Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - IX. New plans for irrigation. Echmiadzin
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
NEW PLANS FOR IRRIGATION 225
And her dark eyes were stronger than his sword : she wcnt
back with him to Armenia as his queen.
The leader of the troupe of dancers who performed at
the concert danced a vigorous solo which reminded one of
the dances in Scotland. Finally, the handsome wife of the
Vice-President danced the national dance for us, looking like
some alluring princess in a fairy-tale. With her movements
graceful as a gazelle’s, her arms raised aloft in supple curves,
her swaying hips, and her shapely legs moving with such sure
rhythm and so quickly that her feet might have been nowhere
near the fioor, it all seemed like an Oriental dream. Not till
late did wc wend our way back to our hotel in the romantic
glamour of the moonlight.
The notes of the Armenian folk-songs echo long in the
soul. I could not help thinking of what my friend Kurgenian
said after hearing one of the melodies sung that evening :
" Wouldn’t you say that a people whose soul goes out in
songs and music like that can never die ? " And I felt that
he was right.
The next evening our tram was rolling over the plain.
Erivan, the Zanga Valley, and the beautiful gardens had been
left behind. Away in the south Mount Ararat could be
clearly seen in all its tremendous height, its broad cupola of
snow shining brightly in the sunset. The first stupendous
sight dominating the whole land when wc arrived, it was the
last wc saw as wc left that evening. And as a parting greeting
it had doffed its huge cowl of mist.
The sun was sinking in flames behind the undulating
landscape as wc drew near to Sardarabad. Then darkness
fell ; but the moon shone brightly from the starry vault, and
in its silver sheen wc rushed on again past fruitful fields and
through desert wastes. The vanishing contours of the sur
rounding heights loomed dimly in the distance. A few white
moon-clouds hung in space above the outlines of the mountains.
. . . And past us trooped a never-ending pageant of the
changing fortunes of bygone generations who lived on these
selfsame plains under the shadow of Ararat and Alagoz.
p
* *
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
