not in Christian charity wish further to allude, had been at work, and I found him even more bitter in his speech against the American missionaries than against his Turkish or Kurdish oppressors. He had been taught, and it is to be regretted that his teachers were of the Church of England, that those who were endeavoring to civilize and instruct his flock were seceders from the orthodox community of Christians, heretical in doctrine, rejecting all the sacraments and ordinances of the true faith, and intent upon reducing the Nestorians to their own hopeless condition of infidelity. His fears were worked on by the assurance that, ere long, through their means and teaching, his spiritual as well as his temporal authority would be entirely destroyed. I found him bent upon deeds of violence and intolerant persecution, which might have endangered, for the second time, the safety of this people as well as his own. I strove, and not without success, to calm his unreasonable violence. I pointed out to him his true position with regard to the American missions, trying to remove the calumnies which had been heaped upon them, and to show in what respects they could benefit and improve the condition of the Nestorians. I could not disguise from him that in education and the free circulation of the Scriptures, there could alone be found any hope for his people. I showed him that, if he wished to foster an interest which had been naturally felt amongst Protestants for the remains of a primitive Church, exposed to great oppression and great sufferings, he must reform the abuses which had unfortunately crept into it, and endeavor to render his clergy equal to the task of instructing and guiding their flocks. He answered, as might have been expected, that he wished to be helped in that labor by priests of the Episcopal Church of England, whose doctrines and discipline were more in conformity with the Nestorian, than those of the American missionaries. If such men would join him, he was ready, he declared, to co-operate with them in reforming abuses, and educating the community. It was almost in vain I observed to him that, as the Church of England had hitherto not listened to his appeals, and as there was no immediate prospect of help from her, it was his duty, as well as his true interest, to assist in the good work so zealously and disinterestedly begun by the American missionaries, and which they were desirous of carrying on with his sanction and support."-pp. 423, 425.

We next have the following sketch of a Nestorian bishop.

"A ride of three quarters of an hour brought us to the episcopal residence. Mar Isho, the bishop, met me at some distance from it. He was shabbily dressed, and not of prepossessing appearance; but he appeared to be good-natured, and to have a fair stock of common sense. After we had

exchanged the common salutations, seated on a bank of wild thyme, he led the way to the porch of the church. Ragged car pets and felts had been spread in the dark vestibule, in the midst of sacks of corn, bourghoul, and other provisions for the bishop's establishment. Various rude agricultural instruments, and spinning wheels, almost filled up the rest of the room; for these primitive Christians rely on the sanetity of their places of worship for the protection of their temporal stores.

"The church itself was entered by a low doorway, through which a man of moderate size could scarcely squeeze himself, and was even darker than the ante-room. It is an ancient building, and the bishop knew nothing of the date of its foundation. Although service is occasionally performed, the communion is not administered in it. One or two tattered parchment folios, whose title-pages were unfortunately wanting, but which were evidently of an early period, were heaped up in a corner with a few modern manuscripts on paper, the prey of mildew and insects. The title of the bishop is "Metropolitan of Roustak," a name of which I could not learn the origin. His jurisdiction extends over many Nestorian villages, chiefly in the valley of Shemisden. Half of this district is within the Persian territories, and from the convent we could see the frontier dominions of the Shah. It is in the high road of the periodical migrations of the great tribe of Herki, who pass like a locust-cloud twice a year over the settlements of the unfortunate Christians, driving before them the flocks, spoiling the granaries, and carrying away even the miserable furniture of the hovels. It is in vain that the sufferers carry their complaints to their Kurdish master; he takes from them double the lawful taxes and tithes. The Turkish government has in this part of the mountains no power, if it had the inclination, to protect its Christian subjects."-pp. 377, 378.

At the ancient city of Wan, founded, according to Armenian history, by the Assyrian Queen, Semiramis, Mr. Layard encountered the Armenian bishop: here things wore a more favorable aspect. Under the mild rule of Mehemet Pacha, Wan was becoming prosperous:

"The protection he had given to the Armenians had encouraged that enterprising and industrious people to enlarge their commerce, and to build warehouses for trade. Two handsome khans, with bazars attached, were nearly finished. Shops for the sale of European articles of clothing and of luxury had been opened; and, what was of still more importance, several native schools had already been established. These improvements were chiefly due to one Sharan, an Armenian merchant, and a man of liberal and enlightened views, who had seconded with energy and liberality the desire of

the Pasha to ameliorate the social condition of the Christian population.

"Shortly after my arrival, the Armenian bishop called upon me. He was dressed in the peculiar costume of his order,-long black robes and a capacious black hood almost concealing his head,—and was accompanied by the priests and principal laymen of his diocese. On his breast he wore the rich diamond crescent and star of the Turkish order of merit, of which he was justly proud. It had been asked for him of the Sultan by the Pasha, as an encouragement to the Christians, and as a proof of the spirit of tolerance which animated the government. If such principles were fully carried out in Turkey, there would be good hope for the empire. Although he had been duly elected several years before to his episcopal dignity, he still wanted the formal consecration of the patriarch of his church. This ceremony had hitherto been omitted on account of differences which had estranged the Armenian clergy residing in the Turkish dominions from the head of their sect, whose seat is the convent of Echmiadsin, made over to Russia at the close of the last war. These differences, arising from political interference in the management of the affairs of the Church, had for some time threatened a division in the community, that portion of it which acknowledges the authority of the Sultan wishing to place itself under a patriarch who resides at Cis, in Cilicia, and, consequently, beyond foreign control. The quarrel had now, however, been settled, and the bishop was on the eve of his departure to receive that consecration which was essential to his due admission into the Armenian hierarchy."—pp. 391, 392.

The picture of the Armenian clergy, however, seems to hold out but little prospect of usefulness in their ministrations.

"The church, a substantial modern edifice, stands within the court-yard. Its walls are covered with pictures as primitive in design as in execution. There is a victorious St. George blowing out the brains of a formidable dragon with a bright brass blunderbuss, and saints, attired in the traditionary garments of Europe, performing extravagant miracles. The intelligence of the good priest at the head of the convent was pretty well on a par with his illustrated church history. He was a specimen of the Armenian clergy of Asia Minor. As he described each subject to me, he spoke of the Nestorians as heretics, because they were allowed, by the canons of their church, to marry their mothers and grandmothers; of the Protestants as freemasons or atheists; and of the great nations of Europe as the Portuguese, the Inglese, the Muscovs, and the Abbash (Abyssinians)."

pp. 409, 410.

But Mr. Layard anticipates better things for the Armenian Christians; and

though the extract be long, we must let him speak his own words. We have been so long accustomed to hear ourselves denounced by the English press, as an allgrasping, unprincipled, and "annexing" race, wandering over the face of the earth for no purpose but that of plunder or traffic; that it is quite refreshing to encounter a story told by an English gentleman of what he has seen done by Americans, who, in a holy cause, have entered upon, and successfully labored in, a field to which English philanthropy in the East has not even found its way. Let us hear what Mr. Layard has to say of our American missions in the East. He thus writes of occurrences at Wan.

"I called in the evening on the bishop, and next morning, at his invitation, visited the principal schools. Five have been established since the fall of the Kurdish Beys, and the enjoyment of comparative protec tion by the Christian population. Only one had been opened within the walls; the rest were in the gardens, which are thickly inhabited by Armenians, and form extensive suburbs to Wan. The school in the town was held in a spacious building newly erected, and at that time scarcely finished. More than two hundred children of all ages were assembled. They went through their exercises and devotions at the sound of a bell with great order and precision, alternately standing and squatting on their hams on small cushions placed in rows across the hall. An outer room held basins and towels for washing, and the cloaks and shoes taken off on entering. Books were scarce. There were not more than a score in the whole school. The first class, which had made some progress, had a few elementary works on astronomy and history, published by the Armenian press at Constantinople and Smyrna, but only one copy of each. The boys, at my request, sang and chanted their prayers, and repeated their simple lessons.

"Such schools, imperfect though they be, are proofs of a great and increasing im provement in the Christian communities of Turkey. A change of considerable importance, and which, it is to be hoped, may lead to the most beneficial results, is now taking place in the Armenian Church. It is undoubtedly to be attributed to the judicious, earnest, and zealous exertions of the American missionaries; their establishments, scattered over nearly the whole Turkish empire, have awakened amongst the Christians, and principally amongst the Armenians, a spirit of inquiry and a desire for the reform of abuses, and for the cultivation of their minds, which must ultimately tend to raise their political, as well as their social, position in the human scale. It is scarcely fifteen years since the first institution for Christian instruction on Protestant (independent) principles was opened

by those excellent men in Constantinople. By a wise selection of youths from different parts of the empire, who from their character and abilities were deemed worthy of the choice, they were shortly enabled to send into the provinces those who could sow the seeds of truth and knowledge, without incurring the suspicions attaching to strangers, and without laboring under that ignorance of the manners and languages of those amongst whom they mix, which must always prove so serious an obstacle to foreigners in their intercourse with the natives. A movement of this nature could scarcely escape persecution. The Armenian clergy, not unfavorable to the darkness and bigotry which had for centuries disgraced their Church, and exercising an uncontrolled power over an ignorant and simple people, soon raised a cry against the Evangelists,' as they were contemptuously called. By such misrepresentations and calumnies as are always ready at hand to the enemies of progress and reform, they were able to enlist in their favor the Turkish authorities at the capital and in the provinces. Unfortunately, four sects alone, the Roman Catholie, the Armenian, the Greek, and the Copt, were recognized by the Porte amongst their Christian subjects. The reformed Armenian Church was consequently without an acknowledged head, and unable to communicate directly or indirectly with the government, to make known its tenets, or to complain of the acts of injustice and persecution to which it was exposed. Many persons fell victims to their opinions. Some were cruelly tortured in the house of the Patriarch himself, and others were imprisoned or utterly ruined in Constantinople and the provinces. Sir Stratford Canning at length exerted his powerful influence to protect the injured sect from these wanton cruelties. Through his exertions and those of Lord Cowley, when minister, a firman was obtained from the Sultan, placing the new Protestant community on the same footing as the other Churches of the empire, assigning to it a head, or agent, through whom it could apply directly to the ministers, and extending to it other privileges enjoyed by the Roman Catholics and Greeks. This act of toleration and justice has given fresh vigor to the spirit of inquiry bred by the American missionaries. There is now scarcely a town of any importance in Turkey without a Protestant community, and in most of the principal cities the American mission has opened schools, and is educating youths for the priesthood. Fortunately for the cause, many men of irreproachable character and of undoubted sincerity from the Armenian nation have been associated with it, and its success has not been endangered, like that of so many other movements of the same kind, by interested, or hasty conversions. Those who have watched the effect that this desire for improvement and for religious freedom is gradually producing upon

a large and important section of the Christian population of Turkey, may reasonably hope that the time is not far distant when it may exercise a marked influence upon other Christian sects, as well as upon those who surround them; preparing them for the enjoyment of extended political privileges, and for the restoration of a pure and rational faith to the East.

"The influence of this spirit of inquiry, fostered by the American missions, has not been alone confined to those who have been cut off from their own community. The Armenian clergy, no longer able to coerce their flocks, or to persecute those who left them, have found that the only mode of checking the schism is to reform the abuses of their own Church, and to educate and instruct their people. Schools in opposition to the American establishments have been opened in the capital and in most of the large towns of Asia Minor; and elementary and theological works, of a far more liberal character than any hitherto published in Turkey, have been printed by Armenian printing-presses in Constantinople and Smyrna, or introduced into the country from Venice. This is another, though an indirect, result of their labors, which the American missionaries may justly contemplate with satisfaction, unmingled with any feelings of jealousy or ill-will.

"Whilst on this subject, and connected as I have been with the Nestorians, I must not omit a tribute of praise to the admirable establishments of the American missions amongst the Chaldæans of Ooroomiyah in Persia, under the able direction of the Rev. Mr. Perkins. It was with much regret that I was compelled to give up the plan I had formed of visiting that small colony from the New World. The Rev. Mr. Bowen, who crossed the frontiers from Wan, has in a true Christian spirit borne witness in the English Cuurch to the enlightened and liberal spirit in which their labors are carried on. Forty or fifty schools have been opened in the town of Ooroomiyah and surrounding villages. The abuses that have crept into this primitive and highly interesting Church are being reformed, and the ignorance of its simple clergy gradually dispelled. A printing-press, for which type has been purposely cut, now publishes for general circulation the Scriptures and works of education in the dialect and character peculiar to the mountain tribes. The English language has been planted in the heart of Asia, and the benefits of knowledge are extended to a race which, a few years ago, was almost unknown even by name to Europe."―pp. 404–407.

To this let us add the testimony he bears to the personal character of the missionaries themselves.

"I cannot refrain from recording the names of the Rev. Messrs. Goodall, Dwight, Holmes, Hamlin, and Schauffler, of the Constantinople missionary station; the late excellent

and enterprising Dr. Smith, who, like the estimable Dr. Grant, his fellow-laborer in the same field, and many others of his countrymen, has recently fallen a victim to his zeal and devotion; the Rev. Eli Smith, of Beyrout, and Perkins of Ooroomiyah; men who will ever be connected with the first spread of knowledge and truth amongst the Christians of the East, and of whom their country may justly be proud. Personally I must express my gratitude to them for many acts of kindness and friendship. The American mission has now establishments in Smyrna, Brousa, Trebizond, Erzeroom, Diarbekir, Mosul, Aintab, Aleppo, and many other cities in Asia Minor, together with native agents all over Turkey."-p. 406, Note.

We turn now to personal incidents and illustrations of the Arab character and customs, of which, we assure our readers, the book contains a most pleasant variety. And first let us introduce to their acquaintance a Sheikh of the Boraij. When Mr. Layard was about to make his excursion from Mosul to Arban on the river Khabour, as the Shammar Bedouins were scouring the plains for plunder, he found it necessary to seek the protection and company of one of the influential chiefs of the Shammar tribe; and for this purpose selected Suttum, who was well known to him, and on whom he could rely.

"The Sheikh had the general direction and superintendence of our march. The Mesopotamian desert had been his home from his birth, and he knew every spring and pasture. He was of the Saadi, one of the most illustrious families of the Shammar, and he possessed great personal influence in the tribe. His intelligence was of a very high order, and he was as well known for his skill in Bedouin intrigue, as for his courage and daring in war. In person he was of middle height, of spare habit, but well made, and of noble and dignified carriage; although a musket wound in the thigh, from which the ball had not been abstracted, gave him a slight lameness in his gait. His features were regular and well-proportioned, and of that delicate character so frequently found amongst the nomades of the desert. A restless and sparkling eye of the deepest black spoke the inner man, and seemed to scan and penetrate every thing within its ken.

His

dark hair was platted into many long tails; his beard, like that of the Arabs in general, was scanty. He wore the usual Arab shirt, and over it a cloak of blue cloth, trimmed with red silk and lined with fur, a present from some Pasha as he pretended, but more probably a part of some great man's wardrobe that had been appropriated without its owner's consent. A colored kerchief, or keffieh, was thrown loosely over his head, and confined above the temples by a rope VOL. I.-33

of twisted camel's hair. At his side hung a scimitar, an antique horse-pistol was held by a rope tied as a girdle round his waist, and a long spear, tufted with black ostrich feathers, and ornamented with scarlet streamers, rested on his shoulder. He was the very picture of a true Bedouin Sheikh, and his liveliness, his wit, and his singular powers of conversation, which made him the most agreeable companion, did not belie his race."-pp. 238-240.

Necessity has made the Bedouin, like our American Indian, a most observant animal; and the sagacity with which both reach correct results from data seemingly insignificant to the civilized man, is often matter of surprise even to those familiar with their acuteness.

"We again visited the remarkable volcanic cone of Koukab. As we drew near to it, Mijwell detected, in the loose soil, the footprints of two men, which he immediately recognized to be those of Shammar thieves returning from the Kurdish encampments. The sagacity of the Bedouin in determining from such marks, whether of man or beast, and, from similar indications, the tribe, time of passing, and business, of those who may have left them, with many other particulars, is well known. In this respect he resembles the American Indian, though the circumstances differ under which the two are called upon to exercise this peculiar faculty. The one seeks or avoids his enemy in vast plains, which, for three-fourths of the year, are without any vegetation; the other tracks his prey through thick woods and high grass. This quickness of perception is the result of continual observation and of caution encouraged from earliest youth. When the warriors of a tribe are engaged in distant forays or in war, their tents and flocks are frequently left to the care of a mere child. He must receive strangers, amongst whom may be those having claims of blood upon his family, and must guard against marauders, who may be lurking about the encampment. Every unknown sign and mark must be examined and accounted for. If he should see the track of a horseman he must ask himself why one so near the dwellings did not stop to eat bread or drink water? was he a spy; one of a party meditating an attack? or a traveller, who did not know the site of the tents? When did he pass? From whence did he come? Whilst the child in a civilized country is still under the care of its nurse, the Bedouin boy is compelled to exercise his highest faculties, and on his prudence and sagacity may sometimes depend the safety of his tribe.

"The expert Bedouin can draw conclusions from the footprints and dung of animals that would excite the astonishment of an European. He will tell whether the camel was loaded. or unloaded, whether recently

fed or suffering from hunger, whether fatigued or fresh, the time when it passed by, whether the owner was a man of the desert or of the town, whether a friend or foe, and sometimes even the name of his tribe. I have frequently been cautioned by my Bedouin companions, not to dismount from my dromedary, that my footsteps might not be recognized as those of a stranger; and my deloul has even been led by my guide to prevent those who might cross our path detecting that it was ridden by one not thoroughly accustomed to the management of the animal. It would be easy to explain the means, simple enough indeed, by which the Arab of the desert arrives at these results. In each case there is a train of logical deduction, merely requiring common acuteness and great experience."-pp. 322, 323.

Long practice has given to them a keenness and quickness of vision utterly unknown in polished life: the distant speck, indistinct or even invisible to the ordinary observer, becomes to their naked eyes a clearly defined object, when scarcely distinguishable to the European with his telescope.

"Whilst I was examining the ruins, Suttum, from the highest mound, had been scanning the plain with his eagle eye. At length it rested upon a distant moving object. Although with a telescope I could scarcely distinguish that to which he pointed, the Sheikh saw that it was a rider on a dromedary. He now, therefore, began to watch the stranger with that eager curiosity and suspicion always shown by a Bedouin when the solitude of the desert is broken by a human being of whose condition and business he is ignorant. Suttum soon satisfied himself as to the character of the solitary wanderer. He declared him to be a messenger from his own tribe, who had been sent to lead us to his father's tents. Mounting his horse, he galloped towards him. The Arab soon perceived the ap proaching horseman, and then commenced on both sides a series of manoeuvres practised by those who meet in the desert, and are as yet distrustful of each other. I marked them from the ruin as they cautiously approached, now halting, now drawing nigh, and then pretending to ride away in an opposite direction. At length, recognizing one another, they met, and, having first dismounted to embrace, came together towards us. As Suttum had conjectured, a messenger had been sent to him from his father's tribe. The Boraij were now moving towards the north in search of the spring pastures, and their tents would be pitched in three or four days beneath the Sinjar hill. Suttum at once understood the order of their march, and made arrangements to meet them accordingly.”—p. 244.

Of their fidelity and hospitality our author recounts numerous instances, for which we must refer to his book; and

there is a delicacy not unworthy of imitation in their mode of communicating sad tidings. Mr. Layard chanced to be the guest of one of the Jebour tribe when intelligence was brought to him of the death of a favorite sister.

"An Arab of the tribe, weary and wayworn, entered the tent and seated himself without giving the usual salutation; all present knew that he had come from the Khabour and from distant friends. His silence argued evil tidings. By an indirect remark, immediately understood, he told his errand to one who sat next to him, and who in turn whispered it to Sheikh Ibrahim, the chief's uncle. The old man said aloud, with a sigh, 'It is the will and mercy of God; she is not dead but released!' Abdrubbou at once understood of whom he spake. He arose and went forth, and the wailing of the mother and of the women soon issued from the inner recesses of the tent."-p. 275.

But with all the evidences afforded us of the possession of some of the nobler and better qualities of our kind; there is also proof that some of the weaknesses of our common humanity develope themselves pretty much in the same mode among Arabs and Christians. The story of Suttum's domestic troubles affords an apt illustration, and a pleasant episode in Mr. Layard's narrative. He was about leaving Mosul for the river Khabour, under the protection of Suttum, when the Arab came to prefer a request.

Ra

"As he was to be for some time absent from his tents, he asked to take his wife with him, and I willingly consented. thaiyah was the sister of Suttam el Meekh, chief of the powerful tribe of the Abde, one of the principal divisions of the Shammar. Although no longer young, she still retained much of her early beauty. There was more than the usual Bedouin fire in her large black eyes, and her hair fell in many ringlets on her shoulders. Her temper was haughty and imperious, and she evidently held more sway over Suttum than he liked to acknowledge, or was quite consistent with his character as a warrior. He had married her from motives of policy, as ce menting an useful alliance with a powerful tribe. She appears to have soon carried matters with a high hand, for poor Suttum had been compelled, almost immediately after his marriage, to send back a young and beautiful wife to her father's tent. This prior claimant upon his affections was now on the Khabour with her tribe, and it was probably on this account that Rathaiyah, knowing the direction he was about to take, was so anxious to accompany her husband. She rode on the dromedary behind her lord, a comfortable seat having been made for her with a rug and a coverlet.”p. 264.