The Sun.
London, England, 1846-11-06 00:00:00

RUSSIAN ARMENIA'.

There are provinces of the Russian empire almost as
unknown to the rest of Europe, at the present day, as
theinterior of Africa. Of these, Russian Armenia, con-
sidering its proximity to the Levant, is one of the most
unknown. When Hitter prepared the first edition of
his "Erdkunde," no European traveller had yet visited
even the two great lakes of Van and Urmia, at the foot
of the highlands of Armenia, and that learned geo-
grapher could collect but a few scanty notices from
oriental writers on these regions, so interesting from the
ancient traditions of the history of Upper Asia. These
mountain lakes have since then become better known
from the communications of good observers, such as
Ker Porter, Wilbraham, Fraser, Kinneir, Monteith,
Shiel, and Brant ; Hamilton, and especially that ad-
mirable writer Ainsworth, have issued full and au-
thentic accounts of travels in hitherto unknown
parts of Upper Armenia. All these writers are
Englishmen, who have done more for the geogra-
phical knowledge of Asia than the learned travel-
lers of all the other nations of Europe together. Of
German travellers the unfortunate archeologist, Schulz,
seems to be the only one who, from the writings he has
left, has, to any extent, increased the geography of
Central Armenia. On the other hand, that part of the
northern border of Upper Armenia, near the Caucasus,
has been made to us more through French and German
inquirers, as, fcr instance, Tavernier, Chardin, Tourne-
fourt, Dubois, Parrot, and Behagel. Meanwhile there
are many parts even of Russian Armenia on which
printed communications are almost wholly wanting, such
as th, Alaght‘s mountains and the shores of the great
mountain lake of Goktschai, which, after the lakes Van
and Urmia, is the largest reservoir of fresh water in
Upper Asia. and exceeds both these great mountain
lakes in depth, in the beauty of the surrounding moun-
tain scenery, and in the magnificence of its Alpine vege-
tation. When, in 1843, I undertook a jpurney to Ras-
sian Armenia, I indicated to myself the lake of Gokts-
chai, Ararat, and the mountain group of the Alagia, as
promising the best results in both a geographical and a
natural history point of view, and as more worthy a
longer visit than any other district of this part of Ar-
menia.

I left Tiflis early in May, accompanied by. Herr
Abowian, a scientific and well educated Armenian of
Erivan, who, during a residence of six years in Dorpat,
had made himself acquainted with the German language
and manners, and to whom I owe many valuable com-
munications on his native land and on the customs and
mode of life of his countrymen. General Neidhard, the
then commander in-chief in the Caucasus, had appointed
Herr Abowian to accompany me in this excursion as
guide and interpreter. Ivan, a Cossack, was my second
fellow-traveller, and took his place beside the Russian
postillion, in front of the carriage, often amusing me by
his ready wit and shrewd answers. My second Cossack
I had left behind at Tiflis, with my Hungarian servant,
to continue the zoological and botanical collections
already commenced in that part of the country, while I
likewise hoped to return with a good booty, in both
plants and animals, from the higher mountain land in
the south.. After several days journey I reached the
station at Pipis, where I made a halt of one day, in order
to reconnoitre the surrounding country with hammer,
botanising-box, and insect-net.
Pipis lies in a valley enclosed by rather high moun-
tains. We here enter on the volcanic territory of Ar-
menia ; the highest peaks, however, scarcely reach the
proper Alpine Zone. The volcanic nature of the rocks
may be perceived by the conical form of the hills in the
distance. It is a hard porphyritic trachyte, which here
breaks out of the strata of a light-coloured, close, and
very hard limestone, and of a sandstone pervaded by
oxide of iron, at every point of the edge of the valley,
and forms the pointed summits of the hills. From the
plain, which spreads itself beneath Pipis, rises an
isolated trachyte cone, everywhere steep and of an ex-
tremely curious shape, somewhat similar to the tra-
chyte cones in the Auvergne. A steep path is said to
lead to a cave near the top, where a famous robber-
captain of the neighbourhood once held himself con-
cealed. On another conical hill, near Pipis, stands the
Armenian convent of Subsarkiss. The Tschoshass, a
small impetuous mountain torrent of clear, cool, pleasant-
tasting water, rushes through the valley. When I re-
turned from my first mountain excursion, beneath a hot
sun, I enjoyed this refreshment, of which during my stay
in Georgia I had long been deprived, and drank frequent
draughts of the fresh mountain water, without sustain-
ing the least inconvenience. I was, however, not a
little surprised immediately after at meeting a Russian
officer, who earnestly warned me against tasting the
water of this spring. " The Tschoschass," he said, "is
a true poison spring. All our men who drank of it were
seized with dysentery or intermitting fever, and every
Russian soldier is therefore forbidden, on pain of fifty
lashes, to quench his thirst at this stream. The poor
fellows are therefore obliged to drink the water of
another stream, which was thick and insipid. Whether
the opinion of the officer as to the pernicious quality of
the Tschoschass was well founded or not, I could not of
course positively ascertain during so short a stay; but
the quality of the extremely clear and almost tasteless
water itself in no wise maintained such an assertion.
The next day, too, my Cossack, who had found some
comrades from the Don, and talked away the whole
night with them, told me that the soldiers of Pipis drank
secretly the good water of the valley, in spite of the
threatened stick, and yet found themselves well enough.
The station of Pipis, the residence of a district cap•
tain, presents nothing remarkable beyond a handsome,
modern, building, which stands, as it were, at the en-
trance of the place, and b v its considerable extent,
attracts the attention of travellers. To my inquiry as to
the destination of such a party-coloured house, the post-
master informed me, to my astonishment, that it was a
district school, of which the erection had ken ordered
by a former governor- general, Baron Von Rosen. A
district school in these solitudes, among rough Tartars
and Armenians ! I immediately hastened to visit this
wonder. The folding-doors of the building stood open,
the interior was empty ; large desolate rooms, without
furniture, mouldy walls on which the spider wove un-
disturbed her wide-spread nets, broken wind.ows, a
large lizard which scampered through an opening in the
wall on my entrance, damp air, and other evident tokens
of the ruin that had already began in this only
half-finished building, were all that presented
themselves to the disappointed curiosity. But
what had become of the teachers and their
pupils, of the forms and desks which must have
once been in this school-house P " None of them ever
came in," said the cossack lieutenant, whom I found
feeding his horse in the parlour, " when the Emperor
visited his provinces beyond the Caucasug they every-
where wished to make him believe that iuropean civi-
lisation had begun to take root amongst these wild
people, and those attempts at education were warmly
encouraged and urged on by our chief officer at Tiflis.
This fine house was erected in all haste, and shown to
the Emperor as a proof of the extensive plan of the fu-
ture institution. Teachers were to come from Tiflis for
all departments of knowledge, and for every language ;
the Armenians and Tatars of all the surrounding
country were to be enticed by presents of money to send
their children here to learn European school wisdom.
This child was to be taught the Bible by the priests,
that the maxim of the Koran by the mollahs ; the plan
was magnificent, but there was something in it more
than met the eye ; for as soon as the Emperor had
seen the new school-house, and expressed his satis-
faction, the hands of the masons and carpenters were
suddenly paralysed. Not a ruble more found
its way to Pipis for this humane object, and the architect
disappeared before his work was finished ; so now we
have sha;ed the empty rooms between us. The yard
was a convenient place for our stables. My Cossacks
laid themselves in the cool halls, in the summer time,
when the heat out of doors was unbearable, and instead
of the Tartar youths learning to decline matj (mother),
and repeat the multiplication table as announced by the
plan, the rooms echo nothing but Don songs and Cos-
sack wit." "This sort of trick is played upon our good
Czar everywhere," said another Cossack. " When it was
understood that the Emperor was about to visit the
shores of the Goktschai, a sailing boat was hastily put
together with banks of oars and sails, such as these blue
waters had never borne before, lest the Emperor should
be angry that so great a lake with so large a population
on its shores, should be deprived of the advantages of
water communication. On his arrival this was pointed
out to him as only the commencement of a Goktschai
fleet ; no sooner, however, had he departed from Ar-
menia, than all thoughts of using the boat for navigation
were lost sight of, and probably by this time it has rotted
away." This is not an inapt illustration of the system of
appearances common throughout Russia.—Augsbarg
Gazette.

THE ORIGINAL METALLIC TABLET STROP, WITH
FOUR SIDES, FOR KEEPING RAZORS IN PERFECT
ORDER.-The metallic Tablet was invented by Mr. G.
Saunders, of New York, in the year 1816. It combines
the properties of both the hone and strop. By its use,
that keen, smooth edge to a razor, so necessary to shave
with comfort, is obtained and kept, without having re-
course to any other means. It is the only article of the
kind that has been approved of and recommended by
the first cutlers of Europe. Gentlemen are respectfully
invited to bring a dull razor and test its efficacy before
purchasing.—Depot, 278, Strand.
BENTLEY'S MISCELLANY.—" As a repertory of
original and diversified fiction this Miscellany has
long stood at the head of its competitors. The number
of first-rate writers who regularly contribute to it is sur
prisingly large, and the selection of alternate gaieties
and gravities made, is deserving of general encomium.
To the new number just published a star of the first
magnitude is added to the galaxy of poets, wits, and
romancers who have hitherto shed their lights on
Bentley's pages. In addition to Maxwell, Albert Smith,
W. Jerdan, Miss Costello, Alfred Crowquill,lDr. W. C.
Taylor, Henry Curling, and other luminaries, one has
come from the Far West, whose lustre is surpassing, and
whose fame is universal. J. Fennimore Cooper, he who
has witched the world, old and new, with those un-
equalled sea stories, "The Pilot," "Red Rover," " The
Two Admirals," "Le Feu Pullet," &c., has devoted
blamed to the readers of the Miscellany, and hencefor-
ward they will be duly favoured with the coruscations of
his genius. "Captain Spike ; or, the Islets of the Gulf,"
is the new romance begun by this eminent writer.
Judging from the chapter given in the November num-
ber, we dare promise that its development will be ex-
citing, its story interesting, and its details instinct with
life and reality. We have already made the acquaint-
ance of Spike himself, Captain of the brigantine Molly
Swash, of his crew, and of a couple of those necessary
agents in all adventures on shore or at sea, petticoats,
one bearing the floricultural name of Rose Budd.
Having seen the ladies on board, we behold the clipper-
looking craft bear away from a wharf of the renowned
Yankee city of Manhattan, with tke intent of going
through Hell-gate, and, as the devil would have it, we
see her miss her mark, and go right bang on the Pot-
Rock. The position and movements of the vessel,
her captain and her crew, are described with extraordi-
nary graphic power and nautical knowledge."—Morning
Post.