218 
MARANDE. 
pellations, where their spirit of jealous rivalry wishes to obliterate 
some memory, with the old ; or of personal vanity, to erect some 
special memorial of themselves, by stamping a new name. 
Chardin gives Marande a very ancient origin, and tells us, 
it was the burying-place of Noah. The natives have lost the 
tradition. But I found a few Armenians, who were by no 
means backward in maintaining a similar tale. They say, this 
was the spot where the Patriarch planted a vineyard ; and, though 
they do not deny his having been inhumed here, they stoutly 
affirm, it contains the grave of his wife ; that her name was 
Marianne, and that the place, in consequence, was called 
Marande. 
Leaving the city, about ten o’clock, next morning, and cross¬ 
ing the valley, towards the mountains on the southern side, we 
began a gradual ascent of two miles, which brought us to the 
entrance of a narrow pass. I looked back on the beautiful vale 
we were just quitting ; and, though I might not discern its legen¬ 
dary vines, or cypress-groves, the green and silvan garb of nature, 
which every where clothed the scene, might well inspire the 
traveller, from less fair regions, with a dream of paradise. The 
defile, which we entered, carried us, in a winding direction, for 
nearly two hours, towards the south-east; and, on its termination, 
brought us out into a valley, very unlike that of Marande; for, 
only in distant spots, could we discover any verdure; and the 
huts of the labourers were scattered, few in number, on the 
sides of the hills, near to the little morsels of meagre cultivation, 
which hard toil had extracted from the stubborn soil. In the 
course of our route through this vale of scanty vegetation, and 
at about twelve miles’ distance from Marande, we passed the 
ruins of another caravansary, of very spacious dimensions, but in 
