his comparatively favourable estimate of the inhabitants, which we gladly quote for if a Cappadocian be capable of improvement, even in the lapse of centuries, of whom need we despair? Besides, the picture is interesting in another point of view-What has been done for the Cappadocians has been done for them through the influence of Christianity-and what is there that Christianity cannot do ?

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The present condition of the Cappadocian Greeks shews itself under a very favourable aspect. We have seen, that while in Gelvedery and Sowanli they have remained buried in their caves, they have in other places issued from these, and congregated in now flourishing and cheerful towns, as Nev Shehr and Injeh Su. In these places there is an aspect of ease, freedom, and prosperity, which never belongs to Mohammedan towns. Children are playing about, flowers are trained up the house walls, females sit at their verandahs, and trade is bustling in the market; add to this, that the Cappadocian Greeks are, generally speaking, pleasing and unreserved in their manners, and their conversation indicated a very high degree of intelligence and civilization, where there are so few books, and so little education, and consequently little learning.

"In the villages, the men, marrying early, repair to Constantinople and Smyrna to trade, while to the women is left the care of the house, the flock, and the vineyard; an evil follows from this, that the females become masculine and full of violent passions, and when the men return to their homes, they are often very far from finding an echo to the subdued tones and more polished manners which they had learnt to appreciate in the civilized world. The priests who remain at home might be supposed to have some counteracting influence, but they are often old, have rarely above moderate capacities, and are frequently disregarded and disrespected.

"But apart from these minor considerations, these Cappadocian Greeks certainly constitute a tribe themselves, distinguished by their manners, their habits, and their independent prosperity and civilization, and not so much surpassing other Greeks in Asia Minor by their progressive civilization, as excelling them in having become less changed, and less humbled and prostrated, than other Greek communities are by four centuries of Osmanli tyranny."-(vol. i. pp. 213, 214.)

We are constrained to pass over the residue of Mr. Ainsworth's first volume, though there are several places of deep interest at which we could willingly have tarried in our route. Kaiseriyeh, the ancient Cæsarea, one third of the population of which professes the Christian faith; Malatiyeh, formerly Melitene; and Someisat, or Samosata, distinguished by the nativity of the heretical Paul, bishop of Antioch, and the scoffing and sceptical Lucian, once the royal seat of the kings of Commagena, now peopled only by Kurds and Turkomans. Still more could we have desired to give some account of the great battle of Nizib, in which the Turks, under Hafiz Pasha, were completely and disgracefully routed by the Egyptians under Ibrahim, and the weakness of the Turkish power was manifested in that very region, which ought to have been, and would have been, under a more judicious and effective administration, the centre of its strength. During the whole of the con

flict Mr. Ainsworth was present as a spectator, and his description of the engagement itself, and of the perils to which he and his companions were personally exposed during the retreat, is decidedly the most interesting portion of the volume. That he escaped with life, was owing, under Providence, to the exercise of fortitude, resolution, and promptitude, which have been rarely paralleled, and could not well be surpassed-while the great charm of the narrative consists in the hopefulness and elasticity of spirit with which the traveller journeys among the dying and the dead, thinking only of the success of his mission, and seeming to apprehend as little of danger as if one had secured him by a power as potent as the incantation of Kehama :

"I charm thy life

From the weapons of strife,
From stone and from wood,
From fire and from flood,
From the serpent's tooth,
And the beasts of blood."

He did not, however, altogether escape scot-free. The roads were rendered so dangerous by the revolted Kurds, that the travellers were obliged to describe a difficult and circuitous route: Mr. Russell and the Tartar were completely invalided; the medicine-chest was gone; and Mr. Ainsworth, unable himself to walk from a kick he had received, was obliged to keep up the spirits of his companions. At length his own health gave way; and though he contrived, by dint of riding nine hours a day, to reach Constantinople, his appearance and that of his companions, when they arrived with one spare shirt to each, and only the clothes that they had upon their backs, was so forbidding, that people were at first afraid to receive them into their houses. Their baggage, books, notes, medicine-chest, mathematical instruments, were all irrecoverably lost, and must be replaced before they could resume their course. The societies acted with becoming liberality, but in the meantime, the sudden transition from the fatigues of a retreat to the generous living and perfect tranquillity of Constantinople, threw all the three members of the Expedition into a severe and dangerous fever, which confined them for upwards of a month to their beds, unable to give one another the least assistance, and their convalescence was very slow. Mr. Russell, indeed, was so debilitated that he was compelled to return home, and never afterwards rejoined the Expedition.

Freshly equipped, however, by the liberality of the Societies, and nothing daunted or discouraged by the dangers which they had passed, Mr. Ainsworth and his single companion, Mr. Rassam, again started on their journey, intending to take the lower road through

Syria. They passed through Isnik, the ancient Nicæa, where the first general council was held A.D. 325; Koniyeh, or Iconium, a city renowned in history, both sacred and profane (Acts xiv. 1);-Antioch, where the disciples were first called by the name of their Lord and Master; and the ruins of Nineveh, that great city, which is now a heap of rubbish for a league along the river, full of vaults and caverns. Mr. Ainsworth bestowed much pains in examining the relics of this renowned metropolis; but we can hardly accede to his opinion that the city was contained within the existing walls, when Strabo, who makes Babylon to have been 385 stadia in circuit, says that Nineveh is much larger. There is much confusion in Mr. Ainsworth's reasoning on this subject, and we cannot but suppose that the omission of the words, "who could not discern between their right hand and their left," must be altogether accidental. At the lowest computation, the population of Nineveh must have amounted to 1,200,000, and this would agree with the received opinion that its circumference was 480 stadia. We see no objection to the hypothesis, that the greater part of the population might be domiciled in the suburbs.

6

"Of the second kind of statements, or of such as bear indirect testimony on the subject, are the three statements in Jonah i. 2, iii. 3, iv. 11. In the first of these Nineveh is styled a great city;' in the second, an exceeding great city of three days' journey.' That this statement required some explanation has struck almost all commentators on the Bible, and thus Aben Ezra, Jerome, Cyril, and Theodoret, interpret that the three days' journey has reference to the circuit of the city rather than to its length. The Rev. Mr. Southgate, on visiting the spot, was also forcibly struck with the same thing, and he says, 'Nineveh must have occupied a much larger surface than the plain before-mentioned, unless we are to understand by the three days' journey of Jonah the measurement of its wall, not its diameter.' Considering the nature of Jonah's mission, that he had to go and preach unto the city, to cry against each individual, and warn him of his wickedness; it appears highly probable that the space alluded to in this passage, and also that in iii. 4, when he began to enter into the city a days' journey,' alludes to the streets and space which it was necessary for the prophet to go through to accomplish the objects of his mission; and it will be easily understood, that to explore a city of six miles in circuit would occupy at least three days. "It is also asserted in Jonah iv. 11, that there were in the same city 'more than six-score thousand persons;.. ....and also much cattle.' According to the commonly-admitted estimate, this would give 120,000 for the entire population-the same number which Pliny attributes to Seleucia, near Babylon, whose walls have a circuit less than those of Nineveh, within the latter of which there would be space for a population of 120,000, and for many cattle, and even for gardens.

"The language of Nahum, the Elkoshite, who proclaimed the burden of Nineveh, that proud city, of whose store and glory there was no end; whose merchants were multiplied above the stars of heaven; whose crowned heads were as the locusts, and whose captains were as the great grasshoppers, which camp in the hedges in the cold day,' (Nahum ii. 9, iii. 16, 17,) is evidently too figurative and poetical to be available on either side of the question."-(vol. ii. pp. 140, 141.)

"The precincts included within the walls of Nineveh are, where not

occupied by habitations, roads, mounds, or river, everywhere cultivated. The mounds and walls also, in the early rains of spring, assume a green and cheerful appearance, but the flowers soon fade, the grass dries up, and the harvest is brought in by the latter end of May; a few fields of cucumbers and melons remain, but except that, all is buried in dry dust. It is then only that the words of Zephaniah (ii. 13, 15) appear in all their force: He 'will make Nineveh a desolation, and dry like a wilderness.' This is the rejoicing city, that dwelt carelessly, that said in her heart, I am, and there is none beside me: how is she become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down in."-(vol. ii. p. 143.)

By far the most interesting portion of the volume is that which relates the intercourse of Mr. Ainsworth with those Chaldean Christians, who were the especial objects of his mission. Their first view of the country was as picturesque as their first impression of its inhabitants was pleasing and satisfactory

"We left the vale of Amadiyeh by a pass in the Matineh mountain, which is exceedingly beautiful. Near its foot a mountain-torrent, called Sulaf Chai, comes tumbling over the rocks, amid precipitous cliffs, variegated by a rich vegetation and long-pending stalactites, or a rough covering of travertino deposited by the waters; climbing and creeping plants swing in flowery festoons down the water's edge, petrified in their course, and their verdant foliage is rivalled in various tracery by the stalagmitic deposits. The torrent forms three successive falls, of from eighteen to twenty feet in height, alternately losing itself in caves of green foliage, or re-appearing as a sheet of white foam. After about half a mile of open valley, the second part of the pass is attained."

"From this point the extensive district of Berrawi (Berwer of Dr. Grant) extended before us; in our neighbourhood was a long valley dotted with villages of industrious Christians, while at its head was a peculiar rounded mountain, rising above the village of Duri, the seat of the Bishop of Berrawi. Beyond were two distinct lofty and snow-clad chains of mountains; the one, Tur Devehli, extending from north-east to north-west; the other, Tura Shina, the extent of which was not well defined. To the west, the valley opened amidst mingled forests, rock and arable land, above which rose a group of rude peaks, one of which bore Kumri Kalah, the present asylum of the Kurdish chief of Bahdinan; beyond this appeared another snow-clad group of mountains. The Tura Matineh separates the Kurdish district of Bahdinan from that of Buhtan, of which Berrawi is a sub-district to the north-west. I have estimated the Chaldean population of Bahdinan at 1920 souls; Dr. Grant averages them at from 2000 to 3000.

"About an hour's descent brought us to the village of Hayis, near which were two or three smaller villages, all belonging to Chaldeans. The waters from this point flowed to the Khabur, along the valley of the tributaries to which, and in the heart of the Buhtan country, there is said to be a considerable Chaldean population, and which we found, indeed, afterwards, extending to the banks of the Tigris by the vale of the episcopate of Mar Yuhannah.

"At the village of Hayis we found Ishiyah, Bishop of Berrawi, with his attendants, waiting for us; although an old man, he had walked from his residence at Duri, a distance of nine miles, to meet us. This first specimen of a chief dignitary of the Chaldean Church was highly favourable. I had expected a bishop with a dagger and sword-perhaps, as it was time of war, with a coat-of-mail; but, instead of that, we saw an aged man, of spare habit, with much repose and dignity in his manners, and a very benevolent and intelligent aspect, his hair and beard nearly silver white, his forehead ample and unclouded, and his countenance, from never eating meat, uncom

monly clear and fair. Welcoming us in the most urbane manner, he held his hand to be kissed, a custom common in this country, and accompanied the ceremony by expressions of civility and regard. Dr. Grant describes the same bishop as a most patriarchal personage.

"The bishop wished to walk back, but we offered him the use of a horse. I was not fatigued, and preferred walking; but he had never been accustomed to ride, and it was with some difficulty that we got him to mount a loaded mule, where he could sit safe between the bags. We then started, Kasha Mandu, and a poorly-dressed man carrying a hooked stick, walking ceremoniously before.

"The happy moral influence of Christianity could not be more plainly manifested than in the change of manners immediately observable in the country we had now entered into, and which presented itself with the more force from its contrast with the sullen ferocity of the Mohammedans. The kind, cordial manners of the people, and the great respect paid to their clergy, were among the first fruits of that influence which showed themselves. Nothing could be more gratifying to us, after a prolonged residence among proud Mohammedans and servile Christians, than to observe on this, our little procession, the peasants running from the villages even a mile distant, and flocking to kiss the hand of the benevolent white-haired dignitary. This was done with the head bare, a practice unknown among the Christians of Turkey in Asia; and so great was the anxiety to perform this act of kindly reverence, that little children were held up in the arms of their fathers to partake in it. Kasha Mandu also came in for his share of congratulations and welcomings. Everywhere the same pleasing testimonies of respect, mingled with love, were exhibited.”—(vol. ii. pp. 204, 205-207.)

These Berrawi Christians, however, are not, like their neighbours, strong enough to assert their independence, and are consequently in a most unfortunate position; encumbered with nominal subjection to the Porte, but unprotected by the Osmanli governors against the exactions of the Kurds. The people were free, yet respectful in their manners; passionately fond of arms, and unable to refrain from handling percussion-guns and pistols, though warned of the danger of so doing. Mr. Ainsworth also says "that there was no keeping their hands out of our travelling-bags;" but this, we suppose, is merely illustrative of their curiosity, as he does not intimate that the travellers suffered any loss. He gives a very interesting account of his conversation with the Bishop, which affords a prospect of usefulness, not destined, we trust, to be overcast and obstructed by that misguided zeal which evaporates in controversy about non-essentials:

"We spent the evening with the bishop. We were in a grove of luxuriant growth and variegated foliage; golden orioles sang from the shades, and pigeons cooed from the rocks above; the men sat round and patted us on the back with the familiarity of old acquaintance, and the women crowded to enter into the passing conversation. The bishop was much pleased when the proposition was made to him to open schools, and to effect some improvement in the education of the people; he looked upon all such assistance with sincere gratitude. Indeed,' he said, 'we are worthy of the pity of those who can afford it, and I hope we shall also prove ourselves worthy of the friendly assistance of those who can bestow it upon us.' A tear gathered in his eye as he talked of the years of oppression, and neglect, and oblivion,