148 
ARMENIAN CONVENTS. 
He said, that like the other monks, he would long ago have returned 
to his own country, but that he felt himself bound in duty to take 
care of the small flock of Catholics still existing at Ispahan. During 
the . commotions of Aga Mahommed Khan’s reign, he used to keep 
watch:.on the roof of his church with a gun on his shoulder j and when¬ 
ever he was in fear of being attacked, he did not scruple to make a 
show of resistance. 
He then opened the library, a small square room, with' shelves 
all around, upon which were heaped books of all descriptions, co¬ 
vered with dust. The floor also was spread with books, old papers, 
letters, accounts, all relating to the business of the former mission¬ 
aries, written in a variety of languages, and some of a very old date. 
The books'were in French, Italian, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, mostly 
on religious subjects, but so much neglected and out of order, that to 
us it did not appear'that there was one complete work throughout the 
whole collection. What, the Padre prized the most, was a polyglot 
bible, containing the Old Testament in Hebrew, Chaldaic, Greek, Latin, 
German, and Italian. We put some books aside, and asked whether he 
would not name a price for them ; but the good man, although nearly 
starving, and without a probability of any other priest succeeding him, 
decidedly refused our offer, saying that they belonged not to him, 
but to the church. Moreover he assured us, having heard that some of 
the books had been stolen from the library, and were used as waste paper 
by the Persians, that he felt himself bound to endeavour to repurchase 
them, which he did whenever he had the means. It was quite delight¬ 
ful to meet with so conscientious a man, in a country where the word 
conscience is not even known, much less where its admonitions are 
felt* 
We accompanied the Surgeon of the embassy to the convent of Ar¬ 
menian Nuns at Julfa. He had attended it once before by their desire, 
and now returned to give medicine to several of them who had asked 
relief. The nuns were nine in number, all old except two, and all 
ugly. They are dressed from head to foot in a coarse dark blue cloth. 
* Since this was written, poor Padre Yusuf is no more; he died at Ispahan. 
