The Nestorians and their Rituals/Volume 1/Chapter 13
CHAPTER XIII.
The severe fever which attacked several of our party a few days after we had reached Mosul, confined me to my bed for three months, and it was the middle of January, 1843, before I was able to leave the house. Mrs. Badger suffered for some weeks longer, and I record with gratitude the kind professional services which Dr. Grant spontaneously offered us during our sickness. After I had recovered, much of my time was at first taken up with collecting the different items of information respecting the Nestorians and Chaldeans which have been given in the foregoing pages, and in holding constant intercourse with the Christians of Mosul and the surrounding villages. Difficulties soon began to spring up in our path; many of the Chaldean laity and several of the clergy expressed a desire to join our communion until a reformed Chaldean body could be organized independent of the See of Rome. Again and again were we urged to receive them by such appeals as these: "What are we to do? Do you advise us to submit to the papal innovations in doctrine and discipline? and, if not, and you are come hither with the design of assisting us, why do you not help us to restore our church to its original purity?" We now began to feel the want of competent authority to direct us as to what course we ought to pursue under these circumstances, and I accordingly wrote to the committee of the Gospel Propagation Society, requesting them to lay the subject before the Bishops of the Church at home, and to make known to me their decision. In the meantime we continued to keep up friendly relations with the well-disposed Chaldeans, distributed many copies of the Sacred Scriptures and other books to those who anxiously sought after them, and availed ourselves of every opportunity to explain to them the doctrines and discipline of our Church, of which we found them in general profoundly ignorant, owing chiefly to the misrepresentations of the Latin missionaries who had gone so far as to spread the report that the Arabic edition of our Prayer Book was not in reality the ritual of the Anglican Church, but a fiction got up by us to delude the eastern Christians.
The following extract from a report which I forwarded about this time to the Gospel Propagation Society contains the substance of the suggestions which I then made with regard to the opening among the Chaldeans of Mosul: "I wish the question to be determined by the proper authorities at home, whether I am to render the Chaldeans every assistance in my power to enable them to throw off the usurped supremacy of Rome, and to restore their church to its original independence.[1] Unless we support the Chaldeans in this way, I am afraid that we shall be able to benefit them but very little by less decided efforts. The Bomanists will increase their missionaries and their money; they will call in every other subordinate means to their assistance, or make concessions for a time, until they succeed in crushing every manifestation to the disadvantage of the Roman See. Under such circumstances, and with such opponents, we can hope but little from a school or two which we may establish among them, or from the distribution of books; for it will be in their power to a great extent to prohibit the reading of the latter, and perhaps to prevent any attendance at the former. But if the people know that we are ready to help them to regain their freedom, I am persuaded that no efforts of the Romanists will succeed in turning them away from their purpose, especially when they learn that it is not our wish to destroy but to build up their church,—not to assimilate it to ours, but to see it purified.
"But this cannot be done without assistance from the Church at home; for, in the first place, it would be necessary that a grant of money be made annually for some time at least, for the partial support of the bishop and one or two priests who should minister to the spiritual wants of the people, just as some of them now receive assistance from Rome. (Let it not be supposed that the Chaldean clergy to whom I allude would enter upon this work for the sake of gain; for in this respect I propose no amelioration of their actual temporal circumstances. They would the rather undertake it because they knew that they enjoyed the sympathy of a sister church on which they might rely.) These possess already the confidence of many of the people, and would soon thin the ranks of the papal adherents. Schools might then be opened with a good prospect of becoming permanently established, and any other measures might be taken for the improvement of the reformed community, with every hope of success. In the second place they would need a temporary chapel wherein to worship according to the rites of their church, until the time came when their numbers should so increase as to warrant their demanding one or more of the churches in the town. I am not sure that they might not claim this at the outset; but the attempt might create a ferment which it would be prudent to avoid. Should such a plan receive the approbation of our Church, I feel persuaded that with the Divine benediction this community would soon spring up into new life, and become a fruitful branch in the heavenly vine, and moreover that we ourselves should be blessed whilst we conferred a blessing upon our brethren, by being once more united in communion and fellowship with one eastern branch of the Catholic Church of Christ.
"In such a place as the above the superiority of the schools which we could establish, and the ease with which we could supply the people with books, being much greater than the Romanists either can or are in general willing to command, we should by these means materially assist the members of the reformed community to add to their faith such knowledge as would enable them to convince their brethren, and confound the gainsayers.
"Another requisite to this scheme would be the protection of the reformed Chaldeans from any system of persecution which the Romanists might set on foot through the influence of French political agents. This could be effected in case of necessity by an application to the Porte through our ambassador, that they might be allowed to enjoy equal liberty of conscience and toleration with the Romanists.
"It appears to me that the above is the only plan, (I exclude not modifications such as the Church may see fit to make,) which on the whole seems likely to succeed in these quarters, and I propose it because the actual wants of the people call for its adoption. Several influential Chaldeans have begged me to endeavour to enlist the sympathy of the Church at home in their behalf, and I can reckon upon two or three priests and a bishop who would at once form the nucleus of the reformed community. … Such a plan as that which I have proposed would moreover in its workings be one of the most effectual measures that could be adopted for bringing the Nestorians in Buhtân and Bahdinân into communion with their brethren and the Catholic Church, and thus be the means of effecting another benevolent end which your Society had in view. The Nestorians in these two provinces were formerly included within the patriarchate of Mar Elîa, the patriarch of the plains, and are not subject to Mar Shimoon, the primate over the Nestorian tribes of Central Coordistan. These Christians are now left without any direct spiritual head, having only one bishop, who resides in Jebel Joodi, and who was ordained by the Nestorian patriarch about eighty years ago. Very many of the Nestorian villages in these two districts are consequently left without resident clergy, and are dependent for the ordinances of religion upon the ministrations of a single priest who travels among them from place to place. These simple people in their ignorance and helplessness fall an easy prey to the Romanists, who if they had possessed the means would ere this have subjected the entire territory formerly comprehended within the patriarchate of Mar Elîa to the Papal See. At present the Chaldeans have two bishops in this district, one styling himself Bishop of Jezeerah or Bahdinân, and the other Bishop of Sert, and several priests are abroad among the Nestorians endeavouring to proselyte them to the Church of Rome. Now, were it the design of these missionaries simply to admit the Nestorians into the bosom of the Catholic Church, and to supply them with spiritual teachers who would lead them in the paths of primitive truth, our Church at home might look on and bid them God speed; but when we know that Rome will rule them with a rod of iron as she did our forefathers,—when we know that she will corrupt the purity of Christian doctrine and practice, and lead those who are now astray yet further from truth and righteousness, the Church I am persuaded will feel it her duty to prevent, as far as in her lies, such sad and deplorable consequences. And if so, as I said before, I do not think that she can accomplish this task more effectually than by beginning with a reformation at Mosul on the plan which has already been laid down. After some time, priests might be sent from the town to the villages in the two provinces alluded to, where they might establish schools and lead the Nestorians back into the Church. This would be a comparatively easy task; for it is not so much because the Romanists receive the council of Ephesus and anathematize Nestorius that the Nestorians are backward to join their ranks, but because of the new and unheard-of doctrines which they are required to believe in order to become 'Catholics.' If, therefore, they saw a reformed church agreeing with them in doctrine and discipline, saving the heresy of Nestorius, there can be little doubt that a speedy union with their brethren would be effected. It is not improbable that the aged Mutran Yoosef of Jebel Joodi might be enlisted in this work, in which case the whole of his diocese would soon follow his example."
The above quotation will give my readers some idea of the nature of our proceedings at Mosul up to the middle of February, 1843. The roads to the Tyari country being impassable at this season, I had given up all intention for the present of visiting Mar Shimoon, especially as I deemed it the more prudent course to await the result of Mohammed Pasha's charges against the American missionaries at Asheetha, which represented them as Englishmen who were building a castle in the mountains, and bribing the Nestorians to throw off their allegiance to the Sultan. But on hearing that the Patriarch was at this time in lower Tyari, and that no political disturbances were likely to occur in central Coordistan during the winter, I determined to start forthwith, and accordingly made the necessary preparations for my journey with as much secresy as possible. Mohammed Pasha, who from the beginning had shown himself well-disposed towards us, readily provided me with a passport; and at Mr. Rassam's suggestion I procured the following articles to carry in my hand as a present to Mar Shimoon: viz. two pair of red boots, one canister of snuff, 20 lbs. of soap, 20 lbs. of coffee, 20 lbs. of incense, two large scarlet cloaks, several muslin kerchiefs, a quantity of ginger, 50 pipe-bowls, 50 flints, paper, pencils, a telescope, and other small articles. Mrs. Badger also made up a parcel of needles, pins, cottons, tapes, &c. for the Patriarch's favourite sister, and other female relatives of his family.
Feb. 20th, 1843.—Having previously engaged Daood who accompanied Messrs. Ainsworth and Rassam into Coordistan in the summer of 1840, and whose services I found very useful as guide and interpreter among the Coords, we crossed the Tigris in a ferry with our three mules, and at 9 a.m. began our journey from the opposite side. The snows which cover the mountains in the more direct road to Amedia at this season of the year obliged us to take a more circuitous route which lengthened the distance about twenty miles. At 1 p.m. we passed the Chaldean village of Telkèf containing a population of 400 families, who are engaged principally in agricultural pursuits. There are now but two churches[2] in the village, one of which though small contains no less than four confessionals, and the walls are covered with clumsy pictures of saints dressed in the most gaudy apparel. Two priests and two monks from Rabban Hormuzd minister to the spiritual necessities of the people, who are strongly attached to all the superstitions of the church of Rome.
Passing Telkèf on our left we reached Batnaia at 2 p.m. This village also is entirely inhabited by Chaldeans, who have here a church and two priests. Two hours beyond brought us to Tell Iskof where we put up for the night, and where we found Mutran Elîa, the nephew of the late patriarch Mutran Hanna, with whom I had already become acquainted, and whose history has been given in a former chapter.
Feb. 21st.—Left Tell Iskof at 7 a.m. and after crossing the remainder of the plain entered a district of low hills covered with grass, through which a clear stream meandered in its course towards the Tigris. At 11 a.m. we reached Bahendawayah, a small village inhabited by Coords and Yezeedees, and situated in a pass leading through the mountain range of Rabban Hormuzd. During the day we met a party of fifteen Jews on their way to Mosul, whither they were going to petition the Pasha against the exactions of the Mutsellim of Amedia. The poor people seemed driven to desperation, and replied in answer to my question whether they were not afraid of the governor's vengeance: "He can do no more than take away our lives, and death will deliver us from the sufferings which we are now made to endure."
Towards the evening we met Kasha Mendu, the Nestorian priest of Amedia, who was on his way to Mosul in consequence of an invitation which I had sent him a month previously, in order to make arrangements with him for opening schools among the Nestorians in the valley of the Supna. He gladly joined our party, and I found his services very useful throughout the journey. At half-past 5 p.m. we reached the Coordish village of Emumké, where we put up for the night.
Feb. 22nd.—We started this morning at 7 a.m. and at 2 p.m. came in sight of the extensive plain of the Supna, bounded on the north by the lofty Tcah Meteenah, and on the south by the Tcah Gara range, both now almost covered with snow. There are many Christian villages still remaining in the Supna, but a great number have been deserted within the last few years. Half a century ago all these villages were inhabited by Nestorians, but the greater part of those which remain have within that time joined the Chaldean community, and are at present under the jurisdiction of Mutran Yoosef of Alkôsh, who is sometimes styled Bishop of Amedia. At 6 p.m. we reached the Coordish village of Badi Resh, where we put up for the night.
Feb. 23rd.—Started from Badi Besh at 7 a.m. and followed the course of a pretty stream for some distance, when we left it to its winding under Jebel Gara in its journey towards the Zab. Ainsworth calls this stream "Gara," but its real name is Ava Supna, or the Supna water; it rises a little to the west of Daoodia, and in its course through the plain receives many additional rivulets flowing from the Gara and Tcah Meteenah ranges. To the east of Amedia it is joined by the Robara, which in winter and spring so swells the Ava Supua as to render it impassable for days together. From Ainsworth's description one would conclude that this river runs close under Amedia, which is a mistake, and Dr. Grant falls into a still greater error when he calls it the "Khazir."
The Tcah Meteenah eastward of Amedia makes a curve to the south, which renders the valley thereabouts much narrower than it is to the west of that town, where its average width is from six to eight miles. The valley itself is very uneven, but is fertile in vineyards and valonîa oak producing the gall-nut of commerce. The grapes of this district are very large, and when dried make excellent raisins. Very little wheat or barley is raised here; but rice is grown in abundance about Amedia, and in the valleys of Berwari beyond.
We were three hours in reaching Bebâdi, situated at the foot of Amedia. This village, which until very lately was inhabited by Nestorians, is now in ruins, but the church is still in good repair. The town of Amedia is built upon an isolated rock close under the Tcah Meteenah range, from which it is divided by a deep ravine. The ascent from all sides is steep and rugged, and it took us more than half an hour to reach the summit, A perpendicular scarp, varying from thirty to forty feet high, rises above the sloping sides of the hill, and forms a natural rampart round the whole circumference of the platform upon which the town is built. The town itself, which occupies the northern extremity of the area, is little better than a heap of ruins, and the rest is chiefly occupied by graves (no "sacred groves," as Ainsworth writes), and a square castle built by the Coordish Pasha of Rawandooz, when he took possession of the place in 1832. This fortress is now garrisoned by 300 irregular troops.
On reaching the town, we were conducted by Kasha Mendu to his house, almost the only respectable private dwelling in the place, where we were welcomed by three of his brothers, one of whom had lately seceded to Rome, because Mutran Yoosef, the Chaldean Bishop, had given him permission to take a wife within the degrees prohibited by the Nestorian canons. From several reports which had reached me, I had been led to imagine that the Nestorians in this district were far more numerous than they really are. The cause of this decrease is to be referred, not only to the secession of many of their numbers to Romanism, but also to the severe oppression to which all classes of the people have been and are still subjected from their tyrannical rulers. Kasha Mendu informed me, that six years ago there were no less than fourteen flourishing villages of Nestorians in the valley of the Supna, the greater portion of which are now desolate, without an inhabitant. The whole Nestorian population of this district does not now exceed 100 families, besides a few villages which still remain steadfast to their ancient faith to the west of Daoodia, in the Mezuriyeh, and in the country bordering upon the Great Zab river. But what else can be expected, left as these poor people are without episcopal superintendence? Mar Shimoon has had too many troubles to contend with in Coordistan to attend to that district, which has always been considered within the jurisdiction of Mar Elîa, the Nestorian Patriarch of the plains. Amedia was left without a Bishop for years before it was filled by Mutran Elîa, as has been recorded in a former chapter; and since his return to the Chaldean Church, no successor has been appointed to fill his place. In consequence of this neglect, all the Nestorians of the Supna, and of the entire district south of the Tcah Meteenah, are left without a head, and Mar Yeshua-yau, of Doori, who used occasionally to ordain priests for these parts, is getting too infirm, and the Papal party too strong for him to attempt to do any thing towards benefiting the Nestorians beyond the limits of his own diocese in the Berwari.
During the day I visited the little oratory of the Nestorians not far from Kasha Mendu's dwelling. It is a small room in a private house, the Christians never having as yet been permitted to build a church within the town of Amedia. The room was dark and dirty, and every thing which it contained bespoke the poverty and wretchedness of the few remaining Nestorians of the place. One third of the apartment was partitioned off by a ragged curtain, and formed the bema; a square unhewn stone in the centre of the remaining space served as a reading desk, on which was placed a large and beautifully written lectionary, while several other church books were piled one upon another on the damp floor. I next visited the small Armenian chapel close by: it was certainly superior to that of the Nestorians, but still very miserable. There are now only two Armenian families at Amedia, and until lately a priest was stationed here by the Bishop of Van to attend to their spiritual wants; but he has since been recalled. The Nestorians in the town number twenty-two families, and the Chaldeans ten souls. Once a year Mutran Yoosef pays them a visit, when he celebrates mass in the house of Kasha Mendu's brother, one of his proselytes. The priest showed me the cope and other ecclesiastical robes, which the bishop uses on these occasions: they were made of no better material than bright cotton print bordered with tinsel; yet the simple people here regard them as very fine, and argue therefrom the opulence and dignity of the wearer. They were indeed sumptuous when compared with the ragged vestments of poor Kasha Mendu, who was loath to offer them to my inspection. He then showed me the brass chalice and paten used at the celebration of the Holy Communion, and the two candlesticks of the same metal, which are placed upon the altar during that service. The sight of these sacred utensils filled me with mingled emotions: their very existence and continued use was a triumph of the cross over the persecutions which its followers here have endured for ages from the infidel Moslems, while their meanness and baseness bespoke too plainly the abject condition of these unfortunate Christians.
Kasha Mendu then showed me a collection of MSS. which he had saved from the wreck of the Nestorian villages in the valley of the Supna. They amounted in all to about 150 volumes, some of which were very old, and many well written. I succeeded in purchasing nine of these for the Christian Knowledge Society, and was anxious to obtain from him a complete set of the entire Nestorian ritual; but the priest pointed out to me the curse invoked at the end of the remaining books upon all who should buy or sell them for gain, or who were in any way instrumental in alienating them from the churches to which they belonged. Among the MSS. which I secured, was a small folio lectionary, written about 600 years ago, in a large and beautiful hand. I notice this volume particularly, for the following reason: Mr. Layard tells us that Kasha Mendu had seen the word "Ecbatana," or "Ekbadan," recorded as the ancient name of Amedia in a MS. which was once in his possession. When I revisited that town in 1850, I begged the priest to show me the MS. to which he had referred in his conversation with Mr. Layard; that is, in order not to put a leading question, I requested him to show me the book in which he had read the ancient name of Amedia. He replied at once: "I sold the book to you seven years ago;" and on further inquiry, I discovered that he meant the Lectionary. Turning to the notes of my first visit, I found that I had extracted from a record at the end of this volume the following: "This book was written at Kalaat Bibâka, which is Amedia." Kasha Mendu instantly recognized the name, and notwithstanding many after inquiries, he persisted in declaring that he neither knew nor had ever heard the word "Ekbadan." I conclude, therefore, that the author of "Nineveh and its Remains" must have misunderstood the priest. The Lectionary I presume to be at present in the library of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.
In the evening, nearly all the Nestorians of the town came to visit me at the house of Kasha Mendu, and with them a number of Jews. The greatest cordiality appeared to exist between these two people, brought about by the frequent and long-continued oppression which they have shared in common. They related to me many heart-rending tales of their past sufferings, and told me what they still had to endure at the hands of their despotic rulers. Such has been the withering influence of Mohammedan despotism in this once flourishing district, that Amedia, which a few years ago contained as many as 2,000 families, does not at present contain more than 300 in all. Many of the remaining Christians and Jews would gladly leave it and seek refuge in the Tyari; but an order has been issued by the Pasha, forbidding any person to leave the town to seek a residence elsewhere. Here, then, these poor creatures are obliged to remain ground down to the dust by oppression. with scarcely any means of obtaining a livelihood; their dwellings more fit to harbour wild animals than human beings, and without any other prospect of deliverance nearer than the grave.
Feast of S. Matthias.—The weather being unsettled this morning we decided to defer our departure till the morrow, by which arrangement I had some further opportunities of examining what was worthy of notice in the town and of acquiring additional information, respecting the surrounding districts. During the day I visited the chief synagogue of the Jews, situated in a quarter of the town allotted to this people. It is a large apartment enclosed within a spacious court, round which on the inside runs a wide portico. Every thing in the interior of the building looked wretched beyond description: the walls were broken through in several places, and the floor was covered with filth and rubbish. This also is the work of the infidels: the poor Jews have ceased to meet together for public worship on account of the insults to which they are subjected, and because their synagogue has been so frequently rifled and desecrated by the Mohammedans. There were about twenty rolls of the law in wooden cases put up in different parts of the room, some well written, and all of white sheep skin, and of a modern date. I inquired whether they did not possess any ancient MSS., but was answered in the negative. Ten years ago there were as many as 500 Jewish families in this town, now there are not more than fifty.
Sindôr, a large village to the left of the road on our way to Amedia, is entirely inhabited by Jews; from one source I learned that they numbered there no less than 300 families, while an other informant assured me that it did not now contain more than fifty houses. At Badi, also, there are a few Jews, and in several villages in this district an Israelitish family or two may be found living among the Coords. They all speak the same language as the Nestorians and Chaldeans of these parts, viz., the Fellehi, or vulgar Syriac, nor could I perceive or learn that there was any difference in the dialect of the two people. The Jews hereabouts are very poor and ignorant; only a few among them can read Talmudic, and fewer still know any thing of the biblical Hebrew. On inquiring whether they had any tradition as to what tribe they belonged to, they replied in the negative; several of the Jews at Mosul profess to be descendants of the tribe of Levi. There is another smaller synagogue and a "house of prayer" belonging to the Jews at Amedia besides that already described, but these I did not visit.
We next went to inspect what Ainsworth describes as the remains of a "Persian temple," situated about the centre of the area upon which the town is built. To my great disappointment I could discover no vestiges there of "sepulchral caves or truncated obelisks," but a mere oblong ditch or trench, measuring eighty feet by forty-six, cut out of the solid rock, in which ten rough and misshapen masses of the parent stone were left as if to serve for the basements of as many pillars. This ditch, which is from six to eight feet high, lies in a deep hollow, and I have no doubt was intended for a cistern, of which there are many more of much smaller dimensions about the town. The following exact plan of the excavation will show at once that it never could have been designed for a temple; its low position, as well as the irregularity of its internal construction, are both at variance with any such notion.
From the cistern we walked through the remains of an old bazaar and a heap of ruined houses, now the receptacle of noisome filth and ordure, to the eastern gate called Bâb-ooz-Zeibâr, from its being the entrance into the fortress from the district of that name. Here we saw a number of natives engaged in repairing the walls which had been thrown down by the guns of Mohammed Pasha's army during the late siege. Scarcely a day passes but twenty or thirty Christians, Jews, and Moslems, are seized by order of the governor and forced to work on the fortifications and other buildings, for which they never receive the least remuneration. One poor Jew, who was preparing flax for the loom not far from the house in which I lodged, was driven by a soldier to do service at the serai without being allowed time to secure his property. A Nestorian entered the town with our party, carrying a heavy load on his back. On making inquiry I learned that he had been sent to Azekh, beyond Jezeerah, a distance of four days' journey, to purchase tobacco for the Mutsellim. This individual visited me at Kasha Mendu's house in the evening, and on my asking him what sum he had received for his trouble, he replied: "Thanks be to God that I executed my errand so as to please the governor; as to payment, I never expected it." Here was a poor man obliged to travel for eight days, maintain himself and his family during that time, and wear out his clothes, without receiving the least compensation. While at Amedia I sent a Christian into the valley below the town to gather wild plants. While thus engaged a soldier accosted him, who had just felled the trunk of a large tree. Pointing to the log he said: "Come, friend, you must carry this up to the governor." "I cannot," replied the Christian, "I am on business." "If you don't, you knave, I will break your head," retorted the other. This threat he would most probably have put into execution, but on hearing that the Christian was engaged for a Baliôs (the name generally given to all Frank travellers in these parts), he left his prey to go in search of some other unfortunate Jew or Christian.
These are a few specimens of the system of tyranny and oppression which is carried on in the distant provinces of the Turkish empire, and which is fast bringing it to ruin. But this is not all; the people here and in the villages around have demands made upon them for money as often as the cupidity of the Mutsellim or Pasha (for it is difficult to know certainly from which of these the orders emanate) dictates, and if the sums are not forthcoming, stripes and confiscation of their property are sure to follow. So again with regard to the produce of the soil: an official is sent by the Pasha or Mutsellim to settle the tithe which he judges the land cultivated by each individual will yield. This he never fails to exaggerate, and fixes the excise accordingly. In the next place he tells the peasants that the pasha wants money instead of produce, which he then proceeds to value sometimes at thrice the value which the poor people can obtain for it in the market. Thus for a mann of raisins, which sells for one piastre and a half, he exacts five piastres; for a mann of tobacco, which is sold for ten, he exacts twenty-two and a half piastres; and so with rice, cotton, sesame, and other productions of the soil.
The following is another bright specimen of Turkish injustice. Mohammed Pasha sometimes receives presents from the Arab tribes, and more frequently plunders them, of large flocks of sheep and other cattle; if not in want of the sheep he sends them out under a military escort to the districts around Mosul, and fixes the number which each village must buy at his own valuation. It frequently happens that several die on the road, and more are slaughtered by the guards for their own private use while on the road; of these they are careful to preserve the ears, which they string together on a cord and carry with them. On arriving at a village they make over to the kiahya, say, eighteen sheep, and demand payment for twenty. If any demur is made by the unfortunate peasants, two pairs of ears are produced by the soldiers as an equivalent for the deficiency. The kiahya is held responsible for the amount, and proceeds to deal out the sheep to the villagers, who dare not refuse to purchase them.
What government can stand under such a system as this? The case with many of the larger towns in the interior of Asiatic Turkey is wretched enough, but it is in the distant provinces and villages, far removed from the eye of European influence and criticism (which nevertheless are the chief support of the empire), that such tyranny and oppression are in full vigour.
Part of this day was taken up with the necessary preparations for our departure. The presents which I had brought for the patriarch and what little baggage I had with me were packed up in four separate bundles, weighing about forty pounds each, so as to render them more convenient for the Nestorian porters, who were to bear them after me through the snow into the Tyari country, as the roads were still impassable for beasts of burden. Each of the party provided himself with a pair of woollen sandals, called zergool by the Nestorians, and a hooked stick, which I afterwards found of great service in crossing the snows, and in ascending and descending the rugged precipices of the remarkable country upon which we were about to enter.