who demanded a present before she would suffer us to pass. "Are you not ashamed of yourself?" said our guide, "know you not that this is Kasha Gheorghees?" On hearing my name, the nun, for it was she, vainly sought to throw her arms round my neck, but was obliged to rest satisfied with kissing my hand, and ushering us into the interior. I then made inquiries respecting some ancient sculptures which were said to exist in the vicinity, and was conducted by the priest to a large natural cave, not far from the convent, and called by the natives "Guppa d'Mar Yohanan," or the grotto of S. John. To the left of the cave we discovered the object of our search, viz. a rock tablet bearing on its surface the representation of a man in the act of spearing a wild sheep or ibex, and beneath this a procession of six figures standing in various attitudes. The style is not unlike that of the sculptures dug up at Nimrood, but the costume is different, and may be found to belong to a distinct age and people. Mr. Layard has since visited these tablets, and will, I have no doubt, take an exact drawing of them for the benefit of science, and in pursuance of his interesting researches into the history of the Assyrian dynasty.
Ere we returned to the convent it was too late to follow Kas Michael, who had gone on to Akra with all our baggage; so we accepted the proffered hospitality of the priest and nun to pass the night at Mar Abd-Yeshua. Before dark, about twenty of the villagers from Goonduk had assembled at the convent, intending to sleep there so as to be in readiness for service in the church before daylight on the following morning. After vespers I requested the priest to explain to the people what he had been reading, but being unable he begged that I would expound to them some portion of the New Testament. I did so, and their delight was unbounded; they had often heard the same words repeated, and many of them knew them by rote, but their meaning was hidden from them in a dead language. I then made particular inquiries into the number of the Nestorians subject to Mar Auraham, the result of which will be given in the following chapter, and prepared to retire to rest. Having no bedding with me I was provided with two felts by the priest, the nun wrapped her thick veil round my feet, the only other female who had come up with the villagers added a contribution from
