Nestorians.

JOURNAL OF DOCT. GRANT AMONG THE

MOUNTAIN NESTORIANS.

ACCOUNTS of the first two visits of Doct. Grant to the Nestorians of the Koordish Mountains were given at pages 114 and 222 of the last volume; and a letter containing a brief statement relative to his third visit was inserted at page 44, of the number for February. Of this last tour a fuller account is given below. This was subsequent to his late visit to the United States.

Departure from Trebizond-Mohammedan Predictions-Ascent of the Moun

tains.

The dark blue expanse of the stormy Euxine was spread out before me and claimed a parting gaze, as I surveyed for the last time the almost enchanting scenery of Trebizond, memorable in the classic record of Xenophon's Retreat of the Ten Thousand, and now important as an entrance to an extensive trade with Persia and the eastern provinces of Asiatic Turkey.

pitched my tent upon the banks of a
murmuring stream, and enjoyed the ro-
mantic beauty of the wild mountain
scenery with one whose earthly remains
now repose in the loveliest spot in Persia.
A lofty castle of the deribeys, or ancient
chieftains of the valley, looked down
upon the scene from a commanding
height; and the surrounding mountains
smiled with waving fields and the rich
verdure of early summer.
The place
was formed by nature's God for silent
contemplation. I seemed to live over
again the scenes of by-gone days, and
commune with the absent and departed.

But my thoughts were ere long recalled by the lowering clouds, which had long been hovering upon the mountain tops. Now borne upon the freshening breeze, they burst over my head with the electric flash, the thunder's loud peals, and the drenching shower.

As the shades of evening drew on we found a shelter from the storm in the post-house at Jevislik. A coarse mat was spread for my seat, and the common || Turkish cordial, strong coffee, served in cups of the size of a small egg-shell, without sugar or cream, was offered, toThus far the proud self-moving steam-gether with its usual accompaniment, the er had borne me on with such rapidity, from one exciting scene to another, that I had little time and less inclination to dwell upon the trial of a second separation from my native land, more painful even than the first, though no less cheerfully endured. But now that I found myself alone with a single rough looking Turk, pursuing a narrow rugged footpath, which was conducting me hundreds of miles from the last abodes of civilized life, I felt that I had again become a pilgrim in a strange land. Many a tender recollection was revived by the sight of the place where, six years ago, I first

VOL. XXXVIII.

pipe, with a wooden stem three or four feet long. But these were poor apologies for the want of a dry bed and bedding, which I tried in vain to procure for the night, and I was obliged to content myself with the substitute of my wet cloak and a cotton quilt, which I carried upon my saddle. My supper of sour curdled milk [yogoort,] fried eggs, and coarse black bread, I shared with two hungry dervishes, pilgrims like myself, and we dipped our hands together into the same dish.

I found my new companions to possess, under a coarse exterior, more than ordi27

During six months in the year this road is rendered impassable by the snow; and then the post-route is six hours longer. I was told at the post-house that I must pursue the longer route, by which means I was cheated out of eighteen piastres, or about seventy-five cents. At the next post-house I was charged for three horses and received but two, it having been falsely asserted that the third was a short distance on my way. These two cases I suppose I must set

Turks, which, so far as my observation extends, is generally measured by their sense of personal interest. This sometimes teaches them that "honesty is the best policy" in their commercial intercourse; but is worth little to counteract the supreme selfishness and want of correct principles which every where prevail.

nary intelligence, which they had chiefly acquired in their extensive travels as a privileged class of religious vagrants. They were social, and repaid my hospitality by answering my inquiries upon several points of interest regarding the religion of the koran. They complained of the innovations of the sultan, who, they said, had departed from the faith; and that such religious devotees as themselves were no longer treated with the consideration that was formerly paid them. The world, they said, was chang-down to the boasted honesty of the ing for the worse; the last days were at hand, and the power of Islam was passing away. So Allah had decreed and they could only submit to their fate. As they spoke of the expected downfall of their religion with its temporal power, I inquired when this great event, so generally anticipated, would occur. They said they could not tell precisely without recurring to their books, but, according to their reckoning, it would take place within a period of from three to five years. I afterwards met with another Moslem, a fellow-traveller, who told me that the Mohammedan power would be destroyed on the expiration of 1260 years of their era, so that less than four years remained to the time of its overthrow. Whether this opinion is held by other Mohammedans I have yet to learn; but many of their calculations or predictions nearly correspond with this period, and none that I have heard given vary greatly from it. My informant may have derived the idea from the Armenians, as some of them hold this belief, founded on Revelations 13: 5, which they interpret of the Mohammedan power, as I shall have occasion to mention hereafter.

June 9, 1841. My ascent of the mountain was through rain and mud, and, as I had been thoroughly drenched in my previous passage of this lofty height, I was tempted to call it a region of perpetual storms, as it is of perpetual snow, large banks of it remaining throughout the year. There are several small khans, or rude native inns, upon the side and summit of the mountain, at one of which we stopped for refreshments. Honey was offered, but fearing it might prove to be of the poisonous narcotic quality described by Xenophon, as producing such alarming effects upon the retreating Greeks, I declined eating of it, having once made a satisfactory trial of that article. My host then brought a raw onion for me to eat with it, as an antidote to the poison. The same article is used as an antidote to the effects of bad water and the poisonous winds of the desert.

Erzeroom-Famine and Plague.

I reached Erzeroom on the afternoon of the twelfth, somewhat more than four days from Trebizond. Caravans are usually ten days in making the journey through their routes in summer, of which there are two, one shorter than the postroute. On routes where post-horses can be obtained they are both more expeditious and cheaper for a traveller having but little baggage than caravan horses. There are no regular posts at present from Erzeroom to Van, and I remained ten days at the former place waiting for a caravan, and partly by the advice of the pasha, who wished to obtain intelligence of the safety of the route. A new pasha had been appointed who was endeavoring to strike terror into the Koords and other rogues by hanging them up at the gates of the city, where all might see them. As I was on my way to visit the pasha, I was horrified to see one of these ill-fated wretches still upon his gallows, the third day after his execution. Other criminals were brought in while I was at the palace. Examination by torture is still practised, and some of the victims die under the bastinado. The lawless state of the country doubtless calls for severe measures, but the heart bleeds at every day's report of wrong and outrage with which the country is filled.

22. I proceeded on my way to Van in company with about forty natives of Koordish, Turkish, and Armenian origin, a motley group as I ever wish to see, and with no other native attendant than the hardy muleteer who rode upon the horse that carried my effects, consisting chiefly