Sat May 1. [1 May 1909] Went out before 6 with Mr Wigram to the old
church and planned it and moulded the decoration. I think its proper
name must be Mar Akhudimme. Came in at 10 to breakfast after
which arrived Mr Malcone of Lynch's and Mr Sidi with a deputation of
splendid old Jews. The community here is very backward and very
fanatical. They won't do anything at all on the Sabbath and I made a
faux pas by asking if I might photograph them. Then rode down to the
hospital and saw Yusef Effendi Bash 'Alam, a splendid type of the old
school. On the day of Reshad's proclamation he was found weeping
and cursing at seeing the soldiers tear down and destroy
proclamations with Abd ul Hamid's name on them. "The dogs!
yesterday they wd have been too proud if their name had been
mentioned in the same breath as his. He declared that everything
was going to wrack and ruin, that there wd be revolution and
bloodshed and countless evils. I said what is the remedy? He said
"If the source is pure the whole stream is pure." I said "Was the
source pure?" He said "No. A king should go about among his
subjects, see them and hear them. He should not sit imprisoned in his
house listening to the talk of spies." He was the ringleader in the
murder of Sayyed Bey - an old man Koran in hand - so Mr Young
says. So back to lunch and sleep after which Mr Wigram and I went
out to see the beautiful tomb of Kasim ibn Imam Yahya ibn Kassan ibn
Hassan ibn Ali which was built in 714 - according to the molla. It has
inside a very interesting frieze of stone rinceaux in high relief unlike
anything I have seen. The inscrip. ascribes the foundation to Sultan
Lulu. Then on to the remains of Lulu's palace. There has been an
extraordinarily interesting decoration of plaster. Below, large
(interlaced at the corners) outlines [sketch] filled with entrelac and in
the corners with a rinceaux of flowers and birds. Above this a tiny row
of niche outlines [sketch] each with a naked figure represented down
to the waist. Above this the inscrip. So on the the Ziarat of Abdullah
ibn Hassan which must be of the same date as the other tomb - it has
the same rinceaux in high relief. Then back to the hospital where I
saw Kasun Agha. He was the son of a slave of Suleiman Beg's and
cannot sit down in the latter's presence though he is one of the richest
men in Mosul [Mawsil, Al]. He is also one of the wickedest. He was
feared and dreaded by all the town but he is now old and professes
to have reformed. He talked of the Arab movement and of how the
Khalifa must be of the tribe of the Kosseish[?] and that the Sherif of
Mecca [Makkah] was of that tribe and that the Arabs naturally wish to
govern themselves. Dr Griffeth says he is at the head of anything of
the kind that goes on in Mosul. He has at his beck and call all the
villains of Mosul and he knows all the plots and counterplots. If
anything happens he will be the ringleader. There is some fear that
when the 2000 soldiers sent here at the Kerkouk [Kirkuk] times[?] are
withdrawn, there may be rows in Mosul. So home by Talib's stables
which are certainly very nice.