ERIVAN. 195 
Like our own keen huntsmen, no food is so sweet to their 
palate, as that which themselves have run down. Being within 
the Persian frontier, and having only twenty wersts to travel 
from the monastery to the capital of Erivan, I had dismissed 
these heroes at Eitch-mai-adzen ; not, however, without a due 
reward for their service, and a message of thanks to the Rus¬ 
sian commandant at Goumri. 
Proceeding with no other guard than my own personal 
servants, for in this immediate district banditti are now never 
heard of, I journeyed quietly on; with nothing to disturb my 
attention, from observing the ever-changing effects of light and 
§hade on the heights and depths of Ararat, (which mountain 
bore due south at our side,) as the day waned, and we drew 
towards Erivan. 
Erivan has been a province of Persia, ever since the conquests 
of Nadir Shah. It once formed a part of the kingdom of 
Armenia ; and, hence, its native inhabitants are commonly 
called Armenians. To the north, and to the eastward as far as 
Karadagh, it bounds the present line of frontier occupied by 
the Russians; and is governed by a Persian nobleman, having 
the title of Sardar, which means General. He resides in the 
capital city, which bears the same name with the province. I 
arrived there just before sun-set, on the evening of November 
21st, (0. S.) It lies in latitude 40° 9' 30" ; and is situated in an 
angle of a great plain, at the foot of the Mossian hills. Like 
most of the ancient cities in this part of the world, its origin is 
obscured by the clouds of time. But in consequence of its 
proximity to Ararat, it shares the claims of others in the same 
vicinity, to having been founded by the antediluvian patriarch. 
Such may have been its high descent; but I am rather inclined 
c c 2 
