1 See American Biblical Repository, 1841, vol. vi. of new series, pp. 454-482, and vol. vii. pp. 26-68.
In January, 1841, Dr. Grant had the pleasure of witnessing the departure of the Rev. Messrs. Abel K. Hinsdale and Colby C. Mitchell, and their wives, for the Mountain Nestorians. They went by way of Aleppo and Mosul, that being the more practicable route for females; but the Doctor, thinking to reach the mountains before them, and prepare for their arrival, went himself by way of Constantinople, Erzroom, and Van. He was at Constantinople May 14th, and at Van on the first day of July. The journey from Erzroom to that place was wearisome and perilous, famine, the plague, and predatory Koords harassing him nearly all the way.
Van, with fourteen thousand Armenian population, though at that time difficult of access, was even then regarded as an important place for a missionary station, and preferable for residence to most others in the interior. Being five thousand feet above the level of the sea, it was not subject to oppressive heats. There were fruitful gardens on the one hand, stretching for miles over the plain, and on the other, the placid lake, and snow-capped mountains; altogether forming a very striking landscape. A small Nestorian community had formed a settlement on the mountains within three or four hours of Van.
Dr. Grant reached the summer residence of the Patriarch on the 9th of July, and was cordially received as before; and the same may be said of his intercourse with the mountaineers. He mentions several places in Koordistan as having strong claims for a missionary station, but gives the preference to Asheta in Tiary.
While at Asheta, he received painful tidings of the death of Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell, and the sickness of Mr. and Mrs. Hinsdale, and immediately started for Mosul, though at much risk from Koords on the frontier, and from roving Arabs near the Tigris. He reached Mosul on the 25th of August, in time to minister successfully to Mr. Hinsdale, whose life had been seriously endangered by a relapse of fever.
Messrs. Hinsdale and Mitchell were forty-one days on their voyage to Smyrna, from whence an Austrian steamer took them to Beirût. Mr. and Mrs. Beadle accompanied them as far as Aleppo, to commence a new station. Mr. Mitchell had a slight attack of fever and ague at Aleppo, which detained him till the 28th of May. That was rather late in the season, still all might have gone well, had they been able to press on with the usual speed. The abundant green grass on the plain, however, caused the muleteers to loiter, and, once on the road, the company was entirely at their mercy. Still the journey, as far as Mardin, where they arrived June 19th, was both pleasant and prosperous. On the plain below the city Mr. Mitchell, in efforts to keep their tent from being blown down in a storm, became wet and chilled. This brought on another fit of ague, which was repeated after three days. On the 25th, with scarcely any apparent disease, he lost his reason, and from that time drooped, like the withering of a plant, till he died on the morning of June 27th, 1841. The Koordish villagers refused the Christian a grave, nor would they aid in carrying the body a few miles to the Jacobite village Telabel, The survivors had not strength themselves to carry it, but secured its conveyance thither as best they could. There they buried the mortal remains in the village cemetery, and two rude stones mark the grave.
Eight hours brought them in sight of the Tigris, at Beshabor. The next day they crossed on rafts supported by inflated goat-skins, and, on the 30th, rode six and a half hours to a Yezidee village. Next morning, after riding an hour, Mrs. Mitchell became too ill to proceed, and she lay four days in a mud hovel, among Arabs so rude that they could not be kept from the sick room, where they laid their hands on whatever they fancied. To remain there was out of the question, so Mr. Hinsdale constructed a litter, and at exorbitant prices obtained men from a distant village to carry it. She had to be repeatedly laid upon the ground, while he rode far and near to find four men willing to perform the degrading service of carrying a woman. At length the sun became so hot, that they could travel only by night. Their troubles were somewhat relieved by the services of a man, whom Mr. Rassam had kindly sent to meet them. On the 7th of July, they entered Mosul, and were cordially welcomed by Mr. and Mrs. Rassam. Mrs. Mitchell's disease then assumed a new form, and from that time till her death, on the 12th, her reason was dethroned. Mr. Hinsdale was taken violently ill before the death of Mrs. Mitchell, and Mrs. Hinsdale was unable to render any assistance to her husband. It was in these trying circumstances, that Dr. Grant so opportunely arrived.
There was ample evidence in the subsequent experience of the mission, that these fatal results were not owing to any peculiar hazard in the journey itself, though they may have resulted from the lateness of the season. All the way from Aleppo to Mosul, they had the assistance of Mr. Kotschy, who, in addition to his medical knowledge, had travelled seven years in Western Asia and Africa. The route, moreover, had been, and is still, one of the great highways of nations.
No doubt Divine Providence is always consistent with itself, and with the Saviour's promise; and so would it always appear to us, could we see, as God sees, the end from the beginning. To the devoted missionary, who dies at the outset of his career, all is satisfactory, however painful the circumstances, as soon as he passes the dark portal. Then, too, in contemplating the reverses which were now beginning to thicken upon the mission, we should bear in mind, that the divine plan for the Mountain 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