Notwithstanding the anxiety I was in, I could not help
laughing at the foolish faces which both the women and the customs'
officer made when they saw the fragments of brick from Babylon, and
the somewhat damaged Ninevite head. They could not at all
comprehend why I should carry such objects with me.
The German woman, Henriette Alexandwer, invited me to take coffee
with her; and when she heard of my perplexity with respect to a
lodging, she offered me a room in her house. On the following day,
I visited the governor, who received me very politely, and
overpowered me with favours,--I was obliged to move into his house
directly. He attended to my passport, and obtained all the
necessary vises, of which I required half a dozen since entering the
Christian dominions, and made an agreement for me with some Tartars,
whose caravan was going to Tiflis. I then looked round the
miserable half-ruined town with the good Mrs. Alexandwer, and saw
Noah's monument.
According to Persian accounts, Natschivan is said to have been one
of the largest and handsomest towns of Armenia; and Armenian writers
affirm that Noah was the founder.
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