Note 3 — Chapter VIII · FROM MUSH TO ERZERUM

Following with the eye the course of the river, we searched in vain for a gap in the mountains among which it disappeared. These describe a bold half-circle at the western extremity of the plain, not many miles from where we stood. The heights on the north join hands with the heights upon the south, and appear to prevent all issue from the plain. From the ford we proceeded in a north-westerly direction to the village of Ziaret. It is an Armenian settlement with 150 tenements, and possesses a church but no school. The kiaya,3 or head of the village, was quite a civilised individual; and such was his politeness that he sent his own son with me, to wait on me during my sojourn at Surb Karapet. He informed me—the usual story—that there had been a teacher in the village, but that last year he had left (euphemism), and his place had not since been filled.