Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - VI. Across the Arax plain and in Erivan
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ACROSS THE ARAK PLAIN AND IN ERIVAN 137
in 1920, and which were now mere heaps of mins. It is
lamentable to see all this destruction, old and new. War,
never-ending war ! And the people have too little inclination
to rebuild ; it is easier, as I have said, to build afresh.
At one place where there was a little waterfall a stone mill
had been constmcted over the canal, to which the peasants
drove their corn to be ground.
At Tapa Dibi, a village nve or six kilometres north of the
Arax, a small round hill rises in the middle of the otherwise
level plain. On the top of it are signs of an old castle, and at
the foot are the remains of an ancient town. Cuneiform
inscriptions on stone that have been found there show that it
is the site of Armavir, one of the oldest towns in Armenia,
which is several times mentioned in the old cuneiform inscrip
tions on the rock at Lake Van. According to the latter the
town was founded by the Khaldian king Argistis I in Tushpa,
i.e. Van, circa 785-760 b.c. His son, Sardur 111 (area 760
-733), praises himself in one of the inscriptions for håving
increased the importance of Armavir. This was in the days
when Nineveh was at the height of its power.
Naturally this lonely hill, which was easy to defend, would
early make it possible for a town to grow up under its protec
tion on this fertile plain, which must have been cultivated by
aid of artificial irrigation even in those days. Unfortunately
wc had not time to stop and see the ruins that have been
found there.
A little farther on there were some women weeding a cotton
field. I wanted to see how the work was done, so wc stopped
and I walked across to them. Then a curious thing happened :
a handsome young woman got up, came to me, and gravely
handed me a small cotton-plant. This done, without looking
about her, she quietly returned to her place, and bending down,
resumed her weeding without looking up again. It was
a gesture of welcome in accordance with the custom of the
country, very touching in its artless simplicity. I kept those
modest leaves as a memento of Armenian womanhood.
The cotton plants were still quite small. The fields have
to be kept weeded, and the plants, which are sown in rows,
must not be too near together. Though the summer is,
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