Nestorian mission, as
afterwards appeared, was not that it be prosecuted from the western
side of the mountains, but from Oroomiah, the position first taken
by the mission; where, as we shall soon see, Gospel influences were
gathering a peculiar and most needful strength.

As soon as Mr. Hinsdale was able to travel, he accompanied Dr. Grant
on a tour among the Yezidee and Nestorian villages lying near to
Mosul.1

1 For an account of this tour, see _Missionary Herald_, 1842, pp.
310-320.

The Jacobites are a branch of the venerable Church of Antioch, and
were then painfully struggling to repel the inroads of the Papacy.
As soon as they learned the adherence of the American missionaries
to the Bible, and their opposition to Papal innovations, they began
to welcome them as friends. Having been duped by the plausible
pretenses of the Papists, they were at first cautious in their
advances; but a priest from the Syrian Christians in India, named
Joseph Matthew, on his way to be ordained metropolitan by the Syrian
Patriarch at Mardin, did much to dispel their fears, and promote
friendly relations with the missionaries. He was a graduate of the
English college at Cotayam, was evangelical in his views, spoke
English with propriety, and at once gave the right hand of
fellowship to the missionaries, and bespoke for them the confidence
of the people. Early in the following year, he returned from Mardin
as Bishop Athanasius, and consented to remain and preach among the
Jacobites during Dr. Grant's absence in the summer.

Nurullah Bey had now commenced making war on the mountain
Nestorians, with the aid of the Turks; and the Nestorians, split
into hostile parties, were incapable of combined resistance.
Suleiman Bey, being opposed to an alliance with Turkey, had seized
the reins of government in the absence of the Emir; and since the
object of the Osmanlis was to subjugate the Nestorians, as well as
the Koords, the Patriarch naturally, but as it proved unhappily,
sided with Suleiman.1

1 _Dr. Grant and the Mountain Nestorians_, p. 203.

Dr. Grant believed it would now be easier to enter the mountains
from the east, than from the west. Accordingly he set out for
Oroomiah, on the 6th of June, 1842, going the southern route by way
of Ravandooz. Mr. Hinsdale and Bishop Athanasius accompanied him the
first day. When about to return, the bishop offered prayer in the
English language, and thus they parted, not all to meet again.
A