CHAP. VII.

ASHEETHA. A NESTORIAN HOUSE.

NESTORIAN PRIESTS. MURGHI.

RAOLA.

THE MASSACRE. LIZAN. -SCENE OF THE A TIYARI BRIDGE. THE HOUSE OF THE M DISTRICT OF TKHOMA.- - ALARM OF THE INHABITANTS.VICE. TKHOMA GOWAIA. A KURDISH CHIEF. PASS ERGUB. RETURN TO TKHOMA. BE-ALATHA. ROADS CHONBA. MURDER OF MELEK ISMAIL. KASHA AURAHAM. A COPPER MINE. SUBASHI. -A KURDISH SAINT. ALKOSH. TOMB OF THE PROPHET NAHUM. RABBAN TELKEE AND ITS CHRISTIAN INHABITANTS.-RETURN TO MOS MASSACRE IN THE NESTORIAN MOUNTAINS. CAPTURE A BEDER KHAN BEY.

RETURN TO CHALLEK. <-(

MALTHAYIAH.

SC

WE had no sooner reached the house of Yakoub R cry of "The Bey is come," spread rapidly through and I was surrounded by a crowd of men, women My hand was kissed by all, and I had to submit for to this tedious process. As for my companion, he smothered in the embraces of the girls, nearly all of been liberated from slavery after the great massac been supported in their distress by his brother for so in Mosul.* Amongst the men were many of my old who were distinguished from the rest of the inh Asheetha by their gay dresses and arms, the frui

*It may be remembered, that Beder Khan Bey, in 1843, Tiyari districts, massacred in cold blood nearly 10,000 of thei and carried away as slaves a large number of women and chil is, perhaps, not generally known, that the release of the great captives was obtained through the humane interference and gen Stratford Canning, who prevailed upon the Porte to send a into Kurdistan, for the purpose of inducing Beder Khan B Kurdish chiefs to give up the slaves they had taken, and who adva a considerable sum towards their liberation. Mr. Rassam also release of many slaves, and maintained and clothed, at his own for many months, not only the Nestorian Patriarch, who had tal Mosul, but many hundred Chaldæans who had escaped from th

CHAP. VII.

ASHEETHA.

123

industry during the winter. They were anxious to show their gratitude, and their zeal in my service. The priests came too ; Kasha Ghioorghis, Kasha Hormuzd, and others. As they entered the room, the whole assembly rose; and lifting their turbans and caps reverentially from their heads, kissed the hand extended to them. In the meanwhile the girls had disappeared; but soon returned, each bearing a platter of fruit which they placed before me. My workmen also brought large dishes of boiled garas swimming in butter. There were provisions enough

for the whole company.

The first inquiries were after Mar Shamoun, the Patriarch. I produced his letter, which the priests first kissed and placed to their foreheads. They afterwards passed it to the principal men, who went through the same ceremony. Kasha Ghioorghis then read the letter aloud, and at its close, those present uttered a pious ejaculation for the welfare of their Patriarch, and renewed their expressions of welcome to us.

These preliminaries having been concluded, we had to satisfy all present as to the object, extent, and probable duration of our journey. The village was in the greatest alarm at a threatened invasion from Beder Khan Bey. The district of Tkhoma, which had escaped the former massacre, was now the object of his fanatical vengeance. He was to march through Asheetha, and orders had already been sent to the inhabitants to collect provisions for his men. As his expedition was not to be undertaken before the close of Ramazan, there was full time to see the proscribed districts before the Kurds entered them. I determined, however, to remain a day in Asheetha, to rest our mules.

On the morning following our arrival, I went with Yakoub Rais to visit the village. The trees and luxuriant crops had concealed the desolation of the place, and had given to Asheetha, from without, a flourishing appearance. As I wandered, however, through the lanes, I found little but ruins. A few houses were rising from the charred heaps; still the greater part of the sites were without owners, the whole family having perished.

Yakoub pointed out, as we went along, the former dwellings of wealthy inhabitants, and told me how and where they had been murdered. A solitary church had been built since the massacre; the foundations of others were seen amongst the ruins. The pathways were still blocked up by the trunks of trees cut down by the Kurds. Watercourses, once carrying fertility to many gardens, were now empty and dry; and the lands which they had irrigated were left naked and unsown. I was surprised at the proofs of the industry and activity of the few surviving families, who had returned to the village, and had already brought a large portion of the land into cultivation.

The houses of Asheetha are not built in a group, but are scattered over the valley like those of the Tiyari districts.* Each dwelling stands in the centre of the land belonging to its owner; consequently, the village occupies a much larger space than would otherwise be required, but has a cheerful and pleasing appearance. The houses are simple, and constructed so as to afford protection and comfort, during winter and summer. The lower part is of stone, and contains two or three rooms inhabited by the family and their cattle during the cold months. Light is admitted by the door, and by small holes in the wall. There are no windows, as in the absence of glass, a luxury as yet unknown in Kurdistan, the cold would be very great during the winter, when the inhabitants are frequently snowed up for many days together. The upper floor is constructed partly of stone, and partly of wood, the whole side facing the south being open. Enormous beams, resting on wooden pillars and on the walls, support the roof. This is the summer habitation, and here all the members of the family reside. During July and August, they usually sleep on the roof, upon which they erect stages of boughs and grass resting on high poles. By thus raising themselves as much as possible, they avoid the vermin which swarm in the rooms, and

* Asheetha and Zaweetha were formerly looked upon as half-independent districts, each having its own Rais or head. They were neither within the territories nor under the authority of the Meleks of Tiyari.

catch the night winds which carry away the gnats. Sometimes they build these stages in the branches of high trees around the houses. The winter provision of dried grass and straw for the cattle is stacked near the dwelling, or is heaped on the roof.

As this was the first year that the surviving inhabitants of Asheetha, about 200 families, had returned to the village and had cultivated the soil, they were almost without provisions of any kind. We were obliged to send to Zaweetha for meat and rice; and even milk was scarce, the flocks having been carried away by the Kurds. Garas was all we could find to eat. They had no corn and very little barley. Their bread was made of

this garas, and upon it alone they lived, except when on holidays they boiled the grain, and soaked it in melted butter.

The men were now busy in irrigating the land; and seemed to be rewarded by the promise of ample crops of their favourite garas, and of wheat, barley, rice, and tobacco. The boys kept

126

NINEVEH AND ITS REMAINS.

up a continued shrill shriek or whistle to frighte small birds, which had been attracted in shoals corn. When tired of this exercise, they busied then their partridges. Almost every youth in the cou one of these birds at his back, in a round wicker cag whilst the mountains and the valleys swarm with tridges, the houses are as much infested by the women, too, were not idle. The greater part of the girls, were beating out the corn, or employed i A few were at the doors of the houses working at t spinning wool for the clothes of the men. I neve general or cheerful industry; even the priests took labors of their congregation.

I walked to the ruins of the school and dwellingby the American missionaries during their short soj mountains. These buildings had been the caus jealousy and suspicion to the Kurds. They stand summit of an isolated hill, commanding the whole position less ostentatious and proportions more mo certainly have been chosen; and it is surprising th so well acquainted with the character of the trib whom they had come to reside, should have been creet. They were, however, most zealous and wo and had their plans succeeded, I have little doub would have conferred signal benefits on the Nesto dæans. I never heard their names mentioned by and most particularly that of Dr. Grant, without exp profound respect, amounting almost to veneration.*

During the occupation of Asheetha by the Ku

* Dr. Grant, who published an account of his visit to the m a victim to his humane zeal for the Chaldæans in 1844. After his house in Mosul was filled with fugitives, whom he supported Their sufferings, and the want of common necessaries before the town, had brought on a malignant typhus fever, of which and which Dr. Grant caught whilst attending the sick in his ho holds the remains of most of those who were engaged in the A sions to the Chaldæans.