Page:The Nestorians and their rituals, volume 1.djvu/297

Rh tax the wisdom of the greatest statesman; and I could hardly wonder that the hoar-frost of care was prematurely sitting upon his locks. It was quite evident that the patriarch's anxiety extended not less to the temporal than to the spiritual wants of his flock, as his first inquiries related particularly to their political prospects, the movements of Turkey, the designs of the European powers with regard to these countries, and why they did not come and break the arm of Mohammedan power, by which many of his people had been so long oppressed, and for fear of which the main body of them were shut up in their mountain fastnesses." This description applies in every respect to Mar Shimoon when I first saw him: in his person he had altered little if at all; but there was a heavier gloom upon his brow, and dark forebodings of the gathering storm which was so soon to burst upon himself and people, frequently found utterance and mingled with his familiar talk. The portrait in the frontispiece was taken seven years later, when the unfortunate patriarch was a mere wreck of his former self.

From the church the assembly repaired to the common room, which was soon thronged with the elders of the village, who sat round the fire in a semicircle opposite the Patriarch. Deacon Ishâk took his seat at the head of the company at a respectful distance from his brother Mar Shimoon, who opened the meeting by referring to a letter which he had lately received from Mohammed Pasha of Mosul, complaining that some of the Tyari Nestorians had consorted with Ziner Beg, a Coordish chief whom he had outlawed, but who was now protected by Bedr Khan Beg, and had committed several excesses in the districts within his jurisdiction. "Friends and brethren," said the Patriarch, "I am come hither on business of the government; on the business of Mohammed Pasha of Mosul. It remains with you to decide whether you will accede to my proposition at once, or whether you will detain me here forty days longer." This prelude was answered by a low bow from all present, and the exclamation proceeding from a hundred voices of "Upon our heads you are come; upon our eyes are you come;" an eastern metaphor expressive of their loyalty and devotion. His holiness proceeded: "Your words incline me to believe that you are my obedient followers; and why should it not be so? Other