deep, during the rainy season and spring, to admit of rafts being floated from Berwari to the Tigris. At that time of the year poplars, oaks, and other trees, are thus sent to Mosul. The most important produce of the valley is the gall-nut, which abounds. Were agriculture encouraged, the inhabitants might carry on a lucrative trade with Mosul in many useful articles; but at present the Christians are too much exposed to the rapacity of the Kurds, and the Mohammedans are too idle, to cultivate the land to any extent. The district is very insecure ; and Abd-ul-Summit Bey loses no opportunity of shedding the blood of the Christians of the mountains. During the massacre in Tiyari, many of those who succeeded in making their escape were put to death by his orders, when passing through his territories. Zeinel Bey, the blood-thirsty agent of Beder Khan Bey, is a cousin of this chief.

The castle of Kumri or Gumri, the residence of Abd-ulSummit Bey, stands on the pinnacle of a lofty isolated rock, and may be seen from most parts of the valley of Berwari. It is a small mud fort, but is looked upon as an impregnable place by the Kurds. The chief had evidently received notice of my approach, and probably suspected that the object of my visit was an inspection, for no friendly purposes, of his stronghold; for as we came near to the foot of the hill, we saw him hastening down a precipitous pathway on the opposite side, as fast as his horse could carry him. A mullah, one of his hangers-on, having been sent to meet us on the road, informed us that his master had left the castle early in the morning, for a distant village, whither we could follow him. Not having any particular wish to make a closer inspection of Kalah Kumri, I struck into the hills, and took the pathway pointed out by the mullah.

We rode through several Kurdish villages, surrounded by gardens, and well watered by mountain streams. A pass of some elevation had to be crossed before we could reach the village of Mia, our quarters for the night. Near its summit. we found a barren plain, on which several Kurdish horsemen,

who had joined us, engaged with my own party in the Jerid. The mimic fight soon caused general excitement, and old habits getting the better of my dignity, I joined the mêlée. A severe kick in the leg from a horse soon put an end to my manœuvres, and the party was detained until I was sufficiently recovered from the effects of the blow to continue our journey. It was sunset consequently before we reached Mia. There are two villages of this name; the upper, inhabited by Mohammedans, the lower by Nestorian Chaldæans. A Kurd met us as we were entering the former, with a message from Abd-ul-Summit Bey, to the effect that, having guests, he could not receive us there, but had provided a house in the Christian village, where he would join us after his dinner. I rode on to the lower Mia, and found a party of Kurds belaboring the inhabitants, and collecting old carpets and household furniture. Finding that these proceedings were partly meant as preparations for our reception, though the greater share of the objects collected was intended for the comfort of the Bey's Mussulman guests, I at once put a stop to the pillaging, and released the sufferers. We found a spacious and cleanly roof; and with the assistance of the people of the house, who were ready enough to assist when they learnt we were Christians, established ourselves for the night.

Soon after dark another messenger came from Abd-ulSummit to say that, as the Cadi and other illustrious guests were with the Bey, he could not visit me before the morning. I had at first suspected that these delays and excuses had an object, and that the chief wished to give a proof of his dignity to the Kurds, by treating me in as unceremonious a manner as possible; so, calling the Kurd and addressing him in a loud voice, that the people who had gathered round the house might hear, I requested him to be the bearer of a somewhat uncivil answer to his master, and took care that he should fully understand its terms, Ionunco's hair stood on end at the audacity of this speech, and the Nestorians trembled at the results. Ibrahim Agha tittered with delight; and pushing the Kurd

away by the shoulders, told him to be particular in delivering his answer. The message had the effect I had anticipated; an hour afterwards, shuffling over the house-tops at the great risk of his shins, and with a good chance of disappearing down a chimney, came the Bey. He was enveloped in a variety of cloaks; he wore, after the manner of the Bohtan chiefs, turban of huge dimensions, about four feet in diameter, made up of numberless handkerchiefs and rags of every hue, of red, yellow, and black; his jacket and wide trowsers were richly embroidered; and in his girdle were all manner of weapons. In person he was tall and handsome; his eyes were dark, his nose aquiline, and his beard black; but the expression of his face was far from prepossessing. I left him to open the conversation, which he did by a multiplicity of excuses and apologies for what had passed, not having, by the Prophet, been aware, he said, of the rank of the guest by whose presence he had been honored. I pointed out to him one or two fallacies in his assertions; and we came to a distinct understanding on the subject, before we proceeded to general topics. with me till midnight, and entered, amongst other things, into a long justification of his conduct towards Christians, which proved that his authority was not established as well as he could desire. In dealing with a Kurd, you are generally safe as long as you can make him believe that you are his superior, or his equal.

He sat

In the morning the Bey sent me a breakfast and a party of Kurdish horsemen to accompany us as far as the Tiyari frontier, which was not far distant. Beyond Mia we passed through Bedou, the largest and most populous Kurdish village 1 had seen. The valley was generally well cultivated; the chief produce appeared to be tobacco and rice, with "garas and "uthra," two kinds of grain, of the English names of which I am ignorant. The garas is, I think, millet.

Our guards would not venture into the territories of the Tiyari, between whom and the Kurds there are continual hostilities, and quitted us in a narrow desolate valley, up which

our road to Asheetha now led. I lectured my party on the necessity of caution during our future wanderings; and reminded my Cawass and Mohammedan servants that they had no longer the quiet Christians of the plains to deal with. Resigning ourselves to the guidance of Ionunco, who now felt that he was on his own soil, we made our way with difficulty over the rocks and stones with which the valley is blocked up, and struck into what our guide represented to be a short cut to Asheetha. The pathway might certainly, on some occasions, have been used by the mountain goats; but the passage of horses and mules was a miracle. After a most tedious walk, we reached the top of the pass and looked down on the village. From this spot the eye rested upon a scene of great beauty. In front rose the lofty peak, with its snows and glaciers, visible even from Mosul. At our feet the village spread over the whole valley; and detached houses, surrounded by gardens and orchards, were scattered over the sides of the mountains. To the right ran the valley which leads to the Zab. We had little difficulty in descending through the loose stones and detritus which cover the face of the mountain, although both our mules and ourselves had frequent falls. On reaching the entrance of the valley, we rode at once to the house of Yakoub, the rais or chief of Asheetha, who received us with grateful hospitality

CHAPTER VII.

We had no sooner reached the house of Yakoub Rais, than a cry of "The Bey is come," spread rapidly through the village, and I was surrounded by a crowd of men, women, and boys. My hand was kissed by all, and I had to submit for some time to this tedious process. As for my companion, he was almost smothered in the embraces of the girls, nearly all of whom had been liberated from slavery after the great massacre, or had been supported by his brother for some months in Mosul.* Amongst the men were many of my old workmen, who were distinguished from the rest of the inhabitants of Asheetha by their gay dresses and arms, the fruits of their industry during the winter. They were anxious to show their gratitude, and their zeal in my service. The priests came too; Kasha Ghioorghis, Kasha Hormuzd, and others. As they entered the room, the whole assembly rose; and lifting their turbans and

*It may be remembered, that Beder Khan Bey, in 1843, invaded the Tiyari districts, massacred in cold blood nearly 10,000 of their inhabitants, and carried away as slaves a large number of girls and children. But it is perhaps not generally known, that the release of the greater part of the captives was obtained through the humane interference and generosity of Sir Stratford Canning, who prevailed upon the Porte to send a commissioner into Kurdistan, for the purpose of inducing Beder Khan Bey and other Kurdish chiefs, to give up the slaves they had taken, and advanced, himself, a considerable sum towards their liberation. Mr. Rassam also obtained the release of many slaves, and maintained and clothed at his own expense, and for several months, not only the Nestorian Patriarch, who had taken refuge in Mosul, but many hundred Chaldæans who had escaped from the mountains.