Friday May 28. [28 May 1909] But in the grey dawn one of the
villagers woke us shouting from the ruined tombs on the opposite hill
that our things were there. It appeared that a man from Zakhuran had
told him. My servants rushed off and found everything except the
money, Fattuh's clothes, a camera strap and 3 anticas. So we
breakfasted and I sent the camp on to Midyat while I rode off with
Fattuh, Abd ul Ghani Effendi (he arrived last night - I don't know what
his duties are) and 2 zaptiehs to Zakhuran which we reached in 11/2
hours. It was completely deserted except for cocks and hens; the
Chelabi and the soldiers had gone into the hills to fetch the flocks. It
lay in a deep rocky valley, a regular robbers' nest. I lay down under a
ruin on the top of the hill and went to sleep while the others sat under
an oak tree. When I woke a bp from Karboran had joined the party -
dressed in purple with a gold and jewelled cross, Urfa [Sanliurfa
(Edessa)] work. So it being near 11 I lunched and talked to the bp
who said he had seen me in Jerusalem [(El Quds esh Sherif,
Yerushalayim)]. He spoke well of the Chelabi - said he was a friend
to the Xians which I believe from the care he took of Khakh. The
sheep were seen coming in but still no Chelabi. I wrote various notes
at the request of the bp for the release of Melkeh and the return of Xian
sheep which had been swept in with the rest. This was under a tree
by the village - a few red eyed women had returned by this time. At
about 12 I rode off with Fattuh, Abd el Rahim and a Zakhuran man.
We went by extraordinarily rocky barren valleys, the villages on the
hill tops like little forts. We passed near Kefr Zeh and Arnas and got
into camp at 6. The Kaimmakam and others visited me and after
sunset I went and looked again at the ruined church.