Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 17.djvu/371

NESTORIUS 357 MODERN NESTORIANS. The remnants of the Aramaean Nestorians are to be found in diminishing numbers partly on Turkish, partly on Persian territory. Since the close of the 17th century the Roman Catholic mission, with its headquarters at Aleppo, has, through the powerful sup port of the French consuls, met with great success among the Nestorians, and has formed the converts into the so- called Chaldseans, or Nestorians connected Avith the Roman Catholic Church. Those Nestorians who still adhere to their ancient creed are settled on Turkish soil mainly in the wild and inaccessible regions of eastern Kurdistan, and on Persian soil in the highly fertile plain to the west of the Lake of Urmia. In the former district Nestorians Lave lived along with the uncivilized Kurds (Iranians) from a very early period, and their numbers have probably been increased by immigrants driven from the lowlands of the Euphrates and Tigris by Moslem persecution. Till quite recently they have maintained there a comparative inde pendence in spite of the perpetual hostility of the Kurds. In those districts where the Kurds are numerically superior they have the ascendency over the scattered Nestorian com munities ; but there were formerly districts mainly or, as in the case of Tiyari (Tyari), almost completely occupied oy Nestorians, and in these the Kurds were the subject race. As in those regions the conditions of life are the same for both, there is little difference between Christians and Mohammedans ; the Nestorians wear nearly the same garb as their Kurd neighbours, the most noteworthy article being the breeches. The mountain Nestorians have generally striped jackets and felt caps, and frequently a staff (the stony mountain roads being mere footpaths, or at best only available for mules). Stock-breeding is the chief occupation ; and in summer the herds are taken up to the higher regions, where, however, sheep and goats are exposed to the attacks of wild animals, especially bears and wolves. The alpine character of some of those dis tricts has been greatly admired by the few travellers who, in spite of risks from brigands, have ventured to visit them. In certain valleys, as, for instance, in that of the Zab, there is luxuriant vegetation : the chief trees are the willow and the poplar ; rice is cultivated, though at the risk of intermittent fever. To avoid the mosquitoes the people spend the summer nights in the open air on the top of a scaffolding of poles. Their ordinary houses are generally very wretched, often consisting of but a single room, and sometimes even being formed underground, after a fashion that becomes common in Armenia. Besides making most of their own utensils, the mountaineers work certain copper and sulphur mines, and earn a little money by gathering gall-nuts. Their basket-work, for which the district of Tchelu is particularly famous, deserves to be specially mentioned; travelling basketmakers from this region are to be found in all parts of western Asia. The montaineers do a good deal of hand-spinning and stocking-working, even their priests engaging in these forms of industry as well as in tillage. Wooden spoons are made in the mountains. The people as a rule are very poor ; many of them migrate for a time (to Mesopotamia for the most part), but come back with their petty gains to their homes, to which they are much attached. This applies, however, only to certain districts; from the central highlands of Tiyari, for instance, emigration is rare. The supply of food in the mountains is very meagre; wheat does not thrive well, and the people depend on millet-bread, roasted meal, and dried mulberries. Great labour has to be expended in carrying soil up to the ter races which they cultivate on the mountain sides. Milk and its preparations are largely used ; and -bee-keeping receives some attention. The hospitality of the moun taineers stands high; they willingly share their last morsel with a stranger. Intellectually they are not unlike the Kurds : the latter are proverbially stupid, and these Nes- torians also are reproached not only with ignorance but with lack of capacity. The clergy, ignorant to an extra ordinary degree, live a miserable life, and give themselves little concern about the education of their flocks. They receive, however, no small respect from their people, who also show a touching and reverential attachment to their creed. Even the churches are objects of peculiar devotion. The accusation sometimes brought against the mountain Nestorians that they resemble the Kurds in a tendency to raiding and brigandage is not altogether without founda tion ; but this may be at once explained and excused by the fact that they live in the midst of a hostile and rapacious population, from whose attacks they can defend themselves only by reprisals. In warlike courage they are not behind the Kurds. Among both races the women, judged by Oriental standards, occupy a high position. The moun tain Nestorians are governed by hereditary village sheikhs called meliks ("kings"; compare the "kings" of the Canaanites). Great influence is possessed by the patriarch residing at Kotchannes near Julamerg, who always bears the name of Mar Shimun (i.e., Lord Simeon) ; the civil jurisdiction over the independent tribes is in his hands. The patriarchal dignity is hereditary in one family ; the woman destined to be the mother of the future patriarch must refrain during her pregnancy from eating flesh, a diet which is absolutely forbidden to the patriarch himself. It may sometimes happen that the patriarch resorts to ecclesiastical excommunication against those who have opposed him in secular affairs ; but the Nestorians are quite contented under their theocratic government, and have always shown a strong feeling of independence. Things went hard with them in 1846, when their inde pendence was destroyed. In concert with the Turkish pasha in Mosul, to whom the freedom of the mountaineers was a perpetual offence, three powerful Kurdish chieftains (of whom Nurulla of Revandiz and Bedr Khan of Buhtan have attained unenviable celebrity) decided to make a common attack upon the Christians. Taken completely by surprise, and basely deserted by their patriarch, these could offer but a feeble resistance; their property was pillaged, and more than 10,000 of their number were massacred. On a small scale similar proceedings are repeated from time to time; and the Turkish Government not only remains powerless to prevent them, but if any advantage accrues to itself looks on with malignant ap proval. Frequently the Kurdish beys make raids with comparative impunity even in the richer lowland regions, as, for example, to Azerbijan in 1882. The Nestorians on Persian territory (in Azerbijan) live, even the few who inhabit the mountains, under essentially different conditions; the greater proportion, however, dwell on the rich and fruitful plain which lies round the city of Urmia (Urmi). The date of their settlement in this district is not known, but Urmia is mentioned as early as 1111 as the see of a Nestorian bishop. Nestorians from the mountains may have gradually advanced east wards into the plain, where they found more favourable conditions of life. If not particularly healthy, it is abundantly watered, and the fruit which it produces in profusion forms their principal means of subsistence. Even here, indeed, they are subject to poverty, for the soil belongs in great part to Mohammedan proprietors. Catholic missions have had some success among them, and there is a Chaldsean bishopric at Khosrava ; but since 1831 the field has been more especially worked by the American Board, which has sought to accomplish its purpose by utilizing through the clergy the actually existing church, and by founding schools and introducing