VILLAGES DESERTED. 
26l 
seemed to vie with each other in their treatment of the Ambassador; 
and our camp was regularly and plentifully supplied with provisions. 
But on arriving at Bezak, in the district of Muzdekan, we were dif- 
ferentl)' treated. Its inhabitants, upon hearing of our approach, had 
fled to the mountains with their wives, families, cattle, and furniture, 
leaving behind them nothing but the bare walls of their houses. Those 
of the neighbouring villages had fled likewise; and we and our cattle 
should have passed that day without food, if we had not been supplied 
by our kind host of the preceding stage, who, as soon as he heard 
of our difficulties, came to our assistance, with mules and asses loaded 
with all that we could want. Towards the evening, some of the lugi- 
tives having gained confidence by our orderly behaviour, (for the Am¬ 
bassador had directed that their grass should neither be trampled nor 
grazed upon,) ventured from their retreats; and from them we learnt, 
that having been informed that the Ambassador was escorted by two 
thousand horsemen, who in their passage were laying waste the country, 
they had in consequence sought their own safety in flight. Unfortu¬ 
nately the same tale had preceded us to our next stage; for when we 
got there, we found nothing but empty houses, tenanted only by dogs 
and cats. This village, Mobareken by name, was situated in a well- 
peopled and well-cultivated district; yet to fifteen of the villages which 
surrounded it we sent for food, for all had been equally abandoned by 
their inhabitants, and we were obliged to put up with what we had 
casually brought forwards with us. Let us apply our case to a large 
army, and we shall find that it would be impossible to march troops in 
any great numbers through such a country. This method of taking 
refuge against oppression or invasion, by flying to the mountains is 
frequently mentioned both in Scripture and in ancient history. It was 
the case after the defeat of the Kings of Sodom and Gomorrah, Genesis, 
xiv. 10.; and also when Syennesis"^ fled, with all the inhabitants 
of Cilicum, at the approach of Cyrus. The Armenian Prince, who 
was afraid of Cyrus, sent his younger son Sabaris, his own wife, his 
son’s wife, and his own daughters, away to the mountains, and with 
* Xenophon, Anab. lib. i. c. 2. 
