s. The hardships resulting from
such treatment, with other causes, had now brought Mrs. Perkins into
a very critical state of health. As a last resort, Mr. Perkins
addressed a letter to Sir John Campbell, British ambassador at
Tabriz, describing their situation, and enclosing his letters of
introduction to that gentleman. Scarcely had he crossed into Persia,
three days after, although his distance from Tabriz was not less
than a hundred miles, when he was met by a courier from the
ambassador, with a letter written in the kindest terms, and the
duplicate of another which he had procured from the Russian
ambassador to the officials on the frontier, with a view to put an
immediate stop to Mr. Perkins' detention. The kindness of the same
gentleman led him to send a takhtrawan for Mrs. Perkins, together
with delicacies for her comfort on the way.

A providential escape occurred during the first night after crossing
the Arras. Their road led up a high mountain. As they were ascending
it, the forward mule of the takhtrawan became obstinate, and
suddenly ran back, forcing the one behind upon the very brink of the
precipice, along which the road ran; and had not divine mercy stayed
them just there, takhtrawan, bearers, and occupant would have been
dashed down the precipice together.

The following day, they had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Riach,
physician of the embassy, whom they had seen at Constantinople, and
who had come, with a Russian travelling passport, determined to
cross the frontier, if necessary, and remain with them until their
liberation. The medical skill of Dr. Riach did much to aid Mrs.
Perkins in completing the journey to Tabriz, where they arrived on
the 23d of August, seventy-four days after their departure from
Trebizond. Three days after, Mrs. Perkins became the mother of a
daughter, of whose existence she was unconscious for several days.
Her life was probably saved, under God, through the combined skill
and kind attentions of three English physicians, who were then
providentially at Tabriz. The Ambassador was exceedingly kind; so
were Mr. and Mrs. Nesbit, who have been already introduced to the
reader. Dr. Riach, afterwards at the head of the embassy, stayed
five days and nights with Mrs. Perkins, not retiring from the house
till he saw some hope of her recovery. "The treatment we received
from them on our first arrival," writes the missionary nine years
after, "is but a specimen of their kindness to u