in this instance and procured their liberation; but they were not allowed to join the Patriarch. About this time a Nestorian boy and girl were sent as a present by Bedr Khan Beg to the Kaim Makâm, or lieutenant governor of Mosul, and the sum of 27,000 piastres to Mohammed Pasha, clearly proving that these functionaries were not averse to receiving a share of the ill-gotten booty. Mr. Rassam strove to procure the liberation of the children, and fearing that he might succeed, the crafty Mohammedan sent them back to Jezeerah. Through the untiring efforts of our excellent ambassador a vizirial letter was now sent to the Pasha of Mosul, directing him to obtain the release of the captives; and Mr. Rassam having called upon him to fulfil the imperial mandate, he flatly denied having received any such order, and manifested the greatest indifference to all the appeals which were made to him on this head.
Let us now turn to notice what was going on in the mountains. The house belonging to the American missionaries at Asheetha had been seized by the invaders, and turned into a fortress by the addition of four turrets and other fortifications.[1] Ziner Beg was stationed here with a force of 400 Coords, and from this strong position practised the most barbarous cruelties upon the villagers of Tyari. The Nestorians bore his tyranny patiently for some time, but being promised assistance by several Coordish chiefs east of the Great Zab, in the month of October they attacked the garrison, slew twenty of their number, and besieged the remainder for the space of six days. On promising that they would immediately surrender and evacuate the fortress they were supplied with water by the Christians, when suddenly defying their besiegers a fresh conflict succeeded. In the midst of these renewed hostilities a company of 200 cavalry arrived from Bedr Khan Beg, and turned the fortunes of the day. The Nestorians taken by surprise were completely routed, no quarter was given, and men, women, and children fell in one common massacre. The slaughter on this occasion surpassed the former, the village was fired, and three bags of ears were cut off from the wounded, the dying, and the dead, and sent as a trophy to Bedr Khan Beg. While these outrages were being perpetrated
- ↑ On their return to the Tyari the Nestorians razed this building to the ground, so that not a vestige of it remains.
