The Nestorians; or, the Lost Tribes: containing evidence of their identity; an account of their manners, customs, and ceremonies; together with sketches of travel in ancient Assyria, Armenia, Media, and Mesopotamia, etc
Grant, Asahel, 1807-1844. no2003040130
rrM'xltrXrtei W i !>‘>!i!iK>SS :!>Ms ‘SlsSb&M?;1 ’</////. V////;, WM Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015 https://archive.org/details/b22027300 THE /9I0 NESTORIANS; OR, THE LOST TRIBES: CONTAINING EVIDENCE OF THEIR IDENTITY; THEIR MANNERS, CUSTOMS, AND CEREMONIES. . WITH SKETCHES OF TRAVEL IN ANCIENT ASSYRIA, ARMENIA, MEDIA, AND MESOPOTAMIA; AND ILLUSTRATIONS OF SCRIPTURE PROPHECY. By ASAHEL GRANT, M.D. SECOND EDITION. LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 1843. LONDON : Printed by William Clowes and Sons, Stamford Street. PREFACE. The following pages are submitted to the public with great deference. They were written partly amid the incessant toils of a missionary life, and partly during my homeward voyage. The constant pressure of other cares, and imperative duties, during my transient stay in my native land, has left no opportunity for re-writing the manuscript, and for correcting inaccuracies of style in- cident to an inexperienced writer, under circumstances so obviously unfavourable to careful composition. But while, with this explanation, I would solicit the reader’s indulgence in regard to the style and form of this essay, I am aware that whatever real value it may be found to possess will depend essentially upon the facts it embodies. In this respect no effort has been spared to ensure accuracy. Constant attention to my duties as a missionary physician has brought me in contact with almost every class of the people among whom I have travelled or sojourned, and has greatly multiplied my opportunities for observation. My professional character has procured me ready access to the retirement of the harem, and the social and domestic circles of all classes of the people. Every important particular has been carefully noted down on the spot, and I have endeavoured to pre- serve my mind from prejudice, and to guard against every source of error. I trust, therefore, that the facts here recorded, so far as they are derived from personal ob- servation, will be deemed worthy of confidence. The public must decide whether the conclusions to which I have arrived are warranted by the data. I have only to a 2 IV PREFACE. remark, that these facts forced themselves upon my atten- tion, and were not sought for to confirm a previously- formed theory. If the facts and arguments embodied in this work should convince the candid reader, as I trust they will, that the Nestorian Christians are indeed the repre- sentatives and lineal descendants of the Ten Tribes, his attention will naturally revert to the prophecies which relate, either wholly or in part, to the house of Israel ; and he will return to their perusal with increased interest, perhaps with clearer light. It is to be hoped, also, that he will excuse the author, if, under such circumstances, he has allowed his mind to range somewhat widely over the field of prophecy, and has appeared to encroach upon the peculiar province of the biblical critic. Whatever may he thought of these speculations, it should he remembered that they in no way affect the facts we have adduced in relation to the main question, to the examination of which this work is chiefly devoted. The small map which accompanies this work does not pretend to minute accuracy, hut will he found to he more correct than any which has preceded it. It has been mostly compiled from one in the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of Great Britain for 1840, with the exception of that part of the country which had not been explored prior to my visit, concerning which very little was known. In conclusion I would remark, that if my humble efforts prove the means of increasing the interest which has begun to he awakened in behalf of the Nestorian Christians, I shall return with renewed zeal to my arduous labours, cheered with the anticipation that a brighter day is about to dawn upon the remnant of Israel which is left from Assyria, and, through them, upon the Gentile world. CONTENTS. PART I. CHAPTER I. Nestorian Mission — Importance of a Physician — Embarka- tion— Smyrna — Constantinople — Black Sea — Trebizonde — Tabreez — Ooroomiah — Character of the Nestorians — Notice of the Mission — Description of the Country — Inde- pendent Nestorians — Koords ..... CHAPTER II. Practicability of visiting the Mountain Nestorians — Journey to Constantinople — Storm in the Mountains — Journey to Mesopotamia, Diarbekir, and Mardin — Providential Escape ... . . . .. CHAPTER III. Departure from Mardin — Plain of Mesopotamia — Mflsul — Ruins of Nineveh — Yezidees, or Worshippers of the Devil CHAPTER IV. Battle-ground of Alexander — Alcra and its Scenery — Recep- tion by a Koordish Chief — Journey to Amadieh CHAPTER V. Arrival at Duree — Intercourse with the Nestorian Bishop — View from the Mountains — Arrival among the Indepen- dent Tribes — Remarkable Incident — Kind Reception PAOE 3 13 22 34 45 VI CONTENTS. CHAPTER VI. PAOK N estorians — Churches. — W orship — Sabbath — A Tale — Pre- servation of the Scriptures — Strife with the Koords — Pas- toral Life — Resources — Character — Females . . 55 CHAPTER VII. Mountain Bridges — Defiles — Medical Practice — Roads — Arrival at the Patriarch’s — Kind Reception — Character of the Patriarch — Social Intercourse — Ruined Castle — Female Fidelity — Church Government — • Patriarch’s Family ......... 70 CHAPTER VIII. Departure from the Patriarch’s — Journey through the Moun- tains— yisit to a Koordish Chief — Scenes in the Castle — Arrival at Ooroomiah — Patriarch’s Letter — Return to the Mountains — Visit to Julamerk . . . . .80 CHAPTER IX. Hospitality of the People— Return by Way of Van — Night in the Valley — Visit to Koordish Villages — Pastoral Life • — Death of Shultz — Van — Interview with the Hakary Chief — Change of his Relations — Incident among the Koords ......... 89 PART II. CHAPTER X. The Revolt of the Ten Tribes — Their Idolatry — Captivity — Are lost sight of in History — Not yet found — Their separate Existence highly probable — Difficulties of the Subject — Its interesting Nature and great Importance . 101 CHAPTER XI. Tradition of the Nestorian Christians that they are Descend- ants of Israel — that they came from Palestine — supported by the Testimony of Jews and Mohammedans . . 109 CONTENTS. Vll CHAPTER XII. PAOK The Places to which the Ten Tribes were deported: Assyria, Halah, Habor, Gozan, Hara, Media — Now occupied by the Nestorian Christians — But few Nominal Jews in these Places . . • , . . . . .119 CHAPTER XIII. The Ten Tribes have not been removed from Assyria — His- torical Proof — Various circumstantial Evidence — In- ference from the Prophetical Writings . . . 130 CHAPTER XIV. Their Language — The same as that spoken by the Jews in their Region — Evidence derived from it that they eame from Palestine or Syria — That they  Christians — Proof derived of their Hebrew Origin — Beni Israel — Nazareans — Syrians — Chaldeans — Nestorians not appropriate — Why used ......... 152 CHAPTER XVI. Observance of the Mosaic Ritual — Sacrifices — Vows — First- Fruits and Tithes — Keeping the Sabbath — Regard for the Sanctuary — Forbidden Food — Ceremonial Impurities — Separation of Women ...... 163 CHAPTER XVII. Physiognomy — N ames — T ribes — Government — Avenger of Blood — Cities of Refuge — Sentiments regarding the Jews — Various Proofs that they are a distinct People or an unmixed Race ....... 17S CONTENTS. viii CHAPTER XVIII. PAGE Social and Domestic Customs — Forms of Salutation — Hospi- tality— Regard for the Poor — Entertainments — Dress — Ornaments — Espousals — Marriage — Children — Their Occupations ; the same as those of the ancient Israelites . 192 CHAPTER XIX. The Conversion of the Ten Tribes to Christianity . . 205 CHAPTER XX. Scriptural Proof of their Conversion — Speech of Paul — Epistle of James ....... 215 CHAPTER XXI. Prophecies relating to the Conversion of the Ten Tribes, and their future Prospects ..... 227 PART III. THE SEALED REMNANT OF ISRAEL ..... 247 THE TWO WITNESSES ....... 253 THE PROPHESYING OF THE WITNESSES .... 257 THE CHURCH IN THE WILDERNESS .... 267 THE KINGS OF THE EAST ...... 289 APPENDIX. (A.) — THE YEZIDEES .... (B.) — HISTORY OF THE NESTORIAN MISSIONS (C.) JEWS OF MEDIA AND ASSYRIA . 299 . 308 . 316 r PART I. CHAP. I.] NESTORIAN MISSION. 3 CHAPTER I. Nestorian Mission — Importance of a Physician — Embarkation — Smyrna — Constantinople — Black Sea — Trebizonde — Tabreez — Ooroomiah — Character of the Nestorians — Notice of the Mission — Description of the Country — Independent Nesto- rians— Koords. The Nestorian Christians, so memorable in the early annals of the Church, are emerging from that state of obscurity in which they have for many ages been al- most lost sight of by the civilized world. In consequence of the favourable report of Messrs. Smith and Dwight, who visited the Nestorians in Persia in the spring of 1831, under the patronage of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Mis- sions, that body soon resolved upon the formation of a mission among that interesting branch of the primitive Church. It was an untried and difficult field, but fraught, as was believed, with the brightest promise. At their annual meeting, held at Utica, N.Y., October, 1834, the Board of Missions presented a convincing and urgent plea for a suitable physician to engage in the incipient labours of that important mission. The healing art, it was believed, might procure fa- vour and protection, by affording convincing proof of the benevolence of our motives ; for it is well known that to relieve the sufferings of the body is the most ready way of access to the heart. It would also pro- cure access to places where none but a physician could 4 EMBARKATION ROUTE • [CHAP. I. go. But for more than a year the call had gone through the length and breadth of the land, and not a physician could be found to go. In view of these considerations, I abandoned an in- creasing and delightful circle of practice in Utica, and, with Mrs. Grant, was on my way to Persia the follow- ing spring. A pleasant voyage of forty-eight days brought us to Smyrna, the site of one of the seven churches in Asia. From thence, one of the first of those numerous steam- ers, which are now producing such changes in the East, conveyed us to Constantinople, the proud me- tropolis of Turkey. No steamer then ploughed the waves of the stormy Euxine, and we were wafted by the winds in a small American-built English schooner — once a slaver — to the port of Trebizonde. From the shores of the Black Sea, the saddle became our only carriage for seven hundred miles, over the mountains and plains of Armenia, to the sunny vales of Persia. On the loftier mountain-summits, a corner of a stable sheltered us from the cold and storms : by the verdant banks of the Euphrates, and beneath the hoary summit of Mount Ararat, we reposed under the canopy of our tent, while the hales and boxes of merchandise from the seven hundred horses and mules which com- posed our caravan were thrown around in a hollow square, and served as a temporary fortress to protect us from the predatory Koords by whom we were sur- rounded. An escort of armed horsemen had been furnished by the pasha of Erzeroom to guard the cara- van, and the stillness of the midnight hour was broken by the cry of the faithful sentinel who kept watch to warn us of danger. The strange customs and usages CHAP. I.] ARRIVAL IN PERSIA. 5 of an Oriental land, and the thousand novelties of the Old World, served to while away the hours as we pur- sued our onward course for twenty-eight days at the slow pace of an Eastern caravan. W e arrived at Tabreez, one of the chief commercial cities of Persia, on the 15tli of October, 1835, and met with a cordial reception from the few English residents in the place, and from our respected associates, the Rev. Justin Perkins and lady, who had preceded us to this place. From his excellency the Right Honourable Henry Ellis, the British ambassador and envoy extra- ordinary at the court of Persia, with whom we had already formed a pleasant acquaintance at Trebizonde, we received the kindest offers of aid and protection ; and I seize this occasion to acknowledge the same kind and unremitted favours from his successors and other English gentlemen with whom we have met in the East. After resting a few days at Tabreez, I proceeded to Ooroomiah, to make arrangements for the commence- ment of our contemplated station among the Nestorians in that province. My professional character secured the favour of the governor and of the people generally. Comfortable houses were soon provided, and on the 20th of November my associate arrived with our ladies. We entered upon our labours under the most en- couraging auspices, and they have gone on pros- perously up to the present time. The 6ick, the lame, and the blind gathered around by scores and hundreds, and my fame was soon spread abroad through the surrounding country. We were regarded as public benefactors, and our arrival was hailed with general joy. The Nestorians, in particular, 6 FAVOURABLE RECEPTION. [chap. I. welcomed us with the greatest kindness and affection. Their bishops and priests took their seats at our table, bowed with us at our family altar, drank in instruction with childlike docility, and gave us their undivided influence and co-operation in the prosecution of our labours among their people. They regarded us as coadjutors with them in a necessary work of instruc- tion and improvement, and not as their rivals or suc- cessors. W e had come, not to pull down, but to build up ; to promote knowledge and piety, and not to war against their external forms and rites. W e found much in their character to raise our hopes. They have the greatest reverence for the Scriptures, and were desirous to have them diffused among the people in a language which all could understand. In their feelings towards other sects they are charitable and liberal ; in their forms, more simple and scriptural than the Papal and the other Oriental churches. They abhor image-worship, auricular confession, and the doctrine of purgatory ; and hence they have broad common ground with Protestant Christians, so that, not inappropriately, they have been called the Protestants of Asia. But they had, as a people, sunk into the darkness of ignorance and superstition ; none but their clergy could read or write ; the education of their females was entirely neglected ; and they attached great importance to their numerous fasts and feasts, to the neglect of purity of heart and life. Still there are some who now appear to lead exemplary lives, and to sigh over the degradation of their people. Indeed, we cannot but hope that something of vital piety may have continued to burn upon their altars from the earliest ages of tho CHAP. I.] MISSIONARY LABOURS. 7 Church, and we trust it will again shine forth in a re- splendent flame. In such a state of things, it is not surprising that we have been permitted to prosecute our labours without a breath of opposition from the ecclesiastics or the people. Twelve or fourteen free-schools have been opened in the villages of the plain : a seminary and girls’ board- ing school have been established on the mission pre- mises in the city ; considerable portions of the Scrip- tures have been translated into the vernacular language of the Nestorians. They have opened their churches for our Sabbath-schools and the preaching of the Gos- pel ; native helpers are being raised up and qualified for usefulness ; our mission has been reinforced by accessions from America; and a press, with suitable type, has been sent out. The Rev. A. L. Idolladay and Mr. William R. Stock- ing arrived with their wives, June 6th, 1837 ; Rev. Willard Jones and wife, November 7, 1839; Rev. A. H. Wright, M.D., July 25, 1840 ; and Mr. Edward Breath, a printer, has embarked with a press of such a construction as to admit of its transportation on horses from the shores of the Black Sea to Ooroomiah. The province of Ooroomiah, in which the labours of the mission have thus far been prosecuted, comprises an important part of Ancient Media, and is situated in the north-western part of the modern kingdom of Persia. It is separated by a lofty chain of snowy mountains from Ancient Assyria or Central Ivoordistan on the west ; while on the east the beautiful lake ex- tends about eighty miles in length and thirty in width. The water of this lake is so salt that fish cannot live in 8 VIEW OF OOROOMIAH CLIMATE. [CHAP. I. it : its shores are enlivened by numerous water-fowl, of which the beautiful flamingo is most conspicuous, and sometimes lines the shore for miles in extent. A plain of exuberant fertility is enclosed between the mountains and the lake, comprising an area of about five hundred square miles, and bearing upon its bosom no less than three hundred hamlets and villages. It is clothed with luxuriant verdure, fruitful fields, gardens, and vineyards, and irrigated by considerable streams of pure water from the adjacent mountains. The land- scape is one of the most lovely in the East ; and the effect is not a little heightened by the contrast of such surprising fertility with the stern aspect of the sur- rounding heights, on which not a solitary tree is to be seen ; while in the plain, the willows, poplars, and sycamores by the water-courses, the peach, apricot, pear, plum, cherry, quince, apple, and vine, impart to large sections the appearance of a rich, variegated forest. Near the centre of this plain stands the ancient city of Ooroomiah, containing a population of about twenty thousand souls, mostly Mohammedans, and enclosed by a fosse and wall of nearly four miles in circuit. At a little distance on the east of the city an ancient arti- ficial mound rises to the height of seventy or eighty • feet, and marks the site, as it is said, of the ancient shrine or temple, where in days of yore the renowned Zoroaster kindled his sacred fires, and bowed in adora- tion to the heavenly hosts. The climate is naturally very delightful ; but owing to local causes a poisonous miasma is generated, occa- sioning fevers and the various diseases of malaria, to which the unacclimated stranger is specially exposed ; PROPOSED TOUR. 9 CHAP. I.J and the mission families have suffered much from this cause. My late inestimable wife was the first victim of the climate we were called to mourn ; and in her peaceful and triumphant death she set the seal to the truths she had so faithfully taught and exemplified in her short but eventful life. She rested from her la- bours on the 12th of January, 1839; and her infant twin-daughters now repose by her side within the pre- cincts of the ancient Nestorian church in the city of Ooroomiah. In the month of February of that year I received instructions from the Board of Missions to proceed into Mesopotamia, to form a station among the Nestorians dwelling, as was supposed, on the west of the central mountains of Koordistan. By this means it was hoped that a safe way of access might be found to the main body of the Nestorian Christians, the independent tribes which have their abode in the most difficult fastnesses of the Koordish mountains in the centre of Ancient Assyria. I had long regarded these mountain- tribes as the principal field of our future labours. They comprised the main body of the Nestorian Church, and it was of the highest importance to bring them at once under an enlightening influence, before they should become alarmed by changes that were occurring among their brethren of the plain. But the way of access to them appeared to be hedged round by the sanguinary Koords, by whom they are surrounded, and who had treacherously murdered Mr. Shultz, the only European who had attempted to reach the Nes- torian tribes. The Koords, to whom frequent allusion will be made, are a warlike race of people, inhabiting the mountain- 10 KOORDS. — DIALOGUE WITH A KOORD. [CHAP. I. ous country between Persia and Turkey — the ancient Gordian or Carduchian Mountains-^and divided nomi- nally between those two empires. But their more powerful tribes have seldom acknowledged more than a nominal allegiance to either of these governments ; and some of them, as those of Hakary, have maintained an entire independence. A part of them are nomades, living in tents, and part of them stationary tenants of villages ; but all more or less given to predatory habits. Their religion is professedly the faith of Islam. The fol- lowing dialogue, which I held with one of the nomadic Koords and a Nestorian bishop, may serve to illustrate the character of this sanguinary people. Similar state- ments have frequently been made by other Koords, and confirmed by the Nestorians and Persians. Myself. — Where do you live ? Koord. — In black tents. W e are Kouchee Koords. M. — What is your occupation ? Bishop. — You need not ask him. I will tell you. They are thieves. M. — Is that true, Koord ? K. — Yes, it is true. We steal whenever we can. M. — Do you kill people too ? * K. — When we meet a man that we wish to rob, if we prove the strongest, we kill him; if he proves the strongest, he kills us. M. — But suppose he offers no resistance when you attempt to rob him ? K. — If he have much property, we would kill him to prevent his making us trouble ; if he had not much, we would let him go. B. — Yes, after you had whipped him well. M. — Suppose you meet a poor man who had nothing CHAP. I.] DIALOGUE WITH A KOOHD. 11 but his clothes, what would you do ? Would you mo- lest him ? K. — If his clothes were good, we would take them and give him poor ones in exchange. If not, we would let him pass. M. — But this is a bad business in which you are en- gaged, of robbing people. Why do you not follow some other occupation ? K. — What shall we do? We have no ploughs or fields ; and robbing is our trade. M. — The Persians will give you land if you will cul- tivate it. K. — We do not know how to work. M. — It is very easy to learn. Will you make the trial ? ^ B. — He does not wish to work. Pie had rather steal. K. — He speaks the truth. It would be very difficult, and take a long time, to get what we want by working for it ; but by robbing a village we can get a great deal of property in a single night. M. — But you are liable to be killed in these affrays. K. — Suppose we are killed. We must die some time, and what is the' difference of dying now or a few days hence ? When we rob a village, we go in large parties upon horses, surprise the villagers when they are asleep, and escape with their property before they are ready to defend themselves. If pursued by an army, we strike our tents, and flee to our strongholds in the mountains. M. — Why do you not come and rob these villages, as you used to do ? B. — They could not live if driven out of Persia. They fear the Persians. 12 DIALOGUE WITH A KOORD. [CHAP. I. K. — We should have no other place to winter our flocks : so we give the Persians some presents, and keep at peace with them. M. — I wish to visit your tribe. How would they treat me ? K. — Upon my eyes, they would do every tiring for you. M. — But you say they are thieves and murderers. Perhaps they would rob and kill me. K. — No, no ; they wish to have you come, but you are not willing. We never rob our friends. You come to do good, and no one would hurt you. M. — But many of them do not know me. K. — They have all heard of you, and would treat you with the greatest kindness if you should visit them. CHAP. II.] DEPARTURE FROM OOROOMIAH. 13 CHAPTER II. Practicability of visiting the Mountain Nestorians — Journey to Constantinople — Storm in the Mountains — Journey to Meso- potamia— Diarbekir, and Mardin — Providential Escape. A brother of the Nestorian patriarch, who visited us at Ooroomiah, and a Koordish chief whom I had seen in his castle at Burdasoor, had expressed the opinion that my professional character would procure me a safe passport to any part of the Koordish Mountains ; and from what I had learned in my frequent intercourse with the Koords, I had reason to believe that I might safely pass through the Koordish territory and enter the country of the Independent Nestorians. My own impressions were that I should be able to enter the country of the Independent Nestorians from the Persian frontier, and I advised this plan. But this was not assented to, and, in pursuance of the instruc- tions of the Board to proceed by way of Mesopotamia, I set out from Ooroomiah on the 1st of April, 1839, for Erzeroom, where I had proposed to meet my ex- pected associate, the Rev. Mr. Homes, of Constanti- nople, who was to be temporarily associated with me in this enterprise. On my arrival at Salmas I received a letter from him, apprizing me that the brethren at Constantinople had decided against his entering upon the tour, under the apprehension that my late afflictions would put it out of my power to fulfil the plans of the Board in the 14 SKETCHES OF TRAVELS. [CHAP. II. formation of a permanent station. I looked upon this as another among the many indications of Providence which had come before us in favour of my plan of en- tering the mountains from the Persian frontier. I wrote to our mission for advice, repeating my convic- tion of the importance of the measure I had before urged upon them, of entering the mountains before proceeding to Mesopotamia. The political state of the latter country was mentioned as one consideration in favour of this course. My letter was also accompanied by the assurance of the governor of Salmas that he would do everything to secure the success of the enter- prise, and that he did not doubt but the facilities he could furnish would enable me to go and return in safety. But still there was not a majority in the mission in favour of my entering the mountains, and I was ad- vised to proceed to join Mr. Homes, and enter upon the proposed tour in Mesopotamia. I accordingly proceeded with as much expedition as possible to Constantinople. An unusual quantity of snow had fallen late in the season, and my journey proved one of extreme difficulty and of no little peril. For more than two hundred miles I found the snow from two to three or four feet in depth, although it was the middle of April when I crossed this elevated portion of Armenia. On the great plain at the foot of Mount Ararat we encountered one of the most severe storms of snow I had ever experienced, and came near perish- ing in the mountains beyond, where the storm met us with increased fury. For more than twenty miles of this dreary road there was not a single human habitation. Our guide, about midway, became so much blinded by the snow that he could not keep the road, and I was CHAP. II.] SKETCHES OF TRAVELS. 15 obliged to take his place, and trust to the recollection of my former journey four years before, and the occa- sional traces of the path, which was here and there swept hare by the driving wind. As we began to de- scend the mountains on the opposite side, where the wind had not done us this important service, I was obliged to walk several miles, tracing the narrow path in the deep snow with my feet. I could only deter- mine when I was out of the old beaten path, which lay beneath the new fallen snow, by the depth to which I sunk in the frosty element. Our horses also became almost buried in the snow the moment they stepped out of the road. While crossing the plain near the head-waters of the Euphrates, where Xenophon and the Ten Thousand suffered so much in their memorable retreat, my Nes- torian attendant, and a pilgrim who had joined us, be- came nearly blind from the continued intense glare of the snow. This and a severe storm detained us two days at Moolah-Sooleiman, where we were most hos- pitably entertained in a stable, with forty or fifty head of homed cattle, horses, donkeys, and fowls, while the sheep occupied another apartment in the same house. In these and other particulars I found a striking coin- cidence with the experience of the brave Ten Thousand ; and the dwellings and habits of the people were essen- tially the same as those described by Xenophon more than two thousand years ago. The houses were built mostly under ground, and the villages at a distance resembled a collection of large coal-pits, but broader and not so high. Our next stage was over the mountain-pass of Dahar, the most difficult between Constantinople and Persia. 16 MOUNTAIN STORM. [chap. II. The recollection of what Messrs. Smith and Dwight experienced in their passage over this mountain, toge- ther with the fact that three natives had perished in the snow not long before, prepared me to expect a toilsome and difficult ride. But delay was not likely to make any improvement for many days to come ; and, more- over, a storm of rain had set in on the plain, which would soon quite obstruct the road, as the horse would sink to his middle at every step. As we began to ascend the mountain, we found the rain changed to snow, and ac- companied by a strong wind, which soon increased to a gale. When about two-thirds of the way up the moun- tain, the guide, who professed to be well acquainted with the road, led us into such deep snows that our hardy horses were unable to proceed, and it became evident that we had wandered from the path. After much difficulty we succeeded in finding it ; but it was soon lost again, and the guide, after a fruitless search, declared it impossible to proceed. To turn back was nearly as hopeless, as the snow had filled our tracks almost as soon as they were made, and as the wind would then be in our faces. Under these circumstances, I felt that our hope was alone in God ; but, with his as- surance that he would direct the path of those who ac- knowledge him in all their ways, I felt that he would order all for the best, though in what manner or to what end I could not foresee. Just then, as unexpected as if an angel had descended from heaven, four hardy mountaineers came tramping over the snow from the opposite side of the mountain. With much difficulty we prevailed upon one of them to act as our guide ; and by breaking down the high drifts of snow with our feet, and leading our horses where we could not ride, we CHAP. II.] FERILS IN THE MOUNTAINS. 17 at length succeeded in passing the mountains. There had been no horse across since the heavy storm a week before, and the old path could only be found in many places by striking a heavy cudgel deep into the snow ; and our guide seldom mistook the road when he found his long staff strike on a hard foundation without sink- ing its length in the snow. The next day we found ourselves in the valley of the Aras, where a warm sun and heavy continued rains had swelled every rill to a fearful torrent ; and we had as imminent danger in crossing the streams which lay in our way as we had before experienced from moun- tain storms. In one of these mountain-torrents my horse was carried away, but finally succeeded in reach- ing the shore, when I had to ride several miles with my boots full of water as cold as the melting snow. On reaching the west branch of the Euphrates, I found the bridge had fallen in the night, and we only succeeded in crossing after the villagers had waded about in the cold water up to their waists for nearly an hour. At first they pronounced the ford impracticable, but finally succeeded in getting us across where the water came quite up on our saddles. Several other bridges were carried away, and in one instance I took a circuitous route, and crossed the stream, in its separate branches near its source. On arriving at Constantinople I found that Mr. Homes could not then be spared from that station, and, with the concurrence of the brethren, I resolved to pro- ceed alone into Mesopotamia, it being understood that 1 should remain in or near Diarbekir until Mr. Homes should join me. I accordingly made what haste I could to that field. From Trebizonde I rode in less than c 18 JOURNEY TO MESOPOTAMIA. [cHaP. II. three days to Erzeroom, a distance by winter route of at least 220 miles, and over a very mountainous road. On my route to Diarbekir, where I arrived on the 30th of May, I found great difficulty in crossing some of the lofty mountains, owing to the great quantity of snow which remained upon their summits at that late season, while immense avalanches had formed bridges of snow and ice over some of the foaming torrents which dashed through the narrow ravines. The bridge over tbe Euphrates at Paloo had been carried away, and I crossed the river on a raft of inflated skins, like those mentioned by Xenophon in his retreat of the Ten Thousand. On my arrival at Diarbekir* I found the public mind in that state of suspense and expectation which could be compared to nothing but the calm which pre- cedes an overwhelming storm; and soon it came, with terror and devastation in its course. The signal defeat and almost entire dispersion of the Turkish army were first publicly announced in that city by hundreds of soldiers fleeing from the battle-field, who had been stripped of their apparel and all that they had by the Koords, who had taken possession of the roads. From that time the reign of violence and anarchy commenced, and robberies and murders were the order of the day. Scarcely a man dared leave the walls of the city with- out a large party to accompany them. Each man robbed the man he met, and the arm of the strongest was the only law. The governor, it is true, made an attempt to preserve the peace, and had the heads of five * Diarbekir is on the river Tigris, in latitude about 37° north, and about 40° east longitude. Mardiu is about sixty miles south- by-west from Diarbekir. CHAP. II.] MARDIN LIVES THREATENED. 19 Koords and about forty ears hung up in the bazars, to deter others from committing violence upon the per- sons and property of the citizens. But these same bazars, two days after, were the theatre of most open and daring robberies. The defeat of the army having been ascribed by the mass of the people to the European uniform and tactics, or the Nezdrn, great opposition was raised against it, and against all Europeans as the re- puted cause of it. This spirit, under the influence of Moslem bigotry, and a jealousy lest, in the weak state of the country, Christianity would rise upon the ruins of Islam, was carried to such an extent, that we not only heard ourselves cursed in the streets as infidel dogs, but, as it is said, there was a determination ex- pressed to kill all the Europeans in the place. What this threat might have resulted in, had we' remained in the city, it is impossible to say ; but I now learn that some Mussulmans came to our house after we left it with evil intentions concerning us. Having been joined by Mr. Homes, we proceeded to Mardin on the 10th of July, accompanied by an escort of thirty horse, half of which were furnished by the governor, and half were returning to Mardin. We had two objects in proceeding thus far during the dis- turbed state of the country : to avoid the hot and un- healthy climate of Diarbekir, where - the temperature was then at 98 degrees in the shade, and daily increas- ing ; and to extend our inquiries among the Syrian Christians. We had been but a few days at Mardin when our lives were openly threatened ; and the go- vernor, who declared himself without authority, advised us to remain in our house for some days, and also offered us a guard for defence. We did not think it 20 TROVIDENTIAL ESCAPE. [CHAP. II. best to manifest any particular apprehensions, and de- clined the guard, only keeping quiet in our intercourse with the people. After a while this spirit of hatred to us as Christians seemed to die away, and we appeared to have the confidence and friendship of most or all of the chief men of the place, among whom were the go- vernor, the mufti, and the cadi, whom we visited on friendly terms. But at length a catastrophe arrived, in which we should in all probability have fallen the victims of a bigoted and infuriated populace, had not that kind hand which had carried us safely through so many dangers interposed to save us. On the 6th of September the Koords of Mardin rose in insurrection, and in open day, in the court of the public palace, killed their late governor and several more of the chief men of the place, and then came with their bloody weapons to the house where Mr. Homes and myself were residing, with the avowed intention of adding us to the number of the slain ! calling out to know where we were. Most providentially, we had just left the city, and, when we returned, we found the gates closed, to prevent the rescue or escape of any of the intended victims. It seemed as though some guardian angel had led us out of the danger, and then shut us out. Seeing a great commotion within, we retired to a convent of Syrian Christians a few miles distant, where we met with a kind reception, and re- mained some days until the commotion subsided. A few days before, these sanguinary men had mur- dered an influential native Christian in his bed, and then openly declared that it was an act of religious charity, for which God would reward them, to put Christians to death ! CHAP. II.] SEPARATION. 21 Such is a very faint sketch of the difficulties and dangers which beset my path after entering upon this enterprise. Moreover, after long and patient inquiry, we found that there are no Nestorians remaining on the western side of the Koordish mountains ; all those who formerly resided this side the mountains having become papists, or removed to other parts. In view of these considerations, which left so little hope of doing good, while so much peril was involved, my associate resolved to leave this field, and return to his station at Constantinople. In this he was supported by the ad- vice of brethren both at Constantinople and Smyrna ; and, in our peculiar circumstances, I could not with- hold my approbation ; but, with a full view of the trials which might lie before me in my solitary jour- ney onward, I yielded a cordial and cheerful acqui- escence. I was forty days in Diarbdkir, and Mr. Homes and myself spent two months in Mardin. They were days of mingled solicitude and pleasure, and not to be for- gotten while memory remains. I had but just arisen from a sick-bed, on which the tide of life seemed for a time fast ebbing to its close, when the catastrophe I have described took place. The events of that day, and the Divine interposition by which we were pre- served, tended not a little to strengthen my faith, and arm me for whatever perils might still beset my path. 22 INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. [CHAP. III. CHAPTER III. Departure from Mar din — Plain of Mesopotamia — Mosul — Ruins of Nineveh — Yezidees, or Worshippers of the Devil. Within the dilapidated walls of an ancient Christian church, which stands alone in a mountain ravine on the verge of the great plain of Mesopotamia, and is overlooked by the impregnable fortress of Mardin, I exchanged the parting embrace with my “ brother and companion in tribulation,” the Rev. Mr. Homes, with whom I had spent more than two months of anxious repose and shared the most imminent peril of life. On account of the general anarchy which reigned around us, we had travelled together scarcely two days ; but I had learned, when prostrated on a bed of sickness, and surrounded by men of violence and blood, how to prize the company of a Christian friend ; and it was not without a mutual struggle that we yielded to the con- victions of duty, and tore away from each other’s society to pursue in opposite directions the long and arduous journeys that lay before us. But while the voice of Providence called him to return to his station in the metropolis of Turkey, to me it seemed to cry, onward. The hope of obtaining access to the mountain tribes of Nestorians from this quarter was among the first motives to the undertaking in which I had embarked, and I resolved to spare no effort to effect this important object: for, while no one dared to advise the under- CHAP. III.] PROPOSED ROUTE. 23 taking, lest I should fall a victim to the sanguinary character of the surrounding Koords, every friend of the mission was most desirous to see it accom- plished. It was also important that more should he known of the city of Mosul and the adjacent country ; and I re- solved to proceed thither, with the hope that I should obtain more light on the question of entering the moun- tains from that point, intending, if I finally failed in my efforts to reach the field to which my anxious atten- tion had been so long directed, to turn my steps by a more southern route towards my former abode on the plains of Persia. To secure our effects and make other preliminary arrangements for my journey, I returned to the gates of Mardin, whence Mr. H. and myself had been led out, as if by Mercy’s angel, to escape sharing in the tragic scene enacted in the court of the public palace a week before. The bustle of the streets was dying away as evening drew on, and so changed was my aspect, in the Oriental robes and turban I had assumed, that I passed on without recognition, and remained in quiet tranquillity two days within the walls of the town so recently the scene of anarchy and misrule. But the storm had spent itself in its own violence ; and while I was there, the surrounding mountains rever- berated the roar of artillery, which announced from the walls of the lofty castle that the town had been placed under the vigorous government of Mohammed Pasha of Mfisul. This extension of his rule added not a little to the safety of my route over the vast plain of Mesopotamia ; and after a journey of nearly two hundred miles, I found myself securely lodged within 24 SCENES IN MESOPOTAMIA. [CHAP. III. the walls of Mdsul, on the morning of the 20th of Sep- tember, 1839. As my journal up to the time of my departure from that city was left there, with most of my effects, for safe keeping, I cannot now lead the reader through the ex- citing scenes and romantic incidents which beset my path through this home of the ancient patriarchs. The spirit-stirring sketches of Sarah, Rebecca, and Rachel, portrayed in such lovely simplicity by the inspired his- torian, were held up in living characters in the person of the young shepherdess watering her father’s flocks at the wells of Mesopotamia, or carrying her replen- ished pitcher at the close of day, and in the black tents of the wandering Arab, so proverbially changeless in his habits. I seemed to be carried back four thousand years on the wings of time, to hold converse with the father of the faithful, while leading the same pastoral life on this extended plain. 