Page:The Nestorians and their rituals, volume 1.djvu/268

214 Aurâha the archdeacon, and a number of other Nestorians, who were seated round a comfortable fire holding a village conference. A carpet and quilt were spread for me in a corner of the room, and in the novel and interesting scene before me I soon forgot the danger of our morning's slide.

As our party were too much fatigued to think of starting on the morrow, it was decided that a messenger should be sent to invite the Patriarch to hasten his visit to Asheetha. This determination was come to in the evening by the villagers, and next day a priest set off for Chamba, eight hours farther north, where Mar Shimoon had taken up his temporary residence. In the meanwhile, and during the succeeding three days of our stay, I had a good opportunity of becoming acquainted with the social and political condition of the Nestorians of Tyari, the sum of which I shall now endeavour to lay before my readers, together with such experience of their character and customs as I acquired from the unfortunate refugees and captives who some months later found a home with me at Mosul.

The village of Asheetha takes its name, according to Dr. Grant, from the Syriac word Asheetha, an avalanche; but this is the more vulgar derivation. Kash' Aurâha informed me that in their books it is always written Shathista, a foundation, it being considered the first and largest village of Tyari, and the key of the province. Asheetha itself is divided into five quarters, called severally: Tcemmané, Tcemmané Tahteitha, Mâtha d'Umra-Khateebet, Isroor, and Merweeta, and contains a population of about 2500 souls. The people are in general robust and well-made, and till the ungenerous soil of their native hills with unwearying industry. The chief produce of the district is Prâghi, called by the Coords Gârez, Talik, and Khrurîa or Dhoorra, three kinds of millet or pannick, which, when ground, make the bread-flour in general use throughout this part of Coordistan. Very little wheat is raised throughout the Tyari or the Hakkari provinces; but rice is much more abundant. Scarcely any vegetables are grown at Asheetha; but cucumbers, melons, and beans, are common about Leezan and Minyânish. The walnut, pomegranate, and apricot, grow almost spontaneously in the valleys, and the mountain sides are covered with vineyards producing the most luscious grapes, from which the