band, and to him only when they are alone; she may then talk to her baby, and after an interval to her mother-in-law, then to her sister-in-law, next to her sister, last of all to other women, but always in a whisper. After six years, however, though obliged to go out veiled, she enjoys much power and consideration in the household, and if her husband dies, she reigns in his stead. The worthy German approves highly of this practice, not only as tending to increase conjugal devotion, but as rendering possible a system under which the married sons and daughters of a family continue to reside in one household.

"Imagine," says he, "five or six young married women (be it said with all due respect) living together in the same house, should we not anticipate continual quarrels and disturbance and the loss of all authority in the head of the family? No such thing; this danger is removed. Women's quarrels generally arise from the use of women's tongues; and it is not easy to quarrel for any length of time in pantomime, whilst the amusement of the spectators tends to allay (?) any angry feelings. Even afterwards, when freedom of speech is restored, this being carried on in a whisper is unfavourable to quarrelling. In short, to any one who has to manage a large household containing several young women, I could give no better advice than to introduce this Armenian custom." However ancient and laudable this custom may be, it is fast disappearing, and, so far as I learn, now subsists only to this extent, that a bride may not speak to her sisters-in-law for six months after mar

riage, to her mother-in-law for nine months, and to her father-in-law for eighteen.

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It is rather remarkable that whereas serfdom prevailed in Georgia and Mingrelia for many centuries, down till the recent emancipation by Alexander II., there is no trace of its existence in Armenia. Domestic slavery of course there was, as everywhere under Persian and Turkish rule; but all Armenians not slaves were equal: there was neither serf on the one hand nor any noble caste on the other. While every second Georgian you meet calls himself a prince, no Armenian seems now to claim any title of rank (when they used one, it was ishan prince), or has (so far as I know) accepted any from the Czar-an example worthy of imitation in more civilized countries. Some families of course enjoy special respect from their ancient or honourable pedigree; and of these there were a few which in Persian times were exempt from taxation, and were hereditary heads of their villages, responsible to the Shah's viceroy, or to the Armenian Melik of Erivan. This personage was the head of one of these old families, and a sort of national chief or judge, enjoying as much power as the Shah or Sardar for the time being chose to allow him, and often appealed to by his humbler countrymen to compose their differences, or shield them from the tyranny of some Mohammedan official. The Tatars had a Khan at Erivan who corresponded in a measure to this Melik, and was probably a representative of some ancient princely house. All this was, of course, swept away by the Russian conquest: here, as elsewhere, the

centralized bureaucracy of governors and judges appointed by the government is now in full swing.

Physically the Armenians are middle-sized, with a swarthy, yellowish complexion, less yellow, however, than that of the Persians, who are said to be (linguistically) their nearest relatives, black, straight hair, a forehead rather wide than high, and a large nose. The women are often handsome, with an erect carriage, regular features, and fine dark eyes. The language they now speak differs widely from that in which their ancient literature, dating from the fourth century, is preserved, and in which their worship is still conducted. They call it, and themselves, Haik, claiming to be descended from an eponymous hero Haik, who was the brother of Karthlos, ancestor of the Georgians, and the son of Thorgamos or Thogarmah, who was the son of Gomer the son of Japhet. It belongs to the Iranian group of the Indo-European family, and is said to be copious and strong, though certainly not melodious. Besides the ecclesiastical writings of the earlier middle age, the best known of which is the history of Moses of Chorene, there exist in the old tongue some ancient ballads, several of them containing versions of the Persian legends of Zal and Rustum. The earliest inscriptions found in the country are in a cuneiform character; somewhat later, in Græco-Roman times, the Greek alphabet was used by the Western, the Syriac by the Eastern Armenians, until, in the beginning of the fifth century, St. Mesrop invented the present Armenian character, and thereby, it has been thought, gave a considerable

impetus to the independent national feeling of the people. He wrote in it his Armenian translation of the Gospels, now accounted the model of the old tongue in its purity, but barely intelligible to one who knows only the modern vernacular, the origin of which, or rather the disuse of the ancient language in literary composition, is commonly assigned to the fourteenth century, when the Turkish and Mongol invasions had destroyed what little learning or wealth had been left in the country. There exist a certain number of recent ballads, sung to national airs, and some of these airs have considerable sweetness, unlike the church music, which is singularly harsh and unmelodious.

In the southern and western parts of Asia Minor, the Armenians generally speak either Turkish or dialects of their own tongue much corrupted by Turkish; but the establishment of schools among them is calling Armenian back into use, and notably strengthening their national sentiment. These schools and the funds of the churches are in each community managed by a local council, elected by universal suffrage. The Armenians whom I saw boasted that in no church was the lay element stronger than in theirs; even the election of the local priest is entirely in the hands of the people. In points of doctrine and ritual the Armenian Church is extremely conservative, and has been wise or fortunate enough to avoid defining her faith with the particularity which has produced so many schisms farther west. She has never committed herself to Monophysite views,

although, chiefly owing to a national jealousy of Constantinople, she refused to accept the decrees of Chalcedon; she has not formally expressed herself on the subject of purgatory or the invocation of saints, although the latter is of course practised; she has avoided the use of any word corresponding to the term transubstantiation, so that practically a considerable diversity of opinion regarding the Eucharist might prevail among her members.

The vigorous life which still dwells in the Armenian race, and makes one expect more from it than from any other of the Transcaucasian peoples, has chiefly expressed itself in practical directions, most of all (as has been said already) in money-making. Many Armenians, however, have entered the civil or military service of Russia, as well as that of Turkey (where, unhappily, their reputation as officials is not very creditable; it is an old remark that the faults of a subject race come out worst when they are put in power over their fellows), and some have risen to posts of high dignity. For instance, the commander of the invading Russian army in Asia at this moment, General Loris Melikoff, is an Armenian, as is the present governor of Daghestan. Their family, properly Melikian1 (ian is a patronymic in Armenian, like Mac or Ap), is one of the oldest and most re

1 Melik is of course the old Semitic word for king, which appears in the Melchi Zedek of Genesis. It is the same as Malek, or Melek (Adram Melech, Abi Melech), and has now come to mean prince or merely landowner in the Eastern countries. (See a learned and interesting essay by Sir E. Colebrooke on imperial and other titles in East and West, reprinted from the 'Transactions of the Asiatic Society,' 1877.)

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