SKETCH OF ARMENIA
Ruined Armenian Church near Erzeroom.
MAP AND WOODCUTS.
NEW YORK:
HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS,
82 BEEKMAN STREET.
1854.
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PREFACE.
Almost from time immemorial a border warfare has been carried on between the Koordishtribes on the confines of Turkey and Persia, in the mountainous country beginningat Mount Ararat toward the north, and continuing southward to the low lands, wherethe Shat al Arab, the name of the mighty river formed by the junction of the Tigrisand the Euphrates, pours those great volumes of water into the Persian Gulf. The consequenceof the unsettled state of affairs in those wild districts was, that the roads wereunsafe for travelers; merchants were afraid to trust their merchandise to the conveyanceeven of well-armed caravans, for they were constantly pillaged by the Koords, headedin our days by the great chieftains Beder Khan Bey, Noor Ullah Bey, Khan Abdall, andKhan Mahmoud. The chains of mountains which occupy great part of the country in questionare for months every year covered with snow, which even in the elevated plains liesat the depth of many yards; the bands of robbers constantly on the watch for plunderof any kind pre