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ARMENIA AND THE NEAR EAST
212
We were led up a couple of staircases, past a number of
servants and ecclesiastics, to the room where His Holiness
was awaiting us, surrounded by his bishops and retainers.
He was a man of medium height with an unusually sagacious
and serious expression and a large grey beard. He was in
his robes—black gown, black hood, and a white cross above
his forehead. He asked us to be seated at the table on the
other side of which he sat enthroned.
Speaking in Armenian, which was translated for our
benefit by the bishop who had shown us over the cathedral,
he welcomed us, and in particular thanked us for our work
for his countrymen the Armenian refugees. He had a fine
deep voice, and spoke with a natural dignity which was most
impressive even when one could not understand his words ;
and the expression in his good, friendly eyes showed that he
meant what he said.
I thanked him, and briefly explained why we had come,
telling him what I knew about the Armenian refugees in
various places, and how they were faring. With the bishop
interpreting, we discussed the great possibilities of Armenia,
what we had seen in the country, the hard fate of the Armenian
nation, and what in our opinion ought to be done to succour
the refugees.
He entered into all this with keen interest ; and talking to
this simple, sagacious man, with his tranquil gaze, one could
well understand that the Church personified in him has been
the central force which has kept the Armenians united in
spite of all their misfortunes. When we left he expressed his
good wishes for the progress and success of our work for
Armenia and the refugees.
We had a look at the museum, which contained an interest
ing collection of ancient stones with cuneiform inscriptions
that had been found in various places. They dated from the
Khaldic, pre-Armenian period before the sixth century b.c.
What especially interested us was that some of them mentioned
canals, showing that even at that time artificial irrigation was
of much importance in these parts. We saw a great many
old Armenian coins stamped with the heads of Armenian
kings, several of whom had strikingly handsome Armenian
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