Page:The Nestorians and their rituals, volume 1.djvu/316

262 to trespass beyond the powers of a feudatory chieftain, and feeling that in case of emergency he might call in the support of the Turks, he regarded with comparative unconcern the disaffection which his new measures were creating among the Christians. He now exacted the Kharaj from all the Nestorians without distinction, and demanded a yearly tribute from the produce of the landed property belonging to many of the churches. His directions to the Coordish tax gatherers were, that in case of any demur in the payment, they should spread their carpets upon the altars, and otherwise defile the temples of the Nestorians; and so great had become his jealousy of the Patriarch's influence, that he threatened to impose a heavy fine upon such villages as should show him more than common respect. He moreover intrigued with the Meleks, and succeeded in attaching them to his party, chiefly by making over to them that portion of the ecclesiastical revenue which was yearly set apart for the use of the Patriarch.

But there is every reason to believe that the Porte, in thus extending for a time the powers of the Coordish chiefs, entertained the design of finally subjecting them to Ottoman rule. The stratagem had so far succeeded in central Coordistan, that the power of the mountaineers was weakened by the dissensions which soon sprang up among them. In furtherance of this political scheme, the Turkish government in 1841 divided the authority, which until then was almost entirely exercised by Noorallah Beg, between two individuals, giving to the latter the district of Bash-Kala, and to his nephew, Suleiman Beg, that of Julamerk. New intrigues were now secretly set on foot by the rival chiefs, and the latter so far succeeded that an attempt was made about this time by the Nestorians to raise him to the dignity of Emeer, and to depose Noorallah Beg. I shall give the narrative of this project and its results as nearly as possible, in the words of Kash' Audishu and Kasha Kena, of Leezan, who took a prominent part in the village councils: "The Emeer of Hakkari had of late years encroached upon the rights of the Christians, and (whether they were sincere or not only knows,) the Meleks professed to take part with the people, who had determined, if possible, to exterminate him. Accordingly Meleks Barkho and Ismaeel went to Mar Shimoon,