Page:The Nestorians and their rituals, volume 1.djvu/94

58 kings and queens of Europe was hung upon the walls, and the ignorant people thinking that they were pictures of saints, paid them no little reverence. Some deplored their abject condition, and the supineness and avarice of their patriarch and bishops, and urged me to remain among them. Poor people! They are in urgent need of some one to teach them the way of life.

Dec. 3rd.—Seven hours' ride brought us to Jezeerah, where we were received into the house of Moorad, one of the few Armenian residents. In a short time we had a visit from the only priest of the twenty Jacobite families here, who deeply lamented the present state of his community. He informed me that a few months ago the patriarch had ordered the church to be shut, and had excommunicated all his flock, because they were unable to remit to him the whole amount of his tithe. He expressed his anxiety to have a school established at Jezeerah, and hoped that the English Church would help them in this, and in the general reformation of his people. As I was not authorized to hold out any prospects of this kind to him, he has since received assistance from the American Independents in the shape of a monthly salary and books, and is now teaching a school under their auspices.

I shall reserve any further notice of Jezeerah till after the following chapter, when the former narrative will be continued.