Page:The Nestorians and their rituals, volume 1.djvu/83

Rh loads of human heads, and a number of prisoners, of whom some were to be impaled on the morrow. It is natural for us to suppose that the crime which called for such cruel vengeance must have been great indeed. It was this: One Rammo, the Kiahya, or head of one of the central villages, had received a large sum of money as Salyân tax from the district of which he was the collector. Of this Rammo had embezzled more than half, and the pasha, instead of punishing the defaulter, ordered the Coords to make good the balance due. And, because they either could not or would not, a troop of Albanians was sent against them, who plundered all the refractory villages, massacred about 150 persons, and committed other excesses too horrible to be related. The heart sickens as it contemplates such atrocities; but such is the temper and spirit of the Ottoman government.

Besides the prospect, there is nothing worthy of note in the town of Mardeen. The houses are of stone, and rise one above another towards the summit on which the ruined citadel stands. The streets are narrow and filthy in the extreme, and the inhabitants look woe-begone and wretched. Coordish is the common language spoken by all classes, though Arabic is better known here than at Diarbekir. The principal trade of the place is in gall-nuts, which are collected in the mountains around, and sent to Aleppo for shipment to Europe.

The population of Mardeen is computed at 2,780 families, of which 1,500 are Moslem, 600 Jacobite, 120 Papal Syrian, 500 Papal Armenian, and 60 Chaldean. The Jacobites have two churches and four priests in the town, besides three monasteries in the vicinity. The Syrian Romanists worship in a private house, and have a Bishop and four priests here. The Papal Armenians have one church, a Bishop, and six priests, besides a convent not far from the town. The Chaldeans also have a church, a Bishop, and four priests. In addition to the above, there are a few families of resident Jews.

Having received a letter of introduction to the Syrian Jacobite Patriarch from Mutran Behnâm, we set off to visit the patriarchal residence at Deir (convent) Zaaferân, which is situated in the hills, about four miles north of the town. Mar Elias was absent, but we were greeted by Mutran Yaacoob, the