in the land of their fathers. The whole of the present Nestorian population have their abode in the places we have described, as that to which the ten tribes were transplanted.

The most of them occupy the central parts of ́this region, where, as before remarked, they live distinct and alone. This central portion of Assyria was formerly called Adiabene; a district, as we have seen, that was often included in Assyria. Were there any room for doubt as to this being the particular region to which the kings of Assyria carried Israel captive, our accurate knowledge of the locality of Adiabene would enable us to remove it, for we find the ten tribes in this district in the first century. In a speech made to the Jews by their own King Agrippa, it is alluded to as a fact known and recognised by their whole nation assembled in council at Jerusalem, that their brethren of the ten tribes were in Adiabene more than seven centuries after they were carried away captive. In his famous speech to the Jews at Jerusalem, reported by Josephus, Agrippa inquires of the Jews whether any of them would extend their hopes beyond the Euphrates, and suppose that their "fellow-tribes" dwelling in Adiabene would come to their assistance. What could be more specific? Let the reader consult

* In the original Greek it is 'opoptλovs, or fellow-tribes.-Josephus, de Bell., ii. 16.

Butler's ancient atlas, or any other good authority, and he will find that Adiabene is precisely the region now occupied by the independent tribes of the Nestorian Christians. The country southwest of the Lycus or Zabatus (Greater Zâb) was the Aturia of the ancients; that to the southeast of that river, as far as the Caprus (Lesser Zâb), was called Adiabene. Ammianus Marcellinus observes (lib. xxiii., c. 20) that the province of Adiabene derives its name from two rivers between which it is enclosed, the Diaba and Adiaba, i. e., the Greater and Lesser Zâb. The Arabian name of Adiabene is Zawabiah, which is likewise a derivation of the word Zâb.-(See Assemani, Bib. Orient., iv., 711.)

In Adiabene proper there are at this day nearly a hundred thousand Nestorians, while only a small remnant of Jews can be found among them. What have become of the latter? how came the former in their place? In Media there are about twenty thousand Nestorians, and but only a tithe of that number of Jews. The number of Nestorians on the northwest side of the Habor is not known. They are represented as numerous. This appears probable from the fact, that, about four years ago, three Nestorian bishops visited the pa-. triarch from that region. Colonel Sheil, who passed near their country, represents them as very numerous.* On the opposite banks of the Habor

* I learn that many of them have become papists, or Chaldeans.

the whole country to Adiabene and Halah is more or less settled by Nestorians, and they were formerly even more numerous than at present. In the region of the Habor, a larger portion of the ten tribes appear to have remained unconverted to Christianity than in any other place. Still their number is inconsiderable; perhaps not more than five or six hundred households. But it is remarkable that the greater part of these reside in the Habor, or, rather, on an island in that river, in the ancient town of Zacho.

The Nestorian population in Media and Assyria, including a small portion who have embraced the tenets of Rome, may not be far from two hundred thousand, while the nominal Jews in the same territory probably do not exceed twenty thousand souls. No one will suppose that twenty thousand individuals are all that remain of the ten tribes. It is not unlikely that the existing remnant of the ten tribes exceeds the estimate we have given of the Nestorian population, as small parties may have gone to more distant regions. But, on account of the great obstacles which hinder their emigration, these detached parties are probably small. It may be that future inquiries will identify the Yezidees on the west of the Tigris with the ten tribes.* There are also on the border of Assyria from twenty to forty thousand Syrian * This point will be examined hereafter.

Christians, who have many traits in common with the Nestorians. Should it hereafter be found that they have the same Jewish characteristics, the evidence of their Hebrew origin will be strong. But our present inquiries relate to the Nestorians.

While the whole region of country to which the ten tribes were transplanted is now more or less occupied by the Nestorian Christians, it is worthy of particular notice, that the most central parts of this region are, and have been from time immemorial, entirely inhabited by the Nestorians, to the exclusion of every other class of people. A great part of the independent tribe of Tiyâry, and the whole of the tribes of Tehoma, Bass, Jelu, Diss, and other minor tribes, are included in the boundaries of Adiabene, where the great body of the ten tribes were in the first century of the Christian era. They are either the captive Israelites, or they have entirely usurped their place.

CHAPTER IV.

The Ten Tribes have not been removed from Assyria.-Historical Proof. Various circumstantial Evidence.-Inference from the Prophetical Writings.

HAVING Seen that the ten tribes were carried into Assyria, and placed in the particular districts now occupied by the Nestorian Christians, we proceed to show that they have never been removed from that country. The inference will then naturally follow, that, inasmuch as there are very few nominal Jews in that region, and no others claiming a Hebrew descent, the Nestorians must be the descendants of the lost tribes.

1. First, then, I remark, We have no evidence of their having been removed. The learned author of the Sacred History of the World, and Milman, the historian of the Jews, speaking of their captivity, agree in the statement "that we hear no more of these ten tribes; that history loses sight of them as a distinct people." No one pretends to have heard of their removal.

2. They did not return with the captivity from Babylon. Individuals, it is admitted, may have accompanied the Jews of the Babylonish captivity to Jerusalem. In no sense, however, can it be said that, as a people, the ten tribes returned with the