RECEPTION IN THE RUINS. 
615 
I shall not exceed the fact, when I say that thousands of grave¬ 
stones marked this awful depositary of the old Armenian race. In¬ 
deed the various sorts of recollections which present themselves 
to the mind in this particular quarter of the East, continually 
suggest the idea of treading over some vast tomb. And it is so: 
for here the first fathers of all the families of the earth were 
buried; here immense empires rose, and crumbled into dust; 
here we find the remains of cities, whose founders died in the 
infancy of the world; and the monuments of people, sunk so 
long into the depths of time, that the name of their nation is 
no more remembered. The cemetery of the Armenians at Julfa 
was not yet in such a case, though the individuals which filled 
it were mingled in the common mass; but the time may come, 
when the ram on its hills, may be as little assignable to them 
there, as I found it on the tombs beyond Tabreez; or as the 
rude sculptures dug up in the endless tumuli north-west of the 
Caucasus, are now explainable of the people whose vast remains 
they cover. 
From this melancholy spot my conductor led me to one well 
calculated to disperse its gloomy apparitions; his own little 
abode, clean, cool, and cheerful; and, how he had managed it 
I cannot tell, but I found a nice repast prepared for my entrance, 
consisting of fish, eggs, bread, butter, and acidulated milk. 
Sedak, as well as myself, heartily enjoyed the regale of these 
good Christians; and having taken my leave of the hospitable 
director of the whole, our venerable guide, with thanks and a 
suitable present, we rode forth from the ruins of Eski Julfa. 
Nackshivan was to be our menzil, which we reached at five in 
the evening; having ridden seven farsangs, a distance of thirty 
measured miles. My people had just arrived ; and I found them 
