Page:The Nestorians and their rituals, volume 1.djvu/368

314 of Mosul, and are said to deem it a crime worthy of excommunication for one of their number to refer a dispute to the regularly appointed Mohammedan judges. These have certain festivals of their own, which they commemorate by circular dances, resembling those of the Yezeedees. Another sect, found on the banks of the Hazir behind Jebel Makloob, are charged, like some of the African tribes by Niebuhr, with not restricting the rite of circumcision to the males among them. Another called Be-Juan, which I met with in the vicinity of Nimrood, have a peculiar dialect not intelligible to the Coords generally. The following short vocabulary may assist some philologist in ascertaining the probable source of the different words, several of which I recognise as Persian and Arabic.

After waiting for two hours in expectation of the baggage-mules, and the guards sent with us by the Pasha of Diarbekir, which had been left in the rear of our party, we began to be uneasy about their fate, and despatched messengers in every direction to learn their whereabouts. We could gain no intelligence of them, the rain continued to descend, and so Mrs. Badger, Mr. Fletcher, and I, together with our Greek servant Georgio, were obliged to avail ourselves of the hospitality of the Cocher for food and bedding. The food was good, and as we