Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - VI. Across the Arax plain and in Erivan
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ARMENIA AND THE NEAR EAST
150
back, however, than their long arms would shoot out to the
nearest table and snatch a slice of bread, a cutlet, or whatever
they could get hold of ; or all of a sudden they would vault
over the fence as nimbly as a monkey on to the floor and grab
a good big piece of something. One day as we were leaving
our table I saw the whole lot of them clear the fence, and before
you could say " knife " they had emptied a big dish of apricots,
seized everything eatable on the other dishes, and were back
over the fence before the waiters could catch them ; then they
scattered across the club-ground, yelling with glee, to enjoy
the spoil. Many of them have been put into children’s
hornes ; but they soon run away again, and even persuade
others to follow their example. Then they go back to the
free life of the streets. So long as it is summer they live in
clover, but in winter their lot is not so enviable. But make
hay while the sun shines—at present it is summer, and more
than hot enough, too !
Later in the evening there was music—a small Armenian
band, consisting of five Armenian guitars (known as tarr)>
two Armenian violins, which are held upright on the knee, an
Armenian zither, a tambourine, and a sort of muffled double
drum. The music they played was also Armenian : folk-songs
and dances. Everything had a quick, pronounced rhythm,
rather like dance music, or fast march-time ; but one noticed
a curious underlying note of wistful melancholy.
On the following morning (Friday, June ifjth) we had
another meeting with the Government committee in order
to study maps of the plain, with comparative altitudes, and
the Armenian engineers’ calculations of the volume of water
carried by the different rivers. We decided to leave by the
evening train and explore the upper part of the Sardarabad
plain. During the meeting a deputation arrived from the
Armenian teachers’ conference then assembled at Erivan.
Its leader gave me a message of greeting in German, and
announced that I had been elected honorary president of the
conference.
We went to see the museum, which is situated in the main
street of Erivan. Here there are important collections bearing
on the history of Armenia. I was specially interested in
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