So, in one instance (the thing was done repeatedly) the school attached to the church of SS. Peter and Paul was solemnly registered in the names of Peter, son of Jonas, fisherman by trade, resident at Capernaum in the province of El Kuds (Jerusalem), and Paul, father's name unknown, tentmaker by trade, resident at Tarsus in the province of Adana. The scheme worked admirably for a while; and when the Ottoman officials realized what was being done, and objected to losing their fees, it must be owned that they played the game prettily. They sent in a formal notification to the Armenian authorities, that they understood that these two trustees, Petrus Effendi and Paulus, were now dead; and (so far as their information went) that both gentlemen had died intestate. If this were so, then in course of law their trust property would revert to the "Ministry of Pious Benefactions," whence very little of it would ever come out for the use of any Armenians! There was a terrible scare for a while among those concerned; but Turkish good nature came into play, and the matter was dropped, in consideration of proper trustees being registered in future--and no doubt a decent _bakhshish_ to the officials concerned. While the nation as a whole was not badly off, individuals were often in a position of privilege, owing to some personal claim that they happened to have on some official. One of these, which endures to the present day, is so remarkable as to deserve special notice. The house of the Armenian priest of Adeljivas, on Lake Van, is officially recognized as having perpetual immunity from all forms of taxation. The family legend has it that their ancestor was the personal servant of Ali, the nephew of the Prophet, in some warlike expedition that he made. The scene of the campaign is said to have been Egypt.