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ARMENIA AND THE NEAR EAST
170
waiting for, and there was some good singing by an Armenian
baritone trained in the Italian school, and by others as well.
After that we were to have supper. The whole building
was decorated in honour of the occasion, and all the passages
and stairs had been converted, by a judicious use of sailcloth,
into a copy of the tunnel we had plodded along in the morning,
except that there was more light and no water to wade through.
Up through this dry tunnel we walked in procession to the
dining-hall. Here there were a great many people and a
lavish menu. I made the acquaintance of the head engineer
who had constructed the canal, and congratulated him on the
successful completion of the work ; he impressed me as being
an exceptionally capable and congenial person. There were
many speeches, and the festivities continued merrily until well
on in the small hours.
This, so far as we were concerned, was the end of the
celebrations. As we had come to Armenia specially to study
the prospects of artificial irrigation and the cultivation of new
land, we were particularly lucky to have been present at the
opening of a new canal, and to have seen how a great under
taking of that kind could be carried out.
The Work of the Near East Relief in Armenia.
We had now to study what the great organization of the
American Near East Relief had done for the cducation of
thousands of Armenian orphan children, and for the cultiva
tion of the country. This organization had several sections
round Leninakan. These " communities," as they were
called, were housed in large buildings—chiefly barracks from
the days of the Russian garrison—on the plain outside the
town.
In the morning (Monday, June 22nd) Mr. Beach, the
director of this work, came with several cars to fetch us, and
took us to one of his communities, Kazachi Post, where we
were given cleanly, comfortable rooms.
First we visited the well-appointed hospital, where we saw
all that was being done for sick children and their relations,
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