History of Armenia, by Father Michael Chamich; from B. C. 2247 to ...

406 HISTORY OF ARMENIA.
unfortunate Armenians in their descent, killed a
great number and made many prisoners. These
they bound with ropes and dragged into the
presence of the governor. Bulah, according to
his instructions, selected the most comely, and
put them in confinement, with a view to their
Haican
«ra 300.
being prevailed upon to renounce their religion ;
the remainder he ordered to
be butchered before
his eyes. A similar scene occurred more
than once in the other provinces of that country.
A. D. 851. The news of these horrors having reached the
ears of Ashot the celebrated chief of the Arzrunians,
he meditated resistance: but the other
chiefs, without whose assistance he could effect
little, were averse to the plan.
Ashot havintf no other alternative, then went
to meet Bulah, under the persuasion that he might
mollify him by gifts. He was deceived, for on
coming into the presence of the governor he was
ordered to be shackled, and sent with his
and the whole of his family to Bagdad.
then marched to
wife
Bulah
the province of Vaspurakan,
-
and spread his troops all over the land, with
orders to seize and bind all who were able
to carry arms. As in Taron, he separated
the finest men from the rest, and put them
in confinement ; the others were inexorably
consigned to death. The slaughter was immense,
and, a£ the records state, human blood