15.603

PREFACE.

THE following pages are submitted to the public with great deference. They were written partly amid the incessant toils of a missionary life, and partly during my homeward voyage. The constant pressure of other cares, and imperative duties, during my transient stay in my native land, has left no opportunity for re-writing the manuscript, and for correcting inaccuracies of style incident to an inexperienced writer, under circumstances so obviously unfavourable to careful composition.

But while, with this explanation, I would solicit the reader's indulgence in regard to the style and form of this essay, I am aware that whatever real value it may be found to possess, will depend essentially upon the facts it imbodies. In this respect no effort has been spared to ensure accuracy. Constant attention to my duties as a missionary physician has brought me in contact with almost every class of the people among whom I have

travelled or sojourned, and has greatly multiplied my opportunities for observation. My professional character has procured me ready access to the retirement of the harem, and the social and domestic circles of all classes of the people. Every important particular has been carefully noted down on the spot, and I have endeavoured to preserve my mind from prejudice, and to guard against every source of error. I trust, therefore, that the facts here recorded, so far as they are derived from personal observation, will be deemed worthy of confidence. The public must decide whether the conclusions to which I have arrived are warranted by the data. I have only to remark, that these facts forced themselves upon my attention, and were not sought for to confirm a previouslyformed theory..

In the course of my investigations, the want of access to original authorities has sometimes compelled me to quote from accredited compilers; but I have verified the quotations as far as possible, and it is believed that no valid objection can be made to them for the purposes which they were designed to subserve.

If the facts and arguments imbodied in this

work should convince the candid reader, as I trust they will, that the Nestorian Christians are indeed the representatives and lineal descendants of the Ten Tribes, his attention will naturally revert to the prophecies which relate, either wholly or in part, to the house of Israel; and he will return to their perusal with increased interest, perhaps with clearer light. It is to be hoped, also, that he will excuse the author, if, under such circumstances, he has allowed his mind to range somewhat widely over the field of prophecy, and has appeared to encroach upon the peculiar province of the Biblical critic. Whatever may be thought of these speculations, it should be remembered that they in no way affect the facts we have adduced in relation to the main question, to the examination of which this work is chiefly devoted.

The small map which accompanies this work does not pretend to minute accuracy, but will be found to be more correct than any which has preceded it. It has been mostly compiled from one in the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of Great Britain for 1840, with the exception of that part of the country which had not been explored prior to my visit.

The chief contributions to geographical knowl edge which I have been enabled to make, excepting the observations which relate to the country of the ten tribes, are, 1st, that the Hakary and Zâb rivers of former maps are only two names for one and the same stream; and, 2d, that the Habor rises in a different place and pursues a different course from what had been previously supposed. The former I have delineated upon the map from observations made with my compass; the latter, as described to me from time to time by the natives upon its borders.

In conclusion I would remark, that if my humble efforts prove the means of increasing the interest which has begun to be awakened in behalf of the Nestorian Christians, I shall return with re newed zeal to my arduous labours, cheered with the anticipation that a brighter day is about to dawn upon the remnant of Israel which is left from Assyria, and, through them, upon the Gentile world.