Had he been a Papist, he would have been robbed; as it was, the frightened kavass lost all courage, and begged permission to return.
When the people heard him speak their own language, they gathered around, and welcomed him to their mountain home.

His fame as a physician had preceded him, and they came for medicine from all directions.

The venerable bishop, with a long white beard, took him into their ancient church, which was a cave high up on the mountain side, with heavy masonry in front, and dark within.

Here the bishop slept, to be in readiness for early morning prayers, and he was pleased with the gift of a box of matches to light his lamp.
A loftier range still separated Dr.Grant from Tiary, the "munition of rocks," which he describes as "an amphitheatre of mountains broken with dark, deep defiles and narrow glens, that for ages had been the secure abodes of this branch of the Christian Church." He had been warned at Mosul, not to enter this region without an escort from the Patriarch.

But he could not afford the delay, and as the bishop encouraged him, he resolved to go alone.