AYN WARKA.
185
reim is a rich Armenian monastery, in which are twenty monks.
The silk of this place is esteemed the best in Kesrouan. A little
farther down is the village El Basha. One hour and a quarter Ayn
Warka (,), another Maronite convent. 1 wished to see this
place, because I had heard that a school had lately been established
here, and that the convent contained a good library of Syrian books;
but 1 was not so fortunate as to see the library ; the bishop, although ¬
he received me well, found a pretext for not opening the
room in which the books are kept, fearing, probably, that if his treasures ¬
should be known, the convent might some day be deprived
of them. I however saw a beautiful dictionary in large folio of the
Syriac language, written in the Syriac character, which, I suppose,
to be the only copy in Syria. Its author was Djorjios el Kerem
Seddany, who composed it in the year 1619. Kerem Seddany is
the name of a village near Bshirrai. This dictionary may be worth
in Syria eight hundred or a thousand piastres ; but the convent
would certainly not sell it for less than two thousand, besides a present ¬
to the bishop.
Tbe school of Ayn Warka was established fifteen years since
by Youssef, the predecessor of the present bishop. It is destined ¬
to educate sixteen poor Maronite children, for the clerical
profession; they remain here for six or eight years, during
which they are fed and clothed at the expense of the convent,
and are educated according to the literary taste of the country; ¬
that is to say, in addition to their religious duties, they are
taught grammar, logic, and philosophy. The principal books
of instruction are the Belough el Arab,
), and the Behth el Mettalae ), both composed by
the bishop Djermanous). At present
there is only one schoolmaster, but another is shortly expected,
Bb
