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AMONG THE MOHAMMEDANS AND
KURDS AT ARARAT
By REV. N. F. HOIJER
THE vast plain of Ararat is closed in on all sides by mountains.
The plain is so large that upon it are many towns and cities.
Among them is Erivan and Etchmiadzin or Varashabad, where
the most renowned monastery of the Armenians is located. There is
also Nakhitchevan, the first resting place of Noah, where the patriarch
is said to have settled for a time after coming out of the Ark. The
wife of Noah, according to tradition, was buried in a town near by, of
the name Myzahn, which means, "our mother’s tomb."
In these towns there is a vast population of Armenians and among
them there is an evangelical mission. I journeyed to and fro there
during fifteen years, and brought to that plain a Christian teacher
for the children of Armenian parents. I was planning to return to
Tiflis, the main city of the Caucasus, when a voice in my heart kept
saying: "You must go over the mountain Alagats." There was no
road on which one could travel by carriage over that mountain and
I had to go on horseback, or on foot. I had a good Arab horse. When
I spoke to my friends about my intention to travel that way they
said: "You can never go that way. The Kurds live there and they
are all robbers. They will kill you to get your beautiful horse."
But I felt I had to go that way if I were not disobedient to God. My
traveling companion, however, left me and I was quite alone with
God, riding on my horse. After the first day’s journey I reached a
great height on Mt. Alagats.
Over Mount Alagats
There is a legend that Noah’s Ark first struck the ground on this
mountain, but it was later driven by the wind to the larger mountain
of Ararat. While my thoughts were busy with the legends and tra-
ditions connected with my surroundings I suddenly came upon a cara-
van of Armenians. Among them there was an old man with the ap-
pearance of a patriarch, tall, with expressive black eyes and white
hair and beard. When he had reached me he stopped, and said in
Armenian: "I see that you are a stranger. You look like a man from
a far away country. You do not know what dangers are around you.
Kurds are living here and they are fond of fine horses like the one
you have. They will kill you to get your horse. Listen now to my
advice. Go back with our caravan and stay over night in our village;
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