to a partially defaced inscription on one of the piers which once supported the dome. It mentions the name of King Sembat, a member of the Bagratid dynasty, which reigned from the ninth to the eleventh century. [263] The grandfather of the priest informed us that both the monastery and the church had been maintained up to a comparatively recent period. He said that the priests had fled during the campaign of Paskevich, since which date the buildings had been allowed to fall into decay. Ker Porter, who crossed the district on his way from Ani to Edgmiatsin, mentions the existence in this neighbourhood of extensive ruins--the deserted relics of two churches, of walls and houses, which he saw at a distance, but did not stay to examine. He calls the place Talys, and Ritter hazards the conjecture that these may have been the remains of Bagaran. [264] That city, which was founded by the same monarch who gave his name to Ervandakert and Ervandashat, became a royal residence of the Bagratid dynasty, and at the end of the fourteenth century of our era still continued to exist. We did not hear of further antiquities in the vicinity of Talin; but the correspondence of name suggests that Ker Porter's account may have been called forth by the former condition of the site which we visited. It was evident that these highlands had been the seat of a flourishing civilisation, later in date than that which produced the vanished cities of the plain. First at Talysh and next at Talin we discovered traces of this mediæval culture, of which the evidence was lavished upon us when we had reached the banks of the Arpa, at Ani and at Khosha Vank. The upper chamber of the priest's house and the company therein assembled recalled the simplicity of the early Christian times. Our host was still a young man, and his natural capacities had not been blunted by indigence and ill-treatment. His villagers were well off, and appeared to live on terms of friendship with their neighbours of Tartar race. A Tartar khan, a grandee of the district, happened to be visiting the place on business (Fig. 64); and we were glad to see that his intercourse with the principal people was marked by tokens of mutual respect. His grave face and dignified figure contrasted with the vivacity of the Armenians; his presence added to the interest of the group which I photographed, and which included the Pristav (Fig. 65) and the priest (Fig. 66). Neither the official head of the village nor our clerical acquaintance possessed any education, except what had been provided by an Armenian primary school. But both, and especially the former, were men of great intelligence, and did honour to the peasant class from which they had sprung.