Page:The Nestorians and their rituals, volume 1.djvu/358

304 was ordered by the Mohammedan Mutsellim of Midyât to go to Jezeerah, under the pretext, that the Emeer who had sent a messenger to escort him, wished to see him on business of importance. When they had reached a lonely part of the road, two Coords sprang from an ambush, ripped open the belly of the Bishop with a dagger, and then tied the corpse to the tail of his horse. The heart was cut out by the messenger who carried it to Bedr Khan Beg, as a proof that he had accomplished his mission.

We started from Roomeilât at half-past 4 of the same afternoon, still travelling in a north-westerly direction, and in an hour came up to a large encampment of Cocher, or nomade, Coords, who were pasturing their flocks near the ruins of a large Khan, before which a copious rivulet flows. The course of this stream was towards the south-west, which appears the direction of all the tributaries of this district. At 7, we reached Tcil Agha (Forty Aghas), but found the village nearly deserted, all the Coords having left to seek pasture for their sheep. We pitched our tent on the mound, and listened to the wild songs of a party of soldiers, who were bivouacked in the plain, and who had escorted Shereef Pasha thus far from the town of Mardeen. It was quite cheering to meet again with human habitations, and to behold fields smiling with abundance of wheat and barley, nay, the very blocks of basaltic rock scattered about in this vicinity, were a relief to the monotonous sameness of the desert, notwithstanding its freedom and the sweet perfume of its many-coloured flowers.

May 6th.—We left Tcil Agha at 5 and in five hours and a half reached Haznaoor, which has already been described in the narrative of our route to Mosul. We passed several villages during this day's journey, and a large stream called Suplakh which rises in the Toor mountains a little to the east of Haznaoor. These and many other details of our journey, T have endeavoured to lay down in the map as correctly as possible. Haznaoor, together with the district of Midyât to which it belongs, had just been taken from Bedr Khan Beg, by the new Pasha of Diarbekir, and the Coords were evidently very much chagrined at this change of masters. Wherever we travelled,