regard to their interests generally, and are not without hope, if the will of God permit, that our efforts may eventually lead to the restoration of the Nestorians to the Catholic Church of Christ."
Early in the month of May I received a letter from Mar Shimoon, in which he informed me that the combined forces of Bedr Khan Beg and the Hakkari Emeer were about to make war upon the Nestorians, or to attack the Berwari district within the jurisdiction of Mohammed Pasha of Mosul, and to charge them with the invasion. On the 4th of June I received another letter in which the Patriarch thus describes the execution of this long-projected scheme: "If you inquire after our weal, be it known unto you that the Hakkari Emeer, Ismael Pasha, Bedr Khan Beg, and Tatar Khan Agha, the chief of the Artushii Coords, combined against us, and on the great feast of the Ascension made a sudden irruption into our territory, carried off an immense booty in sheep belonging to Melek Ismaeel and other of our people, murdered a number of men, women, and children, cut off their ears and sent them to Bedr Khan Beg. Moreover, we learn that they are preparing for a second onslaught, when they intend to burn, kill, destroy, and if possible, exterminate the Christian race from the mountains. From this you may see that what befel Job has fallen to our lot: our sons and daughters have been slain with the edge of the sword, and our flocks, herds, and property have become the prey of our enemies."
The worst fears of Mar Shimoon of a second attack upon the Christians were soon realized. The combined Coordish forces now advanced from the province of Dez into the Tyari country. Their passage of the Zab was warmly contested; but overpowered by numbers the Nestorians were obliged to give way, and the fierce invaders advanced towards the villages, burning and otherwise destroying whatever came within their reach. As an instance of the revolting barbarity of these infidels, I shall mention the following: The aged mother of Mar Shimoon was seized by them in Dez, and after having practised upon her the most abominable atrocities, they cut her body into two parts and threw it into the Zab, saying the meanwhile: "Go and carry to your son the intelligence that the same fate awaits him." Many women and children were taken captive during
