'Narrative of a Residence in Koordistan, and on the Site of Ancient Nineveh; with Journal of a Voyage down the Tigris to Bagdad and an Account of a Visit to Shirauz and Persepolis.' [‎92] (121/450)

THE MONKS.
[CII. XVI.
of brown woollen over it. On their heads they wear
a small skull-cap of brown felt, with a black hand
kerchief tied round it. The priests are rather better
clothed, in black dresses, with black turbans on their
heads. The monks are of all trades—weavers,
tailors, smiths, carpenters, and masons; so that the
wants of the convent are entirely supplied by the
convent itself. Their wants are indeed very few,
the order being that of St. Anthony, and very
rigorous in its observances. The monks never eat
meat, except at Christmas and Easter. Sometimes,
indeed, it any ot their friends bring them a little as
a present, they are not forbidden to eat it; but no
meat is provided for the convent. The daily food is
some boiled wheat and bread, and even this in small
quantities. Wine and spirits are altogether pro
hibited, and none but the treasurer is allowed to
touch money *.
* The monks live separately and alone in their cells, when not
employed at their work, and are forbidden to talk to one another.
A bell summons them to church several times a day, besides
which they meet in the church at midnight for prayer: again at
day-break, and at sun-set, when they each retire to their cells with
out fire or candle. Some of these cells are far from the others, in
very lonely situations, high up the mountains in steep places, and
look difficult to get at by day; how much more so in dark and
stormy nights! They are surrounded by wild plundering tribes of
Koords, who might come down and murder them in their different
retreats, without their cries for help being heard; but their poverty
preserves them from such attacks. There were several young
mdn among them, who had retired here, being, as they told us,
weary of the world, and hoping to find rest in this solitude, and