whole circle of Yuseff's Christian acquaintance had been invited, ni order to break the bread of friendship with an Englishman, all Mohammedans being excluded, that they might the more freely indulge the privileges of their common faith in midnight potions, and vent their indignation against their oppressors over the intoxicating draught. We sat down, to the number of about thirty, around a large metal salver, laden with dishes, which were put on, taken off, and replaced by others in quick succession, after the fashion of the Turks. The feast was preceded by songs in the Turkish language most of them remarkable for their gross indelicacy. Large glasses of arrack were swallowed at short intervals, so that most of the party were intoxicated before they began to eat, and as glasses were again served in pretty quick succession during the meal, many were quite drunk before it was ended. Loose songs were now followed by still looser conversations, and lascivious dances were next performed by men and boys, without the gravest among them being at all shocked at these Bacchanalian orgies. The utmost freedom was given to. their expressions of hatred against the Turks; and though it was impossible not to feel pity for them, as subjects of the most galling tyranny, or not to sympathise with them in their faintest struggles against so odious slavery, yet it was painful to see that they quietly submitted to the yoke, and suffered themselves to be trodden under foot while sober, and breathed forth slaughter and revenge only. while they were drunk; leaving the impression that they would be as cruel, were they of the stronger party, as they are timid and unresisting now that they are of the weaker. Here, upon the spot, I was forcibly struck with the contrast which the conduct and professions of these Christian teachers exhibited, when compared with the charity of a former bishop of the same place, as related by Gibbon, and deservedly rescued by him from oblivion.*

*"This Acacius of Amida, boldly declaring, that vases of gold and silver are useless to a God who neither eats nor drinks, sold the plate of the church of Amida; employed the price in the redemption of seven thousand Persian captives, taken in the Theodosian war; supplied their wants with affectionate liberality, and dismissed them

Acts of benevolence and Christian charity, from whomsoever they spring, cannot be too frequently mentioned, and they shine with more lustre from amidst the aggravated wrongs under which they are displayed. But of the conduct to which I was here a painful witness, it is difficult to speak, except in terms of reprobation. These oriental Christians of the present day were not, however, without their consolations, which they reciprocally interchange in nearly the same language as that attributed, in the very next page of the same historian, to the Armenian archbishop Isaac, when he deplores, yet half excuses, the vices of Antasines, the nephew and successor of the Persian Chosroes.*

**

These midnight revels did not cease until the morning was nigh, and even then many more had sunk upon the floor to sleep, from fatigue and intoxication, than had retired for the purpose of going to their own homes. The speedy downfall of the Mohammedan power, and the eternal damnation of all heretics and infidels, were the favourite toasts; and these, it is said, were so clearly recommended by holy writ, that drinking to their accomplishment was only supporting the word of God, and hastening the drinker's own salvation. With this reiterated assurance, which was repeated on all sides at every draught that was swallowed, sounds of cursing still reverberating in my ears, I stretched myself along upon the carpet, to catch an hour's repose before the dawn should summon me to begin my journey, which the revolting scenes I had unwillingly witnessed here made me most impatient to begin.

to their native country, to inform the king of the true spirit of the religion which he persecuted."-Gibbon, vol. v. c. 32, p. 427.

* "Our king,” says this mitred prelate, "is too much addicted to licentious pleasures; but he has been purified in the holy waters of baptism. He is a lover of women, but he does not adore the fire or the elements. He may deserve the reproach of lewdness, but he is an undoubted Catholic; and his faith is pure, though his manners are flagitious."

JUNE 28th. It was by the grey twilight of the morning that I saddled my horse, in haste; when, rolling up my carpet behind me, and balancing my spear, I mounted in the court-yard of the merchant's house, and left the recently noisy party all now sound asleep, after the excesses of the preceding night.

It was not yet sun-rise when I reached the city-gate, so that this was still shut; and as the warders had received orders on the preceding evening not to suffer either the Koord or myself to pass without express permission from the governor, I was again arrested here, until the truth of my own liberation from the claims of my companion's creditor could be ascertained. A well-timed present prevailed on one of the guards to hasten off to the palace, in order

to make the necessary inquiries; while another commanded a servant to hold my horse, with a hope of something being given him for his civility. The Aga of the guard, who had by this time just ended his morning prayers, then invited me to his carpet, and filling my pipe out of his own tobacco-bag, presented me also with a cup of his morning coffee, thus rendering my detention as agreeable as he could.

The messenger at length returned, with a confirmation of the truth of all that I had stated, with respect to my freedom: the expected presents were paid, the gates were thrown open, and with the prayers of the guards for the safe journey of one whom they supposed to be a believer, going heedlessly forth into danger, I left the walls of Diarbekr to return to Mardin alone.

Crossing the Tigris at the two fords, over which we had passed before, I was enabled to retrace my path with sufficient ease, and pushed on through Poorang, Akh Tuppé, Shukrah Tuppé, and Sushoaf, going at a full trot nearly the whole of the way, halting only at these villages to drink, and to ask a few questions regarding the roads, now and then also ascending an eminence, to command a more extensive view, and see if my way a-head was clear.

It was about El Assr when I reached Sushoaf, without having met with any obstacle in my way; but it was now necessary, as I intended to travel all night, to halt for an hour to refresh and repose. I accordingly alighted at the house of the Sheikh, who had entertained us on our way to Diarbekr, and beneath whose roof we had slept away an hour, securely sheltered from the heat of the mid-day sun. His first inquiry was naturally after my former companion, who had been long personally known to him; and though I ran the risk of incurring blame for deserting him in his distress, and probably, too, of being pillaged, since I was no longer under his protection, I thought it best to give a true and simple statement of the cause of our separation. It had the effect I anticipated, in exciting his displeasure: but this was softened by the observations of some young females, who were preparing the materials

for a wedding-feast in the same room, and who seemed privileged, by the occasion of the festivity, to speak their minds more freely than usual. They pleaded warmly, and not unsuccessfully, on my behalf; and the anger of the chief was soon appeased.

The preparations in which these females were engaged, were for a marriage-feast, the bridegroom being a Koord of the mountains, and the bride a sister of the young girls who so kindly advocated my cause; and as these were all daughters of the Sheikh himself, they even prevailed on him to insist on my tarrying to partake of the wedding-dinner to be given on this occasion. The invitation was accordingly offered to me, and I was too deeply impressed with gratitude for the kindness of my young female pleaders, to whom I was indebted for so happy an escape from threatened danger, not to accept it, although I dreaded every moment of detention as pregnant with still greater evil.

It was at the close of the afternoon prayers that the company, who consisted of all the males of the village, to the number of more than a hundred men and boys, began to seat themselves on the ground, on each side of a long cloth spread out as a table. While the dishes were placing on this rural board, I kept myself busily employed in rubbing down, watering, and feeding my horse, in order to avoid, as much as possible, observation and inquiry; but when the master of the feast came, I was seated as the "strangerguest" immediately beside him; and on the ejaculation of " B'Ism Illah" being uttered, I dipped my fingers into the same dish, and had the choicest bits placed before me by his own hands, as a mark of my being considered a friend or favourite; for this is the highest honour that can be shewn to any one at an Eastern feast.*

* Two interesting passages of Scripture derive illustration from this trait of eastern manners. The first, is that in which the Saviour says, "When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room,* lest a more honourable man than thou be bidden of him; and he that bade thee and him come and say to thee, Give this man place: and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room.

* The word "room," in this passage, means place or station, and not apartment.