[p.185]is a rich Armenian monastery, in which are twenty monks. The silk
of this place is esteemed the best in Kesrouan. A little farther down is
the village El Basha. One hour and a quarter Ayn Warka [Arabic], another
Maronite convent. I wished to see this place, because I had heard that a
school had lately been established here, and that the convent contained
a good library of Syrian books; but I was not so fortunate as to see the
library; the bishop, although he received me well, found a pretext for
not opening the room in which the books are kept, fearing, probably,
that if his treasures should be known, the convent might some day be
deprived of them. I however saw a beautiful dictionary in large folio of
the Syriac language, written in the Syriac character, which, I suppose,
to be the only copy in Syria. Its author was Djorjios el Kerem Seddany,
who composed it in the year 1619. Kerem Seddany is the name of a village
near Bshirrai. This dictionary may be worth in Syria eight hundred or a
thousand piastres; but the convent would certainly not sell it for less
than two thousand, besides a present to the bishop.
The school of Ayn Warka was established fifteen years since by Youssef,
the predecessor of the present bishop. It is destined to educate sixteen
poor Maronite children, for the clerical profession; they remain here
for six or eight years, during which they are fed and clothed at the
expense of the convent, and are educated according to the literary taste
of the country; that is to say, in addition to their religious duties,
they are taught grammar, logic, and philosophy. The principal books of
instruction are the Belough el Arab, [Arabic], and the Behth el Mettalae
[Arabic], both composed by the bishop Djermanous [Arabic]. At present
there is only one schoolmaster, but another is shortly expected,