The German woman, Henriette Alexandwer, invited me to take coffee with her; and when she heard of my perplexity with respect to a lodging, she offered me a room in her house. On the following day, I visited the governor, who received me very politely, and overpowered me with favours,—I was obliged to move into his house directly. He attended to my passport, and obtained all the necessary visés, of which I required half a dozen since entering the Christian dominions, and made an agreement for me with some Tartars, whose caravan was going to Tiflis. I then looked round the miserable half-ruined town with the good Mrs. Alexandwer, and saw Noah’s monument.
According to Persian accounts, Natschivan is said to have been one of the largest and handsomest towns of Armenia; and Armenian writers affirm that Noah was the founder. The modern town is built quite in the Oriental style; only a few of the houses have the windows and doors turned towards the streets; generally the front faces the small garden. The dress of the people is also rather like the Persian, but the officials, merchants, etc., wear European costume.
Nothing more remains of Noah’s sepulchre than a small arched chamber, without a cupola. It appears to have been formerly covered with one, but it is not possible to decide from the few ruins that now remain. In the interior, neither a sarcophagus nor grave are to be seen; a single brick pillar stands in the centre, and supports the roof. The whole is surrounded by a low wall. Many pilgrims come here, Mahomedans as well as Christians; and both sects entertain the remarkable belief, that if they press a stone into the wall while thinking of something at the same time, and the stone remains sticking to the wall, that their thoughts are either true or will come to pass, and the reverse when the stone does not adhere. The truth of the matter is, however, simply this: the cement or mortar is always rather moist, and if a smooth stone is pushed a little upwards while being pressed, it remains hanging; if it is only pressed horizontally, it falls off again.
Not far from Noah’s tomb stands another very handsome monument; unfortunately I could not learn to whose memory it was erected, or to what age it belonged. It consists of a high building, resembling a tower with twelve angles; the walls between the angles are covered, from top to bottom, with the most artistic mathematical figures in triangles and sexagons, and some places are inlaid with glazed tiles. The monument is surrounded by a wall, forming a small court-yard; at the entrance-gates stand half-ruined towers, like minarets.
17th August. I felt very unwell today, which was the more unpleasant, as the caravan started in the evening. For several days I had been unable to take any food, and suffered from excessive lassitude. Nevertheless I left my rest, and mounted my caravan nag; I thought that change of air would be the best restorative.
Fortunately we went only a short distance beyond the city gate, and remained there during the night and the following day. We did not proceed any further until the evening of the 18th of August. The caravan only conveyed goods, and the drivers were Tartars. The journey from Natschivan to Tiflis is generally made in from twelve to fourteen days; but with my caravan, to judge from the progress we made at the commencement, it would have occupied six weeks, for on the first day we went scarcely any distance, and on the second, very little more than the first; I should have travelled quicker on foot.
19th August. It is really unbearable. During the whole day we lay in waste stubble-fields, exposed to the most scorching heat, and did not mount our horses until 9 o’clock in the evening; about an hour afterwards we halted, and encamped. The only thing good about this caravan was the food. The Tartars do not live so frugally as the Arabs. Every evening an excellent pillau was made with good-tasting fat, frequently with dried grapes or plums. Almost every day beautiful water and sugar-melons were brought to us to buy. The sellers, mostly Tartars, always selected a small lot and offered it to me as a present.
The road led continually through large, fertile valleys round the foot of Ararat. Today I saw the majestic mountain very clearly, and in tolerable proximity. I should think we were not more than two or three miles from it. It seemed, from its magnitude, as if separated from the other mountains, and standing alone; but it is in fact, connected with the chain of Taurus by a low range of hills. Its highest summit is divided in such a way that between two peaks there is a small plain, on which it is said that Noah’s ark was left after the deluge. There are people who affirm that it would still be found there if the snow could be removed.
In the more recent treatises on geography, the height of Ararat is given as 16,000 feet; in the older ones, as 11,000. The Persians and Armenians call this mountain Macis; the Grecian writers describe it as a part of the Taurus range. Ararat is quite barren, and covered above with perpetual snow; lower down lies the cloister, Arakilvank, at the place where Noah is said to have taken up his first abode.
20th August. We encamped in the neighbourhood of the village Gadis. Many commentators of the Scriptures place the garden of Eden in the Armenian province of Ararat. In any case, Armenia has been the scene of most important events. Nowhere have so many bloody battles taken place as in this country, as all the great conquerors of Asia have brought Armenia under their control.