Armenia, in my belief, is the healthiest country in the world; I do
not say one of the healthiest, but the very healthiest. The climate
is excellent all the year round, and, though the winters are severe,
and much of the country is covered with snow, yet on account of the
elevation--being several thousand feet above sea level, and in latitude
36° to 42°, or say from North Carolina to Massachusetts--the air is
dry, pure, and agreeable, a preventative of disease, and conducive
to longevity. The dread disease, consumption, does not exist there,
while dyspeptics, if any are to be found, must have been imported. The
perfect type of physical vigor is to be seen there. Generally the
Armenians are tall, powerful, and ruddy cheeked, full of endurance
and energy. Shrewd and enterprising they are, as reputed; but pure
and honest too. They are longer lived than any other people. I have
known Armenians of 115 and even 125 years of age; one old lady of my
acquaintance at 115 was full of life and fun; I have seen her dance at
wedding festivities like a girl of 15. An old gentleman of 125 was my
neighbor; he worked on his farm as if he were not over 25. He could
run and jump and was as gay as a boy, and greatly enjoyed children's
society. If the people of Armenia could have the same government,
the same encouragements, the same freedom from horrible fears, as the
people of the United States, they would live many, many years longer
than they do, till it might be necessary to kill the old folks in
order to get rid of them. The most of the American missionaries in
Armenia would be sure to echo these words. A returned missionary gave
a striking testimony to this effect. He was addressing the students
of the Chicago Theological Seminary, and spoke as follows:--"Before
I became a missionary I had very poor health; most of my family died
of hereditary consumption, and I was attacked by it. My physicians
strongly protested against my becoming a missionary, saying that
if I went to a foreign land I would grow worse, and probably die
there. I paid no attention to this; I presumed they were right, but
I was determined to go anyway, and if I must die, to die in my chosen
work. When I offered myself to the American Board, I was allotted to
Armenia, and thither I went; my disease disappeared and now I am as
healthy as any missionary in the world. You see how stout and vigorous
I look, and I do not expect to die soon. But I feel sure that if I
had stayed in America to save my life, I should have lost it before
this time." He is still living in Armenia, and I hope will live to
be over a hundred, as many of the natives do.
The reader will smile at all this as the patriotic boastfulness of an
Armenian, and say perhaps that he can make as fabulous declarations
for his own land, wherever he may be; but such claims cannot be
substantiated by records and personal observations as these for Armenia
can. Take the Bible; some of the Patriarchs lived to be 700, 800,
one even to 969, if indeed he ever died a natural death; some were
taken up to heaven without knowing death; and all these long lives,
as will be shown, were lived in Armenia. God's judgment was good. He
did not create man in America, Europe, or India, or anywhere but in
Armenia. He came down there from Heaven, planted the Garden of Eden
there, and from the dust of that land created the first man. When the
race had become sinful and only Noah's family were preserved, the ark
was not brought to rest on the Rockies, the Alps, or the Himalayas,
but on Ararat in Armenia.
Where was the Garden of Eden? In my belief, around Lake Van, the
highest lake, the largest lake, and the most picturesque lake in
the Bible lands; its surrounding country, mountains, plains, flower
gardens, and orchards, make it a most charming spot, and quite worthy
to have been the seat of Paradise on earth. As the wickedest cities,
Sodom and Gomorrah, were on the lowest, ugliest, and nastiest lake,
the Dead Sea, it is natural that Paradise should be on the highest
and loveliest one. A certain very learned Gospel minister, who desired
to change my views respecting the Garden of Eden, declared that when
the North Pole was discovered the Garden of Eden would be. Some think
it was in India, and there are about as many opinions as there are
countries on the earth. The Bible, however, seems to be pretty clear
about it and settles the question to the Armenian mind; we feel,
therefore, that we cannot be far from the Scriptural descriptions.