The preceding letter of Mr. Perkins was accompanied by a small package, containing five or six scriptural tracts in the modern language of the Nestorians, and the four letters there mentioned in ancient Syriac. The tracts comprised translations of the Sermon on the Mount, and some of the minor epistles. Three of the letters were from the Patriarch of the mountains, who always takes the name or rather the title of Mar Shimon, i. e., Lord Simeon. He resides not far from Julamerk in the Hakkary district, one of the most inaccessible parts of the Kurdish mountains. One of the letters bears his great seal; the other two have only his smaller private seal. All were written by amanuenses; one of them by the priest Abraham of Ashita, who was afterwards visited by Dr. Grant, and is described as the most learned Nestorian now living. The contents of all the letters are unimportant and even trivial; consisting chiefly of high-flown oriental compliments and expressions of thanks, under which the all-pervading oriental feeling of self-interest is not always concealed. Their chief value is as proofs of the good soil into which the missionary seed has here been cast.

The arrival of these literary documents in Berlin, from the wild and almost unapproachable mountains of Kurdistan, the fierce seats of robbery and bloodshed, where the traveller Schulz a few years before had been foully murdered on attempting to enter the region, awakened great interest among the German literati. The celebrated and excellent Ritter, who since the death of Rennell occupies the geographical throne, drew up with the help of these papers an account of the country and the people, which he read before one or two literary societies, and also before the present king of Prussia, then crown prince; and afterwards inserted the substance of it in his great published work, accompanied by translations of two of the Syriac letters sent by Mr. Perkins.* The documents were ultimately all placed in the hands of Prof. Roediger of Halle, where they yet remain; and he has since succeeded in obtaining a few others from different sources. He has as yet made public only the Creed, printed in the common Syriac character, with a commentary and remarks on the language, and then later, two of

guages, which would do away almost the only distinction between the two. It has been readily adopted by the Illyrians, but seems to find little favor with the Servians. R.

* Ritter's Erdkunde, Th. IX. pp. 670-687, Berlin, 1840.

the letters in ancient Syriac forwarded by Mr. Perkins, in the same character, with remarks.*

According to Roediger's judgment, the broad foundation of this modern Syriac, is the ancient Aramaan (of which, as we have seen, the ancient Chaldee and Syriac were probably little more than different alphabets), but greatly corrupted in its organization. The sounds are for the most part exceedingly softened and weakened; very often contracted; and some again have passed over to a barbarian harshness. Many later foreign words are also intermixed from the Arabic, Persian, and Kurdish languages. The ancient Syriac of the letters has likewise some peculiarity. Many anomalies appear in the use of the vowels; which serve to show that the language, in its ancient correct form, is no longer the living property of the writer. Modern words, too, from the Arabic and Persian, are occasionally introduced.

The arrival of the press at Ooroomiah will doubtless greatly tend to fix and extend the modern language and literature of the Nestorians, and multiply its materials; and, with these more ample means, we may hope that the philology of the language and the intellectual character of the people will speedily become more developed and more widely known.

After these remarks upon the language of the Nestorians, we turn to the work of Dr. Grant named at the head of this article. It describes the first successful attempt to explore the mountainous district inhabited by the independent tribes of the same people. We premise a brief notice of what was already known respecting the region.

The independent Nestorians, in the midst of their wild mountain fastnesses, are rendered still more inaccessible from the fact, that they are surrounded and hemmed in on every side by tribes

See Roediger über die aramäische Vulgairsprache der heutigen Syrischen Christen, in Zeitschr. für die Kunde des Morgenlandes, Bd. II. pp. 77-93. Also: Syrische Briefe, ibid. Bd. III. pp. 218-225. A short form of prayer in modern Syriac is also given by Roediger in his Syrische Chrestomathie, Halle, 1838.

"In roughness of sound, it exceeded even the Armenian. I was able soon to detect in it many Arabic and Hebrew words; but rarely enough to complete the meaning of a sentence. Almost every word seemed to end in a vowel." Smith's Researches, II. p. 212.

of ferocious Kurds; their territory indeed being the very heart of Kurdistan. Between them and the district of Salmas and Ooroomiah, along the water-shed between the streams flowing to the lake of Ooroomiah, and those running to the Tigris, dwell the Kurds of the Hakkary district, reported the fiercest of all. On the S. W. of the mountains, towards the Tigris, the Turkish power has of late years made some progress, and partially subjected several of the petty Kurdish tribes and some fortresses to its sway; so that access to the mountains is on that side more open.

The first account of this country in modern times is from the Catholic missionaries who were sent to the Kurds on the western side of the mountains. Pater Leopold Soldini, a Dominican, went thither in 1760, and died in 1779 at Zakhu, situated, according to Dr. Grant, on an island in the river Khabûr, not far above its entrance into the Tigris. He was followed by Pater M. Garzoni, who fixed himself at Amadieh, where he remained twenty-eight years, devoting himself to missionary labors among the Kurds, and to the study of their language, of which he prepared and published a grammar. His accounts of the country and people are very scanty.*-About the same time, the accurate Niebuhr, on his route through Mosul, gathered information in respect to several of the districts of this part of Kurdistan, which subsequent inquiry has only served to confirm.†

In the present century, the indefatigable Mr. Rich collected much valuable information respecting the same region; and gives also the route of a Tatar courier by way of Amadieh and Júlamerk to the lake of Van, corresponding almost entirely to the subsequent route of Dr. Grant. Accounts of a similar kind were gathered by Lieut. Col. Monteith in Persia, and by Dr. Walsh in Constantinople.§ The researches of Smith and Dwight, which led to the establishment of the American mis

* P. M. Garzoni Grammatica e Vocabulario della lingua Kurda, Roma 1787. Roediger and Pott Kurdische Studien, in Zeitschr. für die Kunde des Morgenl. Bd. III. p. 1-17. Ritter's Erdkunde Th. IX. p. 656.

+ Niebuhr Reisebeschr. II.

p. 332.

C. J. Rich, Narrative a Residence in Koordistan, I. pp. 275-280. Lond. 1836. Ritter, 1. c. pp. 659–663.

§ Journ. of the Roy. Geogr. Soc. Lond. Vol. III. 1833. pp. 52-54. Ritter, 1. c. pp. 664-670.

sion among the Nestorians of Ooroomiah, brought out also further information respecting their more independent brethren in the mountains.* In 1829, the orientalist Schulz appears to have reached Jûlamerk from the east; but was treacherously murdered on his return. Dr. Grant visited the scene of the murder, and recounts the causes which led to it.†

The residence of the missionaries at Ooroomiah brought them of course into occasional contact with the Nestorians of the mountains, who often visit their brethren of the plain. We have already seen from the letters of the Patriarch, that he held correspondence with them, and that he took an interest in their proceedings. Many repaired also to Ooroomiah to visit the mission, or to avail themselves of the medical services of Dr. Grant; and thus opportunity was afforded for cultivating a kind feeling towards the mission among the mountains, and gradually preparing the way for future personal inquiry and the establishment of schools in those districts. Indeed, so pressing did the Patriarch and his followers become on this latter point, that it was thought advisable both by the missionaries on the spot, and by the board at home, that an attempt to penetrate the country. should no longer be deferred. Accordingly, in April 1839, Dr. Grant, in pursuance of instructions from home, set off on this journey. It had been his wish to enter the mountains from the east; but the other approach from the west was deemed the most feasible; and, after visiting Constantinople, and returning by way of Diarbekr and Mardin to Mosul, he left that city on the 7th of October, for Amadieh, near the great elbow of the Zab (the ancient Zabus or Zabatus), formerly a Kurdish fortress, but now held by the Turks.

The direct route to Amadieh lies through Râs el-'Ain and Elkösh, and then across the chain of mountains, which here causes the Zâb to make nearly a right angle towards the east. But for the purpose of obtaining the protection of a Kurdish chieftain, Dr. Grant proceeded first to Akra, N. E. of Mosul, and thence up the valley of the Hazir (the ancient Bumadus),

* Vol. II. p. 217, seq.

† Page 123. The information previously received respecting his death, see in Ritter's Erdkunde, Th. IX. pp. 649-653. The papers of Schulz, relating to the languages of those countries, are understood to be in the hands of the distinguished orientalist, Prof. Jul. Mohl of Paris.

crossing the mountains at its source. The remaining route of the traveller lay up along, or near the valley of the Zab; sometimes upon its banks, and sometimes at a distance across the precipitous mountain ranges, lying between its lateral streams. He passed near Jûlamerk; and reaching the residence of the Patriarch on the opposite side of the river, Oct. 26th, remained for five weeks the guest of that dignitary, enjoying his hospitality, and being treated in all things as a friend and brother. Dr. G. now proceeded to Bash Kala, the residence, at the time, of the principal chief of the Hakkary Kurds; the same indeed by whose orders or connivance Schulz was murdered. He found the chieftain ill; was enabled by his medicines to relieve him; and thus established himself firmly in his favor. No further difficulty of course lay before him; and crossing the mountains from the sources of the Zâb to Salmas, he reached Ooroomiab on the 7th of December.

In returning to Constantinople on his way to this country, Dr. Grant again visited the higher or northeastern part of the same territory. Leaving Ooroomiah May 7th, 1840, with his little son of four years old, he travelled over the mountains still covered with snow, and across the higher branches of the Zab to Bash Kala; thence to Jûlamerk, where the Patriarch was then residing; again by another route to Bash Kala; which place he left June 1st, to pass around the eastern shore of the Lake of Van on his way to Constantinople.

It is not our purpose to make any extracts from this portion of the work. The whole account of the journey and of Dr. Grant's intercourse with the people occupies only one hundred pages; it is animated, graphic, and exceedingly interesting; and could not be abridged without injustice. It is sufficient to remark, that he was everywhere received with the utmost kindness, and often met with individuals who welcomed him as their former physician and benefactor.

It appears from Dr. Grant's journal and from his map, that the mountainous tract in the centre of which the Nestorians dwell, is (roughly speaking) nearly quadrangular, and nearly at equal distances from the lakes of Van and Ooroomiah and from the Tigris. The highest mountains apparently are in the E. and N. E. They are the sources of the streams flowing to the Tigris; while those descending to the eastern lake are much shorter. To the Tigris run two main streams, cleaving the high mountain region to its base, and finding their way along the