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 Aramæan (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 Jûlamerk 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 Ooroomiah 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

bottoms of the deep chasms thus formed. The chief of these is the Zab (Zabatus of Xenophon), which with its similar lateral vallies and streams drains all that part of the country seen by Dr. Grant. Parallel to this, though with a shorter course, and rising N. W. of Julamerk, is the Khabûr, perhaps the Habor of the Hebrews, which flows S. W. in a shorter course to join the Tigris below Jezirah. To Dr. Grant we owe the first correct account of this latter stream, which is wrongly laid down on all former maps.

The summits of these mountains, or rather of this mountainous region, it would seem, furnish a species of table land, on which much pasture grows in summer. These high pastures are called Zozan. The villages and dwellings of the inhabitants are all in the vallies and near the streams, and are built of stone; but in summer they drive their flocks to the Zozan above, and dwell there for the season in tents; not very unlike the peasants of Switzerland. The Nestorians of these fastnesses everywhere appear like other independent mountaineers, rude, fierce and indomitable, yet kind-hearted and hospitable, with many peculiar virtues and customs, arising out of their seclusion from the world and the pressure of foes from without. We have been greatly struck, while reading Dr. Grant's account, with their close resemblance to other Christian tribes in like circumstances; particularly the Mainotes of Greece and the Montenegrins of the Illyrian coast. Some of these coincidences we shall have occasion hereafter to refer to.

For this portion of his book the public are very greatly indebted to Dr. Grant; and had he broken off here, he would have heard only the voice of universal thanks. But he has chosen to devote the remaining two-thirds of his work to bringing forward a theory, which, as he has treated it, bears very much the aspect of a hobby, viz. that these Nestorian tribes are the descendants and representatives of the lost ten tribes of Israel. His arguments in support of this theory are partly historical and circumstantial, and partly prophetical. These latter we are willing to let go for what they are worth, without taking them ourselves at all into the account; being fully of opinion in respect to prophecies yet to be fulfilled (on which alone the argument is built), that we at this day know very little more, than did of old the prophets who inquired and searched diligently, and the angels who desired to look into them; in either case without success. Nothing is more easy