'The Expedition for the survey of the rivers Euphrates and Tigris, carried on by order of the British government, in the years 1835, 1836, and 1837; preceded by geographical and historical notices of the regions situated between the rivers Nile and Indus. In four volumes. With fourteen maps and charts, and embellished with ninety-seven plates, besides numerous wood-cuts. Volume the first.' [‎147] (202/905)

chap. vii.]
kars and akhltskhal.
147
South-westward, on the banks of the Araxes, there is a
fortress called Cardar-'abad, which contains 700 houses: and
a few miles northward, between Ararat and Mount Massis,
is the village of Echmiyadzin. This village occupies part of
the site of the ancient city of Vagharshabad and is further
remarkable for the adjoining convent of U'ch Kilisa, or the
Three Churches (St. Kaiane, Choghakate, and Echmiyadzin) ;
the convent, which is the residence of the Armenian patriarch,
is eight miles westward of Erivan. According to tradition, its antiquity,
the present capital, the Terva of Ptolemy, occupies the spot
first seen by Noah after quitting the ark, and also that which
the patriarch had occupied previous to the deluge. 2 But the
Armenian historians, with much more probability, attribute its
foundation to Ardachasse, the eleventh sovereign, who reigned
103 years b . c. The territory once called Godaikh 3 derived
its present name from the city; but Echmiyadzin, being the
seat of the ecclesiastical government, has always held the first
place among the Armenians, whether they were under the
Turks, Persians, or Russians. The population of the pro
vince consists of 58,423 Armenians and 48,494 Tartars, who
are dispersed in the different villages.
Towards the west is the district of Kars, and on the north- Extent of
west that of Akhltskhai', together representing Childe'r, or Georgia.
Turkish Georgia; a part of which has been added to the
Russian territory. Akhltskhai lies between Guria, Imiretia,
Georgia and the river Jorak. From the last to the borders of
Georgia the distance is about 90 miles, and from the borders
of Kars to Imiretia are nearly 40 miles : the district therefore
contains about 2300 square miles. On the north-west it is
covered with the spurs from the Caucasus, and on the south
east by those of Ararat, or the Armenian mountains. In
general the soil is fertile; and it is well watered by the Ar-
daghan-chai, the Akhltskhai'-chai', the Mtkvary, or Kiour, 4
1 Aperqu, &c., p. 288 to 296.—According to St. Martin, Memoires sur
I'Armenie, Tome I., p. 115, the city was founded in the sixth century b. c.
2 Ibid.
3 St. Martin, Memoires, &c., Tome I., p. 413.
4 Apercu, &c., Tome IV., p. 201, &c.
u 2