ERIVAN. 
197 
which will appear in my second volume. The fortress, described 
by Chardin, spreads over a great deal of ground. It is fortified 
in the mixed ancient and modern Asiatic manner, and has 
lately been strengthened by European engineers. But nothing 
can render it a station of importance; since it is commanded 
on every side by hills, at scarcely six hundred yards distance. 
The front, to the north-west, is on the summit of a perpendicular 
rock seventy feet deep, at the foot of which flows the Zengay ; 
forming by its waters a natural fosse, which in old times 
must have been a great protection. Nothing can exceed the 
grandeur of these bulwarks of nature, which so frequently 
present themselves around fortified places, in these precipitous 
countries ; — their vastness, simplicity, and impregnable ap¬ 
pearance, being far beyond the powers of man to imitate. 
Indeed, to any eye that does not look up to the superior heights 
which command the citadel of Erivan, the steepness of the huge 
battlement of rock on which it stands, would seem to set all 
impressions from without at defiance. The walls themselves, with 
their numerous towers, embrace a line of defence exceeding two 
thousand yards. Just beyond their limits on one side, a fine 
stone bridge crosses the river ; and, I cannot but say, it was the 
only object in the town that did not appear in a state of ruin 
or decay. Erivan has so often changed its masters, and as often 
been the scene of devastation, plunder, and massacre, that we 
cannot be surprised to find its ancient magnificence reduced to 
poverty ; and the population it boasted before these sanguinary 
invasions, become a scanty, spiritless remnant. Indeed, so is 
its consequence fallen, we might rather consider it a mere 
frontier-fortress, than give it the pretensions annexed to the 
capital of a great province. I am told, the number of its 
present inhabitants does not exceed 15,000 persons. 
