It had scarcely become day when the deep voice of the venerable Kaimakam was heard beside our tent. He had come to enquire after our needs; and he promised to endeavour to obtain a turkey from one of the Circassian villages in the plain. But when I asked whether he were acquainted with some educated person, capable of indicating to us the various objects of interest, and perhaps of connecting them with the history of the town, his face became a blank, and he was emphatic in declaring that, by Allah! no such individual existed in Melazkert. But was there no school, no Armenian teacher? I pressed him, but he spoke the truth when he answered in the negative. He added: "All the people here are very little people, occupied by the pressing needs of daily life. They have already forgotten what happened forty years ago, and they will remember your visit for forty years. Beyond these limits they have no knowledge whatever." The Kaimakam was right; Melazkert is a heap of ruins, from which some pygmies have collected the stones and built tenements. A squadron of cavalry, quartered in the town, may lend a semblance of life; but it is a deceptive semblance, for the place is dead. We descended from the citadel at the eastern extremity of the town, resolved to conduct a careful search. Let me enumerate in order, proceeding from east to west, the ancient edifices that still remain. All are built of the same black, basaltic lava which forms the material of the towers and walls; but, as this lava is highly scoriaceous in character, the stone cannot be properly dressed. The architect has therefore had recourse to a more suitable agent for the enrichments of his design; a calcareous rock has been brought from a distance and inserted in the dark walls. In such calcareous stone is carved the honeycomb ornament which fills the apex of the arch in two niches on the southern front of a spacious but deserted khan. It is a building in the fine old style, with a lofty and vaulted roof; a square aperture in the centre of the roof admits light and air. Adjoining the khan upon the west are placed the remains of the most interesting monument, the church of Erek Khoran Astvatsatsin. Its name, the three altars, is evidently derived from the three apses which are a feature in the design. Yet most old Armenian churches are built upon this pattern, if the name apse may be extended to the lateral chapels. In the present case these chapels are almost as large as the apse proper. The nave is separated from the broad aisles by two rows of three pillars apiece; from the pillars spring pointed arches, which appear to have supported a vaulted roof. But the roof has fallen in; we could find no trace of a dome or tower; and the pillars on the north side were strewn in pieces on the floor. The basal stones of two of the columns are octagonal, and were probably taken from some edifice of earlier date.