Page:The Nestorians and their rituals, volume 1.djvu/66

32 buildings, it was partly under ground; and receiving no light from without, we were obliged to crawl through a narrow passage, which led into the interior, with tapers in our hands. The body of the church was about eighteen feet square, and seven feet high, the roof was supported by four upright beams, a few rough boards separated the sacrarium from the nave, on each side of the altar hung a tolerable painting, and in a corner was a chest containing the shattered remains of their rituals. One priest continues faithful to his flock, and it was a touching spectacle to see how the poor people loved and revered him. To my great surprise all the children were able to read, and I heard from them that the missionary already alluded to had left them a few tracts when he passed through their village. The priest offered to sell me several Roman coins which he had picked up in the vicinity, and he literally wept as he parted with his little treasure. The villagers being unable to support him, he is obliged to work in the fields like a common labourer. He informed me that Hekim Khan was within the diocese of the Armenian Bishop of Cesarea, who has a Chorepiscopos at Malatiyah.

The Mohammedans here have a mosque, and I was informed, that over the gateway of what served now as a khan, there was a long Greek inscription.

Oct. 17th.—Eleven hours' travelling brought us to the Moslem village of Tahir-kieui, and it took us about the same time to reach Kabban Maaden on the following day. For the sake of brevity, as well as not to weary the reader with such like repetitions, T must refer him to the map for the general features of the country over which we passed. Before reaching the town, we crossed the Euphrates, which at this place, is about one hundred yards wide, in large open boats resembling in form a huge slipper. Into these our horses and mules entered without any ado, and in a few minutes, we were all comfortably lodged in the house of a respectable Armenian.

Kabban Maaden appears to be in a very flourishing condition, and we remarked that the Christians here did not complain of oppression. The town contains twenty families of the Greek rite, with two churches and a Bishop, besides a monastery in the vicinity. The Armenians, who are under the Bishop