We must not omit the mention of the singing birds of Armenia, for surely they must have performed a noble service by their melodious music in that great assembly of all creation, gathered to witness the nuptials of our innocent parents in their sinless state. Some of the descendants of Adam and Eve, who are still living in Armenia, have no other singers than the posterity of those, who sang for the first happy pair, while in the state of their innocency. The birds in general are numerous, belonging to various tribes “which” says the author, above quoted, “in thousands and millions would reward the toil of the sportsman and naturalist on the plains and mountains of the highlands of Armenia.” Nothing was more delightful and amusing to the writer when a child, than to watch the armies of birds flying towards the north in the spring, or south in the autumn, in a grand array, led by a general as it were, until they were lost from sight in the clear and bright Oriental sky; and even now, it would give him no little delight were it possible, to retire into one of those quiet cottages in the vineyards or orchards of the east and listen to the most melodious anthems of those songsters, who were then, it seems to him now, vying with one another to make their praises more acceptable to their Creator than do many of our noted singers in the magnificent churches and cathedrals of to-day. The animals of Armenia--beside the human--are in general about the same as are found in the United States, though perhaps the domestic animals of Armenia, like cows, oxen, horses, mules and donkeys, sheep and goats, are a little smaller in size than are found in America. In olden times, the Armenian horses were as famous as are the Arabian horses now. “The rich pastures of Media and Armenia furnished excellent horses for the Medo-Persian Army.” (See Ezek. 27:14.) There are some valuable mines in Armenia. Traces of old gold mines are found midway between Trebizond and Erzerum. Some even think that the locality of “Ophir,” from whence King Solomon fetched gold to decorate the temple at Jerusalem, was in this region. It may be interesting to some to repeat that the ancient river Acampsis, identified by some with the Pison of the Bible, “which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold,” does really run through this part of the country.[13]