 
their worship. 
It was not until we were one day accosted in the Italian language,, 
by a little, fresh, cheerful looking man, that we were aware of the 
existence of a Roman Catholic Church at Ispahan. He was its priest, 
and the last of the missionaries of the Propaganda, who had long been 
established in Persia. His name was Padre Yusuf; a Roman by birth, 
and he had lived fifteen years at Ispahan, during which time he ha4 
