before the attack of the Coords. His appointment to this place is another proof of the mal-administration of the ecclesiastical affairs of the Syrians; for whilst the extensive district of Jebel Toor is left to the care of three bishops, the only five Jacobite villages in this neighbourhood are formed into a diocese under Mutran Matta, separate from that of the town of Mosul, to which the episcopal jurisdiction of Mutran Behnâm is confined. We passed a few weeks here during the summer of 1850, and in that time had abundant opportunity of becoming acquainted with the internal economy of the establishment. Mutran Matta received me as an old friend, and placed at our disposal two of the best rooms in the convent. He is an illiterate man, but simple and kind-hearted, and after matins spends most of his time in superintending the repairs of the monastery and in looking after its revenue. He seemed busy all day long in attending to the crops, sheep, cows, fowls, wood, and other provisions; of which a large stock is kept for the use of the numerous visitors from Mosul and the surrounding villages who frequent the convent in the hot season. Several of these parties of pleasure thronged the place during our stay, and converted the sacred precincts into a common inn. Eating and drinking to excess seemed to be the sole object of their visit, and the noise of their revelry went on from day to day in spite of the entreaties and remonstrances of the Bishop. Every person on leaving is expected to make an adequate return for the provisions with which he has been supplied, as also for his accommodation in the convent, and the attempts made by some to avoid payment frequently gave rise to unpleasant altercation between the Bishop and the visitors. What a position this for a Christian prelate to occupy!
Mr. Rassam related to me that on going to reside for a week at Mar Mattai, three years prior to our visit, he found the interior of the convent in a most filthy state. As usual during the hot weather, the place was crowded with townspeople who only added to the accumulated nuisance and disregarded every solicitation to clear it away. What he failed to effect through the Bishop he now thought of accomplishing by stratagem, and accordingly wrote a feigned letter from the Pasha demanding of the convent, on account of government, a contribution of four hundred weight of bones to be made into manure. A mounted
