What portion, if any, of the present edifice is the work of that remote age, I am unable to pronounce. My impression is that earthquakes are held to have destroyed the original structure. The two chapels on the east, with their polygonal towers and conical roofs, are probably the earliest in date of the existing buildings. I reproduce them on a larger scale, my picture having been taken from the gallery of the monastic buildings on the south (Fig. 158). The body of the church immediately adjoins them; it is spacious, but not remarkable for architectural beauty or richness of ornament. It is in the character of a large conventicle, and the roof is flat. Slabs, inlaid in the floor, cover the graves of princes and warriors, of whom we read in the pages of Armenian historians. The bloody wars against the Sasanians are recalled by the tombs of Mushegh, of Vahan the Wolf and of Sembat. The grave of Vahan is denoted by a slab of black stone, before the entrance to the more southerly of the two chapels. That of Sembat is said to be situated near the threshold of the companion sanctuary, which is dedicated to St. Stephen. Near the wall on the south repose the remains of Vahan Kamsarakan. [161] Slabs are wanting in the case of the two graves last mentioned. Inscriptions are found, I believe, on some. The porch and belfry on the west are of no great antiquity, as the reader can see for himself. What with the Kurds and the suspicions of the Turkish Government this once flourishing monastery has been stripped of much of its glamour; indeed the monks are little better than prisoners of State. The new buildings on the west, erected by Bishop Mampre, have never yet been used. They were destined to receive the printing press, and the relics of the library. But the printing press--the wings of knowledge, said my companion--was placed under the ban of Government as early as in 1874. The library was pillaged by Kurds during the first half of the present century, and its contents burnt or littered about the courts. Nor is it possible for the community to pursue their studies, since any book which deals with the history of their nation is confiscated by the authorities. I think I have already mentioned that the same officials seize and burn our Milton and our Shakespeare. And yet the ambassadors of Europe dally on the Bosphorus, powerless to redress these wrongs and avenge these insults. It is because in Russia they practise similar iniquities, and because Europe stoops to sit at Russia's feet. Upon such matters we conversed when the air was a little clearer, after a fierce encounter between Mevlud and myself. That sinister personage had presumed to accompany me to my host's room; but I peremptorily ordered him out. I told him that if he ventured to invade the privacy of a priest's apartment I would undertake to have both the Mutesarrif and himself dismissed.