Monday May {18} 17. [17 May 1909] Off at 5.30 with Jusef and Reshid leaving the caravan to follow. We rode over wide uplands, in great part entirely uncultivated and covered with small oaks. It reminded me rather of the slopes leading out of the Belka towards the desert - from Gilead to Road[?]. Very little water. No streams but occasionally deep rain water pools in the valleys. At 6.30 we passed a ruined site marked in K [Kiepert]. At 7.5 the small village of Salak¸n (Moslem). At 8 Middeh (K. Middo) Xian, on the further side of a deep dry gorge. Then we got into the oak woods. At 9 we saw Irmez about a mile to the S. and at 9.25 'Arba also about a mile to the S. It is Xian. At 9.45 we came to the ruined Der Mar Shim'un in a valley below Ba Sabrin [Basbirin]. I stayed here till 10.35, examined it and lunched. It has no architectural interest. The church is a chapel without aisles, 2 engaged piers on either side of the nave, very high walls and a vault. The half caps of the piers are built and plastered - no decoration. To the S. of it lies a kind of vaulted narthex separating it from the central court of the monastery in which is a vaulted cistern or spring. The monastic buildings are vaulted chambers on the N., W. and S. of the court. So we rode on to Der Barsanma[?] which we reached at 11.20. Stayed there till 11.45. It is inhabited by one young priest and distinguished by its high rather tapering rectangular tower. There is the usual central court with the cistern, rooms to the N, the tower to the E, then you enter the monastic buildings a single chamber which leads into the church which lies to the S of it. The church is again an aisleless chapel with one engaged pier on either side. Vaulted and very rudely built. (All these buildings are of rough feld steine.) Through the monastic chamber to the E you pass into other vaulted rooms, totally dark and with pools of water on the floor. So we rode up to the village of Ba Sabrin [Basbirin] and went to the small monastery of Miriam el 'Adda. A tiny chapel to the N of the court with one engaged pier on either side, very rude, remains of rude fresco - angels; monastic chambers to the W of the court. Curious stone built book rests in the court on which the priest lays the holy books when he celebrates the feast of the monastery. So on to the principal monastery Mar Dodo. It is very large, surrounded by a high wall. The church lies to the N of the court with a narthex along the S side of it. The single nave has 4 engaged piers on either side. The whole building is very rude and unskilful. For instance the apse is not covered with a semi dome but with a barrel vault and the corners of the walls are roughly built in to simulate the half circle [sketch]. There is a porch over the narthex door and a stair to the left leads up to the top of it where there is an inscrip built into the wall saying that the church was built in 1510 Seleucid. But the inscrip. is modern. To the right of the porch on the E side of the court there is a big niche with a semidome. Engaged caps on either side rough Corinthian and a cross in relief carved over the semidome. The monastic chambers lie to the N, W and S. So we rode down the hill and lay under a tree waiting for the caravan, I slept. Ba Sabrin was almost destroyed 2 years ago by Kurds from Midyat way and many of the inhabitants killed. The caravan came up and we went on 3/4 of an hour through vineyards to Sare. After tea went into the village to see the Parthian(?) stele. It is a square column, perhaps an altar(?) with an inscrip. on one side and the figure of a man on another. The other 2 sides much ruined. Found the Agha of the village, who is the chief Agha of all these parts, [space left blank], entertaining friends. Went into the church but was driven out by the fleas. It seemed however interesting. Two piers in nave with 2 barrel vaults running N and S. Then the sanctuary. The priest declared that the fleas were swept out every Sunday.