Mechanics' Society Library.
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18371
VERITAS
SCIENTIA
OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
'SI QUAERIS PENINSULAM AMOENAMU.
CIRCUMSPICE
.

MUHAMMED SHAH KING OF PERSIA.
Those learned men must be held in honor p. 397.
Thayer & Co. Lith Boston

9.15.574.
A
RESIDENCE
OF
Ді
Dup."
EIGHT YEARS IN PERSIA,
AMONG
THE NESTORIAN CHRISTIANS;
WITH NOTICES OF
THE MUHAMMEDANS.
BY REV. JUSTIN PERKINS.
With a Map and Plates.
ANDOVER:
PUBLISHED BY ALLEN, MORRILL & WARDWELL.
NEW YORK: M. W. DODD.
BOSTON: TAPPAN AND DENNET; CROCKER AND BREWSTER.-NEW HAVEN :
A, H. MALTBY.-PHILADELPHIA: PERKINS AND PURVES.
CINCINNATI: G. L. WEED.
1843.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1843, by
ALLEN, MORRILL AND WARD WELL,
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts.
ANDOVER:
Allen, Morrill & Wardwell, Printers.
!
Reclass, vive.
2-20-33-
дізновіко
TO A MOTHER,
WHO, IN WIDOWHOOD, AGE, INFIRMITY AND DEPENDENCE,
GAVE HER SON TO THE MISSIONARY WORK,
THIS VOLUME IS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED BY
THAT SON.
PREFACE.
Ir never appeared to me a reality, that I might again tread the
soil of my native country, greet kindred and acquaintances and
worship with them in the great congregation, until we had embark-
ed at Smyrna, on our return to the United States. While the pros-
pect could not be otherwise than grateful, it was not wholly unat-
tended with embarrassment. How should the missionary, so long
immured in the deep darkness of benighted Persia, and accustomed
to the use of strange languages, meet again the noon-day light of a
christian land, and attempt to address the churches in his native
tongue, so many years unused by him for such a purpose? Re-
collecting that primitive missionaries, whose footsteps I had imper-
fectly endeavored to follow, when, in one case, brought back by
Providence to the place from whence they had been recommended
to the work which they fulfilled," rehearsed all that God had done
with them and how he had opened the door of faith unto the Gen-
tiles," I, too, hastily glanced, in reminiscence, over my missionary
course; but my retrospect, instead of a few months, like theirs, em-
braced a period of between eight and nine years. And on referring
to my notes to select a few incidents, I found the mass, which had
been gradually accumulating on my hands, during my residence in
Persia, so large and miscellaneous, that it was no easy matter to
make such a selection. Thus engaged, the idea occurred to me, of
copying out portions of those notes for future use; and the rather,
as I had no particular employment laid out for the voyage. The
result is this volume, which is made up of a simple record of facts
220842
vi
PREFACE.
and observations, given, to a considerable extent, as they were ori-
ginally recorded, amid the scenes whence they were drawn.
pas-
I copied about one-fourth of the volume, on our homeward
sage. My circumstances, after reaching this country, could hard-
ly have been more unfavorable for prosecuting the task, remain-
ing, as I did, but a day or two in a place, with two exceptions
of a week, during the first nine months, and being called upon,
almost constantly, to attend public meetings, in company with the
Nestorian bishop who came with me. I have sometimes writ-
ten an hour at a public house, while waiting for a stage-coach; at
other times, in the cabin of a steamer, among scores of passengers;
and have often revised my manuscript, while travelling in rail-road
cars. As the labor, however, has been mostly that of filling out
notes previously on hand, I have, of course, felt the inconvenience
of these circumstances, less than if my matter had been wholly
unprepared.
While my work in Persia has been principally among the Nesto-
rians, who, together with our mission to them, are the prominent
subjects of this volume, my intercourse with the Muhammedans
of that country, has been habitually familiar; and notices of
that class are introduced almost as extensively as of the native
Christians. And though my object and labors have been strictly
missionary, my observations have been general, and such also to a
considerable extent, are the contents of this volume. It would
have been easy to fill it, from so rich a field as Persia, with
matter suited to the taste of the mere scholar. Indeed, the Ameri-
can or Englishman, in that country, meets, in the Persian lan-
guage, so many familiar acquaintances, that he can hardly avoid
dwelling on its resemblance to his own, a prototype of which it so
clearly is, or more immediately of the German; and he is little
less delighted with the similarity of their construction than the
coincidence of common words. It would also have been easy to
prepare the volume for the use of the civil historian; or, make
it a collection of general statistics. But I have intended rather
to combine miscellany and incident with accurate, missionary and
general information, in the hope of thus rendering the work more ac-
ceptable to different classes of readers, and more useful to the cause
which it primarily seeks to promote. From that vast and varied
PREFACE.
vii
forest, in which I have so long lived and ranged, I have desired to
cull a few leaves, of all the different colors, descriptions and sizes,
and so group them together, that the reader may see them in some
measure as the author saw them, and be furnished with a correct
miniature of that forest; while I would keep him constantly remind-
ed, however, of the great object that carried me thither, and inform-
ed respecting the prosperity and progress of that object.
Some brief portions of the Journal, have appeared in the form of
extracts, in the Missionary Herald; but not enough, it is believed,
to impair the interest of their perusal, as here introduced in a con-
nected, modified and fuller form. The narrative style is mostly
adopted for reasons that will appear in the perusal. The fact that
no American was ever a resident in that ancient and celebrated
country before me, and the position which the Nestorian church
now occupies in the sympathies of Christendom, and its relation to
the prospective extension of the Redeemer's kingdom, are circum-
stances which will, perhaps, tend to impart a somewhat special in-
terest to this volume.
Every writer on Eastern countries feels the difficulty of being ac-
curate, where there is so little intellectual discipline and still
less moral principle. This volume is, however, so much the result
of personal observation, as to be little affected by those diffi-
culties, except that a growing conviction, that the statements of
orientals are not in general to be trusted, has made me the more
careful to become personally acquainted with the facts, in all cases.
Mar Yohannan, moreover, having been with me, in this country,
during my preparation of the matter for the press, I have referred
to him, on any points respecting which I had doubt. I do not, af-
ter all, claim for the work entire freedom from errors.
The accompanying map is constructed, to a considerable extent,
from personal observations; but much assistance has been derived
from the map of Smith and Dwight and from that of Mr. South-
gate. For its successful execution, I am indebted to Mrs. Alonzo
Gray of Andover. A difficulty is often felt by readers, in using
maps of detached interior regions, with only the aid of degrees of
latitude and longitude, in the absence of prominent and familiar ob-
jects, to fix the relative situation. To meet this difficulty, I have
placed the corners of the map upon the well known waters of the
1
viii
PREFACE.
Mediterranean, Black and Caspian Seas, and the Persian Gulf;
points that naturally embrace the countries in which I have travel-
led and the scenes of our missionary operations.-The colored
plates were originally drawn by a Persian artist, under my super-
vision. They will impart a very good idea of the varieties of cos-
tume and the general appearance of the respective classes. The
portrait of the Shâh of Persia is copied from one engraved in En-
gland, and that of Mar Yohannan, from one taken in this country.
-The eastern view of Mt. Ararat was sketched by Mrs. Perkins,
and the western, by myself.—The device, on the back of the vol-
ume, is the emblem of the Trinity, as mentioned on page 384, and
the name, trinity (Tlîtayóotha,) in the Nestorian character of the
Syriac language.-A table of contents is prefixed, and a glossary of
foreign words is added at the close of the volume.-A list of the
engravings, and tables of marks of accent and pronunciation, the
measures of distance and the names and value of Persian coin, are
supplied, after the table of contents. The meaning of foreign words
and phrases is given in the text, where they occur in the first in-
stance, and in some cases, repeatedly.-The marks of accent and
pronunciation of foreign words are generally supplied, though not
in all cases, throughout the volume; and if there be any doubt,
where they are omitted, such words will be found properly marked,
as well as defined, by reference to the glossary.
I am happy to acknowledge my obligation to the Rev. R. Ander-
son, D. D., one of the respected secretaries of the A. B. C. F. M.,
and to my esteemed friend and former instructor, the Rev. Prof.
N. W. Fiske, of Amherst College, for valuable advice, in relation
to the preparation of this work. But if it shall prove acceptable to
the reader, it will be especially owing to the unwearied aid of another
esteemed college teacher and friend, the Rev. Prof. B. B. Edwards,
of the Theological Seminary at Andover, who has kindly taken the
trouble to revise my copy and assist me in correcting the proofs,
and whose familiar acquaintance with oriental countries and sub-
jects, and experience as an author and an editor, are of course a
sufficient warrant, that no work of the kind could pass under his
supervision, without material benefit.
The preparation of the volume, with all the circumstances of in-
convenience attending it, has been to me, a pleasant task,-living
PREFACE.
ix
over, as it has led me to do, several of my past years, fraught with
reminiscences at once painfully interesting and delightful. And
carrying it through the press has been particularly agreeable, on
this favored hill of Zion, amid the hallowed recollections of theo-
logical study and endeared companions of by-gone years, and often
greeted by the familiar countenances of venerated instructors. Nor
should I omit to mention my intercourse with the gentlemanly and
obliging publishers, as a circumstance that has contributed not a
little to render my task agreeable. How they have performed their
part of the work, it will bear testimony for itself.
The volume is submitted to the public with diffidence, but with
the prayer and hope, that it may subserve the interests of that cause
which has given it existence, and to which the life of the author is
devoted. My task being finished, I now turn my thoughts, and
hope soon again to turn my face, toward the distant clime and peo-
ple of my adoption.
Andover, Jan. 1843.
B
;
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
General Sketch of the NESTORIAN CHRISTIANS. *
THE Nestorians, a small remnant, not destitute of interest.-Formerly nu-
merous.—Missionary zeal.-Lineal origin.-Conversion to Christianity.—
Origin as a christian sect.-Location.-The Koordish mountains.--Oróo-
miah. The wild character of the inhabitants of the mountains.-Probable
number of the Nestorians.-Language.-Literature.-General character.-
Religious character.-Ecclesiastical organization.-Hopes of their reforma-
tion.-Papal efforts to proselyte them.-Importance of their receiving effi-
cient aid from Protestant Christians.-Their prospective influence in the
spread of the gospel and the conversion of the world,
CHAPTER II.
Page 1
ORIGIN AND COMMENCEMENT OF THE MISSION TO THE NESTORIANS.
Report of Messrs. Smith and Dwight.-Appointment to the field.-Mission-
ary Instructions.-The Board a Society for observation.-Location of the
mission. First objects of attention.-The Scriptures the standard.-Need
of wisdom from above.-The Muhammedans and the Papists.--The church
will awake.-Severe sickness.-Embarkation,
CHAPTER III.
VOYAGE TO Malta.
25
•
Disagreeable circumstances of a voyage.-Its advantages to missionaries.-
Circumstances of our embarkation.-Journal at sea!-Sea-sickness of the
ladies.-Equinoctial storm.-My rapid recovery. The porpoises.-Com-
motion in the cabin.-The Sabbath.-Sunset.-Moon-light at sea.-Amer-
icans unfit for cabin-boys.-Economizing time.-The black-fish.-The land
bird. The turtle.--The dolphins.-Exercise.-Phosphoretic gems.-Month-
ly concert.-A fair wind.-Reading Abercrombie.-Teaching the ladies
Greek. The pilot-fish.-View of the Western Islands.-Reproof of the
cabin-boy for swearing.-Profaneness of seamen.-Superstition and igno-
rance of the cabin-boy and cook.-Mother Carey's chickens.-First sight of
the Old World.-Shores of Gibraltar Straits.-Pillars of Hercules.-Lands
of darkness.-Feeling of increased security.-Recent disaster.-Excursion in
the boat.—Sunrise at sea.-Island of Galata.— Site of ancient Carthage.—Is-
land of Zembla.-Island of Pantalaria.-Arrival at Malta.—The pilot.-The
tow-boats.-Quarantine.-Pratique.-La Valetta.-Cleanliness of the city.--
Cheapness of living.--Splendid churches.--Number of beggars and priests.—
Strength of the capital. Troops.-Influence of the government.-Missiona-
ries of the London and Church Missionary Societies.-Preparation of the
Nestorian spelling-book,
35
•
xii
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER IV.
VOYAGE FROM MALTA TO CONSTANTINOPLE.
Passage in a Greek vessel.-Meeting an acquaintance.-Regulations on board.
-Animals on board.-Cargo.-Southern extremity of Greece.-Timidity of
Greek seamen.-A conversation with the captain.-Greek estimation of
American character.-Infidelity among the Greeks.-Went on shore.-The
cabin-boy's spelling-book.-Double Cape Malea.--Notice of the islands.--Ar-
rival at Syra.--Description of the place.--Meeting with missionary friends.-
Services at the Greek church. The schools.-A Greek baptism.---Athe-
neum and Lyceum.-The upper town.-A severe storm.-Voyage con-
tinued.-Islands ravaged by the Turks.-The Dardanelles.-Muhammedan
summons to prayers.-The Marmora.-Worship of saints.-Arrival at Con-
stantinople. First impressions of the city.-Going on shore,
CHAPTER V.
•
52
CONSTANTINOPLE, AND VOYAGE THENCE TO TREBIZOND.
The interior appearance of Constantinople.-Object of our temporary stay
there.-Armenian reformer.-New Year's day.-Commodore Porter.-The
annual concert.-Hohannes and Senacherim.-Bazars.-Hyppodrome.—The
Sultân.—Armenian funeral.—Lyceum.-A conflagration. The Bosphorus.
Another conflagration.-Turkish firemen.-Small value attached to life.-
An American wedding.-Attendance of the Sultân at the mosk.-Boats.-
Turkish schools in the barracks.-Chaldcedon.---Scutari.-The great cem-
etery. Excursion.-Buyuk Deréli.-Giant's mountain.-The Muhamme-
dan Joshua.-Intelligence from Persia.-Letters from Sir John Campbell
and Mr. Haas.-Death of the Prince Royal.-Leaving Constantinople.-
Beating up the Bosphorus.-The vessel run aground.-Capt. Grey.-Dan-
gers of the Black Sea.-Expedients of the natives to procure a fair wind.
-Mutual hostilities of the Muhammedan sects.-Reverence for the Koran.
Turkish and Persian ideas of the New World.-Pilgrimages.---Muhamme-
dan devotions.--Metamorphosis of the interpreter.-View of Trebizond from
the sea. Arrival.-Increased communication with Constantinople, . 70
CHAPTER VI.
TREBIZOND, and Journey thENCE TO ERZROOM.
European residents.-Situation.-Population.-Climate.-The French con-
sul.-Rudeness of the people.-The Armenian priests.-Sabbath.-Arme-
nian school. - New Testaments.--Shorter route. Travelling accoutre-
ments.-Arrangement of the loads.-Their size.-Mrs. Perkins's saddle.—
The three different routes.--Leaving the city.--Rural scenery.--Valley-lords.
Scripture illustrations.-Riding in the night.-Lodging under a tent.--Ja-
vislik-Provisions.-Ascending a mountain.-Kara-kapán.-Sublime scen-
ery.-Lofty table-land.-Maddén.-Kroom.-The Kroomlée.-Hamlets in
the glen.-Apprehension from the Lăz.-Steep descent.-Armoot.-Te-´
keh. Its minaret.-The caravan system.-The Sabbath.-Primitive habits
and occupations of the people.-Their degradation.-Duplicity of the mule-
teer.-Roads.-Flowers.-Turkish taste.-Prejudice against the Russians,
and regard for Americans.- Cowardice of Armenians.-Agriculture.-
Utensils.—Dread of the troops.—Enter Armenia.-Stages shorter in sum-
mer than in winter.-Baibóot.-Attentions from the Pashâ.-Valley of the
Jōrókh.-Mining village.-Soda-spring.-Plain of Erzróom.-Sabbath.
Arrival at Erzróom,
87
CONTENTS.
xiii
CHAPTER VII.
ErzROOM, AND JOURNEY THENCE to Erivan.
Retrospect.-Antiquity of Erzróom.-Ruins.-Commerce.-Russian Inva-
sion.-Persian agent.-Arrival of the English party from Persia.-Koord-
ish disturbances.-Embarrassed circumstances.-The Pashâ's carriage.-
Changes of customs and costumes required in Persia.-Troops.-Expedi-
tion against the Koords.-Face of the country between Erzróom and Persia.
Armenian villages. Journey resumed.-Thunder storm.-Hassan-kü-
láah.-Conference with the Pashâ.-Change of route.-Lost son restored.—
A forest.-Kars.-Fertility of its plain.-Wedding-day.-Crossing the
boundary.-Gümry.-Quarantine.-Embarrassments there and at the cus-
tom-house.-Boorish conduct of the custom-house officers.- Detention of
effects.-Journey resumed.-Arrival at Erivân.—Mt. Ararat,
CHAPTER VIII.
JOURNEY FROM ERIVAN TO TABREEZ.
111
Town of Erivân.-Plain.-Valley of the Arrás.-Armenian priest.-English
credit.-Evening view of Ararat.-St. Gregory's prison.-Separation from
our tent.-Takvóor's cowardice.-Great heat.-Nakchevân.-River Arrás.
Detention.-Embarrassed situation.-Liberation.-Russian inhospitality.-
Letter from the English ambassador.-Takt-rawân.-Narrow escape -Mo-
rénd.-Dr. Riach.-Recollections of Martyn.-Arrival at Tabréez.--Mrs.
Perkins's distressing sickness.-Kindness of English friends.-Female for-
titude,
129
CHAPTER IX.
TABREEZ.
Persia.-Boundaries.- Provinces.- Names.-Physical features. — Mines.-
Forests.-Azerbijân.-Tabréez.-Meaning of the name.-Situation.—Ele-
vation and climate.-Population.-Remnants of antiquity.-Commerce.—
Manufactures.-Armory.-Personal appearance of the Persians, their cha-
racter. Civilization in Tabréez.-Advantages as a missionary station.-
The different classes.-The houses in Persia.- Luxury.-Travelling in
Georgia.-Bribes.-Character of the officers in that country.-The heir-
apparent. His character and prospects.-Exhibition of throwing bombs.-
Appearance of the heir-apparent.-Reports of the Nestorians becoming
Catholics.-Distribution of the Scriptures among Papists.—Mr. Haas's let-
ter to the Patriarch,
143
CHAPTER X.
JOURNEY TO OROOMIAH.
Object of the journey.-Preparations.-Companions.—Ali Shâh.—Mirage.—
Funeral.—Lodgings.-Ideas of America.-Persian politeness.-Trade.-
Abraham's contract.-Presents.-Lake.-Deezeh-khaléel.-Kuza-khânáh.
Massacre of Armenians.-Islands of the lake.-Kara-tapá.-Salmás.-
Khosrová.-Georgian prince.-Civility of the Catholic bishop - Crossing
the mountains by night.-A young Nestorian adventurer.-Sleepiness,
'remedy for it.-Gavalân.-Reception. The Patriarch Elias.-The bishop's
offer to go to Tabréez.-Decision of the question by lot.-Plain of Oróo-
miah.-City of Oróomiah.-Arrival.-Lodgings.-Church.-Mar Gabriel.
Visit to the Patriarch Elias.-Gratifying reception,
165
xiv
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XI.
VISIT AT OROOMIAH AND Return to TABREEZ.
A visit from Mar Elias.-His reputed learning.-The governor.-The Mool-
lâhs.-Present from the governor.-Evening devotions.-Gardens.-Beau-
tiful scenery.-Priest Abraham.-Pious talk.-A little boy.-Ardishái.-
Another visit with the Patriarch.-Dâsh-oghúl.-Sheitán-abád.-Dōle.-
Saldóoz.—Neghadéh. — Persian prince.-Votive pledges.-The Koords.-
Koordish tribes and dialects.-Missionary efforts for them.-Soda-springs.
-Village on fire.-Prairie on fire.-Russian officer murdered.-Chilléek.
-Yoolgunlée.-Presents from the field.-Maraghâ.-Tomb of Hoolakóo
Khân.-Apprehensions of the people.-Koordish horseman.-Marble quar-
ries.-Deh-khorgân.-Arrival at Tabréez.-The bishop and priest at our
table.—At our devotions,
CHAPTER XII.
RESIDENCE AT TABREEZ.
182
Death of the king.-A usurper.-Disorders.-Solitary situation.-Presents
from Oróomiah.-The young king's approach to the capital.-Surrender of
rivals.-Coronation.-Means by which he secured the throne.-Aid of the
English ambassador.-General Lindsley.-The bishop's interpretation of
parables. The press in Persia.-Letter of the bishop and priest.-Festival
of Noo-róse.-Last rival conquered.-Bishop and priest visit their friends.-
Corpses carried to Kerbulá.-Persian prince.-Italian play-actors.-Fire-
works.-Celebration of Moharrém.-Return of the bishop and priest.-Pre-
servation of tears.-Syriac teachers.-Nestorian ideas of the firmanent.-
Mr. Haas's Muhammedan school,
CHAPTER XIII.
ARRIVAL OF ASSOCIATES.
200
Journey to Erzróom.-Koords.-Meeting associates.-Plague and cholera.—
Desirableness of a mission at Erzróom.-New English ambassador.- Eng-
lish protection.-Russian policy towards Protestant missions.-German
mission at Shoosha.-Colony at Carráss.-Converts of the Greek church.
-Ignorance of Russian peasants.-New Ukase.-Turkish language.---Nes-
torian priest teaching English.-Preparation for removal to Oroomiah.-
Intemperance in Persia.-Means of intoxication.-Prevalence among all
classes. Its effects.-Difficulties in the way of its removal,
212
CHAPTER XIV.
REMOVAL TO OROOMIAH.
Leaving Tabréez.-Annoyance at our lodgings.-Arrival at Gavalân.—Wel-
come from the Nestorians.-Ride in the rain.-Arrival at Oróomiah.—At-
tention from the governor.-The bishop and priest.-Presentation of a boy.
-Persian compliments.-Visit to the governor.-A Nestorian wedding.
Wine in Persia.-Wedding fees.-Extract from the marriage service.-
Visit to Mar Gabriel.-His rudeness.-A priest from the mountains.-Need
of more laborers.-Need of a Press,
CHAPTER XV.
STATE OF THE FIELD.
227
Religious character and condition of the people.-Spiritually dead.-Tena-
cious of forms.-Immoralities.-Apologies for it.-Education.-School-
CONTENTS.
XV
room. Dedication.-Commencement of the seminary.-Mar Joseph.-
Sabbath service.-Fasts.-An unreasonable mother.-Priest Yohannan.-
Evening prayer-meetings.-Scripture interpretation.-Commencement of
translating the Bible.-Abstinence from wine.-Apprehension of danger.—
Muhammedans of Oróomiah.--Lootée.--Efforts of English gentlemen to pro-
mote our security.-Letters from Dr. Riach and Sir John Campbell, 246
CHAPTER XVI.
Journal: MARCH-JULY, 1836.
Visit from the German missionaries.-Priest Zadoc.-Communion service.-
Letter to the Patriarch.-Duplicity of Persian character.-Saudoc, a second
Hâjée Babā.-Examination of the seminary.-Visit to Géog-tapá.—Mŭ-
hammedan wedding.-Persian ease of manners.-Entertainment.-Pilâv.-
Recreations.-Summer palace.-Bastinadoing.-Mar Gabriel.-The flam-
ingo.-Mar Joseph.-Visit from Mr. Merrick.-- Beautiful scenery.-Mounds
of the fire-worshippers.-Traditions of St. Thomas.-Burning of a Jew.-
Letter from the Patriarch.-Muhammed's teacher.-Seizure of a Nestorian
girl.-Jesuit efforts.-Ride to Barandóoz.-Taxes-.Sources of revenue.-
Oppressive nobility,
262
CHAPTER XVII.
Journal: August-DECEMBER, 1836.
Public celebration.-Royal bride.-Female decorations.-Education.-Hatred
of the Nestorians towards the Muhammedans.-Mock-lamentation.-Sick-
ness.-Unhealthy climate.-Favor from government.-Prince's firmân.-
Seclusion of females.-Visit to villages.-Attack by the Lootée.-Punish-
ment inflicted on the assailant by the governor.-Increased security in
consequence.-Wedding of the governor's son.-Polygamy.-Mŭhamme-
dan marriages.-Electrical machine.-Muhammedan devotions.-Science
in Persia. Metaphysics.-Alchemy.-Freemasonry.-Seven heavens.-
Dunka.-Class in Hebrew.-Oppression of the Jews.-Expectation of the
Messiah.-Hostility between the Nestorians and the Jews,
282
CHAPTER XVIII.
Journal: JANUARY-JUNE, 1837.
School of the Persian prince.—A clerical party.-Malek, Mansoor Meerza.-
A Papal emissary.-Discussions.-Appeal to a Moollâh.-Result of the
discussions. A bishop's turban stolen.-Priest Zadoc.-His vanity to be
thought learned.-Visit from a Hâjée.-Journey to Erzróom.-Mar Yo-
hannan's decision to go with me.-Ooláh.-Aged priest.-Khoy.-Cara-
vanserai.—Koordish churn.- Mt. Ararat, ascent impracticable.- Ge-
noese fortifications.-Mar Yohannan's colloquial powers.-Yezîdéez.—Ar-
menian Papists.-White birches.-Arrival at Erzróom.-Meeting associates.
-Return to Oróomiah.-Meeting the German missionaries.-Reasons for
their leaving Persia.-Kind of laborers needed.-Call for indirect labor
among the Muhammedans,
300
CHAPTER XIX.
Journal: July—December, 1837.
Fourth of July.-Visit from Dr. Riach.-Declamation in the Seminary.-
Visit from Mr. Southgate.-The "milky way."-Primitive customs, among
the Nestorians.-Illustrations of the Bible.—Grape harvest.-Women labor-
ing in the field.—Excursion to Ardishái.-Earthen ware factory.-Bathing
xvi
CONTENTS.
in the lake.-Royal orders.-Note from the Prince.-Letter of Mar Yohan-
nan to the Syrian Christians-Statistics.-Excitement.-Visit from the
Prince. His schools.-Friendly intercourse.-Dining with the Prince.-
Peter Parley's Geography.-Nestorian ideas of his wisdom.-Nestorian lit-
316.
erature,
CHAPTER XX.
JOURNAL: JANUARY-SEPTEMBER, 1838.
Influence of Scripture tracts.-Donation to the Tract Society.-Pecuniary aid
from English gentlemen.-Preaching to the Nestorians.-Revival of mis-
sionary efforts.-Nestorian Chronology.-Ornaments worn by Nestorian
females.-Apprehension of the Nestorians that we should send their chil-
dren to the New World.-Female school.-Interesting traits of character.
Spiritual death. An ordination.-The royal campaign against Herât.-An-
tiquities. Withdrawal of the English from Persia.-A sudden death.-Mũ-
hammedan mourning and funeral.-Baptism of missionary children.-Try-
ing circumstances of the children of missionaries.-Objects of deep interest
and of hope. They should be the subjects of fervent prayer among the
churches,
330
CHAPTER XXI.
JOURNAL: OCTOBER-DECEMBER, 1838.
Political uncertainties.-Want of pecuniary means.-Papal emissaries.-Rev.
Wm. Glen.-Catholic deacon.-Receiving a hundred fold.--Deacon Joshua.
-Chaldean vagrants in England.-Mar Joseph's excursion into Georgia.-
Encouraging contrast.-Conservative policy to be pursued by the mission-
aries to the Eastern churches.-Zeal for forms.-Intercourse of Episcopa-
lians with Mar Yohannan.-Article from the Churchman.-Mar Yohan-
nan's reply.-Christian fellowship.-Harmony among missionary societies
and their missionaries,
346
•
CHAPTER XXII.
Journal: January-June, 1839.
Death of Mrs. Grant.-Letter to the ambassador.-Letter from him.-
Russian protection.- Changes at Tabréez.-Armenian reformation.
Orders from the king.-Concern of Mar Joseph.-Mar Elias reading the
epistles.-Health-retreat at Gavalân.-Interruption.-Abuse of Mar Yo-
hannan.-Imprisonment of his father.-Extortion.-Mar Sergis.—Cure of
lunatics. A Koordish Pashâ.-Visit from him.-Persian prince and nobles.
-European costume.-Sign of the Trinity.-John's question book,
CHAPTER XXIII.
JOURNAL: August-DecembER, 1839.
368
Death of a child.-Lines by Mr. Merrick.-A Persian Meerza preaching the
gospel.-Prince-governor's rigor.-A mob.-Packet robbed. The medical
profession in Persia.-Governor's summer hamlet.-Priest Dunka preach-
ing in the mountains.-Tract on Papacy.-Visit to Ardishái.-Salt on the
shore of the lake.-Mineral springs.-Importance of scientific knowledge to
missionaries.-Rescue of Mar Gabriel from the Papists.-Letter from Ma-
lek Kâsem Meerza.—Order from the king.—Addressing superiors.-Letter
to the prince.-Providential protection.-Indications of piety.-Prohibition
of wine-drinking,
385
CONTENTS.
xvii
CHAPTER XXIV.
JOURNAL: JANUARY-MARCH, 1840.
Note from Herât.-Visit from an English gentleman.-English influence in
Afghanistân.-Muhammedan school.-Death of priest Dunka's brother.—
Funeral.-Death of children in the mission.-Death of Wm. Riach.—Sym-
pathy of the natives.-Mortality of native children.-Longevity in Persia
less than in America.-Death of priest Dunka's wife.-Nestorian burial.—
Service at the grave.-Extempore prayer.-Religious feeling.---Letters from
priests Abraham and Dunka, received in America.-Mar Sléeva, his igno-
rance. Narrations of an adventurer.-Priest Dunka's education.-The
Stork. The Nestorian creed.-Proposition to translate the Liturgy,
CHAPTER XXV.
Journal: MarCH-SEPTEMBER, 1840.
402
Arrival of a new governor.-Visit.-Allusion to females.-Royal firmân.-
Persian style.-Office of Meerzas.-Manuscripts.-Sychophancy.-Com-
munication of intelligence.-Conclusion of the war with Russia.-Conceal-
ment of unwelcome news.-Emblems.-Policy.-Visit from a Jewish phy-
sician.-Irrigation.-Mills.-Fruit.-Preparation of the soil.-Apricot.-
Plum.-Peach.-Grapes.-Melons.---Cherries.--Apples.--Pears.--Quinces.
-Wheat.-Barley.-Rice.-Tobacco.-Cucumbers.-Antepast.-Jewish
rabbi.-A work-yard.-Seeâkhóosh.-Blessing at the table.-Preaching.-
Rain. Monasticism.-Hebrew.-Wine-drinking,
CHAPTER XXVI.
JOURNAL: SEPTEMBER-DECEMBER, 1840.
418
Earthquakes.-Koordish mountains.-Winds.-Sameil.-Preaching to the
mountaineers.-Excursion.-Muhammedan schools and colleges.-Judicia-
ry.-Hunting.-Use of hawks.-The net.-Papal emissaries.-Secular Pa-
pists.-Character of Papacy in the East.-Death of Williams.-Family de-
votions in the native language.-Arrival of the press.-Church of St. Ma-
ry.-Chief rabbi.-Commencement of preaching at Ardishái.-Edition of
the Psalms.-References.-A Meerza, learning to print,
435
CHAPTER XXVII.
JOURNAL: JANUARY-JUNE, 1841.
Preaching in the meeâná.-A fast-breakfast.-Warming the church.-Map-
drawing.-Preaching again at Ardishái.-Priest Yohannan, as a preacher.
Meeting at Alcái.-Impressions on first hearing the truth.-Corbân Bei-
râm, or sacrificial festival.-Adjustment of political difficulties.-Visit of
the Emeer-i-nizâm.-Vizier.-Punishments.-Prison discipline.-A crowd-
ed church.-Communion.--Levity of the clergy.-Baptism.-The first book
printed in the Nestorian language.-Buffalo-fighting.-51st Psalm.-Beard.
Mt. Seir-Health-retreat.-Ordination.-Discussion between a prince and
a Lazarist.-Papacy and infidelity.-Success in building,
447
CHAPTER XXVIII.
RETURN TO AMERICA.
A return not anticipated.-Sensitiveness in the christian community, on the
subject of the return of missionaries.-Reasons in our case.-Views of the
C
xviii
CONTENTS.
mission.-Ties to our field.-Opinion of physicians.-Departure from Oróo-
miah.-Crossing the Plain.-Mar Yohannan's desire to visit America.—
Obtains his father's permission.--Minerals.-Salmás.-District.--Town, call-
ed the city.—Muleteer's duplicity.-A rain.-Khoy.-Threshing.—A flood.
Sublime scene.-Horses lost.-Insecurity.-Sight of the Koords.-Grazing
region.-Ararat.-Mammoth caravan.-Papal priest.-Merchants.-Horses.
Poets.-Crossing the boundary.---Plain of Ararat.-The plague.-Providen-
tial provision. Famine.-District of Alazgérd.—Melancholy scenes.-De-
population.--Colony.-Crossing a summit.-Ascent of a high mountain.
Theft.--The bishop's loss.-Dăr Boghós, a sublime pass.-A village of turf.
Fields of wheat.-Illness.-Arrival at Erzróom.-Meeting with missionary
friends.-Palace of the English Consul.-Missionary prospects at Erzróom.
A hard soil. An important position,
CHAPTER XXIX.
Return, Continued.
461
Infant traveller.-Arrival of Mr. and Mrs. Peabody at Erzróom.-Flowers.-
Bees.-Sabbath at Hoshapaná.-Shadow of a great rock.-Umbrellas.-
Greek priests.-Soda-spring.-Ravines.-Ascent of mountains.--Sight of
the sea.
- Taverns.- Karakapán.-Sublime views.-Javislik.-Reminis-
cences.-Mrs. P.'s illness.-A thunder-storm.-Arrival at Trebizond.—
Quarantine.-Interview with the English ambassador.-Steamer.-Mission
at Trebizond.-Passage to Constantinople.-Samsóon.-Sinópe.-Arrival.
-Quarantine.-Carriages.-European costume.-Meeting with friends.-
Italian doctor.--Quarantine doctors.-Influence of the quarantine system.-
Mr. Hamlin's school.-Visit at Constantinople.--Monthly concert.--Turk-
ish bath.-Cleanliness of the Persians.-Monthly concert.-Progress of free
inquiry.--Passage to Smyrna.--Mormon missionary.--Mission at Smyrna.
-Voyage home.--Storms.-Narrow escape.-Allowance.-Judith, as a
sailor.-Cargo.-Worms.--Given up as lost.—Arrival.--Meeting of the A.
B. C. F. M.
477
CHAPTER XXX.
CONCLUSION.
The divine agency in missions.--Sacrifices.--Female agency.--Mission-
establishment at Oróomiah.--Hope in the missionary.--Present state of
the Nestorian mission.--Schools.--Printing.--Preaching.--Mission to the
mountain Nestorians.--Import of their independence.--Changes in their
political condition not likely to be unfavorable.--Mission at Constantino-
ple.--Progress of truth among the Armenians.--Character of the people
favorable to it.--General aspects.--Influence of steam-power.--Increase
of commerce.--Rail-roads.--European innovations.--Desire for European
knowledge.--Muhammedism declining.--Extension of British influence.--
Papal designs arrested.--Need of increased prayer and effort on the part of
the church,
•
493
LIST OF DRAWINGS.
1. KING of Persia.
2. Koordish warrior,
3. Nestorian of the mountains,
•
4. Mt. Ararat, as seen from the east,
5. Seminary at Oróomiah,
•
6. Mar Yohannan, a bishop of Oróomiah,
7. Governor of Oróomiah,
8. Priest Abraham,
9. Mar Elias,
10. Priest Zadoc, a brother of the Patriarch,
11. A Persian Moollâh,
12. Mar Gabriel,
13. A Persian lady, at home,
•
14. A lady, veiled to go abroad,
15. A lady, gratifying her curiosity,
Page.
5
6
132
157
172
184
188
•
235
•
262
268
272
283
288
289
16. A Nestorian girl, carrying water,
319
•
17. A Nestorian girl, decorated with ornaments,
335
18. A Nestorian mother and little girl,
336
19. A Persian dervish,
375
20. A Koordish Pasha,
21. A Persian Seyéd,
22. Priest Dunka,
23. A Persian Meerza,
382
390
414
422
24. A Persian soldier,
25. A Persian muleteer,
26. A Persian merchant,
457
466
471
+
27. Mt. Ararat, as seen from the west,
472
TABLES.
MARKS OF ACCENT AND PRONUNCIATION.
= Accent.
▲ over a,
both accent,* when that is not over another syllable, and the
sound of the vowel a, in dawn, only a little shorter.
A over u,
A over i,
sound of oo in moon.
sound of i in machine.
French sound of u in vu.
..
over u,
> over a vowel,
very short o, or u in tub.
.. over o = sound of eu in the French word fleur.
MEASURES OF DISTANCE.
Fürsâkh, the Parasang of Xenophon, which has usually been reckoned as
equal to four miles, but is probably four and a half or two-thirds.
Aghôj, tree, [Turkish], is another term employed to indicate the same dis-
tance.
Menzil, stopping-place; used also to express the distance between two stop-
ping-places; i. e. stage, or day's journey.
PERSIAN COIN.
Shahée, a copper coin equal to one and one fourth cents.
Nim Shahée [half shâhée], half the above.
Sahib-korán, a silver coin equal to twenty shâhées, or twenty-five cents.
Penabad, a silver coin equal to half the above, or twelve and a half cents.
Tomân, a gold coin equal to ten sahib-korâns, or two dollars and fifty cents.
* When this mark occurs over two letters in the same word, the accent, if
not otherwise indicated, falls upon the last of those two syllables.

BAGDAD
Hillah
•
River Tigris
o Meshed Ali
River Euphrates
43
diff
45
JAG
47
Shat⋅el-Arab
BUSRA
33
32
31
PERSIAN`
GULF
30
49
L.HBradford del.
+


4
·
"
71
1
RESIDENCE IN PERSIA.
CHAPTER I.
GENERAL SKETCH OF THE NESTORIAN CHRISTIANS.
THE interest with which we contemplate a nation or people, is
often in great disproportion to its numbers. The little States of
Greece stand unrivalled on the pages of history, as the early in-
structors and civilizers of the race. The small community of the
Waldenses, pent up in the narrow valleys of Piedmont, was the re-
pository of that inestimable treasure-the vitality of our holy reli-
gion-during the long night while the rest of Europe lay torpid un-
der the darkness of spiritual death. The few thousands of Mora-
vians occupy a place on the records of the church, in the vigor of
their zeal and the energy of their efforts to extend the triumphs of
the gospel, which great christian nations might worthily covet.
And the small island of Britain is, at this hour, exerting an influence
on the condition and destinies of the whole world, which the vast
extent and the unnumbered myriads of China have not only never
known, but would hardly be able to rival, were her broad territory
and countless inhabitants, illumined by the light of science and con-
trolled by the spirit of Christianity.
The obscure people who are the particular subject of this volume,
possess a humble claim to illustrate the principle I have suggested.
The Nestorian Christians are the small, but venerable, remnant of
a once great and influential christian church. They are the oldest
of christian sects; and, in their better days, were numerous through
all the vast regions from Palestine to China; and they carried the
gospel into China itself. Their history is a checkered one. Some-
times, as under the tolerant policy of the mighty Jhengis Khân, they
were raised to high places in the camp and at the court; while at
other times, as by the crushing arm of the bloody Timourláne, they
were cut down and swept away, till scarce a vestige remained, save
in the fastnesses of inaccessible mountains. But in both prosperity
and adversity, during more than a thousand years of their history,
are furnished the brightest examples of persevering toil and self-de-
1
f
2
LINEAL, ORIGIN.
nial, and often, of heroic martyrdom, cheerfully encountered in the
profession and zealous promulgation of the gospel, that are to be
found on the records of Christianity since the days of the apostles.*
The lineal origin of the Nestorians, like that of most Eastern na-
tions, is hidden in the mists of uncertainty. Common, and perhaps
universal, tradition among them, claims the Jews as their ancestors.
As evidence of this descent, they urge the resemblance which ex-
ists between the Hebrew and their own language. They also ad-
duce their deep abhorrence of the use of images and pictures as an-
other proof of their Jewish origin. While, say they, all other
Eastern Christians having descended from heathen ancestors, still re-
tain their strong attachment to idolatry, the plain, unadorned walls
of our churches proclaim a different ancestry.' The curious in-
quirer might adduce many other more or less plausible evidences
that the Nestorians are descendants of the Jews. Nor is there any
absurdity in the supposition, that their remote ancestors may have
been some portion of the Israelites, who were carried away captive,
by the kings of Assyria, as mentioned in 1 Chron. 5: 26, and 2
Kings, 15: 5, 29, into places probably not distant from regions now
occupied by the Nestorians. But to attempt to demonstrate as certain,
the Jewish origin of this people, must, from the nature of the case,
in the absence of all written records on the subject, be a very diffi-
cult, if not an unsatisfactory undertaking; and yet more difficult
still to demonstrate their identity with the lost tribes of Israel, un-
mixed with other Jews or other nations.
Since the above paragraph was originally written, Dr. Asahel
Grant, one of my respected fellow-laborers, has published a work in
which he endeavors to prove that the Nestorians are descendants of
the lost ten tribes. His theory has been examined by Dr. Robinson
and rejected, many of the arguments being found to prove too much,
by adducing, as peculiar to the Ancient Israelites and the Modern
Nestorians, customs and practices which, from time immemorial,
have been oriental, rather than national. But however that theory
may be regarded, the narrative part of Dr. Grant's book will be
found deeply interesting to all, particularly as it details the incidents
of his adventurous journey into the most inaccessible regions of the
Koordish mountains, to the residence of the Nestorian Patriarch
and other places, seldom, if ever, before visited by European travel-
lers.
Their conversion to Christianity, the Nestorians refer to Thomas,
one of the twelve apostles, with whom Adai, (Thaddeus,) and Mari,
of the number of the Seventy, are said to have been associated.
Oral tradition and the ancient writings of the Nestorians are united
in support of this opinion. And as several of the christian Fathers
inform us, that Thomas travelled eastward, even to India, preach-
* See an interesting Account of the "Missions of the Nestorian Christians
in Central and Eastern Asia," published in the Missionary Herald for Au-
gust, 1838.
ORIGIN AS A CHRISTIAN SECT.
3
ing the gospel, as he advanced, through the countries intervening,
we may regard the claims of the Nestorians, on this subject, as at
least probable. This opinion is also confirmed by the fact, that
their ritual, composed by ancient ecclesiastics, contains commemo-
rations of Thomas, in the form of thanksgivings to God, for his
zealous labors among their ancestors and other eastern nations.
And an additional confirmation is the fact, that at this day, the
Nestorians are particularly fond of naming their churches in honor
of that apostle, Mar Thoma, i. e. Saint Thomas.
The origin of the Nestorians, as a christian sect, is matter of au
thentic church history.* * Nestorius, from whom the sect derives
its name, born and educated in Syria, was a presbyter at Antioch
and was made bishop of Constantinople A. D. 428. The conspic-
uousness of his station-that city being the seat of empire-his
boldness in attempting to correct some popular superstitions-and
perhaps his rashness in theological speculation, drew upon him the
envy and hostility of contemporary bishops, particularly of the am-
bitious Cyril, then bishop of Alexandria. Arraigned for alleged
heresy, Nestorius was excommunicated, at Ephesus, by the third
general council, in A. D. 431,-only about three years after his
elevation to the see of the renowned capital. First banished for a
time to Arabia Petraea, and subsequently transported to one of the
Oases of Lybia, he finally died in Upper Egypt. One charge on
which the august council decreed his excommunication, by ex parte
management, was, that he refused to apply to the Virgin Mary the
epithet Mother of God, (Oɛotóxos). This charge he evaded, though
Protestant Christians would certainly have thought never the worse
of him, had he frankly pleaded guilty. Another principal charge,
in his excommunication, was, that in his theological belief, he in-
vested Christ with two persons as well as with two natures. This
charge he perseveringly denied. His motives in attempting to
check the prevalent superstition of paying idolatrous homage to a
departed mortal, by applying to Mary the blasphemous epithet,
mother of God, were undoubtedly honest; and whatever novelties
his speculating genius may have led him to broach, on the myste-
rious subject of the incarnation, his views, for aught that appears,
were orthodox in the main. Indeed, it is worthy of inquiry, whether
Nestorius may not have been far more evangelical than his oppo-
nents, and whether his comparative purity, in the general corruption
of the church which prevailed at that period, may not have been
the principal cause of the rigor with which he was treated. Those
* See Mosheim's Institutes of Ecclesiastical History, by James Murdock,
D. D. Vol. I. page 395 and 428, et passim.
A full account of the origin and progress of Nestorianism may also be
found in Asseman's "Bibliotheca orientalis Clementino Vaticana," Vol. IV.,
in general very correct, except that it savors strongly of Papal prejudice.
A brief but very accurate account of the Nestorians is also given in the
Researches of Smith and Dwight, commencing on page 201, Vol. II.
4
JACOBITES-
CHALDEANS.
who insist on the infallibility of the early councils are of course led
to a different conclusion..
The cause of Nestorius, being by many regarded as the cause of
an injured, persecuted man, created extensive sympathy and found
numerous and efficient advocates. It was warmly espoused by his
countrymen in the East, particularly in a celebrated Syrian school
in Edessa, (modern Orfa,) in Mesopotamia, in which great num-
bers of christian youth were at that time educated. This first
christian sect, thus severed from the general church, by prejudice
and oppression, taking firm root in that central position, spread
rapidly in all directions. It soon became powerful, especially in
Persia; and in all its vicissitudes, it has remained permanent from
that day to this, in some of the regions now occupied by the Nesto-
rian Christians.
With the Nestorians, should not be confounded two other sects,
with whom they are sometimes associated,-viz. the Jacobites and
the Chaldeans. The former are Monophysite Syrians, i. e. Syrian
Christians, who hold to but one nature in Christ. They are quite
numerous in Mesopotamia, and were related to the Nestorians,
originally, as fellow countrymen, speaking the same language, the
Ancient Syriac.
But the two sects are divided by the bitterest hostilities of secta-
rian rancor; and most of the Jacobites now speak the Arabic lan-
guage, instead of the modern Syriac, and are thus cut off from the
last tie of sympathy with their kindred the Nestorians.
The Chaldeans are that portion of the Nestorian Christians that
have been converted to the Romish faith, principally within the last
century, by the indefatigable efforts of Jesuit missionaries.* Most
of these Catholics are found in and about the valley of Mesopota-
mia. Indeed, very few of the Nestorians now remain, on the western
side of the Koordish mountains, who have not yielded to the intrigues
and usurpations of Papal domination. The title, Chaldeans, was
given to these Papists by the Pope, on their embracing the Catholic
system,—an epithet which the Nestorians deny them the right thus
exclusively to appropriate, alleging that they themselves have at
least an equal relationship to the inhabitants of the ancient "Ur of
the Chaldees." The Papists have also made converts from the
Jacobites, and arrogated for them the title of Syrian Christians,
with about the same degree of modesty and propriety with which
they assume the title Chaldeans, for the converts they have made
from the Nestorian Christians. Many of those converted from the
Nestorians continue to speak the language of that people, as well as
the Arabic; and some of them speak only the former; but as fami-
ly quarrels are usually the most violent, so the Nestorians are sepa-
* See Researches of Smith and Dwight, Vol. II. p. 186.
+ Southgate's Tour through Armenia, Persia and Mesopotamia, Vol. II.
p. 229.

A KOORDISH WARRIOR.
C
Thayer & Co Lith Boston.
KOORDISTAN-THE KOORDS.
СП
rated from those "Chaldeans," by a hostility even more rancorous
than that which divides them from the Jacobite Christians.
It is to the Nestorians, as distinct from both Jacobites and Chal-
deans, that our missionary labors have hitherto been directed, and
that this volume has particular reference.
The existing remnant of the Nestorian Christians are found prin-
cipally among the mountains of Koordistân and in Oróomiah,* an
adjacent district in the western part of Persia. Geographically, the
Nestorians are situated between 36° and 39° of north latitude, and
between 43° and 46° of east longitude.
Koordistan is the ancient Assyria, embracing also a part of Ar-
menia and ancient Media. It consists mainly of wild ranges of
mountains, which divide the Turkish and the Persian empires. Its
western sections are nominally subject to Turkey, and its eastern
to Persia. The inhabitants, however, pay but a limited allegiance
to either of these nations; and some of them—the Hakkáry tribe
in particular, in Central Koordistân-are nearly or quite indepen-
dent.
The Koords, the Kagdouzot, Carduchai, of Zenophon,† who gave
him so much trouble on his retreat with the Ten Thousand, consist
of a great number of tribes, speaking different dialects of a language
strongly resembling the Persian, who, from time immemorial have
been keepers of flocks-wild, fierce barbarians, much given to
plunder. Their religion is Muhammedism of the Soonee faith, save
the small sect of Yezeedees, who are the reputed worshippers of the
Devil. Much of their country is exceedingly rough and would
admit little cultivation. This roughness of the country, added to
the ferocity of the people, renders portions of it well nigh inaccessi-
ble, and, consequently, little known to civilized nations. The ac-
companying drawing very well represents the common appearance
of a Koordish warrior.
* Says the Rev. J. L. Merrick of Tabréez, Persia, in a note to the author,
"My attention has of late been turned more than once to the orthography of
the name of your city. In Syriac, it seems the orthography is perfectly analo-
gous to the Persian. I have heard vague traditions that the name is derived
from a colony that settled there from Room, the Greek empire. If so, the
name is patronymic, and should take the adjective form. I use ee, as in
Frangee, and according to a little system of orthography which I have formed,
I should write, Oroomee or Aroomee, i. e. of Room." Surprising developments
will doubtless yet be made, on the ethnology of the people of this and other
parts of Asia. This subject has already advanced sufficiently, as a science, to
rebuke hasty conclusions and sweeping generalizations. I may add, in con-
nexion with the above extract, that one of the most ancient churches in
Oróomiah-an arched stone fabric, evidently very old and claiming an origin
long antecedent to the time of Muhammed, is said by the Nestorians to have
been built by Franks, i. e. by western Christians. For the present, however,
we will not change our orthography of Oróomiah, as it very well expresses
the native pronunciation of the name, and has become somewhat established
by our usage,-save that we will omit one o in the first syllable.
+ Xenophon, Anab. III. fin.
6
NESTORIANS OF KOORDÍSTAN.
*
The Nestorians of Koordistán inhabit the wildest and most inac-
cessible parts of the Koordish mountains. Some of the districts
occupied by them are so rough, that no beast of burden can travel
over them, and even men find it difficult to climb about from cliff
to cliff. The least populous districts of these Nestorians, as Gar-
vár, Somái, Chará, Mamoodîah, and some others, are subject to the
Koordish tribes who dwell in the same districts, and by whom (be-
ing by far the most numerous) the Nestorians are severely oppressed
and often plundered. Other districts, as Diz, Jéeloo, Bass, Tehóob
and Tîáree, have a larger Nestorian population, and are more inde-
pendent of their Koordish neighbors. Such is particularly the case
of Tîáree, situated in the narrow, rugged valley of the river Zab,
(ancient Zabus or Zabis, which runs into the Tigris,) which is the
most populous of all the Nestorian districts of the mountains. It is
governed by Méliks (literally kings) or chiefs, chosen from its own
people by the popular voice irregularly expressed. The office of
these chiefs is usually, though not always, hereditary in the same
family. This district of Tîáree is not only quite independent of
the Koords, but its inhabitants have such a character for bravery and
even ferocity, towards their Koordish neighbors,that the latter seldom
hazard the adventure of entering that country, and such as do enter
it are said often to atone for their temerity by being murdered and
thrown into the river. The local situation of Tîáree,† hemmed in,
as it is, by steep, lofty mountains, save where the river, by narrow
defiles, enters and leaves the district, serves, no less than its popu-
lousness, to defend its inhabitants from invasion. The Turkish
government is now making vigorous efforts, through the agency of
the Koords, which have been attended with a measure of success,
to reduce all those independent Nestorians to a state of vassalage.
The Nestorians of the mountains, like their Koordish neighbors,
obtain their subsistence, to a great extent, from the pasturage of
flocks. In their rugged country, the principal part of their arable
soil consists of small terraced patches, on the steep declivities of the
mountains. And so rough and barren is much of their territory,
that the people find it almost impossible to obtain a subsistence in
their own country. Many of them are miserably poor. Some
travel abroad and beg as a profession. Considerable numbers come
down to the plain of Oróomiah, in summer, to find employment;
and still more are driven down there, by hunger and cold, in the
winter, to seek a subsistence on charity. In some of the districts
* Xenophon, Anab. II. Sec. 5.
+ This name, Tiáree, is a Syriac word, which means, fold, or enclosure,
(as a sheep-fold in John 10: 16 and elsewhere), and was obviously given to
this district on account of its striking local peculiarities.
Priest Dunka, one of our translators, who is from the mountains, states,
that in many places, if a Nestorian has a single patch large enough to allow
him to sow a cap full of seed upon it, he thinks himself peculiarly favored in
the extent of his fields.
Y M

A NESTORIAN OF THE MOUNTAIN.
Thayer & Co Lith Boston.
Dor M

2
OROOMIAH.
7
which are more susceptible of cultivation and less liable to the
ravages of the Koords, the inhabitants obtain a comfortable living;
though their fare is coarse, consisting chiefly of the products of
their flocks, with rice, and bread made of a species of millet. Wheat
is scarcely cultivated in the Koordish mountains.
The Nestorians of the mountains resemble their Koordish masters
and neighbors, not only in their modes of living, but also in the
exceeding rudeness, wildness and boldness of their character. The
inhabitants of different districts often fall into mutual quarrels and
plunder each other; and if remonstrance is offered, the pillagers
sometimes justify themselves by replying, that they plunder their
christian brethren, to save the spoil from the Koords!
The district of Oróomiah is in the western part of Azerbijân,
(ancient Atropatene,* northern portion of Media,) the north-west-
ern province of Persia. It consists of a magnificent plain, situated
at the eastern base of the Koordish mountains, and extending from
them to the beautiful lake of the same name. The lake of Oróo-
miah is about eighty miles in length and thirty in breadth, lying in
direction a little to the west of north and east of south. Its waters
are very salt, perhaps as much so as the waters of the Dead Sea.
No fish are found in it: but fowl, particularly the duck and flam-
ingo,† frequent it in great numbers. The plain of Oróomiah is
about forty miles in length, lying upon the central section of the
lake, and in its broadest part, is about twenty miles wide. Impos-
ing branches of the Koordish mountains sweep down quite to the
waters of the lake, at the extremities of the plain, enclosing it like
a vast amphitheatre. This great plain, with the adjacent declivities
of the mountains, comprising an area of about six hundred square
miles, contains at least three hundred and thirty villages. It is
amply watered by three considerable rivers, (i. e. considerable, for
Persia, each being from one hundred to one hundred and fifty feet
wide,) besides many smaller streams. Its soil is extremely fertile,
and is all under high cultivation. Its staple productions are wheat,
rice, cotton, tobacco and the vine. It also abounds in a great va-
riety of fruits. Besides its ten or twelve species of the grape, it
yields cherries, apricots, apples, pears, quinces, peaches, plums,
melons, nuts, etc. in most ample abundance. And such is the
* Strabo XI. p. 363. ed. Casaub. 1587. Pliny VI. p. 13. ed. Lugd. 1669.
The flamingo frequents this lake in such numbers, that I have seen miles
of the shore whitened by a continuous flock of them. This bird is a great nat-
ural curiosity. Its body, as it is found here, is about the size of a goose; but
its slender legs and small flexile neck are of such enormous length, that one
full grown measures six feet, from the bill to the toes, and it stretches its
wings to even a greater length. Its color is white, save the wings, the front
half of which is covered with inimitably delicate and beautiful red feathers,
and the back half with black quills. It is taken by placing snares made of
hair, in the shallow parts of the lake, where this fowl walks about in search
of decayed vegetables carried into the lake by the streams.
8
BIRTH-PLACE OF ZOROASTER.
""
number of orchards and trees, planted along "the water courses,
on all parts of the plain, as to give much of it the appearance of
American forests.
..
About twelve miles back from the lake and about two miles from
the mountains, is the city of Oróomiah. It is the ancient Thebar-
ma,* the birth-place, as tradition says, of Zoroäster, the founder of
the ancient sect of fire-worshippers; a tradition which is rendered,
perhaps, the more credible, from the fact, that there are, on differ-
ent parts of the plain, several artificial mounds, each covering an
area of an acre or more, and rising to a height of fifty or seventy
feet, which seem to be vast piles of ashes, that accumulated during
the lapse of centuries, under the "perpetual fires," before which
they paid their adoration. This is the explanation which the native
inhabitants give of these monuments; and I see no particular rea-
son to question its accuracy. The city contains about twenty-five
thousand inhabitants. It is nearly four miles in circumference.
Like other cities of Persia, it is surrounded by a mud-wall and a
ditch; and most of its houses are built of unburnt brick. Its mar-
kets are good, for this country; its streets are wider than are com-
mon, in Eastern cities; and it has a very agreeable air of comfort,
from the great number of shade-trees, interspersed among the
houses.
From elevations back of the city, the beholder, as he looks down
upon the gardens directly below him, and then, upon the city,
half buried in shrubbery,—and next, over the vast plain, studded
with its hundreds of villages, verdant with thousands of orchards and
hedges of poplars, willows and sycamores, upon the streams, and
gleaming with almost illimitable fields, waving a golden harvest,-
and farther still, upon the azure bosom of the placid lake, beaming
and sparkling like an immense mirror, under the brilliancy of the
pure Persian sky,—and finally, upon the blue mountains, far in the
distance beyond the lake,-one of the loveliest and grandest speci-
mens of natural scenery is spread out before him, that was ever pre-
sented to the eye of man.
The climate of Oróomiah is naturally one of the finest in the
world. It resembles, in its temperature, the climate of our Middle
States. Unhappily, however, artificial causes are at work which
render it decidedly unhealthy,-particularly to foreigners. A coun-
try so charming,—so bright under the effulgence of its clear hea-
vens and grateful with the thrifty growth of its abundant crops, pre-
sents to the eye so much of the aspect of an Eden, as almost to for-
bid the idea of the approach of sickness and pain. But the foreigner,
who resides there, is soon forced to feel that its brilliant skies and
balmy breezes, beautiful and grateful as they are, are still surcharged
with the elements of disease and death. The causes of its unhealthi-
* St. Martin Mém. sur l'Armén. II. p. 423, Abulfedae Geog. Tab. XVIII.
Ritter's Erdkunde IX. p. 943.
#
RELATION TO THE MUHAMMEDANS.
9
ness are the constant irrigation,* in summer, of the almost number-
less fields and gardens, on the plain, with the consequent great
amount of evaporation,—the rapid and almost boundless growth and
decay of its annual vegetation, and a more prolific cause still, the
numerous pools of stagnant water, that remain much or all of the
time, in different places, particularly in the fosse which surrounds
the city, and cannot fail to generate a vast amount of miasma.†
The reforming hand of a good government, controlled by the re-
deeming spirit of Christianity, is all that is needed, to drain and dry
up those stagnant pools, and remove many other nuisances, and
soon restore this climate, in a great measure, to its native salubrity.
The Nestorians of Oróomiah have a general tradition, that their
immediate ancestors came down from the mountains, to live on the
plain, at a period not definitely known, but about five or six hun-
dred years ago. It
It is quite probable that the Nestorians were en-
tirely swept away from this province, for a season, during the de-
vastations of Timourláne. There are, however, some monuments
of their earlier residence here. The largest and oldest mosk in this
city, for instance, was once a christian church. In repairing it, a
few years ago, a vault was found under it, containing some ancient
relics, and among them, a Ms., in a state of tolerable preservation,
purporting to have been written in that church about eight hundred
years ago.
Not more than six hundred Nestorians reside in the city of
Oróomiah. They are principally in a compact position, adjacent to-
which the premises of our mission are situated. There are about
two thousand Jews in the city, and the remaining part of the popu-
lation are Muhammedans.
The Nestorians are numerous in the villages, on the plain of
Oróomiah, in some cases occupying a village exclusively, and in
others, living in the same villages with Muhammedans. Most of
them are employed in the cultivation of the soil, of which they are
sometimes, though rarely, the proprietors. A few are mechanics,
as masons, and joiners. Their common relation to the Muhamme-
dan nobility in the tenure of the soil, is that of serfs and lords. The
Muhammedan peasantry sustain nominally the same relation to the
higher classes, though their rights are better respected than those of
the Christians. The Nestorians often suffer lawless extortion and
oppression from their Muhammedan masters. Their circumstances
are, however, quite tolerable for a people in bondage. And their
* Showers are very rare in Persia during the warm part of the year. The
gardens and fields are therefore necessarily irrigated by means of small canals
which conduct the water from the streams.
+ Prof. Hitchcock of Amherst College, has analysed specimens of the wa-
ter of the lake, and while the principal ingredient is muriate of soda, or com-
mon salt, he finds it capable of discharging large quantities of sulphurreted hy-
drogen; and suggests that this may also be a fruitful cause of the unhealthi-
ness of the climate of that province.
2
10
NUMBER OF THE NESTORIANS.
fertile country yields such an overflowing abundance, that, so far
from being pinched with a want of the means and many of the com-
forts of life, the industrious among them are always surrounded with
liberal plenty.
The Nestorians of Oróomiah partake much, in their manners, of.
the suavity and urbanity of the Persian character. By the side of
their rude countrymen from the mountains, though originally from
the same stock, they appear like antipodes. They themselves de-
nominate the Nestorian mountaineers, wild men.
This difference in the appearance and character of the two class-
es is owing entirely to their respective local circumstances. And
we may regard it as a felicity, that the mountaineers are impelled,
by interest or necessity, frequently to visit the plain in such num-
bers, where they cannot help feeling and imbibing a softening, hu-
manizing influence. And as, in the progress of our work, the peo-
ple of this province shall become yet more enlightened and elevated,
by the revival of the spirit of Christianity among them, their inter-
course will tell still more powerfully and beneficially, on their less
civilized brethren, and through them, on all classes of the rude in-
habitants of Koordistân, and especially in connection with the mis-
sionary operations that are contemplated in those wild mountains.
It is very difficult to arrive at even tolerable accuracy, in estimat-
ing the number of the Nestorians. The methods of obtaining statis-
tics, on this subject, among orientals generally, are very indefinite
and unsatisfactory. The population of a town, village, or district,
is usually estimated by the number of families, a given number of
individuals being assumed as the average in each family. But in
the primitive, patriarchal style of living which obtains in these coun-
tries, where three, four, or even five, generations, as the case may
be, dwell together in the same household, the number of persons
in a family varying from five up to fifteen, twenty, twenty-five, thir-
ty, and even more, it is impossible to fix accurately on an average
number. Ten is the number often assumed for this purpose. In
the Koordish mountains, the population is often estimated by the
number of soldiers, that can be rallied on an emergency, every male
adult being reckoned as a soldier. But this method is even more
indefinite than the other; for, in those wild, inaccessible regions,
there is the additional difficulty, that the number of either houses or
soldiers is very imperfectly known.
The probable number of the Nestorian Christians, as nearly as I
can ascertain it, with such difficulties encumbering the subject, is
about one hundred and forty thousand. In Tîáree, by far the larg-
est and most populous district of the Nestorians among the moun-
tains, there may be about fifty thousand inhabitants. This district
is inhabited exclusively by Nestorians, and, as already stated, has
hitherto been quite independent of the Koords. In all the other
districts of the mountains, there may be sixty thousand Nestorians.
And in the province of Oróomiah, there are between thirty and for-
•
WRITTEN CHARACTER.
11
ty thousand. One hundred and forty thousand is a small number
to comprise a nation, or an ancient sect of Christians. But the his-
tory of the Nestorians, as well as their present circumstances and
character, as was suggested at the commencement of this chapter,
invest this little remnant with an interest, in a measure, indepen-
dent of numbers.
The position and character of the Nestorians of Oróomiah give
to them an importance far superior to their relative proportion of the
whole population. This is especially true, in view of the fact, that
its population is at present fast increasing, by the permanent immi-
gration into this province, of considerable numbers of the Nestori-
ans from many of the mountain districts. Oppressed and overrun,
by the superior power of their rapidly increasing Koordish masters,
the poor refugees fly to Oróomiah, as a generous asylum. And the
time may not be distant, when the humble christian population of
this province, augmented in their numbers and elevated in their char-
acter, their Muhammedan masters at the same time being weaken-
ed and diminished by their growing corruption and depressed by
political revolution-shall quietly inherit this goodly land. The
meek shall inherit the earth.
To the christian scholar, the language and literature of the Nes-
torian Christians are objects of much interest. Their ancient lan-
guage is the Syriac,-by some supposed to have been the common
language in Palestine in the days of Christ and the same in which
the Saviour himself conversed and preached, and probably not differ-
ing much from it.* This language is still the literary language of
the Nestorians. Their books are nearly all written in it. They
conduct their epistolary correspondence in it; and though a dead
language, the best educated of their clergy become able to converse
in it with fluency. Their written character differs considerably
from that of the western, or Jacobite, Syrians, which is the charac-
ter best known to European scholars. The former was never, to
my knowledge, in type, until A. D. 1829, when an edition of the
Gospels was printed in it by the British and Foreign Bible Society.
It much resembles the Estrangelo,† but has a more round and easy
* See an able and interesting article in relation to this language, in the
Biblical Repository for April, 1831; Vol. I. p. 358.
"Estrangelo is the most ancient among the kinds of writing which are
found in Syriac books. To this name, indeed, Asseman gives the signification
of round, deriving it from the Greek orooyyúlos. But since this form of the let-
ter is by no means round (a point correctly observed by J. D. Michaelis and
Adlerus,) we conclude, along with these men, that the name is of Arabic ori-
gin. The Syrians first employed it Carschunice, i. e. in writing Syriac let-

وان جيل
ters; then adopted it, being derived from, scriptura, and Jl,
evangelium; so that it may signify, scriptura evangelii. This is the large
hand which they employed, in writing copies of the Gospel, opposed to the
smaller and more rapidly written letters which Adlerus informs us were used
for common purposes at that time.”—Hoffmann's Syr. Gram. p. 67. See also
notes following on the same page.
12
VERNACULAR LANGUAGE.
form. The Nestorians have some old books written in the Estran-
gelo, and they still use that ancient character for capital letters.
The common Nestorian character is a very clear and beautiful one,
so agreeable to the eye, that members of our mission, when inca-
pacitated by ophthalmy, to read English, without pain, are able to
read the Syriac, in this character with little inconvenience.
There are twenty-two consonants in the language of the Nestori-
ans, the same as in the ancient Syriac, with a modification of Gimel
(g), by a scratch of the pen underneath to express j, ch or gh; and
of Pe (p) by a half Vav placed under it, to express ph. B, G, D,
K, P, and Th, are also subject to aspiration, which is indicated by a
point below them and the reverse by a point above, the same as in
the ancient language. There are seven vowels, corresponding to
long a, short a, long e, short e, long and short i, long o and double o,
The vowels used by the Nestorians are points, and not the
Greek vowels inverted, as used by the Western Syrians; and where
the latter use omicron (short o), as in Alóho, God, the Nestorians use
the open sound of a, as Aláha, God.
or u.
The vernacular language of the Nestorians, is a modern dialect
of the ancient Syriac, much barbarized by inversions, contractions
and abbreviations, and by the introduction of a great number of
Persian, Koordish and Turkish words, each class prevailing respec-
tively, in a particular district, in proportion as it is situated near to
the people using either of those languages. Though thus corrupted,
however, as now spoken by the Nestorians, the body of the language
comes directly from the venerable ancient Syriac, as clearly as the
modern Greek comes from the ancient. It is a softer language
than the ancient Syriac, its guttural words being fewer, and its
nouns even more extensively ending in open vowel sounds. The
accent is almost invariably upon the penult syllable. The noun is
declined by means of a preposition, having properly no construct
state, though the first of two nouns has an affix pronoun, indicating
possession,-thus, Bróonee, (his son, instead of Bróona, son,) d'Ora-
ham, son of Abraham. The objective case, after an active verb, is
indicated by the particle, l, prefixed; the dative is expressed by
the same particle, meaning to, or for; and the ablative is govern-
ed by prepositions. The passive voice is formed by a distinct aux-
iliary verb, and not by a syllable prefixed, as in the ancient language.
The Nestorians of the Koordish mountains speak dialects more
nearly resembling the ancient Syriac, both in words and in sound,
than the inhabitants of Oróomiah, alike from their limited inter-
course with foreign nations and their more rude and hardy char-
acter.
Some critics have questioned this opinion, and supposed that the
language of the Nestorians is a modern dialect of the ancient Chal-
daic, instead of the Syriac, notwithstanding all their literature being
in the Syriac, and their written correspondence being still conducted
in that language. It is incumbent on such as sustain this view, to
CULTIVATION OF THIS LANGUAGE.
13
point out the difference between the Chaldaic and the Syriac, and
to show that the spoken language of the Nestorians is more allied
to the former than to the latter. I will insert in this connection a
brief extract from a letter which I received from Prof. Edward
Robinson D. D., whose learned researches on this and kindred sub-
jects entitle his opinion to the highest deference. The extract is as
follows, viz.: "Professor Rödiger* proposes to go on and publish
a fuller account of the Syriac language, as now spoken among the
Nestorians. The views contained in your letter leave no room to
doubt of the character of the language, nor that the Chaldean, so
called, of Mesopotamia, is the same. I have myself had no doubt
of this before; although, on inquiry of R and of Mr. S — in
Constantinople, I could get no satisfactory information from either.
The prevailing view among scholars at present is, that the ancient
Chaldee and the Syriac are, at the bottom, the same dialect; the
former having developed itself in a more Jewish form and adopted
a Hebrew alphabet, and the latter having been diffused among
Christians, with a different alphabet,-i. e. one being a Hebraizing
Aramaean, and the other, a christian Aramaean. A similar fact ex-
ists now in relation to the Servian and Illyrian languages. They are
the same, or nearly so, as spoken; but the Servians are Greek
Christians and use a peculiar alphabet; while the Illyrians are
Catholics and write with the Latin letters.'
""
I may add, that one of my respected associates, the Rev. Mr.
Holladay, and myself, have taken some pains to compare the lan-
guage of the Nestorians with the Chaldaic, as exhibited in the books
of Daniel and Ezra,† and at the same time, with the ancient Syriac
of those portions of Scripture, and the result has been a decided
preponderance, in the difference that obtains between those two
ancient dialects, in favor of deriving this modern language directly
from the Syriac.
Very little attempt had been made to reduce the vernacular lan-
guage of the Nestorians to writing, until we commenced our mis
sionary operations. The ancient Syriac being a dead language,
and entirely unintelligible to the people until studied as a learned
tongue, it seemed to us, at the outset, quite indispensable to the due
accomplishment of our object, to make their modern dialect the
medium of written, as well as of oral, instruction. Some theoretic
philologists question the propriety of reducing to writing any of the
spoken languages of the oriental Christians, and, perhaps, some
other Asiatic vernacular languages, advising, that the people should
be carried back to the reädoption of their ancient tongues. Such
* Of Halle.
† Says Dr. Robinson, "The Chaldaic of Daniel and Ezra is hardly a fair
standard of comparison, since it approaches much nearer to the Hebrew than
does the ordinary Chaldee dialect. The comparison should rather have been
made with some portion of the Chaldee translations exhibited in the Tar-
gums.” Am. Bib. Repos. Oct. 1841, p. 459, note.
14
SCRIPTURES IN ANCIENT SYRIAC.
philologists should remember, that popular language is not, that
tractable thing, which will come and go at one's bidding,—and
especially, march far in a retrograde direction; that it is rather
an absolute sovereign, whom we may, indeed, approach and con-
ciliate, but whom we try in vain to coërce. I may here quote one
or two brief remarks from Prof. Robinson's letter, from which the
paragraph above quoted is taken. He says,
He says, "There can be no
doubt, I think, as to the propriety and necessity of cultivating the
modern Syriac, in the manner you mention, any more than there is
in the case of the modern Greek. It is the language and the only
language of the people, and must remain so, though it should be
purified and refined, by a reference to the ancient language, so far
as possible." We have, from the first, been fully impressed, in at-
tempting to reduce this spoken dialect to writing, with the high im-
portance of shaping it, so far as practicable, to the very perfect
model of the ancient Syriac; and we strenuously urge on the Nes-
torians the continued study of the latter, as a learned language. It
is visionary, however, to suppose, that they could ever be brought
to adopt this as their vernacular tongue. By the blessing of God,
on our labors, we have succeeded, in putting considerable portions.
of the Scriptures, and some other matter, into this new, and, to the
Nestorians, attractive costume.
+
Of the venerable ancient Syriac, once so highly and extensively
cultivated and so rich in its literary treasures, we now find, as of
the unfortunate people who use it, little more than its ashes.
The number of works, at present extant among the Nestorians, is
very limited, and copies of these are extremely rare.
The library
of the patriarch, which had often been represented to us as abso-
lutely prodigious, and might appear so to these simple-hearted people
who were acquainted with no method of making books, except the
slow motion of the pen, was found by Dr. Grant to consist of not
more than sixty volumes, and a part of these are duplicates. And
no other collection, to be compared with this, exists among the Nesto-
rians. Three, five, or ten, books, have been regarded as a liberal
supply for a large village or district even.
The few books which the Nestorians possess, however, are objects
of deep interest. Among them are found the whole of the Holy
Scriptures, with the following exceptions, viz., the epistle of Jude,
the second and third epistles of John, the second of Peter, and the
Revelation; also, the account of the woman taken in adultery in John
viii, and the much discussed passage in 1 John 5: 7, none of which
are found in any of their Ms. copies, or seem to have been known to
them until introduced by us, in the printed editions of the British and
Foreign Bible Society; i. e. the Peschito* is the only version of the
New Testament with which they seem ever to have been acquainted.
They make no objection to these portions of the Scriptures, as in-
*Peschito is a Syriac word, meaning, pure, simple, or literal. This version
of the New Testament is supposed to have been early made from the Greek.
CHURCH BOOKS.
15
troduced by us, but readily recognize and acknowledge them as
canonical. Their Scriptures are not found in one volume, but are
usually in six, the division being as follows, viz., 1. The Pentateuch,
(Ovráta,) copies of which are not so rare as of some other portions.
2. The remaining books of the Old Testament as far as the Psalms,
with the exception of the two books of Chronicles, (Bitmétwee,)
copies, few. 3. The two books of Chronicles, (Bheremin,) copies
of which are very rare. 4. The Psalms, (Dâvid, or Mismóree,)
copies comparatively numerous. 5. The Prophets, (Nobhîee,)
copies rare. 6. The New Testament, (Khedétta,) copies more nu-
merous than of any other portions except the Psalms.
In the second book, in this list, occurs the apochryphal work,
Ecclesiasticus, or the Wisdom of Sirach, (Khahúmptha d'bae Sírah,)
and most of the other books of the apochraphy, as known to Euro-
peans, are mentioned as existing in the mountains. The Nestorians
have also, in a separate volume, a work purporting to be the Revela-
tion of Paul, (Gileeánee d'Paulus), which is said to consist of
communications of the "unutterable words, which," he tells us, "it
is not lawful for man to utter," that he heard, when he was " caught
up to the third heavens."
The principal books, containing the church service of the Nesto-
rians, are the following, viz. 1. Alternate prayers for each day in
two weeks, (K'dem, and Kharái, Dooátha). 2. Prayers for every day
in the year except the sabbath and festivals, (Késhkool)._ 3. Prayers
for the Lord's day and festivals, (Hódra). 4. Prayers for Festivals not
in Lent, (Gézza). 5. Services for communion, ordination, baptism
and consecration of churches, (Táksa). 6. Legends of Saints read
in the churches during some of their fasts, (Werda). 7. Marriage
services, (Barúkta). 8. Funeral services, (Onéeda). A small
Romish Legend is also found among them, claiming to be an epis-
tle that descended from heaven, at Rome, about the A. D. 777,
being engraved by the finger of God on a table of ice! After de-
tailing a pompous array of signs and wonders that attended its de-
scent, it proceeds to enjoin the observance of the laws of God and of
the church, and denounces fearful threatenings on the disobedient.
It is entitled, the epistle of the Sabbath, (Agértha d'Khoshéeba), i. e.
it descended on the Sabbath, and demands a reading every Sabbath.
It is but little used by the Nestorians.
Reciting the Psalms comprises a very considerable part of the
daily church service of the Nestorians. The gospels are also read,
particularly on the Sabbath and on festival occasions. And the
Epistles and the Old Testament, though less, are still frequently
used, in their churches.
The Nestorians have a book containing the laws and canons of
their church, (Sünhádos).* They have also some of the writings of
* When the Syriac literature was in its greatest prosperity, the Greek lan-
guage and literature were much cultivated by the Syrians, who introduced
16
ANCIENT MANUSCRIPTS.
the Fathers, (Abhahátha); and traditions, (Teshaiátha); Books of
Martyrs, (Sádee); and commentaries, (Nooháree,) on all portions of
the Scriptures, some of which are very interesting and instructive,
but other parts are equally fanciful and puerile. They have books
of wise and moral sayings, (Akuldáree, Shaper Doobháree); and
books of philosophy, (Peelasoópa,) but "falsely so called;" and they
have rare copies of ponderous dictionaries, (Lexicon,) and gram-
mers, (Grammatika).
Among the books of the Nestorians are some very ancient manu-
scripts. There are copies of the New Testament, for instance,
written, some on parchment and some on paper, which date back
about six hundred years. Some of these are written in the Estran-
gelo, and some in the common Nestorian character. The very an-
cient copies of the Scriptures are regarded by the Nestorians with
much veneration and are used with great care. They are kept
wrapped in successive envelopes, and when taken into the hands,
are reverently kissed, as very hallowed treasures. In the village of
Kówsee, is a copy of the New Testament, which purports to be fif-
teen hundred years old. A few of the first parchment leaves are
gone and their place is supplied by paper, on which that early date
is recorded, with how much authority is uncertain. The rubrics,
in most ancient copies, moreover, betray a later origin than tradi-
tion or their dates would claim for them. I tried to borrow the
revered copy here mentioned, to bring with me to America, as an
object of interest; but the Muhammedan master of the village in-
terposed and forbade its being taken away, apprehending that some
dire calamity would befal the inhabitants, should so sacred a depo-
sit be removed from among them. And such is the reputation of
its antiquity and sanctity, that Muhammedans, as well as Nesto-
rians, are sometimes sworn upon that New Testament.
I find it interesting, in translating the Scriptures, to compare the
printed Syriac version, as also our own, with these ancient Syriac
manuscripts. Slight diversities sometimes occur, not such as at all
to invalidate either as a standard; but, by the different location of
a single dot, new light and vividness are often thrown upon a pas-
sage of Scripture. A case of this kind, for example, occurred in
Luke 24: 32, in relation to the conversation between Christ and the
two disciples on their way to Emmaus, "Did not our hearts burn
within us," etc. In the printed version, it is yakéed, burn, the
same as in English. But my translator, a Nestorian priest, ques-
tioned the correctness of this reading, and on referring to a Ms. copy
of the New Testament, about six hundred years old, instead of
yakéed, burn, we found, yakéer, heavy, or dull; the difference be-
ing simply the location of a point, which, in the one case, being
almost innumerable terms, on religious, moral and philosophic subjects, from
the Greek, into their own language. This word, Sunhados, synod, and seve-
ral of the others which follow, are instances.
APPEARANCE AND GENERAL CHARACTER.
17
placed below the final letter of the word, made it Dâled, (d,) and
in the other case, placed above it, made it Raish, (r). According
to the ancient Ms., the verse in question would read, "And they
said one to another, were not our hearts heavy, (or dull, reproach-
ing themselves of being slow of understanding,) while he talked to
us by the way and while he opened to us the Scriptures," a read-
ing which certainly loses nothing of beauty or force, when compared
with our own version.
Few as are books among the Nestorians, their readers are scarcely
more numerous. Not more than one in two hundred of the people
-in general only the clergy-could read, when we commenced our
labors among them. And such as read at all—their highest and
most influential ecclesiastics even-are very imperfectly educa-
ted. A majority of the priesthood can merely chant their devotions
in the ancient Syriac, without knowing the meaning. Even some
of the bishops, among the mountains, are in this predicament..
We have now about five hundred children and youth in our
Seminary and schools, who possess as good native talents as an
equal number in any country, and are successfully studying both
their ancient and modern tongues; and we hope, in the progress
of our work, to have many more thus employed. We have freely
circulated the printed Scriptures, in the ancient Syriac, among such
as can read, and have multiplied with the pen copies of those por-
tions of the Bible which we have translated into the spoken dialect;
and the aid of our printer and press, that have happily com-
menced operations, will enable us to contribute far more rapidly
and efficiently than we have hitherto done, to revive the dying em-
bers of literature, as well as of pure religion, among this ancient
people.
*
The Nestorians, like their Muhammedan masters and neighbors,
are very fine looking people. Their stature is nearly the same as
our own. Their features are regular, manly, intelligent and often
handsome. And their complexion, were their habits cleanly-par-
ticularly that of the Nestorians on the high mountains-would be
nearly as light and fair as that common among Americans. In
their character, they are bold, generous, kind, very artless for
Asiatics, and extremely hospitable. Oppression, from their Persian
masters, has never been able to reduce the Nestorians of Oróomiah,
to the spiritless servility of the Armenian Christians. They are
still brave, restless under oppression, and so far as a subject people
can be, remarkably independent in their feelings. And on the other
hand, the Nestorians of the mountains, with all their extreme wild-
ness, rudeness, bold independence and even ferocity, still possess
the same kindness and generosity of character, which are such prom-
* Mar Yohannan, the Nestorian bishop who visited the United States, is
considerably darker than most of the Nestorians of Oróomiah. His family
are noticed by the natives, as being of dark complexion.
3
18
ECCLESIASTICAL ORGANIZATION.
inent traits in the people in the province of Oróomiah. There, the
hungry man will divide his last piece of bread with a stranger, or
an enemy.
In the district of Oróomiah, where the Nestorians are so plenti-
fully supplied with the means and comforts of living, they, as mat-
ter of calculation, lay in liberal stores for their poor countrymen of
Koordistân, who, pinched with want among their own barren moun-
tains, come down to the plain in large numbers, particularly in
winter, to seek temporary subsistence on charity. This character-
istic kindness and hospitality of the Nestorians, which they ever
manifest to us, to the utmost of their power, contribute much to
render our residence among them agreeable and comfortable.
Attractive as are their native traits of character, it is as nominal
Christians, that the Nestorians are invested with the deepest in-
terest.
he re-
The ecclesiastical head of the Nestorian church is a Patriarch,
whose residence is at present at Diz, a village about twenty miles
from Jûlamérk, in the Ĥakkáry district, one of the most inaccessi-
ble parts of the Koordish mountains. Until a few years ago,
sided at Kōchánnes, a village still nearer to the town of Julamérk.
The patriarchal residence in any part of the Koordish mountains is
comparatively recent-only from about A. D. 1590. It first result-
ed from the quarrels of rival candidates and the Papal defection,
among the Nestorians on the western side of the mountains. Pre-
viously, the patriarch had resided at Elkoosh. Earlier still, from
A. D. 752, at Bagdád ;* and originally at Seleucia.†
There are properly nine ecclesiastical orders among the Nesto-
rian clergy, though two or three of them are at present little more
than nominal. Beginning with the lowest, they are as follows, viz.
1. Hupo Deeácōn, (sub-deacon,) who properly sweeps and lights
the church, as well as takes some part in their devotions. 2. Kâ-
róoya, (reader,) a kind of novice, who regularly joins with the
higher ecclesiastics in reciting the liturgy, and sometimes assists
in the menial services of the church. 3. Shamásha, or Deeácōn,
(deacon). 4. Kásha, Kashséesha, or Kána, (Priest). 5. Arka
Deeácōn, (Archdeacon). 6. Abóona, Episcopa, or Khalaphá,
(Bishop). 7. Metrán, or Metropoléeta, (Metropolitan). 8. Kato-
léeka, (Catholokos,) not a distinct individual, but an order united
with that of the Patriarch, and one through which he must first
pass, in ordination. 9. The Patriarch. All the orders of the clergy
are ordained by the imposition of hands, from the deacon upward
to the metropolitan inclusive. The Patriarch does not receive the
imposition of hands, at his consecration, as it cannot properly be
performed by inferiors. And the sub-deacon and reader are not thus
set apart, unless they are expected to rise to higher orders. No
ecclesiastic of a grade below bishops has power to ordain. A can-
+ Ibid. p. 67.
* Asseman, Vol. V. p. 625.
REQUISITIONS IN THE EPISCOPAL ORDERS.
19
didate for any clerical office, must pass through all the inferior or-
ders successively, beginning with the lowest, though this may be
done in a single day, as well as at intervals. The titles for Bishop
do not occur in the Syriac Scriptures, Kashéesha, priest, (elder,
presbyter,) being always used where the term Bishop occurs in the
English New Testament. Episcópa, transferred from the Greek,
is the proper official title. Abóona, our father, is a more familiar
epithet, which can of course have no primary application to the
episcopal office. The Nestorians have sometimes applied it to me,
as well as to their own bishops. Khalaphá is the Arabic Caliph,
and is used by the Muhammedans in Persia when speaking of chris-
tian bishops. It is also applied there to an order of Moolláhs who
act as public criers on state occasions. The term Mar is literally
lord, (dominus,) the same as is used in the gospels and the epistles;
Máran átha, our Lord cometh, for instance, which occurs in 1 Cor.
16: 22. It is applied to the episcopal orders of the Nestorian ec-
clesiastics in much the same way as our Dutch friends apply Domine,
to their pastors. The office of bishop, though usually confined to
the same family, is not hereditary. As very few learn to read, a
nephew is often the only candidate in a given diocese; and he hap-
pens to be instructed by his proximity to the bishop, who naturally
makes some provision for a successor. The wish of the people is
generally understood and consulted; but episcopal consecration still
depends on the will of the Patriarch. The Patriarch is clothed pro-
perly with only spiritual power; though his influence is, in fact, far
more general. Among the mountaineers, his word is usually law,
in both temporal and spiritual matters. Among the Nestorians of
Oróomiah, his control is much more limited. He does not venture
down among them, probably from the apprehension that he might
meet with embarrassment from their Persian rulers. And being
thus beyond the reach of the full exercise of his authority, the peo-
ple in this province have become rather lax in their regard, even for
his spiritual prerogatives. They, however, look up to him with re-
spect and veneration, and requite the visits of his brothers among
them, which are usually annual, with liberal pecuniary contribu-
tions. Under the Nestorian Patriarch, are eighteen bishops, four
of whom reside in the province of Oróomiah. They have dioceses,
varying in size from a single village up to ten, fifteen, twenty or
thirty villages. They ordain the inferior clergy, make annual visits
to their villages and exercise a general superintendence.
The canons of the Nestorian church require celibacy in all the
episcopal orders of the clergy; i. e. in all from the bishops upward.
They also require, that from childhood, they abstain from the use
´of all animal food, except fish, eggs, and the productions of the dairy,
the latter requisition probably resulting from the former. They go
a step farther back, in the latter requisition; the mother of the can-
didate for the episcopal office must observe the same abstinence
while she nurses the infant, and, as is asserted, if he is to become a
20
RELIGIOUS BELIEF AND CHARACTER.
Patriarch, she must practise the same regimen during the period of
gestation! All who are thus nurtured do not become bishops and
patriarchs, but a selection is made from such candidates.
This requisition of abstinence from animal food is, however, like
many of their ceremonials, in some cases softened down. Two of
the bishops of Oróomiah, were never candidates for episcopacy, un-
til they were about forty years old, having eaten animal, as well as
vegetable food, until that period. One of them was then made
bishop as a special token of the Patriarch's favor, for important ser-
vices which he had rendered, when a deacon, in opposing the influ-
ence of Papal emissaries; and the other obtained ordination by means
of interest exerted by his friends. Since becoming bishops, both have
practised the required abstinence, though they are far less accepta-
ble, among their people, than those who have entered the office by
a strictly canonical initiation.
I have sometimes questioned Nestorian bishops, in relation to the
reasons for their practising celibacy and restriction to vegetable
diet. They never attempt to base these requirements of their
church on precepts of Scripture; but reply, that in consideration
of the episcopal office, these observances are enjoined, as matter of
propriety, on those entrusted with it, they being thus set apart to
their high and holy work, as a consecrated class of Nazarites.
Neither celibacy nor abstinence from animal food, are required of
the inferior clergy; nor do monasteries or convents exist among
the Nestorians.
The Nestorian clergy, like the laity, are usually poor; and with
the exception of the episcopal orders, they are obliged to labor with
their hands, or teach a few scholars, to obtain a subsistence. The
priests realize a small pittance, in the form of a trifling annual con-
tribution from their flocks, and a scanty fee for marriages and some
other occasional services. The bishops are entitled to an annual
tax of about two and a quarter cents, on an individual, each from
his respective diocese; and this, in their simple style of living and
with no families to support, may suffice for their subsistence. The
Patriarch receives an annual contribution, collected for him by the
bishops, which usually amounts to two hundred and fifty or three
hundred dollars.
The religious belief and practices of the Nestorians are much
more simple and scriptural than those of other oriental Christians.
They have the deepest abhorrence of all image worship, auricular
confession, the doctrine of purgatory, and many other corrupt dog-
mas and practices of the Papal, Greek and Armenian churches;
while they cherish the highest reverence for the Holy Scriptures,
and, in theory at least, exalt them far above all human traditions.
Their doctrinal tenets, so far as I have learned them, are, in gene-
ral, quite clearly expressed and correct. On the momentous subject
of the divinity of Christ, in relation to which the charge of heresy
is so violently thrown upon them by the Papal and other oriental
sects, their belief is orthodox and scriptural.
挚
​K
STATE OF MORALS.
21
The Nestorians are very charitable towards other sects of nomi-
nal Christians-liberal in their views and feelings, and strongly de-
sirous of improvement. The Patriarch has repeatedly written to us,
expressing his joy and satisfaction at our being among his people,
his gratitude for our efforts for their benefit, and his earnest prayers
for our prosperity. And such has been the language and, appa-
rently, the feelings of all classes of his people. The four bishops of
Oróomiah and several of the most intelligent priests are in our em-
ploy as assistants in our missionary labors. They are engaged in
the instruction and superintendence of schools and sabbath schools;
they preach the gospel, engage in translation, and render other im-
portant assistance. And the Patriarch and his brothers have often
pledged to us the same coöperation, whenever we should be ena-
bled to extend our labors into the mountains. Indeed, the Nesto-*
rians may, with great propriety, be`denominated, the Protestants
of Asia.
Such being their religious character, it should cease to be a mat-
ter of wonder, that they have welcomed us so cordially to our mis-
sionary labors, and that we have hitherto experienced not a breath
of the violent opposition which has so long hedged up the way of
our missionary brethren who are sent to the other Eastern churches.
We arrogate to ourselves no superior wisdom, prudence or fidelity.
The difference in our case, as I suppose, consists simply in the
character of the people among whom we labor. With the Nestori-
ans, we have a broad field of common ground, in their acknowledged
supreme authority of the Holy Scriptures and other peculiarities to
which I have alluded, that exists among no other oriental Christians.
Upon this common ground, the clergy of this people rejoice to take
their stand and lend us their hearty and efficient coöperation. And
the most influential part of them being brought thus under our im-
mediate influence-ten or twelve of them are connected with our
families-they advance in intelligence and evangelical views and
feelings, and keep pace with our missionary operations. And with
their ecclesiastics, the people will, of course, move forward. Both
ecclesiastics and people extend fellowship to us as brethren, enga-
ged in a common cause, regarding our object to be what in truth it
is, not to pull them down, but to build them up. And difficult in-
deed would it be for us not to reciprocate, in a measure, at least,
the fraternal estimation, in which we are held, by these Nestorian
Christians. Too much, however, should not be inferred from these
statements. The Nestorians are still, to a painful extent, under the
influence of human, and many childish, traditions. They attach
great importance to their periodical fasts, which are about as nu-
merous as in the other Eastern churches, often to the neglect of
integrity and purity of heart, and even of external morality. As a
people, they are deeply degraded in morals. The vice of lying is
almost universal, among both ecclesiastics and people. Intempe-
rance is very prevalent. The Sabbath is, to a great extent, regarded
}
22
MUHAMMEDAN AND PAPAL PROSELYTISM.
as a holiday. And profaneness and some other vices are very com-
mon. Indeed, the mass of this people seem literally to have a name
to live, while they are dead.
We may and should, however, in the spirit of charity, make ex-
ceptions to this dark picture. There are ecclesiastics in our employ
and probably other individuals, both among the clergy and the laity,
who are correct in their external conduct and habitually serious in
their deportment; who sigh and pray over the degradation of their
people, and seem to be "waiting for the consolation of Israel." And
as the word of the Lord, in the progress of our labors, shall "have free
course and be glorified" among them, the number of these Simeons
and Annas will, we trust, be rapidly increased, until, as a church,
their people shall become enlightened, elevated and resuscitated, by
the spirit and life of the gospel.
Such is the venerable remnant of the Nestorian Christians, situa-
ted in the midst of the followers of the False Prophet, beset, on all
sides, by artful Romish emissaries, and stretching forth their hands
to Protestant Christendom, with the imploring cry, come over
and help us.
66
The position of the Nestorians, in relation to the enemies of
Christianity, is alike trying and interesting. Over the broad chasm
that divides Christianity and Můŭhammedanism, they would doubt-
less continue, as a mass, extremely reluctant to leap, under almost
any temptation or coërcion. To the honor of the Persians, too,
they are not, for Muhammedans, very overbearing, in their efforts
to proselyte their christian subjects. Some hardened Nestorian
culprits are found ready, for the sake of evading merited punish-
ment, even to change their religion; and such the Persians readily
pardon on that condition. Nestorian girls, too, are occasionally
kidnapped or decoyed away by enamored Mussulmân, and cajoled
into a profession of their faith preparatory to their becoming their
wives.
But from the Papists, with the name and some of the forms of
Christianity, to conceal the deformities of their system, the Nestori-
ans are in far greater danger. Had we not come to their rescue,
we have reason to apprehend, that the incessant working of the art
ful machinations of the Jesuit emissaries—their endless intrigues-
their promises of large sums of money, of favors procured, through
their instrumentality, from Government, as rewards of conversion,
—their threats to bring the arm of Mussulmân displeasure against
such as refuse to yield, and their actual oppression, wherever they
can bring power to their aid, would, in time, have gradually oblit-
erated the Nestorians and transferred the last man of them to the
Romish standard. We are here just in time to avert such a calam-
ity. But every inch of the ground is still to be contested. Papists
know the importance of this field, and Jesuit emissaries are coming
into it like a flood. Here, as in almost every part of the world, the
Protestant missionary must experience his greatest difficulties and
PRESERVATION.
23
trials from the opposing efforts of the agents of the "Man of Sin."
No measure will be left untried by them, for leading away the Nes-
torians from the religion of their fathers and subjecting them to
Papal control. A few years ago, a Jesuit offered to the Nestorian
Patriarch $10,000, on condition that he would acknowledge allegi-
ance to the Pope; to whom the patriarch replied, in the emphatic
language of Peter to Simon Magus, "Thy money perish with thee."
And of late, emissaries from Rome have tendered to him the assur-
ance, that if he will so far become a Papist as to recognise the su-
premacy of their master, he shall not only continue to be Patriarch
of the Nestorians, but all the Christians of the East shall be added
to his jurisdiction? One of the "newest measures" that has been
reported to us, is an order purporting to be fresh from the Pope to
his agents in this region, to canonize Nestorius, whose name and
memory every papist has been required, so many centuries, to curse,
--and to anathematize the Lutherans-i. e. the Protestant mission-
aries, with whom they propose also to class such of the Nestorians as
shall not go over to the ranks of the Papists! Strange, that we, ob-
scure men, away in this distant part of the world, should be honor-
ed with such special attention from "His Holiness!" And it may per-
haps be doubtful, whether such an order was actually issued from
Rome, or merely fabricated by her emissaries here, who have doubt-
less, in matters of policy, much discretionary power.
Its object
and effect would in either case be the same. The Nestorians, how-
ever, fully understand this suprising change, in the Papal estima-
tion of Nestorius, as designed merely to decoy them; and they
spurn the high honor thus proffered. And as to being classed with
the Lutherans, (Protestants,) a brother of the Nestorian Patriarch
and his designated successor, (who was with us at the time this new
canonization was reported,) told the Papists, that he regarded it as
an honorable and enviable distinction.
/
As already remarked, papal efforts have succeeded, during the
last century and a half, in accomplishing their object on the western
side of the Koordish mountains,-sometimes drawing individuals,,
or families; and sometimes bishops, and in one or two instances, a
Patriarch, with the major part of their flocks, over to the Romish
standard. But in the province of Oróomiah, and among the Koord-
ish mountains, Papal influence has hitherto been very limited. The
Nestorians of these regions have nobly resisted, and our prayer and
hope is, that they may thus continue to resist, the intrigues and as-
saults of the 'enemies of all righteousness.' Destitute of vital re-
ligion and subjected to strong temptation, their condition is perilous.
Our confidence is in the Lord to keep them. "If God be for us,
who can be against us?"
Is not the almost miraculous preservation of the Nestorian
church, from being crushed by the heavy arm of Muhammedan op-
pression on the one hand, and decoyed and annihilated by the wiles
of papal emissaries on the other, an animating pledge that the Lord
24
POSITION AND PROSPECTS.
of the church will continue to preserve this venerable remnant?
That He will even revive and build it up, for the glory of his name
and the advancement of his kingdom! May he not have important
purposes for this church to accomplish-a conspicuous part for it to
act-in ushering in the millennial glory of Zion? What position
could be more important and advantageous, in its bearing on the
conversion of the world, for a christian church to hold, than that oc-
cupied by the Nestorians, situated as they are, in the centre of Mŭ-
hammedan dominion, and far toward the centre of benighted Asia!
And is it too much to believe, that this ancient church, once so re-
nowned for its missionary efforts, and still possessing such native
capabilities, as well as such felicity of location, for the renewal of
like missionary labors, will again awake from the slumber of ages,
and become clear as the sun, fair as the moon, and terrible as an
army with banners, to achieve victories for Zion! That it will
again diffuse such floods of the light of truth as shall put forever to
shame the corrupt abominations of Muhammedism, roll back the
tide of Papal influence that is now threatening to overwhelm it, and
send forth faithful missionaries of the cross, in such numbers and
with such holy zeal, as shall bear the tidings of salvation to every
corner of benighted Asia!
I confidently look for such results, and that at no very distant
period, from the humble efforts which the American churches are
now putting forth, for the revival of religion among their Nestorian
brethren. These efforts should be vigorously prosecuted; for a
great preparatory work remains to be done, in this fallen church,
and a momentous crisis is approaching. The signs of the times, in
this eastern world, betoken the speedy approach of mighty political
revolutions. Muhammedan powers are crumbling to ruins. Chris-
tian nations are soon to rule over all the followers of the False
Prophet. Turkey and Persia are tottering to their centres, and
would fall at once of their own weight, were they not held up by
rival European governments. The universal catastrophe of Mŭ-
hammedan dominion cannot, in all human probability be, in this
way, much longer postponed. And as the Religion of the False
Prophet was propagated and is sustained by the sword, so its over-
throw, there can be little doubt, will quickly ensue, when the sword
shall be taken from its hands.
The Nestorians, therefore, as well as the other oriental churches,
should be quickly enlightened and prepared to take advantage of
the approaching changes,-ready to plant the standard of the cross
on the ruins of the crescent, whenever the trembling fabric of Is-
lamism shall fall, and push the conquest of the gospel still onward,
as fast as so mighty a revolution in the circumstances and prospects
of this continent shall open the way. This done, and how soon
would the kingdoms of this world become the kingdom of the Lord
Jesus Christ!
ORIGIN OF THE MISSION.
25
CHAPTER II.
ORIGIN AND COMMENCEMENT OF THE MISSION TO THE
NESTORIANS.
THE mission to the Nestorians was undertaken, in consequence
of the favorable representations given of the field, by the Rev. Eli
Smith and Rev. H. G. O. Dwight who visited their country,
in ac-
cordance with Instructions from the Prudential Committee of the
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, in the
Spring of 1830, while on the missionary tour which they made
through Armenia and into Persia, the results of which are publish-
ed in their valuable "Researches.' "Another company of wan-
dering shepherds," say the Prudential Committee, in their Instruc-
tions to those missionaries, "will present themselves to your atten-
tion, in Koordistân, southward of Armenia. A hundred thousand
of the Koords are said to be Nestorians, subject to hereditary pa-
triarchs. So large a body of nominal Christians deserve a visit to
the residence of at least one of their spiritual heads."*
This para-
graph, in the Instructions to Messrs. S. and D. may properly be
said to have given rise to our mission. They did not visit the Nes-
torian Patriarch, for reasons stated in their report, from which I ex-
tract the following, viz., “We were extremely anxious to extend
our journey into the heart of the Koordish mountains, and visit in
person Mar Shimon and the independent Nestorians. But all our
English friends at Tabréez united in declaring that region entirely
inaccessible. Not that among the Nestorians themselves we should
not be well received and be perfectly safe, but the Koords who sur-
round them are treacherous and blood-thirsty robbers, entirely be-
yond the control of the Persian government. Dr. Shultz, a learned
German, travelling under the auspices of the king of France, had
lately succeeded in reaching Kochánnes; and the Patriarch and his
people treated him well; but on his return he was murdered, by
the very guard which had been given him by a Koordish beg for his
protection." The visit of Messrs. Smith and Dwight to the Nes-
torians of Oróomiah was short,—of only a few days' duration; but
it was most interesting in its character. I can also best give an
idea of their impressions of the people and of the field by inserting
a paragraph or two from their report to the American Board.
"To the Nestorians of Oróomiah we would especially direct your
attention. That Abbas Meerza would, without doubt, patronize
Missionary Herald, Vol. 26, page 75.
+ Researches in Armenia, Vol. II. page 253.
4
26
IMPRESSIONS OF THE FIELD.
missionary efforts for their improvement, and in fact for the im-
provement of all his christian subjects, we received the unanimous
testimony of all the members of the English Embassy. Equally
decided assurance was given us that missionary families in Oróo-
miah would be secure from any oppression; for besides being fa-
vorably regarded by the prince, the ambassador also would protect
them. Among others who accorded with these sentiments, were
two gentlemen who had resided some time in that province; and
one of them added that the climate is very fine. Our impression,
respecting the climate, from the location of the district and the
dampness and fertility of the soil, is, that it must, at certain seasons
of the year, be hot and productive of febrile affections.* To the
hostile incursions of the predatory Koords, too, it seems to us evi-
dent that Oróomiah must be exposed, whenever the government
of Persia is disturbed, by either internal or foreign causes. But
we must not calculate too closely the chances of life. Missionaries
to any part of the great field, the world, should ever go forth with a
martyr's spirit-hazarding their lives for the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ.'
“That religious instruction is needed by the Nestorians, this and
the preceding letter will have sufficiently convinced you. How it
would be received by them, experiment alone can determine. We
cannot but refer you, however, to their extreme liberality toward
other sects-their ideas of open communion, and their entire rejec-
tion of auricular confession, (that efficient police system of the other
old churches,) as considerations which have produced in our minds
a firm conviction, that a mission to the Nestorians would meet with
far fewer obstacles, than among any other of the old churches.
The week that we passed among them was among the most in-
tensely interesting of our lives-for myself, I felt a stronger desire to
settle among them at once as a missionary, than among any people
I have ever seen. Self-denying indeed and laborious would be the
lot of a missionary in Oróomiah. But let him enter the field with
the self-devotion which reconciled Brainerd to a wigwam, and in-
spired Martyn with that noble sentiment-' Even if I never should
see a native converted, God may design, by my patience and con-
tinuance in the work to encourage future missionaries,'-and con-
tentment will also be the portion of his cup. And as he plants one
truth after another, in the mind of an ignorant Nestorian, and sees it
take root and bear fruit, thus restoring to the oldest of christian
sects, 'the faith once delivered to the saints,' and beginning the
conquests of Christianity where it has never triumphed, a joy which
the world knows not of will likewise be his. He will feel also the
advantage of his position; that he has found a prop, upon which to
rest the lever that will overturn the whole system of Muhammedan
* These impressions, our experience has proved to be very correct. The
climate is trying to foreigners, producing fevers, and fever and ague, to an al-
most unequalled extent.
APPOINTMENT TO THE MISSION.
27
delusion, in the centre of which he has fixed himself; that he is
lighting a fire which will shine out upon the corruptions of the Per-
sian on the one side, and upon the barbarities of the Koord on the
other, until all shall come to be enlightened by its brightness, and
the triumph of faith will crown his labor of love."* How correct and
judicious were these views of Messrs. Smith and Dwight-short as
their stay was among the people—will abundantly appear, in the
course of this volume, as tested by our nine years' experiment.
The American Board justly regarded it of the first importance to
commence a mission in so promising a field, with the least practi-
cable delay, particularly, as the simple-hearted Nestorians were
in such immediate and imminent danger of being led astray, by the
ever-watchful, wily and active emissaries of Papal Rome.
It was in January 1833, soon after the report of Messrs. Smith
and Dwight was presented to the Prudential Committee and before
it was published, that I received my appointment to commence the
mission.
I was, at that time, a tutor in Amherst college, and had cherished
the expectation of returning to the Theological Seminary at Ando-
ver, at a subsequent period, and spending a third year there, having
been previously but two years connected with that favored institution.
In view of the urgency of the case, however, I regarded it as clearly
my duty to forego that privilege-a decision that was urged by the
secretaries of the Board, and sanctioned by the venerable professors.
of the Seminary. Accepting the appointment, I immediately com-
menced preparation for my mission, though I continued my labors
at Amherst college, until nearly the time contemplated for my em-
barkation.
So little was then known of that distant and untried field-the
name of the people being hardly known out of Asia, save to the
student of church history-and so short the period allowed me to
prepare for it, that it was deemed highly important I should take a
passage in the same vessel with Mr. Smith, as far as Malta, on his
return from a visit to the United States to his own field in Syria,
that, by the opportunity of familiar conversations, thus afforded, on
the way, I might gain possession of the facts which he had collected
and the suggestions which his previous missionary experience might
enable him to make, relative to our future operations among the
Nestorians. This arrangement was highly prized by myself; for
hardly could one enter upon an enterprise, with a deeper conscious-
ness of weakness and incompetence for so great and responsible a
work, than I felt at that time.
We received our Instructions together, in the chapel of the Theo-
logical Seminary at Andover, Sabbath evening, Sept. 8, 1833, ar-
* Researches, Vol. II. p. 264. I may here remark in general of those
"Researches," that having had the best opportunity to test the value and ac-
curacy of the work, I can pronounce it one of very rare merit, on the coun-
tries and subjects of which it treats.
28
INSTRUCTIONS.
rangements having been made for our embarkation, in the course of
the same week. These Instructions have never been published.
Their reference to the Nestorian Mission, containing, as they do,
the principles on which our operations were commenced and have
hitherto been conducted, as well as their intrinsic excellence and
general interest, induce me to give to the reader, in this connexion,
that portion of them which pertained to our field. They were pre-
pared and delivered by Rev. Rufus Anderson, one of the secretaries
of the A. B. C. F. M. That part addressed to Mr. Smith in par-
ticular, is omitted as having no direct reference to our mission.
"In the Instructions given to a company of missionaries, that
recently embarked for Ceylon, various objects were stated as coming
properly within the range of duties incumbent upon the Board. It
was described as an educating society, a translating society, a so-
ciety for printing and distributing books, and, preeminently, a so-
ciety for preaching the gospel. It is appropriate to your mission,
to mention and illustrate another prominent object of our institution.
"The Committee would state, then, that the Board is, emphati-
cally, a society for observation. The condition of the world must
be ascertained, before it can be improved; and it is surprising how
little information, suited to our purpose, is obtainable from the whole
body of those travellers whose investigations have been prompted by
mere secular motives. How often has Western Asia, for instance,
been traversed by such persons. Yet, missionary societies find it
almost as necessary to investigate those countries, as if those men
had never travelled. The politician, the soldier, the geographer,
the antiquarian, the man of mere taste, and the man of mere in-
satiable curiosity, are all of use to us, as travellers; but we are
obliged to send after them our own messenger, with special instruc-
tions, before we can safely venture upon an extensive system of
missionary operations. So that our investigations, as you perceive,
will necessarily be coëxtensive with the ground which we would oc-
cupy.
And the exploration and the actual occupation of the ground,
are parts of our great work which are, in some respects, distinct.
We may send out missions merely for the purpose of investigating.
We may explore on a far more extensive scale than we can occupy.
We may lay open the condition of the world, long before we can
make it fully acquainted with the gospel. Indeed, we must search
out different countries, before we can determine which of them af-
fords the most eligible fields of labor. * * * *
"How much further it will be advisable for the Board to extend
its posts of observation, must be referred to that Providence, which
is so rapidly multiplying facilities and inducements to hasten the
publication of the gospel among all nations. A joint and solemn re-
sponsibility does certainly rest upon the several missionary societies
of Christendom, to lose no time in making a full report to the
ADVANTAGEOUS POSITION.
29
churches, of the condition of the heathen world, and of all that is
necessary for its spiritual regeneration. The object demands the
greatest talents, the highest attainments, and the most exalted spirit
of devotedness to Christ. And the number requisite for this object
is comparatively small. A few self-denying men, of sound judg-
ment, comprehensive views, and cultivated intellect, might explore
a nation. Twenty or thirty such men would suffice for all central
Asia, south of the Russian empire. Planting themselves upon the
route pursued by Alexander, when he advanced upon the Indus, and
also in Căbûl, Cashmîre and Bŭkhará, they might pour certainty
over a vast region, which has long been given up to doubtful con-
jecture.
And how desirable that this part of our work be speedily ac-
complished-that the whole world be laid open to the view of the
church-that all its abominations and miseries be seen, and all its
cries of distress be heard; which indicate a world diseased and
perishing for lack of the gospel. Then will the church find it no
longer possible to sleep, and no longer possible to forbear acting on
a scale commensurate with the work to be done.
"The groans of nature, in this nether world,
Which heaven has heard for ages, have an end,
Foretold by Prophets, and by poets sung
Whose fire was kindled at the Prophet's lamp,
The time of rest, the promised Sabbath comes.
Six thousand years of sorrow have well nigh
Fulfilled their tardy and disastrous course
Over a sinful world; and what remains
Of this tempestuous state of human things,
Is merely the working of a sea
Before a calm, that rocks itself to rest:
For He, whose car the winds are, and the clouds,
The dust that waits upon his sultry march,
When sin hath moved him and his wrath is hot,
Shall visit earth in mercy; shall descend
Propitious in his chariot paved with love,
And what his storms have blasted and defaced
For man's revolt, shall with a smile repair."
"Your particular field of inquiry and labor is to be the Syrian
church, and especially that part of it, denominated Nestorian; and
your residence, for the present, will be in Oróomiah, just within the
western borders of Persia. The position you are to occupy, is not
only interesting, in relation to the Nestorians, but it is in the very
centre of Muhammedism, and on the dividing line between the two
great sects of that false religion. On the east of you will be the
Shîite, who receive only the Koran as of divine authority: and on
the west, will be the Soonee, who hold not only to the Koran, but
also to the traditions of their elders. You go also where least is
known concerning the oriental churches; but where, possibly, their
rites and ceremonies are less perverted, than in the parts of Asia
more accessible to the power and influence of Rome.
30
FIRST OBJECTS OF ATTENTION.
You will remember the antiquity of this branch of the church of
Antioch, and how extensively its doctrines were once diffused, and
with what zeal and success it once supported christian missions,
among the tribes and nations of Central and Eastern Asia.
The Committee are anxious to associate a physician with you in
this enterprise, and will procure one as soon as possible.* It is not
thought best, however, that you should wait in this country for
a colleague. You will proceed immediately to Constantinople,
and there, for a number of months, will avail yourself of the best
facilities afforded by that city, for acquiring the language spoken
by the Nestorians of Oróomiah. Your best route from Constanti-
nople to the field of your mission, will probably be by water to some
port on the eastern shore of the Black Sea; thence to Tabréez, in
Persia, by way of Tiflis,† the capital of Georgia, a distance by land
of perhaps 600 miles. From Tabréez to Oroomiah is not far from
100 miles. The shorter route to Tabréez, through Erzróom, will
probably be found too rough and hazardous to be attempted by
your missionary companion.
A
"Your first duty among the Nestorians, will be to cultivate an
intimate acquaintance with their religious opinions and sentiments.
You are aware that, excepting the information collected by Messrs.
Smith and Dwight, during the few days they were among the Nes-
torians, almost all we know, concerning that sect, in modern times,
is derived from Papal writers. The learned investigations of some
of these entitle them to high honor, and may be of great use to you,
in the way of furnishing topics for inquiry: but the committee wish
the information which you communicate, concerning the present
state of the Nestorian church, to be the result of your own careful,
The
personal investigations; at least, to be thus corroborated.
churches of this country ought to be accurately informed as to the
number of the Nestorians, their places of residence, their doctrines,
rites, morals, education, etc. Whether you will be able, at present,
with a due regard for personal safety, to penetrate the Koordish
mountains, and visit the Nestorian Patriarch, at his residence near
Jûlamérk, is very doubtful. But the journey should be performed
as soon as may be, lest interested and perverse men should preju-
dice his mind against you. Your tours, however, should be few
and short, until you are familiar with the language spoken by the
people. Interpreters in those countries, are never to be trusted with
less confidence, than in those delicate and critical cases, in which
it is of the utmost importance for you to understand the meaning of
* The committee found it so difficult to procure a physician, that none
reached us, as will be seen, until more than two years after our own em-
barkation.
+ Better acquaintance with the subject led us to choose the route by Erz-
róom.
+ About 140 miles, the route being circuitous around the end of the lake.
MAIN OBJECTS.
31
language addressed to you, and to make your own language per-
fectly understood by others.
"A primary object which you will have in view, will be to con-
vince the people, that you come among them with no design to take
away their religious privileges, nor to subject them to any foreign
ecclesiastical power. The only acknowledged head of the church
to which you belong, is Jesus Christ, and your only authoritative
standard in ecclesiastical matters, is the New Testament. The
Syrian church acknowledges the same head, and also the same stan-
dard, though it may be, with some additions. You will have, there-
fore, a broad common ground on which to stand; besides the in-
valuable privilege of never being compelled in argument, to draw
your proofs from any other source than the Holy Scriptures, nor to
defend anything else as the rule of your faith and practice. In this
view, you will rejoice in the liberty wherewith Christ has made you
free. Yet would the Committee caution you against saying too
much on these points. You will not gain the confidence of the
people by mere declarations; for in no part of the world do asser-
tions, however positive, go for less than in Western Asia. You
must not expect, even to be believed, until the people have studied
your character and your life, and have thus learned to esteem you
as a man and to confide in you as a disciple of the Lord Jesus.
“But your main object will be, to enable the Nestorian church,
through the grace of God, to exert a commanding influence in the
spiritual regeneration of Asia. The idea of supplying the world
fully with preachers of the gospel from lands now called Christian,
is chimerical. It never will be done. Even our great western val-
ley is learning, that the main body of its future preachers must be
trained upon its own soil. The same is true of the world. Its
main stated supply of religious instructors must be indigenous, and
not exotic-trained in the midst of the people whom they are to in-
struct, and belonging to the people. This is a fundamental princi-
ple in the operations of the Board under whose direction you are to
labor; which you see developed in the Ceylon mission and beginning
to show itself in the Sandwich Islands. With the blessing of hea-
ven, the church of Antioch will be reëdified chiefly by means of
her own sons. A blow must be aimed at the cause of spiritual ig-
norance among the people, by imbuing the clergy with a knowledge
of the Holy Scriptures; and this grand result must be secured
throughout the Syrian church, through the vast region from the
shores of the Mediterranean to the mountains of southern India.
At the same time, the Scriptures, which happily exist entire in the
Syriac language, should be freely circulated, and schools establish-
ed for the education of children. The mission of the English church
missionary society, among the Syrian Christians of Malabar, will be,
in some respects, a model for your own. Our object is the same
with theirs, and the people are supposed not to be essentially dif
ferent.
32
CAUTIONS TO BE OBSERVED.
'It is not the design of the Committee to embarrass you with
minute instructions, in reference to a field concerning which they
know so little. They can, indeed, do scarcely more than point to
the object you should have in view, and then leave you to the guid-
ance of that wisdom which cometh from above and is equally attain-
able, in all parts of the world. You will need it at every step of
For
your progress, and especially at the outset of your mission.
you commence your mission in circumstances, which are in many
respects peculiar, and by no means fully ascertained. The mis-
takes to which you will be constantly liable, will be unaccompanied
with the data by which to calculate their consequences. You will
need to be wise in speech, and wise in action; and every day, and
every hour of the day, and always, to be kind, frank, patient, con-
descending, gentle. The people will be most inclined to converse
with you on subjects, upon which you ought to say the least. Let
the cross of Christ be your standing theme. To the Jews it is a
stumbling block, and to the Greeks foolishness: but still, it is a
subject always safe to converse upon in the spirit of love, and it is
the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.
"It is proper to caution you to beware, in your personal inter-
course with the people, of whatever may be construed as having a
political bearing. In their present state of civil depression and dis-
content, this will often be difficult; but the necessity is imperative
and the duty unquestionable.
"While prosecuting your main object, you will inquire for re-
cords, that will throw light upon the history of ancient missions in
Central and Eastern Asia. These are properly sought in the Syrian
chronicles, as there is strong reason to believe that the Syrian church,
at an early age, carried the gospel into the very heart of China.
It is possible, too, that convents* among the fastnesses of the Koor-
dish mountains contain valuable manuscripts of the New Testament
in the Syriac language.
With respect to the Muhammedans, and the adherents of the
Papal church, you will do them good as you have opportunity.
Ascertain how far the sect of Papists called Chaldeans, differs from
the Nestorians. Neglected as they are by the mother church at
Rome, they may have lost her peculiar antipathy to the word of
God, if they ever possessed it, and be willing to receive the holy
Scriptures at your hands. Their origin, language and proximity
will give them a strong claim upon your attention; nor is it proba-
ble that you can make much impression upon Mussulmân, until they
see more of the fruits of the gospel among its professed believers
around them.
"But, in the clamor of distress arising from the thousand pitia-
ble objects around you, let not the lessons of experience be forgot-
* No convents, as already stated, now exist among the Nestorians.
ten.
✔
SICKNESS AT ANDOVER.
Concentrated effort is effective effort.*
33
There is such a thing
as attempting too much. Many a missionary has attempted such
great things, and so many, on entering a new field, that he has
accomplished little, and perhaps done nothing as he ought to have
done. Your surveys may extend over a great surface; but a richer
and speedier harvest will crown your labors, if your cultivation is
applied to a single field.
66
May you, and your beloved partner, be long spared for the work
on which you are about to enter. It is a self-denying, but delight-
ful and glorious work. Be faithful unto death; then will you nev-
er regret your self-consecration to the missionary service, nor the
solemn designation of this evening, nor the parting scenes of the
approaching embarkation, nor the residence for life in countries re-
mote from home and native land. Nor will you be forgotten. Some
of these brethren will follow you, to share in your privations and
your toils; and all of them, wherever dispersed as ministers of the
Lord Jesus, will remember you in their prayers, and procure for you
the prayers of others. You will be remembered in these halls of
sacred science, and in yonder hallowed walks, so dear to you, and
to so many of our brethren now far off in heathen lands. Yes, and
the fathers here will remember you, who have fanned the mission-
ary flame on this holy hill of Zion, ever since it was kindled by Mills
and others now in glory; and so will their respected associates; and
they will pray for you, and see that the prayers of the saints ascend
for you here, at the daily sacrifice. And the church will remember
you; for the church has awoke, and is putting on the beautiful
gar-
ments of her priesthood unto God, and never more will she cease
to pray, for the spiritual renovation of the world. Long has she
lain in the dust; but she will lie there no longer, for the set time
to favor Zion is come, the time of her redemption and of the world's
illumination. No, the devoted servant of Jesus Christ, who from
love to his Master and to the souls of men, ventures his life upon
the high places of the field, need fear no more that he shall be for-
gotten by the church; and to him especially appertains the blessed-
ness of that sublime promise, 'Lo, I am with you alway, even
unto the end of the world.””
It is hardly necessary to inform the reader that during the nine
years of my missionary labors, I have found little occasion to depart,
or dissent, from principles so scriptural and sound, and views so in-
telligent and clear, as those contained in the foregoing Instructions.
The excitement and pressure of our hasty preparation had so
prostrated my system, that at the close of the impressive services of
this public designation I found myself scarcely able to walk to my
* This precept has not only become a standing motto, with me, but as my
experience and observation have increased, it has acquired in my estimation
almost the force of an oracle.
1
5
34
EMBARKATION.
lodgings,* and was reluctantly compelled, for the first time in my life,
to yield to the strong arm of a violent fever. Hopes were, at first,
entertained that my disease might be early arrested, and our vessel
accordingly lingered, a few days, for my recovery. My fever, how-
ever, baffled all the means used to check it, and the result of it be
ing at length regarded as doubtful, it was concluded that Mr. Smith
must proceed without me. But the day after my disease finally left
me, intelligence reaching us that the vessel in which we had expected
to sail was still detained in the harbor by adverse winds, I requested
my physician to place me in a wagon and carry me to Boston, in
the hope of still being able to secure the important advantage of per-
forming the voyage in company with Mr. Smith. To my proposi-
tion to this effect, the physician readily yielded, as he was himself
of the opinion and had already assured me, that could I, without too
much exhaustion, be placed on board the vessel, my recovery would
be rapidly advanced by the effects of sailing. The first day on
which I was raised from my pillow and dressed, I was therefore put
upon a bed, and I rode thus twenty miles to Boston; and the next
day, Sept. 21, 1833, was carried on board the Brig George, (of
Boston, Capt. Grosier,) and laid in my berth, and we immediately
sailed. Never did my heart swell with livelier emotions of thankful-
ness to God, than when my feet were placed upon the deck and I
took my last look, as I supposed forever, of my native land. So
unexpected was the privilege of doing this according to our original
arrangement, that the dreaded pangs of the last parting with friends
were all swallowed up and forgotten in the overflowings of my grat-
itude and joy. Our embarkation in those circumstances was natu-
rally trying to Mrs. Perkins, who was apprehensive for the conse-
quences on me. But her fortitude, which was destined to encoun-
ter still severer tests, was adequate to the trial.
The captain of our vessel, as he afterwards told me, remarked to
his mate, when I was lifted on board, we shall very soon be oblig-
ed to throw that man overboard." But so rapid was my recovery,
that the tender assiduities of the first evening, lavished upon me by
Mrs. Perkins and the very estimable and now departed Mrs. Smith,
helpless almost as an infant as I then lay in my berth, were in a
day or two reciprocated by me towards them, they being pros-
trated by sea-sickness under the fury of the equinoctial storm which
met us at the mouth of the harbor; and I, as'soon and by the same
influence, under the blessing of God, being raised to a degree of
strength that enabled me immediately to walk about, and in a few
days to a far better state of health than I had long before enjoyed,
and which alone could have sustained me under my subsequent
hardships and labors. Had I contemplated my adventurous em-
barkation in the strength and soberness of health, I should probably
* At the house of the Rev. H. Bardwell, for whose kindness and that of his
lady during my sickness, I was laid under great obligations.
SUDDEN CHANGE OF CIRCUMSTANCES.
35
have been deterred from the undertaking. But I have often in the
retrospect gratefully recognized the providential arrangement, by
which my system was thus prepared by sickness and medical treat-
ment, and I was led as by the hand of God, almost unconsciously
on my part, to commence that voyage at just the moment most
favorable for deriving from it the highest practicable benefit.
CHAPTER III.
VOYAGE TO MALTA.
A greater transition can scarcely be conceived than that which
the missionary experiences in passing suddenly from the hurry and
bustle of preparation, parting with friends and the excitement of his
embarkation, to the long and close confinement of a sea voyage in a
merchant vessel. If the romance of the missionary enterprise have
not already been dissipated, by the reality and nearness in which the
matter is presented, by his designation to a particular field, and other
attending incidents before his embarkation, it will at least not long
survive on his passage. Thrown at once from a scene of active la-
bors and extensive and cheerful intercourse with friends and the
churches, into a cabin of a few feet dimensions, which is to be his
prison for weeks or months-not indeed in solitary confinement,
but crowded together with several companions, each of whom must
have his quota of the straitened accommodations-soon tossed by
the fury of winds and storms-prostrated by sea-sickness-saddened
by his changed and depressed condition-and still more, by the
sombre visages of his fellow sufferers around him-and with the
dreary prospect of the same state of things during his whole voyage,
the last vestige of romance will soon be expelled. This severe or-
deal of the passage, however, is by no means without impor-
tant advantages to the missionary. Indeed, it is just the kind of
sober, sifting discipline which he most needs. It is an excellent
school of patience. He cannot fly to his field more swiftly than
the calms as well as the winds will permit him to go; nor command,
on the way, a wider sphere for the exercise of his glowing zeal, than
the vessel affords. He may, and should, do all that he can judiciously
attempt, by occasional conversations, and the distribution of tracts, as
well as by preaching the gospel on the Sabbath, for the benefit of the
crew. But his tardy progress and contracted sphere will serve much
36
ADVANTAGES TO BE DERIVED.
to prepare him patiently and cheerfully to spend lingering months
over dictionaries and grammars, before he can speak the language of
the people, in his field; and to despise not the day of small things,
when prepared to engage in more active labors there. Daily, too,
he encounters nameless and numberless inconveniences and annoy-
ances, from his confined situation, which he had never elsewhere
experienced, but which will contribute much to qualify him to bear
quietly the far more numerous and trying vexations, that will con-
stantly assail him and severely tax his patience, in the course of his
missionary life.
His voyage will also afford him an excellent opportunity for self-
examination. However much he may have been before occupied
with other concerns, and tempted to neglect the scrutinizing of his
own religious condition, he now has time and retirement carefully
to canvass his feelings-particularly the motives that have led him
to desire and undertake so great a work; and if his missionary zeal
be in any measure spurious, it may be corrected in this 'middle
passage;' and whatever be its character, he will thus be much
chastened and strengthened and prepared the better to meet and
sustain his future cares, trials and toils.
His voyage
is also an important prelude to the seclusion of mis-
sionary life.
Taken from the social and religious enjoyments and
privileges of country and home, and set down suddenly a solitary
pilgrim, amid the wide spread moral desolations of his distant field,
the loneliness of his situation would be intolerable and he would
quickly sink under it. It is a wise provision of Providence, that he
has a gradual initiation to his future solitude, while on the way to
the scene of his labors.
"
His voyage is also a good school for the cultivation of the graces
of forbearance and christian politeness. In the confined limits of a
small cabin, with several fellow passengers, and, (missionaries
though they be,) each having at least some ideas of his private
rights and convenience, these personal prerogatives are very liable,
especially under the assaults of the common foe-sea-sickness-to
be more or less infringed. Mutual forbearance must be put in
requisition to excuse and forget such infringements; and chris-
tian politeness will come in to its aid, in the spirit of the scrip-
ture, Let no man seek his own, but every man another's good,'
as well as by laboring, habitually, to diffuse cheerfulness and good
nature through the community, instead of giving way to the sullen
churlishness and peevishness to which the circumstances of the case
may strongly tempt one to yield; and which are often considered as
affording such feelings a strong apology, if not fully to authorize
them. It is surprising what an amount of happiness and improvement
may be secured or sacrificed, in a small company of passengers, in
the course of a single voyage, by attention, or non-attention, to mat-
ters of this kind.
One's time, on the voyage, may also be more or less improved if
IMPROVEMENT OF TIME.
37
a measure of system be practised; especially, if he be but little
troubled with sea-sickness. I happen to be one of the favored few,
who suffer little from that unwelcome guest of the passengers' cabin.
On my way to Persia, I suffered none at all from it, probably in
consequence of my previous severe course of fever, from which I
was recovering; and I enjoyed a degree of vigor and buoyancy,
both bodily and mental, during that time, which I have seldom
known in more favorable circumstances. In addition to prosecut-
ing a large amount of reading and inquiry on subjects pertaining to
my missionary work, I read a considerable part of the text-books of
the third year's course at Andover, having been deprived, in hasten-
ing to my field, of that year's study. And so happy were our mis-
sionary community, in our circumscribed situation, that I look back
on few portions of my life with more satisfaction, than on our
voyage to Malta and thence to Constantinople. And as suggested
in the preface, the arrangement and copying for the press, and the
preparation of some of the matter, of a considerable part of this vol-
ume, are the fruits of my voyage on my return to America.
We embarked, as already stated, Sept. 21, 1833, in the 'George,'
of Boston, Capt. Grozier. Our vessel was a fine brig, of 270 tons;
and as there was a house (cabin) on deck, for the use of the officers,
the passengers our missionary company of four-had the cabin be-
low entirely to themselves. This, together with two state rooms, fur-
nished accommodations superior to what is common in merchant
vessels. Our captain, too, was a very gentlemanly man, and spared
no pains to render our passage pleasant and comfortable. The cir-
cumstances of our embarkation, I mentioned in the preceding chap-
ter; I give them here as they were hastily noted down, when I be-
came able to use my pen.
Sept. 21. Saw Mr. Smith early in the morning. He told us that
he was about as much surprised to hear of my arrival from Andover
the evening before, as though it had been announced that I had
dropped down from the clouds in the thunder shower that overtook
us just as we arrived. He proposed to prepare my effects, as soon as
possible, as the captain would like to sail in the afternoon. He ac-
cordingly attended to my affairs in the forenoon. I rested till 3 o'clock
in the afternoon, then took a seat in a coach with Mrs. Perkins and
Mr. and Mrs. Stoddard,* and rode to the wharf-was lifted on board
the vessel and laid in my berth. No company was allowed to ap-
proach me, except two or three beloved friends, whose parting bene-
dictions were precious cordials at that hour. Prayer was offered by
Rev. Dr. Jenks, and the appropriate hymn, commencing, "Roll on,
thou mighty ocean," was sung on deck; and about 4 o'clock a fine
breeze filled our canvass and waſted us away from our native shores.
I felt not the least misgiving, but was almost overcome with emo-
* Mr. and Mrs. Charles Stoddard, to whose kindness and hospitality we
were much indebted during our short stay in Boston.
38
JOURNAL AT SEA-A STORM.
tions of gratitude to God, that I was permitted to embark at that
time. Only the day previous, I was so weak as to be unable,
save with much difficulty, to stand. Now, I lay quiet and happy in
my berth on my way to Persia. Bless the Lord, my heart reite-
rated, for his signal mercy, in thus providentially detaining our ves-
sel and raising me so speedily from a bed of illness, to prosecute my
contemplated mission. Our effects were scarcely arranged, before
Mrs. Perkins and Mrs. Smith became exceedingly sea-sick.
The monotony of a sea-voyage furnishes very little incident.
The missionary's journal on the ocean is apt to be much like the
log-book of the vessel,-made up of calms-storms-head-winds—
squalls and occasional fair-winds. If the log-book is more regu-
log-book_is_more_regu-
larly kept and promises utility to future mariners, the Journal as a
counterpart, will have more sea-sick entries. The following pages
from mine may furnish a comment on these remarks, as also show
the manner in which we employed our time, and the general tenor
of things on our voyage.
Sept. 22. The wind was high and the sea rough. The ladies
kept their berths. It was rather a gloomy Sabbath. I was not sea-
sick at all; but my weak state obliged me to keep still. I sat
wrapped in my cloak in the cabin, while my companions were con-
fined to their state rooms and their berths.
Sept. 23. The equinoctial storm prevailed with great violence.
Neither of the ladies left her berth during the day. Mr. Smith was
also ill, but employed himself in taking care of the rest.
Sept. 24. The storm raged terribly during the last night. Sel-
dom is the sea more rough and dangerous. The ladies suffered al-
most intolerably from sea-sickness. But about eight o'clock this
morning the sun came out; the wind shifted round to the north-
west; and the aspect of things was entirely changed. The ladies
left their berths for the first time since the evening we embarked,
and went on deck, where they spent several hours and were greatly
relieved and refreshed. I was very comfortable, but still weak.
Sept. 26. From conversation with the captain, I found that the
storm of the night of the 23rd was far more terrible than we had re-
alized. Both the captain and mate remarked, that they had never
encountered such a storm before. The main top-sail, which was
perfectly new, was split from top to bottom. We lay quietly in
our berths almost unconscious of the perils around us; at least, we
felt happy in the confidence that God was our Protector. I regret-
ted that I had not been well enough to visit the deck and see the
sublimity of the warring elements, in such a storm on the ocean.
Sept. 27. For the first time, I took a seat at the captain's table.
We were all early on deck. I was much regaled by the fresh breeze
and delighted with the appearance of the ocean. We struck a shoal
of porpoises. Hundreds, perhaps, were sporting together. The
captain threw his harpoon at one and hit him, but did not retain
him. The wounded one gave the alarm and all in a twinkling fled.
COMMOTION IN THE CABIN-RETROSPECT.
39
Sept. 28. Rose a little after four o'clock and had a most delight-
ful walk on deck. In the course of the night, there had been a
heavy shower and high gales of wind in which the fore top-sail was
split its whole length. The wind was very boisterous, during the
day, and the waves ran almost literally "mountain high.' The
sublimity of the scene was altogether indescribable. Fortunately,
the wind was in the right direction and hurried us on at the rapid
rate of nine miles an hour.
""
Our cabin was in such commotion, that we were obliged to tie
our books upon the table. I was engaged half the afternoon in
making tape loops for the purpose. At our dinner, too, we found
it impossible to retain our plates before us, notwithstanding the
small rack, attached to the table, to keep them in their places. A
sudden lurch of the vessel would often disloge them and hurl both
plates and their contents against the sides of the cabin,
Sept. 29. The bustle occasioned by the high winds and seas for-
bade our hallowing the Sabbath by any public exercises. In the
afternoon, the wind subsiding a little, we went on deck and sung
several beautiful hymns.
"There is a land of pure delight,
Where saints immortal reign,"
was a particular favorite with Mrs. Smith,-a land of which she is
now doubtless a happy inhabitant. Our singing arrested the atten-
tion of the captain and mates, who drew around us and seemed
charmed with the music and the hymns.
Sept. 30. In looking back upon the previous three or four weeks,
I seemed to myself like one awaking from a dream. My recollec-
tion was quite indistinct of all that had passed during that period.
The two weeks I lay ill at Andover, and the mode of my being car-
ried to Boston, appeared like a blank. I had afterward rapidly re-
covered, but could scarcely realize what had transpired, that I had
actually left America and was in the midst of the Atlantic ocean.
I felt also deeply concerned for my friends who must be long tor-
tured with solicitude respecting me, embarking as I did in feeble
health.
Oct. 1. Mrs. Perkins, for the first time, after the evening we em-
barked, took a seat at the captain's table. She was much better
than at any previous time since her illness commenced. After tea,
we walked a while on deck. The western skies were like sheets
of burnished gold. The sun, after setting, sent back his splendors
half way up to the zenith, almost as bright as noon-day. We all
remained on deck, enjoying the brilliant scene, until quite dark, and
then reluctantly retired to our cabin.
6
As an evening exercise, Mr. Smith read a section from the Lis-
tener," a late entertaining English work, and a chapter from his
"Researches." The latter I found to be particularly interesting,
as I was to pass over a part of the same ground which he had trav
40
CABIN BOY-OCCUPATION-BLACK FISH.
elled, and wished to ask questions and comment on the chapters as
we read them; and it was equally an object with him to read it in
this social manner, that he might make any corrections that should
occur to us, in order to prepare it for a second edition.* After
our evening devotions, I enjoyed a delightful walk on deck,
by moon light. Such an evening is, if possible, more delightful on
the ocean than on land. The whole surface had a silvery lustre as
if sprinkled with gems; and a broad belt directly under the moon
sparkled and glittered like the galaxy in the skies.
Oct. 4. The captain remarked, that foreign lads are usually sought
by American captains as cabin boys, and assigned as a reason, that
native boys are not sufficiently submissive. Americans scorn to be
slaves. The almost instinctive principle of vassalage which quali-
fies the European child for a cabin boy, is unfelt and unknown in
our free states. May the sacred spark of freedom which glows so
early in American bosoms, in the low as well as the high, never be
smothered, but blaze forth and spread itself throughout the world.
We had a young Sardinian cabin boy. I cannot conceive in what
his enjoyment could consist. He was constantly on the alert, watch-
ing the eye and the nod of his master, trembling like an aspen
leaf and apparently almost afraid to breathe.
To-day, we made an arrangement in the cabin to economise our
time. We proposed to spend three hours, each day, in intellectual
employment together, viz., two in reading, and one in conversation.
These three hours are from nine to ten o'clock, A. M.; from three
to four P. M.; and from seven to eight in the evening. The rest
of our time we spend in private reading and study, or otherwise, ac-
cording to the state of the weather and personal convenience. Our
subject for conversation, to-day, was "little things," as affecting
our happiness and usefulness.
Oct. 5. The morning was calm,—so much so that there was not
a ripple on the face of the water except those made by the vessel
a very agreeable time, to be sure, if we could divest ourselves of the
consciousness, that in a calm we make no progress. Dull as it was,
however, the sameness was pleasingly interrupted by some incidents.
We had a sight of the black fish. Two appeared, some distance
ahead, sporting nimbly in the water. They were about twenty feet
long and well proportioned. They are valuable only for oil. One
will furnish perhaps two barrels. A beautiful land bird also sought
a resting place for the sole of its foot on our vessel. It kept with
us most of the day, and once came even into our cabin window.
Like the dove after the flood, so this little adventurer seemed to
point us to a resting place after the tossing of weeks on the billows
of the mighty deep. It probably came from the Western Islands,
then five or six hundred miles to the eastward of us. Next in or-
* We much regret that this second edition has not yet appeared. We
hope it will be issued ere long, as the book has been some years out of print.
7
THE DOLPHIN-PHOSPHORIC GEMS.
41
der, a large turtle made his appearance. The captain ordered the
jolly boat to be let down for pursuit. As the men were hastening
to disencumber the boat of its fastenings, their confusion, before
getting it down, waked up the turtle, which generally sleeps when
he floats upon the surface, and he suddenly made off. Soon, how-
ever, his head again appeared at a distance to the watchful eye of
the captain; the boat was instantly let down; two men rowed off
with the captain for the booty; they soon came up with him and
the captain was so successful as to seize him with his hands as he
lay sleeping and floating in the water. He was a fine large fellow,
weighing probably about seventy pounds. The cook soon com-
menced despatching him, with all the formality of a slaughter-house;
and well he might; for, a few moments after the first blow, the deck
was covered with currents that would almost have led one to sup-
pose that an ox, instead of a turtle, had been the victim. The tur-
tle is very tenacious of life. This one showed all his native dispo-
sition to bite long after the entrails had been removed, and even af-
ter the head was severed from the body. Last in the train of the
visitors that relieved the monotony of the calm, that day, was a
shoal of dolphins. The appearance of this beautiful fish fully real-
izes the ideas which I had formed of it. Those we saw were as
large as the shad of Connecticut river. They are often found lar-
ger-sometimes three, and even five feet in length. The captain
sent his harpoon into the shoal, struck one and killed it. The
beautiful creature sunk to the bottom as if to deprive us of the en-
tertainment we had anticipated of inspecting it on deck.* The shoal
of course took the alarm at the disaster of a comrade and fled in-
stantly away.
Our calm also enabled us to take hold of divers things, in busi-
ness-style, or, as the sailors say, ship-shape. For the first time, we
all jumped the rope on deck-the ladies not excepted-for exer-
cise; and were all seen writing together, in the cabin. The latter
scene, I had supposed before embarking, would be one of the ear-
liest and most common on board. But illness prevented. Mrs.
Perkins had not taken her pen till that day; and Mrs. Smith plied
hers for the first time, the day previous.
Oct. 6. The holy Sabbath. The weather was still pleasant, and
Mr. Smith conducted religious worship, for the first time, on deck.
The officers and sailors were very attentive. To me, the scene was
new and deeply impressive. In the evening, we were entertained
by a remarkably vivid appearance of phosphoric gems in the water.
It almost seemed that the ocean was on fire. The captain told me
that this appearance is occasioned by the collection of a substance
in the water, somewhat resembling jelly. I have heard no other
explanation of it, though this hardly satisfied me.
* The back of this fish is sometimes purple-sometimes bright green—and
in other cases a slaty color. Below it is light, which changes to a golden
hue when the fish is dying.
6
42
PILOT FISH-ISLAND OF FLORES.
Oct. 7. A dull head wind. I commenced reading Mosheim's
Church History. In the evening we attended monthly concert. It
was delightful to approach the same mercy seat, at the same hour,
with our friends, though so widely separated from them.
Oct. 8. A pleasant morning held out the prospect of a fair wind.
This was very grateful to us all; and it was interesting to observe
what an air of good nature and glee was spread over the whole ves-
sel by it, after our long, strong head wind.
Oct. 9. Commenced reading Abercrombie on the Intellectual
Powers, continued Mosheim, and commenced teaching the ladies
Greek. With these exercises, and with our two hours' reading the
"Researches;" half an hour, poetry; and one hour engaged in
conversation; I find myself very well occupied: but I feel so vigo-
rous, in my returning health, that I am out of my element if unem-
ployed a moment.
Oct. 14. I observed the pilot-fish-a small fish six or eight inches
in length of a purple back, silvery sides, and beautifully crossed
with lateral stripes of a light reddish hue. It is the practice of this
little fish to follow vessels and act as a pilot to sharks and other
monsters of the deep, and from this circumstance it derives its
name.
•
Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Perkins continued successfully their lessons
in Greek, without having ever looked into a grammar. I suspect that
this may be the correct method of studying a language. They soon
became able to prepare a lesson, in the New Testament, for constru-
ing and parsing, merely from my oral instruction. We dispensed
with the use of grammars, not from choice, but because our books
were in boxes in the hold of the vessel and not accessible. The
privation proved to be no disadvantage.
Oct. 16. Rose at five o'clock. Flores, one of the Azores was
a little ahead. As the light increased, it revealed to us the outlines of
vineyards and grain fields, which presented a charming view. To one
shut out from the sight of land three and a half weeks only, its first
reappearance is truly welcome. As the sun rose, it cast a brilliant
hue over hill, and dale, and naked mountain cliffs, presenting us,
as we were then but a few miles distant, a very grand and beautiful
landscape. We all admired it, and Mrs. Smith applied her pencil
to the lovely scene. Flores is the most western of the Azores, and
the most northern except Corvo, which we observed, a sublime pile
of indistinguishable blue, away in the distant horizon. This whole
group belongs to the Portuguese. Flores is about thirty miles
long and nine or ten broad. It takes its name from the abundance
of flowers which grow wild in all parts of the island. It is extremely
fertile, wherever cultivated, and produces great quantities of grapes,
from which the inhabitants make wine as their staple commodity in
commerce. Corvo is about four leagues in circumference. It is
said to have derived its name from the vast number of crows that
were found there on its first discovery.
PROFANENESS-REproof.
43
Oct. 20. We had a visit from another neighbor of the grampus
species. He was more vain of his personal appearance than his
predecessors, and instead of lifting himself but half out of the wa-
ter, he leaped repeatedly, with his whole length, at least ten feet
above the surface. He was but a few rods from us, and the captain
supposed him to be twenty-five feet long.
To-day I finished reading Abercrombie for the first time-the first
time, for I hope to have another interview with this author. While
the mass of books that now flood the world, are hardly worth turn-
ing over, this work may be placed almost on the same shelf with
Butler's Analogy and some rare et ceteras, to be read and re-
read, from time to time.
During my walk, in the morning, I was amused to hear a reproof
administered by the captain to the cabin boy. The boy had ut-
tered a fearful oath in the hearing of the cook. The cook had in-
formed the mate, and the mate reported the case to the captain.
The boy was called up and questioned, but flatly denied the charge.
The cook was called in to give testimony against him; the mate
stood, hearing the trial, and the captain was administering his salu-
tary admonitions. How flagrantly inconsistent, I could not help
feeling, that men the most notoriously profane of any on board the
vessel, should join so earnestly in their lip-castigations of the boy,
whose offence was sanctioned by their own habitual example. How
true that example is more powerful than precept; and how affecting
the fact, that men will practise themselves what they so fully disap-
prove and pointedly condemn in others.
The profaneness of the crew was the only circumstance which
we had occasion to regret, on board the 'George,' so far as our
comfort was concerned. And how fearfully prevalent is this sin
among American seamen! I am happy to bear testimony to at
least one exception to its general prevalence. On board the Ma-
goun, of Philadelphia, Capt. Haven, in which we returned, I heard
not an oath uttered, during our long and boisterous passage of almost
four months, though neither the captain, nor any individual of the
crew was a professedly pious man. The captain very properly and
commendably made it a standing rule, that there should be no grog-
drinking nor swearing on board his vessel. May many other cap-
tains follow his worthy example. What inestimable advantages
would be the result to merchants and ship owners, to the morals
and welfare of seamen, and to common humanity.
Oct. 22. We had squalls and high winds and seas, during the
night. But while we felt some inconvenience from the great amount
of motion thus produced, we had the satisfactton of knowing that we
were flying on our course upon the wings of the wind, at the rate
of nine miles an hour. I arose and went on deck about four
o'clock, and never before had I seen so sublime a spectacle as was
then presented. The ocean was lashed into rolling mountians by
44
PAPAL PIETY—FAIR WEATHER.
gales which were almost hurricanes; and the vessel leaped from
summit to summit, half covered with the raging foam, almost with
the velocity of a bird, lying down, by its rockings, at one moment
nearly upon its beams-ends toward the wind, and the next moment,
even lower on the opposite side.
Oct. 23. Our cabin boy and cook were devoted Roman Catholics.
The former wore a charm about his neck, and the latter had a large
crucifix upon his arm. Poor Benny, the boy, very promptly pro-
duced his charm-a scrap of paper with the picture of the virgin
upon it-as proof of his piety, when I attempted to impress him
with the importance of becoming reconciled to God. On being
asked the use of the charm, he soberly answered, "It keeps the
vessel from being cast away." The cook, too, on one occasion,
endeavored to impress me with his sanctity. He declared that he
daily read his Bible and prayed,' but before I was out of hearing,
he uttered several terrible oaths, because the fire in the galley did not
burn to his liking. Papal ignorance is the mother of such devotion.
"Mother Cary's chickens," a small ocean bird, resembling some-
what the swallow, darting and twittering around us, seemed in their
element. They are always most lively during gales and storms.
It was pleasant to us to be favored with even such visitors; but not
so to the sailors, who regard these birds as almost the authors as
well as the harbingers and companions of storms.
Oct. 24. Rose at three o'clock and went on deck, found the
sails nearly all reefed, the rain pouring down in torrents, and the
wind and seas terribly high. Only three sails remained unfurled;
but the vessel still plodded her way over the high ridges and through
the deep valleys of water, three or four miles an hour. In the course
of the morning, a heavy shower fell, the wind in a measure sub-
sided, the clouds broke away, and the sun appeared. The sailors
all seemed transported with the change. Their gleeful songs, while
unreefing the sails, were merry and loud; and our cabin, dark and
dreary as it was, with its dead lights closed and most of its inmates
sea-sick, soon caught a ray of the general joy.
Oct. 25. Rose at two o'clock and went on deck. I had slept very
little during the night, in lively anticipation of soon gazing upon the
Old World. The watch had just discovered land when I arose,
which was not more than five or six miles distant. Being in some
uncertainty of our latitude, the captain was in doubt whether the
coast was cape Trafalgar, on the European, or cape Spartel, on the
African side of the Straits. So he wore ship, heading to the west,
and let the vessel ride at ease, waiting for the day. So strong, how-
ever, was the south wind, that we were borne onward-or rather,
back homeward, at the rate of three or four miles an hour, though
our sails were nearly all furled. A little after five A. M., the captain
wore ship again, and drove on with all speed towards the land. The
morning soon revealed to us the African coast, and we gazed with
FIRST SIGHT OF THE OLD WORLD.
45
unutterable emotions, for the first time, upon the Old World. It
was an unfortunate part of it,-poor Africa, robbed of her children
and crushed under accumulated wrongs!
The sight of Africa, which, in all my associations, was a land far
away, forcibly impressed me with our distance from country and
home. Till then, I had thought of them as only a little back, and
had hoped that I might retain the same feeling even to the place
of my distant destination. But a glance at the land of the Moors,
broke the spell and it vanished forever.
We passed round cape Spartel about a mile from the African
shore, which there presents a bold, rocky appearance, the rocks
rising in symmetrical layers. Cape Trafalgar appeared at the north,
off which Nelson achieved his renowned victory over the combined
fleets of France and Spain, and fell himself" covered with glory."
Entering the Straits, we passed Tangier, the first town on the Afri-
can side. Viewed from the water, it has a regular, imposing appear-
ance; but within, it is said to exhibit the most disgusting wretch-
edness. Its inhabitants subsist principally by supplying the fortress
of Gibraltar with cattle and vegetables. We were so near as to be
able to see its ancient walls and monuments quite distinctly; and
from their venerable appearance, we judged that, in the days of its
piratic celebrity, it must have been far more flourishing than at pres-
A few miles to the east, a lofty tower, white as marble, lifts
its head in solitude.
ent.
:
We were borne rapidly along, having a fair wind, in addition to
the current, which, in the straits, is always three miles an hour.
On the Spanish coast, we passed the ancient tower of Tarifa, situ-
ated on a bay to which it gives its name. It is fortified with old
walls and towers, and has a castle. In front of the town, on a small
island of the same name, is a light-house, then the only one in the
Straits; another has since been erected at Gibraltar. On the Afri-
can side, we next passed Abyla, vulgarly called, Ape's hill, which is
one of the pillars of Hercules. It is truly a magnificent pile. From this
mountain, a lofty ridge runs off to the south, apparently of primary
formation. A lower secondary ridge shut its base from our view.
Beyond Abyla, is the strongly fortified town of Ceuta, which belongs
to Spain, and contains about 8,000 inhabitants. And opposite to
Ceuta, on the European shore, is the famous rock, Gibraltar, the
other pillar of Hercules, peering in sublime majesty, with a fortress
the strongest of the strong. These lofty out-posts of nature,
said by the ancients to have been erected by Hercules as the limits
of the western world, present an appearance that readily accounts
for the fable.
The new scenes, presented to us that day, greatly enlivened the
tedium of our voyage. But we were deeply impressed with the
feeling, that the lands which we saw are lands of darkness, where
the Pope on the one hand, and the False Prophet on the other, sway
46
DISASTER-EXCURSION.
their bloody and corrupting sceptres. And our feelings were best
relieved, as we mused on the dreary scenes, by singing the beauti-
ful hymn,
"O'er the gloomy hills of darkness,
Let the eye of pity gaze;
See the kindreds of the people,
Lost in sin's bewildering maze ;
Darkness brooding,
On the face of all these lands."
Our feeling of security was increased, as well as our ennui broken,
by entering the Mediterranean. Our passage of the Atlantic had
been a rough one, and a frightful disaster that had befallen our cap-
tain, a little before our embarkation, made him, as well as ourselves,
rather timorous. Three days out from Boston, a sudden gust of
wind, about four o'clock in the morning, capsized his vessel. He
had only time to spring from his berth, and himself, his second
mate and one sailor jump into a boat, before the vessel with the
rest of the crew went down. The survivors floated three days and
nights, on the rough ocean, with nothing to eat nor drink, and with
no oars to work their boat, and the captain, with no clothing but
shirt and pantaloons, when they were picked up. No wonder that
the fresh recollection of such a disaster should make even a hardy
son of Neptune a little timorous on the ocean.
Oct. 30. A small island rose in sight, Cabrera by name, (in Latin,
Cabraria). It is about three miles long and half a mile wide, rocky
and uninhabited except a port, the entrance of which is opposite
Majorca, and is defended by a castle. This island is used as a place
of banishment for criminals. To-day, for the first time, we felt the
enervating effects of the Sirocco.
Nov. 1. A head wind. In twenty-four hours we had made five
miles, and in doing this, had sailed more than a hundred miles by
tacking. The small island of Cabrera again appeared, and in just
about the same direction and nearly the same distance from us as
on the day previous.
Nov. 2. The wind was weak and the weather delightful. Just
before sunset, the captain invited us to take a seat with him in the
jolly boat and ride out. We gladly accepted the invitation, were
let down by the tackles, and in a moment found ourselves floating
in a small bark, which under the lee of the stately George, seemed
hardly larger than a porridge bowl. We rowed off a few rods from
the brig and were amused to watch the majestic stateliness of her
motion. The ladies were much relieved and entertained by the ex-
cursion. Such trifling adventures, are of important use to those
who have become wearied with the sameness of a voyage.
Nov. 3. The Sabbath. It was a delightful morning. Mrs. P.
and myself went on deck to walk at five o'clock. The dawn was
just lighting up the eastern skies, and the full moon retiring in the
There was a perfect calm; the sea was as smooth as a mir-
west.
d
A SUNRISE PANTALARIA GOZO.
47
was
ror; and a delicate softness, peculiar to the Mediterranean,
spread over the whole heavens. The captain at length came out
and invited us to ascend upon the house, (the deck-cabin). We did
so, and Mr. and Mrs. Smith soon joined us. Then came the king
of day rejoicing in the east. Mrs. Smith now beheld a sunrise at
sea for the first time. "O that is sublime," she exclaimed; and it
was so indeed to those who had often witnessed the same scene be-
fore. It was this sunrise, which is so graphically sketched by her
gifted pen in her published Memoirs. We sung a hymn in our ele-
vated position, and gazed awhile upon the African coast near which
we had been drifted during the night, and which was now smiling
under the brilliant rays of the sun. It was the coast of Algiers.
Our charm was at length broken by a summons from Benny to go
to breakfast. In the afternoon, Mr. Smith preached on deck from
the parable of the fig-tree. The sailors were very attentive. The
stillness of the day and of the scene was very peculiar and im-
pressive. The weather was the warmest which we had on our
voyage.
Nov. 6. Galata, a small, barren, rocky island, near the coast of
Tunis, was in full view to the leeward, and Sardinia was in sight
from mast head, to the windward. In the afternoon, we passed
the site of ancient Carthage, the once powerful rival of Rome.
Ten thousand classic and sacred associations thronged our minds,
as we found ourselves so near the ashes of the devoted city. Cape
Blanco, the most northern point of Africa, was also in sight.
Nov. 7. In the morning, we were north of the small island of
Zembla, another rocky bluff of almost the same shape and size
as Galata. Cape Bon, on the African coast was in view. And
while confined in my berth with a slight illness, we passed the is-
land of Pantalaria. It is situated about sixty miles south of Massala,
a town on the western point of Sicily, and about the same distance
from cape Bon on the African coast. It is about thirty miles in
circumference. Its productions are olives, figs, raisins, capers and
cotton; its cattle are numerous. It is under the government of
the two Sicilies, and used by that government as a place of banish-
ment for its nobility, who are guilty of treasonable designs. The
language is a mixture of African and Italian.
Nov. 8. The wind was brisk, during the previous night, and in
the morning, the island of Gozo which is near to Malta and belongs
to it was in full view, and Malta itself soon appeared. We passed
along about a mile distant from Gozo. Its southern termination is
almost as bold as Gibraltar rock. We had a good view of its vil-
lages and churches and could even perceive a windmill in the act
of going. The cultivated terraces looked like garden beds, green
as in the month of June, in New England. Almost all the soil on
the island is artificial, in the form of terraces built out among the
cliffs of the rocks. These are of course under high cultivation.
As Malta hove in sight, round the north end of Gozo, not “dis-
48
ARRIVAL AT MALTA.
tance," but nearness lent "enchantment to the scene.” Mrs. P.
soon fancied that she saw fruit-trees,—Mrs. Smith applying the
spy-glass saw a man, and queried whether he were not an Anakim.
We read St. Paul's account of approaching Malta, in the 27th of
Acts, as we advanced towards the island. All was glee and good
nature on deck; the mates and sailors were painting and brushing
up the brig, and appeared as solicitous that she should make a fair
appearance, as good matrons and young misses are for their parlors
before a party.
Cumino is a small island in the channel, between Gozo and Malta.
At half past one, P. M., we were off "St. Paul's Bay," where the
apostle is supposed to have been shipwrecked. As we advanced
toward La Valletta, the capital of Malta, its lofty walls, forts, towers,
spires and fine edifices impressed us with the strength and beauty of
the city. A pilot boat came out a mile and a half to meet us.
"What do you charge for piloting us in?" inquired the captain.
"Fifteen dollars," was the reply. The captain refused to give that
sum, but the boatmen kept along side some time, and at length of-
fered to pilot us in for ten dollars, and their offer was accepted.
Just before we entered the harbor, about twenty small boats,
finely painted and manned by natives, met us, requesting to tow us
in. They surrounded the vessel and importuned the captain like
so many harpies for the job, but the pilot's dexterity superseded the
necessity of their aid. We rode majestically into the harbor and
threw out our anchor at two o'clock, P. M. We were heartily glad
to cease from our rolling and tossing, which had been almost in-
cessant for forty-eight days. We were still unable to enter the city,
being compelled to lie a week in quarantine.
In the course of the afternoon the captain went near the shore,
and took directions from the first officer of the port respecting our
quarantine. A watch-Guardiano, as he is called-came on
board, to see that none of us should go into the city and contaminate
its inhabitants, who, together with the pilot must stay on board, lest
they also should become vehicles of contagion. The din of the
busy city around us reminded us forcibly of home. But its lofty
walls and towers impressed us with the fact, that we were no longer
in the New, but in the Old World; and the incessant chiming of al-
most innumerable bells, soon sickened our hearts with the painful
certainty, that we were also in the heart of the dominions of the
man of sin."
Nov. 9. We anchored yesterday in the main harbor, because
the wind was too strong from the quarantine harbor to allow us to
enter it. This morning, soon after light, the pilot boats again
swarmed around us, clamorous for the opportunity of towing us
from one harbor into the other. The captain rejected their offers
as extravagant, and they at length disappeared. But seeing him
make preparations to sail out without them, they returned more clam-
orous than ever for employment. A few were finally engaged for
VISIT FROM THE MISSIONARIES.
49
three dollars-half their first offer, at which others still demurred.
The captain added two dollars, which seemed to satisfy all, and the
arrangement was accepted. We weighed anchor at eight o'clock,
the wind still blowing strong as ever from the quarantine harbor.
Just as we began to enter it, the Maltese boatmen importuned the
captain to throw out his anchor, declaring that they could pull us
no farther. But the captain refused to release them, and kept them
almost the whole forenoon, tacking back and forth across the harbor,
to gain one fourth of a mile. The boats were filed in two lines,
and attached by ropes to the bows of our vessel and to each other.
Their appearance was truly amusing, as they were thus strung out
in two parallel teams, some fifteen or twenty rods long. They soon
relaxed their efforts and lay leisurely on their oars; but what they
saved in strength they lost in time; for the captain kept them
wheeling back and forth across the harbor, until by the exertions of
his sailors in the jolly boat, rather than by any aid from the towmen,
he reached his place of anchorage. How depressed must be the
condition of a people, where eighty men, as in this case,-
being twenty boats with four men in each boat,-gladly labor a
whole half day for the scanty sum of five dollars!
—there
We threw out our anchor along side of a Turkish vessel. It was
amusing to observe its motley crew and passengers. On board
were Greeks, Arabs, Moors, negroes and Turks. They stared at
us with eager curiosity, and we as eagerly at them.
The captain went on shore and returned laden with dainties,—
fresh beef, vegetables and fruits. Among the latter were pome-
granates, Maltese chestnuts, winter melons, cauliflowers and toma-
toes. This melon resembles our musk-melon. We left home in
the season of melons and found them fresh at Malta, which re-
minded us of our difference of climate. The grass and flower
bushes, on the shore around the harbor, were also green as in mid-
summer in New England.
Mr. Temple and the other missionaries* residing in Malta came
along side and afforded us opportunity of delightful conversation.
They also brought us many comforts to cheer our confinement in
quarantine. And seldom are persons in circumstances more fully
to appreciate kind attentions, or keenly to feel any apparent want
of them, on the part of their friends, than while, after the fatigues
and exposures of a long voyage or journey, they lie as prisoners in
quarantine. In company with the missionaries, Mr. Carabet, an
Armenian bishop, in their employ, came to visit us.
He is a
venerable looking man. Under the influence of the mission he has
got so much the better of his canonical scruples on the virtue of
episcopal celibacy, that he has married a young wife, and is rearing
a family. His fine little girl who came with him, brought us some
* Soon after this time, Messrs. Temple and Hallock removed with the press
to Smyrna, and there have since been no American missionaries in Malta.
7
50
LEAVING THE GEORGE-MALTA.
beautiful nosegays. They were the first flowers which we saw in
the Old World, and after being so long excluded from everything of
the kind, we highly prized the attention. They were thrown into
our cabin window, and within five minutes completely perfumed
our little dwelling.
The urbanity of bishop Carabet and of other foreigners, soon
impressed me with the stiffness and roughness of the American
character,—a point of which I have been more and more reminded,
during my entire residence in foreign lands. Even the tawny,
degraded Maltese are incomparably more respectful and polite than
the mass in New England. It may, indeed, be in them a servile
politeness, or the garb of secret intrigue. And nobody, and least
of all a yankee, doubts the general superiority of the sons of brother
Jonathan to all other nations, unless it be their English cousins who
may be nearly their equals. With all their excellence, however,
they might be yet more excellent, had they, with the plentitude of
their fortiter in re, a mediocrity of the suaviter in modo, especially
in their intercourse with foreigners.
We remained on board the George, during the week of our
quarantine, instead of going into the Lazaretto. The accommoda-
tions in the Lazaretto are said to be superior. The apartments are
spacious, airy and delightfully situated on the sea. A good hotel
furnishes all needed comforts and conveniences to the inmates,
which is very different from the dreary encampments which we
subsequently encountered under our tent, among the mud-shantees
of the Cossacks in the Russian provinces.
Nov. 13. Our period of purgation, in quarantine, being com-
pleted, we took pratique, and were cordially welcomed at the houses
of our missionary brethren. We felt a kind of painful reluctance,
at last, on leaving our quiet cabin in the George, which had so long
been our home, and the captain and crew seemed heartily to regret
our departure. The next day, we went on board, for the last time,
and presented Bibles to them all-a nice quarto Bible to the cap-
tain-which were very gratefully received. In their increasingly
serious deportment, toward the close of the voyage, we had some
reason to hope that our conversations, our preaching and our prayers
had not been in vain.
The island of Malta is composed of white limestone, so soft, that
much of its surface is beaten up and pulverized, and formed into
cultivated terraces. The soil thus obtained is extremely fertile and
produces excellent crops-particularly fruits. The climate is very
mild, there being little or no winter on the island. Oranges and
lemons were in their prime on the trees when we were there in the
middle of November. Its inhabitants are about as dark as the Ameri-
can Indians.
They are a mixed race, said to have descended from
Arabs and Carthaginians; and they speak a corrupt dialect of the
Arabic, containing many words from the old Punic language. La
Valetta, the capital of the island, is a fine city. It is cleanly and
BEGGARS-PRIESTS-LA VALETTA.
51
well-paved; and its houses are well-built of stone. They are very
high and airy, and form delightful residences. House-rent is low,
and its ample and well stocked markets furnish provisions and
clothing remarkably cheap. In the prospect of being beyond the
reach of European tailors in Persia, I procured two suits of clothes
there, one of broadcloth for winter, and the other of a thin material
for summer, for both of which when made up, I paid a little short
of twenty-nine dollars; and almost everything else seemed to be
cheap in proportion.
Some of the churches in Malta are very large and splendid edifices.
St. John's, which we visited, is the most celebrated. Its vaults are
filled with the ashes of saints-its walls covered with gaudy paint-
ings-its floors are of a superior order-its dome is mounted with
several large bells which are almost constantly chiming as the signal
of some religious festivity,-and it is altogether a most imposing
monument of the idolatrous worship of Rome. Many other churches
on the island are of the same general description.
The greatest nuisances of Malta are its hosts of beggars and
priests. The former are in some measure the agents, as well as
the offspring, of the latter. The beggars are so numerous and
importunate in the streets, as seriously to impede one's passing.
They would even seize hold upon us like ravenous animals, stun
our ears with their entreaties, sometimes pathetically appealing to
us for the SOULS of their friends in Purgatory,-an artifice far
more successful with Papists than with us incredulous Protestants,
to the use of which the miserable mendicants had doubtless been
instructed by the wily priesthood. The capital which contains
about twenty thousand inhabitants, is said to be scourged by at least
1,100 priests of various orders, including, to be sure, the inmates
of the convents, but all of whom must feed upon the famished popula-
tion. These priests thronged the streets in all directions and at all
hours of the day, like swarms of locusts, eager to devour the land.
Some of them were mere boys, twelve or fourteen years old, whose
broad brimmed hats and other grotesque canonicals, gave to them
a truly ludicrous appearance. In few places in the world, and per-
haps nowhere, does the Pope reign with more tyrannical sway, than
in Malta. Nowhere have I seen a more squalid, miserable, priest-
ridden populace.
La Valetta is a strongly fortified city. This, rendered well nigh
impregnable by art, and Gibraltar rock at the straits, which is fully
so by nature, give to the English the perfect command of the Medi-
terranean. The town is also kept strongly garrisoned. There were,
I think, five regiments in it when we were there, who were under
the finest discipline. One of them was the fanious 42nd regiment
of Scotch highlanders. They were tall, athletic men, and their
highland costume, with their legs bare to the knee, give to them a
very hardy, warlike appearance. The English government of the
island is strict and firm, but ameliorating in its policy and influence,
52
VOYAGE TO CONSTANTINOPLE.
as much so as a government well can be, over so wretched and de-
based a population.
While at Malta, we made the acquaintance of the Rev. Mr. Wil-
son, a missionary of the London Society; and Mr. Schlienz, a cler-
gyman, and Messrs. Brenner and Wise, laymen, missionaries of the
Church Missionary Society. The former was engaged in miscella-
neous labors. The three latter, who are Germans, were occupied
mainly in the preparation and printing of books. While the truly
catholic and excellent spirit of the Society under which they labor
is conspicuous, in its employing as it does, so many men of another
nation and a different religious communion, it reveals a painful defi-
ciency in the missionary spirit of its own church, that men of devo-
tion to the cause cannot be found in sufficient numbers within her
pale to go in person and apply her missionary funds. May the man-
tle of Martyn rest on more of her rising sons! The operations of
the press under the Church Missionary Society, at Malta, are ex-
tensive and efficient. The missionaries had in their employ, as a
translator, at the time I was there, a Mr. Rassám, a Chaldean from
Mosûl, by whose aid they kindly prepared and lithographed for me
a Nestorian spelling book, which proved a very timely and valuable
passport, on my first entrance among the Nestorians. Mr. Rassám,
at the instance of Mr. Schlienz, also gave me a letter of introduc-
tion to Mar Oráham, (Abraham,) the metropolitan of Oróomiah, with
whom he was acquainted, but who died before I reached the field.
We were laid under much obligation to those excellent German
brethren, as well as to the missionaries of our own Society, at Mal-
ta, for their kindness and aid to us during our short stay on the
island.
CHAPTER IV.
VOYAGE FROM MALTA TO CONSTANTINOPLE.
As it was seldom that vessels sailed directly from Malta to Con-
stantinople, I had apprehended considerable delay, before an oppor-
portunity should occur for us to proceed to the Turkish capital.
Providentially, however, the day we took pratique, I found a Greek
brig, bound for that city, which was to sail in a few days. The
captain was well recommended to me by Mr. Aneaud, then Ameri-
can consul at Malta; and the vessel was chartered by a Mr. Petra-
kokino, a Greek gentleman whose brother had been my classmate
some years before at Amherst College; and more favorable still, that
same brother, who was then, and is still, connected with our mission-
REVIVAL OF OLD ACQUAINTANCE.
53
aries as a translator, was himself to be a passenger as far as the island
of Syra. In addition to the sincere pleasure of his society, we might
thus enjoy his important assistance as an interpreter on the way.
Strangers as we were in those regions, and unable to speak the lan-
guage of those with whom we were to sail, the Providence which unex-
pectedly furnished us these important facilities was as timely as it was
striking; and the Scripture declaration, "Commit thy way unto the
Lord and He will direct thy steps," was vividly impressed on every
mind by it, as it has very often been by similar providences, in my
subsequent travels and labors.
Mr. Petrakokino, (translated, Redstone,) my classmate, had sat
for years at my side in the college lecture-room and chapel, our
names commencing with the same initial, and the revival of our ac-
quaintance, in the distant East, was of course, mutually most agree-
able. He kindly assisted me in engaging my passage and making
other preparations for the voyage. The arrangement was, that we
should board ourselves, though the cook of the vessel might aid us
in preparing our food. Our stock of provisions, however, which the
cheap markets of Malta furnished for a very small sum, consisting
mainly of bread and fruits, needed little preparation for the table.
Nov. 19. We rose at 5 o'clock; put our effects in readiness as
soon as possible, and were early on board the Greek brig, Neptune,
of Syra, John Micaro, captain. Messrs. Temple and Smith, ac-
companied us to the vessel, and the German missionaries soon came
to bid us farewell. Mr. Hallock kindly took care that our boxes and
beds should be put on board, and about 9 o'clock, A. M. a fine breeze
from the south-west filled our sails, and we closed our eyes upon
beautiful and busy, but benighted Malta. I spent most of the day
in arranging our cabin. At evening, my fellow passengers being
too sea-sick to take seats at the table, or to eat even, I was obliged
to be pater familias, matron and family, at our humble board.
There is something very sombre in eating alone. I preferred, how-
ever, to set our table, though solitary and alone, to preserve as far
as practicable, the appearance and associations of home.
*
We found our accommodations, on board the Neptune, very com-
fortable. We had a spacious cabin entirely to ourselves. The
cook assisted us, so far as we needed, and the fine, active cabin boy
was ever ready at our call. The captain was a very superior man for
a Greek. Besides speaking and reading his own language well, he
used Italian and French fluently, possessed much general informa-
tion, was gentlemanly in his manners and very kind in his disposi-
tion. We soon had occasion to notice that the policy on board
his vessel, was very different from that observed in the "George."
Instead of standing like mute statues, trembling with fear, and
watching the captin's nod, the sailors seemed happy and social, and
whiled away the dreary hours of night by chatting together and sing-
* Mrs. P., myself and Mr. Petrakokino.
54
VARIETY IN THE CARGO.
ing. The captain, too, did not scruple to converse familiarly with
his crew and treat them as fellow-men and companions. I state
this difference, without attempting to decide which system is prefer-
able. I may venture, however, to suggest the query, whether a me-
dium course might not be far superior to either. The noisy, play-
ful, and often cowardly and inefficient Greek sailors, might bend
their necks to half the rigor practised on board an American ves-
sel, and they would lose none of their proper freedom and enjoy-
ment, and become much more prompt, efficient seamen by the change.
And might not the Yankee crew, on the other hand, enjoy a modi-
cum of the indulgence allowed to the Greek sailor, and remain no
less docile and obedient, and become men of more character and
far better republicans than on the present American system? We
had on board the Neptune a large variety of animated existences,
cats, dogs, sheep, swine, and, besides a heterogeneous mass of bi-
peds in the form of men, some dozens of hens, and a few beautiful
Canary birds. In such a community, who could be lonely?
*
Nov. 20. A delightful day and still a fair wind. Our captain
had been several months absent from his home, on the island of
Syra. When he now reached it, he was to behold, for the first
time, an only son. Of course, he hastened towards Syra with feel-
ings of no ordinary interest. He had on board a large sheep, of
the fat tail breed, or, as it is sometimes called, the sheep with five
quarters, in reserve for the festivities which he intended to observe,
on his arrival, in celebration of the birth of his son. During this
part of my voyage, I kept paper and pencil in hand to note down
the Greek of each term in which I had occasion to address the cap-
tain, cook, cabin boy or sailor, in the hope of thus forming a vo-
cabulary sufficiently large to serve our purposes of necessity, after
Mr. Petrakokino should leave us, as he expected to do, at the island
of Syra. The wind was so high during the afternoon and evening,
that we had all but three of our sails close-reefed, and still advanced
at the rapid rate of seven and half miles an hour. There was con-
siderable motion, but less by far than there would have been on
board the George in the same circumstances. Our cargo was
hewn stonet from Malta and iron bedsteads, which kept our vessel
upright.
Nov. 22. The wind and sea continued very high, during the last
night. This morning, cape Matapan, (the ancient Taenarus,) was
in full view. It is the southern extremity of the Peloponnesus.
* This is the only kind of sheep which I have ever seen in Persia and the
eastern parts of Turkey. Its tail consists of a mass of fat, in the shape of a
heart, almost as heavy as a quarter of the animal; the Persians use this fat,
to a great extent, in the place of butter and lard.
†The Malta limestone is exported in large quantities to Constantinople
and other places in the Levant, for paving the open courts and piazzas of the
houses. It is so soft and easily wrought, that it can be afforded at a moderate
price when transported to a distance.
SOUTHERN GREECE.
55
At that moment was I permitted for the first time to gaze upon
classic Greece. Advancing to the eastward, the island of Cerigo
(ancient Cythera) soon appeared to the south-east of cape Mata-
pan. It belongs to the Ionian republic of Seven Islands. It is sepa-
arated from the Morea only by a narrow strait. We fell in with an
English man-of-war that had left Malta two or three days before us,
and was bound to Sinyrna or Constantinople. She was a three deck-
er-the St. Vincent-carrying 120 guns. Her appearance was truly
magnificent. By the side of our humble Greek brig, she seemed like
a lofty floating island. In the afternoon, the wind and sea became
very high. We split our tri-sail and were obliged to lie to, at least,
so thought the timorous Greeks.
Nov. 23. This morning, we were driving down near the south
end of Cerigo, the wind having blown so violently that the captain
thought it unsafe to pass round the north end, between the island
and cape Malea. About a mile and half from the south end of Ce-
rigo is a solitary rock, called Egg Island, an acre or more in size,
towering in lonely sublimity. We had intended to pass between this
rock and Cerigo, but the north wind was so strong as to forbid the
hope of our being able to make up on our course beyond. The
captain therefore wore ship and made back again. Thus traversing
and retraversing the gulf of Kolokythia, we had a good opportunity
to survey the southern extremity of Greece. The storm at length
ceased, but the wind continued high and the weather was quite
cold. The lofty range of Mount Taygetus, which stretches itself
through the south-eastern extremity of the Morea, and terminates
in cape Malea, was covered with snow that had fallen during the
storm. We were shivering on deck, in our great coats, cloaks and
gloves, glad to secure a corner in the sun. The change of tempera-
ture, however, was not unwelcome. It was a strong barrier against
sea-sickness; and though still unapproached, myself, by that "com-
mon scourge," I could rejoice to encounter the inclemency of the
weather, while it relieved my suffering companions.
Just at sunset, we were passing the small rocky piles of Cervi, or
Stag islands, which lie directly west of cape Malea. They are
about six miles north of Cerigo. As evening came on, lights ap-
peared in the hamlets, among the mountains, north-west of the cape.
We were delighted to find ourselves again in the vicinity of human
habitations, however secluded their situation and humble their oc-
cupants. Malea has always been considered a formidable cape. Ho-
mer speaks of it as such. As we approached it, in the evening, the
wind roared terrifically and blew like a hurricane, and the rain
poured down in torrents. The captain therefore wore ship and
"marched back again.' Three days from Malta brought us more
than four hundred miles on our course; but for the last day and a
half, we had merely traversed and retraversed the gulf of Kolokythia.
Nov. 24. We found ourselves, this morning, near the western
shore of the gulf. Mt. Taygetus towered in the east, in snow-cap-
+
56
(C
GREEK SEAMEN-THE CAPTAIN.
ped and cloud-capped sublimity. About sun-rise, we wore ship
again to recross the gulf. The shores around us formed a great
amphitheatre, in the centre of which we were sailing. The surface
of the land appeared rough and sterile; and the villages small and
miserable; but the scenery as a whole, was truly magnificent. Just
before noon, we again reached the Cervi, and threw out our anchor
under the lee of one of them, the weather being still too rough in
the judgment of our prudent mariners, to attempt to double the
frightful cape. We felt little apprehension of disaster, on board the
Neptune." Our captain and crew, a yankee would have pro-
nounced, egregious cowards. Their manœuvres in that gulf, afford
a fair illustration of their nautical courage. Nor was our fellow
passenger with his excellent American education, a whit before his
countrymen, in this particular. He trembled like an aspen leaf
most of the time after we entered the gulf, and did little more than
importune the captain, to anchor-to anchor. An American cap-
tain would never have thought of turning back, or stopping a mo-
ment, for those winds. But let me not be misunderstood. I would
far sooner encounter the tardiness of Greek timidity, than entrust
property or life to the adventurous and often reckless daring of many
American navigators. Here, again, might not the nautical charac-
teristics of the two be compounded with important advantages to
both? Had the Greek captain one half of the American's courage
and energy, he would doubtless redeem one third of his time and
greatly enhance his employer's profit. And had the American cap-
tain a portion of the Greek's prudence, or timidity, if such it be,
how much fewer would be our merchantmen wrecked and our
steam-boats blown up! It must be a defective economy\that paves
the ocean and our rivers with so much of the fruits of American in-
terprise and toil; beggars such multitudes-clothes communities in
sackcloth—and fills so many houses and rends so many hearts with
the agonies of grief and distress.
But we will return to the Neptune. Soon after our anchors were
cast, the sailors were fishing, their fears all quelled, and the captain
came down into the cabin to pay us a visit. I was more and more
surprised by his intelligence and discrimination. We conversed,
this afternoon, through Mr. P. as our interpreter, about three
hours. Our topics were miscellaneous, as American history and
prosperity, the present state of Greece, our own missionary enter-
prize, future location, etc. As this captain was a good specimen
of the higher orders of Greek mind moderately cultivated, I may
give the reader some of the items of our conversation, a little more
in detail. As we began to speak of America, he took from his
drawer an abridged life of Franklin, in modern Greek, with a like-
ness, and said, "I love him because he was a friend of liberty."
He was much interested in our minute account of the adventures of
the Pilgrims who first settled New England, and remarked, that the
origin of the Greeks, as a nation, was very similar. He knew
IDEAS OF AMERICA-SKEPTICISM.
I
57
Washington's reputation and admired his character. He thought
there was nothing very marvellous in the revolutionary valor of the
Americans, aided as they were by the French; but regarded it as
wonderful, that they were able to frame such an unequalled system
of government. The Indians, he thought, had shared a hard fate
from the Europeans. He inquired whether the whites ever inter-
marry with them; and on being told that they sometimes do, he
replied, that it became the Europeans, rather than the Indians, to
seek to promote such connexions, to atone, if possible, for the
wrongs they have inflicted; and that condescension, if there were
any, would be on the part of the natives. He had even heard of
South Carolina nullification, then of recent celebrity, and inquired
with much interest whether its leaders had been apprehended.
We reminded him that our national blessings resulted from the
Bible and the general diffusion of knowledge. "Very probable,"
he replied; but proceeded to develope his infidel principles. "The
Bible," said he, "is a fine book; but I do not believe it is inspired;
Luke, the Evangelist, for instance, did not live until three hundred
years after Christ," and so on. He had obviously caught a few
floating infidel objections, and without stopping to canvass their
validity, used them as a quietus to his conscience. It is still true
that "the Greeks seek after wisdom;" but, unhappily, it is little
more than the wisdom of this world. In relation to Greece, he
said he regretted the interference of foreigners in their government;
that England and France had been merely seeking to feather their
own nests, with all their ostentation of philanthropy; and that but
for them, the Greeks might now have enjoyed an elective system.
"The
In relation to our prospects, he manifested deep interest.
place to which you go," said he, "is good enough, but the thing is
to get there;" a remark fraught with more of truth than poetry, as
we then supposed and have since fully learned by experience. Mr.
P. translated to him the hymn commencing, "Yes, my native
land, I love thee," which we informed him was sung on the occasion
of our marriage a little before our embarkation. "O, it is affect-
ing," he exclaimed, and appeared fully to catch its inspiration.
He inquired for our respective homes, which we pointed out to him
on the map; and he expressed great wonder how we ever found
each other at such a distance, (160 miles,) which would indicate
but a very limited intercourse between the different parts of Greece;
or, what is more probable, that matrimonial alliances are seldom
thought of, by the Greeks, out of their respective clans, or immediate
circles of acquaintance. He marvelled how we could consent to
leave our country and friends, and inquired how soon we intended
to return; and when told, never, he sighed and seemed almost
overcome. He wondered most that ladies could thus leave home,
and said that nothing could account for the fact, but their ardent
attachment to their husbands. We told him that some American
ladies go out single to teach the benighted; this perplexed him at
}
8
希
​58
ESTIMATION OF AMERICA,
first, but he finally proscribed this practice altogether as a most
flagrant anomaly, and resumed his former position, charging me to
take good care of Mrs. Perkins, inasmuch as she showed an attach-
ment to me strong enough to tear her from kindred and home, and
carry
her to distant Persia. He could not be reconciled to the idea
of our never returning, and said that we ought to come back in five
or ten years, that this period would be amply sufficient for us to do
our penance. We assured him that we embarked in the enterprise
for life, voluntarily, and while some of our friends strongly en-
deavored to detain us in our country. "Well," said he, “your
sacrifice is praise-worthy, but your prospects to me appear very
dark." We told him that our sole object was to enlighten the
Nestorians by circulating the Scriptures and diffusing religious
knowledge and truth among them, and that our only hope of success
was in the blessing of God. "Ah," he replied, "Christians always
say 'there is hope only in God.'” This captain cherishes a high
veneration for the American character, as the Greeks generally do.
They call all missionaries, Americans. The captain placed a large
trunk about one third full of Italian dollars, unlocked, in my state-
room, during our voyage, regarding my American citizenship as a
full warrant for the safety of his money.
At evening prayers, George, our cabin boy, stood near our door.
I requested Mr. P. after worship, to explain to him the nature of our
services, that American Christians read their Bibles morning and
evening, and pray to God together in their families, thanking him
for past mercies, imploring pardon for their sins, and seeking future
blessings. "We used to pray on board the vessel," replied the
boy, "but have done now. Mr. P. had before remarked to me,
that there was less appearance of piety, (in the Greek sense,) on
board our vessel than he had expected to find. There were no
crosses nor pictures. Indeed, the more intelligent Greeks are gene-
rally becoming infidels; and no marvel; ignorance and superstition
are so far from being the parents of devotion, that sooner or later
they prove the hotbeds of open irreligion. Perhaps the present
prevalence of infidelity among the Greeks is, however, not less
favorable to the revival of evangelical piety among them, than their
former deep-rooted superstitions. Greek seamen would not probably
suffer in comparison with our own, as a class, on the score of irreli-
gion; and they certainly possess some qualities of character, that
might be worthily emulated by Americans. Instead of the morose,
sullen air, that too generally lowers on the brows of American
officers and crews, especially in bad weather, the Greeks are patient,
cheerful and affable. This difference, in my view, is greatly owing
to the fact, that our seamen are so much excluded from female so-
ciety,—at least, in virtuous connexions. The Greeks usually have
families, and their dispositions are softened and sweetened, and
their spirits buoyed up, by the tender relations, endearments and
recollections of home. It is painful to think of the unfavorable im-
GOING ON SHORE-A SPELLING BOOK.
59
pressions which too many of the seamen of our country leave on
foreign nations. It seems to be assumed by many American cap-
tains, that blustering, anger and profaneness are indispensable to
the maintenance of proper authority on board their vessels, and
equally to the character of "men of spirit" on shore. Happily,
the evil of intemperance is, I believe, diminishing among our sea-
men. And the benevolent efforts now made to improve their morals
and their religious condition have, doubtless, a very happy and exten-
sive influence in other respects. But such efforts should be many fold
increased. No life is harder than that of our seamen; and to few
classes of her citizens is our country more indebted. They, more-
over, are our national representatives to almost every port in the
world; and the pious among them are also the living epistles of the
churches to every people under heaven.
99
Nov. 25. Though there was but a single cloud in the skies, that
one lowered in sullen blackness on the ridge and along the side of
the mountain that terminates at cape Malea. "That mountain,
said the captain, "we must see clear, before we can weigh anchor
and proceed." Early in the morning, a man on a small jackass
rode down to the shore under which we lay, thus showing that the
Cervi are not entirely uninhabited. In the afternoon, the captain
and Mrs. P. and myself went on shore. On the way, we passed
two small Greek schooners, one from Trieste and the other from
Navarino, which had anchored there in the morning. The captain
of one of them informed us, that the Greek government had silenced
three of the four Greek periodicals, for alleged abuse on part of the
editors in censuring its own august policy. The Greeks seemed
quite indignant at the proceeding. On the island, we fell in with a
ragged shepherd boy, watching his flock. The boy was deeply en-
gaged in preparing a rude musical instrument, from a crooked stick.
The Greeks must all have music of some kind. Our crew were al-
most constantly humming their plaintive ballads or tinkling with
their fingers on their rude violins. On our way back to the boat,
we gathered a great variety of beautiful shells. We enjoyed our
ramble the more from the consciousness of then treading, for the
first time, upon the soil of renowned, ancient Greece.
In the evening, George sat reading in a small book near the cabin
door. Mr. P. requested him to show us the book, which we found
to be a collection of excellent prayers for persons in various condi-
tions and circumstances, published by the Rev. William Jowett, of
the Church Missionary Society. The boy then brought forward a
small spelling book, prepared by Mr. Wilson, at Malta, and holding
it up, said, "this taught me to read.” We inquired where he ob-
tained it, and he replied, a boy in Alexandria gave it to me. I
asked him how long he had been to sea; "Ever since I was eight
years old," he replied; he was then fifteen. We inquired whether
he had ever been to school; "two months" he answered, "and the
He could read
rest I have learned by myself on board the vessel."
"
""
60
MILO SERPHO-GREEK FAST.
any book fluently, and showed us a letter to his uncle which he had
written in a handsome hand. I inquired of George how he would
like to become qualified to teach school and labor thus to benefit
his countrymen. Pretty well," he replied; but on second thought
added, "I should like much better to become qualified to keep a
store in my native town,"-thus disclosing the strong passion of the
Greeks for trade and for wealth.
Nov. 26. At three o'clock this morning, we weighed anchor
and proceeded, the wind, though less strong, being still nearly
ahead. Just at daybreak, we doubled the formidable cape Malea.
At sunrise the rocky islands of Cerigotto and Porri appeared at some
distance to the south, Crete was visible farther to the east, and Mi-
We made
lo just glistened directly under the rays of the sun.
small progress, during the day, by tacking. The captain sat on
deck, reading the book of Genesis, recently published, in modern
Greek, at Corfu. He appeared deeply interested in the history
which he had never before read.
Nov. 27. In the morning, we found ourselves advancing toward
Milo and quite near it. The small lofty island, Falconera, was on
our left and the Ananes on our right. The latter are several small,
rocky islets. Milo has one of the best harbors in the Mediterranean,
and here vessels often stop and take pilots to conduct them through
the perilous passages of the Aegean. Anti-Milo is a small island
a few miles to the north west of Milo.
The next islands presented to our view were, Argentera, on our
right, and, beyond it, Siphante and Serpho on our left. Serpho is
so mountainous, that the poets tell us, that Perseus transformed its
inhabitants into stone. It contains mines of iron and lead. Its pro-
duce is small, but its onions are particularly celebrated. The an-
cient Romans made Serpho a place of banishment. According to
Aelian, the frogs of this island never croaked, unless they were trans-
ported elsewhere, when they became more noisy than others; and
hence the proverb, Seriphia rana, applied to mute persons. Its
frogs, however, are I believe not wanting in loquacity in modern
times, on their native island. To-day, a Greek fast of twenty-five
days commenced; and our crew, notwithstanding their lax, infidel
But it matters not
principles, excluded all meat from their meals.
how voraciously they partake of vegetable diet.
Nov. 27. This morning we passed along the islands St. George
and Thermia on our left,-Attica also appeared at a distance, in the
same direction. And the island of Syra, our captain's home, and
where he now wished to stop until his annual ship papers should be
renewed, was in full view at mid-day. Zea appeared at a distance
beyond Thermia on our left, and Paros, and Anti-Paros, renowned
for their marble, were in sight at the south-east. We passed very
near Pipëri, a small, uninhabited island. Its south end is a bold,
perpendicular rock, about one hundred feet high. We guessed, that
to-day might be Thanksgiving, in old Massachusetts. And though
SYRA UPPER AND LOWER TOWNS.
61
not permitted to take seats there at the table and share in the baked
turkey and chicken pie, we could unite with our friends in hearty
thanksgivings to God, and especially for his protection and mercies
to us, while we had been so long tossing on the bosom of the mighty
deep. At 6 o'clock, P. M. we rode into the harbor of Syra. It
is situated on the east side of the island. Syra is rocky and barren,
containing scarcely an inhabitant beyond the city of the same name,
which is itself situated on the side of a high mountain. The old,
town is back some distance from the harbor, and hangs romantical-
ly on a steep conical declivity near the mountain's summit. It is
inhabited entirely by Greek Catholics. The new part of the city,
by far the most populous and important, lies directly on the shore,
having sprung up, as if by magic, since the commencement of the
Greek revolution. It was built almost wholly by refugees from
other islands that had been ravaged by the Turks. It is now a busy
city, containing at least 25,000 inhabitants. The people of the up-
per and lower towns, as they may respectively be called, have scarce-
ly more intercourse with each other on account of their mutual reli-
gious antipathies, than had the Jews and Samaritans.
Nov. 29. We obtained pratique early in the morning and went
on shore. We were equally surprised and delighted to find our-
selves surrounded by so active and enterprising a population. Ma-
ny vessels were in process of building and the sound of the axes of
almost numberless carpenters reminded us forcibly of ship-yards at
home. The houses of the city we found to be miserable fabrics, and
thrown together in the utmost disorder; still almost everything wore
an aspect of industry and thrift. The city, though on the steep side
of a mountain, might have been so planned and built as to have se-
cured to it great convenience and beauty. The streets could have
been so arranged as to overlook each other in regular succession;
whereas, as it is, there are in fact no streets; but merely crooked,
irregular passes, scarcely wide enough for a loaded mule to go clear
of the houses. The place, however, is far better than could have
been expected, in the circumstances, commencing as the settlement
did with the rude shantees of trembling refugees, who expected to
stop there only till the tempest of war should subside. The Catho-
lics of the original town on the hill above, were protected from the
vengeance of the Turks by the French; and it was under the pe-
numbra of this foreign influence, that the refugees sought tempora-
ry succor. Their enterprising, restless spirit, however, did not al-
low them to remain idle, even during those troublous times; but
soon called into existence this lower town among the cliffs on the
barren beach, almost as if by miracle. It was then (1833) the most
populous and important city in Greece, and the central point of
communication with all other parts of the country. Its commence-
ment and growth are most interesting moral phenomena, and espe-
cially, as they so well illustrate the energy and capability of the
Greek character.
62
MEETING WITH FRIENDS GREEK WORSHIP.
We had with us letters of introduction to the Rev. Mr. Hildner,
the German missionary there, and to the Rev. Mr. Leeves, agent of
the British and Foreign Bible Society. On our way to the resi-
dence of the former, we were met by a Greek, acquainted with Mr.
Petrakokino, who informed us that our countryman, the Rev. Dr.
Robertson and his family had just come to Syra from Athens. We
therefore changed our course, and were conducted immediately to
the house of Dr. R., by whom and his lady we, were very cordially
welcomed, and kindly entertained, most of the time during our stay
of three weeks on the island. Our unexpected and very providen-
tial meeting with these countrymen and missionary friends was the
more agreeable, as Mrs. Perkins and Mrs. Robertson are from the
same village in New England. In the course of the day, we called,
in company with Dr. R., at the house of Mr. Hildner. He was ab-
sent on a voyage to England for his health. We saw Mrs. H. with
whom we afterwards had the pleasure of spending a few days, and
soon had occasion to recognize in her the same overflowing kind-
ness which is so characteristic of Germans, and especially of Ger-
man missionaries. We also visited Mr. Leeves; and with him and
his family had the happiness of frequent interviews and a delightful
acquaintance. He was engaged in translating the Old Testament
into modern Greek, from the original Hebrew.
Nov. 30. Early this morning a female came with a large jar of
water on her shoulder, which we were informed she had brought
more than a mile. The water used there for drinking, cooking and
washing was all furnished by the portage of women. The jar full-
perhaps five gallons-was sold for about three cents. We were
forcibly reminded of the ancient Hebrew custom of females bearing
water upon their shoulders.
their shoulders. An aqueduct, as the city is situated,
might be made to carry water from a single fountain to every dwell-
ing But wealth, and not convenience, was the passion of the in-
habitants and particularly, as many of them still meditated ex-
changing for a more fertile location, what they had been accus-
tomed to regard as a mere covert from the whirlwind of the revolu-
tion. The city, however, has continued to increase, to the present
time, in numbers and in business, though not much, I believe, in
taste and order. Street beggars are numerous in Syra, though far
less so and less annoying than at Malta. In the afternoon, I called
with Dr. R. at one of the Greek churches. The people had assem-
bled and their Sabbath service, (Saturday, P. M.) had commenced.
It was truly affecting to witness the heartlessness of their worship,
-to observe their genuflexions, crossings and bowings before pic-
tures, and listen to the mummery of their recitals. In some parts of
the house, individuals were engaged in social conversation. Near
us, the sexton was purchasing candles for the use of the church.
Much of the Greek liturgy is excellent; but being thus senselessly
and hurriedly muttered in a dead language, (the ancient Greek,)
by ignorant ecclesiastics, how could it be otherwise than uninter-
SCIOTES-CLANS—SCHOOLS.
63
esting and unprofitable? My spirit was stirred within me, as was
Paul's in him at Athens, when I thus saw the city wholly given to
idolatry. And could my tongue have been loosed to speak their
language, Him whom they so ignorantly worshipped, would I gladly
have declared unto them.
Dec. 1. Just before going to attend meeting, at the house of Mr.
Hildner, several Greek ladies called to see us. The Sabbath is the
visiting day of the Greeks. Dr. R. told them, that we were about
going to our worship and were not moreover in the habit of seeing
company on the Sabbath, and they soon quietly retired.
It was re-
marked, that these ladies were Sciotes. The emigrants from Scio
were regarded as the aristocracy of Syra. They are fine looking
people, intelligent and enterprising; and, a circumstance to which
they attach still higher importance, as establishing their claim to
superiority, they usually dress in Frank costume. The inhabi-
tants of Syra are all clannish;-those who emigrated from a given
island herding together in society, and in business so far as practi-
cable, and retaining more or less the peculiarities of the dress and
customs of their native island. These clannish partialities give to the
population a somewhat motley appearance, and create among them
some party hostilities. But they also impart a degree of emulation
and competition to the rival classes, not unfavorable to their enter-
prise and general improvement. Gradually, their local and lineal
attachment will doubtless be forgotten and the whole mass be united
in a feeling of common patriotism for their new country and home.
Dec. 2. We visited the principal schools on the island. I had
formed no adequate conception of the intelligence, order and im-
provement that characterize those schools, nor did I suppose that
any such schools existed in Greece. In the school of the Rev. Mr.
Hildner, who labors under the patronage of the Church Missionary
Society, were four hundred and fifty children, of different ages and
both sexes, each in a separate department, all regularly classed and
instructed on the monitorial system. One of the teachers—all na-
tive Greeks-had spent some time in an institution at Basle, in
Switzerland, to qualify himself for teaching. I felt an additional
interest in this school, from the fact, that it had an American ori-
gin, having been commenced several years before, by our country-
man the Rev. J. Brewer. We also visited the school of Professor
Bambas. It contained about two hundred and fifty young men and
boys, who were evidently enjoying excellent discipline and instruc-
tion. This school has some public patronage. When we arrived,
the professor was delivering a philosophical lecture. A considera-
ble number of the citizens of the town, as well as the members of
the school, were present; and among them, the Greek bishop of
the island and several Roman Catholic priests. Every Thursday,
he was in the habit of delivering a biblical lecture to about the same
audience. At the close of the exercise, we were introduced to Prof.
B.
He is a deacon, in clerical orders. He was connected with the
64
PROF. BAMBAS-DELOS-TENOS.
celebrated Greek college on the island of Scio, which was broken
up by the storms of the revolution. He was subsequently engaged,
several years, in a public institution in Corfu-the largest of the
Ionian islands. He had recently come to Syra; and in addition to
the charge of his flourishing high school, was assisting the Rev. Mr.
Leeves in the translation of the Bible and in preparing a grammar of
the modern Greek, besides prosecuting some other literary labors.
An able and zealous champion of Greek education, he has also
been an ardent friend, coadjutor and vindicator of Protestant mis-
sionaries in Greece, during all the opposition they have experienced
from some of his ungrateful countrymen, instigated by their igno-
rant, bigotted priesthood. He is a fine looking man, and very pleas-
ant and cordial in his manners. His bright black eye and flowing
beard give him a striking and imposing appearance, resembling, as
we fancied, that of the ancient sages of his country. The mission-
aries, Parsons and Fisk, had been his pupils, several years before,
in learning modern Greek, on the island of Scio. He spoke of them
and evidently cherishes a warm and sacred veneration for their me-
mory. I have seldom been more interested, in any spectacle, than
that presented by these Greek schools; and I could not help wish-
ing, that the patrons of Greek education, in America, could have
gazed with me upon the scenes there presented. Their hearts would
have throbbed with surprise and joy, and beat high with hope for
the elevation and salvation of renowned, but now fallen, Greece.
Dec. 5. The weather was delightful, and I rambled away, alone,
to the extreme north-east part of the city. Paros and Anti-Paros
appeared in the distant horizon to the south-east. Delos was quite
near-within ten miles-to the east, and Tenos, at about the same
distance to the north-east. Delos, celebrated as the birth-place of
Apollo and Diana, and the centre of the cluster of islands called Cy-
clades, contained a magnificent temple dedicated to Apollo, erected
at the joint expense of the Grecian States, and renowned for its ora-
cle. The island is now covered with ruins, among which, columns,
altars, porticoes and inscriptions attest its former claims to celebrity.
A large amount of these ruins have been transported to Western
Europe, for the gratification of the curious. An antiquarian com-
mittee appointed by the Greek government have now arrested the
process of spoliation. Delos is only about eight miles in circuit,
of a rocky surface, and now uninhabited. Tenos, or Tino, is of a
long oval form, about sixty miles in circumference, mountainous,
but well cultivated. It contains about sixty villages. Those upon
the south side appear very beautiful as seen from Syra. Their white
walls, with here and there a lofty tower, are neat and quite impos-
ing. In the afternoon, we visited our captain. He had a fine fat
boy, and an intelligent, handsome wife, to the acquaintance of both
of whom he appeared very happy to introduce us. At evening, we
visited at the house of Mr. Leeves. On our way there, as we were
passing a Greek church, a baptism was about to take place, which
*.
A GREEK BAPTISM.
65
a motive, I fear, not much better than curiosity, prompted us to stop
and see. The god-father and god-mother who brought the child, a
priest and deacon and two or three servants composed the assembly.
The rite was performed in the evening, because the sponsors being
laborers, could not find time to attend to it during the day. The
priest met the child at the door, and before it was permitted to en-
ter the church, read over it several minutes from a church book.
The child was then brought in; the priest took it in his arms, blew
over it and spit; in other words, he exorcized. He then read on,
the sponsors holding the child, and occasionally responding to his
interrogatories and nodding assent to their obligations as enjoined.
The god-father was at length directed to blow and spit, with the
child in his arms; but being an ignorant, unpractised man, he did
this UPON the child, rather than over it; and the priest hastily inter-
rupting, in an angry, chiding tone, exclaimed, " blow and spit upon
Satan, and not upon the child!" Next, the water was crossed by
the hand of the priest twice, a few moments intervening; then oil
was poured upon it in the form of a cross, and incense burnt over
it. The child was then divested of all its clothing and oiled by the
priest and baptized. The quantity of water used was about a com-
mon pail full, brought warm in a large copper urn. The child was
set down, three times, into the vessel; and the water, dipped up by
the hands of the priest the same number of times, was poured upon
its head, the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, being pro-
nounced—one of them each time, and in the regular order. The
child resisted and struggled, when placed in the water; and the
priest impatiently broke out once or twice, in the midst of the solemn
declaration, in this manner: "I baptize thee ('sit down') in the
name," etc. Impressive as this ordinance always is, when intelli-
gently and reverently performed, it seemed, in this instance, like
solemn mockery! The child was next further anointed; the priest
and the sponsors washed their hands in the water in which it had
been baptized; incense was again burned over the same; a small
white shirt-the robe of righteousness-was thrown by the priest
over the child; he proceeded some time longer with reading and
chanting, and finally concluded the ceremonies by pronouncing a
benediction. The whole service was performed in ancient Greek,
and probably the infant understood about as much of it as either
sponsors or priest; especially, as the main object of the latter seem-
ed to be, to hurry through the routine as rapidly as possible. We
left the church more than ever impressed with the deep spiritual
darkness of this degraded people.
Dec. 7. In company with Dr. R., I visited the Athenaeum and the
Lyceum. The former is a reading-room where several French and
Italian periodicals are taken; also the organs of the Greek govern-
ment. The latter is a room furnished and used by an association of
young men. In it they had a library of five or six hundred volumes,
several periodicals, and a few specimens of sculpture. We were pain-
*
9
66
MONASTERY—A STORM.
ed to find the library composed mostly of the works of modern infidels.
All the works of Voltaire and Rousseau, and many others of a kin-
dred character, were here. Will not the benevolent and philan-
thropic hasten to provide and furnish books, by scores, hundreds
and thousands, of a better description, to arrest the deadly inroads
of such streams of infidelity! "The Greeks," I repeat, "seek after
wisdom." They will have books of some kind. Their craving
desire for knowledge cannot, and should not, be smothered. It
must be fed with healthful nutriment.
Dec. 10. With Dr. R. and his family, we ascended to the very
pinnacle of the upper town. It is built, as before mentioned, on
the sides of a lofty conical hill, which terminates in a mere point.
Upon the very apex, was a monastery, then in process of erection.
The passes up through the town are very steep, crooked, narrow
and filthy. The swine were numerous, filling the streets by day,
and occupying apartments under the same roofs with their owners
at night. In this remote village, the missionary, Parsons, lay sick
and nigh unto death in 1821. How comfortless must have been
his solitary situation! But the angel of the Lord encampeth round
about them that fear him. Almost inconceivable labor must have
been put in requisition to rear such an edifice as the monastery, at
the top of the upper town! What obstacles will not Papal super-
stition surmount! What a lesson was here to nerve the arm of
Protestant zeal!
Dec. 15. We have been spending a few days very pleasantly
with Mrs. Hildner. During the last night, the rain fell in torrents;
and many of the flat roofs of Syra, covered over with earth, can ill
encounter such storms. Mrs. P. and myself happened to lodge
under such a roof. About 2 o'clock, A. M., the rain reached us.
We rose and retreated a little, but were scarcely asleep before we
were again in the rain. We arose a second time, and removed our
bed, but the rain soon followed, and thus we manœuvred, retreating
and being pursued by the advancing rain, till we reached the oppo-
site side of the room, when fortunately morning came.
But how
trifling was our discomfort, compared with that of multitudes. The
wind, as well as the rain, was terrible. The frail fabrics on the
declivities around us were tottering, and many of them fell. Cries
of distress from the houseless rang in our ears in every direction,
and even came up from the harbor, which is a spacious and safe
one, but where scores of vessels were now tossing and rolling, and
their cables failing, and in the course of a few days, an almost in-
credible number of frightful wrecks at sea were reported from different
parts of the Levant. We felt constrained to admire and acknow-
ledge the goodness of God, in having crossed our wishes. We had
earnestly desired to proceed on our way, with much less delay at
Syra. Had we done so, we too should now have been tossed upon
the billows, if not sunk in the deep or wrecked on the strand;
whereas, an unseen but more than parental hand kindly kept us
י'
PSARA-SCIO-MT. ATHOS-TROY.
67
back, in quiet upon the dry land, till after this fearful storm, when
we were successfully wafted, as will soon appear, to our still distant
destination, in the short period of three days.
Dec. 17. In the morning we were informed that our captain had
at last received his desired papers from Nauplea, and would sail
in a few hours. After dinner we hastily put our effects in readi-
ness, took leave of our kind missionary friends to whom we felt
ourselves laid under great obligation, and about 4 o'clock, P. M.,
went again on board the "Neptune." We found, as fellow-pas-
sengers, about twenty persons, Greeks, Russians and Turks. A
fine breeze from the south-west wafted us rapidly on our course, and
just as the sun left the horizon, Syra also faded from our view.
Dec. 18. A strong wind bore us onward during the last night,
and early this morning, we found ourselves passing between Scio
and Psara. These islands were desolated by the Turks, during the
struggles of the revolution. Our captain and some of the crew
were natives of the latter. Their countenances, as we passed, be-
spoke their tender recollections of country and home. They used
their utmost efforts, by signs and gestures, to give me an idea of
Turkish barbarity, and uttered the name of Tûrk with the deepest
disdain. The day was delightful and comfortably warm; but Scio
had snow on its loftiest summits. We were now fairly within the
territory of the Porte, Scio and Psara being still retained by the
Turks. Reminiscences, at once thrilling, sacred and painful, were
excited in us also, as we reflected where we were; not merely near
Homer's reputed native island and amid the ravages of Moslem
violence and oppression, but a few leagues to the east of us were
the desolate sites of the once favored seven churches of Asia, wa-
tered by apostolic tears and defended by martyrs' blood. How
strikingly and literally has their chastisement, for their backslidings,
as threatened in the Apocalypse, been fulfilled. Their candlesticks
are removed out of their places.
In the afternoon, we passed up by the large island of Mytilene.
The summits of its mountains were covered with snow. Away in
the distant west, Mt. Athos towered above the horizon, and the
islands of Imbros, Samothracia and Tenedos appeared to the north-
west. Mt. Athos, in the scale of Greek superstition, is the most
sacred place in the whole country. It is occupied by monks, who
have twenty-two convents; each convent has its abbot, with a certain
number of monks and lay-laborers. The total number of residents
is said to be about six thousand-all are males-no females, not
even female animals, being permitted to enter the holy precincts!
At 11 o'clock in the evening, we reached the Straits of Darda-
nelles. Thus Europe and Asia were presented at one view, and
apparently, in the moon light, almost within the call of the voice.
I went on deck and gazed, scarcely being able to realize that I
stood within a few miles of the site of ancient Troy. It is supposed
to have been situated at the southern entrance of the Straits, a little
68
back from the shore. But Ilium fuit! Troy was! Not even its
precise location can now be determined. The Straits of Dardanelles
resemble an immense river, flowing majestically between two ele-
vated and fertile hills. They are sixty miles long and from four to
six miles wide. I regretted that we did not happen to enter them
by day, that I might have surveyed, to better advantage, their hal-
lowed shores. I could not, however, regret the fine south wind
that was bearing us so rapidly along through those narrow waters.
It is perhaps ten chances to one, that vessels are not kept by head-
winds at their entrance for days, and often for weeks.
SUMMONS TO PRAYERS-WORSHIP OF THE VIRGIN.
Dec. 19. At daybreak, we arrived at an expansion in the Straits
around which are several Turkish villages and castles. There we
were obliged to lie until sunrise, as no vessel is allowed to proceed
upward except during the day. Just at the southern entrance of
this expansion, Xerxes is said to have thrown across his famous
bridge. Tall minarets towered over each village and castle, and as
the dawn advanced, Muhammedan priests announced from their
tops the hour of prayer. How strange was that shrill summons—
La Allah il Allah, v Muhammed Rasool Allah-There is no God
but God, and Muhammed is his prophet, sounded then for the first
time in my ears. But from that day forward, for the last eight
years, it has been a sound far more familiar to me than the cock-
crowing in the morning. The fields about those villages were
clothed with beautiful verdure and appeared fertile; and at a small
distance back, lofty mountains rose, then capped with snow. In the
afternoon, we left the Straits and entered the Sea of Marmora, the
island of that name appearing at a distance ahead.
Dec. 20. At daybreak we found ourselves gently moving, about
fifteen miles below Constantinople, and there a dead calm kept us,
all that day. A Greek who spoke a little English, to while away
the long hours, seemed inclined to religious discussion. He in-
quired of me whether we worship the virgin Mary. I told him that
I worshipped God only. He replied, "but we worship the virgin,"
and proceeded to demonstrate the reasonableness of the practice.
Suppose," said he, "that you were a king and I a subject; if I
wanted a favor, I should not go directly to you, but to some friend
who was your favorite, and who would intercede for me; and just
so we go to Mary and the other saints and worship them, that they
may thus be induced to intreat God in our favor." "But you would
come directly to the king, in the case supposed," said I, "if the
way were opened to you and especially if you were even invited by
him to come; and Christ has promised in the Scriptures to be an
advocate—and no one can doubt his being a prevalent one-with
the Father, for all who will come humbly and penitently to him;
and the apostle accordingly exhorts believers to come boldly right
to the throne of mercy that they may find grace to help in time of
need." He assented to the truth of what I said, but seemed un-
willing to admit the impiety of paying adoration to departed mortals.
ARRIVAL AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
69
How often have I since heard this same hackneyed simile, for the
want of solid argument, urged in support of saint-worship, by per-
sons belonging to the different oriental churches.
Dec. 21. About 1 o'clock in the morning, being awaked by the
noise of casting anchor on deck, we dressed and went out and found
ourselves in the harbor of Constantinople. We regretted that we
had not come in by day, as the view to the approaching traveller is
said to be indescribably grand and beautiful, on the first sight, the
loss of which subsequent familiarity can never fully redeem. As
soon as it was light we rose and went on deck, and were absolutely
astonished at the splendors by which we were surrounded. An im-
mense city on every hand! Lofty towers-magnificent mosks with
their peering minarets and gilded palaces stretched away in
endless succession. Seraglio Point-the perfection of beauty-an
earthly paradise-lay smiling before us challenging our first gaze as
if conscious of the matchless loveliness of its enchanting bowers.
The spacious harbor-the famous Golden Horn-seemed half filled
with vessels of all sizes, kinds and colors, whose spars and rigging
formed a continuous and almost interminable forest.
And to give
to the whole the fullest effect, a glorious sunrise poured an unwont-
ed radiance over one of the finest of mornings. We stood and
gazed in mute astonishment till our eyes were tired, but not sated,
with the vast, new, strange and almost fairy scene.
About 8 o'clock, I went on shore with the captain. I was una-
ble to make myself understood by an individual of the thronging
multitudes around me. I therefore mutely followed the captain.
He soon met with an acquaintance who invited us to his counting-
house. I was interested to observe their cordial style of mutual
salutation—a hearty kiss, which is common among all orientals after
even a short separation. We were first offered pipes which we
both declined, our captain presenting the rare anomaly of a Greek
who does not smoke. Next came coffee, in cups twice as large as
a thimble, without sugar and so strong as to be quite bitter. The
captain soon transferred me to other hands-and they again to
others; and I was thus shifted from one to another, I knew not
whom, and led about I knew not whither, till at length a Greek
beckoned me to follow him. I began to feel like a stranger in a
strange land. I, however, followed him; and he soon knocked at
a door which was opened, and what was my relief to be grasped by
the hand and welcomed by the voice of an American, who told me
that he was Mr. Goodell. He and Mr. Dwight returned with me
immediately to our vessel to conduct Mrs. Perkins, who had long
been waiting the result of my adventure, to our very grateful tem-
porary resting-place among beloved missionary brethren, which we
reached just three months from the day we embarked at Boston.
70
PUBLIC BUILDINGS.
CHAPTER V.
CONSTANTINOPLE, AND VOYAGE THENCE TO TREBIZOND.
A particular description of Constantinople would require a vol-
ume. I shall not attempt even a general one. Such descriptions
are not wanting; and as a minute account of the place formed no
part of my object in visiting it, nor enters into the purpose of this
work, though I saw its most interesting objects, I shall tax the rea-
der with no farther notices of our stay there except to quote a few
of the very brief records of passing incidents which I made at the
time, and then hasten along toward the still distant country of our
destination. I may remark in general, however, in this connection,
that the charm of the admiring traveller, which so transports him
on the first view, is soon broken when he lands, especially, if it be
in the suburb of Galata, through which Europeans usually pass on
their way to Pera, the Frank quarter. The exterior of the whole
city greatly belies its real character. The houses are generally
frail, miserable fabrics built of wood, and the streets are more nar-
row, crooked and filthy than could well be conceived to exist in con-
nection with the fair, enchanting scenes spread out to the eye of
the observer as he enters the harbor. To these general remarks,
however, we should make some exceptions, particularly in regard to
public buildings. Many of the mosks are vast and magnificent struc-
tures, grand and beautiful in their proportions and exceedingly dur-
able in their materials and construction. Think of the celebrated
St. Sophia, the ancient christian church, coming down the many
long centuries of its original hallowed use and its subsequent desecra-
tion to the worship of the False Prophet, still in a state of such un-
impaired preservation! And some of the other mosks are but little
inferior to it. Several of the bazárs, the Egyptian in particular,
are lofty arched ranges, built of brick and lime, and in a style to
stand for ages. The great aqueduct is still in use and in a state of
good repair. Some of the barracks and other edifices devoted to
the department of the army and navy are very spacious and impos-
ing, and well adapted to the purposes for which they are intended.
And last, though not least, several of the palaces of the Sûltán and
other members of the imperial family are tasteful and finely con-
structed. This is particularly true of the new palace reared by the
late Sûltán,-completed but just before his death,-and now occu-
pied by his son and successor to the throne. This quite eclipses all
its predecessors in elegance and symmetry, as well as in its dazzling
splendors of "eastern gold." But, not to multiply the exceptions
which might be somewhat farther extended, the mass of the shops
AN ARMENIAN REFORMER.
71
and private dwellings, throughout the great Osmanly capital, are
miserable structures, which, however, have often, at even a near
view, a very specious external appearance.
We remained at Constantinople about five months. It was then
the outpost of the mission stations occupied by the American Board
of Commissioners for Foreign Missions in that direction. Our ob-
ject in this delay was to acquire some knowledge of the Turkish
language to facilitate our travelling beyond,—and to wait for the
warm part of the year before attempting to cross the lofty mountains
We more-
on our route, which are nearly impassible in winter.
over desired, rather than expected, that a medical companion might
join us before we proceeded to Persia. We soon commenced the
study of Turkish and pursued it as our business, during our stay
at Constantinople, enjoying an excellent home in the family of Mr.
Goodell who then resided in the suburb of Galata, and pleasant
American society in the small circle of our missionaries, and of
commodore Porter, our chargé d'affaires, Mrs. Brown, his sister,
and several gentlemen attached to the legation.
Dec. 30. In company with Messrs. Goodell and Dwight, I cross-
ed the harbor and visited the city of Constantinople. We called on
Peshdamâlján, who was at the head of the Armenian college. He
was an intelligent, and very liberal man, and was doing for the Ar-
menians what Prof. Bambas has done for the Greeks, in the line of
education. Though a layman, he was said to exert more influence
over the Armenian clergy, than any ecclesiastic, and this influence
was most decidedly in favor of the diffusion of knowledge and the
study of the Holy Scriptures. Indeed, no Armenian at Constanti-
nople was permitted at that time, to take priest's orders, unless he
had been a considerable period under his instruction. Five theo-
logical students were reciting when we entered the room; and on
this occasion he proposed to the missionaries to have the Bible print-
ed in the vernacular tongue, in successive volumes, each consisting
of a single book. Our interview with him was a very pleasant one.
This laborious, excellent man has since died. He had accomplish-
ed a great work for the reformation of his countrymen. Many of
the evangelical Armenians who have since come under the influence
of our missionaries and taken their stand as witnesses and advo-
cates for the truth, refer their earliest religious impressions to the
instructions which they received from Peshdamâlján. He emerged
alone from the deep darkness of the degraded Armenian church,
and shone as a resplendent luminary, till a large cluster, each bright-
er than himself, rose around him and more than filled his place;
He
and he, as we trust, was then transferred to a higher orbit.
may perhaps not inappropriately be styled the father of the reforma-
tion now in progress among the Armenians, inasmuch as he seems
to have been the instrument of commencing it; though his was a
very still and retiring course-furnishing a good example of the
class whose
72
A MONTHLY CONCERT.
"Silent prayers and labors Heaven employs
To do the good while others make the noise."
Jan. 2. We dined with commodore Porter. He is a gentlemanı
of much simplicity of manners and character, was very kind in his
attentions to the missionaries; and he appeared to represent quite
well the manly, unostentatious vigor of our republican government.
Jan. 6. To-day occurred the annual concert of prayer for the
conversion of the world. At 12 o'clock, we held a meeting at Mr.
Dwight's, first an hour in Turkish, and afterward an hour in Eng-
lish. A more interesting season I have seldom enjoyed. There
were present four Armenians, three Greeks, an English sea-captain
and the missionaries. One of the Greeks, who speaks English, and
for his evangelical artlessness of character and manners, may be
called a Nathaniel, gave some account of the Sandwich Island Mis-
sion. The natives present appeared highly delighted with the nar-
ration. The same Greek then concluded that part of the meeting
with a prayer in Turkish. But the circumstance that gave the
deepest interest to the occasion, was the case of two of the Ar-
menians, whose names have since become familiar to the friends of
missions in America. I refer to Hohannes and Senacherim. Ho-
hannes had first, for some time, been groping in darkness which he
deeply felt, but from which he knew not where to look for one to
guide him. At length he met with Senacherim, and on inciden-
tally intimating his feelings to him, was surprised and delighted to
find him in a state of mind very similar to his own. From that
day forward, they were accustomed to meet together, in retired
places, for prayer and conversation, still seeking for spiritual guides.
After some time, they heard of the American missionaries, and
tremblingly searched them out, and to their unspeakable joy found
in them just the assistance for which they had so long sought and
prayed. To-day, they opened their hearts in a most artless and
affecting manner, and detailed these circumstances to the mission-
aries, not seeming themselves to imagine that there was anything of
special interest in their case. Their mutual attachment had become
very peculiar, like that which existed between David and Jonathan.
They had formally pledged to each other all the assistance in their
power, in the trials and persecutions which they apprehended they
might be called to suffer from their degraded, bigotted countrymen,
in seeking to know and follow the truth. Of these young men,
noted in my Journal of that date, that they seemed designed by
Providence to become champions in the work of Armenian refor-
mation. They have since verified this hope,-Hohannes in his
abundant labor and patience at Constantinople, and during his exile
for the name of Christ to Caesarea, where also a work of revival
commenced under his influence; and Senacherim in his faithful
labors at home in the face of reproach and persecution for several
years, till his pious ardor brought him to the United States for an
education, that he might be qualified for still greater usefulness
I
#
WEALTH OF CONSTANTINOPLE.
73
among his countrymen. I was not a little gratified, on my return
to Constantinople, to observe in Hohannes his former attachment
to Senacherim still existing in all its early vigor, as a token of
which he sent to his beloved brother in the faith and patience of the
gospel, a few small boxes of sweetmeats, and a large packet of fra-
ternal epistles. These interesting young men were the first fruits
of the mission of the American Board at Constantinople, that have
since expanded and ripened into the rich and precious harvest which
the missionaries are now gathering in that very promising field.
Jan. 13. In company with Mr. Paspati, a Greek gentleman
who was educated at Amherst college, and was now in the employ
of our missionaries, I visited Constantinople. The wealth displayed
in the vast bazárs appeared absolutely inconceivable, and fully to
warrant the ideas and the epithets early familiar to my mind of the
"riches of the East." We ascended the lofty Seraskier's tower by
a flight of (I think) 187 steps. It completely overlooks the whole
city-the surrounding country and the Sea of Marmora, presenting
at one view a panorama of beauty, grandeur and magnificence that
utterly defies description. We visited the celebrated Hippodrome
(horse-race ground,) which is a great oblong square. Upon it
stands the vast and lofty obelisk of Egyptian granite, mounted on a
huge pedestal. It was transported from Thebes to Constantinople.
There must have been "giants in those days" to import and raise
upright so vast a block of stone, akin to the earlier Anakims who
could quarry, polish and pile to the skies the imperishable mon-
uments of Egyptian greatness. There, too, stands the spiral bra-
zen pillar on which the tripod of the oracle of Delphi was placed.
Where now, thought I, are the refined, idolatrous Greeks who con-
structed this pillar and consulted its oracle? Where was the gen-
eration that imported it to adorn the illustrious Hippodrome?
Where were the proud and mighty emperors that had here graced
the sports with the majesty of their presence? And where was the
eloquent Chrysostom-the matchless christian orator-who had so
often charmed and melted congregated thousands, by the richer
than golden streams that flowed so attractively from his prolific
tongue, on the public square which I was then privileged to tread ?
Alas, the men, so much feebler than the frail work of their hands,
had all long ago mingled their dust with the clods of the valley, and
such is man in his mightiest estate.
On our way home, we had the good fortune to meet the Sûltán
with a large retinue; and the Seraskier pashâ at the head of a regi-
ment. The captain admiral, too, as we crossed the harbor, passed
in his large splendid caik very near us. The Sûltán was a portly,
noble looking man, with a countenance a little the worse for his
wine-drinking, an indulgence into which he had fallen in his zeal
for European improvements. In the rapid influx of civilization in-
to Turkey of which this Sûltán was so great a champion, it is not
strange, though so much to be regretted, that the tide of western
10
74
LYCEUM PREVALENCE OF FIRES.
vices should roll in with it and neutralize its benefits. The troops
that we met were in their then new uniform of blue cloth pantaloons
and sailors' coats, both gaudily trimmed with red.
Jan. 16. I attended the funeral of one of the principal Arme-
nians, who was at the head of the Turkish mint. The deceased
was very rich. His funeral was attended by thousands who made
a great ostentation of grief which, however, was too evidently put
on for the occasion. Scores of ecclesiastics, with the patriarch at
their head, bearing candles, swords, crosses and censers of incense,
and chanting hymns as they moved along, walked in the procession.
Tears flowed profusely, accompanied by audible sobs; but Orien-
tals can weep without emotion. The deceased, however, was uni-
versally venerated among the Armenians; for he had loved their
nation and built them synagogues. They very pertinently denomi-
nated him, their Mordecai.
In the evening, we attended the first meeting of our American
Lyceum at commodore Porter's. The commodore was sick in bed,
and his sister, Mrs. Brown, read, his lecture which was quite inter-
esting. His subject was astronomy. The arrangement was, that
he, the young gentlemen attached to his legation, and the mission-
aries should lecture weekly, in rotation. We were very happy to
engage in such an exercise, as the task of preparation so seldom re-
curred to each individual as to impose only a light tax of time and
labor; it was a pleasant and profitable method of spending a social
hour; and it might prove a source of important advantage to a
number of American young men, who, in that distant city, were
deprived of most of the means of intellectual as well as moral im-
provement enjoyed by their countrymen at home.
Jan. 26. This evening, a fire occurred very near us and just in
the direction greatly to endanger our own dwelling. The wind,
for a long time, enveloped Mr. Goodell's house in a shower of sparks
and ashes, like snow in a winter storm. We put some of our goods
in moveable order, intending to have porters carry them away,
should our house take fire, and placed others—my library among the
rest-in a fire-proof magazine under the house.
This magazine
happened to have water in it, into which some of my valuable books
fell and were seriously injured. We had great cause for gratitude,
however, that we were not driven houseless into the streets. Prov-
identially, the dwelling of the chief physician of the Sûltán stood
directly between ours and the fire. Several companies of the troops
were ordered to save that house, under penalty of a heavy punish-
ment in case of failure. They made vigorous efforts, arrested the
progress of the fire and saved the physician's house, and in doing
this, shielded ours from the threatened destruction. Fires are the
great scourge of Constantinople. The almost constant prevalence
of the plague was formerly a calamity of even greater magnitude.
This is now happily excluded by a vigorous system of quarantine,
regulated principally by foreigners. The frequency and extent of
#
BUYUK DEREH-FIRES.
75
the fires are much owing to the very frail and combustible character
of the houses. The miserable, inefficient fire-organization of the
city, moreover, opposes a very feeble barrier to the progress of a con-
flagration.
Jan. 28. I took a boat with Messrs. Dwight, Oscanyan (an Ar-
menian) and Panyotes (a Greek) in the employ of the missionaries,
and went up the Bosphorus to Bûyûk Dereh-a village about fif-
teen miles above the city. The beauty of the scenery on the shores
of these straits is perhaps unequalled in the world. The villages
are almost contiguous, and hang delightfully and conveniently on
the slopes of either shore. The shrubbery was green even at this
dreary season, and the hills and ravines above the villages, with here
and there a beautiful kiosk-summer palace-present a bold back-
ground and give fine effect to the lovely scenes below. We passed,
I know not how many, palaces of the Sûltán-perhaps as many as
he had wives. Bûyûk Dereh is pleasantly situated at a bend in the
straits, and is the summer residence of several of the European am-
bassadors. It was there that commodore Porter resided, when he so
hospitably took Mr. Goodell and family into his house, at the time
they were driven shelterless abroad by the great fire in Pera,
from which they had a hair-breadth escape with their lives.
Feb. 16. About midnight, we were surprised by another fire.
It was at Top hâna, some distance from us, but the wind was
strong, and in a direction to bring it directly to our dwelling. Mr.
Goodell, Mrs. Perkins and myself went to the scene. Three or four
houses only had taken fire when we reached the spot; but in these
it raged most terribly. Nothing could exceed the distressing nature
of the scenes presented. Families driven houseless into the streets
in a stormy winter night, and mothers, in one or two instances,
crying out in agony that their children were devoured in the flames.
The fire rapidly advanced, the flames leaping from house to house,
and sparks and light pieces of boards on fire at length fell in heavy
showers around our dwelling. The old Galata ditch and wall
which lay between us and the course of the conflagration proved
our only succor, and these for some time promised a very doubtful
security. Thousands on thousands collected and gazed upon the
appalling spectacle. The sober Turks, in good consistency with
their fatalist doctrines, merely stroked down their long beards and
repeated their pious ejaculations-God is great-there is no God
but God, and Muhammed is his prophet-What is to be must be—
Wonderful!-Let the will of God be done, etc.-No one, who
has not witnessed similar scenes in Constantinople, can conceive
the inefficiency of the firemen on such occasions. Engineers often
stand and keep their men from work, stipulating with the owners
of particular houses, for a given sum, before they will lift a hand to
render assistance. The only alternative for the suffering owners
is to stand still and see their dwellings burn down, or pay enormous
sums to the mercenary harpies for their tardy and perhaps ineffec-
tual efforts to save them.
76
WEDDING-DEVOTIONS OF THE SULTAN.
This fire continued with terrible destruction until it reached the
vacant space made by a former great fire and had in fact no more
to burn. Nothing could surpass the awful sublimity of these scenes
of devastation, especially in that dark and stormy night. With
some of the missionaries I lingered about it till near 5 o'clock, when
it began to subside. I then retired heartily weary of a residence in
Constantinople.
In the afternoon of the following day, I went again with Mr.
Goodell to the scene of the fire. Multitudes were among the smok-
ing ruins, picking out from the ashes small incombustible articles.
On inquiry, we found that several women, as well as children, had
been consumed. We inquired of some Turks who sat near us
digging out earthen pipe-bowls of the value of five paras-a half cent
each-whether the bones of those who perished, had been found:
and with an impatient shrug of the shoulders and shake of the head,
they replied, "How do we know ?"—as much as to say, 'don't hin-
der us with such unimportant questions'-and went on with their
work, digging out pipe-bowls! So little is human life valued, in the
Turkish capital.
That I may not trouble the reader with further notices of fires at
Constantinople, I will simply add, that they occurred so frequently
during our stay there, that I find among my notes the record of six,
in one case, during a single week-which, however, would not per-
haps be very formidable or strange in so large a city had there been
efficient fire organizations, early to arrest their progress. As it was,
I soon felt more timorous in going to sleep at night, under appre-
hension of danger from fire, than I had ever felt, in terrible storms
at sea, however fearfully rocked and threatened by the angry billows
of the ocean.
Feb. 25. Mr. Schauffler was married to Miss Mary Reynolds.
The wedding was attended at commodore Porter's. Mr. Goodell
performed the ceremony. Nearly all the guests were Americans,
and I could not help feeling that there was a moral sublimity in the
scene presented; an American wedding-and a christian wedding
in the heart of the capital of the Ottoman empire.
Feb. 28. We went to see the Sûltán enter a mosk to perform
his devotions. His approach to the mosk on Fridays, is the occa-
sion usually embraced by foreigners to secure an advantageous gaze
on his august person. To-day, he came on horseback. He rode
of course a very fine horse, and about a dozen others of a like de-
scription, all richly and splendidly caparisoned, were led in file be-
fore him. They had previously enjoyed the exalted honor of bear-
ing his imperial majesty, each a year; that was the longest period
which it was considered proper for him to condescend to ride on one
horse. Not wishing, however, to cashier in disgrace the noble ani-
mals that had been raised to the high dignity of carrying the Head
of the Islam faith upon their backs, he allowed them, ever after, to
be led in state before him, on public occasions.
BOATS-TURKISH SCHOOLS.
In other instances, I saw the Sûltán approach different mosks in
his pleasure boat; and in that case the event was announced and
celebrated by a long and loud roar of cannon from his ships in the
harbor. His boat was one of the most splendid and beautiful ob-
jects that I saw at the capital. It must have been seventy feet, and
perhaps much more, in length, and was rowed by twenty or thirty
men. It was of the same exquisitely graceful form of all the Turk-
ish caiks (boats), at Constantinople, and was gilded and ornamen-
ted in the richest style of oriental magnificence. The caiks, by the
way, are among the earliest and most striking novelties that arrest
the eye of a traveller on his arrival at Constantinople. They are
very numerous, and are constantly darting in all directions across
the harbor up and down the Bosphorus and on the Marmora. They
are very light and frail in their construction,-being broadest about
two thirds of the way toward the stern, the sides swelling and deli-
cately curving from the bottom to the top, and the extremities grad-
ually rising till they terminate in a sharp point. They are very easi-
ly upset, but answer a good purpose on the quiet waters for which
they are intended. The oars are so large near the hand of the row-
er, as just to balance the blade across the side of the boat. The
athletic boatmen, with their thin dress,-their light silk shirts, the
sleeves extending only down to the elbow-are extremely easy and
graceful in their motions; and the speed with which they skim the
surface, scarcely causing a ripple, is astonishingly rapid.
I visited the Turkish schools in some of the barracks, and was
deeply interested in them. There were four hundred and fifty
young men in those that we first visited. Three of their largest
halls were converted into school-rooms, fitted up with benches,
sand-boxes-cards hanging upon the walls-black-boards and all
the other apparatus of a Lancasterian establishment. All the sol-
diers there enjoyed the privileges of education. A part of them-
perhaps one third-read and studied one part of the day; these
then repaired to their tactics, and another division entered the
school-room. The Turks borrowed the idea of these interesting
schools for their troops from missionary schools among the Greeks;
and indeed those Turkish schools were aided and influenced more
or less by our missionaries, to whom the officers appeared to look
up as to guides and patrons. They were very interesting signs of
the times, evincing the commencement of a new order of things
among the Mŭhammedans of Turkey.
April 19. In company with Messrs. Dwight and Johnston, and
their ladies, we crossed the Bosphorus and visited Scutari and Ca-
diqua. The latter is the ancient Chalcedon, situated just opposite
Constantinople on the northern shore of the Marmora. It is now
only a large village. Scutari is the Asiatic suburb of Constantinople,
situated on the eastern shore of the mouth of the Bosphorus, di-
rectly in front of the harbor. It is the ancient Chrysopolis, (city
of gold). Its streets are broader and more regular than are found
4
78
SCUTARI-MUHAMMEDAN FABLE.
in any other part of the city which I have visited; there are the
Sûltán's largest and finest barracks. We passed through a part of
the celebrated burying-ground back of Scutari. It is several miles
in extent; the graves are as thickly crowded together as possible,
and the ashes of many individuals are doubtless deposited upon
each other. Lofty cypresses so densely stud this whole vast ceme-
tery as to exclude the rays of the sun, and to cloud it with a deep
dark shade. What a Golgotha is there presented, and what an
affecting spectacle of ephemeral man. Verily,
"He walks forth the lord of the earth to-day,
To-morrow beholds him part of its clay.'
For the first time, our feet now pressed the soil of Asia; and the
incident brought vividly to mind that very soon, we were to pene-
trate the heart of that continent, never again, probably, to set our
eyes upon Europe or America.
April 22. It being the great Muhammedan Beiram (festival),
we made out a party, and took a spring ramble up the Bosphorus.
We again visited the village of Bûyûk Dereh, and then crossed the
straits and ascended the famous Giant's mountain, on the opposite
shore. Bûyûk Dereh (Great Valley) derives its name from its lo-
cation. In the extensive valley back of the village, the Crusaders
are said to have encamped. We were pointed to the identical tree
a button wood several yards in circumference-under the shade
of which Godfrey is understood to have pitched his tent. Upon
Giant's mountain are said to be deposited the remains of a fabled
giant-the Muhammed Joshua. The tomb of his head is fifty-eight
feet long. His history is written on the walls of the mosk attached to
his tomb. There, as the fable runs, he was accustomed to sit and
reach his feet down and wash them in the Bosphorus every night; and
sometimes, as matters of recreation, to place one foot on each shore
and allow vessels to pass under him. He is said to have fought against
the Greeks who prevailed until the sun went down, when the giant,
by the aid of that luminary's resuming his place in the heavens,
gained a most triumphant victory. On the twigs of the shrubbery
which adorns his tomb, small rags are tied in immense numbers, as
tokens of votive pledges. This puerile fable of Joshua very well
illustrates the disgusting, childish versions with which Muhamme-
dan traditions clothe many of the events recorded in the Holy
Scriptures. The view from the summit of Giant's mountain is
grand and romantic beyond description. The Black Sea heaves
up an ocean boundary on the north; forests, fields and verdant vil-
lages spread out a delightful landscape on the east; the Bosphorus
with its silvery current and beautiful villages along the shores de-
light the eye on the south and west; while the back ground in the
latter directions is filled up, on the west by distant hills and dales,
and on the south by a dim view of the great city and the more dis-
tant blue of the Sea of Marmora.
SIR J. CAMPBELL ABBAS MEERZA.
79
During our stay at Constantinople, we naturally watched with
deep interest for any intelligence that might throw light or shade
on our prospects beyond. In the course of the winter, a letter was
received from Sir John Campbell, then English ambassador to Per-
sia, by Mr. Dwight, who had made the acquaintance of that gentle-
man when on his tour with Mr. Smith into that country. The fol-
lowing extract, in this connection, may not be uninteresting to the
reader. The letter was dated at Tehrân, Nov. 20th, 1833,-"It is
the darkness of the political horizon in Persia, occasioned by the
demise of the Prince Royal, and the dangerous state of health in
which his aged father has lately been, that prompt me to advise you
to await patiently the course of events, before you venture to permit
your friend, Mr. Perkins, to visit this country for the discharge of
his holy functions. Some general commotion will certainly take
place, before any establishment of order can be expected, or before
any tolerable security can be afforded, to the persons or property of
Europeans, whose avocations remove them from any authority.
"Öróomiah has, since your departure from the country, been
devastated by the plague, and the subsequent evils which it has ex-
perienced from rapacious governors, has subverted all order, and, I
may add, security, in the province; added to which the local gov-
ernment of Azerbijân is so inefficient and imbecile, that it is unable,
either to collect revenues, restore order, or to protect the inhabi-
tants, who, discontented and disaffected, are in a state little short of
revolt. The incursions of the neighboring Koords, also, render a
residence in any part of the province, at present unsafe for a Eu
ropean.
Abbas Meerza, whose death is here mentioned was the favorite
son of his aged father, Feth Ali Shâh, and had, for many years,
been heir apparent to the throne. He resided at Tabréez as the
governor of Azerbijân, the northern province of Persia, and the
regulation of the foreign relations of the whole country were en-
trusted to him, which led the English and Russian ambassadors
commonly to reside in that city. He was a zealous patron of civi-
lization, though like the Sûltán of Turkey, he had unhappily fallen
into the vices of Europeans in introducing their improvements.
Very high hopes, however, had been entertained, from his enlight-
ened views, in his prospective reign over Persia. We had regard-
ed our own missionary prospects in that country as not a little de-
pending on the life and influence of that remarkable man. He, who
has the hearts of all in his hands, has, in the event, however, raised
up for us other protectors, to aid and encourage us in our work,
beyond what we had ever anticipated in that dark Muhammedan
land.
The letter from Sir John Campbell, to whose personal and offi-
cial kindness, we were subsequently laid under very great obliga-
tions, as we shall have occasion to observe, did not deter us from
prosecuting our arrangements to proceed to Persia in the Spring,
1
80
LETTER FROM MR. HAAS-EMBARKATION.
according to our original plan, as we had in mind to linger at Ta-
bréez, until a more quiet state of the country should allow us to at-
tempt a residence at the remote town of Oróomiah. To our great
relief, moreover, on the very evening preceding our departure from
Constantinople, a second letter was received from him announcing
the appointment of another heir apparent to the throne, and a change
in other respects so favorable, in the political aspect of things, that
he advised me to come on immediately to Persia.
A letter received by Mr. Dwight, about the same time from the
Rev. F. Haas, a missionary of the Basle Society, who had just come
to Tabréez from Shoosha, in Georgia, alludes to this same general
subject, from which also an extract may be interesting to the rea-
der. It was dated at Tabréez, Dec. 13th, 1833. The idiom of a
foreigner will of course be understood. The extract is as follows:
66 I
express to you the real joy I felt, when I heard from Mr. Nis-
bet, that we shall see, after a short time, some of your dear brethren,
passing through this place and settling at Oróomiah. You expect-
ed them this autumn, at Constantinople, and that they were to con-
tinue their voyage next spring. I should be glad to hear if they
really did arrive, and if, in consequence, we may hope to see them
with us at the appointed time. May the Lord guide them safely to
their hopeful and interesting field of labor. I trust we will give
hand and assist one another by brotherly love and unity of spirit.
"The death of the Prince Royal, Abbas Meerza, produced no
troubles here, as some were inclined to fear. The Shah, Feth Ali,
as it is said, has been restored from his sickness. He intends to
send here Muhammed Meerza, the son of Abbas Meerza, to occupy
the place of his father. Muhammed Meerza is said to be a strong
Muhammedan; but a zealot for hereditary systems becomes, very
often, more useful to the cause of truth than one indifferent to every
religion. I felt myself bound to make this report, but must add,
that in general, as you yourselves know, we cannot look for security
in this country, (on account of the advanced age of the present
king,) according to human manner of concluding, until a new king
occupies the throne, who knows how to keep it." I hardly need
say, that the pledge of this excellent missionary brother here made
to "give hand and help one another," was most amply redeemed
on our subsequent delightful acquaintance and intercourse, alike by
himself and his worthy associates who afterwards joined him.
We took passage to Trebizond in a fine English schooner, the
Shah, (king, in Persian,) Capt. Smith, which plied regularly be-
tween that city and the capital. It was a countryman built in Balti-
more—had been used as a Slaver-captured and sold, and was dig-
nified with its present august cognomen, to attract the patronage of
Persian merchants. We took with us an Armenian young man,
who belonged at Smyrna, and knew a little English, to interpret
for us in cases where my moderate stock of Turkish would not suf-
fice, and render us other assistance on the way. In alluding to
THE BOSPHORUS.
81
him, which I shall have frequent occasion to do, I will call him by
his name, Takvóor.
May 17. Early this morning we were summoned to repair to the
schooner. She had left the harbor of Constantinople nearly a week
before, when "the south wind blew softly," and even this soon dy-
ing away, had been toiling and beating, all that time, against the
stern gusts from the north, so as if possible, to make her way up
through the Straits of the Bosphorus and gain the Black Sea. And
we had as long been on the alert-most of our boxes on board—
hoping for a favorable breeze and expecting, every hour, to be sum-
moned away. Our missionary friends were apprized of our expected
departure, this morning, and all assembled, at Mr. Goodell's house,
where we sung a hymn and kneeled down and prayed together, as we
supposed, for the last time on earth. They then accompanied
us to the wharf; there we exchanged the last farewell with most of
them; while two or three stepped into the boat and accompanied
us to the vessel. These were solemn and tender moments. When
we left America, our struggling emotions and those of our friends,
found some relief in the prospect of our enjoying a temporary home,
with missionary brethren at Constantinople. Now, we were ven-
turing out, upon untried ground, with no American missionary, and
no American resident even, beyond us. We were also lonely, in-
experienced adventurers, embarking on a momentous enterprise,
with no christian friend to counsel or console, whatever difficulties
and trials might await us. Trusting in God, however, at whose
bidding we went, we felt no inclination to shrink or linger. The
morning was one of the most lovely of May; and the Bosphorus
studded with its smiling villages and now clothed in all the rich ver-
dure of spring, spread out a scene before us indescribably beautiful.
Never were our hearts more tenderly touched with the pathetic
lines of Heber-
66
Though every prospect pleases,
And only man is vile,"
than while passing the magnificent palaces, fine villages, fertile fields
and tasteful gardens on each shore of these Straits, and contrasting
these abounding gifts of nature and these splendid monuments of
art with the degradation of the multitudes who inherit them.
We had expected to reach our vessel before ascending half way
up the Straits; but, in hope of a fair wind, and having beat through
Devil's current-the most rapid point in the Straits—the day pre-
vious, the captain had started at 3 o'clock in the morning, and, by
incessant toil, had made up almost to the Black Sea before we over-
took him. Our long ride of about twenty miles in the small boat,
most of the way in the face of the chilling north wind, was rather te-
dious for the ladies; to the last, however, it was interesting. The
mountains, for several miles, along the shores, were capped with
clouds from the sea, now furiously leaping from summit to summit
11
82
ACCIDENT-CAPT. GREY.
"on the wings of the wind," and anon quietly curling and skulking
in the ravines and valleys below.
Just after we went on board, an accident occurred. The wind
suddenly falling and the vessel running near the shore to avoid the
current, drifted down a little in a twinkling, and stuck fast upon a
bar of sand. All was now hurry and anxiety. Fortunately, a boat,
from the British frigate, Actaeon, lying at Tarapea, a little below,
was passing by at some distance, from an excursion to the Black
Sea, and came to our relief. On board the boat was Capt. Grey,
(son of the late Prime minister of England,) a midshipman and
about twenty men.
Anchors were carried several rods and let
down; the cables applied to the windlass, and, after emptying our
water-casks and working two hours, we got off. I was much pleas-
ed with the unaffected gentlemanly conduct of Capt. Grey on the oc-
casion. In him, real politeness seemed personified, the elements of
which are always the same-simplicity and 'real kindness kindly ex-
pressed.' Our missionary friends repaired to the cabin and took some
refreshment and then bade us farewell. Our eyes instinctively lin-
gered after them, down the Bosphorus as long as they could be seen.
Our misfortune in getting aground hindered us too long to allow
us to leave the Straits, that day, as the captain had intended.
therefore merely dragged up a little and anchored for the night.
Two or three Turks came on board, greatly marvelling how we had
made up so far, in spite of wind and current, and desired to procure
for themselves and about twenty comrades, a passage in such a ma-
gic craft to Trebizond. Native vessels do not attempt to pass up
those Straits without a fair wind. Our accommodations, in the Shâh,
we found excellent. The captain was a very intelligent, kind man ;
and the owner, a pious gentleman, was on board as supercargo. In
the cabin, was a large, well selected christian library: and Mrs.
Perkins and myself had in addition a quiet little room to ourselves.
We
May 18. The holy Sabbath came with its delightful associa-
tions, but not with the sabbath privileges of home; and never did
we expect to be permitted again to worship with such assemblies as
we had enjoyed in our native land, or even at Constantinople. The
captain was early on deck and called all hands, sent a line ahead
and attached it to a Greek vessel that lay anchored near, and drew
ours along side. As we came up we found on board the Greek brig
from one to two hundred filthy fellows, Turks, Greeks and Armeni-
ans, bound to Trebizond. We made fast our vessel, replenished
our casks with water, and were soon again on our way. The timid
Greeks strongly remonstrated with Capt. Smith for attempting to
force his way through the Bosphorus in the face of such rough
winds. The superior skill and courage of English seamen seemed
strongly to impress them with the general superiority of English
character to their own. A stiff breeze prevailed for two or three
hours, by the aid of which, we were able to beat; but it subsided
and left us near the mouth of the Bosphorus still unable to gain the
THE BLACK SEA-SUPERSTITIONS.
83
Black Sea. We anchored at the foot of a summit on the Asiatic
shore, on which is a Turkish castle.
May 19. We weighed anchor early and by short tacks under
each shore, as was most favorable, succeeded in leaving the Bospho-
rus and entering the Black Sea about noon. A thick, damp fog still
filled the atmosphere and vividly impressed us with the appropriate-
ness of the appellation-Black-or dark, Sea. From the head of
the Bosphorus, the shores, on both sides, recede at right angles, and,
as a bend occurs in the Straits a few miles below, it is almost im-
possible for vessels coming down to find the entrance, especially when
this fog prevails. Terrible wrecks occur there, in almost every
storm. Beclouded in mist and fog, the doubtful mariner creeps
along, and, uncertain, yet hoping, that he has gained the entrance,
is decoyed into some treacherous nook and dashed in a moment
upon the foaming rocks. There are few points in any sea navi-
gated by Europeans which are so perilous.
A kind of romance came over us as we reflected where we were,
-entering on a course never before traversed by Americans, ex-
cept by Messrs. Smith and Dwight, on their return from Persia.
Mrs. Perkins was the first American lady, who sailed on the Black
Sea. We had anticipated delightful weather, at this season; but
found it damp and chilly, during most of our passage.
May 21. This morning, a Turkish brig lay off against us,
about four miles distant. She sent a boat to us, and we were a little
apprehensive respecting the object. Innumerable pirates formerly
infested this sea. Five athletic Turks jumped on board, made aft
where we were sitting, and helped themselves to chairs. They
wanted water. They had been strolling twelve days from Trebi-
zond, without seeing land. We gave them a cask of water, the
distance to the Straits and a note to our friends at Constantinople,
and they quietly made off.
May 22.
Our native passengers became tired of our slow pro-
gress, and proposed to resort to some expedient to procure a fair
wind. It was affecting to observe the degrading superstitions, by
which these benighted Muhammedans and nominal Christians are
enslaved. The captain related to me some exhibitions of this de-
scription, that occurred on board the Shâh, on his previous passage
down from Trebizond. On board was a large number of Turks,
Persians and Armenians. A long calm occurred, during which
the captain manifested some impatience. "Why do you not send
for a fair wind?" they interrogated him; adding, "you have no
right to expect a good wind without using means to obtain it."
Accordingly, they set about procuring a fair wind, each respective
class in their own way. Among the Armenians was a priest, and
among the Persians a moollâh. The priest, at the request of the
Armenians, dressed up two candles, with superstitious ceremonies
and incantations, lighted them and sent them off, one before and
the other aft, on cards large enough to float them on the surface.
'
84
MUHAMMEDAN SECTS-IDEAS OF AMERICA.
The moollâh, at the instance of the Persians, extracted passages
from the Korán, rolled them up and set them adrift. Three days
afterwards a fair wind occurred, and the priest and moollâh came
to the captain with an arrogant air, claiming a drink of rum as a
reward for their agency in procuring it!
(C
"C
In the same company of passengers was illustrated the deep
hostility that exists between the two Muhammedan sects, the Soo-
nees and the Shîites. The Persians belong to the latter. On the
passage, their barrel of water failed; and they applied to the cap-
tain for more. The captain pointed them to a cask in the hold,
near which some of the Turks had their night quarters. What,
they exclaimed, are we to drink water that has stood where the
infidel Turks have been staying? It will not do!" The captain
told them that his water was all there, and endeavored to pacify
them; but all to no purpose. What to do, however, they knew
not. To perish with thirst was hard, and to drink water near
which the Turks or Christians had slept seemed equally frightful.
The moollâh was therefore called, and a grave consultation took
place, during which some of their number made further search for
water, and finding one cask a few feet back of the others and less
exposed to infidel pollution, their scruples so far subsided that it
was resolved to fill their vessel from that cask. But a new difficulty
then arose. There was but one pump for drawing off water, and
that had been used by the infidels. They, however, attached a
rope to it, threw it overboard, and after thoroughly soaking it in the
salt water, this difficulty was also surmounted.
One of the Turks on board, sat on deck to-day, engaged most
of the time in reading the Korán. It is very common for Mŭham-
medan merchants and mechanics who can read, to keep their sa-
cred book lying by them, and whenever a leisure moment occurs,
to spend it in perusing its contents. How ought the reverential re-
gard which these followers of the False Prophet thus pay to the pro-
ductions of an impostor, to rebuke nominal Christians for their
neglect of the word of God!
May 23. Takvóor told the Turks that I came from the New
World, the only appellation by which America is known to them.
They stared at me with amazement, and said it was a day favored
beyond any they had ever anticipated, that they were permitted to be-
hold an inhabitant of the New World. I inquired of them where they
supposed the New World to be situated, and they pointed upward!
The captain informed me, that his Persian passengers on the pre-
vious passage to Constantinople, developed a regular theory on this
subject. They told him, that their countrymen, who know of the
existence of the New World, suppose it to be located in the skies,
and hold that the English discovered it by the aid of a very large
telescope! The Persians, from their situation back in the interior,
know very little of matters pertaining to the sea. Those merchants
who then went down to Constantinople, had never before seen ves-
A HAJEE-DEVOTIONS-METAMORPHOSIS.
85
sels. One day, observing the captain taking the sun with his sex-
tant, they supposed him to be searching in the skies for land!
They became quite apprehensive, thinking that he had lost his way,
and held a sober conference among themselves on the subject.
One gravely asked, "Do you suppose he really knows where we
are?"
are ?" and a second as gravely replied, "Perhaps we have got out
of the Black Sea, it is now so many days since we have seen the
land, and are now going, the Lord only knows where!"
On board was an old Hâjée. This term is applied to those who
have made a pilgrimage to Mecca. Takvóor, hearing the old man
addressed by that epithet, inquired of him whether he had actually
been to the sacred city. "O yes," he replied with an air of great
self-complacency, "and you and that gentleman (meaning me)
ought to go to Jerusalem!" Both Muhammedans and eastern
Christians regard pilgrimages to hallowed places as certain to se-
cure them eligible seats in paradise, whatever may be the personal
character of the pilgrim.
At sunset I observed the Hâjée saying his prayers, which he did
publicly on deck. Muhammedans never seek retirement for their
devotions, but commence at the moment prescribed, wherever they
happen to be, on the road, in the field, in the market, or on deck on
ship-board. They often break off, also, and attend to salutations or
business during their prayers. I have observed our muleteer, on
the road, suddenly halt, when we were travelling quite fast, dismount,
kneel and commence his prayers; then rise, ride on, overtake us,
dismount again and resume his devotions, and so on, repeating the
same process five or six times, and meanwhile, giving all necessary
directions to his servants, until the customary routine was completed.
They accompany their recitals with frequent genuflexions and press-
ing the forehead on the ground; and are always particular to per-
form their devotions with their faces directed towards Mecca, the
birth-place and tomb of their prophet.
The Hâjée, who had been a great traveller in his own estimation,
made many inquiries respecting the location of the New World.
According to our ideas," said he, "there is only one world; and
the New World must be some part of that; yet, if it is a part, how
can it be so far distant?" The captain endeavored to explain to
him, that a great ocean must be crossed to reach the New World.
"But there is no sea larger than Akh Dengis-the Mediterranean
Sea," he replied; and so difficult was it to convince him of the ex-
istence of a larger body of water than the Mediterranean, that we
were obliged to leave him as ignorant and perplexed as we found him.
In the prospect of soon reaching Trebizond, Takvóor, in the af-
ternoon transformed himself from an Armenian into a European, by
a metamorphosis as great and sudden as that by which a chrysalis
ever becomes a butterfly. He had long been wishing to put on
European clothes, but fear of the Turks had prevented. At this
distance from his home, and in my employ, that obstacle was re-
86
ARRIVAL AT TREBIZOND-ITS SCENERY.
moved. Unfortunately, however, his metamorphosis was, in the de-
scending order—from the butterfly to the chrysalis. For purposes
of active labor, the European costume may be superior; but for
gracefulness, the flowing robes and swelling turbans which even
rayays, (christian subjects,) are permitted to wear, entirely eclipse
tight coats and pantaloons. And on our arrival at Trebizond,
Takvoor's constrained, awkward appearance, in his new chrysalis
state, drew upon him so many humorous comments, from all classes,
that he soon resumed his former costume.
May 29. The wind freshened about noon and carried us rapidly
toward Trebizond. The atmosphere was uncommonly clear, and
the sun, shining with a peculiar brilliancy, on the city and sur-
rounding country, presented an enchanting scene. The houses in
the city were half shrouded in verdant trees and shrubbery; culti-
vated fields rise gently in the rear; elevated hills, covered with fine
forests, and fruit-trees growing wild, but richly productive, lie far-
ther back, rising successively higher and higher; and lofty moun-
tains, many of them covered with eternal snow, stretch from the
sea at cape Jorōz fifteen miles west of the city, and meeting the
sea again far to the east, form a magnificent amphitheatre and
bound the horizon. As we approached the city, the outlines, which
at first appeared indistinct, brightened and increased in beauty and
in symmetry, until the eye was filled with the completeness of the
scene.
The Shâh fired a gun, as we entered the harbor, and the flags of
all the consuls in the city were flying as a token of welcome. We
dropped anchor about sunset and were soon safely moored. The
arrival of an English vessel, at that distant city, was then an event
of much interest, both to the natives and the European residents.
Now, the magic power of steam, which was not long after intro-
troduced into those regions, has so annihilated distance on the Black
Sea, that we came down from Trebizond to Constantinople in less
than three days, about one third of the period occupied by our gal-
lant Shâh in beating up the Bosphorus, a distance of only thirty miles,
when we went on,-and it has made that remote city, away on the
south-eastern shore of the Euxine, for facility of business and fre-
quency of communication, almost like a suburb of the Turkish
capital.
THE CITY-SITUATION-POPULATION.
87
CHAPTER VI.
TREBIZOND, AND JOURNEY THENCE TO ERZROOM.
We went on shore, May 30th, the morning after reaching Tre-
bizond, and were cordially welcomed by Messrs. Sutor* and Ab-
bott, of the English consulate and mercantile house, under whose
hospitable roof we found an excellent home during our stay in the
city. For this attention and their very kind efforts in aiding us to
complete our preparation for our land-journey, we were laid under
great obligation. Mr. Brant, the consul, was absent on a journey
to Persia. These English gentlemen, a French consul and his
family, and a Russian consul, were then the only European resi-
dents in Trebizond. This city is the ancient Trapezus, situated
at the south-eastern extremity of the Black Sea, in the province of
ancient Pontus. It is about six hundred miles distant from Con-
stantinople. It has, from time immemorial, been a place of consid-
erable celebrity. It was the first Greek colony which received and
entertained the Ten Thousand in their immortal retreat. Origi-
nally settled by enterprising Greeks, it early rose into commercial
importance, and at a later period was for a long time the capital of
the eastern Greek empire. It is favorably situated for trade, partic-
ularly for transit trade, being on the great high-way between Eu-
rope and Central Asia. It has unfortunately nothing that can be
called a harbor; but has a tolerably good road-stead for the anchor-
age of vessels.
Remains of an ancient mole, constructed by the
emperor Hadrian, are still perceptible, but no longer of utility.
Trebizond contains a population not varying far from 25,000, of
whom about 3,000 are Greeks, 1,000 Armenians, a few hundreds
Armenian Catholics, and the rest Muhammedans. The latter re-
side principally within the wall of the city, which is in a state of
very good repair; while the Christians, both natives and Europe-
ans, are limited to the part without it. Osmán Pashâ was then, and
still is, the governor, who is said to be a bigotted Mussulmân, but
is an excellent ruler for a Turk. His fame is particularly celebra-
ted for having reduced to subjection the Laz, a wild disorderly tribe
of Muhammedans, who reside in the mountainous regions back of
Trebizond, and have formerly committed frequent depredations on
travellers and caravans.
The exterior charms of this place, whose natural situation is real-
ly almost unparalleled in beauty, are soon marred, as is the case at
Constantinople, and indeed in all eastern cities, when the traveller
* Now British consul at Cesarea.
1.
4
88
CLIMATE-PRODUCTIONS.
enters it. The houses are built principally of stone, the roofs being
covered with half cylindrical tile; and they are without glass windows.
Here too the streets are exceedingly narrow, crooked and filthy. The
climate is very mild for its latitude. Figs, olives, pomegranates, and
lemons, are easily cultivated in and around the city. Its atmos-
phere is singularly humid, so much so that cutlery and every metal
article can be preserved uninjured, only with the greatest difficulty.
The most striking physical feature of Trebizond is a lofty bold hill,
that overhangs it in the rear, called by the natives, Bâs Tapá,
(Azure hill,) from which stone is extensively quarried for building,
and from the top of which is enjoyed a perfect bird's-eye view of the
town and its environs below, and a magnificent prospect of the sea
and its shores far to the eastward and westward.
The shyness and curiosity manifested by the natives, as we pass-
ed through the streets, announced a degree of barbarism which we
had not before witnessed. They have a reputation abroad for pos-
sessing an unusual share of rudeness and bigotry,—a character
which the Europeans who reside there, as they informed us, have
abundant occasion to award them.
May 30. We visited the French consul, M. Outráy. He is an
elderly man and has a large family who have wandered about with
him from place to place in western Asia, as he has received differ-
ent appointments under government. For many years, he was con-
sul at Bagdád, subsequently, at Aleppo, and was now and still is,
consul at Trebizond, where his office is a mere sinecure, a French
vessel hardly ever appearing there. He is a native of Bagdád, and
first entered the service of government in the capacity of dragoman
(interpreter) to general Gardana, the ambassador sent by Napoleon
to the Shah of Persia, to treat for a passage through that country,
on his projected career of conquest to India. The consul is a very
modest, gentlemanly man, has a handsome, intelligent family of chil-
dren, and his wife appears to be an extremely nice, kind lady. She
entertained us, on this occasion, with a very minute account of her
adventures in crossing the desert between Aleppo and Bagdád, some
years before, with several of her children, in a caravan of camels.
This narrative she often repeated to us. The polite attentions of
this French family I should not omit gratefully to acknowledge.
French kindness when compared with that of the English is fre-
quently light, flippant and agreeable, rather than solid and useful.
This difference, which a traveller often notices as he meets with
representatives of the two nations, is well characterized in the la-
conic description of an American lady who was some time sick at
Marseilles. This lady being ill among strangers in a strange land,
was of course in circumstances well adapted to test the hospitality
of her neighbors. The French ladies, she states, would come and
bring her flowers all day, while the English ladies would come and
watch with her all night.
Takvóor, in his rambles to-day, fell in with an Armenian priest,
ARMENIAN PRIEST-THE SABBATH.
89
with whom he had a long conversation, some of the items of which
he detailed to me and I will do the same for the reader.
Priest. You have come here with a stranger, I understand.
Takvóor. Yes, with an American gentleman.
P. I suppose you are a Turk, as you wear the dress of the sol-
diers. (Takvóor was still in his chrysalis state.) T. No; my na-
tion is Armenian. P. How then do you wear such clothes? T. I
am the interpreter of this American gentlemen. P. I am glad one
Armenian is allowed to wear Frank clothes; but how comically you
look in them! Well, is this gentleman a Luthán ?* T. Yes.
P. Is the religion of the English and of the American the same ?
T. Yes. P. Well, you are every day with this gentleman; do you
eat all things? T. Yes; in the New Testament it is written, to
the pure all things are pure; and again, 'not that which goeth into
the mouth defileth a man.' P. This is true; well, come and drink
coffee with me; and when you go home, give my respects to the
American gentleman and invite him to come and see me, and walk
with me daily in my garden.
As most of the religion of these oriental Christians consists in
their crossing themselves and in attention to their meats and drinks,
in relation to which they are very punctilious, the liberality of feel-
ing manifested by this priest was very gratifying.
June 1. The Sabbath,—but no church-going bell" called us to
the sanctuary of God. The native nominal Christians spend a small
portion of the morning in senseless recitals and ceremonies, and the
rest, in clamor and noise. The Muhammedans throughout Tur-
key, as if to obliterate every vestige of its sacredness, have incor-
porated the desecration of the Sabbath into their language, calling
it, bazár gün, market day; and they employ it accordingly. And
this Sabbath violation of the natives, I regret to add, in Trebizond
and other cities in the East, receives little rebuke from the example
of the European residents. To-day, for instance, in the morning,
the French consul and his son returned our visit; and in the after-
noon, Mr. Mason, dragomán of the English consul, and his wife
and child, called to see us. Mr. M. is a very intelligent gentleman.
His father was a Frenchman and his mother a Greek. His wife is
also a Greek. I gave their little boy a copy of the New Testament
in the modern Greek, hoping that the Sabbath visit might thus
prove a blessing to the visitors.
June 4. I called on the Armenian priest above mentioned. He
was the second ecclesiastic in age and influence in the city. He
received me very cordially and took me with him to visit the Ar-
menian school. The Armenians at Trebizond have but one school,
and this scarcely deserves the name. It was then under the care
* A Lutheran—an epithet applied by Greeks and Armenians to protestants
in general-and usually involving the idea of flagrant heresy, if nothing
worse.
1
1
12
1
90
ARMENIAN SCHOOL-NEW TESTAMENTS.
of the clergy, some of whom visited it every day. It consisted of
about 120 boys, and was taught by a deacon. All sat, a la Turk,
upon the naked stone floor. The room was small, and had neither
benches, tables, nor glass windows. Still, the poor boys, all with
bright black eyes, seemed happy even there. A few of them had
tattered copies of the Psalms, which were the only school books
used. The teacher had one entire copy of the Bible, which, I was
told, he read daily to the children. But in the absence of books
and other apparatus suitable for a school-room, I was pained to ob-
serve the walls almost entirely hung with pictures and crosses.
Three priests were present when I called to see this school. All
appeared to be delighted with my visit. I told them and the chil-
dren about our schools in America. "We wish," said the priests,
"that our girls and all our children might learn; but we are poor,
and oppressed by the Muhammedans." I inquired of the priests
whether they would each accept from me a copy of a New Tes-
tament. "Most thankfully," they replied; "and we wish you to
write our names, together with your own, in them, and we shall
thus often be reminded with pleasure and gratitude of the giver."
They urged me to walk and sit awhile with them, in their garden,
importuned me to repeat my calls, and when I left them, sent
bunches of flowers and roses, and many regards, to Mrs. Perkins.
June 5. Takvóor carried the New Testaments tot he Armenian
priests. They returned many thanks, and said they should read
these books in their churches, that the people might be able to un-
derstand what they hear. The Testaments were in Armeno-
Turkish-a language understood by all classes; whereas, the Bibles
before used, where Bibles existed at all, were in ancient Armenian,
a language about as well understood, by priests and people, as
Egyptian hieroglyphics.
I was not a little gratified, on my return, to learn from the Rev.
Mr. Johnston, our missionary at Trebizond, that these priests had
been his unwavering friends, in secret, and in public, so far as they
dared to be, ever since the commencement of his mission, which
was soon after my acquaintance with them. Only the principal one
was now in the city. I felt a strong desire to visit him, particularly
after hearing this account of him. But Mr. Johnston assured me,
that a visit from me would bring down a shower of wrath upon the
poor priest from the bigotted bishop now there, which I should be
as unwilling to become in any way instrumental of inflicting, as he
would be unable to bear. Such is the intolerable rigor, with which
many Armenian bishops attempt but too sucessfully to lord it over
God's heritage. The rod of their oppression will however, we trust,
ere long be broken.
When Takvóor delivered the Testaments, as above-named, an
aged priest from Gümüsh-khânáh, a town back in the interior, was
present. He was so enraptured at the sight of the books, that he
immediately pulled off his cap and exclaimed, "O God, reward this
蕾
​TURKISH FIRMAN.
91
gentleman, and bless him on his journey." And when Takvoor left
them, this priest called to him, and told him to present his love to
me, and beg for him one such New Testament. I sent to the old
man my only remaining copy. The next day, several boys from the
school came to me, begging New Testaments for themselves, but I
was obliged to send them empty away, deeply regretting that I had
not taken with me an ample supply.
The reader will recollect that my instructions contemplated our
embarking at some port on the eastern shore of the Black Sea, and
travelling thence by Tiflis through Georgia into Persia; and such
was our expectation until we received fuller information, relative
to the comparative facilities of different routes, at Constantinople.
The much greater distance and the numberless embarrassments and
delays, likely to be experienced in attempting to travel in the pro-
vinces of Russia, appeared to us and to others acquainted with the
subject whom we consulted, to be far more formidable obstacles than
the frightful mountains and some danger of annoyance from the law-
less Koords, on the shorter route.
Our preparations had been principally made, as those of every
traveller in that direction should be, at Constantinople. There we
were furnished with a royal firmân, through the agency of our
chargé d'affaires, commanding all magistrates, high and low, on our
route to Persia, to show us kindness and respect and render us all
needed assistance, the whole couched of course in the pompous
garb of oriental grandiloquence. As this firmân is a very fair spe-
cimen of Eastern metaphor, I give it below to the reader. He of
course knows enough of Asiatic rhetoric, to understand my rank as
a nobleman and commodore Porter's, as a christian chief.
A TURKISH FIRMAN.
You, the honor of judges and wise men, the fountains of excel-
lence and wisdom;—you who dwell, from my Sublime Porte (lofty
gate) in the countries by land and by sea, mentioned below, on the
roads leading hence, or coming thence:
Ye judges of the countries, and vicars of the judges, (may your
excellence be increased); you who are the glory of your fellow-
chiefs, and lofty men of the countries, the glory also of the magis-
trates, (may your power be increased):
When this my high and lofty mandate shall arrive; Be it known
unto you, that the chargé d'affaires of the kingdom of America,
who is the highest among the christian chiefs, David Porter, (may
his end be blessed,) in his letter sent to my sublime Porte, it
was written, that from the nobles of America, the nobleman Per-
kins, with his wife and one dragomán and confidential servant is
going from my sublime Porte, for the purpose of travelling, by sea
to Trebizond and from thence by land to Erzróom and Bayazéed
and round about that region;-and that this nobleman, with his
92
OUTFIT FOR THE JOURNEY.
wife and dragomán and confidential servant, going and coming
through those places, where they stop to rest on the way, as it is ne-
cessary, the tax-gatherers, and other officers, with no pretence, may
trouble or lay any duty upon them; but take care that they proceed
safe and sound, with security and protection.
To this effect, the above mentioned chargé d'affaires besought
for this my sacred decree. Therefore, it is my command, that it be
done, as it is written above.
And now ye judges, and vicars of judges, and all ye rulers men-
tioned above, this nobleman, (his servant not being a rayáh, but
being a confidential true servant, as it is mentioned,) with his wife
and his interpreter and his servant, going from my sublime Porte
through those places, by land or by sea, which have been mention-
ed, when he stops to rest on the road, as it may be necessary, in
any place, let the tax-gatherers and other officers, with no pretence,
make them any trouble or lay upon them any duty, but the con-
trary furnish them protection and security, and take care that they
go on their way in safety and in peace.
The authority of this my sacred mandate, is in force from this
time henceforth, about seven months; and from that time afterward,
its validity having ceased, into whosesoever hands it may fall, let it
not be obeyed nor respected, but taking it from his hands, send it
here to my sublime Porte, to be thrown into the depository of my
annulments.
To this effect is given my sublimely glorious mandate. I com-
mand with my sacred authority that when this shall appear before
you, you do as it is required of you, according to my sacred man-
date herein announced. Do ye and act according to my sacred
command. Thus know ye and give credence to the holy seal.
Dated about the first days of the moon (month) Mōharrém ŭl
Harân, in the year.1250, in the city, Constantinople.
At the capital too we procured the following articles for the road :
1. A tent, which is indispensable to the comfort and health of trav-
ellers, especially to ladies, in summer, (the only season when Eu-
ropeans are often likely to attempt to travel that route,) to shield
them from the ravenous vermin with which the native houses are
all thickly infested. It also diminishes exposure to the plague, by
preventing the necessity of entering the villages for lodgings. 2.
A large pair of Russian leather-bags, resembling in shape the com-
mon saddle-bags of a country physician, but eight or ten times as
large. These, being proof against rain, completely preserved our
clothes and books which we wished to keep accessible, from injury
on the way. 3. Two round boxes resembling a peck measure,
with a cover and divided into several small circular compartments.
In one of these boxes we carried our tea-set which consisted of thick
glass tumblers in the place of cups and saucers; and in the other,
we put our plates, spoons, knives and forks, the plates being cop-
ARRANGEMENT OF LOADS-THEIR SIZE.
93
per, but tinned over, that they might impart no poisonous properties
to our food. 4. A portable kitchen, as the natives call it, consist-
ing of some half dozen copper pans, six or eight inches in diameter,
fitted so as to set one upon another, the bottom of each, in the as-
cending order, being a trifle smaller than the brim of its predeces-
sor and just entering it, and the whole capable of being fastened to-
gether in this position by two copper side-pieces hooked to the up-
per and lower pans in the series. In this apparatus, we carried our
butter, cheese, rice, etc. with great convenience. 5. A copper ket-
tle and frying-pan, a gridiron, and a tin tea-pot and tea-kettle.. Two
or three pieces of oil-cloth and as many small carpet rugs to spread
in our tent at night, completed our outfit from Constantinople.
Our bedding we had brought with us from America. For chairs,
tables and a bedstead on our journey we occasionally arranged our
trunks and boxes, but oftener sat, ate and slept flat upon the ground.
There are many other articles of furniture for the road kept in the
bazárs at the Turkish capital, which the traveller can attach to his
portable establishment or not, as his taste or the state of his purse
may dictate. As, however, all the conveniences of civilized life
cannot be enjoyed, on a journey in the East, it will generally be
found, "that he that had gathered much had nothing over, and he
that had gathered little, had no lack."
.
I need not inform the reader, that we and our effects were trans-
ported from Trebizond to Persia on the backs of horses, no wheel
carriages being used in those regions. Mules are also used, in
caravans, and camels extensively, though less on the difficult route
between Trebizond and Erzróom,—and a donkey or two usually
follows in the train, on which the muleteer rides or carries his pro-
visions. In arranging the above named articles for the journey,
our tent, bound up, was half a horse-load, and our beds, attached by
ropes, balanced it on the opposite side. Upon the Russian bags,
our servant rode. Our tea and table-sets, arranged in their cases,
the portable kitchen and the cooking utensils were placed in a deep
basket covered with a coarse hair bag; and this basket with a cor-
responding one, covered in the same way and containing our stores
and dry provisions, formed another load.
There is doubtless great misapprehension in Europe and Ameri-
ca, in relation to the weight and size of the loads that are carried
over the rough mountains of Asia Minor, on the backs of animals.
The lamented Mrs. Grant was dissuaded by a prudent adviser, from
taking with her, to Persia, a small framed portrait of a beloved pa-
rent—an omission which I have often seen her regret with tears—
because as everything must be carried so many hundred miles on
the backs of horses, all that was not absolutely indispensable must
be left behind. But conceive of the vast amount of merchandize
that passes annually, in both directions, between Europe and Persia,
—a caravan almost every week or oftener pouring itself into some
spacious caravanserai and depositing its heavy loads in huge piles,
1
t
94
SADDLE-MAFFAS-ROUTES.
themselves almost like small mountains,—and this method of trans-
portation assumes a different aspect. Two hundred and eighty
pounds is the maximum load for a single horse, which should be
divided into two nearly equal parts, placed in boxes of almost any
shape,-long narrow ones are the most convenient. These are
attached by ropes and slung, one on each side, and bound to the
body of the animal, resting and riding snugly against his broad pack-
saddle. The most portable of my loads were my books, that were
put up in cases six feet long, two feet high, and one foot wide. A
load of this size is usually carried from Trebizond to Persia for a
sum varying with the demand for horses, from ten to fifteen dollars.
Who then would deny the pilgrim missionary the privilege of carry-
ing to his distant exile the comfort of a parent's likeness that might
in its frame weigh perhaps from six to eight ounces!
For Mrs. Perkins, who was then but little accustomed to riding
on horseback, we surmounted a broad saddle of the country with a
frame like a chair. We also took with us a vehicle, which is called
in Turkey, the măffás, and in Persia, the cajaváh—to secure her
from exposure in wet weather. It consists of two boxes, slung one
on each side of a horse, just large enough to admit a person in a
sitting posture. These are furnished with light ribs overhead to
which a canvas covering is attached. One person may ride in each
box, or an individual in one may be balanced by a half load of some
kind in the other. Mrs. P. used this vehicle only a part of the first
day, finding her position in it very confined. We afterwards filled
both sides with our effects which we had accasion to use on the
road. On our return, being much accustomed to riding, she pre-
ferred the American side-saddle to the broad saddle of the country
even, which had served her so well on our way to Persia.
From Trebizond to Erzróom-or rather, to Baibóot, a town a
little more than midway,—there are three distinct routes. The win-
ter, or western route, leads by Gümüsh-khânáh.
It is the longest
of the three; but winding its tortoise-way through deep narrow val-
leys and ravines, it is nowhere so high as to be wholly impassible in the
depth of winter; and this is usually the only route that can be trav-
elled in that season. The second or middle route is considerably
shorter, but is more mountainous and difficult. It leads by the vil-
lage of Maddén; and is the one most travelled by couriers and ex-
tensively by caravans, in summer. The third, or eastern road, is at
least a day shorter than the middle one, but is more rough, and un-
til within a few years, was frightfully beset by hordes of the maraud-
ing Laz. It leads by the village of Chailér. This road is now com-
monly travelled by Turkish muleteers in summer; while Persians and
their horses, less accustomed to climbing the frightful precipices of
ancient Pontus, still prefer the longer routes. We chose the middle
one, as the shortest, even at that late season, was said to be still en-
cumbered with vast quantities of snow.
It was not until June 10th that we and our muleteer, who was a
1
LEAVING TREBIZOND-RURAL SCENERY.
95
Turk, were ready to start for Erzróom. We sent along our boxes
in the morning; but it being rainy, remained ourselves, hoping for
fair weather, until afternoon. Our company consisted of Mrs. P.
and myself, Takvóor and an Armenian tailor whom Mr. Sutor had
procured to act as our servant as far as Erzróom,-besides our mule-
teer and his companions, belonging to the caravan. The rain ceas-
ing a little we took leave of the gentleman of the European consu-
lates at Trebizond about 1 o'clock in the afternoon, expecting to
meet with no more society except the barbarians of the country, dur-
ing our long journey. The length, roughness and solitariness of the
way, a distance of near seven hundred miles and over almost im-
passible mountains,-the perils from tribes of robbers with which
the road is usually more or less infested, and the frightful pestilence
which often curdles the atmosphere of those regions in summer, all
stared us in the face and challenged our faith and our courage; but
we believed that as our day, so would also be our strength, and re-
joiced to go forward.
As we passed out through the city, we seemed greatly to astonish
the natives, who thronged the streets in large numbers to gaze for
the first time upon a lady from “the West." We ascended the lofty
Bâs Tapá by a steep rocky zigzag path which was partially paved
and cut from the rocks into stairs; and as we reached the top, the
clouds dispersed, and the Black Sea, the city and surrounding coun-
try spread out a scene of almost unequalled beauty and grandeur.
We could not forbear to "look back" and feast our eyes on such a
scene, particularly as they were sadly reluctant to take their last
look of vessels and seas. Passing across the Bâs Tapá and a lower
ridge beyond, we descended into the deep narrow valley of Trebi-
zond River-called Mill River-by a rocky difficult pass, similar
to that by which we rose from the city. We followed up this valley
in a south-east direction, through a constant succession of the rarest
charms of rural loveliness. Mountains rise high on either side; small
but beautiful fields lie along their declivities, stretching up almost
to their tops and extending down to the river's edge, except where
they are interrupted by steep precipices, that leave scarcely a single
parapet for the passing traveller and caravan, while the neat shin-
gled cottages of the dwellers among the rocks" hang romantically
along the upper cliffs or are perched on the brink of the stream be-
low. The inhabitants of this and the neighboring valleys are Laz
and Greeks who live together in tolerable harmony, the nominal
Christians not differing much from their compatriots of a different
faith, in point of rudeness and barbarism. The articles most culti-
vated by them are hemp and Indian corn.
About ten miles above the city a bridge crosses the river, and the
road, by Chailér-the shortest route-leads up a valley from the
eastern shore. On the over-hanging pinnacle of the bold ridge, that
separates that valley from the one we followed stands an old castle,
monarch of the hill, which is the residence of one of the valley-lords,
¿
96
SCRIPTURE ILLUSTRATIONS-TENT.
(as they are called,) who have formerly headed their wild tribes in
a plundering mode of life, but now quietly govern them under their
wholesome subjection to Osmán Pashâ.
Our Turkish companions of the caravan passed cheerfully along,
occasionally breaking the monotony of "the bells on the horses," by
singing a traveller's song or entertaining each other with marvellous
narrations. How novel to our eyes and our ears were the scenes
and the sounds of that afternoon, which have ever since been as fa-
miliar as the sight of carriages, the sound of rattling wheels, the
notes of the stage-coach horn, or the whistle of the rail-road car to
our friends in America. Among the Scripture allusions of which
every incident and almost every step seemed a vivid illustration, none
struck me more delightfully than the promise of a day approaching,
when "holiness to the Lord shall be written on the bells of the
horses," for we had the grateful consciousness, that to hasten such
a period was the object of our undertaking.
Just before night, it again commenced raining; and we had start-
ed so late in the day, our progress also being much retarded by
the muddy state of the road in consequence of the rain,-that to
reach our stopping-place we were obliged to ride some time in the
evening. In darkness, rain and mud, we climbed precipices and
again descended them, on the very brink of the river, until we were
heartily glad to find a resting place and a shelter, even under a tent.
We reached Javislík, a village six hours* (about twenty miles)
from Trebizond, near 9 o'clock in the evening. Takvóor and our
muleteer had preceded us, a few minutes, and were erecting our
tent near the village, on the river bank, when we arrived. Unfor-
tunately, from haste, darkness or ignorance, they had put it up inside
out and were obliged to take it down again. This mistake cor-
rected, after a little time we procured a light, and spread down our
oil-cloth and rugs, to shield us from the wet ground.
Meanwhile our servant procured a little fuel, made a fire at our
tent door and prepared some tea which we drank and retired with
thankful hearts to rest. The roaring of the stream within a few feet
of us, and the patting of the rain on our tent soon lulled us to sleep;
and our slumbers were kept from molestation, from the intrusions of
curiosity or hostile intentions, by a guard of three armed men, sent to
us unasked by a valley-lord, the agá (chief man) of the district. And
we had the joyful consciousness of yet greater security, though de-
fenceless wanderers, in strange benighted climes, and sleeping in a
tent by night, under the protection of that divine Keeper, who took
care of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph in their wanderings, in
foreign and hostile lands, and has given to all his disciples the com-
forting assurance, "Lo, I am with you alway, even to the end of the
world."
* The rate of travelling, by caravans, is about two and three-fourths, or
three, miles an hour; and distance is reckoned by hours.
!
YOGOORD-POISONOUS HONEY.
97
June 11. Daylight revealed to us Javislík, which consists of
about twenty rude houses. The valley-lord had an imposing situa-
tion in another castle, on the summit of an over-hanging mountain.
I sent Takvoor into the village for eggs, but he returned saying
"there are none;" I then sent him for meat, but he could find none,
being told that it was too late in the season. I sent him a third
time for milk, but his answer was still, "there is none: it is all
made into yogóord."*
"What is there to eat," I inquired; “why,
nothing but yogóord." Not having learned to appreciate this ori-
ental dish, we directed our servant to spread before us dry food,
from the provisions we had with us, from which we made a comfort-
able repast, and started again about eight o'clock in the morning.
The weather was cloudy and very damp, though it did not rain.
Crossing, by an arched stone bridge, a considerable tributary of the
Trebizond river which joins the main stream from the east at
Javislík, our road still lay in a south-east direction. A few rods
beyond the village we left the western route (the one leading by
Gümüsh-khânáh), which still follows up the valley along the bank of
the river, and rose gradually on the side of a mountain, leaving
beautiful fields on the declivities below. As we advanced, we at
length found ourselves enveloped in dense clouds, and thus pro-
ceeded, until we came upon the top of a narrow ridge, with almost
unfathomable profundities on either hand, which were now and
then imperfectly revealed, as the clouds were partially driven away
by the wind. We followed this ridge some distance, while it grad-
ually widened into a mountain top, clothed with a thick growth of
heavy timber. The lofty beech and cedar were predominant; and
one of the most common bushes of the under growth was that from
whose flowers then in blossom the honey is extracted, mentioned
by Xenophon as poisoning some of his troops. It is a bush resem-
bling that in America which bears a watery excrescence, about as
large as an apple, much sought in spring by children, and usually
called, honey suckle. The latter bush also grows there abundantly,
and the only difference between the two is, that the one from which
the poisonous honey is extracted has a yellow blossom, while that of
the other is a pale red. Alps still o'er Alps arose,' which we
climbed by rough, narrow and often zigzag passes, to almost inter-
minable heights, until we found ourselves shivering in a climate
entirely different from the one in which we had started in the morn-
ing. We were compelled to put on additional cloaks and were still
very cold. Dense clouds, on all sides, prevented our enjoying the
C
* Curdled milk-one of the most common and favorite dishes in the East.
It is usually prepared early in the morning. Curdled milk gives an imper-
fect idea of this article; and yet I know of no better term to express it. It is
prepared from sweet milk, artificially "turned" by throwing into it a small
quantity of the yogóord already on hand. It is not only esteemed by the
nomade classes, but by all ranks in the East, and scarcely less by Europeans
after becoming accustomed to it.
م
13
t
!
98
ELEVATED SITUATION-SUBLIME SCENES.
extended surveys, as we rode along, which we were sure our im-
mense elevation must command. We reached Karakapán, five
hours, (about fifteen miles,) from Javislík, at one o'clock in the
afternoon. Caravans always travel slow, not ordinarily more than
fifteen or twenty miles per day. This village is nearly 5,000 feet
above the level of the Black sea, and indeed of the village which
we left that morning. It consists of only five or six rude huts, oc-
cupied mainly for the accommodation of travellers and caravans.
In the course of the afternoon, the clouds cleared away and open-
ed to us scenes of inconceivable sublimity. We found ourselves
near the top of this lofty mountain, where we had scarcely been
able to find a spot level enough on which to pitch our tent, surround-
ed by alternate deep gulfs and lofty snow-capped summits. Seve-
ral large drifts of snow lay sparkling within a few feet of our tent.
The mountain sides and valleys below were still buried in thick
clouds, driven furiously about by the winds. As the clouds cleared
away more and more, the waters of the Black Sea at length appear-
ed in the distant horizon, and the countless cottages of the Laz and
Greek peasants lay sprinkled like birds' nests, in the open fields and
even among the trees of the forests, all along the declivities far up
the sides of the mountains. We were charmed with the smiling
beauties and overwhelmed with the awful grandeur of the wild
romantic views that stretched away in every direction, and never
before were our minds more deeply impressed with the greatness
and glory of Him, "who hath measured the waters in the hollow of
his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended
the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in
scales and the hills in a balance."
Just before evening, a shepherd passed along with his flock, which
he had been pasturing upon green patches, on the sunny sides of the
mountains. He milked one of his goats for us, and thus were we
furnished with a luxury which we had little anticipated, at that vast
elevation. The ground was wet and the weather chilly, and as the
sun sank down behind the mountains, we became very cold. We
had little anticipated such a temperature, in mid-summer, even on
the mountains of Asia Minor.
June 12. The morning was fair and delightful, but the weather
very cold. We were early on our way which immediately led up
several more frightful precipices, and was so narrow and difficult in
many places that we should have been almost afraid to trust our-
selves to our own feet. A single misstep might have plunged us
many hundreds of feet down the rocky depths below. The caravan
horses of those regions become so accustomed to such roads as to
be able to make their way up and down steep precipices with sur-
prising facility; and the traveller soon learns that it is far safer to
commit himself to the skill and care of the cautious animal he rides,
than to attempt to rein him, or even dismount and thread his way
on foot. Ascending those precipices, we were placed on one of the
j
LEAD MINES-KROOMLEE.
f
99
highest elevations on our route to Persia. Our way then led over
a lofty table-land, still in a south-east direction. We passed over
snow a considerable part of the day, and the bright reflection of the
sun's rays from
from it was very trying to our eyes. Not a tree or shrub
was anywhere to be seen. I inquired of our muleteer when we
should again meet with forests. "Not for many hundreds of miles
at least not in Turkey; I have never travelled in Persia ;" was his
reply, and the result verified his statement. Lofty mountains, en-
tirely naked, except the white mantle from the skies on their sum-
mits, and here and there verdant patches of grass on their sunny
sides, covered with grazing flocks, were the only varieties of scene-
ry presented to our view. And the dark blue reflections of light,
fleecy clouds, quivering through the atmosphere, no less than the
chilling blasts, reminded us of our immense height.
Finding a small spot of grass, about mid-day, the muleteer stop-
ped two hours to bait his horses; and we, not wishing to take the
trouble to pitch our tent for so short a time, erected an awning with
our oil-cloth, under which we sat down and partook of a dry colla-
tion on the ground. We travelled about five hours to-day, which
brought us to Maddén, i. e. the Mines. It is a mining village as
its name imports, which consists of about a dozen rude stone huts,
with flat roofs covered over with earth, situated on the southern de-
clivity of a mountain, occupied only in summer, and then merely
for the purpose of working the lead mines. Its inhabitants are princi-
pally Greeks who are the miners. They belong to the village of
Kroom, situated in a deep glen, about two miles below the mining
hamlet. Kroom is the original seat of the singular class, now rather
numerous in that region, known by the title, Kroomlée, i. e. citi-
zens of Kroom, who are Muhammedans by profession, but Greek
Christians in reality. This class, as a body, would of course open-
ly profess Christianity were the the terror of Muhammedan law to
be removed. And it is supposed that the mass of the Mussulmâns,
in the pashalik of Trebizond, are descended from Greeks, whose re-
conversion to the religion of their ancestors would doubtless quick-
ly follow the transfer of the government from Moslem to christian
hands.
June 13. The direct road from Maddén to Baibóot leads in a
more easterly direction than we now followed, passing through the
villages of Vazernáh and Balhóor; our muleteer took us on a more
We
southern route, for the sake of visiting his native village.
saw more of life and vegetation to-day than we had the day pre-
vious. The table-land was succeeded by lofty peaks and ridges
and deep intervening glens, which, alternately rising and sinking,
converge the sun's rays in the deep chasms at the bottom, and
create there a sufficient degree of warmth to support vegetation
and sustain small villages. These villages, seen from the snowy
barren desolations above, spread out a miniature paradise most
grateful to the eye of the traveller. Toward the close of our ride,
}
100
DANGER APPREHENDED—A PRECIPICE.
less snow appeared; but the mountains, instead of presenting a
more inviting aspect, were still more absolute personifications of
sterility, bald, dreary masses, with scarcely a sign of vegetation in
sight, except in the bottom of the deep glens below. We passed
near no village, and after travelling again five hours encamped for
the night high up the side of a mountain. For fuel to cook our tea,
we could find nothing but a few dry weeds, the growth of a later
season of the previous year. We passed another cold night, though
less so than the preceding.
June 14. Early in the morning, I overheard Takvóor and the
muleteer holding a mutual condolence on the perils which they fan-
cied they had encountered during the night. The muleteer gravely
stated that he and his companions had not slept a moment, for fear
of robbers, and that several armed men had actually approached
them, evidently with hostile intentions, but finding themselves out-
numbered, they quietly retired. Takvóor in turn, stated that he
also had slept very little, as the muleteer and his associates passed
the night a considerable distance from our tent, watching their
horses. The people of these regions pass life literally in "fear and
trembling." The day-laborer goes to his work in the field armed
with a dagger or musket, and perhaps with both. Our Turkish
companions of the caravan and Takvóor and the servant were all
thus armed, and still went halting along. My only weapon was an
old pair of holsters, with a telescope in one and a rolling portfolio
in the other, to which I often pointed them, to dissipate their appre-
hensions; but they as often gravely retorted the adage, “those that
know nothing, fear nothing," which may have been too justly appli-
ed in my case; for the wild marauding Laz had then but lightly
felt the rigorous arm of Osmán Pashâ.
Our course, to-day, lay to the south, and toward the close of it,
south by west; and it led down the longest and by far the steepest
and most difficult precipice which we encountered on our journey.
It was between two and three miles in length, as steep as the com-
mon roof of a house, and descended only by a rough, stony, zigzag
foot-path. Mrs. P. had now become able to ride along the side and
up such precipices with a tolerable degree of composure, but to ride
down thein was still frightful. She was obliged, in this instance,
not only to have her horse led by one muleteer (which was done
most of the way from Trebizond to Erzróom,) but her saddle also
held upon the horse, by another.
At the foot of this precipice is situated the Greek village of Ar-
moot, (the pear). A beautiful rivulet runs through the village,
and rows of poplars growing thickly on its banks, and a few apple
trees perched along the ledges above, presented a very grateful con-
trast to the dreary sterility which only we had met with, for so long
a distance before. Our muleteer and his comrades belonged in the
village of Tekéh, which is about six miles from Armoot. They
travelled on with light hearts from the near prospect of reaching
TEKEH SUMMONS TO PRAYERS.
101
their home. They had been extolling its charms and enumerating
the dainties it afforded, all the way from Trebizond; and they were
much delighted when I told them I should like to stop there a day,
in case we should reach the place on Saturday; and they planned
their stages accordingly.
Tekéh is the same name with the ancient Techés, or Tesquá,
the mountain from whose summit Xenophon and his enraptured
troops caught their first glimpse of the Black Sea. I was unable,
however, to obtain a view of the Euxine, on any summit we crossed
within ten or twelve miles distance of this village. It is prettily
situated in a beautiful rural glen, at the junction of the brook above
mentioned with a considerable stream which runs to the north-west.
It consists of about fifty rude huts, half under ground, and covered
over with earth. Poplars and willows thickly stud the streams-small
verdant meadows and fields of wheat lay along the shores, and or-
chards of apple and apricot trees, (the latter I saw here for the
first time in my life,) cover some of the elevations above. We
pitched our tent near the village in one of those orchards, on the
green carpet of nature, a few yards from a murmuring rill. Seve-
ral young calves were feeding, and playfully gamboling around us,
the trees shielded us from the concentrated heat of the sun, and
birds in their branches entertained us with their sweet voices.
felt under peculiar obligations to the kind Hand that had led us over
the dreary heights of the previous way, and brought us to that
charming spot, just in time to rest there on the holy Sabbath.
We
Soon after our arrival, our muleteer kindly brought us kimák,
(the cream of scalded milk,) eggs and yogóord, which he presented
as specimens of the luxuries of his native village. About sunset, I
ascended a high craggy rock, a few yards from our tent, which
overlooks the village. I had been there but a few minutes when
an old Turk came up after me. I saluted him; and he, looking
earnestly at me, as an intruder, reluctantly reciprocated the saluta-
tion, turned his back upon me, and, with a voice like a Stentor, be-
This was my
gan to summon the villagers to evening prayers.
first intimation that I was standing on the minaret of Tekéh, and I
felt myself to be in a somewhat awkward predicament, a Protestant
missionary perched by the side of a Muhammedan imâm, while he
called his flock to the devotions of the False Prophet.
*
Many of the men belonging to Tekéh, are engaged with their
horses in caravans. The common caravan-system is, for a few in-
dividuals (six or eight) to club together and appoint their wealth-
iest, oldest or wisest comrade to act as the principal muleteer, who
becomes responsible to government for the proceedings of the com-
* Muhammedans are thus publicly called to their devotions at dawn, mid-
Erzróom is
day and sunset. And the Korán enjoins several times more.
the only place where I remember to have observed 10 o'clock, A. M. and 4
P. M. to be regularly added in practice to this list.
Uor M
2
102
ORGANIZATION OF CARAVANS.
pany, on receiving a license for the undertaking; and under his or-
ders the rest are bound to act, during the period of contract, each
furnishing the number of horses which he is able to own, and reap-
ing a corresponding share of the profits realized. In case an indi-
vidual owns more horses than his family will furnish with drivers,
he hires men by the year or month to assist him. The muleteer,
as a perquisite for his office and responsibilities, enjoys their trou-
blesome though by no means unprized honors, and the additional
privilege of riding a partially loaded horse, while his companions
are expected to travel on foot. From twenty to fifty or one hun-
dred horses, owned and driven by a man to about every five or ten,
are usually thus clustered together; and such caravans again often
unite, especially in passing over dangerous sections of country, or
when employed by the same merchant, to the number of 500 or
800, or even 1000 horses. The monotonous, though cheerful notes
of their bells-every fifth or sixth horse, the leader of the group,
being honored with a string-and the stateliness of their gait, as
they wend their patient way, under their huge burdens, stretch-
ing away in a single file over hills and through valleys, sometimes
for miles in extent, present a truly imposing and grateful scene,-a
scene that has often impressed my own mind far more forcibly with
the "sublimity of commerce," than the forests of spars in a great
and busy harbor, or the long string of freight-cars on our rail-roads.
June 15. After descending the long precipice, the day previous,
we were particularly comfortable, in finding ourselves again in a
temperate climate. About 7 o'clock in the morning, the shepherds
drove away their flocks to graze on the neighboring mountains.
Some of the women, in the absence of their fathers and brothers
who are engaged in caravans, keep the flocks, and even till the
fields and gardens. Everything reminded us vivedly of ancient
times. Over these same mountains and through these same val-
leys, soon after the flood, shepherds drove their flocks, and shep-
herds have been the inhabitants of these regions ever since. Would
that their characters were as artless and their lives as unspotted, as
their habits and occupations are simple and primitive. But far
otherwise. It needed not an hour's acquaintance and observation
to convince us that in the impressive language of Scripture, "they
are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable:
there is none that doeth good, no, not one; their throat is an open
sepulchre; with their tongue they have used deceit; the poison of
asps is under their lips; whose mouth is full of cursing and bitter-
their feet are swift to shed blood; destruction and misery are
in their ways; and the way of peace they have not known; there
is no fear of God before their eyes.' And while we sat quietly in
our tent reading our Bibles and enjoying the influences of our lit-
tle sanctuary, our hearts bled, in view of the deep moral night that
enshrouded the poor beings who surrounded us. They knew no-
thing of the blessings of the holy Sabbath, nor of the only way of
ness;
:
1
CURIOSITY OF THE NATIVES-ROADS.
103
deliverance from the love, the power and the fearful consequences
of their sins. When will the day-star from on high shine upon
them? In the course of the forenoon, a few women came around
our tent-felt of it-and peeped through the cracks, to see Mrs.
Perkins. Our muleteer also brought us a present of milk, for which
I gave him, in return, a phosphorus match box. He had never
seen the like before and was greatly delighted with it, repeatedly
exclaiming, wonderful, wonderful! His wife soon came and asked
for sugar, justifying her request on the ground that her husband
was our muleteer. And just before evening, throngs of women and
children, barefooted and half naked, came and sat down around
our tent, and gazed upon Mrs. P. with as eager curiosity as that of
a child gazing, for the first time, upon an elephant. They at length
became social and seemed desirous to make our acquaintance. We
“A small one,
inquired whether they had a school in the village.
they replied. For boys, or girls, we asked; "for boys, of course,"
they replied. And why not for girls also, we continued; "it is not
the custom," they answered. Takvóor told them that Mrs. P. could
read and write. Yes, "replied the wife of the muleteer, " my hus-
band says he has seen her read and write on horseback. They all
seemed astounded with the declaration, and never before to have
conceived the idea of a woman's learning to read.
??
June 16. Our muleteer called at our tent last evening and pro-
posed that we should start early and stop a while, after two or three
hours' ride, We accordingly arose at day-break, hastily prepared
and drank a little coffee, and proceeded, anticipating a breakfast
about 8 or 9 o'clock. But the weather being cool for travelling,
Sedadín, (that was the muleteer's name,) drove on, notwithstanding
my remonstrances, until 1 o'clock in the afternoon. This was not
the first nor the last instance of his duplicity, though he was re-
garded as an honest man for a Turk, and on the whole treated us
very well.
Our
At Tekéh we come upon the post-road, leading by Gümüsh-
khânáh; and the country was afterward much more level and plea-
sant than the sections over which we had before travelled.
general direction changed there, from south by east, to nearly east,
leading directly towards Erzróom. The road was very good. When
we speak of roads, in those regions, we may however be misunder-
stood. The reader, instead of the carriage roads of civilized lands,
must picture to himself a single foot path winding among the rocks,
or where the country is not quite so rough, five, ten, fifteen or twen-
ty such paths, running parallel within a few feet of each other, like
the paths often seen on the side-hills of a sheep-pasture. The roads
in the interior of Turkey are seldom worked or repaired beyond
what the great amount of travel naturally tends to smooth and im-
prove them, and the same is the case in Persia.
Our road was most of the way on the bank of the river, which
we occasionally crossed and re-crossed by arched stone bridges.
Dor M
104
REPUTATION OF AMERICANS.
Willows and poplars thickly studded the margin of the stream, and
many American flowers were smiling among them in native loveli-
ness. The peony in particular, arrested our attention, blooming
wildly in all the crimson gaudiness in which it dazzles in cultivated
gardens. The Turks too were attracted by the flowers and gave
us an illustration of the refinement of their taste, by collecting large
bunches of them with which they thickly studded their dirty turbans.
The brilliant smiling flowers, encircling their sombre brows and
tawny necks and faces, presented a contrast almost as vivid as the
delicate tints of the bright rainbow imprinted on the waning folds of
dark retiring thunder clouds.
((
We travelled six hours and encamped a mile before reaching
the village of Cherchée, which contains about fifty Turkish fa-
milies. Toward the close of our ride we left the stream and gradu-
ally rose until we came again into the region of snow. There, how-
ever, it was rapidly melting and the pastures were becoming green.
When I sent our servant to the village for milk, the villagers called
out to him, as he approached and made his request,
no, you have
come here with Moscov, (Russian,) go off." But when he told them
that I was an American gentleman, they all exclaimed "you are very
welcome;" and an old shepherd gave him a gallon of milk for a
fourpence. The Russians are detested in both Turkey and Persia.
Both countries have within a few years, groaned under the devasta-
tion of Russian armies. Whereas, Americans are regarded by all
classes in these countries, even by those who have so vague a notion
of the New World as to suppose it to be situated in the skies, as a
nation of philanthropists. May America establish its claim to that
high character, by scattering the rich blessings of light, knowledge
and salvation over all the world.
To-day, as our road was comparatively smooth, I proposed to
Takvoor to ride forward with one or two of the Turks, and spread
the tent in anticipation of our arrival. He made forward about thir-
ty rods, and no urging could press him farther. He was absolutely
afraid to go from our sight. I therefore called him back and pro-
posed to the Armenian servant, who was very ambitious to be thought
a hero, to go on with the tent. He galloped on until he had gained
about fifty rods, and there was an end of his despatch. I then proposed
to both Takvóor and the servant to proceed together, and they start-
ed with great animation, but in half an hour fell back again with
the company. I at last drew a laugh upon them, from the Turks,
which provoked them to an effort that carried them out of sight and
secured the erection of the tent for once in season. The Armeni-
ans are a nation of cowards; the Persians significantly call them,
hares. But it should not be a subject of wonder, when we remem-
ber how long they have worn the heavy, galling yoke of Muhamme-
dan bondage.
June 17. We started early and soon descended into delightful,
undulating valleys. The soil appeared fertile and we observed nu-
1
AGRICULTURAL UTENSILS.
105
merous husbandmen upturning the furrow. The term, husband-
man, however, when applied to an inhabitant of Turkey or the East
in general, carries with it, by no means, the same delightful associa-
tions, to the mind of a traveller, acquainted with those countries,
which that term suggests, to one in America. Agriculture in Asia
is miserably conducted. We saw many teams, to-day, of three yokes
of oxen, attached to the rude oriental plough which seemed hardly
to mark the ground. This plough consists of a beam, one upright
handle and a block of wood at the bottom, to which these are attach-
ed, sharpened at the fore end and capped with a small tooth of iron to
serve the purpose of the share. The yokes for the oxen, are straight
pieces, ten or twelve feet in length. Sticks, passing down through
the yoke, on each side of the neck, and attached by strings be-
low, are the bows. A man or boy rides on the middle yoke, facing
backward, and with a long goad pricks up the middle and forward
oxen, while the man at the plough deals out a bountiful quota of
stripes to the hindermost cattle. These are only specimens of Turk-
ish and Persian agricultural utensils. I feel bound to state, howev-
er, that the rude plough which I have described penetrates the earth
much deeper and serves a far better purpose than I supposed it pos-
sible to do, on first observing it; and I have been in like manner
favorably disappointed, on better acquaintance with many other rude
instruments of the oriental farmer and mechanic. The improved
utensils of Europe and America would doubtless, however, diminish
their labor by half, and more than double their products.
We rode to the east and south-east, five hours, and pitched our
tent near the village of Suptorós, which is situated in the middle of
a level valley of great extent. Almost innumerable cattle, sheep
and goats were feeding around us. I counted one hundred and
twenty young calves standing in a single group. And the young
goats were so numerous and social, that it was with much difficul-
ty we could prevent them from thronging our tent.
The vicar of the Pashâ of Erzróom overtook us a mile or two
before we reached our stopping-place, and travelled on with us very
socially until we turned off to our tent. He stated that war was at
hand, on the frontiers of Persia, alluding, as we afterwards found,
to the disturbed state of affairs on account of depredations commit-
ted there by the Koords. In the course of the afternoon, twenty
soldiers passed by, chained together, on their way from Erzróom to
Constantinople. They were the body guard of a Pashâ of the Laz,
who, being suspected of ambitious designs and fearing the conse-
quences, had fled from his district, but was apprehended and stran-
gled at Erzróom.
Takvoor went to the village near us to procure some milk and
eggs. The Armenian inhabitants, seeing our military tent, (for such
it happened to be,) and Takvóor in Frank costume, (he had shifted
back again after leaving Trebizond to his chrysalis form,) exclaim-
ed, "They are soldiers. But when he addressed them in their own
14
106
WINTER AND SUMMER STAGES-BAIBOOT.
tongue, their apprehensions subsided, and they welcomed him with
great cordiality, and put up for him two dozen of eggs, a fowl and
a quantity of bread and cheese, all for a quarter of a dollar. Pea-
sants in both Turkey and Persia dread the approach of their own
troops even more than an invading arnıy, as the lawless depreda-
tions and abuses of the former on the defenceless inhabitants are
likely far to surpass those of the latter.
\
June 18. We started at 6 o'clock in the morning, rode four
hours, in an east and south-east direction, left ancient Pontus and
entered Armenia, and reached the town of Baiboot. I remonstra-
ted with our muleteer for making such short stages, but was unable
to induce him to proceed farther that day; though he promised to
drive six hours, every day afterward, until we should reach Erz-
room. It is a fact which generally strikes a stranger in these coun-
tries as singular, that journeys are always performed by caravans
much sooner in winter than in summer. The reason is, that in win-
ter, muleteers are compelled to travel regular stages, (20 or 25 miles,)
each day to procure keeping at the public inns for their horses.
Whereas, in summer, they find abundance of forage by the way;
and men who reckon life not so much by days and years as by pipes of
tobacco, are very apt to make half stages, in those circumstances, and
leisurely enjoy the good of their labor. Our muleteer, as we now
found, not only retarded our progress by short stages, but instead of
taking us on the direct route from Tekéh to Baibóót, which leads
through the village of Balhóor, he had, for the sake of finding more
abundant grass for the caravan, conducted us round on a somewhat
circuitous route. Travellers generally make this journey some
days quicker than we did; but in order to this, they must determine
the period of it in settling the bargain, and graduate the price by the
speed with which they are to travel. In carrying merchandise, car-
avans are on the road at least twice the time that a traveller wishes
to, occupy; and as the muleteer cannot afford thus to overwork his
horses without a corresponding remuneration, it happens, in con-
tracting with him, that his terms will always be in an inverse ratio
to the time he is to be employed in earning his money. We, in our
unacquaintance with eastern travelling, had omitted to fix the pe-
riod of our journey, and were therefore obliged to yield to the plea-
sure of our muleteer, though we paid him a liberal sum.
Baiboot is the seat of a small pashalik, within the limits and sub-
ject to the more general jurisdiction of the pashalik of Trebizond.
It is very romantically situated at the eastern end of the great valley
we entered yesterday, in a niche among the mountains, just large
enough for its convenient location. In approaching it from the
west, it is entirely secluded from view by a low undulating ridge
which bounds this valley on the east, and it is equally hidden on the
other side by a higher mountain range, boldly terminated or rather
interrupted, by the recess that contains the town. An imposing
castle, perched on this mountain cliff overlooks it on the east, and a
•
VISIT FROM THE PASHA
107
considerable river, the Jörókh, which comes down a narrow valley
from that direction, and here changes its course to north, runs
through the centre. Baibóot contains about six or eight thousand
inhabitants, nearly nine tenths of whom are Muhammedans and the
rest Armenians. The houses are mostly built of stone-a few of
mud-and some of the two materials united. The building stone,
is a soft yellowish limestone which is one of the most common
rocks in the vicinity. Large stacks of stable manure moulded into
cakes of the shape, and about twice the size, of loaves of bread, were
thickly interspersed among the dwellings, laid up for fuel. This
was the only kind of fuel which we had seen for several days, and
which we afterwards saw, among the peasants of both Turkey and
Persia, until we approached Trebizond on our return; and the
same is true of the flat roofs of houses covered over with earth. We
pitched our tent on the grassy interval which skirts the Jōrókh, above
the city, and there expands into a beautiful velvet lawn, about a
mile in width and twice that distance in length. The Jōrókh, by the
way, winds its course through the mountains from Baibóot and en-
ters the eastern part of the Black Sea, in ancient Colchis. Was it
in this stream that the adventurous Jason fished for the golden
fleece?
Takvoor was remarkably fond of seeking the acquaintance of
great men. And to-day, I yielded to his importunity and gave him
my firmán to present to the Pashâ of Baibóot. His Excellency re-
ceived him very kindly, and told him that he had been looking all
day for our arrival, having been informed by the vicar of the Pashâ
of Erzróom, who passed us the day previous, that we were on the
road. He expressed a strong desire to make my acquaintance;
but Takvoor told him that we were tired, and, as our tent was pitch-
ed nearly a mile from the town, I could not conveniently call to
visit him. He proposed to send a horse for me; but Takvóor con-
trived to meet that proposition by some other excuse, to relieve me
of what he knew would be an unwelcome formality. The Pashâ
sent his regards to me and several armed men, to serve us if we
were in need. I dismissed the men, reciprocating his Excellency's
regards and informing him that we were in no particular need.
Just before evening, however, he sent to us a fine fat lamb, neatly
dressed, and a considerable quantity of rice for pilav. And I had
scarcely despatched our servant to return my thanks for the present,
when the Pashâ himself, to complete his kind attentions, rode up to
our tent, with his body-guard, to make our acquaintance. He dis-
mounted and came familiarly in, and conversed socially with us for
nearly an hour. He had a piercing eye and a remarkably fine coun-
tenance,—had no beard, and his blue broadcloth cloak and red
Turkish cap gave him quite the appearance of a European; which
was well set off by the air and manners of an accomplished gentle-
man. We treated him to coffee, and he professed himself highly
gratified with the visit, said we should ever afterward be friends;
108
INTERESTING SCENERY.
and that whenever I should return, I must come directly to his house
and spend several days, where we should be as welcome as at our
own home. His guard meanwhile thronged our tent and gazed at
us with such eager curiosity, that he was obliged repeatedly to order
them away:
This visit was quite an attention for even an inferior Turkish
Pashâ to show a stranger; and it impressed me very pleasantly with
the character of the Turks, who are naturally a noble race of men.
They are sober and dignified in their demeanor, generous in their
dispositions, and very hospitable in their treatment of strangers.
True, their religion has taught them to be vindictive and bloody in
their treatment of their christian subjects. But let the gospel rescue
them from the brutal dominion of the system of the False Prophet,
shed over them its kindly influence, and raise their thoughts and
hopes to a higher and purer heaven than that to which they are now
taught to aspire, and Asia Minor may well be proud of its present
inhabitants.
June 19. Our way lay up the Jōrókh, and our direction east by
south. The charming lawn above Baiboot soon contracts into a
valley, still beautiful but quite narrow, bounded on either side by
parallel ranges of low limestone mountains, which are sprinkled
over with stinted cedars. Down this narrow valley, the river rolls
for twenty-five or thirty miles, in nearly the some direction, with a
still current, but so rapid that it would soon carry its banks along
with it, had not the Hand that controls the elements prevented such
a disaster by guiding it all the way in a zigzag channel to curb its
accumulating impetuosity. Smooth level roads, over which car-
riages might run, lie along the stream at the base of the mountain
ranges, generally so near each other as to be within the call of the
voice, and occasionally communicating by fine arched stone bridges
thrown across the river. Such bridges are numerous on the small
rivers in the interior and the eastern part of Turkey, being render-
ed quite indispensable by the rise of the streams during the melting
of snow on the mountains in spring. Parts of this narrow interval
are fertile meadows; but most of it is overgrown with large high
bushes that are cut and carried even to Erzróom on rude carts, and
sold as fuel to the nobility.
...
We passed up the river, on the north side, four hours, and stop-
ped to bait our horses. In a ravine, on the opposite side, was the
village of Maddén, the locality of a copper mine. In the after-
noon, we rode on two hours more and encamped for the night. We
were several miles distant from any village and consequently unable
to procure provision. A remaining part of the Pasha's lamb was
therefore just in season.
June 20. We continued up the Jōrókh, about an hour to the
east, and then turned off to the south-east, rode three hours upon
the bank of one of its tributaries and stopped to bait our horses.
On the tributary, about two miles above its junction with the main
+
PLAIN OF ERZROOM-SHEPHERDS.
109
stream, is a soda spring, whose water boils up from several orifices
with a murmuring effervescence and has gradually deposited a coni-
cal mound of tufa. The muleteer was determined to stop for
the night where we halted to bait, but I insisted on his performing
the six hours he had promised. "There is a great mountain before
us," he exclaimed, "and snow on it, and there is no wood nor wa-
ter." I, however, gave him to understand that there was now no
alternative; so we drove on and crossed the lofty snowy mountain,
and, sure enough, we did not find a stopping place until 7 o'clock
in the evening. We were then almost at the foot of the mountain,
near the village of Hoshapaná, which contains about fifty Muham-
medan families.
June 21. We started early, rode across the rugged valley in
which we had encamped for the night, and immediately ascended
another lofty mountain ridge, by a winding way, nearly as high as
the one we crossed the day before. From this mountain, we had a
distant view of Erzróom. A vast plain, near thirty miles in length,
lay between us and the city, stretching away in an easterly direction.
Snowy mountains encompass this plain on all sides, and the western
branch of the river Euphrates meanders through its centre. Imme-
diately on descending the mountain, we crossed a small tributary of
the Euphrates, and from this rose upon the vast plain, for some
miles a little undulating, upon which we rode three hours and en-
camped by the side of a small brook for the Sabbath.
Our intention had been to linger a day, about that distance from
Erzróom, and send forward our muleteer, to apprise Mr. Zohráb,
the English consular agent, of our coming. He was the only Euro-
pean resident in the city, and at that time was supposed to have
with him lady Campbell, wife of the English Ambassador to Persia,
and her large retinue, on their way to England; and we were un-
willing to embarrass him, with more company, by an unexpected
arrival. Providence so directed, that we reached the desired spot
on Saturday afternoon, and we had thus the happy privilege of
spending another quiet Sabbath. At evening, the full moon rose
and spread a silvery lustre over the great plain and surrounding
mountains. The evening-star twinkled brightly in the west; the
frogs, there just breaking from their winter prison, sang sweetly in
the brook that rippled along within a few feet of our tent,—and the
whole so transported us, for the moment, from the distant heights of
Armenia to the land and the scenes of our childhood, that we could
not help thinking tenderly of kindred and home.
June 22. Was a delightful Sabbath. The entire absence of
business and noise around, and the quiet and comfort of our tent
conspired to make the day seem indeed like "the holy of the Lord
―a delight and honorable." About noon the shepherds drove their
flocks from different parts of the plain down to the brook near us to
water. "They gathered the lambs in their arms and carried them
in their bosom, and gently led those that were with young," and
-a
110
EUPHRATES-EELIJAH.
the scene very naturally and vividly turned our thoughts to the great
and good Shepherd who made us so literally" to lie down in green
pastures," and led us "beside the still waters," amid surrounding
desolations and perils.
June 23. We started about 8 o'clock, in the morning, for Erz-
room. After riding an hour, we crossed the Euphrates, (called also by.
the natives Kará Soo, black water,) which is there only about five
rods wide and so shallow that we easily rode through the stream.
The river has its source in the neighboring mountains; and far be-
low, doubtless, somewhere it rolls through the garden of Eden,-
where, I leave for those to determine who pretend to more skill than
myself in fixing antediluvian locations and revealing objects of an-
tiquity. Half an hour from the Euphrates, brought us to Eelijáh,
the warm springs, which are about ten miles west of Erzroom.
They are two in number, surrounded by rude walls, and much re-
sorted to for bathing, one being used by males and the other by fe-
males. The temperature of this water is 93° Fahrenheit. We
passed several villages, on the way, and a great number were in
sight on other parts of the plain, which seemed to be almost wholly
under cultivation. Though so elevated, the plain of Erzróom is
quite fertile and yields fine crops, particularly of wheat. We reach-
ed the city at one o'clock in the afternoon. We had, for some
hours, supposed ourselves very near it. Over so deceptive a coun-
try, in point of distance, I had never before rode, which may
be owing to its height and the consequent rarity and clearness of
the atmosphere,-perhaps also to the want of objects to mark the
intervening distance. I have often since had occasion to observe
the same phenomenon in the northern parts of Persia.
We were very kindly received by Mr. Zohráb. Lady Campbell
had not arrived, having been hindered, on the frontier, by distur-
bance from the Koords. In anticipation of her soon coming, how-
ever, I preferred to take lodgings in a neighboring Turkish house,
rather than incumber Mr. Zohrab's; and thus, for the first time, we
found ourselves occupants of a house without windows. We used
our saddles for chairs, and resorted to similar expedients for other
articles of furniture, having no occasion to cook, as we took our
meals at Mr. Zohráb's table.
RETROSPECT CARAVAN TRAVELLING.
111
CHAPTER VII.
ERZROOM AND JOURNEY THENGE TO ERIVAN.
HAVING reached the humble resting-place mentioned at the close
of the preceding chapter, the reader will excuse me, before turning
to other matters, for indulging in a hasty retrospect of the new
mode of life which we had been pursuing, the few previous days.
And this I cannot, perhaps, more readily do, than by quoting from
a letter written at that time and from those lodgings, to the secre-
tary of the A. B. C. F. M. It is under date of June 26, and the
extracts are as follows.
"We have passed over one third of the distance, and by far the
most mountainous and difficult part of our land journey. We were
thirteen days on the road, including two Sabbaths, on which we did
not journey. We have travelled in company with a caravan, and
Mrs. P. as well as myself, has rode upon a saddle. We have found
our journey thus far, much less tedious than we had apprehended.
We have, indeed, climbed up and again descended, upon a single
parapet, many long, frightful and perilous precipices; but our short
stages of not more than twenty miles, each day, have, for the most
part, been little more than agreeable exercise. We have crossed
many lofty, snowy mountains; but the cool air, at this season, we
have found, in general, invigorating and delightful. Our home at
night has been the open canopy of heaven, except a shelter of can-
vass; but it has been very comfortable. Our tent relieved us from
the necessity of seeking lodgings in the filthy hovels of the country,
and perhaps kept us from contact with the pestilence that walketh
in darkness. There is something, moreover, in this rural kind of
life,-in spreading a tent in green pastures, on the banks of running
streams, surrounded by shepherds and grazing flocks, which to us
has been far from disagreeable. To adopt this style for life would,
indeed, be to become a barbarian; but to follow it a short time, on
the road, in the summer season, few, I believe, of the most cultiva-
ted, would find unwelcome; and a missionary, will certainly be the
last to complain of it, when he remembers who it was that had not
where to lay his head.' Our table, too, we have spread in the field
but a good servant, furnished us by the gentlemen of the English
consulate at Trebizond, has prepared our food in a cleanly, palata-
ble manner. Our course has been, not to enter the villages on the
road, but pitch our tent at a little distance, and send to them for
simple articles of food, as milk, eggs, etc.
"In reference to our treatment from our muleteer and the other
Turks, connected with the caravan, I should do them injustice not
і
112
ERZROOM.
to speak, on the whole, decidedly in their favor. Not an article of.
our baggage was lost or injured on the road, and with a few excep-
tions of duplicity, they were kind and attentive to our wishes. I
am sure, at least, that I have met with few American stage-coach
drivers* who took so good care of my baggage, or were so accom-
modating to my wishes, as these stigmatized barbarians. I am not,
you will recollect, analyzing the motives, that may influence the
Turks, in their conduct towards an American traveller. Grant
that Turkish kindness results entirely from dread of European
power, or hope of remuneration, as some will have it, which, how-
ever, I am disposed to doubt; still, so far as the comfort of the tra-
veller is concerned, it is the same. I am quite convinced that it is
entirely practicable to travel comfortably in Turkey, with suitable,
yet cheap and humble preparations." Thus much for recapitula-
tion.
Erzróom stands on a moderate elevation, at the eastern extremity
of the great plain which we crossed in approaching it. It is a very
venerable city-one of the oldest in the world-situated at the base
of the Ararat mountain range, near the head waters of the Euphra-
tes, and founded, as tradition says, by a grandson of Noah. It is
the Arz, or Arza, of ancient times, which took the affix room from
its belonging, at one period, to the Greek empire of Room; thus be-
coming Erzróom. It figures largely in Armenian history, having
for some time been the capital of that ancient kingdom. It contains
at present about 35,000 inhabitants, who are principally Turks,
most of the Armenians having emigrated to Georgia, at the time of
the Russian invasion. There were in the city when we passed
through it, only 300 Armenian and 120 Armenian catholic families.
The number of Armenians has since considerably increased, by the
return of many emigrants from the Russian provinces. The city
has seventy-five streets, running in various directions, which are
broad for an Asiatic city, but very filthy; and each street has its
mosk and lofty minaret, from whose tops "the faithful" muezzins
summon the benighted inhabitants five times a day to the devotions
of the Prophet. I do not recollect to have heard the call to prayers
at 10 o'clock, A. M.—or at 4 o'clock, P. M. so regularly given in
any other Muhammedan city. Its houses are generally built of earth,
with occasional square sticks of timber in the walls to give them sup-
There are
port, though many of them are built of fine hewn stone.
some remains of an ancient wall and fosse around the city; but the
citadel only is at present fortified; and this is said to be the work.
of the adventurous Genoese. The appearance of Erzróom is very
!
* I am happy to record my impression, from extensive travelling during my
visit to the United States, that there has been very decided improvement in
the character and conduct of our stage-coach drivers and the agents and con-
ductors of steam-boats and rail-road cars within the last ten years. This may
be owing to the progress of temperance; but much also probably to the more
enlightened views of the proprietors of our public conveyances.
1
ANTIQUITIES—COMMERCE.
113
sombre and uninviting, and from its great elevation-5,500 feet
by the barometer, and near 7,000 feet by experiments in boiling
water—above the sea, the weather most of the year, is extremely
cold. As a residence it must be dreary, though its climate, al-
most as matter of course, is usually healthy. The city is well sup-
plied with vegetables from gardens near it, but has no fruit except
what is brought a considerable distance, from a more temperate re-
gion. Its moral aspect struck us as even darker than that of Trebi-
zond, the people appearing still more shy, rude and degraded.
There are few objects of interest, in modern Erzróom. The
principal remnant of antiquity which I observed is the Jifteh Mine-
réh, (pair of minarets,) a vast stone building, finely constructed,
but now in a dilapidated state, which is supposed to have been ori-
ginally an Armenian church, and subsequently desecrated, as so
many others have been, by the Muhammedans, and surmounted by
them with the two more modern brick minarets from which it bears
its present name. I also visited the largest mosk in the city. It is an
immense structure, but exhibits only a mass of dead walls and pil-
lars with no particular skill or taste displayed in their erection. The
bare walls of this and all Turkish mosks, however, as places of re-
ligious worship, it must be confessed, present a most grateful con-
trast to the idolatrous array of pictures and paintings that so disgrace
the interior of Papal and oriental churches. And no marvel that
the followers of Muhammed feel and pride themselves on the force
and advantage of this broad difference in their favor. On the open
space east of the city are two circular stone towers of moderate size
and height, with conical roofs, most admirably constructed, evident-
ly quite ancient, whose origin and use are alike unknown. The
commerce of Erzróom is immense,-its local situation being ex-
ceedingly felicitous for transit trade. It is the grand thoroughfare
between Europe, Asia Minor and Syria, on the one hand, and Per-
sia, and to a considerable extent, Georgia and Mesopotamia, on the
other. The city was seriously injured, in its commercial as well as
its other interests, by the Russian invasion in 1829. Many of the
Armenians, whom they enticed or forced away, were its most enter-
prising merchants. Their houses and shops were left desolate, and
much of their wealth became the spoil of the invaders, who plun-
dered extensively both Armenians and Turks of whatever valuables
they could carry away, even to the town clock from the tower of the
citadel-marble torn from the ancient sepulchre of the Jifteh Mine-
réh, and bars of iron from the walls of the common dwellings. And
in addition to the systematic rapacity practised by the Russian offi-
cers, the suffering inhabitants were also despoiled of the fruits of
their honest industry, by the wanton depredations of the soldiers.
A case of this kind stated to me by Mr. Zohráb, who was there at the
time, will serve as an instance. A soldier one day entered the shop
of a Turkish merchant, and observed the Turk, as he traded, to
deposit his money under the cushion of the sofa on which he was
15
114 EFFECTS OF WAR-KOORDISH DISTURBANCES.
seated. The soldier proposed to purchase some cotton-wool, and the
merchant produced it and received his pay for it. The soldier then
requested him to put a quantity of the wool down his back, under
his coat-collar, to keep out the cold, and stooped over the sofa to af-
ford him a convenient position. The honest Turk applied himself
leisurely to the task. To a friend in a neighboring stall, who called
out to him, "what are you doing," he facetiously answered, “I am
only stuffing the saddle of a donkey." The soldier, meanwhile, pil-
laged the sofa of its pecuniary contents, and before half his wool was
exhausted, bade the merchant welcome to the remainder and with-
drew. The poor Turk at length discovering his loss and raising a
lamentation over it, could only realize the sorry solace from his
neighbor," which is the greatest donkey,-you or the infidel Rus-
sian?" Such were the Vandal lessons which civilized Christians
taught those "barbarian" Moslems. The Russians, however, aton-
ed in a good measuse for the wrongs they committed, by the saluta-
ry impression which they gave the haughty Turks of the terror of
European arms,—an impression far deeper and more lasting on the
minds of the inhabitants than was the commercial injury inflicted on
their town. Indeed the Russian occupation of Erzróom and that
part of Turkey was a mighty moral earthquake that shook to its
centre the whole Ottoman empire; and the influence of which, how-
ever little its authors intended it, is operating powerfully on the
decline of the whole fabric of Muhammedism, and will thus operate
until its final downfall.
June 24. A Persian Khân, the agent of the Persian government,
at Erzróom, called to make our acquaintance. He appeared quite
surprised at the idea of our having come from the distant New
World, to live in Persia, and remarked, that since we had come so
far to benefit his countrymen, he sincerely hoped and trusted that
they, in return, would testify their gratitude by receiving and treat-
ing us kindly. He was the first Persian with whom we became ac-
quainted; he impressed us pleasantly by his easy social manners.
June 27. Mr. Brant, the British consul at Trebizond* arrived,
in company with lady Campbell and Mrs. McNeill,† on their way
from Persia. They gave us the particulars of the Koordish disturb-
ance on the frontier, which were the following. About ten days
before, the Jellalées, the powerful Koordish tribe who inhabit the
lower declivity of Mt. Ararat, fell upon a Persian caravan, on its
way from Tabréez to Erzróom, and took away about fifty loaded
horses. This happened near Bayazéed, the Turkish frontier town.
And a day or two afterward, they attacked another Persian caravan,
consisting of five hundred horses, on its way from Erzróom to Ta-
brééz. Two hundred horses and loads were taken from this cara-
van and a number of men killed, on both sides, in the encounter.
* Now at Erzróom.
Now lady McNeill, wife of the present English ambassador to Persia.
ATTENTIONS FROM THE PASHA-FOURTH OF JULY. 115
Mr. Brant and the English ladies were one day's ride from the
scene, when these robberies were committed. The Pashâ of Baya-
zéed sent word to him to stop immediately, until he should raise
troops and come on to accompany him. Mr. Brant accordingly
lingered a day or two at Dîadéen, and the Pashâ overtook him there
with three hundred armed horsemen, who escorted him and his par-
ty several days over the dangerous part of the way, towards Erz-
róom. At the place where one of the encounters occurred, Mr.
Brant, as he passed it, saw papers strown about, and one dead body
lying on the ground. The scene of depredation was described by
the muleteers as highly ludicrous, as well as sad and bloody. The
largest caravan was loaded, to a considerable extent, with sugar;
and hardly had the Koords taken possession of the loads, when their
wives had rolled several of the boxes into a small stream that was
near, and were calling on their husbands and children to come and
drink sweet water!
These disturbances were trying news to us,effectually hedged up as
our way to Persia then seemed to be, for a long time, by the excited
state of the savage Koords. And that the candid reader may appre-
ciate the extent of our embarrassment, from the unexpected delay
thus occasioned on the road, and the better understand my allu-
sions to it, at subsequent stages, on our journey, I may here state,
that Mrs. P. was looking forward to a confinement, in the course
of a few weeks, before which event we had fully expected to
reach Tabréez, still between four and five hundred miles distant,-
that city being the nearest place where the services of a European
physician, or the aid of a European lady could be enjoyed. When
the Pasha of Erzróom, whose jurisdiction extends to the Persian
frontier, heard of the ravages of the Koords, he sent on a guard to
meet Mr. Brant, and commenced making preparations to go him-
self, at the head of all his troops, to chastise the Jellalées, and he
could only advise us to linger a few days, and come on in his rear,
a course to which, in the circumstances of the case, we were com-
pelled however reluctantly, to yield.
June 29. I preached at the house of Mr. Zohráb, our congrega-
tion consisting of the English party from Persia and Mrs. Perkins.
June 30. The Pasha sent his coach-an old German vehicle
presented to him by the Russian government-for lady Campbell
and Mrs. McNeill to ride about the city. They invited Mrs. P. to
accompany them; and the gentlemen, Messrs. Brant, Zohráb and
myself, rode on horse-back. We went round the city and through
a part of it; and on our way, visited a beautiful Turkish garden,-
the best and almost the only one in Erzróom. It had a fountain
in its centre and several jets d'eau playing briskly in it,—a scene
far more common in Persia than in Turkey.
July 4. The jubilee of American independence. How differ-
ent were our circumstances, in our lonely dark Turkish hovel, from
the cheerful festivities of that anniversary at home! A day or two
}
116
EXPEDITION OF THE PASHA.
before, Mr. Brant had told me that I must allow my mustaches to
grow, or the boys in Persia would hoot me and call me a Frank
eunuch. So to-day to celebrate the " glorious fourth," I left my
upper lip unshaved, and it remained so until I had passed Smyrna,
on my return to America. Mr. B. told me, also, that it would not
do for Mrs. Perkins to take my arm, and that she must always wear
a veil, when we walk out in Persia; and that my skirted coat would
be useless there,-all the European residents in that country wearing
frock coats, which approach more nearly to the full flowing gar-
ments of the Persian costume. All these precautions we have
found it expedient to adopt, except the second; the Persians have
never molested us, but merely gazed with an innocent curiosity,
when our wives have taken our arms in our walks.
July 5. Mr. Brant, lady Campbell and Mrs. McNeill proceeded
on their journey, the former to Trebizond, and the two latter to
England. They showed us much kindness, and did all in their
power, by information, advice and otherwise, to further us on our
journey. On their departure, we removed to the quarters they had
occupied at Mr. Zohráb's house, where we had taken our meals with
them during their stay; and for Mr. Z's hospitality and assistance,
then and on subsequent occasions, I would record my very grateful
acknowledgements. To the American and European traveller, at
that time, his dwelling was like an oasis in the desert.
July. 10. The Pashâ joined his troops for the expedition against
the Jellalées. A portion of the troops had been encamped some
days, about a mile east of the city. Mr. Zohráb, Mrs. P. and
myself went out some distance and seated ourselves by the road-side,
to see the procession. European tactics were then adopted in that
distant province, to a considerable extent, as well as at the capital.
The dress of the infantry was the same red fez which is worn at
Constantinople, and the short blue jacket trimmed with red, but white.
canvass pantaloons, it now being summer. Their arms were mus-
kets. The cavalry were armed with spears, like the Koordish spear,
about twelve feet long, which they carried perpendicularly, the low-
er end resting on the stirrups, and a small ensign, indicating the
company, was flying on the handle, near the top. About 700 cavalry
troops marched out in front of his Excellency; next followed a train
of his chargers, splendidly caparisoned, led by men on other horses;
and then came the Pashâ himself, on a beautiful grey horse, wear-
ing a black broadcloth cloak and surrounded by a considerable
number of his principal officers. In the rear was driven his old
coach drawn by six,-the same with the use of which he had hon-
ored the English ladies. The Pasha had an effeminate counte-
nance, little indicative of talent or energy. He was, however, a
favorite of the Sûltán, being entrusted with one of the highest posts
in the empire. The regulation of the Turkish relations with Persia
rests principally with the Pashâ of Erzróom. He took with him on
this expedition about seven thousand men. They displayed better
VILLAGES IN ARMENIA.
117
order than I had expected to see, in Turkish troops at Erzróom,
though in Europe their evolutions would have appeared like a bur-
lesque on military tactics. We felt little disposition, however, to be
fastidious in those matters, desiring most that they would hasten on-
ward and open our way to Persia.
Having described our mode of travelling with considerable par-
ticularity in the preceding chapter, personal incidents becoming
more numerous on the remaining part of our journey, and being
mindful of the long distance that still remains before we reach the
field of our destination, and the scene of the missionary labors,
which it is the primary object of this volume to record, I must in-
vite the reader to hasten on with me, with more rapidity than has
hitherto marked our progress, giving the regions over which we
travelled and their towns at which we stopped only a brief passing
notice. I may remark in general, as I have before suggested, that
the countries lying between Erzróom and Persia are far less rough
than those between that city and Trebizond. They consist of occa-
sional lofty mountain ridges, whose ascent and descent are however
gradual, and great intervening plains. Indeed, rail-roads may be
constructed without much difficulty on the routes between Erzróom
and Tabréez, whenever civilization and Christianity shall have so
improved the moral condition of those regions as to render such
enterprizes secure.
Before proceeding, I may also say a few words respecting the
villages in Armenia. Lodging under a tent, as we did, we seldom
had occasion to enter them; and I may not find a more convenient
place to allude to the subject than now, before recommencing our
journey. These villages are just like those described by Xeno-
phon, in the same region, on his retreat with the Ten Thousand.
They are constructed mostly under ground, i. e. the houses are
partially sunk below the surface, and the earth is also raised around
them, so as completely to imbed three sides, the fourth remaining
open to afford a place for the door. The sides within are sup-
ported by rough stone walls. The principal apartment, which is
usually situated near the door, is covered over with large timbers
laid in an octangular form, as children build cob-houses, gradually
diminishing in size, till, at the top, it is only large enough to serve
the twofold purpose of affording an imperfect passage for the egress
of the smoke and the entrance of a few rays of light. These tim-
bers are covered with small limbs, bushes, dry grass, etc. to fill up
the interstices, and the whole is terraced over with a thick bed of
earth. In this apartment, the family, consisting generally of from
three to five generations, live, eat and sleep together. Here, too,
the cooking is done, in an oven that is simply a hole sunk in the
ground, coated with a layer of clay mortar, which soon hardens, by
the action of the fire, to the consistency of brick.
•
The other apartments of the house are entered by the common
door, and situated further back. These are covered with timbers
118
LODGINGS-A THUNDER STORM.
placed horizontally-having no aperture, and terraced over, as in
the case above described. They are. not much lighted, and are
occupied by the cattle and flocks and their winter provisions, i. e.
they are the barn and stables, and are situated back of the family
for the greater security of their contents. On slightly elevated
terraces in the corners of the stables, the guests are lodged, who
might felicitate themselves, had they no less agreeable companions.
than the horses, cattle, sheep and poultry even; but are, almost as a
matter of course, overrun with loathsome vermin; perhaps less in
the stables, however, than they would be in the apartment devoted
to the family. The natives are so accustomed to these greedy little
devourers as scarcely to notice them; but the American or Euro-
pean traveller is of course tormented by them to an extent that
will almost drive sleep from his eyes and slumber from his eye-lids,
however wearied he may be with the journey of the day.
The breath of the congregated animals not only heats and steams
their own apartments, but warms that also in which the family re-
sides, if it needs more warmth than is furnished by their oven in
cooking. The fuel of the oven, as the reader will have in mind, is
dried manure. These subterranean houses are naturally warm in
winter, and serve for the humble peasants who occupy them a tolera-
bly good purpose, in those lofty, cold regions; though little can be
said in favor of their general comfort, and less for their cleanliness
or that of their occupants. They are built contiguously, for the
sake of common defence against strolling marauders; and a village
presents from without only a shapeless mound, with the small coni-
cal apertures, rising a few feet above the surface, and corresponding
in number to the separate families it contains. Almost buried in
the earth as these villages are, they are conspicuous only at a mode-
rate distance, and the traveller often comes upon them with little
previous notice; and when travelling in the night, his first know-
ledge of being among human habitations may be, that he finds him-
self with the animal he rides, upon the roofs of their houses. We
lingered a few days, after the Pashâ left Erzróom, in accord-
ance with his advice, that we might not be embarrassed by coming
in too near contact with his army, hoping thus to be able to proceed
to Persia unimpeded and with entire security.
July 15. Having engaged an Armenian muleteer belonging to
Moosh, we started in the afternoon and rode ten miles, crossing the
low mountain-ridge between the plain of Erzróom and that of Has-
sân-kuláah, and encamped for the night, at a considerable distance
from any village, in the valley of Năbhée-chai, (prophet's river,)
which, though dignified with so venerable a name, is only an in-
significant brook. In the course of the night, a heavy thunder-
shower occurred. The rain poured down in torrents, the lightning
glared terribly around us, and the awful thunder rolled and rever-
berated along the lofty ranges of limestone mountains on either
hand and shook the whole country. Our frail tent, though fright-
1
HASSAN-KULAAH-PASIN-RIVER ARRAS.
119
fully pelted by the rain and wind, still survived the fury of the ele-
ments and kept us dry, and we felt a happy security in our solitary
situation, under the guardian care of Him who rides upon the
whirlwind and directs the storm.
The plain of Hǎssân-kuláah is even larger than that of Erzróom,
more fertile and better cultivated. It is about forty miles in length
and from six to ten in breadth. The western part is almost per-
fectly level; the eastern is more or less undulating. This province
is called Pasín. It is the ancient Phasiana. "The beautiful
birds," says Butler," which we call pheasant, still preserve in their
name the traces of their native country." But from that primitive
land of our common ancestor, Noah, all the winged tribe of course
spread themselves over the face of the earth; and I know not what
peculiar claim the pheasant has to it as a place of nativity.
July 16. We proceeded five hours, over a dead-level plain, to
Hǎssân-kuláah. Just before reaching the town, we crossed a
small stream and passed a warm spring, which is enclosed by a wall
and is much resorted to for bathing. Its temperature is 105° Fah-
renheit, and similar springs boil up in the vicinity on both sides of
the stream. This small river is a tributary of the Arrás (ancient
Araxes). The latter enters the plain of Hassân-kuláah, a few miles
beyond the town, by a rocky passage from the mountain-range that
bounds the province on the south, and there changing its direction
eastward it hastens on to join the Cyrus and pour its waters.into the
Caspian sea. Xenophon called this river by the same name with the
province-the Phasis. At this great distance from the sea, and
with its small size, (it is here only about 150 feet wide,) it has the
characteristic for which it was so much celebrated by the ancients-
a very rapid current. Virgil denominates it the 'bridge-hater,'
-Pontem indignatus Araxes—an epithet of which it is by no
means unworthy in any part of its long course,—at least so much of
it as I have seen.
The town of Hassân-kuláah-the ancient Thedosiopolis, is
finely situated on the southern side of a mountain, that projects
from the range which bounds the plain on the north.
It is sur-
rounded by a wall, which was originally very strong; and a for-
tress, perched on a bold, rocky, conical hill, on the eastern side,
overlooks the town. It may contain from four to five thousand
inhabitants, now mostly Muhammedans, the Armenian popu-
lation having been taken away by the Russians. Like all Turkish
towns, in that part of the empire, particularly those that were cap-
tured by the Russian army, it wears a sad aspect of decay and dilapi-
dation.
Here we overtook the Turkish army. I sent Takvóor, soon af-
ter reaching the town, to the Pashâ, to inquire respecting the safety
of the road; and his Excellency returned a request that I should
call on him in person. I did so, and found that he had halted, until
he should considerably augment his army, under apprehension that
120
RETURN OF A PRODIGALA FOREST.
the Koords were much more than a match for him; and he was
now still more unwilling that we should attempt to proceed before
him. The only alternative he could offer us was, to be several
weeks in performing a journey of a few days, or turn off into the
Russian provinces, travel a longer route and encounter a tedious
quarantine. The Pasha kindly furnished us with a guard of ten
horsemen, to Kars, which is about 150 miles from Erzróom, with a
letter to the governor of that town, directing him to do the same,
and provide us with all other needed aid, until we should reach the
Russian frontier.
July 17. Thus escorted, we left Hǎssân-kuláah. We turned
off from the Tabréez road, about a mile beyond the town, bearing
away under the northern ridge of mountains, in a direction of east
by north. The post-route to Kars follows the Tabréez road to the
river Arrás, about ten miles farther, where the latter crosses the
stream by a beautiful stone bridge of very ancient (perhaps Roman)
construction, and the former skirts the northern shore. We rode
six hours, our way being mostly level, and pitched our tent near
a small Armenian village. Just before evening, an interesting in-
cident occurred among the villagers. A filthy strolling fellow came
from the east, and "when he was yet a great way off," a company
ran from the village and "fell on his neck and kissed him ;" and
an aged female raised so shrill and plaintive a cry, that I inquired
with concern what could be the cause of her distress, and to my
surprise was told that it was only a cry of joy; for this her "
had been dead and was alive again; he had been lost and was
found." The young man had wandered away with the Russians,
when they invaded this part of Turkey, and had now for the first
time come back. The return of the prodigal to his father's house,
in the parable of our Lord was vividly illustrated, by this simple,
unrestrained gush of parental affection in the oriental mother.
son
July 18. We travelled over an undulating country, but partially
cultivated, our road lying in the same general direction as yester-
day; rode eight hours and encamped on a large brook, in a deep
glen, near a Muhammedan village. Our Turkish guard compelled
the poor villagers to cut green wheat from a small thrifty patch-the
only piece to be seen-for their horses; and they proposed to fur-
nish the same for the horses of our muleteer, but I forbade them.
Such is the lawless abuse which government messengers feel at full
liberty to practise on the defenceless peasantry, in this land of op-
pression.
July 19. Rising from the glen in which we had passed the night,
we rode over a lofty table-land, bounded on the north by broken
mountain masses lower than itself, presenting a very wild and strik-
ing appearance, as if they had been violently convulsed, rent asun-
der, and piled together in the utmost disorder. This table-land
was succeeded by one of the most interesting objects we saw on our
journey, a vast forest. The Turkish muleteer's prediction,
that
COURAGE OF THE GUARD-KARS.
121
no forest would again occur on our way, after leaving the one near
Trebizond, would have proved true, had we followed the direct
route to Tabréez; for this is the only forest in all that part of Tur-
key. It contains many hundreds of acres, and is thickly covered
with a heavy growth of noble firs. It furnishes timber for the roofs
of all the houses at Erzróom and even westward, and over an equal
extent of country in every direction. Vast quantities of fuel are
also carried from it to Erzróom, on rude ox-carts, a distance of
more than a hundred miles. It was very refreshing, after having
travelled so long, over naked mountains, to enter once more the
cool shade of this extensive forest. Toward its eastern extremity,
we descended a long, steep declivity, which at its termination opens
into magnificent meadows, then waving with rank grass; and these
gradually widened into the fine valley of Kars, the town being still
out of sight and a day's journey beyond.
Our guard expressed strong apprehension of danger, to-day, being
in the immediate vicinity of the Koords; and a company of horse-
men appearing ahead, whom they supposed to be Jellalées, they
hastily put themselves in battle array. On coming up, however,
the supposed foe proved to be Armenian merchants, on their way to
Erzróom, who in turn, regarding us as robbers, had also shouldered
their muskets. And at the village where we stopped, we were in-
formed, that, on the preceding night, a company of Jellalées had
come to a village two miles distant and stolen a number of horses.
Our timorous escort were brave enough, when out of the reach of
danger. As soon as we cleared the dreaded region, to-day, by
emerging from the great forest, they boldly discharged their mus-
kets and shouted their defiance of all the Koords in the empire.
They were armed with swords, pistols and long spears, and often
amused us by prancing over the country and brandishing their wea-
pons, in genuine Parthian style; but no sooner did a Koord make
his appearance, or was danger apprehended, than the crest of their
courage fell.
1
July 20. We travelled over an undulating cultivated region, in
an east by north direction, and reached the town of Kars. This
town, like Hǎssân-kuláah, is situated on the southern declivity of a
mountain-range which bounds the adjacent plain on the north; and
it is overlooked by a strong citadel in the rear. Its situation is
grand and imposing; but it will ill bear inspection, the houses-
mostly of stone-being in a state of dilapidation and some of them
forsaken, by the removal of the Armenian part of the population.
A small river--the Akhooreán-intersects the lower part of the
town, which is crossed by two arched stone bridges. I found it
very difficult at Kars, as elsewhere, to satisfy myself in regard to
the number of the population; but judged there might be from six
to eight thousand.
On our arrival, I sent Takvóor to the governor, with the letter
from the Pashâ. The governor stated that the road from Kars to
16
122
TURKISH HOSPITALITY-WEDDING DAY.
the frontier was entirely safe, we therefore declined the proffered
guard; but he insisted that as the Pashâ had directed him to furnish
us with ten men, he could not do less than send us two.
At his ur-
gent request, we accordingly took with us two men as guides. The
governor of Kars appeared extremely kind; and, as he was person-
ally acquainted with the governor of Gümry, the Russian frontier
town, he proposed to write to the latter, commending us to his par-
ticular kindness and aid. I thanked him for the generous proposal,
and he accordingly prepared a letter, in which he stated to the gov-
ernor of Gümry, that my boxes had passed every custom house on
our route in Turkey, unopened, being known to contain nothing
subject to duty; he requested, therefore, that they should not all be
opened at the Russian frontier, as it would subject us to much un-
necessary trouble; and that, as we were driven that way by an un-
expected emergency, our quarantine might be somewhat shortened.
But this friendly precaution of the Turkish magistrate proved as
unavailing with his Russian neighbor, as it was kind and thoughtful
on his part.
As we are soon to take our leave of the Turks for the present, I
would bid them a grateful farewell. I have spoken of the treatment
which we received from them, in terms of commendation; and
though, before reaching the end of our journey our strength, faith
and patience were sorely tried, it was from causes, as will be seen,
not at all to militate against what I have said relative to travelling
in Turkey. Indeed, my estimation of the generosity and hospitality
of the Turks was constantly increased, the more I saw of them, till
I left their country.
July 21. We proceeded, seven hours, over the great plain of
Kars, our direction continuing east by north, and stopped for the
night near a small Muhammedan village, situated a mile south of
the road, which was the only village we saw that day.
The part of the plain which we crossed is extremely fertile, but
entirely uncultivated, its former Armenian inhabitants having fol-
lowed the Russians into Georgia; and their rude villages were now
in ruins, as well as level with the ground. The fair country waved
miles
under a heavy growth of grass, which stretched away many
in every direction, in wild, rank luxuriance, undisturbed alike by
the mower's scythe, or the footsteps of a grazing flock or herd. I
never saw finer horses, cattle or sheep, in any place in the East, nor
in larger numbers, than I noticed at Kars; and the extreme fertility
of this province may be inferred from the fact, that these were
abundantly supplied with forage, both in summer and for the long
winter, and so many thousands of acres of excellent grass still al-
lowed to wither and fall to the ground.
This was the first anniversary of our wedding-day; and, a heavy
thunder-storm occurring at evening, just about the hour of our mar-
riage, clothing the heavens and earth with almost unwonted darkness
and gloom, and beating and shaking our tent well nigh to pieces-
ENTERING GEORGIA-GUMRY.
123
afforded a vivid contrast in our lonely cheerless situation, to our cir-
cumstances one year ago, when, happy at home, we were sur-
founded by kindred and friends. Happiness, however, has no locali-
ties. Like the kingdom of heaven, if it be ours at all, it is within
us-independent, to a great extent, of place and external circum-
stances.
July 22. We rode six hours over an undulating country, but
more cultivated than the plain which we crossed yesterday, and
reached the Russian frontier, distant from Kars about forty-five
miles. The Arpá chai (Barley river), a considerable stream, a tribu-
tary of the Arrás, here forms the boundary. We were directed to
stop on the Turkish bank, until a messenger should be sent for-
ward to the town of Gümry, about two miles distant, to procure
permission for us to cross the frontier. The messenger returned in
about an hour,—we and our companions meanwhile sitting upon the
green grass, in expectation; and after our names, destination, ob-
ject, etc. were minutely taken down, we were permitted to cross the
river and found ourselves in Georgia. As we proceeded to the
quarantine ground, which is near the town, we were met by an of
ficer who demanded our passports. Fortunately, (or rather unfor-
tunately, for it was on the strength of this that I ventured on that
route,) I had procured a passport from the Russian ambassador at
Constantinople, without which it would have been impossible for
me to enter the country. Twice afterward, the same day, our names
were all taken down-servant and muleteers not excepted—and num-
berless inquiries repeated, even to disgusting minuteness, relative to
my profession, our object in travelling here, etc.; and every letter
which we had in charge, to be delivered at Tabréez, or elsewhere,
was demanded, to be retained by the governor, until our departure.
Gümry is a considerable Armenian town, to which much impor-
tance is attached by the Russian government, on account of its
boundary position. A strong fort is now in process of erection
near the town, and a number of Russians and Germans, removing
in and commingling with the native inhabitants, give to the mass a
semi-European appearance. The familiar agricultural utensils
which met our eyes on entering the Czar's dominions,-the labo-
rers, with shaved faces, tidily garbed in linen frocks and trowsers
and straw hats, briskly swinging the scythe and the cradle, plying
the rake and the pitchfork and carting in the harvest, were a grate-
ful contrast to the rude instruments of husbandry and the grotesque
costume which we had long witnessed. But our agreeable emo-
tions, thus excited at first, were soon sadly dispersed, by the treat-
ment which we received, and' which caused us to wish, a thousand
times, that we could exchange those familiar scenes for the superior
'civility and kindness which we had uniformly experienced in 'bar-
barous Turkey.' We had not been long in quarantine, when we
found, that a most dreary campaign was before us. We were situ-
ated in a hollow, on the bank of a small muddy brook. Six or eight
124
QUARANTINE-RIGORFARE.
dozen of geese thronged us on every side; flies, like the swarms of
Egypt; flocked into our tent, to devour us and our provisions; sand,
from the surrounding sun-burnt hills, sifted upon us, on every
breeze; and a stench, from animals that had died during quaran-
tine, their bodies being left unburied, annoyed us sometimes al-
most to suffocation. The constant wrangling, too, at the quaran-
tine buildings, was frightful. During the seven months which we
spent in Turkey, I had seen the infliction of blows in only a solitary
instance. But during our quarantine, scarcely a day passed with-
out bringing with it instances of flogging, within a few rods of our
tent; and some of them, I should judge, must have been well nigh
mortal. Never before was I so heart-sickened with the rule of brutal
force. Every little quarantine irregularity, without judge or jury,
seemed to incur the rigor of the lash or club from a boorish Rus-
sian, or oftener from some other civilized European in the Russian
service. With provisions we were miserably furnished. Often we
were unable to procure a morsel until afternoon; and in one or
two instances, we could obtain none, during the whole day. And
when it came, it was the most wretched in kind. If milk, it was
generally sour; and if eggs, they were repeatedly far more than stale.
And Takvoor, so far from remonstrating with the person whose bu-
siness it was to furnish us with provisions, seeing those around us so
wantonly flogged, feared to utter a word.
On the second day of our quarantine, our effects were carried off
to be fumigated, and we were left, all day, without even a mat to
spread down in our tent. My boxes, on which I had bestowed al-
most endless toil,-having constructed them with my own hands at
Constantinople, that I might be certain of securing my books and
other effects from wear and weather, during their long land-con-
veyance,—were every one rudely split open and broken to pieces
even, and their contents strown over the smoke-house; and thus
they were made to lie, during the whole period of our quarantine.
As much labor was necessary to put our boxes again in portable
order, I sent a request to the custom-house officer, that he would
call at the quarantine buildings and look at our effects, where they
were then all exposed, that my servant might afterwards do some-
thing towards putting them in readiness, and we not be long de-
tained, after our protracted quarantine should be completed. But
the peremptory answer returned, was, that my boxes must lie there
open until our quarantine was over, and then be closed, sent to the
custom-house and reopened. I requested that I might see the cus-
tom-house officer, and explain to him more fully our circumstances;
but the reply in this instance was, that he was busy and could not
see me; though I afterwards found that he was accustomed to walk
daily very near our tent.
During the many long, hot days of our confinement, we endea-
vored to keep ourselves quiet and pass our time to the best advan-
tage our circumstances would permit. Very little occurred, as day
PASTORAL LÍFE-CUSTOM-HOUSE OFFICER.
125
succeeded day, to diversify the cheerless scene. I only find, re-
corded in my notes, that, on July 30th a heavy thunder-storm oc-
curred, which, as in previous instances, our tent happily survived
and kept us nearly dry; and that, on the 31st a Nomade Koordish
tribe, of several hundred individuals, passed by, from the province.
of Erivân. They had become so thievish and troublesome, that the
Russian authorities disinherited them, and a guard was now con-
ducting them to the Turkish frontier, to seal their expatriation.
The motliness, filthiness and wretchedness of their appearance sur-
passed description. All miserably clad and many of them naked, ex-
cept a few shreds of a tattered garment about the middle,-sun-burnt
to the complexion of Mulattoes,-the children crying and fighting-
the men and women quarrelling,their cows and calves bellowing,
and hens in their coops cackling,-and all cowering as if ashamed to
meet the eye of an honest man and afraid of the light of day, they
presented to us a novel and most affecting exhibition of the real,
rather than poetical, charms of pastoral life.
Aug. 5. To our no small joy, our fourteen days of quarantine
were completed. In the morning, Takvóor and our servant and
muleteers were summoned to appear before the governor for exami-
nation. Mrs. P. and myself were, as matter of favor, we were told,
excused from that ordeal. The governor stated to Takvóor, that
he had given direction to the first officer of the custom-house de-
partment, to despatch our effects with all possible haste, that we
might proceed on our journey, without any delay. We therefore
slightly put up our boxes, which were still lying open, in the build-
ings where they were fumigated, hired a cart and carried them im-
mediately to the custom-house. To facilitate the inspection, I ac-
companied them, taking with me our muleteers and servant, and
leaving Mrs. P. alone in our tent, not doubting that the business
would be completed and we able to proceed, in the course of two
hours. But I had no sooner met the countenance of the custom-
house officer than I apprehended trouble. He received me sullenly
and uncivilly; and, as I thought, was much offended with the com-
munication which he had received from the governor, respecting the
examination of my boxes. His appearance seemed to say,
and the governor too shall know, that I am at the head of this de-
partment." By way of apology, for this officer, I may say that, if
I mistake not, in him a very malevolent disposition was but ill af
fected by his ardent devotion at the shrine of Bacchus. After lin-
gering about, sometime, he applied himself to the business of exam-
ining my boxes. He first directed that a list of all my books should
be taken. This appeared very little like "despatch." I told him
that I had a full list in English, which I would leave with him, but
that would not suffice. We had not proceeded far, however, before
he became himself weary of that manoeuvre. We began with
"Poole's Synopsis." "What is Poole's Synopsis?" he inquired.
"We do not know the Russian; that is the English," was our re-
"You
I
126
INSPECTION OF EFFECTS-DECISION.
ply, and so on. And the task of attempting to represent so many
and such strange English words, the meaning of which he knew
nothing, in Russian syllables, was so formidable, that he abandoned
the undertaking.
He next applied himself, with four or five insolent Armenians, to
the examination of my medicine-chest. Every paper and vial was
taken out and opened, and every herb smelled of, and their names
required to be stated. A small paper of tapioca was laid out as
subject to duty. And on my stating that it was merely an article of
nutriment for the road, he waived the examination, and sent, as he
said, for the physician to sit in judgment upon the medicine-chest.
After some time, a man, whom they dignified with the name of
physician came, and together, they resumed the examination. Pa-
per after paper was reopened,—all stared, wondered and exulted
like Vandals, and were highly delighted with such novel entertain-
ment. On coming to a paper of oat-meal, put up for gruel in case
of sea-sickness, on the ocean, the physician gravely pronounced it
magnesia! And when he had passed through the whole in the
same barbarous manner, he magisterially pronounced his opinion,-
in the Russian tongue which I of course could not understand,-
and retired.
The officer next came to Mrs. Perkins' boxes of clothing. Eve-
ry article—the smallest even-was rudely taken out and torn open,
and the minute inspection of a lady's dresses was made, by all, for a
long time, a scene of jovial recreation. Unfinished garments and
all small remnants of garments, were laid aside, I supposed, as
intended to be made subject to duty. I reminded the officer, that
we were in the greatest conceivable haste to proceed, and the gov-
ernor had promised that we should not be long delayed at the cus-
tom-house; but he only replied, "I know my own business." Tak-
voor wept and said that he had never before seen a European treated
so, that the Turks do indeed sometimes treat rayáhs (christian sub-
jects) in a similar manner. But the barbarity of the Russians had
so frightened him, that he dared not utter a word of firm remon-
strance from me, much as I urged him to do so. He was afraid
that he too might feel the rigor of their lash.
It was now past 2 o'clock in the afternoon, and dinner being
announced, the business was suspended. I returned to our tent,
hear-tsick, compelled to abandon the idea of leaving that day. In
the course of the afternoon, I went two or three times to the custom-
house, but the officer did not return until just before evening, and
then passed by from a walk, without uttering a word, and retired to
his dwelling. A clerk at length came and looked at the remaining
boxes, all of which our servant had opened, that he might facilitate
the business; and after a short conference with the officer, the lat-
ter came out and peremptorily announced, that all our boxes, except
those containing our wearing apparel and a few articles for the road-
all my books, my medicine-chest, box of tools, etc.-must go back
EMBARRASSMENT.
127
into Turkey, being European goods which were not permitted to be
brought into Russia. I tried to remonstrate with him and assured
him that nearly all the books were my private library-they were in
their cases before him—not one in a language spoken in Russia;
and that the medicine and all the other articles were only for the
road and domestic use. Admitting even that our effects had been
goods and intended for sale, which, however, he knew was not the
fact, it was in his power to put his seal upon the boxes and allow
them to pass unopened through the country; and this was all that
we desired. But he merely reiterated, "the boxes must go back.'
Our horses had been engaged at Erzróom for the whole route to
Tabréez. And, after having encountered the long, tedious and ex-
pensive quarantine, the muleteers would not abate a farthing from
the stipulated price, even though the animals were to proceed, un-
loaded; nor would they now consent to allow any of the horses to
return with the prohibited boxes to Erzróom, as they wished to keep
them together and load them all for the other route at Tabréez.
But in vain did I remind the officer of the immense trouble and ex-
pense to which his oppressive course would subject us.
He still,
with malignant exultation, reiterated, "your boxes must go back."
Finding him thus determined on oppression, I told Takvóor to go
to the governor, state our case and ask him what we should do.
He did so; and the governor professed deeply to regret that we
were thus embarrassed, but was unwilling to canvass the matter and
dismissed Takvóor by telling him, that he must accompany me as
far as Nakchevân, exhibit our passports both there and at Eriván,
and then return to Gümry, hire another muleteer and horses, and
take the prohibited boxes-amounting to six loads-back to Erz-
róom. Apprehending that further remonstrance might excite the
custom-house officer to a degree that would lead him to seize and
destroy my library, which it would be nearly impossible here to re-
place, I concluded to yield.
Aug. 6. I rose early, and closed the few boxes that were to pro-
ceed with us. They were ready about 10 o'clock, A. M., and our
tent and beds which we were told were also subject to inspection,
were carried to the custom-house,—Mrs. P. and myself, our mule-
teers and the servants at the same time presenting ourselves. I sent
repeatedly to the officer, requesting him to come and look at the re-
maining things, and return my passports which he had taken posses-
sion of, the day previous; but the answer as often was, that he " was
not yet ready to be seen. About 1 o'clock in the afternoon, he
came out, examined our tent and bed; and, after waiving my re-
quest for my passports, an hour longer, said that I might proceed;
but Takvoor must wait for my passports, as he could not then give
them up.
I requested him, out of compassion to Mrs. P. to permit us to take
with us our medicine-chest, as I feared to have a lady proceed, on
our long and tvilsome journey, without an article of medicine. And
128
JOURNEY RESUMED-CHANGE OF CLIMATE.
after much entreaty both from myself and Mrs. P. he said we might
take it. But when our servant had put it nearly in readiness to pro-
ceed, the officer came out and ordered it to be put back again among
the prohibited boxes. Tired of being thus tantalized, and glad to
escape, on any condition, we then went on, leaving Takvoor and
our passports behind. We rode twelve miles, across the plain which
stretches to the eastward of Gümry, and stopped at the small village
of Hamân for the night.
Aug. 7. We started at daybreak, our course now changing to
east by south and south-east, and continuing in the same general
direction all the remaining part of our journey. In the absence of
Takvoor, our Persian servant, a singularly energetic fellow for an
Asiatic, assumed the prerogative of dictating, and would not allow
the muleteers to stop short of the village of Aberân, making a ride
of near forty miles. Mrs. P. was very tired when we reached our
tent, having been on her horse all day, except that in one instance
when she had nearly fainted from fatigue, she lay down a few min-
utes by the road-side. About half of our ride, to-day, lay across
the Alagéz range of mountains, and the air was cool and delightful.
The higher peaks, on our right, were capped with eternal snow.
Descending the mountain, we entered a valley which runs directly
toward the celebrated convent of Echmiádzen-the ecclesiastical
metropolis of the Armenians. Late in the evening, Takvoor reach-
ed us, stating that the custom-house officer would not give up the
passports, until 9 o'clock, A. M., nor then, short of T's giving him
five dollars for a paper, certifying that the things which we took
with us had been examined, and a valuable cap, from his own head,
as a friendly memento!
Aug. 8. We started at 4 o'clock in the morning, and the Per-
sian servant again going forward, did not stop with our tent until
he reached Erivân,—a distance even greater than we travelled yes-
terday. We were on our horses eleven hours. Soon after starting
this morning, we crossed a small stream which runs down the
valley that we entered yesterday; we then rose and passed over
broken elevations, and gradually descended to the river Zengy,
which is an out-let of lake Sevân, and like all the streams that we
had passed after leaving Erzróom, is a tributary of the Arrás. It
runs near the city of Erivân, has high steep banks, and a very rapid
angry current, though it is only about seventy feet wide where we
crossed it by a fine stone bridge. Rising from this river, we passed
over a commanding hill, which was gratefully crowned with several
charming, thrifty orchards; and from this elevation, we descended,
by a long circuitous road, to the town of Erivân, which lies at its
southern base far down on the plain below. The change of climate,
in descending, was surprising,-quite like going from a temperate
into the torrid zone. We had left the cool mountain air which we
had so long inhaled, on the lofty heights of Armenia, and found
ourselves suddenly transported to the almost suffocating sultriness
FRUIT-MT. ARARAT-ERIVAN.
129
of a tropical sun. Though Erivân was long the capital of ancient
Armenia, the city and its surrounding villages are altogether Per-
sian in appearance. The subterranean, stone-walled houses re-
mained back in the cold regions to which they were adapted; and
here, the dwellings are of mud walls, or sun-dried brick, built above
the ground and neatly plastered over on the outside, with a mixture
of mud and straw. Indeed, Erivân is Persian, in its inhabitants
and character; and, till the war of 1828, it was a part of the Persian
empire. In its markets, we were greeted with an ample abundance
of fine ripe fruit; and we indulged ourselves as soon as possible and
as long as we dared, with apples, apricots, plums, grapes and water-
melons.
During our ride to-day, the lofty, hoary Ararat was in full view
to the south and south-west. Never before had I beheld an object
of such impressive sublimity. This mountain is altogether unique
in its appearance, rising like a mighty pyramid from the general
range and gradually tapering till it pierces and peers above the clouds.
It is between sixteen and seventeen thousand feet high. Little Ara-
rat near it rises modestly like its junior to about the height of 13,000
feet. Though we were sixty or seventy miles distant from the ven-
erable mountain, in the morning, it appeared to be within five or
six miles of us, and as familiar from my previous conceptions of it,
or from some inexplicable cause, as an old acquaintance. It rises
from a majestic curve, in the great range, a sublime corner bounda-
ry of the three empires of Persia, Turkey and Russia, and full
worthy to be the bridge between the antediluvian and postdiluvian
worlds.
CHAPTER VIII.
JOURNEY FROM ERIVAN TO TABREEZ.
Erivân is a town that figures in both Armenian and Persian his-
tory. It was, for a considérable period, the capital of Armenia.
At present it is unwalled and apparently in a state of decay. It is
supposed to contain about twenty thousand inhabitants, one third of
whom may be Armenians. There is an imposing citadel, on a hill
of moderate elevation about a quarter of a mile south of the town,
bordering also on the river Zengy, whose high, abrupt banks add
much to its apparent strength. Prince Abbas Meerza hardly made
his escape from this citadel, in 1828, when Erivân fell into the
hands of the Russians.
The great plain of Erivân and the valley of the Arrás below, be-
17
130
VALLEY OF THE ARRAS-ARMENIAN PRIEST.
ing hemmed in by the elevations which I have described on the
north, and the Ararat mountain range on the west, have in summer
a singular concentration of heat, and a mild climate, for that region,
during the whole year. The country extending from Erivân to
Nakchevân, a distance of a hundred miles, is beautiful, and the soil
is extremely fertile. Its fruits are very abundant and excellent;
but, as in most such countries, the climate is very unhealthy. The
poor Armenians, who were enticed into those provinces by the Rus-
sians, from their more healthy homes in Turkey and Persia, have
died in great numbers. And the pale, sickly survivors would
gladly exchange their present situation for the rigor of their former
vassalage to Muhammedans, could they evade Russian vigilance
and effect their escape.
Immediately after our arrival at Erivân, I despatched Takvóor to
the governor with our Russian passport. Just at evening, his Ex-
cellency sent for my American passport, stating that he had an Ar-
menian priest with him who could read English.
Aug. 9. The priest called on me in the morning, and remained
most of the forenoon. He learned our language in his childhood,
at the English Philanthropic academy, as he styled it, in India. He
speaks, reads and writes the language very well, is intelligent on
general subjects, and is indeed quite English in his character. He
expressed deep regret for the ignorance of the clergy of his nation,
and an ardent desire that they might become enlightened. On his
mentioning bishop Heber, as having known him in India, I put into
his hands Heber's Missionary Hymn, which he read aloud with
great apparent satisfaction. I asked him whether he and his church
are looking for the conversion of the whole heathen world. "Yes,"
he answered, "I pray for it every day." He is acquainted with the
Rev. Mr. Dittrich of Tiflís, expressed the highest confidence in him,
and said that the Armenians are under much obligation to that mis-
sionary for his valuable translations and preparation of books in their
language. This priest is a relative of the Armenian bishop Nérses,
whom the Russian government have exiled from Georgia, being
afraid of the enlightening and reforming influence of that celebrated
prelate; and he possesses, I think, much of Nérses' spirit. He is at
the head of the Imperial Armenian school at Erivân, and were he
not too near Echmiadzin, he might exert a most salutary influence
on his nation. He urged me to visit that convent, but I had not
time. The monks there are able to furnish their visitors with
pieces of Noah's ark, for five or ten dollars a splinter, each perhaps
two inches long, and smaller ones for a less sum, which they can
aver to have been integral parts of the ship of the patriarch, with
about the same degree of honesty, assurance and probability, with
which they practise many other impositions and retail the mass of
their traditions.
In the course of the forenoon, the dragoman of the governor re-
turned our passports, with his Excellency's signature, as he said,
!
ENGLISH CREDIT-KHORVIRAB.
131
upon them, and added, that all was correct. The priest translated
my American passport into Russian, and a police officer retained
the translation.
Our unanticipated expenses, arising from long detention in quar-
antine and other circumstances attending our circuitous route, had
nearly exhausted my purse. I stated the fact to our Persian servant
and asked him what we should do. He soon wandered away to the
bazár and conducted to our tent a Persian merchant, from Tabréez,
who was an entire stranger to the servant, as well as to myself, but
was still ready to lend me as much money and for as long a period,
as I wished, with no other security than my promissory note, writ-
ten in English, not a word of which he could understand. This
implicit confidence, in a foreigner and a stranger, is but a fair illus-
tration of the unlimited credit of the English, in the East; for my
servant had announced me to the merchant as an Englishman, our
nationality as Americans being, then hardly known in Persia. I
borrowed fifty dollars of him which I paid some weeks afterward,
on his presenting my note at T'abréez. The Persians, for obvious
reasons, will never confide in each other in that manner.
We started about 3 o'clock in the afternoon and rode twelve miles,
in a direction a little to the eastward of Ararat. The weather was
extremely warm. In the evening, the silvery rays of the moon were
reflected across the great plain, from the snowy summit of the sa-
cred mountain. I walked around our tent some time, inhaled the
balmy breeze and enjoyed much in reflecting where I was,-per-
haps upon the very spot where Noah had reared an altar. But
these reflections were rendered painfully interesting, by a thought
of the moral death-shade, that now enshrouds this beautiful country
and hallowed mountain. On the north and east sides of Ararat are
Armenians and Muhammedans. The former, though nominal
Christians, are groping in a darkness well nigh as appalling as that
which covers the latter. On the south and west, are Koords and
Yezîdées. The former are the Jellalées, the same frightful ma-
rauders from whom we had fled; and like most of the Koords, they
are Muhammedans; while the Yezîdées pay a kind of supersti-
tious homage to the devil. When will this fair and sacred inheri-
tance become the garden of the Lord?
Aug. 10. We started at 4 o'clock in the morning. Mrs. Perkins,
myself and Takvóor rode on a little before the muleteers, and
crossed the plain to the west, to visit the renowned Armenian church
and the prison of St. Gregory, at Khorviráb. We there came very
near the base of Mt. Ararat. The river Arrás (ancient Araxes,) on-
ly rolled between us and the mountain. The upper part-about
one third of the whole-was covered with snow, at this hot season,
which appeared very deep and smooth, as though never ruffled by
the track of man, beast or bird. Mrs. Perkins hastily sketched it
from this near view, and the sketch I give to the reader. Its aspect
132
CAVE OF THE ILLUMINATOR.
from the east is far more bold, beautiful and symmetrical than on
the western side along which I have since repeatedly travelled.
We descended into the cave, in the rock, where the Illuminator,
Gregory, at the commencement of his labors for the conversion of
the Armenians, is said to have been imprisoned. The cave is about
thirty feet deep, and, most of the way, so small that a person can
but with difficulty descend by a ladder. At the bottom, it widens
to nearly the size of a common room. A host of Armenians of
both sexes, followed us down, and exhibited the most disgusting su-
perstition, kissing the floor and walls, weeping and praying to the
saint. In the church near by, some were engaged in heartless
worship, and others were cooking in a porch and selling provisions
at the door.
We expected, when we started in the morning, to make our cir-
cuit back, to the Nakchevân road, on the east side of the plain, in
season to intercept our muleteers, and had therefore given them no
direction respecting the distance they should travel, before stopping.
But we found ourselves deceived in the width of the great plain,
and when we reached Davalée, the village where we intended to halt
for the night, we found that the muleteers had gone on. We had
now rode eight hours in the scorching sun. Takvoor had lingered,
back upon the plain, for a tired dog which he was conducting to
Tabréez for an English gentleman. And twelve miles lay before
us to another village, and as it proved, without a drop of water on
the road. After consulting, a few moments, we concluded that it
was better to proceed, though weary and alone, than to be separated
from our muleteer, servant, tent and beds. On the way, we met two
Persian merchants. Being very thirsty, we inquired for water, and
they gave us a green cucumber. We reached a village, near sunset,
not doubting that we should there overtake our muleteer, but found
that he had passed this village also, and the next was several miles
ahead. Completely tired out, we could go no further. Whether
Takvóor would reach us, that night, remained to be seen. I found
it very difficult to make myself at all understood, so different is the
Turkish spoken there from the dialect of Constantinople of which
I had acquired a smattering.* Nearly all the men in the village.
gathered around and gazed upon us as objects of curiosity. We at
length so far succeeded as to make them understand, that we were
very thirsty, hungry and tired. The agá, (master,) whom the vil-
lagers dignified with the title of Sûltán,† (captain,) and laughed at
* The Turkish spoken in Georgia and northern Persia, is more strictly
Tartar, or rather, it is the purer Turkish, as originally spoken around and
beyond the Caspian Sea. It differs widely from that spoken at Constantino-
ple, which, in being cultivated, has ingrafted upon the old stock so many
Arabic and Persian words and idioms, as essentially to change its original
character.
In Persia and Georgia this word means captain in military rank.

MT ARARAT. AS SEEN FROM THE VILLAGE OF KHOR VIRAB.
on the Eastern side.
LODGING OUT-INEFFICIENCY OF TAKVOOR.
133
me for calling him Hâjée, (pilgrim,) the only honorary title which
I could call to mind for the occasion, directed that our horses should
be fed; and bread, milk, yogóord, apples and water-melons were
brought for ourselves. To us a repast was never more grateful.
When we asked for a place to lodge, we were pointed to the flat
roof of a stable, about fifteen feet above the ground, as the only se-
cure retreat from fleas and musquitoes. Our bedding had passed
on with the muleteers. Just as we were retiring, Takvóor came,
with a man whom he had procured to protect him. The air was
dry and mild, our starry covering novel and delightful, and our sleep
refreshing.
Aug. 11. We rose early and started, hoping to find our mule-
teers at the first village, three hours ahead. But on reaching that
village, we ascertained that they had passed the night there, had
risen also early in the morning and proceeded, supposing us to be be-
fore them. Apprehending that they might thus hasten on, until they
should reach Nakchevân, and leave us the hard alternative of rid-
ing again twelve hours in the hot sun or encamping another night
in the open air, I told Takvóor to ride on and overtake them as
soon as possible. Poor T. jumped down from his horse, began to
cry and said he feared to go. His cowardly disposition had been
so wrought upon by our intercourse with the rough boors in Geor-
gia, that he was afraid to venture from our presence. I therefore
left him to accompany Mrs. P. and galloped on myself, with all prac-
ticable speed, for two hours and a half, and overtook our caravan.
The muleteers were greatly relieved, when they saw me, and were
very glad to halt and encamp for the day. Mrs. P., after almost in-
finite trouble with the timorous Armenian, arrived about two hours
afterward. If she quickened her pace faster than a walk, he would
cry out after her, (he usually lingered behind,) for fear of being left
alone, you will not go after Mr. P. ;" and he frequently interroga-
what
ted, in his broken English, "if we do not soon find Mr. P.,
will you make? (meaning, what will you do?) "We will make
along," as often she replied. With all the trouble of his timidity,
however, he afforded her so much amusement, as to buoy up her
spirits and lighten the weariness of the way to the close of her long
and lonely ride.
The country in the valley of the Arrás, over which we passed, to-
day, is enchanting. Many considerable tributaries enter the river,
thickly studded with fruit-gardens, orchards and villages. These
streams had no bridges, and the water was now unusually high but
fordable. Takvóor in crossing them sometimes stopped still in the
middle of the current and obliged Mrs. P. to drive his horse, as
well as her own.
We had but just spread our tent and thrown ourselves down to
rest, after stopping, when a flood of water came upon us, like a
mill-stream, and forced us to pull up stakes with all practicable des-
patch, and retreat. It issued from an unknown opening, in a wa-
134
HEAT-NAKCHEVAN.
ter-course, into which a large stream was suddenly conducted, to
irrigate an adjoining field. During the afternoon, the atmosphere
was so intensely heated, that we dared not venture out of our tent.
We were obliged to close every opening, and remained thus shut
up until evening. A strong wind from the south prevailed, wither-
ing almost as the blasts of a furnace. The thermometer, that after-
noon, ranged between 100° and 110° Fahrenheit.
Aug. 12. Apprehending another hot day, we started at 1 o'clock
in the morning, rode incessantly until noon, and reached Nakchevân.
About two hours before we stopped, a valuable horse, belonging to
an English gentleman at Tabréez, which was led unloaded by my
servant, fell down and died.
Armenian tradition says that Noah made Nakchevân his first per-
manent resting-place after the flood. I know not why he should
have wandered so far down the valley, and over so fertile and beau-
tiful a country, before choosing a home; but the word, Nakchevân,
happening to mean, first inn, is sufficient to give unquestioned au-
thority to the tradition, in the estimation of the Armenians. There
is no doubt, however, that this city has valid claims to very high an-
tiquity. It is situated about six or eight miles from the river Arrás,
on a moderate elevation. The style of its houses and its general
aspect are those common in Persian cities, which I shall notice
more at length, when speaking of Tabréez. Nakchevân is said to
contain about twenty thousand inhabitants, one third of whom, as
in Erivân, are probably Armenians, and the rest Muhammedans.
The district, which bears the same name, is extremely fertile and
scarcely less unhealthy than the province of Erivân. The town ap-
pears to be gradually recovering from the ravages which it experi-
enced in the late war, in common with other towns that were taken
by the Russians, and is even assuming a somewhat cheerful aspect
by the whited walls of the semi-European houses of numerous Rus-
sian officers.
Immediately after our arrival, I despatched Takvóor to the gov-
ernor with our passports, that they might be examined and we be
ready to proceed the next morning. Takvóor returned, saying that
the governor was asleep, and he could not then speak with him. I
sent again two hours afterward, but the governor had gone out and
Takvoor was unable to find him until near evening. The governor
said it was too late then to attend to the passports, and that he
might call for them at 9 o'clock the next morning.
Aug. 13. As our passports had been examined by the governors
of Gümry and Erivân, and had received, as was stated, their re-
spective signatures, without their intimating a wish that I should be
personally present, I supposed the same would of course be the case
at Nakchevân. And as the heat would be very oppressive after the
coolness of the morning had passed away, I concluded to leave my
servant to bring the passports, when Takvóor should procure them,
and proceed early myself with Mrs. Perkins. Takvoor, it will be
REMINISCENCE OF MARTYNA HARD RIDE.
135
recollected, was now, in accordance with the arrangement of the
governor of Gümry, to return to that town and conduct my pro-
hibited loads back to Erzróom. We had a day's ride to perform, on
the road towards Tabréez, before reaching the river Arrás, the Rus-
sian boundary, where our passports would be needed. I therefore
started early with Mrs. P., and we rode on, a distance of about
twenty-five miles, from Nakchevân to the river. We entered a
small cabin on the quarantine ground and threw ourselves down to
rest.
It was just here that the sainted Martyn crossed the Arrás, on his
journey towards Europe, a short time before his death. I will give
the reader his notice of the place and of the event, as found in his
journal, contained in his published Memoir, which is quite charac-
teristic of his laconic pen.
(C
Sept. 12. Soon after twelve, we started with fresh horses and
came to the Arrás, or Araxes, distant two parasangs, and about as
broad as the Isis, with a current as strong as that of the Ganges.
The ferry-boat being on the other side, I lay down to sleep till it
came; but observing my servants to do the same, I was obliged
to get up and exert myself. It dawned, however, before we got
over. The boat was a huge fabric in the form of a rhombus. The
ferry-man had only a stick to push with; an oar, I dare say, he had
never seen nor heard of; and many of my train had probably never
floated before, so alien is a Persian from every thing that belongs to
shipping. We landed safely, on the other side, in about two min-
utes.'
""
The river Arrás is here perhaps two hundred feet wide, and the
rapidity of its current is not at all exaggerated in the comparison
of Martyn. The old ferry-boat still in use, corresponds precisely
with his description, and it may, for aught I know, be the identical
one in which he crossed the river twenty-one years before us.
About 2 o'clock in the afternoon, the servant arrived, but without
the passports, stating that the governor would not give them up,
nor allow Takvóor to leave the house; and that his Excellency had
moreover sent orders that I should return immediately to Nakche-
vân. Two armed horsemen had accompanied the servant, that in
case of want of volition they might compel me to return.
I mounted a horse, and, leaving Mrs. P. with the servant, gal-
loped back, in the scorching sun, in a little more than two hours.
Being unable to induce my armed companions to proceed faster
than a walk, I had left them far behind, and now made my appear-
ance before the governor alone. I found, sure enough, that Tak-
voor had been kept there all day, in close quarters, as a hostage.
The governor tried to apologize for subjecting me to so much
trouble; but said it was indispensable, as I could not cross the
boundary without a new passport from the governor of Erivân, who
was his superior; and that the passports which I now had must all
go back to Erivân, for the purpose of procuring a new one. I had
136
((
DETENTION-CHEERLESS SITUATION.
my regular American passport from the secretary of state of U. S.
one from our chargé d'affaires at Constantinople, one from the Rus-
sian ambassador at the Turkish capital, a Turkish passport from the
pashâ of Erzróom, and a letter from the governor of Gümry, certi-
fying our regular performance of quarantine. These documents
had been submitted to the governor of Erivân, examined by him,
and pronounced ample for our journey. And when I repeated the
inquiry, to the commandant of Nakchevân, whence the necessity
which he asserted of their being sent back, he could only reply,
you cannot go." Finding remonstrance in vain, I endeavored to
appeal to his compassion, but he hardly listened. He, however,
engaged to despatch a courier with the passports immediately, and
secure a return from Erivân in three days. Finding the governor
thus inflexible in his purpose to detain us, I inquired whether
I should return and remain, meanwhile, with Mrs. Perkins, on the
quarantine ground. At first he objected and said that she too
must come back to Nakchevân. But when I represented to him
the inhumanity of subjecting her to two long days' travel in the hot
sun, which would be necessary, for her return and second
ride to the river, he at length consented to allow me to
proceed to the Arrás, and promised to send on Takvóor to join us
the next day. A letter was prepared for the quarantine officer, di-
recting him, as I afterwards learned, to hold us in safe-keeping un-
til he should receive orders to let us go. This letter was at first en-
trusted to me to carry, but it was afterwards taken back and com-
mitted to an armed man, who was to accompany me as a guard. It
was now nearly 10 o'clock in the evening, and I started to travel
over, the third time that day, the long road from Nakchevân to the
river Arrás. On our way, we came to a summer threshing-floor,"
where the guard proposed to stop a few minutes and feed the
horses. I gladly threw myself down upon the ground, almost ex-
hausted, and immediately fell asleep. When we stopped, the moon
was about an hour above the western horizon; when I awoke, it
had gone down and left us in darkness. I called the guard, who
was also asleep, and we proceeded; and after riding until day-
break, I reached Mrs. Perkins, who had passed a sleepless night in
our tent, on my account, not being able to conceive wherefore I
had been summoned to return.
Aug. 14.
With sad hearts, we now found ourselves both virtu-
ally and really again in quarantine, and in a situation inconceivably
more comfortless than the one which we had encountered on the
other frontier. We were on a great plain of sand, as barren as a
desert. We were unable to find a single patch of grass, on which
to pitch our tent. A strong and incessant wind sucked through be-
tween the mountains up the course of the Arrás from the Caspian
sea, by day almost as scorching as the blasts from Sahara, and at
all times sifting clouds of sand, through every joint and seam of our
tent, upon our beds, our provisions and ourselves, like light snow in
(C
DETENTION-RELEASE.
137
the fury of a winter storm, and frequently upsetting our frail cano-
py for the want of sufficient soil to retain the pins of our tent in the
ground. The heat was almost overpowering, as it had been all the
way from Erivân. We were several miles from any village; and
neither my servant nor myself was permitted to leave the spot to go
and procure provision. And the only means by which we kept our-
selves from starvation was, to induce the Persian boatmen, on the
opposite side of the river, to bring us food from their village, which
was about four miles distant, in Persia. By paying an exorbitant
price, we thus obtained bread and melons, once in two or three
days. Takvoor never joined us, as the governor had pledged, be-
ing kept, I suppose, as a hostage during our detention, and we found
very difficult to make ourselves understood. A few dirty soldiers
alternately marched about our tent, as though exulting over captives.
And instead of being detained three days only, as the governor had
promised, we were compelled to lie there seven.
it
Aug. 17. The fourth day of our confinement, not a word of in-
telligence having reached us from Nakchevân, and not knowing
how long a detention was before us, I addressed a letter to the En-
glish ambassador, at Tabréez, briefly stating our circumstances,
and enclosing to him some letters of introduction, which I had taken
with me from Constantinople. In the afternoon the Russian mail
passed along and I induced the post, who rides between Nakchevân
and Tabréez, to engage to put my letters into the hands of the En-
glish ambassador immediately on his arrival.
Aug. 19. Not having heard a word from our passports, our
hearts almost sunk within us. We now relinquished the expecta-
tion of being relieved by the Russians, and tried to cast ourselves
upon an Almighty arm, hoping that, under God, help might at
length reach us from Tabréez. About 11 o'clock, the ensuing night,
a courier came to our tent with our passports. The intelligence
was like an electric shock. We were so rejoiced by the deliverance,
that we were unable to sleep, during the rest of the night. We had
still to wait, however, for the quarantine officer, to whom the cou-
rier carried a letter from the governor, to come from Esgy Joolfa,* a
village three or four miles distant, to give us verbal permission to
proceed.
Aug. 20. We rose early and put our things in readiness, but
were obliged to wait until almost noon, for the officer, who, after
his tardy arrival, pronounced our release with the greatest apparent
reluctance, charging us with having European goods in our boxes,
while he held in his own hand a certificate asserting the contrary,
from the custom-house officer at Nakchevân. In a short time, how-
ever, our effects and our horses were all across the Arrás. I stood
*
Esgy Joolfá, i. e. old loom; the Armenian town from which Shah Abbas
transported his weavers and other mechanics to New Joolfa, which is a sub-
urb of Isfahân.
}
18
138
MORAL ASPECT OF THE RUSSIAN PROVINCES.
upon the river-bank and looked tremblingly until every article had
cleared the boat and lay safe upon the Persian shore, lest the officers
should fabricate some pretext to embarrass us still farther. Like
captives emerging from a cruel imprisonment, we now felt that we
again inhaled the air of freedom. And with rejoicing hearts did
we take our last look of that country, where we had been detained
and oppressed more than four weeks, for the sake of making a jour-
ney of six days,—nor this even without being stripped of two-thirds
of our baggage. Were I to form an estimate of the Russians, from
what we saw and experienced from those boors, while attempting
to travel in that part of their country, I should be compelled to pro-
nounce their minds as dark as the winter nights, and their hearts
as cold as the eternal icebergs that reign under their polar skies.
But I would by no means judge thus of all the Russians.
Quiet, defenceless travellers, as we were, wishing merely to pass
across a remote province of the Russian empire, I know not the
reasons for such oppression as we experienced in doing it, beyond
the inherent despotism of the government and the bad character of
its officers, particularly in those distant provinces, unless it were
that my passports announced me as an American clergyman,—a
character of course very obnoxious, in that benighted land, where
every entrance to a ray of light is so sedulously guarded and ob-
structed. It was, moreover, but a few months after our detention,
that all missionaries were prohibited from prosecuting their labors
in the Czar's dominions, and an order issued that no clergyman
should be allowed to enter them, without his special permission,
a line of policy, adopted, I believe, at the urgent overtures of the
bigotted Armenian and Russian clergy, rather than by the empe-
ror's better disposition and more enlightened judgment.
But what a picture is at best thus presented of nominally chris-
tian Russia, especially its Asiatic provinces! Well may the eye
of christian philanthrophy weep over that mighty realm of midnight
darkness. As the prospect now is, should such a policy continue,
long after the benighted empires of Muhammedism shall have thrown
off their darkness, and put on the beautiful garments of civilization
and pure Christianity, Russia may struggle with mortal conflict,
(in vain of course ultimately,) still to enshroud herself in the fright-
ful pall of barbarism and fallen Christianity, which she now so te-
naciously binds two-thirds around the globe.
We rode on from the Arrás, eight or ten miles, and stopped at
the foot of the mountain, about two miles south of the village of
Gergér, intending to travel, during the ensuing night, as there was
a full moon, and the heat in the day time was extremely oppressive.
We had scarcely encamped and taken some refreshment, when the
Ghōlâm, (courier,) of Sir John Campbell, the English ambassador
at the court of Persia, rode up to our tent and put into my hands a
letter which I opened and read as follows:
ASSISTANCE FROM SIR J. CAMPBELL.
139
My dear Sir,
LETTER OF THE ENGLISH AMBASSADOR.
"Tabréez, Monday evening [Aug. 18, 1834].
About half an hour since, I received your letter with those of in-
troduction you forwarded, and lost no time in waiting upon the
first secretary of the the Russian Embassy and placing the whole of
them in his hands, for the information of His Excellency, Count
Simonitch, who, this night, (Monday) despatches a letter to the
officer commanding Nakchevân, to make arrangements for your
immediate permission to cross the frontier, should you not already
have received your passports from Erivân.
A duplicate of the letter in question will leave this by my own
Ghōlâm to-morrow (Tuesday) morning at day-light, to guard
against accidents, which, together with this, will be delivered to
you, but my servant is not permitted to cross the Arrás. In con-
sideration of Mrs. Perkins' situation, I have sent a common Takt-
rawân* and four mules, the only ones I could procure at this short
notice, which will relieve her from the fatigue of riding, [on horse-
back,] and enable her I hope to reach Tabréez in safety. The takt-
rawân will leave the city to-night and be on the banks of the Arrás
on the third day, in which I have placed three or four bottles of
French claret and some tea, sugar and biscuit, as your long de-
tention on the quarantine ground may have exhausted your supplies
of these articles.
As none of the houses here occupied by Europeans are capable
of accommodating Mrs. Perkins and yourself, I have just sent for
Mr. Nisbet, and directed him to hire a couple of rooms, in the vi-
cinity of his own residence for you, till you can make better arrange-
ments for yourself.
Should you meet the takt-rawân on the road, the man is directed
to place it at your disposal, and if you require other assistance,
pray have the kindness to send in the bearer of this to let me know.
He will come in from the banks of the Arrás in a day or a night.
If any accident should have happened to the letter sent by the Count,
have the kindness to forward the duplicate now sent to the com-
mandant of Nakchevân. With regard to your books, etc., if they
are not restored to you or sent back to Turkey, subsequent arrange-
ments must be made.

(Signed)
Excuse this hasty scrawl,
From yours very obediently,
J. N. R. CAMPBELL.
P. S. You may trust to my Ghōlâm to do anything you require,
on this side of the Arrás."
* A kind of litter,-the only vehicle used in Persia.
140
AID FROM THE RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR.
This efficient assistance from the English ambassador was ren-
dered thus speedily, in a country, it should be borne in mind, where
despatch, with the existing modes of conveyance, is almost as im-
practicable as it is uncommon. About half an hour after the cou-
rier, the takt-rawân also arrived. This easier mode of conveyance
was very timely for Mrs. Perkins. She had already rode on horse-
back and with comparative comfort, between six and seven hun-
dred miles; but the exchange of her saddle for the litter was now
most grateful. The vehicle, however, and the other comforts men-
tioned in the letter as accompanying it, were as unexpected as they
were welcome. In the few lines which I hastily wrote the ambas-
sador from our confinement, I had not intimated our need of any
thing of the kind; and the whole coming thus promptly from an en-
tire stranger impressed us the more deeply, standing in such vivid
contrast with the studied oppression, which we had experienced for
so long a period.
Nor should I omit to acknowledge the kindness of the Russian
ambassador at Tabréez, in his efforts to effect our release. He act-
ed, as appears from Sir John Campbell's letter, with great prompt-
ness; and, as I have since learned, he expressed much surprise at
our detention and deep solicitude for our speedy relief. His letter
(C 'I know not,
to the governor of Nakchevân was very decisive.
he wrote, "under what authority you act, in detaining that gentle-
man and lady; but be that authority what it may, I request you to
release them immediately; and if you have any apprehension that
you may be blamed for so doing, I hold myself fully responsible for
the measure."
Lest it should be difficult to reconcile this promptness in the ef-
forts of the Russian ambassador, to effect our release, with the de-
sire to embarrass us, which was almost uniformly manifested, as we
travelled in the country which he represents, I may repeat the sug-
gestion, that it is the boorish deputies and subordinate officers,
and not men of such intelligence as foreign ambassadors, that are
usually the agents of oppression in the Russian provinces. The
bad character of the lower Russian officers in the distant provinces
of Georgia is proverbial.
About 9 o'clock in the evening, after the arrival from Tabréez,
the moon having then just risen, we proceeded on our journey, and
travelled incessantly, until 9 o'clock the next morning, when we
reached the fertile district and large village of Morénd. This vil-
lage, tradition says, was the burial place of Noah's mother. The
alleged proof is, that in Armenian, Morénd, means, "mother there.”
This long ride of near forty miles Mrs. Perkins sustained with
tolerable ease, in the takt-rawân. Worn out with anxiety, during
our troubles in Georgia, I was myself very weak and unwell and
scarcely able to sit upon my horse. I frequently dismounted and
walked a few rods, and would most gladly have stopped much
sooner, but there is no village on the road, between Gerger and Mo-
NARROW ESCAPE-DR. RIACH.
141
rénd. Our road led up a high mountain, and then across a table-land,
many miles in extent, on which I observed nothing, by the moon-
light, except the ruins of an old caravanserai. As we were ascend-
ing the mountain, the forward mule of the takt-rawân became obsti-
nate and suddenly ran back and pushed the hindermost one upon the
very brink of the precipice along which the road runs; and had not
an Almighty arm stayed them just when and where it did, mules, takt-
rawân and Mrs. Perkins must have been dashed down the precipice
together. At day-break, we found ourselves descending from the
table-land and entering the plain of Morénd. In crossing this plain,
the pack-saddles of the mules suddenly turned on their backs and
capsized the takt-rawân, with the side-door downward, which con-
fined Mrs. P. within, until the mules could be unharnessed and dis-
engaged from the vehicle. But the same guardian Hand, which
had so often protected us from dangers seen and unseen, shielded
her in this instance also from injury and alarm. Morénd, where we
stopped, is a large, fine village, containing near three thousand in-
habitants, and is a kind of metropolis of the extensive and fertile
district which bears its name, and in which are several smaller vil-
lages.
Aug. 21. We had halted but a short time when an English
gentleman rode up to our tent, who proved to be none other than
Dr. Riach, physician of the English embassy at Tabréez,-the same
excellent man whom we had seen at Constantinople, on his way to
Persia. Being apprized of our unhappy predicament, on the banks
of the Arrás, he had procured a Russian travelling-passport, made
the necessary preparations, and advanced thus far on his way to the
Russian frontier, with the determination of entering the country
and remaining with us, should he not find us liberated, and of ac-
companying us on the road, that he might comfort us and adminis-
ter relief in case of sickness. Such generous kindness made an im-
pression on our hearts, then bleeding with the fresh recollection of
our recent trials, and throbbing with joy in view of our happy de-
liverance, too deep to be ever obliterated. We sat down, narrated
our adventures, and took sweet counsel together, which was the
more dear to us, after having met with no one, for so long a period,
who treated us as friends. We lingered until 11 o'clock in the
evening, when we started and rode until about 6 o'clock the next
morning, crossing the Kara Dagh (Black Mountain) range, and
reached Sofîán, a village situated at the base of the mountain, on
the western extremity of the great plain of Tabréez. At this vil-
lage, Martyn passed his second night from Tabréez. We were often
interested to identify his stopping-places with our own, on the way;
the more so, of course, as we were among the first to enter be-
nighted Persia, after that eminent missionary had left it, to labor for
the salvation of its perishing inhabitants.
Aug. 22. This morning, for the first time after we left Constan-
tinople, Mrs. Perkins was taken quite unwell, and suffered much
142
ARRIVAL—SICKNESS-ENGLISH FRIENDS.
pain. By medical prescription from Dr. Riach, she was at length
relieved. We lingered there, trying to rest, as we had slept but
very little after leaving the Arrás, until 1 o'clock in the morning of
Aug. 23. Mrs. Perkins having then become comfortable, we pro-
ceeded across the vast plain, under the mountain-ridge which
bounds it on the northern side, and reached Tabréez after a ride of
seven hours. We crossed the ajée chai, bitter (salt or brackish)
river, a little before reaching the city, by a venerable brick bridge
of several arches, which is twelve or fifteen rods long. The stream
was now almost dry. Here we met Mr. Nisbet, the commissary of
the English military detachment in Persia, who had come out thus
far to welcome us. To this pious, excellent man, we were laid un-
der great and constantly increasing obligation, while we remained
in Persia. Our hearts rose in tender thanksgiving to our Father in
heaven, as we entered the city, for having delivered us from so
many embarrassments and exposures, and brought us at length in
safety to the place of our first destination. We were very kindly
received at the dwelling of our christian friends, Mr. and Mrs. Nis-
bet. Owing to a large accession recently made to the European
residents, it was almost impossible to procure a house. But Mr.
N. had kindly anticipated our wants and rented us one near his
own, as comfortable as most of the native dwellings. We therefore
found ourselves happily lodged, the first night in Tabréez, in our
' own hired house.' But when the reader recollects where we now
were, he will not be surprised to learn, that we became occupants
of a mud-walled dwelling, without glass windows or wood floors.
For such a home, however, we were heartily thankful.
Aug. 26. Just three days after our arrival at Tabréez, Mrs. P.
became the mother of a daughter, of whose existence she was not
conscious for several days. Her long previous exposures had pros-
trated her system, and this sickness carried her farther apparently
across the stream of Jordan than any person I ever knew, who was
brought back again to its nether shores. Incessant vomiting for
several hours induced repeated convulsions, the severest I ever wit-
nessed and apparently sufficient to shake the firmest frame in pieces;
after which, the vital spark, for nearly a week, seemed almost extin-
guished. Three English physicians were in attendance, who hap-
pened providentially to be in Tabréez at that time, viz. Dr. Riach,
who met us on the road; Dr. Griffiths, surgeon of the English de-
tachment; and Dr. McNeill,-then first secretary of the embassy
and now Sir John McNeill, the present ambassador. They all mani-
fested the most anxious solicitude, and tenderly, but frankly, told
me that they saw no probability of Mrs. Perkins' recovery. My
feelings, in those circumstances, can be more easily conceived than
described, the perils and trials of our long and toilsome journey
just terminated, my companion for life, as well as in those trials,
who had so happily survived them, now apparently in the agonies
of dissolution, and for myself, only the cheerless prospect of being
PERSIA-BOUNDARIES.
143
so soon left, a solitary pilgrim in that dark and distant land. But
though no American voice was near to solace me in that trying ex-
tremity, a merciful Providence had not left me without friends.
Parents and brothers could not have been more tender and assidu-
ous in their kindness than were the English residents.
The am-
bassador sent repeatedly to me, saying, "My house is open to you;
spare nothing that can contribute to your relief and comfort."
Mrs. Nisbet took home our infant on the day of its birth, and re-
lieved me of all care respecting it; and Dr. Riach stayed five days
and nights constantly at Mrs. Perkins' bed-side, not retiring from
the house to eat or sleep, (the other physicians also repeatedly call-
ing,) until by little less than a miracle of divine mercy, we were
permitted to cherish the hope of her recovery. The reader will not
wonder that after a short residence in Persia, we had become ten-
derly attached to the English in that country. And the treatment
which we received from them on our first arrival, is but a specimen
of their kindness to us, from that period to the present time.
In connexion with our exposures and sufferings, on the way to
our field, it were grateful to offer a passing tribute to female forti-
tude in the missionary enterprise, might a husband be allowed to
do it. I may at least be pardoned, for saying in general, that we
witness, in many of the females sent out by our churches, not only
the devotion that was 'last at the cross and first at the sepulchre,'
but also a heroism, which is able calmly to meet and cheerfully sus-
tain the trying emergencies that often almost crush our own sterner
energies. It is preeminently on missionary ground that woman is a
help-meet for man.
CHAPTER IX.
TABREEZ.
WE are made acquainted with ancient Persia and its inhabitants
by the classic historians and some of the sacred writers. The
modern Persians retain the characteristics of their ancestors, to an
extent unequalled, probably, in any other Asiatic nation that has
remained in the same land in which their progenitors lived, and
come down unbroken from so early a period. Not so, however,
with the territorial limits of their country. These have varied like
the ebbing and flowing tide, with every dynasty and almost every
reign. "The limits of this kingdom, in its most prosperous period,
says Sir John Malcolm, "may, however, be easily described; the
144
PROVINCES-NAMES.
Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean to the south; the Indus and the
Oxus to the east and north-east; the Caspian Sea and mount Cau-
casus to the north; and the river Euphrates to the west."*
Vast
territories, on every side, must be struck from this extreme outline
of the celebrated historian, in looking for the present boundaries of
Persia. It does indeed still reach the Caspian Sea on the north, and
the Persian Gulf on the south. But the wild regions of Beloochistân
shut it far from the Indian Ocean and the lower part of the Indus ;
Affghanistan places it at a still farther remove from the higher por-
tions of that river; the formidable domain of the Osbégs and Tur-
comâns spreads out a broad barrier between the Persians and the
Oxus; Russia has crowded them down on the north from the Cau-
casus and from Georgia and Armenia, as far as the river Arrás, and
even below that river many leagues before it reaches the Caspian
Sea; and on the west, so far from compassing Mesopotamia to the
river Euphrates, the Turks have long restricted their Shîite neigh-
bors to a natural mountain boundary, far east of the Tigris and of
its tributaries, until we approach the Persian Gulf.
Modern Persia, thus circumscribed, may, to speak in round num-
bers, be from 800 to 1000 miles square,-though its shape is rhom-
boidal rather than square, being at least a third longer from north-
west to south-east than in the transverse direction. Geographically,
it lies between 26° and 40° north latitude, and between 44° and 59°
east longitude. Its present population, though no accurate census
is ever taken, may probably not vary far from ten millions. Its prov-
inces are Fars, Irak, Laristân, Kuzistân, a portion of Koordistân,
Azerbijân, Ghilân, Mazanderân and the western sections of Kho-
risân and Kermân, Its present capital is Tehrân in the province.
of Irâk, situated toward the northern part of the kingdom, but
nearly central from west to east.
Elâm is the most ancient name of Persia, from Elam the son of
Shem, whose descendants are said to have been its first inhabitants.
Iran is the term applied by the present Persians to their country;
and Iranlóo, or Irânée, (as the appellative takes the Turkish or the
Persian form,) to the people. Fars,† Pars, or Paras, from which
Europeans derive the term Persia, and apply it to the whole coun-
try, as it was also applied by the Greeks and Romans and some of
the sacred writers, is only the southern province of the empire, as
that name is now used by the natives. Ajém, clown, (Bágßagos,) and
Ajemistân, clown-land, are names which the self-conceited Osman-
líes have given, as they think, to their less polished neighbors and
their rustic home, back in the interior,—with how little grace or
justice, is soon apparent to one who becomes acquainted with the
two nations. The Persians, however, forgetful or regardless of the
indignity of the titles, have also adopted them. Kuzzel-bâsh, red
head, is another epithet applied to them by the Soonées.
It origi-

* Malcolm's Hist. vol. I. p. 1.
+ Heb. B
PHYSICAL FEATURES.
145
nated in the time of Shâh Ismâíl.* Several tribes who became de-
voted promoters of the Shîite faith, under that champion of the
The
sect, were distinguished in their dress by wearing red caps.
term thence attached to the Shîites in general, and has thus de-
scended to the present Persians.
""
A physical sketch of Persia is well given in few words by Mal-
colm, in the connection from which I before quoted. "The most
striking feature of this extensive country," he says, "are deserts
and mountains, amid which are interspersed beautiful valleys and
rich pastures. And again, "The valleys in the central provinces
of Persia, abound with the rarest and most valuable vegetable pro-
ductions, and might be cultivated to any extent. Trees are seldom
found except near the towns and villages; but the luxuriance with
which they grow, wherever planted, shows that the climate is con-
genial to them. The orchards of Persia produce all the fruits of
the temperate zone; and its wilds abound with flowers, that can
only be reared in the gardens of Europe by care and cultivation.
The climate is very various. It is not more affected by the differ-
ence of latitude than by the remarkable inequalities of the surface
in almost all the provinces. The greater part of the country is a
succession of plains at the base of those ridges of hills by which it
is intersected, and of table-lands nearly on a level with their tops.
To pass from the lower valleys to the higher, is to change the tem-
perature of summer for that of winter. But the climate, though va-
rious, is healthy; and few countries can boast a more robust, active
and well-formed race of men. Its animals, (particularly the horses
and dogs,) are of uncommon size, strength and beauty. In the
mountains, some valuable minerals are found but none in abun-
dance; and Persia has consequently been always indebted to foreign
countries, for lead, iron, silver and gold." Rich mines of copper
and iron have been opened in Azerbijân since Sir J. Malcolm wrote
his history. Coal has also been found to a limited extent in that
province and near Tehrân; and it doubtless needs but the aid of
science and enterprise entirely to remove the dependence of the Per-
sians on their neighbors for the more useful minerals.† And in
speaking of the "central provinces," he does not include Mazan-
derân and Ghilân, lying on the Caspian Sea, which are clothed with
vast and beautiful forests.
* Malcolm's Hist. Vol. I. p. 326.
† I have sometimes made this statement, in answering inquiries on this
subject, during my visit to the United States. And the Nestorian bishop
who accompanied me, attempting to adopt it for the same purpose, but mis-
taking a term, has often said that "there are no men of sense (science) in
Persia to discover mines;" and he adds, perhaps not less philosophically
than piously, 'that inasmuch as "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of
wisdom," he hopes, as this shall increase in Persia, the earth there will yield
coal for fuel in place of stable manure and furnish to the inhabitants many
other conveniences and comforts.'
19
146
AZERBIJAN—TABREEZ-PLAIN.
Our home in Persia, as already stated,* is in Azerbiján, the north-
western province. This name, in the ancient Pehliví, means house
of fire, given to the province probably on account of the system of
fire-worship having originated there,-Zoroaster, the founder, being
a native of Oróomiah. Azerbijân is in the northern part of ancient
Media and corresponds nearly to Atropaténe. It is perhaps two
hundred miles long from north to south and two-thirds that dis-
tance broad. The river Arrás separates it from the Russian pro-
vinces on the north; Ghilân bounds it on the east, and Irâk, on
the south; and on the west, it embraces the adjacent branches of
the Koordish mountains, along the eastern declivity of the general
range, to a rather indefinite line, that divides it from Turkey, where
the head waters are supposed to begin to flow eastward toward Per-
sia and westward toward the Tigris and Euphrates.
Tabréez, the chief city of Azerbijân, which was the place of our
first destination, is supposed to be the ancient Gaza, or Ganzaca,‡
where Cyrus deposited the treasures of Croesus. It is now gene-
rally agreed, that the present name of this city signifies fever-dis-
persing, being formed from the Persian word tab, heat, and reektán,
to pour, or scatter; and that it took this name from its renowned
salubrity. Many other definitions have been offered; but as its
climate well merits this flattering epithet, and no other explanation,
that I have heard or read, seems to possess more reasons in its favor
than the one I have mentioned, I need not trouble the reader, as
some others have done, with a chapter of speculations on the sub-
ject. The city is situated on the eastern side of a great plain, which
stretches full thirty miles in its broadest dimensions, is bounded by
mountain ranges of considerable height on the west, north, east and
south-east, and skirts the lake of Oroomiah on the south-west. The
interior portions of this plain are uncultivated, the soil being so im-
pregnated with salt as to be capable of producing but little vegeta-
tion. A considerable belt under the mountains, particularly on the
eastern and western sides, which is irrigated by small fresh-water
rivulets, is thus rendered fertile and is highly cultivated.
highly cultivated. The soil,
evén here, appears sandy and barren; but it is in reality strong,
and wherever thus irrigated, it yields excellent crops. The moun-
tains around, like most mountains in Persia, are entirely bare, and
present to the eye of the observer the personification of barrenness;
but the dreary scene is greatly relieved, by the smiling, verdant
fields and gardens below, which are rendered the more grateful and
lovely by being in such vivid contrast with the naked desolations
above. The eastern section of this plain narrows, as it extends
back between the ranges of mountains, and near the extremity, a
little elevated, sits Tabréez, like a monarch looking down from the
head of a vast amphitheatre. And this general description of their
* Page 7.
+ Malcolm's Hist. Vol. I. p. 326.
Kinnier's Persian Empire, p. 150.
:
ELEVATION
CLIMATE-POPULATION.
147
relative location will apply to most of the cities and their adjacent
plains, in Azerbijân and the other provinces of Persia.
The plain of Tabréez, and indeed the whole of northern Persia,
is quite elevated,—at least four thousand feet above the level of the
ocean. The winters there are consequently cold, perhaps as cold
as those of our Middle States. The summers, however, in that clear
atmosphere, where a cloud seldom appears in the heavens from early
spring till late in autumn, are very warm, during the day; but the
air becomes delightfully cool as soon as the sun leaves the horizon.
At Tabréez, a strong wind blows daily from the Caspian Sea, which
is very invigorating, and would be very agreeable, did it not fill the
atmosphere during the dry season, with clouds of fine dust and
sand.
+
The main part of the city is surrounded by a high double wall of
mud and a broad deep ditch. The walls are in a state of tolerable
preservation, and have strong bastions at regular intervals. The
city is about four miles in circumference and is entered by eight
gates. Outside of the wall, is an open space, nearly a quarter of a
mile wide, extending entirely around the city, which is almost whol-
ly occupied with cemeteries. Beyond this space, is a continuous
range of suburbs, that probably contain nearly as many inhabitants
as the city itself; and farther still, are extensive gardens, which
sweep round the whole, and form the last and largest of these con-
centric circles that have the city as their common centre. These
gardens furnish excellent fruit, as peaches, pears, plums, grapes,
nectarines, etc. in ample abundance. They are usually secured by
high mud walls and entered by a gate perhaps three feet high, and
two wide, which consists of a single stone that swings upon hinges.
Beyond the gardens, are the mountain ranges, on the east, north
and south, and the vast open plain on the west.
One of the most striking objects without the city is a lofty sand-
stone mountain, which overhangs it on the north-east, and is of so
deep a red color as to be even painful to the eye,—particularly as it
is naked and presents the aspect of absolute sterility. A little far-
ther north, about ten miles from the city, is an exhaustless mine of
beautiful rock salt, from which immense quantities are quarried;
and from a gorge near it, issues the ajée chai-bitter (salt) river—
a considerable stream which flows across the plain and enters the
lake. Tabréez, with its suburbs, may now contain eighty thousand
inhabitants, of whom perhaps one thousand are Armenian Christians
and the rest are Muhammedans. The Armenians are a privileged
class. By threatening to follow the Russians to Georgia at the close
of the last war, they extorted from the Persian government impor-
tant immunities, as diminution of taxes, etc., as the condition of re-
maining. Unhappily, however, they profit little by these advantages.
Like most of the Armenians in Persia, they are even more degraded
and immoral than their Muhammedan neighbors. Tabréez was
formerly far more populous than at present. The open space, now
148
EARTHQUAKES—ANTIQUITIES—COMMERCE.
occupied as cemeteries, is strown over with huge oblong blocks of
black marble; and there are many other indications that this entire
area, now the tabernacles of the sleeping dead, was once covered
with the busy abodes of the living. Tradition says that the whole
city was destroyed by an earthquake somewhat less than a century
ago, which is probably true. Earthquakes are still very common
in Tabréez. The year that we resided there, they shook our house
repeatedly-caused our crockery to rattle on its shelves-and many
walls in our neighborhood were thrown down.
There are few conspicuous remnants of antiquity in Tabréez,
though the city is very ancient. A venerable mosk of brick-work,
finely arched and beautifully decorated with mosaic, which stands
a mile east of the city but was once doubtless within its walls, is
perhaps the most interesting. A small part of its side walls and most
of its front still attest its former magnificence. The Ark, (citadel,
in Persian, areg,) a solid mass of walls, ninety feet high, which en-
closes a part of the fort that forms an offset on the southern side of
the city, is also a noble structure. A considerable part of this too
has fallen,—so much, that it is difficult to determine for what pur-
pose it was erected. By some, it is supposed to have been a mosk,
and by others, a royal palace. It is the first object seen, in ap-
proaching the city, from any direction. The present mosks of Ta-
bréez-and indeed most of the mosks elsewhere in Persia,-are un-
pretending structures, built often of sun-dried bricks, one story
high and without minarets. They make but a humble appearance
compared with the mosks of Turkey, particularly those of Constan-
tinople. And the waning zeal of the Persians in regard to their
places of worship is perhaps no more than a fair index of the decline
of their attachment to the worship itself.
Tabréez is the most important city, in a commercial point of
view, in all Persia. It is the great mart of European merchandize.
Its bazárs and caravanserais are numerous and extensive; and some
of them are of a very superior construction. They are built of brick
and lime, finely arched, and are probably among the most durable
structures in the world. Shawls and silks are manufactured by the
natives at Tabréez, though not so extensively nor of so superior a
quality as in some other Persian cities. Its trade is principally tran-
sit, and this is immense, almost beyond conception. It is a grand
depôt, into which Europe pours the fruits of its industry and enter-
prise to be distributed throughout the whole country and vast re-
gions beyond. The goods imported are mainly broadcloths, cottons,
chintz, loaf sugar, crockery, glass, tea and various kinds of fancy
articles. The principal exports from Persia westward are raw cot-
ton to a limited extent, great quantities of silk, both raw and manu-
factured, carpets and shawls. Immense quantities of nutgalls from
the Koordish mountains are exported for tanning and other purposes.
These are generally purchased by the few European merchants in
Persia, who are Englishmen and Greeks, at Sâkh-boolák, a Koord-
$
THE PERSIANS—APPEARANCE-CHARACTER.
149
ish town at the south end of the lake of Oróomiah. Pipe sticks for
the Turkish markets, from the Bâkhtiarée mountains in the south of
Persia, the tobacco (tombakóo) of Shirâz, yellow berries for dyeing,
and various gums are also among the exports.-It is surprising with
what skill the Persians manufacture some articles, with the simplest
utensils. I have seen shawls valued at a thousand dollars apiece,
and carpets very far superior to those of Turkey, though sold in
Europe under that name, woven by hand and with the rudest appa-
ratus in the form of a loom. Some of their silks and cottons, pre-
pared in the same way, are also very fine. The process is of course
extremely slow; and nothing could be more natural, than that the
Nestorian bishop from that country, when he first entered a cotton
manufactory in America, and saw its thousands of spindles, simul-
taneously whirling, without the aid of a human hand, should be struck
with overwhelming astonishment, and pronounce the whole a dis-
play of ingenuity, far greater than the wisdom of Solomon !
There is an armory in the citadel at Tabréez, where small arms
and cannon are very well manufactured. The Persians may in
general be said to be enterprising and imitative, though not very
inventive. Their skill in imitation may be illustrated by an instance.
On a fine brace of pistols being shown at Tabréez, by an English
officer, a Persian gunsmith (who had visited England) declared that
he could make as good pistols, and those so nearly resembling the
Englishman's, that the latter would be unable to point out the dif-
ference. A wager was laid; the Persian took one of the pistols
home with him as a model, and not long afterwards brought back
two, and presented them to the officer, who, to be sure, could not
tell which was his own, until he found on one of them a small Ro-
man letter, in the name of the English artizan, inverted. The Per-
sian, not knowing the meaning or the use of the mark, had made
that slight mistake, in his effort at imitation.
The Persians of Azerbijân are regarded as the finest race of men
in the empire. They are far more athletic and manly than the in-
habitants further south. They furnish the best of the king's troops,
—most of them, indeed, on whom he places much reliance are col-
lected from this, his native and favorite province. They are also a
very fine looking people, being probably a mixed race, combining,
perhaps, Georgian beauty with Tartar size and Persian gracefulness.
Like all Persians, they have bright, inquisitive minds, very social
dispositions and affable, insinuating manners. The inhabitants of
Persia doubtless surpass all other nations in external ease and arti-
ficial politeness; and it is with great propriety that they are often
styled "the French of Asia." But, sad to tell, Persian politeness
is little more than external. Their real character is that of treach-
ery and falsehood in the extreme. The prevalence of lying among
them is universal,-so much so, that the practice is hardly regarded
as a sin, or a disgrace, in the general estimation. It is therefore
necessary, however painful, while you listen to their smooth com-
150
CIVILIZATION AT TABREEZ.
pliments and their loud professions of friendship, to keep in mind
that their hearts are preeminently deceitful, and "the poison of
asps is under their tongues." And the general degradation of their
morals is appalling. Almost all the sins forbidden in the decalogue,
are fearfully prevalent among them; and to these many add the yet
more abominable sin of Sodom. They are, as a people, however,
by no means destitute of kindness and hospitality,—particularly
towards strangers.
Lest I should be suspected of coloring either the bright or the
dark shades of Persian character, I ought perhaps to adduce testi-
mony which fortunately is not wanting. Says Kinnier, in a pas-
sage that has met my eye since writing this paragraph, "The Per-
sians are a remarkably handsome race of men; brave, hospitable,
patient in adversity, affable to strangers, and highly polished in their
manners. They are gentle and insinuating in their address, and
as companions, agreeable and entertaining; but, in return, they are
totally devoid of many estimable qualities, and profoundly versed in
all the arts of deceit and hypocrisy. They are haughty to their
inferiors, obsequious to their superiors, cruel, vindictive, treacherous
and avaricious, without faith, friendship, gratitude or honor."*
Abbas Meerza,† the father of the present king, who was long heir
apparent, resided at Tabréez; and the management of most of the
country being committed to him by his father, he made that city, much
of the time while he lived, the residence of the English and Russian
embassies. From this circumstance, and from its extensive com-
merce with Europe, it has become far more civilized than any other
city in Persia. Its inhabitants, by coming so much in contact with
Europeans, are much less bigotted Muhammedans than the people
of other parts of the empire; and the rapid influx of general intelli-
gence and European manners and merchandize has given to the
place an air of comfort and security not to be found elsewhere in
Persia. This is doubtless by far the most eligible situation for a
mission designed exclusively for the Muhammedans, that exists in
that country. Every blow struck there, will be felt quickly and
deeply on all other parts, through the channels of commerce and
civilization that emanate thence as from a fountain-head, in all di-
rections; and indirect efforts can be made and influence exerted
there, by the Protestant missionary, to enlighten and reform the
people, with safety to himself and acceptance to them, which would
almost anywhere else soon rouse the jealousy and rage of the priest-
hood, and bring upon him the fury of a mob. There are, however,
obvious and important advantages in operating indirectly on the
Muhammedans of Persia, through the medium of missions sent ex-
pressly to the nominal Christians.
*
Geographical Memoir of the Persian Empire, p. 22.
+ Meerza, when it follows a name, means a prince, when it precedes the
name, it means a secretary or scribe.
RANKS AND CLASSES.
151
The first in rank, at Tabréez, as in all other parts of Persia, are
the Shah Zádéhs, and Emeer Zâdéhs, i. e. those of royal blood,-
the former, princes, and the latter, remoter descendants of the king.
Though proud of their origin, they are commonly very fond of Eu-
ropean society, and entirely accessible to foreigners, but loose in
their principles and still looser in their morals. Next to those of
royal blood are the priesthood, who as a class, are bigotted, haugh-
ty and exclusive; though there are individuals among the Moollâhs
who are not only free and social in their intercourse with foreigners,
but are even downright Soofées, (infidel speculators). The Mool-
lâhs usually live in a humble, parsimonious style, regarding this as
most befitting a religious order. Their influence is commanding
and often terrific when developed in the excitement of the mobs,
who move like vanes before the wind, at the slightest breath of hie-
rarchal dictation. The king even must promptly yield when the
priesthood are opposed to him. And the chief Moollâh is so much
revered, that the dust where he treads is sometimes collected and
administered to the sick as a medicine.
·
Next in grade are the khâns, who are the hereditary nobility of
the country, though the rank is also frequently conferred by the
throne, on individuals of the lower orders, for distinguished merit or
service. The khâns keep large trains of servants, live in luxury and
splendor, affecting often more than princely magnificence. Unhap-
pily, they live in a style so much above their means, as to be always
embarrassed and tempted sorely to oppress the peasantry in the vil-
lages which they own, or those belonging to government and com-
mitted to them to farm; as a class, they are consequently hated
and dreaded. The begs (beys) are a rank of nobility a grade lower
than the khâns, and are their humble imitators, in style and equipage,
so far as their circumstances and means will allow.-The merchants
(Tâjîr) are the men of business and the depositaries of wealth. They
are also more religious, in their way, than either of the other classes,
unless it be the moollâhs. Numbers of them make the pilgrimage
to Mecca and acquire the dignity and the sanctity of Hajees. Their
style of living is frugal, never extravagant, and not often beyond
their means. The hájées are proverbially the rich in Persia,
whether merchants, landholders or usurers. Many of them follow
the latter profession; and so high is the rate of interest-at least
twenty-five per cent.-that they soon become rich, however small
the capital with which they commence business. As the rate of in-
terest is not limited to any sum by law, they often take advantage
of the necessities of the needy and grind the face of the poor, prac-
tising enormous extortion, particularly on the nominal Christians,
from whom even one hundred per cent. is sometimes exacted. No
wonder that such a class should in Scripture be reprobated and
ranked with adulterers and murderers. The Meerzas are profes-
sional secretaries. They are satellites in character as well as pro-
fession; and their importance is graduated by the compass of their
152
HEAD-DRESS—ASPECT OF CITIES AND VILLAGES.
orbits, revolving, as they do, respectively around the king, the
princes, moollâhs, khâns, bêgs, merchants or hâjees.-The me-
chanics and cultivators of the soil, though lowest in rank, are, as
in most other countries, the most moral, or rather, the least im
moral, and the worthiest of the whole population; and nowhere are
the peasantry more active and laborious, small as are their encour-
agements to industry, than in Persia.—The Dervishes are a set of
religious vagrants, resembling in character and pretensions the
miserable mendicants of another faith on the continent of Europe;
and, like them, they are the most worthless dregs of society. They
are, however, dreaded as well as detested. The common impres-
sion is, that they hold so intimate and mysterious a communion
with the Deity, that to offend them would be sure to incur terrible
calamity. Their expedients to obtain charity are often curious and
amusing. They sometimes seat themselves before the gate of a rich
noble, under a small portable awning, which they carry about with
them, and no persuasion will induce them to retire for days or weeks
even, till the sum of money demanded is given them. They are
seldom driven away, in such cases, through fear of their impreca-
tions.
The Seyéds are the reputed lineal descendants of the Prophet.
Many of them are found in the priesthood; and in whatever grade
or condition they appear, they are always regarded as a sacred class
and treated with great veneration. They are distinguished by a
green or blue turban. Only the religious orders wear a turban.
The other classes, from the king (except on state occasions) down
to the beggar, wear the black conical cap made from the lamb-
skins of Bokharâ, whose fineness and value are in inverse propor-
tion to the age of the animal,—the dam being sometimes killed, the
earlier to secure the skin of its young. The drawings of these seve-
ral classes, scattered through this volume, will give the reader a good
idea of their respective costumes and general appearance.
I mentioned, in the last chapter, that we entered our own hired
house' on the day of our arrival at Tabréez, and that it was with-
out wood floors or glass windows. Lest the reader should infer
from this statement too much in relation to the discomfort of the
houses in Persia, I will briefly describe them. The general aspect
of cities and villages in that country is very sombre and uninviting,
-far more so than that of any human abodes I have seen elsewhere,
except the subterranean villages in Armenia. The streets, which
are narrow, crooked, irregular, and but roughly and partially paved,
present nothing to the eye but dead mud walls from eight to fifteen
feet high. These are penetrated by gates or doors, small and low, in
proportion to the prudence as well as the standing of the owner.
For, high, large gates are a token of wealth, which provokes the
envy of equals, who will not be slow to find accusations, or the cu-
pidity of superiors, who can as readily find pretexts, sufficient to re-
lieve the thrifty owner of his surplus revenue, if to strip him of
↑
HOUSES-WINDOWS-EXTERIOR.
153
nothing more. "He that exalteth his gate," as Solomon warns us,
"seeketh destruction."
These doors, that penetrate through the mud walls lead to open
courts, or squares, on the further side of which, and sometimes on all
sides, is the dwelling. If the buildings occupy but a part of the square,
the remaining portions are enclosed by high mud walls, forming a
kind of fort, for security against robbers and the intrusions of curi-
osity. At Tabréez, this open court is several feet lower than the
streets, the earth on the spot having been used to construct the edi-
fices and the walls that enclose them. This, however, is not the
case in all Persian cities.
The houses in Persia are of three general orders, corresponding
in appearance and expense to the higher, middle, and lower classes
of the people. The two former are built of sun-dried brick. Palaces
of princes and rich nobles are sometimes built of burnt brick and
lime, like the arched caravanserais; but these are so few as to form
only an exception. In regard to height, the houses are neither one
story nor two, or rather they are both; or, more strictly still, a part
of each is one story and a part of it two. It consists of a range of
rooms with alternately high and low ceilings; and over the low
rooms, that are usually the halls through which the others are en-
tered, low upper rooms are built, whose roofs rise but little, if any,
above those of the high rooms of the lower story. The windows
commonly fill the whole front of the rooms, except the spaces occu-
pied by two pillars in large rooms; and they open from a few
inches above the floor to a height of five or six feet. A room, thus
thrown open, is delightfully cool in summer, especially when
shaded by the spacious canvass awnings used in Persia. The win-
dow sashes are constructed in polyagonal spaces, in appearance
like the compartments of a honeycomb,-one, two, or three inches
in diameter. In the houses of the higher class, these sashes are
filled with small diamond-shaped pieces of Persian glass, which is
translucent but not transparent, corresponding in size to the inter-
stices, and of various bright glaring colors,-and the whole window
gives to the room a very brilliant, imposing appearance. A single
window of a Persian parlor, thus glazed, costs from 100 to 150 or
200 dollars. The middle class of the Persians cover their sashes
with oiled paper. And another circumstance in which their houses
differ from those of the higher class is, that the latter are mounted
in front with a projection from two to five feet wide, which consists
of jutting rafters, inclining a little upward, on which jointed plank
are fitted, and the whole is often tastefully painted and perhaps cu-
riously carved. This projection adds much to the beauty of the
edifice, as well as protects its walls and windows from the weather.
The middle class have, if any, only the less expensive and less im-
posing, projection, of a row of wide tile or brick.
The outside of the houses is plastered over with a mixture of
20
!
154
INTERIOR-—COURTS-LUXURY.
mud and cut straw,* which gives them a somewhat neat and agree
able appearance, especially if, as is usually the case, the margins of
the windows and doors are skirted with borders of white plaster,
which, alternating with the spaces of brown mud, impart to the front
a lively variety.
When we enter the house of a Persian noble, we forget that its
walls and exterior surface are of mud. The rooms are beautifully
plastered with the whitest gypsum, which is abundant in all parts
of the country, and the floors are spread with the richest carpets of
the East. It is no penance to a European to sit on such floors, ex-
cept the constraint to which the novel position subjects his limbs,
particularly when girded in tight pantaloons. The floors of these
houses are first plastered with a mixture of lime and earth, and thus
rendered level and hard; then covered with a thin mat, made from
a reed resembling the stalks of broom corn, upon which the carpets
are spread.
Instead of the walls being dead surfaces, in the interior of the
rooms, they are relieved by a row of recesses, about three feet square,
the same height from the floor, and a few inches deep,-at intervals
of a foot or more from each other. High rooms have two rows of
such recesses, with a ledge projecting two or three inches, to sepa-
rate them. The primary purpose of this arrangement is taste; but
the utilitarian can make the recesses serve also the convenient use
of book-cases, and cup-boards. The plastering, in Persian rooms,
is also often wrought into diamond and other shaped figures, and
flowers and elegant cornices. And the walls are not unfrequently
painted; sometimes painted and gilded; and in rare instances,
they are almost wholly lined with mirrors. I have never beheld better
mason work, whether of walls or plastering, than is common in Per-
sia. The courts of the higher classes are nicely paved, on the borders
and through the centres, with smooth stone or tile; and the inter-
vening spaces are decorated with flower-beds, rose-bushes and other
shrubbery, and often with bubbling fountains.
As I have beheld princes and nobles, in their mansions, reclining
and lolling on their soft carpets, under the shade of their broad
canvass awning stretched above the windows, of a hot summer's
day, supported by soft cushions and pillows under their arm-pits,
gurgling the caleeóon,† or sipping the iced sherbét,‡-regaled by the
fragrance of the flower-garden and the chirping and cooing of birds
in their cages suspended from the shrubbery or skipping free in its
branches, my early conceptions of an eastern paradise have seemed
to be realized. When however we remember the corroding appre-
hensions that incessantly prey upon their minds in the uncertain
tenure of their wealth, and the peril of their lives in that land of des-
* This mixture is perhaps similar to that mentioned in Scripture, as used
in Egypt. The straw is cut up fine, in the process of threshing.
+ Water pipe.
‡ A drink, resembling lemonade.
ROOFS HOUSES OF THE PEASANTS.
155
potism, the burning passions that war in their bosoms and the poig-
nant stings of a buffetting conscience for their ill-gotten gain if for
no worse crime, which embitter the sweetest cups of their luxury and
implant thorns in their pillows of down,-there is little in such a par-
adise to covet or envy.
The middle class plaster their rooms often with the simple mixture
of straw and mud, the same as is used on the outside; and their
floors are spread of course with carpets of an inferior quality. They
content themselves also with rude pavements, or the naked earth, in
their courts, and a small open rill taken from the larger canals, in
the place of marble fountains.
etc.
The roofs of the houses in Persia are flat, and terraced over with
earth. Stout timbers are first laid across the walls, about two feet
apart. These are covered over with small split sticks of wood, at
intervals of perhaps three inches, on which are spread rush mats,
like those I have mentioned as used on the floors. Then succeeds
a thick layer of a rank thorny weed which grows abundantly on the
mountains, in a bushy, globular form, a foot or two in diameter.
This weed is so resinous as not soon to decay—is an excellent ar-
ticle of light fuel and is much used for burning brick, heating ovens,
It may be that "
grass of the field which to-day is, and to-
morrow is cast into the oven," as mentioned by our Saviour. Upon
the thick layer of this weed, is spread a coat of clay mortar and
trodden down; and next a stratum of dry earth, six or eight inches
deep, over which is plastered a layer of the mixed straw and mud.
An occasional depression, on the back edge of the roof, furnished
with a spout a few feet long, conducts off the water. The soil is so
tenacious, in all parts of Persia, that there is little danger that a
roof, thus constructed, will be pervious to the rain, if kept in a state
of good repair. It should be annually plastered over with the straw
and mud, which will be worn and washed off, by the exposure of a
season, and snow must be thrown off with a shovel as soon as it falls.
These flat roofs are pleasant promenades, for summer evening walks;
and the natives usually sleep upon them, during the warm season,
for the sake of the cool air and freedom from vermin. There is no
exposure in thus sleeping out, as there is no dew in Persia. The
roofs should be secured with balustrades, that one family may not
gaze upon the other's premises. Persian law sanctions the stoning,
without trial or mercy, of all who are guilty of such an offence;
and the reader will recollect the sad misfortune and sin into which
king David fell, in consequence of indulging an idle curiosity, while
walking upon the terrace.
I mentioned three orders of houses, and have as yet described but
two. In the third class, or that of the peasants, the walls are built
of mud, (not of unburnt brick,) but one story high, and that is com-
monly low. The soil is so strong, in Persia, that water has only to
be conducted upon almost any spot, to form tenacious mortar, which
is dug up with a spade and slightly worked by the feet of men, and
156
OVEN-BREAD-
-LODGING.
then laid into a wall, (piece being thrown upon piece by hand,) four
feet thick and three feet high. This is allowed to harden and dry
a few days, when another layer, of similar dimensions, but a little
thinner, is laid upon it, and the same process is repeated until the
wall is carried up to the desired elevation. These walls, when
thoroughly dried, are very hard, and if kept dry by being plastered
over with mud and straw, may last for ages. The walls that enclose
the courts of the houses and the walls of the towns in Persia, are of
this same construction, the thickness at the bottom being commenced
in proportion to the intended height. The roofs of the peasants'
houses have no projections; nor have their houses any windows,
except a hole in the roof, which is an outlet for the smoke, and ad-
mits a few rays of light.
The oven (tannóor,) in the villages of Persia resembles the ovens
in Armenia. It consists of a circular hole in the earth, about three
feet deep and perhaps two in width at the top and three at the bot-
tom, with a flue entering it at the bottom to convey air to the fire.
This hole is internally coated with clay, which soon hardens into
tile. The bread is drawn out into cakes from two to three feet long,
eight or ten inches wide, and of scarcely the thickness of a common
dining plate. It assumes this shape almost in a moment by the
wonderful tact of the matron, who simply tosses a piece of dough
rapidly from hand to hand. Thus drawn out like a membrane, it
is laid upon a cushion and stuck upon the side of the oven, where
it attaches and crisps in a few seconds, and another, as quickly
made ready, succeeds to the same place. Bread in the cities differs
from this, only in being made of flour more finely sifted and in cakes
perhaps twice as thick, which are baked on the bottom of larger
ovens paved with pebbles. The thin bread soon dries and may
long be preserved. Except in case of journeys, however, it is
usually baked every day and eaten fresh. And the thicker species
very soon becomes heavy and unpalatable. Bread is always leaven-
ed in Persia by a small piece of dough, preserved from day to day.
The tannóor, or oven of the peasants, serves also the important pur-
pose of warming their houses in winter. To do this the more ef-
fectually, it is converted into a Tandóor, by laying a flat stone, or
a large earthen cover made for the purpose, upon the top, and
placing over it a frame, resembling a table, four or six feet square
and perhaps a foot high, and covering the whole with a large quilt
that extends to the earth on the sides. The oven is heated only
once a day, for baking and cooking. But the hole in the roof be-
ing closed after the smoke passes out, and the warmth retained in
the oven in the manner I have described, a single fire is made to
suffice for twenty-four hours. The whole family, or rather the house-
hold, consisting of three, four, or five generations as the case may
be, and commonly not less than twelve, fifteen, or more individuals,
encompass the tandoor with their feet under the quilt, and at night,
spread their couches around it and form a circle by placing their
MU

UorM
MISSION SEMINARY AT OROOMIAH,
FLOWERS-TREES-FURNITURE-BRIBES.
157
feet near the fire while their heads radiate from it, and thus they
socially sleep.
Each house of the peasants in Persia has its open courts, enclosed
by walls, and the stables, barns and store-rooms, unlike those in Ar-
menia, are entered by different doors from that which conducts to
the apartment of the family. The traveller, however, there, as well
as in Turkey, finds his lodging-place in the corner of the stable, ex-
cept among the native Christians, who will generally give him his
choice between the stable and the quarters occupied by the house-
hold.
The premises, in the villages, are contiguous to each other for
the sake of security. But the roofs of the houses, among the pea-
sants there, where the manners are more simple and the morals bet-
ter than among the higher classes in the city, are seldom guarded
with balustrades, though the families sleep upon them in summer.
Their courts are usually their farm-yards. But such is the fondness
of all classes in Persia for flowers, that a small patch in the court of
even the humblest dwelling is often kept as a flower-garden. And ano-
ther circumstance, in which the villages in Persia differ widely from
those of adjacent Turkey, is, the existence of clusters of trees in or
near them, which afford a most grateful contrast to the traveller, as
he enters that country, from the dreary regions on the west, where
a tree may not have met his eye for many a wearisome hundred
miles. The force of this contrast is fully felt, when one descends
into the vale of Khoy, on the route from Erzróom.
Our house at Tabréez, according to the division I have made and
the description I have given, was of the middle class. And Mr. Nis-
bet lent us four chairs and a small table, which served us comfort-
ably until we found it convenient to furnish ourselves. A few of
my largest boxes were our only bedstead for several years,―though
after removing to Oróomiah, we taught the Nestorian joiners to
make very good chairs, tables and bedsteads. The want of tempo-
ral comforts, whether in houses, furniture or food, in that land of
plenty, is among the least of the self-denials of the missionary.
Having with me no other drawing of a Persian house than our
Seminary, I give that to the reader. It presents the common ap-
pearance of a rude mud-walled building, though it does not fully an-
swer to either class of the dwellings.
"Did you try the virtue of bribes in Georgia ?" was one of the
first inquiries, made by our English friends, on our arrival at Ta-
bréez, while they expressed their sorrow and their sympathy, for our
sufferings in that country. It occurs to me, that the same inquiry
may have arisen in the mind of the reader, particularly if he is ac-
quainted with travelling in wild countries. I will, therefore, answer
it. But lest the term, bribe, from the pen of a missionary, should
startle him, I will premise, that when used in the East, it may sig-
nify the purchase of mercy from an oppressor, as well as of favor or
injustice from an unprincipled magistrate.
158
TRAVELLING IN GEORGIA.
Bribery, or presents, as a means of purchasing kind treatment, is
one of the first dictates of common feeling, which a traveller recog-
nizes on entering Georgia, almost as naturally as he would resort to
it to purchase life, among savages. But money, though doubtless
the best of all expedients to obtain favor in that country, is not al-
ways effectual. There are cases where the love of lucre, even there,
is over-ruled by conflicting motives. Officers sometimes make a
desperate effort, rejecting all presents and disregarding the suffer-
ings of the traveller, particularly if he be an obnoxious character, as
a Protestant clergyman is so likely to be, in ultra exactions, in the
hope of thereby redeeming their characters in the view of their supe-
riors, which is notorious for bribe-seeking extortion. Such seems to
have been their policy in their treatment of us, and English travel-
lers have sometimes been made examples in the same way, though
few are in circumstances to suffer to the extent to which we suffer-
ed. Had I been alone in Georgia, I should have little regarded a
much longer stay, among my European acquaintances, as they so
much desired it. But the presence of a lady gave to our situation an
aspect, especially to a husband, distressingly tragical. The strong
motive of missionary economy, as well as of our relief from perilous
exposure, urged me to make trial of pecuniary offers; for I dreaded
the expense of sending back our effects to Erzróom, and re-trans-
porting them to Persia. But money even could procure for us nei-
ther favor, mercy nor justice in Georgia.
From my experience and knowledge on the subject, I could re-
commend no one to attempt to travel in that country, without more
influence than either money or a passport from a Russian ambassa-
dor at a foreign court will secure. A few of the first officers there,
as I have suggested, are generally men of intelligence and kindness.
If a traveller can seasonably procure letters from them to their in-
But the sub-
feriors, he need apprehend no serious embarrassment.
ordinate officers into whose hands he naturally falls, are probably as
bad a set of men as disgrace the world. I have repeatedly been
informed, by German missionaries, who long resided in that coun-
try, that, to be appointed to common offices in those remote pro-
vinces, is considered, in European Russia, as nearly tantamount to
degradation from like offices at home, and in fact as little short, in
the common estimation, of the dreaded punishment of official delin-
quents-an exile to Siberia,-that worthy men are extremely reluc-
tant to occupy those places, so great is their seclusion and so mea-
gre the remuneration,—and that it is regarded as no matter how bad
is the character of those who go there, if they only have zeal enough
for their government to guard its interests with rigorous asperity.
This is probably a fair statement of the case; and hence it is, that
the poor natives in Georgia, are writhing under an oppression, hard-
ly felt in either Turkey or Persia, and almost every traveller must
have occasion to utter a tale of annoyances.
I have sometimes regretted that I did not test the value of my
INTERPRETERS—ARRIVAL OF EFFECTS.
159
American citizenship, in the affair, by reporting it to our minister at
St. Petersburg. For I have the presumption to hold, that the mod-
ern missionary does not forfeit his citizenship, any more than did
Paul, by the nature of his profession, the logic of certain French
jurists to the contrary notwithstanding. Nor has he less right to
make use of his citizenship than had an apostle. Nor is passive
quiescence under wanton oppression from wicked and unreasonable
men the way to prevent its future recurrence. Such quiescence is
in fact just what they desire, as imposing no restraint on their con-
duct. They ought at least to be reported to the world, that they
may have the benefit of cognizance at that tribunal. There is
moreover so much collusion, among the subordinate officers in
Georgia, that the traveller's report may be the only medium through
which the story of their evil deeds could reach the ears of their su-
periors and lead to a reformation. At the same time, so far as the
missionary himself is concerned, it is, we know, a blessed privilege
to suffer in the cause of Christ and for righteousness' sake, even
without any human redress.
•
Takvoor, our Armenian interpreter, went back from Nakchevân,
and accompanied my prohibited loads from Gümry to Erzróom.
But instead of coming on with them to Persia, according to agree-
ment, he left them there and made the best of his way to Constanti-
nople. This act of treachery I could have excused in him on the
ground of cowardice, (and I certainly had little to regret in the loss
of his assistance,) had he not shown himself even a greater rogue
than coward. I had before had reason to suspect this of him; but
he fully proved it in the end, by bringing in exorbitant bills, both at
Erzróom and Constantinople, of expenses on the way which he
could never have incurred. The locomotive interpreters, in the
Levant, whether Armenians or Greeks, are in general worthless
fellows and but miserable assistance. The traveller in the East
will almost invariably find to his cost, in employing them, that
"confidence in an unfaithful man, in time of trouble, is like a bro-
ken tooth and a foot out of joint." Their prompt activity and flip-
pancy when seeking employment, will soon be exchanged for tardy
inefficiency when the service is commenced. Back in the interior,—
at least, as far as among the lawless Koords and wily Persians, their
imbecility and cowardice disqualify them for the roughness and
difficulties of a journey. And wherever employed, the fact will
sooner or later be revealed, that their main object and chief study
is, to transfer as much as possible of their employer's purse from his
pocket to their own.
My loads were forwarded by Mr. Zohráb, in the course of the
autumn, after the Koordish disturbances had been quelled. They
reached Tabréez uninjured, with the exception of single volumes.
having been taken from several valuable sets of books, whether by
officers in Georgia or by Takvóor, I have never ascertained.
The reader as well as myself is now, doubtless, glad to dismiss
160
MUHAMMED MEERZA, HEIR-APPARENT.
our troubles in Georgia and turn again to other subjects. I hardly
need remind him that as this volume, which in design and in fact
is very miscellaneous in its contents, is principally made up of
journals and letters, I shall find it convenient, as I have already done,
to preserve in general the journal and epistolary form, often using
the tenses as they were used when the matter was first penned. Nor
need it detract from its interest, to have incidents and impressions
given as they were originally recorded; provided, that when the
original statements are found by revision or increased acquaintance
with the subjects, to be imperfect, proper corrections and qualifica-
tions be made.
Sept. 13. The appointment of Muhammed Meerza,* son of Ab-
bas Meerza, by the old king, to succeed his father, as regent of
Azerbijân and heir-apparent to the throne, is regarded as quite
auspicious for the country. This prince sustains an excellent
character for a Persian. He is much less inclined to the practice
of polygamy and its attendant evils, than has been the case with
any of his ancestors. The great bane of Persia, during the
present reign, has been the multitude of royal descendants. Every
tribe and almost every town in the empire has had its petty despot
of royal blood. The king, to secure his throne from constant as-
sault by his own children, has found it expedient to keep them in
perpetual wars among themselves. Nothing is more common than
to hear it said, "prince A. is raising troops;" and to the inquiry,
"for what purpose?" it is as often replied,
to go
to war against
his brother, prince B." Thus the country has been systematically
harrassed and impoverished, a considerable part of the long reignt
of Feth Ali Shâh, who, in the multitude of his wives and descend-
ants, probably falls little short of king Solomon of old. The heir-
apparent has but three wives, and it is said that he is very desirous,
for the best of reasons, of reducing that number to one.
"C
Prince Muhammed is reported also to be much less addicted to
prevailing vices than the mass of his countrymen. He is regarded
as a man of veracity, for instance; and the Persian is rare indeed
who possesses this character. He is also remarkably modest and
averse to gorgeous display. It is even with reluctance that he ap-
pears in his costume of state on public occasions. And he seems,
in his measures, to recognize the good of the subject, and not
merely royal emolument, as the proper object of government. He
* The present king.
+ More than forty years.
+ Prince Malek Kâsem Meerza has repeatedly informed me that his father
left just one hundred children.
§ My impressions of the present king, here given, have not been materi-
ally modified by the developement of his character since his accession to the
throne. His reign is much more vigorous and efficient than that of his prede-
cessor; and if the condition of the lower classes of his subjects has not been
ameliorated to the extent anticipated, it is owing, I believe, to his want of
sufficient energy to cope with the almost insurmountable difficulties in the
PUBLIC ENTERTAINMENT- -HORSEMANSHIP.
161
is a vigorous Muhammedan, not particularly intolerant towards his
christian dependants, but singularly punctilious* in the observance
of all the formalities which his religion enjoins. The majority of
the Persians, particularly those of elevated rank, are becoming
more or less infidel.
Persia's best hopes, so far as human instrumentality is concerned,
now hang upon this young man. But there is fearful probability
that these hopes will fall to the ground. The death of the reigning
king, who, (though he was married to a young girl a few weeks
ago,) is more than seventy years old, and who scarcely survived the
last winter, is confidently predicted by all parties, as near at hand.
And in the event of his death, numerous.aspirants will be likely to
conflict for the throne. The heir-apparent, though duly appointed,
holds his appointment by quite an uncertain tenure. Nothing but
an army, sufficient to sustain him in a vigorous struggle, seems
likely to secure for him the empire. Such an army he has not, and
the prospect is small that he will be able seasonably to collect one.
A large detachment of English officers arrived here, not long ago,
from India, to aid the prince in disciplining his troops, but nothing
has yet been done.
Oct. 11. To-day an English officer entertained the Prince royal
with an exhibition of throwing bombs, on the plain south of Ta-
bréez. Mr. Nisbet kindly invited me to accompany him to the
scene, and furnished me with a horse for that purpose. All the
English party were out on the occasion, and perhaps two thousand
Persians were in the train of the prince. He is a large, portly, fine
looking man, but his features do not indicate remarkable talent.
And while he looks healthy and robust, he is unfortunately much
troubled with the gout.
The prince sent a horse to the foot of the mountain, about three-
fourths of a mile from the mortar, to be tied there as a mark for the
bombs. The poor animal was more frightened than harmed by the
entertainment. The prince and his retinue were highly amused
with the exhibition. He is said to possess much of his father's strong
passion for war. At the close of the exhibition, he rode off over the
plain, followed in courtly order by his great train, in the dignified,
princely gait of a walk; while the English party, with the ambas-
sador at their head, not to lose so good an opportunity of impressing
the Persians with their horsemanship, skipped onward like deer be-
fore them. On coming to the base of the mountain, they started up
way, in a country overrun and scourged with a corrupt, oppressive nobility,
rather than to any want of desire to correct abuses. He is also unfortunately
blindfolded and misled by the counsels of a bad minister, for whom he cher-
ishes an almost idolatrous regard, from his belief in the minister's superior
religious sanctity.
* It is believed that the present king is at heart a Soofée, and practises the
forms of Muhammedism merely that he may be acceptable to the mass of his
subjects.
21
162
BAPTISM-PAPISTS AT SALMAS.
a hare, which they pursued at full gallop up steep precipices and
through_ravines, till, by the aid of a dog, they ran it down. The
present Persians think as much of horsemanship as did their ances-
tors in the days of Cyrus of old; and foreigners, to have influence
among them, must be possessed of this manly accomplishment.
Oct. 12. To-day, for the first time in Persia, (Mrs. P. still re-
maining feeble,) we had public worship at our house and our babe
was baptized. We call her Charlotte Nisbet,-Charlotte being the
christian name both of Mrs. P. and Mrs. N.-the infant's kind fos-
ter-mother, during her mother's distressing sickness. I adminis
tered the ordinance, and Dr. Riach presented the child at the font.
I preached on the occasion from the 23d Psalm,-a portion of Scrip-
ture ever precious, but especially so to those in circumstances like
our own. About a dozen persons were present, of six different na-
tions, among whom were our German missionary brethren.
Oct. 13. Respecting the Nestorians, I have as yet learned no-
thing, except from conversation with the Rev. Mr. Haas, who came
to 'T'abréez from Shooshá, some months ago. His companion, Mr.
Hoernle, has just arrived. They are acquiring the Persian language
with reference to the Muhammedans. Seeing the Nestorians, as
sheep without a shepherd, Mr. H. has endeavored to do them good,
as he has had opportunity. Some time since, he sent a load of Sy-
riac New Testaments to Salmás, and a servant to superintend their
distribution. They were disposed of mainly among the Nestorian
Catholics of Khosrová, by whom they were received with eager-
ness; but a priest, on the following Sabbath, forbade the people to
read or retain them, until the subject should be referred to the Pope
and his permission be obtained. The servant reported this prohi-
bition to Mr. H. who instructed him to wait on the priest and re-
quest that the people might make trial of the books one week, and
if they did not find them good, they might return them, and those
who had purchased should receive back their money. The priest,
who is a native and seems not to be as wily as some of his calling,
complied with Mr. Haas' request and made a public proclamation
to that effect, the next Sabbath. The servant waited ten days and
not a book was returned. The Papists, at this distance from Rome,
possess a much less bigotted spirit than European Catholics.
Reports have been circulated here of great success recently real-
ized by the Papists in making converts among the Nestorians. It
was even asserted, that the Patriarch at Jûlamérk, desponding in
view of their low estate, had declared his intention of soon surren-
dering himself and his people to the jurisdiction of the Roman Pon-
tiff. Mr. H., startled at the frightfulness of such a purpose, imme-
diately addressed a letter of respectful but earnest remonstrance to
the patriarch, which I give to the reader. His foreign idiom in the
use of our language and the German practice of inserting the chap-
ter and verse in the references to Scripture, will of course be under-
stood and not impair the interest of the letter.
LETTER TO THE PATRIARCH.
163
<<
Tabréez, December 31, 1833.
To his Eminency, Mar Shimon, at Jûlamérk;
From thy people many have come to me of late, to ask me for
Syrio-Chaldean books. I have given to them the gospel, which the
English Bible Society has printed, out of love to the Nestorians.
Many Christians in England and Germany are of opinion that the
Nestorians are not carried about with divers and strange doctrines,
(Heb. 13: 9,) nor tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind
of doctrine, by the slight of men and cunning craftiness, whereby
they lie in wait to deceive, (Eph. 4: 14).
So likewise I myself have been accustomed to believe, and have
greatly rejoiced that there were also a people in Asia, who esteemed
the word of God of the Old and New Testaments of higher authority
than the traditions of men. But how was I suprised and grieved,
when I heard from thy people, that thou hadst declared to the Pope
at Rome, in a letter forwarded three months ago, that thou desirest,
with thy people, to pass over to the Roman Catholic religion. 1
cannot believe that thou wilt, with thy flock, turn off thus unto those
who teach for doctrines the commandments of men, (Matt. 15: 9).
Beware, reverend Sir, of the leaven of those Pharisees, (Matt. 16:
12,) who lade men with heavy burdens, grievous to be borne and
will not touch them with one of their fingers, (Luke 11: 46,) who
aspire to rule over all people and countries, while the apostles them-
selves would not exercise dominion over their flocks, (2 Cor. 1: 24);
and have given direction to the Pope at Rome as well as to all bish-
ops, not to be lords over God's heritage, (1 Peter 5: 3).
I cannot conceive what advantage the Nestorians can hope to
derive, from becoming Roman Catholics. Is there Paul, or Peter,
or the Pope, at Rome, crucified for us? Or are we baptized in
their name? (1 Cor. 1: 13). No, surely. And for this very reason,
neither bishops nor people are ever to rely on the words of men,
but on the words of Christ and his apostles. The words of the
Pope at Rome will pass away; but the words of Christ will never
pass away although heaven and earth shall pass away, (Matt. 24:
35). Nor shall the word of the Pope at Rome judge us, at the last
day; but the words which Christ has spoken, (John 12: 48,) and
which have been transmitted to us in the New Testament. If we
but have this precious word of God, all things are ours; whether
Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas (Peter,) etc., (1 Cor. 3: 22).
But perhaps the Nestorians say in their hearts, we are despised
and forsaken of all other Christians; have no learned men, no
schools, no books; and thus are we ready to perish. Do not im-
agine, my friends, that Christians of the West have forgotten you.
There are many who like you do not receive the commandments of
men, but build their faith only upon prophets and apostles and Je-
sus Christ, the way, the truth and the life, (John 14: 6). These
164
STATE OF THE NESTORIANS.
Christians have long remembered you with great affection; and that
their love is not in word only, the gospel which they have prepared
for you is an evidence.
There is also a prospect that next spring, two deputies from these
Christians will come to Oróomiah, to render you brotherly aid, in
distributing Bibles. They will also, if you wish it, establish schools
for you; print the necessary school books, etc.
Pardon my boldness, revered Sir, in which I thus venture to ad-
dress thee, and now venture in conclusion to remind thee of the
fearful words of the apostle, "Whosoever transgresseth and abideth
not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God," (2 John 9). And
again, if any man teach otherwise and consent not to wholesome
words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doc-
trine which is according to godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing,
(1 Tim. 6: 3); and finally, "But though we, or an angel from
heaven, preach any other gospel unto you, than that which we have
preached unto you, let him be accursed," (Gal. 1: 8).
"Veri-
Allow me also to remind thee of these excellent promises :
ly, verily I say unto you, if a man keep my saying, (not the saying
of men,) he shall never see death," (John 8: 5). Again, "Whoso-
ever shall break one of these least commandments and shall teach
men so, he shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but who-
soever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in
the kingdom of heaven," (Matt. 5: 19). And finally, "Because
thou hast kept the word of thy patience, I also will keep thee from
the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world to try
them that dwell upon the earth," (Rev. 3: 10).
With sincere reverence and love,
(Signed)
I remain thy Eminency's obedient servant,
FREDERIC HAAS.
Evangelical preacher—a German by nation."
No answer has been received to this letter, and it may not have
reached Jûlamérk. From subsequent inquiries, however, Mr. H.
is now inclined to believe, that such a purpose never entered the
mind of the Patriarch, but that the reports were fabricated by the
Catholics, to frighten the simple hearted Nestorians and prepare
them the more readily to receive the Papal yoke as presented by
themselves. My own impression is, that the Nestorians are in
much the same state as when visited by Messrs. Smith and Dwight.
A Protestant missionary should of course reach them, with the least
practicable delay.
JOURNEY TO OROOMIAH PREPARATIONS.
165
CHAPTER X.
JOURNEY TO OROOMIAH.
I had resolved not to attempt a residence in the remote city of
Oróomiah, until I should be joined by an associate, as no Europe-
ans resided there, and the experiment of living there alone was
deemed imprudent by all our English friends as well as by ourselves.
I was, however, desirous of visiting the Nestorians, as soon as prac-
ticable, to obtain a teacher from whom 1 might learn their language
while remaining at Tabréez, as well as to become better acquainted
with the state of the field; and I had been deferring a journey for
this purpose, after my arrival in Persia, only until Mrs. Perkins should
be raised to a state of health that would render it practicable for, me
to leave home. Mrs. P. had only partially recovered, but I left her
in good hands. Mrs. Haas took her into her family and nursed her
with the tenderness of a sister, and Dr. Riach continued his medi-
cal assiduities during my absence in the same manner as before.
Though my particular object, in visiting Oróomiah, so soon after
reaching Persia, was little more than to obtain a teacher, I must, in
doing this, be brought more or less in contact with the most influ-
ential of the clergy, as well as with many of the people. I therefore
took with me a considerable quantity of Syriac books for distribu-
tion, and in the place of an interpreter, the good German brother,
Mr. Haas, had the great kindness to accompany me. He is him-
self familiar with the Armenian language, and he took with him an
intelligent Armenian servant, through whom we were able to con-
verse with tolerable ease and confidence, alike with Nestorians and
Muhammedans.
Sir John Campbell, the English ambassador, kindly procured for
me a passport from the Kâím Makám, (acting minister,-literally,
pillar of state,) to enable me to secure comfortable lodgings on the
road, and letters from the prince and vizier, and wrote himself also,
to the governor of Oróomiah, commending me to his kindness and
aid while I should remain among his people.
Oct. 15. Thus furnished, we set off about 10 o'clock, A. M. for
Oróomiah. Our company consisted of myself and servant, and Mr.
Haas and his servant. Three horses, in addition to those we rode,
were required to carry my books intended for distribution, and our
travelling baggage. The weather was delighful-like summer,-yet
not so oppressively warm. As a general rule, September and Octo-
ber are the months for travelling, in the north of Persia. In spring,
the roads are extremely muddy. The heat, in summer, is almost in-
tolerable; and about the first of November, the fall rains commence,
166
ALI SHAH-MIRAGE-FUNERAL.
which continue, more or less, until snow and severe winter weather
succeed.
We rode across the great plain, a little to the south of west, six
fursákhs,* and stopped for the night at the village of Ali Shâh, king
Ali. It is a Muhammedan village; contains about one hundred
houses and pays an annual tax of six hundred tomâns ($1,500) to
government; and this is probably about the usual rate of taxation
in the north of Persia. The villagers seemed frightened at our ar-
rival, apprehending that we had come to take away either them, their
property or some of their rights; and many shut themselves up in
their houses. The Ketkhōdéh, (lord of the village,) who is obliged
to provide lodgings for travellers, was absent, and we wandered
about in vain, in search of a comfortable shelter, until near sunset.
Nothing but stables were offered us; and those, the most filthy and
wretched in kind. We had nearly concluded to encamp in the open
air, when the Ketkhōdéh came home. I showed him my order from
the Kâím Makâm, and he conducted us to a very comfortable room,
white-washed and carpeted.
In crossing the great plain, which is most of the way uninhabited
and uncultivated, we observed a striking example of the optical illu-
sion so common in eastern countries, called the mirage. For many
hours, we could hardly persuade ourselves, that the lake was not di-
rectly before us and near at hand,—the authority of our maps and the
living testimony of our servants to the contrary notwithstanding.
It, however, receded just as fast as we advanced, until we approach-
ed so near the western mountains, that it gradually vanished from
before us.
Soon after our arrival at the village, a funeral procession march-
ed out in front of the mud-walled mosk and recited prayers. The
corpse was borne upon a bed, gaudily ornamented with silks and
shawls, and placed upon a frame resembling a common bier without
legs. The deceased was a female, and of such rank, wealth, and
liberality to the moollâhs, as to entitle her to an interment, within
the precincts of Kerbulá, a town near Bagdâd, hallowed by the ash-
es of Hooséin and Hăssân, sons of Ali, patron saints of the Shî-
ite Muhammedans. Thither, a distance of many hundreds of miles,
and over mountains frightfully infested by Koords, the corpse, as
they told us, was to be soon transported, or an eligible place in Par-
adise might be lost.
In the course of the evening, the owner of the house where we
lodged, came into our room to make our acquaintance. Observing
me taking notes, he inquired whether I should not record the name
* The fürsákh—the parasang of Xenophon-which is still the common
measure of distance in Persia, is usually reckoned equal to about four English
miles; but it is probably more; I think it at least four miles and two thirds.
The distance is seldom performed by a smart pace, in an hour. Aghaj, tree,
is a Turkish term, which is also used in the north of Persia, to express the
same distance.
}
'
PERSIAN POLITENESS-TRADE.
167
of our host! a point which I omitted to note down at the time, and
I have it not therefore in my power to pay him the attention. His
house, he said, was the only comfortable one in the village, that
gentlemen of distinction who pass that way always become his guests,
-that Prince Abbas Meerza had lodged in the same room which
we then occupied, and was so much pleased with his entertain-
ment that he bestowed on himself a pension of fifteen dollars annu-
ally for life. All this, it was not difficult to perceive, was intend-
ed to impress us with his consequence, and remind us of the pro-
priety of being generous, with our own purses, on our departure.
Mr. Haas, to change the theme, told him that I was from the New
World. But he had little conception of the New World, and said
that nothing is known of the name even here, only as it is incorpo-
rated in a proverb. When one has wandered from his home, he
continued, and is supposed to be dead, on his ultimate return, the
question is asked, "where have you been, to the New World?"
In our flippant host, we had a very fair specimen of Persian po-
liteness in general. As he introduced us into our lodgings, he re-
peatedly declared that the whole house was no longer his but our
own; and himself and all his family were our humble servants.
Whenever we had occasion to ask for anything, he would respond,
with a most submissive bow and both hands covering his face,
Cheshmeh, (my eyes for it); or in Turkish, when he found that we
did not comprehend his Persian, Bâsh-ûstá, (upon my head); Cor-
bán-olâm, (may I be your sacrifice). If he did not understand us
in any case, he would intimate it, by a rising inflexion of voice and
an obsequiousness of tone peculiar to a despotic land, as though beg-
ging leave to be, Bóoyoor, Jânum? (Command me, my soul); i. e.
dear to me as my soul, (life,) condescend to repeat your orders. In
attempting to make purchases of the Persians, as we had repeated
occasion to notice, on the road as also at other times, the article de-
sired is always at the outset, peshkesh, a present to you; and its
owner, your servant and your sacrifice. And if you request his
terms, he reiterates the same assurance, until you strongly insist on
his naming the price, when he at length tells you, that since you
will not take the article without paying him for it, you must set your
own price; for he can sell nothing to you. Name a reasonable sum
and he will flatly reply that you shall not have it for that; and by
this time, his interest has got so much the better alike of his mod-
esty and generosity, that he will demand twice or thrice its known
value, which you must pay or take the trouble of beating him down.
This is done by simply leaving him, as he will quickly call after you
to take the article at the price you had offered. I know not how
often I have, in imagination, stood by the side of Abraham, nego-
ciating with the sons of Heth for a place to bury his dead, when I
have been purchasing even the most trifling article in Persia. As
illustrating Eastern manners, and these in turn throwing light upon
Scripture, I may quote a part of the passage which records that cel-
168
ABRAHAM'S CONTRACT-PRESENTS.
ebrated transaction. "And Abraham stood up before his dead and
spake unto the sons of Heth saying: I am a stranger and a so-
journer with you; give me possession of a burying-place with you,
that I may bury my dead out of my sight. And the children of
Heth answered Abraham, saying unto him, Hear us, my lord; thou
art a mighty prince among us; in the CHOICE of our sepulchres bu-
ry thy dead; none of us shall withhold his sepulchre, but that thou
mayest bury thy dead." "And Ephron, the Hittite, answered
Abraham in the audience of the children of Heth, even all that went
into the gate of the city, saying, Nay my lord, hear me; the field. I
GIVE thee; and the cave that is therein, I GIVE it thee; bury thy
dead. And Abraham bowed down himself before the people of the
land. And he spake unto Ephron in the audience of the people of
the land saying, but if thou wilt give it, I pray thee hear me; I will
give thee money for the field; take it of me and I will bury my dead
there. And
And Ephron said unto Abraham, My lord, hearken unto
me; the land is worth four hundred shekels of silver. What is that
betwixt me and thee! bury therefore thy dead. And Abraham
hearkened unto Ephron; and Abraham weighed unto Ephron the
silver which he had named, in the audience of the sons of Heth,
four hundred shekels of silver, current money with the mer-
chant."*
This contract exhibits less formality than business trans-
actions commonly possess, in Persia, at the present time. The be-
reaved patriarch was little disposed to be particular, in relation to
the price he should pay for a place to bury his deceased Sarah; and
his neighbors would not probably be apt, in those mournful circum-
stances, to practise all the finesse that was common in trade or fully
develop their avaricious propensities. The general resemblance,
however, to Persian transactions, is very striking.
On journeys, as well as at our home, in Persia, we frequently re-
ceive presents, for which an extravagant sum is always expected in
return. When the bearer approaches you, he will almost deluge
you with a flood of fulsome compliments and expressions of devoted
attachment as a token of which he brings you the present, though
he had never seen you before; and if you meet his wishes from
your purse, he will leave you with the mellifluous stream still flow-
ing, though a little checked, because, as he tells you, you have so
mortified him by paying him anything, that he can no longer look
you in the face and can scarcely utter a word; whereas, if you offer
him only a fair price for the article, he will manifest the deepest dis-
pleasure, reject with disdain the proffered remuneration, and carry
away his present, loading you with a copious measure of at least
secret maledictions.
Oct. 16. Our course continued westward. A ride of two fur-
sákhs brought us to the large, beautiful walled village of Deezéh-
khaléel. It contains about 2,500 inhabitants, and has a more
* Gen. 23 : 3.
:
LAKE CASTOR-OIL PLANT-MASSACRE.
169
cleanly, inviting appearance than any village I had seen, in either
Turkey or Persia. After passing Deezéh-khaléel, we advanced
and soon came quite near the western mountain; and rising a little
upon undulating ground, we were in full view of the beautiful
Oróomiah lake. This lake, as I have before stated, is about eigh-
ty miles long and from twenty to thirty broad. Its water, in parts
where the shores are low, is only a few feet-perhaps six or eight-
in depth. The whole lake has been stated by travellers to be thus
shallow, but this is a mistake; where the shores are mountainous,
and at some distance from the land, in all parts, it is quite deep.
The water is very salt, some of the tributaries from the surround-
ing mountains being brackish, and the evaporation, in this climate,
and from so large a surface, being immense. A thin incrustation of
salt is deposited on some parts of the shore, which, in our distant
view, dazzled under the bright rays of the sun, like a broad belt of
glittering diamonds, blending with the skies.
A fursákh and a half from Deezéh-khaléel, brought us to Kuzá-
khânáh, (quarry of drinking-cups,) where we stopped for dinner.
On our road this morning, as also during our whole journey, we
noticed cotton and the castor-oil plant, growing in vast quantities.
Both are cultivated in the same field. The oil plant grows upon the
ridges, and the cotton in the small enclosed patches, into which the
whole field is cut up, for the purpose of irrigation. Castor-oil is
the principal article used by the peasants in Persia for lights. We
did not enter the village of Kuzá-khânáh, but encamped near the
wall of a garden, under a wide-spreading walnut, sent our servant
to the village for fuel and fruit, and in the grateful shade, cooked
and ate the provisions which we had brought with us. This village
was once inhabited entirely by Armenians. It was, as its name
implies, an earthen ware factory. A Muhammedan one day enter-
ed the village, and reproached the Armenians, by telling them that
their ware was all Hârâm, (unclean). The Armenians, enraged at
the insult, murdered the Muhammedan on the spot. And the in-
habitants of the surrounding villages-all Muhammedans-con-
spired and in retaliation put to death every Armenian in Kuzá-
khânáh, even to the last child. The village is now inhabited by
Muhammedans, and about half of the old Armenian houses are still
vacant and falling to ruins.
We proceeded three and a half fursákhs farther and stopped at Kará-
tapá, (black hill, thus named from a small hill near by,) situated in
a valley that extends up from the lake between the mountains
toward Khoy. This district is called Günéh, and Tesooch is its
principal village. The view of the lake became more and more
charming, the nearer we approached to it. Innumerable ducks
were flying with singular vivacity, over and around it.
And seve-
* Called also Shahi, i. e. the king's; it is the Spauto of Strabo and the
Marcianus of Ptolemy.
22
170
ISLANDS-SALMAS- -GEORGIAN PRINCE.
ral mountain islands, lifting themselves from the quiet waters at
some distance from the shore, appear in fine relief and impart gran-
deur to the beautiful scene. Shahi, the largest of these islands,
which is much of the year a peninsula, is many miles in extent and
contains a number of Muhammedan villages. Large quantities of a
kind of hard wood, resembling somewhat Lignum vitae, are export-
ed from several of those islands, for fuel and some other purposes,
particularly for making the handles of joiners' tools. It was on one
of those islands also that the celebrated Hoolakóo Khân, (grandson
of Jhengis,) who overthrew the throne of the Caliphs, built his trea-
sure castles.
CC
For about two miles before reaching Kará-tapá, we passed over
marshy uncultivated ground, impregnated with salt. The shortest
road here runs near the lake and is almost uninhabited. Back un-
der the mountains is another, on which are several flourishing vil-
lages. Kará-tapá has only about thirty families. The Ketkhodéh
conducted us to the common Menzíl, (lodging place,) which we
found a comfortable room. The villagers gathered around us and
we entertained them with some account of the New World, of which
they had before heard nothing. We make Yengy Dunia, (New
World,) the rallying theme among the Persians; and their curiosity
thus becoming excited, it is easy to lead them into conversation on
other subjects. I told the villagers here that a liar is, in my country,
classed with the dregs of society. They replied that their countrymen
are all liars and rascals, the inhabitants of their own village excepted.
I asked them what report I should then make of the Persians when
I write home. "Report them just as you find them," they an-
swered. They immediately proceeded to apologize, however, for the
prevailing vices of their countrymen, referring them all to their
civil oppression. We, for instance," said they, "cannot taste a
morsel of wheat-bread, though our soil is so rich. We can reserve
nothing but millet for ourselves; the wheat all goes for taxes.'
Oct. 17. We started early and rode eight fùrsákhs.
four were on the bank of the lake, over soil the same as yesterday,
marshy and uncultivated. The villages being back under the
mountains, we encamped by the road-side, at a small brook, and
cooked and ate our dinner. The last half of our ride led us back
from the lake, up the beautiful valley of Salmás. This valley is
almost perfectly level, studded with numerous villages and gardens,
and watered by canals taken from the river Zooláh, which is a con-
siderable stream. We passed through the walled town of Dilmân,
the capital of the district, and reached Khosrová, our stopping-place,
about sunset. We were conducted to the house of the Georgian
prince, (who is usually called Wally Khân,) for lodgings. A brother
of this prince was the last native regent of Georgia. He delivered
up his country, by treaty, to the Russians, and this prince then fled
into Persia, where he enjoys a pension from government, and is
still encouraged to cherish the vain hope of one day obtaining the
29
The first
PAPISTS-A NESTORIAN ADVENTURER.
171
throne of his native country. The prince himself was now at Ta-
bréez; but a number of his servants and other villagers gathered
around and welcomed us to his dwelling. The Ketkhōdéh in-
quired what he should provide for us? We replied that we had
provisions with us, and needed nothing. He said it was his duty
and privilege to serve us; and went home and sent us chickens,
butter, yogóord and fruit. He and his brother were present when
our meal was ready, and we invited them to partake with us. They
ate in eastern style, with their fingers, and we with knives and forks.
This village is principally inhabited by Catholic Nestorians; and
here my ear was first delighted with the sound of the Syriac,—or
rather, a modern dialect of it,-as a vernacular language.
Oct. 18. In the morning, we visited several of the gardens, near
the village. Khosrová is the residence of a priest and a monk, edu-
cated in the Propaganda at Rome. The Catholic bishop, whom
Messrs. Smith and Dwight saw here, is dead. The priest had now
gone to Tabréez to perform mass for the Russian ambassador, who
is a Catholic, there being no Papal ecclesiastic in that city. The
monk stood by the road-side, as we were passing to the gardens ;
but knowing us to be Lütrâns, (Protestants,) and seeing a number
of the villagers accompanying us in a friendly manner, he turned
his back upon us and retained that attitude until we had passed by.
We little regretted the loss of his acquaintance. Just at evening,
we visited the old Armenian town of Salmás, situated two miles
west of Khosrová, quite under the mountain. It has a very venera-
ble appearance, but now contains only about three thousand inhabi-
tants, the majority of whom are Mŭhammedans and the rest Jews
and Armenians. There are two lofty brick towers near the town,
that bear the marks of considerable antiquity, on which are in-
scriptions in the Arabic character.
It being Saturday, and we preferring to spend the approaching
Sabbath among Nestorians rather than among Catholics, we started
about seven o'clock in the evening for Gavalan, which is one of the
first Nestorian villages in the province of Oróomiah, about twenty-
five miles distant from Khosrová. A ridge of the Koordish moun-
tains was to be crossed to reach the province of Oróomiah, and our
muleteer and servants expressed great apprehension of an assault
from the Koords. We prevailed upon them, however, to proceed by
taking with us an armed horseman to serve as a guard and a guide.
The full moon rose just after we started, and our ride was de-
lightful. As we began to ascend the mountain, a very amiable-
looking young man, on horseback, overtook us, announced him-
self a Nestorian, and requested permission to join our party. By
a moment's conversation, I identified in him the very young man,
whom Messrs. Smith and Dwight had met at Tiflís, on their way to
Persia, became much interested in him, and commended him to my
particular attention, should I ever meet with him. The circum-
stances which interested Messrs. S. and D. in him were as follows:
1
172
NIGHT-RIDE-ADVENTURE.
On their arrival at Tiflís, they employed some porters to carry their
effects to their lodgings. Among them, one young man, of more
apparent activity and intelligence than are common among porters,
arrested their notice. They, however, said nothing to him, at the
time. After the porters retired, this young man came back, bring-
ing with him a copper drinking-cup, belonging to them, which he
modestly set down and was about to go away without saying a word.
The explanation was, that when the effects were distributed among
the porters, more articles fell to him than he could carry in his
hands; so he put the cup in his pocket, and forgetting it when he
delivered the other things, carried it away; but as soon as he per-
ceived it, he hastened back with it of his own accord. The mis-
sionaries were deeply interested with such an exhibition of integ-
rity in Asia, called him back, inquired who he was, and found him
to be a solitary youthful adventurer from that oppressed and de-
graded, but venerable people, to an acquaintance with whom they
had looked forward with lively interest, from the commencement
of their tour. When this young man overtook us, on the mountain,
he inquired of my servant who I was; and on being told that I was
from the New World, he replied that he had seen two men from the
New World at Tiflis, and proceeded to relate the anecdote of the
cup. That the first Nestorian with whom I met should thus prove
to be the amiable young man with whom they first met—the places
of our meeting being hundreds of miles distant from each other, and
a period of about five years having elapsed between the two inci-
dents-was to me a very interesting coincidence.
Gavalân, the village where we intended to stop, is the residence
of Mar Yohannan, a bishop from whom Messrs. Smith and Dwight
derived much of their information respecting the Nestorians, and of
whom they purchased a manuscript copy of a part of the Bible in
Syriac. At the time of their visit here, he was temporarily residing
at Jamalavá, another village in the same neighborhood. We found
our ride across the mountain much longer than we had anticipated,
and became intolerably sleepy on the way, so much so as effectually
to disqualify us for meeting the Koords, and little less for sitting
upon our horses. Two of our party, therefore, concerted a device,
at once to drive away the untimely intruder sleep, and afford a lit-
tle amusement. They rode forward, unperceived by their comrades,
intending to retire into a ravine and make their appearance when
the rest of the party should come up, and give them a momentary
surprise. But the stratagem recoiled upon themselves. As they
rode up a ravine for the purpose I have mentioned, they found
themselves in the midst of a party of Koords, who lay there asleep,
having chosen that ravine as their night quarters. They seemed
not to be observed by the Koords. The affair, however, had
well nigh proved tragical. For as our adventurers suddenly re-
treated and fell back to join our party, our armed horseman drew
up his musket and had he not instantly recognized them, would

dózás
MAR YOHANNAN, A BISHOP OF OROOMIAH.
How can you make books for us in your country, when
you do not know our language? p.173.
Thayer & Co Lith Boston
UorM
Maou
MAR YOHANNAN INTRODUCTION—WELCOME.
173
have fired. I hardly need say that the device, especially when they
reported what they had seen, proved an effectual antidote for the
sleepiness of our whole party.
It was about four o'clock in the morning of Oct. 19th, that we
reached Gavalân. The villagers were all in a profound sleep. We
went directly to the house of the bishop and sent our Armenian
servant to the door to announce us. The bishop recollected Messrs.
Smith and Dwight with lively interest, and when told that I was
their friend, he seemed to recognize in me an old acquaintance,
rose quickly, came out and very cordially welcomed us to his coun-
try and dwelling.* His recollections of Messrs. S. and D. were so
vividly associated with a Syriac New Testament which they had
left with him, and with their conversations about schools and Bibles
for his people, that, before he had received an intimation of my ob-
ject or been informed that I had a book with me,—indeed, before
the first salutation of welcome had fairly dropped from his lips,-
with an animated tone he artlessly inquired, "how can you make
books for us, in your country, when you do not know our lan-
guage?”
The bishop conducted us to his house,† which is the best in the
village, and a room was immediately vacated for our accommoda-
tion. We now found him, (for it was so dark in the yard, where
we had already conversed some time, that we had not been able be-
fore to mark his features,) a fine looking man, naturally quite dig-
nified and, according to his own statement, thirty years of age. He
is probably somewhat older; as ages are seldom recorded in Persia,
they can only be approximated. After a little farther conversation
with the bishop, we intimated that we were quite tired and that sleep
would be very grateful to us. He therefore soon left the room, and
we retired to rest.
In the morning, the bishop conducted his father, who is the priest
of the village and a large number of the villagers, into our room and
introduced them to us. They all appeared poor, oppressed and cast
down, but very friendly. I explained to them in a measure the ob-
ject of my coming here, as being to aid them, if they wished it, in
the circulation of the Scriptures, the establishment of schools, etc.
"Welcome-most welcome," was the simultaneous acclamation ;
"this is just what we have been hoping and praying for; the Lord
has indeed heard and answered our prayers."
I showed them co-
pies of the Syriac books which I had with me, the gospels, pre-
pared by the British and Foreign Bible Society, and the Nestorian
""
I could not help recognizing, at the time, the good hand of the Lord, and
have often since done the same, that led me thus at the outset, to an ac-
quaintance with this influential bishop, who was destined in providence to
hold so important a place in the subsequent history of our mission. He is the
same who is now on a visit to the United States.
+ This, like nearly all the houses of the Nestorians, is one of the mud-wall.
ed structures, which I have described under the third class, as being unplas-
tered and lighted only by a hole in the roof.
174
CONVERSATIONS-INCREASE OF PAPISTS.
Spelling Book, which was lithographed for me at the press of the
Church Missionary Society at Malta. All kissed the books and
pronounced them excellent. The bishop then brought to me the
copy of the Syriac New Testament, which Messrs. S. and D. had
given him, and pointed me to their signatures on the blank leaf.
It had been kept enveloped in a shawl as a choice treasure. And
his father proceeded to state, that they had not only read it carefully,
comparing it with their Ms. Testament, to ascertain whether it were
a true copy, but had counted the letters in each of the two and found
them perfectly to agree. The last part of this statement might pos-
sible be true of the whole, but more probably of a few verses, or
even chapters. It savors much of the wanton and painful exaggera-
tions that everywhere meet us in Persia.
We spent most of the day in conversation with the bishop and
priest. The topics discussed were of their own choosing, and
much the same with those on which they had conversed with Messrs.
Smith and Dwight; as their fasts, crosses, orders of priesthood, etc.
They seemed in general to be very well satisfied with my account
of Christians in America, though they could hardly perceive how
we obtain clerical ordination without bishops; and Mar Yohannan
humorously remarked, that it might be well for him to learn Eng-
lish of me and then go to America and preside over our clergy.
They, however, appeared pleased, when I gave them an explanation
of our system of ordination.
Mr. Haas inquired whether they were Catholics, knowing the
contrary to be true, but wishing to ascertain in what estimation
Papists are held by them. They earnestly shook their heads and
repeated, with deep indignation-"no-no-no;" and then put
the question to us, whether we were Catholics, which they began to
suspect, from Mr. Haas' inquiry. We echoed their own negative
declaration, if not with all their vehemence, with at least as much
satisfaction.
In the course of the day, I also inquired respecting the late in-
crease of Catholics among the Nestorians of this region, which had
been so loudly proclaimed at Tabréez, by Catholics themselves.
The bishop and priest denied there having been any such increase.
On the contrary, they said, the Catholics, throughout the Chaldean
nation, are fast losing ground; and added that Mar Elias, a Pa-
triarch resident at Elkoosh,* who was formerly a Catholic, had late-
ly revolted from Rome and returned to the Nestorian faith; and
that numbers of the people, who had also been Catholics were fol-
lowing him. They, moreover, stated that the Nestorians of Oróo-
miah would now again recognize that Patriarch more particularly
as their spiritual head, having been attached from time immemorial
to the see of Elkóosh, until they revolted from it on account of its
* For an account of the Patriarchate of Elkóosh, see Researches in Arme-
nia, Vol. II. p. 175.
PATRIARCHAL RESIDENCES-NAMES.
175
becoming Papal ;* and they added yet farther, that Mar Elias, the
said Patriarch, was now on a visit to the churches of Oróomiah.
This Elias is not the regular Patriarch of Elkóosh, but a nephew
of that papal prelate, and was one of the candidates for the succes-
sion. On his embracing the Nestorian faith, Mar Shimon ordained
him as a bishop; and some time afterward, a council of Nestorian
bishops consecrated him as a Patriarch, to reside at Elkóosh, in
the hope that he might be instrumental of recovering that venerated
see back to the Nestorian church.
I was much gratified to find that the recent increase of the Cath-
olics, in these regions, exists only in their own fabrication, as sub-
sequent inquiry confirmed, and with the prospect of being permit-
ted to make the acquaintance of a spiritual head of the people, for
whose benefit I had come to labor thus early in my mission. Mar
Shimon, whom the Nestorians have acknowledged as their head
since the papal predominancy over the see of Elkóosh, has his resi-
dence in a point so remote in the Koordish mountains as to pre-
clude the hope of my being able to make my way to him, without
And
more or less peril, in the present lawless state of the Koords.
it is hardly less hazardous to attempt a journey across the mountains,
on the direct routes, to Elkóosh. The Lord, it seemed, had brought
me to Oróomiah just in time to meet Mar Elias there, and secure
his confidence, before he should become prejudiced against me and
my object, by papal misrepresentation.
:
In conversation, Mar Yohannan objected to my calling him and
his people, Nestorians. I asked him what I should call them, and
he answered, Chaldeans. I inquired, whether the Catholic Nesto-
rians are not called Chaldeans. He acknowledged that they are, but
added, “shall a few Catholic converts from our people arrogate to
themselves the name of the whole nation? and must we surrender
up our name to them? Nestorius we do indeed respect, as one of
our bishops; but our nation are under no particular obligation to
be called by his name, and no reason exists why we should cease to
be called Chaldeans." This objection to being called Nestorians
probably arises from an apprehension that indignity may attach it-
self to the name, in our estimation, the Nestorians having always been
stigmatized, by the Papists and other oriental sects, as very flagrant
heretics. The people usually call themselves, Syriánee, and less of
ten, Nuzránee, for the purpose of designating both their religion
and their nation. Frequently, during the day, the bishop expressed
a strong desire to learn the English; and it occurred to me that he
might be the man whom Providence designed as my Syriac teacher,
though I had no real expectation that he would be willing to leave
his people. Being pleased, however, with his amiable deportment
and apparent desire to learn, I at length made the inquiry, whether
he would return with me to Tabréez and become my teacher, where
* See Researches in Armenia, Vol. II. p. 219.
176
LOT-WORSHIP
-OUTFIT OF THE BISHOP.
he might also learn English; and he promptly answered in the
affirmative. He proposed too that his younger brother, a boy of
fourteen, should go with him and act as his servant, who would also
like to learn English. "As for remuneration for teaching you Sy-
riac," he added, "I am not a secular man; if I have food and
clothes, I am satisfied." I inquired whether he would like to live
in my house and board at my table; and he replied that he should
be much pleased with that arrangement, though he would of course
consult my own convenience.
I let the matter rest there until evening, and then inquired whe-
ther he would be ready to proceed with us, the next morning, as
we were not expecting to return by his village, but should proceed
around the east side of the lake, on our way home. He hesitated a lit-
tle and then proposed to decide the whole question by lot. The book
of Daniel, an old Ms. copy, was brought forward; the finger of my ser-
vant was placed at random on a figured card; the page of the book
thus indicated was consulted and the result soon announced, which
was, that he "must not be hasty, but deliberate." It was easy to per-
ceive, that the result was accommodated entirely to the will of the
experimenter. Nor was it doubtful that a pecuniary offer, for his
services in teaching, would, to the bishop's own mind, be a much
more satisfactory test of the expediency of going with me, than any
mystical decision, from the ancient and sacred page, his disavowal
of the love of money notwithstanding; nor did I deem it expedient
to employ him without a stipulated remuneration. So I left our Ar-
menian servant in the room, having instructed him how much to
offer, which was no sooner proposed than accepted, and the bishop
declared himself ready to go with us the next morning. The lesson
of deliberation, imparted by the lot, was forgotten as readily as it
had been discovered, and had a new trial been made, there would
doubtless have been found a positively affirmative indication.
In the absence of a church, in the village of Gavalán, religious
worship is performed in the house of the bishop,-or rather of his
father, with whom he lives as a member of the family. We were
present at evening prayers. The forms were simple. Crossings
were frequent, but we saw no images nor pictures. The whole ser-
vice, however, performed in a dead, obsolete tongue, seemed heart-
less and painfully void of even the appearance of devotion.
Oct. 20. We rose early and found the bishop still resolved to go
with us; though we could hardly believe it, the step was so adven-
turous for him; besides, he seemed to be making no preparation.
I directed our servant to suggest to him the desirableness of having
all his effects put in readiness, which he would of course wish to take
with him, for a year's residence at Tabréez. "I want nothing but
my
blanket and three books," he replied, " and they are soon ready."
And so it proved; for thus equipped, he was mounted and ready to
start before the rest of us. His father, the priest, objected to his
younger son going with me at present. "Let the older one try first,"
LODGINGS-CHURCH-CITY.
177
he said, "and if he is prospered, the younger may go afterwards."
The mother wept much and was unwilling that either son should go.
When the Russians invaded Persia, some years before, they sent
a deputation from Tabréez to Oróomiah, to induce the Nestorians.
to emigrate to Georgia. After considering the subject, the people
of the province delegated some of their clergy-Mar Yohannan
among the rest-to Tabréez, to communicate to general Pascavitch
a negative decision. The general was not satisfied without farther
trial; so he retained them some time, thinking that the people would
follow their spiritual leaders. It was natural, therefore, that the
parents should feel solicitude respecting the bishop, in prospect of
his going again to Tabréez. Their simple overflowings of grief
reminded me of Jacob of old when bereft of his children.
We started at 8 o'clock, the bishop proposing to find a servant on
the road, who must be an ecclesiastic and able to read, because two
are necessary in reciting their devotions, there being frequent res-
ponses, and he wished occasionally to celebrate the Lord's supper
at Tabréez. When we left the village, I gave away a considerable
number of books to the priest and two of his sons and one or two
others in the village who could read.
We rode about twelve miles, our course being south, over a gra-
velly section which was but partially cultivated. There the moun-
tain shuts down quite near the lake; and a few miles beyond, the
plain begins to expand towards the east on the one hand, swelling
into the lake, and to the south-west on the other, stretching away
under the mountains to a great distance. This plain is almost per-
fectly level, extremely fertile, highly cultivated, amply irrigated by
canals from several small rivers, and enlivened by almost countless
gardens, vineyards, orchards and villages.
The city of Oróomiah is quite near the south-western extremity
of the plain. It was nearly dark when we reached it. The bishop
conducted us directly to the Nestorian corner, and gave us as a room
for lodging, one of the porches of the church, taking an adjoining
one for himself. The church is a large edifice, built of stone and
brick, on, or rather in, an elevated spot, all but the roof being im-
bedded in the ground. The building is divided into several apart-
ments, all of which we entered by extremely small doors. The
church itself is considerably larger than the other rooms, and back
of it are the baptistry and the sanctum sanctorum—or apartment
for consecrating the elements of the communion. We found in the
church no images or pictures; but its entire walls were most un-
tastefully—not to say ridiculously-hung with old shawls and pieces
of calico of every conceivable description and color, for the purpose
of ornament. The church is surrounded by an ancient cemetery,
some of whose stones-huge oblong blocks of gypsum-are very
large and all are inscribed with Syriac characters. In the centre
is a beautiful fountain, surrounded by wide spreading shade trees.
The city of Oróomiah-the ancient Thebarma,-as already sug-
23
178
ANTIQUITIES-POPULATION-LANGUAGES.
gested, is renowned as being the birth-place of Zoroaster, Zerdusht,
as the Persians call him. It is situated on a slight elevation of
ground, about ten or twelve miles west of the lake and within two
miles of the mountains. It is in nearly 37° 20″ north latitude and
45° 15″ east longitude. Its proximity to the lake and eastern expo-
sure from the mountains, give it a milder climate than that of Tabréez;
but being so near the lofty Koordish ranges, it has considerably
more snow in winter than that city. The most interesting remnant
of antiquity, in Oróomiah, is an immense mosk-the only one in
the city that is surmounted with a dome and cupola-which was
once a christian church. It is an arched structure, finely built of
brick and lime. The upper portions have been rebuilt, but the
lower walls of the main part appear to have belonged to the original
building and bear marks of considerable antiquity. Without the
city, about a quarter of a mile from the wall, on the southern side,
is an ancient cylindrical tower, perhaps fifty feet high, the origin of
which is unknown. On its upper part are figures, which, however,
are not sufficiently distinct to enable one to determine whether they
are a written character, or merely ornamental appendages. The tu-
muli of the fire-worshippers, on the plain, will be noticed elsewhere.
On every side of the city are gardens of vast extent, surrounded
and interspersed with shade-trees of such size and in such numbers
as to give to the whole region much the appearance of a great
American forest. The city is surrounded by a high mud wall and a
ditch, like those of Tabréez, but not kept in as good repair. The
number of inhabitants is about twenty-five thousand. Vast multi-
tudes, some say, one half of the population,-were swept off by the
plague and cholera that raged here in 1829. Of the inhabitants,
about two thousand are Jews;* six hundred only are Nestorians-
the mass of the Nestorians residing in the villages-and the rest are
Muhammedans. There were a few Armenians, in the city and the
province; but nearly all of them followed the Russians to Georgia.
The city within has a very venerable and rather inviting appear-
ance. It has much broader streets, more shade-trees and gardens,
* The language of these Jews, is a corruption of Hebrew or Chaldee, and
is so analogous to that of the Nestorians, which is a modern Syriac, that the
two people can, to some extent, understand each other. Says Dr. Robinson,
"The Jews also cultivated the Aramaean, in the form of the Chaldee tongue,
of which we have a few specimens in the Bible, and more in the later Tar-
gums or Chaldee versions; and this continued to be their peculiar language,
under the name and form of the Talmudic and Rabbinic, in all their great
schools of learning in Tiberias, Babylon, Persia and Safed,―i. e. more or less,
throughout the East, down to as late a period as the sixteenth century. We
thus find the two great branches of the Aramaean stock, Jewish and Christian,
Chaldee and Syriac, both originally kindred with the Hebrew, continuing to
flourish side by side, throughout the East, for many centuries, until a date
comparatively remote. At the present day, in like manner, the Jews resi-
dent among the Nestorians and in other parts of Persia, speak a dialect hav-
ing much resemblance to that of the Nestorians."-New York Observer,
Vol. XX. No. 45, Nov. 5, 1842.
MAR GABRIEL-OPPRESSION.
179
and a greater air of general comfort, than most other cities that I
have seen in Asia. In the extensive bazárs, I observed some of the
finest fruit I ever beheld. European goods, as broadcloths, cottons,
chintz, etc., are also finding their way to this distant city.
On our arrival, we were informed, that the Patriarch Elias was in
a village five miles distant, but was expecting to depart the next
day. I therefore immediately despatched our servant to apprize
him of my arrival in the city and of my wish to see him.
Oct. 21. The servant returned, about 9 o'clock, A. M., saying
that the Patriarch would defer his departure one day for the sake of
seeing me. About the same time, Mar Gabriel, the bishop resident
at Ardishái, called to see me. He is a young man-about twenty-
five years of age-of a careless air, but of a pleasant, intelligent
and energetic countenance. I stated to him the object of my com-
ing here, and he responded a hearty welcome and pledged his own
"The two
efficient coöperation in the furtherance of that object.
priests in the city, (in whose church we then were,) do not receive
me," said he, "with much cordiality, as you notice. Being metro-
politan of this province, I recently put them under penalty of ex-
communication for marrying a man to two wives, which you know,"
(he added, appealing to me,) "is forbidden in the gospel." Polyg-
amy is not allowed among the Nestorians; nor is the seventh com-
mandment much violated among them, which is the more interest-
ing and perhaps remarkable, situated as they are in the midst of cor-
rupt Muhammedans, among whom little less than the abominations
of Sodom prevail. I gave Mar Gabriel some of my Syriac gospels
and spelling-books, with which he seemed much pleased, and he
departed, uttering, as he left me, a tale of complaints against the
Muhammedans.
The Nestorians are all very ready to ascribe their degradation to
Muhammedan oppression; and it is true that they are severely op-
pressed. Besides being often wantonly stripped of their honest
earnings, seizure of their children and coërcive conversion of them
to the Mussulmân faith sometimes occur. Two instances of this
kind had just happened in neighboring villages. In one, a young
girl, of noted attractions, was seized by twenty armed men, carried
into the city and delivered to a Mussulmân, who, hearing of her
beauty, wished to marry her, but could not, while she remained a
Christian. Torn thus from relatives and home, she was frightened
into a profession of the faith of the Prophet and compelled to be-
come the wife of a Muhammedan. The bishops of the province
were endeavoring to rescue the girl, but had little prospect of suc-
cess. Here, most emphatically, "justice is turned away backward
and judgment standeth afar off."-In the other instance, a boy of
sixteen had been seized and compelled to profess himself a Mŭ-
hammedan. As soon as an opportunity occurred, he absconded and
fled into Russia. On the road to Oróomiah, we overtook him, slyly
making his way home. Under our protection, he reached his native
180
village, but was in constant apprehension of being again seized.
Mr. Haas, compassionating his condition, brought him to Tabréez
as a servant. In addition to these seizures, there is a strong in-
ducement held out to the nominal Christians in Persia to profess
the Muhammedan faith from mercenary motives. The fact of be-
coming a Mussulmân entitles a Christian to the property of his
family relatives, on the death of the father. But notwithstanding the
force of this diabolical motive, when addressed to an unsanctified
heart, the horror of abandoning the christian faith is here so great,
that instances of voluntary conversion are very rare.
THE PATRIARCH-MEDIUM OF COMMUNICATION.
About noon, we set off for Geog-tapá, (cerulean hill,) to visit the
Patriarch Elias. Mar Yohannan accompanied us, as guide and
friend. It was interesting to observe the Nestorians, as we passed
them on the road, approach their bishop and kiss his hand. From
habit, I often unconsciously repeated the term, Nestorian, in our
conversation; and the bishop humorously remarked, "we shall very
soon be at war, if you do not cease calling us Nestorians."
When we reached the house of the chief man of the village,
where the Patriarch was stopping, we were detained at the door,
some time, until a room should be put in suitable order to receive
us. We were at length conducted into a large apartment, at the
upper part of which the Patriarch was seated, on cushions. Mar
Yohannan approached him and kissed his hand and then introduced
us.
He welcomed us with much cordiality. He is a young man—
perhaps thirty-five years old-has piercing black eyes, but a very
amiable countenance. I was quite charmed with his whole appear-
ance. It was that of lofty, yet mild and simple dignity. His dress
resembled that of the bishops, except that the shawl of his turban is
black, while theirs are of several colors. A stool, about four feet
high, for want of a chair, was spread over with a quilt, on which I
was invited to sit.
*
I was obliged to converse with the Patriarch through three inter-
preters. Not knowing Turkish, the bishop addressed him in Sy-
riac. Our Armenian servant spoke to the bishop in Turkish.
And Mr. Haas communicated with the servant in Armenian and
with me in English. But notwithstanding the many links in our
chain of communication, we conversed fluently for three hours, and
it was one of the most interesting interviews I ever enjoyed with any
personage. I had felt great solicitude respecting the impressions
might leave on the mind of one of the spiritual heads of the Nesto-
rians; and was happy, as we proceeded, to find him seconding all
that I said. Providentially we came upon no topic, except those so
general in their character, as the superior authority of the Scrip-
tures over human tradition-the desirableness of schools among his
people, etc., that our ground was all the way common.
I
* In the region of Elkóosh, Arabic and Syriac-principally the former→→→
are the languages spoken by the christians.
OBJECT STATED-RECEPTION.
181
Soon after our introduction, the Patriarch remarked that his peo-
ple were very poor and degraded. I seized the opportunity thus of-
fered, to make known to him my object in coming here. I told
him that it was a source of grief to Christians in America, that his
people were so. He expressed his gratitude for their sympathy. I
added, that, hearing such to be the condition of the Nestorians as
he had stated, and that they still made the Bible their rule of faith,
exalting it above the traditions of men, Christians in America sent
two messengers, a few years ago, to ascertain whether these things
were so,―that these messengers confirmed what had before been
heard respecting the Nestorians; that the good people in America
then felt interested more than ever for the welfare of his nation;
that it was their earnest prayer that the Nestorians might continue
to reverence the Holy Scriptures and never yield to the temptations
to abandon Christianity. Moreover, that Christians in our country
had not felt satisfied with merely praying for the Nestorians; that
they remembered the words of the apostle, "If a brother or sister
be naked, and destitute of daily food and one of you say unto them
depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled," etc.; and that they had
accordingly sent me to see if I could aid his people, by circulating
the Scriptures, establishing schools among them, etc.
As the successive steps of this explanation were communicated to
the Patriarch, I observed the kindling emotion, gleaming from his
countenance, and I had scarcely quoted the above Scripture and ful-
ly announced my object, when he raised his eyes toward heaven and
exclaimed, "thanks to God,-this is just what I have been praying
for and we so greatly need.' He desired me to present his heart-
felt gratitude to American Christians for sending me here for such
an object, and expressed the same to me for coming,-promising,
at the same time, to help me in every way in his power, in
la-
bors among his people.
my
I told the Patriarch that I had brought with me two books which
´I should like to submit to him. They were the Gospels and the
spelling-book. He had two copies of the Gospels already lying by
him and seemed much rejoiced to find that mine were of the same
kind. The spelling-book, too, he said, was very well prepared.
Little was faulty in it except the location of some of the points, and
some of the letters were not sufficiently square. But those, he con-
tinued, were trifles. He expressed a strong desire that American
Christians would send us a press. He would appoint one of their
best scholars, he said, to aid me in the preparation of books.
During our conversation, the great room was nearly filled with
listening Nestorians, who seemed to be enraptured at the idea of
having the Scriptures and school-books printed in their language.
Printed books were a wonder that few of them had ever heard of,
and less had ever seen. The chief man of the village took up the
spelling-book, which I had brought as a specimen to show the Pa-
triarch, and began to teach his little boy who stood by him the al-

182
MORNING WORSHIP-MAR ELÍAS.
phabet; (of which he himself knew nothing except the names of
two or three letters;) and Bibles, books and schools at once became
the engrossing theme. A dinner was spread before us, consisting
of yogoord, bread, cheese, butter, walnuts and raisins, all dainties
of the land, which we ate in Asiatic style with our fingers. While
at dinner, the Patriarch remarked, that several hundred families, in
the region of Elkóosh, who were formerly Catholics, have within
three years come back to the Nestorian faith. I did not revile the
Catholics, but embraced the opportunity to assure him that neither
I nor my patrons have any sympathy with Rome.
Soon after dinner, we took our leave, and with the satisfaction of
being permitted to believe that the Patriarch heartily welcomed me
to my missionary work. My heart swelled with gratitude to God,
that He had brought me to Oróomiah so opportunely. Mar Yo-
hannan remained in the village to pass the night with the Patriarch.
We returned and our ride back to the city, just before sunset, was
delightful.
CHAPTER XI.
VISIT AT OROOMIAH AND RETURN TO TABREEZ.
He
I HAVE already stated, that on our arrival at Oróomiah, we took
lodgings in the Nestorian church. We were early awaked, Oct. 22d,
by the priests, and some of the villagers coming to their morning
devotions. Their service consisted of chanting portions of the
Psalms and reciting their liturgy, bowing, kneeling and crossing
themselves. They continued about three quarters of an hour.
When I went out of my room, I found Mar Elias, the bishop, (not
the Patriarch of that name,) from Geog-tapá, with the priests.
appeared to be a captious old man-perhaps fifty years of age-
who prides himself exceedingly on his reputed learning. He gave
me a formal welcome to his people, but I was less pleased with his
appearance than with that of the other bishops. Our Armenian ser-
vant saw him the evening he went to apprize the Patriarch of my
arrival in the city. He questioned the servant on some matters of
doctrine, as whether Christ has a successor on earth; who was the
oldest disciple, etc.; probably to ascertain whether I were a Catho-
lic. The servant felt quite embarrassed, and on his return, told
Mar Yohannan what reception Mar Elias had given him; and Mar
Yohannan replied, "We know him very well; he is a little warped
in the brain.” Our interview this morning rather confirmed
Mar Yohannan's remark. Mar Elias's influence is, however, con-
LEARNING-VISIT TO THE GOVERNOR.
183
""
siderable among the people, as they consider him the most learned
bishop in the province. I therefore regarded it important to secure
his confidence. A copy of my spelling-book being brought, he
opened to the alphabet and after entertaining his own people present
for some time, he turned to Mr. Haas and myself and said it would
be extremely entertaining and instructive to us, if he only had the
time, to sit down with us, and instruct us into the profound mean-
ing of each letter of the Syriac alphabet. "Alef, (a.) for instance,'
he said, "stands for Alláha, (God,) Arra, (earth,) Abha, (father);
and Baeth (b.) stands for Bróona, (son,) Bréeta, (world,) Bâhra,
(light,) and so on. His people were astonished at such marvellous
displays of learning. When Mar Elias rose to depart, I invited him
and the priests who were present, to take coffee with me, which my
servant had prepared. They all appeared to be gratified with the
invitation, sat down with us, and ate bread and melons and drank
coffee. The simplicity of our meal suggested the Scripture that
Christ had not where to lay his head, which led to some interesting
conversation. The bishop, of his own accord, repeated a short
prayer, both at the commencement and close of our meal. All soon
retired, apparently pleased with our visit. Mar Elias, however,
was rather captious* toward me, notwithstanding Mar Yohannan's
constant effort to conciliate him, until the day before I left the city,
when I discovered and removed the remaining cause. Finding that I
had engaged Mar Yohannan as my Syriac teacher, without having
first applied to him, he appeared to be apprehensive that my estima-
tion of himself as a learned man was not sufficiently exalted. As
soon as I perceived the source of his trouble, I told him that Mar
Yohannan and numbers of the people had from the first spoken of
him to me as the most learned Nestorian in the province; but it
was understood that it would be in vain for me to apply to him to go
to Tabréez, as he could not transfer the important duties which his
superior age and experience imposed on him among his people.
With this explanation, he seemed to be perfectly satisfied, and from
that moment his whole appearance was changed, and he was evi-
dently very studious to secure my confidence and good opinion.
This morning, I sent the letters which I had with me from Sir
John Campbell, and the prince and vizier at Tabréez, to the gover-
nor. His Excellency returned an invitation that I should visit him,
and we immediately called on him. We found the governor occupy-
ing a splendid mansion, and surrounded by numerous attendants.
He is a sprightly looking man, about forty-five or fifty years of age.
The accompanying drawing will give the reader a very good idea of
his appearance in his official attitude and dress. He received us with
* We have since found Mar Elias an excellent old man, as I shall have oc-
casion to notice; and I now suspect that the chief source of his captiousness
toward me at that time, may have been his apprehension that I was a Cath-
olic.
184
PERSIAN COMPLIMENTS—MOOLLAHS.
much civility and apparent kindness. As we entered the great hall,
he beckoned us to the upper end, to sit by his side, and ran through
so long a string of inquiries after our health, in the common Persian
manner,-Kaef-üz yökhshée dur? (is your health good?); Dámag-
hún chakh dur? (your palate-appetite-lusty ?); Kaef-üz kock
dur? (Are you in hale-fat-keeping?) etc.,-and withal so rapid-
ly, that we found no room for some time to interpose a reply, and
could merely nod our assent till he had finished. We then inquired
after his health, to which, with a solemn stroke of the beard, he
answered, Alhémdooleelah,* (Thanks unto God,) Sizin devletavüz-
dan, (By your auspices); Sizin Ahválüz yökhshée ōlsûn, v'menimke
yokhshée dur, (Only let your condition be prosperous, and I am of
course very well). He then reiterated his expressions of welcome :
Hosh geldüz, (your coming is delectable); Sefa geldüz, (your ar-
rival is gladsome); Güzim ústa geldüz, (upon my eyes you have
come,) etc. To divert the luscious tide, it was remarked that I
came from the New World; but to this he replied, everything
must be superlative that comes from the New World,' and proceed-
ed to lavish upon me and my country a copious shower of fine say-
ings of a like description.
He,
Salutations and compliments being at last ended, the governor
remarked that Mr. Frasert had been his guest, three days before,
on his way to Bagdad and had informed him that I was coming
and should bring books with me. I told him that I had brought
some Syriac books for the Nestorians and asked him whether he
thought it well to distribute books among them. Two moollâhs.
sat by and he was evidently embarrassed by their presence.
however, smilingly replied, that the learned clergy among the Nes-
torians could best decide that point. I told him that I had, the day
before, seen one of their Patriarchs, and showed him my books, who
pronounced them good and suitable to be distributed
his
among
people. His Excellency said, "it is then very well." This gover-
nor would probably never object to the establishment of schools or
the circulation of books, among the Nestorians. Like all Persian
governors, however, he is, doubtless, more or less a creature of the
moollâhs. While the latter are quiet, the missionary can have pro-
tection and pursue his labors; but he must expect to desist, or de-
part from the field even, if they demand it. They watch with eagle
eyes and sound the alarm at the least indication of danger. I am
satisfied, that the time has not yet come, when open, direct efforts
* The Persians, in northern Persia, commingle Turkish and Persian terms,
more or less, as in these specimens, in speaking each respective language,-
the natural result of using two vernacular tongues. The Arabic enters
largely into salutations and other common words, in both those languages.
+ The English novelist on Persia. It should not be inferred that Mr. F.
mentioned my purpose of carrying books to Oróomiah, with any unfriendly
intention. He had kindly invited me to accompany him and tendered to me
all the aid in his power to render; but I found it impracticable to leave my
family in season to start with him.

GOVERNOR OF OROOMIAH.
In his official attitude and dress
CHANGE OF LODGINGS—APPLICANTS FOR BOOKS. 185
can be safely made, for the conversion of Muhammedans in Persia.
A German missionary, who was understood to be preparing a
book against the Muhammedan religion, came near losing his life
in Tabréez, about two years ago, and still more narrowly escaped,
some time before, for distributing the Scriptures at Kermân-shâh.
Mr. Haas and his associate very wisely attempt nothing except in
the circuitous way of secular instruction. In this indirect manner,
however, much may be done. When the governor found that I
had brought with me no Persian books, he seemed to labor to con-
ceal his previous apprehension. He inquired how I was pleased
with Oroomiah. I replied, that I was highly pleased with it,-so
much so that I even thought of coming there by and by to reside.
"Most welcome will you be," said he; "the whole city shall be
yours."
He inquired where we were stopping. "In the Nestorian
church," answered our Armenian servant. "What are they doing
in the church?" asked the governor, with an expression of mingled
mortification and surprise, as we had been commended by the au-
thorities at Tabréez to his special care; to which the Armenian,
who was not a whit behind the Muhammedans in the arts of palaver
and evasion, promptly replied, (in Persian, which we did not then
understand,) that, being very learned men, we were attracted to the
church and its cemetery, as objects of antiquarian interest. His
Excellency ordered a house to be immediately procured for our
lodgings, during our stay, and directed a young beg to accompany
us over the city to visit its antiquities and curiosities.
We returned to the church and had our effects removed thence to
the house provided for us by the governor. Mar Elias-the bishop,
and a priest or two soon called again to see us. Several applicants
for books came also from distant villages; and among the rest, four
little boys, on foot, from Geog-tapá, five miles distant. They belong
to Mar Elias's small school. They had heard of my being in their
village yesterday and having books with me; and all started im-
mediately to procure books for themselves. They sat down around
me and I gave to each a copy of the Gospels and a spelling-book,
which they reverently kissed and folded to their bosoms and then
read from them in a very pleasing manner. Mar Elias seemed lit
tle less gratified than myself with the exhibition. He and a priest
were with us at dinner. It being Wednesday—one of their fast
dayst—we had nothing they could eat but bread and grapes.
the course of the afternoon, the governor sent us presents of tea,
sugar, fresh fish and bushels of grapes and melons. We were sor-
* Rev. Mr. Pfander.
In
+ Nestorian bishops, as has before been stated, never eat flesh. They or-
dinarily eat fish, eggs and the productions of the dairy, as well as vegetables.
On fast days, bishops, priests and people eat nothing but vegetables. Every
Wednesday and Friday are fast days-besides the numerous other special
seasons-the former being the day on which Christ was betrayed, and the
latter, the day of his crucifixion.
24
t
186
DIRECTION OF THE FACE IN PRAYER.
ry to see the presents, as an exorbitant return is commonly expected,
corresponding in amount to the rank of the Persian donor. The
governor, however, had the real politeness to charge his servants
who brought the articles not to receive from us a farthing,—a pre-
caution frequently taken, among the better educated of the Persians.
At evening, Mar Yohannan returned from Geog-tapá. I inquired
of him what the Patriarch said, respecting his going to Tabréez.
"He told me,”said he, " to go home with you and do just as you say."
And the bishop at the same time took from his pocket two impres-
sions which the Patriarch had given him of his seal, directing him,
inasmuch as he would himself be situated at a great distance from
us and the road was often rendered impassable by Koordish hostili-
ty, to aid me in his name by the use of those impressions, in any
undertaking in which I might need his influence, as in the establish-
ment of schools, the printing of books, or in other ways. Such a
mark of his confidence in me and approbation of my object was
equally unexpected and gratifying. Mar Yohannan took lodgings
in the same room with us. About 9 o'clock, we informed him
that it was our practice to have worship, morning and evening,
and we would submit the point to his pleasure, whether we should
listen to him, or he to us. He replied, that we had already seen
how the Nestorians pray, and now he should be very happy to see
how we pray. I read a chapter from the Bible and we kneeled down
and prayed. As soon as we closed, the bishop abruptly exclaimed,
"it is very well." Observing Mr. H. and myself to kneel in differ-
ent directions, however, he inquired which way we turn our faces,
when we pray. We told him, that we are not particular on that
point, as God is in all places. "God is everywhere," he repeated,
"that is your reason is it?" He appeared satisfied with our answer,
but added that the Nestorians direct their faces to the East, in
prayer, because they expect Christ to come from that direction, bas-
ing this expectation on the passage in Matt. 24: 27, "For as the
lightning cometh out of the east and shineth even unto the west, so
shall also the coming of the son of man be."
Oct. 23. Two bishops and priests were again with us at break-
fast. In the course of the forenoon, we walked awhile in the ba-
zárs and called to take our leave of the governor.
He again
received us with much cordiality and attention. In the course of
our conversation, I remarked that I had some expectation that a
physician might come with me to Oróomiah, in case I should reside
there; and he appeared much gratified with such a probability.
Our muleteer was engaged and we had intended to set off that day
on our return. But the governor wished to send letters by us, which
were not yet prepared, and he had invited us to visit his gardens
back of the city; and, on the whole he rather insisted on our stay-
ing until the next day. We therefore deferred our departure, and
in the afternoon visited his gardens. They are about a mile in ex-
GARDENS SCENERY-COMMUNION.
187
tent and very tastefully laid out. Two rows of thickly studded
poplars surround each, with a stream of water running between
them. The gardens are also covered with thrifty fruit trees, ar-
ranged in rows and squares, and they are ornamented with rose-
bushes and other flowers, and fountains were here and there playing
in them. We wandered through several other gardens and vine-
yards beyond, till our ramble brought us to the foot of the Koordish
mountains. We still proceeded and ascended two or three heights,
from which we enjoyed a commanding survey of the most enchant-
ing scenery I ever beheld. We had a perfect view, first of the gar
dens at the foot of the mountain; next, the city; beyond that, the
vast plain, gleaming with a grateful harvest and decked with or-
chards and villages; and finally, the silvery lake, melting away into
the blue mountains beyond, and both rising in the distance and ap-
parently meeting the skies. Forgetting, for the moment, the moral
night that broods over this beautiful scene, I could hardly resist the
impression, as I gazed from the mountain-top, that my eyes were
resting upon the garden of paradise.
This evening, Mar Yohannan informed me, that he had engaged,
as his servant, the most intelligent priest in the province, belonging
in Géog-tapá, who had always sat at the feet of Mar Elias. I inqui
red why he had engaged a man of such prominence as his servant,
and he replied, 'in the first place, I wish to take with me a Nesto-
rian who shall prove a worthy companion as well as servant, for me;
and in the next place, I wish to take one, who shall show himself
worthy also of your attention and instruction.' I could not object
to either of these reasons, especially, as the bishop remarked that
no additional salary would be expected, in consideration of the
character and standing of his servant.
Two bishops and one priest dined with us, after our late return
from our ramble, with whom we continued a friendly conversation,
until 9 o'clock in the evening. They proposed to celebrate the
Lord's supper to-morrow morning, for our gratification.
Oct. 24. We rose before day and went to the church. We found
the bishops and priests engaged in reciting their prayers. They
continued about half an hour after we arrived, and then commenced
the communion service. A bishop and priest, garbed in white cot-
ton robes, chanted the service in the sanctum sanctorum, which
laymen are not allowed to enter. This service is usually performed
by a priest and a deacon, but no deacon happened now to be
present. The bread, at the close, was received from the hand of
the superior officiator at the altar, and the wine from the inferior
one, in a lower position, by the side of the altar. The wine at their
communion is diluted with water, not on temperance grounds, but
because water, as well as blood, flowed from the side of the Saviour.
Both elements are extended to all the communicants. Though the
whole service was far more simple than the disgusting routine of
188
APOSTATE RESTORED—A FINE BOY.
ceremonies which attend it in the other oriental churches, still, it
was but too evidently a heartless form.
The boy, who had been forced to become a Muhammedan and
recanted, the one whom Mr. Haas had taken into his service,
embraced the occasion to be formally restored to the christian faith.
The ordeal was this. The boy kneeled down before the altar and
placed his lips upon the New Testament, and the bishop who offi-
ciated at the communion, repeated a confession to which the boy
assented, and the bishop then prayed over him. After we had
listened about two hours to their mummery in a dead, obsolete
tongue, the ancient Syriac-Mar Elias, as if to apologize for it,
called us to the altar, read a chapter of the New Testament and
translated it quite intelligibly into Turkish. We set off for home
about eight o'clock in the morning, amid the reiterated bene-
dictions of bishops, priests and people. If real piety were to be
estimated by the amount of pious talk, we might infer the existence
of much more general and more exalted piety, in all these regions,
than exists in the most devoted christian communities. The gov-
ernor furnished us with an armed horseman to act as a guard and a
guide, as far as Sûldóoz, the next district. We rode about six and
a half fursákhs, that day, and put up at the village of Dash-oghúl,
stone-son. Our direction was south-east, the first half of the way,
during which we passed several charming villages. We then came
to the lake, where the mountain shuts down quite near the water's
edge, and our direction changed to south, leading around the south-
west corner of the lake. The soil, during the last part of our ride,
was gravelly and uncultivated, except here and there a small Koord-
ish hamlet, under the cliffs of the mountain. We noticed also a few
black tents, at a little distance from the road, and saw almost num-
berless Koords, in the course of the day, returning home with their
flocks from their summer rambles. The nomade Koords, who are
subjects of the Persian government, are entitled to temporary homes
· in the villages, with their agricultural neighbors, whether Chris-
tians or Muhammedans, during the winter.
On our way, we called at Geog-tapá, the village where we had
visited the Patriarch, for the priest, Mar Yohannan's servant. The
whole village gathered around to welcome us. The aged father of
the finest boy in Mar Elias's school led his little son-ten years old—
to me and said, "I present this boy to you; you may take him with
you to Tabréez.” Fear of the responsibility of taking care of the
boy before I could speak his language, was the only thing that ena-
bled me to resist my inclination to receive him. I satisfied the fa-
ther by proposing to take his son when I should remove to Oróo-
miah. He is a remarkably fine looking boy, and I think missionary
bounty would be well applied in his thorough education.
The priest at length made his appearance, with his bed and
prayer-book. He is a young man-about twenty years old-modest,

Thayer & Co Lith Boston
PRIEST ABRAHAM OF OOROOMIAH.
Muu
PRIEST ABRAHAM-RARE BOOKS.
189
and apparently amiable and intelligent.* His parents,—and indeed
nearly the whole village-were deeply affected in view of his de-
parture, though they professed to be very well satisfied and happy
in the prospect of his living with me. His mother came and kissed
my hands, threw herself down at my feet, and with many tears en-
treated me to take good care of her son, and shield him from the
Mussulmâns; and when we proceeded, almost all present embraced
their priest, wept aloud and followed us far on the road. It is quite
affecting to notice the simple, warm overflowings of attachment,
among these uncultivated people, but few of whom ever leave sight
of their native villages. My heart rose in thanksgiving to God, as
we rode on, that I was permitted to conduct home with me two of
the most promising and influential ecclesiastics that are to be found
in the province, or among the entire people.
Two hours' ride from Geog-tapá brought us to Ardishái, the vil-
lage of Mar Gabriel. We halted to see the bishop, and on entering
his house we unexpectedly found with him the Patriarch, Elias, sur-
rounded by a large collection of his people. Our baggage had
gone on, and our visit was necessarily short; but to me it was very
gratifying. The Patriarch received us with the cordiality of a brother,
and repeated his assurances that I had his hearty welcome, and
should always have his utmost coöperation in my efforts to benefit
his people. For a little amusement, he brought forward an old Sy-
riac Bible with a Latin translation, given him by a Papal missionary;
and we read, alternately, he the Syriac, and I the Latin. A priest
of the village brought to me 'Assemán,' complete in four folio vol-
umes, and most of the works of Ephrem the Syrian,' with a Latin
translation, both of which he offered for sale.t I had little expected
to find books of that description and value, in a Nestorian village.
The explanation was, that the owner had recently come to that re-
gion from Elkóosh, where he had been a Papal monk; but had now
abandoned Rome and embraced the Nestorian communion.
uncle, who was now dead, had been sent to the Propaganda and
educated there as a missionary, and had brought these books with
him on his return to his native country. At his death, they fell into
the hands of this nephew, who knew little of their contents or value.
Bishop Gabriel rode on with us about four miles. He is a wild-
looking young man, but energetic, and may become an instrument
of great good to his people, if qualified by the Spirit of God.
We reached Dâsh-oghúl, our stopping-place, not until it was quite
dark. The villagers were frightened, fled into their houses and fas-
tened the doors. After much entreaty, we induced a man, who
happened to be out in the street, to seek for us a shelter, and were
His
* The reader may be gratified to know, thus early, that this is Priest Abra-
ham, who has from the first been one of our most valuable native helpers.
+ We subsequently purchased these very rare and valuable works for a
moderate price, and have them in our mission library.
.
:
•
190
SULDOOZ—A PRINCE.
conducted by him into a stable, at one end of which was an ele
vated earth platform, spread over with an old carpet, and on this we
very comfortably lodged.
Oct. 25. We rode six fùrsákhs, our course still continuing south.
About two miles from our stopping-place, we passed Sheitan-abád,
Devil's (Satan's) habitation. It is a kind of metropolis of the dis-
trict of Dōl, which embraces the few villages under the mountains,
on the south-east corner of the plain of Oróomiah. It is partly sur-
rounded by a wall which is now falling to ruius. Whether the
Koords here, like the Yesîdéez in the province of Bayazéed and else-
where, cherish special veneration for the Devil, I did not ascertain.
There can be little doubt, however, that such was the origin of the
name of this village.
At Sheitán-abad the mountains again close down near the lake,
and our road led over them. Upon the sides of the mountains, we
noticed many black tents of the Koords, numerous herds and flocks
grazing, and occasionally a hamlet. In passing from the limits of
Ŏróomiah, we entered Sûldóoz. Its villages are mostly in an ex-
tensive valley among the mountains. A considerable stream-the
Jeddér-runs through this valley. We put up at the village of Neg-
hadéh, which is the residence of the governor of the district. It is
built around a conical hill, on the top of which is a citadel and the
governor's palace within it, overlooking the whole valley. The soil
of this district is extremely fertile, but the villages are wretched.
Vast quantities of wheat and barley are produced there, as also ex-
cellent fruit, particularly peaches. The ketkhodéh of the village
where we stopped, conducted us to the palace, and a room was soon
vacated for our reception. The governor was absent with the Per-
sian army, on the expedition against the Jellalée Koords. The let-
ter sent to him by the governor of Oróomiah, commending us to his
protection and aid, was delivered to his son.
He
Prince Malek Kâsem Meerza,-a son of the old king of Persia,—
happened now to be in Neghadéh, on a tour in Koordistân.*
and the son of the governor were out hunting when we arrived.
Immediately on his return, he sent us an invitation to visit him,
which we did, and passed the evening with him, dining on the
game he had taken. He is very friendly and social in his disposi-
tion; and he has so long been acquainted with gentlemen connected
with the English and Russian embassies, that he has himself be-
come quite European in character. He speaks French fluently and
knows some English. His object in making his present tour, he
told us, was to aid him in preparing an accurate map of Koordistân
of which so little is known. This map, he added, he intended to
present to the Asiatic Society at Paris, of which he had the honor
to be a member.
* This was my first acquaintance with this prince, whom I shall have fre
quent occasion to mention as a friend of our mission.
of
VOTIVE PLEDGES-KOORDS.
191
*
On the mountain, by the road-side, we noticed, to-day, a solitary
thorn-bush of considerable size, completely covered with small strips
rags which had from time to time been tied to its limbs and twigs
as tokens of votive pledges made by travellers. The rag is usually
torn from the girdle or a garment worn by the traveller. It is still
a very common practice in the East, as it was in Scripture periods,*
to erect standing mementoes of religious pledges. The Koords
make those pledges on almost all occasions, even when some dia-
bolical plot, as robbery or murder, is to be perpetrated. In their
religious system, they find but ineffectual barriers to the commission
of such deeds, particularly with the aid of their own explanation.
When, for instance, they remember that it is forbidden, in the
Koran, to rob any living man, if they are pious enough to yield to
scruples, it is reported that they kill the man and rob him after he
is dead.
We were now fairly in the country of the Koords. Here, how-
ever, we felt little apprehension. About eight years before, Abbas
Meerza had caused a thousand Persian families to emigrate from
the province of Erivân, then under his jurisdiction, into the district
of Sûldóoz, with the design of taming the frightful Koords. This
object has in a measure been accomplished, though it may be a
question on which class the reciprocal influence has been greatest;
for the Persians of that district are now almost as notorious robbers
as the Koords themselves. These Persians enjoy important immu-
nities. Sûldóoz, on their coming to occupy it, was made a pro-
vince with a government separate from that of the Koords among
whom they dwell and subject to no taxation from the general gov-
ernment, except the outfit of five hundred horsemen in time of war.
They are called, by the Koords, Kará-papáks-black caps-in re-
ference to their black lamb-skin caps, the common covering for
the head in Persia. Perhaps also in contempt of these, when com-
pared with their own imposing head dresses,† which are huge tur-
bans, composed of a very large shawl, striped red and white, coiled
around a red broadcloth cap until the whole assumes the shape of a
great shield and is attached to the back of the head obliquely and
almost perpendicularly and fastened thus by a handkerchief or belt
passing around the forehead. These turbans give to their naturally
wild, lofty air a very impressive appearance. Their rude simplicity
reminded me much of the aborigines of our own country. They
had not often seen European travellers and showed us much re-
spect as such. They frequently dismounted at a distance, when
about to meet us, and made their obeisance. They are not desti-
tute of interest to the missionary. Though Muhammedans, they
are far less influenced and injured by their religion than are the
Persians. Their private morals are less corrupt and they are more
tolerant towards nominal Christians. And it is interesting to know
* Genesis 28: 18.
+ See Drawing, p. 5.
192
LANGUAGE-ACCIDENT.
that they have not been entirely forgotton in the sympathies of
Christendom. The Rev. Mr. Hoernie, of the Basle Missionary
Society, has commenced the study of their language with reference
to a Koordish translation of the New Testament.*
•
As the Koords, however, are nomade tribes, all efforts exerted for
their religious benefit must of course be much more precarious than
if they possessed a permanency of character. Their language has
rarely been written. It has the character of Persian or Turkish-
radically the former-more or less as a given district is situated in
proximity to one or other of those countries. They have men who
are learned, we were told, in the Arabic, Pérsian and Turkish lan-
guages. But of whatever language they speak a corruption, they
make it in a sense their own. To an ear unaccustomed to hear
them, the sounds are singularly novel and amusing. They have a
kind of trill which, added to their earnest, impetuous enunciation,
reminded me most of anything of the rumbling of machinery.-I
may remark, as another consideration unfavorable to missionary ef-
forts of a literary character for the Koords, that it is the wish, alike
of the Turkish and Persian governments, to bring them gradually.
down from their wild mountain fastnesses and amalgamate them
with the rest of their subjects. And any efforts to give permanency
to them, as a distinct people, as putting books into the language
might be supposed to do, (though in fact the very best way to tame
them,) would probably incur the jealousy and opposition of those
governments.
Oct. 26. The son of the governor of Sûldóoz importuned us to
remain a day and be his guest; but our apprehension of the com-
mencement of the fall rains forbade us to linger. He directed two
of his men, who were just starting off for Tabréez, to accompany
us as guides. Our direction now changed to north-east,-
way
leading around the south-east corner of the lake. We started early
-before sun-rise-and the morning, in that damp valley, was quite
cold. As we were crossing a deep muddy brook, Mar Yohannan's
horse fell and plunged him and his effects into the stream. Most
of our party had rode on; but on observing the accident, we all
hastened back to sympathize with the bishop and aid him if we
could, expecting of course to find him as sad as his dripping con-
dition was comfortless. He had crawled out upon the bank, as we
rode up; but instead of our meeting the sombre visage we had an-
ticipated, he looked up at us and laughed, and with an air so pe-
culiar as to leave on my mind a vivid and indelible impression of
his remarkable good-nature, as well as of the disposition to make
the best of a hard matter that cannot be helped, which is far more
* Mr. Hoernle, on thoroughly examining the subject, decided that it was
not expedient to make the contemplated translation. He ascertained that
there were between one and two hundred distinct tribes and as many dia-
lects, which it would of course be a fruitless task to attempt to harmonize.
+ Zeitschrift der Kunde des Morgenlandes, Vol. III. p. 13.
SODA SPRING-
VILLAGE ON FIRE.
193
characteristic of Orientals than of Europeans. His first concern
was to look for the safety of his prayer-book, which, on opening his
bundle, he found to be soaked; and while I was struggling to find
words (in a strange language) to express my sorrow for the misfor-
tune, he was deliberately pulling open the wet leaves and reiterating
"There is no one to blame-do not feel sorry-there is no one
to blame."
We passed several villages in proceeding through the
valley. The Koords here seemed not to understand Turkish, and
we were obliged to employ Mar Yohannan who knows their lan-
guage, as our interpreter. On leaving the valley of Sûldóoz, we
crossed a small rocky ridge, and entered a plain of vast extent which
opens to the south end of the lake. As we descended from the
ridge to the plain, we passed a soda spring, which boils up from a
rock in the middle of the road. The gas, issuing with the water
from an orifice about an inch in diameter, produces a vivid effer-
vescence; and the water tastes much like soda artificially prepared.
This water gradually deposits incrustations which appear to be in
a process of becoming marble. Around the spring, a conical mound
has thus accumulated. The surface is tufa, but the stone as we
thought grows harder, as you descend.
+
On the plain, we passed several Koordish villages. Many of the
houses are covered with thatch which consists of a reed that grows
abundantly here, much taller and larger than the stalks of rank
broom-corn in America.* The thatch is wholly or in part covered
with earth, but is still very combustible, and nearly half of one of
the villages, when we passed it, was on fire. After leaving these
villages, we travelled over a vast uncultivated country which is per-
fectly level. The high grass, rushes and the weed above mention-
ed were even with our horses' backs and sometimes much above
them, waving like the ocean on all sides of us, and stretching to an
almost interminable extent, in every direction. In some places,
large herds and flocks were grazing, while other parts of the plain
were swept perfectly clean by recent fires which are lighted at this
season, that the dry stalks may not remain to impede the future
crop. Several fires were now in progress, on different parts of the
plain, and presented scenes of sublimity perhaps not unlike those
often witnessed in the western wilds of America.
We missed our road, and still attempted to make our way through
the forest of grass and reeds. After travelling some time, we reach-
ed a considerable stream-the Tattavóos-which appeared to be
deep, with high banks and a muddy bottom. The grass prevented
our observing the stream, until our horses had well nigh leaped into
it. We were now obliged to follow the bank of the river a long
distance. At length, we came to a place where the water appeared
so shallow that we ventured to force our horses in and rode safely
* The same from which the mats are constructed, for the floors and roofs
of Persian houses.
25
194
EXAGGERATION-
MEANDAUB.
through the stream. Our cowardly Persian guides, who had proved
to be sad misleaders, long and loudly remonstrated against our pre-
sumption, in attempting to cross the river, and hardly dared follow
us when they saw us safe on the opposite shore, and after I had
stopped in the middle of the current and allowed my horse to drink,
to embolden them.
On the bank of this river and near the spot where we crossed it,
a Russian officer, as our guides told us, was murdered many years
ago. He had been in the Persian service, at Tabréez, and offend-
ed the prince, Abbas Meerza, who in retaliation, directed the gov-
ernor of this district to invite the officer here to hunt with him, and
embrace the opportunity thus presented of assassinating him. The
unsuspecting officer complied with the invitation of the governor,
as soon as it was given. They were fishing together in this river.
A servant of the governor, according to previous instruction, re-
quested the dirk of the officer, to cut away some high grass. The
dirk was delivered to the servant and in a moment was lodged by
him in the body of its owner. This may probably have happened.
The Persians, however, are wonderfully given to tragical as well as
marvellous narrations, which, with their dressing up, often become
alike ridiculous and incredible. Two English travellers, for in-
stance, were many years ago murdered near Bagdâd; and a mem-
ber of the present embassy happening recently to pass that way, was
pointed by the people to the very spot where, they told him, eleven
English ambassadors had been murdered in a single day! And
one travelling in Persia soon learns to give credence to the state-
ments of the inhabitants only in proportion as they are authentica-
ted by concurring circumstances or the testimony of Europeans
who reside in the country.
An hour's ride from the river brought us to the village of Chil-
léek, our stopping-place, which is seven fursákhs from Neghadéh.
This village is situated in the centre of the small district of Mean-
dáub, belonging to the province of Maraghâ. It is the property of
the prince, whom we saw at Sûldóoz, and is inhabited partly by Ar-
menians and partly by Muhammedans. The district takes its name
from its location, lying between two rivers, which are about six
miles apart, the one already mentioned and the Jaghatée,* which,
where we crossed it, is about six or eight rods wide; the name,
Meandáub, signifying between two waters. At some distance to the
east, under the mountain, is an ancient village of the same name—
Meandâub, now much in ruins, but still the residence of a son of
the governor of Maraghâ, who acts as deputy governor of the dis-
trict. Our muleteer, with our baggage, also lost his way, and did
* This river is celebrated for its fish. Says Kinnier, "fifty-three miles from
that town, (Maragha,) on the road to Sennáh, I encamped for several days
on the banks of the Jaghatée, which is here upwards of 200 paces wide, and
full of fish, some of them almost six feet in length."—Geog. Memoir, p. 150.
FOREIGNERS' TAXES-MARAGHA.
195
not reach us until quite late, so that we ate nothing from 7 o'clock
in the morning until 10 in the evening.
Oct. 27. We were early on our way and continued our course,
north-east, over the great plain, which soon again became unculti-
vated. The sameness of the scene was much enlivened by the zeal
for learning English, manifested by our Nestorian companions. We
became mutually instructers and learners, the bishop and priest
teaching me the names of things and to count, in Nestorian; and I,
teaching them in English. Three hours from Chilléek brought us
to the north-east corner of the plain, to the large village of Yool-
gûnlée. This village takes its name from Yoolgûn,-a wild weed,
which is an abundant product of the plain. Here our road changed
its direction to north-west, leading along under the mountain, until
it brought us, after two fursákhs, to a broken ridge, through a defile,
in which we passed and entered the narrow valley of Maraghâ. Our
road there changed its direction to north-east, and two fursákhs more
brought us to the city of Maraghá, making our ride, that day, seven
fursákhs.
A little before we reached the city, we passed a threshing-floor,
at some distance from the road, and one of the laborers came run-
ning towards me with a full sheaf of wheat for my horse. Europeans
are seldom seen here, and when seen are always supposed to be
loaded with money. And in all parts of Persia, productions of the
field, as well as fruits, are thus presented to the passing traveller
with the expectation of receiving many times their value, though
the article be not taken. Some of the early English embassies to
this country sowed the seeds of endless inconvenience to European
travellers, by their lavish career, to impress the Persians with the
idea of their superiority in wealth and character, to the Russians.
I have heard a peasant at Tabréez speak of having received seventy-
five dollars from Sir John Malcom for a basket of fruit! English
gentlemen have long since greatly modified this course, from mo-
tives of policy as well as economy. I have usually taken the liberty
to decline presents, on the road, unless they were articles which I
needed, and then have paid but a fair price for them, the breach of
established etiquette notwithstanding. A quota of such attentions
may, however, be regarded as the foreigner's police taxes in Persia;
and the general respect, freedom and security which they procure
for him, are perhaps a full equivalent for the contribution under
which they lay his purse.
Maraghâ is pleasantly situated about ten miles from the lake, at
the eastern extremity of a narrow valley. Near the lake, in the
same valley, are several beautiful villages, one of which is Sheesha-
wân, a favorite residence of Malek Kasem Meerza. The city has
the common sombre appearance of Persian cities. Its site is uneven,
and its streets and avenues are very irregular. It has one large cara-
vanserai, and several smaller ones, none of which are cleanly or in
good repair. It contains eight or ten baths, one of which is very
196
HOOLAKO0 KHAN TOMB MARBLE.
superior. It has also a glass-manufactory. Maraghâ was the capí-
tal of Hoolahóo Khân, the emperor who overthrew the caliphs, and
there his tomb is still standing. Its foundations are of stone and
its superstructure of brick, about forty feet high and twenty wide,→
once a splendid structure, but now fast yielding to neglect and de-
cay. The tomb itself is even used as a stable, and the tower over
it as a dove-cote. So fades the memory of the mighty conqueror.
How different were my feelings, while standing by his ashes, from
the impressions which I had of ever-enduring and brightening
moral grandeur, as well as of military and political glory, on visit-
ing the tomb of Washington!
The inhabitants residing near, observed us taking a sketch of the
tomb, and gathered around us, with hearts palpitating between fear,
indignation and joy, some supposing us Russians, towards whom the
mass in Persia cherish inveterate hatred; and others supposing us
Englishmen, who are regarded in the light of future deliverers. Our
object, on our first arrival, as our servant afterward told us, was
whispered around as political. "These Frangées, (Franks,)" *
said the people, "have come to guage the city." This restless ap-
prehension is the natural offspring of the general discontent which
arises from oppression, and prevails throughout the country, but
which we always endeavor to allay. The scarcely-distinguishable
ruins of the old observatory, erected by Hoolakóo, on a mountain-
top near the city, for his celebrated astronomer, Nasser-i-Dîn, is the
only other object of interest which we noticed at Maraghâ. On the
western brow of the summit on which was the observatory, there is,
we were told, a remarkable cave, forty or fifty feet long and one-
third that width, hewn out of a solid rock; and about two miles
south-west of the city are medicinal springs. Maraghâ contains
from fifteen to twenty thousand inhabitants. Of these, all are Mŭ-
hammedans except twenty or thirty Armenian families. The
plague and cholera, in 1829-30, made terrible ravages there, as
well as in other parts of Persia.
Oct. 27. We started an hour before day, and hardly dismounted
from our horses until evening twilight, when we reached the large
village of Dehkhorgân, ten fursákhs from Maraghâ. Our road led
over an undulating and mountainous country. Our course was first
north-west, about thirty miles, where we came quite near the lake,
and there, doubling a promontory, the road bears away north-east,
in the general direction of Tabréez. We observed several more
soda springs, boiling up from small orifices in the road, with an effer-
vescence almost as vivid and perfect as can be produced in a chem-
ical laboratory. Is it not from the incrustations of the overflowing
water of these fountains, that the beautiful Tabréez marble is
formed around and near them? We passed one great quarry, with-
in a few rods of a spring, from which vast quantities of this marble
* The general term, applied to all Europeans and Americans, in the East.
ENCOUNTER-EASTERN SIDE OF THE LAKE.
197
have been taken. This quarry is but a little above the level of the
lake, and about half a mile distant from its eastern shore.
In one of the villages which we passed to-day, we witnessed an
encounter between a Koordish horseman and a Persian. The Koord
had with him a servant, who, like himself, was well mounted and
gorgeously dressed. In their native loftiness, the servant had en-
tered the yard of the Persian lord of the village, without first ob-
taining permission. The owner uttered harsh words alike to the
servant and his master; upon which the latter seized a fine horse
belonging to the villager, and was in the act of leading him off,
when we rode up. Seeing us, the Koord desisted from his purpose
and halted. And the Persian, frantic with anger and emboldened
by our presence, took the horse, and at the same moment a huge
club from the hand of the Koord, and laid upon his back fifteen or
twenty blows as severely as he could apply, with both hands. The
Koord took little more notice of the flagellation than if he had been
a block, but sat quietly upon his own horse until the Persian was
ready to return him his cane; and then he pranced away, playfully
brandishing his long spear, as though nothing had happened. The
Koord, however, will remember it, and wo will betide the Persian,
when he happens there again, unrestrained by the presence of Eu-
ropeans.
Dehkhorgân, the village where we stopped, is a kind of metropo-
lis of a district of the same name, in the northern part of the prov-
ince of Maraghâ. It contains about three thousand inhabitants,
and better deserves the name of town than village. We lodged in a
new, spacious caravanserai; and nowhere on this tour did I see in-
dications of thrift and enterprize, to equal those in Dehkhorgân.
The eastern side of the lake is in general far less regular and fertile
than the western. It is, however, very interesting for its mineral
treasures and geological phenomena.
Oct. 28. We again started early, and after riding about three
fursákhs to the north, between the mountain and the lake, we enter-
ed the great plain of Tabréez. Five fùrsákhs more in a north-east
direction, much of the way through fertile gardens, brought us to
the city, just two weeks after we left it. We found our families
well, Mrs. P. having rapidly improved during my absence; and
our hearts warmed with gratitude to God, while we sat down and
recounted his tender mercies to us and to them, during every hour
of our separation.
Nov. 1. Our Nestorian friends, the bishop and priest, on our
arrival, took a room in my house and seats at my table. They were
from the first very studious to keep themselves clean and to con-
form to our habits and regulations. Though they had never be-
fore sat in chairs nor used knives and forks at their meals, they be-
gin to use both to very good advantage.* They had never heard
* As I was revising these pages, on our passage home, I reminded Mar
Yohannan of his commencement of using knives and forks. "We were so
198
THE BISHOP AND PRIEST, AS LEARNERS.
our style of singing, and were singularly delighted-at first almost
to audible laughter-with this part of our devotions. They soon
requested me to teach them to sing; so I repeated to them a verse
of an English hymn, which they wrote down in their own character,
preserving quite accurately the sounds and the metre, and were in
half an hour able to sing it very well. The verse was the follow-
ing:
"Look up, my soul, with glad surprise,
Towards the joyful coming day,
When Jesus shall descend the skies,
And form a bright and glorious day.”
May such a day dawn upon their fallen church, now sitting in the
valley and shadow of spiritual death! I afterwards gave them the
meaning, as well as I could in Turkish, and they have often since
repeated it with great apparent satisfaction. They next requested
me to teach them our devotions at the table. I told them that we
were not limited to a single form. "Teach me then," said the
bishop, "all the forms which you use in one week." I told him
that we were not limited to a week, but that our devotions, at the
table, as elsewhere, are varied according to our feelings, wants and
circumstances. "Prepare us then at least one," said the bishop.
So I gave them a short form, which they wrote down in the same
manner as the verse of the hymn, and they now repeat it, in a whis-
per, at the commencement of every meal. At the close of the meal,
the bishop dismisses the table with a service in his own language.
The Nestorians are accustomed to have two services at meals, which
they perform in a sitting posture. The zeal and success of the
bishop and the priest in beginning to learn English, are very
gratifying. The latter has sterling talents. The former has less,
though highly respectable abilities, and his naturally amiable char-
acter and winning manners give him extensive influence among his
people. In many things they appear as yet truly like untutored
children of nature. Last evening, I walked out with Mrs. Perkins,
to call on Mr. and Mrs. Nisbet, and they accompanied us.
As we
entered the street, Mrs. P. as usual, took my arm, on observing
which, the bishop and priest instinctively turned their faces back-
ward, covered them with their hands and broke out into immoder-
ate laughter, so novel and ludicrous—in fact almost indecorous—
was the scene to them.
Though my actual acquaintance with the Nestorians has as yet
been short, my interest in them cannot be inconsiderable. When
I think of the universal artlessness and friendliness which I find
among the people-of the character and history of the Patriarch
Elias, whose acquaintance I have made a man of the finest talents,
frightened in our first attempts," he artlessly replied, "that we often left
your table hungry, fearing that we should drop our knives and forks, or com-
mit some other blunder.'
THE PATRIARCH, ELIAS.
199
born and educated a Catholic, yet now in the meridian of life break-
ing away from the deadly embrace of "Holy mother church," and
toiling to rescue his people from the same thraldom,-and especially,
when I see before me a bishop and priest from that people, young,
enterprising, eager for learning, and among the most docile pupils
I ever instructed, I cannot but regard the prospect of missionary
usefulness, among the Nestorians, as far more encouraging than I
had supposed could be found in any field in Asia. I deeply feel,
however, that success in the work is all of the Lord. Though we
may plant and water, and though there be prospect of abundant
harvest, unless He "give the increase," we shall reap nothing but
blasting and mildew. And standing as I do alone, I am often ready
to sink under the responsibility which my work imposes, until I
find relief in rolling my care upon an Almighty arm.
He
If the reader has sympathized much with the writer, he feels suf-
ficient interest in the Patriarch Elias, to desire to know more of
him. His subsequent experience has been a very trying one.
persevered in his efforts to recover the Chaldeans, (Catholic Nes-
torians,) back to the Nestorian fold, with very commendable zeal,
in the face of opposition and persecution, several years. But when
the Koordish beg of Ravendooz overran the region of Elkóosh, the
Papists, who are the predominant christian sect there, instigated the
Koordish beg to imprison Mar Elias, and farther oppress him, un-
til, apprehending that he might lose his life, and unable longer to
stem the torrent, he recanted his conversion to the Nestorian faith,
and renounced his patriarchal and episcopal claims, as the purchase
of his freedom. It was a severe ordeal, and unsupported probably
by real piety, it is not strange that he should yield. But few of the
Nestorians of Oróomiah had formally transferred their ecclesiastical
relation from Mar Shimon to Mar Elias, and those who had done
so, returned to the former on this event being known, so that none
It is
in that province were affected by Mar Elias's recantation.
said also that a considerable number of his converts, in the region
of Elkóosh, not being subjected to the severe persecution which be-
fel their Patriarch, still remain attached to the Nestorian church.
And it is a circumstance of deep interest and great encouragement,
that the mass of the Chaldeans, or Papal converts from the Nesto-
rians, on the western side of the Koordish mountains, having been
reluctantly drawn away from the fold of their fathers by compulso-
ry means, are changed, not in fact, but only in name. Says the Rev.
H. Southgate, who has visited that people, "Upon the whole then,
it
appears that the conversion of the Nestorian church to Roman-
ism does not imply an understanding reception of the peculiar rites
and usages of the Papal church. In the multitude of cases, it is
not founded upon an intelligent assent. It has not imbued the
Chaldeans with a narrow and bigoted spirit against European Pro-
testants. It has not subverted the foundations of their church."*
* Tour through Armenia, etc. Vol. II. p. 237.
200
DEATH OF THE KING-COMMOTIONS.
These Chaldeans then need only the helping hand of Protestant
missionaries, who are already among them, to be led back to the
enclosure from which they have been driven astray. And with such
encouragement and aid, among the earliest to return, we trust, will
be the unfortunate Mar Elias.
CHAPTER XII.
RESIDENCE AT TABREEZ.
ALLUSION has repeatedly been made to the advanced age of the
king, the precarious state of his health, and the general apprehen-
sion that his death was near at hand. Yesterday, Nov. 5th, intelli-
gence of the death of Feth Ali Shâh, reached Tabréez. The same
arrival reported also that a prince, resident in Tehrân, has got pos-
session of the royal treasury and the throne. It was most fortunate
for me-rather it was a very merciful arrangement of Providence—
that I made my journey to Oróomiah and reached home, in time to
escape the fury of the pending storm. The intelligence of the
king's death is like unchaining tigers, all over the country. In
some parts, as we already hear, there is general anarchy; and in
others, robbery, murder and other cold-blooded atrocities are com-
mitted. There is much greater quiet in Tabréez than in any other
place in Persia, owing to its superior civilization; but even here,
we are every hour apprehending commotion.
Nov. 8. Prince Muhammed Meerza, the lawful successor, is
making preparation, with all possible speed, to set off for Tehrân.
He is, however, singularly in the back ground, as most of his troops
are beyond Khoy, a hundred miles in the opposite direction, not yet
having returned from the Koordish war. The gentlemen of the
English embassy, as well as the military detachment, are all to ac-
company the young king to Tehrân; and if the government be-
comes settled, they will henceforth reside in that city. We are
therefore likely to be left with no English resident in this part of
Persia, except Mr. Nisbet, the commissary, who may also remove to
Tehrân, as soon as the stores of the arsenal can be safely transport-
ed. But here again the good hand of the Lord is to be acknow-
ledged. We were permitted to reach Tabréez in season to make
the acquaintance of these English friends-particularly of the Am-
bassador, which, from the great kindness of his character, and his
interest in our work, cannot but continue to prove invaluable to us
and our mission. He has made all possible provision for our secu-
rity, before leaving this city. He kindly invited us to occupy his
YOUNG KING'S ACCESSION TO THE THRONE.
201
own residence, which is considered the safest place in Tabréez;
enjoined on us to remove immediately into it, in the event of any
indication of special danger. He has also left with me letters of
particular commendation to the governor, whoever shall succeed to
that office, and charged me always to apply to him, with the utmost
freedom, for any needed assistance. We very naturally feel, how-
ever, that our trust must not be in any arm of flesh, but in the living
God. And under the banner of his protection, we hope to be per-
mitted, in quiet security, to prosecute the work for which we have
come to this troubled, benighted land.
An
Jan. 1, 1835. Our Nestorian ecclesiastics are still learning well
and doing well. They are now able to read and sing with us, in
English, at our family devotions. I feel deeply the weight of res-
The
ponsibility that devolves upon me by having them with us.
future prosperity of our mission will, doubtless, be much affected
by the impressions which they receive, the present year. Yester-
day, we had a new token of the friendliness of the Nestorians.
old man arrived, bringing a horse-load of butter, cheese and raisins
to us from the friends of the bishop and priest. In Persia, however,
as in other Eastern countries, we can depend little on the permanency
of friendship. Still it were ingratitude to God not to acknowledge
his goodness, in permitting us to enjoy such encouraging prospects.
There is something deeply interesting, at the commencement of our
labors, in being permitted to kneel daily in prayer with a Nestorian
bishop.
Jan. 2. The prospect now is, that the government will soon be
much more happily settled than all had apprehended. This morning
I received a letter from Dr. Riach, physician, and now first secre-
tary, of the English embassy, at Tehrân, respecting the present as-
pect of political affairs. The letter is under date of Dec. 22,
1834; and the extracts which follow will give the reader a better
idea than I can otherwise impart, of the circumstances that attend-
ed the young king's accession to the throne.
'We have all great reason to be thankful for the really almost
spring-weather with which we have been favored, since leaving Ta-
bréez. Although we had some rain and a little snow, still, I be-
lieve that such another mild season at this period of the year is
scarcely recollected. Few of our large party of English and Rus-
sians have been at all sick; and I myself with Sir John and all our
mission, have enjoyed really excellent health. We yesterday enter-
ed this city, [Tehrân,] after having accompanied the young king
to his palace in the Nagaristân, [a celebrated garden,] near the
town, (where he must wait till the stars be propitious for his
coming into town,) where he sat upon the smaller enamelled
throne, with the royal amulets on, and the diamond plume, or Jik-
ká, in his cap, and in fact where he ascended the throne; although
the great public day of the Jalóos, (coronation,) will not take place
for some little time yet, I know not how long.
26
202
SURRENDER OF RIVALS.
"After leaving Azerbijân, the progress of his Majesty has been
like a triumphant march. For, those princes who left Tehrân as
servants of the pretender-the Zillah Sultân-joined our camp,
then came the heads of the Eelîat tribes, who had either received
money from Adíl Shâh,* (as the Zíllah called himself, when he was
crowned, only thirty-six days ago,) or had remained neuter. About
fifty miles from this, prince Verdét Meerza, who commanded his
brother, the Zillah's forces, sent to oppose us, came even and gave
in his adherence to his Majesty, (almost the whole of his chiefs and
captains having before joined us,) and the same night, all the artil-
lery and about one thousand horse came over to Sir Henry Bethune's
camp. Next day, information was received of the seizure in Teh-
rân of the Zillah Sultan and his minister; and the same day, twelve
guns, two hundred camel-artillery and a number of horse, with
some princes, all sent to oppose us, joined the Shâh.
"The business, so far as getting possession of the capital was
concerned, was thus finished, without a single person being put to
death, or a shot fired. And could we judge of the devotion of the
people here to the young Shâh, by the numbers of camels, bullocks
and sheep slaughtered, [to be cast in the path before him,] by the
quantities of sugar presented to him on the road, and by the crowds
of prostrate slaves [subjects] kissing the earth before him, we should
think that never was there so beloved a king before. The fact is,
that the people here, as in Tabréez, like the king personally. They
admire his good moral character, and are pleased with his plain,
honest demeanor, etc., but they fear his minister, the Kâim-Makâm,
and also the Asoufá Douláh (uncle to the king,) who is certain to
be a candidate for the premiership and an opponent of the Kâim-
Makâm.
"I am really astonished to find ourselves in Tehrân, with so little
trouble. And as the Zillah Sultân, although he has spent, it is said,
700,000 tŎmâns, [$1,700,500,] has not dissipated the treasury of the
late Shâh, we are all in hopes that the young king will now pay his
troops, and put his military establishment on a proper footing. The
princes of Shirâz, Mazanderân and Kerwân, have not yet sent in
their allegiance, and it is said that the two former have declared
themselves kings. But we do not anticipate a great deal of trouble
in getting Shirâz, so that Mazanderân is now the only province from
which we anticipate annoyance; although I myself think that no
real difficulty will present itself to the settlement of the whole coun-
try. The Zillah Sultân, (the usurper,) is still in confinement,
and has not yet seen the king; and what will be done with him, I
know not, though I expect to hear that he is kindly and perhaps
honorably treated; for the king is a kind-hearted man, and will not
* The just king.
+ This is a small species of ordnance, mounted on the back of a camel, the
animal being taught to kneel down and remain quiet while the cannon is
discharged.
་
FOREIGN INFLUENCE AND AID.
be easily brought to punish his father's own brother.
203
The money
this prince has spent is said to have been taken from some of the
queens, and not from the royal treasury. Nothing is yet known of
our future movements.'
""
The appointment of the young king, as successor to the Persian
throne, had been ratified and sustained, by the English and Russian
ambassadors. And under the wing of their protection, and of a de-
tachment of English military officers, at the head of his troops, he
marched from Tabréez to Tehrân. And it is entirely owing to this
European influence, which is a great terror to the Persians, as well
as to all other Asiatics, that Muhammed Shâh has found it so easy
a matter to secure the throne. It may more strictly be said to have
been chiefly owing to Sir John Campbell, the English ambassador,
and to general Lindsley,-alias, Sir Henry Bethune,-the English
officer who was wisely and fortunately placed by the king at the head
of his army, that the succession has been so prosperously effected.
The ambassador and the general have, in effect, taken up his Majesty
like a helpless infant, and placed him upon his throne, the former
by his counsel and general influence, and by advancing money to re-
lieve, quiet and encourage the discontented troops, who took advan-
tage of the emergency to demur, proclaim their grievances in having
been so long defrauded of their pay, and threaten to disperse to their
hungry families, and the general, by inspiriting them by his own
activity and energy, and still more by the terror of his name.
Persians are much influenced by appearances. General Lindsley
is remarkably imposing in his person, being, I should judge, from
six and a half to seven feet high and very well proportioned. He
had, moreover, been previously known in the country as a distin-
guished military officer, and had even acquired the reputation of
being well nigh able, single-handed, to combat whole armies, like
Roostâm, the Persians' fabled giant. It is the less strange, there-
fore, that the king, with this general at the head of his troops and
the English and Russian ambassadors at his side, should, long be-
fore he reached his capital, cause most of the rival princes thus to
send in, some their armies and others deputies, to make a formal
surrender, acknowledge him as their sovereign, and implore mercy
and pardon. It is to be hoped that the Shâh will requite his Eng-
lish benefactors and the government they represent, with at least a
return of gratitude.*
The
* It is now generally understood, that this hope has been sadly disap-
pointed. My own impression, however, is, that the disappointment is more
owing to the king's fear of offending the Russian government, and the coun-
sels of a bad minister, than flagrant treachery on his part. So ungrateful was
the then acting minister, that it is said he even instigated the Persian mer-
chants to charge a very high rate of interest to the English ambassador,
on the money which the latter borrowed of them to advance to the troops and
thus relieve both the minister and his royal master, in their imbecility and
embarrassment. And this would be but a fair sample of the ingratitude of
Persian character in general.
204
BEREAVEMENT—ASTROLOGY—CRUELTY.
Jan. 20. Yesterday we committed to the grave our infant daugh
ter. She died after a sickness of only three days,-a kind of lung
fever, which is making great ravages among the native children
here at the present time. It would have been an unspeakable com-
fort and relief to us to have had an American physician with us, in
the sickness of this child; but Providence ordered otherwise, and
it is our privilege no less than our duty, submissively to acquiesce.
The English physicians were at Tehrân, a distance of four hundred
miles from us. The Nestorian bishop and priest sympathize deeply
with us, in the death of our babe, to which they had become much
attached. And I hope that they, as well as ourselves, may be bene-
fitted by the afflictive bereavement.
Jan. 23. The latest intelligence from Tehrân is, that the young
king is in the city, but not as yet on his throne. He was still ap-
prehensive that the propitious hour for his public coronation had
not come. Astrology, in Persia, is in all the pristine vigor of
the days of the Magi. Not only august occasions must be con-
trolled by the movement of the stars, but also events of minor and
even trivial importance.* A traveller, for instance, must com-
mence his journey and complete it at the precise hour and minute
prescribed by the astrologer. On returning, he usually halts at
some distance from his home and sends forward a servant to con-
sult the astrologer and ascertain the golden moment. The same
system runs more or less into all the common concerns and occu-
pations of life, and thus becomes at once a very important and lu-
crative profession. It must of course possess enough of mystery to
maintain its power and satisfy the Persian relish for mysticism.
The astrologers have long been clamorous with their forebodings
respecting the present king. Some predict that his reign will not
continue more than a few months, when he will be superseded by
an uncle, a prediction requiring, to be sure, no very miraculous
foresight to suggest it, in the general aspect of affairs as presented
for some time past, even to the vulgar gaze in Persia. But it has
made the king very cautious, and led him to the commission of
some acts of cruelty. One prince—the king's own brother-i. e. by
the same mother, who was suspected as a rival, has already lost his
eyes, and many others may lose their heads. These occurrences,
so shocking to us, are in Persia so common, that they are men-
tioned by the people as circumstances hardly to be regretted. How
common is the practice of putting out the eyes of suspected rivals
in this country, will appear from an anecdote related to me by lady
McNeill, when we met her with lady Campbell at Erzróom. Lady
M. visited, by invitation, the royal harém. A number of young
* A fine boy in our Muhammedan school, on one occasion, stopped ab-
ruptly, in the midst of his recitation, inquired the time and begged to be ex-
cused to go immediately to a tailor; for he was then to have a garment cut,
and his stars would not be propitious, were it cut at any other time.
:
PRINTING-EXPLANATION OF THE PARABLES.
205
princes were at play in the apartment of their mothers, blindfolded.
Lady M. inquired why the children were thus blindfolded; and their
mothers composedly replied, that they were merely practising to ac-
quire dexterity, that, in case their eyes should be put out when they
became men, they might be able to walk about and be the less de-
pendent, in consequence of this early training! What would we
give for royal birth, in such a country, whatever be its value else-
where ? A heated iron rod, or spit, is the instrument by which
sight, in such cases, is extinguished.
Feb. 25. I learn that the Persians are not entire strangers to the
art of printing. A press which operated at Tabréez for several
years, printing the Korân, was sometime ago transferred to Tehrân.
A lithographic press is now in use, in this city, and books are bound
here very well. The owner of this press was once ambassador to
England, and speaks our language. Several months since, he in-
vited the Rev. Wm. Glen, of the Scottish Missionary Society, then at
Astrakhân, to remove to Tabréez, presenting as an inducement, the
reasonable rate at which he would print christian books. His object
was, doubtless, mercenary; but all this shows that the light of Eu-
rope is fast breaking in upon Persia.
Feb. 26. To-day I read with the bishop and priest the parable
of the prodigal son, and the bishop proceeded to comment upon it.
The elder brother, he said, represents the early believers, as Abra-
ham, Isaac and Jacob,-the same as are referred to in the parable
of the laborers,-those who entered the vineyard in the morning of
the day. The younger son might, in general, he said, represent all
believers, inasmuch as all wander from God and must return with
the penitence of the prodigal; but that he (the younger son) par-
ticularly represents such as enter the kingdom of heaven at the
eleventh hour, as the thief on the cross. But this parable must, be
still farther applied and spiritualized. So he proceeded to what he
styled a more exact interpretation. The fatted calf was the body
of Christ; the ring for the prodigal's hand was baptism; and the
shoes for his feet were gospel truth and instruction. This is but a
specimen of the minuteness with which my learned teachers are
able to explain the parables.
March 16. The bishop has repeatedly expressed a strong desire
to go to America and study there. He conceived the idea of his
own accord. I have never as yet given him the least encourage-
ment on the subject. He and the priest are every day becoming
more interested in their studies, and their general improvement gives
me increasing encouragement. It is not their present goodness,
however, nor that of their nation, but the broad, open door of access
to them, which is the ground of our hope. They are, as a people,
very degraded; and even the best of them are morally as weak as
infants, and must be treated with great patience and forbearance,
as a nurse cherisheth her children." But their reverence for the
Bible gives us a glorious field of common ground; and their strong
1
206
LETTER OF THE BISHOP AND PRIEST.
desire for improvement, of which we have the most satisfactory to-
kens, renders it doubly interesting to meet them on this common
ground.
The following letter to Mr. Dwight of Constantinople, who visit-
ed Oróomiah with Mr. Smith, was lately prepared by the bishop
and priest entirely of their own accord in their own language.
They then requested me to assist them in making a translation of
it into English, that Mr. Dwight might be able to read it, and from
that translation, they transcribed a copy in English, and sent both
the original and their copy to Mr. Dwight.
"In the name of God:
The mercy of God, the love of Christ, and that peace which he
gave his disciples, after the resurrection, be with you, as the salu-
tation of Khalaphá, Mar Yohánnan, bishop, and of priest Abraham.
Your love for us and your desire for the salvation of our people
is reciprocated by us. We pray for you, thou blessed of the Lord,
who art built on the firm foundation of apostles and prophets, and
truly justified by Christ,-you who walk in that way which God
has appointed from eternity. May God strengthen you to stand fast
in that path, and may Christ save you from every contamination of
sin. May He keep you from all the snares of the devil and shield
you from all his temptations, and save you from all offenders and
grant you an answer to all your holy desires and the most perfect
fruition. May the Almighty exalt your family, your sons and daugh-
ters, as the king of Egypt exalted Joseph; yea, may he cause you
to be approved and loved of all men who see and know you. But
especially, may the Almighty bless you with that blessing which he
granted unto the disciple Ananias, at Damascus, on the converted
Paul,-i. e. may he give you success, that many who are blind
(spiritually) may receive their sight at your hand.
To this end, may the Almighty God bless you, with the blessing
of Jacob and his sons. May he be your God, as he was the God of
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; and may the Holy Ghost come upon
you, as He came upon the disciples, on the first Fast of Pentecost.
We desire much to see you; but we are too far distant from each
other. In the spirit of love, however, we remember and see you al-
ways. Christ says, in the gospel, where two or three are gathered
together in my name, there am I in the midst. May the Lord dwell
with us by his love, that we may love and esteem one another.
If you esteem us, send us also, if you please, a letter, that we
may know how you are and how you do. We are at present at the
city of Tabréez, with Mr. Perkins. And if you would like to know
what we do here, the answer is, that we study English, and Mr.
Perkins studies Syriac. If you would like to know more particu-
larly how Mr. Perkins treats us, we would assure you, that we love
him as God loved the patriarchs and Christ the apostles. May the
Almighty shield him and his beloved household from all evil. Our
FESTIVAL OF NOO-ROSE.
207
fathers and mothers and brothers and sisters are pleased with our
And our nation are very glad that he has
and teach us the way of salvation. We
from heaven; and we pray for you, your
living with Mr. Perkins.
come here to instruct us
all esteem him as a gift
people and your king.
They that have understanding look to the future world, but fools
think only of the present. A word is enough for the wise. Amen.
May you be blessed and joyful, as Abraham was joyful for his
son restored, and the disciples for the resurrection of Christ. May
your name be known in many countries, as the disciples, after re-
ceiving the Holy Ghost, went forth into all the world.
With these wishes, receive our salutation in Christ, now and for-
ever, Amen.
Written at Tabréez, on the 5th day of the month of Ishwat,
(16th of Feb.) and in the year 2146 (of the Seleucidae).*
(Signed)
MAR YOHANNAN, Bishop,
KASHA ABRAHAM, Priest."
March 22. Sabbath. To-day the Persian festival of Noo-rose,
(new year, literally, new day,) commenced. The whole city was
in an uproar. The English gentlemen, who are in town, went to
pay their congratulations to the Prince, and even the Nestorian ec-
clesiastics were drawn away by the current of festivity and curiosity;
and I was thus left with only Mrs. Perkins and Mrs. Nisbet as hear-
ers, at our religious service. Noo-rose is not a Muhammedan festi-
val, but is the only national one that has come down from the ancient
Persians.† It occurs at the time of the vernal equinox, is the com-
mencement of the civil year, and a joyous festival among all classes.‡
April 1. Intelligence reached Tabréez, of the capture of Shirâz,
by the king's forces, under Sir Henry Bethune. A rival prince
* This is the era commonly used by the Nestorians.
† Jemshed, the celebrated founder of Persepolis, whose ruins to this day
are called, Takt-i-Jemshed, is reputed to have introduced the solar year and in-
stituted this festival.
It is the custom for the king to march out of his capital on Noo-rose, at-
tended by his ministers, nobles and as many of his army as can be assembled.
The ceremonies of the day commence with a review; and then the tribute
and presents of all the rulers and governors of different provinces are laid at
the foot of the throne, which is placed in a magnificent tent pitched for the
purpose in an open plain. The king remains in camp several days which
are passed in joy and festivity. Horse-races are among the amusements,-
and the monarch, whose favorite horses generally win, gives presents to the
fortunate riders; he also confers dresses of honor on all the chief nobles and
officers of his government; who give similar marks of their regard to their
servants and dependants. This feast is kept with equal demonstrations of
joy in every part of the kingdom. It continues nearly a week; but the first
day is the most important. On this, all ranks appear in their newest apparel;
they send presents of sweet-meats to each other; and every man kisses his
friend, on the auspicious morning of Noo-rose."-Malcolm's Hist. Vol. II.
p. 405.
208
TRANSPORTING THE DEAD.
had attempted to establish himself in that city, as king of Persia.
Nothing now remains to be done, to leave Muhammed Shâh in
quiet possession of his throbe. The Lord has thus been far more
gracious to us and to Persia in the event of this succession, than
our fears, and has furnished us new motives to trust in him.
April 2. Our Nestorian bishop and priest started, to-day, for
Oróomiah to visit their friends. They had studied nearly six months
very well, and I am quite willing to give them a month of vacation,
alike to gratify them and their friends and for my own relaxation.
April 4. As I walked out by the side of the city wall, I observed
about a dozen corpses, starting off for Kerbulá, the hallowed cemetery
situated near Bagdâd, many hundred miles from Tabréez. They
were in long narrow boxes and slung up, two upon a horse—one on
each side-and hurried along as carelessly as though they had been
loads of merchandize. One of my English acquaintances, when
travelling, put up for the night on one occasion, at a caravanserai ;
and on seeing a pile of oblong boxes lying near him, he directed his
servant to adjust two or three and spread his bed upon them; and
thus would he have slept, during the night, upon the sleeping dead,
had not the odor of dust returning to dust given him seasonable in-
timation of the contents of the boxes. All who are interred at Ker-
bulá are supposed to be entitled to exalted seats in paradise. The
poor cannot often secure the privilege, as a considerable sum of mo-
ney is requisite to purchase it, as well as to defray the expenses of
transportation.
April 11. I dined with Malek Kâsem Meerza, the prince whom
we had meet at Sûldóoz, on our return from Oróomiah. He is
very fond of European society and spreads his table in European
style. He is one of the finest looking men that I have seen in Per-
sia or any other country.
April 15. Two Italian play-actors performed in the public
court of the palace, in celebration of the marriage of several young
princes. The Persians are not very fond of such entertainments.
A German ventriloquist was here, not long ago, and the people
ascribed his performances to the direct agency of the devil and
treated him with corresponding abhorrence. This evening, there
was a very splendid display of fire-works, as a part of the marriage
celebration. The Persians are very skilful in the preparation of
fire-works, having learned the art of the English.
In riding around the city, a day or two since, I noticed multi-
tudes of little boys with clubs, representing, in childish glee, the
tragedy of Hooséin and Hăssân, in anticipation of the approaching
celebration of Mōharrém. Here the riddle was unfolded. I had
often wondered how, from generation to generation, this annual cel-
ebration returns with such engrossing interest to all classes of the
Persians, and with such power to perpetuate their hatred towards
the Soonées—and especially toward the Turks. But now the mys-
tery was solved. I saw the germ taking root in the infant mind.
รี
CELEBRATION OF KHALAT POOSHAN.
209
Could the seed of the gospel be as effectually sown in this prolific
soil, what a harvest might be realized from the next generation in
Persia.
April 29. I rode out six miles to a beautiful grove and palace
called, Khălât Pooshân-putting on a robe. The prince of Azerbi-
jân and most of the inhabitants of the city went out to celebrate the
festivities of the day. On this occasion, governors of provinces put
on for the first time the robes of honor which they receive annually,
as a token of approbation, from the king. From the occasion, the
festival and the place where it is celebrated receive the name, Khă-
lât Pooshân. The excursion was pleasant, except that the crowd
was so great as to fill the atmosphere with clouds of dust and fine
sand. When I reached home, I found that the bishop, Mar Yohán-
nan, had returned from visiting his friends at Oróomiah. I was
much gratified with his promptness in returning. Two days
of his month still remained, and he stated, that he had foregone the
pleasure of visiting several of his villages for the sake of arriving in
season to demonstrate to me, that he was a man of his word.
April 30. A little after noon, the Nestorian priest also arrived.
He resides forty miles beyond the bishop's village and was in conse-
quence a day later. They brought to me very friendly letters,
from the other bishops of the province, and represent both ecclesi-
astics and people as extremely anxious to see me at Oróomiah. I
wait here only for a missionary associate, but fear I shall at last be
obliged to settle there alone.
May 1. A chappár, (runner-courier,) arrived from Tehrân.
Capt. Todd, a pious English officer, sends for Persian New Testa-
ments, stating that application for the Word of God, on the part of
the Muhammedans there, is not unfrequent. There are many in-
dications to encourage us to believe, that Muhammedism in Persia
is on the wane.
May 2. The celebration of Moharrém commenced. The public
performances, connected with it, continue ten days. The tragedy,
or parts of it, representing the death of Hooséin, is recited by
the Moollâhs, each day, at their mosks or in other public places.
My Turkish teacher requested leave of absence to-day, to go to a
mosk and weep for their venerated Imâms. I inquired of him why
he would weep? And he replied, that the Moollâhs say, the an-
gels descend and catch the tears of those who weep, on this occa-
sion, to be preserved and presented as passports into Paradise. I
have been informed also that tears are actually preserved, during
this celebration, by the Persians, as charms to ward off sickness
* Mooaz-i-Doulah, (a Persian monarch,) who was a bigoted adherent to
the sect of Ali, when his power was fully established, commanded the first
ten days of the month, Moharrém, to be set aside for a general mourning
over the fate of Hooséin, the son of Ali, who was slain on the plains of Ker
buláh, in the 60th year of the Hejiráh.-Hist. of Persia, Vol. I. p. 169.
27
210
OBSERVANCE OE MOHARREM.
and evil influences. The idea of thus preserving tears is as ancient
as the Bible. Says the psalmist, "Put thou my tears into thy bot-
tle; are they not in thy book?"
May 5. An old Nestorian, from the bishop's village, came into
my study, and was greatly delighted in listening to us, while we
translated Christ's conversation with the woman of Samaria, into
his own dialect, and hearing, probably for the first time, of that liv-
ing water of which he and his people know so little. A young
Meerza, who attends Mr. Haas's school, called also at my study.
He spoke of the celebration of Moharrém in terms of disgust and
ridicule. The bishop asked him whether he should not go and weep?
"I never go but one half day in a year," he replied, " and then I
go to laugh." He is a very sprightly, amiable young man, the-
roughly disgusted with the follies and abominations of Muhammed-
ism; in the same state in which multitudes in Persia are-turning
with abhorrence from the religion of the Prophet-ready to give a
hearing to any system that is offered in its stead-and, unsought for
by the sympathies of Christendom, plunging into the infidel laby-
rinths of Sooféeism.
The
May 12. I attended the representation of the death of Hocséin,-
the great engine of perpetuating the division and hostility between
the two Muhammedan sects-the Shîites and the Soonées.* The
Persians, who are Shîites, acknowledge Hooséin; and the Turks,
Koords and Tartars, who are Soonées, acknowledge Omar to have
been the rightful successor of the Prophet. The struggle which
took place when Hooséin was slain by the opposing party, was rep-
resented to-day; but in a most rude and (as we should say) awk-
ward manner. The persons representing women, for instance, were
some of the tallest men that could have been selected from the mul-
titude; and under their gaudy tinsel dresses appeared their brawny
bare feet, which they occasionally tried in vain to conceal.
whole was a most consummate farce. Much of it, however, was in-
teresting, as affording illustrations of Scripture. The actors often
cast dust upon their heads; and they, and indeed the whole con-
gregation, were dressed in sackcloth. The representation, more-
over, unskilful as it strikes a European, seems fully to secure the
object for which it was originally instituted, viz. to inspire hatred
toward the Soonées. Nor does it fail to produce deep emotion. The
multitude wept to-day profusely-and many of them audibly and
almost convulsively-during a considerable part of the recital,
beating their breasts severely at the same time. None were actually
killed in the representation of the encounters, which abates from the
tragical interest that sometimes attaches to the celebration. I
should, however, before dismissing this topic, record my wonder-
* Sheah or Shiite means a 'sectary,' while Soonée is its opposite, 'orthodox.'
The Persians all dress in black, as a token of their grief, during this
whole month.
AID IN STUDY—TOMB OF IMAMS.
211
I had almost said my admiration,—of what I am constrained to re-
gard as a surprising phenomenon,-congregated thousands, listen-
ing with almost breathless interest to the same recitals which they
have heard repeated all their life-time from year to year; and
wrought up by thèm to a pitch of emotion that shakes their frames
and melts them in tears;—while, too, the actors read their recitals,
holding their notes in their hands; and with tones and manner cer-
tainly not the most pathetic, nor even fluent. The Persians must be
far more susceptible of feeling than are Americans. And I could
not help thinking, that were they spiritual Christians, they would re-
buke the too heartless manner in which we are apt to approach the
affecting emblems of the crucifixion.
May 14. I spent the day with the bishop and priest forming
paradigms of verbs in the Nestorian language. I have found it an
easy and delightful task to acquire a tolerable knowledge of the an-
cient Syriac, from its resemblance to Hebrew, and having gram-
mars and lexicons at command. But for acquiring the modern dia-
leet of that language, which is spoken by the Nestorians, I have but
very imperfect helps. This language has never been reduced to
writing, and it differs so much from the ancient Syriac, that the
latter is not understood by the people. Scholars, in their studies in
America, can form but a faint idea of the difficulties to be encoun-
tered in reducing such a language to regular forms, with no teach-
ers except such as understand about as little of grammatical princi-
ples as they know of Egyptian hieroglyphics. The venerable bishop,
for instance, sometimes talks about the tenses of nouns. They are
both, however, very docile; and are often surprised that I know so
much more of the forms of their language than they know them-
selves.
May 16. This afternoon I walked, in company with the bishop
and priest, several miles, to the summit of the lofty mountain back
of Tabréez. The view of the city, plain and villages, and the
islands of the distant lake, from the mountain-top, is extensive and
very delightful. On the pinnacle of this mountain is an ancient
mosk, much resorted to by the Muhammedans for religious pur-
poses. It contains the tombs of two venerated Imâms. The inside
of the mosk is hung over with tawdry ornaments. Several tablets
are also deposited there, inscribed with accounts of wonderful cures
and other miracles, said to have been performed by the efficacious
ashes of the departed Imâms. The building is kept by an old man
who is nearly blind. "The Imâms are not able, or at least willing,'
muttered the old man, "to cure my eyes.
""
May 18. The bishop and priest have just commenced studying
geography; and the effect is already very perceptible in exciting
their inquiry and interest on various subjects. They appear, in-
deed, to be just waking up from the dreams of infancy. This even-
ing, as they rose to leave my room, the priest inquired, "what does
the sky consist of?" I told him that nobody has ever been up far
212
66
CHANGE OF AMBASSADORS.
to examine, but that we suppose it to consist merely of air and space.
'Nobody been there? How then could you tell us, the other day,
the size and distance of the sun?" he shrewdly replied. I told him
that these had been measured by the aid of optical instruments. He
seemed highly entertained and quite satisfied with some account
which I gave him of the process, merely adding, that Mar Elias had
read to him, from one of their old books, a statement that the sky
is formed of ice. This priest proves to be an excellent scholar, for
a rude Nestorian. The bishop is less studious, though he learns
easily and appears amiable. We may hope that both are destined,
by Providence, to become efficient heralds of the living gospel, to
their perishing fellow men. I would earnestly commend them to
the prayers of American Christians, that the Spirit of the Lord may
take possession of their hearts and dwell richly in them, and thus
prepare them to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ.
July 1. Sir John Campbell is about to retire from Persia.
We
deeply regret his leaving the country, both on our own account and
that of Persia. His kindness to us, in most trying circumstances,
has been truly parental. Dr. Riach and Dr. McNeill are, however,
to be connected with the new embassy, on whom we may rely as
warm friends of our object; and for aught that I know, the new
- ambassador may, in this respect, resemble his predecessor.
I have just learned, with joy and gratitude, that the Board have
resolved to send us an ordained companion. The harvest is fully
ripe, among the Nestorians, for four, five, or even six laborers.
Mr. Haas is succeeding well with his school for Muhammedans.
The governor of the city is one of his pupils. Mr. H. attempts
nothing directly but secular instruction. The Persians receive this
gladly; and they are now prepared for nothing more.
There are
many indications, and not the least, their own prediction and uni-
versal apprehension,-that the whole fabric of Muhammedism is
destined, ere long, to fall. But the man who openly raises his hand,
for some time, to precipitate its fall, will probably sacrifice his life
and perhaps that of others, to his imprudence, and thwart, or at
least greatly retard, the result which he would hasten.
CHAPTER XIII.
ARRIVAL OF ASSOCIATES.
Or my journey into Turkey, referred to in this chapter, I give
but brief notices, as I have repeatedly travelled the same route at
subsequent periods, when I could make observations to better ad-
JOURNEY INTO TURKEY.
213
vantage, which will appear in their places in other parts of this
volume.
We were cheered, Aug. 17, by intelligence of the arrival of Dr.
and Mrs. Grant, at Constantinople, on their way to Persia. The
Rev. James L. Merrick had been in that city several months, and
together they were now to proceed onward and join us at Tabréez.
I had myself the satisfaction of accompanying these missionary
friends over most of their land-journey. When intelligence reached
us of the arrival of Dr. and Mrs. Grant at the Turkish capital, I
was on the eve of making a short mountain-excursion for the bene-
fit of my health, which had become seriously impaired by a year's
confinement in the city. Europeans in Persia must travel, to some
extent, or soon sacrifice life to the neglect. Our friends had no in-
terpreter, and I was fully aware that what knowledge of the Turk-
ish language Mr. Merrick had acquired at Constantinople, would
be of very little avail to the company or himself, during most of their
land-journey, where a dialect so different from the Osmanly is spoken.
The Koords, too, were at that time in a very disturbed state. From
some supposed provocation, on the part of the Turkish government,
they had just ravaged several villages near the frontier; and I felt
extremely desirous to save this missionary party-fresh and buoyant
from the peaceful land of our fathers-from being retarded and tor-
tured by distressing apprehension, (as we had been on our way to
Persia,) so far as I could contribute to their relief by going to meet
them.
I left home Aug. 24th, taking with me an attendant for myself,
another to accompany back our friends, and a muleteer to act as
our guide and take charge of the horses. I carried so little bag-
gage as to require no horses in addition to the four which we rode.
I travelled to Erzróom-a distance of between four and five hun-
dred miles-comfortably and safely in eleven days. I passed thou-
sands of Koords on the road, rambling from valley to valley with
their flocks. They were heavily armed with swords, spears and
pistols; and they often thronged the road in such numbers that I
was obliged literally to rub against them, for long distances, in
passing them. But though entirely in their power-accompanied
as I was only by two timorous attendants and a muleteer,—and
though they were under the strong excitement to which I have re-
ferred, at the time, they showed me not the least hostility or incivility.
My native companions manifested the most distressing apprehen-
sions, particularly during the stage in which we met the largest
number of Koords; and their devices to ward off the dreaded
danger were often strictly Persian in character. As we passed
one tribe, for instance, my European costume arrested the attention
of the chief, who, eyeing me sharply, halted and addressed my ser-
vant, demanding who I was. Elchée, (an ambassador,) promptly
replied the frightened servant. "What is his name?" added the
Koord. Nisbet Sahib, (Mr. Nisbet,) answered the servant, who,
214
EMBARRASMENT OF ATTENDANTS.
having but just entered my employ, for the journey, had not yet
learned my name, but happened to be familiar with that of Mr. Nis-
bet. "Has he no larger train?" sternly interrogated the Koord.
"Of course," replied the servant; "he has a large body of armed
men, hastening on, just in the rear of us." The Koords then
moved on. I remonstrated with the servant for lying in that man-
ner; to which he replied, "What shall we do?-Have our heads
cut off?"
The embarrassments of my attendants, during that stage, were
not a little enhanced by having a live lamb to carry. The monks,
at the Armenian convent of Utch-kileesiá,* where we passed the
previous night, had presented to me the lamb, in return for some
small articles which, in their poverty and want, I had given to them.
I declined the present, on account of the difficulty of disposing of it;
but my attendants begged me to receive it and give it to them; to
which I consented, on condition that they should relieve me of all
care respecting the lamb. They promised to do so-their plan be-
ing to carry it alive to our next stopping-place, and there kill, cook
and enjoy it. They therefore bound it upon one of their horses;
but almost as often as we came in contact with a cluster of the
frightful Koords, it fell off and obliged the trembling servants to
dismount, in the midst of the enemy, and replace it upon the horse.
And it was often highly amusing to observe the struggle between
their desire to retain the lamb and their strong temptation to abandon
the source of so much trouble and exposure. They, however, per-
severed; and in their joyous carnival, at our next stopping-place,
in which the muleteer and a number of the villagers convivially
shared, they seemed to forget all the difficulties and perils of the
way.
European travellers have always more or less to fear on this
route, unless they fall in with large caravans, or take with them a
considerable military escort. A Russian commercial agent, who
came on from Erzróom just after I passed, was obliged to pay to a
Koordish chief a considerable sum of money to induce the marauder
to desist from an evident intention to rob him of his baggage. And
not long after we passed over the same road, on our return to Amer-
ica, two English travellers, whom we met at Constantinople, came
very near losing their lives, on that same frightful stage where [my
attendants were so much embarrassed in carrying the lamb. Alde-
scription of the adventure of those English gentlemen has just
reached me in a letter from my esteemed associate, Mr. Merrick,
which, as it affords a good illustration of the insecurity of that re-
gion, I give to the reader.
"A few days before we left Tabréez, Mr. Abbott† and a Mr.Todd
* Greek, izzhŋía, church; Utch-kileesiá, three churches.
+ The English friend mentioned on p. 87, and now British consul at Tehrân.
+
ATTACK FROM THE KOORDS.
215
arrived on their way to Tehrân. Not far west of Utch-kileesiá,
they were attacked by about twenty Koords, who issued from a de-
file and made, as Mr. Abbott expressed it, a beautiful charge," on
them, with levelled spears, one of which pierced Mr.Abbott's clothes,
grazing his side. Two Koords, one on each side of him, aimed fu-
rious blows at his head, which he parried with his arms; and as the
swords happened to be dull, his arms were only bruised by the blows.
A spear now catching in his leather belt, unhorsed him, when in-
stantly two Koords alighted, one of whom aimed at him a deadly
blow, but the other interposed, saying, "Do not strike," (vóorma,)
and took him prisoner. In the mean time, Mr. Todd, at the first
charge, drew a pistol, fired, missed his man, who instantly returned
the fire, but missed Mr. Todd, who was presently unhorsed. Both
of them (the travellers) were now stripped to their shirts and pan-
taloons, and in this condition,-Mr. Todd barefoot and Mr. Abbott
in his stockings,-they were driven, at the point of the spear, about
a mile, over rough, briery ground, where they were mounted be-
hind two Koords and hurried some six miles farther, up a lonely
defile in the mountains,-Mr. Todd's Koord, a ferocious-looking
fellow, occasionally pointing up the defile and then drawing his
hand across his own throat, to signify the fate Mr. T. was to ex-
pect. Mr. Abbott, who, you know, speaks Turkish, in the mean
time had informed his captor that they were Englishmen, going to
join the embassy at Tehrân, and if they were missing, would of
course be sought for, and the Koords might at length be punished.
This announcement alarmed the Koords, who consulted in their
own language what was to be done; and finally, after detaining
Messrs. Abbott and Todd several hours, they told them that they
should only take their money and allow them to depart with the rest
of their property. They, however, kept Mr. Abbott's gold watch
and some other articles; but, under Providence, the English name
was apparently the means of preserving them from being deliberately
murdered by those fierce and ruthless robbers. Two Catholic Ar-
menian priests, going to join the Catholic mission at Isfahân, were
with them, for whom, as well as for the servants of the party, Mr.
Abbott interceded; so that they were allowed to take away part of
their goods, but all the money was claimed and pocketed by the
Koords. On being dismissed, Mr. Abbott and his party made the
best of their way to Utch-kileesiá, where they remained three days;
and having procured a guard from Bayazéed, proceeded on their
way, grateful for such a Providential deliverance. The Koords had
been plundering in that region for about a month, stripping travel-
lers and villages."
When I left home, I thought of proceeding no further than Erz-
róom, expecting that our missionary friends, if not already there,
would very soon arrive. I reached that city Sept. 5th, but they
were not there. I forwarded information to the Rev. T. P. John-
ston, our missionary at Trebizond, of my having advanced thus far;
216
tar,
MEETING ASSOCIATES.
and waited in daily expectation of their arrival, until Sept. 20th,
when I received a letter from Mr. J. stating, that the party had been
with him three weeks, and had as long tried in vain to procure
horses,―a sufficient number to ride merely, while they would wil-
lingly leave most of their effects behind,-such was the pressing de-
mand for horses for the transportation of merchandize. Stern win-
ter was threatening to set in on the mountains. And the prospect
was, that Mrs. Grant, if not the whole party, should they be delayed
a few days longer, would be obliged to remain at Trebizond, until
next spring. And in view of the general embarrassment of stran-
gers in a strange land, unable to speak the language and transact
business, Mr. Johnston advised me to proceed onward to Trebi-
zond, or until I should meet the missionary company. With a tar-
* who had conducted the new English ambassador to Erzróom
and was about to return, I started the next day about noon. And
on the succeeding day, Sept. 22d, (having rode in a day and a half
more than one hundred miles,) I had the happiness to meet our
friends at the village of Balhóor, just about midway between Trebi-
zond and Ezróom. The day after Mr. Johnston had written me,
they succeeded in procuring horses and commenced their journey.
Our meeting could not be otherwise than mutually grateful,-to
me, who had not seen the face of an American, except that of Mrs.
P. after leaving Constantinople, a year and a half before; and to
them, in their novel and embarrassing circumstances, in that wild
country. Nor was our meeting less providential than grateful. I
reached the village in which they had encamped for the night a lit-
tle after sunset. Just at that point, several routes to Trebizond di-
verge. Neither party knew of the other's being on the way; and I
was to proceed at midnight, on the post route, a different one fron
that which they had travelled. On inquiry of some muleteers who
had stopped in the village, whether they had seen or heard of Euro-
pean travellers, I recognized in one of them a boy who was attached
to the caravan in which we had travelled over that region. He
told me that he had seen two gentlemen and Mrs. Perkins a few
days before, just starting from Trebizond. I found it difficult to
persuade the boy that he had not seen Mrs. P. there at that time,
but was satisfied that he must have seen Mrs. Grant. Being the only
females whom he had ever seen in our costume, he very naturally
confounded the two. Encouraged by this success, I prosecuted my
inquiries, and soon found that my friends were snugly quartered in
a stable within a few rods of me; and I of course was not long in
becoming one of the party. Had they been a day later, or en-
camped in another village, or had I been an hour or two earlier and
passed that village, we must have missed each other, and I have
proceeded over the still long distance and the many rough moun-
* The tartar is a Turkish courier, who also acts as a convoy, alone or at the
head of a party, to escort travellers and sometimes caravans.
217
tains, to 'Trebizond. It is delightful, in incidents like this, to re-
cognize the guidance of a heavenly Father's hand.
ARRIVAL-PLAGUE AND CHOLERA.
This missionary party had a very comfortable and quick land-
journey. From Trebizond to Erzróom, they were travelling only
seven days. The Sabbath and an accident-the falling of a loaded
horse down a precipice-detained them two days. We were hin-
dered at Erzroom but two days to procure fresh horses, and from
thence to Tabréez, were on the road seventeen days. The party
arrived at that city on the 15th of October. Mrs. Grant endured—
I might better say, enjoyed-the journey remarkably well; and my
own health was perfectly restored, as I had hoped it would be, by
the invigorating excursion. At Erzróom we, providentially, fell in
with a caravan of about six hundred horses, carrying English mer-
chandize to Persia, and escorted by a Turkish guard; and we were
thus relieved of much apprehension of danger from the Koords.
We were all fully convinced, from the general difficulties of the way,
and the comparative ease with which this journey was accomplished,
that it will always be expedient whenever new missionaries-
especially if they have ladies-shall join us, for one of our number,
acquainted with the native language, to go and conduct them over
the most dangerous part of their land-journey, as I did in this in-
stance. The expense of so much travel is, to be sure, considerable;
but probably far less than would, in most cases, be paid to a treach-
erous interpreter. The journey, to the missionary who goes, will
always be a very healthful recreation; and we know of no other so
effectual means, by which. to secure strangers coming to Persia
from numberless embarrassments and constant apprehension, if not
from danger and death.
While speaking of mercies, experienced at this period on the
road, I should not omit to mention also divine protection at home.
Though we were surrounded by "the pestilence that walketh in
darkness and the destruction that wasteth at noon-day," they were
not permitted to enter our dwelling. The plague had some time
before made its appearance in Tabréez, and it prevailed, though not
with great violence, until about the time of my leaving home for
Erzróom. All was then quiet, and we were hoping that the special
But I had
angel of death had passed by us, at least for the season.
been from home only a week, when that yet more terrific eastern
scourge, the cholera, appeared there. Its ravages were awful-
often numbering four hundred per day among its victims. Mrs.
Perkins was at our house in that city alone. When I heard on the
road of the prevalence of the cholera there, my suspense and solici-
tude respecting her were of course distressing, especially as I could
hear nothing from her. After reaching Khoy, where the Koordish
region ceases, I therefore left our missionary party to pursue their
journey leisurely, and hastened on, accompanied only by my ser-
vant, and reached Tabréez, which is more than ninety miles distant
from Khoy, with a dull though strong caravan horse, in a day and
28
218
NEW ENGLISH EMBASSY.
a half. My servant's horse tired and I left them both a little short of
half way, and performed the remaining fifty miles entirely alone,
and the part of it which is considered somewhat dangerous, in the
night. But I soon forgot the fatigue and exposure of my long and
rapid ride, on reaching our dwelling, where I found Mrs. P. well,
having been graciously kept during my absence, from attack and
alarm, while thousands had literally fallen at her side. Never, she
informed me, was she more happy in the confidence that God would
preserve her from harm, than in her solitude during that frightful
visitation.
One of the German missionaries-Mr. Schneider-who had re-
cently arrived at T'abréez from Shooshâ, was laid upon the brink
of the grave, by the cholera; but he was again mercifully restored.
Mr. Haas, who knows something of medicine, was extremely active,
among the suffering and dying, and the Lord greatly blessed his pre-
scriptions. Probably no other circumstances could have given to
him such access to all classes of the Persians and secured for him
such general favor. When I reached home, the cholera had nearly
disappeared at Tabréez, and had moved on northward and west-
ward. While our hearts bleed in view of the multitudes, in the
East, who are thus hurried under fearful condemnation into a mis-
erable eternity, we find some relief in the evidence which we have,
that God has used, and is using, these terrific scourges, the plague
and cholera, to shake down the fabric of Muhammedism. It is dur-
ing their prevalence, that we behold the most striking exemplifica-
tion of the Scripture language, "men's hearts failing them for fear
and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth.”
My journey to Erzroóm confirmed my previous impressions, in
favor of the establishment of a mission in that city. The number
of Armenians, there and in the region, is constantly increasing.
Many of those who followed the Russians into Georgia are return-
ing. The city is also fast rising in commercial importance. The
number of European residents is increasing. And a circumstance
which calls for promptness, in sending a missionary there, is, that
Romanism is taking root and extending. The Papists are exerting
their influence at Erzróom for the conversion of the Armenians
from "bad to worse, —a conversion, which adds to the corruptions
of that church, the yet deeper darkness of Popery. Our mission in
Persia also greatly needs a missionary agent at Erzróom. Though we
have found Mr. Zohráb, the English consular agent, extremely oblig-
ing, it is undesirable to impose too heavy a burden upon secular men.
At Erzróom, I had a very favorable opportunity of making the
acquaintance of the new English ambassador, the Rt. Honorable
Henry Ellis, and his suite, who were then on their way to Persia.
I boarded at the ambassador's table, the week which they spent in
that city. They all appear to be excellent gentlemen. Mr. Ellis
is the same who accompanied Lord Amherst, as his first secretary,
to China, and published an account of that Embassy. He is a se-
ENGLISH PROTECTION.
219
rious man; he expressed very deep interest in our mission and prof-
fered me every assistance in his power to render. At his sugges-
tion, I addressed to him a written request and obtained from him
English protection. I will insert here a copy of my application, as
also of the ambassador's official reply and an accompanying pass-
port, that the reader may obtain a more definite idea of the kind and
degree of encouragement extended to us by British representatives
in Persia than general statements on the subject would convey.
“Tabréez, 14th of Oct. 1835.
To His Excellency, the Rt. Honorable Henry Ellis, His Brittanic
Majesty's Ambassador Extraordinary to the Court of Persia;
SIR,-As a Prostestant clergyman, sent to this country by the
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, with the
design and hope, by the judicious use of appropriate means under
the blessing of God, of reviving the spirit and practice of the gospel
among the Nestorian Christians, I beg to request your Excellency's
encouragement and protection, in the quiet prosecution of my un-
dertaking, so far as so great a favor can be granted in consistency
with the views of the powerful and revered government which you
represent. I am encouraged to solicit this favor, by the well known
enlightening and ameliorating policy of his Brittanic Majesty's
government, in its foreign as well as its domestic relations,-but
especially, by your Excellency's characteristic kindness, your philan-
thropic desires for the good of this and every other country,
your truly christian interest which I had previously known, but
was happy, this morning, to hear you avow, in the extension of
our holy religion and the salvation of men.
and
Sincerely desiring and praying for your Excellency's highest per-
sonal happiness and the smiles of heaven to succeed your present
very important embassy, I have the honor to remain, with senti-
ments of heartfelt gratitude and great respect,
Your Excellency's most obedient servant,
(Signed)
THE AMBASSADOR'S REPLY.
J. PERKINS."
"Tabréez, Oct. 15, 1835.
SIR, I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter
of the 14th inst. and beg leave to enclose a Passport, which is the
document by which I conceive that the acknowledgement of the
official countenance of the British representative will be best con-
veyed to the Persian authorities. I feel confident, that in adopting
this measure, I act in accordance with the views of His Majesty's
government, to whom the proposed introduction of the pure doc-
trines of the Reformed church among the Nestorian Christians in
this country cannot fail to be a matter of deep and serious interest.
It is scarcely necessary for me to point out the indispensable
220
THE AMBASSADOR'S INTEREST IN MISSIONS.
necessity of avoiding any interference with the religious belief of
the Muhammedan population. To such a proceeding I could not
give any official sanction; and I am, moreover, convinced, that
the attempt itself would be fatal to the prosecution of the reasonable
and definite object for which your mission has been instituted.
I beg leave to return you my sincere thanks, for the manner in
which you have expressed yourself respecting my sentiments on
this very interesting and important subject, and to assure you of
my most anxious wishes for the success of your exertions.
66
I have the honor to be,
(Signed)
Sir, your obedient humble servant,
PASSPORT.
H. ELLIS."
We, Henry Ellis, member of the Privy Council of His Brittanic
Majesty, and His Ambassador to the Shâh of Persia, request the
civil and military authorities, entrusted with the maintenance of
the peace of the country, to allow the Rev. Justin Perkins, of the
United States of America, to pass freely through and reside without
molestation, in the kingdom of Persia, and in case of need, to af
ford him aid and protection.
(Signed)
The Ambassador of His Brittanic Majesty,
H. ELLIS."
Mr. Ellis views the subject of the spread of the gospel in Asia
alike as a philosopher and a Christian. In conversation with me,
he remarked, 'I act no more as a philanthropist and a Christian,
than as a politician, in protecting and aiding Protestant missiona-
ries in the East. And when I say Protestant missionaries,' he con-
tinued, 'I mean all, of whatever Reformed Evangelical church.
Though a churchman myself, I bid God speed to every pious Pro-
testant, engaged in this work. I make no distinction, be he Pres-
byterian, Baptist, Methodist, Episcopalian or Lutheran.' What a
glory is it to Britain and what a blessing to the world, that so much
of her policy is thus identified with the extension of Christ's king-
dom. And what a rebuke is here administered, by the noble-mind-
ed civilian, to those clerical men whose narrow hearts would limit
their sympathies to names, forms or canonicals. I should not omit
to mention, that Mr. Ellis had politely invited me to preach to him-
self and his suite the Sabbath which we passed together at Erzróom;
and though doubtless naturally and innocently partial to his own
forms, he thanked me and expressed himself gratified at the close
of the service, though I wore no surplice and used no prayer-book.
The ambassador also tendered to the German missionaries in
Tabréez-four in number-English protection, and they all availed
themselves of it. It was an unexpected and very great relief to
According to the Ambassador's verbal explanation, any open attack.
*

SUSPENSION OF THE MISSION AT SHOOSHA.
221
those brethren at that time. They had been thrown into distressing
embarrassment and solicitude, by a late order from the Russian gov-
ernment, absolutely forbidding the missionaries at Shooshâ to pro-
ceed another step with their labors in Georgia,—a line of policy,
as I have elsewhere suggested, introduced, doubtless, by the bigotry
of the priesthood, rather than by the more liberal views of the
Czar's government. The German missionaries here, as well as at
Shoosha, had enjoyed efficient Russian protection; and after this
order was issued, they were apprehensive of the withdrawal of that
protection. Just at that juncture, Mr. Ellis arrived and relieved
them, by furnishing each one of them with an English passport. Of
his own accord, he also addressed a letter to the governor of this
province, requesting him, as he values English friendship, to take
particular care of us and the German missionaries.
I give the reader a literal English translation of the order from
the Russian government which I have mentioned, furnished me at
that time by the German brethren.
"Order from the Russian government, communicated in the month
of August, 1835, by the commandant of Shooshâ to the mission-
aries of the Basle Missionary Society:
GENTLEMEN,—In consequence of a memorial from the command-
er in chief of Georgia, addressed to the minister of the interior and
forwarded by him to the committee of ministers, respecting your
missionary establishment located at Shooshâ, the committee-learn-
ing by the real state of things, that you, gentlemen, since the time
of your settlement at Shooshâ, have not yet converted any body,
and, deviating from your proper limits, have directed your views to
the Armenian youth, which, on part of the Armenian clergy, has
produced complaints, the consequence of which may be very disa-
greeable, have concluded to prohibit you all missionary labors;
and for the future, to leave it to your own choice to employ your-
selves with agriculture, manufactures, or mechanical trades. In
conclusion, to prevent any further complaints on part of the Arme-
nian clergy, they forbid you to receive the Armenian youth into
your schools.
"It has pleased His Majesty, the emperor, to confirm this decree
of the committee of ministers."
There were five missionaries, four clergymen and a printer, at this
time connected with the Shooshâ mission, and left to weep over the
desolations of Zion, whose walls they were thus peremptorily for-
bidden to repair. Their labors for the revival of religion, among
the degraded Armenians, were in vigorous and successful operation.
They directed their efforts principally to this class, rightly judging
it fruitless to attempt to convert Muhammedans, while the latter
saw Christianity in so fallen, revolting a form, among those nomi-
nal Christians.
222
MISSIONS OF THE GREEK CHURCH IN RUSSIA.
On the north side of the Caucasus mountains, at a place called
Karréss, is a Scottish missionary colony. It was established under
the auspices of the late emperor, Alexander, soon after he gave evi-
dence of being influenced by motives of evangelical piety. The
emperor gave to that establishment the prerogatives and form of a
colony, for the sole purpose, it is said, of avoiding the opposition
which he apprehended as likely to be immediately roused among
the clergy against a Protestant mission. But the enterprise, though
partially colonial in form, was in fact strictly missionary in its ob-
ject. And the Scottish and Basle Missionary Societies have had―
one or both-missionaries connected with the establishment, ever
since its commencement. About the same time that the govern-
ment order was issued, forbidding the Shooshâ missionaries to pro-
ceed with their labors, a similar one was forwarded to Karráss, com-
manding the Protestant missionaries there also-six in number, (one
Scottish and five German,)—to cease entirely from their labors, and
stating, that missionaries from the Greek church in Russia were
soon to take their places. Below is a note from one of the German
brethren, communicating to me this and some other information.
દર
My dear Brother,
We yesterday received letters by which we are informed, that in
a paper from the Russian government to the Scottish colony at Kar-
ráss, on the north side of the Caucasus, it was stated, that the gov-
ernment, finding that the Scottish and Basle missionaries had made
but a few converts, during the long time of their activity, have di-
rected the Greek church, which, during a few years, has converted
seventy thousand mountaineers to Christianity, to occupy the place
of the Scottish and German missionaries. I do not know where
these converted mountaineers live; but I have no doubt of the truth
of this statement; for nothing is easier than to make converts among
a barbarous people, in the way in which the Russian clergy do it.
They hold out to the poor people bright promises of worldly advan-
tage; give them, at the time of their baptism, new clothing and a
few silver roubles, and leave them in the same barbarism and dark-
ness in which they lived before. I myself saw many of the Ossé-
tians on the Caucasus, whom the Greek church have thus converted.
They were in a most deplorable state. Some of them have repeat-
edly presented themselves for baptism, and have actually been bap-
tized twice and thrice for the sake of getting more new clothes and
money. Now these nominal converts are much more wretched than
their heathen countrymen. They do not know what they believe,
are abandoned by their own people and despised by everybody.
"In Siberia, I have learned that the Russian church has like-
wise made a great many converts, whom they have taught to adore
pictures as gods, and to keep fasts, as indispensable to their becom-
ing acceptable to God. When these converts do not like to mortify
their appetites in fasting, they are cunning enough to turn over their
INTOLERANCE THE TURKISH LANGUAGE.
223
pictures, that their gods may not witness their sensuality. It is not
at all strange, therefore, that we have an account of two English
travellers in Russia, who met with many persons in the southern
part of the empire, who suppose that St. Nicholas will succeed to
the throne of heaven, when the Almighty shall die
"How cheering it would be to see evangelical missionaries go
forth to work among the Russians, to lead such idolators to the wor-
ship of the living God,-and if missionaries must be shut out of the
empire, to see tracts* spread among them, inculcating the pure gos-
pel and exposing such appalling superstitions!
Very affectionately yours,
(Signed)
Tabréez, Oct. 16th, 1835."
F. H.—
If apologists for the intolerance towards Protestant missions, to
which the bigoted priesthood in Russia impel the government, need
an additional fact, they may be told, that Mr. Merrick and Dr. Grant,
when on their way to Persia, applied to the Russian ambassador at
Constantinople for passports that would allow them, in case of ne-
cessity, to travel in Georgia, and were refused such passports, on the
ground of their being missionaries,—the new ukase to which I have
before alluded, being referred to by the ambassador, as forbidding
any clergyman to enter the empire without the emperor's permis-
sion.
Our Nestorian ecclesiastics, the bishop and priest, went home
about the middle of June, on account of the prevalence of the
plague at Tabréez. In prospect of soon removing to Oróomiah,
I did not think it expedient to have them return to Tabréez. After
they left us, 1 directed my attention exclusively to the study of Turk-
ish. The Azerbijân Turkish is not a written language, and the
facilities for acquiring it are of course quite limited. I have con-
structed an English and Turkish dictionary of this language, con-
taining about ten thousand words; and one of the German mission-
aries has prepared a small grammar. These helps, though imper-
fect, will afford great assistance to those who join our mission from
time to time, in acquiring the language.
The Turkish, as here spoken, differs widely from the Osmanly,
not only from the fact that the latter is enriched and polished from
the stores of the classical Arabic and Persian, but also from the
character and circumstances of the people who use the former, in
these regions. The down-cast mein of the cowardly and oppressed
Armenians, is not more deeply imprinted on their faces, than is their
cowering timidity developed in the tones of their voices. And the
* This desirable work is now happily in efficient progress, particularly in
the enlightened vicinity of the Russian capital, and not more in consequence
of the cheering tolerance of government there, than of the christian zeal of
English and American philanthropists, in occupying that open door.
i
224
PRIEST ABRAHAM TEACHING ENGLISH.
cringing obsequiousness of the artful Persian peasant beams not
more slyly from his cunning eye, than is it expressed in his style of
speaking Turkish. The Turkish language has naturally and emi-
nently the attributes of authority and command. It rolls on in its
under key, abrupt periods and falling inflexions, far more sublimely
than our own old Saxon. The Serpent wishing to seduce Eve,
as the fable, characterizing three of the Oriental languages, runs,
"made use of Arabic-a language argumentative and persuasive.
Eve addressed Adam in Persian-the dialect of tenderness, tempta-
tion and love. The angel Gabriel, commissioned to expel them
from Paradise, having in vain addressed them in Arabic and Per-
sian, made use at last of the Turkish—a language of menace and
resembling muttering thunder. Hardly had he began to speak,
when terror seized them and they left precipitately the abode of fe-
licity."*
The Turkish retains these characteristics, at Constanti-
nople and in Asia Minor, where it is still the dominant language.
But farther east, the rising inflexion and drawling, beseeching,
evasive tones, prevail in it to an extent far greater than even in the
native languages of the nominal Christians of those regions, who
are accustomed to address their Muhammedan rulers and superiors
in Turkish, but their own people respectively in their mother tongues.
As all classes in northern Persia speak Turkish, it is of the first im-
portance that missionaries there should acquire this language as
soon as practicable after their arrival.
The bishop and priest were not inactive, when they returned to
their homes. A few weeks after they left Tabréez, a young Nes-
torian, who happened to be in this city on business, called on me.
He told me that priest Abraham had commenced teaching English
in his native village and was succeeding very well; adding, more-
over, that he was himself one of the pupils. I could not believe the
statement, as I had never intimated to the priest the expediency or
practicability of his accomplishing anything of the kind. To test
the truth of the boy's story, however, I produced an English spel-
ling-book and told him to read. I tried him in several places, on
some of the first pages of the book, and to my utter astonishment,
he read with considerable accuracy. In this unexpected develop-
ment, I hardly knew which to admire most, the enterprise and suc-
cess of the priest as a teacher, or the talents and perseverance of
the boy as a learner. This first English school among the Nesto-
rians, originated by one of their own ecclesiastics, is, I trust, a har-
binger of a brighter day, about to rise upon that long benighted
people.
Soon after our associates reached Tabréez, Dr. Grant went to
Oróomiah, to rent for us a house and make other arrangements
preparatory to our removal to that city. I was myself necessarily
detained at home, to put our effects in portable order and make
* Biblical Repository and Quarterly Observer, Oct. 1836, p. 433.
RENTING A HOUSE-INTEMPERANCE.
225
other preparations at Tabréez. And two of the German missiona-
ries, Messrs. Hoernle and Schneider, happening to be going to
Oróomiah on a tour of observation in the borders of Koordistân,
kindly engaged to interpret for Dr. G. and render him all other
needed assistance.
Nov. 6. Dr. G. reached us on his return from Oróomiah, having
been quite successful in accomplishing the objects of his journey.
Among the Nestorians, he met with the same kind reception which
they manifested to me, during my visit among them the previous
The governor, too, showed him great kindness. In ‘addition
to many polite attentions, his Excellency interested himself in for-
warding the particular object of Dr. G's visit; and, through their
united efforts and the aid of the German brethren, we were enabled
to secure a very comfortable dwelling.
year.
I shall not find it more convenient elsewhere than here, to allude
to the subject of intemperance in Persia,-particularly as the fol-
lowing statements from a letter in answer to inquiries addressed to
me by a gentleman in America, were written about the same time
with the foregoing pages of this chapter.
"To the several points on which you request information, I will
reply in the order in which you state them. • What are the habits
of the people with regard to temperance?' While I search in vain
among the people around me, for a single trait that ennobles my
native country, one circumstance, which is characteristic alike of
Persia and America, is almost daily thrust upon my view, viz.
beastly intemperance. What are the principal means of intoxica-
tion? Among what classes and to what extent does that vice pre-
vail?' The intoxicating article, most used here, is the wine of the
country, which is almost as plentiful and cheap as the springs of
water. Another article, considerably used, is arrák, (Asiatic
brandy,) distilled from dried grapes, or from the residue after the
wine is extracted. European liquors are also rolling in upon the
country like a flood. Our missionary brethren, who have just ar-
rived, were preceded but one week by a caravan, bearing, among
other poisons of the kind, eighteen barrels of New England rum!
What an indignity cast upon the poor brutes even that are made to
plod their way over a journey of near seven hundred miles, crossing
almost impassable mountains and groaning beneath their almost in-
tolerable burdens, which tend only to degrade the species that drive
them incomparably below themselves! I see no other article of
American manufacture, in the markets here, than New England
rum. Can the enterprising of my country send to Muhammedan
Persia no better commercial representative! Well may the Amer-
ican churches multiply their missionaries to this country, if it were
merely to repair the evils that are sown here by New England rum!
I may say in general that intemperance prevails among all classes
in Persia. Many-a great many, of the Nestorians are intemperate;
and the Armenians are still more fearfully so. The Muhammedans
1
29
226
too are becoming intemperate. Though their Prophet forbade the
use of wine, and, as he supposed, of all intoxicating drinks, inas-
much as the art of distillation was then unknown, still multitudes
in Persia, in the face of what they assert to be a divine prohibition,
give themselves up to habitual intemperance. While they despise
the christian population, as they detest the dogs in the streets and
the swine upon the mountains, they still shamefully wallow with
these same nominal Christians in this filthiest of their vices.
EFFECT OF EXAMPLE ON THE MUHAMMEDANS.
The extent to which intemperance prevails, among the nominal
Christians of this country, may be inferred from two or three facts.
The Sabbath is particularly devoted to dissipation. The mummery
of their religious forms is repeated at a very early hour in the morn-
ing, and the rest of the day is given up, by the mass, to festivity and
carousal. During some of their numerous fasts, the more rigid
part abstain from the use of wine. But in anticipation of the ab-
stinence, and to make up for it, each fast is introduced and followed
by a drunken revel. And such is the impression which the intem-
perance of the nominal Christians makes upon their Muhammedan
neighbors, that often when a Muhammedan is seen intoxicated, his
countrymen tauntingly exclaim, that man has left Muhammed and
has gone to Jesus!
Among the Muhammedans also, particularly among the higher
classes, many of whom are becoming lax and skeptical in regard
to the claims of their religion, intemperance prevails to an appalling
extent. I sometimes see respectable merchants falling down in the
streets, or reeling in the arms of their companions. Soon after
Dr. Grant's arrival, I accompanied him to the palace to introduce
him to the governor of this city. His Excellency was ill-broken
down by hard drinking-and he requested the Dr. to do something
for him. Dr. G. examined his case and made out a prescription,
directing, that while taking the medicine, he should eat no stimu-
lating food and drink no wine. The governor replied, I cannot
go a day without my wine. This poor man is young, amiable and
intelligent; but like numbers of his rank in Persia, is a self-immolated
victim to the bloody shrine of Bacchus.
Is intemperance on the increase, or has it within a few years
been diminished?' The evil has of late rapidly increased in Persia,
particularly since the importation of European liquors commenced.
The Muhammedans make no virtue of moderate drinking. They
regard it as the peculiar privilege of Christians, to drink alcohol,
and think they live greatly below their privilege, if they fail to
drink it to intoxication. And whenever they themselves break over
their scruples and fall into the use of intoxicating liquors at all, they
act in full consistency with these principles. The rapid increase
of intemperance among the Muhammedans is the consequence.
'What effects have intoxicating liquors on the health, character
and condition of the people?' The effects here are much the same
as in America and other countries. They destroy health-break
!
EVILS-HOPE-REMOVAL.
堕
​227
the heart-beggar families-multiply vices-excite quarrels-shed
blood and brutalize the species. I was deeply affected, on one oc-
casion, by a simple story from my Armenian servant which may
illustrate this point. I was walking out a little distance from the
city, and the servant was with me. As we approached some beau-
tiful gardens, I observed that he began to weep. I inquired the
cause, and he answered me as follows: 'Sir, I have not come this
road before for six years; and it always makes me weep to come
here. My father once owned those fine gardens. He drank much
wine. It made him a fool. He got into a quarrel and killed a
Mussulmân. He was shut up in prison-came near losing his life
--and escaped only by giving the governor all his property. Be-
fore, he was rich. He owned a good house and four horses and
these gardens, and kept two servants. Now, we have all of us, my
father, my wife, my child and myself, nothing to buy bread and
clothes with, but the five dollars a month which you pay me for
living with you.' By the time his story was told, his heart was
melted. Yet such are not strange tales in Persia, any more than
in America.”
Still there is hope even for Persia. One of the most animating
scenes that I have witnessed since my return to America, was the
Washingtonian celebration, in May 1842, in Boston. As I stood
upon the beautiful common, and watched the vast procession,
moving on with manly step to the martial airs, and read the various
appropriate mottoes on their shining banners, a thrill of moral
sublimity kindled in my bosom that I had seldom if ever experi-
enced. I was saddened, however, when I thought of Persia in
contrast; but again I was cheered; for in that procession I saw a
pledge, as I thought, that Boston, at least, would inflict on Persia
little more New England rum; and round the world the star of
temperance moves.
CHAPTER XIV.
REMOVAL TO OROOMIAH.
HAVING put all our effects in portable order during the previous
week, we started, Monday morning, Nov. 16th, for Oroomiah. Dr.
Grant had preceded us several days, to see that our dwelling should
be in a habitable state on our arrival, leaving Mrs. G. to accompany
Mrs. P. and myself. The German brethren were still at Oróomiah,
and had had the kindness to superintend some repairs for us.
The
weather was delightful. We had long apprehended the commence-
228
ANNOYANCE- WELCOME-NATIVE TABLE.
ment of the autumnal rains; but the Lord seemed propitiously to
smile upon us, in granting us fair weather at this late season, for
our removal. The two German missionaries then at Tabréez, and
Mr. and Mrs. Nisbet, rode out six miles with us. There we bade
adieu to these dear brethren and friends with whom we had often
taken sweet counsel, and hastened on our way. We had started so
late that we did not reach our stopping-place, Ali Shâh, six fursákhs
from Tabréez, until 8 o'clock in the evening. The last part of
our ride was very dark and unpleasant. I sent our attendant for-
ward to procure us lodgings, in which he succeeded; but our beds
and other effects did not arrive until 10 o'clock. The ladies were
extremely tired, and felt the tardiness of the muleteer, more than
the rudeness of our accommodations.
Nov. 17. We started about 8 o'clock and rode six fursákhs to
the village of Shekh-walée. Here we could find no lodgings but a
stable, and Mrs. P. and Mrs. G. were so annoyed by vermin as to
be unable to sleep. We rose at 12 o'clock and sat up the rest of
the night, diverting ourselves, as well as we could, in prosecuting
the warfare which the fleas had commenced.
Nov. 18. We were on our way at 5 o'clock in the morning,
rode six fúrsákhs on the bank of the beautiful lake, and stopped for
the night at Yavshanlée. This Muhammedan village of about
forty families, takes its name from Yavshân, a weed which is
much used for heating ovens. We found more comfortable lodg-
ings than at our stopping-place, the previous night, though there
too we were much annoyed by vermin.
""
Nov. 19. We again rode six fursákhs, crossed the mountain
ridge which separates the district of Salmás from Oróomiah, and
reached Gavalân, the village of Mar Yohannan, the bishop who had
resided with me at Tabréez. Our attendant, who is a nephew of
the bishop and belongs in Gavalân, rode forward to announce our
coming. And about a mile and a half before reaching the village,
the bishop came, full gallop, to meet us; and as we advanced far-
ther, nearly all the inhabitants marched out in procession, to wel-
come our arrival. Their repeated assurances of welcome-welcome
-were long and loud. "Were the whole world to be given them,'
they said, “their joy on that account could not equal that created
by our coming." The bishop conducted us to his own house,
where a large room was neatly spread with carpets for our recep-
tion. Everything, in the humble dwelling, appeared very cleanly,
and much care and labor to make it so had obviously been bestowed,
in anticipation of our arrival. A dinner of bread, butter, cheese
and raisins was immediately spread for us upon a Nestorian table,
which is a wooden tray, or rather a waiter, from three to five feet
long, and two or two and a half feet wide. This article is thin and
light, with sloping edges, three or four inches broad, sometimes
tastefully carved, and if it is kept clean, it renders a meal, in ap-
pearance, not uninviting. The lighter parts of the meal are brought
+
A SCHOLAR IN ENGLISH-ENTERTAINMENT.
229
in
upon the waiter, but the more substantial and less portable ones
-particularly soups-are placed' upon it afterward. A row of the
thin cakes of bread is spread around the border, about one half of
each lying upon the waiter and the other half lapping over upon the
carpet. At the close of the meal, this table with its remaining con-
tents, is removed by an attendant, and the company retain their sit-
ting posture undisturbed. The Muhammedan peasants, as well as
the Nestorians, use this wooden waiter in place of a table.
While at dinner, the bishop called his brother, a lad of fourteen
or fifteen, to the table to entertain us by reading English. The
boy took a New Testament from his pocket and read to us the
third chapter of Matthew, as well as many boys in America could
have read it. We were alike surprised and gratified by this exhibi-
tion. The boy had never received any English instruction except
what the bishop had given him, after he and the priest returned
from Tabréez, where they had resided eight or nine months in my
family. Both the bishop and priest, as has before been mentioned,
on reaching home, commenced, each in his native village, giving
English instruction; and this boy's proficiency was a specimen of
the success that had attended their experiment. That the Nesto-
rians have naturally fine talents and a strong desire to learn, we
have full demonstration. "This boy," said the bishop, as his
brother closed his book, "I shall give to Dr. Grant. I wish him
to learn English and study medicine." He is a bright, amiable lad,
and Dr. Grant soon took him into his family.
In the course of the afternoon, many Nestorians called to wel-
come us personally to Oróomiah, with whom we had friendly con-
versation. At evenimg, we spread our fare upon the native tray or
waiter, which I have mentioned; and this, for our convenience, was
placed upon a stool which we use on the road for a table; and
couches and cushions were ranged around it in the absence of chairs.
The bishop had ordered a lamb from his father's flock and di-
rected our attendant to cook it for the occasion. A considerable
number of the villagers, who were present, were invited to partake
with us, at our evening meal. And to crown the feast, just as we
were sitting down, Messrs. Hoernle and Schneider rode up to the
door, on their return from their excursion into the borders of Koor-
distân. We passed the evening delightfully with these missionary
acquaintances and Nestorian friends. The bishop and his father
importuned us to remain with them two or three days; but our ap-
prehension of rain, which the clouds had for some time been threat-
ening, made us anxious to complete the remaining day's ride to the
city. We satisfied them by proposing to visit them at some future
time, when we should be comfortably settled at our home.
We rose two or three hours before day, Nov. 20th, break fasted,
and set off for Oróomiah, accompanied by the bishop.
sákhs, almost forty miles, lay between us and the city.
day, our worst apprehensions respecting the weather,
breakfasted,
Eight fur-
Just before
began to be
230
realized. It commenced raining violently, and continued, with lit-
tle cessation, until night. The wind blew the rain directly into our
faces, with the violence of a tempest. The ladies-particularly
Mrs. Grant-happened to be well provided with cloaks, and by
carefully wrapping themselves and allowing their horses to choose
their way-following the bishop's before and driven by me behind—
they succeeded in keeping comfortable several hours. I had no
umbrella with me and nothing on my head to ward off the rain but
my brimless Persian cap, which is not the least shield against sun or
storm. When we reached the city, I was drenched through and
through and chilled almost to inaction. The ladies were also quite
wet-particularly Mrs. P.-though much less chilled than myself.
But through divine mercy, none of us suffered serious inconve-
nience from that day's exposure. We afterward even recognized in
it a providential favor. We had previously felt much solicitude,
respecting the notoriety that must attend our approach and en-
trance into the city in fair weather. Europeans-ladies especially-
are rare curiosities there. And I had resolved, for the purpose of
avoiding publicity as much as possible, to linger near the city until
sun-set, and enter it in the evening. In that case, however, the gates
would be closed, and much trouble might be encountered in gain-
ing admission. But this rainy day entirely relieved us on the sub-
ject. We entered the city and reached our house without the notice
of an individual.
A RAINY DAY-ARRIVAL AT OROOMIAH.
So tardy were the workmen, that the united exertions of the Ger-
man brethren and Dr. Grant had been unable to secure the comple-
tion of a single apartment for our reception. We reached the city
towards evening and were introduced into an open room, where
some joiners were at work; and we sat down with them upon the
shavings.* Our muleteer and servant lingered behind, and did not
make their appearance till the next day. Intimidated by the fury
of the storm, they turned off to a village, where they made them-
selves comfortable, and remained there over night. Our loads all
being with them, we had neither changes of raiment, provisions, nor
bedding. We built a large fire from the shavings, by which we
dried ourselves, and sent one of the workmen to market for provi-
sions. He brought to us bread and kebab, which is meat cut up
into mouthfuls and roasted upon spits. The bread being the com-
mon Persian cakes, two and a half or three feet long, a foot wide,
and perhaps a twelfth of an inch thick, contained the meat, when
delivered to us, rolled up within it, which we had only to unroll,
*
Joiners, in Persia, always sit, when they work, like tailors in America,
holding their work in the lap; and in place of a work-bench and vice, they
support their boards and mouldings, while planing and jointing them, with
their feet. In general, we may say that orientals are not more the antipodes
of occidentals in their location, than in their modes of doing things. The ma-
tron, for instance, in knitting a stocking, commences at the toe; and the trav-
eller mounts his horse upon the off-side.
PILGRIM'S DAY—STAFF
S DAY-STAFF-LOCATION.
231
and the bread served us at once as a table, cloth, plate, and a sub-
stantial part of our meal. We were hungry and ate with an excel-
lent relish. And at night, we lay down upon the shavings on the
earth-floor, spread over us our cloaks which we had dried by the
fire, and slept very sweetly till morning; for we were withal ex-
tremely tired. Such was our introduction to Oróomiah; and it
was a pleasant one; for we were heartily glad and thankful to find
any shelter from the tempestuous storm; and Mrs. P. and myself,
not the least so, after more than two years' journeyings and remo-
vals, to find a place we could call our home. With grateful recol-
lection, we still annually observe the 20th of November as our Pil-
grim's day.
As I rode up to our gate on our arrival, and dismounted, I drop-
ped a valued walking-stick, that I might help the ladies from their
horses. The stick was mounted with a silver head, and engraved
with my name, having been given me by a friend in America as a
token, and I had carried it in my hand during all my travels. After
assisting the ladies to dismount, I turned round for my stick and, lo,
it was gone.
It was never returned, being taken, I suppose, by the
workmen who were repairing our house, and had issued forth to
welcome us. While I regretted the loss of the staff, and the incident
did not impress me very favorably with the honesty of the people
among whom we had come to live, a good German missionary, at
Tabréez, in a letter, after hearing of the circumstance, solaced me
by interpreting it as a very favorable omen; viz. that our wander-
ings were then at an end.
Our house was a mud-walled structure, quite dilapidated, but
comfortable when repaired. And it was our good fortune to secure
a location in the most pleasant and healthful part of the city, while
the country around, as I have before mentioned, is one of the most
charming on which the sun ever shone. Our premises, moreover,
are very favorably situated for our work, being just on the dividing
line between the Muhammedans and Nestorians, and readily acces-
sible to both classes.
Nov. 21. Was as clear and bright a day as though a cloud had
not darkened the heavens at Oróomiah that season. About 9
o'clock in the morning, our muleteer and servant arrived. I inqui-
red of the servant why he had thus lingered, leaving us without beds
and other necessaries. "I died (üldím) yesterday in the rain be-
fore we stopped, Sir," was his pathetic Persian reply,—a reason
which I of course felt bound to regard as an ample apology. The
muleteer had dropped several of my loads into the streams on the
way, which were then much swollen by the rain. Many of my
books, pamphlets and maps, as well as other valuables, were satura-
ted with water and much injured. I spent most of the day in dry-
ing them on the pavement of our court, in the bright sun.
Early in the morning, the governor sent his feraj-bashee―chief
officer to congratulate us on our arrival, proposing also that his
辜
​+
232
WELCOME FROM THE GOVERNOR-JOHN.
cousin—a Khân—should come immediately in his Excellency's
stead, and welcome us in a more formal manner. We were obliged
to request the governor to defer the Khân's visit, until we should
have a room in which to receive him, the only one we then had,
and that not completed, being nearly filled with ourselves and our
boxes. Almost numberless Nestorians called also to welcome us to
Oróomiah and to our missionary work, whose animated counte-
nances, together in some instances with their tears, attested the sin-
cerity of their professions.
Nov. 22. Was our first Sabbath at Oróomiah. The bishop and
priest, who had lived in my family at Tabréez, were with us at
breakfast. The bishop inquired whether we had had our morning
worship. I answered him in the affirmative, and asked him wheth-
er he wished to attend worship with us; "To be sure," said he;
"I wish always to unite with you in your devotions." Both the
bishop and priest were with us at our religious meeting. They are
beginning to speak English pretty well. They appear much attach-
ed to us and seem to take it for granted that they are to live in our
families. They were now of great service to us in assisting us to
get our houses repaired and arrangements made for winter; besides,
they had become so much more intelligent than the mass around
us, that we found them very agreeable companions.
Nov. 23. We received many presents from Nestorians, both of
the city and the neighboring villages. Mûkăddási,* (pilgrim, i. e.
to Jerusalem,) among the rest, came from Geog-tapá, the village of
priest Abraham, and brought with him his little son whom he had
presented to me on my visit at Oróomiah the previous year.
"This
child," said the old man (putting the boy's hand into mine), "is no
longer mine; he is yours; he is no longer Nestorian; he is En-
glish; his name is no longer Yohannan; it is John." He then told
his son to read to me in my own language. And the boy took from
his pocket a New Testament and read the third chapter of Matthew,
(which seemed to have been the drilling lesson,) in an admirable
manner. He is one whom priest Abraham had been instructing,
after his return from Tabréez. I took him immediately into my
family and he has proved to be an excellent scholar.
Nov. 24. The governor again sent to us, proposing that his cou-
sin should call on us and communicate his Excellency's formal con-
gratulations; but we were still obliged to defer the visit till to-mor-
row, for want of a place in which to receive so distinguished a per-
He is an
sonage. The next day, the Khân came to visit us.
accomplished Persian and said all the fine things of which Persians
are so capable,-in praise of the governor who, he stated, belongs
to one of the most renowned families in the empire and is the chief
of the Affshâr tribe, and respecting the universal joy, which, he said,
is spread throughout Oróomiah by our arrival. In relation to us,
among other things he remarked, "your coming here is like the
sun's rising upon the world; hitherto, darkness has prevailed; but
*
Literally, the holy.
VISIT TO THE GOVERNOR—THE BISHOP'S PARENTS. 233
now, the light has come." The Khân, doubtless, alluded in his use
of this figure, to the prospect of temporal benefit from Dr. Grant's
practice in medicine and my giving secular instruction. But we
hope and trust that his remark will prove prophetic, in a higher and
more glorious sense.
Nov. 29. We visited the governor. His Excellency lives in
more princely state than any man in Azerbijân, unless it be the
prince-governor at Tabréez. He referred to my visit here last year,
He ex-
and now welcomed me as a citizen with great cordiality.
patiated at considerable length to the large train around him, on
the important benefits which he said he was sure would result from
our coming to Oróomiah. He inquired of Mar Yohannan, who was
with us, whether I, whom he dignified by the title of the Mâlúm,
master, (teacher,) had yet commenced giving instruction. The bishop
told him, that it was my intention to do so, as soon as I shall have
prepared a school-room. The governor replied, that he hoped I
should by all means be ready to commence soon; that I must not
be permitted to remain idle, where so much is to be done. He ap-
peared to take it for granted, that our efforts are to be directed to
the instruction and benefit of the Muhammedans, as well as the
Nestorians. And after making all due abatement in this conversa-
tion of the governor, for the much which was doubtless mere Per-
sian talk, enough remains to convince me, that he heartily wel-
comes our arrival.
Nov. 29. The governor sent to inquire after our welfare, as he
is accustomed frequently to do. Many Nestorians also called to
visit us-some of them from a considerable distance. We discour-
aged their coming on the Sabbath, which appears to be their visit-
ing day.
Dec. 2. Mar Yohannan's father and mother came to visit us,
from their village, a distance of near forty miles. I have never be-
fore seen in Persia a native accompany his wife abroad. The
bishop's father was, doubtless, prompted to do so, by impressions
received through his son, while the latter lived with us at Tabréez.
What a change would there be in the prospects of this country,
could the worth and proper rank of females be generally understood
and recognized! The bishop's parents are venerable old people
and very kind in their attentions to us. They now brought us pre-
sents of excellent cheese, almonds and raisins of their own produc-
tion. They dined with us; and though they had never before at-
tempted to use knives and forks, nor even seen them, they succeed-
ed very well.
Dec. 3. The Mélik-governor-of Geog-tapá called to invite
us to attend a wedding at his village. A blacksmith, an ingenious
fellow who had become acquainted with me by making for us a
door-latch, called also at my study and was much amused with my
American steam-stove. "It is," said he, " a wonderful thing,-at
once a fine vapor bath; a tea-urn; and a delightful fire-place." He
30
234
WEDDING-SALUTATION IN ENGLISH-BUFFALO.
proposed to try to make something like it, which, however, will be
difficult, as the art of casting iron is not understood by the Persians.
Dec. 7. About 8 o'clock in the morning, horses arrived from
Geog-tapá, which were sent to carry Mrs. Perkins and Mrs. Grant
to the wedding. Geog-tapá is a large village, about five miles dis-
tant from the city, inhabited entirely by Nestorians. And as a fam-
ily of méliks, claiming to be descended from ancient kings, reside
there, it is regarded as a kind of Nestorian metropolis of the pro-
vince of Oróomiah. Almost every day after our arrival, we had
received invitations from different villagers, besides the formal one
from the chief man, to attend the approaching wedding; and our
presence was evidently anticipated with no small degree of interest.
We started about 9 o'clock in the morning, Mar Yohannan ac-
companying us. The weather was mild and very fine,-almost like
a morning of September in America, though the tops of the lower
mountains were clad by a recent fall of snow. As we approached
the village, a great concourse came out with trumpets and drums to
escort us. Welcome, welcome," echoing from the multitude of
voices and mingling with the rattle of their rude music made the
whole region resound. And not the least agreeable circumstance
was the frequent salutation of "good morning," from numerous boys
belonging to the English school which priest Abraham had opened
in this, his native village. After passing half way around the vil-
lage, in a crowd of men, women and children, so dense as often
completely to hedge up our horses' way, we reached the house of the
chief man, where the wedding was to be celebrated. The bride-
groom, on the occasion, was his adopted son. A fat buffalo* had
just been knocked down before the door. When we entered the
house, the bride stood like a veiled statue in the farther corner of
a very large room, which was soon filled to overflowing by the rush-
ing multitude, the bridegroom with red feathers in his cap among
the rest, who had been out to welcome our coming.
(C
It is the practice of the Nestorians to have the marriage ceremo-
ny performed in their churches and very early-commencing at
least an hour before day-because the services are long, and the
nuptial parties and all the ecclesiastics, who participate in the per-
formance, are obliged to abstain from food, on the wedding day, un-
til after the ceremony.
But in this instance, to gratify us, they had
deferred the marriage till our arrival-10 o'clock, A. M.—and in-
stead of assembling in the church, they had for our better conve-
nience prepared to perform the service at this dwelling.
As the crowd drew up around us, in anticipation of the com-
mencement of the ceremony, Mar Yohannan gave direction, that in-
asmuch as strangers were present, they should all be careful to make
much less noise than is usual on such occasions. Priest Abraham
* The buffalo is domesticated in Persia-is worked like the ox-and its
flesh and the milk of the female are used as food.

Thayer & Co's Lith. Boston,
R ELIAS, A NESTORIAN BISHOP.
LENGTH OF THE SERVICE-CONTRAST.
235
was the principal officiator, but was assisted by two other priests
and several deacons of the village, who joined with him in reading
the prayers and select portions of Scripture-such as the account of
Abraham's sending after Rebecca for his son Isaac, Jacob's serving
for Rachel and all the other venerable scripture authorities that en-
ter into their marriage service; the whole of which would doubtless
be more interesting, if not more instructive, were it not read in an
unknown tongue. The bride retained her place veiled in the far-
ther corner of the room about an hour, the bridegroom meanwhile
standing near the officiating ecclesiastics. They then arrived at a
point where hands were to be joined, this being made known by the
ecclesiastics who alone understood the service. Several women in-
stantly caught hold of the still veiled bride and pulled her by main
strength half across the room toward her intended husband; and
several men at the same time seized the bridegroom who was at first
equally resolute in his modest resistance, but finally yielded and ad-
vanced toward the bride. A smart struggle ensued in his efforts to
secure her hand; but he at length succeeded, and both, with great
apparent submission, then took a standing attitude near the officiat-
ing clergy. The regular routine of reading occupied another hour
or more, when, first the bishops and after them the multitude-we
of course among the rest-advanced and kissed the married pair.
In the course of Mar Yohannan's visit in America, a clergyman
with whom we passed a Sabbath, had an application to marry a cou-
ple at his dwelling a few moments before the bell rung for a third
meeting. He performed the ceremony in our presence, with all due
solemnity of course, but in a formula so comprehensive and brief
that he occupied, besides his short prayer, I think only a minute and
a half. The bishop, remembering the Nestorian marriage service,
by way of contrast, humorously asked, "Do you marry people on
rail-roads too?" I regretted that my esteemed ministerial brother
had not at least in that instance for the sake of the bishop-at-
tached to his marriage formula a small quota of the length of which
the Nestorians have so much to spare.
During the services at Géog-tapá, Mar Elias, the aged bishop
resident in that village, came in. He saluted us in English, shak-
ing hands with us-which orientals never do among themselves-
and repeating to each of us, good morning. I was much gratified
to meet such a welcome from Mar Elias. His cautious distance,
when I first met with him the year before, arose mainly, I believe,
from his fear that I was an emissary of Rome. His evident delight,
in catching and using a few phrases of English, as is also the case
with multitudes, is very gratifying, as an index of their interest in
us and our object. Mar Elias took his seat by my side, and often
translated to me in a whisper parts of the service which, had I been
far more familiar with the language, I should as little have under-
stood, so rapid and unintelligible was the manner in which the whole
was recited
236
WINES BETROTHAL-PURCHASE OF WIVES.
After the services were closed, the married pair and the officiat-
ing ecclesiastics, who had till then-near 1 o'clock in the afternoon
-eaten nothing that day, retired to take some refreshment. A ta-
ble was also spread before us, and wine was passed among the mul-
titude. Conversation at length becoming lively, Mar Elias, as if
from a knowledge of our views on the subject of temperance, said to
me, "Our country abounds in wine, and my people are apt to drink
more than they ought. I tell them to drink little and talk slow on
such occasions, but they will not listen to me." There was, how-
ever, in this instance, very little that was boisterous, considering the
large concourse assembled, and I saw no one intoxicated, from the
liberal supply of wine.
Inquiries have often been proposed to me, on the subject of the
wines in Persia; and I may here, as appropriately as any where, state
the facts in the case. The juice of the grape is used in three ways
in Persia. When simply expressed, it is called sweet, i. e. sweet li-
quor. It is not drunk in that state, nor regarded as fit for use, any
more than new unsettled cider at the press in America; nor is it
even called wine, until it is fermented. A second and very extensive
use of the juice of the grape is the syrup, made from boiling it from
this sweet state, which resembles our molasses and is used in the
same way for sweetening, but is never used as a drink. This is in
fact neither more nor less than oriental molasses. The third use
of the juice of the grape is the distillation of it into arrák, or Asiat-
ic brandy. The wines of Persia are in general much lighter than
those of Europe; but they are still always intoxicating. In making
these statements, I throw down no gauntlet for controversy on the
much vexed wine question, but wish simply to communicate infor-
mation. Were I to hazard the expression of personal feeling and
opinion, on this general subject, it would be that of the deepest re-
gret for any approximation in the tendency of the age to the removal
of the sacred landmarks of Scripture institutions.
Betrothals are customary among the Nestorians, which are nego-
tiated by the parents or other friends of the parties, but not without
their own knowledge and usually their mutual choice, and at least a
sight-acquaintance. These are made months, and often years, be-
fore the marriage, at which time tokens or pledges, in the form of
presents, are given by the would-be lover or his friends, to the girl.
A kind of semi-wedding is held at the homes of both parties, at the
time of betrothal, which is regarded as in a measure a sacred con-
tract, though instances are not rare in which it is violated. Wives
are purchased among the Nestorians, as they were in the days of
Jacob,—the price varying from five to fifty or one hundred dollars,
according to the standing and charms of the person. It is not con-
sidered proper for the father of the bride, who receives the purchase
money, to appropriate it to his private purposes, but expend it in
furnishing her with "wedding garments. The wedding commen-
ces and continues two or three days at the homes of both parties.
EXTRACT FROM THE MARRIAGE SERVICE.
237
The bride is then sent for and conducted to the house of the bride-
groom, who, amid music and dancing, gallantly welcomes her arri-
val, by throwing at her, as she approaches and alights, a few apples,
or painted boiled eggs, from the roof of the dwelling, as loving to-
kens. The marriage service is performed immediately after her
arrival, and the festivities are continued several days, during which
she is present among the guests, but is kept closely veiled.
That the burden of these long weddings may not be onerous on
the parties, it is considered proper, for the numerous guests, at the
close, to make a liberal contribution, commonly enough to meet the
expenses of the wedding, and sometimes, much more.
This equal-
izing system is perhaps a good one, as weddings thus bear heavily
upon nobody at a given time, and the poor can as easily marry as
their more wealthy neighbors. The common age at which the
Nestorians marry, is from thirteen to fifteen of the female, and from
fifteen to seventeen of the male. The bride, on her marriage, be-
comes a member of the bridegroom's father's family, subject like
her husband, and their children, when blessed with them, to that
father's patriarchal supervision and control.
It occurs to me that the reader may be gratified with a specimen
of the long marriage service of the Nestorians. I will quote from
the concluding part, or that which is technically styled "the bless-
ings." This portion of the work-for the whole service composes
a small volume*-is in the form of a rude poem, divided by the
letters of the alphabet, in the alliterative manner of the 119th Psalm,
each respective division commencing with the letter by which it is
numbered. The bridegroom, bride, brideman and bridemaid
are separately addressed, or "blessed," each address forming, in
fact, a distinct poem, and its parts extending through all the letters
of the alphabet. The portions relating to the two former will suffice as
specimens, which may also be regarded as a fair sample of Nesto-
rian literature and poetry. If words abound to the lack of sense,
the sin lies of course at the door of the book or its authors, and not
of the translation, which I give as literally as the different idioms
of the Syriac and English will permit.
EXTRACT FROM THE MARRIAGE SERVICE.
"Then let the priest put his right hand on the heads of the
bridegroom and the bride-the brideman and bridemaid, and
bless them with these blessings.
When the priest has taken his right hand and said, BLESSINGS,
then let the priest repeat this blessing upon the head of the bride-
groom.
ALEF.
Thou bridegroom, who bowest thy head before the priest in humility, the
* This volume, which is called, Barúkta, is made up of extracts from dif-
ferent ancient writers, Ephrem the Syrian, among others.
238
BLESSINGS UPON THE BRIDEGROOM.
Lord, our Lord, shall lift up thy head, and thou shalt prosper [or, may
thou prosper] in both worlds.
ВАЕТН.
The blessing of the Lord shall be upon thee; and from the books* I will
repeat for thee. The sun with its heat shall not harm thee, neither the
moon with its changes [waxing and waning].
GIMEL.
Your head shall be conspicuous; you shall overcome your enemies; your
increase shall be perpetual, while in your abundance you shall not come to
want.
DALED.
Your deeds Messiah shall prosper, and shall bless you in your going out
and coming in, and help you in your sitting in the assembly and in your
speech.
HE.
You shall overcome your enemies; they shall be earth under your feet;
and you shall flourish, both in public and in private, with a good and a fair
name.
VAV.
Your purses shall be full, as Pison with its pearls; and the multitude of
your children shall spread themselves abroad like the abundant overflowings
of Gihon.
ZAIN.
Thy seed shall be in plentitude like Daklath [the Tigris] when it is swol-
len; and thou shalt multiply and increase in thy children on every side, like
the river Phrat [Euphrates] in the midst of the nations.
HAIT.
Your prosperity shall be four-fold, both in body and in soul; and your
riches, both terrestial and celestial, shall be doubled.
TAIT.
The light of the overshadowing cross shall keep thee by night and by
day; thy house shall be advanced; and thou shalt rejoice therein forever.
YOOD.
Your knowledge shall be like gold; before all your friends it shall shine,
with the favor of the Lord which shall be upon you; with light shall it direct
your going forth.
KAPH.
The crown of your head shall be blessed. The garments which you put
upon your mortal body shall be blessed; blessed, also, your bridal bed;
blessed your abode, and blessed your possessions.
LAMED.
In repose, peacefully shall you slumber; in the morning, with joy shall
you awake; at noon you shall gather your goods; and at all times, grateful
ease shall you find.
* The Scriptures and other books, from which the quotations are allusions
rather than literal extracts.
BLESSINGS UPON THE BRIDE.
MEEM.
239
From strength to strength shalt thou go; from glory to glory shalt thou
attain; from degree to degree shalt thou ascend, and from good to good ad-
vance.
NOON.
Exaltation and honor shall be unto thee; thy name shall be good and fair;
like David and Constantine, the Lord shall increase thy glory.
SEMCAT.
The loving branches of thy loins in joy shall rise up before thee; and like
the comely olive plants, they shall be blessed around thy table.
Ar.
When thou stretchest forth thy right hand, the right hand of the Lord
shall respond; and wherever thou shalt put thy left hand, his help shall be
with thee.
PE.
Thy sustenance, in this world, shall be with life and peace; evil shall
not come nigh thee, neither by night nor by day.
SANDA.
Our prayers for you shall be accepted and our desires answered; you shall
be a father to chiefs, and priests shall come forth from your loins.
KOPH.
Before all men shall thy root spring up like the stock of Abraham; the
Lord shall bless thee like Ephraim, and like Jacob who begat Joseph.
RAISH.
Thy firstlings and thy substance shall be unto thee in righteousness; a
high wall shall be round about thee, with the protection of the Lord.
SHEEN.
Thy name shall go forth among kings, and thy speech among chiefs; the
fruits of thy loins shall overflow, and they shall be preserved from calamities.
TAV.
The adorable Trinity will crown thee with every blessing, and by thee
shall God be praised, and we will all say, yea and amen.
Next, the blessings upon the bride, according to the letters.
ALEP.
May God, who blesseth the just, bless our bride who is given in marriage.
May her attire of the inner-man be comeliness, and her outer-garments,
beauty.
ΒΑΕΤΗ.
May He render blessed to her the house into which she entereth, as the
house of queen Helena; may he hallow to her the marriage, which is estab-
lished by the laws of the faithful.
GIMEL.
Her ornaments, treasures and abundance, amplify them plentifully, and
240
BLESSINGS UPON THE BRIDE.
rejoice her husband [lord] as he comes in; let him look with admiration up.
on their excellence.
DALED.
She shall order her house for her husband without strife and noise; and
his honor shall increase and abound; his fame, also, among her companions.
HE.
Grant to her the joy of her heart; and enlighten the light of her eyes;
heal the wounds of her members and forgive to her the sins of her soul.
VAV.
Thou shalt be first and new [a precedent] in whom brides shall be blessed;
according to the words of the priests shalt thou be blessed, and in the re-
sponses of the deacons.
ZAIN.
Adorn her body with health, and beauty accompanied with modesty; her
name shall go abroad in honor, and she shall live a peaceful life.
HAIT.
Behold, thou exalted on high, and bless thy handmaid, and her husband;
by thy right hand, O Lord, keep them; by thy grace may they be preserved.
TAIT.
Virtue, life and health grant unto her from thy treasure-house; and in
mercy answer her wants with an abundant and overflowing measure.
Let thy right hand be upon her;
deliver her from evil and violence;
YOOD.
and under thy skirt, let her be shielded;
and let her abode be for thine honor.
KAPH.
All the righteous women [departed] of our people and other nations shall
stand before her, as before a mirror. And with them, she shall enter into the
wedding, [in heaven].
LAMED.
She shall embrace Sarah, with affection. Bless thou, O Lord, her offspring
like Isaac; let her be blessed like Rebecca; and preserve her offspring like
Jacob.
MEEM.
Cause her beauty to equal that of Rachel; and may her seed be like Jo-
seph; bless thou her womb like Leah, that she may be a mother unto many.
NOON.
May thy token of favor bless her like Asyat; and wilt thou increase and
multiply her like Ephraim; let her also be like Yoohávar; and her sons re-
semble Moses.
SEMCAT.
May a good hope fill her soul like that of Elizabeth, of the seed of Aaron;
may her offspring resemble Eleazar and Ithamar.
AI.
Grant aid unto her, like Sapphira; and favor her offspring like Gershon.
And cause her mouth, like Miriam's, to abound with hymns and singing.
PE.
Divide to her an inheritance in the land, as Mahlah, Hoglah and Yaah
POINT OF DIFFERENCE-CONCLUSION.
241
[Noah], and Milcah and Tirza, the sisters who inherited the portion of their
fathers.
SAUDA.
Bestow quiet within her house, and increase peace in her dwelling; may
there be priests from her children and deacons from her offspring.
KOPH.
Her seed shall inherit her possession; her fields shall be with wells of wa-
ter; her sons shall recline upon cushions and her daughters upon couches.
RAISH.
Her husband shall greatly rejoice; her fathers, moreover, shall be glad;
and sons, the perfection of thy will, O Lord, shall grow upon her knees.
SHEEN.
Her seed shall be multiplied as the sand, like unto the stars in the firma-
ment; and like Jordan in the days of Néesan, [April,] and abundant be her
wealth.
TAV.
Thou shalt bless thy maid-servant, O our Lord, according to these words
of blessing; according to the prayers of the saints, all the days of her life.-
Let glory and thanksgiving ascend to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
from henceforth forever and ever-to worlds without end, yea and Amen."
A point of difference between these two singular documents,
which naturally strikes the Western reader, is, that while the bride-
groom is addressed in the second person, the bride is spoken of, in
the third, a direct address to a female, on any public occasion, be-
ing regarded by orientals as indecorous, at least if often repeated.
We omit the "blessings," that succeed, addressed to the attending
brideman and bridemaid, which are divided in the same manner,
by the letters of the alphabet; also the address to the assembly;
and will only add the following few words, which form the conclu-
sion of the whole matter.
"Let the priest make the sign of the cross [with his hand] over
the assembly. Conclusion. To thee, thou bridegroom, illustrious
and adorned like the rose,-beloved and woven into the crown of the
celestial Bridegroom; and to thee, thou bride, beautiful and spot-
less among virgins, chosen from the fairest of the church; and to
thee, thou honored brideman, the emblem of John the Baptist; and
to thee, thou fair and worthy bridemaid, and upon all this innu-
merable multitude; peace, mercy and blessing, and the grace of our
adorable God, be multiplied, now, and forever and ever. Amen."
We continued a friendly conversation at the Nestorian wedding,
until three o'clock in the afternoon. The joy imparted to all by
our presence, was evidently very great. When we retired, the whole
multitude thronged around us, and again reiterated, welcome—wel-
come; and many rushed up to us, after we had mounted our horses,
to kiss our hands. Mar Elias was the last to turn back of those
who accompanied us some distance on the way. Our ride home
was delightful-particularly from our feelings of gratitude to God
31
242
VISIT TO MAR GABRIEL HIS RUDENESS.
for such indications of the confidence of the people in us, and of
our unobstructed access to all classes.
Dec. 9. With Dr. Grant and Mar Yohannan, I rode to Ardi-
shái, about fifteen miles distant from the city, to visit Mar Gabriel,
the bishop resident in that village. Mar Gabriel received and enter-
tained us with much cordiality. On my inquiring whether he would
like to come and reside with me, and learn English and teach me
his language, he replied, that he should be very happy to do so, and
would come as soon as the present feast is over, which would be the
case in three or four days. He is a young man of talents, and I
have, from my first acquaintance with him, been anxious that he
should early come under the direct influence of our mission. Dr.
Grant now employs Mar Yohannan as his interpreter in medical
prescriptions, a considerable part of the day, and priest Abraham
is soon to be engaged in a teachers' school on our premises. I
therefore find it equally convenient and necessary to employ another
Syriac teacher for myself, and am happy in securing so promising
a man as Mar Gabriel.
Such, however, is his youthful restlessness
of character, that it is a question how long or how regularly he will
be induced to devote himself to study.
Dec. 10. Priest Abraham inquired to-day how long, God willing,
I expect to reside in Persia.
I replied by asking how long he and
his people desire us to remain, and he quickly answered, "Always."
I conversed with him about commencing our teachers' school. He
appeared highly pleased with the prospect, and said that all the
Nestorians, clergy and people, are anxious that we should open
schools among them, to the fullest extent practicable. Mar Shi-
mon, too, the Patriarch residing in the Koordish mountains, he
stated, having heard of our coming among his people, had written
to Oroomiah that our arrival affords him inexpressible gratification.
The Nestorians are extremely apprehensive that our attention and
efforts may be in a measure diverted from them and directed to-
ward the Muhammedans. "A multitude of Muhammedans, in the
city," said priest Abraham to-day, "are talking about coming to
school to you; but I beg you do not receive them." This is a very
difficult matter to dispose of,-not more because prejudice rears a
separating barrier between the two classes, than because we have
not time and strength to do half that we desire for one, and less of
course for both of them.
He is a tall,
Dec. 15. Mar Gabriel came to reside with me.
fine looking young man. His native wildness and entire unacquain-
tance with our manners and customs remind us forcibly of Mar Yo-
hannan and priest Abraham's appearance, when they came to re-
side with us at Tabréez, and of the rapid improvement which they
have since made. As an instance, at our table this evening—a po-
sition which the young bishop had never before occupied-as priest
Abraham was passing his cup to Mrs. Perkins for a second cup of
tea, Mar Gabriel, whose cup was but half emptied, thus interrupted
FIRST HANDFUL OF CORN UPON THE MOUNTAINS.
243
him," here take mine; I have finished." "Oh no, I thank you,"
said priest Abraham. "Take it, I don't wish for it," said the bish-
op, and with a tone so decided that the poor priest was obliged to
yield to episcopal authority, though to his unspeakable embarass-
ment and mortification.
Dec. 16. Commenced constructing a series of school cards in
the Nestorian language, which has hitherto never been reduced to
a written form. Priest Abraham writes a beautiful hand and bids
fair to be an able assistant. Our first attempt was a translation of
the Lord's prayer, which I may denominate, our first handful of
corn, to be cast upon the tops of these naked moral mountains, far
more sterile than the bate, parched, physical summits, in Persia, that
most of the year are like the mountains of Gilboa, without rain, or
dew, or fields of offering. May the fruit thereof soon shake like
Lebanon. Numbers of the Nestorians were in at my study, in the
course of the day; and all were much interested in the business in
which we were engaged. They were greatly delighted to hear read-
ing in their language, a thing they had never heard or conceived
before. And even the sober priest was so much amused to hear
the familiar sounds of his native tongue, read, as well as spoken, that
he could not refrain from immoderate laughter, as he repeated, line
by line, what he had himself just written. I added a few words of
very simple comment to the Lord's prayer. "From what book did
you take this?" inquired priest Abraham; from no book, I replied,
but from my own thoughts. He was utterly astonished, and declared
that all the bishops of his nation together could not compose such
wise and excellent matter; and this declaration would probably
give no more than a fair impression of the ignorance and imbecility
of the Nestorian clergy at this time. Indeed, the priest added, in
the same connexion, that they never attempt to furnish any original
matter, written or oral, but merely recite their devotions; or at
most, the few who understand enough of the ancient Syriac, some-
times translate, orally, a few verses from the ancient into the ver-
nacular language.
Dec. 18. I read at evening with our priest and Nestorian boy,
the fifth chapter of Matthew. I remarked at some length, on the sin
of profaneness, as there forbidden. Said the priest, "you talk just
as Mar Elias, our bishop, talks; but nobody will give ear to him—
nobody-and what shall we do? Our people are all great sinners;
but not a man of them will listen to reproof or warning." I told
Abraham that he must preach. "But nobody will listen to me," he
replied. I told him he must pray to God for the influence of the
Holy Spirit to accompany his message to the hearts of those whom
he addresses; and the idea seemed to strike him as new and to
lodge in his mind. Priest Abraham inquired whether I did not think
it would be a good thing to have the Bible translated into their ver-
nacular language. I had never suggested the idea to him; but now
encouraged it. This evidently afforded him great satisfaction. How
244
A PRIEST FROM THE MOUNTAINS.
many Nestorian hearts will leap with joy and gratitude whenever
that great work shall be accomplished!
Dec. 21. An aged priest from the Patriarch's residence, near
Jûlamérk, dined with us. He is an uncle and a kind of acting dep-
uty of Mar Shimon, and is now on a visit in that capacity among
the churches of Oróomiah. He said that the Patriarch and himself
had heard of my having arrived at Tabréez with the design of aid-
ing the Nestorians, and their hearts had been filled with thanksgiv-
ing to God on that account; but he was now most joyfully surprised
to find us actually at Oróomiah. The appearance of this aged priest
is that of sincerity-much more so than we often see in this coun-
try. And I have little reason to doubt, that he and the Patriarch,
and in fact, the mass of the Nestorians, do heartily welcome us to
our labors. They seem deeply to feel their low estate,—and are in
just the condition to be thankful for help; and in some measure,
to be led to look to God also from whom alone their help can come.
In the evening, we and our families spent an hour in singing. Our
six Nestorian and four American voices harmonized much better
than the fastidious might suppose. The Nestorians are extremely
fond of our mode of singing.
Dec. 23. We visited a Khân. He introduced a son, who is
subject to epileptic fits. In describing his case to Dr. Grant, the
bishop, who was with us, said, "he has a devil." The incident
suggested to me the probability that some of those in our Saviour's
time, who were said, in just this language, to be possessed of devils,
may have been merely subject to epileptic fits, the cure of which in
their worst features would indeed be a striking miracle.
Dec. 25. Mar Gabriel, for the first time, read with us, in En-
glish, at our family devotions. His own gratification was very great
on the occasion; and his proficiency has certainly been quite com-
mendable in thus becoming able to read our language, though but
very imperfectly, in ten days after first looking at the alphabet.
Dec. 27. Was the Sabbath. In conversation with our Armenian
servant, who came with me from Tabréez, I inquired whether he
now prayed, separated as he is from his church and home and the
people of his religious communion. Yes," said he, "after I bid
you and Mrs. P. good evening, I go away every night and pray by
myself; and I remember with great satisfaction something which
you once said, but which our greatest bishop never thought of;
you told me, that God is always present, in every place, and knows
when we pray alone just as well as when we go to our church with
the priests."
At our Bible class, this afternoon, the two servants connected
with our families, as well as the ecclesiastics and boys who live with
us, were present, and all listened with eager attention. Instead of
doing the whole myself, I requested Mar Yohannan to translate
some of the verses into Turkish and explain their meaning; and it
was very gratifying to listen to his intelligent and impressive re-
NEED OF LABORERS.
245
marks, and particularly so, as he is becoming quite interested in
preaching in the same manner to his people elsewhere. Instead of
the many childish, mystic meanings, with which both he and priest
Abraham formerly invested every passage of Scripture, they now
give as their own the same expositions which I incidentally suggest-
ed, as we read the New Testament together from day to day at
Tabréez. When all, or a considerable number, of the Nestorian
ecclesiastics shail thus preach and enforce their preaching by a con-
sistent example, what a revival may we hope for, in this now de-
graded and lifeless church.
Dec. 29. As the year draws to a close and I embrace the occa-
sion to survey our position and circumstances, two or three points,
relating to our work, urge themselves upon me with indescribable
importance. We are in pressing need of more laborers. We are like
two solitary reapers, in the midst of a vast and glorious harvest, fully
ripe and fast falling into the ground. And while we drop our sickles a
few moments and take our pen to send forth our feeble cry for help,
we can scarcely find the time for this even, such is the pressure of our
work; for now is emphatically the day of salvation for the thousands
and thousands who stand ready to receive the bread of life at our
hands. There are from one hundred to one hundred and fifty thou-
sand Nestorians, to whose minds and hearts we may have as ready
access as we could to almost any population of the same amount in
America, so far as a willingness to enjoy our labors is concerned.
The hostile character and unsettled state of the savage Koords may
indeed hedge up our way for a time to the Nestorian mountaineers,
but they will come to us more or less and we shall gradually reach
them by our influence. Dr. Grant is almost wholly occupied among
the sick and the dying. His medical prescriptions, every day, pro-
bably surpass twice the amount of the most active physicians in
America. That I therefore need a clerical companion to aid me
in the education and religious instruction of these thousands of
Nestorians, can of course not be doubted. It is impossible for me
to do more than a very small fraction of what is imperiously requi-
red to be done. And while the Nestorians are thus imperfectly pro-
vided for, must absolutely nothing be attempted for the benefit of
the millions of perishing Muhammedans? As they witness our in-
cipient efforts for the instruction of the Nestorians, they look upon
these christian subjects with feelings of jealousy, and as naturally as
resentfully ask, are we to be thus passed by? Many youthful fol-
lowers of the False Prophet are ready and desirous to put themselves
immediately under our instruction. What then shall we do? What
can we do? Why, to quiet the Muhammedans and keep them from
actually rising upon the Nestorians or ourselves for entire neglect,
Dr. Grant shuts his door against the sick, an hour or two in a day,
to keep a small Mussulman school. But amidst his labors as a phy-
sician, his efforts for the instruction of that class must of course be
very limited, little more in fact than an apology for attempting to
do nothing for them.
246 | NEED OF A PRESS-STATE OF THE FIELD.
We also need a press at our mission. It would be safe at Öróo-
miah. The Persians understand the use of the press. They have
for some time had one in active operation at Tehrân, and now have
a lithographic press at work at Tabréez. We have nothing to fear,
therefore, from the prejudice of the Muhammedans against our
establishing a printing-press here, at least, a Syriac press. And
the Nestorians, so far from apprehending anything unfavorable
from the measure, are constantly importuning us to procure for them
that important auxiliary. That it is indispensable to the successful
prosecution of our labors needs hardly to be stated. Where would
the modern Greeks have been, had they remained until now, with-
out any part of the Holy Scriptures, or a single syllable of literature
of any kind, in their vernacular language? Just there the Nestori-
ans must remain, with the exception of the very limited influence of
the school-cards, which we may be able to prepare by the slow mo-
tion of the pen, until we have a press in operation. They have vig-
orous, active minds; but no books-not one-in their spoken lan-
guage. But most of all do we need the prayers of the American
churches for a revival of religion among the Nestorians. A few of
them daily read the Bible; and all of them are ready to hear the
gospel from our lips, as our progress in their language enables us to
proclaim it to them. What wait we for then, but the descent of the
Holy Spirit, that the living word, as it thus reaches their minds, may
subdue their hearts and become the power of God unto their salva-
tion!
CHAPTER XV.
STATE OF THE FIELD.
THE local situation and civil condition of the Nestorians are no-
ticed in the first chapter of this volume. Their religious character
is also alluded to there, but it should be more fully stated, that the
reader may the better understand its gradual development in the
following chapters. As Christians, the Nestorians, when we
reached them, resembled the valley of Ezekiel's vision of dry bones.
And our feelings, on surveying the affecting scene, were probably
not unlike those of the mourning prophet, in contemplating the
state of fallen Israel. "Can these bones live?" was the inquiry,
which the painful spectacle itself prompted from us, and to which
and
the promised breath of Jehovah, to breathe upon those slain,
cause them to live, could alone furnish a comforting answer.
more strictly, perhaps, the Nestorians might then be described in
Or,
}
SPIRITUAL DEATH-VICES.
247
the affecting language of the apocalyptic address to the church of
Sardis "And unto the angel in the church of Sardis, write: these
things saith he that hath the seven spirits of God and the seven
stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest,
and art dead.”
The Nestorians, also, had a name to live. And to the forms
of their church, many of which have almost a Protestant simplicity,
they clung with mortal tenacity. Their periodical fasts, which con-
sist of restriction to vegetable diet and are quite numerous, many
of the people would sooner die than violate. Declarations to that
effect have been repeatedly made to our physican, when he has pre-
scribed chicken-soup for the sick, which they would most peremp-
torily refuse, because it was prescribed on days when their church
canons restrict them to a vegetable diet. And one of their bishops,
when first visited by Messrs. Smith and Dwight, it being in time of
Lent, scrupulously abstained from the use of wine at dinner, be-
cause the vessel which contained it had been internally oiled to
prevent leakage; but he at the same time urged them to join him
in a glass of brandy, as an innocent beverage, inasmuch as it had
not been thus contaminated by contact with animal oil!
With a name to live, and with all their rigid punctiliousness in
adhering so strictly to the letter of the forms of their religion, the
Nestorians as a body were, however, dead. The life and the power
of Christianity had departed. Scarcely a symptom of spiritual vi-
tality remained. Of the meaning of regeneration, even their most
intelligent ecclesiastics seemed to know little or nothing. Their
views respecting it, extended hardly beyond the rite of water bap-
tism. At least, they appeared to suppose that this rite possessed
some mysterious charm that involved the agency of the Holy Spirit
so far as it is ever exerted. And their works were not found per-
fect before God. The plain commandments of the decalogue,-
those against falsehood and the violation of the Sabbath, for in-
stance, were wantonly and almost universally broken. Falsehood,
among all classes-equally as among the Muhammedans-appeared
to be much more habitual than telling the truth, and when there
was not even the poor apology of a pretext for preferring falsehood
to truth. On the Sabbath, they would not indeed labor; but, as
matter of calculation, would visit, engage in festivities, trade, and
arrange their business, far more than on any other day of the week.
Profaneness prevails among them-as well as among the Mussul-
mâns-to an extent that astounds an American ear, It has so run
into the texture of their language, as to form constituent parts of
their most common phrases.* The boy who drives a team at work,
a cow to pasture, or a mule in the caravan, cries out almost inces-
**
* It should be conceded, that orientals, though thus habitually profane, are
also more thoughtlessly, ignorantly, and far less malevolently so, than those
who are addicted to this sin in America.
1
248
PROFANENESS-APOLOGIES-
-THE NAME.
santly, 'Ya Allah,'—O God, as equivalent to, Go along, in Eng-
lish. The chopper repeats the same, as a kind of sing-song charm,
at nearly every blow of his axe; and the gardener, as often as he
pushes his spade into the ground; and the same is in general true
in other kinds of labor. And in conversation, Wallâh, in Turk-
ish, and B'shimee d'Alláha, in Syriac, a direct appeal to the Su-
preme Being, is synonymous with a note of admiration or exclama-
tion, and is in fact the close of almost every sentence; and obscenity,
among the mass, is about as prevalent as profaneness. Intemper-
ance, too, as already stated, exists to a fearful extent among the
Nestorians. Their temptation to this sin is peculiar, their fertile
country being like one great vineyard.
When reminded of the siu and inconsistency of these vices, in
nominal Christians, especially in those who professedly make the Bible
their rule of faith and practice, they would acknowledge the wrong,
but at the same time excuse themselves, in consideration of their
depressed political condition. Lying, they would urge, was often
indispensable, to save them from being overreached and oppressed,
by their Muhammedan masters. The scriptural observance of the
Sabbath, too, they would say, must not, in their circumstances, be
expected. Frequent oaths were unavoidable to command belief
and facilitate business with their oppressors. And as to free in-
dulgence in the use of wine, they would account their facilities for
such indulgence as a precious boon vouchsafed by heaven, and
almost the only one left to them, to cheer and sustain their spirits
under their intolerable burdens.
It should not, however, be inferred that Christianity, in the fallen
state in which it existed on our arrival among them, cost them no
sacrifices. It cost them the privileges of freemen, and brought up-
on them almost every species of ignominy and oppression. Ameri-
can Christians know nothing, in comparison with the Nestorians,
of suffering for the name of the Lord Jesus. They are habitually
called by their superiors, the Muhammedans, unclean infidels and
dogs, and are treated in accordance with those epithets. Often
their property, and sometimes their children, are wantonly stripped
from them, on account of their attachment to Christianity, while
their renouncement of it would place them at once beyond the
reach of such indignities and sufferings. And it is wonderful, that
they have clung, from century to century, so tenaciously to the
name of our holy religion, paying such a price for it, while un-
cheered and unsustained by its living consolations and power.
Nor should it be supposed that their formal Christianity—their
having a name to live, while they were dead-was of no practical
benefit to them. Even the apparently lifeless form exerted on
them a very salutary and important influence. It saved the existing
remnant from becoming Muhammedans, and from the no less de-
plorable alternative of yielding to Papal domination. And as I
have elsewhere suggested, it preserved among them, in some re-
EDUCATION-SCHOOL-ROOM.
249
spects, particularly in their observance of the seventh command-
ment, a far higher standard of morality than exists among the de-
based followers of the False Prophet, with whom they live, and by
whose vices they are more or less contaminated.
As of the church of Sardis, so also in relation to the Nestorian
church, we may, in the spirit of charity, hope that even here it
might be said, "thou hast a few names which have not defiled
their garments." If such there were, however, on our arrival
among them, we must stretch the mantle of our charity much
broader to embrace them and cover their deficiencies, than is war-
rantable in enlightened christian lands, so blinded were they by the
deep darkness and borne downward by the mighty current of ini-
quity and corruption that prevailed around them.
Education, when we reached the Nestorians, was at an ebb
almost as low as vital religion. None but their ecclesiastics could
read at all, and but very few of them could do more than merely
repeat their devotions in an unknown tongue, while neither they
nor their hearers knew anything of the meaning. Indeed, in both
an intellectual and religious point of view, the flame of their candle
had long been flickering and was ready to expire. The com-
mencement of our missionary labors among them was just in time
to strengthen the things that remained and were ready to die, and
save the Nestorians as a church from actual extinction.
Jan. 16, 1836. To-day we met in our new school-room for re-
ligious worship. I had labored with my own hands, most of the
previous week, in company with the tardy joiners, cold as the
weather was, to construct seats, sand-boxes and writing-desks, that
we might be ready to commence our school without longer delay.
It is a spacious, convenient room for a school, and no less so for
a place of worship, for which purpose it is also designed. To-day
we tried to consecrate this school-room to the service of the Lord.
I preached on the occasion from 1 Kings 8: 27, "But will God in-
deed dwell on the earth? Behold the heaven and heaven of
heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have
builded;" and 1 Kings 9: 3, " And the Lord said unto him, I have
heard thy prayer and thy supplication that thou hast made before
me; I have hallowed this house that thou hast built to put my
name there forever; and mine eyes and my heart shall be there per-
petually." It is, we trust, our fervent prayer, that this Scripture
may be verified, in relation to our school-room; that scores and
hundreds who shall in the good providence of God, in the progress
of our work, resort to it for instruction, may find it in very deed
"the house of God and the gate of heaven." The plainness and hum-
bleness of the place, presented, in our view, no objection to making
our first occupancy of it an occasion of special religious acknow-
ledgement, and informally consecrating it to the Lord. Jacob
deemed it fit to set up stones in the desert and pour upon them oil
32
250
SCHOOL-SUBLIME OBJECT-
-SUBLIME OBJECT-APPARATUS.
to mark the site of his Bethel. And even the skeptical poet has
well said :*
"Shall man confine his Maker's sway
To Gothic domes and mouldering stone?
Thy temple is the face of day;
i
Earth-ocean-heaven, thy boundless throne."
Jan. 17. Our school-room, fitted up in the Lancasterian style, is
an object of great curiosity. Multitudes of both Muhammedans and
Nestorians throng to inspect it. It is the first Lancasterian school-
room ever opened in Central Asia. May it prove the harbinger of
hundreds and thousands.
Jan. 18. Our school commenced. Seven boys from the city at-
tended. They all took their stand in a semi-circle around the manu-
script card suspended on the wall, which priest Abraham with my
assistance had prepared. And as they learned their letters and then
began to repeat a sentence of the Lord's prayer, for the first time,
with a delight and satisfaction beaming from their faces, equalled
only by the novelty of their employment, I could understand some-
thing of the inspiration of Dr. Chalmers, when he pronounced the
Indian boy in the woods, first learning to read, to be the sublimest
object in the world.
Jan. 19. Seventeen scholars from abroad joined our school.
Among them are three deacons and one priest. They all lodge in
a single large room in one of our houses.
Jan. 23. The scholars requested permission to attend our En-
glish worship. We of course made no objection. They attended,
sat very still and listened, though they knew nothing of our lan-
guage. It is very gratifying, in this dark and distant land, to have
so many present at religious worship. Mar Yohannan took his seat
by my side in the desk, He now understands enough of English to
be in a measure interested and profited by attending our meetings.
In the afternoon, we held another religious service in the school-
room, for the benefit of the scholars, conducting the service in their
own language. A few of the older pupils read, each a verse, which
Mar Yohannan expounded, occupying all the time with the excep-
tion of the very few suggestions which I found it proper to add to
his appropriate and impressive remarks. Mar Yohannan is a natu-
ral orator. Though little accustomed to preaching, the size of his
audience and the interest of the undertaking seemed to inspire him
to-day with unwonted ardor, and rendered him quite eloquent.
I
Jan. 27. Our school succeeds very well. But we greatly need
slates, pencils and other suitable apparatus. By constant toil,
succeed in furnishing reading, two hours per day, on manuscript
cards in the Nestorian language. Two hours, the scholars read the
Scriptures, in the ancient Syriac, which they do not understand, but
learn to pronounce syllables, form words and spell, in that way;
Byron.
PRESSURE OF LABOR-MAR JOSEPH.
251
and two hours they spend in writing with their fingers in the sand-
boxes and in learning arithmetic from the abacus. During the time
devoted to the two last named exercises, a class from the older schol-
ars read to me in English. Two of the deacons who belong to the
school are very fine young men and render important assistance to
priest Abraham, as monitors of classes; and by alternating, in writ-
ing, they are able to copy two cards a day for the use of the school,
in connexion with their own studies.
My labors at this time, and indeed during the year, were very press-
ing. Eight hours in a day I was occupied over the language, in re-
ducing it to a written and grammatical form and translating portions
of Scripture into it for school-cards, and two hours I taught the Eng-
lish class in the seminary; in addition to superintending the general
affairs of the seminary-preaching twice on the Sabbath, attending
one or two meetings during the week, and performing an amount
of miscellaneous labor incidental to the commencement of a new
mission, which seemed often of itself well nigh sufficient to require
my whole time.
Jan. 31. Mar Joseph, the bishop resident at Adá, passed the
Sabbath with Mar Yohannan. He attended our English service,
this morning, and I had thus a Nestorian bishop on either hand in
the desk, while I was preaching. Our service in the Nestorian
language, in the afternoon, was extremely interesting. Mar Yo-
hannan's remarks were again intelligent and impressive. Mar Jo-
seph and a priest from his village listened with deep attention. At
this meeting, we have a constantly increasing congregation. Last
Sabbath, Mar Yohannan repeated at the commencement of the ser-
vices, a short prayer, which I had prepared for the daily use of the
school. To-day, he asked me whether he should again repeat that
prayer. I told him that he would perhaps prefer to make a short
prayer extenipore. "No," said he, "I cannot pray from my heart,
so well as that prayer is written.' So he again repeated the school
prayer. At the close of the meeting, I requested Mar Yohannan
to invite Mar Joseph to add a few remarks. He did so, but Mar
Joseph declined, being, as Mar Yohannan whispered to me in En-
glish, ashamed to attempt to preach extempore. His meaning was,
that the other bishop was too diffident to make the attempt.
Joseph expressed himself as much interested in the service, and said
that he rejoiced to see such a commencement of preaching the gos-
pel among the Nestorians. The contrast appeared to be striking to
him as well as to the rest, to their worship in their churches, which
consists merely of reciting their liturgy and some portions of the
Scriptures in an obsolete language.
Mar
I have often been inquired of, in the course of my visit to the U.
States, in relation to the character of Nestorian preaching. The fore-
going pages will have informed the reader what it was, if indeed
preaching can be said to have existed, among that people, when we
commenced our missionary labors; and what it is becoming, under
252
NESTORIAN PREACHING.
the influence of these labors, will appear in subsequent chapters.
I may remark in general, however, that it still differs widely and
will continue thus to differ, from sermonizing, in the Western sense
of that term. The Nestorians never think of limiting the subject of
a discourse to a single text of Scripture, but usually paraphrase and
expound a whole chapter or at least a paragraph. Perhaps we may
characterize their preaching as in general expository; but not mere-
ly so; it is in a high degree discursive, darting from Dan to Beer-
sheba on the wing of a bold figure at a breath. They also inter-
mingle many incidents and anecdotes and often with impressive
effect. I had on one occasion described to priest Abraham the par-
rot—a wonder in natural history, which is not found in Northern
Persia, except in rare instances, when it is carried there as a curi-
osity. In speaking of its loquacious and imitative powers, I men-
tioned that my father, when I was a small boy, purchased a parrot,
for the gratification of his children; but in attempting to carry it
home in a cage, he found that the bird was shockingly profane-
assailed him with fearful oaths-being inconvenienced and provoked
by its removal, and having learned to use that dialect at a public
house in a city; and that, lest it should injure his children, my fa-
ther opened the cage, long before reaching home and committed
the parrot to the fields. Some time after this conversation I hap-
pened to be present at a meeting, where priest Abraham was ad-
dressing a congregation on the subject of profaneness. And he took
me by surprise, in the course of his remarks, by introducing the
case of the parrot, from which he drew an argument and left an im-
pression that his hearers will never forget, by first describing the
bird and then stating in detail that the missionary's father had such
a horror and dread of the sin of profaneness, that he would not car-
ry home the parrot he had purchased, because it had learned to
repeat a few wicked words.-The Nestorians also introduce many
scripture quotations, making Scripture, in the true, evangelical
method of preaching, interpret Scripture, though their quotations
are far enough from being always the most pertinent. Mar Yohan-
nan, on one occasion, being asked by a young clergyman, in the
U. S., whom he had just heard preach, 'what is the style of Nesto-
rian preaching,' replied, in his broken English, "we preach all
from the Bible; but you take one word from the Bible, and a thou-
sand words from America,"-referring to the practice of writing
sermons from a single text; perhaps also half seriously chiding the
paucity of quotations from Scripture in some sermons to which he
had listened.
We find it expedient to adopt, among the Nestorians, a style of
preaching somewhat analogous to that here described, as best suited
to the oriental mind, and especially in its uncultivated state. It has
been well remarked that there is little logic-in the technical sense
of that word—in the Bible, particularly the Old Testament.
Holy Scriptures are doubtless a true index of the mould in which
The
FASTS INTRODUCTION-FESTIVALS.
253
they were cast-Asiatic mind, at the periods when the respective
portions were written. The general characteristics of mind, as
well as of manners and customs, in Asia, remain essentially the
same; and a highly logical sermon, in the common acceptation of
the term, would produce as little effect on an audience there, at the
Not
present day, as it would have produced in those early times.
that logic, learning and study may not find ample scope, in preach-
ing to the Nestorians. Indeed, without these, an American, or Eu-
ropean, will be ill able successfully to adapt himself to circumstances
so different from those in which he was reared, and address and in-
fluence minds naturally of a stamp so widely diverse from those
with which he had been acquainted, as well as shrouded in igno-
rance, warped and encumbered by prejudice and stupefied by general
degradation.
Feb. 1. The fast of Jonah, as the Nestorians denominate it,
commenced. This is an annual fast of three days, observed in com-
memoration of Jonah's being swallowed by the whale. Most of
each day is occupied in chanting prayers at their churches. Like
their other fasts, it seems to amount to little more than a senseless
routine of forms, and their prayers, we fear, are a chattering noise.
During their fasts, the Nestorians abstain from animal food; but
only in Lent, from food altogether. Each fast is anticipated by a
Mál-sóma, entrance of the fast, which is a time of feasting, and
followed by an Eéda, festival, which are seasons of the most dis-
gusting dissipation. In this way, almost the whole time is cut up
into fasts and feasts-into seasons of partial abstinence alternating
with brutal indulgence; and scarcely a single week remains, during
the whole year, undisturbed by their senseless mummery or noisy
revelling, except during their long fast before Easter. The people
proclaim, with much self-complacency, the number and length of
their fasts, and appear to think themselves very religious, from the
fact that about one half the year is included in their periods of par-
tial abstinence.
The following catalogue of the Nestorian fasts is given by Messrs.
Smith and Dwight, with their usual accuracy, as it was furnished
them by Mar Yohannan's father. "It being Friday, we first ques-
tioned the priest respecting the fasts of his church. In conjunction
with the others who were present, he informed us that they fast
every Wednesday and Friday; twenty-five days before Christmas;
fifteen days before the feast of St. Mary; three days before the feast
of the cross, which occurs twelve days after Christmas; three days
before the feast of St. John; three days before the feast of Khodéera
Nébhee ;* fifty days before Easter, including Easter Sunday, when
they eat meat; and fifty days before Pentecost, the observance of
which is optional and not regarded by all. We asked, as he fin-
ished the list, if there are no more, and he jocosely replied, 'Why,
* An epithet applied to Jonah.
254
EFFECTS OF THE FASTS AND FESTIVALS.
are not these enough? What of the year remains for us to eat?'
In none of their fasts, do they eat any animal substance whatever;
and in Lent, with the exception of Sundays and festivals, they eat
but twice, once after mid-day, and once after evening prayers, and
some eat only the latter meal."*
I know not what more artful contrivance Satan could have in-
vented, to substitute in the place of the pure religion of the gospel
which works by love, sanctifies the heart, controls the life, and regu-
lates the conduct, than he has furnished in the fasts of these oriental
churches. By common consent, it is lawful and proper to labor and
transact business, as usual, during their fasts. The only difference
between this and other time is abstinence from animal food, and in
the morning, in time of Lent, entire abstinence. No matter how
richly vegetable dishes are served up during these seasons. Indeed,
the palatable preparation of fast-dishes is quite a science among them,
and walnut oil, from the Koordish mountains, is in high requisition
for the purpose.
But during their festivals and saints' days, it is regarded as highly
improper to labor. The whole time must then be devoted to eating,
drinking and carousal. According to priest Abraham's exposition
of the subject, they do not regard their festivals and saints' days as
holy time, in the same sense in which they thus esteem the Sabbath.
But fate, they say, is always determined against persons who labor
on those days, and their undertakings will invariably be thwarted,
and not improbably some signal calamity will also visit the offender.
It is not easy to conceive what an amount of evil results from the
weeks of idleness and the general check to industry, caused by this
ecclesiastical prohibition of labor. Happily, our school is not much
interrupted by it. The most skilful hair-splitters among the Nesto-
rians, see nothing in reading or the study of arithmetic, which savors
so much of secular labor as to constitute sin or incur danger. But
wo betides the boy, or the man, who takes his pen to write during
these festivals. Writing would be labor.
While our hearts are often ready to sink, in view of this
degraded state of the Nestorians and their gross departures from
the spirit and practice of the gospel, we are, at the same time,
cheered by circumstances of encouragement. The high ecclesias-
tics in our families, and many others, manifest deep interest in our
instructions and evident dissatisfaction with their own senseless cere-
monies. It should be acknowledged, moreover, that their absti-
nence from wine, which the Nestorians observe during their fifty
days of Lent, does keep the people, as a mass, sober, during that pe-
riod, and affords us the most favorable opportunity in the whole year
for preaching to them the gospel. And we must not do injustice to
the general subject of fasting. Disgusted with the flagrant abuses
* Researches in Armenia, Vol. II. p. 208. Parts only of the paragraph on
this subject are here quoted.
DISTURBANCE IN SCHOOL.
255
of the practice-nay, its almost entire perversion, as observed by
Papists and other fallen churches, making it, as they do, a matter of
merit and even a work of supererogation, have not Protestant Chris-
tians verged to the opposite extreme? That fasting is a practice
clearly recognized by our Saviour, as proper to be observed among
his followers, is obvious from the passage where he says,
"when ye
fast," etc., assuming its existence, and then gives directions respect-
ing the manner and spirit in which it should be practised. And we
have only to recur to the biographies of eminent saints, in every age
of the church, to learn how important and salutary is its actual ef-
fect on christian character.* While, therefore, we guard against the
abuses and the deadly effects of the periodical system of fasting, as
practised by merely nominal Christians, should we not be equally
careful that we do not undervalué or neglect private fasting and oc-
casional social seasons, in connexion with prayer and humiliation,
as an appointed and important means of sanctification?
Feb. 2. This afternoon, the mother of three of the scholars came
into our school and commenced disturbance by ordering her sons
to go home. Priest Abraham, the teacher, was at church. The
monitor was frightened and sent to my study for me. As I entered
the school-room, the woman turned from the monitor and directed
her vociferations to me. My boys," said she, "shall stay no
longer. They are not slaves; they are related to the mélik of our
village; and you, sir, shall not have the glory and the benefit of their
presence in your school, without paying them wages." Not wishing
to join in the encounter, I sent a boy to the church to call priest
Abraham. The priest soon came, and the woman, being one of his
flock, was a little intimidated. He was much excited, particularly
by the insult which he conceived she had offered to me, by her im-
pertinent vociferations. "You and my nation," said he, addressing
himself to her, are most vile and ungrateful; and it is on this ac-
count that the Lord permits the Muhammedans to oppress us.
your boys and go." By this time, Mar Yohannan, who was also at
the church and had received some intimation of the trouble, entered
the school-room. He reiterated, in yet stronger terms, what the
priest had said, and told the scholars, moreover, that every one who
was not intending to remain three years, must leave the school that
moment; that he should not allow the American gentlemen who
had come here to bless and save his people to be thus treated, and
30 on. The woman, with great mortification, took her boys and
departed. The scholars uttered and reiterated their testimony that
she is one of the worst women in the country and had conducted
most disgracefully in this instance. But we have, doubtless, multi-
tudes to encounter here, who are just as low and mercenary in their
feelings and equally insensible to their own welfare. Our school,
Take
* The late eminent Dr. Payson, it will be recollected, was in the practice
of fasting, for some time, one day, every week.
256
SACRAMENT-PRIEST YOHANNAN.
however, was essentially benefited by the occurrence. The priest's
and bishop's lectures reminded the scholars that they, and not the
missionaries, are the ones benefitted by their attending our school.
Feb. 3. The fast of Jonah closed and the sacrament was ad-
ministered in the Nestorian church. The bishops importuned us to
attend and partake with them. I was so unwell of a severe cold as
to be unable to leave my room. Providence thus furnished me with
a satisfactory excuse for not going to the church, had I been dis-
posed to do so in other circumstances. May they become Christians
in heart and life, as well as in name; and then what a privilege
will it be to unite with them at the table of our Lord. At evening,
Mar Joseph, who was still with Mar Yohannan, called at my room
to inquire after my health. "You were unable to be at our church
to-day," said he. "Yes," I replied, "I have been confined to the
house."
May God restore you and long spare your life," continued
Mar Joseph; "I trust he has a great work for you to do, for our
poor people, who, we are sensible, have wandered far from the right
way. The seriousness with which he spoke, and his evident so-
licitude for my health, made me happy in the belief, that his words
expressed the sentiments of his heart.
66
Feb. 4. Finding work enough fully to occupy priest Abraham in
translation and the preparation of school-cards-no man in the
province being able to use the pen so handsomely as he can-we
sent, to-day, to a village ten miles distant for priest Yohannan, who
has an excellent reputation for a Nestorian, as a book-scholar, to
come and engage as teacher in our school.
Feb. 6. Priest Yohannan came. He is near forty years of age
and is a very interesting man,—the best scholar in Syriac that I
have met with among this people,—and apparently serious and up-
right in character. At evening I read with the priests, the parable
of the sower, which is to be the subject at our afternoon service to-
They manifested much interest in my explanation of the
morrow.
passage.
Feb. 7. In the absence of Mar Yohannan, priest Yohannan as-
sisted me in conducting the Nestorian service. He gave, as his
own thoughts, the substance of the remarks which I made on the
passage of Scripture contemplated last evening. The scholars were
very attentive, and the priests appeared solemn and much interested
in the meeting.
Feb. 9. The priests inquired of me the particular object of our
Monday evening prayer meetings. I told them, that we attach no
importance to the time, but our object is often to stir up each other's
minds, and to pray for ourselves, our friends and the kingdom of
Christ in the world. And in further explanation, I read to them
Malachi 3: 16, "Then they that feared the Lord spake often one
to another, and the Lord hearkened and heard ;" and Hebrews 10:
25, "Not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together as the
manner of some is; but exhorting one another, and so much the
EVENING HYMN-MYSTIC INTERPRETATIONS.
257
more as ye see the day approaching." The idea of such meetings
seemed new and interesting to the priests, and they expressed deep
regret that their own people have not hearts thus to assemble and
pray.
Feb. 10. This evening we revised the beautiful evening hymn,
commencing, "The day is past,"—which I lately translated, with
Priest Abraham's assistance, for the use of our school. The priests
appeared enraptured with the hymn, so much so that they could
scarcely cease singing it in the tune to which I adapted the trans-
lation, though both were alike new to them. The modern Syriac
far surpasses our own tongue in the softness and sweetness of its
sounds.
Feb. 11. The scholars having obtained a copy of the translation
of the new hymn, sung it this evening two hours or more of their
own accord in their room. Their style of singing is, to be sure,
rude enough; but it is gratifying to observe such an interest and
effort to learn.
Feb. 13. We studied the parable of the wheat and the tares,
and others which follow, as the subject of our religious meeting
to-morrow. The priests were again deeply interested in the exer-
cise. They are remarkably docile, and ready to receive my ex-
planations of Scripture, though their heads were so long since filled
with their own mystic interpretations. The same childish exposi-
tions of the parables of our Lord, which were introduced in the
early centuries and have so often since been repeated in the oriental
churches, are still floating in all their primitive freshness among
the Nestorian clergy. These must be gradually removed-crowded
out, by the simple truths of the gospel. The human mind, every-
where, far more than nature in the philosophy of the schoolmen,
abhors a vacuum. It avails little to attempt to displace error, till
truth is supplied in its place.
Feb. 14. Priest Abraham assisted me in conducting the Nesto-
rian meeting. Our school-room was quite full, and the seriousness
and attention of all present were most encouraging. The priest
was very accurate in giving the same expositions which I had sug-
gested in our private meeting the evening before, with a single ex-
ception. On the parable of the leaven, forgetting himself for the
moment, he started upon one of the old stereotyped interpretations,
according to which, every sentence and every word must have a
specific, figurative application. "Why," said he, "did the woman
hide the leaven in three measures of meal? I will tell you why;
it was because Noah had three sons, from whom the whole world
was peopled. The meal is the world; and the three sons are the
three races of men." It is such puerile theology, rather than those
grosser perversions of the Bible that savor of blasphemy, as found
in the Papal and other oriental churches, that we have to displace
from the minds of the Nestorian clergy. In the evening, we invited
}
33
258
TRANSLATING THE BIBLE-A VISIT.
the scholars to our dining-room, to spend a half hour in singing
their hymn. It was a delightful season.
Feb. 14. We commenced the great work of translating the Bi-
ble into the Nestorian language. May the Lord prosper this, his
own work, in our feeble hands. The entire Scriptures now exist
in the ancient Syriac-the book-language-in a printed form; but,
in the Jacobite or common Syriac character.* While this ancient
language is not understood by the people, the Jacobite character is
detested by the Nestorian ecclesiastics, (from their prejudices
against the sect who use it,) even those who are able to read the
language in that character, as well as their own. A translation of
the Bible into the modern tongue, and a version of the ancient Syri-
ac in the Nestorian character, are both therefore greatly needed.
Feb. 17. A considerable number of our scholars went home, to
engage during the rest of the week in a season of feasting, in anti-
cipation of the fifty days' fast which commences next Sabbath. A
wealthy, influential Nestorian, from Chărbâsh, a village two miles
distant, called to invite us to be his guests to-morrow.
Feb. 18. Early in the morning, horses were sent from Chărbâsh
for the ladies, and we set off about 10 o'clock on our visit. Priest
Yohannan being well acquainted in that village accompanied us.
Though a season of general festivity, no importunity, at dinner,
could induce him to taste a drop of wine. He had formerly been
strongly addicted to it, as we had before been informed; but on
coming to reside with us, he had entirely abandoned the use of it
of his own accord. Our host humorously remarked, "Priest Yo-
hannan used to drink wine excessively; but he has become a sober
man, in living two weeks with you." The priest felt much morti-
fied by this allusion to his former habits, not suspecting that we
were aware of them. To the end of the feast he drank nothing
stronger than water, and maintained his ground with the firmness
of thorough reformation. Such examples encourage us to adhere
to the strictness of our American habits in matters of temperance,
instead of attempting any compromise with the people of these
countries.
Feb. 19. For several days, our servant has expressed strong ap-
prehension of an assault from thieves. "The impression is general
in the city," said he to me to-day, "that a gang of robbers are plot-
ting an attack upon you by night." I inquired, why? Whether
there was any dissatisfaction on account of our residing in the city.
"Oh no,” said he; "both Muhammedans and Nestorians are your
friends, and are anxious for your safety. But the robbers have
conceived the idea, that you have chests of money in your houses.”
In Persia, every European is supposed to be loaded with money.
Our situation is lonely, removed as we are entirely from European
residents. The great advantages, however, which Oróomiah offers
* The Syriac character best known to Europeans.
1
APPREHENSION-AFFSHARS-LOOTEE.
t
259
to the missionary from this very circumstance, reconciles us to our
distant seclusion. No mountain of European vices here lies between
us and our appropriate labors. And no army of vicious foreigners
are here, to oppose us and our object, by slanderous reports and
immoral example. It is a circumstance that calls for devout thank-
fulness to God, that this promising field is thus fully open, without
a hand or a tongue, or a single extraneous influence to raise a bar-
rier against us.
The reader will better understand the foregoing allusion to our
personal insecurity, as well as the general state of our field, by
knowing more of the prevailing class of the people of Oróomiah.
The Muhammedans of that province, who are at least three fourths
of the population, are Affshárs—a bold, warlike tribe, originally
from Affghanistân, or Eastern Persia. They have such a reputation
for rudeness and barbarity, compared with most other Persians,
that it was, at that time, the opinion of several of the English Em-
bassy, who were deeply interested in our object, that we could not,
with a due regard for safety, attempt to reside among them,-espe-
cially as no Europeans ever had been permanent residents in the
remote city of Oróomiah. He, however, who has the hearts of
all in his hands, and turneth them as the rivers of water are turned,
so favorably disposed the mass of those Muhammedans, both rulers
and people, towards us, that they have not only from the first offered
us no molestation, but have treated us with uniform kindness and
marked respect and attention.
But there is at Oróomiah, as in all parts of Persia, a class of pro-
fessional ruffians, called Lootee, taking their name from the Patri-
arch, Lot, but resembling in character and conduct the corrupt
Sodomites, who vexed the soul of that righteous man. Their lawless
acts of violence on property and often on persons, being usually
mixed with a measure of buffoonery,* are regarded as half licensed,
or at least are more or less connived at by the constituted authori-
ties. These desperadoes are always the instruments of violence,
in the hands of the fanatical Moollâhs, whenever they attempt to
carry a point against laws and rulers by the agency of a mob, which
is not a rare occurrence in Persia. The reader will doubtless call
to mind the fact, that the Rev. Mr. Merrick and two German mis-
sionaries, were in imminent peril from this class of ruffians in a
terrific excitement of this description at Isfahân in 1837. The
savage Lootee are much more numerous at Oróomiah than in most
other parts of Persia. And this was the most serious ground of the
apprehensions of our English friends and of our own solicitude for
our personal security.
The concern of our English friends for our safety at Oróomiah
* The Persians say that a good Lootee ought to be able to laugh, cry,
weep, sit still and dance, at the same moment. Some of these jesters ap-
proach very near this idea of perfection.-Malcolm's Hist. Vol. II. p. 443.
260
PRECAUTIONS OF ENGLISH FRIENDS.
did not rest in idle expressions. Though widely separated from
us, they still spared no pains in seeking to promote our security,
particularly by addressing letters to the authorities of the province,
and requesting Persian nobles who belonged in Oróomiah, but were
residing at the capital, to write to their friends at home, commend-
ing us to their kindness and protection. As an illustration of the
exertions of these English friends, in our behalf, after our settlement
there, as well as for the intelligence which they communicate,
I insert the following extracts of letters received from two of them.
The first is from Dr. Riach, "the beloved physician," who met us
on our way to Persia, and whom we have since had frequent occa-
sion to mention in our communications, as a constant friend and
invaluable helper in our missionary work.
Dear Mr. P.
15
"Tehran, Nov. 14, 1835.
I hope, by Sir John Campbell, who leaves this for Tabréez to-
morrow, to be able to send you letters to the Oróomiah authorities,
from Meerza Bâlâ, the Hakim Bâshee (chief physician) here, and
who knows them well, which will be useful. As Sir John is him-
self acquainted with them and proposes to give you letters, I hardly
think anything more will be required for you for some time, and be
assured that as soon as I can see the time for asking for letters
from the great men here, that I will not let the opportunity slip.
As yet, the subject of your mission has not been hinted at, as far as
I know, by Mr. Ellis, and indeed no business of any kind has yet
been transacted with the wise men of this eastern court. Never
doubt that I take unceasing interest in everything which interests
you, or which may affect your comfort or happiness. I shall be
delighted to hear of and from you as often as possible, and recollect
that my anxiety about you will increase greatly, after you enter on
your proper field of labor.
That God may bless, protect and direct you all is the sincere
prayer of,
(Signed)
Yours most truly,
J. P. RIACH."
The following extracts from a letter from Sir John Campbell,
the generous author of our release from captivity in Georgia, written
on the eve of his leaving Persia, will serve further to illustrate the
kind agency of these English gentlemen in our behalf.
My dear Sir,
"Tabréez, Dec. 6, 1835.
I arrived here yesterday, having been unavoidably detained in
Tehran by business and sickness, and now with much reluctance
being compelled to take the route of Erzróom and Trebizond, ow-
ing to the tedious quarantines, in the Russian territory. Previous
COMMENDATION TO PERSIAN AUTHORITIES.
261
to leaving Tehrân, the accompanying letters from the Emeer-i-nî-
zám, and the Hakim Bashee, addressed to their friends in Oróomiah,
in your behalf, were sent to me, and I have now the pleasure to for-
ward them with two from myself, one to the governor and the other
to Absomét Khân, who perhaps may not recollect me, but I beg you
will call me to his remembrance, by stating that I commanded the
regiment of cavalry of which he was colonel at the cheman of Au-
vấk, and that I was then generally known in Persia by the name of
'Jân Sahib.'
Most sincerely do I wish you all the success your heart can de-
sire in the prosecution of your praiseworthy labors, and may the
light of education through your endeavors be shed upon the unhap-
py and oppressed Nestorians. I believe the field to be favorable to
your efforts, and unencumbered with those difficulties which would
attend similar exertions among the bigotted [Muhammedan] inhabi-
tants of this ill-fated country. They are said to be willing and do-
cile and desirous of instruction; and though I am about to leave
the kingdom, I shall be glad to hear, whenever you have leisure, of
the progress you are making, and if I can be of any service to Mrs.
Perkins or yourself in London, I hope you will not hesitate to let
me know.
To Mrs. Perkins I beg to offer my very kindest regards and with
sincere wishes for your mutual prosperity and happiness and your
own success,
Believe me, very dear Sir, most truly yours;
(Signed)
J. N. R. CAMPBELL.'
"P. S. My dear Sir,-I have just received from Mr. Nisbet,
your very kind and gratifying letter with the valuable token of re-
membrance you left for me in Tabréez. Most grateful do 1 feel for
your recollection of me at a moment when the arrangements for
your future establishment at Oróomiah, so fully occupied your time,
and most grateful are your expressions for the trifling attentions I
have been able to show towards Mrs. Perkins and yourself, since
your arrival in Persia. I have done no more than fellow-feeling
demanded, and regret that it was not in my power to procure a Răk-
kâm [order] from the Shâh; for it would have afforded me very
sincere pleasure to have contributed that aid towards the furtherance
of your missionary labors.
I quit Persia with some regret, as I am deeply interested in her
welfare, and in spite of the gloomy aspect of affairs and the fatal
blindness to everything but the enjoyment of a fool's paradise which
deludes the king, I do not despair of seeing Persia improve, though
it must be acknowledged that every species of imperfection and cor-
ruption reigns throughout the administration; and the superstitious
and fatal tenets of Soofeeism, are making a progress which must
lead to a definitive ascendancy, or to a serious and, I fear, not very
tranquil schism between the Muhammedans and the illuminati of
Persia.
262
VISIT FROM MISSIONARIES-PRIEST ZADOC.
I repeat my earnest wishes for your complete success in your un-
dertakings; and that every personal happiness and prosperity may
be the lot of Mrs. Perkins and yourself, is the sincere desire of,
My dear Sir, yours most truly,
(Signed)
J. N. R. CAMPBELL."
These timely exertions of our English friends contributed much
to the security of our residence at Oróomiah, and events that subse-
quently occurred in our experience which will be noticed in their
place, were so overruled by Providence as ultimately to relieve us
almost entirely of the apprehension of personal insecurity or an-
noyance in our remote and lonely situation.
CHAPTER XVI.
JOURNAL: MARCH-JULY, 1836.
THE topics embraced in this chapter, as also in others which fol-
low, are too numerous to admit of a general title. The period em-
braced in the Journal, in such cases, is given; and the leading sub-
jects are found, as hitherto, at the head of each page, and more
specifically, in the table of contents.
March 8. We were cheered by the arrival of our German friends,
Messrs. Haas and Hoernle, from Tabréez. The former brought
his little son, who has long been ill of a chronic diarrhoea, a com-
mon disease among children here, for the benefit of change of air
and medical prescription; and the latter intends residing in our
city, a short time, that he may the more advantageously prosecute
his inquiries respecting the Koords. To us, in our loneliness, the
visit of these missionary brethren is very refreshing.
March 19. Priest Zadoc, a brother of Mar Shimon, the Nesto-
rian Patriarch, is with us on a visit. He is rather intelligent for a
rude mountaineer, quite shrewd, very tall, and a remarkably fine-
looking man. Last evening, the high ecclesiastics in our families-
the bishops-and this priest Zadoc, lowered down their clerical
dignity so far as to engage in the sport of wrestling. Priest Yo-
hannan, the teacher of our school, who lodges in the same apart-
ment, was asleep at the time, and the reverend wrestlers, in their
dexterous feats, fell upon him and well nigh crushed him. He has
been scarcely able to instruct the school, to-day, and says that he
verily thought our house was falling by the shock of an earthquake,
when the mammoth priest Zadoc came down upon him. These
ecclesiastics are exceedingly ashamed and would gladly have con-

Thayer & Co Lith,Boston.
PRIEST ZADOC, BROTHER OF THE NESTORIAN PATRIARCH.
LORD'S SUPPER-LETTER TO MAR SHIMON.
263
cealed the matter; but priest Yohannan was so much injured as to
require medical attention and thus the whole affair was revealed.
March 21. This evening, we celebrated the Lord's supper.
Hitherto since our arrival, we have attended the service in private;
but priest Zadoc had importuned me several days to administer the
ordinance while he is here, that he might once sit at the Lord's ta-
ble with "those who," to use his own language, "so much resem-
ble the apostles." We accordingly in this instance admitted him,
and the bishops and priests who live in our families, to partake
with us. Though we have much reason to fear that they are still
in the bondage of sin, we dared not close the door of the Lord's ta-
ble against their earnest importunity-regularly professing Chris-
tians as they are, while their outward conduct is in general unex-
ceptionable. The question, however, was a trying one and we
deeply felt our need of wisdom from above to guide us on the sub-
ject. The season was to us, and apparently to all present, very in-
teresting and solemn. I read and explained in the native language
the eleventh chapter of the first epistle to the Corinthians and dwelt
at length on the apostle's caution against eating and drinking at the
Lord's table "unworthily."
March 26. Wrote a letter to Mar Shimon, the Patriarch, in ac-
cordance with the wishes of his brother, priest Zadoc, who had re-
peatedly requested one to carry home with him. I give it to the
reader, that he may the better appreciate the Patriarch's answer,
which he will meet under the date of its reception.
To Mar Shimon, Archbishop and Patriarch of the Nestorians:
Reverend Sir,-Through the mercy and grace of our Lord Je-
sus Christ, I and my wife and Dr. Grant and his wife have journeyed
with safety from the distant land of our fathers, which is the New
World, and have at length the happiness to find a home among your
people in the province of Oróomiah.
We and our fellow Christians in America have heard, with deep
sorrow, of the trials and sufferings which you and your people have
so long endured, in these lands of Muhammedan oppression. And
it is, be assured, our ardent desire and unceasing prayer, that the
Lord of Hosts may at all times be your Deliverer and Protector,
and that the richest blessings of heaven may be poured abundantly
upon you and your nation. And whatever we shall be able to ac-
complish, to aid you and your people, which you and they shall de-
sire, by way of establishing schools and circulating the Scriptures,
we shall be most happy to do. We are servants of the Lord Jesus
Christ and your servants for Jesus' sake.
We have much pleasure in becoming acquainted with your good
bishops and your people in Oróomiah. Of late we have also had
the satisfaction of receiving a visit from your venerable brother, the
learned priest Zadoc. Still greater would be our happiness, to be-
come acquainted with yourself; and we indulge the fond hope, that,
{
}
264
SAUDOC-ASSUMED CONSEQUENCE.
should Providence permit, we may, at some future time, when we
shall have become able to speak your language with ease, do our-
selves, the pleasure to visit you.
That your life and health, Reverend Sir, may be precious in the
sight of the Lord, and that yours may be the exalted privilege of
those of whom the prophet says, "they that be wise shall shine as
the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to right-
eousness, as the stars forever and ever,"
Is the fervent prayer of,
(Signed)
Yours very respectfully and sincere PERKINS.
J.
March 27. A Muhammedan, Saudoc by name, who was formerly
my servant and is now in the employ of Mr. Nisbet, came recently
to Oróomiah on business. As he had occasion to remain here a
few days, unoccupied, we hired him to return to Tabréez, in the in-
terval and bring us missionary funds, not being able ourselves, with-
out much difficulty, to leave our work for that purpose, and it is not
practicable to have our bills negotiated at Oróomiah. Saudoc rode
my horse. When he had been absent some days longer than we
anticipated, we became apprehensive that he had proved treacher-
ous and absconded. I started therefore this morning, in a heavy
storm of rain, to go to Tabréez and see what had become of him,
taking with me a Nestorian attendant. Our ride over the plain was
very unpleasant, the deep mud at this season, softened by the rain,
rendering much of the road almost impassable. We reached Koosh-
chée, a Muhammedan village forty miles distant from the city, after
sunset, and stopped there for the night. As a villager was conduct-
ing us into his yard for lodgings, a boy led my old horse out of the
stable to water, which was my first intimation that Saudoc was there,
on his way to Oróomiah. I was much relieved by meeting him with
our funds, so near the city, but was not a little pained, and at the
same time somewhat amused, to find what airs of consequence he
was assuming among the villagers. On seeing my old horse, my
Nestorian attendant instantly forced him from the boy who was
leading him to water, demanding, "whose horse is this?"
Emeer-inîzâm's, (commander in chief's,) artlessly responded the
astonished boy. The explanation of this answer was, that Saudoc,
who is capable of personating almost any character, had on his ar-
rival at the village announced himself as a Persian noble, a deputy
of the commander in chief-and had required of the villagers atten-
tions and gratuitous services, corresponding to his assumed rank
and importance. One of the unsuspecting villagers was according-
ly leading his horse to water, a second was washing his feet, a third
brushing his boots and others preparing for him a sumptuous meal.
Saudoc was a little disconcerted by my sudden appearance, particu-
larly as the unceremonious seizure of the old horse, by my Nesto-
rian companion, excited wonder and inquiry among the villagers.
"The
PERSIAN TACT IN DECEPTION.
265
He soon became composed, however, and readily satisfied the peo-
ple by telling them, as I afterwards learned, that I was his friend,
and had rode forty miles in the rain, that day, for the sole purpose
of showing him the respect and attention of coming so far to meet
him! As he is a very good specimen of Persian tact and skill in
assuming and sustaining borrowed airs,* I may give the reader one
or two more adventures of his. He is the same individual who ac-
companied me into Turkey, and silenced the inquiries of the Koord-
ish chief that met us on the way, by reporting me to be an ambas-
sador, with an armed retinue in the rear. While at Erzróom, on
that tour, he one day fell into a quarrel with a Turkish military of-
ficer, a captain in rank, who struck him in the altercation. Sau-
doc, though a stranger in the place, lost no time in making his way
directly to the palace of the Pashâ, and announced himself as the
Mehmandâr (convoy) of an English noble, and represented his own
consequence and the outrage he had received in so graphic and glar-
ing a manner, that the Pashâ apprehended the officer and bastina-
doed him severely, without making an inquiry. At evening, Sau-
doc returned to my lodgings and detailed to me the adventure, and
on my asking him why he did not come to me with his difficulty, he
replied, "I knew you would pronounce me as much to blame as the
Turk, and would not allow me to go to the Pashâ and complain."
At a subsequent period, Saudoc was sent to Oróomiah, by a na-
tive merchant of Tabréez, with goods to peddle. To the custom-
house officers, on this occasion, he declared that his loads belonged
to us, in order that they might pass free of duty, knowing that our
boxes of books, etc., were allowed to pass free. To the governor,
he announced himself as Saudoc beg (bey) a companion in trade of
an English merchant, well known and much respected in Persia.
And to us, he presented himself as having risen to the grade of a
merchant trading on his own responsibility. We happened, about
the same time, to call on the governor, and his Excellency gravely
inquired whether we were acquainted with Saudoc beg, the compan-
ion of an English merchant, and then in the ctiy; and his Excellen-
cy was not a little mortified, in view of the attentions which he had
shown the said Saudoc beg, when we informed him, in regard to his
real standing and character.
All classes in Persia are thus given to duplicity. I have known
ignorant muleteers practise artful evasions and intrigues that have
equally pained and astonished me. On reaching a village in Tur-
key, in one instance, our muleteer turned out his horses upon a fine
lot of mowing. The villagers remonstrated and threatened to report
him to their Pashâ, who was expected to pass that way, the same day.
"Who is the Pashâ ?" replied the muleteer with the most perfect
* The reader who is acquainted with Morier's novel, entitled, Hâjee Baba
in Persia, may imagine the hero of that work to be personified in this same
Saudoc.
34
撕
​266
EXAMINATION OF THE SCHOOL-DANCING.
non-chalance. " Why this gentleman is an ambassador, whom I am
conducting to Persia; and your Pashâ is coming this way, only to
escort him through the country." The poor villagers, not knowing
but every European might be an ambassador, however small his reti-
nue and humble his equipage, were frightened and silenced, by
this reply of the muleteer, and would have allowed their mowing to
be fed down by his horses, without another word of remonstrance,
had I not interfered in their favor.
April 5. We held an examination of our school and the first
term closed. I have attended many literary examinations in Amer-
ica; but never have I witnessed a scene which equalled the intel-
lectual, as well as the moral, sublimity of to-day's exhibition,-
more than thirty young Nestorians, here in the heart of Asia, scarce-
ly three months in school, yet acquitting themselves with a degree
of promptness and propriety, which I never saw surpassed. My
heart swells with gratitude to God, in view of what I have this day
beheld. Most amply am I repaid for all the care and toil which I
have bestowed on this our first missionary school. We are much
cheered with the hope, that this seminary is destined in the hands
of the Lord, to become a radiant centre, from which a flood of light
shall go forth, in all directions, to bless these benighted regions.
As most of the two weeks' vacation of our school is to be occupied
with the religious festival of Easter, our translators have also gone
home. A mountain weight of labor and care seems to be taken
from me in their absence and the dispersion of the school. We
gave to three of the boys who are extremely indigent, yet good schol-
ars, a suit of plain clothes each, and engaged to continue to clothe
them on condition that their parents shall keep them in school seven
years, that they may become thoroughly educated teachers. Each
suit of clothes, including a cap, cost one dollar and seventy-five
The change in the appearance of the boys, on taking off
their tattered garments and putting on new ones, was scarcely less
striking than the metamorphoses which take place in some of the
lower orders of the animal kingdom. The scholars all manifested a
strong attachment to the school, when they left it, and said they
should be anxious soon to return.
cents.
The
April 11. We visited Geog-tapá, in compliance with an invita-
tion sent to us yesterday. As we approached the village, our atten-
tion was arrested by hundreds of children and youth of both sexes,
assembled on the side of the hill that gives name to the village, en-
gaged in dancing on the bare ground. This is a very favorite
amusement, among the Nestorians, during their festivals.
males and females, alternating in a line, interlock their fingers, and
form a circle or semi-circle, and thus move a few yards in one direc-
tion and then back, in a measured kind of jump, usually in connex-
ion with the harsh rattle and screech of rude drums and clarionets,
and the gingling of the strings of coarse metal ornaments, with
which the girls on such occasions are heavily loaded.
:
A SHERIFF-MUHAMMEDAN WEDDING.
267
We called at the house of priest Abraham, where Mar Elias, the
bishop resident in this village, soon joined us, and together we as-
cended the beautiful hill to survey the plain. Hundreds of the vil-
lagers gathered around us, with gleeful countenances, but their joy
was soon dissipated, by the appearance of a Muhammedan möhasil,
sheriff, among them, accompanied by two soldiers, to collect taxes.
The sheriff was under some restraint by our presence, and was
therefore milder than usual in his measures to extort money from
the Nestorians. We dined with the bishop, with whom we had an
extremely interesting visit. I find no Nestorian, whose conversation.
savors so much of seriousness and apparent religious feeling as
that of Mar Elias; and he has the reputation among his people of
being the most pious man-man of God, as the Eastern phrase is-
in the whole province. He loves to talk of Christ and salvation,
and I almost dare to hope, that he has felt the power of the gospel
in his heart.
In the evening, we attended a Muhammedan wedding, to which
we had received a repeated invitation. The bridegroom is the son
of a Khân, very high in rank, who resides quite near us. We
called at the door by which we had been accustomed to enter the
Khân's mansion, but were informed that the house was filled with
ladies, who had assembled there to celebrate the wedding; and we
were directed to the next door-the house of the Khân's brother.
Persian females are not allowed to be present with males at wed-
dings. The guest-chamber to which we were conducted, is a
splendid room, fifty feet long and twenty feet wide, elegantly car-
petted. Carpets, and the mangel, (fire-pan,*) in winter, are the
only articles of furniture used by the nobility in Persia. Sitting
upon the floor and eating with the fingers, are economical customs.
A row of Persian nobles sat shoulder to shoulder around the great
hall. At the head, was Jengháir Khân, eldest son of the governor.
As we entered the room, he rose and beckoned us to seats by him-
self. Thus seated, we had on one hand this son of the governor,
a high Moollâh, a Koordish Pashâ from the region of Mesopotamia,
Khâns, begs, sultâns, and so on, in a descending order, down to
the servants who stood around the door. On the other hand sat
the chief Moollâh of the province; next the commander of the
troops of Oróomiah; after him a younger son of the governor, and
Khâns, begs, etc., descending in gradation as described on the
other side. The utmost precision is observed in being seated in
company according to rank in Persia, an observance which imparts
peculiar vividness in the injunction of Christ, "When thou art
bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down at the highest room,
(place,) lest a more honorable man than thou be bidden of him;
* This is an open copper vessel, about two feet in diameter and six or eight
inches deep, mounted on a pedestal or on four legs, about a foot from the
floor. It is filled with coals, previously ignited in another apartment; a
quince is often laid upon the fire, to fill the room with a pleasant odor.
268
EMBARRASSMENT ENTERTAINMENT."
and he that bade thee and him come and say to thee, give this man
place; and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room.
As we sat among these high Persian dignitaries—they, easy and
graceful in their loose flowing robes*—we, girded and constrained
in our tight coats and pantaloons, with a feeling of nakedness by
the contrast, and tilted in the half sitting Persian posture upon our
feet, which would soon have become clamorous enough in remon-
strance, could they have uttered half what they felt; they, so fluent,
bowing and profuse in their compliments-and we, scarcely able to
command expressions enough to acknowledge their civilities, and
these only in the stammering broken accents of a foreigner with
but a smattering of their language,—it must be confessed, that we
were in our own eyes, however we might appear in theirs, very
small men.
And, if I mistake not, many a foreigner in the East,
experiences these feelings. They, however, with at least a show
of real politeness, took no advantage of our embarrassing circum-
stances, but seemed to study to render themselves agreeable and
us comfortable.
Our entertainment, prepared and served in Persian style, was
rich but perfectly plain. The liquors could not have offended a
temperance agent in America. The principal one was sherbét—
water sweetened with loaf sugar and flavored with some aro-
matic. To the reproach of the christian name, the Muhammedans
are the most temperate class in Persia, the Koran forbidding the
use of wine. At present, however, as has been remarked, intem-
perance is making terrible inroads among the followers of the False
Prophet, as their reverence for their religion is diminishing; and
to a great extent, by foreign influence. It has not, however, yet
acquired respectability enough among the Muhammedans to lead
them to hazard the introduction of wine at a wedding. Will Christen-
dom present to the Persians, as they relax their hold on the system
of Mŭhammed, no better substitute, than the most fearful of her
vices ?
The fact of our being admitted to a Muhammedan wedding is so
novel, that the reader will indulge me, in going a little more into
detail, in relation to our entertainment. Soon after we were seated,
upon the carpet, gül-aub, (rose-water,) was passed around in small
china cruets and poured into the hands of each guest, with which
he moistened and scented his beard. Next, water and napkins
were carried around, that each might wash his hands in preparation
for the meal. The Persians, like the Jews, except they wash oft,
eat not. A cotton table-cloth, four feet wide, and long enough to
extend around the great hall on all the sides except the one which
is entered by the door, was spread upon the carpet; and the dishes,
brought in upon circular copper waiters, perhaps three feet in di-
* The dress of the Moollâh, here introduced, imparts a fair idea of the
gracefulness of Persian costume.

A MOOLLAH, OR PERSIAN PRIEST,
Thayer & Co Lith, Boston.
DorM
Mau
!
PILAV-MUSIC AND DANCING.
269
ameter, were placed upon the cloth. A cluster of four or six indi-
viduals, as the case may be, eat in common from the dishes upon a
single waiter.
The large wooden trays, or waiters, used by the
Nestorians and the Muhammedan peasants, are employed, by the
higher classes, for presenting sweet-meats, at public entertainments,
but not for the dishes at a regular meal. Those used by the latter,
are often six or eight feet long, elegantly wrought and neatly var-
nished. First came the sherbét, in cups like tea, sprinkled over
with a delicious mucilaginous seed. Next was brought the princi-
pal meal, the main article of which was pilâv*-boiled rice, (next
to bread, the Persians' staff of life,)-served up with baked lamb
and fowls. For plates, we used the very thin large bread cakes of
the country; and for knives and forks, our fingers, reclining on the
left elbow and using only the right hand. At the close of the meal,
water was passed around and we again washed our hands. The
conversation had all the while been lively, but dignified. The two
high Moollâhs now retired, from a sense of propriety, as it after-
wards appeared, just as clergymen in America are accustomed to
retire, before recreations, savoring of levity, are introduced.
#
We also rose to retire with the Muhammedan ecclesiastics, but
the ruler of the feast importuned us to stay a little longer, and to
gratify his wishes and amuse our own curiosity, we remained.
"Music and dancing" were soon introduced. The musicians were
three in number, two using tambourines, and one, a rude violin.
They played plaintive, oriental airs and accompanied their instru-
ments with their voices, in shrill, screeching tones, that to an Amer-
ican or European ear sound most like the cries of distress. There
was only a single dancer, but he a very nimble one, now whirling
upon his heels with the velocity of a top and anon leaping all over
the room, assuming the most eccentric attitudes and grimaces, and
occasionally turning a summerset. This dancer is a Lesgi, by na-
tion, from the south-eastern corner of the Caucasus. Numbers of
these people have from time immemorial strolled over these regions
in the capacity of minstrels. The music and dancing continued
about half an hour, at the close of which we retired. The main
zest of an American wedding was wanting in this, viz. the presence
* This favorite oriental dish is difficult to describe, and yet more difficult
to imitate, though it is simply, cooked rice. The rice is first boiled, but in
such a manner that the kernels are preserved whole, though fully swollen.
The water is then poured off, after which the rice is further cooked with a
plenty of butter; and if roast lamb or chickens constitute a part of the meal,
these are laid upon the rice, which adds to its delicate seasoning. Onions,
of which the Persians are very fond, are sometimes boiled or fried, and laid
also upon the rice-the latter in all cases forming the substratum and the es-
sential part of the meal. I must be allowed honestly to testify my attach-
ment to Pilâv, though not particularly fond of rice as cooked in America.
And I may say in general, that it is not, in my opinion, merely an acquired
taste, which renders several oriental dishes as great favorites with Europeans
and Americans who reside in the East, as the dainties of their native coun-
tries.
*
270
A PALACE-PAINTINGS-TEA.
of the married pair. Among the Persians, the nuptials are perform-
ed privately by the Moollahs, at the mosks. The wedding was
grand and imposing, however, and vividly reminded us of the force
of the parables of our Saviour, in which he represents the kingdom
of heaven under the figure of an Eastern noble making a "marriage
for his son." As christian missionaries, too, we rejoiced that the
Lord gives us such favor in the eyes of these Muhammedans, as to
be admitted to their highest circles and to sit socially with their most
venerated Moollâhs-pointing us, as this sign of the times does, to
the decay of Muhammedan prejudice, and the approaching period,
when the followers of the False Prophet will rejoice to receive from
the missionary's lips the glad tidings of salvation.
April 12. To-day the eldest son of the governor sent for us to
visit him in his summer palace-the chăhâr-bōrj—four towers. We
accompanied the messenger, and a walk of a quarter of a mile
brought us within the walls of a superb specimen of oriental magni-
ficence. I had often visited the residence of the Prince Royal at
Tabréez, and been impressed with its grandeur; but it is quite in-
ferior to this palace which was reared by the former governor of
Oróomiah. The Khân accompanied us into each room and to the
top of the building, with the utmost familiarity. Some of the rooms
have their interior walls almost entirely covered with gilded mirrors,
and others, with portrait and fancy paintings. The paintings are
gaudy, but not, according to our ideas, elegant and tasteful. The
fancy representations are mostly scenes of the chase, several of which
present Abbas Meerza, the late and favorite heir-apparent, on horse-
back and in the act of spearing the ferocious wild boar. In the spa-
cious court enclosed by the wings of the palace, are artificial foun-
tains; and the whole forms a good specimen of a Persian paradise.
From the top of one of the overlooking towers, we enjoyed a com-
manding view of the vast plain and the surrounding mountains.
When we had surveyed the whole, the Khân invited us to go to
a chamber on the premises and drink tea with him. Tea is the
customary treat, in exchanging calls, among the higher classes in
Persia. Sometimes both coffee and tea are brought forward; and
a more formal attention still is tea, coffee and rose-water-the lat-
ter for scenting the beard-but neither coffee, nor rose-water, nor
both together can properly supersede tea, where much respect is
intended. Instead of a decoction from the China plant, however,
hot cinnamon water is often offered, as a favorite beverage; but it
must still be served in tea-cups and pass under the denomination of
tea. The Persians drink their tea very sweet. Their loaf-sugar is
imported and expensive; but the nobleman will have it, be the price.
however exorbitant. To the enjoyment of this grateful beverage,
he feels but one abatement, and that is the mode of its clarification,
-abhorring, as the Muhammedan does, the use of blood, or con-
tact with it, in any form. In company with a European acquain-
tance, I was on another occasion, visiting this same young Khân,
CLARIFICATION OF SUGAR BASTINADOING.
271
who, to show us a special attention, ordered his semi-vár, (Russian
tea-urn,) and prepared the tea himself in our presence. As he sat
serving the party, he took from the sugar-bowl a snow-white lump
and ate it, complacently shaking his head and repeating, een hilee
khōb est, this is very excellent. "Yes," sportively replied my Eu-
ropean companion, "but it may be hârâm, unclean." The young
Khân is too much of a soofée to be much troubled, with such scru-
ples; and even a sober Moollâh who was of the party, while his look
of embarrassment bespoke his regret at the unwelcome allusion, still
drank his sweetened tea with much satisfaction, evidently little dis-
posed to canvass the process by which the sugar had been clarified.
This subject has, at different times, however, been a serious matter
in Persia. Two or three years ago, a Persian who had been sent to
St. Petersburg, to acquire a knowledge of some of the arts, on his
return, reported that the unclean infidel Russians clarify the sugar
which they import into Persia, not only with blood, as had before
been rumored, but even with the bones of dead animals and proba-
bly of dead men! Representations, from all quarters, were soon
poured at the foot of the throne, until his Majesty, to quiet his hor-
rified subjects and impress them with his orthodoxy, issued a man-
date that no more loaf sugar should be used in his kingdom! En-
glish merchants, in Persia, have for some time been careful to im-
port only such sugar as is clarified by means of steam instead of
blood, or at least that which purported to have been thus prepared.
This timely provision, the growing laxness of the age and the Per-
sians' sweet teeth, have kept the sugar market open and even in-
creasing, notwithstanding the royal mandate, which has, at the same
time, doubtless produced quite as great a check as his Majesty ex-
pected or desired it to effect.
In the chamber to which our host conducted us, was another son
of the governor and several of his associates, with whom we had an
agreeable conversation. Two or three old portable chairs, left there
by travellers, were arranged for our convenience. The eldest son
of the governor will, doubtless, succeed his father in the government
of this province. Ordinary affairs are now entrusted to him. While
we sat drinking tea, we witnessed an instance of his administration.
A Muhammedan culprit was brought up before the window and bas-
tinadoed. Our host taxed himself to the utmost, to render our
whole entertainment agreeable; but the unexpected sight of this
horrid species of punishment quite sickened our hearts, and made
us sensible that we dwell in a dark and barbarous land. Had the
Khân suspected that the exhibition would be disagreeable to us, he
would by no means have suffered it to take place in our presence.
So accustomed are Persian rulers to such scenes, that they think no
more of them than of smoking their kaleeóons.
In the Persian method of bastinadoing, the ancles of the culprit
are bound to a pole, from ten to fifteen feet long. He is then thrown
down upon his back on a pavement and the pole is raised and sup-
272
MAR GABRIEL'S FONDNESS FOR HUNTING.
ported by men at the two ends. The culprit lies thus entirely help-
less, however much he may struggle; and his legs extending up-
ward, the bottoms of his bare feet present a fair surface for the ap-
plication of the rod. An officer brought forward a large bundle of
rods-perhaps a hundred in number, six or eight feet long-from a
store-house of the magistrate, in which they are always kept ready.
Three or four other officers took each his rod and applied themselves
to the task, renewing their rods from the bundle as fast as those
used were worn up. The Khân gave orders to whip hard, and his
orders were faithfully executed, amid the wailings of the culprit and
the reiterated injunction of the whole party of young nobles-káim
voor-káim voor, whip hard-whip hard. As soon as I had suffi-
ciently recovered from the shock of horror at the scene to speak
composedly, I inquired what was the crime, and was told that the
culprit had been fighting. He doubtless deserved punishment; but
this frightful method of inflicting it, often makes us sigh for the
quiet land of our fathers—a land of wholesome laws and efficient,
but humane administration.
While we sat in the chamber with these young nobles-" this,"
said they, "would be a fine room in which for us to take English
lessons, "-thus indirectly inviting us to instruct them in our lan-
guage. Beyly," (yes,) was the only reply we could make to them.
The task of teaching them would be a very agreeable and hopeful
one, but our multiplied labors forbid us to undertake it.
(6
His
April 14. I rode fifteen miles to Ardishái, according to previous
appointment, to visit Mar Gabriel. I embrace the opportunity, dur-
ing our two weeks' vacation, to visit distant villages, as I find it
very difficult to leave home, in the term time of our school. Mar
Gabriel is a generous and noble, but still wild young man.
confinement, when he commenced learning English with us, soon
proved intolerable to his restless spirit. After a few weeks of quite
successful study, he felt constrained to relinquish the undertaking
and return to his favorite fishing and hunting. We are on the most
friendly terms with him; but I fear we shall not soon so far tame
him, as to be able to give him a thorough education or make him a
sober man. Ardishái is quite near the lake; and to-day, the bishop
entertained us with a most romantic feat in it, in his favorite employ-
ment of sporting. As he rode down to the shore, a flock of very
large birds rose from the water and flew away. A solitary one re-
mained in the lake; and the bishop observing it, applied the goad
to his fleet horse and galloped into the water with such speed and
power, as to open a channel, heave up walls of waves on either hand
and agitate the lake to a considerable distance around him. By
the time he approached the fowl, the water had become so deep as
to be almost on a level with his horse's back. But without the
least apparent embarrassment, he dismounted in a moment, caught
the bird in his arms, sprang again upon his horse and brought his
game to the shore. The fowl must have been entangled in weeds
A

MAR GABRIEL, A NESTORIAN BISHOP.
Mao!!
ACQUISITION OF ENGLISH-MAR JOSEPH.
273
-or possibly taken in snares which are sometimes set in the water
for that purpose. The beholders, quite engrossed with such a feat
of agility in the bishop, had thought little of the bird; but when it
was presented on the shore, it proved, to us at least, to be a wonder-
ful curiosity. It was the flamingo.* The bishop was happy to
present to us the splendid prize which he had taken. We brought
it home alive, but removed from its native element-the salt-water
-it soon died. The Persians say that it eats nothing but salt and
mud. Its flesh is regarded by the natives as quite delicious.
Mar Gabriel, we still hope, may become an important auxiliary
in our missionary work. The most unfavorable trait in his charac-
ter is, that he is " given to much wine." He appears to be very
friendly to our object. Were we to request him to aid us in estab-
lishing schools, in his diocese, he would not probably enter with
much interest personally into the matter; but out of regard to us he
might issue orders that his priests should all engage at once in the
undertaking. He is strictly sui generis among the bishops. Were
we, instead of requesting him to aid us in establishing schools, to
commission him to take for us a thousand ducks from the lake, or
half that number of hyænas from the mountains, he would regard
the commission as an honorable and no less agreeable one,-would
mount his horse and shoulder his musket and hardly give himself
time to sleep till so important a work were accomplished. Devoted
as he is to sporting, he, however, needs but the transforming power
of divine grace, to make him "a good soldier of Jesus Christ."
This youthful bishop, though unable long to confine himself over
his books, has, ever since the trial, attached very high importance
to the acquisitions which he made, during the two or three weeks
that he spent with us. Indeed, he conceives his knowledge of En-
glish to be already very considerable, having become able to pro-
nounce most of the words in the first chapter of Matthew. To the
inquiry of the Patriarch's brother, on one occasion, whether the
English is a difficult language, "O no," he promptly replied, "I ac-
quired it in less than three weeks." And almost as often as any of
the missionaries visit him,-particularly the younger members of
the mission, soon after their arrival in the country,—he produces
his spelling-book of his own accord, and to impress them with his
acquisitions as gravely as magnifically recites his lesson, selecting
always the second page, and rapidly going through; ba-be-bi-
bo-etc., affording one of the most comical exhibitions that can well
be conceived.
April 6. In company with Mr. Hoernle, I rode to the village of
Adá, sixteen miles from the city, to visit Mar Joseph. This bishop
is more than fifty years old, but has all the vigor and buoyancy of a
young man. His vivacity differs, however, from that of Mar Ga-
briel, "the mighty hunter." While he is active and social—often
* See the description in the note on page 7.
35
274
ENTERTAINMENT-PLAIN OF OROOMIAH.
playful and very shrewd, he is still sufficiently dignified. He has
for some time resided with us, but was now at home keeping the
festival of Easter. When we arrived, he was on the point, as he
informed us, of calling some of his friends together, to celebrate the
birth of our son—now two days old-intelligence of which had just
reached him. The birth of a son, in Persia, is always the occasion
of almost immoderate joy to the friends and acquaintances of its
parents, while the birth of a daughter fills the same circle with sor-
row and mortification; so little is the worth and influence of females
appreciated, in Muhammedan countries.
The bishop welcomed us very cordially and soon commenced pre-
paring us a dinner with his own hands. Having resided for some
time in our families, he was desirous to have a meal more nearly
resembling ours than his servants could prepare. In his little chest,
he had carefully laid up a small quantity of sugar and tea and two
new tea-cups and saucers, which he had purchased the week pre-
vious, in anticipation of our visit. We wondered at this, inasmuch
as we had never before been treated to tea, among the Nestorians—
the Muhammedans only being able to furnish that expensive bever-
age. Mar Joseph, it seemed, would have something very extraor-
dinary on the occasion. It was quite amusing to witness his pre-
paration of the tea. He brought forward the tea, sugar and cold
water and would have poured them all into one vessel and boiled
them together, had we not instructed him otherwise. By a little of
our assistance, however, he succeeded in making ready a good cup
of tea. A portion of his sugar being left, the bishop next undertook
to prepare for us a custard. In this experiment, he commenced in
much the same way as in the preparation of the tea; but by our
assistance, he again succeeded very well. So anxious was the good
bishop that we should be comfortably entertained, that he was on his
feet and in profuse perspiration, notwithstanding our remonstrances,
two-thirds of the day. Many Nestorians of the village called at the
bishop's to see us, and our visit was very gratifying. The promi-
nent topic of conversation was the opening of a school in their village,
which they all appeared to desire.
May 6. Mr. Merrick arrived from Tabréez, in company with
one of the German brethren. After spending a few days with us,
they are to start on a tour to Isfahân.
May 7. I baptized our infant son, with the name of William
Riach, the first being the name of two grandfathers and three un-
cles, and the last, a name rendered very dear to us by circumstances
to which I have alluded.
May 9. Rode out with our missionary brethren from Tabréez,
to survey the plain. We happened to take a road which I had
never before travelled, and were soon agreeably surprised to find
ourselves surrounded by some of the richest and most enchanting
views that we had ever seen, even on the plain of Oróomiah. Af-
ter riding about a mile from the city, under an almost continuous
MOUNDS OF THE FIRE-WORSHIPPERS.
275
arbor of willows, two rows of which, on each side of the road with
a stream of water running between them, gracefully interlock their
branches over the traveller's head, we reached a mound, at least
seventy feet high, that rises abruptly from the plain. We ascended
it and from its top enjoyed a perfect and most delightful view of
the whole district,-of the vast plain with its hundreds of villages—
the placid lake and the towering snow-capped mountains. It seem-
ed that a directing Hand had conducted our steps-for we knew
not in what direction we should ride when we left the city-to the
very spot from which we might enjoy the most perfect survey of this
charming country. This high mound is evidently artificial. Its
sides have of late been to some extent excavated, for the purpose of
procuring large stone which seem to be imbedded in ancient walls.
The tradition of all classes, at Oróomiah, is, that this mound occu-
pies a site consecrated by the fire-worshippers, and that during the
period of its use, the mound gradually accumulated from the ashes
of their perpetual fires. There are several other mounds on the plain,
which are the reputed relics of the fire-worshippers. And other sites,
in the city and vicinity, are still held sacred, some by Muhammedans
and others by the Nestorians. One mound similar to that which I
have described, is revered by the native Christians. Its interior is
composed of huge piles of stones; and the following is their account
of it. On that spot, say they, Mar Gewérgis, (St. George,) was
murdered by the fire-worshippers; and the Lord, as a punishment,
caused so profuse a shower of stones to fall from heaven as com-
pletely to entomb the village and rear this lasting monument to the
memory of the martyr saint. A few miles west of the city, just at
the foot of the mountains, is a village in which the Nestorians say
that the apostle Thomas lay sick, several weeks, when he first came
from Jerusalem to preach the gospel in these regions. And on the
eastern part of the plain, is a village which they hold that the same
apostle made his particular home, while he remained in this country.
Near this village is an ancient church denominated, St. Thomas.
Both Nestorians and Muhammedans cherish many superstitions in
connection with their hallowed localities. They generally conceive
the idea, that such places possess a power to work miraculous cures
and they are more or less resorted to for this purpose. I have met
with few, however, who profess actually to have been thus cured.
So numerous and childish are the traditions among all classes in
the East, that I have learned to place little reliance upon the most
cherished of them, the council of Trent investing tradition with
such authority notwithstanding. The tomb of the prophet Daniel,
for instance, is claimed to be in some half a dozen different places
in northern Persia and Georgia, widely distant from each other, and
I know not in how many places elsewhere. The American who has
been pointed to Plymouth rock, Bunker hill, or Mt. Vernon, and
yielded to the hallowed impressions of certainty, must beware how
he carries the same reverential feelings into the East, among nations
as superstitious, fanciful and false as they are ancient.
}
276
MURDER OF A JEW-LETTER OF MAR SHIMON.
May 20. Yesterday an unoffending Jew was publicly beheaded
and burned in this city. The enraged Muhammedans had, for two or
three days, thronged the governor's palace by thousands, demanding
that the whole Jewish population of the city should be put to death to
a man. And to appease the mob, the governor delivered up this in-
dividual. He was arraigned under the accusation of having mur-
dered a Muhammedan child. The Muhammedans, like the super-
stitious Papists, cherish the belief, (or profess to cherish it,) that the
Jews possess an instinctive thirst for human blood, as well as seek
human victims for an annual sacrifice. In this instance, a Mŭham-
medan infant was found dead, before the door of a Jew. The pro-
bability is that the child died a natural death and was thus exposed
by interested persons, to rouse public indignation against the poor
Jews; and so strong is the hatred of the Muhammedans towards the
descendants of Israel, that the stratagem proved entirely successful,
as is often the case in Muhammedan countries. Thus literally is
the fearful imprecation of the crucifiers of our Lord-" his blood be
on us and our children," fulfilled in their remote unbelieving poster-
ity. The hostility cherished by Muhammedans towards the Jews
is inconceivably more bitter than their hatred to Christians. The
determined aversion which the Jews early manifested to the religion
of the impostor is still remembered and strongly resented by his
followers.
May 26. I received a letter from the Patriarch, Mar Shimon, in
reply to the one which I addressed to him some time ago. The fol-
lowing is a literal translation :
From the Patriarchal seat, accept the prayers and blessing of
Mar Shimon, head of the church and Patriarch of the East.
Your most welcome salutations have been communicated to us,
ye faithful, ye blessed, ye true Christians, ye wise, ye exalted ones,
ye orthodox, ye holy, ye just, Mr. Perkins-Mr. Grant-lady Char-
lotte and lady Judith. Ye children of Aaron, ye companions of the
disciples; we love you as apostles of our Lord, and we pray the Lord,
that from his ocean of mercy, he may grant you peace, may remove
from you sorrow and grant you happiness and boundless joy, every
week, every day and every hour. May you be beloved and joyous,
among the sons of the faithful, forever, Amen and Amen.
Your spiritual salutations we have received, and now we would
inquire for your welfare, and would assure you that your highest
prosperity is devoutly desired by us,—Amen.
In the next place, we beseech of you a watch, a very excellent
and beautiful one, the like of which shall not exist,-Amen.
And furthermore, we request you to communicate to us the time
of your coming here, that we may know it, that the Koords, those
children of wild asses, may not come in your way to do evil.
When we shall hear of your coming we will send men to meet you,
that they may bring you to us in safety,-Amen.
ORIGIN OF MUHAMMEDISM-PAPAL NESTORIANS.
277
Much love and greeting from all the priests, from all the deacons,
from all the great ones, from the brothers of Mar Shimon and all
the members of the household, great and small. Continue prosper-
ous and firm in the word of our Lord, now and forever,-Amen."
""
was not
May 27. In conversation with a bishop and priest who are as-
sisting me in translation, they stated the theory embraced by the
Nestorians, respecting the origin of the Muhammedan system.
"Not Muhammed himself," said they, "but his tutor, a learned
Nestorian, by the name of Sergis, (Sergius,) was the real author of
the Koran." "This learned Nestorian," they continued,
a designing impostor, but a very mistaken Christian; who, in his
zeal to make converts, turned away from preaching the pure gospel,
and attempted to lure men by holding out to their imaginations the
enticements of a sensual paradise. Whether or not Muhammed
received the assistance here alleged, in his composition of the Ko-
ran, the world is not wanting in illustrations of the terrible effects
of setting aside the discriminating traits of the gospel to render it
more congenial to the natural inclinations of men, than the form in
which its author has revealed it. And the oriental churches from
the fourth century-and even much earlier-to the present time,
have furnished a fruitful soil of follies, absurdities and corruptions,
on which Muhammedism might easily take root and extend. How
different from the purity and simplicity of apostolic times!
July 3.
A Papal Nestorian called at my study, and requested
me to receive his brother into our school. The bishops remonstrat-
ed, because the boy belongs to a Catholic family; but the Catholic
still urged his petition, saying that his brother was now only a child,
and that he had himself no wish to have him become a Catholic.
The Papal Nestorians of this province are few in number; and
these few, and indeed all the Catholics of these regions, are very
different from those in the Levant, in Europe and in America.
Coming but remotely under the wily Jesuit influence that emanates
from the seat of the Pope, their characters are but little affected
by it. Many apply to me for Bibles. The strongest motive that
operates in their case, to incline them to maintain even a nominal
adherence to Rome, is the idea industriously circulated by Jesuits
who have formerly visited these regions, that all Christians of the
West are Papists. "You Nestorians," the Jesuits have told them,
are the only exception in the whole world, except the degraded
Armenians, who are also now turning; you are few, poor and de-
spised, and will remain so, until you raise yourselves to notice and
respectability by becoming allied to his holiness' the Pope, the
vicar of Christ, the successor of St. Peter, the head of the church
and of the world." No nation stands so high, in the general esti-
mation in the East, as the English. Nothing therefore was more
common than for the emissaries of Rome, who formerly visited
these regions, to call themselves Englishmen, and declare the whole
English nation to be Papists.
278
PROSELYTING ZEAL OF THE PAPISTS.
The Nestorians often relate the particulars of their past conflicts
with Papists,-particularly the career of the last one who has visited
them on this side of the Koordish mountains. His first attempt―
a daring one—was to bribe the Nestorian Patriarch. He went
directly to his residence, in the Koordish mountains, and as a fully
empowered legate, promised him, as I have elsewhere stated, four
thousand tomâns, ($10,000,) on condition that he would declare
himself and his people subjects of the Pope. Finding mercenary
motives ineffectual to accomplish his object, the Jesuit next ap-
pealed to the ambition of the Patriarch, telling him that should he
become allied to Rome, he would be exalted to be the Pope's lieu-
tenant in all the East. "Tell your master," said the Patriarch,
"that I shall never become a Catholic; and should you even in-
duce my whole people, to the last man, to do so, I would sooner
become a Dervish, or a Koordish Moollâh, than degrade myself by
alliance with the Pope."
Finding the Patriarch inflexible, the Romish emissary next tried
his artifices on the people of this province. A prince, a brother of
Abbas Meerza, was then governor of Oróomiah, and had in his
employ an old French lady in the capacity of an instructress of
European languages. This old lady had acquired a measure of
influence with her royal pupil, and the Jesuit found it very conve-
nient to make her his coadjutor. When therefore the Nestorians
spurned the rites of Rome as urged upon them by the Papal legate,
the old lady, at his instigation, was accustomed to petition the
prince to coërce them to submit to the Jesuit's dictation. This
system was pursued, until the Nestorians were on the point of rising
in determined resistance, and the prince was thus deterred from
his oppression.
In some instances, the Papal emissary entered Nestorian churches,
declared them the property of the Pope, and hung their walls with
images and pictures, which the Nestorians as often indignantly tore
down and destroyed. In one case, the Jesuit paid a yet dearer
price for his temerity than the loss of his "gods." Entering a
church in Geog-tapá, he commenced adorning it with Romish ta-
pestry, when Mar Elias, the venerable Nestorian bishop resident in
that village, came into his church and ordered the intruder to de-
sist. The Jesuit told the bishop that the church was not his, but
the Pope's, and in the name of "his holiness," commanded Mar
Elias to go out. The worthy Nestorian prelate, though aware that
a bishop must be "no striker," yet regarding the emergency such
as to justify an exception, took the Jesuit in hand, and gave him
such a corporeal castigation, that he was glad to escape with
broken images and torn pictures; and this was the last attempt to
Since
establish the reign of Popery at Oróomiah before our arrival.
that period, similar efforts have been renewed, but hitherto with as
little success, as we shall have occasion to notice, in subsequent
chapters.
BARANDOOZ-OPPRESSION.
279
July 8. In company with priest Abraham, I rode fifteen miles
to a village in the valley of Barandóoz, in pursuit of MSS. to aid us
in translation. A low ridge runs down from the great mountain
range, several miles, and partly shuts out the district of Barandóoz
from the main part of the plain of Oróomiah. The first five or six
miles of our ride led us through delightful groves, meadows, wheat-
fields, vineyards and gardens. We then crossed the ridge and en-
tered Barandóoz. It is a very fertile valley, containing about
twenty villages, and is watered by the largest river-perhaps six
rods wide-in the province. On reaching the village of which we
were in search, we were conducted to the house of its priest. We
were invited into his best room, after standing some time in the
hot sun, for it to be swept and put in order. At one end, were
three young calves, tied to the wall; and at the other end was
spread a piece of an old carpet, on which we were invited to sit.
I conversed some time with the priest respecting Bibles and schools.
He appeared interested. "In former times," said he, "this village
was the residence of successive christian bishops; but now we are
sorely oppressed, and everything is in ruins. We have few books
and no schools in the district." He engaged to send his son to our
school, to whom I promised to give a copy of the Syriac gospels,
for which the priest seemed thankful. A dinner of bread and boiled
eggs was spread before us, of which we gratefully partook, and then
started on our return, charmed with the beauties of the country.
The numerous thick groves of willows and poplars, that grow on
the water-courses, in this province, cast a rich green hue over the
plain, at this season of the year, which imparts almost a fairy aspect
to the land, lake and sky, and seems fully to justify the poetic line
of Watts in his version of the seventy-second Psalm-"There Per-
sia glorious to behold." The almost innumerable fields of the finest
wheat, and the orchards, vineyards and gardens also impress one,
with the idea of boundless and universal plenty, in every earthly en-
joyment. And such would actually be the case, were the gos-
pel to rule here and regulate society. But our hearts are often for-
bidden to enjoy this attractive drapery of nature and these abound-
ing gifts of Providence, by a recollection of the wickedness and wo
that reign in the midst of them. One class of the population of this
fine country revel in indulgence, and the rest are ground down to
the dust to sustain them. In the city of Oróomiah are about one
hundred Khâns-nobles of the highest rank-besides begs almost
innumerable. Each of these nobles has his retinue of ten-twenty
-fifty-seventy-five, or more servants; and a corresponding num-
ber of the villages of the peasantry are under contribution to sustain
the establishment. And for the hundreds of nobles who reside in
the city, the hundreds of villages of the surrounding country are all
thus borne down under intolerable, systematic servitude, to say noth-
ing of the oppressive extortions which the particular villages suffer
from their respective landlords.

!
280
SYSTEM OF TAXATION-PUBLIC REVENUE.
Once a year, and sometimes a whole year in anticipation, come
the king's tax-gatherers; and the poor peasants must often then
turn out the bread of their families or their clothing, to meet the
royal demand-or rather, the far more exorbitant exactions of his
rapacious deputies and constables. The regular annual taxation of
the native Christians is the following. The kharáj, capitation-tax,
amounting to five sahib koráns, ($1,25). Vineyards, gardens and
cotton-fields are taxed twelve and a half shahies (fifteen cents) for
each tănnáp, a square of about sixty feet. A fifth part of the wheat
and of all other grains, belongs to government. A khâlwâr, (which
is about six hundred pounds,) of straw, at the threshing-floors, pays
two and a half sahib koráns—about sixty cents. A female buffalo
is taxed sixty cents; a cow, thirty-three cents; and a sheep, ten
cents. The males of cattle that labor are not subject to taxation,
the exemption being intended to encourage their increase and aug-
ment the productions of the soil.
The Muhammedan peasantry are nominally subject to the same
amount of annual taxation as the native Christians, except the cap-
itation-tax, which is peculiar to the latter, and is regarded as the
price of their privilege of professing Christianity. The Christians,
however, suffer much more from wanton extortion, than the Mu-
hammedans. The legal taxation by the government would be found
quite tolerable to both classes, were it not for the numberless and
nameless illegal exactions in addition, which the peasantry suffer
from the collectors and inferior officers; and the yet heavier bur-
den that bears constantly upon them, in the habitual extortions of
their oppressive landlords. Custom allows to these landlords a va-
riety of annual contributions, from their serfs. From each house-
hold, they are entitled to five days of gratuitous labor, two loads of
dried manure moulded into cakes for fuel, twenty eggs and two
fowls. But these contributions are all wantonly increased to almost
any extent, at the will of the oppressor, and the ability of the suf-
ferer.
I may not find it more convenient elsewhere than here, to speak
somewhat at length of the sources of the public revenue in Persia,
and this I can do in the shortest form, by quoting from two or three
paragraphs* of Malcolm on the subject. I may premise that the
soil, in that country, is owned chiefly by the hereditary nobility and
the clergy. A portion of it, perhaps a fifth, is the property of the
crown, (khalisá,) being also farmed by the higher classes. Very little
is possessed by the tillers, who, as I have before stated, sustain to
the owners the relation of serfs to lords. The fixed revenue,' says
Malcolm, 'is chiefly derived from government lands, from taxes and
imposts on landed property, and on every species of goods and mer-
chandize. Crown lands are cultivated by the peasantry on terms
very favorable to the cultivator. When the crop has been measured
by an officer appointed for the purpose, if the seed be supplied by
* Parts only of the paragraphs referred to are quoted.
USUAL AND EXTRAORDINARY PRESENTS.
281
government, it is returned; and ten per cent. of the whole is next
put aside for the reapers and threshers; after which the remainder
is equally divided between the cultivator and the king. Lands that
are the property of individuals pay according to their situation in
respect to water. When the supply is certain and obtained from a
flowing stream, they pay twenty per cent. on produce, after deduct-
ing seed and the allowance before stated. If the water comes from
aqueducts, they pay fifteen per cent.; and if from wells or reser-
voirs, only five.'
Of other sources of revenue, Malcolm remarks, 'A part of the
fixed revenue is derived from ground-rents of houses, rents of cara-
vanseráis, baths, shops, water-mills, manufactures, and duties on all
kinds of foreign and home merchandize. The revenue collected
from shops is very considerable. When these belong to government,
a rent is fixed proportionate to the gain, derived by those who hire
them; when they belong to individuals, the government claims
twenty per cent. on their annual profits. The principles on which
the whole of the fixed revenue is settled are just and moderate; and
the system is so perfectly understood, that it is [not necessarily] at-
tended with either difficulty or oppression. But unfortunately, the
monarchs have never been satisfied with this, and its justice and
moderation only serve to make the people feel, more sensibly, the
The
irregular and oppressive taxes they are continually exposed to.
first of these may be termed usual and extraordinary presents. The
usual presents to the king are those made annually, by all governors
of provinces, and districts, chiefs of tribes, ministers, and all other
officers in high charge, at the feast of noo-rose, or vernal equinox,
Every officer of high rank must make this annual offering, which is
indeed deemed a part of the revenue and falls ultimately on the
farmers, cultivators and manufacturers. The amount paid is gener-
ally regulated by usage; to fall short, is loss of office; and to ex-
ceed, is increase of favor. There are extraordinary presents, of a
less definite nature, but which are also of very considerable amount.
Every person appointed to a high employment makes a present as a
token of gratitude. It is usually settled before he is nominated, and
may often be deemed the purchase-money of his station. The pro-
duce of fines, imposed by the customary law, and of involuntary
presents extorted from such as are suspended or dismissed from em-
ployment, which are levied on the pretext of their delinquency, is
very considerable.'
'The most oppressive of all the imports is called Sadir, a term
which means a public requisition and as opposed to Mâlîát, or fixed
revenue, denotes taxation raised to provide for extraordinaries. If
an addition is made to the army-if the king desires to construct an
aqueduct or build a palace-if troops are marching through the
country and require to be furnished with provisions-if a foreign
mission arrives in Persia-if one of the royal family is married-in
short, on any occurrence more than ordinary, an impost is laid,
36
282
CAUSES OF WRETCHEDNESS-ROYAL BRIDE.
sometimes on the whole kingdom, at others only on particular pro-
vinces. The sâdir extends to all classes. It usually bears lightest
on the wandering tribes, not only because they are the poorest, but
because they are the most impatient of such taxation. It falls
heaviest upon the proprietors of estates and citizens. It is, or rather
ought to be, levied according to defined rules, and every person
should pay the sâdir, in the same proportion as he pays the mâlîát;
but the governors of provinces usually exercise an arbitrary discre-
tion in collecting this tax which renders it more oppressive. They
settle the gross amount each village is to pay, and this affords them
an opportunity of showing partiality and committing injustice. This
tax is very severe upon the poorer classes of cultivators, from the
necessity of selling the crops upon the ground, at a low price, in or-
der to pay it.'*
The lower classes in Persia are thus literally and strictly rayahs—
flocks-which are kept merely for their fleece; and they are usually
shorn so often and closely as greatly to diminish their value and the
profit of the owner. So grasping is the hand of avarice that the
fowl itself that lays the golden egg is not unfrequently killed. It is
not natural to Persia, and especially this part of it, to be a wretched
country. It is her oppressive government, her army of idle despots
and the general corruption of her morals, that fills this fair inheri-
tance with wailing and wo. Said our Meerza, on one occasion,
“Our country is miserable, and has no health." Why, I inquired.
"Because the great men are poor and have no money," he replied.
Mistaken man! May he and his countrymen learn the true source
of their misery—their wickedness-and embrace their only remedy,
the gospel.
CHAPTER XVII.
JOURNAL: AUGUST-DECEMBER, 1836.
We rode out about two miles from the city, Aug. 22, by invita-
tion of the governor, to witness the ceremony of Khällät Pooshan,
putting on the robe, i. e. a robe of honor, received by the chief mag-
istrate as a token of favor from the king. In this instance, both the
governor and his eldest son received robes, the latter, as an expres-
sion of royal congratulation, in prospect of his soon being married
to a daughter of the old king. To-day, the intended bride reached
Oróomiah, after a long journey from Tehrân, and her arrival added
much to the interest of the occasion.
* Hist. of Persia, Vol. II. p. 336 et seq.
Mao⠀

Thayer & Co's Lith. Boston
A PERSIAN LADY AT HOME.
PERSIAN LADIES-LACING PAINTING.
283
The governor and his son put on their robes of honor in private
tents, and then presented themselves in the same, under a splendid
pavilion, to which we had been previously conducted. The sides
of this tent were open, and under and around it sat scores of the
Muhammedan priesthood and nobility, and farther back stood many
thousands of all classes of the people. In the midst of this con-
course, a Moollâh rose, and with a voice like a Stentor, read three
highly commendatory letters, forwarded by the king, with the robes
of honor, to the governor and his son. Persian rulers derive most
of their authority from impressions communicated on these occa-
sions. The assembled multitude, seeing the gorgeous garments and
listening to the flowery compliments from the king to their gover-
nor, are led to consider him as one of His Majesty's favorites, and
their loyalty is kept alive, by the annual arrival and display of these
tokens of royal approbation.
•
After the Moollâh had read the letters from the king, trays* of
delicious sweetmeats were placed before those who were privileged
to sit under and around the governor's tent. Those first served
greedily filled their pockets and handkerchiefs with the sweetmeats,
and others more modest but equally entitled to them, were sent
empty away. The governor rode on a mile or two beyond the scene
of the celebration, unattended, except by his body guard, to meet
and escort his son's bride. The concourse remained, awaiting his
return, and after an hour, his Excellency came, with the royal stran-
ger and her great retinue, and all filed in and proceeded to the city.
The beauty of the bride we could not avouch nor call in question,
as she was closely veiled, in the manner in which Muhammedan
females are required to be in public. The accompanying drawing
gives a good idea of the appearance of Persian ladies at home and
we may at least presume that the Princess was as fair as this repre-
sentation. Among the higher classes, the ladies devote a large por-
tion of their time to the toilet. Inspection of the drawing will re-
mind the reader that painting and tight-lacing are not confined to
the Western continent. Persian ladies color their eyebrows black—
the hair being combed down upon the forehead and cut short above
them-the nails both of their fingers and toest auburn, and their
cheeks, red. They commonly have a belle drawn upon the back of
their toilet mirror, with which they compare their own persons, till
their resemblance to the model is such as to satisfy them. Many
who aspire to the highest grade, in taste, add to painting the charms
of tattooing the face and neck, as indicated in the drawing. The
females, among the Muhammedans, are good-looking and often
handsome. They are more or less allied to the "Georgian beau-
ties" of school geographies, having regular Caucasian faces, with
* The large wooden waiter, already described.
+ In summer, Persian ladies do not wear stockings, and in their houses,
they go without shoes; and delicate feet are with them as much an object of
study as delicate hands.
284
HATRED TOWARD THE MUHAMMEDANS.
complexions often almost as light as our own; but always a heavy
masculine expression, far enough removed from the delicate features
of American ladies. Their hair and eyes are uniformly black; and
these, with the labors of the toilet, their shrill voices and not too
modest air, give to them, in the eyes of the other sex, a very fasci-
nating, or more strictly, bewitching appearance. The female chil-
dren of the higher classes go to school with the males enough to
learn to read and write; but neither the ideas and usages of the
country nor their text-books are such as to excite and encourage in
them a desire for mental accomplishment, so much as for personal
decoration and the arts of coquetry-nor does their education, if it
polish, essentially elevate their character. The nuptial parties were
preceded by a large number of musicians and professional dancers,
who made the whole region resound with their music, which, with
the leaping, gambols, prostrations and other feats of the dancers was
kept up till they reached the governor's palace. Pomp and noise are
indispensable items, in all public entertainments in Persia.
Both sides of the road were lined, for a great distance, with men,
women and children, as we advanced towards the city. Not less
probably than ten or twelve thousand persons were thus crowded
together, eager to see and to hear. As we passed the last group,
said Mar Joseph, who accompanied us, "could I have my wish, it
would be to behold all this vast multitude lying dead corpses."
Such was the language of a christian bishop!
"What do you
mean?" said I to him. "I mean as I say," he replied; "they are
Muhammedans and blaspheme the Messiah." I asked him whether
he remembered, on one occasion, when Christ was reviled on earth,
some of his disciples proposed to call down fire from heaven and
consume the revilers, and their Master said to them, "Ye know not
what manner of spirit ye are of." The good bishop felt and acknow-
ledged the justice of the rebuke. He is naturally a very kind, amia-
ble man; but neither he nor his people seem to know the meaning
of christian compassion. Trodden down by their Muhammedan ru-
lers, they never think of forgiving them, but as the only retaliation
in their power, draw a miserable satisfaction from cherishing the
most inveterate hatred toward their oppressors.
I was once forcibly reminded of the depth of this hatred, by its
development at the funeral of an aged Khân, who, like others of
his rank, had grievously oppressed his serfs. The villagers-all
Nestorians-came to the city, as the custom is in such cases, and
assembled before the door of the deceased, to make lamentation and
tender their condolence to the widow and family. One of our na-
tive helpers, who happened to be passing the dwelling at the time,
halted a few moments to listen to the loud expressions of their grief,
some of which he retained and related to me,—such for instance as
the following, "The wicked old oppressor is dead; we are glad of
it; he is receiving the reward of his iniquity; may his whole house-
hold soon follow him." The bereaved Muhammedan family did
EXPOSURE OF HEALTH-SICKNESS.
285
not understand the Nestorian language in which the villagers thus
gave utterance to their sorrow, but were little disposed to question
their sincerity, accompanied as their exclamations were, with vio-
lent beating of the breast, and piteous sobs and wailings.
The influence of our mission, under the divine blessing, is, how-
ever, adequate to effect a radical change in this people. And it is
delightful to contemplate our labors, and still more to engage in them,
with such an object in view. The means which we are now using,
to accomplish the work, are the daily instruction of the seven
ecclesiastics in our families; familiar intercourse with the mem-
bers of our seminary, about fifty in number, and their stated
religious as well as other instruction; the free circulation of
the Scriptures, in the ancient language; the establishment of schools
in the villages as fast as practicable; and visiting among the people
to the utmost extent that our other duties will allow. We hope
much from the almost sixty Nestorians collected on our premises.
They come directly under our influence. Many of them are ec-
clesiastics; two are bishops whose word is law; they are from all
parts of the province; and through them, as arteries, we hope our
influence will extend, until it shall gradually reach every village,
hamlet and human habitation in the nation.
During our first year's residence at Oróomiah, we suffered much
from sickness. It was late in November, in a climate almost as
cold as that of New England, that we were obliged to repair and
plaster the dilapidated mud-walled houses which we rented to live
in.
The rooms had little opportunity to dry; and while the barley,
from the straw mixed with the mud, grew from the walls of our own
sleeping room, which communicated with the apartment in which
we lived and was thus partially warmed, the frost stiffened the bed-
clothes of the lamented Mrs. Grant, whose sleeping room was not
even thus warmed; and these exposures, during that winter, did
much to undermine our systems, and render them an easy prey to
disease. Such exposure should have been avoided, perhaps even
at the expense of deferring, a few months longer, our settlement at
Oróomiah. But so ripe and inviting is our field—so eager and im-
patient were the people for instruction, that we felt constrained
to forget ourselves, while we entered as speedily as possible upon
our labors for their salvation. The climate of Oróomiah, as has
been stated, is also very hostile to foreigners. When the first
spring and summer came, sickness seized upon us like a strong man
armed. The other individuals of our mission were repeatedly and
violently attacked with fever and ague, and with ophthalmy-a
burning inflammation of the eyes-during the early part of the season.
My own health remained good, and I continued all my labors unre-
mitted, till about the middle of August, when I was seized by a
bilious fever, of a most obstinate and malignant character, as de-
scribed in the extracts of my journal which follow.
Sept. 12. Am just raised from the brink of the grave, whither
286
DEPENDENT CIRCUMSTANCES-JOURNEY TO TABREEZ.
I was carried by a fever, which ran with terrible violence under the
burning sun of a Persian summer, fifteen days. The last three
days, I lay quite insensible, and at last speechless; and our missiona-
ry circle nearly or quite despaired of my life. But He, at whose bidding
diseases come and go, stayed the progress of mine, even when it
seemed to be doing its last work, and brought me back to life and
my labors.
While I lay thus sick, Dr. and Mrs. Grant were seized with fever
and ague, and our babe was at the same time brought so low by a
violent attack of the croup, that for several days, there appeared to
be no prospect of its recovery. Our circumstances were of course
very dependent and trying. The Nestorians sympathized deeply
with us, and rendered us all the aid in their power. The Mŭham-
medans also manifested much concern, and sent often to inquire
how we were. Our missionary labors are much interrupted by this
sickness. They had been highly prosperous during the summer.
We had just opened schools in three of the largest villages, the resi-
dences of bishops, which still continue. But our translations—
preparation of tracts and school-cards, and our seminary are all
standing still. In the school-room, too, where I was accustomed
to preach to more than fifty Nestorians, on the Sabbath, no congre-
gation assembles, there now being no preacher. I hope fellow-la-
borers will hasten on, that when one of us is sick, the others may
perform at least a part of the work, which is so imperiously de-
manded to be done.
Sept. 15. I started for Tabréez, on business, but at this time
especially with the hope of enjoying a less febrile atmosphere, and
hastening the recovery of my health. I was still so weak that I
was obliged to be lifted upon my horse; but when mounted, I
found myself so much in my element that I could ride thirty miles
without stopping, and without very serious fatigue.
Sept. 21. I reached Tabréez. While my provisions lasted
which I took with me from home, I enjoyed my journey, and my
health rapidly improved. But after these were exhausted, the
miserable villages on the road afforded so little suited to the wants
of a sick man, that I suffered extremely, and the last night was
violently seized again with fever. My last ride was well nigh in-
tolerable. When I finally reached Tabréez, I was almost exhaust-
ed, and experienced the greatest conceivable relief in casting myself
into the kind embrace of our excellent German brethren, by whose
incessant attention and nursing I was soon made comfortable, and
though my fever ran again several days, it was much less violent
than the former one, and was at length removed by Mr. Haas' judi-
cious prescription.
Oct. 17. I reached home. I found my ride, in returning, very
beneficial to my still feeble health. But my sickness has so shaken
my formerly firin system, that I fear I shall not soon recover from
the shock. The Lord, however, orders all in wisdom as well as
$
FIRMAN FROM THE KING'S BROTHER.
287
mercy. In my weakness, his power may be magnified. I may
remark, while speaking of our health, that I have once since
been attacked with a bilious fever of the same malignant character,
and at the same hot season of the year; but it was earlier arrested;
and subsequently, with the exception of occasional attacks of excruci-
ating tooth-ache, which is one of the forms in which the effects of
the malaria of our climate are developed, I have enjoyed tolerable
health, and seem for several of the last years to have become happily
acclimated to the trying influences of that sickly clime. Several of
the other members of our mission continue to suffer, to an almost
inconceivable extent, from frequent attacks of fever, fever and ague
and diseases of the eyes. Mrs. Grant had nearly lost the sight of
one of her eyes, by a violent attack of ophthalmy, a few months be-
fore her death.
Oct. 20. Two Persian princes have recently visited Oróomiah.
One of them is Kahramân Meerza, a favorite brother of the king,
and the prince-governor of Azerbijân-the northern province of
Persia. The other is his uncle, Malek Kâsem Meerza. They had
heard of our residing here, and of our seminary, which is a great
novelty in the country; and the prince-governor sent his uncle to
visit us, and look into our missionary operations. The royal per-
sonage came, in a most friendly manner, dined with us, and in-
spected our seminary. He professed himself highly gratified with
the performances of the school, and encouraged the scholars-all
Nestorians-by promising to procure for them eligible places in the
army and elsewhere, whenever their education should be completed.
And as the result of his report to the king's brother, the latter, en-
tirely unsolicited by us, prepared and sent to us a firmân of which
the following is a translation.
FIRMAN.
"The command of His Highness is: Whereas the very honor-
able and respected gentlemen, Messrs. Perkins and Grant, at Oróo-
miah, are attending to the education of the people and render the
people useful, by teaching them European science, the grace of our
Excellency and Highness having become favorably disposed towards
them, we order and command three soldiers to their safety, at this
harvest season and onward; and in accordance with this grace, we
command that they shall be honored and praise our beneficence. It
is our command, that the exalted and noble lord, Nájef Kooly
Khân, governor of Oróomiah, shall take care to protect them in
every respect; and he shall give to each of the three soldiers, the
guard of their safety, twelve sahib korâns ($3,00) per month; and
never shall he neglect it. It is ordered that the trusty secretaries
arrange and execute the sum of this blessed command.
Written in the month Jamâdy-ul-évvel, in the 1252," (i. e of the
Hejira).
288
SECLUSION OF PERSIAN FEMALES.
It is of course always far "better to trust in the Lord than to put
confidence in princes." Such protection and encouragement, how-
ever, voluntarily tendered to us by the second man in Muhamme-
dan Persia, in the infancy of our mission, could not but impress and
encourage us, with a delightful confidence, that God is by his pro-
vidence, opening for us a wide door of faith unto the gentiles. It
is a circumstance very auspicious to the cause of missions, in this
country, that the king and other members of the royal family are
very ambitious to be known as patrons of European science and im-
provements. The church may thus, though they design it not, find
more than one Cyrus, among the princes of modern Persia. The
provision made in the foregoing firmân, of only a part of which we
ever felt it necessary to avail ourselves, will be understood, if the
reader recollects the description I have given of the Muhammedans
of Oróomiah, and particularly of the lawless Lootee.
Nov. 10. We started on a visiting excursion, among some of the
Nestorian villages. We rode two fursákhs, to Cówsee, the village
of priest Yohannan, the principal of our seminary. The priest and
his people received and entertained us with great cordiality. A
young Muhammedan beg-son of the owner of the village-came
also to our lodgings to make our acquaintance. The Nestorians
told us, that this beg and his father are very kind masters for Mŭ-
hammedans, a testimony the more gratifying, as it is so rarely heard,
in this land of oppression. The ladies of the owner of the village
also came to make the acquaintance of Mrs. P. and Mrs. G. who, on
their pressing invitation, returned the visit. Like all Persian fe-
males, when they walk abroad, their faces were closely veiled.
Muhammedan law denounces death on any female who exposes her
face to a male beyond the limits of her own household. A large
covering is thrown over the person, when they go out, to which is
commonly attached a small veil before the face with a patch of net-
work of half the size of the hand, before the eyes, to enable them to
see to walk. This rigorous seclusion is, doubtless, as fruitful a
source, as it is striking an index, of the unfaithful character of Mŭ-
hammedan females. The practice of veiling in itself is said exten-
sively to facilitate and screen illicit connexions. The Nestorian
females are under no such restraint, in their general intercourse,
and the fruits of their liberty appear in their superior morals. Such
seclusion, we might suppose, would prove a powerful check, to the
careful study and tireless efforts of Muhammedan ladies to decorate
their persons. But nowhere are females more industrious in the
department of the toilet than among the Muhammedans of Persia.
Rival wives are prompted to this, in order to clothe themselves with
attractions that will secure a share in the husband's attentions.
Affection, in the practice of polygamy, is of minor consideration.
Their ambition in their toilet does, moreover, in reality extend a
little beyond their own thresholds; curiosity, in Persia, as well as
elsewhere, is too powerful a spring in the female bosom to be en-
1

Thayer &Co's Lith. Boston.
A PERSIAN LADY VEILED TO WALK ABROAD:
Maou

Thayer & Co Lith Borton.
A PERSIAN LADY, VEILED TO GO ABROAD.
Uor M
Maou
VISIT TO VILLAGES-ATTACK FROM THE LOOTEE. 289
tirely smothered. Accordingly, when Persian ladies are fairly be-
yond the sight of their jealous masters, they often take down their
veil and gaze freely upon the sons of men, and the beauties of cre-
ation, though in the letter and the spirit of Persian law they do it
at the peril of their lives.
Nov. 11. Wishing to visit another village beyond, we passed the
last night at Cówsee, that we might prosecute our excursion early
this morning. Priest Yohannan is poor, but he was extremely grat-
ified by our visit, for which he had long importuned us; and he
spared no pains to make us comfortable. Notwithstanding our
strong remonstrance, he abandoned his best room-and in fact his
only one-for our accommodation, while he and his numerous
household sought lodgings elsewhere, as they could find them. And
about day-break, this morning, the joyful tidings were announced
to us, that the principal lady of the house, the wife of the priest's
brother, had become the mother of a fine son, in the course of the
night, in the stable. It was in a stable; but our adorable Lord was
also born in a stable. We judge of things by comparison. Miser-
able as are the stables in Asia, the choice between lodging in them
or the "inns" is very inconsiderable.
We started about 8 o'clock, priest Yohannan joining our party,
and rode four fursákhs, to Adá, the village of Mar Joseph. Our
road led us, most of the way, down the enchanting vale of the Năs-
lóo river. We reached Adá about noon and were again cordially
welcomed by the bishop. Soon after our arrival, we met with a
serious adventure. Mrs. P. and myself and Dr. and Mrs. Grant
were walking quietly through the village, when three of the Lootee,
or professional ruffians, hedged up our path, which was narrow, by
stationing a horse across it, and taking a stand themselves on either
side. Priest Abraham, who was with as, stepped forward and
mildly requested them to turn the horse a little and allow us to pass
by; upon which one of them drew his dagger, a terrible weapon,
which they always carry, and raised it to strike him. Seeing the
defenceless priest in such peril, I instinctively sprang forward, not
doubting that my presence would check the ruffian; but so far from
that, he turned in a moment from the priest upon me, and stabbed
me with indescribable ferocity. I had not yet fully recovered from
the severe sickness which I have mentioned; and to this circum-
stance, under God, I owe my preservation. Being quite weak, as
I sprang back to evade the weapon, I suddenly fell. It passed
through all my clothing, and slightly penetrated my body. Had I
not fallen as I did, it must have entered my heart and instantly kill-
ed me.
As it was, it harmed me only just enough to leave a speak-
ing witness, in the small wound it made, against the bloody assassin.
An almighty and ever present Protector said to the deadly point,
"hitherto and no farther." And as we ran into a house, barred
the doors and found ourselves secure from those men of violence
who still fiercely pursued us, I felt a calmer and stronger confidence
37
290
SCHOOL AT ADA-GIRLS ATTENDING IT.
than ever before, in the reality of divine protection. The ladies
were of course frightened for the moment, though not injured, in the
furious attack. Priest Abraham received a serious gash in his head
and a sword was broken over his back. I know not what impulse
could have prompted the ruffians to this assault, as we had never
seen them before, but unmixed malignity, excited probably by par-
tial intoxication. This, however, is always enough to account for
the outrages of the Lootee. The Nestorians of the village mani-
fested deep sorrow for what had happened, but through fear of their
oppressors, they could only run into their houses and bar the doors,
lest they too should be the victims of violence. Mar Joseph in par-
ticular, was grieved beyond measure. I told him that it was not
his fault, nor that of the Nestorians, but he almost refused to be
comforted.
Nov. 12. We visited the Nestorian school in Adá. We had
opened this school only three months before, and it now numbered
about forty children and was as well regulated as any school that I
ever visited. I was very agreeably surprised also by the proficiency
of the children. Most of them, at the commencement of the school,
knew none of their letters. Now all could read the Psalms, which
we have copied upon cards, very well. An interesting fact in rela-
tion to this school is, that girls, as well as boys, attend it. Not a
single female, among the Nestorians of Oróomiah, could read when
we entered the field; and the idea was as unwelcome as it was
novel and strange. It was regarded, by both sexes, as improper,—
an over-stepping of female modesty and propriety; as much so as
it would be—or rather is—in the common estimation in America,
for females to become public speakers and harangue promiscuous
assemblies. But the girls were sent to this school at Adá by their
parents, without any direct agency on our part. We had stated to
the ecclesiastics in our families, that females, as well as males, all
learn to read in America; and they had repeated the fact to others.
The example of the ladies of the mission tended also to recommend
the practice. We are careful not to press what the Nestorians re-
gard as innovations, lest we should become obnoxious as new mea-
sure men. It is far more easy to lead men, the world over, than to
drive them.
Nov. 14. The governor sent our Meerza, early this morning, to
ascertain who had assaulted us at Adá, saying that they must be
arrested and punished. He afterward sent also an uncle and a
brother to me, to inform me that he had despatched officers to ap-
prehend the assailants, and to intimate his wish that I should not
complain to the prince at Tabréez, as he would himself punish
them to my entire satisfaction.
Nov. 15. As the governor was thus disposed to take cognizance
of the matter, while as yet, we had intimated no expectation or wish
that he would do so, we thought it due that we should propose to
wait on him and make a full statement of the circumstances. And
COGNIZANCE OF THE ASSAULT.
291
at an hour named by his Excellency for the purpose, Dr. Grant and
myself called on him. He received us as usual, with great kind-
ness. He had a full court, before whom and his Excellency, I gave
a minute detail of the assault. All present appeared much con-
cerned, and professed to feel a good deal of responsibility, in look-
ing after the affair. The governor remarked that the crime was
much aggravated, by two circumstances. First, he said, I was an
Englishman,* and an Englishman's person is held sacred in Persia.
And in the next place, he added, I was an English Moollah, (point-
ing to me and a high Moollâh who sat by his side,) and our Prophet,
he continued, enjoined the utmost reverence towards Moollâhs.
The governor urged me to name the punishment which I thought
due to the ruffian who stabbed me, declaring that he would inflict
any I might mention, whether it should be whipping, cutting off
the hands, the nose, the ears, or the head. I declined intimating
either the degree or kind of punishment I might deem proper, sug-
gesting to his Excellency, that to decide that point was his own
prerogative; and moreover, on the supposition that his disposal of
the case should not prove satisfactory, it would still be not our busi-
ness, but that of the English ambassador, whose protection we en-
joy, to call farther attention to the subject.
Some one of the courtiers suggested that the fact of the ruffian's
being intoxicated at the time might perhaps extenuate his guilt;
and the governor inquired of me how the law regards a drunkard
in our country. I told him, our laws require, that for the crimes
which a man commits when he is intoxicated, he shall answer when
he is sober. This principle appeared to strike them as a good one,
though different from Persian usage. The governor seemed very
solicitous to inflict a punishment that would satisfy me, alike I have
no doubt from personal friendliness toward us, and from a desire to
appear praiseworthy in the estimation of the English ambassador, to
whom he probably expected his conduct in the case would be re-
ported.
-
His
Nov. 19. The governor sent for myself and Dr. Grant to wait
on him and witness the punishment of the principal, in the assault
upon us, whom he had apprehended. We immediately repaired to
the palace, and after drinking coffee and conversing about an hour,
the culprit was presented on the pavement in the open court.
comrades had absconded.. Providentially, the one who attacked
me was apprehended. On his being led forward, the governor in-
quired whether I recognized him as the assailant, to which I replied
in the affirmative. He then questioned the ruffian, why he had at-
tacked these gentlemen, who were his own personal friends, often
his guests, and for whose safety he felt fully responsible. For half
a century, said he, there have been Englishmen in Persia, and never
* Few of the Persians can, or will, comprehend our distinct nationality as
Americans, however much we proclaim it.
292
PUNISHMENT BENEFICIAL EFFECTS.
before has one suffered violence. The ruffian replied that he had
done nothing to these gentlemen. But so far from listening to such
an answer, the governor ordered him to be immediately stripped
and bound to the whipping frame. This consisted of three long
and stout poles, framed together at the top and diverging downward,
like a surveyor's compass-stand. Each wrist was bound to one of
the poles at a height about on a level with his head and a wide
strap, applied to the back of his neck and held by two men, thus
bending his body forward, kept him from struggling. In that
posture, two hundred and fifty lashes were laid upon his naked
back in the presence of a large concourse. He went to the
frame and submitted to be bound, with an air of entire unconcern
and determined hardihood; but though very athletic and with the
image of Cain enstamped upon his features, he soon softened down
under the stripes, and raised a piteous outcry, appealing first to
Soleimân Khân, an Armenian nobleman, and promising to become
a Gauoor-infidel, i. e. a Christian, if the Khân would rescue him;
and finding no relief from that quarter, he at length appealed to me,
confessing his crime and proposing to espouse my religion, if I
would arrest his punishment. I understood of course the sincerity
of such a proposition in those circumstances.
The promptness of the governor, unsolicited by us as he was, in
punishing this ruffian, was highly praiseworthy in a Persian magis-
trate. And on the whole, we had little reason to regret the occur-
rence, frightful as it was at the time. In its result, it contributed
very essentially to the permanent security of ourselves and the in-
terest of our mission. The king, hearing of it some time afterward
through the English ambassador, ordered his brother, the prince of
northern Persia, to seize the assailant and send him to the capital.
The prince sent officers to take him, but being apprized of their
coming, he fled from the province and evaded their pursuit. The
summary punishment, however, which he had already received from
the governor, and the vigorous efforts made in accordance with royal
orders again to apprehend him, produced a strong and lasting im-
pression, that we could not be injured with impunity. It is worthy
of remark, moreover, that a series of misfortunes, befalling some of
the relatives of the wicked man who had thus assaulted us, a feeling
bordering on awe, sprang up and grew into a common proverb, in
the province, that whoever should harm the missionaries, the Lord
would arrest and punish.
From that period to the present, we have never been annoyed by
the Lootee, frequent and desperate as are their outrages on the suf-
fering inhabitants among whom we live. These outrages are so
numerous and fearful, that scarcely a week elapses, in which mur-
ders are not committed in our city or the neighborhood, though the
murderers are often apprehended and executed. The day after I
left Oróomiah, as I have since been informed, two of the Lootee
were seized, their bodies split in two parts, and the halves hung over
*
'
APPREHENSION-RELIEF-WEDDING.
293
the gates of the city, to deter their comrades; and this was by no
means a strange transaction in Persia. Such summary, and terri-
ble punishments may shock the sensibilities of those who dwell in
the quiet land of our fathers. They shock us, who have so long
been familiar with them, in that land of despotism, violence and
blood. But we feel little doubt of their necessity there, to give to
property and life any measure of security. For, even such appall-
ing examples, and their frequent occurrence, are but a very limited
check to the commission of crime, so ineffectual a preventive is
mere punishment, in any community, in the absence of morality and
religion. And that we have, in such circumstances of exposure,
lived so long unharmed and unmolested, in the open prosecution of
our missionary work, can indeed be ascribed only to the gracious
and constant guardianship of an ever present and watchful Protec-
tor.
During the early periods of our residence at Oróomiah, I seldom
retired at night, without more or less apprehension of an attack
from the Lootee, before morning. But signal deliverances rebuked
my solicitude on the subject, and at length, so deeply impressed me
with the truth, that the weapon of the assassin, no less than disease
and every other providential visitation, is under a heavenly Father's
control, that for several of the last years, I have slept as quietly and
refreshingly in Persia, as I ever slept in America.
Nov. 22. We were invited by the governor to attend the wed-
ding of Jengháir Khân, his eldest son. The wedding has been de-
ferred since the arrival of the royal bride, about two months ago, on
account of his Excellency's want of funds to defray the necessary
expenses. The governor made the inquiry whether we would pre-
fer to be numbered among his own guests, who would consist of the
Moollâhs and the elder Khâns of the city, or among those of the
bridegroom, consisting of younger people, and to be entertained
with music, dancing and other amusements. We expressed our
wish to be numbered among the former, requesting the privilege,
however, of attending both parties alternately, in the course of the
two or three days of the celebration, in consideration of our being
strangers desirous to become acquainted with Persian customs.
This privilege was readily granted.
Nov. 28. The wedding commenced. An officer was sent to
conduct us to the party of the bridegroom. The entertainment was
rich, but plain. The amusements, which consisted of music, danc-
ing and comic exhibitions, were less boisterous than is usual on such
occasions. There are two general systems of marriage among the
Persian Muhammedans-one for a limited definite time, for a month,
a year, or any other period, at the will of the parties ;* and the
* "The marriage by contract, and for a limited period, is peculiar to the
Persians. It is said to have been a custom in Arabia, when Muhammed first
introduced his religion there; but though he tolerated it, Omar abolished it
as a species of legal prostitution, inconsistent with good morals. The Turks,
:
294
MARRIAGE IN PERSIA.
other for life, it being always understood, however, that the hus-
band may in either case divorce his wife whenever he pleases.*
The nameless and numberless miseries growing out of either sys-
tem, I need not attempt to describe. The pretext for the former
one is, that transient residents, particularly merchants, find tempo-
rary connexions much more convenient for their business, than
permanent ones, as the removal of families is thus superseded.
The females, who have been repeatedly affianced in that manner,
are in about as good repute as widows, though usually only those
in the lower classes, or in dependent circumstances, form such con-
nexions. In relation to permanent marriages, it may be said, that
divorces are far less frequent than might be expected in the circum-
stances. Though pure conjugal affection is of very rare growth in
Persia, the ties that bind the parents to their children do much al-
so to strengthen their relation to each other. The Persian father,
however little he may regard the welfare of the wife, on her own
account, still has a great horror at the idea of her becoming the
companion of another man, after repudiation, on account of the in-
dignity to himself, and especially on account of her relation to his
offspring.
Polygamy, which is practised in Persia by all Muhammedans
who have the means of supporting a plurality of wives, I hardly
need say, is a great gulf of abominations. Muhammedan law
allows four wives to an individual, but that number is often trans-
cended among the higher classes. The rivals, of course, make it
their study and business to compete with each other for the
attentions of their husband and master; and with their uncultivated
minds and unamiable dispositions, they make their house a perpet-
ual bedlam. One of their number is indeed the acknowledged
Khânum-lady; which depends on the rank of her pedigree, while
the rest are her inferiors, or maids. But it often happens that the
latter possess personal charms superior to their mistress, which in-
creases the general difficulty. The children of different mothers,
growing up in such circumstances, have early and only the lessons
of contention. The husband, whose position is anything but envi-
therefore, and other Soonées who respect the decrees of this caliph, hold it in
abhorrence. The parties agree to live together for a fixed time, which varies
from a few days to ninety-nine years. The sum agreed upon as the lady's
hire is mentioned in the contract, which is made out by the câzee, or a
Moollâh, and regularly witnessed."Hist. of Persia, Vol. II. p. 428.
* "Divorces are never on account of adultery, as that crime, if proved, sub-
jects a woman who has been legally married, to death. The general causes
are complaints of badness of temper, or extravagance, on the part of the hus-
bands; and of neglect, or cruel usage, on that of their wives. If a husband
sues for a divorce, he is compelled to pay his wife's dower; but if she sues
for it, her claim is cancelled. Hence it is not unfrequent among the lower
orders, when a man desires to be rid of his partner, to use her so ill, that she
is forced to institute a suit for separation, which, if granted, abrogates all her
claims upon her husband."-Ibid.
+
MORALS-EXTERNAL DECENCY-DEVOTIONS.
295
able, will sooner or later, if his means will allow, place one wife in
one village, a second in another, and so on, that he may divide his
attention among them to his liking, and be at the same time be-
yond the reach of the notes of their dissatisfaction, as well as to
prevent their mutual wranglings. I once heard a European, even
in Persia, advocate the system of polygamy, appealing to the patri-
archs for authority. Let him, however, study the subject as pre-
sented in the case of those same patriarchs, and he will find little
for its recommendation. From the family of one, we read of the
bond-woman and her son cast out, and the tent of another was not re-
markable for domestic harmony. Perhaps the best comment, on
the whole subject of matrimony in Persia, is furnished in the fact,
that the two words, wife and home, do not exist in the native lan-
guages. The Persians can only say, woman and house. What a
world of meaning clusters around the two former terms, in a coun-
try like ours, which the latter do not possess. In Persia, the names
and the things are alike unknown.
Want of conjugal fidelity in females is severely punished in Per-
sia when detected. Being thrown from lofty towers and dashed in
pieces, and left to starve on an uninhabitable island in the lake of
Oróomiah, are among the punishments. Such, however, is the
state of general morals, that female virtue is probably far more rare
than infidelity among the Muhammedans, notwithstanding these
fearful punishments. Indeed, the whole subject may be well un-
derstood, when it is stated, that the Moollâhs-the priesthood-are
themselves the licensers and managers of the public brothels, and
regard them as an important source of their income. With all this
corruption and misery, there is still in the general aspect in Persia,
great external propriety and decorum,—so much so, that a mission-
ary may reside for years in that country, and be little aware of the
actual state of morals among the people around him.
Nov. 29. We opened a box, which had just reached us from
America, containing an electrical machine. Our Meerza happened
to call on us, just as we had set up the machine, and we gave him
a shock. He went immediately to the wedding and reported the
wonderful instrument that had arrived from the New World; and
the bridegroom sent requesting us to spend the ensuing evening
with his party, and bring with us for their entertainment the prodi-
gy from America. In the evening, we accordingly put the machine
in portable order, and carried it to the wedding. When we arrived,
it was the hour of Muhammedan prayer; and it was deeply im-
pressive to witness the scores of Moslems in all parts of the great
hall, with their faces turned toward Mecca, prostrating themselves,
and repeating in a whisper their devotions. Their entire heartless-
ness in the service was, however, very evident. Numbers broke
off, as we entered, and gave us a welcome. The bridegroom con-
ducted us to a seat, and after conversing with us some time, sug-
gested that if we would excuse him, he also would say his prayers.
296
ELECTRICAL MACHINE
ALCHEMY.
Certainly," we replied; and he kneeled down by our side and
commenced his devotions, in the course of which he broke off re-
peatedly to give directions to his servants, or to show us an atten-
tion.
Prayers being ended, the bridegroom invited us to exhibit the
wonder from the New World, of which all were in lively expecta-
tion. We set up the machine and directed a circle to be formed
around the room. About fifty of the nobility were soon filed, in a
sitting posture, with hands joined. Almost every variety of expres-
sion was noticeable in their countenances. Some were pale with
fear. One or two feigned business out, broke away from the circle,
and retired. Others were smiling with incredulity. We turned
the machine a few revolutions, and discharged the bottle. The
experiment was a successful one, and removed at once all idea of
illusion. The shock was not, however, so heavy as to terrify the
company, and we continued, increasing the strength of each suc-
cessive shock, until the whole party seemed to be wrapped in
amazement, declaring that the mysterious engine possessed unlimit-
ed, as well as unseen power. A more favorable opportunity for
such an exhibition could not possibly have been presented; and we
trust that some desire for knowledge and improvement may have
been enkindled in the minds of these scores of the Persian nobles, and
the multitudes of people who thronged the court to witness it.
After spending an hour or two with the bridegroom, the governor
sent for us to join his party. We repaired to the palace where we
were entertained with a splendid exhibition of rockets and other fire-
works, on the public common in front of the palace. The Persians
are very fond of this amusement and are able to practise it with
great perfection. The exhibition of the fire-works closed the wed-
ding of the governor's son.
The Persians, much as they are non-plussed by the electrical ma-
chine, are not wanting in "science falsely so called." They are
naturally acute metaphysicians, but unguided by "Divine philoso-
phy," their speculations amount to little more than the entities and
quiddities of the schoolmen and the dreams of the old Greek writers.
Alchemy is still laboring in the brains of multitudes in Persia with
all the magic interest and ponderous importance that it possessed in
Europe in by-gone centuries. I have been repeatedly asked whether
the electrical machine had no connexion with the science of con-
verting the baser metals into gold,—a theory very grateful to an
Asiatic mind; and I have found it very difficult to persuade those
who have made the inquiry, that such was not the case. One of my
acquaintances entertained Mar Yohannan, in America, with exper-
iments in gilding, by the new electro-magnetic process. He intro-
duced a silver watch, presented to the bishop by friends in this coun-
try, into an opake liquid mixture; and after some time, on taking
out the watch, lo, it was gold! The bishop stared, a few moments,
delighted and amazed, without saying a word; at length, he thus
•
A
FREE MASONRY-SEVEN HEAVENS.
297
gave utterance to his emotions; "You make chémie, (the term by
which the Persians denominate alchemy); the people in our coun-
try say, the English can make chémie; before I did not believe; but
it is true; you do make chémie." He soon understood it, however,
as a superinducing, rather than a transmuting process.
Freemasonry is another secret which a Persian noble one day sug-
gested, as probably having some connexion with the electrical ma
chine. Firmóosh-kháná-house of forgetfulness—is the term used
by the Persians to designate it, which was, doubtless, adopted from
the mere resemblance of sound. I know not how often I have been
questioned in relation to freemasonry; but was fortunately able to
plead happy ignorance on the whole subject. It is in even worse
repute among Asiatics than among patriotic anti-masons in Ameri-
ca. They conceive of it as the quintessence of skepticism, infidelity
and atheism and every other evil genius. In the Levant, the climax
of opprobrious epithets is often capped with phramazón-freemason.
A man who will quietly bear to be called a donkey, a dog, a swine
or a devil, will regard it as wholly unendurable to be called a phra-
mazón.
It is often amusing to observe with what industry the Persians
study to confirm their theories by seeking to recognize analogies in
our own. On observing our orrery, in one instance, a sage Mool-
lâh counted off the seven planets, as they were represented on it in
succession, and complacently stroking his beard, pronounced them
the "
seven heavens" of Muhammed, and congratulated us on the
accuracy of our system. Secular light is, however, gradually dissi-
pating their darkness and preparing the way for their spiritual illu-
mination.
Dec. 1. We set apart to-day as a season of Thanksgiving. Our
mercies and deliverances have been so great, during the past year,
as in our view to call for special acknowledgement to God. I
preached from Ps. 50: 14, "Offer unto God thanksgiving." At
our religious service and at supper were a bishop and a deacon from
Geog-tapá, and the Nestorians connected with our families. In the
evening, we amused our company with an exhibition of the electri-
cal machine. They were no less entertained and astonished by it
than were the Muhammedans at the wedding.
Dec. 6. We invited several Nestorians with their families to
dine with us. Husbands and wives sat down at the table together,
-a privilege which the poor females had never before enjoyed.
Both seemed equally gratified with the arrangement. The exam-
ple of our own families will prove more effectual than any other hu-
man instrumentality, to raise the females to a proper rank among
the natives; and this is an important reason, among other and still
stronger ones, why missionaries should in general have families.
Dec. 11. This evening, priest Dunka, our translator from the
mountains, commenced studying Hebrew. Dunka, his name, is.
the Syriac term for East,-a word to which the Nestorians are sin-
38
298
STUDY OF HEBREW-LOVE OF MONEY.
gularly attached, both as a name and as a title. They call Mar
Shimon, Patriarka d'M'dunka, Patriarch of the East; and Christ,
they say, will come to judgment from the east. Priest D. has been
importuning me, for several months, to teach him Hebrew, but
want of time and ill health have until now prevented my attempting
it. A half hour thus spent, in the course of a long winter evening,
is pleasant to me and will, I trust, be beneficial to him and to our
mission. This priest is naturally a fine scholar, and as the Hebrew
much resembles the Syriac, it will cost him but little effort to ac-
quire it; and a knowledge of it may prove invaluable in his qualifi-
cations as a translator.
Dec. 12. Priest Yohannan, the teacher of our seminary, re-
quested permission to spend his evenings in studying Hebrew with
priest Dunka. I could not refuse him the privilege, as he labors
hard in the school, during the day, and I hope he also may be aided
by this exercise to a better understanding of the Scriptures. Our
fine Nestorian boy, John, also preferred his request to join the He-
brew class, but I advised him to defer Hebrew until he shall have
advanced farther in English.
Dec. 15. We have recently introduced the practice of reciting
verses of Scripture in our family, at our meals. This recital is now
generally made in four different languages; in the ancient Syriac
by myself; in the modern Syriac, i. e. the Nestorian dialect, by
Mrs. Perkins; in Hebrew, by priests Dunka and Yohannan; and
in English, by priest Abraham and John. In addition to the agree-
able intellectual exercise thus afforded, as we are all learners in
these respective languages, the Scripture recited always presents
matter for practical conversation and reflection.
Dec. 16. As priest Abraham and John were reciting geography
to me, this evening, the idea was suggested that in different coun-
tries, people worship different gods,-in some countries, the true
God; but in others, the sun, moon, stars and inferior objects. To
make the point a practical one, I inquired of priest Abraham what
the people in Persia worship, and he quickly answered, "Mammó-
na," Mammon, which is the Syriac word for wealth. There is no
less truth than shrewdness in this answer, when applied to the
Persians. The most stupid among them, from whose appearance
one would suppose that their lives amount to little more than a veg-
etable existence, are electrified at the mention of money. And the
endless intrigues and crimes, practised by all classes, to obtain the
smallest sum, are often as ridiculous as they are appalling. The
Persians never pay their honest debts without the most grudging
and tardy reluctance. It is a common proverb among themselves,
that if a Persian once secures a nîm-shâhi, a half shâhi, equivalent
to three-fourths of a cent, in his hand, he will sooner allow his hand
to be severed from his arm than relax his hold of the money. In
Persia, most literally and emphatically, is the love of money the
root of all evil.
SUFFERINGS OF THE JEWS-FALSEHOOD.
299
Dec. 17. We received a visit from a Jewish physician of high
repute among all classes of the natives. He made a bitter complaint
of the oppressions which his people are suffering froin the Muham-
medans. "Two nights ago,' said he, 'some Moslem ruffians went into
the house of one of our people and ordered him to bring out wine.
The Jew went out and declared to them that he had no wine; and
the ruffians, enraged at the disappointment, killed him on the spot.'
Large numbers of the Jews, the physician continued, have tried in
vain to induce the governor to apprehend and punish the murderers.
This statement accords entirely with other instances of outrageous
oppression, which the poor descendants of Israel suffer here from
their Muhammedan masters. The Dr. concluded his sad tale, by
remarking, that if the Messiah does not appear soon, he feared their
nation would be exterminated. To my inquiry when he expected
the Messiah would appear, he replied, that each of the six days of
creation is the emblem of a thousand years; that four hundred of
the sixth thousand years now remain; that the seventh day is the
emblem of a seventh thousand years, at the commencement of which
period the Messiah is to come and during which he is to reign; ac-
cordingly, four hundred years remain before his advent. I told him
that if the Jews must wait four hundred years longer for the Mes-
siah, under their present oppressions and persecutions, I thought
he had serious reason to apprehend their extinction. 'O,' said he,
'four hundred years is the utmost limit. We expect the Messiah
soon; he may come, this year or this day.'
Common sufferers as the Nestorians and the Jews are from their
oppressive Muhammedan masters, we should suppose that they
would compassionate each other's condition. But the fact is far
otherwise. The Nestorians detest the Jews as cordially as the
Muhammedans can hate both Jews and Nestorians. They will
never eat any article of food prepared by a Jew and will hardly en-
ter a Jewish dwelling. And whenever an Israelite suffers oppres-
sion from the Moslems, the Nestorians exult in his sufferings. They
affect to do this from religious principle, because the Jews were the
murderers of our Saviour.
Dec. 18. The subject which I presented in our Nestorian ser-
vice, to-day, was the sin of lying. Our large school-room was nearly
filled, with attentive listeners. Lying prevails to such an extent
among all classes of the Nestorians-most of the ecclesiastics not
excepted as well as among the Muhammedans, that this subject is
a very practical one. According to Mar Yohannan's statement of
the case, which seems also to be a proverb, people in Persia lie, as
long as they can find lies to tell, after which they may, from acci-
dent or necessity, for once or twice, speak the truth. I have just
prepared a small tract on lying, in the Nestorian dialect, intended
for our schools and general circulation. It meets with a very
ready acceptance. It is composed mainly of quotations from Scrip-
ture; which of course cannot present a pretext for opposition from
300
SCHOOL OF A PERSIAN PRINCE.
nominal Christians. The practice of lying, moreover, is condem-
ned in theory by the Nestorians, and reformation of this and kindred
vices can be urged with much greater plainness and less liability to
offend, than on subjects that might be so construed as to appear
sectarian.
Dec. 23. A letter reached us, to-day, from Mar Shimon. It
was brought by his younger brother and designated successor, who
is now visiting the churches of Oróomiah, to recieve their annual
contribution for the Patriarch. I give the reader an extract from
the letter, relating to our operations among his people.
"And furthermore, behold, our joy has been great, very great,
on your account, from the day we heard of your entering Oróomiah,
for the purpose of opening schools, that work of benevolence, in
which you labor and toil, from your love to the kingdom of Christ.
May God give you the strength and assistance of his own might.
And may the Lord, our Lord, be with you, in all the labors of love
in which you engage. And your reward, your happiness, your
bliss and your glory, you will receive in the kingdom of heaven,
Amen.'

""
However much or little of sincerity there may be in these pro-
fessions of the high Nestorian prelate, it is our duty no less than
our privilege to hope for the best, thankfully recognize the friendli-
ness expressed and manifested, enter the door of faith thus set open
to these gentiles, and do with our might what our hands find to do,
for their instruction and salvation.
CHAPTER XVIII.
JOURNAL: JANUARY-JUNE, 1837.
A MESSENGER brought us a letter, Jan. 7, from Malek Kâsem
Meerza, in which the prince states, that he has opened a school, at
his residence in Sheeshawân, a village about eighty miles distant
from Oróomiah, and he requests of us aid in furnishing school-
books and other apparatus. This is the prince who visited our
seminary, last autumn, and his commencement of this school is prob-
ably the result of that visit. His Highness has placed at the head
of his institution an Armenian deacon, who was educated in India,
speaks our language and is quite evangelical in his religious views
and feelings. The deacon also wrote us, requesting books, particu-
larly the christian Scriptures, which, he says, he can readily place
in the hands of young Muhammedans.
Jan. 10. The brother of the Patriarch, who is his designated
A CLERICAL PARTY-PAPAL BISHOP.
301
successor, dined with me. Five bishops were in company with
him; Mar Gabriel, Mar Elias, Mar Sléeva from the mountains, and
the two who reside in our families. With the three priests and
several deacons connected with us, they constituted quite a clerical
party. At evening they all took tea with us, and afterward, attend-
ed our Bible class. The lesson was the last part of the fifth chap-
ter of Matthew. I dwelt particularly on the sin of profaneness, as
there presented,—a sin so fearfully prevalent even among the ecclesi-
astics of this people.
Jan. 22. The brother of the Patriarch and the five bishops were
present at our Sabbath worship. Many others, besides the mem-
bers of our seminary, were also at meeting, and I never addressed
a more attentive audience. In the evening, priest Abraham told
me that the Patriarch's brother expressed himself highly gratified
with the simplicity of the forms of our worship and the matter of
my discourse. The priests who reside with us often express their
admiration of what they term our resemblance to the apostles in our
religious services; though no "bishop's" hands in the high church
sense of that term, have ever been upon us.
Jan. 23. In the morning, I entertained our Nestorian guests
with my microscope and some other wonders from the New World,
after which they took their leave, apparently much gratified with
their visit.
Feb. 13. By invitation, we visited Malek Mânsoor Meerza, a
prince who resides in this city, a son of the former king. Like his
brother who has opened the school, he appears to be desirous of
European knowledge. He is a man of good natural abilities and
considerable information for a Persian, but labors under the embar-
rassing impediment of a consummate stammerer. Mar Joseph, who
was with us, pronounced this blemish an important providential fa-
vor. But for this stammering, said the bishop, royal jealousy might
long since have deprived him of his eyes or his head.
Feb. 15. Prince Malek Mânsoor Meerza returned our visit.
He was highly entertained with our electrical machine, globes and
other articles of school apparatus; and a stove he politely begged,
in the Persian manner, by requesting us to order one like it for him
to purchase.
Feb. 17. We again received letters from the prince at Sheesha-
wân and his Armenian teacher. Their school is evidently a door
set open by the hand of Providence, and we dare not wholly disre-
gard their application for help. So much have we on our own hands
at Oróomiah, however, that we can attempt to do very little else-
where.
Feb. 23. A Papal bishop from Salmás who was sent from that
village to Rome and educated, has come among the Nestorians of
this province to gain proselytes. He makes proclamation, that he
has received, or is about to receive, twenty-five thousand dollars
from Rome to educate and aid such of the Nestorians as shall be
302
CONTROVERSY--UMPIRE.
inclined to attach themselves to the Papal cause. He has taken
lodgings in a secluded corner of the city, occupied by a few Nesto-
rian families, whom he is worrying with his importunity. A dele-
gation came from those Nestorians, to Mar Yohannan, to-day, rep-
resenting that the Catholic emissary was pressing them hard to re-
nounce the Nestorian and embrace the Papal faith; and that they
are themselves ignorant-unable to discuss with him and in an
embarrassed condition; and they desired the bishop and our priests
to go over and silence the disturber. To-morrow, therefore, our
ecclesiastics are to meet the Catholic bishop on the arena of con-
troversy. They requested me, this evening, to assist them in look-
ing out proof-texts from the Scriptures against image-worship and
other corrupt doctrines and practices of Rome, which I was of
course very happy to do. I reminded them that their antagonist
would not probably abide by the Scriptures. They were fully aware
of that, they replied; but the moment he should refuse to acknow-
ledge the authority of Scripture, they would have no more to say to
him, and would have no farther occasion for discussion, as their
people would be satisfied, from the fact of his rejecting the Bible,
that his system is a false one. This is certainly quite a Protestant
view of the subject.
Feb. 24. Our Nestorian ecclesiastics informed me, that they
sat up very late last night after they retired to their rooms, adding
still to their proof-texts, and they were equally surprised and de-
lighted to find the Bible so full against many things taught and
practised by the church of Rome. About noon Mar Yohannan,
priest Abraham and priest Dunka, set off for their theological en-
counter. The Papist, finding his way at the outset thickly hedged
up by their proof-texts, angrily shuffled the New Testament with
his fingers and threw it aside. The Nestorians urged this rejection
of the gospel as an acknowledged defeat; upon which the Catholic
bishop solemnly averred his adherence to the whole Bible. After
some discussion, they mutually agreed that an umpire was needed,
who should sit in judgment on the merits of their respective argu-
ments, as drawn from the Scriptures. And as such an umpire
must be of a third party, they selected the chief Moollâh of the city,
and went immediately before that venerable personage. When the
doctrines and practices of the two sects were stated to the Muham-
medan doctor, he became quite enraged towards the Papist-called
him a heathen, and told him in terrorem that such a blasphemer and
idolater ought not to live. The comparative purity and simplicity
of the Nestorian belief, on the contrary, drew from him considera-
ble commendation. The Papal bishop was much disconcerted, by
the decision of the umpire, and urged that he had been taken by
surprise, could not at the time find the scripture passages that would
prove his doctrine, and requested that the formal decision might be
postponed until evening. The Moollâh granted his request. At
evening, the parties assembled, but the Papist begged that the mat-
RESULT-STYLE OF CONTROVERSY-LUTRAN.
303
ter might be deferred until the next morning; and his request was
again granted.
Feb. 25. This morning, our Nestorian ecclesiastics exultingly
told me, that the Papal bishop had absconded in the course of the
night, being evidently conscious of his inability to sustain his cause
before the Moollâh. It is particularly gratifying to see the Nesto-
rians cling to the Bible, in their controversy with Papists. They
have able works, they say, in the ancient Syriac, against Romanism;
but they prefer the "word of God," which, as they often repeat, "is
the sword of the Spirit.' Their attachment to the Scriptures has
evidently been much quickened, in their late discussion, particular-
ly, as they have witnessed new demonstrations of the low estimate
in which the Papists hold the word of God. "The Bible!" said
the Catholic bishop, "what is it? Ink and paper; nothing more;
our images are much more substantial." Religious controversy,
as conducted between the Nestorians and the Papists, would seem
rather rough and vituperative in America; but it is perhaps about
as good as any kind with which Romanists in Asia can be encoun-
tered. The Papal bishop in this case went, for instance, to an in-
fluential Nestorian and said, “Turn Catholic, and we will load you
with money; we can well afford to do so; because if you turn, a
multitude will follow you.' What will calm argument effect, with
men thus blindly devoted to their master, the Pope!
""
Mar Yohannan, on his return from the controversy, inquired
with much interest for the meaning of the word Lutrân (Lutheran)
-the term by which Papists in the Levant designate Protestants.
The Catholic bishop, he said, often called us, Lutrân,* a term
which he had never before heard, but must, he supposed, be very
reproachful, because the Papist stated, in the same connexion, that
we have no fixed religion, but jump from system to system, just as
suits our convenience; and that our present object is to bring the
Nestorians into the same unstable condition. Mar Yohannan, sup-
posing some frightful meaning to be wrapped up in the term Lu-
trân, flatly denied that we are Lutrán, and asserted that we are
English and as for our religion, he told the Papist, he had seen
enough of us to satisfy him, that, compared with the Romish, it
is like the light of noon contrasted with the darkness of midnight.
We gave the bishop some account of Luther, stating that he became
obnoxious to the Catholics by assailing their corruptions. Mar
Yohannan was much interested with the case of the Protestant re-
former, and remarked, that Luther was doubtless very much such a
man as their own bishop Nestorius, who had also become a by-
word among Papists, for opposing their idolatry in applying to Mary
the epithet, mother of God.
* Perhaps no term, unless it be phramazón, freemason, is in so bad odor
among all the Eastern churches except the Nestorians, as Lutràn, having
been made odious by the slanders of Papists. To the Nestorians, the term,
Katoleek, Catholic, is thus obnoxious.
304
THEFT -A LEARNED PRIEST.
March 3. Mar Sléeva, a bishop of the mountains, called at my
study. As he was passing in the street, just before reaching our
house, a Muhammedan ruffian came up behind him, seized his
cap from his head and ran away with it. The bishop started in
pursuit, and soon met two men who manifested an interest for him
and inquired where he was going. He told them what had hap-
pened, to which they replied that they knew the thief who had taken
the turban, had just seen him with it, and asked the bishop how
much he would give them to recover it. The good old man gladly
offered them all the money he had, which was a single silver piece,
of the value of a quarter of a dollar. This they readily accepted,
and with the servant of Mar Sléeva, started off in pursuit of the
robber. The servant soon returned with the cap, indeed, but it
was stripped of its large shawl, and everything else of value. The
pursuers, it appeared, were companions of the thief, and had thus
managed to divert the bishop till the turban was conveyed away,
and even gull him of his last farthing. Thus are the defenceless
liable to suffer, in this miserable land. How different will be the
state of things in His reign who shall judge the poor of the people,
shall save the children of the needy, and shall break in pieces the
oppressor. Mar Sléeva is too poor to clothe himself decently, he
and his people having not long since been overrun and plundered
by the savage Koords. He therefore felt deeply his loss, as well as
the indignity of the outrage. I requested one of our priests who
was present to give the poor sufferer a cheap shawl from his own
cap, promising to procure another for the priest. The venerable,
simple-hearted man was deeply affected with the kindness, and im-
plored many blessings on me in return.
March 26. Priest Zadoc, the brother of the Patriarch who vis-
ited us last year, is again with us. He affects great learning and
is the vainest man that I have seen among the Nestorians. He
gravely propounded to me, to-day, several quite philosophic ques-
tions. First he inquired how many days' journey it is from east to
west. I told him, that it is five hundred days' journey. People in
all these countries reckon distance by days' journeys, allowing about
twenty or twenty-five miles to a day; and my answer had reference
to the real horizon. The sapient priest thought that distance very
moderate; but when I told him that I had myself come quite two-
thirds of the way from west to east, he assented to the probable cor-
rectness of the estimate, as I had had the best of opportunities for
judging. He next inquired how much farther it is from north to
south than from east to west. I told him, that it is not quite as far,
to which he replied that the Nestorians think it much farther.
proceeded to inquire, which is the greatest distance, from north to
south, or from the earth to the stars. And when I told him how
many years it would require for a man to travel to the moon-and
how much nearer that is than any of the stars-supposing there
were a good caravan road on that route, he was astonished, as he
He
ENUMERATION-POWER OF EXAMPLE.
305
had supposed the moon to be much nearer than the New World;
for the moon he could often see, while the New World he had hard-
ly heard of, and much less ever seen. He manifested that kind of
self-complacency, at the wonders which he had heard, that seemed
to say, "I will astonish somebody else by repeating to them these
things. Not to be outdone in wisdom, he next challenged me in
the science of numbers, repeating quite fluently three or four peri-
ods of an enumeration table prepared by some old Syriac writer;
and at the close he looked at me with a most amusing air of defi-
ance. I took up a slate and pencil and wrote a long line of figures,
and when I read them to him, he rose from his seat in mute amaze-
ment, and went to one of my associates and pronounced me more
learned than the ancient fathers-declaring that I had repeated
numbers enough to count a sufficient quantity of kernels of wheat
to fill a room—or even the yards of our houses. When the reader
is informed that priest Zadoc is reputed to be one of the most
"learned" of the Nestorian ecclesiastics, he will not doubt that they
are all children in understanding, at least in secular knowledge.
April 30. We received letters, informing us that our associates,
Messrs. Holladay and Stocking, with their wives, had reached Con-
stantinople, and requesting that one of us should go as far as Erz-
room and meet them.
May 1. Mrs. Grant was seized with fever and ague, and her
babe was precipitated by a careless boy from a door down the steps
upon a pavement and seriously injured. These circumstances
seemed to decide the point that I should go and meet our friends, as
Dr. Grant could not leave home. I took with me a Nestorian dea-
con, intending also to propose to Mar Yohannan to accompany me,
if he pleased, both for his own gratification and improvement, and
his society and assistance on the road. He was now at his home,
spending the festival of Easter, but his village is directly on the
route to Erzróom, a day's journey from the city.
May 2. A Muhammedan Hâjee-pilgrim-visited me, who is
quite an intelligent, sober man. In conversation with him, in my
study, the subject of intemperance was introduced. This evil he
professed deeply to deplore, as making rapid inroads among his
countrymen. His own brother, he said, had fallen a victim. Mar
Joseph, who was present, took up a scripture tract which I have
lately prepared, on intemperance, and read it aloud. The Hâjee.
expressed his high admiration for every sentence that was read, and
at length asked the bishop from what book that paper was written.
Mar Joseph told him that every word of it was taken from the Chris-
tian's Bible. The Hâjee expressed his astonishment and gladness
to hear such doctrines from the holy book of the infidels, and point-
edly interrogated the bishop, how it then happens that so many
Christians become brutes by intemperance. Mar Joseph told him
that it is because such Christians do not live up to the requirements
of their.religion. A momentous and appalling truth! And here is
39
306
OOLAH-LECTURE-SCHOOL-
AN AUTHOR.
the stumbling-block over which the Muhammedan world is falling
into perdition, the nominal Christians, who dwell among them, do
not live their religion.
May 3. I started for Erzróon and rode to Gavalân, the village
of Mar Yohannan. The bishop had expected Mrs. Perkins and
myself to visit his home, in the course of the passing festival; and
he told me, that the day before, he had seated himself on the hill,
looking for us, until long after sunset. I suggested to him, soon
after my arrival, that I had a word of business with him, and he
directed all who were present to leave the room. I then began to
state to him, that we had friends on the road to join us; but 1 had
not time to add that I had started to meet them, when he anticipa-
ted me, and exclaimed,
" I'll with you,
with you."
you, sir; I'll go
The arrangement was thus made for the bishop to accompany me,
before I had time to submit the proposition..
go
May 4. We rode six fursákhs, across the mountain-ridge that
separates Oróomiah from Salmás, and put up for the night at the
village of Ooláh. The Nestorians received me, as well as their
bishop, with many demonstrations of joy.
demonstrations of joy. Being wearied with my
journey, after taking some refreshment, I leaned back against the
mud-wall of the humble dwelling in which we stopped, and soon fell
asleep, leaving the bishop to entertain the large concourse that had
flocked around to welcome our arrival. I slept, I know not how
long; but on awaking, I found the bishop still speaking to his pec-
ple, and as I did not rise for some time, not wishing to disturb them,
I had the satisfaction of overhearing him deliver a very good geo-
graphical lecture on America and some of the countries of Europe,
and give a very intelligent and fair exposition of our missionary ob-
jects and labors, and their prospective influence-the whole of course
very general-to the delighted assembly of eager listeners. This
bishop is much beloved by his people; and as I observe what com-
manding influence he has among them and what power he possesses
to interest and benefit them, I deeply feel the momentous impor-
tance of his being a truly converted man.
Ooláh, where we stopped, is a charming village, inhabited by
about twenty-five Nestorian families and the same number of Mu-
hammedans. Just at sunset, we went to the church to attend eve-
ning prayers. Twelve sprightly children were sitting on the green
grass, in front of it, in the form of a school, engaged in reading the
Psalms. They are instructed by the priest of the village who ap-
pears to be a very good old man. He is the only living Nestorian
author with whom I have met, and he has perhaps no contemporary
in his nation in that high calling. He has recently prepared a small
volume in the ancient Syriac, in which with considerable ability he
combats the Papists. Both the priest and his people have long been
importuning us to assist them in erecting a school-house and sus-
taining a good school in this village; and nothing but want of funds
has prevented our complying with that request. In Salmás the Pa-
KHOY-CARAVANSERAIS-HOTEL.
307
pists have long had a footing. Two bishops now reside there who
were educated at Rome, and have drunk deep of her proselyting
spirit. We need a good school in the district as a barrier against
them. I lodged in a room occupied by the old priest. In the eve-
ning, a number of the villagers came in, and the venerable man, with
truly Protestant simplicity, took a copy of the Psalms and familiarly
translated one into the spoken language, and afterward, he read and
translated a chapter from the Gospels in the same manner. All
present listened with interest; and it appeared that the villagers
were accustomed to resort to this room frequently in the evening
for religious instruction. I was agreeably surprised, both with the
practice and with the matter and manner of the priest's exposition.
of Scripture. I am not aware that this interesting case has a par-
allel, beyond the immediate influence of our mission.
May. 5. We rode eight fùrsákhs, in a north-western direction,
and reached Khoy. This is a beautiful walled town-one of the
finest in Persia-containing about twenty thousand inhabitants.
The valley in which it is situated, is extremely fertile, but unhealthy.
We
e lodged in the corner room of the principal caravanserai. Hav-
ing no beds with us, we found the brick pavement rather too hard
to afford us very refreshing sleep. Caravanserais in Persia consist
of rows of arched rooms extending around an open court in the form
of a hollow square.
In the cities, they are built of burnt brick, and
in villages usually of unburnt brick, or in fact, mud, moulded into the
shape of brick and dried in the sun. They are used for the various
purposes of storing merchandize, lodging travellers and caravans—
the residence and traffic of merchants and the shops of mechanics.
The apartments devoted to travellers consist of simple, naked stalls,
differing from those of the beasts of burden, if at all, only by having
a brick, or elevated earth, floor.
How different are these public "inns," in the dark East,-unfin-
ished, unlighted and unfurnished-where "the horse and his rider "
are commonly near neighbors, from the 'Mansion Houses' in Amer-
ica. On our first arrival in New York, when I returned to America,
we stopped a day at the United States Hotel; and Mar Yohannan
was perhaps more deeply impressed, that first day, than during any
subsequent period of his visit in our country; and particularly, with
that superb caravanserai—so entirely removed from the stables of
horses and mules-elegantly finished with windows and doors, and
amply supplied with carpets, mirrors, chairs, tables and soft beds.
That first day in America revealed to the astonished Nestorian, in
far more senses than one, a "New World.”
May 6. We rode twelve fùrsákhs, to the village of Kara-ina,
black fountain. Our direction was north-west, and the region over
which we passed, after ascending the mountains west of the plain of
Khoy, is made up of alternate low ridges and extensive intervening
valleys which afford excellent pasture grounds. An old Turk and
his son, belonging to Erzróom, fell in with our party, begging per-
;
t
308
BOUNDARY-KOORDISH VILLAGE-CHURN.
((
mission, for their better security, to travel in company with us,
through the Koordish region. "The Koords," said the Turk, are
neither Muhammedans nor infidels, (Christians); they are brutes;
they rob all whom they dare to rob, without discrimination." All
classes of the natives, in those wild countries, account it a great
privilege to perform their journeys in company with European trav-
ellers, as they are thus shielded, in some measure, against Koordish
depredation, and oppression from the higher classes of their own
countrymen.
May 8. We rode ten fursákhs. The first five brought us to
Avâjik, the last village in Persia. This village is also often called
Kîleesiá, (church,) taking the name from an ancient Armenian stone
church, the walls of which are still standing. This and the neigh-
boring villages were formerly occupied exclusively by Armenians,
who abandoned their homes during the Russian invasion, and emi-
grated into Georgia. Their places are now partially supplied by
Persians, from Erivân, who, when the Russians took possession of
that province, were glad to escape proximity to their new masters,
by retiring to this remote district, which had been abandoned by the
Armenians. Five fursákhs more carried us across the boundary to
the small Koordish village of Küzzil-dizzá. The boundary between
Turkey and Persia is here a high range of mountains, sweeping from
Ararat to the south-west and blending with the general ranges of
Koordistân. It is probably the Niphates of the Greeks. On the top
of this mountain is an extensive section of fine meadow-land, called,
Kâzi-góol, goose-pond, surrounded by broken rocky ledges. The
traveller always dreads to pass through this vale, as it is just upon the
boundary, very secluded and usually infested with robbers. There
were now no Koords encamped in it, the weather being still too cold
to allow them to live there in tents.
The village in which we put up for the night is a small miserable
hamlet of stationary Koords, which had not long before been sack-
ed by their migratory neighbors. We selected the largest and best
subterranean hovel in the place, but were there obliged to lodge in
the same room with the master of the house and his wife and chil-
dren. The free, social intercourse between the sexes, among the
Koords, impresses the traveller, at once as he goes among them, with
the superior virtue of their females to that of the dissolute Persians.
Apprehension of a formidable attack from vermin, forbade me to
divest myself of any of my clothing. I simply sat down upon a rush
mat, leaned against the mud-wall and thus went to sleep. Sad ex-
perience soon taught me, however, that all my clothes closely but-
toned were but an ineffectual covert against the little marauders,
which proved to be far more annoying to us than the dreaded Koords.
But to the praise of our host, he treated us in the kindest manner in
his power. Among the rude implements of the dairy, in this Koord-
ish dwelling, I noticed particularly the churn. It consisted of a large
goat-skin, apparently entire, suspended from the roof by a rope.
MİLK MT. ARARAT-ASCENT-LAVA.
309
This skin is filled with milk and rapidly swung by ropes attached
to it and plied by children standing on opposite sides, until the but-
ter is separated. This is the method of churning common among
the Koords and the mountain Nestorians. The people of Oróomiah
use a deep earthern jar as a churn. They fill the vessel with milk,
bind a piece of skin over the top, lay it upon a stone or other ful-
crum near the middle, and by a handle on the jar for the purpose,
balance the ends up and down. Asiatics do not first separate the
cream, but always churn the milk itself. The milk of the sheep,
which is very rich, is most prized by them; next, that of the goat,-
then, of the buffalo, and last, of the cow. Our feelings may perhaps
revolt at the idea of using the milk of the sheep. But what more
harmless and cleanly animal, in all the quadruped race than the
sheep?
At Küzzil-dizzá we were very near the base of Mt. Ararat. I
had three times before passed this venerable mountain, but had never
felt so strong a desire to ascend it as in this instance. The earli-
ness of the season, if there were no other obstacle, would now have
forbidden the attempt. The snow extended almost to its base. In
August and September, it covers only about one third of the moun-
tain; and an adventurer might then reach the limits of snow in one
day, lodge there at night, and advance as far as it is ever practicable
and reach the same lodging-place on his return, on the following
day. Both Armenians and Muhammedans-and I may add, most
Europeans, who have travelled in that region and are acquainted
with the subject-pronounce it impossible to reach the top of Mt.
Ararat. They state that the accumulated masses of snow and ice
are not only steep and even perpendicular, but actually project more
or less for some distance. They discard the pretensions of Profes-
sor Parrott to the honor of having planted his feet upon the summit.
And were not the learned Professor reported to be a man of veracity,
I should feel constrained to mingle my voice with the tones of gen-
eral doubt. As it is, I wait for better evidence. The ascent, if ever
practicable, would be easiest on the north-western side, which is in
general less steep by far than the others.
The impressive sublimity of Mt. Ararat increases, (in my case at
least,) rather than diminishes, by familiarity. The road by the town
of Bayazéed, which is the post-route, and which I followed on my
former tour, carries the traveller still nearer the base of the mountain.
The country on the western side, as well as Ararat itself, presents
striking indications of having felt the former action of volcanoes.
Over a region of fifteen or twenty miles, the surface of the ground
is thickly strown with loose stones, weighing from one to ten or
twenty pounds, which give indubitable signs of having been in a
state of partial fusion-are hard as flint, but porous, and are in fact
genuine lava. Occasional ridges of the same formation, occur also
on various parts of the plain. And the fact that the frequent earth-
quakes, which shake these regions, seem to have their centre in Mt.
Ararat, confirms the idea of its volcanic origin.
3
*
310
GENOESE FORTRESSES-CONVENT-TIMOURLANE.
May 9. We changed our direction to west and rode eight fur-
sákhs, to Utch-kileesia, the Armenian convent. At Dîadéen, which
is five fursákhs west of Küzzil-dizzá, we came upon the eastern
branch of the Euphrates. It is a larger and more rapid stream than
the western branch, where we crossed the latter near Erzróom. It is
called by the natives, Murád-chai, river of Murad. Dîadéen is a
Koordish town of considerable size, having a fortress which is one
of those built by the adventurous Genoese, in their prosperous days,
on the route between Trebizond and Persia, to protect their trade
with the East. Six or eight of these fortresses still remain, on this
route, in a state of partial preservation. The commerce of the Ge-
noese with those remote regions, must have been immense and lu-
crative, to enable them to rear and sustain such a line of fortifica-
tions through wild, inhospitable territories, and at the same time en-
rich their republic.
The convent, where we passed the night, is in a desolate state,
the Armenians of that region who once contributed to its support,
having followed the Russians into Georgia. There are now only
three resident vartabéds and the same number of priests. The
church is an immense building of freestone-one of the largest
churches in the Armenian nation; and the workmanship is very
fine. It is also very old, having been originally built, as the monks
state, fourteen hundred and fifty years ago. It is only for the sake
of preserving that venerable structure, that it continues, in so inhos-
pitable a region, to be occupied as a convent. A small Armenian
village is all that now remains connected with it, and the lawless
Koords sometimes strip both the village and the convent of almost
everything but the walls, though the Turkish government extends
to it a measure of protection. The inmates of the convent received
us with much hospitality. On expressing their regret that they had
neither wine nor rum to treat us, Mar Yohannan assured them, that
we wished for none; and the door being thus opened, he proceeded
to give them a very appropriate temperance lecture. The monks
appeared much pleased with the agreeable manners and conversation.
of the Nestorian prelate; and I was myself, as is often the case,
deeply interested to observe what attractive powers he possesses.
Wherever we stop, crowds flock around him, and listen to his voice,
almost as to an oracle.
May 10. We continued our course on the banks of the Euphra-
tes, rode eight fursákhs and reached Kara-kileesá, black church.
This Armenian village receives it name, as tradition says, from the
fact that Timóurlane, (Timóur-lenk,*) in his career of devastation,
* Lenk, in Persian, means lame-an epithet given to Timóur, because he was
a cripple. The Persians relate, that on arriving in India, a blind bard appear-
ed before the conqueror, who asked him his name and he replied, Douláh—
fortune. Said Timóur, I did not know before that fortune was blind. She
must be, replied the bard, or she would never have sought a home in a cripple.
The conqueror was so much gratified with the compliment, that he lavished
upon the bard a pecuniary fortune.
DISCUSSION-YEZIDEES.
i
311
blew up an old stone church there with a species of gun-powder.
A part of that ancient fabric is said to form the base of the present
church of the village. In the evening, an Armenian priest came to
our lodgings, and fell into conversation with Mar Yohannan. Pass-
ing from topic to topic, they came at length upon image-worship in
churches. The priest argued in support of it as practised by his na-
tion, while the Nestorian bishop got the better of him, reprobating
the practice with much clearness and feeling. It is interesting to
notice how evangelical are the bishop's views and feelings, on all
the subjects thus incidentally introduced. A multitude of the vil
lagers here, as at our other stopping-places, gathered around him,
with whom he "literally reasoned of temperance, righteousness and
a judgment to come." He has the theory of religion quite clearly
in his head; may he also have it experimentally in his heart.
We passed, to-day, a large tribe of Koords, encamped on the
banks of the Euphrates. They are the Sypokées, who are all Yezî-
dées, the reputed worshippers of the devil. An individual from this
tribe was one of the bishop's audience this evening. The Yezîdées
are somewhat numerous, but they all speak the Koordish language
and appear not to differ much in character from other Koords. They
cannot with strict propriety be called worshippers of the devil. As
nearly as I am able to ascertain, they regard the devil as a malig-
nant being, but high in rank and the prime minister of the divine
displeasure. They call him, Melik Tâóos (mighty angel;) and re-
garding such to be his rank and influence, they deem it, at least,
good policy for them to conciliate his favor. According to a cer-
tain proverb, they would treat even the devil well, not knowing into
whose hands they may fall. Accordingly, while they profess ado-
ration for the one true God, and much respect for Christ, as his
messenger, and higher reverence still for Muhammed, as the great-
est of prophets, they are deeply solicitous to keep on friendly terms
with his Satanic highness and very careful to do and say nothing
to displease him. When one of another nation pronounces the
word, Satan, in their presence, they are distressed and offended
by it, supposing that others, whenever they allude to the devil at
all, do it always with disrespect. Not being fully aware of their
sensitiveness, I inquired, this evening, of the Yezîdée who was
present, in what estimation his people hold the Evil one, wishing
merely to elicit information. But he manifested such indications
of annoyance and kindling anger, that I desisted from questioning
him, and endeavored to obtain some facts on the subject from the
Armenians of the village. The secrets of the religious system of
the Yezîdées are, however, so studiously concealed, that it is but
very imperfectly known to others. One remarkable fact in the sys-
tem is, that if a circle be described about them, either by marking
the ground with a stick, or walking around them, they conceive the
circle to involve some magical charm and are very reluctant to leave
it until it is broken. They are also superstitious, in drinking wine,
312
DISCUSSION ON IMAGE-WORSHIP.
about spilling a drop upon the ground. Should the reader be in-
clined to know more of the Yezîdées, he will find an article respect-
ing them in the Biblical Repository, prepared with considerable re-
search by Rev. H. Homes of Constantinople.*
May 11. We rode six fursákhs, over a level plain and reached
the village of Moollâh Soleimân. The plain which we crossed is
extremely fertile, and must have afforded a noble and favorite camp
ground for Timóurlane and his myriads who are said at one time to
have made it their quarters. Moollâh Soleimân is an Armenian
Catholic village. Its priest and many of the villagers came to see
us, and Mar Yohannan entertained them with religious conversation.
Falling into a warm discussion on the merits of image-worship,
the bishop repeated, with great pertinency and effect, the language
of David in the 105th Psalm: "Their idols are silver and gold,
the work of men's hands; they have mouths, but they speak not;
eyes have they, but they see not; they have ears, but they hear not;
noses have they, but they smell not; they have hands, but they han-
dle not; feet have they, but they walk not; neither speak they
through their throat; they that make them are like unto them; so
is every one that trusteth in them;" and to this very appropriate
quotation, he added the second commandment, to the great confu-
sion of all the Catholics who were present. The priest, however,
recovering a little, tried to sustain his cause, by the hackneyed posi-
tion, that Christ made Peter his vicegerent, and that Peter has a
regular line of successors in the pontiffs of Rome, down to the pre-
sent time, attempting to stammer the hard names of the long dark
catalogue, who had encouraged the use of pictures. The bishop re-
plied, that the apostles are all in Scripture represented as pillars of
the Christian church, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-
stone; that neither prophets, apostles nor Christ had ever recom-
mended image-worship so far as the Bible informs us, but on the
contrary, they often and strongly condemn idolatry. "And the
Bible," he reiterated, "the Bible is our anchor. We must cling to
that, whatever the popes of Rome may say." It was not a little
gratifying to hear a Nestorian bishop, from the deep darkness of
Persia, thus expose and combat the corrupt doctrines and practices
of Papal Rome, with an intelligence, earnestness and propriety
which would do honor to a Protestant prelate.
May 12. We crossed the lofty Ararat range, rode eight fursákhs
and reached the village of Dela-bába. In winding our way through
a ravine up the mountains, we observed clusters of small white birches
that stud the brook which murmurs along by the road-side. They
are the first and the only white birches that I have seen in all my
travels in Asia,t and the sight of them revived ten thousand early
* See Biblical Repository for April, 1842, p. 329.
+ I crossed this mountain by another route, on my former journey to
Erzróom.
ANTIQUITIES BRIDGE-MEETING.
313
recollections of the land of my kindred. Mar Yohannan was also
much interested, having never seen birches before; and the more
so, when I dismounted and peeled a few strips of the bark and told
him how I had often amused myself in childhood by writing upon
such bark. The reader would more fully appreciate the interest
of such trifling incidents, that awaken associations of home, were he
long to be a sojourner in distant benighted lands.
Passing down from the mountain range, we entered the beautiful
Armenian province of Pasin, which is a great valley extending al-
most to Erzróom, fertile and well cultivated. At Dela-bába, the
village where we stopped for the night, I observed, in an ancient
grave-yard, a small arched dome, beautifully built of hewn stone,
without any entrance. On inquiry, I was told that its use and his-
tory are unknown to both Armenians and Muhammedans; but that
it may have been the work of the Romans-which is a very com-
mon solution of antiquarian difficulties among the natives as well
as travellers in those regions.
May 13.
We rode six fursákhs in a western direction, over
delightful undulations in the valley which we entered yesterday, and
put up for the Sabbath at Kupry-koy, Bridgeville. Just before
reaching the village, we crossed the river Arrás (Araxes) by the
noble structure that gives name to the village. It is the longest bridge
that I have seen in Asia, built of fine hewn stone and has the ap-
pearance of having stood there many centuries.
May 15. After passing the Sabbath in a dreary, filthy stable,
we rode about eight fursákhs and reached Erzróom. Five fursákhs
before arriving at the city, we passed Hässân-kuláah, a walled town
already described, containing five or six thousand inhabitants. Its
strong fortress is one of those built by the Genoese. At Erzroom,
we were hospitably received by Mr. Brant, the British consul, with
whom I had not finished shaking hands, when Mr. Johnston, our
missionary at Trebizond, entered the room. He had accompanied
Messrs. Holladay and Stocking from Trebizond, and leaving them
a few miles in the rear when in sight of Erzróom, had rode on him-
self to provide for them lodgings. We were grateful for the privi-
lege of meeting again in that distant land, and particularly inter-
ested with the striking Providence, that had brought me from Persia,
Mr. Johnston from Trebizond and our new associates from America,
to meet at the place appointed, just at the same time. An hour
afterward, Messrs. Holladay and Stocking with their wives arrived.
Having rested and procured a takt-rawân for Mrs. Holladay, who
had become too feeble to ride farther on horseback, we left Erzróom,
May 28th, for Persia. It was so late in the day when we started,
that we rode but two or three hours, and pitched our tent by the
quiet brook, Nabhee-chái, Prophet's river, for the Sabbath.
May 21. We had enjoyed a peaceful Sabbath and retired to
rest, intending to proceed early the next morning. But about 11
o'clock in the evening, a messenger came up to our tent from Erz-
40
314
WITHDRAWAL OF THE GERMAN MISSIONARIES.
róom, bringing a letter to me from Mr. Zohráb, stating that tidings
had just reached the city, that the Koords had plundered a village
near the frontier, and the road was reported to be very unsafe. A
thousand tender and painful recollections of the past, as well as
some apprehension for the future, were called up by that letter,
near the very spot, as we were, where three years before, Mrs. Per-
kins and myself were induced, on account of the disturbed state of
the Koords, to leave our direct route and turn off into Georgia, the
land which proved to us a scene of so many trials, vexations and
sufferings, and had well nigh proved the place of our graves. After
consultation, it was concluded that I should return to Erzróom,
the next day, and endeavor to ascertain more fully the extent of the
danger from the Koords, while the rest of the party should proceed
to Hǎssân-kuláah, where I hoped to be able to join them the ensu-
ing evening.
May 22. I returned early in the morning to Erzróom, and on
conferring with the English consul, found that we might, without
imminent hazard, proceed on our journey, as a thousand Turkish
troops were to start in a day or two for the frontier, whose approach
would be likely to deter the Koords from committing farther depre-
dations. I reached our party, at Hǎssân-kuláah, as I had expected;
and the next day we proceeded, having the army, as we advanced,
about two days in our rear, and by the good providence of God
were brought safely to Oróomiah, where we arrived on the 7th of
June.
In the heart of the Koordish country, we had the happiness to
meet three German missionaries, Messrs. Haas, Hoernle and
Schneider, the first named with his family, on their way from Persia
to Europe. It was a grateful meeting to us all. We halted on the
spot, pitched our tents in the desert, and spent a delightful day to-
gether, in conversation, prayer and praise. We could not, how-
ever, but sympathize with these excellent brethren, in feelings of
deep regret, at the occasion of our meeting. They were abandoning
the field of their missionary hopes and labors. They had been in
Persia, and previously in Georgia, a considerable period, had ac-
quired a familiar acquaintance with the native languages, and had
successfully commenced operations. They retired not from choice
but necessity. The Basle Missionary Society, under whose pat-
ronage they labored, decided not to continue operations in Persia,
unless the gospel could be openly proclaimed to the Muhamme-
dans. This is impracticable. Life would be the price of the at-
tempt. The missionaries had, therefore, no other alternative than
to leave the country, however much they regretted the necessity or
dissented in opinion from the policy of their excellent patrons.
The withdrawal of these German missionaries is a serious calam-
ity to Persia, especially, because they are eminently adapted to
labor in that country. We need working men in Persia-men who,
while they are full of faith and the Holy Ghost, and love to preach
KIND OF MISSIONARIES—A NEWSPAPER.
315
Christ and him crucified above all other employments, are, at
the same time, not reluctant to use grammars and dictionaries, and
to qualify themselves, if occasion shall require, to make grammars
and dictionaries and other school-books. We need men, who are
willing to live and labor for Christ, as well as to die for him. We
want no erratic, idle ramblers, like a Jewish convert recently in that
country. It is an easy thing for one to proclaim himself ready to
die for Christ, and wander over the Persian empire, report his
movements "in perils oft," excite notoriety at home, and say enough
and do enough to raise a storm in every city, and perhaps interrupt
the labors and endanger the lives of more prudent, humble, inde-
fatigable and useful missionaries. But this is not to evangelize
Persia; nor is it the first step toward such a result. It is to excite
suspicion, rouse the jealous Moollâhs to redoubled vigilance in their
eagle watch, and retard the object. Persia, at present, needs more
light than heat. And the men sent to that country should be quali-
fied and willing to labor hard and patiently to diffuse light, as well
as to proclaim Muhammed a false Prophet, and Christ the Son of
God. Such men were these sterling German missionaries, whose
departure is deeply regretted by the Persians, as well as by ourselves.
June 13. A Moollâh called to visit Mar Yohannan, and request-
ed of him the christian Scriptures. When the bishop applied to
me for a Bible to give him, I suggested the inquiry, whether it
might not be the Moollâh's intention to procure and destroy it.
Mar Yohannan assured me to the contrary, and stated that the
Moollâh is his old acquintance, belongs in a village near his own,
is a very amiable man, and in his (the bishop's) opinion, a sincere
inquirer after truth.
June 15. A periodical newspaper has recently been commenced
under the auspices of the king, in Muhammedan Persia. It is
edited by a native who speaks our language-having been once
ambassador to England-and is strongly desirous of introducing
European knowledge and improvements among his countrymen.
This newspaper, though a small thing in itself, and like a feeble
taper may soon go out, still, viewed as a sign of the times, as an
index of the general tendency of things, is a bright star of hope for
the civil renovation of Persia. And shall European light, as it rolls
into this country, be wholly under the banners of the men of this
world? Indirect missionary efforts and those of an interesting
and encouraging character-are practicable, among the Müham-
medans. The German missionaries had very auspiciously com-
menced such efforts. Mr. Haas had a flourishing Muhammedan
school; and his labors had arrested the attention and elicited the
approbation of multitudes of the higher classes. A small geography,
which he prepared, reached the king, who studied it attentively, mani-
fested a deep interest in it, and directed his Meerza to request Mr.
Haas to come and open a school at Tehrân. And as a farther to-
ken of the royal approbation of his efforts in healing the sick, as well
316
STYLE OF ADDRESS-VISIT FROM DR. RIACH.
as in giving instruction, the king conferred on Mr. H. an order of
Persian knighthood. Such attentions are in themselves, of course,
of no value to the missionary; but as betokening facilities for the
spread of the gospel, it were ingratitude to God, not thankfully to
acknowledge them.
•
We could indeed wish that it were now practicable to preach the
But
gospel openly and directly to the Muhammedans in Persia.
because on coming here the missionary does not find the harvest,
among that class, already ripe and falling into the ground, his pa-
trons should not abandon the field. Can he reasonably be expected
to reap before he has sown? And in a field which Satan has so
long and industriously scattered over with tares, shall the churches
marvel and despond, if the soil needs cultivation before they can
pour in the good seed? And when will it be more practicable to
commence the work of cultivation? Who are to prepare geogra-
phies, histories, school-books and tracts for Persia, and guide its in-
habitants in their incipient inquiries after truth, if not christian
missionaries?
CHAPTER XIX.
JOURNAL: JULY-DECEMBER, 1837.
We went out to the village of Charbâsh, July 4, to be guests of
a Nestorian friend. It was truly refreshing to leave the hot, dusty
city, and enjoy the pure air of a village; and our relaxation was
rendered doubly interesting by our associations called up by the
day. Our entertainment was simple but clean, which is not too of-
ten the case with meals in Persia. I observed, to-day, a peculiarity
of Nestorian address. Our host, in speaking to his wife, did not
use that term, nor her name, but the name of her father; i. e. sup-
posing her father's name to have been Abraham, her husband would
address her, "thou daughter of Abraham," do this, or that. This
distant mode of address, which is common among the Nestorians,—
taken in connexion with the servile duties which the wives are made
to perform at the dictation of their husbands, impresses one not
very pleasantly with their conjugal confidence and affection. The
females, even among these nominal Christians, are not allowed to
eat with the males, but serve them first and afterwards partake of
what remains.
We had but just reached home, when our excellent friend, Dr. Ri-
ach, arrived. He had made a journey to Tiflís, for the benefit of his
impaired health, and returned to Tehrân by this route, increasing
+
DECLAMATION-VISIT FROM MR. SOUTHGATE.
317
the distance of his tour about two hundred miles, for the sole pur-
pose of visiting us, and aiding and cheering us in our work. His
presence, a few days, is quite a relief to our usual loneliness.
July 5.
In company with Dr. Riach, I visited the governor.
His Excellency and the large number of nobles about him, received
Dr. R. with much attention, as a member of the English embassy;
and they were all deeply interested by his intelligent conversation.
He made it his object, in all his visits at Oróomiah, to excite in the
people a desire for improvement, and thus give countenance to our
labors. "What is it," said Dr. R. to the governor and his cour-
tiers, "that enables Englishmen to take a penny-worth of iron and
convert it into a form, which, when brought to you, readily com-
mands a pound? It is education-it is light." His remarks might
be termed an appropriate and interesting missionary sermon, and
just such a sermon as Muhammedans here need. They must be
enlightened, and thus made to see the fallacy and folly of their own
system, before they will be ready to receive the gospel.
July 13. Our seminary was removed into a larger room, the
heat of the season being so great as to render it impracticable for
so many scholars to remain in the old one. The occasion was
celebrated by the first exercise which the school has ever attempted
in declamation. The priests, and one deacon and two small boys
declaimed, and with much propriety. Mr. Stocking pronounced a
piece in English, at the commencement of the exercise, to set the
school an example John, our boy, also declaimed in English.
The priests and the other boy selected their declamations from the
Psalms. Some of the clergy are quite familiar with portions of the
Scriptures, particularly with the Psalms, which form a large part
of their church services.
July 17. We were cheered by the arrival of Rev. H. South-
gate, an Episcopal missionary, who is making a missionary tour
into Persia. He is glad to find himself safe at Oróomiah, having
taken a route from Erzróom which led him into a dangerous part
of the Koordish country.
His Muhammedan dress shielded him
from much of the difficulty and danger of the way, that he must
have experienced, had he been known as a European.
us.
July 26. Rode to Geog-tapá, in company with Mr. Southgate,
about sunset and passed the night. Priest Abraham prepared a
good supper and lodgings for us, on the highest house in the village.
In the evening, Mar Elias and several of the villagers came to visit
In our conversation, I inquired whether there was no exposure
from dew, in sleeping upon the roof, to which they replied, that they
have no dews,—and the question thence arose as to their origin in
our country, whether they are from the air or the earth. I ex-
plained to them the common theory of the dew being deposited by
the atmosphere, and all professed themselves satisfied with its rea-
sonableness. The brightly twinkling stars happened to form the
next topic. The peasants in Persia pay much attention to the stars,
318
MILKY WAY-PRIMITIVE CUSTOMS.
as the heavenly bodies are (with the mass,) the only chronometers.
And the Muhammedans (the Nestorians less) lay great stress on the
science of astrology, as I have before suggested. The galaxy caught
the philosophic eye of Mar Elias, and he proceeded to offer an ex-
planation. "At the time of the flood,” said he “ we read that the
windows of heaven were opened. That light streak is one of those
windows which has never been again closed up. So our Melpánas
(ancient teachers) say." John, who was with me, caught the in-
spiration of the theme, and rose and repeated, in English, the fol-
lowing beautiful hymn, that he had recently learned from a small
philosophy which he had been studying.
HYMN.
"God, our great Creator, Jesus,
Made the world we live upon;
All above and all beneath us,
Are the works of God the Son.
He made the stars and made the comets,
Made the moon and milky way;
Made the sun and all the planets,
Light for night and light for day.
But the greatest work of Jesus,
Was to leave his throne on high,
And from sin and hell to save us,
Bleed and die on Calvary."
John repeated this hymn with such admirable distinctness and anima
tion as to rivet the attention of his aged father, the bishop, and all
present, though they were ignorant of the meaning. With one
voice, they requested him to translate it, which he did to their still
higher gratification;-and when at the close he suggested the idea
that the "milky way," is made up of myriads of twinkling stars, it
appeared to them at least as probable as the theory of their Melpá-
nas, that it was a window of heaven left open at the time of the
flood. We enjoyed a refreshing night's sleep on the high roof and
rose early the next morning and returned to the city.
Aug. 15. As I was at work in our garden, the boys belonging
to our seminary passed along and saluted me in their common pa-
triarchal style, Alláha-kúvet yavil, May God give you strength.
It is interesting to notice how much there is that is truly primitive
in the people among whom we dwell. We meet with it in their
household furniture; in their agricultural utensils; in their instru-
ments of music; but most of all perhaps in their modes of saluta-
tion. When two persons meet they mutually salute each other
by one saying, "Peace be with you, * and the other, "with you
* The Muhammedans never give this beautiful, primitive salutation to na-
tive Christians, and the more strict among them do not extend it to Euro-
peans. “God keep you," is used by them, in addressing infidels, (Christians).

Thayer & Co Lith Boston
A NESTORIAN GIRL, CARRYING WATER.
CARRYING WATER-SCRIPTURE ILLUSTRATIONS.
""
319
also, be peace.'
When one enters the house of another, he says
the same, (C
Peace be with you," and the other replies, "Your com-
ing is welcome.”
When a guest leaves a house, he says, " May
God grant you increase; may your days be prosperous;" and the
other replies, " May God be with you. And these salutations are
repeated, as often as persons meet or enter each other's apartments,
if it be every half hour of the day. Our Western style of salutation
strikes an oriental as meagre, distant and cold; and seems hardly less
so to ourselves, after residing some time in the East. We would
not of course, however, exchange the honest brevity of American
compliments for the sweet-sounding verbiage, venerable as beautiful
though it be, of heartless Asiatics.
If you do a Nestorian a kindness, or wish him prosperity, he says,
in thanking you, "May God give you the kingdom of heaven."
When one puts on a new garment, enters a new house, or purchases
a new article, his friends congratulate him, by saying, "May God
bless your garment to you; may God bless your house," etc. The
same kind of pious phraseology runs into all their business and in-
tercourse. When one enters upon a piece of work, he repeats, " If
the Lord will, I shall accomplish it." When a boy or a man begins
to study a book, he writes upon the margin of the first page, "By
the strength of the Lord I shall learn this book." When a child
commits the letters of his alphabet, as often as he repeats them
through, he is taught to say, at the close, "Glory to Christ our
king."
And the copyist commences his volume by a rubric sen-
tence, under an adorned margin, on the first page, "In the strength
of our Lord Jesus Christ we begin to write."
Scores of Nestorian girls come into our yard, regularly, morning,
noon and night, and carry water from our reservoir, with "Rebec-
ca's pitcher," upon their shoulders. The vessel which they use is,
however, an earthern jug, rather than a pitcher, as indicated in the
accompanying drawing. And the pitchers of those ancient damsels
were doubtless of the same description. When a child, in reading
the allusions to this subject in the Bible, I have often wondered how
a "pitcher" filled with water, could be borne upon the shoulder.
In Persia I found the explanation. The jug, which holds from two
to five gallons, has a handle through which a rope is passed and held
by the hands, and it is thus conveniently carried. Innumerable inci-
dents of a most common nature are constantly occurring before our
eyes in the East, that forcibly illustrate Scripture allusions. As
another instance, the girls who flock around our fountain to fill
their "pitchers," often crowd and jostle each other, and the jug of
some one of them falls upon the pavement and is dashed in pieces;
and there is "the pitcher broken at the fountain,"-irreparably bro-
ken-its value and usefulness at an end-the striking emblem, used
in Scripture, of old age and the end of life. The beautiful illustra-
tions of the Bible, presented thus vividly and constantly to the mis-
320
GATHERING GRAPES LABOR OF FEMALES.
sionary in Asia, is a source of untold pleasure to him and one of the
greatest mitigations to his exile from kindred and home.
The fact that there is much in the character and customs of the
Nestorians which is primitive, naturally suggests the idea of their
Jewish origin, as our familiarity with Jewish customs, is greater than
with those of other Eastern nations, from our early perusal of the
Scriptures. It is, however, well known to a resident or traveller in
the East, that domestic manners and customs, among the Jews and
Nestorians and other nations there, are not in general Jewish nor
Nestorian, nor national, distinctively;-they are rather Eastern—
oriental, in the broad sense of that term. Hence the argument
drawn from this source, to make any given people Jewish in their
origin proves nothing, by proving too much; as it might with equal
propriety be applied to almost all Eastern nations, and make them
all of the same origin. With the Nestorians that come to our foun-
tain for water, for instance, are many Muhammedan girls, whose
"pitchers" upon their shoulders and general appearance as fully
entitle them to be called the descendants of Jewish Rebeccas and
Rachels, as their christian neighbors; and the same is true in other
things. And yet mistake on this subject, from the circumstances I
have mentioned, is perfectly natural.
Aug. 17. We were invited to visit Geog-tapá, it being the sea-
son to gather grapes from the vineyards; many acres on the bor-
ders of which are now covered over with the clusters of the vine,
spread out, drying for raisins. The grapes are laid thickly upon in-
clined terraces, prepared for the purpose. The vineyards, on the
plain of Oróomiah, which are almost numberless and boundless,
present a very striking appearance at this season of the year. It is
common for Nestorian girls and women to labor in the fields, during
the summer. They weed the cotton, and assist in pruning the vines
and gathering the grapes. Mothers take their cradles, with their
infants in them, upon their shoulders, in the morning, and carry
them to the distant field or vineyard. The child lies bound in the
cradle all day, being visited by the mother, who is at her work near
by, a few times to nurse it; and at night, the little stranger is car-
ried home in the same way. The wife of priest Abraham told us,
to-day, that her husband would not allow her to go out, during the
present season, preferring to do all the work himself. It is inter-
esting to observe this incipient improvement, in the regard for fe-
males, among those who reside with us.
Aug. 20. To avoid the extreme heat of the city, most of the
members of our mission went out fifteen miles, to the village of Ar-
dishái, to spend a day or two with Mar Gabriel. We started so late
that we reached our destination not until some time in the evening.
The bishop welcomed us to his hospitable dwelling, and late as it
was, an excellent meal was prepared for us, and a large number of
the villagers assembled to greet us and gratify their curiosity, before
we retired to rest.
ם
NAVIGATION OF THE LAKE-POTTERY.
321
Aug. 21. Our visitors again became numerous quite early this
morning. In the course of the forenoon, Mr. Stocking and myself
rode four miles, to a point on the lake, at which a small vessel, be-
longing to Malek Kâsem Meerza, was lying at anchor. The vessel
is one of five or six belonging to the same prince, nearly the size of
an American schooner, but of the rudest conceivable construction.
They have flat bottoms and a triangular form; or more strictly, they
are square at the stern and the sides are slightly curved, giving
them very much the shape of a common flat-iron. The bishop ex-
pressed his admiration of the vessel which we visited, and inquired
whether our countrymen have any as large and well built. And
when I gave him some account of American shipping, his mingled
emotions of astonishment and incredulity were very strongly depicted
on his countenance. This vessel is manned by ten men, who were
now loading it with timber, to transport to Tabréez. There are
no natural forests at Oróomiah; but the willows, poplars and syca-
mores planted on the water-courses, are of such size and so abun-
dant here as to render timber quite an article of export to the neigh-
boring districts. The progress of these vessels is very slow and
their voyages long, depending on the favor of the winds and the
more tardy movements of the crew, who, in prospect of hunger alone,
will ply their long, rude oars.
The navigation of the lake is monopolized by Malek Kâşem
Meerza, to whom the privilege was granted by his royal nephew,
the Shâh. A nobleman of Oróomiah, in the spirit of " free trade
and sailors' rights," built two vessels, a few years ago, in imitation
of those of the prince; but he was never permitted to use them and
they now lie rotting upon the beach. An extensive business might
be carried on, by an efficient navigation, between Oróomiah and
Tabréez. The transportation by caravans which requires a week,
could thus be accomplished in a day,-the distance between the
two cities being diminished by more than half, in addition to the in-
creased speed. And all travellers, who value time or ease of con-
veyance, would of course be among the patrons. The lake is dis-
tant twenty-five miles from Tabréez and half that from Oróomiah;
'but the way is almost a water level, ready for the tracks of rail-road
If wood is too scarce there for the consumption of steam-en-
gines, it requires, as we have been told, only men of" sense" (sci-
ence) to find plenty of coal. We hope, at least, that a horse-boat
may ere long find its way to that lake; for ten or twelve days is
much more time than a missionary at Oróomiah can afford to devote
to a journey to Tabréez, whither our object often calls us.
cars.
In the afternoon, we visited the pottery at Ardishái. Coarse
earthen ware is manufactured there in great abundance, and like all
other articles made in Persia, with the simplest apparatus. The
ease and rapidity with which the ware is made to assume any shape
desired, vividly reminded us of the beauty and force of the figure
drawn from this source and used by the apostle to illustrate the
:
41
322
99
PUNISHMENT OF DESERTERS-ROYAL EDICTS..
doctrine of divine sovereignty; "As the clay in the hands of the
potter. Just before evening, most of our party bathed in the lake.
The water is so salt that a crystal coat forms upon a person bathing
in it the moment he rises up, and its specific gravity is so great that
it buoys him upon its surface and renders it difficult to sink.
Aug. 22. We rose at day-break and started for home.
As we
passed out of the village, we noticed, at that early hour, two fat buf-
faloes just knocked down in preparation for the festival which com-
mences to-day. A fast of two weeks closes, during which the Nes-
torians have eaten no flesh, and to make up for this season of absti-
nence, they consider it proper to hold a festival and allowable to in-
dulge in the excessive use of meat. Such religious practices must
of course exert a highly immoral influence. Just before we reached
the city, we met the prince, Malek Mânsoor Meerza, starting for
Tabréez. He had with him a large retinue, himself in front, in
princely style, carrying a fowling-hawk in his hand. He halted and
conversed with me a few moments, and kindly proposed to take let-
ters for us to Tabréez.
Sept. 10. The king has just sent several orders to the governor
of Oróomiah, which not a little embarrass him. One thousand sol-
diers, belonging to this province, deserted from the king's army
about four months ago and returned to their homes. His Majesty
now orders the governor to exact from each of them thirty tomâns
($75,) brand him in his forehead and burn down his house. The
order was written with the king's own hand, which invests it with
special importance, and accompanied by the frightful threat-“ if
you do not execute this command, I will give you a kick from
which you will never recover, in this world.' The governor's au-
thority is too weak to enable him to carry into effect the royal order,
and he knows not what to do. There is little of quiet and comfort,
for either rulers or people in Persia. Those deserters doubtless de-
serve punishment. But they had been pressed into service, half
naked, leaving their families destitute at home, and had received
only a fraction of their scanty stipend from government. The sol-
dier has thus but small motives to patriotic loyalty. And the local
governors are constantly liable to receive orders which they cannot
execute, but the non-fulfilment of which may cost them their places
or even their heads. In such a country, discontent, foreboding and
terror must reign in every bosom. As a practical relief, however,
the reader should be informed, that the royal edicts of modern times
in Persia, are not invariably like those laws of the ancient Medes
and Persians which "change not." They are not unfrequently
mitigated or cancelled, by the capricious monarch. Life in that
country is therefore a cup of trembling, between hope and fear.
Oct. 3. Received the following note from prince Malek Kâsem
Meerza.
•
LETTER TO THE SYRIAN CHURCH.
Rev. J. Perkins and Dr. A. Grant,
323
"Ashân, 1837, Sept. 22.
GENTLEMEN,-I have much pleasure, in giving you information,
that we intend, God willing, to visit Oróomiah, in the course of this
month, and if nothing impedes us, we will feel the highest plea-
sure, in visiting there your most celebrated school, and of imitating
it if possible.
I remain, Sirs, yours very truly,
M. K. M."
Too much should not be inferred from such letters. They are
interesting, as indicating a desire, in Persians of rank, to encourage
improvements. But we cannot rely on them to effect a great deal
by their own exertions. They are too weak and selfish to make sac-
rifices in the work. Their commendation of the missionary and his
object is indeed immensely important, in its general effects on the
people. But it is still the missionary who must put his shoulder to
the wheel and perform the labor, or it will never be accomplished.
Oct. 18. Our Nestorian ecclesiastics have sometimes heard us
refer to a branch of the Syrian church in India, of the existence of
which they seem previously to have had some knowledge. Mar
Yohannan, a day or two since, directed priest Dunka, to prepare a
letter, in his name, to those Christians. When the letter was com-
pleted, it was submitted to me for perusal. I give the reader the
following literal translation of it, alike for the statistics it contains
and the manner of stating them.
“In the name of God:
The grace of God; the peace of our Lord, from the mouth of
Mar Yohannan, bishop, and from the priests and the deacons; and
the whole multitude of the faithful, the Syrian Christians of the
East, in other terms, the Chaldeans;-unto the people, blessed and
pure, redeemed by the flowing blood of salvation; clothed in the
baptism of water, that unfading robe, made perfect by water and the
Spirit; and unto the wise and exalted priests; and unto the select
deacons; and the unblemished chiefs; unto a people saved by the
Lord Jesus. May the living God keep you from all the snares of
the Destroyer, in answer to the prayers of the holy and just ones
who observe the pure commandments. May you be firm and im-
moveable, under the banner of the cross of life. Amen.
"Know ye that this is the business of our epistle which we send
unto you.
First, we would inquire for your welfare; and next, we
would state that we have heard, there are Syrian Christians in your
country, and our desire is great to see you. But it is a day of op-
pression with us, and the way is distant and difficult, and we cannot
come to you. Our desire, therefore, is this; that you send unto us
also an epistle, informing us what is your language and your faith
and religious observances.
"By this letter, know ye, that we are Nestorians, believing in
1
2
324
OBSERVANCES AND CANONS.
Christ, in two natures but one person. We call Mary the mother
of Christ, (not the mother of God,) yea and Amen. And further-
more, know ye, on seeing this letter, that there are, in our country,
Mar Shimon, the spiritual head or Patriarch; and Mar Yeesho, the
metropolitan. There are Mar Yohannan, Mar Gabriel, Mar Jo-
seph and Mar Elias, of the province of Oróomiah. There are Mar
Khnân-yéesho, the metropolitan, and Mar Dunka, and Mar Yohan-
nan, bishops of the province of Droostáka. And Mar Sléeva, bish-
op of the district of Gávar, and Mar Sergis, bishop of the district,
Jalem Jéloo, and Mar Yeeshooyábh, bishop of the province Bárbar-
and a few other bishops. There are arch-deacons and priests and
readers, and a people of believing Christians, many, very many.
Again; know ye that our religious observances are these.
First, the fasts and festivals which we observe. We keep fifty days
as the fast of our Saviour, Jesus Christ; and on the fiftieth day, we
hold a festival. Further, there is another festival, which we call the
festival of Christ's ascension to heaven. And again, the feast of
Pentecost. Fifty days, commencing with Pentecost, is the fast of
the apostles; and at the close of this fast we keep the feast of the
apostles. Again, we keep a fast of fifteen days in the month of
August, called the fast of St. Mary. Again, there are the seven
weeks' fast of Elias, and the seven weeks' fast of Moses, which some
men observe and some do not observe. There is the feast of the
transfiguration of Christ; the feast of the cross and the feast of the
birth of Christ, and the feast of the baptism of Christ.
"These eight festivals of our Lord we observe, and we have many
holy days and the Sabbath day, on which we do not labor. And on
Wednesday and Friday, we eat no flesh. The Sabbath day we reck-
on far-far above the others. The sacrament of the body and blood
of Christ we celebrate, with the leaven, the olive oil and pure meal ;
and with wine.
"Again; we hold, concerning the matrimonial union of man with
woman, that within four generations on the side of the man, and
four generations on the side of the woman, they shall not marry.
Within these bounds, they are kindred. Amen.
"
Again; know ye that images and pictures we in no wise admit,
and we never have admitted them; and there are none kept among
us; not one.
"When this letter shall reach you, write ye to our Patriarch, and
to the metropolitans, and the bishops, everything respecting your
people, as what cities ye dwell in, what are your religious obser-
vances and so on. Amen.
"This letter is written in the city of Oróomiah; in the first
month of Chéree (October) and on the seventh day of the month.
(Signed)
The unworthy MAR YOHANNAN."
It is pleasing to see one branch of the ancient church of Antioch
searching for a sister branch, in a different and far distant land.
1
2
DESIRE OF CHANGE-TEMPERANCE REPORT.
325
May the revival of their acquaintance and intercourse, result in the
revival of their united and efficient efforts for the ushering in of the
millennial glory of Zion. The statistics contained in this curious
document may be considered as essentially correct. Priest Dunka,
the writer, has travelled among all the clans of the Nestorians in
these regions and is personally acquainted with most of their clergy.
While it is cheering to see some of the most revolting features of
Romanism and of the other oriental sects distinctly and fully dis-
carded by the Nestorians, still, the recital of the cumbersome mass
of their worse than useless formalities is sufficient deeply to pain the
heart of the spiritual believer, and especially of the missionary who
dwells among them, and sees and feels how much this miserable
hay, wood and stubble is substituted for the purity and glory of the
gospel. The revival of the spirit and power of Christianity will, we
trust, gradually dislodge them from their usurped position.
Oct. 21. The Nestorians of this district are at present in a state
of much excitement. The Russian emperor is on a visit in Geor-
gia, and a Nestorian who has lived many years in that country has
just come here, who is stirring up the people to send a delegation to
petition the emperor either to take possession of their country, or as-
sist them to emigrate from it into Georgia. It is not strange that
the heavy and habitual oppression which the Nestorians experience
from their Muhammedan masters should make them desirous of
change. They are strongly attached to their beautiful and fertile
country, and will never probably be willing to abandon it. But such
excitements are unfavorable to our labors for their improvement.
To one acquainted in these countries, it is clear that the condition
of the Nestorians would be far enough from improved in any respect,
by their coming into a nearer connexion with Georgia. No despot-
ism is more grinding than that which exists in that province. And
what their religious prospects would be, in case of such a change,
we may infer, from the deep and appalling corruption of morals,
which Russian troops and agents have spread, like a pestilence,
through Georgia, during the present generation; and the settled
policy of the government to which it is prompted by the priesthood
to exclude Protestant missionaries from all its dominions.
•
Nov. 1. Prince, Malek Kâsem Meerza, arrived on his visit at
Oróomiah. His Muhammedan school of about a dozen scholars,
and his teacher, the Armenian from India, have accompanied him.
The prince, as well as the scholars, is studying the English language
and the elements of an English education; and they all appear to be
succeeding much better than I had supposed.
Nov. 3. I received the following note from the above-named Ar-
menian teacher of the prince.
Rev. and Dear Sir,
"Oróomiah, Nov. 1837.
His royal Highness, Malek Kâsem Meerza, who at the first sight
of the copy of your Temperance Reports, deemed it worthy to be
326 THE PRINCE'S SCHOOL-EVENING EXERCISE.
fuel for the fire, is at present so much pleased with the highly bene-
ficial instructions contained in it, that he orders me, this morning,
to lecture the first class in my school in that most exellent book.
Should you therefore kindly spare five copies of it, for this purpose,
you will greatly oblige an affectionate friend of the temperance
cause, who will make his best efforts to promote its interest, and
remain with sentiments of respect, yours very obediently,
(Signed)
M. D. T.”
I sent the teacher the only copy of temperance documents which
I had by me. The case of the prince, in this connexion, is in-
teresting. In becoming acquainted with irreligious Europeans, he
had become addicted to the excessive use of strong drink, and had
nearly ruined his health. A few months ago, our friend, Dr. Riach,
was called to prescribe for him, and his prescription was total ab-
stinence from the use of intoxicating liquors. Dr. R. accompanied
his prescription with an appropriate lecture on the general subject,
and the prince has since that time, according to his own statement,
broken off from the use of strong drink. This afternoon, the
teacher and school of His Royal Highness, called to visit our
Nestorian seminary. His scholars united with our classes in
some of their recitations, and they appeared to be making very en-
couraging progress. It was particularly interesting to see the
haughty Muhammedans, young Khâns among the rest, forgetting
their religious prejudices in the emulation of study, and taking their
places in the same classes with the despised native Christians.
Nov. 4. At the invitation of the prince, we called to visit him.
He has made surprising progress in learning English since he visited
Oróomiah two years ago. For our entertainment, he called for his
volume of temperance documents, and read a part of the first page
and translated it into Persian. He declared his intention of trans-
lating the whole volume into Persian, and presenting it to the king.
If the perusal of it shall prove a means of preventing a relapse to
his cups, it will perform a most important office for him and his
countrymen, though it should never be translated into their native
language. The prince is evidently a man of very fine talents,
and he appears to desire that light should break in upon Persia.
His teacher states that he remits the taxes of those individuals in
his village who are disposed to send their sons to his school.
Nov. 6. We have recently commenced an evening exercise in
languages, in which all the natives connected with our families, the
seminary scholars who study English, and the members of our mis-
sion, participate. Each individual previously prepares a sentence-
the Nestorians in English, and we in the modern Syriac. These
sentences are committed to memory and repeated, also presented in
writing at the exercise, and some time is spent in extempore efforts
in conversation. It is an important aid both to us and the Nesto-
rians, in the acquisition of the respective languages which we mu-
H
AN ENGLISH OFFICER-JACOBITE SYRIANS.
327
tually find difficult. The effort at composition also awakens the
dormant minds of the natives, affords them agreeable employment,
and saves them from idleness and temptation to vice during their
long autumn and winter evenings.
Nov. 7. Major W. an English officer who is spending a few
weeks at Oróomiah, for the purpose of drilling troops, has, we have
reason to hope, recently passed from death unto life. He spent the
first week after his arrival, in my family, no comfortable quarters
having been provided for him elsewhere by government. He then
appeared to cherish much respect for religion; but it was not until
a few days after he took lodgings in another house, that he expressed
to us the joy and peace which were then, for the first time, spring-
ing up in his soul. It is delightful and instructive, to witness the
striking resemblance between the views and feelings of this solitary
convert in distant Persia, and the subjects of American revivals.
His deepest concern now is, that he may devote himself entirely to
the service of God, and be made instrumental of turning others to
righteousness. To the missionary, such cases are precious mercy
drops, in a dark and desert land.
Nov. 8. The prince and his Moollâh visited our seminary.
Both expressed themselves highly gratified with the performance of
the scholars. His Royal Highness exhorted them to proceed dili-
gently with their studies, by enumerating the many advantages
which they would derive from education. After visiting the school,
the prince dined with us and passed the evening. We held our
exercise in language, and he took part with us, repeating, in his
turn, simple English phrases. Some of the sentences presented by
the Nestorians were quite oriental and highly complimentary in
their character. I may give the reader a specimen. A delightful
rain had just fallen-an event most welcome in Persia, after its en-
tire absence for many months, during the warm part of the
year. In allusion to this, priest Yohannan, the principal of our
seminary, remarked, in his usual deliberate and solemn manner,
"We believe that the footsteps of His Royal Highness, Malek Kâ-
sem Meerza, to this province, are viewed propitiously by heaven,
the event being signalized by this plentiful fall of rain." The
prince acknowledged the compliment, and expressed himself as
highly pleased with our plan of learning languages.
Nov. 9. The Armenian teacher from India called at my study,
of whom my translators made inquiries respecting the Syrian Chris-
tians of that country; and when they learned that all the Syrian
Christians in India, are of the Jacobite sect, they expressed much
regret that Mar Yohannan had addressed to them the above letter.
The most bitter hostility has existed, from time immemorial,
tween the Nestorians and the Jacobites. The latter are monophy-
sites, holding to but one nature in Christ, which is the most im-
portant circumstance of their difference. The Jacobites are also
much less simple and evangelical in their religious practices than
be-
!
•
328
CULTIVATION OF THE BEET-PARLEY'S GEOGRAPHY.
the Nestorians. They are about as much devoted to the use of
pictures as the Armenians or the Catholics.
Nov. 10. The prince invited the members of our mission to
dine with him. Our wives were also invited, but they excused
themselves, on the ground that his lady was not to be present on the
occasion. It is well that they had so reasonable an excuse, as their
compliance with the invitation, under any circumstances, might
have been regarded as improper, by the people of this city who have
seen few Europeans, and know little of their manners and customs.
The dinner, which was prepared in European style, was liberal, but
not extravagant. In the evening, we were entertained by the mem-
bers of the prince's school, with an exercise in language, copied af
ter the one which his Highness witnessed when he dined with us.
It was not a little pleasant to us, to hear those Muhammedan schol-
ars modestly utter their very well composed English sentences.
The prince remarked freely on our missionary labors. He highly
approved them, and expressed his belief, that we are in no danger
of being molested, while we shall continue to direct our attention
and efforts mainly to the benefit of the Nestorians, and not openly
attack the religion of the Muhammedans. He spoke candidly, and
as a friend. While he has obviously no longer much attachment
to the Muhammedan system, he well understands and fully declared
to us, that the time has not yet come to attack that system openly
in Persia. In the course of the evening, the subject of the manu-
facture of sugar from the beet was introduced. The prince stated,
that he had tried the experiment on a small scale, but was unsuc-
cessful, being little acquainted with the process. He requested us
to procure for him some treatise on that subject, that he might re-
new the experiment. The beet of a superior kind is abundant in
this part of Persia. His Highness declared, that he had seen one,
produced in the district of Meandâub, of the enormous weight of
ninety pounds!
Nov. 17. The prince sent word to me, that, as he is soon to
leave Oróomiah, he would be happy to come and dine with us and
spend the evening. He came, and demeaned himself as in former
instances, with great propriety and sociability. He has for some
time been importuning Mr. Merrick to return with him to his resi-
dence at Shishawân, as his teacher, and Mr. M.. has concluded to
accept the invitation. He will board at the prince's table, and at
all times have access to him and his scholars. The hand of the
Lord is very perceptible in this arrangement, as in almost every-
thing else, pertaining to our missionary work.
Dec. 8. In addition to my employment in translating parts of
the Scriptures, which occupies most of my time, I am at present
engaged also in the translation of Peter Parley's Geography, and
Colburn's First Lessons in Arithmetic, from all of which we pre-
pare reading lessons, on cards, for our schools. I am often amused
by the inquiries of my translators, suggested by their attention to
PREDICTIONS IN RESPECT TO THE WEATHER.
329
the geography. On one occasion, they soberly asked me, whether
Peter Parley is not one of the American saints, supposing that such
boundless knowledge as his book displays, could be possessed by
no mortal less than a saint; and they were much surprised, when I
told them that the author of this book is not only not canonized,
but is still living and not yet a very old man. I embraced the op-
portunity to state to the priests that the Christians in America whom
we represent, unlike those in Asia, have no patron saints; and re-
ferred them to the words of our Lord, "call no man master," which
seemed to satisfy them on the subject. We find the works of Peter
Parley and others of that description, very valuable, both as text-
books for those who are studying English and to translate for read-
ing lessons in the native language.
Dec. 9. Our translators offered a correction of Parley's Geogra-
phy, notwithstanding their admiration of his sainted infallibility.
The statement that "the white bear is found only in North Ameri-
ca," priest Dunka declared erroneous, asserting that he had him-
self seen white bears in the Koordish mountains. And several others
of whom I have since made the inquiry, bear the same testimony.
The author will, we trust, admit the correction, coming as it does
from some of his most ardent admirers.
Dec. 11. A Nestorian, whom we visited, inquired of me whether
it be a fact, that there are mountains, in the New World, which dis-
charge fire from their tops. He said his son, who attends our semi-
nary, had told him that one of his lessons contained such a statement.
It is cheering to see the elements of knowledge, thus beginning to
diffuse themselves, like the silent leaven, among this ignorant, de-
graded people. Our host was equally astonished and entertained
with the account of volcanoes, which I took occasion to give him,
and he appeared highly pleased with the prospect of his son's be-
coming intelligent on such subjects; nor can we be less pleased
with such a prospect, especially when we consider the character of
their own literature. We called a few moments on the priest of the
village. In conversation on the severity of the winter, he produced
an old book, which professes to prognosticate the state of the wea-
ther and casual events for indefinite future periods. As I opened
the book, the first passage which met my eye, was the following,
viz.; "If the fast, preceding Christmas, happens to commence on
Sunday, expect a hard winter and much snow, followed by a wet
spring and a sickly summer." Turning to another place, I read,
"If on the first Friday of the moon, its corners are nearly perpen-
dicular, expect a famine, wars in Turkey and the birth of many
children." This book is a large volume, in the ancient Syriac lan-
guage; and it appeared to be made up of matter of the same gene-
ral character with that which I have quoted. The copy that I saw
was written about a century ago, and the work is said to have ex-
isted from time immemorial. It is regarded by the people, some-
what in the light of an oracle, exerts much influence on their habits
+
42
330
SERIOUS SUBJECTS IN CONVIVIAL SCENES:
of thinking and does not a little to satisfy them with their ignorance.
There is no lack of such literature in the ancient language of the
Nestorians.
;
Dec. 20. An unusually large quantity of wine has been made in
this country during the past season; and the consequence is, the
most appalling prevalence of intemperance. Our translators ex-
pressed to me, to-day, their deep sorrow on accouut of this evil;
and I have no doubt that they spoke sincerely; for they have nearly
abandoned the use of wine. I told them that I supposed many of
their people are better satisfied to suffer the numberless evils which
strong drink is bringing upon them, than they would be, with our
practice of abstaining from it. "There is no man of sense," said
priest Dunka, "who does not heartily approve of your practice."
"But we have multitudes among us," replied priest Abraham, "who,
if an angel were to descend from heaven and preach temperance to
them, would not abandon their cups.' Intemperance is said to be
less prevalent back in the mountains, where the vine is little culti-
vated; but whenever the wild mountaineers are able to obtain it,
in their visits to this land of plenty, they show themselves even more
mighty than the people here, to mingle strong drink.
""
CHAPTER XX.
JOURNAL: JANUARY-SEPTEMBER, 1838.
I ATTENDED a wedding, Jan. 9, at the house of Mar Gabriel, at
Ardishái. During the noise and confusion of eating and drinking,
a minstrel sat playing on a rude violin and singing sacred songs,
composed on the most solemn and impressive subjects revealed in
the Scriptures, as the coming of Christ, the judgment and the rich
man in torment. The giddy company appeared to have no idea,
that there was any incongruity between the subjects of these songs
and the convivial scenes, in which they were so eagerly and thought-
lessly engaged. And this is not strange, considering their lack of
religious instruction. We are, however, much encouraged by their
incipient desire to learn and reform. Our scripture tracts, on their
prevalent vices, are beginning to be sought by them. Priest Abra-
ham lately told me, that several persons, who are themselves unable
to read, had requested copies of the tracts on intemperance, lying,
theft and swearing, and of the ten commandments, that they may
keep them in their houses, and when they have guests from among
our scholars, or the clergy, who can read, they may thus be able to
listen to the truths of the gospel.
We are happily furnished with means for preparing these leaves
;
TRACTS—DONATION TO THE AM. TRACT SOCIETY. 331
of the tree of life and from a source quite unexpected. I received,
Feb. 8, a donation of forty dollars from Dr. Riach and major Wood-
fall for the American Tract Society,—the fruit of their interest ex-
cited by the perusal of the Report of that Society, a copy of which
I recently sent to them.
As the reader may be interested in the very gentlemanly and
christian manner in which this handsome donation was communica-
ted, I will here insert their letter which accompanied it.
“Tabréez, Jan. 16, 1838.
To the Rev. J. Perkins, American missionary at Oróomiah,
DEAR SIR,-The undersigned have the pleasure to request that
you will have the kindness to receive the donations affixed to our
respective names, which we wish to contribute to the American
Tract Society. We are induced to trouble you on this occasion,
from the expectation we have, that it is in your power, without much
inconvenience to yourself, to remit the sum to the society mention-
ed, or to carry it in your accounts, to its credit.
It is with great delight that we seize this opportunity of express-
ing to you and to the rest of our friends associated with you, at Oróo-
miah, whom we consider to be the representatives of your country,
in this distant land, the heartfelt satisfaction we have derived from
the perusal of the last year's Report of the American Tract Society,
which you kindly sent to us, and we look forward with hope to the
further fruits of the efforts there detailed, having thus an assurance,
that the time is approaching, when Christians will consider all man-
kind as brothers, and as heirs together of better things than this life
affords.
There is a youthful vigor and a grandeur in the exertions which
America is now making, to remove sin and misery from the world,
and to give in exchange to the whole human family temporal and
spiritual blessings, the contemplation of which is most gratifying
and cheering to our hearts; and we gladly adopt the present occa-
sion of adding our little mite to funds, which we feel have hitherto
been so wisely and efficiently employed in the great cause.
We
e glory in your country, so worthy an off-shoot from our dear
father-land, for having so decidedly taken the first place among the
great nations of the world, in executing the departing command of
our blessed Redeemer; and we would sincerely pray, that, with
God's blessing, on his children's efforts, in both countries, England
and America, may join together, in bonds of christian charity, and
combining their united strength, for the purpose of advancing
Christ's kingdom, may be the happy instruments of leading millions
in our own and other countries to be partakers of eternal joys.
We are with great esteem and affection, Dear Sir,
Yours most faithfully,
(Signed)
GEO. WoodFALL, Major,
J. P. RIACH, attached to H. B. M. Legation."
མ
332
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT-CONTRIBUTIONS.
The following is my note in reply to the above communication.
Messrs. Woodfall and Riach, etc.
"Oróomiah, Feb. 10, 1838.
Dear Sirs,-Your favor of the 16th ult. enclosing to my address
$40, as a donation to the American Tract Society, came duly to
hand. You impose on us not the least inconvenience, by sending
your donations to our mission. We receive appropriations from
the American Tract Society to facilitate our operations, and we
have only to place this sum to the Society's account.
Permit me to express to you the heart-felt pleasure afforded to
myself and my associates, by this demonstration of your interest in
the prosperity of the philanthropic society to whose funds you so
liberally contribute-by the kind regard for ourselves which you
express in your letter-and by the generous-I had almost said,
flattering-tribute of respect and veneration which you pay to our
beloved native land.
Your letter-from a source and written in terms which must
make any countrymen of ours, whose eye it may meet, feel honestly
proud of his relationship to yours-I shall take the liberty to trans-
mit to the American Tract Society, and I am sure that the official
organs of that Society will feel the sincerest pleasure in gratefully
acknowledging your generous donation, and your truly christian
interest in their object and labors.
Most heartily do we reciprocate your ardent desire, that England
and America may advance, hand in hand, like parent and child, in
the great work of diffusing the light of eternal life throughout the
world. May their mighty and ample energies be vigorously roused
and efficiently directed to this blessed work, and never tire, till it
shall reach its glorious consummation.
Fervently praying that the luxury of doing good may long con-
tinue to be yours, and with the assurance of my unfeigned regards,
in which my associates join me,
(Signed)
I remain very gratefully yours,
J. PERKINS."
The reader who is familiar with the operations of the American
Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, will recal many in-
stances in which noble-minded Englishmen, in the East, high in
respectability, rank and official station, have generously contributed
to the funds of that Board, during the pressure of its pecuniary em-
barrassments, within the last few years. And yet far more valuable
than their pecuniary aid, is the protection and general encourage-
ment which such Englishmen extend to our missionaries in Asia.
What American would not gratefully acknowledge our obligations
thus incurred, reciprocate the kindly sentiments and feelings which
they manifest, and study thus indissolubly to cement the bonds of
brotherhood that so properly and naturally bind the two countries—
I will not say, nations-to each other.
PREACHING IN THE NESTORIAN CHURCHES.
333
Feb. 11. Priest Yohannan stated that he and other priests had
often spoken together on the subject of my going into their church
in the city, every Sabbath, and on feast days, and preaching the gos-
pel to their people, as I preach to the members of the seminary, on
our premises; and that they were unanimous in their opinion, that
it is desirable I should do so. This proposition is peculiarly inter-
esting, coming as it does from influential ecclesiastics.
We had long preached statedly on the Sabbath to the members
of our seminary, on our premises, extensively in our village schools.
during the week, and more or less in an informal manner, from
house to house, as opportunities occurred and our other labors per-
mitted. But we had not expected at present to enter their churches
as clergymen, and formally proclaim the gospel; for we apprehended,
that the native ecclesiastics, much as they rejoiced in our more gene-
ral labors, might regard themselves in danger of being undervalued by
their people in their clerical capacity by a comparison with us, and
perhaps take offence at the measure, were we to assume the attitude
of regular preachers in their churches. We were, therefore, hardly
less surprised than gratified, by the request of the most intelligent
and influential of these ecclesiastics, which gradually grew into an
importunity that would take no denial, that we should enter their
churches every Sabbath, and proclaim the gospel to their people.
We at length yielded, though with some diffidence still, and were
soon invited to preach in far more churches than we could possibly
occupy. During the year previous to my leaving our station, those
of our number who were able to speak the language, preached
commonly three times each on the Sabbath, to as many different
congregations, situated some miles distant from each other; and
occasionally, we yielded to the importunity of the clergy of other
churches still, to preach the gospel to their people.
Feb. 13. As we were translating the part of Parley's Geogra
phy on South Eastern Asia, the mention of the christian mission-
aries as being there, attracted the notice of my translators to the
general subject of missions. They were much interested to find
that English and American missionaries are scattered so extensively
over the world, and said that it was in fulfilment of Christ's com-
mand, "Go teach all nations." I reminded them of the zeal, in
this glorious work, which early characterized the Nestorian church.
"We know it," they replied, "but those favored days with us are
now gone by; and we can only obey that other saying of Christ,
'Cast not your pearls before swine.' Were we to preach the gos-
pel a century to these Muhammedans around us, they would only
revile us and our message, and perhaps kill us in return." I told
them that I conceived the most effectual means of preaching the
gospel to the Muhammedans, to be a holy example in those pro-
fessing Christianity who live among them; that, should the followers
of the Impostor behold nominal Christians, keeping the command-
ments of God, they would soon be constrained to admire the religion
334
ANTEDILUVIAN CHRONOLOGY.
of the gospel, and we might hope ultimately to embrace it. The
idea, which seemed new to the priests, struck them forcibly, and I
improved the opportunity to remind them of the momentous respon-
sibility which rests on them and their people in this respect; and to
lead them to feel that as Christians are the light of the world, if the
light which is in them is darkness, great is that darkness. We are
more and more cheered with the hope, that the day is not distant,
when the feeble remnant of this ancient church will be revived, and
again engage in the holy work of spreading the knowledge of the
gospel.
""
Feb. 21. In translating, to-day, a point in chronology occurred.
The Nestorians suppose that near seven thousand five hundred years
have elapsed, since the creation, reckoning about three thousand
years to the period before the flood. I told my translators, that our
system of chronology allows but sixteen hundred and fifty-six years
to have elapsed before that event. They expressed their surprise
and inquired how we arrived at that number, asserting with an air of
entire confidence, that their records must be right. "The Bible,"
"Your
said I, "is our only record of the antediluvian period."
Bible," they replied, "must then differ from ours; and we shall not
allow that our other books, which assign three thousand years to
that period are mistaken, until our Bible proves them to be so.
I admitted the reasonableness of that position, and proposed to ex-
amine their Scriptures on the subject. We accordingly turned to
the fifth chapter of Genesis, where the ages of Adam and of his de-
scendants down to Noah are given, and then to the sixth verse of
the seventh chapter of Genesis, in which the age of Noah is stated,
at the time of the flood; and by adding the numbers thus obtained,
from their Bible, which the priests were able to do in their own
language, the amount came out precisely 1656. They were aston-
ished and confounded. Priest Abraham acknowledged the accu-
racy of the process; but priest Dunka demurred, saying that while
the Bible must be acknowledged as the unerring standard, their
other books being thereby found erroneous, notwithstanding, still,
he thought there was some peculiar-perhaps mysterious-method
of computing chronology, as given by Moses, in the fifth chapter
of Genesis, different from our method, which would make the
amount correspond to their old estimate. I requested him to ex-
amine the point carefully at his leisure, which he promised to do,
and proposed that we should recur to it together at some future
time.
Feb. 22. Priest Dunka, of his own accord, introduced the sub-
ject of antediluvian chronology, stating that he had re-examined it,
and found the result at which we arrived the other day to be entirely
correct. Not long since, in translating geography, this same priest
remarked, that it is stated in their books, that Arabia is the largest
country in the world, whereas, he knew the statement to be erro-
neous; for he himself had travelled in Russia and was sure that

Thayer & Co Lath Boston.
NESTORIAN GIRL WITH HER ORNAMENTS.
DONATION-FEMALE ORNAMENTS.
·
335
that country is larger than Arabia. It was also recently the frank
admission of this priest, that their old writers sometimes contradict
each other, which of course, said the priest, proves some of them to
be mistaken. These cases are interesting, as they render the er-
rors in the old books of the Nestorians palpable, and on points which
cannot be considered as sectarian. The people venerate their an-
cient writers as all but inspired, while they, at the same time, in
theory at least, hold that the Bible must be the ultimate standard.
The work being fairly commenced, in such instances as I have
named, the way may soon be opened, to prove to them the errors of
many of their religious traditions.
Feb. 23. Received a donation of twenty-five dollars from Major
Woodfall, for the American Board. He is the same English officer
whom I have already mentioned as having become hopefully pious
during a short residence in this city, and was one of the donors to
the Tract Society to whose generous offering to that cause I have
also referred. It is pleasing to witness benevolent effort, as well as
the other christian graces, so early, delightfully and spontaneously
developing itself in Major W. Is this grace sufficiently inculcated,
in Christian lands, as the fruit and the evidence of real piety; and
its absence reproved as invalidating a christian hope? An apos-
tle dared to submit, that if any professing Christian, seeing his
brother have need, shutteth up his bowels of compassion, how dwell-
eth the love of God in him? And may not the pastor of the present
day say as much-nay, is he excusable for saying less-in relation
to his brethren of the human family, who are famishing for want of
the bread of heaven?
March 7. One of the ladies of our mission repeated, at our eve-
ning exercise in languages, the direction of Paul in 2 Timothy 2:
9-10, "In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in mod-
est apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broidered
hair, or gold; or costly array, but, (which becometh women profess-
ing godliness,) with good works." This Scripture quotation excit-
ed much attention among the natives who were present. Nestorian
girls, and women to the age of middle life, are very fond of wearing
jewels, beads, pieces of silver money-base coin silver-washed, and
other rude trinkets, on their heads, about their persons, and even in
their noses.
The accompanying drawing is intended to represent
a Nestorian girl thus ornamented. The whole paraphernalia, in-
cluding all those mentioned and the girdle and rings about the wrists
and ancles, sometimes amount to the enormous weight of ten or
twelve pounds.
I have often referred to the Scripture quoted above, and to the
language of Isaiah, on the same subject, in conversation with the
Nestorians in our family; and the effect has been encouraging.
John, our boy, told me, a few days ago, that his aged father would
not allow his sister, who was recently married, to wear any orna-
ments on the occasion; because the practice is contrary to the Bi-
336
APPREHENSIONS-FEMALE EDUCATION.
ble, and the missionary ladies wear none.
This was taking high
ground, considering the force of such customs among the Nestorians.
March 9. Priest Abraham informed me, that he had just de-
stroyed his wife's trinkets-adding that he had not allowed her to
wear them for a long time; but that he now saw the Scriptures to
be so full and strong against them, he would have them no longer
in her possession.
March 10. We received a reply from the parents of Joseph, to
whom we had submitted the proposition of taking their son into one
of the families of the mission. The proposition was negatived by
the parents, on account of their apprehension, that we are training
such scholars—those who live in our families-with the design of
sending them off to the New World. Similar apprehensions have
occasionally, from the first, been expressed by the timid Nestorians;
and parents have sometimes taken their children suddenly from our
schools, when such rumors have been revived, and restored them
again, after a few days, as the reports subsided. It is extremely diffi-
cult, in these benighted lands, where selfishness is so predominant, to
convince people, that labors, like ours, are prompted by disinterested
motives. I inquired of priest Abraham, to-day, whether his people
regard us as so dishonest, as to be man-stealers; to which he art-
lessly replied, that it is natural for those who are dishonest them-
selves, which, he said, is the case with many of the Nestorians, to
think all others so; but their apprehensions respecting their chil-
dren, he added, arises mainly from their ignorance and the cruel
treatment which they receive from their Muhammedan masters, who
sometimes steal, or at least decoy from their homes, Nestorian chil-
dren. The priest also stated, that the people of his own village and
others who know most of us, have now ceased to feel any such ap-
prehensions, and cherish unlimited confidence in us and our object.
March 12. My birth-day is in this instance marked by the pleas-
ing circumstance of the commencement of a female boarding-school,
on the mission premises. The idea of educating females, which was
so strange to the Nestorians, when we reached Öróomiah, is now be-
coming a favorite one. We have, for a considerable time, had a
few girls, both in our seminary and the village schools; as we pre-
ferred that they should attend with the boys rather than be separa-
ted, apprehending that the establishment of a female school, dis-
tinctively such, might excite undue notoriety and perhaps opposi-
tion, were it to be prematurely attempted. Now, the Nestorians
who have become acquainted with us, seem to be fully prepared to
sustain the measure, and the ecclesiastics connected with our fami-
lies are active in recommending it.
The scene is as grateful as it is novel, in benighted Persia, to be-
hold Nestorian mothers leading their little girls to school, and often
lingering, a half hour, with delightful interest, to hear them read.
Notwithstanding their hard lot, their not being allowed to eat with
the men-their laboring in the fields their ignorance and general

Thayer & Co's Lith. Boston.
A NESTORIAN MOTHER & HER LITTLE GIRL
M
Muell
DESIRE FOR RESPECTABILITY-ORDINATION.
337
degradation, Nestorian females still possess some very interesting
traits of character. I have never seen mothers more affectionately
attached to their children than among this people. And the bar-
barous practice of the girls, loading themselves with rude ornaments,
arises from a praiseworthy desire for respectability. Under their
intolerable burdens, there is still a spark of noble aspiration to be
something. And knowing nothing of the value of accomplishment
of character, they develop this commendable ambition, as naturally
as strongly, in their rude attempts to decorate their persons.
We may properly regard our female boarding-school as one of
the most hopeful departments of our missionary work. The condi-
tion of females, being, in any country, the measure as well as the
index of the elevation of society, just as fast as we are able to raise
them, among the Nestorians, the other sex will necessarily rise.
The girls, here, as everywhere, are also much more docile and
tractable than the boys, and not at all behind the latter, in their
aptness to learn. The subject of wearing ornaments, having been
discussed, as above mentioned, by some of the natives, the members
of our female boarding-school, at length laid theirs all aside, with-
out any interference from us on the subject. The living example
of the ladies of our mission, I hardly need say, does more than al-
most any amount of teaching or preaching, without this, would be
able to effect, for the improvement of their condition and prospects.
March 18. Our biblical exercise with the natives, to-day, was
on the third chapter of Revelation, a part of the searching addresses
of our Lord to the churches. Nothing can be more appropriate
for the Nestorians than the messages to the churches of Sardis and
Laodicea. The Nestorians have also a name to live and are dead
-and they are
"neither cold nor hot." The bishop and priests
who were present appeared fully to understand the strong figurative
language of those addresses, but, alas, they are slow to make the
proper application. As a member of our mission recently remark-
ed, they seem to be so DEAD, that while the sword of the Spirit is
thrust through and through them, it produces almost no sensation.
Till the Spirit of God shall wield his own sword, it will never be
felt-nor slay that it may make alive.
March 23. Was the time appointed by the friends of Joseph, the
boy above-named, for his ordination, as deacon; in which capacity
he was expected to become the daily reader of the devotions of the
church of his village and cease attending our seminary. Most of
the Nestorian ecclesiastics are ordained while mere boys. Their
readers being few, they often need their services before they arrive
at adult years; and as they attach very little sacredness to their re-
ligious forms, destitute as they are of spiritual views and feelings,
they conceive no impropriety in committing those forms to the hands
of children. Joseph's friends had, however, hastened his ordina-
tion, (he is now eleven or twelve years old,) in consequence of their
apprehension, that, should he continue to prosecute his studies, he
43
338
CAMPAIGN AT HERAT CASTING CANNON-MOUNds.
might be sent off to the New World. But the boy being apprized
of the intention of his friends, and having a strong desire to pursue
his education, ran away, early this morning and hid himself to
avoid his ordination! He was at length found and was soon back at
school, by the permission of his parents, determined to prosecute
his studies at all events.
March 28. One of our scholars, the brother of a bishop who re-
sides in the Koordish mountains, not far from Jûlamérk, obtained
permission to go home, on account of the death of a relative. A
deacon came after him, who begged of me a Bible and a copy of
the Psalms, stating that he has a small school at his home, and is
almost destitute of books for his scholars. It is pleasant thus to
send forth the word of life into those regions where the missionary
himself cannot properly venture. "The word of God is not bound."
April 3. At a late exercise of our school in declamation, a priest
of this city was present, who is notoriously "given to much wine,
and even stronger drink. One of the scholars declaimed the short
tract, on the subject of intemperance, which is made up entirely of
quotations from the Bible. The priest was so struck with the force
of Scripture truth thus presented, that at the close of the exercise,
he requested of me copies of that tract,-also copies of our tracts
on other prevalent vices, for his family, and another set for his dea-
con and a third to be kept and read in his church.
April 5. The issue of the king's campaign against Herât is yet
doubtful. The last intelligence reports him as still under the walls
of that city, his efforts to take it having hitherto proved ineffectual.
The Persians are feeble warriors before the bold and bloody Aff-
ghâns and would be much more so, before the science and prac-
tice of Europeans. They have, however, had the enterprise, du-
ring the past winter, to cast a forty-two pounder in the king's camp,
and are about to cast another. In the deficiency of material, for
the purpose, in that desert region, they robbed the mules and camels
in the great caravans, of their bells! Much uncertainty hangs over
the political prospects of this country. Internal commotions, in
connexion with foreign war, seem almost inevitable. We know,
however, that he who ruleth among the nations, will order all things
right, and never forget the welfare of his kingdom.
April 19. We visited the village of Geog-tapá by special invita-
tion, this week being the festival of Easter. The beautiful swell,
back of the village, now presents a full claim to its poetical name—
cerulean hill-being clothed with the rich carpet of spring. It is
one of the largest of those artificial mounds, of which there are
many on the plain of Oróomiah, supposed to have been accumula-
ted by the ancient fire-worshippers. These mounds are often par-
tially excavated, for the purpose of obtaining the soil, for manure,
as well as stones for building, from the old walls imbedded in them.
A few days since, in excavating the side of the hill at Geog-tapá, a
discovery was made, which has not a little roused the curiosity and
•
EXCAVATIONS-RELICS.
339
speculation of the simple-hearted villagers. The excavator reached
a stone tomb, about forty feet below the surface of the hill, in which
he found a human skeleton and in its skull, several copper spikes,
from four to five inches long. He took out the spikes and careful-
ly replaced the skull in its bed, regarding it as highly sacrilegious to
disturb the bones and ashes of the dead. Mar Elias, the bishop re
sident in that village, presented to me one of the spikes, which he
had obtained from the discoverer. A thick coat of verdigris had
formed on it, though copper, it is well known, long resists decom-
position. The bishop told me that the popular explanation of the
whole matter, among the villagers, is, that the person to whom the
skull belonged, when alive, was a wicked, oppressive ruler; and
that the angels of God were commissioned to destroy him, by dart-
ing the spikes through his head! Such an explanation would of
course be more naturally suggested to the superstitious Nestorians,
groaning under the rigors of oppression, than to people in different
circumstances. Mar Elias declared his rejection of it as rather
puerile, and Mar Yohannan, who was also present, pronounced it
too foolish to repeat; and both took special pains to assure us, that
they adopt no such explanations. I suggested to them, that the
tomb may have been the work of the ancient fire-worshippers, and
driving nails into the head, their method of destroying their enemies
or their victims. With this view, the bishops readily coincided;
and they were particularly interested, when I referred to the fact
stated in Judges 4: 21,-" Then Jael, Heber's wife took a nail of
the tent and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly unto him
and smote the nail into his temples, and fastened it into the ground;
for he was fast asleep and weary; so he died"-and remarked to
them, that perhaps this Scripture is illustrated by their discovery in
the excavation, though the nail of the tent was probably a wooden
pin. "I told the discoverer," said Mar Elias, "to let me give you
one of the nails, and you would make it explain the Bible.

-
tr
A few days ago, our Persian Meerza incidentally stated, that in
excavating the side of another mound, which is situated about twelve
miles from the one above-mentioned, a few years ago, an earthen pot
of silver coins of some European stamp was found; and near that, a
large earthen sarcophagus, containing a human skeleton, with nails
driven into the skull! Coincidences that may lead to interesting
discoveries.
Much, however, as our antiquarian curiosity was excited by the
incidents of to-day, we were still more interested to observe how
careful the Nestorian bishops were, that we should not be left to
suppose them inclined to listen to "old wives' fables," and the in-
dications thus afforded, that they are abandoning such fables, with
which they have hitherto been so fully encumbered, and are begin-
ning to rest their belief on more rational, and especially on more
scriptural, ground.
July 9. The English ambassador has issued orders that all the
340
POLITICAL RUPTURE—COUKIERS.
British officers in this country, shall prepare to leave it; and our mis-
sion sent me to Tabréez to make arrangements for our protection in
their absence. One of our English friends has elicited the assur-
ance from the Russian representatives here, that they are ready to
protect us. But the transfer of our relation cannot well be made until
the English ambassador shall arrive, who is expected to be here soon.
War seems inevitable and near, between England and Persia. The
English demand the abandonment of the siege of Herât and satis-
faction for abuse offered by a Persian officer to a courier of the am-
bassador. I have been informed that the inhabitants of Herât now
have on hand a stock of provisions, sufficient to last them a long
time; that they have constructed subterranean passages by which
they reach the Persian camp, surprise the troops, seize their arms
and make fearful havoc; and are also able to communicate abroad
and procure additional supplies, in case of necessity. It is further
stated that the fortifications of Herât are so strong, that the Persians,
by no efforts whatever, can make any serious impression upon them.
Add to all this, the bold, warlike character of the Affghâns, aided
and encouraged by the counsels and labors of the intrepid Lieut.
Pottinger, an English adventurer, who has been with them for
months, and the prospect of the Shâh's taking the city is hopeless
enough, blindly as he is bent upon it, being urged on, as it is said,
by the Russian ambassador.
The courier, above-mentioned, was bearing despatches from Aff-
ghanistân to Persia. In passing the royal camp, he was seized by
Hâjee Khân, a brigadier general, and beaten and threatened with
death, being suspected of conveying to the English ambassador ad-
vices from the Herâtées. The cunning Persian knew well the
power of compliments in his country. To the general's threat, that
he would cut off his head, with a most submissive bow he promptly
replied, "I am your sacrifice; and shall be most highly honored to
die by the hands of so exalted an executioner !" The insult was a
very serious one to the English, identified as the messenger always
is, in this feudal country, with those who send him,-being, in fact,
in this case, to the ambassador, what the latter is to his governinent.
Chăppárs, (runners, or couriers,) are an important class in Per-
sia. They ride heavily armed and with great speed, being furnish-
ed with relays every twenty-five or thirty miles, which are kept
ready at the Chappár-khâna, or post-house, by persons appointed
for the purpose, who receive a stated remuneration. The king em-
ploys a great number of couriers, whom he despatches, both pe-
riodically and occasionally, to convey orders and messages all over
his kingdom. And governors of districts and provinces adopt the
same system, on a scale corresponding to the extent of their re-
spective jurisdictions. They also send messengers both regularly
and occasionally, to their superiors to whom they are expected to
report the news of the day and the state of their administration.
Travellers, by procuring an order from government, may be
મ
SUDDEN DEATH-CONDOLENCE ENTERTAINMENT.
341
furnished with chappár horses, on their journies, for a few cents
per mile. The rate of travelling, by this method, is from seven-
ty to one hundred miles a day. A surjée (driver, or postillion,)
accompanies the courier, on another horse, and conducts both back
to the station. The casid, or foot-messenger, is extensively em-
ployed by merchants and others, in Persia, to carry letters; he
travels from forty to sixty miles per day,-being clothed in rags that
he may not attract notice, nor tempt the cupidity of robbers.
Sept. 19. Our nearest Muhammedan neighbor-a fine young
man-was thrown from a young horse, and so much injured, that
he died in an hour or two after the fall. During the present sea-
son, he has been very busily engaged in enlarging and repairing his
house, and this evening, his espousal was to have been celebrated.
In an hour, how changed the scene! His house is now the abode
of lamentation and wailing, so loud as to be distinctly heard in our
own dwelling. Among the Persians, grief,on such occasions, whether
real or feigned, is expressed by boisterous vociferation, accompanied
with beating the breast, pulling the hair and rending the garments,
as was the case with the Jews of old and is still true of all orientals.
Sept. 20. Early this morning, two Moollâhs ascended upon the
roof of our deceased neighbor, and with the plaintive strains of their
shrill voices recapitulated the circumstances of his death and made
dolorous comments, to renew the lamentation, a practice which
is universal, among the Muhammedans in Persia. A little after
sunrise, the corpse was borne out, not to be buried, but to be de-
posited for a time in a mosk, after which it is to be removed to Kir-
bulá, the hallowed cemetery near Bagdad, to which multitudes of
the wealthy from all these regions, are annually transported. When
the corpse was carried from the house to the mosk, the garments of
the deceased were spread upon a fine horse which preceded, and
the procession moved on, at the hoarse blast of trumpets, accompa-
nied with chanting and wailing,—all being intended to give effect
to the occasion. The mourners went about the streets.' And
during the day, numbers of Khâns, Moollâhs and others called at
the house, to condole with the bereaved relatives.
As the deceased was our neighbor, I also called, with one of my
associates, just at evening, to express our sympathy with the family
in their affliction. A large hall was still filled with Persian guests,
most of them Moollâhs. Soon after we were seated, rose-water
was brought and poured into our hands. Having no beards to scent,
we rubbed it upon our mustaches. We were also treated to coffee.
Entertainments hardly accord with our ideas of the solemnity suita-
ble to such occasions. There was, however, no levity apparent in
the company. When we expressed our condolence to the head of
the family, an uncle of the deceased, he replied by thanking us and
assuring us of his strong attachment to us, as friends and neighbors;
and the chief Moollâh present, interrupted, with a loud voice, and
•
342
much apparent sincerity, "Who is not attached to these men, who
have come among us, to do the work of God?" From any but an
Asiatic's tongue, this language, in the earnest manner in which it
was uttered, would have conveyed much meaning. Nor have we
any reason to think lightly of it from this Moollâh, except our know-
ledge of the general treachery of Persian character. It is at least
due to the Muhammedans of Oróomiah—especially to the higher
classes, Moollâhs as well as others to acknowledge that they treat
us with much kindness and respect, which, in our remote, depen-
dent situation is a great favor and matter of unfeigned gratitude to
God.
THE CHILDREN OF MISSIONARIES-SUFFERINGS.
Sept. 23. To-day, five infants-children of members of our mis-
sion-were baptized. These children were all born within the pe-
riod of two months, and in two instances, (in one, a pair of twins,)
two were born on the same day. Precious as are these gifts of our
heavenly Father, especially in our separation from country and
home, we still cannot help feeling a deeply painful solicitude for
them, in this sickly climate, and yet more, on account of their moral
exposures, in this benighted land. As the subject of the children
of missionaries is one of general interest, I insert here some of the
leading thoughts which I presented on the occasion of their baptism.
The circumstances of the children of missionaries are peculiarly
trying, and such as should naturally and strongly commend them to
the sympathy and the prayers of Christians. These children are
always exposed to a greater amount of physical suffering, than chil-
dren in our native land. They are the victims of some of the same
causes which work the early prostration and premature death of
missionaries themselves. They are exotic plants. The lands in
which they are born are not strictly their native lands. The cli-
mate is generally more or less uncongenial, and often decidedly hos-
tile, to the children even, of foreigners. The sad experience of seve-
ral English ambassadors to this country, on this point, has led them
to the conclusion, that it is impracticable for Europeans to rear fami-
lies in Persia; and our own experience is a sad confirmation of the
correctness of that conclusion.
Many of the lands, to which our missionaries go, are often
scourged by "the pestilence that walketh in darkness, and the de-
struction that wasteth at noon-day;" and the children of missiona-
ries are sometimes numbered among its victims. And some of our
missionaries are situated where medical relief, in case of the sick-
ness of their children, cannot be obtained. Our own first-born
died suddenly at Tabréez, as I have stated, of a disease which
might at least have been greatly mitigated by judicious prescription;
but there was no physician, who could understand our language,
within four hundred miles of us; and we were in similar circum-
stances, during the sickness and death of our third child. The
case of these children, then, appeals tenderly for a special interest
PRIVATIONS-MORAL EXPOSURES.
343
in the prayers of Christians, that they may be saved from such an
amount of physical suffering, or prepared by grace to sustain it—
and for the early removal which awaits so many of them.
The children of missionaries also necessarily suffer the privation
of many privileges, enjoyed by children in our native land. These
privations are more and greater than can be told. What, for in-
stance, are the intellectual advantages enjoyed by these children?
In general, they have no school, no teacher, and no instruction, ex-
cept the very limited amount which the missionary himself commu-
nicates, during the few moments which he is able, with the utmost
difficulty and but very irregularly, to redeem from his pressing
care and toil for the salvation of the perishing around him.
These children also fail of those provisions for comfortable sub-
sistence in life, which religion and common prudence, so far from
condemning, naturally dictate to parents in christian lands. The
faithful missionary relinquishes every earthly prospect, and rejoices
to receive nothing but the most sparing subsistence for himself and
his family, while he labors as the agent of the churches. We would
not regard this want of a temporal provision as an irreparable ca-
lamity to his children. On the contrary, this example of consecra-
tion in the parent, may prove the most valuable patrimony which
he could leave to his offspring. But the privation should at least
bespeak the earnest prayers of Christians for these children, that
they may be benefitted by that example, that they may not fail also
of the "durable riches,"—of laying up
16 treasures in heaven.”
The children of missionaries are most alarmingly exposed to
moral contamination. So far as residence is concerned, they are
upon a level with the benighted around them. Nothing but the
single taper of the missionary's own example shines upon their path-
way. All else is deep darkness. They feel nothing of the pure
moral atmosphere of enlightened christian lands. Every man,
every child whom they meet, is a sower of tares. They cannot step
from their parent's dwelling without being in peril. The universal
example abroad is supreme selfishness and corruption. The very
hum of the native language is surcharged with obscenity, falsehood,
profaneness and irreligion. The peril is much nearer. The do-
mestic-the nurse, who enters the missionary's abode to assist the
sick mother, brings with her the deadly poison; and ere he is aware,
there is painful evidence that it has been too successfully adminis
tered to his unsuspecting children. It is not long ago, that a pain-
ful case occurred, in a pious English family in Persia. The pa-
rents had, with much pains-taking, secured the services of a Muham-
medan domestic, whose kind attention to their little one for some time
created in them only increased confidence and satisfaction. But
how were they surprised and shocked, on one day finding their little
girl, then four years old, kneeling with her face towards Mecca, and
lisping the devotions of the False Prophet!
Such constant and appalling exposure of the children of mission-
1
344
EXPOSURES AT HOME-OBJECTS OF INTEREST.
aries appeals with an eloquence which nothing else can, for the
prayers of Christians, that the Lord, who alone can afford them
effectual succor, would shield them from the threatening destruc-
tion. The fact that so many judicious missionaries deem it to be
their duty to part with their children and send them home, for pre-
paration to obtain a comfortable subsistence and to be useful in fu-
ture life, and for security from hostile influences, speaks volumes
on this subject. What but a sense of dire necessity could impel
them, so early, to transfer the tender trust which Providence so pe-
culiarly commits to their own guardianship, to other hands? And
but imperfectly indeed are these exposures and privations remedied,
in, the case of those children who go to the land of their kindred.
The generous kindness and assiduity, which they so promptly re-
ceive from Christians at home, are certainly above all praise. But
what can make up for the absence of parental influence, watchful-
ness, affection and fidelity, at that tender age! These children are
virtually orphans, and still beset with temptations and dangers on
every hand, not the least of which arise from indulgence and undue
attentions. All the children of missionaries, wherever they are sit-
uated, must ordinarily become literal orphans, when very young.
Under the trials and toils of their arduous work, the parents must
soon sink, and the children be thrown, unprotected and unprovided
for, upon a perilous world. With what tenderness and emphasis
does the case of such orphans plead with Christians for an interest
in their prayers, that God would be their Father!
(C
The children of missionaries should be, to the churches, objects
of deep interest, as well as of tender sympathy. Their conversion
bears an important connexion to the spread of the gospel. If pious,
they may accomplish inestimable good. Like the missionary him-
self, they are a city set on a hill." The influence of their exam-
ple, even in childhood, is commanding. And if spared to adult
years, they may become far more able and efficient missionaries
than their parents. They will ordinarily enjoy much better health.
Having survived the struggles and exposures of a feeble infancy,
their systems grow up inured to the sickly influences of a hostile
climate, and possess an elasticity, which can readily bend and again.
recover, where the robust missionary, fresh from his native shores,
falls quickly under the power of disease. These children, if pious,
would also, in some respects, be much better qualified for mission-
ary labor than their parents. Born and reared on benighted ground,
they are familiar with the habits and feelings of the native popula-
tion; and know well how to acquire and exert the most command-
ing influence over them. And the native language, the difficulties
in the acquisition of which are so long a mountain-barrier, on the
threshold of missionary usefulness, these children have already ac-
quired, unconsciously but perfectly, in their childhood,—and they
can use it, with as much freedom and effect as their own; while
their parents, however active and laborious in attempting to train
HOPE-PROMISES.
345
their inelastic organs, may be but halting stammerers, until the day
of their death.
On the other hand, if the children of missionaries do not early
become pious, they may, and probably will, do irreparable injury to
the cause of missions. Their position is one of influence, wherever
they are situated. They are, in any case, a spectacle unto the
world, to angels and to men. And if the light that is in them be
darkness, how great must be that darkness. How utterly unavailing
will be the toils and the tears of the faithful missionary, with the
example of ungodly children arrayed against him at the mission
station; and what scandal must such children bring upon the cause
in which the parent is engaged, when sent to a christian land!
What affecting motives then urge the churches to offer fervent
prayer for these sons and daughters of promise, that they may be
prepared to aid their fathers and mothers, in their arduous labors,
and succeed them, when they fall asleep, in the missionary vine-
yard. When the venerable Morrison ceased from his labors in
China, a son, bearing his name and his own moral likeness, stood
ready to heal the otherwise irreparable breach. And how delight-
ful, how auspicious for Zion, if at all mission stations, when the
fathers fall asleep, such sons should be found to advance and fill
their places. How would the ranks of the heralds of the gospel be
strengthened and enlarged, and how rapidly would the chariot of
salvation roll onward through the world!
There is great hope to stimulate Christians to pray for this object.
Notwithstanding all that is trying in the circumstances of the chil-
dren of missionaries, their case still presents peculiar encourage-
ment. The near and intimate connexion, between their conversion
and the spread of the gospel, is itself a circumstance of great en-
couragement. He, who has graven Zion on the palms of his hands,
knows well the value of this instrumentality in promoting its weal;
and He who accepted young Samuel and made him a prophet, at the
consecration of a pious mother, will also, in answer to prayer, accept
the children of missionaries and put their instrumentality in effec-
tive operation for the advancement of his kingdom.
There is also rich encouragement, in relation to these children, in
the promises of Scripture. The Lord has promised "mercy unto
thousands, (thousands of generations,) of them that love him and keep
his commandments." And for whom can this pledge be urged with
more delightful confidence, than for the children of those, who, from
love to Christ and in obedience to his command, have forsaken
country and kindred and gone forth, ready to encounter all things,
in proclaiming his gospel! Not that there is any merit in such
consecration. The faithful missionary is but an unprofitable ser-
vant, having done only what it was his duty to do. Nor does the
sacred and self-denying nature of his work, preclude the possibility
of entering it with improper motives-nor hallow those motives
nor insure the promised blessing to him who thus enters it. In the
1
44
346
PROSPECT OF war-SECURITY.
family of our Lord even there was a Judas; but his being there se-
cured to him neither part nor lot with the true disciples. But to
believe that God has connected the bestowment of precious mercies
with the obedience of the sincere, godly missionary, is so far from
being arrogance, that to disbelieve it, would betray alike a want of
gratitude to him and of confidence in his word. The last and one
of the most prominent commands which our Lord gave to his dis-
ciples was, "Go teach all nations." The faithful missionary, so far
as it is in his power, literally obeys this as well as the other command-
ments. Nor was the Saviour himself silent, on the connexion of
blessings with such missionary consecration. Said Peter on one
occasion, "Lo, we have left all and followed thee; and Jesus an-
swered and said unto him, verily, I say unto you, there is no man
that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or
wife, or children, or lands, for my sake and the gospel's, but he shall
receive a hundred fold now in this time; houses and brethren and
sisters and mothers and children and land, with persecutions, and
in the world to come, eternal life." What promises could be more
ample! And will not this Saviour listen to prayer, for the children
of his missionary servants? Yes; our children, who are subject to
an amount of suffering unknown to children in a christian land;
who, if not early removed by death, grow up strangers to the pre-
cious privileges enjoyed by their kiudred at home, and amid moral
pollution from which divine grace alone can succor them, will never
be forsaken nor forgotten of God.
We bring them, Lord, in thankful hands,
And yield them up to thee;
Joyful that we ourselves are thine;
Thine let our offspring be.
If orphans, they are left behind;
Thy guardian care we trust;
That care shall heal our bleeding hearts;
If weeping o'er their dust.
CHAPTER XXI.
JOURNAL: OCTOBER-DECEMBER, 1838.
FROM the prospect of a war between England and Persia, we nat-
urally feel a measure of apprehension. Knowing, however, that we
enjoy the protection of the God of missions, who also rules among
the nations, we need yield to no distressing solicitude. Indeed, in
RETRENCHMENT SABBATH SERVICE.
347
view of His dealings with our mission, from the first, we have ever
felt constrained to thank Him and take courage, rather than give
way to desponding forebodings. We have ever been prepared for
reverses; i. e. to count no strange thing to have happened, should
they come; but sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
While we have been not a little straitened for want of funds, du-
ring the present year, we have still so economized, by multiplying
and lengthening the vacations of our schools, and retrenching, as far
as possible, our family expenditures, as to prevent the suspension of
any of our labors. We have thus not been compelled to disappoint
the Nestorians, nor to attempt to explain to them the causes of the
temporary embarrassment of our patrons, which it would be very
difficult for them to understand. Had the sum allowed our mission
been any less, interruption would have been unavoidable. Nor
could we long sustain our present efforts without an increase of
means. Some of our number, for instance, kept but one fire du-
ring the last winter, to save fuel; and were thus obliged to bring their
kitchen, their study, their recitation-room, dining-room and nurse-
ry, all into the same apartment. To say nothing of the serious
abridgment of usefulness, by curtailing intercourse with the natives,
which such an arrangement must cause, it of course becomes very
inconvenient, if not wholly impracticable, in case of sickness. Some
of our number, too, are becoming short of clothing, which they
have not the means of procuring, and are hazarding a state of des-
titution, in the hope of early relief. These private inconveniences,
however, we most cheerfully sustain, to avoid the necessity of inter-
rupting our missionary operations
We still meet with not a breath of opposition, from any quarter.
Our schools are full and flourishing. The Nestorians, under our
immediate influence, never gave more encouraging evidence of in-
terest in their studies and general improvement, than at the present
time. Our services on the Sabbath are particularly interesting. In
the morning, all the Nestorians in our families, the members of the
seminary and female boarding-school, assemble in the capacity of a
Sabbath school. The teachers, ten or twelve in number, all eccle-
siastics-bishops, priests and deacons-spend an hour with the mis-
sionaries on Saturday, in preparing the lesson. This interesting as-
sembly meet also with the missionaries at their English worship, at
11 o'clock, A. M., and in the afternoon, they all assemble for anoth-
er religious exercise in their own language, which consists of a fa-
miliar exposition of the Scriptures, by the senior member of the
mission. We trust that the seed sown in the minds of the Nestori-
ans, in these deeply interesting services of the Sabbath, as well as
their daily study of the Scriptures, will ere long spring up and bring
forth fruit unto salvation.
Oct. 30. Two European Papal emissaries have just entered this
province, apparently with the design of attempting to subject the
Nestorians here to the dominion of the Pope. A missionary recent-

348
PECUNIARY RELIEF MR. GLEN-A PAPIST.
ly wrote me from Malta, that it is currently reported there, that the
Pope designs sending one hundred missionaries immediately into
these eastern countries. Though but a small part of that number
may come, the Nestorians will, doubtless, receive their full share of
attention. The importance of this field is well understood by Pa-
pists.
Nov. 3. Letters from America bring to us the very grateful tid-
ings of precious revivals of religion in that favored land. We also
receive intelligence of partial relief from our pressing want of pe-
cuniary means, which is peculiarly welcome to us at the present
time. We are anxious to multiply our schools and prosecute more
vigorously all our operations, especially, as we behold Catholics,
coming in like a flood, to make havoc of the Nestorian flock. We
have of late felt deeply distressed in view of our want of means to
meet the emergency.
Nov. 6. The Rev. Wm. Glen, who was for seventeen years a
missionary of the Scottish missionary society at Astrakhân, arrived
a few months ago at Tabréez, where he contemplates translating the
Bible into the Persian language. He appears to be a man of much
ability and of a truly evangelical spirit. He is at present sustained
by the joint patronage of the United Associate Synod of Scotland
and the British and Foreign Bible Society. It is gratifying to know
that the Muhammedans of Persia are not entirely forgotten in the
sympathies of British Christians. Though the gospel cannot now
with safety be openly proclaimed to them, they must not be aban-
doned to unmitigated despair. What if our blessed Lord had con-
signed our fallen world to hopeless perdition, because it presented
to his pure, omniscient eye, as he looked down from heaven, noth-
ing but a scene of wide-spread desolation,—a moral disease, sơ
desperate, that the sufferers did not even desire a remedy! Ah,
that was the very aspect which touched the divine compassion.
May his disciples follow the example of their Master.
Nov. 8. A Catholic deacon from the region of Mosûl, called at
my study. He is probably connected with the European Catholic
emissaries; and may have come here at their bidding, for the pur-
pose of opening a Papal school. The priests, my translators, en-
gaged in a warm discussion with him, on image-worship, and other
corrupt practices of the Papal church. They also attacked the
practice of praying to saints, condemning it in the most unmeasured
terms, and reiterating that there is one God, and one Mediator, the
man Jesus Christ. I was much interested in listening to this dis-
cussion to observe an important advance, in our Nestorian priests,
in evangelical views and feelings. The books of the Nestorians and
common practice, recognize praying to the Virgin and other de-
parted saints or rather, supplicating their intercession-but the
priests, to-day, of their own accord, took scriptural ground on the
subject. Toward the close of the discussion, in which I did little
more than listen, the priests exhorted the Papist to abandon his er-
i
THE MISSIONARY'S REWARD—THANKSGIVING.
""
349
roneous system and embrace the truth, meaning the Nestorian be
lief. He replied, that he would “turn
for money; and on being
farther pressed, he repeated, that he would not "turn without
money; but for ten tomâns, ($25,) or some such consideration, he
was ready to change his religion. I have no doubt that the Papist,
who seems to be pinched with poverty, was sincere in this proposi-
tion; and he would probably afterward "turn" back again for a
much smaller sum. The Nestorian priests manifested no wish to
purchase him. I, however, embraced the opportunity to remind
them all, that the Romish practice of buying converts is far enough
from the apostolic method of enlarging Christ's kingdom.
""
Oct. 16. In company with Mr. Holladay, I visited the school at
Geog-tapá. The aged father of John-our favorite boy-as we
rose to leave him, importuned me to spend the night with him; and
to assure me that I should be welcome, he said, “you had one house
in America; but here, every nouse in the village is yours. The
village contains about one hundred houses; and Mr. Holladay, in
view of the strong demonstrations of kindness which we received,
pleasantly suggested the inquiry, whether this declaration of the
pilgrim, as this old man is called, might not be regarded as in a
certain sense, a fulfilment of the promise of our Lord, that whoso-
ever forsaketh father, etc. should receive a hundred fold in this life.
The cordial reception, which we everywhere meet from the Nesto-
rians, at least calls on us for unfeigned thanksgiving to God; es-
pecially as this ready access to them is so important to the success
of our efforts for their salvation.
We
Nov. 23. We were engaged in translating Philippians ii.
had recently made application to Yeeshoo, (Joshua, or Jesus,) a
deacon from the mountains, who has been a considerable time in
our employ, to go and open a school at Ardishái, the village of Mar
Gabriel. The deacon, apprehending that, on account of the cap
tiousness of the bishop and the rudeness of the people there, he
might find his situation less comfortable than with us at the mission
station, refused to go, though the object was one of acknowledged
importance. As, therefore, we came, in translating, to the 5th verse,
"Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus," the
coincidence of the name of deacon Yeeshoo, (Jesus,) with that of
our blessed Lord, arrested the attention of the priests, the contrast
of spirit in the two, thus becoming the more striking. And the
priests were so deeply impressed with the duty of unreserved con-
secration to Christ, in the light of his amazing condescension, as
set forth in the succeeding verses, that they both declared themselves
ready to go to Ardishái and engage in the school, unwelcome as the
task might be, if we would send them.
Nov. 29. We observed to-day as our annual Thanksgiving. I
preached from Gen. 32: 10, "I am not worthy of the least of all the
mercies and of all the truth, which thou hast showed unto thy ser-
vant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan, and now I am
5.
350
MEERZA'S STIPEND-CHALDEAN VAGRANTS.
become two bands." This text was suggested to my mind, for the
occasion, by the recollection of the solitary journey which I made
to this city, (whose gates had seldom been entered by European
feet before me,) between four and five years ago, and now behold-
ing fifteen Americans, the four families of our mission and their
seven children-in our circle, and contemplating, in connexion
with the contrast, the manifold missionary blessings and mercies,
which the Lord has so richly bestowed upon us, from that period to
the present time.
Nov. 30. The Persian Meerza, who has been with us from the
commencement of our residence here, informed me that the king's
brother, the prince of Azerbijân, has allowed him a stipend of twenty
tomâns, ($50,) for this year, as he did for the last, to enable him to
prosecute his studies under our instruction. This is an encour-
aging token of the prince's continued confidence in us, and shows
that he feels at least some degree of interest in the diffusion of
knowledge among his subjects. In reference to the Muhammedans
of Persia, we must not despise "the day of small things."
I have just written a letter to the British and Foreign Bible So-
ciety, in answer to one received yesterday, making inquiries respect-
ing three vagrant Chaldeans, who had made their way from the Pa-
pal village of Khosrovâ, in Salmás, through the Russian Provinces
of Georgia, over the Caucasus and across the continent of Europe
to England; and have caused the Bible Society a vast amount of
trouble and not a little expense. They had, in their possession, an
old letter, in French, purporting to have been written by bishop
Chevris, a Jesuit missionary to the Nestorians, and addressed to an
agent of the B. F. Bible Society at Constantinople, requesting funds
from that society, to establish a college among the Nestorians, and
for some other objects. This Jesuit died of the plague at Tabréez
about ten years ago.
He had been employed by the British and
Foreign Bible Society, in translating a part of the gospels into the
Koordish language. One of these Chaldeans, it appears, is a nephew
of the Jesuit and had resided with him. He had subsequently lived
with me, some time, as a servant, and was dismissed for intemper-
ance. The old French letter in question, on the death of his uncle,
fell into his hands. And by showing this letter and using my name
viva voce, the party were assisted from place to place in making
their way to England; and there, they attempted to procure money
professedly for the college, proposed in the letter of the Jesuit, re-
presenting the institution as already in operation in a place near
Oróomiah, and stating that the said nephew of the Jesuit-the
bearer of the letter-and myself are its present directors!
Neither of the vagrants can read, their zeal and the magnificence of
their literary schemes notwithstanding. They seem, however, to have
been extensively believed and they excited much sympathy, both in
England and in Germany, from the fact of their being Chaldean
Christians, until their mercenary conduct led to suspicion of their
MAR JOSEPH'S EXCURSION—EMIGRANTS.
351
being impostors. I am glad they prove to be Papists, rather than
Nestorians; though there are, doubtless, numbers among the latter
also who, ignorant, stupid Asiatics though they be, are still arch and
dishonest enough to show themselves equally expert and daring
rogues, should they have the opportunity.
Dec. 3. Mar Elias spent most of the day in my study, engaged
in reading my translation of the Epistle to the Philippians, which
we recently finished. He expressed himself highly gratified with the
accuracy of the translation, and was delighted with the beauty and
vividness of the epistle itself, which he appeared for the first time to
understand. With their very limited education, the best instructed
of the clergy have but an imperfect knowledge of the ancient Sy-
riac-the language in which their Scriptures exist-and they thus
fail of reaching the clear light and the full meaning of divine truth.
A mist hangs over the pages of Revelation, while obliged to read
them through the shell of an obsolete language; and if so with the
clergy, the people, who do not read at all, are of course in still deep-
er darkness.
Dec. 4. Mar Joseph, some months ago, wandered away to the
Russian provinces, in the visionary hope of personal emolument, and
of discovering some means for the removal of the Nestorians from
Persia into Georgia. His adventure, we may hope, will prove bene-
ficial, both to himself and the Nestorians. He has become thorough-
ly disgusted with Georgia. Religious antipathy on the part of the
governor of Erivân, who is an Armenian, caused the bishop to be
arrested and kept some time in confinement, and the same antipa-
thy prevented one hundred families of Nestorians, who had abandon-
ed their native country near Vân, in the eastern part of Turkey, and
made their way to the frontier, from being permitted to enter Geor- ·
gia. Those poor Nestorians are now making their way back to
their old homes in Turkey, having sacrificed their little all to their
childish scheme of emigration. They must suffer extremely for some
time, houseless and pennyless as they are; and especially, during the
severity of the present winter. We hope the experience of the bish-
op and of the poor emigrants will have the effect of allaying the ma-
nia for emigration among the Nestorians, and render them better
contented with their present masters, notwithstanding their severe
oppression.
Dec. 5. I requested the opinion of Mar Elias, who again spent
most of the day in my study, in one or two instances, relative to the
translation of passages of Scripture. In reply, he modestly said,
that his opinion could be of little use, as his knowledge of the Bible
was very imperfect. "Until you came here," he continued, “and
brought us Bibles, I had scarcely ever seen the Prophets or the
Epistles. And both he and the priests remarked in the-same con-
nexion, that there had been a revival of the knowledge of the Scrip-
tures among them, since our mission was commenced. Most of
the Gospels, the Psalms and parts of the Pentateuch, are embodied
""
352
ERROR TO BE EXPELLED BY TRUTH.
in their Liturgy, in the ancient Syriac; and the best instructed of
the ecclesiastics thus become in a measure familiar with those por-
tions of the Bible; but with the other parts, the mass of them
as well as the people, were almost as little acquainted, before the
commencement of our misssion, as though they had no existence.
Dec. 8. As we reached the 16th verse in translating the second
chapter of Ephesians, "Let no man therefore judge you in meat or
in drink, or in respect of an holiday, or of the new moon or of the
Sabbath days," I inquired of priest Dunka how he understood the
passage. He replied, that a caution is uttered in that verse, against
any one's attempting to divert him or his people from their obser-
vance of their stated fasts and exclusive use of vegetable diet on par-
ticular days. I requested him to read in connexion with it, the 17th
verse of the same chapter; "which, (those things specified in the
16th verse,) are a shadow of things to come; but the body is Christ.'
He read it and promptly acknowledged that this passage had refer-
ence rather to Jewish observances that are now superseded by
the gospel. His appearance, moreover, indicated that he knew the
spirit of this Scripture bore heavily on some of the ceremonies of
his own church; but he had not the courage or the candor, to make
such an acknowledgment. I did not think it expedient or neces-
sary to urge this application. There is little gained and much may
be lost, in directly assailing the religious observances of oriental
Christians. It is better to preach to them the simple truth-and this
cannot fail to eradicate error. Dr. Chalmers has a sermon, entitled,
"the expulsive power of a new affection," from which the mission-
ary in Western Asia may learn important lessons. It is worse than
in vain, that we essay to draw an oriental from his hay, wood and
stubble, until we point him to the firm foundation. And this we
must do, by inviting him to the high common ground of the gospel,
and then pour its blazing, searching light into the dark chambers of
his soul-simply preach to him, Jesus Christ, and as he begins to
learn Christ, he will of his own accord relax his hold of all other
foundations.
But the missionary, in pursuing this conservative course, is some-
times charged of tampering with error, conniving at sin, as he is
also by some accused of accommodating himself too much to the
social usages of the natives. These are serious matters, and de-
serve consideration. They are subjects in relation to which the
missionary himself feels embarrassments and difficulties, that he is
able to meet and dispose of only by recurring to general principles
of the Bible. On reaching his field, he naturally and properly looks
to Paul, the great primitive missionary-to his example and pre-
cepts, and endeavors to follow these so far as his circumstances re-
semble those of the apostle; not that in looking to Paul, he has
any occasion to turn from the Lord Jesus-the great and perfect
model. The apostle himself exhorts us, "be ye followers of me,
even as I am of Christ." But some of the practical parts of the
:
APOSTOLIC EXAMPLE-SELF-DENIAL-
-OBJECT. 353
life and duty of missionaries, we find more fully carried out by
Paul, in his long course of missionary labor, than in the more
general instructions and brief scene of public action, in the case of
his and our divine Master.
The missionary is thus led to make the subject-matter of his
message what the apostle declares to have been his: "For I deter-
mined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and him
crucified;" and again, we preach Christ crucified; unto the
Jews a stumbling block, and to the Greeks foolishness; but to them
that believe, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and
the wisdom of God." Such evidently should be the missionary's
engrossing theme, instead of questions of words and of forms to no
profit. And to regulate his intercourse with the natives and the
manner of his instruction and preaching to them, he recurs to those
other declarations of Paul in relation to his course in these things.
"For
Take for illustration the passage in 1 Cor. 9: 19-23.
though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant to
all, that I might gain the more. And unto the Jews, I became as
a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law,
as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law;
to them that are without law, as without law, (being not without
law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them
that are without law. To the weak, became I as weak, that I
might gain the weak; I am made all things to all men, that I might
by all means save some. And this I do for the gospel's sake.
Remarkable declarations, intended doubtless, to be used as a kind
of vade mecum by missionaries in all subsequent times!
The policy of Paul, as sketched in these passages of Scripture,
bears upon its face the impress of exalted self-denial. It was in
fact, as well as in figure, becoming a servant unto all men. And it
is instructive to observe his well chosen method of sustaining him-
self under it. He kept his mind full of the grand object in view.
It was
"for the gospel's sake;" that he " might gain the more."
A momentous object, and one that would of course warrant him in
making any sacrifice, and pursuing any expedients, to advance it,
that are not in themselves, nor their tendency, evil. The modern
missionary doubtless loses much in not dwelling on this point-
warming, expanding and elevating his soul, by contemplating his
object, the same which induced the counsels of heaven to delegate
the Son of God himself on a mission to earth,—a mission, too, involv-
ing the humiliation of his incarnation, the painful self-denials of his
life, the appalling ignominy of his arrest and trial, aud the unutter-
able agonies of his tragical death. It is of course impossible for
finite minds fully to estimate the magnitude of the object in question.
Till we can fathom the miseries of that world of wo, from which
the soul of the redeemed is rescued, and gauge the felicities to which
it is raised in heaven-measure the indescribable poignancy of the
one and the ecstatic raptures of the other, in all the boundless in-
45
354
ACCOMMODATION ITS REASONABLENESS
finitude of their extent and duration, we can at best have but a very
limited idea of the value of a single soul and the importance of its
salvation. It is possible, however, to catch a glimpse from the
points here suggested, and especially from the fact, that this object
was sufficient, in the view of the Infinite mind, to call for the cost-
liest sacrifice that the universe could offer, that heaven itself
could make. And just in proportion as the missionary accustoms
himself to dwell upon the grandeur and magnitude of this object,
he is ready with Paul to be a servant to all, to accommodate his
conduct to the feelings and usages of the people for whose salvation
he labors, so far as the interests of their salvation are thereby pro-
moted. Whether it was necessary and expedient, that Paul should
make this accommodation, it will not of course be questioned, that
an apostle, acting under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, was com-
petent to decide. Nor is it difficult to perceive the reasonableness
of this course from the nature of the case. It would obviously be
fruitless for a foreigner, in any land, to hope to acquire extensive
influence and confidence, while entirely disregarding the customs
and feelings of the people among whom he should dwell. How
could he gain ready access to them, or they be attracted to him,
while he should make prominent and insist on all his foreign
customs, many of which, however good in themselves, may appear
in him, to the natives of other climes, altogether repulsive, and
quite as absurd as some of their practices seem to him.
The state of things, among the oriental churches, clinging tena-
ciously to their carnal ordinances, are not dissimilar to that of the
Jews, in our Lord's time, teaching, as they did, "for doctrines the
commandments of men." The broad principles of Paul cover alike
the case of those nominal Christians, of Jews and of all gentile
nations. But to be properly understood, as a model for missionary
imitation, these principles should be somewhat more fully analyzed,
in the light of his declarations above-quoted. The apostle begins
by asserting his christian freedom, of which his possession was as
real as that of any other believer; nor could any be more sensible—
we might almost said, proud-of that freedom. "For though," says
he, "I be free from all men;" i. e. he was Christ's freeman; in
bondage to nobody. His religion, on his own account, need regard
nothing, but to do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly before
God. He might, at once and forever, shake himself from every
vestige of Jewish ceremonies and act in entire disregard of the cus-
toms, prejudices and opinions of this world. But he pursued just
the opposite course. In his own account of it, he says, "for though
I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant to all, that
I might gain the more." This voluntarily assumed bondage was
nothing more nor less than a careful attention and scrupulous de-
ference to the practices and feelings of men, which were in them-
selves indifferent; but a violation or disregard of which might of-
fend them, and divert their attention from the great concerns of
salvation.
IN RELIGIOUS AND SECULAR MATTERS.
355
"And unto
This deference was exercised in religious matters.
the Jews," said the apostle, "I became as a Jew, that I might gain
the Jews; to them that are under the law as under the law, that I
might gain them that are under the law.” Paul, from the period of
his conversion, cared as little about the whole mass of the lumber
of Jewish observances as any other man. And yet, "for the gos-
pel's sake," that he "might gain the more," we find him acting in
strict accordance with the declaration, that he became as a Jew.
Among the unconverted of that people, he conversed as though the
Mosaic law might still be in force; and Timothy, the son of a
Greek, he took and circumcised, to render him a more acceptable
laborer to the Jews. Among Jewish converts, also, who considered
themselves to be still under the ritual law, he became as one of them,
joining with them, in their worship and purifications, so far as he
could, without misleading them, in order that he might soften their
"To
prejudices and become to them the means of edification.
them that are without law," he continues, "as without law, (being
not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might
gain them that are without law," i. e. with the gentiles, on the other
hand, he mingled and conversed just as freely as though he had
known nothing about Mosaic institutions, that he might win them
over to embrace the gospel. Not however, (as he warns us in the
parenthesis,) that he disregarded the authority and commands of
God. He considered himself to be under the law to Christ,-bound
to receive it from his hands, as a rule of duty and taught by his
grace to love and delight in it. "To the weak," still continues
the apostle, "I became as weak, that I might gain the weak." He
condescended to the infirmities and scruples of the weak in faith, as
if he too had been weak, abridging his liberty lest he should grieve
them, without making any ostentation of stronger faith or greater
knowledge, or showing any neglect of them or contempt of their
weakness. Hence his triumphant declaration,-triumphant alike
over private convenience and personal prejudice,-" If meat make
my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth,
lest I make my brother to offend."
i
+
Thus did the apostle Paul, in every respect in which he could do
it with a good conscience, become all things to all men, in religious
matters, by an habitual, cheerful, patient endurance of their infirmi-
ties, and toleration of their mistakes and prejudices in things unes-
sential, that by every means he could devise, he might save some,
from each of the several descriptions of men among whom he tra-
velled and labored. And we have strong reason to believe, that he
also experienced this scrupulous regard, in temporal matters, as well
as religious,—at least, so far as these things could affect his grand
object. His broad assertion, I am made all things to all men,
though in a measure doubtless figurative, still implies that he ac-
commodated himself to their customs and prejudices, in things
1
#
356
DUTY OF THE MODERN MISSIONARY.
secular, as well as spiritual. While, moreover, he did the greater,
it were unreasonable to suppose, that he would be slow to do the
less; while he submitted to the cumbersome burden of Jewish cere-
monials, circumcised a fellow-laborer, shaved his head and took
vows, that he might conciliate the Jews, it is in the highest degree
improbable, that he would hesitate to accommodate himself to ex-
isting styles of etiquette or equipage, when thereby his influence
and usefulness were to be promoted.
The policy pursued by Paul may and should be adopted by mod-
ern missionaries. They too ought carefully to abstain from offend-
ing the people to whom they are sent, and raising their apprehen-
sion and opposition, by recklessly disregarding customs, prejudices
and feelings, in things not affecting salvation, whether they be reli-
gious observances, or civil and social usages. We need not of
course attempt to bring particular acts of the apostle, and apply
them literally in the case of those whose circumstances may differ
much from his. The general principle which is obvious, is all that
is needed. The wisdom of the serpent, blended with the harmless-
ness of the dove, which the missionary's profession assumes that he
possesses, will enable him rightly and readily to apply the principle to
his practice. As was Paul, so is he, free from all men. On his own
account, he may, when he goes among the Eastern churches, insist
on the entire simplicity of the gospel system, as it was left by the
Saviour and his apostles. And he may adhere to the manners and
customs of his native land and urge them on others, in the spirit of
a faithful patriot, in matters not at variance with the gospel. He
may do this, so far as he, as a private believer, is himself concerned.
He is Christ's freeman,-in bondage to no one.
But the missiona-
ry is not an isolated being. And his voluntarily assumed responsi-
bilities, as an ambassador of Christ, though thus free, render it just
as incumbent on him as it was on Paul, to make himself a servant
to all men. If Paul, for the gospel's sake, felt called upon to adopt
many of the religious practices of the Jews, which had been super-
seded by the gospel dispensation, the modern missionary may, at
least, feel justified in letting alone unessential practices, (which prac-
tices may have been, in their origin, not anti-scriptural, though now
so grossly perverted,) the attacking of which might shut the door
of access for preaching Christ at once against him!
There is also the same reason for the modern missionary, as for
the apostle, not to offend the people whom he would benefit, in the
common matters of life, as well as in relation to their religious cus-
toms and prejudices. Disregard, in the one case, might as effectu-
ally destroy his influence as in the other. There is, moreover, much
reason to question, whether in many of the habits and customs that
prevail, in foreign lands, which the young missionary, fresh from
his native shores, with his native partialities and patriotism in full
vigor, might naturally enough desire to introduce, would be of real

1
SMALL, AS WELL AS GREAT SACRIFICES.
357
advantage. The oriental house* must be built of oriental materials
and adapted to an eastern, and not a western clime. And many of
the social changes which he might be conscientiously officious to
urge, would be found, on experiment, no improvements on existing
usage; the danger of exciting prejudice, entirely out of the ques-
tion. At any rate, the way to introduce such changes as are desi-
rable is, not to begin abruptly, but by gradual, conciliatory mea-
sures. As the course pursued by the apostle was the only reasona-
ble one, viewed in the abstract, the same is equally so in relation to
the modern missionary. Did Paul make the greater sacrifices and
should he thwart his object by failing to make the less? Did he
suffer the loss of all things and finally lay down his life to glorify
the Saviour, and would he have been a reasonable man, to have al-
lowed that grand object to be defeated, or hindered, by refusing to
submit to such trifling matters, as shaving his head, keeping the
passover, abstaining from meat that had been offered to idols, or
even circumcising a companion!
We hear of heroic Moravians, who sold themselves into bondage,
that they might secure a passage to the West India Islands and a
residence there, to preach Christ to the perishing slaves? Would
those Moravians have been reasonable men, had they, on their arri-
val, closed the ears and steeled the hearts of their companions in
bondage towards them, by failing to yield trifles,-by disputing, for
instance, with those simple sons of nature, which should be regard-
ed as preferable in warding off a torrid sun, a white cap or a black
one? Or, which were the most convenient, in weeding the sugar-
cane, a short hoe, or a long one? Or respecting other such trifles,
as meat, drink, apparel or equipage? Or, had their discussions
extended to religious matters, would it have been reasonable in the
missionaries, to have offended them by insisting on this or that atti-
tude in worship, and thus have failed to secure for Christ the hom-
age of their affections?
And in relation to us who go to Persia,-who yield up the ten
thousand endearments of the land of our fathers to bring the per-
ishing to a knowledge of salvation, would it be reasonable in us, to
impede that momentous object, by refusing to accommodate our-
selves in things indifferent,-to object, for instance, to burden our
faces with the weight of mustaches and whiskers; or neglect to vis-
it the people, at their houses, because we must there do the penance
of sitting on the floor and eating with our fingers? Or, in relation
to their religious feelings and usages, refuse to do as Paul did, in
like circumstances, treat them with tenderness and caution?
* The missionary, for instance, who would build for himself a framed
house, in Persia, (could timber be procured,) instead of a mud one, should
bear in mind, that the parching dryness and penetrating heat of that climate,
would soon warp every shingle and clapboard and perhaps every floor-board,
from their places and split them in pieces. It is very difficult to keep arti-
cles of furniture there, under cover, in a state of preservation.
1
1
'
358
SOURCE OF DANGER—VIEWS OF PATRONS.
The missionary, who goes forth with any due measure of his Mas-
ter's spirit, is ready to make, both small and great sacrifices, in mat-
ters of every description, for the advancement of the grand object
that carries him to his field. The holy Baxter speaks of cler-
gymen of his day who thought more of the position of a button
on their coats, than of the salvation of a soul. But such reckless-
ness will, we trust, be found in no man who bears the name of a
Protestant missionary. Indeed the danger may arise from just the
reverse of this unconcern. The ardor of his zeal-the intensity of
his desires to lead the benighted around him immediately to em-
brace the gospel, may prompt the missionary-particularly the
young missionary-to strike roughly at their religious prejudices,
in the hope of clearing them all at once away, and bringing the per-
ishing directly to the fountain of salvation. But the example of Paul
and his own mature experience, would lead him tremblingly to ap-
prehend, that such a blow might dash the cup of life, which he is
hastening to bear to them, forever beyond their reach, and perhaps
beyond the reach of their children.
I shall not of course be understood, by the candid at least, to ad-
vocate an indiscriminate conformity in the missionary to native cus-
toms. Such a conformity is not demanded by the interests of our
work, even among the Nestorians, the purest portion of the orien-
tal churches. Its effect would be to diminish rather than increase
the missionary's influence, for the time, and yet more serious would
be the ultimate injury. But equally true is it, that in some, in
many
points, of etiquette and equipage, he must conform or sacrifice the
momentous objects of his mission. And while we may be called
upon to adopt none of the religious peculiarities of that people, the
dictates of common prudence and the spirit of the gospel require us
to let them alone, or if we touch them, to treat them with tender-
ness and caution.
To us who feel the responsibility of acting in relation to these
things, it is matter of unfeigned gratitude, that our patrons have in-
telligent and judicious views on these subjects and particularly in
relation to the religious observances of the Eastern churches. The
reader will recollect the views contained in my Instructions, by one
of the Secretaries of the A. B. C. F. M., as quoted in the second
chapter of this volume. In the Instructions* delivered to another
member of our mission at a subsequent period, the same Secretary
says, “We would exhort you not to descend from the high spiritual
position on which Christ has placed you, by his commission, to
publish the gospel, and not discussions about feasts and fasts—about
rites and ceremonies-about the thousand modes and forms of re-
ligious observance which the people among whom you go have sub-
stituted for the gospel,-though these discussions have their place
and importance and will occasionally be forced upon you. Address
*
Missionary Herald-Sept. 1839.
COURSE PURSUED BY LUTHER.
359
men in view of that moral nature which is common to all men as
sinners-lost-perishing-needing a Saviour. And preach to them
Jesus. Aim at the conscience and the heart. Make your attacks
directly upon the citadel. Take the strong hold, and the outposts
will surrender of course. Cleanse the fountains and the streams
will be purified. Make good the tree and its fruit will be good."
And in entire accordance with these views are the Instructions to
a member of the mission at Constantinople, delivered about the
same time.
"You are not sent among those churches to proselyte.
Let the Armenian remain an Armenian if he will, and the Greek,
a Greek; and the Nestorian, a Nestorian; and the oriental, an
oriental. Modes of government, both civil and ecclesiastical, are
doubtless important; but they are not the great thing. We cannot
afford to spend much of our time, strength and money upon them,
while so great a work lies before us, as the conversion of the world.
It may also be said of the rites and ceremonies of those sects, that
they are mere out-works, which it is not necessary to remove, be-
fore you come to the citadel; and an assault upon them will awaken
more alarm-more fierce hostility-more general and decided op-
position, than upon the citadel itself. Direct your whole force to
the principal post, and when that is taken, the others will fall at
once. It is not the rites, ceremonies and superstitions of these peo-
ple, that you, a foreigner and stranger, can attack to the best ad-
vantage; and these will be corrected, as a thing of course, when
your main work is accomplished."
It would not be difficult to show, by reference to the subject, that
even the impetuous Luther, as he is often erroneously viewed, adopt-
ed essentially this same conservative course, in the commencement
of the glorious Protestant reformation, and pursued it until the ir-
resistible power and rapidity of its progress, bore him along and
compelled him to gird on his armor and openly take the field. Merle
D'Aubigné's History of the Reformation is hardly a less instructive
text-book on the best method of conducting missions to the oriental
churches, than a faithful chronicler of the times and events of which
it treats. After all, the missionary to those fallen churches, often
feels his need of higher than human guidance to lead him in the
right way on these subjects. And if some at home, who are so un-
sparing in their censures on him, for what they, in their inexperience
and want of acquaintance with the circumstances, deem too conser-
vative a line of policy, would devote the time and thought thus ex-
pended, to prayer, in asking for him that wisdom which is from
above and is able to direct, they would much better subserve the
interests of the great cause and more consistently attest their at-
tachment and devotion to the same.
Before dismissing this subject, I should perhaps guard the reader
against supposing, that, while I advocate conservativeness in mission-
* Rev. Mr. Hamlin.
!
E
·
360
ARGUMENT FOR EPISCOPACY-LOGIC.
ary labors among the oriental churches, I have any fellowship with
that adoration of forms and shadows—“ that homage," as another
has expressed it, "paid to the altar, rather than to the God of the
altar,”—which is now so rife in America as well as in England. This
modern pharisaism has thrust itself upon my attention, in the
course of my, visit to the U. S. in connexion with the Nestorian
bishop, in instances enough, if described, to fill a volume, and in a
manner not a little painful to contemplate. Not long after our visit
to Virginia, an editor of a religious Newspaper,* in that State, sent
me a number, which tells the whole story in few words, and from
which I give below an extract to the reader.
"A NEW ARGUMENT FOR EPISCOPACY.
The Rev. Mr. Perkins and Mar Yohannan have recently been on
a visit to the friends of Mr. and Mrs. Holladay, in Virginia. A few
days ago, the Episcopal clergyman in one of our towns in which
they stopped for the Sabbath, importuned the good bishop to attend
his church half of the day, which the stranger did. The clergyman, in
the integrity of his heart, seized upon the opportunity to make a glori-
fication of Episcopacy, a thing which has been so repeatedly attempt-
ed, in similar circumstances, since Mar Yohannan's arrival in this
country, as not a little to annoy him, as he himself informs us,—the
artless Nestorian, in his own simple language, having come to Amer-
ica, not to divide Christians here, but to hold communion with all
who love our Lord Jesus Christ, of whatever name; whereas, the
Episcopalians, he adds, always inquire eagerly of him about the
forms and ceremonies of his church, (the FIRST question uniformly
being, how many orders of clergy have you,) while they ask hardly
ever a word about the state of morals or vital religion among his
people.
But we hasten to the logic of the subject. The Episcopal cler-
gyman, in question, labored to prove to his congregation, in the
presence of Mar Yohannan, that the Nestorians are Episcopalians;
and as they refer their conversion to Christianity back to the time
of the apostles, therefore, modern Episcopacy must be apostolic.
One link in the ponderous chain of argumentation, leading to this
conclusion, as alluded to by the good clergyman, (and we suppose
originated by him,) was the resemblance between Mar Yohannan's
CLOAK and the Episcopal robe. But unfortunately for the argument,
Mar Yohannan's cloak is the common Persian cloak, worn alike by
all sects and classes in Persia, as Mr. Perkins informs us,-nothing
but the bishop's CAP, in his dress, being peculiar and distinctive of
his clerical office. The zealous Episcopal champion must in consis-
tency, therefore, claim all the Persians, Muhammedans, as well as
others-the reverend Moollâhs among the rest-to be good brother
* Watchman of the South, Vol. V. No. 38. May 12, 1842.
3
:
SCAFFOLDING NOT THE TEMPLE.
361
Episcopalians; i. e. if the fashion of Mar Yohannan's cloak makes
him an Episcopalian.
On hearing of this argument, [continues the paper,] we were re-
minded of an instance of the application of similar logic, on another,
but perhaps somewhat similar, subject. It was at a time when anti-
masonry raged, particularly in the northern sections of our country.
The honest masons, like good Episcopalians of our day, were zeal-
ous, of course, in bringing forth their strong reasons in support of
their system. And one old gentleman, in the ardor of his zeal, to
establish the antiquity of freemasonry, declared that our venerable
father Adam, was himself a freemason; and when called upon for
proof of that position, Why,' said he, we have it recorded in
the Bible, that Adam wore an apron!'
Oh what a pity, that the builders of Christ's spiritual temple, (for
such we believe many of our Episcopal brethren to be,) should think
so much more of the fashion and fabric of their scaffolding, than of
the temple itself! Such builders will sooner or later find, when
the scaffolding shall be seen to be only scaffolding, and shall be
thrown aside as useless, that they have labored in vain, and spent
their strength for nought. How must such zeal for form appear, to
an artless mind, unaccustomed to it! Listen, and see how it does
appear. In our town, on the first evening of Mr. Perkins's and Mar
Yohannan's arrival here, two Episcopalian clergyman were the first
to make their way to their lodgings; and wished the bishop to be at
their churches both morning and evening on the Sabbath—one of
them confidently urging, we have a claim, because you belong to us.
'I do not wish to hear this word,' earnestly replied Mar Yohannan ;
'I have not come here to make difference among Christians; I love
all who love our Lord Jesus Christ. The name is nothing, but faith
and love; I desire to see all Christians, in your happy country, love
one another-I do not wish to hear you say, you belong to us.
all have one Lord; we will all go to one heaven.'
We
What reply could our worthy Episcopal brother make to this
pointed lecture from the artless Nestorian prelate? Not one word.
And if it is not enough to rebuke the party zeal, which is so arro-
gant, at the present time, in many of our Episcopal friends, then
that arrogance must surely be girded in a brazen—yea, a thrice
brazen, coat of mail!"
While I am constrained to admit the general correctness of the
above statements, I by no means suppose that all, and I trust not
the mass of Episcopalians, in this country, are possessed of such a
zeal for forms. I have heard many in that communion, deplore
the existence of the evil, by whom the spirit of worldly aspiration,
that has sprung up in a portion of their church and seems to be
threatening its vitality, is doubtless as deeply regretted, as it can be,
by us.
46
362
ATTACK UPON MAR YOHANNAN.
As matter of fact, the ease of the Nestorians furnishes nothing
peculiar, that makes for the zealots of Episcopacy. They were
separated from the general church, toward the middle of the fifth
century; a period subsequent, as every reader of church history is
of course ready to acknowledge, to the time when Episcopal polity
was generally adopted. Long ages of night, dark enough to bring
forth almost any form or doctrine, had preceded that separation.
Their case, therefore, proves no more on the age of Episcopacy,
which is not admitted, than that of the Greeks, the Armenians,
or the Papists. But it is as far from my inclination, as it is foreign
to the objects of this volume, to discuss the merits of any system of
Church polity, or to impair the just claims of any.
While it is, of course, much to be lamented that a christian pre-
late from benighted Asia, should witness such developments of a
narrow exclusiveness among Christians in Protestant America, it
is matter of unfeigned gratitude to God, that he has not, as we
trust, been thus injured. He has been disappointed by it, and of
ten not a little grieved; particularly, by some open attacks upon
himself, in periodicals. That I may do nobody injustice, and not
be mistaken, on this subject, I will quote from documents.
Churchman, an Episcopal paper of New York, contains the fol-
lowing article.
The
"MAR YOHANNAN.
Mr. Editor,—At the risk of bringing up an unwelcome subject,
I wish to say a few words, concerning the person, whose name stands
at the head of this article. I wish to speak to the merits of the case,
as it now stands, and with as little reference to the Nestorians as may
be; not because I consider it unimportant that their true position
should be known, or look upon them in any other light than as
justly condemned by a general council; but because I desire rather
to look at the immediate question, concerning Mar Yohannan.
1. What evidence has Mar Yohannan brought, to substantiate
his claims to the office of a bishop? Anything more than his own
assertion, backed by the declaration of the missionary who accom-
panies him? If so, is this enough? Mr. Geo. Montgomery West
declared himself to be a bishop, and so have some other persons, on
very insufficient grounds; and it strikes me, that the less we know
of a church, the more we should require certain proof of its claims.
Is not the truth this; that we are over anxious to grasp at the proof
to the claims of the Episcopacy, afforded in such instances as that
of Mar Yohannan, and therefore are willing to admit the claims of
persons, situated as he is, on easy trust? I may be wrong in all
this, but it strikes me as a point worthy of consideration.
2. What does Mar Yohannan himself believe, in relation to the
WANT OF CREDENTIALS CHARGES.
363
points condemned by the council of Ephesus? That council did
condemn something. Some have supposed, something not held by
Nestorius, and therefore, not him. Be that as it may, though one
would suppose the chances quite as great that the council were
right, in their view of Nestorius, as we, at this late day, can be;
they did condemn something; and that something, whatever it be,
is heresy; and they who hold it are heretics, whether Nestorius
held it or not; or whether they have had anything to do with him
or not. That which the council did condemn was this; the notion
that Christ was not born, God and man; and consequently, that
the Virgin was not the mother of God, but of a man, in whom God
afterward dwelt. Now does not Mar Yohannan hold this very doc-
trine? I have reason to feel well assured that he does. This may
be known; certainly, the clergy must have conversed with him on
this point, and his opinion can be had. Why then should not this
be definitely ascertained?
!
3. What effect should Mar Yohannan's associating himself with
separatists have upon us? If an English bishop came to this coun-
try, and, avoiding his legitimate brethren, threw himself into the
hands of separatists, what effect would it have on his reception? I
know it may be said, that Mar Yohannan could have known nothing
of our church, before he came hither. This is no excuse for com-
mitting schism, in the manner he has done; and by this time, he
does know about our church; and yet, how has his course changed?
I have not spoken these things in the order in which they would
naturally come up. That would be this: What does Mar Yohan-
nan himself believe? If here, he is cleared of the condemned here-
sy, call it Nestorianism, or what you will; then the next question
is, what proofs has he, of his consecration and succession? If these
are found satisfactory, the inquiry will follow; has not this bishop,
by his intercommunion with separatists, so put himself under the
censure of the church, and so violated unity, that he must be put in
the same category with those, in whose company he is found ?´ And
all this will be in accordance with the apostolic canons; the direc-
tions of which, on these points, are 1. That heretics shall not be
received into communion; 2. That no strange bishop shall be re-
ceived without letters commendatory; 3. That those bishops who
pray with heretics shall not be received into communion; and those
who suffer them to officiate as clergymen shall be deposed. In one
or all of these points, Mar Yohannan will certainly be found want-
ing; and either is sufficient to exclude him from communion. I
may add, that in the last Report of the Board of American Mis-
sions [the American Board, etc.] it is stated, that the Nestorians
had lent one of their churches to the Presbyterians and allowed them
to hold an ordination in it!
QUERY."*
* The Churchman, Vol. 12. No. 36. Nov. 12. 1842.
་ ་
364
APOLOGY-RING-ORDINATION.
I have little disposition to notice at length any of the points men-
tioned in the above article. As, however, I engaged to protect Mar
Yohannan, during his travels in this country, I shall be excused for
offering a few words as his apologist. In relation to his claims to
the rank and title of a bishop, he probably never suspected that they
would be called in question here, under the circumstances in which
he came. He was not a great deal surprised, when, on visiting the
Greek Patriarch, at Constantinople, that dignitary demanded of him
the display of a ring, as a voucher of his office. And though defi-
cient in this token, he readily found relief by playfully reminding
the Patriarch of the comment, on the gold ring on the finger, in the
epistle of James. Not expecting to be called upon for written cre-
dentials, in Protestant America, while accompanying the living mis-
sionary, he is here, to be sure, entirely unfurnished with such docu-
ments. In relation to his associating with different denominations
of Christians, in America, he has done this, alike from choice and
from principle; and with the impression, that he was strengthening,
rather than infringing, the bonds of christian unity in so doing. And
the fraternal reception which he has in general met, from all, whether
in public ecclesiastical bodies, religious meetings, or social inter-
course, has deeply and delightfully impressed him with the truth of
the apostolic declaration, that all true Christians, of whatever name,
have one Lord, one faith, one baptism and one God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ. In relation to the ordination of a
member of our mission in a Nestorian church, the facts are essen-
tially as stated. It was the same spirit of christian fellowship
which has marked his course, in this country, that led Mar Yohan-
nan and the other bishops of Oróomiah, to welcome us to the use
of that church,—and the same which prompts them to introduce us
into all their churches, to preach the gospel to their people, in the
fraternal manner described in the course of this volume. That
this bishop has usually accompanied the author, with whom he had
been associated seven years before leaving his native country, and
to whom, as his guardian, he committed himself and was committed
by his people, during his visit to this land of strangers, can hardly
appear singular, or unreasonable, to those acquainted with the cir-
cumstances,―certainly not, to the reader who has perused this vol-
ume in course; nor more so, that he should mingle principally with
those denominations, who have, so many years, had missionaries
among his people, and whom he and they wish to occupy the field,
so long as the Nestorians shall need the aid of foreign laborers.
But I am perhaps in danger of forestalling the bishop, and will let
him offer his own vindication, and in his own manner. Several
articles, attacking him, had appeared from a certain town in New
England, which, though they crept into a periodical of another de-
nomination and in another State, readily revealed their origin to
those acquainted with certain incidents connected with the bishop's
VINDICATION-INQUIRIES.
365
visit to the said town, and with the course pursued there by certain
proselytes to Episcopacy. The paragraphs to which I refer, had
repeatedly been mentioned to Mar Yohannan, by different persons;
but he happily felt little troubled about them. When, however, the
article that I have quoted, came out, with his name in capitals as a
title, and became matter of common conversation, among the stu-
dents of the place where he was residing, he was so much annoyed
on the subject, that he resolved on putting forth a public vindication,
through the Boston Recorder, which is almost the only religious
paper with whose name he is familiar. I advised him not to enter
into a newspaper controversy, in a land of strangers, and with his
imperfect knowledge of our language; and he yielded to this advice,
but on condition that I would introduce his reply, which he had
already prepared, into my volume. It is therefore to redeem a
pledge, as well as to enable the bishop to tell his own story, that I
give to the reader a translation of it in this connexion.
(
1
MAR YOHANNAN'S VINDICAtion.
My brethren of the Episcopalians:
What evil or wicked thing have I wrought, in relation to you,
that some of you should write about me in your newspapers, and
scatter them through all America?
1. I am one poor man and my nation is poor. I came to thank
Christians in this country, for having helped us and to ask them to
help us more, for the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are
members of one another; if one member suffers, do not all suffer
with it? Well; if you had desired our good, would you not some-
times have inquired of me thus. What is the condition of your peo-
ple in that land of heathens? Is there a church there? Are there
good men ? Are there tokens of the influence of the Holy Spirit?
What is the state of knowledge and instruction? What are the
morals? But from very few of you have I heard one of these ques-
tions. You ask, how many orders have you? My friends, forms are
nothing; Neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision,
but a new creature.'
2. If you say, that our church is built upon the apostolic founda-
tion, the oldest of the churches; why, shall we place our confidence
in age, name, or forms? No; but in the Lamb of God, who de-
scended from his throne on high to save that which was lost. Ob-
serve and behold. The Creator of the height and of the depths,
did not demean himself so loftily as some denominations, who say,
WE ARE; there is no other true church. The Lord said, Every man
who exalteth himself shall be abased, but whosoever humbleth him-
self shall be exalted. Again; your church came out from the
church of the Pope. Is there not some leaven of the Pope still re-
1
366
MARKS—ARROGANCE—NESTORIUS.
maining in many of you? Take care; If you say, "no, this word
is a mistake," I have proofs. What are those pictures in some of
your churches? This is a mark of the Pope! I know you do not
worship the pictures; but your children, who rise up after you, see-
ing them in the churches, will worship them. Mark that second
commandment-God said, Thou shalt not make unto thee any like-
ness, or resemblance, of anything in heaven above, nor in the earth
beneath, nor in the waters under the earth. Another command-
ment of God is, Love your neighbors as yourselves; but you say,
OUR CHURCH IS GREAT. Very well; your church has become great,
has it? Why? that it may despise small churches? Our Lord Je-
sus Christ says, Whoever will be greatest, let him be servant of all.
This haughtiness is another mark of the Pope, who teaches that
none will be saved who are out of his Church.
3. Come, let us see; has our Lord pronounced blessings on the
meek, or on the proud? I believe he pronounced his blessings on
the meek, declaring that they shall inherit the earth. Again, said
our Lord, two men went up into the temple to pray, one of them a
pharisee and one of them a publican; the pharisee proudly offered
his prayer; and the publican in humility; God heard the publican
and disregarded the pharisee. So every one, who exalteth himself,
shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself, shall be exalted.
King David also says, The meek shall inherit the earth and shall
delight themselves in abundance of peace-and many other like
things does he say in the Psalms, in favor of the lowly and against
the proud. And what humility did our Saviour manifest, when He
was led as a lamb to the slaughter; and as a sheep dumb before her
shearer, so he opened not his mouth, according to the words of
Isaiah.
4. Come, let us see about Nestorius, what evil he has wrought
towards you. If you speak of other nations, he has sharply rebuked
them; but in relation to you, he has done nothing. And others he
rebuked for their idolatry, in calling Mary the mother of God, and
many other wicked works which were done among those nations,
and which you do not understand. And do you, too, like the Cath-
olics, cast Nestorius out into utter darkness? If you would be in-
formed, Nestorius has marked out no new path for us. We have
not gone after him. Our nation sympathized with him, and we still
love him as our ownselves; and if all the world should say so, we
will not cast him aff; for he was persecuted for righteousness' sake.
And our Lord has said, Blessed are they who are persecuted and
evil spoken of, foghteousness' sake; their reward shall be great
in heaven.
5. I do not say that your way [church polity] is not a good one
―very good, if you properly follow it; not in exclusiveness and os-
tentation, saying, we are the only true church; nor in hypocrisy,
like sepulchres which are white without, but within, full of all un-
FELLOWSHIP—NEW ALLIANCES.
367
cleanness. God looketh upon the heart. It is important for Chris-
tians to abound in love, and not in vain-glorying. But every tree
is known by its fruit; men also, by their works.
6. I love Episcopalians; and Congregationalists; and Presbyte-
rians; and Dutchmen; and Lutherans; and Methodists; and Bap-
tists,-all, as brethren in Christ. There is no difference in them
with me.
The greater brethren are all these; and if there be less,
we are the least. We open our churches to their priests, and re-
ceive them as the priests of God and the apostles of our Lord. Our
Lord said, Whosoever receiveth a prophet, in the name of a prophet,
shall receive a prophet's reward. And whosoever receiveth a right-
eous man, in the name of a righteous man, shall receive a righteous
man's reward. Thus have we learned from our Lord.
7. You are displeased with me, are you, because I have associa-
ted with the Presbyterians and Congregationalists? So the news-
paper teaches. I do not practise partiality. Is it very strange, that I
associate most with the Presbyterians and Congregationalists? No;
they are equally our brethren; and they have come and helped us, in
books and teachers, and have done a great and good work for our na-
tion. Ought I to abandon them and form new alliances? We do
not so understand propriety and justice. Would it not have been a
great wonder, very wrong in me and very bad for my nation, had I
forsaken them and connected myself with others? It would be a
black reproach and a great sin for us thus to abuse the good they
have done for us. God would be displeased with us for such a course
of ingratitude. But we will never be unmindful of their beneficence.
We will cling to these benefactors, as we do to Nestorius. Our
Lord Jesus Christ said, Whoever shall give to drink a cup of cold
water, shall not lose his reward; how much greater will be the re-
ward of those, who have given to drink the instructions of Christ.
And shall we abuse the good work which they have done for us?
Never. We must obey God rather than man; and keep the com-
mandments of God rather than the commandments of men. We all
have one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, who is over all and in all; over us, over you and
over them; who will judge us all at the last day; and if found at
his right hand, will raise us all to the same heaven. We shall dwell
in peace together there. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the love of God the Father, and the communion of the Holy Spirit
be with us all forever, Amen.
Your fellow sinner and unworthy christian brother,
MAR YOHANNAN.'
Nov. 1842.

How devoutly it is, indeed, to be wished, that all evangelical de-
nominations and all branches and members of each, should, as they
desire the advancement of Christ's kingdom, more studiously heed:
$
1
368
HARMONY-DEATH OF MRS. GRANT.
the injunction, to "keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.
The news of pecuniary embarrassment, by which we have been so
repeatedly tried and cast down, in our distant field, has never sad-
dened us, like the tidings of division and strife, in the churches at
home. For while commercial reverses may, for a season, reduce
the pecuniary means of our patrons, contention, we feel assured, will
wither the life of the missionary spirit and of piety itself, and close
both the hearts and the hands of the churches to the wants of a per-
ishing world, more effectually than all other influences combined.
It is a familiar proverb, that the approach of a foreign foe quells
internal discord. And have not the children of God, common´ene-
mies, sufficiently formidable, wakeful and near, to hush their mutual
commotions, unite them in a common bond and prompt them to a
common conflict? Especially is it most fervently to be desired,
that in the foreign plans and operations of the different Protestant
churches, fraternal harmony should prevail. None can gain, but
all must lose, by collision or interference abroad. The natives, in
benighted lands, however slow to copy what is lovely and of good
report, are quick enough to discern the inconsistency of contentions,
among those that bring to them good tidings, that publish peace.
Let it be the earnest prayer of all, that the foreign watchmen may
soon see eye to eye and together sing, not more, in the proximity of
their stations, than in the harmony of their feelings and their efforts;
and that believers at home may be of one heart and one mind. And
fondly would we hope, that the troublous turmoil of foaming waves
and billows which we now deplore,
"Is merely the working of a sea,
Before a calm, which rocks itself to rest."
CHAPTER XXII.
JOURNAL: JANUARY-JUNE, 1839.
At this period, a solemn and mournful providence clothed our
mission in sackcloth. Several of our number had been, so repeat-
edly, laid upon the brink of the grave by disease, and again raised
up to health, that we had almost ceased to apprehend an early re-
moval by death, when the youngest and one of the healthiest, was
suddenly cut down. Mrs. Grant is the only adult member of the
mission at Oróomiah, who has yet died. Her short, but devoted
and useful life, and her peaceful and happy death-a living and ȧ
D
\
BIRTH-MIND-EDUCATION-CHARACTER.
369
dying sacrifice, as she was, to the welfare of the people and the
cause that form our general subject-deserve a brief record in this
connexion.
Its
Mrs. Judith S. Grant was the adopted daughter of the Hon. Wm.
Campbell, of Cherry Valley, N. Y. She was born Jan. 12, 1814.
She was bereaved of her mother, when only three days old, by
whom, in the near prospect of death, she was committed to Mrs.
Campbell, her aunt, who received, reared and educated her, as her
own child. Her proper name was Lathrop. Her excellent foster-
mother early cherished a strong desire, that her adopted daughter
might become a missionary; and the Head of missions accepted the
parental offering. There was, however, corresponding effort, in
connexion with that desire, on the part of the parent. I have often
heard Mrs. Grant allude to little sacrifices, which she was early
taught, by her mother, to make, for the purpose of contributing
something to missions; and from the time of her beginning to make
these sacrifices, her interest became deep and fixed, in the great cause.
Mrs. Grant had naturally a mind of a very high order, which was
enlarged, polished and enriched by extensive cultivation.
powers were all symmetrically and early developed. But a little
more than twenty-one years of age when she was married, she pos-
sessed, at that early period, a maturity, which qualified her to adorn
any circle, and fill any sphere of female responsibility. But much as
we saw to admire in the cast and culture of her mind, there was
yet more to love, in the qualities of her heart. Frank and artless
as a child, she was still discreet; cheerful, in all circumstances,
without levity; remarkably patient and submissive under trials;
possessing a kindness of disposition that seemed to know no bounds;
social, to an extent that charmed all who knew her; tender and
sympathetic in a high degree; and these and many other qualities
of a kindred nature, all sweetened and hallowed by warm religious
affection. We are not aware at precisely what period she cherished
the hope of personal salvation. She made a public profession of
religion, April 3, 1831. Her piety was silent and unostentatious,
but strikingly active and practical. It was deep and uniform, but
never officious and obtrusive.
Mrs. Grant very soon mastered the difficult native languages, and
engaged with much zeal and ability in our missionary labors. Pre-
viously to the commencement of our female boarding-school, she
did all in her power to enlighten and benefit the native females, by
teaching some of her domestics to read, and cultivating extensive ac-
quaintance among both Nestorians and Muhammedans of her sex,
by whom she was much beloved. When our female school was at
length opened, she entered with peculiar interest and ardor upon its
instruction, as the sphere to which she had so long aspired. And
when her health would not admit of her going to the school, she was
accustomed to receive and instruct the girls, an hour or two in a day,
at her room.
47
370
ACTIVITY IN SICKNESS-DEATH-BED SCENE.
Perhaps no trait in her very estimable character, was more con-
spicuous, than her promptness, ability and delight, in administering
relief and comfort in the chamber of sickness,-a trait unspeakably
important, in every missionary. How often have I seen her hasten-
ing like an angel of mercy, from house to house and room to room,
when several of our mission have been sick at the same time? And
often have most of us, who were her fellow-laborers, been tenderly
affected by her soothing presence, and the constancy of her atten-
tions and efforts, to mitigate. our pains and hasten our recovery.
Mrs. Grant never conceived it a condescension to have given herself
to the missionary cause, but quite the reverse. I have known
her shed tears, when contemplating the interest of our work, and
exclaim, why was one so unworthy as I am, permitted to live
and labor in such a field !" Nor when thus cut down like a flower,
did she regard her life as thrown away, or regret her consecration
to the cause which she so much loved. “Tell my friends,” she said,
in the course of her sickness, "that I have never regretted that I
came to Persia as a missionary." She was taken sick, on the 3rd
of January (1839). Her disease was a violent, bilious intermittent
fever. From the commencement of the attack, she regarded her
recovery as uncertain and rather improbable, and accordingly set
her house in order. During the few previous months, she had ap-
peared unusually weaned from the world and rapidly ripening for
her rest and reward. After a severe sickness of eleven days, during
which she was cheered in her lucid intervals by the light of the Re-
deemer's countenance, and evidently rapt, in her erratic moments,
in celestial visions, she died, Jan. 14, at the age of twenty-five years
and two days. Like so many other dying mothers, nor least often,
the female missionary,
She set, as sets the morning star which goes
Not down behind the darkened west, nor hides,
Obscured among the tempests of the sky,
But melts away into the light of heaven.
No pen, nor pencil, could portray the affecting interest of that death-
bed scene, the little group of fellow-pilgrims, in a foreign, benight-
ed clime, mutually endeared by common sufferings, exposures, joys
and sorrows, gathered round the departing saint-a golden chain, its
links bound so tenderly to each other, about to be sundered-their
number diminished and their strength weakened; a husband, be-
reaved; three young children-two of them, infant twin-sisters
-to be left orphans in a land of darkness; and the perishing na-
tives, crowding around and uttering their loud lamentations! But
the dying couch of the missionary, though to the survivors, peculiar-
ly sorrowful, is also, in a special degree, "privileged beyond the
common walks of life-quite on the verge of heaven."
Mrs. G's death, like the trump of an angel, sent an unwonted
thrill through every bosom among the natives connected with our·
INFLUENCE POLITICAL UNCERTAINTY.
371
mission, laying all hearts open to admonition. A peaceful and hap-
py death is a phenomenon which they had seldom, if ever, before
witnessed; and this made a very deep impression. A religion
which has power, not only to control and hallow the life, but also
to impart joy and triumph in the hour of death, is something which
excites their marvel, and constrains them to acknowledge, that it
must be a religion which comes from heaven and leads to heaven.
It was, perhaps, the greatest burden of Mrs. Grant's prayer, during
her last sickness, that her death might be made an instrument of
promoting their salvation. We trust this prayer will be answered.
Nor did her dying exhortations and the solemn providence, we be-
lieve, fail to quicken her associates also in their preparation for death,
"She
and in doing with their might what their hands find to do.
hath done what she could," is the text from which it was my privi-
lege to preach her funeral sermon, and which was subsequently in-
scribed on her tomb-stone-and to few could this exalted commen-
dation of our Lord, with more truth be applied, than to this gifted,
devoted young missionary.
A letter recently received from our excellent friend, Col. Woodfall,
states that the prospect of an immediate adjustment of differences, be-
tween the English and Persian governments, is by no means certain.
When, a few months ago, the Shâh learned that English troops had
landed on his southern frontier, he was frightened, raised the siege
of Herât and sent a message to the English ambassador, who was
then at Tabréez on his departure out of the country, entreating him
to remain and promising to accede to any conditions of pacification
which the English government should dictate. With this fair pros-
pect of a ready settlement, the ambassador started for Tehrân. But
from appearances, it was soon apprehended, that the king intends
still to play the Persian and act a treacherous part, perhaps return
to Herât. The English troops remain on the southern frontier, and
in case his Persian majesty persists in opposing the wishes of their.
Political revolutions, in
government, there will probably be war.
these Muhammedan countries, frightful and troublesome as they are
in themselves, are still perhaps hardly to be regretted. They are
doubtless to have an important and direct agency in the over-
throw of the religion of the Prophet and the establishment of Christ's
kingdom upon its ruins. Nor can we reasonably anticipate perma-
nent peace, in any of these lands, until they shall yield to the sway
of the Prince of peace.
In the prospect of the English ambassador's leaving Persia,
summer, I addressed to him the following letter.
last
"To His Excellency, Sir John McNeill, H. B. M. Envoy Extraor-
dinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the court of Persia,
SIR,-Permit me to express to you the sincere regret which we
feel, that we are unable to do ourselves the pleasure of seeing your
"
:
372
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF OBLIGATION.
A
Excellency, before you may leave this country. One of my col-
leagues, as well as myself, went to Tabréez, soon after we heard of
your expected departure, in the hope that at least one of us might
meet you there; but circumstances beyond our control compelled
us to return; and we now find it hardly practicable to leave bur
families and repeat, the journey.
Permit me, therefore, to take this method of expressing to you, in
behalf of myself and our mission, our very deep sense of obligation
to your Excellency, alike for personal and official favors,-to the
gentlemen of your suite and detachment, with the most of whom we
have the pleasure of acquaintance, for their many kind and polite
attentions, and to the very powerful and revered government,
which you represent, for the efficient protection which it has afford-
ed us and our object, during our residence in this country. We
should most heartily regret your intended departure, did we not con-
fidently hope and expect, that, as a consequence of this and attend-
ant measures, British influence will soon be reëstablished in this
country, on a firm and advantageous basis; and while we would
not meddle with party politics, yet, as philanthropists and as Chris-
tians, we do rejoice, whenever we behold indications of the exten-
sion of English influence in Asia; for we feel confident that such
indications present one of the surest of human pledges of the ame-
lioration of both the temporal and eternal prospects of men, in any
countries thus affected.
Were we to reside at Tabréez, we believe that, it having been
known that we have enjoyed English protection, the moral influence
of the English name might be sufficient still to protect us. But sit-
uated as we are, in this remote town, which has never been the
residence of Europeans for any considerable period and is fearfully
infested with lawless Lootée, it is our decided opinion, that pru-
dence requires us to make some arrangement for additional securi-
ty for ourselves and our families, on the departure of your mission.
And we beg you to suggest to the Rev. Mr. Merrick, who hopes to
meet you at Tabréez, and will act as our agent in the case, any
measures which you may deem proper to be taken, and afford him
all the assistance which may be found necessary, to secure the ob-
ject. Fervently praying that abundant blessings may rest on you
personally, and that complete success may attend your Excellency's
official measures; and with sentiments of unfeigned gratitude and
great respect, I beg to remain, Sir,
Your very obedient servant,
In behalf of the American mission to the Nestorians,
(Signed)
Oróomiah, Aug. 22, 1838."
J. PERKINS,
Jan. 9. I received the following reply to the above letter:
ADVICE RUSSIAN PROTECTION.
373
"Tabréez, Jan. 1, 1839.
DEAR SIR, I had the pleasure of receiving, some time ago, your
letter to me, requesting to be informed what course I considered it
most advisable for the American missionaries at Oróomiah to pur-
sue, in case the British mission should withdraw from the Shah's
dominions, and conveying to me your own thanks and those of your
companions, for the protection you had hitherto received from the
British mission.
I have delayed answering your letter, until it should be in my
power to decide whether or not her Majesty's legation would with-
draw from the Persian territories; and now, that this step has be
come necessary, I beg leave to inform you, that in my opinion, it
will be advantageous to you, and to the gentlemen who are associa-
ted with you, to seek the protection of the only other European mis-
sion at the Persian court.
It affords me great pleasure to assure you, that the unobtrusive
conduct of the American missionaries in Persia, and the practical
good sense and good feeling which have been conspicuous in their
proceedings, has made it a very agreeable duty to me, to assist in af-
fording them, in the progress of their beneficial labors amongst the
Christians of Azerbijân, the protection from personal annoyance or
injury, which they have had occasion to request, and which the
respect due to their own characters had already disposed the Persian
authorities to extend to them.
I have the honor to be, Sir,
(Signed)
Your most obedient and humble servant,
JOHN MCNEILL."
Feb. 2. The English embassy left Persia, immediately after the
above letter was written. In accordance with the advice of the am-
bassador, I have just been to Tabréez, in company with Dr. Grant,
to obtain Russian passports. The winter journey was not particu-
larly agreeable in itself and the native authorities had declared their
intention to take good care of us, though we should have no Euro-
pean protection. Still, a proper regard for the security of our mis-
sion, seemed to require us to take this precaution without delay.
The Russian consul-general, received us very kindly, and besides
furnishing us with the desired passports, proposed of his own ac-
cord, to inform the Emeer-i-nizâm-the acting governor of Azer-
bijân, that we have Russian protection, and request him to write
to the governor of Oróomiah, communicating the same fact and di-
recting the latter to take care of us. Contrary to our previous ap-
prehensions, since the English ambassador has left Persia, every
thing continues quiet here as before. We had supposed that his
departure might be the signal of general disorder. But there is not
the least indication of commotion, which certainly shows progress
among the Persians in civilization. And in my late visit to Ta
!
་་
་
i
374
CIVILIZATION ENLIGHTENED ARMENIANS.
bréez, my attention was arrested by other and strong indications of
such progress. The briskness of trade and the amount of European
articles in the bazars of that city almost surpass conception.
There has been a great advance, in these respects, during the three
or four years since I resided there. Nor are these the only marks
of advancement. Among other things, I visited two lithographic
presses the property of Persians and recently put in operation by
Persians-which are vigorously at work, printing Persian books.
And never did I witness more promptness and agility in the manage-
ment of the press, than was manifested by the athletic, intelligent
natives who were at work at these presses; and seldom have I be-
held a scene, which to my mind, partook more of the morally sub-
lime, than that scene, patronized and sustained, as the printing es-
tablishment is, wholly by native Persians. Nor is advancement in
civilization confined to this part of the country. Among the inter-
esting signs of the times, is a recent order of the king, that all who
approach his royal person, shall be dressed in European costume.
The French Jesuits, who visited Oróomiah last autumn, went to
Tabréez; and they were so surprised and impressed with the exist-
ing facilities there for gaining access to the Muhammedans, that
they lost no time in applying to Prince Kahraman Meerza for a fir-
mân to enable them to open a school for young Mussulmâns. The
desired firmân was readily granted, and one of them has hastened
off with all possible speed to Constantinople and Paris to obtain
funds and men to carry their plan into execution.
Malek Kâsem Meerza continues as friendly as ever to us and our
operations. We visited him at Tabréez, and he suggested to us,
that it would be well to visit the Emeer-i-nizâm, and kindly pro-
posed to make the necessary arrangements and accompany us on
such a visit. In this proposal he evidently had in mind that, as the
English ambassador had left the country, we might have occasion
to ask favors of the Eméer, and should do well to show him the pre-
vious attention of a visit. His manifest concern for our safety and
welfare demands our grateful acknowledgement.
While at Tabréez, I learned some encouraging facts, respecting
a cluster of Armenian Christians, situated near Shooshá, the seat
of the late German mission in Georgia. An Armenian priest, from
that group, recently came to Tabréez, and stated that his whole vil-
lage had seceded from the Armenian church, having imbibed evan-
gelical views and feelings. They had in consequence drawn upon
themselves the bitter persecution of the hierarchy, and the storm be-
came so violent, that the priest had fled into Persia. The good
seed which the German missionaries scattered in Georgia has been
silently at work. It would be very premature to pronounce their
labor thrown away, in consequence of the interruption of their mis-
sion. Not a holy desire which they have cherished, not a prayer
they have offered, not an effort they have put forth, not a dollar
they expended for the perishing in that country, will be lost. The
MoU

EBO
won
Thayer & Co LithBoston.
A PERSIAN DERVISH.
ROYAL EDICTS-DERVISHES-SEMINARY.
375
seeds of truth which they sowed have taken root, are springing up
and will bring forth a golden harvest. Under the ashes of that de-
molished mission are living embers, which the breath of Jehovah,
without the voice of the living missionary, is fanning into a flame,
that will blaze and extend, till the Armenian churches in that dark
land, shall be enlightened and reformed.
Feb. 6. Several new orders have just reached our governor,
from the king. Some of them are the following; viz. Every land-
holder must set out a thousand young trees; no beggars may be
tolerated, except the lame, the sick and the blind; every man who
shall appear in the garb of a Dervish must be compelled to become
a soldier; no person may talk about the king-of his doing this or
that—but each must occupy himself with his own business. The
last named order was doubtless prompted by the king's failure, in
his-expedition against Herât, which he is ashamed to have made
the topic of general conversation among his subjects. The other
edicts are highly commendable. There being no forests in Persia,
except orchards, and the trees planted upon the water-courses, the
increased cultivation of these will tend alike to improve the aspect
of the country and augment the resources and comforts of the pec-
ple. The propriety of the other orders is readily obvious to one
who witnesses the hosts of beggars that swarm in the streets of these
Eastern countries, and especially the dervishes, who are as numerous
and profligate in Persia as the Friars and Capuchins and other va-
grant monks in Spain and Italy. These disgusting vagabonds wear
long, bushy hair, dangling down upon their shoulders,-carry a
fantastic knotty club in the hand-sometimes a hatchet in the gir-
dle-and half of a huge cocoa-nut shell, furnished with a cord as a
handle, upon the arm in which to receive charity. On meeting
them in the road, they will assail you with a torrent of compliments
and blessings, mingled with importunity for a present, which, how-
ever, changes into a storm of maledictions, the moment you pass
them, without gratifying their wishes; the same fountain most em-
phatically and plentifully sending forth "sweet water and bitter."
Feb. 8. We have just placed eleven more of the most promising
boys of our seminary on a permanent foundation, by doubling their
stipend, to enable them to prosecute their studies without interrup-
tion. We give them fifty cents per week, during their actual at-
tendance at school, (not including vacations,) which is sufficient to
board and clothe them. They have all commenced studying Eng-
lish, making the number of Nestorians about twenty, who are learn-
ing our language. We hope gradually to elevate the character of
our seminary, by securing more permanent attendance on the part
of the scholars, and greater system in their studies, at least, when
by the aid of our press we shall be able to furnish them more amply
with school-books.
Feb. 9. The subject of the lesson for our Sabbath school to-
morrow, which Mr. Holladay and myself expounded to the teachers
376
CONCERN-READING THE EPISTLES.
at their meeting to-day, is the coming of Christ, as presented in the
twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew. Mar Joseph had been at home,
during most of the week, to attend the wedding of a niece. And
the scenes at Nestorian weddings so strikingly correspond to what
Christ there declares to have been the state of things at the event
of the flood, and as also to be prevalent at the time of his coming,
that this bishop's attention was particularly arrested, by that part of
the subject. All present were solemn and thoughtful; but he was
evidently agitated and much concerned. At the close of our meet-
ing, he said to me, “If the account of the matter given here by
Christ is correct—and of course it is our people who do little but
eat, drink, dance and neglect prayer, fasting and religion, are all
going to destruction, and what must I do?" Priest Dunka checked
the bishop for asserting that all are going to perdition, suggesting
that there may be here and there an exception. But Mar Joseph
reiterated, "We are all going to hell; and what is to be done?"
I told him to do as Lot of old did; not that he need literally flee
from his country, but separate himself from the ungodly practices
of its inhabitants. I then left the room; but the bishop repeated
the same inquiry to Mr. Holladay, “What shall I do, in the midst
of this general prevalence of worldliness and ungodliness,?" Mr.
Holladay pointed him to the Scripture, "If thou be wise, thou shalt
be wise for thyself, but if thou scornest, thou alone must bear it,"
which he read with serious attention and soon retired.
Feb. 14. Priest Abraham informed me, that Mar Elias has com-
menced reading portions of the epistles statedly in his church, trans-
lating them at the same time from the ancient into the vernacular
language. The priest added that some of the people are much
pleased with this innovation, while others-and a profligate priest
of the village among them-show impatience and dissatisfaction
with the practice, and complain, that Mar Elias is constantly an-
noying them with the doctrines of "Paul-Paul-Paul," of whom
they seem before scarcely to have heard. I inquired of priest
Abraham whether the good bishop would not be frightened from
his work, by this opposition of one of his priests and some of his
people. "Oh no;" replied priest A., "Mar Elias is waked up and
deeply engaged in the undertaking." No better conduct could rea-
sonably be expected from the priest who opposes the bishop. In
the first place, he is profligate in character, and in the next place,
he is so ignorant as to understand but very little of what he chants
from his Liturgy, from day to day, in his church. Such being the
character of not a few of the Nestorian clergy, I often marvel that
there is even so much morality as actually exists among the mass
of the people. The religion of the Bible, though presented in a
language so imperfectly understood and by a priesthood always ig-
norant and often profligate, has still, under all these hindrances, ex-
erted a very salutary influence on their character. What then may
not be hoped, from its influence, when the Bible shall be given to
IMPORTANCE OF THE PLAIN-HEALTH RETREAT.
377
them in their living tongue; and its truths be proclaimed by a well
educated and pious clergy!
Our field becomes increasingly interesting, as those who are un-
der our immediate influence, advance in intelligence and improve-
ment. Nor is the sphere of our present operations so contracted
as may be supposed. In the ardor of our desire to occupy the al-
most impenetrable mountains-which is indeed an important ob-
ject and should be accomplished at the earliest practicable period-let
us not overlook the Nestorians of the plain. In so doing we are in
danger of dropping the substance, while we essay to grasp the sha-
dow. To the nearly forty, thousand Nestorians in the province of
Oróomiah, we have unobstructed access; and in how important a
relation do they stand to the mountaineers, who come down in such
numbers, from year to year, and must feel the influence of any
changes among the people of the plain, to say nothing of the indi-
viduals from the mountains, who are brought under our immediate
influence and instruction. And in no less interesting a relation do
the Nestorians of this province stand to the Muhammedans of Persia,
among whom they dwell, and who cannot fail to observe any reforma-
tion in their christian subjects, and sooner or later be affected by it.
Suffering severely as we did, from the commencement of our
residence at Oróomiah from its unhealthy climate, we early felt the
need of a health-retreat, to which the sick of our number might re-
pair for occasional relief. The subject, however, was embarrassed
with difficulties. Any mountain village to which we might go,
even within the Persian territory, would be constantly liable to be
sacked by the savage Koords from beyond. And retiring from the
city and plain, even temporarily, would withdraw our strength and
influence, more or less, from the most central and important part
of our field. But the sudden death of Mrs. Grant, from fever, in-
duced by our climate, led us deeply to feel, that due regard to the
preservation of our lives and true missionary economy, required us
to provide such a retreat, the serious obstacles in the way notwith-
standing. Gavalân, the village of Mar Yohannan, is, as I have be-
fore stated, about forty miles from the city, and is shut out from the
hostile influences of the main part of the plain, by an arm of the
Koordish mountains that runs down almost to the lake; and this
was the place which we selected, as being equally healthy and a
more secure residence than any mountain village. We readily ob-
tained a firmân from the Prince of northern Persia, authorizing us
to build at that village, which is the property of government, and
reside there as much of the time as we should find it desirable.
March 24. I rode to Gavalân, with Mar Yohannan, to make
arrangements for commencing a rude building for our summer re-
Soon after the mutual salutations were exchanged with his
family, he stated to them the sad calamity that had befallen Mar
Elias, a wall of whose house recently fell, burying a woman and
treat.
48
378
INTERRUPTION
OPPRESSION.
child in its ruins and injuring some others, Mar Elias himself but
just escaping with his life. All were much shocked at the account,
and the bishop made use of the incident, by saying to them, "You
see how very important it is, that we be always ready for death."
As the happy family-happy for Persia-proceeded in conversation
and mutual greetings, while I sat resting at a little distance, the old
lady said to her son, "As I was baking, to-day, one of the cakes,
while in the oven, threw up puffs, just like two horsemen, and I
said at the time, we shall have visitors; and now you and Mr. P.
have come." The bishop laughed and replied to his mother in a
tone of gentle rebuke, "that is foolish talk." Like peasants in all
countries, particularly in the East, the Nestorians have their signs
and proverbs; but those who come most under our influence are
laying these aside, as well as their religious superstitions.
April 14. Scarcely had we laid the foundation of our health-re-
treat at Gavalân, when the selfish Muhammedan nobleman, who
farms the village, apprehending that his opportunities of oppressing
the villagers might in some way be curtailed by our residing there,
sent his son, at the head of eight or ten armed ruffians, who fell
upon our workmen, beat them severely and drove them from their
work; and then seized the unoffending bishop, Mar Yohannan,
tied him to a cart and brutally bastinadoed him, for the alleged
crime of having invited the missionaries to the village. This took
place in my presence, and in the face of my earnest remonstrances
and protestation of the bishop's innocence of even the sin of that
charge. The tyrannical noble committed this outrage on the bish-
op, whom he knew to be our particular friend, to deter us from at-
tempting to reside in the village. And to make the affair at the
same time a lucrative one, he also extorted from him a large fine,
before he would allow him to be liberated from the cart.
April 26. Mar Yohannan came from his village to the city,
though with much apprehension, lest his unfeeling Muhammedan
master should perhaps meet him by the way and inflict on him
farther cruelty. In speaking of his recent sufferings, the bishop re-
marked, that he had no hope of deliverance, for himself or his peo-
ple, except in God; that they have hope in him; that while they
are suffered to be in the hands of the Persian Khân whose strength
is the sword, the Lord is still on their side.
April 29. The bishop informed me, that tidings had reached
him, that his father was seized, last evening, by the son of the above
named Khân, and carried to a distant village. The object is to ex-
tort more of their honest earnings from the bishop's family. By
industry, they have become very comfortable in their circumstances,
for Nestorians, and this is their crime. Such open and flagrant op-
pression must, however, have some pretext. In this case, a profli-
gate woman, formerly the wife of one of the bishop's brothers, who
was long ago repudiated, has recently professed herself a Mussul-
mân and entered the harem of this Persian Khân. The seizure
UNJUST DEMAND-CONSOLATION.
379
of the bishop's father rests upon the charge brought against him
by this profligate female, that, many years since, he found a mule,
laden with money, which had strayed from a caravan, and took
both mule and money to himself. The Khân cannot doubt that
this is a groundless fabrication; and yet, he gravely charges the in-
nocent man with having taken and secreted such property and de-
mands of him five hundred tomâns, ($1,250,) to settle the matter.
April 30. The obvious impossibility of realizing the full amount
of the above demand, and perhaps the fear that the Nestorians of
the village, many of whom had come to remonstrate with him, might
rise in desperation, has brought the Khân down to about one hun-
dred and sixty dollars. This sum the bishop is trying to raise, that
he may rescue his imprisoned father, who is kept under constant
apprehension of being also bastinadoed, until the money shall be
paid. Thus wantonly are the Nestorians, even the highest of their
clergy, sometimes oppressed, by their merciless Muhammedan mas-
ters. We trust, however, that even in Muhammedan Persia, the
petty noble will not be able to proceed long, in this manner, with
impunity.
Priest Dunka remarked to me, to-day, that he felt so deep a sym-
pathy with Mar Yohannan, that his heart sunk within him, and he
spent much of his time yesterday, in looking out consoling passages
of Scripture to comfort the bishop. The Bible is certainly the true
source of consolation to which the Nestorians should resort, when
borne down under oppression. Much of it has a meaning and an
application, in a country like Persia, of which we know very little
in favored America. Take, for instance, the 37th Psalm, in con-
nexion with the above recital. What a fountain of light and relief
does it open! Priest Dunka continued to remark, that when he
contemplates the case of his people, he feels that they are great sin-
and the Lord is thus using the rod to reclaim them.
"Again,
however," he added, "I sometimes think of the trials of Job; and
it occurs to me, that God may have designs in our severe sufferings
beyond mere chastisement."
ners,
Painful as it is to us, to witness the civil oppression of the Nes-
torians, it is still more affecting to contemplate their deep moral de-
gradation. And the two have hitherto seemed only to aggravate
each other. "The whole head is sick and the whole heart faint ;
from the sole of the foot even unto the head, there is no soundness;
but wounds and bruises and putrifying sores." We can only point
them to the great Physician, alike for the healing of their moral
maladies, and deliverance from their physical sufferings.
May 15. Priest Dunka requested permission to go to his home,
back about sixty miles among the mountains. His family had sent for
him, stating that the Koords had robbed them of all their seed-wheat;
and the priest must come home and procure more, or hazard the
cheerless prospect of the whole family, consisting of about twenty
members, in its various branches, being obliged to go without bread,
380
MAR SERGIS—CURES—IGNORANCE.
during the next year. The priest felt constrained to leave his work
and comply with this call from his family, of whom his superior in-
telligence and his clerical office constitute him the head, though he
is much younger than several other members. Severe as are the
oppressions suffered by the Nestorians of Persia, they are still light,
compared with the lawless depredations of the Koords, which their
brethren of the mountains are at all times liable thus to suffer.
May 22. We rode up to Mar Sergis, (St. Sergius,) a Nestorian
church, on the declivity of a mountain, about four miles distant from
the city. This church is a large, arched stone building, quite an-
cient and much venerated by both Nestorians and Muhammedans.
It has the reputation of possessing the rare power of restoring luna-
tics. And to-day, on entering it, we found several Mussulmâns of
both sexes within, who had, this morning, placed a delirious relative
in a dark vault of the church and were waiting in expectation of see-
ing him come forth cured. They told us that twenty-four hours is the
period of confinement requisite to effect the cure. What a soil has
superstition, in Asiatic minds! Here were followers of the False Pro-
phet, who, not satisfied with the endless labyrinth of follies furnished
by their own dark system, eagerly resort also to those of the nominal
Christians, whom they at the same time despise so heartily, that they
can mention them only by the reproachful epithets, infidels and dogs!
These Muhammedans had brought their sick to the church of these
same despised Christians and employed a Nestorian deacon to read
prayers over him; and similar cases, the deacon informed us, are of
almost every day occurrence. And I have often seen Muhammedan
mothers, of high rank as well as low, resorting to the Nestorian
church of St. Mary, kissing the cross and the New Testament upon
the altar and leaving incense or some other offering there, in the hope
of thus being furnished by the favor of the patron saint, with a more
full supply of breast-milk for their children. I hardly need say, that
Nestorian mothers set the example in this same practice.
In conversation with the officiating deacon at Mar Sergis, I found
that he could cantilate in the ancient Syriac, but knew nothing of
its meaning, He stated to me that a priest of his village has gone
on a journey to the residence of Mar Shimon, in the hope of being
made a bishop. I inquired of him in relation to the literary stand-
ing of that priest, and was told, that he was on a par with himself.
I asked the deacon whether it is not necessary that a bishop should
be able both to read and understand their books, and he promptly
answered, "No," meaning, however, as I found by more particular
inquiry, that custom does not make this indispensable in a bishop.
Thus ignorant, it is not marvellous, that while they profess to make
the Bible their rule of faith and practice, both ecclesiastics and peo-
ple are sadly under the dominion of many childish superstitions.
When we inquired of the deacon, whether a cure is always certain,
in case of the lunatics who resort to his church, he unhesitatingly an-
swered, "Yes." And to the question, who effects the cure, he re-
CONTRAST-SELIM PASHA LOVE OF GLORY.
381
plied, Mar Sergis, the patron saint of the church. We asked him
whether God did not work the cure, in all cases, if any be healed?
"Of course," with a shrug of the shoulders, he replied,
"God ena-
bles Mar Sergis to do it."
May 24. Mar Joseph remarked, that thirty years ago, when he
was learning to read, there were only two persons in this whole pro
vince who could teach his language; and their acquisitions were far
inferior to those of most of the boys now in our schools. Of his own
accord, he proceeded to contrast the religious privileges of that period,
among his people, with those of the present, and said that the times
had greatly changed for the better. He added, that an aged priest, a
mountaineer, came down upon the plain, several years ago and exci-
ted some desire to learn to read and commenced teaching a few in-
dividuals; "and for what you have done and are now doing," he re-
marked in conclusion, "may God give you the kingdom of heaven."
May 25. Selim Pashâ, the Koordish chief of Amadíah, has just
arrived here, having been driven from his dominions by his superior,
the Pasha of Bagdâd. This Koordish chief spent some time at
Oróomiah, three years ago, and often visited us. He has now brought
presents to the governor of this district, to the prince of Azerbijân
and to the king, in the hope of inducing them to furnish him with
troops, to enable him to recover his province. He states that Me-
sopotamia is in a very unsettled condition, and collateral reports
confirm the statement. Indeed, the whole of the eastern part of
Turkey is generally much less settled and secure than almost any
part of Persia. Ibrahîm Pasha and his army, and the Osmanly
troops with Ahmed Pashâ at their head, are advancing towards each
other, and will, doubtless, soon decide the question of superiority
between the Egyptian viceroy and the Sultân.
The king of Persia is understood to have been meditating an ex-
pedition against Bagdâd, and it is now rumored that he will embrace
the opportunity presented by the unsettled state of things in that
region, to carry his aggressive designs into execution. His Persian
Majesty possesses a strong inclination to be at war. He has a great
ambition to emulate Napoleon, of whom he has often heard. But
like many other imitators, he has little of the energy and character
of the great original. The French emperor is a favorite hero, in
the estimation of many of the Persians. The Jesuits and strolling
European adventurers, labor to make him such, by circulating por-
traits of him and trumpeting his mighty deeds, hoping to increase
their own consequence, by exalting the fame of a renowned coun-
tryman whom they all respectively claim, though themselves of seve
ral different nations. The king's brother, the prince of Azerbijân,
once proposed to Mr. Merrick, to translate the Life of Napoleon
into Persian for him! Would the preparation of a small Memoir
of Washington be wide from the appropriate work of a missionary
to these glory-loving Persians?
May 27. We visited the Koordish Pashâ. He is quite intelli-
382
DRESS-POTATO-PORTRAIT-ROSE.
gent and a remarkably fine-looking man. One striking peculiarity
in the dress of the Koords is the broadness of the sleeves of their
shirts. The Pashâ's are at least a yard and a half in breadth at the
wristband. They have an appearance of coolness and comfort in
summer. We inquired whether they did not encumber him in war ;
in reply to which, without saying a word, he rolled up both sleeves
to the elbow, in a twinkling, winding the long tapered skirt in which
they terminate, tightly around the folds; and then brandished his
arms, with fists doubled,-giving us a very vivid impression of the
expertness and power of the wild Koord, in connexion with the grace-
ful ease of the polished chief. The material of the Pashâ's shirt
was white silk gauze. His robe was of beautiful striped silk. His
whole dress gives him an air of great dignity, which is fully sustain-
ed by his fine features, graceful motions and easy manners.
Men
of his rank among the Koords are often intelligent and refined; but
extremely treacherous in their character.
May 30. In the morning, we received a visit from Selím Pashâ.
He was accompanied by three sons of the governor, the youngest a
child only four years old. They remained with us two hours and a
half and were much entertained with an exhibition of our philoso-
phical apparatus. The Pashâ had never before seen or heard of
anything of the kind. He was also much amused with the strange
vegetables in our garden; and a potato that happened to be unbu-
ried, he picked up, pared it with his knife and ate it raw. The
potato was introduced many years ago into some parts of Persia by
Sir John Malcolm and was called by his name, Malcolm's plums.
Becoming more common, it was at length denominated, yer elamasi,
apples of the earth, which name it still retains. We have introdu-
ced this vegetable at Oróomiah. It does very well, though the soil
is too rich and warm to produce it in its highest perfection. Selím
Pashâ mentioned with interest the Persian New Testament, which
was given him by one of our mission three years ago,-stating that
he had read it and still retained it.
A few days afterward we received another visit from this Koordish
chief; and a rude Persian painter happening to be near, I request-
ed the Pasha to allow his portrait to be sketched, that I might pre-
sent it to my friends in America. He was pleased with the atten-
tion and directed the painter to proceed. He sat patiently three
hours for the purpose; and several times, the painter finding it dif
ficult to sketch the spiral folds in the shawl of the turban, the chief
attempted it himself, by imitating, with a piece of charcoal, on paper,
the motion with which his hand was familiar, in winding the shawl
around the turban; and he thus succeeded in giving an outline
very well. The accompanying portrait was thus prepared by the
joint agency of the Pashâ, myself and the Persian painter. The
rose in the hand, is one which the Pashâ plucked from the bushes
in our yard, as he passed across it to enter our house. It may seem
to ill comport with the wildness of the Koordish character; but

Thayer
SELIM KOORDISH, PASHA OF AMADIATI.
VISITORS-COSTUME-A DARK PICTURE
383
roses bloom as luxuriantly in some of the glens among the wild
mountains of the Koords as in a European flower garden; and their
fondness for the ornaments of nature is excessive. Besides, the
reader has doubtless inferred from the foregoing account, that this
personage possesses much softness and refinement of manners,
blended with the courage and lofty daring of the bold Koordish
warrior.
In the afternoon we were visited by prince Malek Mansoor Meer-
za, and four Khâns who are all brothers of the governor. Their
visit was even longer than that of the Pashâ. Our days are often
thus broken up by the entertainment of company. We need not,
however, consider our time spent in this manner, as thrown away.
Such visits afford us an excellent opportunity to improve our know-
ledge of the native language, by conversation with those who use it
well, as also of imparting useful information to our guests; and they
do much to conciliate the Muhammedans towards us and our mis-
sionary work. In general, the usefulness of missionaries is much
in proportion to their actual intercourse with the native population ;
while at the same time, it is important that they keep their minds
from rusting, by habits of close, systematic intellectual labor, to
which the enervating influence of an Asiatic climate and such fre-
quent interruptions-especially, when to these is added, precarious
health—are most unfavorable. Our company, this afternoon, were
much interested in examining plates on natural history, and the
drawings of Chardin, illustrative of scenes in Persia. Their style
of intercourse with us is entirely familiar. This ready access to
persons of the highest rank which the missionary enjoys in Persia,
and their readiness to countenance his work, are circumstances of
great encouragement. Their favor commends him to the respect
and confidence of all classes, and contributes much to secure him
from danger and annoyance.
All but one of our visitors, this afternoon, were dressed in Euro-
pean costume,—or at least, as near an approximation to it as the
native tailors can make. This is no more in accordance with the
late order of the king, than with the advancing taste and civilization
of the country. It is peculiarly gratifying to us, in this remote land,
where lately we saw none but strange figures, to behold increasing
numbers adopting our own costume.
"C
May 31. Priest Abraham, in conversation to-day, remarked, as
he often does, on the degraded condition of his people and their for-
getfulness of God; and said that the fault was first and chiefly in
their clergy, who are unfaithful in their office. Many of our
priests," said he, "are well represented by our Lord's words: 'Ye
have taken away the key of knowledge. Ye enter not in your-
selves; and them that were entering in, ye hindered.'"
The deep
interest which this priest and some others connected with our mis-
sion, manifest in the improvement of the clergy, cheers and re-
lieves us in the contemplation of the dark picture thus but too justly
drawn by him.
384
CLOSE OF A TERM-EMBLEM-CATECHISM.
June 2. At our native service, I gave an exposition of the third
chapter of Colossians, which presents many points of deep practi-
cal importance. The usual number at this meeting, is about seven-
ty, consisting mostly of the members of our seminary and female
boarding-school. The fact of its being the last Sabbath of the pres-
ent term gave additional interest, and at the close of the usual ser-
vice, Mr. Holladay made a few remarks, adapted to the occasion.
The members of the seminary have never given us such cheering
evidence of rapid improvement as at the present time. And their
serious attention at our religious services, often leads us to hope
that the Holy Spirit is near them. They have already acquired
much knowledge of the Scriptures and have listened to many so-
lemn appeals, and our hope and prayer is that the seed sown may
soon spring up in their hearts. After meeting, about a dozen mem-
bers of the seminary applied to me for Bibles and Testaments to
take with them to their homes, that they may study them and read
them to their friends, during the vacation.
In this dark Moslem land, it is cheering to behold even the form
of godliness; and while we ardently desire to witness its power, we
should not forget to be grateful, that Christianity has even a name
here. Encompassed, as it has been for centuries, by bloody ene-
mies, its existence is almost a miracle, and we cannot doubt that
the Lord has important designs, in relation to the extension of his
kingdom, in thus preserving it here, even in name. The Nestorians
have many practices, which to us might seem almost absurd; but
which exert a strong influence in attaching them to the christian
religion. For instance, whenever they write, or copy a Ms., at the
top of each page on the right hand corner, they make three dots, a
stroke of the pen underneath, and a single dot under that, to remind
the reader of the doctrine of the Trinity, and the incarnation of
Christ, the three upper dots meaning, triune, or three persons, but
one God-the stroke, representing the divine throne, and the dot
beneath, the human nature of our Lord. The value of such expe-
dients can be fully appreciated only where this cardinal doc-
trine of our religion is virulently blasphemed, as is the case in Mŭ-
hammedan countries. In like manner, in accordance with a verse
in the chapter expounded to-day, "Whatsoever ye do, in word or
deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus,”—they always repeat,
as a kind of charm, "in thy name, O Lord," whenever they engage
in any act or undertaking however trivial. The thoughtlessness
and even levity with which this is often done, is indeed painful to
observe; still, the practice, on the whole, contributes much to in-
spire in them a general regard and reverence for that Name which
all heaven adores, but which, in these benighted lands, is so habit-
ually and wantonly blasphemed.
June 10. A day or two since, in a bundle of papers from Ameri-
ca, I received from a friend two numbers of “ a Biblical Catechism
designed for Infant-schools," prepared for the Massachusetts Sab-
SILENT PROGRESS-DEATH OF A CHILD.
385
bath School Society. This morning, I put one of the numbers into
the hands of John, who has become master of our language suffi-
´ciently to read, with considerable ease, almost any of our books on
common subjects. John was greatly delighted with the catechism,
and at length brought it into my study, and commenced reading
and explaining it to the bishop and priest who were with me. They
too seemed equally pleased and promptly answered the questions,
as John proposed them in order, through nearly the whole of the
first number. They were particularly gratified to find that a book,
from distant America, should be so fully adapted to their own
Scriptures, and the bishop remarked of it, "here is a fresh evidence
that your religion and ours are essentially one."
John proposes to
translate this catechism, for the use of our Nestorian Sabbath
Schools. He can do it without much assistance, and it may thus
be very useful,—perhaps the means of salvation to some who are
ready to perish. Our friends in America, by sending us small
works, which can there be purchased for a few cents, may do in-
calculable good with a trifling pecuniary sacrifice.
June 13. The deacon from Mar Sergis called on me for a Bible,
which I promised him at the time we visited his village. He was
highly gratified with the treasure, implored many blessings to rest
on me in return, promising also to attend our seminary and learn to
read. In thus scattering copies of the Scriptures among this peo-
ple, as well as in our other humble efforts for their benefit, we are
encouraged by the parables and the promises of our Lord. The
kingdom of heaven, in his account of it, resembles the grain of
mustard seed, which at length becomes a tree; and again, the small
piece of leaven, which silently diffuses itself through the whole lump.
The word of the Lord will not return unto him void.
7
CHAPTER XXIII.
JOURNAL: AUGUST-DECEMBER, 1839.
→
Ir opens a new chapter in a parent's life to bury a child," was
the remark of one who had read this chapter with the bleeding, yet
soothed and acquiescing, sensibilities, of a christian parent. We
were called, July 23, to read that painful chapter a second time, in
the death of Justin Humphrey, our youngest son, after a severe sick-
ness of two weeks. His disease appeared at first to be only a bil-
ious diarrhoea, which, however, soon passed into a violent fever.
We were obliged to watch its progress, while it preyed upon our
helpless little one, ignorant alike of its precise nature and of any
}
49
386
VISIT TO TABREEZ-INFANT'S CALL.
means by which it might be arrested or mitigated, with no physician
within five hundred miles of us,—a position like that in which we
had met our former bereavement, more trying to parents than can
be known till experienced. Our babe was nearly a year old, and
had never been ill an hour until seized by the disease of which he
died. Worn out with watching and solicitude, during his sickness,
Mrs. P. had become feeble, and this, together with some items of
business for our mission, led us to make an excursion to Tabréez,
in the hope that her health might be benefitted by the change of air
and scene.
Aug. 3. We reached Tabréez at 7 o'clock in the morning.
Our journey was comfortable and had the desired effect of restoring
Mrs. P. to her usual health. Soon after our arrival, Mr. Merrick
put into my hand the following lines, which he had penned after
hearing of the death of our little boy. An infant sister had died
five years before, and a brother survived. J. H. was the first one
removed by death, of the five infant children of members of our
mission, who were born within the period of two months and bap-
tized the same day, as noticed in a preceding chapter.
These
facts will explain some allusions in the lines that follow. If an
apology be needed for their insertion, it must be found in the hearts
of bereaved parents, in the solitude of a benighted land.
“To the Rev. J. and Mrs. C. B. P., the following lines are af-
fectionately inscribed, by their sympathizing missionary brother,
JAMES L. MERRICK.
Tabréez, July 28, 1839.
THE INFANT'S CALL.
Brother cherub, come away!
'Tis thy sister spirit calls;-
Join our blissful, bright array,
Where the sweetest glory falls,
Around the Saviour's blessed throne,
Who for us infants did atone.
Beauteous angel, let me stay,
In affection's tender arms;
What should tempt me now to stray?
Strangers fill me with alarms.
O, dost thou know a parent's love,
And all the filial joys I prove?
Brother, brother, dost thou know,
Who it is that calleth thee?
Thy own sister! spared all woe,
By going home in infancy!
Thy parents are my parents too,
And loves were ours as now with you.
י
THE INFANT'S CALL.
Lovely spirit, can it be,
Thou so beautiful and bright,
Art akin the least to me,
Filled with pleasure and affright?
Perfection seeming half-divine,
Beams awful thro' those smiles of thine.
Darling brother, do not fear,
Gentler than a mother's care,
Free from every sigh and tear,
Is the kindness you shall share ;
And all that in me now you see,
Soon, soon, dear brother, thou shalt be.
Angel, what will brother say,
When he finds that I am gone!
Who will cheer him day by day;
Meet him smiling as the morn?
Ah, why should he be left alone,
And I removed to worlds unknown!
Lovely brother, do not call
Me an ANGEL with awed tone;
I'm thy sister, loving all, 、
Thy fond heart proclaims its own.
You need not love our dear ones less,
For sharing heavenly happiness.
Lovely sister, is it true?
In our circle then remain;
We will share our joys with you;
You shall lead our blooming train.
How happy then we all shall be,
Sweet seraph sister, here with thee.
Well I know the silken ties,
Twining round your little band;
And the tide of sympathies,
Flowing full on every hand.
But, know, the golden chains above,
Are infinite, eternal love!
Dost thou know how near our birth?
Five baptized one blessed hour!
Let us bloom awhile on earth,
Twining in affection's bower.
O why should such a beauteous wreath,
So soon be marred by ruthless death?
Dearest brother, I was there,
With an infant angel band,
Hymning in the hallowed air,
Him who baptism did command.
Come! we'll oft return and see,
The dear ones now detaining thee.
Dearest sister, much inclined,
Still I cling to those below,
Where my heart has fondly twined;
Other worlds 1 little know.
387
388
A MEERZA-PRINCE-INCREASED POWER.
You must be very happy there;
Ere long may we your glory share.
Brother, lift thine eyes above!
Seest thou Him in smiles divine?
Image of eternal love;
O how sweet his glories shine!
Behold, he comes, what raptures swell,
At thy approach, Immanuel!
Sister bear me on thy wing;
Let us meet Him in the skies!
Look! I'm like thee! how they sing;
Louder, sweeter, as they rise!
Hail! O my Saviour and my Lord!
By infant hosts untold adored."
The reader hardly need be told, that this beautiful wreath for the
tomb of our babe, was very soothing to our wounded hearts, at that
time, and hardly less so in the re-perusal, when our only surviving
child and the remaining four of the band of five, were suddenly
taken from us, a few months afterward.
Aug. 5. Wishing to improve my time to advantage while at Ta-
bréez, I engaged a Meerza to give me lessons in Persian. He is
the same who taught me the Turkish language, soon after our first
arrival in Persia. He was for two years a member of Mr. Haas's
school, and has thus become quite intelligent, is much attached to
missionaries, and, professedly, to their object. He once made the
declaration to one of the German brethren, "I believe in Jesus;"
and he has often made similar remarks to me. Were he not re-
strained by the terror of Muhammedan intolerance, I little doubt that
he would gladly make an open profession of Christianity. Though
convinced of its truth, he has, however, probably, but very inade-
quate views of its spiritual requisitions.
Aug. 23. My Meerza stated to me, that last night, to use his own
words, he "preached to a large number of Mussulmâns, from the
fifth chapter of Matthew;" and when at the close, he demanded,
what word of that chapter is not good, "all exclaimed, that it was
excellent." Who can tell what good may result from the impres-
sions which he and many other young Mussulmâns received in that
missionary school?
Aug. 24. In company with Mr. Merrick, I waited on Kahramân
Meerza, the prince-governor of Azerbijân. He has just returned
from Tehrân. The king rewarded his late visit to the capital, with
considerable increase of power, both in the extent of his territory
and of his prerogatives. His title now is, Naib Sultan-lord lieu-
tenant-the same which his father, Abbas Meerza, had, while he
was so long heir-apparent to the throne. On the prince's arrival,
to make his courtiers and officers sensible of his augmented author-
ity, he ordered a Persian noble to be seized and bastinadoed, and
fined him two thousand dollars, without alleging any particular
EXCITEMENT-PACKET ROBBED.
389
reason. We might deeply regret this act of arbitrary despotism,
were it not, that there are very few Persian nobles in the empire
who do not richly deserve such treatment, for the wicked extortion
and oppression, which they exercise on the poor;-and His Royal
Highness, doubtless, had some desert of this kind in mind, in the
infliction of this punishment.
The prince inquired very kindly after our welfare and told us, as
we left him, that if we should need his aid at any time, we must
not hesitate to let him know it. We enjoy much quiet under his
government, in the prosecution of our labors, and are under great
obligation to him, and yet more to Him who has the hearts of kings
and princes in his hands.
The Emeer-i-nizâm, chief of the army, (who is the acting gover-
nor of Azerbijân,) has also just returned from a summer excursion;
and his arrival quelled at once the refractory movements of the mob,
that had thrown Tabréez into an uproar, and all the Christians,
both natives and foreigners, into imminent peril. This excitement,
as is often the case in Persia, arose from the most trifling cause,—a
quarrel in the bazár about a bridle, between a blacksmith and an
Armenian muleteer, who was a Russian subject and thus emboldened
to use his tongue. Opprobrious epithets were exchanged, their re-
spective religions were mutually reviled; and the flame thus kindled
flashed over the city like lightning. Death was threatened against
all the infidels, (Christians,) stones were hurled at them and their
houses by infuriated crowds headed by the Lootée, and the permis-
sion of the High Priest only seemed to be needed to carry the bloody
tragedy into fatal execution. The excitement continued more or
less for several days, until the Emeer-i-nizâm, approaching the city
with several regiments of troops, frightened the leaders, and quiet
was again restored.
Sept. 2. Yesterday, the English monthly courier came in from
Erzroom, but brought us no letters, as he had been robbed of his
packet on the road. This is a sad disappointment to us and others;
but it cannot be remedied. The lawless Koords will be very un-
likely to restore the letters, though useless to them. In the packet
were twenty-five dollars, forwarded to us by our friend Dr. Riach,
from Erzróom, (where the British embassy to Persia are now
stopping,) most of it contributed by himself, as another donation
to the American Tract Society, the only money which the ma-
rauders realized in their robbery. Dr. Riach intends to repeat his
contribution, that the Tract Society may not suffer, so far as he is
concerned. This is the first instance in which an English courier,
on that wild route, has been robbed, since I came to Persia; and
not one of our letters, to my knowledge, has ever before been lost,
either on the ocean or on the land. We are deeply indebted to the
English government, not only for the regular and safe transmission
of our letters to and from Constantinople, but also for the terms on
which they are transmitted. When the German missionaries re-
•
;
390
A SEYED-MEDICAL PROFESSION.
sided at Tabréez, they were accustomed to pay the Russian post
to St. Petersburg a sum not varying much from two hundred and
fifty dollars annually; and this was only their due proportion to
meet the actual expenses, their letters being charged by weight.
But all the letters and other communications of our mission pass
between Constantinople and Persia, by the English courier, without
the charge of a farthing.
Sept. 4. I employed a Persian Seyéd, to engrave a small marble
slab to be placed over the grave of our little boy. More than four
years ago, I employed the same person to prepare a similar slab for
the grave of our first child, who died in Tabréez. He requested
of me at that time a Persian New Testament, which he informs me
he read, and then lent it to a friend who resides in a distant town.
By questioning him a little, I found that he had read the New Tes-
tament and retains in his memory important portions of it. He
begged another copy which I presented him; also a copy of the
Psalms.
This Seyéd is a Persian physician. Observing, to-day, that Wil-
liam, our surviving little boy, appeared ill, he offered to prescribe
for him and would warrant a cure. The proposed prescription
consisted of a passage, extracted from the Koran, which the patient
must eat. This incident explains a circumstance, that was a lu-
dicrous enigma to us, when we first opened our medical dispensary
at Oróomiah. The sick, when receiving their doses, often inquired
whether they should swallow the paper enclosing the medicine, as
well as the medicine itself,-and some actually swallowed the en-
velope. They had been accustomed to the above-named Persian
prescription. And strange to tell, it does actually effect cures.
The mezmerizer may perhaps best divine the reason; though it is
well known to all, that the nervous system has much to do with di-
vers diseases.
The medical profession, in Persia, is a most flagrant system of
quackery. Naturally superstitious and supremely devoted to the
body, the people have great reverence for physicians; and much as
they suffer from empiricism, they are never tired of seeking relief
from impostors. This profession is usually united with the cleri-
cal, in some of the inferior Moollâhs. And unhappily, native Per-
sians are not the only empiricists in the country. Almost every
vagrant European, who strolls into Persia with no means of obtain-
ing a living, becomes a physician, and is sure to find good business
in that calling, though better in the amount of his practice than in
its lucrativeness; for a Persian will never pay a farthing to any
body so long as he can avoid it.
Sept. 9. We started for Oróomiah, having much occasion to be
grateful for mercies experienced during our visit at Tabréez,—par-
ticularly in the restoration to health from a very distressing sickness
of one of the infant twin-daughters left by Mrs. Grant, whom Mrs.
P. had taken to nurse, after the death of our babe. At Yăvshânlée-

Thayer & Co Lith Boston,
or M
A PERSIAN SEYED, OR LINEAL DESCENDANT OF MOHAMMED.
Maoll
SUMMER HAMLET-PERIODICALS.
391.
a village about midway-we met our good friend, the governor of
Oróomiah, on his way to Tabréez. I called on his Excellency at
his tent. Instead of travelling the direct road, he had come by a
circuitous route and stopped a few days at his favorite summer vil-
lage, situated in a small glen, on the shore of the lake, in the bold
projecting ridge of mountains which separates Salmás from Oróo-
miah, and he urged me so strongly to go by way of that village and
spend a few days there, at the same time directing the ket-khōdéh,
who was then in his retinue, to conduct us thither and entertain us
at his house,—that I deemed it hardly civil to decline the attention.
Sept. 13. While we should have much preferred the nearest
road, we still regarded it in the light of duty to show that we duly
appreciated the kindness of the governor, and resolved on encoun-
tering an addition of ten or twelve miles to the length of our jour-
ney and a much rougher road, for the sake of complying with his
invitation. As, however, we skirted the beautiful lake, mile after
mile, on the very brink of the promontory, by a most romantic
route, which we had never before travelled, we no longer regretted
the arrangement. We reached the village about 8 o'clock in the
morning, were conducted to the dwelling of our host, and in half
an hour, an excellent breakfast was spread before us. Instead of
lingering several days in this rural paradise, as his Excellency had
invited us to do, we felt constrained to hasten on our way, in the
hope of reaching home this week. We took our leave of the vil-
lagers about noon; and by continuing the same romantic route, we
reached Gavalân, after a ride of four hours.
Sept. 14. We started at midnight and reached home about 9
o'clock in the morning. Our last stage was considerably longer
than the preceding ones, which required us to start at that early
hour. We commonly set off at 3 o'clock, A. M. and reached our
menzil, about nine, thus enjoying refreshing sleep during the night
and avoiding the penetrating heat of the sun on our ride. Thus,
too, we had the privilege of spending a long and quiet day under our
little tent, which we were usually able to pitch near a cluster of
trees, and beguiled the hours by perusing the periodicals from
America which reached us just before we left Tabréez. As cold
water to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country. How
did our hearts rejoice, as we read and conversed of the glorious
things which the Lord is doing for Zion in our loved native land,
at the Sandwich Islands and in other parts of the world! But we
were also not a little saddened. How appalling is the spirit of war, so
easily excited through the length and breadth of christian America!
We trust that it will prove but the unavailing clamor of restless
demagogues. And hardly less belligerent are some portions of the
church in America. How important that we pray and labor for
the peace of Jerusalem.
Sept. 25. Priest Dunka arrived from the mountains where he
has been spending his summer vacation. He informed me, that he
392
DESIRE TO HEAR-SACRIFICES—A TRACT.
has employed much of his time, during this interval, in preaching
the gospel in the villages in the vicinity of his home. The people
of that region, he says, have very little instruction, and they crowd-
ed around him to hear, and were as eager in listening, to use his
own words," as people dying of thirst are eager for cold water."
Priest Dunka has a very good knowledge of the Scriptures, and
shows a commendable zeal in laboring to enlighten his people.
He states that two priests of his acquaintance, who do not under-
stand their ancient language, had resolved to come with him and
attend our seminary; but their Koordish chief demanded of them
a heavier present, for the privilege, than they could pay, and they
were thus prevented.
Sept. 26. This evening, John commenced reading the Memoir
of Obookiah, to a circle of Nestorians, who are members of the
seminary; and the parts which they did not understand in English,
he translated into the native language. All present were exceed-
ingly interested with the narrative.
The
Sept. 27. Back about thirty miles among the mountains is a
celebrated Nestorian church, bearing the name and consecrated to
the memory of a favorite saint. On that saint's day, the people
from all quarters flock together to the said church. At the present
time, the Hakkáry Koords are pasturing their flocks in the same
region, and on the late festival, most of the Nestorians of this vi-
cinity were thus deterred from going to the church. A few, how-
ever, had the temerity to make the attempt, carrying with them
presents to the Koordish chiefs, which they hoped would prove suc-
cessful passports. But the Koords seized both presents and Nes-
torians, and now demand a heavy ransom for their release.
Nestorians resort to that church to offer sacrifices; i. e. they carry
gifts, in memory of the saint whose name it bears, and present them
to the priest or the poor people of the village. They do the same,
on other saints' days, at other churches, bearing their respective
names. Often, also, individuals make special offerings, to avert
evils, or thankfully to recognize mercies. In such cases, they
usually slay an animal, large or small, according to their ability, a
portion of which they give to their pastor, and distribute the rest
among their poor neighbors. The animal is not necessarily slain
at a church, nor by a priest; nor is there so much that is religious
in the practice, as the term sacrifice, might seem to imply; though
in English, we use that term in the same way, in a figurative and
very general manner.
Sept. 30. I employed our translators, to-day, in the preparation
of a small tract on Romanism, which seems to be called for, by the
revival of Papal efforts in Persia, that have a direct reference to the
conversion of the Nestorians. It is made up of a few simple scrip-
tural reasons for not embracing Papacy, taken principally from the
tract on the same subject, published by the American Tract Socie-
ty. The priests manifest a very peculiar interest in the subject
*
VISIT TO ARDÍSHAI-SALT.
393
and preparation of this document. As the corrupt doctrines and
practices of the Romish church, many of which the Nestorians as
heartily reprobate as Prostestants can, were drawn out, and pas-
sages of Scripture in refutation of them were placed opposite, they
were surprised and delighted with the fulness and explicitness of
the Bible against such corruptions. "These proof-texts," said
priest Dunka, "come point-blank against the Catholics like shoot-
ing at a mark." Said Abraham, "How pleased priest Yohannan,
(the principal of our seminary,) will be, when he reads this little
book." "Such labors," continued priest Dunka, "are works of
charity; so far as you thus aid us, Sir, to wield the sword of the spir-
it in defence of the truth, the Lord will reward you." And again;
"Whenever my people, back in the mountains, shall inquire what
I am adding to my knowledge by living with the American mission-
aries, this little book will furnish an answer.
Oct. 1. I rode to Ardishái to visit Mar Gabriel. Hitherto we
have been less successful in reaching this bishop with our influence
than either of the others in this province, on account of his juvenile
fickleness and unreasonableness. My interview with him, to-day,
was very satisfactory. We made arrangements for the immediate
commencement of a school in his village, in case our mission,
whose representative I was, shall agree to the terms I proposed.
When the Catholic emissaries were here a year ago, they visited
Mar Gabriel, and endeavored to make him their prize; but he hap-
pily did not yield, and has even surprised them and us by some
bold strokes in opposition to the Papists. There has long been a
nucleus of Papacy in his village, and after the visit of the Jesuit
above-named, all the Catholics who reside there became very zeal-
ous in their efforts to make proselytes among Mar Gabriel's people,
which so much annoyed him, that he entered the church which they
had taken from the Nestorians, and stripped it of every crucifix,
image, picture and charm; and to-day, he brought them all before
me, carelessly rolled up in a great bundle, as a trophy of his zeal
for the Lord, and submitted the question, whether, in the circum-
stances of the case, it were not a meritorious proceeding.
I rode down to the lake, in company with Mar Gabriel, to ex-
amine the salt on the shore. The quantity deposited there is im-
mense beyond conception. The water rises, every spring, from
three to five or six feet, during the annual freshets from rains and
the melting of snow on the surrounding mountains; and as these
cease, the lake gradually retires to its summer level. In most places,
the land near it is flat, and only a few feet higher than the water,
and is therefore extensively overflown in the spring. As the waters
gradually subside, a very thin coat of salt is left on the land thus
overflown. But to procure salt, clean and in large quantities, the
following course is adopted. Small entrenchments, eight or ten
inches high, enclosing a few acres each, are thrown up in autumn
near the lake. These dykes detain a sufficient depth of water, when
50
394
COLLECTING SALT-MINEBAL SPRINGs.
the body of the lake retires, to deposite a layer of fine white salt,
from one to three inches in thickness, which is chrystalized by the
evaporation under the summer sun. I rode many miles, to-day,
over a pure sheet of snow-white salt, glistening most brilliantly un-
der the clear sky. The incrustation is quite hard; but it only
slightly attaches to the moist ground below. Men, with wooden
mallets furnished with long handles, pass over the sheet and beat it
in pieces, and others follow them and shovel the salt into heaps. If
it is not immediately to be placed upon the backs of donkeys and
carried to market, the heaps are collected into conical piles, as large
as a small dwelling; and these are covered with a thick layer of
mud from the spot, which hardens under the sun and will effectually
shield the contents from snow and rain for a long period. Salt of
course commands a price here little more than sufficient to pay for
the transportation. On the shore of the lake, it possesses hardly an
assignable value, All the salt, which is not secured in the manner
I have mentioned, disappears under the rains and snows of autumn
and winter. The natives state that, for the last five or six years,
the
minimum level of the waters of the lake has been several feet higher
than at former periods. And some add, that before this rise, per-
manent salt banks had gradually accumulated on the shore which
are now buried under the water. It is a known fact, that in a small
pond, six or eight feet deep, separated from the lake by a narrow
strip of land, salt is always found at the bottom in great abundance.
The low land, in the near vicinity of the lake, on all sides, is so
impregnated with salt, that it produces no vegetation, except a weed
which the Persians collect and burn to procure an alkali for making
glass. I examined several holes, a few feet deep, on the shore, but
could discover no distinct layers of salt, alternating with strata of
sand, which some have supposed to exist. The interior surfaces were
incrusted with a very thin coat, that had been dried by the sun. There
are immense tracts of salt land-salt deserts, as they are often call-
ed,-in different parts of Persia. The natives say, that one third
of their country is Shōrikát-saltish. The salt mountain near Ta-
bréez is based on the great salt plain which extends to the lake, and
the same is true of one of the mines between Khoy and Salmás.
In the region of Lake Oróomiah are many mineral springs of vari-
ous descriptions. At one locality, on the eastern side, near the vil-
lage Leewân, three springs issue within a space of eight or ten yards,
each differing from the rest in the quality of its water.
One is a
hot spring, the second, acid, and the third, highly sulphurous and
fetid. And on the opposite side of a small fresh-water stream is a
fourth, which is impregnated with iron. On the mountain ridge
between Oróomiah and Salmás, is a warm spring, which Malek
Kâsem Meerza has fitted up for a public bath, and generously keeps
open for the gratuitous use of both Muhammedans and Christians.
The springs near Maraghâ, which are supposed to deposite the
beautiful alabaster, I have elsewhere mentioned. The geology of
+
NATURAL SCIENCES-NIGHT-RIDE.
395
this region is exceedingly interesting, but very little understood.
Has it not a striking resemblance, in its salt mountains, lake, etć.
to the valley of the Dead Sea? I have forwarded a few specimens
and stated some facts to Prof. Hitchcock of Amherst, some of which
he has presented to the attention of the Association of American
Geologists and Naturalists.
I have often regretted my inability to contribute more to the in-
terests of the natural sciences, by not possessing a better acquain-
tance with them; and did not my missionary work press with a moun-
tain weight upon me, I should be strongly tempted at least to study
Geology in a somewhat systematic manner, so wonderfully interest-
ing does the face of Persia appear, in a geological point of view.
This and the other natural sciences have peculiar claims on foreign
missionaries, who, visiting, as they do, all parts of the world, enjoy
opportunities for contributing to the advancement of this department
of knowledge, with almost no sacrifice of time or effort, which are
possessed by no other class of American citizens. Candidates for
missions should have this in mind, and as they would increase their
future usefulness, secure a good practical knowledge of the physical
sciences, as an important part of their academical education. I
need not remind them, at this day, that such knowledge is neither
hostile nor foreign to the missionary's grand object. For it can
hardly now be doubted, that it is the combined light of all truth,
-scientific as well as religious, which is to usher in, and indeed
constitute, the radiant effulgence of millennial day.
Oct. 4. Mr Stocking went to Ardishái and completed the ar-
rangement with Mar Gabriel for a school.
The measure is very
timely; particularly, as last evening Mar Gabriel received a letter
from the Catholic bishop of Salmás, signed also by a French Jesuit
who is now there, flattering that vain young man with the most ful-
some string of bombastic epithets and compliments that even an
oriental tongue can furnish; proposing to visit him and evincing a
determination, if possible, to bring him over to the interest of Rome.
We have placed an excellent teacher, priest Yohannan, over that.
school for a time, as we regard both the place and the undertaking
very important, in their relation to the general interests of our work.
Oct. 6. Tooth-ache and a swelled face prevented my preaching
this afternoon, and Mr. Stocking conducted a meeting in my place.
Just at dark, a messenger arrived from Mar Gabriel, stating that
the bishop wished me to come to his village as soon as possible; as
the Papal emissaries were in the city and would come to visit him
to-morrow. Regarding the emergency as one of importance to our
mission, Mr. Stocking and myself determined to start immediately
for Ardishái, my tooth-ache and swelled face, the distance, (fif-
teen miles,) and the darkness of the night notwithstanding. We
reached the village about eleven o'clock in the evening, and at
length succeeded in rousing Mar Gabriel, who, with the rest of the
villagers, was in profound sleep, hardly having expected us until the
396
DILEMMA OF THE BISHOP-DECISION.
next morning. We were soon seated around a lamp, and priest Yo-
hannan, the teacher, requested all present, except Mr. Stocking and
myself, to retire, while he should state to us the object of the bishop
in sending for us; the substance of which proved to be as follows;
viz. Mar Gabriel, fancying himself to have been slighted by his
clerical brethren, and being strongly assailed by the Papal emissa-
ries with flatteries and promises had, in an evil hour, yielded to the
temptation and given some encouragement of allowing them to come
among his people. On reflection, however, he had repented of the
rash step, and now wished to rid himself of them. At first the bishop
desired us to remain until they should come, that we might be with
him and shield him by our presence from their solicitations. But
on farther reflection, he shrunk from seeing them in person, and re-
solved to prepare for them a letter, declining an interview, and then
return home with us to the city. He accordingly directed priest
Dunka, who was with us, to write a letter, to the principal Jesuit,
which he dictated as follows, viz. "Be it known to you, M. B.
that I did once give you some encouragement to come here to open
schools. But my people, being apprised of this, have rallied around
me and declared, that if I encourage you, deceivers as you are, to
come among them, they will all forsake me, and no longer acknow-
ledge me as their bishop. Be it known to you, therefore, that I
have nothing farther to do with you, and you must beware of coming
into any village among my people." We started for home about 3
o'clock, A. M., Mar Gabriel accompanying us, and arrived a little
after break of day, much fatigued with the nocturnal ride, accompa-
nied, in my case, with serious indisposition. The hand of God,
however, was so apparent in our being summoned to Ardishái, in
this juncture of affairs, that our weariness was matter of mutual
congratulation. Immediately on reaching the city, Mar Gabriel
sent his letter to the Jesuit, who was quite surprised and not a little
enraged, on receiving it, and returned a verbal answer, that he
should pay no regard to the bishop, but go on with the royal au-
thority of which he said he was in possession, and establish schools
where he pleased. Our patrons at home should have in mind, that
the most formidable antagonist which their missionaries in Asia
have to encounter, is Papal influence. If there is one human be-
ing, of whom more than all others, the strong language of the apos-
tle to Elymas, the sorcerer, "thou enemy of righteousness, thou
child of the devil," may be applied, that individual is the European
Jesuit, in his wily efforts to oppose and embarrass Protestant mis-
sionaries.
Oct. 7. The Persian noble, who interrupted our building at
Gavalán, beat and abused our workmen, bastinadoed the unoffend-
ing bishop, and extorted from him and his father 250 dollars, does
not finally escape with entire impunity. We reported the matter
to the Russian consul-general, at the time, and he promptly laid it
before the Emeer-i-nizâm, demanding redress. The Emeer sent a
LETTER OF THE PRINCE-ROYAL ORDER.
397
sheriff to Oróomiah with orders to take from the Khân the extorted
money, and restore it to the rightful owners. The Khân, however,
who is an obstinate man, struggled hard, by bribing the sheriff and
in other ways, to evade justice. Our royal friend, Malek Kâsem
Meerza, happened, at this time, to be at the capital and in great
favor with the king. And Mr. Merrick, who is in intimate corres-
pondence with that prince, detailed the whole affair to him in a let-
ter. To-day, we received letters from Tabréez, and among others
one that had just reached Mr. M. from Malek Kâsem Meerza, in
answer to his, from which the following is an extract.
"I have received your letters, the one on the 14th of August,
and the other on the 24th of the same. I spoke to His Majesty
about the disturbance given to the Rev. Mr. Perkins. His Majesty
ordered me to present him a petition on the subject. I did accord-
ingly, in your name, as you may see. His Majesty was so kind as
to write himself the answer on the upper part. You will take the
trouble of reading the enclosed, and presenting it afterwards to His
Royal Highness, Kahramân Meerza, [prince-governor of Azer-
bijân,] but you will keep it in case of necessity. I hope any
other molestation cannot happen. His Majesty has conferred on
me the honor of being the chief of the public schools in Azerbijân,
and has delivered to me also firmâns in favor of all the gentlemen
devoted to the public welfare," [i. e. to the missionaries].
The answer which the king wrote with his own hand,* on the
head of the petition presented by the prince, is the following.
“Kahramân Meerza :
ROYAL ORder.
Those learned men [meaning the missionaries] must be held in
honor; especially that holy strangert who has come from the New
World at his own expense, and teaches knowledge to our subjects.
By all means, inquire into the wishes of his heart, and cause him
to be satisfied. Let him erect a dwelling for himself there. And
that man, Nazir Ali Khân, who has so much annoyed the man
from the New World, you must surely punish."
This document was presented to Prince Kahramân Meerza, by
Mr. Merrick, accompanied and assisted by Malek Mânsoor Meerza,
who has also shown much interest and kindness in our favor. The
* The desti-khōd-autograph, of the king, on any document, is regarded
as a mark of great respect shown to the person or party in favor of whom it
is given, and as imparting special authority to the document itself. The
king's seal, and this only, is usually affixed by the secretaries.
† Having been longest in the country, my name was more familiar to the
authorities, than those of the other members of our mission, and I am there.
fore referred to individually in these documents.
398
REDRESS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT.
prince-governor strongly reprimanded Nazir Ali Khân, who was
summoned to his presence on the occasion, and ordered him to re-
store the whole of the extorted money without delay. A sheriff
came immediately to Oróomiah and carried the king's order, thus
backed by the prince of the province, into execution. The com-
mand of His Majesty could not be set aside, hard as the Khân still
struggled to evade it, even until his property was seized and sold,
alike to raise the money he had unjustly taken, and to defray the
heavy expenses of the whole affair. The matter became extensive-
ly known, and excited strong sympathy in our favor, from the
peasant up to the throne. Thus does the Lord cause the wrath of
man to praise him, and the remainder thereof restrain.
We are laid under great obligation to Malek Kâsem Meerza, for
his kind agency in our behalf, in this instance, as well as for the
interest which he has uniformly shown in our welfare, ever since
we came to Persia. In behalf of our mission, I addressed to him at
this time, the following letter, to acknowledge our obligations.
I ought, perhaps, earlier in this volume, to have noticed the fact of
having had frequent occasion, in the course of our work, to address
superiors in Persia, in a more formal, and possibly, more courtly,
manner, than may appear to all as suitable in a missionary, if it
be so in a republican. I need only say, that we must be guided
by conventional usage,-becoming, on points unessential, all things
to all men, heeding the apostle's injunction to be "courteous," and
following his example in giving honor to whom honor is due, and
using proper titles, as he did in addressing a heathen governor,
Most Noble Festus, and as did Luke in dedicating his gospel, to the
Most Excellent Theophilus. There is of course the more need of
particularity in these matters, where they are so much esteemed as
they are in the East, and where omission might be regarded not
only as a mark of rudeness and ignorance, but of intended dis-
respect.
"Oróomiah, Oct. 9, 1839.
To His Royal Highness, Malek Kâsem Meerza,
May it please your Royal Highness,-Permit me to inform you,
that we have been favored with the perusal of a letter from your
Royal Highness to our esteemed friend, the Rev. J. L. Merrick,
under date of the 3d ult., in which you mention your very kind
agency in our behalf, in having stated to His Majesty the circum-
stances pertaining to the annoyances which we have experienced
from Nazir Ali Khân, and procured orders, in His Majesty's own
hand writing, for the redress of the same.
I beg to assure you that we most highly appreciate these new to-
kens of your kindness to us, and your condescending interest in our
welfare, as well as the very important favors themselves. These
instances of your condescension and kindness lay us under obliga-
tions to your Royal Highness, which it is impossible for us to ex-
RELATION TO THE MUHAMMEDANS.
399
press. But we beg to tender you the assurance of our lively sense
of them, and of our most unfeigned gratitude.
Nor can we forbear, in this connexion, to express to your Royal
Highness, our very deep and grateful sense of his Majesty, the
Shah's, condescension, in the very gracious manner in which he has
been pleased to notice, protect and encourage us. These most grati-
fying tokens of His Majesty's favor, cause us to look up to the foot of
the throne with emotions of profound gratitude and to feel increasing-
ly anxious to do all in our power to benefit his loyal subjects; while
it is our fervent and unceasing prayer, that the God of the universe,
who has all gifts to bestow, would grant to His Majesty a full mea-
sure of health-long life-great prosperity in the government of his
empire, and the richest blessings both for time and eternity.
We have the impression that Mr. Merrick has mentioned to your
Royal Highness the very kind interest which your worthy brother,
Malek Mansoor Meerza, has always manifested in our welfare,-
and particularly, in relation to the annoyances which we have suf-
fered from Nazir Ali Khân. We are happy to inform you, that we
feel ourselves laid under great obligation to His Royal Highness.
In conclusion, we can only reiterate our heartfelt thanks for the
many instances of your Highness' interest and efforts for our wel-
fare; while we would assure you, that it will not cease to be our
fervent prayer, that the Lord may amply reward you for all these
favors, by bestowing the highest blessings on you personally, and
on all your interests in the present life, and by granting you, in the
life to come, unfading and unending happiness.
Permit me to add, that it is our particular prayer, that the Lord
may grant complete success to your philanthropic and indefatigable
efforts, to advance the civilization and welfare of the people of this
country; and so far as our humble instrumentality can contribute
to facilitate these momentous objects, we beg to pledge to your
Royal Highness, our most cordial coöperation.
With sentiments of great respect and sincere gratitude, in which
my colleagues most heartily unite with me, I have the honor to
remain,
Your Royal Highness' most obedient servant,
In behalf of the American mission-} (Signed)
sionaries resident at Oróomiaḥ,
J. PERKINS."
In this whole affair of our summer retreat, we see the importance
of our standing in a favorable relation toward the Muhammedans,
as we would be secure in our labors for the benefit of the Nesto-
rians. Mr. Merrick has been able to reach the throne, by means
of his acquaintance with Malek Kâsem Meerza, with an influence
that secures to us prompt redress for injury and full protection. To
maintain this favorable position, we must do good to the Muham-
medans as we have opportunity, as well as to their Nestorian sub-
jects.
400
PROVIDENTIAL FAVORS.
We are especially called upon to thank God and take courage,
for granting us such favor in the eyes of the king, princes and ru-
lers of Persia, at a time when we have so much needed it, in the
absence of the English embassy. We naturally felt not a little so-
licitude respecting the political rupture, between the English and
· Persian governments, to which allusion has been made, and the
highly threatening prospect of immediate war between the two na-
tions. The only alternative before us seemed, for some time, to be
the abandonment of our charming missionary field, at least tempo-
rarily, in the then incipient and critical state of its culture, or
to entrust ourselves, in this remote Muhammedan land, to the
mercy of the excited Persians, in the storms of hostile collision,
who, we supposed, would naturally identify us with the English,
whose protection we had previously enjoyed,-especially as our dis-
tinct nationality as Americans, was still but very imperfectly under-
stood. Some time before the English embassy withdrew from the
country, however, the Persian authorities, of their own accord, re-
lieved us, (before we applied for the protection of the Russian embas-
sy,) by pledging to us their efficient protection, whatever might be the
issue of the pending difficulties between them and the English.
"Hitherto," said the governor of Oróomiah, "I have regarded you
as my brothers; now that the English ambassador leaves the country,
I shall assume the place of a father to you." And however treacher-
ous the Persians may be toward foreigners in their diplomatic trans-
actions, (and they are too justly charged with flagrant treachery in
these matters,) they have, from the king down to the city magistrate,
redeemed their pledge to extend to us uninterrupted protection.
From whatever motives the Persians have thus protected us, the
fact that we, defenceless missionaries, were enabled to prosecute all
our various and extended operations, in the heart of distant, Mŭ-
hammedan Persia, without any interruption, during the almost three
years' absence of the only Protestant Christian embassy that had
been in that country,—and while the power to which it belonged
and whose protection we were known to have enjoyed, assumed a
directly hostile attitude toward Persia,-strongly evinces the vigi-
lant care of the great Head of missions, that the door of faith which
He had opened for us unto the gentiles should not be closed, by po-
litical commotions, however threatening. And it is only one of a
great many facts, connected with our work, which should, in all
our prayers and labors for the advancement of Christ's kingdom,
even amid approaching convulsions or apparent reverses, give us
unwavering confidence in the security and stability of His cause,
who himself rides upon the moral, as well as the physical, whirl-
wind and directs the storm. Indeed, the repeated favors which
we have from time to time received, unsolicited, from the king and
other members of the royal family in Persia, and which have con-
tributed so essentially to our personal safety and the prosperity of
our work, have often delightfully impressed us, as being at least a
BEREAVEMENT A MAN IN CUSTODY.
401
partial fulfilment of the cheering promises of Scripture to Zion in
latter days, that kings shall be her nursing fathers and queens her
nursing mothers.
·
Dec. 23. William R., our little boy, came into my study where
I sat translating with priests Abraham and Dunka. He has until
recently been a very sickly, delicate child, but is now quite well.
"William," said priest Dunka, "has, by the divine blessing, be-
come very healthy and fair, but Justin, had he lived, would have
been much more fair. Thus the Lord, praised be his name, (con-
tinued the priest,) always selects the best for himself. It was so
also in my family." Some time previous to the death of our child,
priest Dunka had committed to the grave a very fine boy, to whom
he referred in this last allusion. He was also bereaved of his wife
about the same time; and in connexion with the above remarks, he
spoke very tenderly of her, saying that if ever there was a person
who loved and feared God, he believed his departed wife was
one. Observing that I listened with interest to his remarks, he
proceeded to state, that often, on awaking in the night, he had found
that his wife had risen and retired for prayer. And on his asking
her why she had risen, she would reply, that thoughts of God and
eternity came over her with such deep solemnity, she could not
sleep and felt constrained to rise and pray.
With the amount of scriptural knowledge which many of the
Nestorians possess, their attachment to the Bible and the christian
religion, and the serious, devotional habits of some of them,
I can-
not help hoping that there may be here and there a praying Anna
and Simeon, even now waiting for the consolation of Israel. Such
is the case of priest Dunka. He sustained his bereavement of a
wife and child to whom he was tenderly attached, with a degree of
resignation that would adorn a Christian. Nor have we, during his
long residence with us, known anything amiss in his conduct. And
may not his wife also, if his account of her be correct, have been a
humble disciple of Christ? Much the same is true of some others,
who have come under the influence of our mission; and we know
not of how many more, with whom we have no personal acquaint-
ance.
Dec. 25. Our Muhammedan Meerza attended our Christmas
service, and expressed himself highly pleased with the sermon on
the occasion, which was preached by Mr. Jones, from the text,
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace, good will toward
men.”
His knowledge of English, though imperfect, is such as
enabled him to understand a considerable part of the sermon; and
his commendation of it shows that he is at least very liberal for a
Mussulmân. This Meerza has often attended our religious meet-
ings, kneeling with us in prayer, and reading in turn his verse of
Scripture in Bible-class exercises.
Dec. 26. As I was returning from the bazár, my attention was
arrested by a crowd of men, with an individual in custody, moving.
151
402
NOTE FROM COL. STODDART.
toward the palace of the governor. On asking the cause, I was
told that the man had been drinking wine. And on farther inquiry,
I learned that the governor has recently issued a special order for
the arrest of all persons who shall be detected in wine-drinking.
Here is temperance with a witness. The worthy governor, more-
over, places the crime, wholly on religious ground, the Prophet
having forbidden the use of wine: With all his Excellency's rigor,
however, he cannot stay the swelling tide. Probably nine tenths of
the Muhammedans of Oroómiah use wine in secret at least; and
many of them indulge in it to brutal intoxication. And this inef-
fectual attempt to arrest the practice, on religious ground, is but
one of the innumerable indications which we witness, that Islamism
is on the wane.
CHAPTER XXIV.
JOURNAL: JANUARY-MARCH, 1840.
THE following note was brought to me to-day, Jan. 1, by a Koord-
ish chief who received it under the walls of Herât about fifteen
months ago. To make it as secure as possible, the Koord ripped
open the skirt of his garment, placed it between the folds and again
stitched them together. On reaching his home, about a thousand
miles from Herât, he remembered that he had taken a note in charge
for me, but had forgotten what disposal he made of it. A year after-
ward, it occurred to him, that he had enclosed it within the skirt of
his garment, and he lost no time in coming a day's journey, from the
mountains back of Oróomiah, on purpose to bring it. This was faith-
ful for a Koord. The note was almost worn out, in common with the
garment itself, but the writing was still legible. It was as follows:
"My dear friend,
By Ismâíl Agâ, a worthy Koordish friend of mine, I send a few
lines to express the interest I take in your undertaking at Oróomiah,
in planting the principles of the gospel. May the Almighty bless
you in this his special service! I received here a very interesting
account of your proceedings and of the respect with which you are
held to the glory of Christ's name and your own eternal profit, from
Ibrâhîm Khaleel Khân, Affshâr, also one of your well-wishers. Re-
member me kindly to your circle and ever believe me, not only for
the sake of your work and yourself, but for the sake of the friends I
have in your land,
Yours sincerely,
(Signed)
Royal Camp, near Herât, 8th Sept. 1838.
C. STODDART.
BRITISH INFLUENCE-VISIT FROM MR. ABBOTT.
403
P. S. To-morrow, the Shâh leaves this with his forces, at British
recommendation, and peace is restored to this unhappy neighbor-
hood and city. Thanks to God.
C.S."
The writer of the above is Lieut. Col. Stoddart, the officer sent
by the ambassador to announce to the king the demand of the En-
glish government, that his Persian Majesty should raise the siege of
Herât.
Jan. 4. The English are rapidly extending their conquests in
Affghânistân. This opens an encouraging prospect to the churches.
There may, soon, be no more difficulty in sending missionaries into
those wild, remote regions, enjoying English protection, than into
India. And the tide of European light which will roll up the Indus,
as English political influence prepares the way, cannot fail to do
much to civilize the inhabitants of central Asia and facilitate the
progress of the gospel. How instructive to watch the hand of Pro-
vidence, in the political changes in these Eastern countries! A
temporary rupture was permitted to take place between England
and Persia, which has harmed nobody, but is leading to the con-
quest of the vast territories of Affghânistân, by an English army, and
will probably result in the rapid increase of English influence in
Persia and all these regions.
1
!
•
·
Jan. 7. We have just enjoyed a visit from Mr. Abbot, an English
merchant resident at Tabréez.* He is a gentleman from whom we
have experienced much kindness, since we came to Persia; and it
gives us sincere pleasure to enjoy a visit from him, particularly
as our situation is so remote that we seldom see a European. Mr.
A., though not a professor of religion, cherishes great respect for it
and manifests much interest in our missionary objects and opera-
tions. Being an intelligent, discriminating man, and familiar with
these Eastern lands, his opinion on many points pertaining to our
work is valuable. In conversation in relation to Persia, he express-
ed to me the opinion, that it would erelong fall into the hands of
some christian power, or powers, which is indeed but the echo of
the universal apprehension and expectation of the natives, and that
no sooner will this be the case, than multitudes of the Persians will
embrace Christianity. All the Soofées, (Persian transcendentalists,)
said Mr. A. are only waiting for such a change to protect them,
and they will publicly abjure the Muhammedan system; and in this
point of view, he continued, there is great encouragement for mis-
sionary efforts in the form of general instruction among the Mussul-
mâns, to prepare the way for the spread of the gospel, whenever the
anticipated political changes shall take place.
..
Jan. 8. Our Muhammedan school, which commenced with one
scholar, a short time ago, has increased to ten very promising boys
and young men. Regarding the Muhammedans as fellow men,
*Now: British consul at Tehrân.
404
MUHAMMEDAN SCHOOL REASONS FOR IT.
possessing immortal spirits like our own,-bound with us to a com-
mon judgment and an unending eternity, and regarding Persia as a
part of the great field which "is the world," as destined with all
other countries, to become, one day, Immanuel's land, and contem-
plating the commanding influence which it has ever exerted and must
continue to exert on other portions of Asia, we cannot view this in-
fant Mussulmân school as among the least promising of our mis-
sionary operations. As the object and bearing of efforts of this
kind for the Muhammedans are less likely to be understood and
appreciated, than our direct religious labors for the Nestorians, I
should perhaps more formally state, in this connexion, the reasons
for this school. It is important for the immediate benefit which it
brings to the scholars, and may bring through them to multitudes
of their countrymen. The many temporal advantages, which they
will derive from it, need not be detailed. And if it result not, also,
in the personal salvation of some of them, which is by no means
beyond the reach of hope, it will at least tend decidedly to prepare
the way, by allaying prejudice and diffusing intelligence, for the
future triumphs of the gospel.
A Mussulmân school, in connexion with our mission, is yet more
important, as a means of security to our operations among the Nes-
torians. We may regard it in the light of a peace-offering, to con-
ciliate the Muhammedans, who are at least three-fourths of the
population of Oróomiah, and in the midst of whom we are doing
so much to instruct and benefit their Nestorian subjects. They
would probably become dissatisfied, by seeing themselves longer
passed by in our educational labors, and all our efforts bestowed on
their despised christian serfs; and especially in the face of the very
friendly attentions and favors which the Muhammedans of all
classes have shown us, during our entire residence in their country.
Such a school is also requested by the Persian authorities. The
king, entirely unsolicited, as already mentioned, has favored us
with an excellent firmân, encouraging, protecting and patronizing
us, on the ground of our benefitting his subjects-Muhammedans
as well as Nestorians-by giving them instruction. Kahramân
Meerza, the favorite brother of the king and prince-governor of
Azerbijân, has repeatedly given us valuable firmâns, and has mani-
fested much interest in our labors, viewing them in the same light
in which they are contemplated by the king. And Prince Malek
Kâsem Meerza, the favorite uncle of the king, whose name has
been so repeatedly mentioned, has long been urging us to do some-
thing for the Muhammedans. These rulers-the king, princes and
governors, who have shown such an interest in our welfare, would
be disappointed and lose their confidence in us, if not withdraw
their protection, were we to continue to do nothing for the benefit
of their Mussulmân subjects, while we do so much for the Nesto-
rians. They would, moreover, be likely to give their decided pre-
ference to the Papal missionaries, in Persia, who are zealous in
<
DEATH OF ELIAS RESIGNATION.
405
teaching all classes,-a preference that might operate very disas-
trously on the interests of our mission, particularly as these same
Papists have the subjugation of the Nestorians to the Pope as their
real and paramount object.
The members of our Muhammedan school are at present occu-
*pied in the study of the English language; they also receive daily
instruction in geography, through the medium of the Turkish and
Persian languages. And while we cannot now preach the gospel
formally to them, we do use the Bible as a text-book; and are at
full liberty to explain to them its contents, and communicate a
great amount of moral and religious, as well as intellectual instruc-
tion.
Jan. 22. I called on priest Dunka, whose brother-a boy of
sixteen and a member of our seminary-is sick and apparently near
his end. The family were weeping by the bed-side; and the priest,
while he wiped the tears from his own eyes, touchingly entreated
them not to weep, but give glory to God." He was calm, and,
though melted in grief, was still resigned. "How is Elía (Elias),"
I inquired. "Elia has done with this world," said the priest.
"Does he know that he is dying," I further inquired. Yes," re-
plied the priest, "he has just been praying and committing his spi-
rit to the Lord." Elias recognized me; and I inquired of him
whether he felt himself to be a lost sinner, and could still hope in
the pardoning mercy of Christ; and he answered me in a broken,
faltering manner, "in the strength of God, I do hope in Christ."
The priest told me that he had conversed much with him; that
Elias said he had no worthiness of his own to recommend him, but
trusted simply in the Lord Jesus Christ, and confiding in Him, he
was not afraid to die. He was too far gone to allow him to con-
verse much, when I saw him, and I could only lift my heart in
prayer to God for his salvation.
The priest's appearance, in his trying circumstances, was deeply
interesting. He solemnly warned his family and others who were
present, to be "also ready," and heed the voice of God uttered
from the scene before them. There was in this case nothing of
the noisy, frantic raving, that is so often witnessed at the dying
couch, in these countries. There was deep grief, but with it, so-
lemnity. I never felt more grateful for the precious hopes and con-
solations of the gospel, than while standing at that death-bed, and
witnessing their sustaining power and soothing influence on the
priest. Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift."
Jan. 23. Elias died between 12 and 1 o'clock in the morning.
This forenoon, we attended his funeral. The Nestorians always
bury their dead as speedily as practicable after decease. A large
number were assembled in the church-yard, where the funeral ser-
vice was read, which was simple, but solemn and impressive. One
part in particular was very affecting, in which the bishop took his
stand on the grave, after it was filled, and repeated, "Farewell, my
i
406 WEEPING AT THE GRAVE-DEATH OF CHILDREN.
brother; thou hast departed from this to the other world; thou
shalt suffer no harm nor loss; Christ will raise thee up at the re-
surrection !"
After the funeral, priest Abraham, on my making some inquiries,
relative to their funeral service, proposed that we should translate
it into the vernacular language, for the benefit of the people. The
suggestion is a good one, though parts of it would need to be omit-
ted, as it embraces prayers for the repose of the dead, to be recited
at the grave three days after interment. That period is observed,
in memory of the visitation of the Saviour's tomb on the third day,
by the pious women. On the seventh day after burial, the relatives
of the deceased receive visits, and the males shave their heads and
all wash and change their garments, as an emblem of the seventh
period which is to be ushered in and gladdened by millennial rejoic-
ings. For all their religious observances, the Nestorians can as-
sign reasons, though many of them are singularly puerile.
Going to the grave and weeping there," is even more common
among the Muhammedans than among the native Christians, espe-
cially among the females. The great cemeteries around the city
of Oróomiah are thronged, on some of their festival days, and more
or less on other occasions, and present affecting scenes, not less in
the thoughtless levity of the mass, than the dolorous lamentations of
the few. I have frequently observed a circle of women, sitting on
the ground, around a grave, in a cold winter's day, and wailing
most piteously over the dust of a departed friend.
-
་
He pro-
Jan. 25. Priest Dunka called on us, for the first time, after the
death of his brother. When I expressed to him our sympathy,
Do not feel afflicted," said he, "the Lord has taken Elía to him-
self; let his will be done,-let us praise his holy name.
ceeded to state that he felt comforted under his affliction, with the
consolations of the gospel. He quoted several very pertinent pas-
sages of Scripture, and his whole appearance was that of an afflicted
mourner, sustained by the grace of God and resigned to his will.
I have never felt so much confidence in priest Dunka's piety, as
since observing the manner in which he has met this trying be-
reavement.
Feb. 2. I have just preached the funeral sermon of four infant
children, who have died within the last three weeks and three of
them, within the last six days. They were the twin daughters of
the late Mrs. Grant; the daughter and only child of Mr. Holladay;
and the son and only child of Mr. Stocking. The providence is
striking that has transferred that infant band of five, so near each
other in birth, in so short a period, to their eternal home. There,
we trust, they are re-united and compose a far more happy and in-
teresting choir, chanting the praises of Him who said, Suffer little
children to come unto me for of such is the kingdom of heaven,' than
they could ever have become in this world of sin and vale of tears.
1
DEATH OF WM. RIACH-CONDOLENCE.
407
All but one of the four who have recently died, were removed by
measles or diseases induced by it, that one died of general debility.
Feb. 7. William Riach, our only surviving child, died this morn-
ing, the fifth death, in our mission, in the course of a month!
Within that period, every parental heart in our circle has been
wrung with the anguish of parting with a child,-in one case, of
parting with two, and in the other cases, with only children. Our
houses are now left unto us desolate, and our hearts in like manner,
except as they are cheered by the consolations of the gospel, which
indeed are neither few nor small. William is the third child of
whom we have been bereaved in Persia. He was almost four years
old. For the last few months, he has to appearance been perfectly
well, and was improving in a very rapid manner, when seized by
the measles of which he died. The trial of parting with this child
is more severe than our previous bereavements, in proportion as he
was older than the others, as well as from the fact that he was our
only child. We would bow submissively under the heavy stroke,
knowing that the rod is in our Father's hand.
Our Nestorian priests called, to-day, to condole with us. They
deeply feel for us in our affliction, and it is not a little soothing to
witness and enjoy their sympathy, and especially, to listen to the
healing solaces of the Holy Scriptures, pertinently and tenderly ad-
ministered to us by Nestorian Christians. I happened to be sitting
with a Bible in my hand, when the priests came in. "From that
book draw consolation," said priest Dunka, and he then proceeded
to repeat several passages. Mar Joseph called also to condole with
us. He was equally pertinent and touching, in his efforts to admin-
ister consolation. Among other things, he remarked, "True, it
was your only son and child; but that, too, was God's only Son, with
whom the everlasting Father parted, that he might come into this
world and die for us." What more could have been said to silence
the repinings of a bereaved parent! The Nestorians are often thus
vivid, graphic and impressive in their expressions, particularly on
religious subjects.
Feb. 15. Mar Gabriel came to tender to us his sympathy in our
affliction, accompanied by deacon Badel, a teacher in our female
boarding-school. This deacon has just been bereaved of an infant
son; and with him, we reciprocated expressions of sympathy.
Nothing short of the special working of the Holy Spirit can lay
open the heart to religious influence, like affliction. Deacon Badel
was very serious and tender in his feelings on this occasion. His
wife, he said, does nothing but weep. I suggested that he should
read to her the gospel, particularly those portions, which give ac-
count of the Saviour's deep interest in little children. "I do read
the Bible to her," said he, " but she still weeps." I reminded him
of the declaration of Christ, that where our treasures are, there will
our hearts be also; and suggested, that the Lord is perhaps taking
our treasures, (our little children,) to himself, that he may draw

408
MORTALITY—CAUSES-LONGEVITY.
our hearts after them. "What a precious thought," exclaimed the
deacon; "I will repeat that in our church to our people, that the
mourners may be comforted in their bereavements and benefitted
by them."
A much larger proportion of children, die in infancy, in a given
population among all classes in Persia, than in America. Births
are far more numerous, but much fewer survive to adult years, in
the former country than in the latter. Deacon Badel, for instance,
who is perhaps thirty years old, has been the father of nine children,
only three of whom are living; and priest Abraham, who is hardly
as old, has been the father of seven, but two of whom are now alive;
and these are by no means rare instances-perhaps not unusual-of
the mortality of children among the Nestorians. It is difficult to
explain the cause of such mortality. It may result in part from the
´sickliness of the children consequent on the very early marriages of
the parents.
Want of cleanliness and proper attention and care are
other probable causes, though the Nestorians are very fond of their
children and cannot properly be charged with wanton neglect of
them. We might also assign the absence of proper medical treat-
ment, as another cause; but our own children have been swept
away, though a physician is among us. And the unhealthiness of the
climate, I am inclined to think, may be the principal difficulty with
the native children as well as our own. The general average of
longevity is from ten to fifteen years less in Persia than in America,
though the Persians arrive at maturity, also, at a much earlier age
than Americans.
This evening, I conversed with John and priest Abraham, on the
importance of habitual preparation for death, in view of the solemn
dispensations of Providence by which we have of late been so re-
peatedly and loudly admonished, as well as by the warnings of the
word of God, which we have always in our hands. Both appeared
deeply solemn. John said that he often felt afraid to go to sleep at
night, lest he should awake in eternity and in the world of wo.
The priest expressed a hope of being pardoned through the merits
of Christ and washed in his blood. In view of his remaining de-
pravity, he said, he hoped with much distrust and trembling, but it
was his unceasing prayer, that God would prepare him to live to his
glory and die in peace. The external conduct of this priest is habit-
ually unexceptionable. His character is naturally amiable, his de-
portment serious and his conscience apparently quite tender. His
efforts for the improvement and salvation of his family and people
are also very interesting. He has recently introduced family wor-
ship into his own household,-perhaps a solitary instance of the
kind, among the Nestorians; and he is indefatigable, though very
discreet, in his labors for their instruction and reformation.
Feb. 18. The wife of priest Dunka died last evening. She was
his second wife, to whom he had been married but a few months.
The Lord has of late laid his hand heavily upon this priest. His
death and BURIAL OF PRIEST DUNKa's wife. 409
wife was a superior woman for a native, and the priest was devotedly
attached to her. The poignancy of his grief is much sharpened,
from the fact, that he had taken her from her father's house among
the healthy Koordish mountains and brought her to this sickly land
of strangers, where she has thus quickly died. His heart seemed al-
most broken, when I called on him; he, however, reiterated, in
faltering tones, "The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away;
blessed be the name of the Lord." We attended the burial, about
9 o'clock in the forenoon. The Nestorian funerals, as I have be-
fore stated, are characterized by much decorum. Their coffins
are plain boxes, diminishing gradually in width from the head to
the foot. The relatives of the deceased are sometimes too poor to
provide any, in that land where timber is scarce.
The grave is
from four to five feet deep,* at the bottom of which an enclosure,
just large enough to admit the corpse, is walled around with stone.
The coffin is placed within this enclosure, flat stones laid over it,
the crevices plastered with mortar, and the grave is then filled up
with earth. Every grave is thus a small tomb. The corpse is let
down into its narrow house by means of sashes, which individuals
take from their persons on the spot. They have prayers recited
at the house, on their way to the cemetery whither the corpse
is borne upon shoulders on a bier, at the grave, and at the house
again on their return. The services at the grave, on the occasion
of interment, are interesting and not tediously long. To-day, while
the sexton and others were preparing the grave, which was not
quite ready when the corpse arrived, priest Dunka translated from
a book containing their funeral services, (Onéeda,) into the modern
language. The matter was in general excellent, and the language
and figures were very vivid and often striking. Among others were
the following. 'Death is a cup of which all must taste. The Sa-
viour said, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; yet thy will
be done. He tasted it and took from it the poignancy of its bitter-
ness. Let us, too, say, when this bitter cup is presented to us in
the removal of dear friends, Thy will, O Lord, be done. Adam,
where is ne? He tasted this cup!
He tasted this cup! Abel, the righteous, where is
he? He also tasted this cup.' And thus he went through with
most of the patriarchs, apostles and worthies of the Bible, in the
same primitive style in which Peter enumerated them on the day of
Pentecost-Stephen, in his vindication-and Paul, in adducing ex-
amples of eminent faith, in his epistle to the Hebrews. They had
all tasted this cup; so had proud kings and nobles. And where
are they now?' he repeatedly interrogated; 'This grave furnishes
the answer.'
I
-
Death was also styled a bridge, over which all must pass.
And
* I was gratified to observe this depth. The practice of burying only a
foot or two feet below the surface, so common in the vast cemeteries of Con-
stantinople and in other parts of Turkey, may be a more prolific source of
the plague than is generally supposed.
52
410
FUNERAL SERVICE-RELIGIOUS FEELING.
this figure was expanded in the same manner as the above. And I
was particularly interested to hear it asserted and insisted on, that
we must repent and receive Christ, before crossing that bridge;
that there is no repentance which will avail us beyond it,-and de-
lay to repent is indescribably perilous. This last was perhaps in a
measure extemporaneous. It is at least strange how prayers for
the repose of the dead, three days after interment, can find a place
among such discriminating declarations; though glaring inconsis-
tencies, we know, do often occur in human standards, modern as
well as ancient. Not so with the sure word of Prophecy.
'Again,' (continued the service,) the earth, at the resurrec-
tion-for the dead will rise when Christ shall come in his chariot
to the judgment-then the earth, the common mother of all flesh,
from whose womb all spring and to whose womb all must return,
at death, will present all-the graves opening-upon her ample
bosom, to the Redeemer and Judge, who will select from among
them the righteous and gather them to his kingdom, and hurl the
wicked to their own place, in the bottomless pit of perdition.'
The above similes, of which I give but a meagre skeleton, were
interspersed with many very practical and pertinent remarks and ex-
hortations, and I felt constrained to bless God, that so much reli-
gious truth was presented to so many minds, in those solemn cir-
cumstances;—and the suggestion of priest Abraham, that we trans-
late their funeral services, or portions of them, struck me more than
ever as important. Seldom do the people hear these services, or
any part of them, in a language they understand.
Priest Dunka was calm at the grave, but evidently quite bowed
down. I told him, that it seemed the Lord desired to have his
whole heart, and is therefore taking from him his dearest earthly
"It is
treasures, to draw his undivided affections up to himself.
just so," said the priest; "and the spirit indeed is willing but the
flesh is weak.”
March 2. Priests Abraham and Dunka are in an exceedingly
interesting state of mind-not far from the kingdom of heaven, and
I cannot help hoping, that they are really living members of that
kingdom. They are also deeply sensible of the spiritual degradation
of their people and mourn over it. There is little, if any, love of
God among our people,' said priest Dunka to-day; and all their
prayers and their fasts are in vain. Love,' (charity,) he continued,
as Paul says, is the chief thing; and without this, all external ob-
servances are nothing.' True, I replied; and does not this want
of the love of God among your people distress you? 'Yes,' they
both answered; we weep over it, as well as over our own sins;
but what can we do?' You can pray, I replied. 'Ah, there is
our hope,' said priest Dunka; 'as Isaiah has said, "behold, the
Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, neither his ear
heavy, that it cannot hear; but your iniquities have separated be-
tween you and your God and your sins have hid his face from you.”
7
PRIEST ABRAHAM'S LETTERS.
411
This is just the case with us and our people.' Some of the other
influential ecclesiastics, who are under our influence, manifest a sim-
ilar state of feeling; and their efforts to instruct their people in the
word of God and warn them of the danger of their condition cor-
respond also, in a good degree, with such feelings.
These interesting men have continued to improve, in intelligence,
character and promise, to the present time. One of the most plea-
sant circumstances, attending my visit in America, has been the fre-
quent reception of fraternal letters from them. I will in this con-
nexion insert extracts from one or two such letters from priests
Abraham and Dunka, whose names are somewhat familiar to Amer-
ican Christians, which will impart to the reader an idea of their re-
ligious feelings, and their interest in our missionary work. Figures
and flowers must be excused in them, as among the last things, in
orientals, of which instruction, and grace even, can ever divest them.
The following is from priest Abraham, written after the reception
of a letter which I addressed to him from Constantinople.
"At Oróomiah, in the month of Kánoon the first, of the Nestorians ;
the 5th day in it-on Friday; 1841. In the month of the En-
glish, Dec. 17th.
O my brother, dear and beloved, the light of my eyes and the joy
of my heart, Mr. Perkins:
Know thou that your letters came on Friday night, and reached
the hands of all the gentlemen and ladies, your brethren and sisters
in Christ; also, the hand of thy servant, priest Abraham.
O my beloved friend, at that time, when your letter came to me,
with great joy did I receive it from the hand of Mr. Holladay, after
worship at the meeting of Friday evening. Afterward I went to
my house, with haste, and opened your letter and read; some of it
I understood,* and some, not; but the next morning, I brought it
and gave it to Mr. Breath, who read it and caused me to understand
the whole. Greatly did I rejoice; may God rejoice you in his holy
kingdom. So much did I desire, and so much did I long for that
letter of yours, that answer to mine, as the earth, thirsty, dried up
and parched, in the heat of summer, desires water; yes, thus did I
thirst and long for a token of your love. Wherefore? Because you
are my teacher and instructor in the holy books. For before, very,
very, small was I, in learning and reading; but now, by the grace
of God, and your kindness, I know a little more; as I have learned
from your mouth and your preaching.
Now we pray and beseech in our supplications, that God would
prosper you, and give you happy times, and long years, as Joseph
in the land of Egypt, and as Jeconiah and his companions, in the
land of Babel; thus do we pray, that you may be delivered from the
trials of the way and from the terrors of the sea; and from all diffi-
culties that may befal you.
My letter was in English, which priest Abraham imperfectly understands.
412
PRIEST ABRAHAM'S LETTERS.
Would you know, (as you said, write me about everything, that I
may know,) the health of all the gentlemen and ladies, and of
their little ones, is very good; also, of all the men connected with
you, the bishops, priests and deacons and of all the scholars, small
and great, who pray and beseech that you may again come hither,
that they may hear the voice of your preaching, which is as sharp
as a two-edged sword.
If you would inquire, the schools, in all the places and all the
villages, are doing well. Also, the preaching on the Sabbath is as
before, when you were here."
The following is also from priest Abraham, written after he had
received intelligence of our arrival in America.
"O my brethren in Christ, Mr. Perkins and Mar Yohannan, and
Mrs. Charlotte and Judith, dear and beloved; your letter has come
which you wrote in the month of Ishwat (Feb.), on the 27th day.
Behold, it came and reached us, in the month of May, the 24th, on
Sabbath day, in the afternoon. When it arrived, very great was
our joy; greatly, very greatly, did we joy and rejoice,-like as a man
in prison, when he is let out; like a man who goes forth from with-
in a ship of the ocean, from the troubles in the midst of the mighty
waves; as a man who is rescued from death; and as a woman de-
livered from the anguish of child-birth. Thus did we joy and re-
joice, on your account, that you had been delivered from all the
trials of the deep. So also the ship of our thoughts was shaken
and driven, by our fear on your account; now, our ship too is
peaceful and at rest.
Again; very greatly did we rejoice on account of what Mar
Yohannan wrote,-that there are such Christians in America as
are not in all the world besides; who fear God and keep his com-
mandments; and assemble on the Sabbath day in their churches.
Moreover, he wrote that they are true Christians, complete in
Christ; renouncing this world with all its objects, and loving the
world to come; he wrote that there is among them no deceit, no
lying, no envy, no strife, no division, no war, no hatred, no wrath,
no reviling, nor intemperance, nor any works of the flesh; but in-
stead of these, that there are things spiritual among them,—love,
mercy, and all such like graces. He wrote also, that Christians,
three or four thousand together, assemble in churches, and pray
and weep, and beseech that the kingdom of God may come, and his
will be done in all the world; and that they weep and implore mer-
cy for our nation, who are fallen in the midst of the heathen-the
Ishmaelites; i. e. the wild asses of the desert. O my Christian
brethren, true and faithful, we know that your love is great towards
We are fallen down upon the side, as a man without any
strength; we are like sheep without a shepherd; we are scattered
and strayed; and we are torn and choked by the wolves of night,
us.
2
PRIEST DUNKA'S LETTERS.
413
all our nation and people, with the exception of a very few. But
you, Americans, by the great love which you cherish towards us,
have taken us by the hand, and desire that you may lift us up from
our fall. May God assist you. This is of the grace of God. We,
however, are without understanding. Our heart is hard as the
flinty rock, and we are ungrateful. For destruction is upon us
from the rulers and oppressors, who are over us; also because we
have not knowledge nor wisdom; and we are ignorant and not
acquainted with the Scriptures; moreover, because we are the
children of this world. We are Christians in name, but not in
works; for our works are of this world. But continue ye to be-
seech, that mercy from God may rest upon us, with all your voice
[fervently], and He will hear and grant mercy unto us, that we
may not remain in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity.
Acts 8: 23.
Furthermore, the peace of God and the grace of our Lord, from
the mouth of Mar Joseph, of Mar Elias, of the deacons of the semi-
nary, and all the scholars; and from the mouth of all your friends
and brethren in Christ; and from pilgrim Hermas, your servant ;
from Melik Yeeshoo; from all the people of Geog-tapá, small and
great; and from me, priest Abraham, a sinner, unworthy and de-
filed, sunken and full of iniquity. And from the mouth of all my
household, your servants and your hand-maidens; and from Es-
mah, to Mrs. Charlotte. And kiss little Judith, on my account.
Again, salutation to your friends and your brethren.
Further; we would inquire about your health, our brother beloved,
Mr. Perkins; and dear Mar Yohannan, the light of our eyes and
chief of our shepherds; and Mrs. Charlotte, our beloved sister in
Christ; and little Judith. Salutation to all your christian friends
in America. May grace, mercy and peace be with you all. If you
ask about us, thanks to God, by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
our Saviour, our health is very good at this time. We beseech of
God, that your health may be good; that He would deliver you
from every trial and difficulty, as he has delivered you from the
troubles of the way and from the raging billows of the sea, by his
mighty hand and his outstretched arm. Thus do we pray and be-
seech of God, that he would deliver you from all difficulties, and
hasten you back unto us, that we may see your beloved faces."
The following extracts are from priest Dunka.
"Mr. Holladay and I, unworthy priest Dunka, have translated
and prepared one book, on the keeping of the Sabbath day, that
men may observe it well. All this book, which consists of witnesses
[references], we have collected from the Pentateuch, and the Pro-
phets and the New Testament; also from the other books of the
Bible. And when Mr. Holladay preached and read that little book
in the seminary, the priests and deacons and scholars were filled
414
LETTER-MAR SLEEVA—IGNORANCE.
with astonishment, on account of that book; and greatly did they
glorify [give thanks to] God. And now, we are translating another
book, which Mr. Dwight sent, from Constantinople, on the subject
of the Catholics. It is a very fine book and mighty against the
Catholics."
The following, of a later date, is also from priest Dunka.
"In the name of God:
My brother in Christ-beloved in God and dear in the commu-
nion of the Holy Spirit, Mr. Perkins. Know that, from the day of
your departure until now, I have written you six letters and sent
them to you; this is the sixth; and not one letter from you has
come for me, that I might see it and rejoice over it. As a man
thirsting to drink a cup of cold water, so is it, Mr. P., that I long to
see a letter from you and for the joy of it. For four months I have
not written; for we heard nothing about you, in any place; O my
beloved brother, after that, we and the gentlemen and ladies, were
greatly, greatly sorrowful and distressed. We prayed, and suppli-
cated, and besought of God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ
the Preserver of his servants, and He hath caused you to reach
your destination in mercy and peace; as said his prophet David,
I have been young and now am I old; yet have I not seen the right-
eous forsaken; and again he saith, The Lord is nigh unto them
who call upon him with a contrite heart; a broken and contrite
heart, God will not despise; and again, Blessed is that man whose
helper Thou art. And again, Isaiah said, Blessed is the man who put-
teth his trust in God, and not in a son of flesh. And again, How
beautiful are the feet of him that publisheth peace, i. e. the gospel.
Christ also said, Go into all the world and preach the gospel. And,
Behold, I give you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and
over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means
harm you. Because it is so, my dear brother, our hope was strong
in God and our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, that He would bring
you out of distress and deliver you; and now your letter came, on
the 9th of Néesan [April], and reached the gentlemen, and we,
bishops and priests, came together with the gentlemen, and listened
to the news of your arrival. May God rejoice your heart as we then
rejoiced.
Excuse this poor letter; for I have written in great haste. Amen.”
March 3. Received a visit from Mar Sléeva, the bishop of Gar-
vár. He is a sprightly, fine looking man, but though a bishop, is
unable to read, except to repeat his prayers, in the ancient Syriac,
while ignorant of the meaning. I expressed my regret to priest
"We
Dunka, that any of the bishops should be found so deficient.
have worse bishops than Mar Sléeva among the mountains," said the
priest,-meaning that there are those who are still more ignorant.

Thayer & Co Lith. Boston.
DUNKA. A NESTORIAN PRIEST FROM THE MOUNTAINS.
PRIEST DUNKA'S EDUCATION.
415
He stated that he had often urged Mar Sléeva still to apply himself
and learn to read, and had done this last evening; but the good
bishop had always a score of pious excuses at hand for not doing
so,—that his care of his flock, who are often over-run by the Koords,
did not allow him the necessary time, etc. Indolence, however, said
the priest, is the greatest obstacle.
From our conversation in relation to Mar Sléeva, priest Dunka
took occasion to notice the general difficulty of securing opportuni-
ties to learn to read, in the precarious condition of the mountain
Nestorians. And to illustrate the subject, he gave me the history
of his own case. His father was not a reader, but his uncle who
was a priest, could read, and taught him his letters, when he was a
very small boy. His father was not pleased with his desire to learn,
told him that he must become a shepherd,—that they must work to
lay up something against an evil day, in order that, when suddenly
taken captive by the Koords, they might have the means to purchase
their ransom. With such feelings, his father was always offended
if he saw the boy with his psalter in his hand, would take it roughly
from him, box his ears and tell him to go after the flock. In his
ardent desire to learn, however, young Dunka could not abandon
the undertaking, and conceived the idea of studying by himself, as
he watched the sheep. He accordingly used to take his psalter un-
der the skirt of his coat, day after day, and when fairly out of sight,
studied it, while keeping the flock, until he committed the whole
book of Psalms to memory, and learned to spell all the words. With
such a foundation, he continued to improve all his opportunities,
until he became, in the Nestorian sense, well educated, and was or-
dained as a priest. His case is a very instructive one. Under all
but insurmountable obstacles-a poor shepherd's boy in the wild
mountains of Koordistân, trembling under apprehension of his fa-
ther's displeasure, as well as in constant fear from surrounding sa-
vages, he had still sufficient enterprize to carry him forward, until
he is justly considered one of the best educated and most worthy
ecclesiastics among the Nestorians. Is not priest Dunka worthy of
a record among self-taught men? We trust, at least, that the Lord
has chosen him to do a great work, in aiding to enlighten and re-
form his people. We have much reason gratefully to recognize
the hand of Providence, in leading him, unsought, into our employ
and under our influence; and the same is true in relation to other
influential individuals, who have long resided with us.
We never
searched for them; Providence cast them upon our hands.
*
This evening, Mar Sléeva and a few others took tea with us.
Priest Dunka read to the bishop his favorite chapter-the 59th of
Isaiah "The Lord's hand is not shortened," etc.; and endeavored
to impress him with its appropriate application to their people. But
the ignorant bishop seemed slow enough to catch a spark of the
flame, that evidently glowed in the priest's bosom. Mar Sleeva was
much more interested in giving us an account of a man of his flock,
416
AN ADVENTURER—GARVAR-STORK.
who, many years ago, wandered away to India, has now just return-
ed and is entertaining his people with marvellous narrations, as the
existence of heathen still in India,—details of their pagan rites,—
the abolition of the burning of widows, by the English government,
the existence of Jacobite Christians and Catholics there,-their
quarrels, etc. Our priests and boys were not a little interested to
find that the accounts of this adventurer, as reported by the bishop,
accord so perfectly with what they have learned in their geography.
Mar Sleeva stated, that there are now but few Nestorians-per-
haps one hundred families-in Garvár, his diocese, which is one of
the finest and most fertile districts among the Koordish mountains.
The Nestorians were formerly numerous there; but they have been
so often overrun by the Koords, that only this small remnant is left.
The Koords treat the Nestorians, who are subject to their spoliation,
as they do their bees,-leave them quiet till the hive is worth taking
up and then rob it. The village of priest Dunka was plundered, a
few weeks ago, his household stripped of everything valuable, and
his aged uncle, the venerable priest who taught him his letters when
a little boy, received several wounds in the encounter. Priest D.
often refers to such losses which his family have repeatedly sustained,
and says that he takes great satisfaction in contemplating them in
the light of the Scripture,-" For ye had compassion on me in my
bonds and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in your-
selves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance.'
""
March 4. The stork, which has a nest on a tree, above my study-
window, returned a few days ago, from his southern pilgrimage for
the winter. This sapient bird, which I had known in America,
only in its fabled intercourse with the fox, is an awkward looking
fowl, with long legs and neck, seen only at its lofty nest, or fishing
in stagnant pools for frogs. The Muhammedans pay great deference
to this bird, and treat it with care and kindness, and on account of
its regular periodical migration, dignify it with the name of Hajee-
leglék, clacking pilgrim. The return of the stork is always a wel-
come event to all, as it is the unerring harbinger of spring. The
Mussulmâns have a common belief, that this sagacious bird will not
frequent the premises of infidels, (Christians,) as they are unworthy
of its confidence; that it will honor only the faithful Muhammedan
with the favor of its society. The one, perched above my study-
window and conspicuous from all parts of the city, must, therefore,
impress them with the idea of uncommon sanctity in us for Chris-
tians, as indicated by its partiality for our premises, which, however,
are owned by a Mussulmân and only rented to us. An instructive
religious lesson is always suggested by the stork's return. Says
Jeremiah, "Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed
times; but my people know not the judgment of the Lord." If
the fowls of heaven are thus prompt to obey the instinct which God
has implanted in them, how stupid and ungrateful are his people,
with the light of reason, revelation and conscience poured upon
CREED OF THE NESTORIANS.
417
their pathway, to neglect his requirements and wander from his
fold!
March 7. The more I become acquainted with the Nestorian
church, the more am I impressed with the idea, that it is not so
much error in doctrine as spiritual death, which is its calamity.
Many human and childish traditions are indeed prevalent among
the people; and too many such doctrines of men, have they incor-
porated in their forms of worship. The major part of their liturgy,
however, is composed of unexceptionable, excellent matter. The
charge of heresy on the subject of Christ's character* has been so
violently thrown upon them, ever since the days of Nestorius, by
Papists and the other sects of oriental Christians, that suspicion, in
relation to their orthodoxy, on that momentous point, is naturally
felt also in Protestant Christendom. I am satisfied, however, that
they are sound in the faith on this subject. My attention was re-
cently directed to their religious creed, which they always repeat
at their worship. It is what they recognize as the Nicene creed,
and accords very nearly with that venerable document as it has
come down to us. The following is a translation of it, as it occurs
in the Liturgy of the Nestorians and is always repeated by them at
the close of their regular religious services, which is the case at
least twice a day.

TITLE.
"The creed which was composed by three hundred and eighteen holy Fathers
who were assembled at Nice, a city of Bithynia, in the time of king Constan-
tine, the pious. The occasion of their assembling, was on account of Arius,
the infidel accursed.
CREED.
We believe in one God, the Father almighty, Creator of all things,
which are visible and invisible:
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only begot-
ten, the first born of every creature, who was begotten of his Father
before all worlds and was not created; the true God of the true
God, of the same substance with his Father, by whose hands the
worlds were made and all things were created; who, for us men and
for our salvation, descended from heaven, and was incarnate by the
Holy Ghost and became a man, and was conceived and born of the
Virgin Mary and suffered and was crucified in the days of Pontius
Pilate, and died and was buried and rose on the third day according
to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven and sitteth on the right
hand of his Father, and is again to come to judge the living and
the dead;
* Soon after the Nestorian bishop's arrival in this country, he incidentally
heard several gentlemen in Boston speak of Unitarians, of whom he before
knew nothing. He inquired what was their belief; and when told that they
reject the doctrine of Christ's divinity, he stared in amazement and artlessly
asked, "Do they possess the Bible?"
53
418
ARRIVAL OF A NEW GOVERNOR,
And we believe in one Holy Spirit; the Spirit of truth who pro-
ceedeth from the Father; the Spirit that giveth life;
And in one Holy, apostolic, Catholic church;
We acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins; and the
resurrection of the body and the life everlasting."
This creed, being regarded as a summary of their religious be-
lief, and being so often repeated by the Nestorians, cannot fail of
course to exert a strong influence on their religious views and feel-
ings. And its general correctness is a strong indication, that it is
the quickening Spirit, rather than revolution of doctrines or of forms,
that is needed in this fallen church, for its renovation and salvation.
March 10. I received an urgent request from the priests and
principal men of the village of Geog-tapá, that we should translate,
or cause to be translated, the Nestorian Liturgy, from the ancient
Syriac into their vernacular tongue. I recommended to the appli-
cants that they should confer with their bishops on the subject.
The application is encouraging, as it indicates a strong desire among
the clergy and people, for religious knowledge and the diffusion of
light. Priests Dunka and Abraham, to enforce the proposition, in
submitting it, quoted the language of Paul to the Corinthians, " Yet
in the church, I had rather speak five words with my understanding,
that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words
in an unknown tongue;" a very suitable comment and from high
authority on the subject.
CHAPTER XXV.
JOURNAL: MARCH-SEPTEMBER, 1840.
Our friend, Prince Malek Kâsem Meerza, has recently been ap-
pointed governor of Oróomiah. To-day, March 26, his brother,
resident here, sent to me, inviting the members of our mission to
join him to-morrow morning, and go out a few miles to meet the
prince-governor, whose arrival has been appointed, by the astrolo-
gers, to take place at that time.
March 27. We started about 7 o'clock in the morning, with
prince M. M. Meerza, and his great train, and went out six or
seven miles, on the Maraghá road, where we met his Royal High-
ness. A vast concourse of the male inhabitants of the city and vil-
lages were out on the occasion, and testified their satisfaction in
welcoming their new governor and tendered to him their loyalty,
THE MITRIB-ALLUSION TO FEMALES.
419
whether feigned or real, by slaying animals, (calves and sheep,) and
throwing their heads under the feet of his horse, as he advanced
towards the city. The prince-governor, as well as his brother,
showed us distinguished attention, assigning us a place next to
themselves in the procession, in front of all the Moollâhs, Khâns
and other dignitaries, thus evincing the general regard which the
Persians cherish for strangers, and the partiality of the princes for
European society. His Highness called us repeatedly to his side,
and inquired very particularly after our welfare and our work. Be-
fore reaching the main body of the vast procession, he sent forward
strict orders that the native musicians, (i. e. the players of native
music,) should not perform on the occasion,-another circumstance
indicating the disposition of this prince to do away the noisy, bar-
barous practices of his countrymen, and substitute, in their places,
European customs. In the ardor of their loyalty, however, those
musicians were deaf to the orders, and the prince was escorted,
as is usual on such occasions, by incessant music and danc-
ing,' and palestrian and antic gambols, during the last two or
three miles, till he reached the door of his palace. These musi-
cians are often of the Mitrib,—a wandering race of minstrels who
live in tents like the gypsies of Europe, and obtain their subsistence
by music and dancing, comic exhibitions, begging and thieving, in
which they are very expert, and by ministering to the corruption of
the dissolute Persians in ways that are not to be named. The Nes-
torians suppose them to be descendants of the Moabites.
March 28. We waited on the prince-governor to congratulate
him on his auspicious entrance upon the high prerogatives of his
office. He received us with his usual affability and so far dispensed
with oriental etiquette as to inquire after the health of our ladies,
proposing to visit us soon and pay his respects to them. It is usually
considered highly indecorous, among Asiatics, to make inquiries for
the health of the females of a family, as such. If allusion be made
to them, it must be by a figure,—the house instead of the wife or
lady even; or if more definiteness be required, as sometimes hap-
pens at our medical dispensary, in relation to the sick, the gender
is even changed, and a woman is spoken of under the more deco-
rous epithet of a man.
April 3. Malek Kâsem Meerza sent to me the firmân which he
procured from the king of Persia, when he visited His Majesty at
Tehrân. It is the more interesting and valuable, as it was pro-
cured by the prince, entirely unsolicited by us, and even without
our knowledge. The following is a translation of this august
document and of the royal seal which is prefixed.
420
ROYAL SEAL AND FIRMAN.
“In the name of God, lofty in exaltation :
****************

***
The Almighty God!
MUHAMMED SHAH;
the arbiter of crown
and signet, hath come ;
the light of the realm
and of nations-the
lustre of laws and of
religion, hath come!
****************
In the name of the Almighty God! The command to be obeyed
by the world! It is this; The high in station, quick of under-
standing; the noble; the perfection of intelligence and dignity, and
the fulness of exaltation and grandeur, the greatest of christian
priests and the highest of the perfect followers of Jesus, Mr. Per-
kins, who has labored with incalculable devotedness for the weal of
the high and refulgent king of kings: For the purpose of gratify-
ing and exalting him [Mr. P.], let him know, that in accordance
with a memorial to his refulgent and fortunate Majesty, by his be-
loved and exalted uncle, Malek Kâsem Meerza, stating that the
said "high in station," in accordance with his calling and inclina-
tion, has established a school in the country of Oróomiah, and has
been, with the most assiduous care and attention, engaged in the
instruction of children and the education of the young and the dif-
fusion of science and knowledge: These are the reasons of the
manifestation of the graciousness and favor of the king of kings to
the said "high in station." And it is that the abundant gracious-
ness of the king of kings may be displayed, to exalt and honor him,
that this auspicious command is issued.
It is requisite that the said "high in station," increase his efforts
and instruction among the young; and that, with even greater zeal
than hitherto, he teach them the science of history, geography,
geometry and mathematics. And in the performance of these ser-
vices, His Majesty's graciousness and favor will continue to rest
upon him.
Written on the 27th day of Răbbeeà-ül-evvel, 1255.
The king's auspicious seal hath reached this;
[The prime minister]."
The reader, by this time, knows enough of Persian style, to ap-
preciate its pompous flowers, figures and epithets. With all due
abatement for these, however, the real design of this firmân was to
protect and encourage us in our labors, and it cannot fail to con-
tribute much to that object, which was the more important, in the
absence of the English embassy. My name only is used in this
document, as in preceding ones, because most familiar to the au-
!
TITLES STYLE-FOLDING LETTERS SEAL.
421
thorities. It was intended, however, as the prince himself stated,
for the benefit of all the members of our mission. The strong dis-
position of the king, and others, high in rank and authority, in Per-
sia, to encourage the introduction of light and knowledge, should
be thankfully recognized, as a very cheering sign of the times, be-
tokening that the set time to favor Zion here is at hand. The
missionary, however, and his patrons, must never for a moment for-
get, that borne on the full tide of external prosperity, and fanned
even by the breath of royal approbation, (which is precarious enough
in the East,) without Christ, we can do nothing.
•
*
The titles by which the king is usually addressed and spoken of,
are, Shah (king), Shahân Shah (king of kings), and Kübla Além
(centre of the world). In speaking of other monarchs, the Persians
make a distinction between king and emperor, by applying Sháh,
to the former, and Shahan Shah, to the latter. Of the grandiloquent
character of official documents among the Persians, the foregoing
is a very good illustration; and the same general trait characterizes
all their written communications. In letters on business, the first
page is commonly almost filled with flowery epithets, the metléb,
(business,) occupying a few lines, perhaps a single line, at the bot-
tom, upon which the person addressed always casts his eye on open-
ing the document, without even looking at the long string of titles
and compliments which precede, unless his relish for that light food
is unusually strong. And however disagreeable may be the design
and the matter of the communication, it is still gorgeously, if not
mellifluously, prefaced in the same way. Such was, doubtless,
true of the document in which our worthy governor was threatened
by the king, that if he failed to execute a certain order, he should
"receive a kick from which he would never recover in this world."
Letters and other documents, instead of being folded, for transmis-
sion, are closely rolled, and are sealed by means of a narrow strip
of strong paper, like a piece of riband or tape, wound tightly
around the middle of the roll, and attached by a species of wax or
gum. A seal, bearing the name or titles of the writer, is sometimes
instamped with ink upon the roll, where it is fastened. The super-
scription is written with the pen near one end. The seal, with ink,
is used within, instead of the written signature of the author, though
sometimes both are inserted. The extensive use and high import-
ance of the seal in the East, forcibly illustrates the figures of Scrip-
ture, which attach to it such sacred solemnity and authority. The
profession of the Meerzas (scribes), is an extensive one, the higher
classes in Persia eschewing the drudgery of using the pen, and the
peasants being too ignorant to do their own writing. The lower
class of merchants usually keep their accounts, write their own
letters, and use their own seal; but not the principal ones.* Copy-
* The principal merchants carry on their business with a cipher, and
every person has a different one. For in a country where there are no regu-
lar posts, their letters must be trusted to couriers, whom a small sum would
422
'BUSINESS OF MEERZAS FINE WRITING.
ing manuscripts also opens a wide field of labor for the Meerzas, as
well as for the lower orders of the Moollâhs. The Persian pen is
a small hollow reed, instead of a quill; the latter would be likely to
"We
cut the paper, in the heavy hand of Eastern characters.
don't trouble the goose," said Mar Yohannan, when the value of his
vegetable pen was once subjected to a comparison with the quill,
by a Yankee utilitarian.
The beauty of Persian manuscripts has long been celebrated.
Sir William Jones was so enraptured with them, that he almost
wished the art of printing had never been invented. And few can
inspect them and compare them with printed copies, without parti-
cipating in a measure of the same feeling, at least, till they remember
the inestimable blessings, so much richer and higher than all the
elegance of caligraphy, which the press is beginning to pour upon
Eastern nations. The Persians are able to write with a fineness
and distinctness that utterly defy imitation with type. I have seen
the whole of the Korân, written on two strips of fine Chinese paper,
three inches wide and perhaps ten feet long,-written, not "within
and without," but only on one side,-which, when rolled up, made
a roll a little larger than the finger; and still, every letter was fully
formed and perfectly legible. The Persians now usually write their
manuscripts in the form of volumes, rather than rolls. And the art
of printing is rapidly superseding the profession of copyists, in any
form. Some of the Nestorians are also able to use the pen with
great elegance; and the bolder stroke and square form of the Syriac
character, which they use, appear in even finer relief than the Per-
sian letters. We need good paper and type to compete with
these copyists in matters of taste, sufficiently to meet the fastidious-
ness of "old school" men, and particularly, of the copyists them-
selves, whose "craft" is so much endangered by the innovation of
printing. The process of writing by hand, in this elegant style, is
of course very slow; and such manuscripts are highly prized and
very difficult to be procured. Says my worthy fellow-laborer, Mr.
Breath, our printer, in a letter recently received, "I wish I could
send you some handsomely written books, but you know how diffi-
bribe to betray their secrets to commercial rivals; and it is of great conse-
quence that they should have the first intelligence of political changes, about
which they would fear to write openly. The authenticity of a merchant's
letters, as of his bills, depends entirely upon the seal. It is not usual to sign
either; and they are not often written in the hand of the person who sends
them; so that it is the seal which is of importance. Engraven upon it is the
name and title, if he has one, of the person it belongs to, and the date when
it was cut. The occupation of seal-cutter is one of much trust and some
danger; he keeps a register of every seal he makes, and if one is stolen or
lost, by the party to whom he sold it, his life would answer for the crime of
making another exactly the same. The person to whom it belongs, if in
business, is obliged to take the most respectable witnesses of the occurrence,
and to write to his correspondents, declaring all accounts and business with
his former seal, null from the day upon which it was lost.-Hist. of Persia,
Vol. II. p. 421.
!

Thayer & CatLith, Boston,
A PERSIAN MEERZA OR SCRIBE,
OTHER SERVICES OF THE MEERZAS.
423
cult they are to be obtained. Mr. Holladay tried to buy a Prayer-
Book, beautifully written, for the purpose of sending to Mr. Hal-
lock,* and offered a high price for it; but the owner could by no
means be induced to part with it, declaring it to be his life.' So
you see, there is an occasional article that Asiatics value above
money."
In addition to writing, the Meerzas perform other important ser-
vices. They stand before their master, during his daily levée, and
when not engaged in writing, echo his oracular sayings, or lead a
chorus in doing it, which is made up usually of a train of dependants,
that come to make their bow to their superior and give him their
selâm. I never understood the full import of sycophancy, until I
witnessed it in these Persian Meerzas, most obsequiously nodding
at every word their master utters, and interposing, once or twice,
in the course of every sentence, Beyley, (to be sure,) Albétdeh, (of
course,) etc. To pronounce an opinion, themselves, before it had
come from his lips, would be the height of arrogance and presump-
tion. The Meerzas have also in general the responsibility of com-
municating intelligence to their master. If this happens to be of
an unpleasant nature, the announcement of it is no welcome nor
easy task, and must be palliated by all the rhetorical skill which the
practised sycophant can command. And on extraordinary occa-
sions, nien of the highest rank, as well as of eloquent powers, are
employed for this purpose. When the late war was concluded be-
tween Russia and Persia, the heir-apparent, who had the manage-
ment of the foreign relations of the country, engaged to pay to the
Russian government several Kroor of tomâns-I forget the number,
but believe the amount to have been at least half a score of millions
of dollars—to induce that government to recal its troops from Per-
sia and accede to the conditions of peace. It was for some time a
question, who could go and report these terms to the king, the im-
pression being general, that whoever should bear such tidings to his
Majesty would lose his head on the spot. The governor of Tabréez,
a celebrated orator, was at length appointed to the perilous service.
He approached the old Shâh with all due courtesy and ceremony,
and told him, that he was commissioned, by his exalted son, the
Naib Sûltân, to propose to His Majesty, the Admiration of the world,
that he should throw out a trifle, say, perhaps ten millions of
dollars, or so, from his inexhaustible treasury, to those poor, miser-
able, hungry Russian infidels and let them go home! The herald
was dismissed without harm or disgrace, though the "inexhaustible
treasury" was soon emptied, in meeting the demand, and one in-
stalment, a fifth of the whole sum, remains unpaid to the present
period, and the Russians have the fertile district of Khoy in pledge
as security.
Sometimes unwelcome intelligence is announced to the king
through the medium of emblems, as well as by exalted personages.
* To aid Mr. H. in preparing our new font of Syriac type.
1
424
EMBLEMS—POLICY-CONCEALMENT.
Such was the case, in communicating to the present Shâh the death
of his favorite brother, one of our kind benefactors, Kahramân
Meerza, an account of which I received, not long since, from my
esteemed associate, Dr. Wright, and from which I insert the follow-
ing. "A chappér has arrived from Tehrân; since the sad news of
the death of his brother was communicated to the king. He brings
intelligence respecting the manner in which the news was made
known to His Majesty. I think you will regard it as truly oriental.
A painting was made, representing the deceased prince, in as perfect
likeness as possible, in the habiliments of death. This picture was
carried by the English and Russian ambassadors and laid before the
king, not a word being spoken. It is said that the Shâh at once
took the hint, (he had heard of his brother's illness before;) that
he swooned and was carried into his Anderóon [harem], where he
remained, not appearing in public, for three days." The same let-
ter communicates the manner of temporarily filling the deceased
prince's place, in the government of Azerbijân, which was as fol-
lows; "Malek Kâsem Meerza, [prince-governor of Oróomiah,] still
remains at Tabréez, and is governor, for the time, by order of the
Shâh. It is generally thought, that the heir-apperant, though a
boy of twelve years, will be sent to Tabréez. Our prince, in his
delicate position, shows his wisdom. Since the death of Kahramân
Meerza, all public documents and orders have passed through his
hands. That he may avoid all danger of awakening fears or jeal-
ousies in the mind of the king, or of those about him, he has placed
his own seal upon none of them, but has done all business in the
name of a son of the deceased prince, a little boy two years old!
The little boy's seal has been placed upon all public orders. Is not
this shrewd? All commend the policy of the thing."
I may remark, in relation to the communication of unwelcome
intelligence in Persia, that the death of friends is often kept stu-
diously concealed, by the Meerzas and others, from their masters,
as long as they are able to do it. The governor of Oróomiah once
returned from a journey, three months after the death of a favorite
little son.
After being greeted, on his arrival, by the rest of his
family, he inquired for the little boy, and a violent burst of grief
from all present, was the first intimation he had that the child was
dead. On asking his Meerza, who had regularly written him and
reported his family as well, why he had not told him the truth, the
latter replied to the agonized father, that he was reluctant to give
him pain; and the benevolence of his motives excused him for the
concealment. "The servants of David also feared to tell him that
the child was dead." But the king of Israel had a source of support
and consolation. "When David saw that his servants whispered,
David perceived that the child was dead; then David arose from
the earth, and washed and annointed himself and changed his ap-
parel and came into the house of the Lord and worshipped." It
is often very affecting to witness the efforts in Persia to keep from
១.
JEWISH PHYSICIAN-FRUIT-IRRIGATION.
425
sick friends the extent of their danger. They are always assured,
that they are in a fair way to recover and are lulled in security, un-
til the lamp of life actually expires, when a scene of raving lamen-
tation ensues among the relatives and connexions, that proclaims,
with awful emphasis, the entire absence of that hope, which blunts
the sting of death and sheds light and solace around the darkness
of the tomb.
April 4. I received a visit from a Jewish physician. I put into
his hands my Hebrew New Testament, opening to the Epistle to
the Hebrews, from which I requested him to read. He had never
before seen a New Testament and was much amused. In reading
from the first chapter of Hebrews, "This," said he, " is from our
Psalms; but how it is mixed up, (meeting with quotations from
different Psalms,) this is your work is it, Sir?" I told him that,
far enough from being my work, it was about eighteen hundred
years old, and the work of one of his own nation. He excused him-
self from discussion, being as he said, a physician, and not a Rabbi.
April 10. A gardener brought me a present of some very fine
pears. I measured the largest one and found it just twelve inches
in circumference. The fruit of Oróomiah is among the finest in
the world and it is very abundant. Its cherries are ripe commonly
about the 10th of June; and after that period, one species of fruit
ripens after another, in quick succession, as apricots, plums, apples,
melons, peaches, pears, grapes, quinces, etc. until winter sets in;
and the grapes are preserved in a state of tolerable freshness through
the winter and spring, until near the period when cherries come
again. As elsewhere mentioned, all crops in Persia must be arti-
ficially irrigated, as rain seldom falls there during the warm months
of the year. The fact that the plains are nearly level facilitates the
process. Water is taken by canals from the small rivers that roll
down from the mountains, and conveyed along near the foot of the
declivities. Smaller canals, leading from the main ones, carry it
down to prescribed sections of the plain; and these are again sub-
divided and conduct it to particular fields, as it is needed. The
openings from the main canals are readily closed, when sufficient
water is taken out for a given field, and the stream then passes on
to cheer and fertilize the thirsty soil of the next neighbor. The,
ease with which the gardener changes these streams, by closing or
opening a channel, with his spade, or even with his foot, vividly il-
lustrates the Scripture allusion to divine sovereignty, "The king's
heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers (rivulets) of water;
he turneth it whithersoever he will." If the fields are not level, they
must be divided and worked by a spade or plough into level sections,
each enclosed within a ridge a few inches high; and these divisions
are successively watered.
This water privilege is apportioned, each farmer or land-holder
being entitled to it only on particular days or hours of the week.
And it often happens, toward the close of summer, when the streams
54
426
WELLS-GRIST-MILLS—HAND MILL.
are low, that quarrels arise on the subject, the water being ex-
hausted before it reaches the lower portions of the plain; and the
village lords sometimes assemble their serfs and lead them out to
battle. Where streams do not exist, or cannot readily be conduct-
ed, wells are in some cases dug from which water is drawn with a
bucket of skin, upon a windlass, turned by an ox, as in Egypt of
old. In other cases, a well is sunk upon a descending plain, till a
spring is found, and a canal cut from the bottom, under ground,
de-
scending just enough to convey its water along,-and a few yards.
from the first, a second well is dug, that the earth, in cutting the
subterranean passage, may be drawn out, and the same process is
repeated, till the spring is conveyed to the surface and made to ir-
rigate the adjacent fields. The rapidity with which these wells are
dug, is surprising. Two men,-one at the top with a small hand
windlass and a leather bucket to draw up the soil, and the other,
below, with an iron prong, like a tusk, furnished with a short han-
dle, to dig it up, and a huge iron spoon, with which to fill the buck-
et, will work down twenty or twenty-five feet per day; and the
soil is so dry, as to need no curb nor wall to prevent it from caving.
The larger canals, taken from the rivers, are made to turn grist-
mills, in their progress across the plain, as often as the general de-
scent will leave a sufficient elevation to the huge artificial ridges,
that are thrown up like rail-road embankments and supported by
the roots of the willows on the margins of the stream, to convey the
water for the double purpose of irrigating the adjacent fields and
turning the mills. The grist-mill is the only species of machinery,
which is moved by water in Persia; and this is exceedingly simple
in its construction,-consisting merely of a perpendicular shaft,
with a water-wheel attached to the bottom and the upper mill-stone
placed upon the top. The water is conveyed from the canal down
to the buckets of the wheel, by a large spout or trough, dug from
the trunk of a tree, very narrow at the surface and often entirely
covered over with pieces of board. This spout is placed at an an-
gle of at least forty-five degrees, and with a head of fifteen or twenty
feet, it turns the wheel with prodigious rapidity and power. The
Persians, having no means of bolting their flour at the mill, sift it
with coarse sieves by hand. 'Two women grinding at the mill,'
the small hand-mill-is still a familiar scene in Persia among the
peasants; but only for very small quantities of grain, or when there
is no water, or it is inconvenient from some cause to resort to the
labor-saving method.
I intended to say more on the subject of horticulture and agri-
culture, but in following the course of the canals to water the fields,
have unconsciously led the reader away to the grist-mills. We will
return, for a few moments, to the fruit-gardens and the fields, taking
the apricot tree as an example in noticing the preparation of the
ground. The soil, before setting out the young trees, is prepared
with a plough. To break up the green-sward, or fallow-ground,
APRICOTS-PLUMS-PEACHES
-GRAPES.
427
the Persians use a large coulter-plough, twice the size of a common
American plough, the beam resting on an axle with two wheels,
one of which is about three feet in diameter and runs in the furrow,
while the other, about half that size, runs upon the unbroken soil.
The whole is drawn by three, four, five, or even six yoke of large
buffaloes, with a yoke or two of oxen before them, a boy sitting on
each, or each alternate, yoke, pricking up the team with his goad
and singing in a shrill, monotonous tone to cheer the buffaloes in
their toil. The soil is afterwards cross-ploughed, once or twice, by
the small one-handled plough already described, which turns no fur-
row, but cuts the earth sufficiently deep. This light plough is
drawn by oxen, which in Persia, though a puny species, are capable
of performing a good deal of labor. The surface is then smoothed
over with a bush-drag, a harrow, or a roller. The small trees are set
out in rows, in the style of orchards in America. A small conical
mound, about a foot and a half high, is generally thrown up around
their trunks. Most of the family usually live in the orchard, during
the season of harvest,—all feeding on the fruit, assisting in gather-
ing it and taking their turns in guarding it by night. They dry a
considerable part of the fruit (by simply spreading it upon the
ground) for sale and exportation and for their own winter use.
plum of which there are several kinds-the al Bōkhará being the
most esteemed-is much cultivated; and Persia is said to be the
primitive home of the Peach-Pomum Persicum being the name
given to it by Linnaeus. The peaches are of two general descrip-
tions, one of the size common in America, and the other much
larger, which is also very superior in flavor.
The
Grapes and melons are used as food by all classes in Persia, even
more extensively than the fruits already named. The vine is set
out in rows. The space-about fifteen feet wide-between the
rows, is sown two years with cotton. The third year-that in
which it begins to bear-the soil is thrown up into ridges about
three and a half feet high. The vines stand usually in the north
side of the ridge, that they may be partially shielded from the con-
centrated heat of the sun. They run over, and the clusters lie on
the top and the opposite side. Near the high mud-walls, by which
many of the vineyards are enclosed, for the security of the fruit, the
vines often run up and over the wall, and afford striking illustrations
of the Scripture allusion, where Joseph is compared to a thrifty vine.
The growth of each year is cut off, early in the ensuing spring, very
near the point where it sprang from the permanent stock. Vine-
dressers tell us, that the twentieth of an inch being left by the pruner,
will ensure a future crop. It is thus pruned, "that it may bring
forth more fruit." Grapes are eaten fresh in their season. They
are also braided by their stems, and suspended from the ceilings of
dry rooms, and kept fresh during the winter. They are dried, as
raisins, for sale and exportation, as well as for domestic use.
Vast
quantities are also made into molasses. And still more-generally of
:
:
428
MELONS-CHERRIES WHEAT-CORN
the inferior grapes and the gleanings are made into wine and
arrák.
The musk-melon is a far greater favorite among the Persians
than the water-melon, though both are much cultivated. The
melon vines are once hoed, (if we may so speak,) with a spade, the
American hoe having no place among the farming implements of
Persia. The musk-melon, at the size of a walnut, is folded up in
a leaf from its own vine, and covered over with a thin layer of earth,
perhaps to protect it from worms, but more especially, to render
the rind thin, and the fruit sweet. All but two or three of the
blows, are stripped from each vine, which then yields as many
melons. As it grows, and its envelope expands, it throws off the
layer of earth, and the process of covering it is twice more repeated.
As it advances to maturity, it is raised up from its bed and placed
upon the ridge, where it rapidly ripens under the alternate night
chills and the hot sun of the clear summer sky. Melons are eaten
not only in their season; they are also, (particularly the water-melon,)
kept fresh during most of the winter. For an early crop, the soil
is laid out in patches or beds, which are sprinkled over with coarse
sand or gravel, to keep the earth warm and preserve it from baking
during the rains of spring. Soil thus prepared, is for obvious rea-
sons, not hoed (spaded), but weeded, should occasion require. A
shelter is erected in the melon fields, by setting four poles in the
earth, binding small rafters across their tops, and covering the frail
platform with limbs cut from the poplars and willows on the water-
courses, whose leaves, under the scorching sun, soon dry, and pre-
sent a striking illustration of the "lodge in the garden of cucum-
bers," which is, in Scripture, made the emblem of Jerusalem in her
desolation. This shelter is constantly occupied, in the season of
fruit, by the owners, who gather what is ripe during the day, and
guard the field from depredations by night.
Cherries are so abundant at Oróomiah, that a bushel may be
purchased for twenty-five cents, or even less, in their season. There
are two general kinds, a large reddish, amber cherry, which begins
to ripen the second week in June, and a small, sour, crimson one,
which is two or three weeks later. Of the mammoth pears I have
spoken. Apples are comparatively little cultivated in Persia, and
they are inferior in quality to American apples, owing perhaps to
the warmth and dryness of the climate. The quinces of that coun-
try are very abundant and excellent. Oróomiah is a Rochester and
vicinity for the production of wheat, which is the common bread-
stuff throughout Persia. There is the white and the yellow wheat.
The latter yields the finest flour that I have ever seen. The natives
prefer spring-wheat, to that sown in the autumn, for the quality of
its bread. Wheat yields in Oróomiah from ten to thirty fold-not
usually more than ten. Corn is raised in Persia only in small quan-
tities, for parching. It is sprinkled, a stalk in a place, through the
melon-fields. Barley is cultivated very extensively for horses and
RICE-COTTON-TOBACCO-FLAX-CUCUMBERS.
429
buffaloes. Little hay is laid up for winter-straw, which is cut very
fine in the process of threshing being the principal article of fodder.
Rye is known there little more than as tares among the wheat. It
is cultivated in some of the glens of the Koordish mountains, where
wheat will not grow. Rice fields are so extensive on the plain, as
to contribute, (flooded as they constantly are in summer,) not a
little to the unhealthiness of the climate. Cotton is grown there
in large quantities, both for domestic use and foreign trade. To-
bacco finds a congenial soil, and the demand is great, all ages and
classes of both sexes being devoted smokers.* Flax is raised mere-
ly for the oil, which is used in paints, also like castor-oil, for lights.
Beans, onions, turnips, beets, carrots, cabbages, and some other
garden vegetables, are cultivated in Persia in great abundance and
perfection. So are flowers of almost every description; but espe-
cially the rose, to be manufactured into rose-water, of which the
higher classes are extremely fond. Last, but not least, cucumbers
are a very favorite vegetable among the Persians, who eat them with
salt merely, and to an amount that astounds an European. An in-
dividual will devour a peck at a sitting-eating leisurely, but with-
out cessation, perhaps for hours, until all before him are consumed.
The Persians are so fond of this vegetable, as often to be seen with
a cucumber in their hands as a nosegay. Berries scarcely occur
in Persia. The climate would doubtless be found congenial, if
they were introduced. Lemons and oranges grow in the warm
provinces of Ghilân and Mazanderân, on the banks of the Caspian.
The Persians usually eat their fruit before the meal. When we
visit the Nestorians, a waiter of fruit is immediately set before us,
together with bread, cheese, butter, honey, sweetmeats, etc. This
collation is not intended so much to be eaten, as talked over-the
practice being to take up a dish and extend it to the person to whom
you wish to pay an attention, who, in return, touches your hand, or
the dish, with his own, perhaps takes a single mouthful and says,
"I thank you; may all your life be prosperous, may God increase
your wealth, give you the kingdom of heaven, etc." Mistaking the
antepast for the principal meal, which is not usually brought for-
ward till toward the close of the visit, we repeatedly committed the
mistake, soon after reaching the country, of eating from it freely,
particularly, when our appetites happened to be sharpened, by a
ride to a distant village. At length, we were, on one occasion, re-
proved and instructed, when committing this blunder, by overhearing
our host, in conversation in the native language, which he did not
suppose we understood: "Are they starved at home," he inquired
of one of the bishops who accompanied us, "that they eat so vora-
ciously of the antepast?” "Oh no;" replied the bishop in a hush-
ing tone, "they suppose it is the dinner." Why don't you teach
them better," continued our host? "I am ashamed to interrupt
* The Nestorian females do not adopt this practice; nor do they often
drink wine.
""
430 A RABBI-EXTEMPORE PRAYER-WORK-YARD.
them at the table,” replied the modest prelate; "they will learn by
degrees."
April 11. Was visited by the Jewish Rabbi, who at my request
read Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost, Stephen's dying appeal
and several other interesting portions of Scripture. The Nestorian
ecclesiastics at length came into my study and joined issue in
the discussion. Among other passages of Scripture, priest Dun-
ka read the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah, "Who hath believed our
report?" etc., and when the Jews laughed at the idea of its refer-
ring to our Saviour, the priest, at my suggestion, told them, 'You
are witnesses this day, to the truth of the application of this Scrip-
ture to the Messiah, in your rejection of him.' This unexpected
appeal struck them with a degree of solemnity, which, however, was
soon succeeded by noisy altercation. The Jews on one side and
three Nestorian bishops and a priest or two on the other, with their
ardent Asiatic temperament, found it very difficult to keep cool on
so exciting a subject, even with the occasional interference of Mr.
Holladay and myself as moderators. I felt deeply grieved with the
manifest blindness and hardness of the hearts of these Jews. The
arguments and passages of Scripture which we adduced seemed
often to confound, but failed to convince them.
April 19. Priest Dunka opened our Nestorian service, to-day,
with an extempore prayer. Never, until lately, have any Nestorian
ecclesiastics attempted to pray extempore in public. I had previ-
ously requested the priest to consult the bishops on the subject,
which he did and readily obtained their approbation of the measure.
The matter of his prayer was very appropriate, and the manner
was solemn.
April 22. We were engaged in translating the 11th chapter of
the epistle to the Hebrews. The passage relative to divine chas-
tisements arrested the attention of priest Dunka, who has of late
suffered the loss of nearly all his earthly substance, when his village
was plundered by the Koords, and been so deeply afflicted in the
death of his wife and favorite brother. The priest artlessly remark-
ed, "Had it not been for such words as these, my heart would have
been broken all in pieces, during the last few months." He and
priest Abraham appear to be in a very delightful state of mind,
growing in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
May 16. In company with Mr. Stocking, I visited the prince.
He conducted us back of his palace to his work-yard, where many
and various operations are in progress. Some of the workmen
were constructing a small vessel, or rather, a large boat, which is to
be floated down the river to navigate the lake. Others were build-
ing a china-ware manufactory. And others still were testing the
properties of different kinds of earth, which had been collected from
divers places, some of them a hundred miles distant, that the best
might be selected for making china,—an art which the prince hopes
to introduce into this part of Persia. His work-yard presents, on
"';
ARTIZANS-SUMMER-PALACE.
431
the whole, one of the liveliest scenes that I have witnessed since I
left America. He is expending an immense amount of money, on
works of this kind; is very enterprising himself and ardently desi-
rous of benefitting his countrymen, by the introduction of useful
arts and sciences, as well as by general education. Unfortunately,
however, he obtains but miserable assistance. A few strolling Eu-
ropeans Frenchmen and Italians, for the most part-who profess
to know everything, but really know little and accomplish still less,
are the only professional artists he is able to find. A Maltese cook,
who strolled to Persia in the employ of an English traveller, once
entered his service as a ship-builder! The Maltese had seen ves-
sels, which is true of but few Persians. The prince is so persever-
ing, that there is little doubt of his ultimate success, in introducing
important improvements. But every rose, in this fallen world, has
its thorns. The strolling adventurers who flock around this inter-
esting man are all Papists,-not probably too virtuous in their char-
acter and habits, and seldom wanting in zeal for the interests of
Rome. What success might crown the worthy efforts of Malek
Kâsem Meerza, and what good result to Zion as well as to the tem-
poral interests of Persia, were their places to be occupied by pious,
energetic, American mechanics!
May 21. Received the following note in English from the
prince-governor.
"His Royal Highness will be very much pleased, if all the Amer-
ican gentlemen, with their ladies, accept a tea, according to the Eu-
ropean way; and after, a breakfast, according to the Persian way,
to-morrow morning. Friday, 22nd of May, at the garden, Seeâk-
hóosh."
May 22. In compliance with the above invitation, the members
of our mission and three of the ladies, (the other being ill,) visited
the prince at his summer-palace in the garden, Seeâkhóosh, which
is about a mile south-east of the city. This garden is a grand plot
of ground, a mile and a half long and about fifty rods wide, regular-
ly laid out, with a broad central avenue, side-walks, and, at regular
intervals, cross allies,-all studded with lofty sycamores, at a dis-
tance of a few feet from each other, and lined with rose-bushes and
other small shrubbery. The plot descends from each end to the
centre, where it is crossed by the Shahér chai, city river. At the
west end, at the head of the central avenue, is a splendid palace,
with its artificial pond, fountains and arbors. Our entertainment
was in this palace. It was liberal and in excellent taste. It had
nothing of "the Persian way," except that we sat upon the floor.
His Royal Highness treated us with all the respect and kindness
that he could have shown to brothers and sisters. At his breakfast,
besides our party, was an Italian doctor, who serves him in the
quadruple capacity of physician, privy counsellor, private secretary
432
ENTERTAINMENT-PREACHING
-HELPERS.
and member of his council;* a French adventurer and his wife;
Mooséin Meerza, the, prince's nephew, and a Muhammedan noble.
The most interesting circumstance attending the meal, was the fact,
that at its commencement, the prince, knowing it to be our custom,
requested me to implore a blessing. I did so; and while I do not
record the circumstance as indicating any deep religious interest in
him, it certainly evinces a liberality of sentiment, (especially while
there were other Muhammedans at his table,) which is at present a
most cheering sign of the times among the Mussulmâns of this
country. All were attentive while the blessing was implored, except
the doctor, who with a mingled tone of levity and profaneness re-
peated, at the same time, a Muhammedan invocation, not apparent-
ly from disrespect to us, so much as to improve the opportunity thus
offered to remind us of his daring infidelity, or perhaps atheism,
which he often and loudly avows. How long must the Muhamme-
dans of Persia be abandoned to the influence and instruction of such
civilized Europeans?
May 24. The Sabbath. In the morning, I went to Geog-tapá,
and preached to about three hundred Nestorians in their church, a
larger number than I have before addressed since I left America.
It is impossible adequately to describe the interest of preaching to
such a congregation. Every eye was fixed upon the speaker and
every ear intent to catch the words as they fell from his lips. The
audience was composed of both sexes and all ages from small child-
ren up to tottering decrepitude. Warmed, animated and affected
by the impressive scene before me, I enjoyed a degree of freedom
in preaching in the native language which I have never felt before.
Seldom, however, have I been so deeply humbled and mortified as
when, on our way home, priest Abraham told me, that the Nesto-
rians are giving me the cognomen of Paul the apostle. We now
realize the advantage of having early directed our efforts to the in-
struction and benefit of influential ecclesiastics. Enlightened, and
some of them, as we trust, really pious, they are not only ready to
allow us to preach in their churches, but urge us to do so, and are
forward themselves in every good work; and their people receive
the word with gladness, while we thus act in concert with their own
clergy. These ecclesiastics, who have been a long time with us,
now form, if we may so say, a veteran, disciplined corps, on whom
we can rely for efficient agency in almost any kind of service. How
different would the case be, were many times their number of the
lay population equally interested in our object and labors, but these
native clergy arrayed against us. Our field is now opening and the
harvest maturing, in a manner more rapid than at any former pe-
riod.
* This council consists of ten persons, by whom minor business is transac-
ted according to the vote of the majority, an innovation on the arbitrary
usages of Persian governors, though not much improvement considering the
character of some of its members.
RAIN- -CELIBACY—STUDY OF HEBREW.
433
May 23. The Muhammedans of Oróomiah set apart this day as
a season of special prayer for rain, the spring having been very dry,
the grain and other crops having suffered already, and the prospect
of sufficient water in the streams to flood the fields being very doubt-
ful. I inquired of our Mussulmân scholars by whom the day was
designated, and they replied, the astrologers, who, by consulting
their books, ascertained it to be auspicious for the object.
May 29. Cloudy weather and some rain. Had the prayers of
the Muhammedans, yesterday, any influence in the change? "Seest
thou how Ahab humbleth himself? Because he humbleth himself
before me, I will not bring the evil in his days."* But while God
may send rain on the unjust and avert temporal evils, in answer to
their prayers, we know that it is only to the justified through faith
in the blood of Christ, that he will grant the blessings of salvation.
May 30. Mar Joseph arrived from a visit to the Patriarch. He
returns much displeased with Mar Shimon, who refused to give him
a diocese as he desired and had anticipated. The poor old man
now declares, that were he young, he would marry a wife and eat
meat to his heart's content, as a retaliation on the Patriarch. For
what do I gain," he asks, "by my celibacy and abstinence, while
Mar Shimon gives me no villages ?" But as he is now old, he wisely
judges that he should merely increase his own troubles by marry-
ing; and he has so long accustomed himself to a vegetable diet,
that it costs him little self-denial to continue to adhere to it. The
good bishop makes no secret of the motives that prompt his monas-
ticism; and among all the monastic hordes of Papal Europe and
the world, are there more devotees than there were righteous men
in Sodom, who are not impelled to their asceticism, by laziness, or
the hope of aggrandizement ?
June 4. The Rev. Wm. Glen, who is with us on a visit, attend-.
ed the recitation of my class in Hebrew, which consists of seven
Nestorian ecclesiastics. He expressed himself equally gratified and
astonished to find them such proficients in that language. The
Hebrew and Syriac being cognate tongues, the Nestorians find it
very easy to acquire the former; and their oriental organs enable
them to pronounce it far more easily and perfectly than European
scholars. Much may result for the cultivation of the Hebrew from
this obscure, humble beginning, by a people who possess such pe-
culiar facilities for acquiring it. And important advantages will,
we trust, accrue to the Nestorians, from so many of their clergy
drawing a knowledge of the Scriptures directly from the fountain.
In conversation with the prince-governor, the other day, who is a
remarkable linguist for an Asiatic, I inquired of him what language
the Persians consider to be the oldest; and he replied, Hebrew.
Their religious prejudices would naturally lead them to award this
honor to the Arabic, the language of their Koran and other sacred
literature.
* 1 Kings 21: 29.
55
434
A DISCUSSION-THE WATCHMAN.
"
Sept. 6. Preached again at Geog-tapá. When I arrived, the
bishop and a large number of the villagers were collected in the
shady side of the church, engaged in earnest conversation. As I
approached, Mar Elias said to the Mélik (chief) of the village,
Why are you angry ?" I came up and gave the bishop my salu-
tation, Sh’lâm ălókhoon-peace be with you-which he rose and
cordially returned; but when I inquired after the health of his
household, he relapsed into his excited state and answered, “My
household are in a wretched condition,-buried in wine drinking;
and so is the Mélik and this priest and that one, (pointing to them
as they stood in the company); I tell them not to drink, and they
promise fairly but still drink; are they not liars? They say, 'the
Russians, that great and powerful nation, drink; and may we not
safely follow them?' I tell them, no; follow Jesus Christ; he is
in the midst of us by his word." Upon this, the Mélik interposed,
in a high, boisterous tone, "Did not JESUS CHRIST drink wine and
make it too?" The priests were much chagrined and remonstrated
with the disputants, telling them that it was not the place, nor the
time, for wrangling. I at length sat down and invited the bishop
to sit on one hand and the Mélik on the other, which they did and
quiet was thus restored. The scene was interesting and in no
small degree amusing. This bishop was formerly given to much
wine; but since coming under our influence, he has nearly broken
off; and his warm temperament and, I hope, some measure of pious
feeling, can now so ill brook continued indulgence of the bad prac-
tice in his priests and people, that he interposes his episcopal pre-
rogatives in quite an authoritative manner. I did not think it expe-
dient to take part in the noisy discussion on the spot; but the por-
tion of Scripture, the 33rd chapter of Ezekiel, on which I remark-
ed, in the meeting, presented a good opportunity of reminding the
audience, that the "watchman "ought and must blow his trumpet,
-that the good watchman would do this, at all hazards; that it
was for their interest and salvation, that he should blow it faithful-
ly,—and I pointed out to them the unreasonableness of their being
angry at the watchman's fidelity and rejecting his call. They felt
the application of the subject without my formally making it, and
left the church quite satisfied with the plain-dealing of their good
bishop, on the subject of their intemperance.
EARTHQUAKES-MOUNTAINS-SAMEIL.
435
CHAPTER XXVI.
JOURNAL: SEPTEMBER-DECEMBER, 1840.
A SHOCK of an earthquake occurred, to-day, Sept. 14. A shock
occurred also last July, which, by its peculiarly rolling motion,
made us very dizzy. Earthquakes are rare here, but frequent in
Tabréez, and some other places in the region. The one in July
was very severe, in the vicinity of Mt. Ararat, so much so, that the
towns of Erivân and Năkchevân were much injured by it. Mt.
Ararat appears to be their common centre.
Sept. 15. In recitation in geography, in our Mussulmân school,
I had occasion to speak of volcanoes in the Andes, which suggested
their supposed connexion with earthquakes, and the one that oc-
curred last evening was mentioned. One of the boys gave a Mus-
sulmân theory on the general subject, which is, that the great bull,
on which the earth stands, being stung by a fly, angrily shakes his
head and thus causes the earthquake. The other boys laughed at
this theory and pronounced it the height of folly.
Sept. 16. We rode to the summit of Seir, one of the high moun-
tains back of Oróomiah, from which we enjoyed a magnificent view
of the surrounding country; and in addition to what we had before
seen, were able to survey, from this height, a large portion of
Koordistân, that lay stretched out before us like a sea of mountains,
being apparently little else than peaks and ridges, with alternate
ravines, where absolute sterility seemed to reign, except here and
there a verdant patch in the deep glens. Perpetual snow among
the ledges of some of the neighboring mountains, lay just about on
a level with ourselves, which is seen from our windows in the city,
all the year. The fact that snow remains during our summers at
so small an elevation above the plain, shows the country itself to be
very high. The same is also evident from the coolness of the nights
compared with the days, in this part of Persia. The heat of day,
in this clear atmosphere, is stated by an English traveller to be even
more penetrating than that of India; while in the shade it is com-
fortably cool, and a sensible chill is felt as soon as the sun retires
at evening. From this peculiarity of the climate, health is almost
sure to be sacrificed, unless a large amount of clothing be worn at
all seasons. Strong winds are much less prevalent at Oróomiah
than at Tabréez. There is a light breeze daily from the lake which
is very agreeable. The Sham yil (Turkish) South wind, (Sameil,)
blows occasionally with considerable violence, from the south-west,
filling the atmosphere with a dusty haziness, inducing uneasiness,
lassitude and headache, and sometimes even injuring the crops;
though the strength and noxiousness with which this wind is charged,
436 EXCURSION WITH PUPILS-PERSIAN SCHOOLS.
when it leaves the Arabian desert, are much broken and neutralized,
by the long distance, and the lofty, snowy Koordish ranges, over
which it passes, before reaching Oróomiah. On the mountain
which we ascended, a herdsman had been murdered and a part of
the herd driven off by the Koords, two or three days before. The
herdsman was found after considerable search, with his head cut
off and his feet bound together!
Sept. 17. Priest Dunka gives an animating account of the man-
ner in which many of the mountain villagers listened to his preach-
ing during a recent vacation that he spent at his home. In some
instances, they gladly left their work and assembled to hear the word
of life; and when dismissed, would still importune him," Give us
a little more of the good word of the Lord and then we will go to
our business; never before have we heard such preaching.”
Sept. 25. We yielded to the importunity of some of our Muham-
medan scholars, and rode out about twelve miles from the city to
Armoot-agháj, a village belonging to their father, to be their guests.
On Friday, the Mussulmân Sabbath, we suspend our school, as that
class so generally regard it as their holiday, that it would be difficult
to confine the scholars to their studies. The fine weather, the
charming country over which we rode, and the youthful glee and
buoyancy of the scholars, all contributed to render the recreation
agreeable; but no circumstance gave it so much interest as the at-
tention which the Muhammedan boys paid to some of the young
Nestorians, who, by the urgent request of the former, went with us,
and were treated by them as equals in their playful gambols on the
road, and seated at the same table with themselves and with us, at
their liberal dinner in the village. Such attentions, shown by young
Muhammedans of rank to native Christians, are quite new in this
country and, doubtless, result to a great extent from the influence of
our Muhammedan school.
I have nowhere described the native Persian schools and colleges.
Of the common schools, Malcolm remarks, "Almost all the trades-
men and many of the mechanics have received some education.
There are schools in every town and city, in which the rudiments of
Persian and Arabic are taught. The child who attends one of them,
after learning the alphabet, is made, as a religious duty, to read the
Koran in Arabic; which he usually does, without understanding a
word of it. He is next taught to read some fables in Persian and
to write a legible hand. Here his education commonly ends and
unless he is led by his inclination to study, or his occupation re-
quires that he should practise what he has learnt, his lessons are
soon forgotten. But this education, slight and superficial as it may
seem, has the effect of changing the habits, and of introducing a de-
gree of refinement among those who use it, unknown to their ruder
countrymen." It is a grateful sight to witness the beautiful Persiam
* Hist. of Persia, Vol. II. p. 422.
COLLEGES-LAW-HUNTING.
DISCIPLINE—COLLEGES-
437
children, boys and girls, with their satchels on their arms, going to
school. They are, however, as Sir J. Malcolm further remarks, "of-
ten under the management of ignorant pedants." These peda-
gogues, who are usually from the lower classes of the Moollâhs, or
the candidates for that profession, sit in the school-room, writing
lessons or letters, or copying books, upon the knee, while the scholars
are scattered promiscuously on the rush-mat over the room, all read-
ing aloud—each a different lesson-at the same time; the learners
constantly swinging the body back and forth as they sit upon the
knees and feet, to keep from weariness, and the whole presenting a
scene of singular confusion. The master, however, with his long
rod always by his side-no despiser of Solomon's counsel-deals
out a bountiful quota of stripes for anything in his view approach-
ing to irregularity; and the indomitables are not unfrequently bound
to the small Fallék (whipping-pole) which is kept near for the pur-
pose, and bastinadoed, though mere children. Imperfect as is their
education, however, they do, as above suggested, acquire an ease
and grace of manners, a propriety of deportment and polish of ex-
pression, which they carry with them through life.
The higher Maddréssehs, or colleges, formerly so renowned in
Persia, are at present, for the most part, in a low state-another
proof of the waning tendency of Muhammedism. The edifices
usually resemble the caravanserais, in the apartments of which the
students and professors often reside. Most of them are in a di-
lapidated state, and present a cheerless aspect. Arabic and Persian
literature and the Muhammedan law and religion are studied in
them. The profession of law, in Persia, is generally united with
that of religion, in the Moollâhs. A civil document, attested by the
seal of any respectable Moollâh is valid, though always liable to be
overruled by the Sheikh ul Islâm, chief of Islamism, (preeminently,
of the law,) whose office it is to decide what is law, in a given case,
and is, in fact, the supreme court; though the câzée, (cadi) justice
of the peace, and still more, the higher magistrates, do not always
pay greater deference to his august decision, than some rulers in
America pay to the judiciary tribunal. That might should often
be right, in despotic, Muhammedan Persia, is of course, however,
less a matter of wonder, than in a christian republic.
Oct. 2. The prince-governor sent us an invitation to accompa-
ny him on a hunting excursion. As several of our number had
never witnessed a Persian hunt, and we deemed it of some import-
ance to gratify His Royal Highness, to whom we are so much in-
debted, we accepted the invitation. Some twenty or thirty Khâns,
begs and servants composed his retinue. The prince himself and
two or three of the highest nobles of the party carried falcons,
(fowling hawks,) in their hands, or rather, on them. The right
hand is covered with a glove-the only case in which the Persians
make use of gloves, except as a few have recently borrowed the
practice from Europeans-and the hawk is taught to perch itself

1
438
FALCONS-NETS-THE ANTELOPE.
upon the hand thus secured, being held there by small leather
strings noosed about its legs. The party ride over the fields in
promiscuous order, except that no one may advance in front of the
prince, or the Magnus Apollo, whatever be his rank, and as a
quail or other bird is started up, the hawk is let fly from the hand
and darts in an instant upon the prey, grasps it gracefully in its
claws, lights, and begins to devour it, when a servant quickly gal-
lops up, dismounts and seizes the game, giving the hawk the head,
however, as an incentive to future effort. If the pursuer is expert
enough, he obtains the bird uninjured, and deposites it in his sack
alive. When the hawk fails of taking the game, he flies away in
apparent mortification, and lights leisurely on some distant tree;
but a very small bell, attached to the strings on his legs, soon re-
veals his retreat to a pursuer, who, by throwing up a chicken kept
ready for the purpose, brings him down to the ground; and as he
These
commences feeding upon the bait, he is easily retaken.
fowling-hawks become great favorites with their masters and receive
dignified names. A sapient one now in possession of the prince, is
called the Mussulmân, because, in devouring his prey, he leaves the
blood. Thirty quails constituted the sum of our spoil, to-day, one-
half of which the prince generously presented to us, though we had
been idle spectators.
The peasants in Persia hunt quails by means of a net, which is
carried in the hands and thrown adroitly over the game, while
skulking in the grass or the stubble. To this end, however, they
must resort to a measure of stratagem. Two sticks, about four feet
long, with one end of each set in the girdle, rise above the head and
project forward, over which a piece of cotton cloth, or the skirt of
the garment, being thrown, gives to the hunter somewhat the ap-
pearance of a horned animal. And as he moves slowly through the
field, the quails merely attempt to hide themselves for the moment,
until the supposed animal shall pass by, unconscious of their danger
till caught under the net, which the sportsman must, however, keep
carefully concealed till the instant he throws it; for "surely in
vain is the net spread in sight of any bird."
Hawks are used also in hunting wild animals. Says Malcolm,
"The favorite game is the deer, of which there are several kinds.
That usually hunted is the antelope, which may be termed the
fleetest of quadrupeds. A common mode of hunting them is with
hawks and dogs, which are trained to aid each other. Two hawks
are flown, when the deer is at a great distance; they soon reach it,
and strike, one after the other, at its head. This annoys and inter-
rupts the flight of the animal so effectually, that the dogs come up
and seize it. It is also usual to surround the antelope with a num-
ber of horsemen, each holding a dog in a slip. When the antelope
tries to escape, the aim is to try to intercept it; and though no dog,
however swift, can reach it at the commencement of the chase, it
is tired out, by fresh ones being continually slipped. In this mode
BEASTS OF PREY-ENGLISH OFFICERS.
439
of hunting, the object is to bring the game near the king, who com-
monly holds a favorite dog in a slip. Hawking is a favorite amuse-
ment. Bustards, hares, herons and partridges, are the usual game.
In this sport, the king generally carries a hawk in his hand. Shoot-
ing game is also very common. The Persian soldiers are excellent
marksmen; and this is an accomplishment, which it is a disgrace
not to possess.
Many Persian nobles spend half their days on the chase. Wild
hogs and wild goats are also among their game on the mountains.
Their fowling-pieces are sometimes furnished with a forked fulcrum,
about a foot from the muzzle, which turns upon a pivot, and can
be instantly set in the ground. Their aim, however quickly taken
with that apparatus, is almost sure to be successful. Of beasts of
prey in northern Persia, the wolf, bear and hyena are the principal.
The wolf is very common-so much so, that it comes down from
the mountains by night, and sometimes even takes away children
from their couches, on the roofs of the houses, in the villages on the
plain. The tiger and lion are found farther south; but they are not so
large nor ferocious as those of more tropical climes.-Englishmen,
in Persia, are about as fond of hunting as the native inhabitants;
and the practice does much to invest them with that hardihood of
character for which British officers in the East are so celebrated.
Col. B., a brother of lady Campbell, on one occasion, rode up from
Tehrân to Tabréez, with chappár horses, a distance of four hun-
dred miles, in three and a half days; and the morning after his ar-
rival, he was out hunting before breakfast. As he advanced home-
ward, in crossing the mountains of Armenia, the snow was so deep,
that he was obliged to spread his carpets for his horse to walk over
the drifts upon them, often for long distances; and this was only
matter of amusement to him. Such is the training, which, together
with the love and the pride of country that grow up with them as a
part of their being, nerves Englishmen in the East, for their arduous
service, and holds them so firm on the field, in the deadly encounter.
Sept. 26. Two European Papists called on us, one of whom is
engaged in a school at Tabréez; and the other, as they stated, is
destined to Isfahân to join a third, already in that city. Their ap-
pearance is very urbane and friendly; but we have had open de-
monstration, that they will injure us if they can. Nothing saddens
my heart and fills me with apprehension for the prosperity of Zion
in Persia, like the presence of these men. They are as artful as
they are ill-designing,-ready to adapt themselves to all varieties of
character and circumstances. It was in the autumn of 1838, that
two Papists first made their appearance at Oróomiah since we came
here, one of them an Italian priest, and the other, professedly, a
French antiquarian. They stated their object to be simply that of
travellers on their way to Bagdâd. The principal was the French-
man, who gave us his address as M. B., with a somewhat pompous
* Hist. of Persia, Vol. II. p. 397.
+
440
ROMISH EMISSARIES-SECULAR PAPISTS.
string of honorary titles, and attempted to astonish us with an ac-
count of his antiquarian researches in Turkey. This same learned
antiquarian, however, proves to be a French Catholic priest, of the
Lazarist order. And while at Oróomiah at that time, he so far put
in operation his Jesuistical plans, as to dupe Mar Gabriel, and
would have made sure of him, as we have seen, had we not, some
time afterward, discovered the plot and warned the bishop of his
danger.
A year subsequently he visited Oróomiah again, to confer with
the bishop whom he supposed he had fully secured through corres-
pondence, by promises to give him money and obtain for him worldly
aggrandizement, should he second his designs. Several of his let-
ters addressed to Mar Gabriel have since fallen into my hands.
They are very amusing documents. The bishop being quite a
young man and withal extremely vain, the Frenchman, in the true
spirit of his profession, would of course address his vanity, as the
most vulnerable point in his character, in the hope of thus gaining
him. The following is a specimen which I copied from the com-
mencement of one of the letters. "To the honorable, exalted and
dignified Mar Gabriel, metropolitan of the country of Oróomiah,
who in exaltation is above all." He also states the ineffable satis-
faction he should feel, in approaching and bowing before so venera-
ble a personage and being honored with permission to kiss his feet.
The conception of this homage is consummately ludicrous to us,
especially as we have often seen this same boyish bishop barefoot,
his feet being in a condition to deter, it should seem, the devotion
of even monkish piety, from the penance of kissing them. Such
might, however, be the most effectual method of inflating the young
man's vanity and upsetting him, and just this was the learned anti-
quarian's object. In his second visit to our city, in order that he
might take the better with the Persians, who are very fond of show,
instead of wearing the habiliments of a Lazarist monk, or the dress
of a private gentleman, he assumed the garb of a military officer-
sword and epaulette-and proclaimed himself a French colonel!
These subtle foes become the more formidable, from their alliance
with the numerous secular Papists, who, banished for crime or stroll-
ing for adventure, from their homes in Europe, seek a living in Per-
sia; and though many of them are avowed infidels and atheists, they
often show an interest and an activity, in promoting the Papal cause,
that vie with the zeal of a Jesuit; and as they sometimes obtain
places of influence in connexion with government, their power and
opportunity to advance that cause are far greater than those of the
Jesuits themselves. Their singular devotion to Papacy may arise
from a superstitious idea-for infidels and atheists are often among
the most superstitious-that they shall thus atone for accumulated
crimes; and such a reward may not improbably be promised to
them by the priesthood. We have a striking example of these Pa-
pal coadjutors and their efforts at Oróomiah. He is an Italian
A EUROPEAN COUNSELLOR.
441
quack, who has been an outlaw from his country twenty years;
whose adventures in the interval are too fearful to repeat, though
he usually entertains his guests with a narration of them, and prides
himself so much on his boasted infidelity, that he avows his purpose
of originating a new religion, denouncing that of the Bible as anti-
quated and obsolete. Still this same man is a zealous Papal agent.
Being a person of considerable intelligence and a confident insinua-
ting address, he succeeded in obtaining a place in the service of the
prince-governor of Oróomiah, first as his physician, but subsequently,
by his subtle and artful management, as governor, under the prince,
of the christian part of the population. No position could have
given him more power to embarrass us, in our missionary work;
and the prince of darkness, it should seem, could have selected no
more practised and wily adversary to occupy that advantageous po-
sition. No sooner had he assumed his office as governor of the
Nestorians, than he commenced a course of open opposition to us
and a vigorous system of efforts to make proselytes to Romanism.
He threatened all the Nestorian ecclesiastics who were in our em-
ploy, as teachers and helpers, with fines, if they continued their
connexion with us, promising diminution of their heavy taxes, free-
dom from military enrolment* and other immunities to as many as
would become Papists. In entering upon this oppressive system,
he began with the four bishops of the province, all of whom are
among our native helpers. His own prerogatives being limited, he
represented to the prince, that these bishops receive annually large
salaries from their people, and could well afford, and of right ought,
to make a present of a hundred dollars each to his Royal Highness.
Tempted by his strong love of money, and believing the reiterated
asseverations of his European counsellor, that the bishops were well
able to pay that sum, the prince-governor issued orders, that the
money should be exacted, allowing a fortnight for its collection.
The bishops, who do not receive annually a hundred dollars, nor
half that sum and hardly a fourth of it, from their poor, oppressed
people, were thrown into great distress and knew not what to do,—
especially as their Papal governor managed so effectually to hedge
up the way of access to the prince, that neither they nor their peo-
ple could reach him and represent the truth of their condition.
But while iniquity was coming in like a flood, the Lord lifted up
a standard. Within the fortnight, allotted to the bishops for col-
lecting and paying the demanded presents, the Muhammedan popu-
lation of Oroomiah, disgusted with the overbearing conduct of the
same Italian quack and roused by some instances of oppression to-
ward themselves to which he had instigated the prince, rose sud-
denly, fled to Tabréez, the seat of the general government of north-
ern Persia, and represented their grievances to the king's brother.
* It is only a few years, since the Persian government extended military
enrolment to the native Christians, who were at first pleased with the novel-
ty, as a child with a new toy, but soon learned to regard it as a calamity.

56
442
PAPAL EFFORTS AND OPPRESSION.
The prince of Oróomiah, following the insurgents to Tabréez, with
all practicable baste, left his unjust demand on the bishops unexe-
cuted. It was only by paying a large sum to his superior, and
pledging a more equitable administration in future that he was able
to retain his place as governor; and from that time forward, I hardly
need say, he has not troubled the bishops about presents. And the
quack, having by his evil deeds become so obnoxious to the Mŭ-
hammedans that his life was in peril, has not since attempted to re-
side in the province. And being at length dismissed by the prince,
for supposed peculation in the superintendance of villages in another
district, he has finally become a school-master at Tabréez, in the
school that was first commenced there by the Lazarists!
Such is the recent influx of Papal influence into Persia. For
nearly two centuries, emissaries from Rome have been laboring
elsewhere, with a zeal and perseverance worthy of a better cause,
to effect the conversion of the entire Nestorian church. And they
have succeeded, by means as wicked as various, among most of the
Nestorians on the western side of the Koordish mountains, to which
part of the field their efforts have, until within a few years, been
principally directed. There, too, secular men, acting in connexion
with clerical emissaries, are often equally zealous and far more effi-
cient agents of the Pope than Jesuits themselves. Mrs. Perkins on
one occasion, received a letter from a pious English lady who resides
in Bagdâd in which the writer says, "The religious state of this
city is very unsatisfactory. The Roman Catholics carry the day
in every way. There are many priests who have been educated at
the Propaganda at Rome, possessing all the subtlety of Jesuits.
The French consul supports them and fights for them in all their
mundane concerns. A large body of bishops and priests are going
to Mosûl, in a day or two, to form a convention to endeavor to bring
over all the Chaldeans to the Papal faith.'
""
This mundane influence is well illustrated in a case stated to me
by a Protestant missionary, who has recently travelled in Mesopo-
tamia. About five years ago, a Koordish chief came down from
his mountain fastness, and, as the Koords often do, sacked a Nes-
torian district, on the declivity, taking a considerable number of
the females captives, whom he sold to the Turks, in the region of
Mosûl, as slaves. The French consul, at Bagdâd, heard of the
circumstances, and with an ostentatious affectation of philanthropy,
applied to the Sultân through the French ambassador at Constanti-
nople, and obtained a Royal firmân for the immediate and uncon-
ditional liberation of those captives. This firmân was committed
to the consul, who engaged to see it faithfully carried into execu-
tion. But instead of doing this, he offered freedom to such of the
captives only as would, on their liberation, become Papists. In one
instance, a poor Nestorian priest, whose daughter was among those
in bondage, travelled on foot a long distance, to beg the consul to
liberate his captive child. To him also the consul submitted the
DEVOTIONS IN THE NATIVE LANGUAGE.
443
only condition on which he would liberate any of the captives, viz.,
their becoming Catholics. But the noble-spirited priest preferred
that his daughter should remain a slave to a Muhammedan master
rather than become one to the Pope, and replied to that effect to
the consul. The latter then contrived to entrap the priest by
false accusations and caused him to be seized and beaten by the
Turkish authorities, hoping to effect his object, at last by violent
coërcion. But the priest remained unmoved. Few, however, of
that company of captives or their friends, were possessed of his
firmness, and the result was, that most of those in bondage were set
at liberty on their becoming Papists as the price of their freedom.
Such is the Papacy which we encounter in Asia, in the middle of
the nineteenth century. It has there all the wily subtlety and grasp-
ing ambition of its essential character; and all the bloody vindic-
tiveness, too, however cautiously and artfully concealed, that lighted
the fires of Smithfield or plied the racks of inquisitorial Spain, in
by-gone centuries. Even in the dominions of the False Prophet, it
is still from the agents of the "man of sin," that the Protestant mis-
sionary must experience his most violent opposition and relentless
persecution. But by these formidable foes, we have little reason to
be dismayed. For even antichrist cannot close our field against
the mighty hand of Him who openeth and no man shutteth.
(C
a mar-
Oct. 19. I mentioned the death of Williams, the heroic mission-
ary martyr, to Mar Yohannan and priest Abraham, to whom and
other Nestorians I read his book, about two years ago, relative to
his missionary enterprises among the inhabitants of the Society Is-
lands. The bishop and priest were deeply affected by the sad intel-
ligence. "Blessed is he," they soon however exclaimed;
tyr in the cause of Christ; his lot was trying to the body for the
moment; but how happy now is his spirit!" The subject led to
some interesting conversation, on the importance of our all being
prepared to encounter trials and death even, for the name of Christ
and being ever ready, inasmuch as we know not when trials or
death may come upon us. They expressed the hope that the Lord
would speedily raise up, among their own people, many witnesses
for the truth, who shall emulate the example of their worthy ances-
tors in labors and sufferings to extend the cause of Christ.
Oct. 27. Our mission resolved to have evening devotions in our
families conducted in the native language, for the benefit of the
large number of Nestorians who reside with us. Some of the eccle-
siastics will be happy to take their turn with the missionaries, in
conducting the exercise. Prayer, in the modern language, is a
great novelty to the Nestorians, and greater still when offered ex-
tempore. It is like a day-star from on high, breaking through the
darkness of their obsolete tongue, and pouring gleams of celestial
light into their benighted minds.
Nov. 7. Our printer, Mr. Breath, arrived. We have been long
and anxiously waiting for the arrival of the press, as a great and im-
444
THE PRESS-TRADITION-PRINTING.
portant auxiliary in our missionary work, and trust that our antici-
pations will be fully realized. The absence of the English embassy
from Persia, causes us to enter upon this new undertaking, attend-
ed with much notoriety as it necessarily is, with more apprehension
and solicitude than we should feel, in other circumstances. Few,
however, have more reason to trust in the Lord in view of past mer-
cies, than the members of our mission.
•
Nov. 9. We took the press from the boxes in which it was
brought and set it up. It was constructed particularly for our sta-
tion, being cast in smaller pieces than is usual, to render its trans-
portation practicable on the backs of horses, over the high, steep
and rugged mountains. It appears like an exotic, in this dark, re-
mote land; and still, like a familiar old acquaintance, whose arrival
is inexpressibly welcome.
Nov. 15. I preached in the church of St. Mary, in the Nestori-
an part of the city. The attendence there is becoming more and
more numerous and encouraging. The Nestorians suppose this
church to have been built by the "wise men from the East," who,
guided by the "star," came to Jerusalem to worship the infant Re-
deemer. They hold these`"wise men" to have been natives of
Oróomiah, who reared this church on their return, as a token of
their devotion to the Saviour. Their tombs are still pointed out,
in the porches of the church. This account savors, perhaps, rather
too much of legendary tradition readily to command Protestant be-
lief. There is, however, no strong reason to doubt, that the church
may have been built very early, and perhaps in primitive times.
Nov. 20. The chief rabbi of the Jews called on me and reques-
ted a Hebrew Bible from which to instruct his little son. I inqui-
red whether he would not prefer a New Testament. Oh no; he re-
plied; I prefer the Old Testament, but would be pleased with both.
I accordingly gave him both, to his no small gratification.
Nov. 21. We put our press in operation, by printing, on small
scraps, a few copies of the Lord's prayer, in the ancient Syriac,
merely to gratify the curiosity of the natives who had never before
witnessed printing. The "Press" is now the lion here. Numbers
call daily to see it. The Nestorians are inexpressibly delighted with
it, alike as a curiosity and as holding out a pledge of opening a new
era upon their people; while the Muhammedans, equally pleased
with the novelty, inquire with interest, are you not going to make
books for us also ?" "We have no Persian type," is the reply by
which we waive this inquiry; but how long they will rest satisfied
`to have us work the press for the exclusive benefit of their Nestorian
subjects, is a point that justly creates in us a degree of solicitude.
We may at length find it expedient to print some in Persian* for
the Muhammedans, while we do so much for the native Christians.
* The chief astrologer of Oróomiah applied to our mission to print his Al-
manac for 1258, (1842) for which he was ready to pay a fair compensation.
A good geography and maps and some other elementary works ought to be
immediately furnished by our press for the Muhammedans.
:
PREACHING AT ARDISHAI.
445
Nov. 28. In company with Dr. Wright, I went to Ardishái to
spend the Sabbath and attempt a commencement of religious ser-
vices there, in the Nestorian church. We have from the first, just-
ly regarded Ardishái, as one of the most difficult, and at the same time
important, points in our field. The village contains a population of
about one thousand souls. It is the residence of the unstable young
bishop, Mar Gabriel, who has a large diocese and much general in-
fluence in the province. The people are proverbially the most rude
and irreligious of any of the Nestorians of Oróomiah, owing proba-
bly not a little to the character of their bishop; and Romanists, as
we have seen, have of late made most strenuous efforts to secure
that position. Priest Yohannan, whom we placed there as principal
teacher in the school, has been faithful to his trust. It was at his
earnest recommendation, that we were led to attempt stated Sabbath
services at such a distance, (near fifteen miles,) from the city; and
he had successfully importuned the volatile bishop to second the
undertaking. We arrived at Ardishái about dark. The weather
was cloudy and cold. Priest Yohannan soon stated, that Mar Ga-
briel had, in anticipation of our coming, been out two miles to Ba-
randooz river, to take some fish for us; and in catching them, he
had been wading several hours in the stream, (at this cold season
of the year,) where the water was two or three feet deep. The
bishop appeared to be much pleased with his success; and his ef
forts, made solely on our account, were gratifying to us as indica-
tive of his friendly feelings, but were also rather amusing in a
christian bishop, and more painful, as showing his still strong
passion for fishing and hunting, to the neglect of the appropriate
duties of his office. The instrument used in fishing, in the small
rivers, is a circular net, carried in the hand and thrown adroitly
over the fish. The border of the net is furnished with a leaded line
which sinks it quickly and holds it on the ground.
In the evening, we sat down with Mar Gabriel and the priest and
two deacons, and read a chapter of the New Testament, in the
manner of a Bible class. Such social exercises are among the
most hopeful means of interesting and benefitting this worldly bishop,
as well as his people.
Nov. 29. The Sabbath. The weather was rainy, and seemed
very unfavorable for the commencement of our meetings; and
another obstacle, apparently still more serious, was the celebration
of a seven days' wedding in the village, which had begun the eve-
ning before, and the festivities of which were not suspended on ac-
count of the Sabbath. This wedding was celebrated, (by another
family,) in a part of the house occupied by priest Yohannan; and
as we had been invited to attend as guests, the bishop and priest
recommended that we should go in and take breakfast with the
party, and invite them in return to go with us to the church, as the
only means by which we could secure a congregation. As it was
exceedingly important that our first attempt to hold meetings in
*
446
A WEDDING MEETING THE PSALMS.
the village should not prove a failure, we acceded to the proposi-
tion. We found nearly one hundred persons at the wedding, who,
on our entering the room, rose and welcomed us, and observed
great stillness and decorum during the whole time that we were
with them. While we sat at breakfast, priest Yohannan, at my
suggestion, repeated to the party the parable of the king's son,'
which was naturally suggested by our circumstances. All listened
with interest and marvelled at the unreasonableness of the excuses
which were made by the different classes, when they had received
an invitation to such a wedding. I then applied the subject to
them, by remarking, that in the name of our Lord, I invited them
all to that same marriage feast; and in order that they might be
prepared for it, by having on the wedding garment, the nature of
which I explained to them, I requested them to suspend their fes-
tivities and go to the meeting that was to be held at the church,
suggesting that the reception which they should give this invitation
might perhaps be a pretty good index of their desire, or the want of
it, to secure a place at the marriage supper of the Lamb. The
suggestions were kindly received and the proposition to go to meet-
ing was accepted by acclamation. We soon entered the church
where about sixty adults and many children were assembled, who
listened with fixed attention about an hour, while I expounded to
them the 18th chapter of Luke, which the bishop had first read and
translated from the ancient into the modern language; and priest
Yohannan occasionally interspersed a few very practical and pointed
remarks. At the close of the service, a venerable old man ex-
claimed, “If we can have such meetings as this, we will come and
listen twice, every day." The bishop replied that the missionaries
would come and hold meetings there every Sabbath, and all present
seemed highly gratified with the prospect. Thus did the Lord
smile upon the attempt to commence meetings in Ardishái, far more
propitiously than we had dared to expect. The very happy influ-
ence of our school in preparing the way, even on that hard and un-
promising soil, is already apparent.
Nov. 30. We commenced printing the Psalms in the ancient
Syriac language, a work we had long promised to the clergy, as the
first labor of the press. They are very anxious that we should
print the rubrics with red ink, according to their own style of illumi-
nating books with the pen. This would considerably augment the
labor; but the increased acceptance with which this portion of the
Scriptures would meet, particularly in their church service, renders
it quite desirable to comply with their wishes, if we can find mate-
rials for red ink. We also print this edition of the Psalms with
references, with which the Nestorians are exceedingly pleased, pos-
sessing as they do no concordance, and never before having had
anything in the form of references, which they pertinently denomi-
nate "witnesses.' Those who are able to read English, use our
reference Bibles with great satisfaction, and we trust this humble
!
LEARNING TO PRINT-MEEANA.
447
commencement of providing like facilities in their own language,
will contribute materially to excite in them an interest in the study
of the Scriptures,
Dec. 3. Our Muhammedan Meerza has been very importunate,
ever since the arrival of our press, that his brother, who is also a
Meerza, should be allowed to work at it and learn to print; and
whatever objections we have been able to raise to the proposition,
he has contrived so successfully to obviate, that we feel constrained
to yield, and give his brother a place among the Nestorian appren-
tices. His object is merely to learn to print. But it is interesting
to us, and deeply so to the Nestorians, to behold a respectable Mŭ-
hammedan, engaged thus with the native Christians, in publishing
the christian Scriptures. A brother of the Patriarch was in the
printing-office, to-day, and on observing the Meerza at work among
the Nestorians, repeated the words of the prophet Joel,
"And it
shall come to pass that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,'
regarding the scene before him as an earnest of the conversion of
the Muhammedans.
""
CHAPTER XXVII.
JOURNAL: JANUARY—JUNE, 1841.
ACCOMPANIED by Mr. Breath, I rode to Ardishái, Jan. 2, to at-
tend meeting there to-morrow. We went directly to the house of
the bishop, which we regard as our standing home, whenever we
visit the village.
;
Jan. 3. We repaired to the church, early in the morning, to
attend the regular, daily prayers. The weather was severely cold
few were present; the services were hurried over in a heartless
manner; and the whole scene was indescribably cheerless. From
the church, we accompanied the bishop to his Meeάná, which is one
end of the stable, in the form of a room, elevated a few feet and
separated from the rest by a low railing. This place is always kept
warm, in the winter, by the accumulated breath of the animals in
the stable. Two or three of the most wealthy individuals in a vil-
lage usually have Mecânás; and to these, the male inhabitants are
wont to resort, morning and evening, to warm themselves and hold
a social levee. This is, on the whole, the most comfortable place, in
winter, that we find among the peasants. When we entered the
Meeâná, a few persons were already there; and others soon assem-
bled to the number of about seventy. I suggested to Mar Gabriel
that our Lord was accustomed to teach and preach on all occasions,
1
*
*
448
COLD BREAKFAST-WARMING THE CHURCH.
-sometimes, sitting, and at other times, standing; now in the
synagogue and anon by the way-side. Priest Yohannan hearing the
suggestion, sent immediately to the church for his Bible. And it
was truly interesting to observe how ingeniously he gained the at-
tention of the medley concourse to the reading of the Scriptures.
Allusion had been made, by persons present, to the prince-governor
and the king. Said the priest, you have been speaking of the king
and prince; now listen to something about the kingdom of heaven.
All instantly uncovered their heads* and listened in most respectful
silence while he read and expounded to them, in a very engaging
and impressive manner, the two last chapters of Revelation. Two
Catholics were present, who also gave serious attention. Without
assailing their system directly, the priest, in reading the awful de-
nunciation in Rev. 21: 8, gave an emphasis to the word idolaters,
(in the Syriac, idol-or image-worshippers,) which could not fail to
arrest their attention.
The bishop next invited us into his house to take breakfast. The
room was cold; and a cold dish of stewed beans, bread and a clus-
ter of frozen grapes, constituted the meal. It being Lent, we had
requested that the family should prepare nothing for us different
from what they ate themselves, wishing not to offend their feelings
by obliging them to cook meat or seasoned dishes for us, from
which they abstained. We should much have preferred total absti-
nence, mixed as the cold beans were with vinegar and an abundance
of garlics. But to be social, we ate a little, feeling that we must
not again rashly charge the Nestorians with exercising no self-denial
in their fasts. Their practised nerves and palates, however, would
of course be far less likely to eschew the frigid temperature and
odoriferous properties of such a meal, than ours while uninitiated.
After breakfast, we repaired to the church. The weather was
still very cold. Hardly an individual_had preceded us and as we
"We
crept through the small door,† Mr. Breath remarked to me,
should have done much better to hold our meeting in that stable."
The windows of the church were open; half the earth floor was
naked, the rest being covered with coarse rush-mats; and the whole
scene was sufficiently dreary to dishearten even the most hopeful.
Soon, however, the old lady who lights the church came in with a
"bundle of sticks"—the prunings of the grape-vines-which she
kindled on the floor. The building was soon filled with smoke,
which blunted the edge of the cold. My feelings were much tried
by the levity of those present, while they were kindling the fire,-
* As orientals shave their heads, they keep them covered in their social
intercourse and usually, even in worship.
The doors of the Nestorian churches are about two and a half or three
feet high and two feet wide. They are thus small, to prevent Mŭhammedans
from using them as stables.
These windows are very high, and only a few inches wide, to prevent
the entrance of thieves.
DRAWINGMEETING IN THE STABLE.
449
the bishop, among the rest, taking his turn in blowing it up and in-
dulging in humorous remarks. Meanwhile, however, the people
were flocking in and they continued to assemble, in those uninviting
circumstances, to the number of about two hundred; and all lis-
tened with the most profound attention, while Mar Gabriel read the
third chapter of Colossians which the priest and myself, speaking
alternately, expounded for a full hour. The listening crowd soon
made me forget the discomfort of the smoke and the cold, and ren-
dered the season one of the most delightful that I have enjoyed
among the Nestorians. On the hard soil of Ardishái even, there is
animating encouragement.
Jan. 6. Priest Abraham, Moses and a young Khân who is a
member of our Mussulmân school, have of late been trying their
skill in map-drawing; and the rapidity and accuracy with which
they are able to sketch and fill out almost any map are quite sur-
prising. The Nestorians, as well as the Persian Muhammedans,
possess, in a wonderful degree, the talent of imitation, which may
be turned to important account, in our efforts for their civilization
and salvation. ·
Jan. 17. To warm the large church of Geog-tapá, three fires
were kindled on the earth-floor, which filled the house so full of
smoke as to drive out most of the congregation for some time. But
it passed away at length, through the small windows, and the people
returned. The audience numbered, perhaps, two hundred and
fifty-who were unusually serious and attentive. The comfortless
state of the Nestorian churches, with open windows, and no facili-
ties for warming them, is a serious obstacle to attendance at their
stated devotions in the winter. At their morning and evening
prayers, few are commonly present, besides the clergy. The large
attendance at our meeting is, therefore, a very encouraging indica-
tion of the interest of the people in religious instruction, when com-
municated in a language which they are able to understand.
Jan. 23. Rode to Ardishái to preach to-morrow. Being de-
tained at home until almost evening, I was very late in reaching
the village, and for several of the last miles, was obliged to feel out
a blind way in the dark. The weather was quite cold, and the
light snow, preventing' my readily seeing the path which was but
little trodden, I was for some time apprehensive that I should be
compelled long to wander over the plain, if not fail of reaching the
village. A kind Father's hand, however, guided me directly to the
bishop's door, and suffered me not to miss my winding way in a
single instance.
Jan. 24. Attended morning prayers at the church. After re-
turning to my lodgings in the bishop's stable, not only the Mecâná,
but much of the great stable itself was soon filled with the villagers,
evidently eager to hear the word of God, though no call or notice
of a meeting had been given. At my suggestion, the bishop di-
rected priest Yohannan to read to the assembly. There were at
57
1
450
least a hundred and fifty present, crowded shoulder to shoulder.
The audience listened with fixed attention, more than an hour, and
without the least symptom of impatience, though huddled so closely
together, and many of them standing among the buffaloes and oxen
in the stable.
AN ORATOR-TRUTH WHEN FIRST PRESENTED.
I am more and more impressed with priest Yohannan's uncom-
mon powers as a popular native preacher. His figures are often
very striking. Some of them might indeed appear puerile to an
American, but to these simple-hearted Nestorians, they are very
vivid and impressive. As a specimen, in explaining the nature and
importance of humility, as inculcated in James 1: 9, "Let the bro-
ther of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted,” etc.;
"Have you
not often seen the stars," he inquired, "and observed how high
God has placed them in the heavens? Well, look into a stream
of water at night, and see how low they cast their shadows. Again;
have you never observed smoke, that image of vanity, and observed
how it puffs and throws itself up; but erelong it falls down again to the
ground. So true are the words of our Lord, He that humbleth himself
shall be exalted, while he that exalteth himself shall be abased." All
nature, animate and inanimate, is made to speak in the course of
his expository sermons, which is true, indeed, to a greater or less
extent, of oriental preaching in general. But priest Yohannan has
a more important requisite to render him an eloquent preacher than
figures and flowers-a heart to do good; hence his discourses are
commonly practical and spiritual, and often searching and powerful,
as well as entertaining.
We had scarcely closed our deeply interesting service in the sta-
ble, when it was announced, that the people were already assembling
in the church to listen to us there; and we soon repaired thither to
attend the regular and more public meeting. The church, though
warmed as before, was less uncomfortable than usual, as the fire
had been earlier kindled and some of the smoke had passed away.
Though quite large, it was filled to overflowing by a more serious
congregation than I have before addressed in Persia, and especially
at Ardishái. As we passed out of the meeting, several old ladies
came around me and implored many blessings to rest on me, for
coming so far to preach to them. And one of them declared, that
if it had not been for us, half the village would ere this have become
Catholics.
With priest Yohannan, I afterward rode to Alcái, a village two
miles south of Ardishái, to hold another meeting. The congrega-
tion there was large and the appearance encouraging, though being
so little accustomed to the solemnity proper to be observed in reli-
gious services, the audience were inclined to indulge in conversa-
tion, as was also the case at first, in the other villages. It is very
interesting to notice how forcibly religious truth strikes these people,
when first presented, which on becoming familiar may cease to af
fect them. As I was to-day giving some account of the nature of
APPEAL-SACRIFICIAL FESTIVAL.
451
heaven, as sketched in the 21st chapter of Revelation, the feelings
of the audience rose and moved on with the description, until they
evidently reached a very high degree of interest, when one old
gentleman involuntarily exclaimed, "What must we do to secure a
place there?" I paused, and answered him in the words of Paul to
the jailer; for his inquiry was in substance, "What must I do to
be saved?"
After meeting, I dined with the priests, (a father and son,) of the
village. Several persons came in and uttered their long expressions
of gratitude for our coming to preach to them. 'You,' said the
priests, (addressing the villagers,) have been accustomed to cast
the blame upon us, telling us that the fault of your sins was not
your own, because you had nobody properly to teach you the will
of God and your duty, which was indeed partly true. But you can
say this no longer. The door is now open for you to hear the gos-
pel every Sabbath. Listen to it and be saved.' Priest Yohannan
had also enjoined on the audience in the church their obligation
promptly to attend meeting, by telling them, 'this gentleman, (re-
ferring to me,) came to Ardishai in the cold and darkness of last
evening, not for his own benefit but for your good; and will you
not come from your houses a few steps to hear the gospel, for your-
selves? And these missionaries have come from distant America,
forsaking father, mother and all things, not for their personal ad-
vantage, but to preach to you; and will you not come and listen
for your own salvation?' The audience seemed deeply to feel the
force of this appeal. There need be no other limit to the number
of congregations of Nestorians eager to listen to our preaching in
their churches on all parts of the plain, than our ability to perform
the labor.
Jan. 30. A camel, gorgeously arrayed with a shawl and other
trappings, was led into our yard, escorted by drums, bugles and a
large throng of men; and stationed before my study window, and a
messenger was sent to me to say, that the camel was the harbinger
of the Čorbán Beirâm, sacrificial festival, an anniversary of the Mŭ-
hammedans, in commemoration of Abraham's offering up Isaac,
whom the “Faithful" have changed to Ismail, (Ishmael,)—on which
occasion animals are slain and distributed among the poor. The
rich are accustomed to offer camels; and persons in humble life,
sheep, or calves, according to their circumstances. This camel
was the prince's intended offering, which his servants were now
conducting to the doors of those whom they wished to compliment,
and from whom they regard themselves entitled, in return, to a
small present, as an annual perquisite of the servants of the chief
magistrate. The Muhammedans, as well as the Nestorians, claim
Ibrahim, (Abraham,) as their Father.
Feb. 1. Our good friend, Dr. Riach, is back again in Persia,
having been sent by the Queen of England, as a special messenger
to the Shah, for the adjustment of the difficulties existing between
452
RELIGIOUS INTEREST-EMEER-I-NIZAM.
England and this country. He has just gone on to Tehrân. In
writing me from Tabréez on his way, he expressed a strong expec-
tation, that his agency would he successful. We have peculiar
cause for gratitude to God, that he has watched over us, during
these difficulties, while no Protestant embassy has been in the coun-
try, and permitted us to prosecute our work without any interrup-
tion. We have experienced enough of mercy and favor during
these "troublous times," to assure us, that the cause in which we
are engaged is dearer to Christ than it can be to any of His dis-
ciples.
Feb. 7. There were at least four hundred persons at our meet-
ing to-day at Geog-tapá. There is evidently a very unusual interest
on the subject of religion among the people there and in several
other villages. A deacon came in the afternoon, to request priest
Abraham and one of the missionaries to go to Charbâsh and hold a
meeting. The members of the mission all being engaged elsewhere,
the priest went alone; and he informed me on his return, that he
had a large congregation, who were eager to hear the word of God
and expressed a strong desire that they might have preaching there
every Sabbath. The field around us is thus ample and fully ripe
for the harvest.
Feb. 17. We visited the Emeer-i-nizâm, who arrived three days
ago. The object of his visit to this city is to adjust the deranged
state of the troops. He received us, to-day, with much kindness
and inquired with interest about our work and welfare. The floor
of his great room was half spread over with large trays loaded with
sweet-meats, which had been presented to him by the governor and
other high personages of the city, scores of whom were present at
the time. When we took our leave of the Emeer, he directed our
Meerza, who was with us, to remain, we knew not for what reason.
But it was soon apparent, when the Meerza came with four of the
Emeer's servants, bearing two of the huge trays of sweet-meats, and
a fine lamb, to our dwelling, as a present from his Excellency and
a token of his friendship. He evidently intended this distinguished
attention as an open announcement to the people here, that we en-
joy his confidence and protection, an impression which he farther
took pains to strengthen, during his visit, by sending us portions of
his game-a wild goat, ducks, etc. that he took in hunting. This
good old Persian magistrate, (good for Persia,) has from my first
acquaintance with him at Tabréez, shown himself very friendly to
us and our object, having repeatedly written the governor of Oróo-
miah, enjoining on him to take care of us, and made other special
efforts to protect us, in the absence of the English embassy. Such
favors from him are the more grateful, as we have the satisfaction
of knowing that his personal character is less exceptionable than
that of perhaps any other Persian noble in the empire.
The Emeer has recently been with troops on an excursion to the
frontier, near Bayazéed, to chastise the refractory Koords. He has
INTELLIGENCE-PUNISHMENTS.
453
taken several of their chiefs, beheaded three or four of them and
placed others in prison. Mt. Ararat and the region around it, he
stated to us, is still terribly shaken by frequent earthquakes. In
one instance, when he was near it, a shock occurred so severe as to
break up the ice on the river Arrás. Last summer, a large Arme-
nian village, near the base of the mountain, was buried by the earth
and rocks that were shaken down; and the sudden melting of the
vast avalanches, which were shaken down at that hot season of the
year, swelled the Arrás and flooded the region.
We also visited the vizier of the Emeer-i-nizâm. When the
Emeer was sent, some years ago, as ambassador to St. Petersburg,
this same vizíer went with him as his secretary. While there, they
both acquired many European ideas and so much information, that
they now appear a whole age in advance of their countrymen of this
province. The vizíer, in particular, has more knowledge of distant
America-which most Persians, who know of its existence, regard
as a remote island, still under the government of the English—than
any native, with whom I have met in this country.
Feb. 27. The Emeer, acting on the plenipotentiary powers,
delegated to him by the king, is causing great consternation at
Oróomiah, by apprehending and punishing a large number of mili-
tary officers, who mutinied and committed horrid outrages on the in-
habitants during their campaign in Khorasân. About twenty officers
have been imprisoned and severely beaten; heavy fines have also
been taken from their families,-the beating being continued until
the money was forth-coming,—and most of them have been subse-
quently put in chains and sent to the capital. On going to the
bazár, a few days ago, I observed three captains lying on the city
common, with their legs bound to sticks of timber, and they trem-
bling and writhing under the rigor of the whip, one of whom died
the day following, from the severity with which he had been beaten
and subsequent exposure to cold. The soles of their feet, when I
saw them, were bruised almost to a jelly; their legs were naked and
bloody; they were agonized with pain and shaking with chills,
there being snow on the ground around them; and twelve or fifteen
were afterward exposed there together in a similar condition. It is
trying to our feelings to witness such severity and think of the suf-
fering of their families inflicted by the heavy fines. We cannot
doubt, however, that the culprits richly deserve severe punishment
for their lawless conduct, both in camp and at home. "The troops
are the terror of the inhabitants here, on whom they have been ac-
customed to commit almost every species of violence and oppres-
sion with impunity.
The Persian government cannot afford to keep men in confine-
ment except princes and, rarely, nobles, having no system of prison-
labor by which they might defray their expenses. Criminals are,
therefore, usually punished with despatch as well as severity. Cap-
ital punishment for murder and high-handed robbery, is effected in
A
454
PRISON DISCIPLINE-
-COMMUNION.
most cases by beheading. The criminal, in this case, has his throat
drawn across a bar, by a rope around the neck, and being thus ad-
vantageously exposed and the cords all strained, the huge knife of
the meer-kăzâb, executioner, often severs the head from the body,
at a single blow. Repeated theft is punished by the amputation of
a hand, an arm, an ear, or the nose. The trunk of a limb thus am-
putated is dipped immediately into a cauldron of boiling oil, and
mortification, or very protracted ulceration, hardly ever ensues. For
adultery and murder united, I have known a female buried in the
earth alive. And the first premier of the present Shâh was stran-
gled, or rather, smothered, for alleged treason. His death was ef-
fected by being placed between two large beds and a file of men
seating themselves upon the upper one closely around him. Less
serious offences are punished with bastinadoing and whipping,—as
heavy fines as the magistrate can obtain being also exacted in con-
nexion with these inflictions. A bribe large enough to satisfy him
will of course avert any and all corporeal punishments.
Few things in America have impressed Mar Yohannan more
strongly, than the humane provisions in our prisons. On visiting
one in Charlestown, for instance, seeing a Bible in every cell-the
sick well-furnished with nurses, medicine and a physician, the in-
mates all well clad, cleanly and actively employed; and at the close
of the labors of the day, repairing to their chapel for devotional ex-
ercises, listening to a chapter from the word of God-singing their
evening hymn, and uniting in prayer with deep apparent solemnity,
"The Bible rules in America, the sword in Persia; here, light
like day; there, darkness like midnight," was his emphatic and
very natural comment; and the contrast was hardly more impres-
sive to his mind than my own. It is the Bible that makes this won-
derful difference. This can and will change every habitation of
cruelty into a garden and city of our God.
March 7. The church was so crowded at Ardishái, that the
people were obliged to stand as closely as possible together; and as
it was communion season, the services were very long,―nearly
three hours, including our meeting; but the great congregation
manifested not the least impatience to the close. And every morn-
ing and evening, during the week, as priest Yohannan informed
me, almost as many now assemble to listen to the good word of the
Lord. The general attention to the subject of religion there is such
as to arrest the observation of the people themselves, who say to
each other, that their oldest men have never before witnessed a time
of so much interest. A circumstance of much encouragement at
Ardishái is, that a number who were drawn away by the Catholics
have, recently, been led back to the Nestorian fold.
I was deeply pained with the appalling heartlessness with which
some of the ecclesiastics engaged in the communion services, and
with the indiscriminate admission of all ages and characters to the
Lord's table. If the rite of confirmation exists in the Nestorian
PREPARATION OF THE ELEMENTS-BAPTISM.
455
canons, nothing of it appears in their practice so far as I have ob-
served. Children, from the age of three years-or younger-
are allowed and encouraged to partake of the elements, which
all seem to regard as possessing a certain magic charm, that will
somehow tend to prepare them for heaven, or rather entitle them
to it, without reference to any influence exerted on their charac-
ters. Kõrbána, (gift or offering, oblatio,) is the term which they
apply to the elements. They do not worship them, in the supersti-
tious manner of the Papists, nor hold to real presence, in the Papal
sense of that term. They, however, appear to cherish a kind of
homage for the bread and wine which is not very intelligent nor
scriptural, and great particularity is observed in the preparation of
these elements. The bread must be baked in an apartment of the
church; and among the most scrupulous, the wheat must be ground
in a consecrated mill [hand-mill], separated from the rest in the
field and shelled by hand instead of being trodden out by cattle.
Alas, in how many things do these fallen Christians strain out the
gnat and swallow the camel! As nearly as I have been able to as-
certain, in the general vagueness of their views on spiritual subjects,
the consubstantiation of the Lutherans would very well define the
Nestorian belief in relation to this ordinance, if indeed, that term be
itself well defined or understood by those who adopt it.
The Nestorians sometimes speak of having witnessed the pres-
ence of the Holy Spirit in their churches, not as felt merely, but
as also visible, in the appearance of a blue vapor, hovering over the
elements at the Lord's supper, or the consecrated oil, at baptisms.
Some Romish priest, or other mystifying illuminator, may possibly
have performed miracles, long ago in these regions, by nieans of
gas or otherwise, and thus contributed to give materiality to the
spiritual conceptions of this people. I have occasionally found
among some of them obscure traces of European light of this same
general description.
At the close of our meeting, several children were baptized.
The ceremony of baptism, (Umâda) among the Nestorians, like most
of their religious rites, is simple, compared with the forms of other
oriental sects. They have a room in the church, which is devoted
to baptism, (Kunkee-place of consecration; or mâmodéeta, or Baet
mâmodéeta, place, or house of baptism). The children are divested
of their clothing and anointed on the head and the breast, in the
form of the cross, with consecrated oil, (kerne, horn, i. e. horn of oil,
from which the ancient kings and prophets were wont to be anoint-
ed,―fully written, Kerna ď'míshkha). They are then set into a
vessel of tepid water which extends up to the neck and held there
by a deacon; while the priest takes up water with both hands three
times and suffuses it over the head, repeating one person of the
Trinity each time. I observed nothing exceptionable in their man-
ner of performing this ordinance, except the oiling and crossing of
the child, and the same heartlessness and want of solemnity in the
456
FIRST PROOF-SHEETS—BUFFALO-FIGHTING.
officiators which marked their services at the celebration of the
Lord's supper. The Nestorians observe no rule in relation to the
age at which infants shall be presented for baptism. For the mu-
tual convenience of the parents and the clergy, some festival occa-
sions are usually embraced for the purpose; particularly the day
which they regard as commemorating Christ's baptism by John in
Jordan; also, the day of his crucifixion, taking the idea perhaps
from the apostle's figure of being "baptized unto his death."
From Ardishái, we rode to Alcái, and attended a meeting at that
village. The audience was small, in consequence of the Mussul-
mân master being there, the people fearing to be seen by him
flocking together, lest they should be taken up and compelled to go
to work. I dined with the priests of the village. While at dinner,
a Mussulmân, from the vicinity, came in, and stated that his cow re-
fused to yield her usual quota of milk and requested the elder priest
to prescribe some charm to remedy the evil. The priest took a
spoonful of salt in his hand, repeated over it a prayer and gave it to
the Mussulmân to administer to his cow. Priest Yohannan was
much mortified by this superstitious conduct of his clerical brother,
and apologized by saying that they have an old book which teaches,
them many such foolish practices.
March 13. The proof-sheets of our first tract in the Nestorian
language was brought into my study for correction. This is in-
deed the first sheet, ever printed in that language and character.
As it was laid upon my table, before our translators, priest Abra-
ham and Dunka, they were struck with mute astonishment and
rapture, to see their language in print; though they had themselves
assisted me, a few days before, in preparing the same matter for the
press. As soon as recovery from their surprise allowed them utte-
rance, "it is time to give glory to God," they mutually exclaimed,
"that our eyes are permitted to behold the commencement of print-
ing books for our people!" No wonder that the priests are thus in-
terested, pointing, as this tract does, to an era of light and hope for
their people. In the evening, I held a meeting with about twenty
of the young men and boys, connected with our seminary and print-
ing office, to converse with them on the concerns of their souls. I
found several of them very serious and tender in their feelings.
March 21. Preached at Vazeróva, a village two miles east of
the city. Mar Elias was with me, who collected the congregation
in that village some months ago, and preaches there every Sabbath
with great acceptance, and apparently with very good effect. In
the afternoon, I attended meeting in the village of Deegála, a mile
east of the city. There was good attendance, but our service was
disturbed by the departure of several persons who were called out by
the master of the village. It being Noo-rose, new year's day, the Khân
had summoned the inhabitants to entertain him on the open common
with an exhibition of buffalo-fighting, which is a very favorite

DorM
PERSIAN SOLDIER.
FIFTY-FIRST PSALM—BEARDS.
457
amusement in Persia, at this season of the year. If the buffaloes
have been well fed during the winter, they are now fresh and
strong, having rested so long from their summer toils. To add to
their native vivacity-or rather, ferocity-they are sometimes liberal-
ly treated to wine on such occasions, it being well understood in
Persia, that fighting follows drinking, whether among quadrupeds
or bipeds. Nature has guarded the terrific ferocity to which the
buffaloes are capable of being excited, by the conformation of their
horns, which retreat toward the neck about as harmlessly as the
horns of a sheep.
We recently translated the 51st Psalm, to insert in the chapter
in our first tract, on the necessity of a new heart. As I was admir-
ing the spirit of the Psalm, priest Dunka reminded me, that the
Nestorians repeat it daily in the ancient Syriac, in their regular
devotions. They always go to a brook or spring and wash the
face and hands, immediately before worship, and while washing,
repeat in a whisper a part of this Psalm, beginning with the second
verse, "Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity and cleanse me
from my sin," etc. At the commencement of their worship, in
their churches, an invocation is offered, consisting mainly of several
verses from the last part of this Psalm, viz., "O Lord open thou
my lips, and my mouth shall show forth thy praise. For thou de-
sirest not sacrifice, else would I give it; thou delightest not in
burnt-offering; the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken
and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise." The very promi-
nent places which this wonderful Psalm and other portions of Scrip-
ture of like import, hold in the Nestorian Liturgy, have often strong-
ly impressed me with the former comparative purity of this ancient
church, and the general excellence of the matter embodied in their
church service. At the same time, there is more or less that is ex-
ceptionable in it, which ought never to be translated.
March 25. The soldiers, who keep our gate and premises, were
required to appear with their regiment for review. One of them
sent to me, requesting that our mission would petition the Emeer-
i-nizâm, in behalf of his long beard, which was in danger of sharing
the common fate of all the beards of the troops, i. e. be shaved, or
rather, clipped closely with shears. Though the poor soldier pro-
bably valued his beard far above rubies, and I felt no particular
hostility to it, I still did not deem it my duty to interfere. The in-
cident reminded me of the rapidity with which Asiatic customs
are declining. Mar Yohannan, however, on his arrival at New
York, half seriously started the inquiry, whether the beards that
are so rapidly vanishing, in Persia, in this day of change, have not
all come round the globe on some principle of transmigration, and
are now re-appearing on the chins of young men in America! If
this idea be well founded and beards are to have a general growth
in this western world, I should perhaps state, for the information of
cultivators and admirers, a fact or two in relation to the manner in
58
458
HEALTH-RETREAT-MT. SEIR-ORDINATION.
which they are treated and regarded in Persia. The Persians
usually clip the beard with shears, for a few years, until it acquires
a heavy body. When they allow it to grow long, they are very
particular in relation to the color, and if need be, paint it black,
every week or oftener, as Persian ladies paint their eye-brows.
They follow this practice, until age so wrinkles their faces, that a
black beard, even, can no longer conceal its inroads, when suddenly,
they are equally partial to white beards,-these being regarded as
such invariable emblems of dignity and wisdom, that in Persian and
Turkish, the term, White Beard, is a title which is applied to
venerated personages and often to magistrates, and carries with it
great weight and authority, equivalent, perhaps, to sage, in English;
and in the Nestorian language, the same term is equivalent to elder
or presbyter, as used in the New Testament.
March 29. I went up to the small village on Mt. Seir, to com-
mence building a health-retreat, for the invalids of our mission.
We feel constrained to delay this provision no longer, as we would
save our lives and labors to our field. The situation of Seir is re-
markably fine. It is nearly one thousand feet above the plain, but
is reached by a gradual ascent, and is only about five miles dis-
tant from the city. There, we may hope to avoid the malaria, and
not be essentially retarded in our missionary work. It is, moreover,
one of the most beautiful and grand situations that I ever beheld,
overlooking the city, plain, lake, and in fact, the whole province, at
a single view. The more efficient system of our new governor
renders the mountain declivities less insecure than they formerly
were, though we must still use precautions.
I started from home this morning in a violent storm, which was
rain on the plain, but snow on the mountain. I regarded it as so
much of an object to impress our workmen at the outset of the un-
dertaking, with the importance of punctuality-tardy as Asiatics
always are that I hesitated not to encounter the inclemency of
the weather. I was not surprised that the masons did not make
their appearance, according to agreement; but the storm abating
a little, about noon, I hired several common laborers of the village,
and superintended them myself, while they dug a trench for the
foundation of the wall. The ground, where we dug this trench, and
on the declivity around, is filled with fine licorice.
April 18. Preached Mr. Stocking's ordination sermon, from
1 Cor. 9: 16, “For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to
glory of; for necessity is laid upon me; yea, wo is unto me if I
preach not the gospel." The services were performed in the Nes-
torian church of this city, (St. Mary's,) to the use of which we were
welcomed by the Nestorian bishops. The occasion was rendered
peculiarly interesting, by the presence and serious attention of a
crowded Nestorian audience, who, at the close, advanced individu-
ally of their own accord, and kissed Mr. Stocking's hand, in recog-
nition of his consecration, while the venerable Mar Elias kissed his
head, as a token that he also welcomed him as one worthy and du-
+
FRENCH GUESTS-DISCUSSION.
459
ly authorized to break the bread of life to his people. We were
led to advise Mr. Stocking to receive ordination, particularly from
the present call, in this province, to preach the gospel-a call too
loud for the two senior members of the mission-the only ones be-
sides Mr. S. then able to use the native language—and in fact for
us all, adequately to answer. So numerous are the doors thrown
open, and so strong is the importunity of both ecclesiastics and
people, that we should enter their churches every Sabbath and pro-
claim to them the glad tidings, that Mr. S. had felt constrained to
do this, for some months, in an informal manner. It appeared
quite clear, therefore, that he was called of the Lord, yea, that a
necessity" was laid upon him, "to take part in this ministry.
66
June 12. Several Frenchmen, who were connected with the late
embassy to Persia, arrived on their way, by Bagdâd, back to France.
They are the guests of the prince-governor.
June 14. His Royal Highness sent to us yesterday, inviting us
to partake of a collation with him and his French guests, to-day,
under his tent at Mt. Seir; and proposing that they should all come
and dine with us at evening. It being the Sabbath day, yesterday,
we of course deferred our reply until this morning. The most in-
teresting circumstance, connected with the levee on the mountain,
was a religious discussion, which took place between the prince and
M. Theophane, a French Catholic priest, who has come to Oróo-
miah to commence Papal operations, and was, to-day, one of the
European party. Come Mr. Holladay,' said the prince, (knowing
that Mr. H. could speak some French,) 'dispute with M. Theo-
phane about the power of the Pope; we will beat down the Pope's
power, and not allow of his arrogant assumptions; I disputed long
with M. T. last evening on this subject, and have often done the
same before.' Mr. Holladay excused himself by replying that he
did not speak French very fluently, wisely deeming it inexpedient
to expose his religious belief to his imperfect command of a foreign
tongue, in those very delicate circumstances. His Royal Highness
himself, therefore, undertook the burden of discussion.M. Theo-
phane,' (who was outside of the tent at the time,) the prince called
out, 'come, let us hear what you can say for the Pope.' M. T. with
all the assurance of a Jesuit, promptly accepted the challenge, and
presented himself before the Muhammedan prince, as the champion
of Papacy. He commenced by asserting the absolute authority of
the Pope, in all things spiritual, and drew analogies from despotic
governments, (which he supposed would take well in Persia,) but
the prince replied in so prompt and able a manner, that the Laza-
rist soon found himself in an attitude of great embarrassment,—the
greater, on perceiving that his royal antagonist had a powerful co-
adjutor in one of the French gentlemen, who was a free-thinker.
Poor M. T. colored and trembled like an aspen leaf; and no mar-
vel; for there he was, strongly assailed on the tender point of the
Pope's authority, by a Persian prince sustained by one of his own

460
A FREE-THINKER-BUILDING.
countrymen,—and all this, in the presence of his Protestant adver-
saries, as he of course regarded us. In many cases, we could not
indeed second the positions of the prince and the French infidel,
any more than those of the Papist. When, however, they appealed
to me, with propositions founded on truth, I did not hesitate to give
them my sanction, and would have done the same for M. Theophane.
In one instance, for example, the prince turned to me thus: "I tell
him [the Lazarist] how can the Pope be God's lieutenant? He is
only a man, like ourselves!' 'So we say,' I replied. A principle
so scriptural and Protestant, as well as in keeping with common
sense, I must of course second; and so of others of a like character.
For the free-thinking Frenchman, moreover, I felt a strong de-
gree of compassionate sympathy. An intelligent man is excusable,
for being disgusted with Papal corruptions; and if he knows the
christian religion in no better form, it is not strange that he falls
into skeptical principles. Such, indeed, is the almost necessary re-
sult of his circumstances. And is it not in this way, that Papacy
is to be prostrated? It brings forth infidelity as its legitimate off-
spring, nurtures it in its own bosom and rears it up to become its
own giant destroyer.
In the evening, the prince and his European guests, amounting,
in connexion with our own circle, to twenty individuals, dined at
our house—the largest European and American party that we have
ever seen together at Oróomiah. The evening passed agreeably.
As the arrangement was proposed by His Royal Highness, on whose
protection and favor the prosperity of our work is more or less de-
pendent, we could not well decline it, had we been disposed.
June 21. I took leave of the workmen, at our health-retreat on
Mt. Seir, having stood among them from morning till night almost
every week day, for nearly three months, and much of the time la-
boring with them, to prevent the waste of missionary funds. It
has been a heavy undertaking, especially, from the peculiarity of
the present season, as it has rained, more or less, three-fourths of
the days during this whole period,—a thing almost unparalleled in
Persia. Many times have I been drenched and remained so for
hours. To dry bricks by the sun, for the large building, in such a
season, has been extremely difficult; yet two hundred thousand
have been made, dried and laid; and a stone wall, surrounding the
premises, 200 feet long on two sides and 135 feet on the other two,
has been carried up to the height of fifteen or sixteen feet. The
premises are necessarily thus spacious, to accommodate all the fami-
lies of our mission, during the hot weather of summer, and our
seminary at the same time; and it was indispensable to secure them
by this high, strong wall, to afford us the prospect of even tolerable
safety from the marauding Koords. That the undertaking has been
thus successfully carried forward, toward completion, in such unfa-
vorable circumstances, affords us new occasion to set up our "Eben-
ezer" and inscribe upon it, "hitherto hath the Lord helped us.
""
RETURN-
461
The materials, both for the building and the wall, being taken from
the earth on the spot, and the price of labor being extremely low,
render the expense of their erection very moderate.
—MRS. PERKINS'S STATE OF HEALTH.
How happy should we have felt, could we, with safety, have gone
directly to this summer-retreat to reside. But so impaired was Mrs.
Perkins's health, that previous journeying, to raise her prostrated
system, appeared quite indispensable, to the reasonable hope of per-
manent relief, even from the more healthy air of Mt. Seir.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
RETURN TO AMERICA.
WHILE first preparing to leave my native country, the inquiry
was often addressed to me, by friends, 'Do you not expect to return ?'
To which I as often replied, 'I do not expect, nor desire to return;
nothing but calamity could bring me back; and this I cannot of
course desire.' The prostration of Mrs. Perkins's health and the
rapid inroads of an alarming disease, proved in the event to be such
a calamity. Entire relaxation from care and labor, a temporary
retreat from the pestilential climate of Oróomiah and a long voyage,
were the means to which, in the opinion of those competent to
judge, we were clearly called upon to resort, or soon be compelled
to yield to the still more trying alternative of abandoning forever
our missionary field.
There is a sensitiveness in the christian community on the sub-
ject of the return of missionaries, and to some extent, doubtless, a
reasonable one. Missionaries should certainly not return without
imperative and unavoidable reasons, incurring thereby as they must,
heavy expenses, as well as serious interruption of their work. And
as the above general statement, in relation to our own case, may be
an insufficient explanation, I will give the circumstances more at
length, which I can best do by a brief reference to documents.
From a letter addressed to a Secretary of the American Board,
respecting the state of Mrs. Perkins's health, more than a year pre-
vious to our leaving the field, is the following, viz., "Probably few,
if any, missionaries have left America, with health and constitutions
more perfect than Mrs. P. possessed, when we came to this country.
And few, you are aware, have been subjected to exposures and trials
to surpass hers, particularly in the early part of our missionary ex-
perience. The result is that her originally fine constitution is bro-
ken down, and an alarming disease seems to be settling upon her.
You may recollect the sufferings which Mrs. P. encountered, on
our way to Persia, and the very severe sickness she experienced,
462
VIEWS OF THE MISSION.
immediately after our arrival at Tabréez. Recovery from that sick-
ness seemed entirely beyond the reach of hope for some time; nor
did she ever fully recover from the effects of it. Though she has
since enjoyed tolerable health, much of the time, still, to one pre-
viously acquainted with her, it has always been obvious, that her
constitution was irreparably injured by her sickness at Tabréez.
The climate of Oróomiah has affected her seriously. Often has
she suffered severe attacks of fever; and she has been so much af-
flicted with ophthalmy, during a considerable part of our residence
here, as to be unable to read and write. Mrs. P.'s repeated bereave-
ments, in the death of our three children, have also borne heavily
upon her already impaired constitution. Each has been more severe
than the previous, in proportion to the increased age of the loved
object removed, and has given to her system a correspondingly more
serious shock.
"The result of these sicknesses and trials is, that for the last two
years and a half, Mrs. P. has had symptoms of epilepsy, and within
the last few months, she has had two severe attacks of that disease.
The last occurred a few days ago, since the death of William, our
only child. The symptoms have appeared when her system has be-
come febrile, which is very often the case with us all, in this cli-
mate."
The following is a communication of a later date, addressed to
me by the other members of our mission.
Rev. J. Perkins,
Oróomiah, 17th Nov. 1840.
Dear Brother,—When the subject of Mrs. Perkins's health was
last discussed by the mission, we fondly hoped that the careful use
of necessary precautions would prevent a frequent recurrence of the
attacks to which she is subject, or greatly mitigate their violence;
so that your valuable labors would be saved to our mission without
a greater sacrifice on the part of yourself and family, than that to
which we are all subjected by a residence in this insalubrious cli-
mate; but the distressing nature of Mrs. Perkins's last illness has
led us to take a different view of this painful subject. Deeply sen-
sible, as we are, of the greatness of the loss which we must sustain
in your removal from the field of our common labors, we can no
longer withhold our unqualified consent to any measures which hold
out a prospect of relief to our dear afflicted sister; and we are de-
cidedly of the opinion, that it is expedient for you, by the first safe
opportunity, to endeavor, by exercise and change of scene, to effect a
change in Mrs. Perkins's general health.
We would leave it entirely to your own discretion to decide on
the length of your journey, and the expediency of a voyage to Amer-
ica, believing that you will be guided by a sense of duty, and that
TIES TO OUR FIELD OPINION OF PHYSICIANS. 463
the duration of your absence must depend upon circumstances which
cannot now be anticipated.
We feel that in your affliction, we are afflicted; we pray that this
heavy trial may be blessed to both yourselves and us; that you may
both be sustained in it by the gracious hand of our heavenly Father;
and that, if the will of God be so, the life of our dear sister may be
spared, and her health restored. We commit and commend you
and yours, dear brother, to the care of Him who never slumbers nor
sleeps, and who, we are confident, will never leave you nor forsake
you, least of all when you are passing through the deep waters of
affliction.
Be assured that our sympathies and our prayers will follow you,
and that we are, with much affection,
(Signed)
Your brethren and fellow laborers,
A. L. HOLLADAY,
WM. R. STOCKING,
WILLARD Jones,
A. H. WRIGHT,
E. BREATH."
The lateness of the season, when the above letter was written, for-
bade our attempting to journey at least until the ensuing spring.
Nor is it prudent to travel with a family, over the snowy heights of
Armenia, until the summer months. During the interval, Mrs. P.
was twice visited with serious illness, but we had no other alterna-
tive than to wait patiently for a proper season of the year to jour-
ney for her benefit, being diligently engaged, meanwhile, in our
pressing missionary labors. And when the time at length came, how
did our hearts shrink from leaving, even temporarily, the charming
field in which we had been permitted to strike the first blow and
toil so long, especially at a period, when we were not only going
forth, weeping and bearing precious seed, but coming again with
rejoicing, bringing our sheaves with us. There, too, are our child-
ren's sepulchres, and the ten thousand nameless ties that bind us to
our Persian home.
We left Oróomiah, with the general expectation of finding it ne-
cessary to visit America, though with some hope that a journey into
Turkey might suffice; and we waived the full decision of the ques-
tion, until we reached Constantinople. There we had an opportu-
nity of consulting several eminent English physicians, particularly
Drs. Davy (a brother of Sir H. Davy) and Dorson, who were sent
out by the British government, to regulate the hospital system of
the Turks, and who were very kind, in attending to Mrs. P.'s case.
They and our missionary friends were of opinion, that nothing pro-
mised so much for the benefit of her health as the contemplated
voyage. And it is my grateful privilege to record, that our antici-
pations of benefit from this measure have been happily realized in
the improvement of her health.
T
464
DEPARTURE-CROSSING THE PLAIN.
The inhabitants of Oróomiah have a quaint saying to express
their strong attachment to their native soil, "Beat me, but do not
drive me away from Oróomiah;" and to this sentiment our hearts
could fully respond, when, on the morning of July 5, 1841-we
found ourselves ready to commence our journey. Our house was
filled with Nestorians during the forenoon, who came to express
to us their sorrow at our departure, and tender to us their best
wishes and prayers for our safety on the way and our speedy return.
Thus occupied, we lingered until afternoon, then dined and united
in prayer with our missionary companions, closed the doors of our
dwelling and mounted our horses. The members of the mission
accompanied us a few miles from the city. So large a crowd had
assembled around our gate, when we started, to bid us farewell, that
we found it extremely difficult to make our way through them. And a
number of our Nestorian acquaintances followed us far on the road,
the venerable Mar Elias, though on foot, being the last to turn back,
who, in spite of our remonstrances, walked by the side of our horses,
between two and three miles, in the hot sun, before he would give
us his parting benediction.
As we rode across the great plain, I was forcibly impressed, as I
had so often been before, with its surpassing beauty and fertility.
On every side, it was now waving under an abundant wheat har-
vest, which the busy, joyful reapers were cutting down and gather-
ing into stacks. "Not another so charming a scene,” I remarked,
"shall I witness until I reach America." "Nor then," replied Mr.
Breath, who is from Illinois, "will you behold such a land, unless
you see the American bottom, on the Mississippi."
We rode twelve miles, to the village of Chungaralée, where we
found our tent, which had been carried forward by the muleteer, al-
ready pitched upon the green grass, on the bank of the beautiful
Nazlóo river. We took some refreshments, had evening worship
and retired early to rest, filled with tender recollections of Oróo-
miah, and with trembling solicitude for the result of the great
undertaking before us.
July 6. We rose at day-break, rode briskly before our loads,
twenty miles, and reached Gavalân about nine o'clock in the morn-
ing. Mar Yohannan had preceded us a week, to obtain permission
from his friends and make preparation to accompany us.
Our mis-
sion had tried to dissuade him; but he had been too long and too
ardently bent on visiting the goodly land and the good people that
had sent the missionaries, to be turned from his purpose, especially
when such an opportunity as that of accompanying me presented.
We told him that we could not help him to any means for travel-
ling; but he was resolved on going at his own expense. Our mis-
sion requested me to take care of him, justly deeming it a matter of
high importance that he should be benefitted and not injured, by this
great and novel undertaking. The bishop had not obtained his
father's permission, though he had been importuning him so long,
BISHOP'S DEPARTURE-MINERALS-SALMAS
465
and had the whole time been fully resolved on the enterprise at all
hazards. He soon engaged his episcopal brother, Mar Joseph, who
had accompanied us to Gavalán, to intercede with his father on the
subject. It was deeply interesting to observe the importance in his
mind of securing that point, (though resolved on going perhaps
even without it,) evincing a very commendable degree of dutifulness
in the son, who is more than forty years old, and a bishop, whom
custom requires even his parents to address by the title of Abóona,
our father, as well as to salute him by kissing his hand. He was,
however, doubtless, influenced by the strong impression which exists
in all orientals, that no enterprise will prosper, if undertaken with-
out a father's sanction and a father's blessing. In the evening,
they all came to our tent, the father's permission having been finally
obtained. The venerable old man committed his son in a very for-
mal manner to my hands, and I engaged to take care of him.
July 7. Very early this morning, the bishop sent his bed (a sin-
gle Yorgan, comforter, and pillow) and Hoorjin, carpet-bag, to our
tent to be put up with our loads. Soon afterward, his mother and sis-
ters, their hearts failing them, despatched a brother to take back the
effects and thus prevent his going. But it was too late. The loads
were on the horses and on the way. The villagers also assembled
and added their remonstrances to those of the family. But the bish-
op had obtained his father's permission; and with this he felt at
liberty to break over all remaining barriers. Pushing his way
through the great concourse, he suddenly mounted his horse and
rode away.
The declivity on the western side of the ridge, which separates
Oróomiah from Salmás, is long and gradual. About half way down
is a level section,, which, as we crossed it, rung and reverberated as
though the ground were hollow under our feet,-a circumstance
that I have often noticed here and elsewhere, in the East, and may
be somewhat peculiar to lime-stone countries. A great variety of
minerals arrested our attention. This, like all the Koordish ranges,
and indeed all the wild mountains on our route, would afford rich
fields for geological investigation. I picked up specimens only of
quartz and marble on this ridge. I was tempted to gather many
more, but too long a land journey lay before us, to allow the addi-
tional weight to our loads.
The district of Salmás is much colder and less fertile than Oróo-
miah, but is still a delightful valley, containing about fifty villages,
some of which are quite large, each numbering two or three thou-
sand inhabitants. Dilmân, in the centre, is a fine walled town,
and the residence of the governor, Yâhya Khân, a Koord, whose
sister is the favorite wife of the king. The town of Salmás, in the
upper end of the valley, is the old Armenian capital, now much in
decay. Mr. Ainsworth, an English traveller, sent out under the.
joint patronage of the Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge
and the Geographical Society, states that there is no such town as
59
466
MÜLETEER—DISTRICT AND CITY OF KHOY.
Salmás; that this name is applied only to the district,—a mistake
into which he fell, from the fact, that the natives, by way of emi-
nence, call it, Shahér, the city. The same is true of Oróomiah.
A native does not usually call the town by that name, but Shahér.
And yet there is a city, as well as a province, whose name is pro-
perly Oróomiah. I visited our school at Ooláh, where we stopped,
and found the scholars doing very well.
July 8. Our muleteer, who belongs in Dilmân, importuned me
yesterday to allow him to go home and supply himself with bread
for the journey, as there is a great scarcity of provisions, after leav-
ing Persia, on the route to Erzroom. I gave him permission to be
absent until noon to-day, at which time he solemnly promised to re-
turn. He came, by being sent for, near sun-set, with plausible
excuses enough for his tardiness, and too many to be half of them
true; but I was not disappointed; for the muleteers in Persia are
commonly among the most treacherous of that treacherous people.
We started soon after he came, intending to ride during the night,
and reach Khoy before stopping. We had proceeded, however,
only about six miles, when we were overtaken by a thunder-storm.
Happening to be near the Muhammedan village of Ahrawân, we
sought a shelter in the house of a peasant. Meanwhile our mule-
teer had lingered and taken another road, and we were consequent-
ly obliged to lie down upon the floor without our bedding and thus
pass the night. The singularly rainy season of Oróomiah extended
to Salmás also, as we now had abundant demonstration.
July 9.
We rose early from our hard beds, poorly refreshed, and
started on our way. We at length overtook the muleteer, who had
passed the night in the same village with ourselves, while each
party was ignorant that the other was there. Khoy is second only
to Oróomiah, in point of beauty and fertility, of all the districts that
I have seen in Persia, or in Asia. The valley is surrounded on all
sides by mountains. Near our road is a low mountain of rock salt,
from which considerable quantities are quarried. Four miles be-
fore reaching the city, we crossed Kâtul-chái, killing-river, by a
strong bridge built of brick and stone. From thence to the city,
the road is studded, all the way, with two rows of willows and a wa-
ter-course between them, on either side, forming one of the most
delightful avenues that exists in Persia. On the west, at a little
distance, is a splendid summer palace of the prince-governor. The
town and its walls are in much better repair than is the case with
most cities in Persia; and it has, both within and without, a pecu-
liarly neat, tasteful appearance, resembling an Italian, more than a
Persian, town. But the climate of this beautiful district is so un-
healthy, that its inhabitants all wear a sallow, cadaverous complexion.
July 10. Eight miles in a westerly direction from Khoy, brought
us over the plain to the large village of Pera, surrounded by fruitful
gardens. The harvesters were thick and active as swarms of bees
on all parts of the plain, cutting down the crop and carrying it to

Thayer & Co Lath. Boston.
A PERSIAN MULETEER, WITH HIS WINTER CLOAK OF GOATSKIN.
}
THRESHING FLOOD
SUBLIME SCENE.
46™
the threshing-floors, or grassy patches, upon which the sheaves are
arranged in a circle and threshed in the ancient manner, by cattle
and horses, driven around upon them, and drawing the threshing-
machine. This machine consists of a cylinder, thickly set with
small chisels pointing outward, and fitted into a small frame so as to
revolve, a boy sitting upon the frame and driving the cattle in a
brisk trot. This process cuts the straw fine for fodder and for
mixing with mud for plaster, as well as rapidly shells out the grain.
The mass is afterward thrown up, on a windy day, with a wooden
fork, and the chaff is thus separated from the wheat. Near the
foot of the mountain, there had been a great destruction in the
wheat-fields, two days before, from an extraordinary flood caused
by the heavy rain which overtook us in Salmás. A torrent came
down with such suddenness and power, as to sweep everything be-
fore it. It even carried off one young man, whom it was not possi-
ble to rescue until he was drowned. The bereaved family were
still making their lamentation.
The ascent of the mountain west of Khoy is gradual, and perhaps
ten miles long. In many places, the path was washed and gullied
so as seriously to impede our passing. The rocky foundations were
in some cases laid bare, there being no forests and roots of trees to
obstruct the washing of the torrents on the declivities; and in one
instance, the road was entirely filled up and intercepted by an ava-
lanche of earth. The whole scene forcibly reminded us of the im-
pressiveness of the figures used by our Lord, of the houses built
respectively upon the rock and the sand, and their condition "when
the rains descended and the floods came." From the abundant
showers of this season, this mountain was still clothed with luxuriant
verdure; and the gentle slopes and swells, waving under their rich
growth of grass and flowers, stood in striking contrast with the
barren sterility of most Persian mountains, and of this, in ordinary
seasons. As we reached the summit, we were sprinkled by a
shower. The snow had but recently melted. We were on á level
with the clouds. Clear spots of sky appeared through them, and
rain-bows were formed by the great drops that were falling. These
almost fairy scenes were succeeded by one yet more beautiful and
striking. On the western side of the table-land, at the top of this
range, rises a bold ridge, in solitary grandeur, which was also now
covered with rich green grass, except here and there a patch of
snow, or naked primitive rocks. The clouds and fog were gently
rolling on the summit and along the sides, and heavy showers of
rain were pouring down upon it, alternately advancing and reced-
ing from end to end, almost with the precision and regularity of an
army in its evolutions at a review. This table-land expands into a
valley, in which are several small villages. Passing across it, we
stopped at Zorabá, which is about thirty-five miles from Khoy.
The inhabitants had all gone back among the mountains to dwell
in tents and range with their flocks, except a single individual who
468
LOSS OF HORSES-INSECURITY.
remained to keep post-horses in readiness, for Tartars and travellers.
Our muleteer lingered behind, and our tent and bed did not reach
us until 8 o'clock in the evening. The weather was cold, cloudy
and damp; and Mrs. P. and our babe would have been much ex-
posed, had not the steward of Sir John McNeill happened to be at
the village, on his way to meet the ambassador, with two tents, one
of which he kindly vacated for us and furnished us with comforta-
ble provisions.
July 11. Sabbath. We remained at Zorabá. I read and re-
marked on the fifteenth chapter of Luke, taking occasion to speak
to our travelling company, in connexion with the case of the prodi-
gal son, of the dangers incident to persons who leave their homes
and travel to other countries. Toward midnight, the three horses,
belonging to Mrs. P., the bishop and myself, which were tied at the
door of our tent, took fright, broke loose and in an instant galloped
away. Our travelling companions were sound asleep and before
they could be roused, the horses had fairly escaped. The darkness
prevented successful pursuit, though the bishop and several other
Nestorians, who were on their way to Constantinople, were out un-
til morning. After day-break, July 12, the tracks of the horses
were discovered by Mar Yohannan, who, accustomed to pursue
cattle stolen from his village by the Koords, by means of their foot-
steps, so skilfully put in practice his experience, that, after travel-
ling about thirty miles, through narrow ravines, up steep pitches,
across the plain and then back again, until almost sunset, we found
two of the horses. The best one had been taken up by a Persian
soldier and rode off to a distant summer retreat on the mountains ;
but this also, on farther pursuit, we obtained.
July 13. We left Sokhnânavâ, the pleasant district in which we
had now spent three nights and two days. We regretted our hin-
drance the less, as we wished to go in company with a caravan,
which had now only just come up with us,―the road from this point
onward, for about two hundred miles, being regarded as very unsafe
at that time. A village near Zorabá had been robbed by the Koords,
a few days before, and seven men killed in the encounter.
Our
course was northward; and after passing over a few miles of rough
road, crossing Akh Chái, (white river,) a moderate stream, we en-
tered the small district of Tereeât. The caravan which we wished
to join, consisting of two hundred horses, passed the last night in
this district, near Akh Boolákh, (white spring,) and two of its horses
were stolen. Crossing the valley of Tereeât, we ascended a high
mountain, by a long and gradual pass. The glens and declivities
were beautifully clothed with a heavy growth of grass, which was
waving in the breeze in wild luxuriance. The inhabitants of the
neighboring valleys fear to risk their flocks and herds so far from
home, and the nomade Koords had not yet passed along there, the
present season. At the top of this mountain, we had a fair view of
Mt. Ararat, except that its upper part was partially covered with
GRAZING REGION- SIGHT OF THE KOORDS.
469
clouds. The sacred mountain is visible from some points, even in
the vicinity of Oróomiah, a distance of nearly two hundred miles.
We next passed down, still in a northerly direction, by a steep rocky
way and came upon another table-land, which, like those preceding,
gradually widened into a fertile, inhabited valley. The name of
this district is Childerân. Its largest village, Kara-i-na, (black
fountain,) near which we stopped, is about thirty miles distant from
Zorabá.
July 14. Six miles from our stopping-place, we entered a rugged
ravine, and followed up the bank of the small river, Chadderkia,
which, coming down from the mountains above, crosses the north-
eastern corner of this district, and conveys away its waters, by a
tortoise course, to the river Arrás. We then crossed successive
hills, and wound our way upward, until we found ourselves at the
top of another lofty ridge, that looks away to the north into a fine
grassy valley, surrounded, like the preceding ones, by mountain
ranges. On the northern side of this valley, is an arm of the great
mountain chain that had all along bounded our western horizon,
which sweeps around toward the east and forms the boundary, on
this route, between Turkey and Persia. The name of this district
is Avájík. All this lofty region of about a hundred miles, which
we passed after leaving the parched and dusty plains of Persia pro-
per and before entering the Turkish territory, is excellent-nay,
sublime, pasture ground, and contributes much to furnish the my-
riads of flocks and herds that are driven annually to the distant
markets of Constantinople and Smyrna. While crossing the valley
of Avâjík, we observed a party of Jellâlée Koords, passing along
under the hills at some distance; and the bare sight of them, sent
terror into the bosoms of our Persian companions, who, though they
had all along been despising and cursing the Koords, quailed in-
stantly at the appearance of not half their own number. We found
excellent milk at the village where we stopped, but such was the
scarcity of wheat in the region, that only one family had flour to
make bread. A few others had rice. The herd of cattle which
the villagers drove home at evening was very fine. The breed, we
were told, had been brought from Eriván. The water of this dis-
trict is about the purest I ever drank and the climate is very healthy.
Mrs. P. felt quite sensibly the beneficial effects of the clear cool air.
Thus does a kind Providence distribute its gifts. The fertile vale
of Oróomiah, overflowing with abundance of every kind, has its
sickly climate; while the cold rugged hills of this uninviting region,
affording no bread even, at this time, to its hungry inhabitants,
still deck their faces with the bloom and vigor of health.
July 15. As we were now near the frontier, where the greatest
danger was to be apprehended, we lingered a day for the arrival of
our caravan which had fallen in the rear. Mt. Ararat peered sub-
limely behind the high boundary range. Our Nestorian companions
were so much awed by it, that they proposed to fast while in sight

470
CARAVAN-PRIEST-KAZI-GOEL.
of the "holy mountain." They no longer questioned its having been
the resting place of the ark, though the ancient Syriac commenta-
ries and common Nestorian belief award that honor to Judah Dágh,*
a mountain which, the Nestorians say, is situated somewhere to the
south-west of Oróomiah, among the ranges of Koordistân.
A caravan of 770 horses passed our tent, to-day, on its way to Ta-
bréez, laden principally with European goods. I stood at our tent
door and gazed with ineffable satisfaction on this mammoth caravan,
as it moved majestically along, moralizing on the bearing of com-
merce, in advancing the spread of the gospel, when suddenly there
came round the hill above us and right upon us, a person in Euro-
pean costume, frequently crossing and re-crossing the path, as if skulk-
ing among the loads. "An Englishman!" exclaimed the delighted
bishop; but a second look led us both simultaneously to sigh out,
no; it is a French priest, on his way to Persia !" And we instinc-
tively stepped back into the tent. The French Catholics, though
coming in like a flood, find it more difficult to carry all before them
in Persia than they at first seemed to anticipate. The day that we
left Oróomiah, we received intelligence of an affair at Isfahân, which
is likely to check M. B's progress in that city. He had commenced
making converts among the Armenians, vi et armis, marching even
to the convent with an armed posse and encountering the Patriarch
and monks in their head-quarters. The Armenians being the more
numerous, drove him from their borders. M. B. appealed to the
Russian ambassador; and His Excellency applied to the king. His
majesty ordered the contending parties to appear before him; but
the Armenians, in the meantime, informing him of the merits of the
case, the king very properly decided that, as it was a religious quar-
rel, he would take no notice of it.
July 16. The expected caravan had not arrived; and ascertain-
ing that it might linger some time for accessions from Tabréez, and
being short of provisions with a famine before us, I determined to
proceed, taking a small guard across the frontier. My muleteer
urged me so strongly and pathetically still to linger, accompanying
his entreaties with tears and frightful gesticulations-drawing his
hand across his throat to express his apprehension of losing his head,
that I was obliged to use a decided tone before he would go and drive
up
his horses. We took five armed horsemen from Avâjík, the village
in which the Khân of the district resides. We passed up the boun-
dary ridge and entered Kâzi-goël, (goose-pond,) the immense mea-
dow, in crossing which the danger is always considered to be great-
er than at any other spot on the route. We had not advanced far
before we discovered a large party encamped on the grass, whom we
at first supposed of course to be foes; on proceeding nearer to them,
** I have often been amused, in the East, to find myself unexpectedly intro-
duced to old acquaintances in familiar names. Belur Tag (Billour Dâgh,
crystal mountain,) is such a name, the meaning of which-or that it had any
meaning,-I never understood, till I learned the Turkish language.
Maou

Thayer & Co Lith. Boston
PERSIAN MERCHANT.
MERCHANTS HORSES-PLAIN OF ARARAT.
471
we ascertained that they were the Pashâ of Bayazéed, and a regi-
ment of troops, who had come out to the line, a`day or two before,
and driven the marauding Koords from the region.
In our company, were five Persian merchants, from Salmás, on
their way to Erzróom and Constantinople. Each had a single horse,
which he rode, carrying also upon the same animal his stock of mer-
chandize, consisting mainly of Kerman shawls, closely packed in
immense carpet saddle-bags; and in addition, a month's stock of
provisions for the way, consisting of bread, baked in thin cakes,
which, on becoming dry, crumble into fine scales, and yogóord, tied
up in a small cloth-bag, and hung dangling at the horse's side. At
night, these merchants slept upon the ground in the open air. Their
strong, heavily laden horses were the yâbée, drudge, or common
caravan beasts; not the small, beautiful Arab, nor the noble, majes-
tic and, scarcely less fleet, Turcomân,-the only kinds which Per-
sians of high rank will deign to mount, and to which they appropri-
ate the dignified title of at, horse, and najib, noble. In relation to
gait, the Persians prefer pacers, for the plain reason, that they like
the easy motion, under the saddle,-their only method of travelling,
except occasionally-rarely, unless in feeble health-in the takt-ra-
wân, (walking-seat,) which resembles a close palanquin, or a sedan-
chair, but is carried like a litter, by mules instead of men. White
and grey horses are the favorites with the Persians, in point of color.
Black ones, they say, are possessed of the Devil; and not without
some reason; for it is a fact, recognized also by Europeans in Per-
sia, that black horses there have in general, singularly vicious, or as
they say, 'wicked,' dispositions.
The merchants were, as this class of Persians usually are, cheer-
ful, friendly and pleasant companions, sometimes singing a peasant's
love ditty, and anon reciting, in shrill measured tones, from their
oracular poets, Hâfíz, Firdousi and Sâdí, with which many of them
are familiar.
Crossing the ridge, wè came down upon the great plain on
which rests the base of Ararat. We had intended to stop at Kŭzzil-
dizza, for the night, but found the village deserted, its inhabitants
having gone to the mountains to pasture their flocks. A solitary
old Koord was wandering about there, who appeared like the ghost
of hunger, and was very clamorous in his application for bread.
There stands Ararat, upon its vast pedestal, in solemn, silent ma-
jesty, the eternal monument of the flood. The valley in which we
were, was a cradle of the second world, perhaps the home of the
patriarch; but its present inhabitants are wild and ruthless savages;
and the foot of the mountain is associated in the minds of the na-
tives of these regions as the lurking-place of the Jellâlées. A very
few degraded Armenians are scattered in dilapidated villages on dif-
ferent parts of the plain, who are trodden down by the wild Koords;
and the town of Bayazéed, the ruins of the capital of the mighty Baja-
zet, containing perhaps from one to two thousand inhabitants, is oc-
472
WESTERN VIEW-PLAGUE-FAMINE.
cupied by a small garrison of subject Koords, under Beelûl Pashâ,
whose office it is to protect the passing travellers and caravans.
We proceeded, intending to reach Dîadéen. After sunset, ob-
serving the horses of a caravan, grazing under the mountains, about
two miles south of our road, we determined to join them and pass
the night, instead of driving our already tired animals to Dîadéen.
This caravan consisted of 250 horses, laden, as were the previous
ones we had met, with European goods. "Are you not afraid you
will drain Europe?" I inquired of the muleteers; "Oh no; there
is a caravan of 500 horses one day back of us," was their reply.
We had delightful views of Mt. Ararat, during our afternoon ride,
and its snowy summit now glistened under the last brilliant rays of the
retiring sun. Apprehending that I might never again see its features,
so advantageously illumined, I hastily sketched an outline, with that
kind of reverential feeling which one experiences when about to take
leave of a venerated acquaintance; and as we sometimes find satis-
faction in exhibiting the portraits of absent friends, I may venture
here to introduce to the reader the western, or Turkish side of Ara-
rat, with the common qualification, however, that the portrait can-
not do justice to the original, and was intended merely for private
gratification.
July 17. The muleteers from the west informed us, that the
plague is raging in nearly all the villages on our way to Erzróom.
We could do no more, nor less, than put ourselves on strict allow-
ance, on the small stock of provisions which we had with us, deem-
ing it not prudent to venture into these infected villages. The
Murad-chai, or eastern branch of the Euphrates, passes down from
the southern mountains near the town of Dîadéen. How interest-
ing is this region! I could almost live here contented, even amid
its melancholy physical and moral desolations! Soon after we en-
camped on the bank of the Euphrates, opposite the Armenian con-
vent of Utch-kiléesiá, an old Turk, who was travelling with his
family, came up with us. They too feared the plague and shunned
the villages, and they proposed to join our party. They drove with
them a few goats, from which they engaged to supply us daily with
milk, until we shall reach their home, which is within one day's
journey of Erzróom. Thus unexpectedly did the Lord provide for
us, while encompassed by famine, pestilence and savages in the
wilderness. "Thou preparest a table for me, in the midst of mine
enemies." It was affecting, all the way through this region, to
hear the hungry natives tell how long it had been, that they had not
seen a piece of bread. Grass and herbs, boiled and mixed with
yogóord, was their only food. Their famine-stricken state, doubt-
less, did much to prepare the way for the prevalence of the plague.
July 18. We rode to Kara-kileesiά, a distance of thirty-five
miles, following the Euphrates all the way, in the magnificent val-
ley, which is almost a hundred miles long, and in the western part,
at least twenty miles broad. This primitive country is too fair and

MT ARARAT, AS SEEN FROM THE WEST,
Or Turkish side.
Thayer & Co Leth Boston
ALAZGERD-
-COLONY.
473
fertile to lie neglected; but a decayed and half desolate village of
poor Armenians and stationary Koords, at intervals of six or ten
miles, are all the human habitations that appear. About midway
between the convent and Kara-kileesiá, is an old stone bridge, finely
built, now somewhat dilapidated, but obviously the work of other
men and other days. The Euphrates has left it and cut for itself a
new channel.
July 19. We rode to Moollâh Soleimân, about the same distance
as yesterday. A little west of Kara-kileesiá, the Euphrates changes
its course, and passes by a ravine through the southern ridge of
mountains, in the direction of Moosh, and thence onward to Diar-
bekér. Considerable streams enter it on this stage from the north,
and one from the western end of the valley. The principal village,
in this district, (Alazgérd,) is Toprak-küláah, (earth-castle,) situa-
ted at the foot of the Ararat ridge, on the northern side of the plain.
It has a strong fort on a lofty overlooking hill. It was formerly a
large Armenian town, but most of its inhabitants went away with
the Russians.
Moollâh Soleimân, which I had on former journeys made my stop-
ping-place, is situated at the north-west corner of the plain of Alaz-
gérd. The inhabitants were digging graves in one place, and per-
sons sick of the plague lay exposed here and there, with relatives
weeping near them, all which gave us a melancholy impression and
some apprehension. We passed by the village and pitched our tent
in a ravine, near a small brook, on the side of the mountain. The
vast plain lay stretched out beautifully before us, but in silent deso-
lation, and we could not help contrasting its present condition with
that of a century ago, when it was enlivened by two or three hun-
dred villages. Russian encroachment, Turkish misrule and Koord-
ish violence, have driven away the suffering Armenians, and their
fair country now lies thus in mournful and naked solitude. In con-
versation with Mr. Brant, the British consul at Erzróom, he sug-
gested to me the idea, that Alazgérd, in its present depopulated
state, would be an excellent region for a European colony. I urged
him to pursue the thought. How much might be contributed to
the advancement of the civilization and christianization of Asia, by
'the existence of an enlightened, Protestant christian community, on a
distant plain of Armenia! It need not, and should not, be a mission-
ary colony in form nor in fact; but it could hardly help being such
in its general effects. Mr. Brant stated that Mr. Hanson, a wealthy,
enterprising English merchant of Constantinople, had purchased a
tract of 12,000 acres on the Asiatic shore of the Sea of Marmora,
which he is intending to colonize from England. And a similar
experiment, in the eastern part of Turkey, though more difficult,
seems at least practicable, and in its moral bearings, far more ne-
cessary and desirable.
July 20. We first crossed a high ridge which was waving un-
der a growth of grass, so heavy as to attract the mowers quite to the
60
474
CROSSING A SUMMITASCENT OF A MOUNTAIN.
summit. On this mountain, Abbas Meerza quartered his troops
after having put to flight the Turkish army near Toprak-külaáh in
the war about fifteen years ago. He pursued the Turks farther
still toward Erzróom, until the Persian army was suddenly prostra-
téd, by a general attack of cholera. Thousands died on the spot;
and the surviving remnant fled in panic and wild disorder back to
their native country. Koosy Dagh, beardless mountain, on the
north of this grassy ridge, is a lofty, naked peak, on the top of the
Ararat range, peering far above all other summits, except the sacred
mountain itself. About eight miles brought us across the spur of
the general range, descending which, we came upon the shorter of
the two main roads to Erzróom. The sides of the mountains were
richly clothed with grass and flowers, quite up to their summits.
The sun was uncomfortably warm, when we began to ascend the
mountain, but we were erelong shivering with cold; and a rushing
wind sucked up a ravine on the other side,
over the pass, which
was a little lower than the general range, as we approached the sum-
mit, almost with the fury of a hurricane. From the top we de-
scended a steep pitch, far enough to be shielded from the cold and
the violence of the wind, and there encamped to dine. While our
party were at rest, I made my way up a neighboring peak, that
seemed, when thus near, almost as high as Koosy mountain. I
found the ascent much more long, steep and difficult, than I had an-
ticipated, and was quite exhausted, when I reached the top; but
from that lofty position, I enjoyed a grand view of a vast and sublime
assemblage of mountains, for nearly a hundred miles, along the
Ararat range, and the parallel ranges, with the valley of the eastern
Euphrates on one side, and the hardly less beautiful province of
Pasin on the other. In descending by a shorter and steeper course
than the one by which I went up, I once or twice came very near
being dashed down precipices, in following the course of a rill, and
bounding from side to side of the narrow ravine. I collected a few
stones on the pinnacle, and gathered a large number of plants and
flowers high up the sides, on a level with a bank of snow, which I
crossed on my way down.
After dinner, we proceeded by a very gradual descent, down a
pleasant valley. A lively stream, as was the case also on the other
side, soon murmured into being and cheered us by its music. We
had almost reached the foot, having travelled nearly forty miles,
without seeing a village or a human habitation, when the sun dis-
appeared; and both ourselves and our horses being very tired, we
encamped for the night.
July 21. Early in the morning, the alarm was given, that Mrs.
Perkins's horse, which had been tied near our tent door, was gone!
And on farther search, we discovered that the bishop's large carpet
bag, containing all his clothing except what he happened to have
on at night, with his prayer-book-and indeed his little all, except
his money which he had fortunately committed to me-besides
THEFT SUBLIME PASS-VILLAGE OF TURF.
475
many single articles belonging to others of the company, had also
disappeared. Inquiry soon revealed the fact, that two of our com-
panions were not to be found, which of course satisfied us at once
who were the thieves. They were transient Persian travellers, who
had joined the company to pass through the Koordish region, pro-
fessedly for mutual security, but in reality, doubtless, for this very
purpose. We had all, that day, become very tired; and the rogues
took advantage of that circumstance, as well as of our remote, soli-
tary situation. Late in the evening, they proposed to relieve the
Nestorian who was watching the tent, to which he unwittingly
agreed; and when the whole party, with the exception of themselves,
were in profound slumber, they committed the theft and absconded.
Mrs. P.'s horse was the best traveller in the company, unless it were
one of their own. No village was near and we had no prospect of
successful pursuit, particularly as they were athletic fellows and well
armed. I therefore concluded that we would not add trouble, ex-
pense, and perhaps exposure, to our loss, and we put up our effects
and proceeded. It was a severe visitation to the bishop, who was
left almost naked; but he met his misfortune, alike with the resig-
nation of a Christian, and the good sense of a man, well assured
that it avails little to bemoan lost articles, after they are irrecovera-
bly gone.
A mile from our stopping-place brought us to Dăr Boghós, nar-
row throat, which is one of the most striking natural objects that I
have seen in all my travels. On the sides of a narrow pass-perhaps
sixty feet wide-through which the large brook we had followed
and the road unitedly run, rise, perpendicularly, two rocky pillars,
to the bold height of more than two hundred feet. This sublime
gate-way of nature ushered us suddenly into the delightful valley of
Pasin, and hid from our view, at the same moment, the grassy ridges
and glens, the rugged peaks and precipices, and the craggy cliffs of
the grand Ararat range. And as we crossed the hills and dales,
enlivened by waving fields, and the industrious husbandmen, the
feeling quickly rose, that we had now left Koordistân. We pro-
ceeded about twenty-five miles and stopped for the night near Bal-
lou-kóy.
July 22. We kept near the southern side of the plain of Hås-
sân-kuláah, and encamped not far from the large, fine village of
Alvarée. Near Hǎssân-kuláah river, we passed a large village,
built wholly of swards, cut in squares, a foot and a half in size,
from the immense green meadows that stretch along the stream.
The vast plain, over which we had been travelling, both yesterday
and to-day, gleaming with almost countless fields of wheat, now
nearly ripe, presented a cheering and ample pledge, that the famine,
in this province, would soon be at an end.
During the last half of our ride, the heat of the sun was almost
overpowering, and when we stopped, I found myself burning with a

476
ILLNESS—A PALACE—MISSIONARY ASPECT.
high fever and much reduced by an attack of dysentery, induced by
my exertion in ascending the high mountain two days before. I
was very sick in the afternoon and evening, and feared that I should
be unable to ride farther, as every step of my horse subjected me
to severe pain and aggravated my disease. After resting until
midnight, however, I was much relieved; I therefore had a mat-
rass spread upon one of our loaded horses, on which I was able to
secure a half reclining posture, and we proceeded, July 23, about
1 o'clock in the morning. We started at that early hour, that we
might avoid the intense heat of the sun; and we were of course
anxious not to lose a day, in our penury of provisions, within a
single stage of Erzróom. It was now between seven and eight
years since Mrs. P. and myself had first passed through Erzróom,
on our untried way to Persia; and the painful incidents of that try-
ing journey were brought tenderly to mind, as we approached and
entered the city. We reached the dwelling of our missionary
friends, Mr. and Mrs. Jackson, about 8 o'clock in the morning.
The first item of intelligence, after our mutual salutation, was, “The
plague is here and we are in quarantine." We were, however, re-
ceived with all cordiality, notwithstanding the quarantine. The
resting place was to us like a green spot in a wide desert, and our
visit could hardly be less welcome to them, alone as they had long
been, in that remote, benighted land.
July 24. I called on Mr. Brant, the English consul. Since I
was last here, he had built a fine spacious mansion, in European
style. My feeling, on entering it, was, that I was suddenly trans-
ported from the dreary desolations of Eastern Turkey, to the heart
of Old England. There is no such residence east of Constantino-
ple, at least, until we reach the English palace at Tehrân.
The Armenians are now coming into Erzróom, from various
parts of Turkey. They number at present about one thousand
families, one hundred and fifty of whom are Catholics. The town
is still rapidly increasing in trade, as might be inferred from the
number of caravans, (and I have by no means mentioned all,) that
passed us on their way to Persia; and it is destined to be a yet
more important centre of moral influence. Our missionary, sta-
tioned there, has, as yet, found it impracticable to gain much access,
even to the nominal Christians. The Papal intrigues practised on
them, in efforts to draw away their people, contribute much to ob-
struct the Protestant missionary, here as elsewhere, in whom also
they naturally suspect a secret foe. Their own superstitious sys-
tem, too, recoils from the approach of light. Like other interior
towns of Turkey, Erzróom is hard missionary soil, which must be
dug up as with a pick-axe, not by violent blows, but silent, patient
toil, accompanied by faith, love and prayer. General obstacles will
gradually yield to the advancing tide of civilization. The mission-
ary will, by degrees, acquire the confidence of the people, and reach
AN INFANT TRAVELLER.
477
their ears and hearts with his message. The seeds of truth silently,
but effectually, sown, will spring up and bear fruit. Native con-
verts will at length run to and fro, and knowledge be increased, and
light will be diffused from those heights, as from a radiant point,
from which it will shine forth to the shores of the Euxine, to Asia Mi-
nor, Mesopotamia and the confines of Persia, mingling its rays with
those sent forth from the other mission stations in all those regions,
and Armenia again become a christian land.
CHAPTER XXIX.
RETURN, CONTINUED.
THERE was a humble individual in our travelling company,
whom I have not yet formally introduced, and to whom, as well as
to the reader, I perhaps owe an apology for the omission. Little
Judith, our only surviving child, was eleven months old when we
left Oróomiah. She rode in a pannier, or deep basket, suspended
by the side of a horse and balanced by one of a similar form and di-
mensions on the opposite side. In the latter, we carried a few light
articles, which we needed during our ride and which were thus read-
ily accessible. No additional horse was required for the infant, as
our servant rode upon the same, to keep the baskets adjusted to the
pack-saddle. The one in which the child rode, was partially lined
with a wool-cushion, and had a seat of the same fixed in the bottom,
with a stick across in front, to confine her in her place, while it al-
lowed her to recline sufficiently to sleep. She sometimes remon-
strated against being taken from her bed, early in the morning, and
shut up in her moving prison; but she would soon become quiet
and usually fall asleep, as we moved on, being lulled by the gentle
motion of the horse and the music of the bells; or, if these did not
suffice, by the shrill lullaby of the kind Nestorian servant. In a
few instances, the horse fell, with his precious charge half under
him; but providentially the child was unharmed and unfrightened,
and with the rest of us, safely survived the journey, though perform-
ed amid the famine, pestilence and sword.
While we were at Erzróom, our missionary friends there were
cheered by the arrival of Rev. Josiah Peabody and his wife, who
were to be their associates. They had performed the rough jour-
ney from Trebizond with comparative ease, and would have suffer-
478
LARGE BIRDS-FLOWERS-BEES.
ed still less inconvenience, had they been provided with a tent.
We felt a peculiar satisfaction in leaving Mr. and Mrs. Jackson no
longer alone. Our Lord sent forth his disciples two and two among
their own countrymen, and he would much more have done so, had
they gone to foreign nations. It was July 30th, after a week's stay,
that we left Erzroom. We rode three hours down a gentle plain,
to the village of Eelijâh, and pitched our tent on the bank of a small
stream, which is crossed by an ancient stone bridge.
July 31. About a mile west of Eelijâh, we crossed the Kará Soo,
—the western branch of the Euphrates. On its banks, some dis-
tance from us, was a vast flock of white birds, much larger than the
goose or turkey. The bishop stated that these birds have a reser-
voir attached to the throat, large enough to hold some half-pints of
water. He also said that they frequent the lake of Oróomiah. Near
the first ridge of mountains from Erzróom, is the village of Mehmân-
sóor, where we had intended to spend the Sabbath; but a rumor
that the plague had entered it, led us to cross the lofty mountain
range,—a barrier which we hoped the pestilence had not yet sur-
mounted. Our ride across it was delightful, being rendered partic-
ularly so, by the endless variety of brilliant flowers, now in full blos-
som. Mrs. Peabody had counted 135 different kinds, in crossing
this mountain. Our descent on the opposite side, was steep and dif-
ficult. Crossing a large brook at its foot, we immediately commen-
ced ascending a second ridge, and after riding about a mile, reach-
ed the village of Hoshapana, which is a little retired from the main
road, and encamped there for the Sabbath. It is a large Muham-
medan village, about thirty miles from Erzróom. The inhabitants
keep innumerable bees, that feast on the sweet flowers of the lofty
surrounding mountains.
Aug. 1. The Sabbath. For our Bible exercise, we read the third
chapter of John. The question was asked, why Nicodemus went to
Christ by night; which was answered by a Nestorian boy, 'because
he feared that the Jews would cast him out, if his going should be
known to them.' Why, I inquired, did they object to their people
going to Christ to be taught? To which Mar Yohannan replied,
for the same reason that the Armenian ecclesiastics, at Erzróom,
object to their people going to Mr. Jackson to be taught.' A young
Armenian, Mr. J's teacher, who was travelling in company with us,
agreed with the bishop in this opinion. I dwelt on the importance
of the new birth, as presented in that chapter, and looking to Christ
crucified,—“ lifted up," as the only Saviour; and at the close, sung
the hymn commencing, "There is a fountain filled with blood,
which is a favorite with the Nestorians who speak English, and I
translated it into the native language for the benefit of all who were
present.
Aug. 2. We rode seven hours and pitched our tent on the bank
of the river Jórókh. We crossed the mountain which we had com-
GREAT ROCK-PILGRIMS UMBRELLAS.
479
menced ascending on Saturday. It is very high and like the pre-
ceding one, was now smiling and redolent with a rich growth of
beautiful flowers. On a stream on the western side of this mountain,
is a huge shelving rock, under which Mr. and Mrs. Peabody had
encamped, in one instance, for the night. It is one of those grand
shelters from the sun at mid-day, which are so welcome to the pil-
grim, in those regions destitute of trees, and naturally reminded us
of the force of the scripture allusion to the 'shadow of a great rock,
in a weary land.' This being several miles from any village, often
in summer, furnishes the traveller with a lodging place also for the
night.
In the course of our ride, two travellers fell in with us, who an-
nounced themselves to be pilgrims, on their way to Mecca, and sta-
ted that they were from Kōná (Kochin ?) forty days' journey beyond
Bukhará and within twelve days of Chîn, (China). How much toil,
and exposure do they incur, travelling on foot à distance of thou-
sands of miles, over inhospitable regions, to secure for themselves a
place in their fancied paradise. How mighty is the sway of super-
stition, over Asiatic minds! As an offset, however, I observed also,
to-day, a striking instance of the progress of innovation among
Asiatics. When we went to Persia, our umbrellas were among the
greatest curiosities pertaining to us, that arrested the attention of
the natives. But now, scores of Turks and Persians pass us on
horseback, shadowing themselves with these European canopies, and
apparently as much afraid of exposing their brown faces to the rays
of the sun as a Parisian dandy.
Aug. 3. The last night was very cold, as indeed the nights of
summer always are, in these lofty regions. We rode down the
narrow valley of the Jōrókh, about thirty miles, to the town of Bai-
boot. We also passed three considerable tributaries, entering the
Jōrókh from the south, and crossed by five arched stone-bridges.
On the margin of one these tributaries is the post-road which strikes
the Euphrates at Ash-kuláah; and a little west of it, back in a glen,
is Madden, or the copper-mines. I rode up to Maddén, and was
surprised to find there a village of nearly one hundred houses of
Greeks, who are engaged in working the mines for government. I
am not aware that there are Greeks east of this mining village.
We pitched our tent for the night on the beautiful lawn that spreads
itself out above Baibóot, almost as soft and smooth as a Persian
carpet.
Aug. 4. Six or eight miles from Baibóot, on the northern route,
are three ancient Armenian churches, finely built of stone, situated
within a short distance of each other. We took a more southern
route and stopped to rest at Balhóor, about twelve miles west of Bai-
boot. This is the village where, almost six years ago, I met Mrs.
Grant, with her husband and Mr. Mèrrick, on their way to Persia.
How many tender recollections did the sight of it call up! One of
the number had long since gone to her rest and reward! I tried to
:
480
SODA-SPRING-GLENS-VIEW OF THE SEA.
find the stable, in which the pilgrim party were encamped for the
night when I reached them; but in the changes of time, among those
rude habitations, it had disappeared. While we were taking a re-
past, under a tree, two Greek priests, from the copper-mines, on
their way to Gümüsh-khâná, came up and sat with us in the shade.
One of them showed me his prayer-book. I read from it, and they
were surprised that I could translate the Greek into Turkish, at least
as readily as themselves. There were a few pictures in the prayer-
book, and Mar Yohannan took occasion to rally them on the sin of
their picture-worship. They attempted to palliate their case, but
evidently wished that the pictures had not been in the book.
About ten miles west of Balhóor, among the mountains, on the
middle route, we passed a soda-spring, which boils up more vehe-
mently than any other that I have ever seen. There are, in fact,
two fountains, one on each side of a small fresh-water stream.
That on the west side is three feet deep, and boils up so vigorously
as to arrest the attention of the traveller, from the road which is far
above. These springs, being on the margin of a brook, into which
they discharge their waters, are prevented from depositing tufa, as
in the case of others which I have mentioned. We encamped for
the night, not far from the village of Agasár, which is fifteen miles
from Balhóor.
We
Aug. 5. Our course was first west, and then north-west.
soon entered a narrow glen, with high mountains on either hand,
and only room enough for a path on the bank of a stream which we
followed, and often, hardly room for that. Two hours' ride brought
us to the village of Vazerná, a nice hamlet, lodged among the cliffs;
and we passed several smaller ones, similarly situated. All the
arable soil is found in small terraced patches, on the brink of the
streams, over which numerous beautiful stone bridges are thrown,
to enable the caravans to thread their difficult way. Winding our
course still up narrow glens, skirted with patches of grass and
grain-the inheritance and hope of the peasants-we proceeded two
or three hours, and came to a steep lofty mountain, which we as-
cended, and two or three others still above. Our way then lay
along the top of a commanding ridge, while an ocean of lower
ridges, with their peaks, cones and abysses, was stretched out to a
vast distance on either hand. Descending a little on one side of
the ridge we were following, we halted to bait our horses, on a
grassy patch—a smiling oasis- -near a small spring. And mean-
while, I made my way up to the top of a neighboring peak, from
which I obtained a distant view of the Black Sea, far away and far
below, enveloped in clouds. How grateful was the sight, after our
long exile in the interior! Perhaps hardly less so, than to Xeno-
phon and his Ten Thousand, when they caught their first glimpse
of this sea, it may be, from this same summit! We proceeded to
the north, along a table-land, on which were drifts of snow,
then crossed a still higher ridge from which our whole party ob-
and
TAVERNS COTTAGES-SUBLIME VIEWS.
481
tained a view of the sea. Descending in a western direction, about
four miles, some of the way down very steep declivities, we came
to Madden, the silver mines, at which we had passed a night, on
our way to Persia by the southern route.
Aug. 6. Five hours brought us to Karakapán. Snow was in sight
in almost every direction, on the high ridges. Two taverns had
been erected on the lofty table-land we crossed, since we went to
Persia. The whole was then a dreary desolation. These taverns,
however, which consist of small shops where plain provisions are
sold, and spacious stalls kept ready for caravans, can be occupied
only in summer. The last two miles before reaching Karakapán,
led us down steep, rocky and difficult precipices, from the top of
some of the highest summits in ancient Pontus.
While all the mountains, which we had crossed, were naked,
those now below us were richly covered with forests; the trees, how-
ever, being rather sparse, with but little under-brush, and inter-
spersed with cottages of the Greeks and Lăz, and small cultivated
patches-no longer house joined to house, in huddled, dirty villages,
but dotted over the mountain-sides and through the valleys, at va-
rious distances. The whole scene was delightful, and while it
deeply impressed the bishop with the superior security of this coun-
try to that of all the regions beyond, in allowing people to dwell so
far apart, it transported us, also, for the time, to the hills and dales
of our own New England.
The views from Karakapán, so grand and beautiful-the waving
forests, with cottages, barns and smiling fields scattered among
them in long perspective, and the broad sea, dimly rising and blend-
ing with the sky, were soon suddenly shut from us by the pavilion
of the great Creator. The deep dark clouds came rolling up from
the ravines, in a manner far more sublime and awful, than at the
same place on our former journey-curling and sweeping along the
cliffs, till, almost in a twinkling, they rushed furiously by us, and
enveloped us in a mist so thick, that we could scarcely see each
other, while sitting side by side and conversing together. In a
moment, a sudden gust of wind lifted up the curtain and revealed
the panorama; and anon, as the wind subsided, it settled down
again and clothed us in a darkness that we felt. We sat two hours,
almost overwhelmed by these wonders and sublimities of nature,
through which our thoughts were most naturally and irresistibly led
up to nature's God.
Starting at 2 o'clock, P. M. we descended the long mountain to
Javislik-a second ride, to-day, of five hours. Our road, at first
very steep, at length became less so; and we left the clouds above
us and could now look down directly upon farm-houses and culti-
vated fields, which we had but indistinctly seen from the lofty
heights above. About half way down the descent, we came upon
a level tract, the forest continuing on either hand, and the road being
very muddy, as the sun was entirely shut out by the trees. Here
61
482
REMINISCENCES-ILLNESS-STORM-VALLEY.
several companies of men were at work, paving with stone a path
about seven feet wide, under the direction of the Pashâ of Trebi-
zond. Every two or three miles, too, all the way from Karakapán,
a post-house and stables had arisen, during our absence, which
strongly impressed us with the truth of what we had so often been
reminded, that civilization is rapidly pushing itself over the lofty
and rugged mountains of Asia Minor.
Our emotions were tender, as we came to Javislik, and pitched
our tent by the side of the roaring stream, on precisely the same
spot where we pitched it, the first time we ever lodged under a tent,
in the rain storm, the first evening from Trebizond. How many
dangers, exposures and trials, through which the Lord had carried
us in the interval, rose in our recollection, at the sight of that spot!
How many mercies had we experienced! How wonderfully had a
kind Providence led us by the hand, during all our wanderings, suc-
ceeded us in the long course of our missionary labors and graciously
helped us so far on our return!
The mountains were now crossed, and we felt that our hardships,
for the present, were over; and as we sat quietly under our tent, our
hearts melted in gratitude in view of the divine goodness to us.
Human life, however, is not long uninterrupted sunshine. Mrs. P.,
whose health had appeared to be rapidly improving all the way from
Oróomiah, was, the same night, taken seriously ill. She had be-
come very tired in descending the long mountain from Karakapán,
being obliged to walk a part of the way, was in a state of perspira-
tion when we reached our stopping-place, and by not taking suf-
ficient precaution, caught a severe cold which induced her illness.
And towards morning, a violent thunder-storm occurred. The rain
poured down in such torrents, as soon to flood our tent.
We dug a
trench around it to convey the water away, and I spread quilts upon
our bed and placed an umbrella over Mrs. P.'s head, and thus kept
her and our babe from much exposure; but almost everything else
in our tent was thoroughly drenched.
Aug. 7. Mrs. P. was so feeble as scarcely to be able to sit upon
her horse; but she much preferred attempting it, being now with-
in one stage of Trebizond, to remaining in our comfortless situa-
tion at Javislik. I found some dry clothing in our thick, Russian
leather-bags, and we drank a cup of coffee and started about 8
o'clock. As we advanced down the narrow valley of Trebizond
river, the scene assumed almost a tropical aspect, the olive and
fig, as well as a great variety of berries, growing wild and in singu-
lar luxuriance. The glen gradually widened, and the cultiva-
ted patches and cottages became larger and more numerous, until
the whole scene seemed familiar and almost American. As we ap-
proached Trebizond, we rose from the valley of the river, upon a
broad country, covered with beautiful farms, with their extensive
fields, pastures, meadows and forests, and looking down upon the
quiet city, and the great sea with here and there a vessel upon its
bosom.
EUROPEAN ASPECT- QUARANTINE
483
About a mile from the city, we found the road intercepted by a
quarantine guard. Mr. Johnston, in expectation of our arrival, had
made arrangements for us to perform quarantine in his own house,
which we were permitted to do, by the graciousness of the Pashâ,
on condition of our employing a Guardiano to watch us. Mr. J.
and his family were out a few miles in the country. As his house
was, however, occupied by two, members of the English embassy,
who were to proceed in two days on their way to Persia, we con-
cluded to stop under our tent, outside of the town, during the ap-
proaching Sabbath.
Aug. 9. We went into the city, strongly impressed with its
European appearance, with its houses of stone-walls, tastefully
whitened with lime, and its tiled roofs inclined. The European
quarter had rapidly assumed a civilized aspect, both by the increase
of foreign residents and the erection of superior houses, by some of
the natives. The narrow streets, however, were still disagreeable.
Soon after reaching the house of Mr. J., to which we were formally
conducted through the city by our guardiano, I sought an inter-
view with Sir John McNeill, with whom I had been acquainted in
Persia, and who was then on the eve of commencing his land-jour-
ney, on his return as ambassador to that country. He received me
with the utmost kindness, and of his own accord tendered his effi-
cient aid and protection to our mission, expressing his confidence
in us and a deep interest in our work.
Aug. 10. The steamer came from Constantinople! We had
long watched for its appearance, (it being later by some hours than
usual,) and what thrilling recollections did the sight of it awaken!
When we passed here, a European sailing vessel was a rare curiosity.
Now, two weekly steamers visit Trebizond. Our quarantine proved
to be an amusing farce. The entire oversight of it was committed
to our guardiano, who, instead of urging strictness in its observance,
contrived various methods to help us through it as superficially as
possible. The regulations required, that after bathing in the
sea,
we should put on clean clothes, belonging to persons not in quaran-
tine. Our Nestorian companions, being strangers in a strange
land, could not easily procure such changes. The guardiano told
them to put on their own. The bishop, who had been robbed on
the road, had two suits, one of which he had subsequently purchased
of a Persian merchant at Erzróom. He had, the day before, put on
his clean clothes, in prospect of entering the city. But to make the
required change, the guardiano told him he must take off his clean
clothes and have them fumigated and laid aside, and put on his
dirty clothes, (which he had worn all the way from Erzróom,) and
wear them during the period of quarantine. This is only a speci-
men of a Turkish quarantine. From beginning to end it was highly
amusing, particularly, as we had little apprehension of danger.
We, however, made no attempt to evade or transgress its regulations.
I was of course interested to notice the religious and missionary
484
MISSIONARY PROSPECTS-STEAMER-PASSENGERS.
aspects of Trebizond. The Greeks have, from the first, stoutly op-
posed our mission there,—not so much the people, as the bigotted
ecclesiastics. Many of the youth, on Mr. Johnston's first arrival,
manifested an earnest desire to come to him for instruction; and
some actually came, but were soon frightened away by the threats
of the clergy; and the missionaries have never been able to do any-
thing effectual for this class of the population. The Armenian
ecclesiastics at first manifested little opposition. The bishop was
very friendly to the missionaries, so much so, that he was removed
by the Patriarch of Constantinople, on account of his intimacy with
them and his desire to enlighten his people. He was succeeded by
a prelate whose bigotry is equalled only by his ignorance; but who
has fortunately rendered himself so obnoxious to his flock, that it
will be difficult for him long to retain his place. The Armenians
of Trebizond are becoming tired of many of the corruptions of their
sect, particularly the use of pictures in churches; so much so,
that churches recently built are very sparingly decorated. There
are also "
a few names" who come to the missionary's house on the
Sabbath, for religious instruction, and who form a precious nucleus,
around which multitudes will ultimately be gathered unto the Lord.
I attended one of their meetings, and have seldom been more de-
lightfully refreshed in any religious service. Two individuals, in
particular, are evidently taught of the Holy Spirit. Our Nestorian
bishop was introduced to them, and it was interesting to notice how
soon they were all using one language, and that, the language of
Canaan." They mutually recognized each other as brethren in
Christ, expressing their desire that all Christians might lay aside
their national and denominational antipathies and become one in
their common Lord. Repeatedly, too, while conversing together,
did they avow the Bible as an ample and the only standard, in all
matters of faith and practice.
The missionary there must be reproached and vilified; but he
can, still, drop here a Tract, there a Bible, and speak a word in
season to this and that individual; and can even preach to a little
company on the Sabbath, assembled secretly for fear of the bishop,
at his own hired house. He can also shed forth the savor of a holy
example. And, notwithstanding his seclusion, he is a city set on a
hill, an epistle of the American churches, seen and read of all
men. These united means, silently and unostentatiously exerted,
are, under the divine blessing, re-kindling a light in ancient Pontus
which will never be extinguished.
Aug. 19. We took passage on board the Austrian steamer,
Metternich, one of the fine large boats that ply regularly between
Constantinople and Trebizond. On board was the agent, Mr.
Chanaud, with his wife and sister, whom we found very agreeable
companions. The native passengers were a motley mass of almost
all Eastern tongues and nations, huddled thickly together all over
the deck, except half of the quarter deck, which was separated from
SAMSOON—SINOPE—CHANGES.
•
485
the rest by a railing, and reserved for the use of the cabin passen-
gers. It was just about twelve o'clock when we glided gently away
from Trebizond. The green mountains and hills, and the city it-
self half embowered in fruit-trees, seemed smilingly to give us an
accordant permission to go, and to pledge us a cordial welcome on
our hoped-for return. The steamer touches at two places on the
coast, viz. Samsóon and Sinópe. The former is about 130 miles
west of Trebizond, at the head of a bay. It is a small town, con-
taining perhaps five thousand inhabitants. The country around it
resembles that in the vicinity of Trebizond, except that the moun-
tains are lower and less precipitous. Samsóon is the great entry
from the Black Sea to Anatolia and Mesopotamia. Many passen-
gers from the interior were now waiting there to come on board.
There is an English vice-consul there-Mr. Stephens-who com-
municates directly with the English resident at Bagdâd. A regu-
lar courier passes between the two places, making the journey in
twelve or fifteen days; and this is the route usually travelled by Eu-
ropeans, on their way to Mosûl and Bagdâd, and the best one for
missionaries, travelling in that direction. About seventy miles west
of Samsóon, is Sinópe, celebrated in Roman history. It is situated
on a peninsula, the connecting isthmus being low and scarcely more
than a quarter of a mile wide. The peninsula itself is a high rocky
promontory.
Aug. 22. The captain called us, very early, to observe our en-
trance of the Bosphorus. The morning was clear and calm. We
glided delightfully down the Straits, recognizing the familiar shores
of this charming water, and seeming to ourselves almost as though
waking from a long dream. We dropped anchor in the harbor,
about six o'clock in the morning. All around us was again the great
city of Constantinople. Everything appeared European. Great
changes had actually taken place, during our absence. Steamers
were darting in all directions, almost as briskly as in the harbor of
New York; and every European aspect was magnified and height-
ened, in our view, by our long residence in the dark and distant
regions beyond.
It was soon determined that we must all go to the Lazaretto, and
perform another quarantine, on the ground of the lax regulations at
Trebizond. The native passengers blustered, loudly demurred and
prepared a remonstrance to send to the Sultân, being encouraged
to do so by the captain and agent of the steamer. I was strongly
importuned to second it; but thought it better to submit quietly
to the powers that be, particularly as I did not wish to be troubled
with the matter on the Sabbath. For one, I felt fully concious,
moreover, that we had performed but a shadow of a quarantine at
Trebizond, though the fault was not our own; and I was not sorry
to observe symptoms of a more strict system at the capital. In the
afternoon, the steamer weighed anchor and returned to the Laza-
retto, which is five or six miles above the harbor on the Asiatic
486
CARRIAGES-
QUARANTINE DOCTORS.
shore of the Bosphorus. The establishment is spacious, convenient
and imposing. Our Nestorian companions soon pronounced it the
finest palace they were ever in,-superior even to that of the king
of Persia. It was built for barracks, but has been used for a Laza-
retto, most of the time since the quarantine system was introduced
into Turkey. Among other indications of advancement in civiliza-
tion, we here noticed carriages, rattling along on the fine level road
on the water's edge, the pleasure vehicles of Turkish ladies, in-
stead of their grotesque ox-wagons of former times. Most of the
Turks around us, too, were dressed in Frank costume.
+
Aug. 23. We were visited by several of our missionary friends
from Constantinople. Our cup of joy would have been full on see-
ing them, had we not still been separated by a wide space, fenced
off on either hand, and closely screened on one side, by lattices. An
old lame Italian doctor was in an apartment near us, who had been
employed by the Turkish government as quarantine physician at
Samsoon. He gave me, to-day, a long story of his singular adven-
tures in Persia, about thirty years ago, having, as he states, been
entrusted with a secret letter from Napoleon to Feth Ali Shâh, at
the time when the French emperor was meditating an expedition to
India. The bishop told me, that the same doctor made his ac-
quaintance, on board the steamer, and urged him to go directly to
Rome for an education,―offering to give him a gratuitous passage
and telling him that the rest of the world is as nothing compared
with that holy city. The quarantine system is scattering almost
innumerable such Papal agents through the ports and towns of the
Turkish empire, in the capacity of quarantine doctors. The one
now with us, told me that nearly three hundred European phy-
sicians-most of them Frenchmen and Italians-are thus employ-
ed in the Lazarettos of Turkey. What an array of Papal influ-
ence! As an offset, however, the quarantine system is doing
much to shake down Muhammedism, by bringing all ranks and
classes together, and placing them on a level. Turks, Armenians,
Greeks and Jews, are thrown into the same apartment and com-
pelled, in a great measure, to live in common. In our own enclo-
sure, our Nestorian fellow-travellers occupied a room in one corner,
and directly opposite was a brother of Hâfís Pashâ, one of the
highest officers in the empire; and the Nestorians, who may not
sit in the presence of a Persian of rank at home, I often saw con-
versing familiarly with this Turkish noble. Quarantine regulations,
steamboats, and other levelling influences, are working changes in
Turkey, far more mighty and rapid than could be effected by fleets
and armies.
Aug. 31. We were liberated from our ten days' quarantine.
Early in the morning, Mr. Hamlin very kindly came over from Bey-
bék a village nearly opposite the Lazaretto where he resides-and
conducted us home, with whom and his wife, we had a delightful
visit. Mr. H. has a boarding-school, of very promising Armenian
MEETING WITH FRIENDS-BATH-CONCERT.
487
youth, who live and receive instruction in his family. The interest
of the scene can better be conceived than described, when, at morn-
ing devotions, these youth came into the parlor with their New
Testaments, and read a chapter-each reading a verse in turn-
after which Mr. H. led in family prayer, in their native language.
His school is almost under the eaves of a branch of a Papal college,
and the learned Jesuit professors seem to be aware, that they have,
in their Protestant neighbor, a match for them.
Just at evening, we rode in a câik, down to the city, and landed
at Top-khâna. Having no guide, we wandered about some time in
Pera, inquiring for the American clergyman, meaning Mr. Goodell,
and were at length conducted to the house of Dr. Robertson, a long
distance out of our way. We were, however, truly happy to meet
him and his family, from whom we had experienced so much kind-
ness at Syra, on our way to Persia. There also we had the pleasure
of seeing Mr. and Mrs. Southgate. After tea, Dr. and Mrs. R. ac-
companied us to Mr. Goodell's. Sweet were the moments, and
rich in blessing, as we, that evening, sat down with our missionary
brethren and sisters, and recounted together the trials and mercies
we had experienced, during our long separation. The family Bible
was at length brought, and a chapter read, after which we sung a
hymn, and prayer was offered by Mr. Goodell, whose fervent, im-
pressive manner seemed to bear us away from earth, quite to the
verge of heaven.
Sept. 3. We attended a meeting at Mr. Dwight's, where a num-
ber of Armenians statedly assemble. Mr. D. addressed them in
the form of an expository sermon. They were very attentive, and
appear to be humble, good men. Some of them are hopefully pious,
and others are inquirers. The whole number, ever present, is about
seventy.
Sept. 4. We visited a Turkish bath. The ordeal through which
one passes, at the baths in Constantinople, is very thorough. It
consists in the operator's first kneading the body with his hands;
next, rubbing with hot water and a thick woollen cloth; and finally,
washing with soap and water. The process was exceedingly re-
freshing and grateful. I had never before visited a public bath in
the East. The Persians, with all their laxness in other respects, do
not admit Christians to the privileges of their baths. I have some-
times been questioned concerning the cleanliness of the Persians.
It is rather ceremonial than real. They may, perhaps, to use a fa-
miliar illustration, be compared to ducks-always washing, but
never clean. A Persian once charged an Englishman with want of
cleanliness, because he did not oftener bathe; on whom the Eng-
lishman, with infinitely better reason, retorted the charge, because
the Persian seldom changed his linen, though he often bathed.
Sept. 6. We attended monthly concert at Mr. Dwight's, at 11
o'clock, A. M., the services being conducted in the Armenian and
Turkish languages. The Nestorian bishop and myself gave some
488
EXCITEMENT MORMON MISSIONARY.
account of our mission, which seemed greatly to delight the Ar-
menians. Though of four different nations and communions, Ar-
menian, Greek, American and Nestorian, all present were evidently
of one heart and one mind. At evening, Mr. Dwight stated the
particulars of a late excitement, among the Armenians, which is of
a very interesting character, as indicating the progress of light.
Not long since, a council of twenty-four Armenians was organized
—a delegate being chosen, by all belonging to a particular trade or
profession-to confer with the Patriarch, and consult for the interests
of the nation. A few rich bankers and the higher ecclesiastics,
who form the Armenian aristocracy, were naturally opposed to the
existence of such a council; and bringing the Patriarch to their
views, they made out a list of false charges against its members,
which they presented to the government. The members of the coun-
cil were suddenly arrested and thrown into prison. As soon as this
was known, the merchants and other classes, rushed by thousands
to the Porte, peremptorily demanding the release of those men, and
at the same time brow-beating the bankers and bishops who had
also assembled, in such fearless terms, that the vizier was forced to
dismiss the prisoners, and promise to depose the Patriarch. This
commotion indicates a wonderful advance of free inquiry, and free-
dom of speech and action, especially among the native Christians,
at the Turkish capital.
Sept. 21. We took passage on board the steamer Crescent, for
Smyrna. We had a delightful view of Constantinople, as we left
the harbor, and passed down the Marmora. Nothing can surpass
its external loveliness and magnificence. The Lord hasten the
time, when St. Sophia, and all the hallowed temples of ancient
christian worship, now in the hands of the enemy, may be rescued
and filled with spiritual worshippers.
On board the steamer was a countryman-the Reverend Mr.
Hyde, of Illinois! A Mormon missionary, on his way to Jerusalem!
He had reached Constantinople two days before, and sent his mes-
sage in writing to the Jewish Patriarch there, and hastened on,
without seeing that dignitary, or waiting for an answer, in his zeal
to reach the holy city. His particular object, he said, was the con-
version of the Jews, who, he expects, are soon to return to Jerusa-
lem. He had been twice in England, as he stated, since 1837,
and as the fruits of his labors there, eight or ten thousand had em-
braced the Mormon system. He had also travelled in Germany,
and was now preparing a book for publication in the German lan-
guage, which was to contain the Mormon system. With very
moderate cultivation, he evidently possessed no small share of tact
and shrewdness. He was introduced to Mr. Goodell, as an Ameri-
can clergyman, and dined with him. From some source unknown
to the Mormon, Mr. Goodell had received an intimation of his reli-
gious connexion; and with his Yankee birthright of asking ques-
tions, to the no small surprise of his guest, he at length bolted the
mon.
<<
SMYRNA-CONFLAGRATION.
489
Mr.
inquiry whether he were not a Mormon; which, with a momentary
embarrassment, the stranger answered in the affirmative. Conver-
sation then naturally ran upon the peculiarities of the sect.
G. inquired whether they hold, that they enjoy the boon of inspira-
tion. Yes," said the Mormon, "and by the way," (patting his
host upon the shoulder,) "I am thinking that you have just had a
touch of it;" alluding to Mr. G.'s knowledge of his being a Mor-
The names by which the sect is called, were next mentioned.
Latter Day Saints, said the Mormon, is the most common title
among them. And how, inquired Mr. G. with a slightly curling
tone, do latter day saints differ from former day saints? We think
they do not differ much [i. e. primitive Christians and his sect],
was the Mormon's ready reply. Christians in America have pro-
bably more to apprehend than to despise, in that growing fanaticism;
and it may be, in relation to its progress abroad, as well as in our
own country.
Oct. 22. While passing the site of ancient Troy at the lower
end of the Straits of Dardanelles, I gazed upon the great plain, the
monumental tumuli and mount Ida peering in the distance, with
inexpressible emotions.
Sept. 23. The early light revealed to us Smyrna, which we
reached about eleven o'clock last evening. It lies along a low moun-
tain range at the south-east corner of the deep inland bay. I was
disappointed in its external appearance. From the great amount of
foreign trade which is carried on with that city, I had supposed it
to be much larger, and to wear a much more European aspect. Mr.
Temple, the eldest of the American missionaries resident there,
came on board, early in the morning, and conducted us to his house.
Eight years, the period since I had seen this elder brother,—had
rapidly deepened the furrows of care and toil and the impressions of
a foreign climate on his features, and the same was true of his wor-
thy lady. Mr. Riggs, another missionary of our Board, and Mr.
Calhoun, agent of the American Bible Society, soon called to see us.
In the former, I recognized a beloved college class-mate, and with
the latter, I had long held a delightful correspondence. Mr. Adger
and lady we met at Constantinople, where he was just recovering
from the small-pox, which had laid him upon the brink of the grave.
Mr. Temple had, in accordance with a request which I had forward-
ed to him from Constantinople, already engaged a passage for us,
in the brig Magoun, of Philadelphia, Capt. Haven; and this vessel
was to sail the next morning. We had expected to enjoy a longer
visit with our missionary friends at Smyrna; but considering the
lateness of the season, we could not regret our being required to
leave them so soon.
About one third of the city,-as it was estimated in round num-
bers, 11,000 houses,-had, a few weeks before, been laid in ashes by
a sweeping conflagration. The consequent distress was very great.
The fire did not reach the Frank quarter. The Muhammedans and
•
62
490
MISSIONARY LABORS—EMBARKATION—VOYAGE.
the Jews were the principal sufferers. They were now rapidly rebuild-
ing; but it must require a long period before the town will recover
from such a disaster. The Sultan had made some provision for the
temporary relief of the houseless and pennyless inhabitants; but their
wants were far enough from being fully reached by the hand of
government or of charity. Messrs. Temple and Riggs are engaged
in labors for the benefit of the Greeks; and Mr. Adger, for the Ar-
menians. They are all doing much in the preparation and publica-
tion of books and a Greek and an Armenian periodical. The light
of truth is advancing, in Smyrna and the region; and the influence
of the books and periodicals of the missionaries, is deeply felt, through
the length and breadth of the Greek and Armenian countries.
Sept. 24. Our emotions were peculiar, as we found ourselves,
after all our wanderings, once more on board an American mer-
chantman, expecting, if God should prosper us, that our next stop-
ping-place would be on our native soil. Our vessel was the first of
the fruit-vessels of the season, that cleared the harbor of Smyrna, and
our captain started with a feeling of proud assurance, that his cargo
would be the first in America. And if untiring exertions, anxious so-
licitude, and the most scrupulous fidelity and devotion to the inter-
ests of his employers could have effected it, he would have been the
first to reach home. But the merchantman must still depend on the
fickleness of the wind, which bloweth where and when it listeth,
just as much as it did before rail-roads and steam-boats were known.
Sixty-five days was the time proposed by the captain, when we start-
ed, as the maximum period of our voyage; but so far from that, we
were one hundred and nine days on our way to New York.
We were forty-three days in reaching the Straits of Gibraltar,
during which we were driven about," as was Paul, "in Adria,'
being tempest-tossed in one instance, between Sicily and Malta, a
whole week, without advancing a foot, and amid seas which the cap-
tain estimated to be fifty-five feet, from their yawning depths to their
foaming summits. We encountered another storm of similar dura-
tion and violence, between Sicily and Sardinia. We then enjoyed a
prosperous sail to the Western Islands, and our hopes of soon reach-
ing home were again high raised; but a little to the westward of
those islands, we encountered an almost uninterrupted storm of
three weeks, during which we were unable to advance a single mile,
though we were repeatedly driven back hundreds of miles, and again
made our way up to the same Rubicon, which was about 37° west
longitude. The wonders of the mighty deep were still more awful
and terrific in the midst of the Atlantic, during this period, than
those which we had witnessed in the storms of the Mediterranean.
Our vessel was an old one and we should have been anxious for our
safety, had not our captain been a man of courage enough to lie to,
in violent gales, when attempts to sail would, in any vessel, do little
more than incur peril. In one instance, we were thrown into most
imminent danger from another source. As we were lying hove to,
IMMINENT PÈRIL-CONTRAST-INFANT SAILOR.
491
in a violent storm, a large ship dashed by us, in the darkness of mid-
night, running before the wind at the rapid rate of nine or ten knots
an hour, and came within a few feet of us. Had she struck our ves-
sel, we must have been sunk in a moment, and never known the
cause. I remonstrated with the captain as far as it was proper, for
not keeping up lights at night, as he had done in the Mediterranean.
'There is not one chance in a thousand,' he replied, 'of running
foul of a vessel on the wide ocean.' But who would wish to be in
that thousandth vessel! There was an apology in his case, howev-
er, as our unexpectedly long passage was likely to make us short of
oil.
Our captain had early and very properly put us on allowance of
provisions and water, in prospect of a long passage. Considering
the length of the period we were out, we fared comfortably to the
end, though we had reached our last barrel of water, and had for
some time felt anxious on this point, before we reached New York,
on the 11th of Jan. 1842. Mar Yohannan, to say nothing of the
rest of our party, became tired enough of the ocean, and the transi-
tion, as he left the long prison of the cabin of the Magoun and sal-
lied forth into Broadway, ranged over the great commercial metrop-
olis of the New World and gazed upon its wonders, was altogether
indescribable. And to us who had been so long in a distant exile,
where we had seen the face of but a single American besides our
missionary companions, our sudden change was little less striking.
It appeared to us passing strange, to hear every one around us speak-
ing the English language and see them all dressed in our own cos-
tume. And at night, we almost fancied ourselves in a fairy land, as
we saw the streets all lighted, the houses opening directly to them,
and gentlemen and ladies briskly promenading the pavements, un-
conscious of exposure,—so different was the whole from Persia.
While this change, from the tedium and perils of our long voyage
to the freedom of the shore, the greeting of friends after our long ab-
sence, and the tender delights of reaching America, were grateful
to us beyond description, I must except one of our number. Ju-
dith, who was thirteen months old when we left Smyrna, earned an
eulogiuni on the ocean as well as on the land, having thrived won-
derfully during our whole rough passage, and seeming to enjoy life
at sea far more than anywhere else. She began to walk the day
we embarked, and soon became able to run about the deck, with a
nimbleness that put to blush her fellow-passengers, and almost vied
with the practised sailors; and she became so fond of the deck, that
we found it extremely difficult to quiet her in the cabin, during her
waking hours, and were obliged to allow her a free range above,
even while the vessel was lying to in gales, if it did not actually
storm. Without any milk on the passage, and living only on ordi-
nary passenger's fare, she grew rapidly and was contented and hap-
py, to the last, to an extent that astonished all on board.
One circumstance, attending our voyage, though peculiar to a
492
-WORMS—MISSIONARY MEETING.
FRUIT VESSEL-WORMS-
fruit-vessel, I should not omit to mention. Our cargo, besides rai-
sins and some other articles, contained 15,000 drums of figs. Eve-
ry fig, soon after being put up, discharges a worm, resembling in size
and appearance the common worm of the apple. And during the
first three weeks of our voyage, the vessel was full of those worms.
The deck, and the walls and ceiling of the cabin, at all times, pre-
sented literally an animated scene,-nay, the little creatures were
everywhere. They would weave their web in our ears while we
were asleep at night, and work themselves into every trunk and gar-
ment and seam; and they had such power of attenuating themselves
that they entered my writing-desk, which appeared to shut perfect-
ly tight, and even worked themselves up into the interior of every
goose-quill, where there was hardly a perceptible orifice. They,
however, neither bite nor sting, and during the fourth week of the
voyage, they wholly disappeared. Should the curious be inclined
more accurately to know the number, besides the data I have given,
he might perhaps estimate it, by ascertaining the number of figs in
a drum. I may also add, that the Nestorian bishop, in view of the
number, would often shudder and in his broken English, say of
them, "Oh, plenty very plenty." The reader can do as he
chooses, with the facts before him, about sailing in a fruit-vessel.
""
Our friends at home, after the arrival of several ships from
Smyrna, which left that port later than our own, looked anxiously for
us and were at length constrained to give us up as lost. A reason
finally appeared, wherefore we were detained. One of the first items
of intelligence that reached me after going on shore was, that a
special meeting of the A. B. C. F. M. was to take place in New
York the next week. How did the news thrill our bosoms, indica-
ting, as the measure did, not more an exigency, in the financial af-
fairs of that Board, than a deepened, quickened and extended in-
terest in the great cause, in which it is engaged. Mar Yohannan's
arrival just at that juncture, and his novel and striking appearance
at the meetings, naturally and necessarily gave a thrilling interest to
the occasion,—an interest, perhaps important enough, in the estima-
tion of the great Head of missions, for Him to have charged the
winds and the waves concerning us, to keep us back unharmed,
until the eve of that important occasion. And how did our hearts
melt and overflow within us, as we came from the deep darkness of
benighted Persia, to be thus ushered directly into the great congre-
gation of the wise and the good, convened from different and distant
places, to consult and to pray for the prosperity of Zion in heathen
lands.

THE AGENCY OF GOD IN MISSIONS.
493
1
CHAPTER XXX.
CONCLUSION.
In the form of a concluding chapter, I may briefly and informal-
ly recall the attention of the reader, to some of the general impres-
sions which he may have received in the perusal of the foregoing
pages, to aid in fixing them the more distinctly in his mind, as well
as throw together a few miscellaneous topics, not elsewhere intro-
duced.
One such impression naturally remarked is, the reality and con-
stancy of the presence and agency of God, in all that pertains to his
missionary servants. He sustains them under their toils and trials,
and protects them in their exposures. Not a tear starts in their
eyes without his sympathy. Not a hair falls from their heads with-
out his notice. And not a stroke of violence is inflicted on their
persons without his permission. Nor less real and constant is his
agency in whatever of success attends their labors. However sig-
nally the word of the Lord has free course and is glorified through
their instrumentality, their part of the work is only instrumentality.
All the efficiency is of God.
From the commencement of our mission to the present time, we
have had fresh occasion, at every step, to rear an Ebenezer" and
thankfully inscribe upon it, "Hitherto hath the Lord helped us."
This cannot fail to appear, if we call to mind our unobstructed ac-
cess to the people from the first-our oft repeated restoration from
distressing sickness-the long preservation of our lives, amid the
deadly influences of a pestilential climate, and of our work, amid the
threatening prospects of hostile commotion-our manifold deliver-
ances from perplexities and difficulties, from the subtle designs of
artful and formidable Papal adversaries, from personal danger and
from death-the favor and protection which we have enjoyed from
Muhammedan rulers-the uninterrupted general prosperity that has
attended our various and extensive missionary labors, and above all,
the influences of the Holy Spirit, vouchsafed to crown with a mea-
sure of saving success our unworthy instrumentality. It is one of
the richest sources of encouragement and support to the missionary,
and should not be less so to his patrons, to be able thus to recognize
the hand of God, as working with them and through them; thus
and thus alone is the ultimate success of the cause made to rest up-
on the foundation of a blessed certainty; for, "except the Lord
build the house, they labor in vain that would build it ;" and if He
build it, it will be reared, and the gates of hell shall not prevail
against it.
The enterprise of missions, is, from beginning to end, a work of
494
SACRIFICES—REWARDS—FEMALE AGency.
sacrifices; but this should not impair its interest nor load it with
objections. It commenced with the great atoning Sacrifice, for a
fallen world; and sacrifices must characterize it, till the world is
brought back to its allegiance to God. As the Lord Jesus, though
being in the form of God, divested himself of the radiant splendors
of the divine glory, made himself of no reputation, took upon him
the form of a servant, was made in the likeness of men, became
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, so his followers are
enjoined by an apostle, to let this mind be in them, which was also
in Christ Jesus. The disciple is not above his Master nor the ser-
vant above his Lord. Because, then, the work of diffusing the
knowledge of that great salvation, which He, by his infinite conde-
scension-his life of sufferings and death of agony, has provided,
requires sacrifices on the part of his children, shall they demur, and
regretfully ask, as did the grudging disciples when the precious oint-
ment was poured upon his head, "to what purpose is this waste?"
Is the object of such sacrifices and the reward for them not an am-
ple compensation? Ask an apostle. For as the sufferings of
Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.
I count all things but loss, that I may know Him and the power
of His resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings. For to you
it is given-[an exalted privilege]-in the behalf of Christ, not only
to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake.' O how inade-
quately do those believers prize their spiritual birth-right, and esti-
mate the salvation of a perishing world, who make their sad lament-
ation over the sacrifices, involved in the work of missions!
Female consecration to the work is, by many, regarded, not only
as a sacrifice, but a gratuitous one-not called for-thrown away.
Little do such know the value of female influence in the foreign
field. If the wife, by her sustaining power, can render the mission-
ary, who, as a single man, might sink into the grave, under the
burden of his work and the solitude of his situation, within five years
after reaching his post, an efficient laborer, twice, thrice or four
times five years, the probability of which it would not be difficult to
show, to say nothing of the many other inestimable benefits of her
example and labors, is the life of that female thrown away? It is
matter of unfeigned gratitude to God, that there are not wanting
devoted females, to earn and to receive, in the missionary service,
that plaudit, so much more enviable than the marble of the Cæsars,
of which, not alone a mercenary Judas, but many a faithful disciple,
unwittingly, would rob them, "She hath done what she could."
The churches may spare their regret for the sacrifice of such females,
or at least, exchange it for prayer and thanksgiving, on their account.
Says another, "Sometimes, brethren, when I have thought of them,
[missionaries,] as far off, surrounded only by the darkness and de-
gradation of heathenism, suffering every privation, toiling from year
to year under every outward discouragement, with no friendly voice
to animate them, and no sympathizing bosom on which to repose
A
SACRIFICES AT HOME-TRIALS OF OUR FIELD. 495
their aching heads in the hour of despondency and gloom ;-when
I have thought of the delicate, the refined, the enlightened female
missionary, the dew of her youth expended in ceaseless anxieties
and unremitted toil—when I have followed her, in my imagination,
to some secluded spot to which she is wont to retire, perhaps in the
stillness of the evening hour, to think of her home, and to recall the
looks and the affections of those from whom she is separated until
they meet beyond the vale of death, where parting is unknown;
and when I have there witnessed the deep, convulsive throes of her
heart, while the tears chase each other over her pale and care-worn
cheeks—I have said in my haste-It is too much-can, does God
require it? But when I have read of their love for the work, and
how their consolations abounded in the midst of their trials;-when
I have read of their holy enjoyment in God, of their sweet peace of
mind, of their ardent aspirations after heaven, as faith unfolded to
their enraptured vision the brightness of its glory;-when I have
read of their composed, of their peaceful and triumphant death, and
thought of the unfading brilliancy of that crown, which shall encir-
cle their brows-I have said-It is not a vain thing to serve the
Lord;—whatever sacrifices it involves, its rewards are infinitely
preferable to earth's highest honors and purest pleasures."*
We would not lay down the principle, that missionaries should, in
all cases, be married men. There are fields, spheres of labor and
circumstances, as there doubtless will be, till the world is converted,
in which it is as clearly expedient for modern missionaries to go
forth and labor single, as it was for Paul, in the "distress" of the
times in which he lived; and modern Pauls, when duty requires it,
will rejoice to make this sacrifice also, and follow in this particular
the example of the great apostle.
Most Christians at home have hardly yet known the meaning of
the term, sacrifice, in connexion with the work of missions. How
few, comparatively, have ever given to this cause, a contribution
beyond their entire convenience, or even half what they might have
given, without feeling it. God, in his providence, seems about to
afford them an opportunity to learn the lesson and taste the luxury
of making sacrifices. May they prize and embrace the privilege,
and reap the recompense of reward.
Our missionary field has necessarily been one of somewhat pecu-
liar self-denial,-difficult of access-facilities for communication
irregular and imperfect-encompassed by vast territories of Muham-
medan dominion, and with a sickly climate. Any field, however,
is far more trying to pioneers than to their successors.
Ours may
now be commonly reached by the missionary, in company with
caravans, without much danger; and the fatigue of the long land-
journey, with proper precautions, need not amount to very serious
exposure to a lady. Our health-retreat holds out the grateful promise
* Rev. Dr. W. R. Dewitt's sermon before the A. B. C. F. M. 1842, p. 18.
496
MISSION PREMISES IMPORTANCE OF HOPE.
of relief from the sickliness of the climate. And our contiguous
situation, in the city of Oróomiah, contributes much to the security
and comfort of our residence. Our mission premises embrace about
an acre, pleasantly shaded by numerous tall sycamores, enclosed on
all sides, by a high mud-wall and entered by a single gate. Within
this enclosure are the dwellings of the missionaries, (four families,)
our seminary of about fifty pupils, our girl's boarding-school, of
between twenty and thirty-and our printing establishment,-in all,
about one hundred individuals, besides our school for young
Mŭ-
hammedans and our medical dispensary. Our permanent commu-
nity are regulated in their labors, studies, recitations and religious
exercises, by the hours of the day, somewhat in the manner of a
college in America, while the members of the mission are also abroad
among the villages, more or less, visiting the schools and preaching
the gospel. Our proximity to each other renders it easy for the
missionaries to be together daily, or oftener, for business, or social
and religious purposes, and is an unspeakable relief in case of sick-
ness. Thus, far away in a benighted land, and in the heart of a
Muhammedan city,
We are a garden, walled around,
Chosen and made peculiar ground,
A little spot, enclosed by grace,
Out of the world's wide wilderness.
Like trees of myrrh and spice we stand,
Planted by God, the Father's hand;
And all his springs in Zion flow,
To make the young plantation grow.
We do not, however, expect entire exemption from sufferings, nor
would we ask it, while cheered by the animating assurance, that if
we suffer with Him [Christ,] we shall also reign with Him.
While speaking of sacrifices, I should not omit to suggest, that
in view of the self-denials and trials incident to his work, hope is an
important element in the missionary's character. It is indeed a
cardinal christian grace, in believers in general,-placed between
faith and charity by an apostle. But it is preeminently indispensa
ble, in the foreign laborer, who would be happy and successful, in
his arduous undertaking. No doubting Thomas ought ever to be
sent into the field, to hang as a mill-stone upon the necks of his
sufficiently burdened brethren, magnifying difficulties, and creating
the discouragements which he fancies to exist. The missionary
must be disposed habitually to rejoice in hope, as well as be patient
in tribulation and instant in prayer. Not that he need be, or should
be, unduly sanguine in his expectations. In medio tutissimus ibis;
safety lies between the two. He must expect great things, for
Christ's kingdom—at least hope for them-or he will never attempt
great things.
The state and prospects of our mission to the Nestorians are in-
SCHOOLS-PROGRESS-THE PRESS.
497
creasingly encouraging. We have multiplied village-schools, from
time to time, as teachers have become qualified in our seminary, tọ
the utmost extent of our pecuniary means. These schools are now
about twenty in number, besides the seminary and female boarding-
school, all of which have, from their commencement, been in a
flourishing condition. They contain about five hundred scholars;
and it is delightful to mark the progress of these scholars, where,
a few years ago, no schools existed,-to see them gradually rise, in
the brief course of even the imperfect education which we are able
to furnish them, from the rude, ignorant, squalid children, first col-
lected, up to the comparatively intelligent young men, like plants
grown up in their youth, and daughters, as corner-stones, polished
after the similitude of a palace; and yet more delightful, to mark
their rapid progress in religious knowledge, their increased atten-
tion to eternal things, and the hopeful conversion of here and there
one from the power and bondage of sin, to the love and service of the
living God. Our educational efforts hold out the cheering prospect, in
connexion with our other labors, of furnishing the Nestorians with
an intelligent and pious ministry; and with their aid, of gradually
raising the whole mass to an intelligent and virtuous people.
►
It is but a little more than two years since the arrival of our
press, and the commencement of printing among the Nestorians.
The power of this mighty agency can never be told, especially in
its operations in a benighted land. The press has sometimes been
called the modern gift of tongues. It is so; but is also much more.
It is the gift of tongues stereotyped. Instead of the ephemeral unc-
tion of a Pentecostal occasion, by which every man was made to
hear of the wonderful works of God in his own language, it gives to
them all the permanent record of those wonderful works, to be read
and re-read, and transmitted to successive generations. And in-
stead of being limited to Jerusalem, or carried to their respective
countries, by the living voice of all those Parthians and Medes and
dwellers in Mesopotamia, as was the gospel originally conveyed,
the press has the power of ubiquity. The same organ proclaims
the truth, not in one country, nor two, nor ten, but on both conti-
nents, and in all lands; and in our day, almost simultaneously. I
hardly need say, that our printing establishment, under the able and
efficient management of Mr. Breath, promises unspeakable blessings
to the Nestorians; and while it is like a tree of life to that people
in particular, some of its leaves will not fail to prove a healing to
the other nations also of those benighted regions, that are impor-
tuning us to make books for them, as well as for the native Chris-
tians. In connexion with my other labors, I have commonly spent
a part of each day in the work of translation, and have thus been
enabled to complete a version of the New Testament, and some
smaller works for our schools. Parts of the New Testament are
already printed, and we hope erelong to have the whole in free cir-
calation, in our schools and among the people. Several Tracts, pre-
63
498
PREACHINC IN THE NESTORIAN CHURCHES.
pared by different members of our mission, are also dropping from
the press as the rain, and their speech distilling as the dew. Dur-
ing my visit in the United States, I have superintended the pre-
paration of models for a new font of Syriac type, which Mr. Hallock
is now successfully engaged in casting, and which cannot fail
greatly to facilitate our printing operations.
But the most interesting department of our labors, is our preach-
ing the gospel in the Nestorian churches, as already noticed. The
scene is deeply interesting, as we take our places in those plain,
venerable churches, that point us back so directly to early times,
perhaps to apostolic labors-a Nestorian bishop standing on one
hand, and a priest on the other, and a congregation, seated upon
their coarse mats, or on the simple earth-floor, crowded shoulder to
shoulder, and listening to the words of life, as they fall from the
speaker's lips, with an eagerness of countenance, that would almost
loose the tongues of those of our mission, who had not yet learned
their language, and inspire them with the power of utterance. It
is always an unspeakable privilege to preach the gospel of salvation ;
but peculiarly so, in such circumstances. Never have I addressed
audiences elsewhere, respecting which, it might apparently with so
much truth be said, that they received the word with gladness.
Some of the native clergy, who have been a considerable time
under the influence of our mission, are becoming themselves very
able and faithful preachers of the gospel. Often have I heard them
address their people, with a solemnity and power, which we asso-
ciate with the preaching of apostles. The earnest, moving voice
of priests Abraham, Dunka and Yohannan, who are in middle life,
and the less pungent, but affectingly serious and tremulous tones of
the venerable Mar Elias, urging their people to repentance and sal-
vation, are so vivid in my recollection, as to seem often to be still
sounding in my ears! They, and a few others of the clergy, go
out not only in company with the missionaries, but alone also, and
address other congregations on the Sabbath.
•
The attendance on our preaching, during the winter and spring
previous to my leaving the field, was full, and a deep solemnity
pervaded the assemblies. Indeed, an unwonted interest, on the
subject of religion, appeared to be awakened and extending itself
throughout the whole province of Oróomiah. The indications that
the Holy Spirit was verily in the midst of us, and around us, were
clear and often very impressive,—not in the thunder, nor the whirl-
wind, nor the earthquake; but in the still, small voice, that con-
vinced many of their sins and their need of a Saviour, and led some
to Christ, to the saving of their souls.
Such was the state of our mission, when I reluctantly left the
field, more than a year ago, on account of the impaired health of
Mrs. Perkins. Many of the nominal Christians, who, when I went
among them, about nine years since, found such ready apologies
for their sins and immoralities, in their depressed political condition,
CHANGE-PROSPECTS-MOUNTAIN NESTORANS.
499
now as readily turn the scale against themselves, recognizing in the
rigor of their bondage, the hand of a kind heavenly Father, scourg-
ing them for their backslidings, and seeking to reclaim and save
them. The church that was dead, while it had a name to live, is
beginning to awake, and arise into life. The great valley which
was full of bones, very many and dry, is beginning to feel the
quickening power of the breath of Jehovah. Bone is coming to its
bone, and the ghastly, lifeless skeleton begins to be invested with
flesh-with spiritual comeliness and vitality. In a word, the Lord
is moving, through the agency of our mission, and by the influence
of his Spirit, upon the entire body of the Nestorians of Oróomiah,
a population of between thirty and forty thousand, waking them to
thought and reflection, and a work, which may, in a certain and in-
teresting sense, be called, a revival of religion, still and gradual, but
deep and general, is in progress among them, which promises to
make them again a people whose God is the Lord. A verdant
oäsis has thus suddenly sprung up around us, in the midst of that
great moral wilderness, as yet indeed small, but bidding fair rapidly
to extend, until it shall cause the whole mighty desert to bud and
blossom as the rose !
1 anticipate such a result, as I have before suggested, and at no
very distant period, not by any human might or power, nor by
miracles, strictly so called; but by, "my Spirit, saith the Lord;" by
the promised, and to some extent, the already vouchsafed, blessing
of Jehovah, on the humble efforts which American Christians are
putting forth for the revival of religion among the Nestorians. Pure
religion once revived among the remnant of that ancient missiona-
ry church-situated as it is in the centre of Muhammedan domin-
ion and far toward the centre of benighted Asia, and still possessing,
as it does, rare native capabilities, as well as such felicity of loca-
tion, for the effective renewal of its missionary efforts, and it must
be most emphatically a city set on a hill whose light can never be
hid. It must shed forth such a flood of celestial radiance as shall
scatter the thick clouds and sweep away the mighty barriers of Mŭ-
hammedan and Papal abominations, that have so long hedged them
in and lowered over them, and send forth hosts of heralds of the
gospel, of a stamp so primitive as shall soon ring the joyful sound
over the mountains and plains and deserts, and through the valleys,
of their own benighted continent, and aid efficiently in speeding its
flight through all the world.
The success of the branch of our mission to the Nestorians of
Koordistân, is at present naturally regarded as somewhat problemati-
cal, alike from the peculiarities of the country, the character of the
people, and the existing disturbances arising from the efforts of the
Turkish government to subject those wild mountain tribes.
excited hopes, in relation to such fields, are usually subject to a mea-
sure of chastening, as has been the case with the Zulus of South
Africa, the Druses of Mt. Lebanon, and many of our western In-
First
500
INDEPENDENCE COMPARISON- -HYMN,
dians. The mountain Nestorians necessarily present a much more
precarious and less feasible missionary field, than those of Persia,
who dwell in a smooth, fertile country, are fixed in their habits, com-
paratively civilized in their character, and live under a regular sys-
tem of government.
There is, however, a charm in the word, independence, especially
to a republican ear, and a peculiar charm, when the term is ap
plied to nominal Christians in a Muhammedan land. And it is, in-
deed, wonderfully interesting, that a portion of the mountain Nes-
torians have so long maintained a species of independence among
savage Muhammedans; nor less so, that they have equally resisted
the encroachments of wily Papal foes, and retained their reverence
for the Bible and the simplicity of their religious forms and opinions,
as well as their political freedom. A comparison of these Nestori-
ans with the Waldenses is perfectly natural, nor is it, in some re-
spects, improper, though the former never probably possessed the
spirituality of the latter. And we are not the only ones who love to
fancy the wild cliffs of Koordistân, as reverberating with the sweet
and thrilling notes that purport to have echoed through the valleys of
Piedmont.
*
"THANKS BE TO GOD FOR THE MOUNTAINS.*
For the strength of the hills we bless Thee,
Our God, our fathers' God:
Thou hast made thy children mighty,
By the touch of the mountain sod :
Thou hast fixed our ark of refuge,
Where the spoiler's feet ne'er trod;
For the strength of the hills we bless Thee,
Our God, our fathers' God.
We are watchers of a beacon,
Whose light must never die :
We are guardians of an altar,
'Midst the silence of the sky;
The rocks yield founts of courage ;
Struck forth as by thy rod ;
For the strength of the hills we bless Thee,
Our God, our fathers' God.
For the dark resounding caverns,
Where thy still small voice is heard ;
For the strong pines of the forest,
That by thy strength is stirred;
For the storm on whose free pinions,
Thy Spirit walks abroad;
For the strength of the hills we bless Thee,
Our God, our fathers' God.
Hymn of the Vaudois mountaineers, in times of persecution.-Howitt's
Book of the Seasons.
•
IMPORT OF THEIR INDEPENDENCE-NEW ERA.
The royal eagle darteth,
On his quarry from the heights;
And the stag that knows no master,
Seeks there his wild delights;
But we for thy communion,
Have sought the mountain sod;
For the strength of the hills we bless Thee,
Our God, our fathers' God.
The banner of the chieftain,
Far, far below us waves;
The war-horse of the spearman,
Cannot reach our lofty caves.
Thy dark clouds wrap the threshhold
Of freedom's last abode ;
For the strength of the hills we bless Thee,
Our God, our fathers' God.
For the shadow of Thy presence,
Round our camp of rock out-spread;
For the stern defiles of battle,
Bearing record of our dead;
For the snows and for the torrents;
For the free hearts' burial sod;
For the strength of the hills we bless Thee,
Our God, our fathers' God."
501
But we must look at these mountain Nestorians soberly and prac-
tically, as well as poetically, would we wisely project, and success-
fully execute, missionary efforts among them. The term, indepen-
dent, applied to them in an unqualified manner, may be as decep-
tive as it is grateful. What then is the real import of their inde-
pendence? Why, that by the aid of the rocky ramparts that sur-
round them, their muskets and spears which they always keep near
them, and their corresponding habits of fierce, desperate daring, two
clans have for ages resisted the exaction of tribute, demanded by the
neighboring Koordish chiefs, or taxes, by the Turkish government
within whose remote territorial limits they dwell. This desperate
resistence has had its day and accomplished its noble object. It has
preserved those christian clans, during long ages of darkness, from
being trodden down by the vindictive Mussulmân, and decoyed by
the artful Jesuit. But it is to be admired in the past, rather than
for the future. That dispensation is ready to vanish away, and a
new era begins to dawn. And has the pacific cause of Protestant
missions anything to suffer in the loss of such an independence?
Are the inhabitants of New Zealand that remain independent, better
off than their neighbors who come under the control, and feel the
civilizing, humanizing influence of English authority and English
institutions? If the cases be not fully parallel, the latter well illus-
trates the former. The savage Koords and the wild independent
Nestorians are in little danger of injury, by being made to yield to
the influence of a regular Muhammedan government; especially, a
Muhammedan government, which is now rapidly passing through
502
ADVANTAGES-POLITICAL COMMOTION.
a series of mutations, that, in their progress, will shake to pieces the
whole existing fabric, and distribute the fragments among civilized,
christian nations.
The unsettled state of things in Koordistân, in connexion with
the wild character of the country and the people, may, for some
time, render it difficult for missionaries to reside there; and tempo-
rary visits to the field cannot of course accomplish great results.
That the ultimate effect of political commotions there, will, however,
be, to lay open a more ready and safe way of access to all parts and
classes of that fearful country, there can be little doubt; for the
arm that subjugates the wild, independent Nestorians, will at the
same time conquer, and in some measure, tame, the ferocious Koords
in the midst of whom they dwell. Nor will those nominal Chris-
tians be merely thus rendered more accessible. They will also be
in a better condition to be benefitted by missionaries. We have,
at Oróomiah, felt the advantage, arising to our work, from the fact
that the docile Nestorians there, are under dominion to the Mŭham-
medan powers that be. Our mission among them is doubtless far
more prosperous, while they are in that dependent state, than it
would be, if it were subject to the unchecked caprices of a people,
the mass of whom are so imperfectly influenced by the spirit of the
gospel. As Christianity shall be more revived among them and be-
come a controlling principle, and the way be thus prepared, Provi-
dence, we trust, will remove the galling Muhammedan yoke, as no
longer needed, and make the Nestorians of Persia independent, in
some measure, in a political and civil sense, as well as Christ's
freemen.
।
-
But far more important is it for the defenceless missionary, that
those wild mountaineers should be put and kept under the restraint
of a regular government, alike that he may reach the Nestorians
with less exposure from their savage Koordish neighbors, and that
he may be less subject than he must be in their present state, to
those rough, unreasonable men of the christian name, until they shall,
in like manner, be imbued and softened under the influence of
Christianity. We may regard the present disturbances in Koordis-
tân, then, as not fraught with much evil to the prospects of the mis-
sion to that region. "I am sorry," said a devoted friend of the
cause, "that I ever had my interest so excited for that people, only
to be again disappointed." This interest, if intelligent and found-
ed in genuine zeal, should not, and need not, wane. Those frown-
ing clouds may soon display a brighter bow of promise, than has
yet beckoned us to that field; they may be merely gathering show-
ers of mercy, to distil in richness upon its perishing inhabitants, till
"the mountains shall flow down at the presence of the Lord, to
make his name known to his adversaries;" till "the mountains".
so proverbial as the seats of war and wild ferocity and terror, in the
East-"shall bring peace to the people." Commotions, there, as
elsewhere, should at least be regarded, as only that overturning,
MISSION IN TURKEY.
503
which is needed there and elsewhere, to prepare the way for Him
whose right it is to reign. I have learned to hope, far more than
to fear, from political storms in Asia.
Having spent a few months in Constantinople, on my way to Per-
sia, at the time when the religious interest first began to appear
among the Armenians there, I naturally visited that field, with pe
culiar interest, on my return. I had expected to find great and
pleasing changes, that had occurred in the interval; but my antici-
pations were far more than realized. During my long absence, a
wonderful advance, notwithstanding all the storms which the mis-
sion has encountered and perhaps partly in consequence of them,
had been made in the progress of the gospel.
And
I have mentioned the conflagrations in that great city, which, in
population, almost rivals the British metropolis. It often happens,
during these conflagrations, that while the flames are spreading
themselves rapidly and irresistibly in unbroken sheets, in all direc-
tions, a burning cinder, or shaving, borne upward and onward, by
the rising gust that is created by the flames, is wafted silently away,
drops unperceived at some distant point, and kindles a new fire
there, similar to the desolating centre from which it came.
there is something quite analogous to this, in the religious phe-
nomena, that are now presented in Constantinople and the surround-
ing region. By the blessing of God, on the labors of his faithful
missionaries, a moral illumination is kindled in that great and wick-
ed metropolis, that is blazing up to heaven and spreading rapidly
to the remotest parts of the empire. Sometimes, a Tract or Bible,
like the lighted shaving, flies away from that city, as on the wings
of the wind or of the birds of the air, and falls unobserved in some
distant place, and soon kindles another moral conflagration, which
becomes itself the source of others still and so on.
An illustration of these remarks is furnished, in the history of a
copy of the Tract, entitled the Dairyman's Daughter, dropped, some
years ago, by the Rev. Wm. Goodell, in the town of Nicomedia, as
he was travelling through the place, where he knew nobody and
was known to no one. The little Tract was read; and under the
divine blessing on the humble instrumentality, it was made the
means of effecting a change so wonderful, in that benighted place,
that when Nicomedia was visited, several years afterward, by another
member of the mission at the Turkish capital, a considerable num-
ber of enlightened, spiritual Christians were found there, who had
never before met with a missionary. And now Nicomedia itself
has become a radiant point, from which the light of truth is rapidly
emanating in different directions, to aid in illumining that Muham-
medan empire. The mission stations at Broosa, Trebizond and
Erzróom are also re-kindling the lamps of Christianity which had
gone out, and the truth is beginning to radiate from them also, as
centres, to disperse the deep darkness of surrounding regions. Many
of the Armenian Christians are merchants-eminently a locomotive
504
GENERAL ASPECTS-STEAM-
COMMERCE.
people, found in all parts of the world, those of different and distant
regions always having, at the same time, much intercourse with
each other. This characteristic is highly favorable to the rapid and
extensive diffusion of religious influence in connexion with the la-
bors of the missionaries.
There are encouraging aspects in the Providence of God, affect-
ing, at the present time, the general cause of truth in the East, which
give to the revival of religion, now in progress among the oriental
churches, a peculiar interest and importance,-aspects, which indi-
cate another branch of the divine working, but running parallel
with the missionary enterprise, and tending to the same grand con-
summation, the conversion of the world.
To the extension of the power of steam, since our mission was
commenced, by which the distance is almost annihilated, between
Europe-and indeed between America-and the remote ports of
the Black Sea, I have already alluded. The influence of this exten-
sion of steam-power is amazing, in preparing the way for the spread
of the gospel, by bringing different and distant nations into near
and familiar proximity, and thus breaking down their national and
sectional prejudices, and in the intercommunication and rapid dif-
fusion of light and general intelligence.
Beyond the shores of that distant sea, the steamer even cannot
push its way. It cannot scale those lofty mountains, whose snow-
capped summits pierce and peer above the clouds. But ever sleep-
less, restless, advancing commerce can, and does, cross those moun-
tains. And though it cannot level them, it can smooth the way
over them.
When I went to Persia, about nine years ago, 13,000
caravan horses and mules were accustomed to pass annually on the
route which we travelled between Trebizond and Erzróom; i. e.
that number of loads was then the annual aggregate of caravan
travel. But on our return, the number had doubled,-26,000 in-
stead of 13,000, as the English consul at Trebizond informed me,
now annually travelling that same route. And the adamantine
ledges of the rocky passes had evidently been worn down and
smoothed, and the road essentially improved, in the interval, by the
incessant attrition of the hoofs of beasts of burden, in so vast an
amount of travel,-so much so, that rude wheel-carriages are be-
ginning to take the place of the backs of animals, as the vehicles of
merchandize, over a part of the way, and the prospect is, that they
will at length be able to run the whole of that formidable route.
But how much more important an effect of this rapid increase of
commerce, in that direction, is the tide of light and civilization,
which it is rolling into the dark empires beyond those mountains! By
these mighty strides of commerce, the Earth, in the language of
Scripture, is verily helping the woman;-in other words, the hand
of the Lord, in controlling and directing the current of secular ad-
venture and enterprise, is opening the way, for the introduction and
triumph of the gospel, in all the world, but particularly, in western
VICIOUS INFLUENCE-INNOVATIONS.
505
and central Asia, in a manner too wonderful to be comprehended
or hardly believed, except by the astonished beholders who person-
ally observe the surprising phenomena!
:
Not that this flood of commerce, which is thus rolling eastward,
is entirely unalloyed. The vicious influence of civilized nations,
like the frogs of Egypt, is every where. In the heart of Turkey,
the missionary sees the children of peasants, playing briskly with
European cards, where not one child in perhaps ten thousand knows
a letter of any language. And New England Rum, is still almost
the only commercial representative with which our christian, Pro
testant country, has ever yet honored the markets of distant, be-
nighted, Muhammedan, Persia! But the overruling hand of the
Lord can,
can, and does, cause the good greatly to preponderate over the
evil. The swelling tide of trade and adventure, on which this liquid
poison-and demoralizing practices steal their passage, pours into
the East far more light than darkness; far more blessings than
curses; and with all its attendant evils, commerce is rapidly has-
tening the day, when holiness to the Lord shall be written on all
the bells of its caravan horses. And is it by a mere figure, that the
extending rail-roads of Europe and America-a mode of communi-
cation which is destined to pervade the world-point us to the pre-
dicted period, when "every valley shall be filled and every moun-
tain and hill shall be brought low, and the crooked shall be made
strait, and the rough ways shall be made smooth; and all flesh shall
see the salvation of God,"-a moral consummation which, as mat-
ter of fact, who can doubt that these rail-roads are rapidly hastening!
The increasing disposition in Asiatics to adopt European cus-
toms and obtain European knowledge, is another highly encouraging.
aspect of things in the East. Borne onward by this general current
of light and improvement, the Persian monarch, not long ago, éx-
changed the flowing robes of his oriental costume, for the less grace-
ful, but more manly, tight coat and pantaloons, which he once as
heartily scorned as he did the despised European who wore them;
and the beard, which, on the face of his predecessor, being of ex-
traordinary length, was reverently styled, "the glory of the empire,'
and upon which he would once have placed a value scarcely second
to that of his crown, is now clipped to his chin; and, as we have
remarked, he requires most of his subjects who enter the military
profession, or enjoy the emoluments of office, to follow his example
in these innovations. I attach no importance to such changes of
custom and costume, being, as I conceive, things quite indifferent
in themselves, except as they strongly indicate the decline of Mu-
hammedan and Eastern prejudice, and the rapid opening of facilities
for the spread of the gospel.
I have mentioned our Muhammedan school, and the reasons for
it. I may in this connexion insert a short letter, which I have re-
ceived since I left Oróomiah, from one of the pupils. He is the son
of one of the wealthiest and highest nobles of that city, a nephew


64
506
NOTE-DECLINE OF MUHAMMEDISM.
of the governor; and though a small boy, is himself a Khân; and
I may add, that he is as bright a scholar and fine a boy, as I ever in-
structed in any land. As he had studied our language but about
a year and a half, and this note is one of his early attempts at writ-
ing it, its imperfect style will of course be excused.
My Dear Sir,
“Oróomiah, Aug. 5, 1841.
and
How is your health, in this month? I wish to write a letter in
every month, but the căsîd (foot-messenger) has not come from Ta-
bréez yet. I hope the Koords did you no harm on the way,
that you have arrived at Constantinople, and that you will go safely
across the ocean, and God will keep you. We read and learn in
school with doctor Wright, and sometimes talk with Mr. Breath.
It is necessary for me to speak the English language; for perhaps,
after two or three years, I may go to England or to America.
Our Moollâh* wished me to find if it was forbidden in the gos-
pel, to drink wine. We looked in the gospel, translated into the
Persian language, and we found it written in 1 Corinthians 6: 10,
that "
no drunkard shall inherit the kingdom of God.”
I send you my Dooâ Selâm (prayerful salutation).
Your friend very truly,
HASSAN ALI KHAN."
(Signed)
The promise of good, which missionary instruction, to Mŭham-
medan youth, of this boy's standing and prospects, holds out for Per-
sia, can be fully understood, only by those who have seen the mighty
barriers of prejudice existing against the christian religion there,
which must be removed before the gospel can triumph in that coun-
try, and which such preparatory means alone can be expected suc-
cessfully to undermine. And when bigotted Moollâhs apply thus to
our scholars, for proof-texts from the gospel, against prevalent vices,
is there not reason to hope that their prejudices are already begin-
ning to yield? Yes; Muhammedism, proud, exclusive, corrupt,
revengeful and bloody, as it is, is tottering in its dotage, and ready
to fall. Its walls, high as heaven, that have so long bid defiance to
every assault, the silent power of a holy example, reflected from the
reformed lives and elevated characters of the nominal Christians,
the prayer of faith and the labors of love, will gradually shake to the
ground. Nor need we apprehend rending convulsions from its fall.
Like a mighty polar iceberg, breaking away from its dreary moorings
and floating gently downward into a kindlier zone, so Muhammedism,
amid the growing light and warmth of civilization and Christianity,
that are kindled up around it, is silently and harmlessly melting
away! Do we doubt this? Look at the Muhammedan monarchs
of the bloody empires of Turkey and Persia, jointly laying aside their
* The Moollâh, it will be recollected, is the Muhammedan priest.
BRITISH INFLUENCE-PIOUS OFFICERS.
507
swords, and referring their political disputes to christian govern-
ments for arbitration!
The extension of British political influence and power in Asia,
is another sign of the times, auguring most auspiciously for the
spread of the gospel over that continent. I say this, not of course
as a party politician, but as a christian philanthropist and a mis-
sionary, who has had abundant opportunity to observe and to feel
the effect of British influence in the East. Wherever English
power prevails in Asia, it is, in general, no more certain, that there,
the rod of oppression is broken, the captive liberated, and the con-
dition and prospects of the inhabitants vastly meliorated, than that
there the Protestant missionary-and especially, the American mis-
sionary-has an unfailing pledge of protection, encouragement and
aid, in his object and labors; and there only has he any such sure
and permanent security. To the eye of the christian observer, it is
clearly not fortuitous chance, nor sagacity in the game of politics,
nor military skill or prowess, merely nor mainly, that is placing so
much of Asia under British control. It is the hand of Providence-
the right arm of the God of missions.
It is a most interesting circumstance, that, among the English
who are scattered through the East, there is a large number of de-
votedly pious men; and among them, many military and civil offi-
cers of high standing, who are not ashamed to be known as the
humble servants of God, as well as the faithful servants of their
country. A late British envoy to the court of Herât, in East Per-
sia, was Col. Todd, who was previously some time in Persia. He
is a devout Christian, and has repeatedly cheered us with his
counsels and letters. Col. Stoddart, another pious officer, was en-
voy to the yet more distant court of Bōkhârâ, which is one of the
strongest holds of the religion of the False Prophet, and one of the
most inaccessible points and least known to Europeans, in all central
Asia. Muhammedan bigotry, on his first arrival there, cast him
into prison, and, as it is reported, submitted to him the fearful al-
ternative, of conversion to that bloody faith, or a violent death.
He, however, who shut the lions' mouths, that they should not harm
Daniel in their den, preserved this his servant, also, unharmed
amid the perils of his distant and gloomy confinement; and under
the pressure of his own trials, Col. Stoddart forgot not us and our
labors in Persia; but still cheered us with fraternal epistles.
Need I say that such English officers-and scores of them-yes,
many scores, there are-scattered over the wild regions and posted
on the high places of benighted Asia, are missionary pioneers, rap-
idly preparing the way for the spread of the gospel! Indeed, Prov-
idence seems to be extending and strengthening British influence in
all parts of the world, but especially in Asia, at the present time, ex-
ceptionable as is much of its policy and the character of many of
its agents, yet as overruled by Providence, on the whole, as a radi-
ant orb of light, the protector of Protestant missions and the cham-
508
PAPAL EFFORTS CHECKED-BENEFITS.
pion of pure Christianity. It is opening the proud gates of the ce-
lestial empire itself to the rich blessings of civilization and the ines-
timable boon of Christianity: May the withering gangrene of party
spirit never warp and contract the noble views and Catholic policy,
on the subject of religion and of missions, hitherto pursued by En-
glishmen abroad! And may favored 'America, never be found slow
to emulate the father-land, in promoting the spread of the gospel,-
this highest and best of the momentous purposes, for which Provi-
dence has given to the two countries so exalted a place among the
nations.
་
1..
The Providential interpositions, that often arrest the progress of
Papal efforts in the East, are also 'cheering signs of the times, betok-
ening favor for Zion. To some of these, I have alluded as happen-
ing in connexion with our mission. And while writing the above
paragraphs, a letter reached me from a missionary fellow-laborer,
announcing the fact, that the Shâh of Persia had ordered all the
Papal emissaries, in his dominions, to leave the empire. The fol-
lowing is an extract from that letter; "The Papal missionaries, it
seems, have been all ordered out of Persia by the Shâh. It is said,
that this has been done, in consequence of the complaints of the Ar-
menians against them, through the Russian ambassador, or rather
through the Catholocos at Echmiadzen, and the Russian government.
It remains to be seen what the French government will do in the
matter. Query-will she think it best to send an army to take ven-
geance on the Persian king, and compel him to pay a handsome
fine, for daring to rule in his own dominions, as she did at the
Sandwich Islands?"
!
i
It is wonderful that those agents of the "man of sin," should thus
be arrested in their career of scattering tares, by the influence of a
Muhammedan government. If it be an instance of Satan divided
against Satan, it at least points us to the grateful certainty, that his
kingdom will not always stand; and it is just as really and clearly
the hand of the Lord, as though their path had been hedged up by
the armed angel, who stayed the beast of Balaam. If this royal or-
der be never executed, (and if it savor of intolerance, we would not
desire it to be carried into effect,) it will at least rebuke the arro-
gance which provoked it, and 'tend to check the oppressive course
öf Papal emissaries in those regions, in their fiery zeal to make con-
verts. It is worthy of remark, moreover, that their influx into Per-
sia, has hitherto turned out for the furtherance of the gospel; and
the same is true, in relation to some other fields. We should, for
instance, never have dared, in our lack of pecuniary means, to open
half of the schools which are now flourishing among the Nestorians,
had we not been impelled to do it, by the presence of an enemy,
who, on the other hand, have succeeded in making very little im-
pression at Oróomiah. Protestants and their missionaries, need the
Scourge of Papacy to keep them humble, and especially, to rouse
them from their slumbers and prompt them to higher and holier de-
ENCOURAGEMENT
MOTIVES.
509
votedness, in their Master's service. This important agency for
Zion, during the death-struggles of the system, Papacy may be des-
tined by Providence to perform.
In view of the general aspects in the signs of the times, which I
have mentioned, and many others of a similar character, as well as
of the success that attends the laborers in the missionary fields,
what occasion have believers to thank God and take courage! It
is not enough, however, that they admire and acknowledge what
God hath wrought. How imperatively are they called upon, at the
same time, to inquire what he would have them to do what efforts
make and influence exert, in the advancement of his kingdom!
What infinite condescension is it on his part, and how exalted the
honor and the privilege conferred on them, that he permits them to
be co-workers with himself, in the accomplishment of the matchless
scheme of the world's salvation! And while he grants to them
the privilege, he of course expects and requires a prompt and will-
ing coöperation. The Lord is far in advance of his people, in the
great work, by the movements of his Providence and the bestow-
ment of his grace. The wonderful political revolutions and civil
changes of our day, in all parts of the world, the general success of
missions, and the copious effusions of the Holy Spirit, vouchsafed in
some cases, are sufficient to assure us, that God waits only to be
properly inquired of by his people, in fervent prayer and corres-
ponding exertion, to give to His Son the heathen for an inheritance
and the uttermost parts of the earth for a possession,-to fill the whole
world with the knowledge and glory of his name, as the waters fill
the mighty deep. O that they all had hearts to pray and labor, for
the advancement of his kingdom, as they have opportunity and the
object demands; and how soon would the light of the moon be as
the light of the sun-the light of the sun be seven fold-and all the
ends of the earth behold the salvation of our God.
GLOSSARY OF FOREIGN WORDS.
Abha, father, (Syriac), 183.
Abhahátha, Fathers, í. e. their writings, 16.
Abbona, our Father, 18.
Agá, Master, (Turkish), 132.
Agértha, epistle, (Syriac), 15.

Ajee-chai, bitter river, (Turkish), a stream near Tabréez, 142.
Ajém, clown, an epithet applied to the Persians by the Soonées, 144.
Ajcmistán, clown land, applied to Persia, by the Soonées, 144.·
Akh Dengis, white sea, (Turkish), i. e. the Mediterranean Sea, 85.
Akuldaree, wise sayings, a Nestorian book, 16.
Albétdeh, of course, (Persian), 423.
Alef, first letter in the Syriac alphabet, 183.
Alhémdooleelah, Thanks unto God, (Arabic), 184.
Alláha, God, (Syriac), 183.
Aramaéan, the ancient language of Syria and Mesopotamia, 178.
Arég, (ark), a citadel, (Persian), 148.
Armeno-Turkish, the Turkish language written in the Armenian character, 89.
Armbot, Pear, (Turkish), name of a Greek village in ancient Pontus, 100.
Arpá-chai, Barley River, (Turkish), a tributary of the Arrás, which separates
Turkey from a part of Georgia, 123.
Arra, Earth, (Syriac), meaning also, land, 183.
Baeth, second letter in the Syriac alphabet, 183.
Bâhra, light, (Syriac), 183.
Barúkta, marriage service, (Syriac), 15, 237.
Bask-tista, Upon my head, (Turkish), an affirmative assent, or pledge, 169.
Bazár-gün, market day, (Turkish), name of the Sabbath,--that being the
public market day, 89.
Beg, Bey, (Turkish and Persian), an order of nobility, much higher in rank
in Turkey than in Persia, 151.
Béyley, to be sure, (Persian), used also as an interrogatory, and for assent, and
strong asseveration,---having many shades of meaning, 423.
Bheremin, (Syriac), the two books of Chronicles, 15.
Bitmétwee, (Syriac), several books of the Old Testament, 15.
Booyoor, command, (Turkish); i. e. command me--I am at your service; a
word used in Turkish parlance oftener than almost any other, 167.
Bréeta, world, or creation, (modern Syriac), 183.
Bróona, Son, (modern Syriac), 12, 183.
B'shimee d'Alláha, in the name of God, (modern Syriac), a common oath, 248.
Caik, a small, light boat, used at Constantinople, 73.
Cajaváh, (Persian), a vehicle, slung upon the sides of a horse, 94.
Caleedon, a Persian pipe, in using which, the smoke is made to pass through
a vessel of water, 154.
Caravan-Serái, caravan-palace, (Persian), a public inn, 93, 307.
Câsid, foot-messenger, (Persian), 341.
Cází (cadi), a justice of the peace, 437.
Chahar-bórj, four towers, (Persian), a celebrated palace in Oróomiah, 270.
GLOSSARY.
Chailer, rivers, (Turkish), name of a village in ancient Pontus, 94.
Chakh, fat, (Turkish), used in salutation, in asking about the health, 184.
Chemán, meadow, or grassy land, 261.
Chémie, the term used by the Persians to denote alchemy, 296.
511
Cheshmeh, a fountain; from Cheshm, the eyes; hence, the expression,
B'cheshm, upon my eyes, a strong pledge, very often repeated in Persia, 167.
Cărbân-bierâm, sacrificial festival, 451.
Cŏrbán-olâm, (Turkish), I will be your sacrifice, 167.
Damaghun, your palate or appetite, (Turkish,-root Arabic), 184.
Desti-Khod, autograph, hand of one's self, (Persian), 397.
Devlétavüz, your wealth, or prosperity, used in compliments, 184.
Doulah, fortune or wealth, used also as a proper name, 310.
Een, this, (Persian), the demonstrative pronoun; prefixed to other words, it
forms adverbs; as, eenjâ, here, (this place), 274.
Elchée, ambassador, a term often applied by Orientals to other foreigners,
also, as an honorary title, 213.
Emeer-i-nizâm, chief of the army, 216, 389, 452.
Emeer-zádéh, a royal descendant, one generation, or more, removed from the
king, 151.
Estrangélo, an ancient written character of the Syriac, still used by the Nes-
torians for capital letters, 11.
Făllék, a pole to which culprits are bound, to be bastinadoed, 437.
Feraj-bashee, chief officer, 231.
Fez, the small red cap, worn by all classes of the Turks, except the priest-
hood, 116.
Firmán, (Persian), a royal order, 91.
Firmoosh-kháná, house of forgetfulness, a term applied by the Persians to
freemasonry, from mere resemblance of sound, 297.
Fürsákh, measure of distance, the ancient parasang; usually reckoned four
miles, but it is probably nearer five, 166.
Gaudor, infidel, a term of reproach applied by the Muhammedans to the
nominal Christians, 292.
Gelduz, you have come, or your coming; with Khōsh, welcome, (Turkish), 184.
Gézza, a Nestorian book, containing prayers for Lent, 15.
Gholam, slave, or servant, (Persian), applied particularly to couriers, 138.
Gileeána, revelation, (Syriac), 15.
Gul-dub, rose-water, (Persian), 268.
Hajée, pilgrim, i. e. to Mecca, (Arabic), 89, 143.
Hakim-bashee, chief physician.
Hilee, much, very, used adverbially, (Persian), 271.
Hódra, a prayer-book of the Nestorians, for Lord's day and festivals, 15.
Hūpo-deedcon, sub-deacon, an order of the Nestorian clergy, 18.
Imam, a Turkish priest; in Persia, a departed saint, 101.
Iranée, a Persian, i. e. an inhabitant of Îrân, 144.
Ishwat, the name of a Nestorian month, (February), 207.
Jacobites, Monophysite Syrians, 45, 258.
Jalóos, coronation, 201.
Jikká, crown, (Persian), 201.
Kaefuz, your health, (Turkish), 183.
Kaim Makâm, pillar of state, 165.
Kara-papák, black caps, a name given to the Persians of Sûldóoz, 191.
Kásha, Kasheesha, (Syriac), priest, literally, elder, 15.
1
512
GLOSSARY.
Kebab, meat cut into small pieces and roasted on spits, 230.
Ketkhődéh, lord of a village, (Persian), 166.
Kählaphá, caliph, used in Turkey, as chief carpenter; in Persia, a Moollah
who acts as a public crier; in Arabia, head of the faith, 18.
Khalat-pooshân, putting on a robe, (Persian), 209.
Khalisa, property of the crown, 280.
Khân, Lord, (Persian), highest rank of nobility, 114.
Khanum, Lady, (Persian), feminine of Khân, 295.
Kharaj, capitation tax, 280.
Khob, good, (Persian), 271.
Khosh, delightsome, welcome, cheerful, 184.
Khōsheeba, number one of the week, i. e, the Sabbath, (Syriac).
Kileesiá, church, (Turkish, from the Greek), 308.
Koek, fat, lusty, (Turkish), used in salutation, 184.
Kroor, a sum of 500,000 tomâns, 423.
Kublá-álém, centre of the world, a title of the Shah, 421.
Lootée, Lotites, a class of ruffians, 259.
Madrésseh, a school or college, (Persian), 437.
Măngâl, fire-pan, 267.
Meeând, an elevated portion of the stable, 449.
Meer-kăzâb, executioner, (chief of butchery), 454.
Mehmândár, a convoy, (Persian), a guest-man, 478.
Melpána, an old teacher, writer, or saint, (Syriac) 318.
Moharrém, a Muhammedan month, 208.
Mōhasil, a sheriff, (Persian), 267.
Moollah, a Persian priest, 151.
Mûkăddási, (Syriac), a pilgrim, (holy one), 232.
Nooháree, commentary, lighter, (Syriac), 16.
Noo-rōse, new year,-literally, new day, (Persian), 207.
Peshkésh, a present from an inferior to a superior; one from a superior to an
inferior, is Anâm, (Persian), 169.
Pilav, cooked rice, 269.
Rayák, a subject, serf; literally, flock, 86.
Sadir, special imposts, or taxes, 281.
Sahib, literally, owner, a term of honor, applied by the Persians to foreigners,
as Sir, 213.
Selâm, peace, a common salutation, 523.
Shahér, city, (Turkish), 431.
Takt-rawan, a walking seat, Persian vehicle, 139.
Yer-elmasi, the earth's apples-potatoes, 382.
}
END.

{
UNIVERSITY
MAY 10 1011
OF MI
F
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
3 9015 02457 1252
B 442505
}