BEZOMMAR.
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to teach philosophy. The boys have particular hours assigned
to the different branches of their studies. I found them sitting or
lying about in the court-yard, each reading a book, and the
master, in a common peasant's dress, in the midst of them.
Besides the Arabic language they are taught to speak, write, and
read the Syriac. The principal Syriac authors, whose books are
in the library, are Ihn el Ebre (), or as the Latins call him,
Berebreo, Obeyd Yeshoua ( ), and Ibn el Aassal (),
their works are chiefly on divinity. The bishop is building a
dormitory for the boys, in which each of them is to have his
separate room; he has also begun to take in pupils from all parts
of Syria, whose parents pay for their board and education. The
convent has considerable landed property, and its income is increased ¬
by alms from the Catholic Syrians. The boys, on leaving
the convent, are obliged to take orders.
From Ayn Warka I ascended to the convent of Bezommar
), one hour and a quarter distant. It belongs to the Armenian
Catholics, and is the seat of the Armenian patriarch, or spiritual
head of all the Armenians in the East who have embraced the
Catholic faith. Bezommar is built upon the highest summit
of the mountain of Kesrouan, which is a lower branch of the
southern Libanus. It is the finest and the richest convent in Kesrouan, ¬
and is at present inhabited by the old patriarch Youssef,
four bishops, twelve monks, and seventeen priests. The patriarch
himself built the convent, at an expense of upwards of fifteen thousand ¬
pounds sterling. Its income is considerable, and is derived
partly from its great landed possessions, and partly from the
benefactions of persons at Constantinople, in Asia Minor, and
in Syria. The venerable patriarch received me in his bed, from
which, I fear, he will never rise again. The Armenian priests
