Page:The Nestorians and their rituals, volume 1.djvu/264

210 In these lines the disappointed Emeer ridicules his fruitless efforts during a seven years' campaign by calling himself a "fool," under the name of Balal, a famous jester among the Coords, and then magnifies his own power by claiming to be the Kooblah of the three principal religions, i.e. Christian, Jewish, and Mohammedan. The Kooblah, or South, is the quarter to which the Moslems turn when praying, and is apparently used here to signify the centre or head. Shamboé is the Coordish name for Hakkari; and tradition relates that for a long time this stone actually formed the boundary between that country and the province of Bahdinân.

Three years after Emeer Mehdi had returned to the seat of his government, a wandering minstrel was sent from Amedia to obtain from him the removal of the cloak. He so far succeeded in pleasing the Emeer by his musical powers, that the latter promised to grant him any favour that he might ask. The minstrel begged for the cloak, and he was told to go and take possession of it.

Emeer Mehdi appears to have been a renowned chieftain in his day, if we may believe all the stories which are told of him by the natives. The large castle near the Jewish village of Beit-Tannoori, not far from Doori, the ruins of which are still extant, is said to have been destroyed by him when he laid siege to Amedia.

Hitherto we had met with little snow in the direct road, but now the face of the country was entirely covered with it. The five Coordish soldiers who had been sent with us for our protection made the poor Nestorians walk on before in order that by their superior weight, laden as they were with their packs, they might render the way less difficult for those in the rear. In some places the snow was more than twelve feet deep, and notwithstanding every precaution several of our party were repeatedly buried up to the waist. After stumbling on in this fashion for about an hour we had a fine view of the Berwari district before us, and of the Tyari in the distance. To our left stretched a pretty valley as far as the eye could reach, through which ran one of the tributaries of the Khaboor, and to our right flowed several streams which after joining the Bedu rivulet flow into the Great Zab about ten miles farther south. From the