Page:The Nestorians and their rituals, volume 1.djvu/70

36 mere trifle. No less than nine furnaces are kept constantly at work, which produce from 2,800 lbs. to 3,000 lbs. of metal in twenty-four hours.

Excellent wine is made here from the grapes which grow almost wild in the mountains around.

Oct. 22nd.—We left Arghana Maaden at 6, and after travelling about five miles crossed another tributary of the Tigris over a good bridge. In three hours we reached Arghana, situated on the sides and summit of a high hill, and inhabited by 400 Armenian and 200 Mohammedan families. There are two churches in the town, and a large monastery built upon a craggy eminence, and commanding an extensive view of the wide plain which stretches to the south so far as the eye can reach. Our guard from the mines was here exchanged for two of the most miserable apologies for soldiers that can be imagined. One was armed with an old rusty sword without a scabbard, and the other carried a musket, but no ammunition. The poor fellows, who were almost naked, had evidently been pressed into our service from the streets; but they trudged on cheerily, keeping up with our horses for five long hours over an arid waste, till at 4 they delivered over their charge in safety to Bektash Agha, the chief of a branch of the Omeryân Coords, who with about one hundred followers was encamped in the plain. The Agha received us kindly, and ordered one division of his large tent to be prepared for our reception. We had scarcely seated ourselves when Osman Pasha, with about thirty Turkish horsemen, arrived on his way to greet the new pasha of Kharpoot. These gentry soon made themselves at home, ordered forage for their horses, and sat down to devour the repast which the Coords had prepared for themselves. Osraan Pasha was accommodated in a division of the tent adjoining ours, and hearing that an Eaglish traveller was his near neighbour, he begged me to dine with him. He sat in the tent with his watch in hand, now looking towards the west, then at the dial-plate, anxiously awaiting the legal hour to break the fast of Ramadhân. He then set to in good earnest, and after going through his ablutions begged that I would amuse myself until he had performed his devotions. A lesson this worthy the imitation of Christians.