306 JOURNEYS IN KURDISTAN LETTEE xxix

later, after a few shots had been fired, a party of Jelu
mountaineers superbly dressed came up into Kochanes,
also on a matrimonial errand. Some of these men are
quite blond. They came on behalf of a youth of high
position in Jelu, and the bargaining was keen, for the
girl is of the House of Mar Shimun. Eventually they
gave twenty liras, a mule, a gun, thirty sheep, and a re-
volver for her, as well as presents to the negotiators. She
wept most bitterly at the prospect of leaving Kochanes.
The money is spent on the trousseau, and the bride's
parents give a present to the bridegroom.

Shortly after the betrothal, Mar Sergis, Bishop of
Jelu, arrived, -with fifty Jelu men, the young bridegroom,
and some matrons. The Bishop, who is a grand-looking
man, was dressed in a robe, red shulwars, and a turban;
the other men were in silks and gold embroideries, and
carried jewelled Jchanjars, revolvers, and long guns with
the stocks curiously inlaid with ivory and silver. As
they climbed up through the bushes of the ravine they
simulated an attack by skirmishers, firing guns and
revolvers. A few Kochanes men fired as if in defence,
but most of the people decided not to show this " sign of
joy," because news had come that the Kurds had driven
off the sheep of the father of Asiat. So with this feint
of attack and capture the brilliant throng reached the
top of the ascent, Mar Sergis and others riding mules,
musicians playing a drum and flageolets, and five or six
men with drawn swords in their right hands and leather
shields on their left arms escorting the bridegroom to
the hospitalities of the Patriarch's house. The roofs
were crowded with villagers, but the bride was hidden
in her father's house. The father had beaten her on
her head with a long wooden spoon, and she was lying
down!

On that and the two following evenings there was