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56 short, and the people are obliged to bring it from a distance. This is the case in many parts of the Toor mountains, and I have heard numbers say that they have been refused a draught of water whilst travelling this route in summer. Grapes are very abundant in the vicinity, and we bought a large basket of them here for about twopence. There was a great ferment while we were at Midyât, on account of the alleged discovery by a shepherd boy, of a vase of gold coins in one of the numerous natural caves with which this district abounds. The ignorant villagers ascribed the impress on the money to the empress Helena, with whose name they are traditionally familiar. In all probability they were ancient coins, but the lucky finder and his associates having decamped, a strict search was maintained by order of the pasha for their apprehension.

Dec. 1st.—We left Midyât at 7, and travelled over a rocky country, passing several Coordish and Yezeedee villages on our road, till we reached Deir-ool-Amar at half an hour after noon. This is a large Jacobite convent, where two monks and a few peasants who till the convent lands reside. Externally the building looks like a fortress, the interior we found to be in a very ruinous state. It contains a large church dedicated to Mar Gawrièl, the reputed founder, and one of the monks pointed out to me with evident pride a pavement of Dutch tiles before the principal altar. There was certainly nothing else to distinguish it from all other Syrian churches; it was dark and dirty, and in strict keeping with the general appearance of the place and its tenants.

The convent contains a Beit Kaddeeshé, or cemetery, consisting of two subterranean galleries, in which Mar Gawrièl and many Jacobite bishops are buried. The monks were very illiterate men, and seemed ignorant of every thing beyond the precincts of their present abode. They spend their time chiefly in looking after the revenue of the convent lands, which is claimed by the patriarch, in reciting the prayers, and in waiting upon the visitors who occasionally frequent the monastery from the neighbouring villages.

After resting for an hour, we pursued our journey over the same hilly district and rugged road, passed a Syrian village with a neat looking church on our left, saw the remains of ex-