e pupils, and were generally under evangelical teachers.
On the Sabbath, these schools took the form of Sabbath-schools, and
many of the parents came in to hear their children, or to take part
with them. The Sabbath-school in Geog Tapa numbered more than two
hundred. Every school was a place for preaching, and when there was
no one to preach, a meeting was sustained by the teacher. An
increasing interest was felt by the Nestorians in the monthly
concert of prayer for the conversion of the world. At Geog Tapa
three or four hundred were present at the concert, and they joined
contributions with their prayers.

The labors of the mission were widely extended. Mr. Cochran and
deacon Moses preached in villages along the southern border of
Oroomiah, and found the people there eager to hear the word of life.
Messrs. Stocking and Coan, and Misses Fiske and Rice, with several
native helpers, spent a month in Gawar, preparing the way for a
station there. That place is seventy miles from Oroomiah, and within
the Turkish dominions.1

1 _Missionary Herald_, 1852, p. 67.

Mr. Coan went from here with some Nestorian helpers through the
mountains beyond Tiary, till their way was hedged up by hostile
Koords. They met with great encouragement in their proclamation of
the gospel.1 Mention has been made of the preaching of deacons Syad
and Mosheil in Bootan, in the summer of 1850. The next winter was
spent by deacons Murad Khan and Mosheil in the same region; and
their journal affords evidence of singular talent for the labors of
an evangelist. They were gone six months.2

1 _Ibid_. 1852, p. 71.

2 _Missionary Herald_, 1852, pp. 257-262.

Among the native helpers, who accompanied Mr. Stocking to Gawar, was
deacon Isaac. After spending a few days with Mr. Stocking, he
proceeded to Kochanis, the residence of his brother, whither his
family had previously gone on a visit. The influence of this deacon
and his amiable wife was the probable cause of the unusual conduct
of the Patriarch in a visit he shortly afterwards made to Gawar,
when he received the missionary and his native helpers with the
greatest apparent cordiality in the presence of a large number of
ecclesiastics, and charged the people to see that they were treated
with the regard due to good men.

This was in the summer of 1851. The station was commenced by Messrs.
Coan and Rhea in the autumn of that year. The plain of Gawar is
large and beautiful, and is hemmed in by some