The Flickering Light of Asia

or

The Assyrian Nation and Church

Rev. Joel E. Werda

This Book On
The Flickering Light of Asia,
or
The Assyrian Nation and Church
is dedicated

TO MY DEAR PARENTS,

whose sole ambition was that I should serve the cause of Christ; whose unselfish love taught me the meaning of service to others; whose Christian influence left an indelible impression upon my life; and whose earnest and persistent prayers were destined to be answered in the arrest of my steps, and in the guidance of my feet into a service which even now must be their, as is my own, supreme delight. And whatever good there may come out of this imperfect labor of love, which may contribute toward the resurrection of my fathers' church, and the restoration of that church to her former sphere of influence and usefulness in Christ's kingdom, that good should, above all, endear the peerless name of Him who hears and answers the persistent prayers of Christian parents.

Published by the Author
Copyright
1924
By
Joel E.Werda

Rev. Joel E. Werda is the reviser of the Assyrian Bible, author of the Engish-Assyrian Dictionary, Assyrian-English Dictionary, Editor and Publisher of the Assyrian American Courier.

Assyrian International News Agency
Books Online
www.aina.org

FOREWORD

Great as the Assyrian empire was in conquest and expansion, greater still became the triumphs of the Assyrian Christian Church. And just as during centuries of ceaseless persecutions, the capacity of this faithful nation for suffering for Christ never shrank, so also the ancient valor of the Assyrian warriors had never deserted the people. These two unique qualifications were most marvelously revealed during the terrible progress of the great World War.

INTRODUCTION

Mosul to most Americans means only oil and a wrangling point of European and Turkish diplomacy. Yet there is a little remnant of what was once one of the earth's most famous races, which has dwelt in Mosul and the regions round about for, upwards of several thousand years. To these people the disposal of Mosul means life renewed and hope or utter extinction.

It has seemed to me a duty which I could not rightly refuse to consent to introduce this book, simply because the vivid story that it tells and the vistas of history it reveals are what Americans need to know now, and all this has been written nowhere else.

This book portrays the wonderful fight of a brave Ally of ours in the World War, of which most of us have never before heard, whose sufferings and ruin have far exceeded that of Belgium or Serbia, and whose fate still hangs in the balance. These are the Assyrians.

Across the Euphrates from Mosul lie the ruins of Nineveh, "that great city," where once ruled the ancestors of this pathetic modern remnant. What has happened in the thousands of years intervening is sketched in these pages.

For many centuries a mighty Christian Church loomed large on the page of ecclesiastical history. This Church was the Church of the "dwellers in Mesopotamia," of the famous University of Edessa, of the Missionaries to the farthest corners of India and China. The remnant of the Assyrians are also the remnant of this Church. This book collates the history of the Church.

Like a thin wedge, the rightful domains of the Christian Assyrians extend north of Mosul between Mohammedan Kurdestan and Persia. Here before the war the Patriarch-Prince, Church and State united, ruled his Christian people in all simplicity, respected alike by Mohammedan and Christian. Today part of the race has been massacred, part driven into Russia, a few into America, and a few after the exile are sifting back to their ruined homeland.

Beside the striking war story told in true Oriental style, what gives special value to this book is that the author himself an Assyrian, has drawn from the literature of his own people, on the history of his nation and Church, and put together the facts in a complete form as no one else has attempted.

The fate of this precious remnant is in the hands of the nations of the West. It would seem that common justice demanded their restoration. All that is needed is to give them an opportunity to make a new start, security and freedom to live their own life in their own lands, and help to rebuild homes, churches, schools. Also they need a few Western leaders of the right sort to guide them on their way, but it should be their own way.

To allow this nation to be wiped off the page of history ought to be unthinkable.

THOMAS BURGESS.

PART I

THE ASSYRIAN NATION

And the Great World War

THE TURKISH TRAP

Before Turkey decided to enter into the War, the Turkish goverm-nent encountered two senous problems within the bounds of its own domains. One of the problems was the question of the Armenians, who had for almost a century aspired to separation and to the formation of an independent kingdom; and the other was the attitude of the Nestorian tribes, who had defied the Turkish authority, and had always maintained their independence in the fastnesses of the Kurdistan mountains. The problem of the Armenians, and also that of those Assyrians who were dwelling in the interior of Turkey, and who were at the mercies of the Turks, was to be easily solved by a program of massacres, exile and a diabolical attempt at their total extermination. But the Nestorian warriors had to be handled with the cunning diplomacy of the Turkish Statesmanship. These Nestorians, to be sure, were small in numbers, but they were regarded then as the sharpest thorn in the flesh of the Turkish empire, particularly, if they were to be supplied with guns and ammunition from Russia.

Consequently, a Turkish governor came to Bashkala (the capital of that Vilayet), and from there he sent some high officials as his emissaries, to greet the Patriarch Mar Shimon, and to extend to his Beatitude a most courteous invitation to become the guest of the Turkish government at his official residence. At this time the Russian forces had secured a strong foothold in the northwestern province of Persia, which immediately adjoins the south eastern frontiers of Turkey.

His Beatitude Mar Shimon Benyamin, Patriarch of the "Nestorian" Church, who was cowardly assassinated by a Kurdish Chieftain through the conspiracy of the Persian Tabriz authorities.

Mar Shimon accepted the invitation;,, and at his arrival in Bashkala, he was received with all the ostentious honors the oriental monarchs can bestow. The patriarch and his people were promised absolute protection, together with a large sum of money to be distributed among the warriors of the mountains, on the condition that the head of the Assyrian Church should pledge himself in writing that he would not allow the Nestorian tribes to take up arms against the Turkish government, and also pledge himself under oath that he would not side with Russia. But an intellect less keen than that of the patriarch could have perceived clearly the motive of the mischievous propositions, and could have seen the trap which was being prepared to be set for the extermination of these people as well.

The Patriarch, under the pretense, and of course, according to his custom also in all such matters, of consulting the leaders of his people, begged to be allowed to do so, and departed with a broken spirit and a heavy heart. He fully realized that the floods of Islam's hate were in motion, and that Turkey was determined to inaugurate her campaign of extermination against the mountain Nestorians as well.

Mar Shimon, therefore, instead of returning to his home in Qoodchanis, went directly to Tiari, the country of the strongest tribe of the independent Assyrians. He sent immediately after all the leaders of the Nestorian tribes. They all responded. The meeting was held within the walls of the Historic Church of Mar Sava. This took place in the early part of December, 1914.The Kurds, in the meanwhile, who had for centuries tried in vain to subdue and to destroy the Nestorians, saw now an opportunity to satiate their blood thirsty desire upon their Christian neighbors. Without theaid of the Turks they could not think of fighting against the Assyrians, even though they were vastly superior in numbers. Having for centuries made themselves obnoxious in the eyes of the Turks by their lawlessness and their campaigns of plunder, the Kurds, in order to regain the favor of the Turks, had secretly made the plan for the massacre of the Assyrians a common cause with them, and had also solicited their assistance. And the Turks, of course, could more than condone all the crimes piled high against their lawless co-religionists, only to carry out the program of extermination against all the Christians, as planned by the Turkish Pan-Islamic Revolutionary Conunittee. A secret letter, written by one of the Kurdish chieftains to the Governor of Julamarck, fell into the hands of the Assyrians, and it was read at the meeting called for by the Patriarch in the Church of Mar Sava. It contained the following paragraphs: 1. "These (Nestorian) Christians have decided to cut their way through to Persia, and have sided with Russia. 2. They have killed many of us, and have carried also plunder from us. 3. I would gladly contribute in men to the army quota as required by the government, but unfortunately I am unable to do so, as our men will have to pass through the lands occupied by the Christians. 4. Send us at once guns and ammunition; not that we desire to engage the Assyrians in battle, but rather to defend ourselves against their attacks. They are abundantly supplied with the Russian guns." And of course, every syllable contained in this letter was false. It became evident to the Patriarch and his leaders, that there had been conducted a secret propaganda by the Kurds, to add more fuel to the fire which was already kindling in the heart of the Turks against Mar Shimon and his people. It was deemed advisable to contradict these false stories; and the patriarch wrote a number of letters to that effect. But the letters, somehow, and in a mysterious way, had disappeared on their way, and had not reached their destination. But even if they had, they would have availed nothing, as the machinery of slaughter by the combined forces of the Turks and the Kurds had already been set in motion.

A group of the Mountain Assyrian Malicks, who served as the advisers of Mar Shimon Benyamin during the war. They are the chiefs of the independent tribes of Assyria.

THE FIRST SOUND OF BATTLE

Here in the valley of Kurdistan sounded the first fearful echoes of Islam's declaration of holy war. The Kurds were urged to kill all Christians; otherwise, they would be regarded as outcasts from religion, and treated as traitors to the government. On the other hand, the death of every victim in their hands, would add to their great reward in the prophet's paradise. The unprotected villages and communities of the Assyrians, which were situated on the plains, were immediately attacked. A few managed to escape to the mountains where their brethren were. The larger number of them, however, which included women, children and the aged, were killed in manners that outdid the ferocity of Taimurlang. All the inhabitants of Gavar district were gathered together. Some were pressed into the houses, and the houses were set on fire; others were thrown into wells and ditches and were buried alive. All the Nestorians of Gavar and the adjoining plain country were totally exterminated, including the Christians of Albak and Barvar and of Qoodchanis.

As the work of the Assyrians' massacre went on, strong fears were entertained for the safety of the Patriarch, who had returned to his ecclesiastical See after his conference with the leaders of the mountain tribes. The members of the Patriarch's family had escaped to a place of comparative safety; but Mar Shimon himself, together with his brothers, remained in Qoodchanis, waiting for further developments. All attempts, on the part of the Patriarch, to convince the Turkish government and local authorities, of the innocence and the harmlessness of the Assyrians, failed. And the flames of the massacre were gradually enveloping Qoodchanis itself. Mar Shimon also was compelled to desert his ecclesiastical See, and join the members of his household in Deez, where he could be more accessibly protected by his mountain warriors.

The valor and fighting qualifications of the Nestorians being known to the Turkish authorities, the latter had secretly developed their seige plans to envelope Mar Shimon and his mountaineers, cut off every possible avenue through which they might escape, and also prevent all possible communications they might affect with the Russian forces in Persia. A Russian contingent, prior to this movement of the combined forces of the Turks and the Kurds, had penetrated into Turkey, and had advanced as far as the district of Gavar, wherethe greatest Assyrian massacre, so far, had taken, place, but only to return back to Persia, and leave behind a greater determination on the part of the enemy, if that were possible, to exterminate all the Nestorians. And indeed, the failure of the Turks to carry out this diabolical program in its entirety, falls short only of a miracle; while the final escape of the main body of the people, who found themselves thus surrounded on all sides, must be regarded as an absolute act of superhuman and divine deliverance.

After a number of small skirmishes between the Assyrian and the Turkish forces, the object of which on the part of the enemy was to engage the attention of the former in all directions, and, thus to demoralize them if possible, the Turks sent an advance force of 3,000 men to attack the Nestorians through. a pass between Tiari and Tkhooma, where they gained also the advantage of the Mount "White". Against this force the Assyrians set in battle line 400 warriors only. The hostilities opened, and the battle raged with determination. The younger Assyrians fought, their older folks gathered in places of worship and prayed. Before the first day of the battle was over, the Turkish army was put to flight in great confusion, and left behind many dead and wounded. The few Assyrians charged like tigers in pursuit of the fleeing enemy. The Turks fell as they ran till the hill slopes were covered with their bodies. Some sought the shelter of the rocks, where they were later found and taken captive. A few managed to escape and reach the main Turkish camp on the opposite side of the River Zava, and there to repeat the story of the Nestorians'valor. They, however, were entirely ignorant of an angel's ladder, which was carrying to the throne of mercy the tears and the supplications of praying men and women:-tears and supplications which turned out to be infinitely more mighty than the boom of the thundering cannon, and infinitely more effective than the vibrations of the exploding shells. The would be tragedy was turned into a providential victory, the value of which was enhanced by the amazing discovery that in this heated battle, only three Nestorians were found wounded, and their wounds were amazingly slight. Had the Turks succeeded in this initial attempt which was to be followed by larger forces, perhaps no Nestorian would have been left to tell the story.

During the months of July and August, about six battles were fought on a large scale, between the Assyrians and the Turks; and in all of them the Nestorians had the best of the enemy, even though the latter had employed vastly superior numbers. While the losses of the Turks and Kurds in each engagement were counted by the hundreds, those of the Assyrians in all these engagements became incredibly small, and one almost hesitates to give figures which fall below three scores, including all casualties.

Prior to these events, the Russian forces in Persia had succeeded in sending some guns and ammunition to the Assyrian Patriarch at the urgent request of the latter. But these were altogether too -inadequate to cope with the precarious situation of the Nestorians, who were now face to face with a trained army of the Turks, under the leadership of Haydar Beg Pasha, the Governor of Mosul, and assisted by the hordes of the Kurds under their several chieftains. Realizing the danger of their position, the Assyrian leaders managed to send a messenger to the Patriarch, who was still in Deez, urging him by an epistle, to endeavor in some way to get either to Persia or to Bashkala, in Turkey, and ask in person for the Russian assistance in men. Some forty Assyrians were selected to accompany Mar Shimon and Bishop Yav Alaha of Amedia on this most hazardous mission, which led through the very country now occupied in force by the Turks and the Kurds. Filling their sacks with parched wheat, the Patriarch and the Bishop and their attendants, were sent away secretly by a praying multitude, who committed them to the protecting shadow of the Almighty's wings. They slept in the daytime and travelled on foot during the night, often reaching within a hailing distance from an enemy who knew no law save that of murder and bloodshed. The Patriarch with his party reached safely the Russian headquarters in Bashkala, but only to return in similar manner, without bringing back with them the desired assistance. This fact was made known to the mountain Nestorians, and the situation became desperate. The strongest element of a nation was now facing total extermination! The Turks had constructed a bridge over the River Zava, the roaring floods of which had heretofore served as an impenetrable barrier to the advance of the enemy. They had also planted their cannon on the heights that commanded the positions of their opponents on the other side of the river. The Assyrians had courage enough to fight one against ten and even twenty, but how could they resist the explosives that were reducing the mightiest fortifications of Europe? It was the desperation of a cat pressed into a corner by a pack of dogs, and compelled to fight to the finish in spite of the overwhelming odds against it.

THE FINAL SIEGE OF THE MOUNTAIN ASSYRIANS

During the last week in August, 1915, it became apparent that the Turks were advancing on all sides. The Nestorian pickets had reported the completion of the bridge over Zava, and also the passing of the Turkish Army across the river. The Assyrians, who were apparently hoping against hope, led their cattle, their goods and their families to the top of the mountains which rose up almost in perpendicular form from the edge of the river below, and which stood like sentinels over the passes through which the Turkish army had to advance. The air of the snowy heights, even in the month of August, caused terrible suffering among the people, who had depended so much for their deliverance, under God's mercies, upon the inaccessibility of the steep slopes. But one or two shots from the long range Turkish cannon revealed at once the hopelessness of their situation. And then these lofty heights under the clouds, instead of being esteemed as an impenetrable fortress were instantly transformed a temple of worship by the helpless refugees, who now believed, that only as such they could either protect them, or else show them a way of escape from inevitable capture and subsequent massacre.

It was also observed by the Assyrian pickets that the advancing army of the Turks was divided into three sections. Two of these sections under the Kurdish Chieftains were moved to attack from the direction of the only two passes through which the Nestorians could escape toward Persia, while the Turkish army was stationed immediately in the rear to dislodge the entrenched Assyrians by the use of their long range cannon. Had the Russians supplied the Nestorians with two or three mountain guns, and with a sufficient supply of large ammunition, as they had been urgently requested by the Patriarch, there would have been no place in these pages for the story of the most terrible massacres and losses to which the Nestorians were later subjected. And had the Russian forces of Bashkala heeded the plea of Mar Shimon ' their own lines of communicat;.On in Northwestern Persia would have never been exposed to as great dangers to which they became subjected; and possibly even the Persian Assyrians would have been saved from the terrible doom that befell them. Some ten thousand of these mountain Nestorians, properly and sufficiently equipped, under the leadership of their fearless Patriarch, would have surely made the Turks to have thought twice before -attempting to enter into Persia. The Kurds had already fought with the Russians. They had already -defeated and exterminated a force of the "Yellow Race" that was sent against them. Put they and the Turks had one fear only in this front, and this fear arose from the independent tribes of Assyria. It was a genuine fear. Experience had taught them so. Thus the mighty power of the Russian Empire, on which Mar Shimon had depended so much in the early stages of the war, sadly failed to respond to a call by the latter for arms and ammunition, and this failure, on the part of Russia, became the greatest weakness of an over credulous people in the hour of their great emergency.

A group of Russian officers during Russia's occupation of the North Western Persia.

Face to face with total extermination, the Nestorian leaders held another conference on those lofty heights under the clouds, to decide whether to cease firing and take a chance in a flight toward the Russians, who were still in Bashkala, or to avoid the stigma of the Kurdish reproach, and fight to the finish. They unanimously decided to take the latter course. The Kurds moved from the direction of Artoosh to attack Baz, and also from the direction of Chal to attack Tkhooma. t Battle raged all that day till darkness put an end to the firing. During the night the Assyrians had strengthened their fortifications and had erected walls of stone and rock. Behind these walls they remained waiting eagerly for the app roach of the dawn, and for certain advance of the enemy. The Kurds came up in hordes, only to find their lines mercilessly thinned down by the accuracy and the unfailing fire of the Nestorians. One of these Nestorians who had taken part in these wars, came to America with an unhealed wound in his leg. He came to me asking for my assistance to take him to some physician for an operation on the still painful bone. He very humbly told me the following story: "Our fighting units were divided into small groups, leaving larger numbers for reserve. In my group there were only one hundred and fifty of us. I had only ninety cartridges. I used sixty of them and saw sixty Kurds fall; my comrades did the same, and the execution was awful. Only a few of the enemy managed to escape!" I narrated this story to the American physician' to whom I had taken the young Nestorian for consultation. The American specialist was in the uniform at the time and ready within two weeks to sail for France. After the examination, I asked the doctor what I owed him for his services. "Nothing," replied the doctor, smiling, "only tell him to go back when he is well, and kill a few more of those Turks!"

But the temporary defense which the Assyrians constructed in haste could not resist the fire of the Turkish cannon. Repeated and most courageous attempts were made to put together the shattered walls of loose stone, but only to be demolished again by the shots of the mountain guns. Necessity has always been the mother of invention. The Assyrians of Tiari, in order to open a way for their commerce and communications with Mosul and Bagdad, had three quarters of a century before constructed a sugpension bridge over the rushing floods of Zava; only instead of using steel wires which they did not possess, they twisted together twigs and a peculiar straw, which they transformed into bulky cables that were made strong enough to sustain the weight of the bridge, and give safe passage back and forth for their caravans. And likewise the people of Tkhooma had conceived the idea of making cannon out of the trunks of the hard wood trees of the mountains, and had already experimented with their invention. But the weapon purposely created for moral effect upon their Kurdish neighbors, could not now be allowed to draw the mockery of the roaring guns which vomited death and destruction. The Nestorians therefore, decided to lay low in their trenches, and make the enemy believe they had fled and deserted their defenses. It was apparently a hopeless situation. But what else could they do? The fathers and the mothers, the wives and the children of these fearless warriors, grasped fully the meaning of the critical hour, as they observed the progress of the battle from those towering heights to which they had climbed as a last refuge, to escape, if possible, the rush of the incoming tide of Islam's wrath. They watched and prayed all night, committing themselves unto the mercies of their heavenly Father, at the same time asking for a deliverance which God alone could give them from an inevitable doom. The courageous warriors stil remained behind their shelter, waiting for the approach of the morning and the advance of the relentless foe. The Turks welcomed the dawn by a round of cannon shots into the positions of the Assyrians to ascertain the whereabouts of their opponents. The Assyrians had no fire to return against the terrible weapons of war. They were only bent to keep their existence there absolutely concealed, till the enemy had come within the reach of the sword and of the point of the dagger. The Turks advanced, hungry for murder and plunder. Haydar Beg Pasha, with the main body of his army, still remained across the river, to witness the smoke of burning villages. Two regiments of his mountain warriors continued to climb unhindered and unopposed. The Assyrians drew their sword out of its sheath and pulled the dagger out of the belt. They posed like a lion ready to jump on its approaching prey. The top of the Kurdish garlanded hat could be seen through the small crevices left purposely open between the heaps of stone and rock. Then the red of the Turkish fez came into view. Instantly there appeared, immediately beneath, a forest of bayonets, all glittering in the golden sun of the early morning. The Assyrians gave a terrifying yell, and threw themselves on the enemy, who became conster-nated and demoralized, both by the suddenness of the unexpected attack, and by the quick work of execution to which he was subjected. The Turks fled in confusion, leaving again their dead and wounded behind. There was no smoke in this battle to obstruct the searching of a pair of f eld glasses. Greater than the consternation of the Turkish regiment, was that of Haydar Pasha himself, who by the aid of the lenses in his hand, saw that the pursuers of his fleeing regiments numbered less than a quarter of the strength of his own men, and that his best troops even five to one were no match for the descendants of these "Ancient Archers of Assyria."

In the meanwhile, word reached the Assyrian victors that the defenders of the other fronts had almost exhausted their home-made ammunition, and that the leaders had counselled a general retreat at nightfall. But before the victors of the western line could recover from the effect of the staggering report, Haydar Pasha let loose his cannon with double fury' determined now to plough every square yard Of the Assyrian positions with shot and shrapnel, and make it so unbearable for them that they could be forced to retreat and fall into the arms of the other forces of Turkey, which were sent to cut off their passage and their only avenue of escape toward the northwestern frontiers of Persia.

The siege was so completely laid by the Turks, that it was considered humanly impossible to cut a way through the packed line of the enemy. And the besiegers, never daring to attack, contented themselves with the thunder of their cannon, the vibrations of which, in the distant valleys, resembled the rumbling of a gigantic volcano. They felt certain that starvation would eventually compel the besieged Assyrians to stampede into Islam's prepared shambles.

Quick in movement, and familiar with all the nooks and foot paths of their mountains, the Assyrians began in the dark to withdraw from all their lines, and to concentrate in the shelter of some steep hills which infringed the banks of the lower part of Zava. The exodus here resembled that of the children of Israel under Moses. For every independent tribe moved under its own banner. Tiari, Tkhooma, Baz, jeloo, Tal, Deez, etc., all moved under their own Malicks and leaders. Those who had escaped for safety from the less protected lowlands, were distributed among the various sections. The Patriarch Mar Shimon, and all those who had been with him, first in Qoodchanis, and then in Deez, had already arrived safely at the appointed place.

Here, then, concealed for the time being, from the view of the enemy, assembled a camp which, in both religious character and in historic significance, presented in duplicate form the plight of the Hebrew exiles when they were escaping from the wrath of Pharaoh. The only distinction in the two tragedies being that this Christian camp did not know whither to go or where to turn. The Hebrews had a destination. The Assyrians had none! The allurements of a better future, and the dream of an "abiding city," can intoxicate a soul, and enable the pilgrim to endure sufferings for a season. But, Oh, for these helpless custodians of Christian faith! Oh, for this heroic remnant of a mighty people, and once a mighty church! Even if they did succeed to escape from an apparently impending doom, where would they go? There was no manna to feed them, and whence then the food that could keep alive so many thousands of women and children? It was a crushing burden upon the heart of the Patriarch; a staggering problem for the leaders of the besieged exiles; and above all, it was the greatest crisis in the history of the Nestorian people and church! They had survived the massacres of Shapur, the butchery of Taimurlang, and centuries of endless persecutions under the Moslem rulers. But now was the hour that was to determine either the continued existence, or the total extermination of both the Assyrian people and the ancient evangelical church of the East, established according to reliable tradition, by the very apostles themselves.

Trusting in God, to whose throne of mercy were continually rising prayers and supplications from thousands of hearts and lips, the leaders decided on a plan to cut their way through, and save at least a remnant of the people. They had some ammunition left; and having applied the strictest economy by making the beseiged people to subsist on mulberry and other kinds of berries and vegetables, during the summer months of June, July, and early August, they had saved their scanty provisions for such an emergency. Of course, till now they had saved all their cattle as well. Meat they had had abundantly, although no salt to eat it with. But could they now save their flocks of sheep, which were absolutely needed for the food supply of a vast multitude? In the hours of early morning, the aged men and women, together with the children, were ordered to move on, and follow a guard that had advanced considerable distance ahead to be on the lookout for the enemy. The location of the Kurds was discovered. Then the fighting units, who still had ammunition left in their belts, were ordered to march on the right and on the left of the weeping throngs. The Patriarch himself, with his rifle in his hand, led the advanced guard. The most critical hour had arrived. The Kurds and the Turks came in swarms from all directions. The Patriarch, with the advance guard, from behind the stones they had carried on their backs, to be used as movable trenches, opened deep lines in the solid wall of the advancing foe. The topography of the land, of course, failed to offer the Assyrians those mountain advantages they had had before. The Turks retreated some distance to draw the Assyrians into a trap. The Assyrians had no alternative but to advance, if only to save the women and the children. Familiar with the tricks of Soto, their bitterest enemy, some two hundred Assyrians performed a most heroic deed. They chose certain deathby remaining behind, in order to engage the fire of the Kurds, and make it easier for the rest of their brethren to move on and cut their way through.

The Assyrians had now advanced enough for the enemy to have come in their rear also. The Kurds opened fire at random into the defenseless throng. Women and children dropped like leaves as from an autumn tree. Mar Shimon and his warriors had their hands full immediately in the front, and on the two sides of the multitude. The work of this terrible execution had just commenced when those two hundred brave came to the rescue, just as it had been planned. They had not remained together. Each had chosen a secluded ' spot. Perhaps the finest sharpshooters of the world could not be matched with them. From behind two hundred scattered rocks they sent volley after volley with terrible effect. The enemy was taken by surprise. It meant two hundred casualties at a time, unless each brute was hit by more than one shot. Soto was compelled to leave the Assyrian women and children alone. Before the Kurds in the rear could recuperate, the main body of the Assyrians, led by the fearless defenders, had succeeded in literally cutting their way through and reaching a place of safety. The enemy in the front had fled as if pursued by mighty armies. The remainder of Soto's horsemen in the rear, had deserted their horses and sought the shelter of the rocks below. The Kurds, of course, did not know the strength of the attacking Assyrians. They remained in their places of concealment till the nightfall, and in the cover of the succeeding darkness they had escaped. The two hundred brave Assyrians also took the same advantage of the wings of the night. By some hazardous path they escaped, and safely arrived at the Nestorian camp, minus only three of their number.

The providence thus saved this smoking wick of Asia! But Mar Shimon did not know what additional sufferings were still laid in store for his brave people.

Another day of comparatively safe travelling brought the Assyrians into the view of the Russian military camp in Bashkala, where they were gladly received by the Russian military authorities.

THE ARRIVAL OF THE NESTORIAN REFUGEES IN PERSIA

The position of the Russian contingent in Bashkala being uncertain, it was deemed advisable for Mar Shimon to take his people to Persia. The influence of Russia being now preponderant in the capital of the Shah, the consent of the latter's government was easily secured, to allow the Nestorian refugees to remain temporarily in the country, pending the final outcome of the great war. The Assyrians had managed to save part of their cattle and their flocks. In addition to these, they, on their way to Bashkala, had discovered and confiscated some small stores of wheat which were deserted by the Kurds. These supplies were deemed sufficient to meet the requirements of the people till they entered Persia.

Toward the middle of September, the refugees were distributed in Salmas, Khoi and Urmia. In the course of their forced exodus, they had lost some four or five thousand souls, mostly women and children; and, of course, they had lost also all their earthly possessions. Sad as their plight was, still both the Patriarch and the people thanked God for their miraculous deliverance, and felt grateful for the hospitality extended to them in a strange country.

These refugees, however, were all mountaineers, who were accustomed to the climate of the high altitudes. Almost immediately after their arrival in the lowlands of Persia, they fell victims to the epidemic of fever, which was followed by the fearful ravages of typhus. The Russian medical service spared indeed no energy to check the disease. It finally succeeded; but after the list of fatalities had mounted to thousands. The refugees had also been accustomed to drink of pure and clear spring waters of their own highlands. The unclean streams of Persia added to the list of their fearful afflictions in the form of other epidemics of dysentery and cholera. "It was a frightful sight," says a correspondent to the Assyrian American Courier, "in the street, in the field, on the housetops and under the trees, you can see groups of men and women and children groaning in agony, calling for help, but no help can be had!" The dreadful contagions caused a havoc among Salmas refugees, and made vast the graveyard where the Assyrian victims lay. Eventually epidemics were checked and the Russian authorities undertook to handle the problem of food and other necessaries of life.

The consideration shown by the government of the Czar for these refugees, passes almost all description. By an order from Petrograd, money was freely distributed among the people; the emperor himself contributing toward this relief work one hundred thousand rubles. Equally opportune at this time, was the relief sent from America.

As these refugees had lost all their household effects, they were in urgent need of bedding, quilts, mattresses, etc. A goodly quantity of these was supplied through the American relief funds.

The months of September and October were rather mild, and outdoor living was decidedly better and healthier for the refugees than the congested space within the dwellings, even if there were any of the latter that could be had. But as the severe winter of the northwestern Persia began to set in, a new problem confronted Mar Shimon and his poorly clad people. There were no tents to be had to accommodate such throngs. Stables, barns or any shelter that had a mere roof, and without fire or fireplace, were utilized for the purpose. The sufferings of the people became intense, and not a few perished in the snows and cold blasts of northwestern Persia.

As a shepherd of the flock, Mar Shimon moved from place to place, visiting the various centres where the refugees were distributed. In Urmia, he was received with great pomp, even the Mohammedans taking part in honors bestowed upon the Assyrian Patriarch. This apparent hospitality of the pro-Turk adherents of Mohammed, however, was by no means sincere. It was pompted by fear from the lash of a new authority, which they believed had entered into Persia at the urgent request, and for the deliverance of the Christians. After the manner of Judas, the betrayer, openly they were paying homage to the partiarch of the "infidels," and in secret they were laying the diabolical plan, which later resulted in the assassination of Mar Shimon and the two hundred chosen horsemen who served as his body guard. Here, the best part of a Christian nation continued to remain in exile, and to endure intense sufferings, while anxiously waiting every day to.hear the tidings of the final triumph of the allies, with whose fortunes or misfortunes they had chosen to cast their lot.

THE SIEGE OF URMIA AND THE OUTRAGES PERPETRATED UPON THE ASSYRIANS OF PERSIA

The flames which enveloped the world, seemed as if they were originally ignited to consume the Assyrian race. Vvhile the independent Nestorians of the mountains were struggling to extricate themselves from the trap which -the Turkish government had laid for their extermination, the Mohammedans of Urmia had secretly planned to perpetrate the same diabolical deed upon the Assyrians of Persia. SO long as the Russians were in control of the Northwestern Persia, they, of course, would not dare to reveal the least indication of an ill feeling toward the Christians. The presence of these Muscovite soldiers in Persia, from the time of their first entry into the country, which was some years before the World War, had steadily and secretly given rise to the temperature of Islam's caldron of revenge. The overflow had most cleverly been concealed and stored up in a fearfully boiling form, to be let loose in some opportune moment. And this moment, they knew it was destined to arrive with the fluctuations in the fortunes of the great war. While the Persian Assyrians remained in total darkness with reference to the progress of the contending armies, the Moslems of Urmia were kept amazingly well informed as to the events that were happening, through the most wonderful espionage system of the Turkish Revolutionary Committee. The agents and the propagandists of the committee had been cleverly operating, from the beginning of the war, in every known Mohammedan community throughout Asia. The Assyrrians, as well as the foreign element in Urmia, comprising some missionary bodies, had pinned their confidence and their faith on the mighty power of the neighboring empire. If there was any fear to be had, that fear arose from the possibilities of the Turkish arms, which of course were considered no match for the Russian forces, or for the military tactics of the Muscovite Generals. They also believed that the British expedition in Mesopotamia would compel the Turkish general staff to maintain a strong army in that front, and by doing so Turkey was obliged to weaken her northern armies, and thus making them incapable of an invasion into either Caucasia or northwestern Persia. But when were the mortals justified by relying confidently upon the arm of flesh? This was a new era! A period of mightiest convulsions the earth had ever known! Humanity had been driven into unknown seas! An invisible hand had pressed the button! The wheels of awe inspiring events were revolving fast! Providence had willed tremendous changes in the political regimes of the nations, just as they were foretold, centuries before, by the infallible prophets of the real King of the earth!

The Assyrians of Persia, however, did not feel justified to sit still while another power was shedding blood for the emancipation of the Christians from the bondage of Islam. They, accordingly, volunteered to take up arms and render all the military assistance they could to the Russian forces in this remote front. The Persian authorities, however, were given to understand that this step was not taken by their Christian subjects as a revolutionary movement against the government, but rather as a measure of self defense against any possible invasion by the Turks, and also against the freebooting expeditions of the Kurds, who had already commenced to annoy the Christian inhabitants of Urmia. Whether the local authorities were satisfied or not, they accepted the explanation, apparently with good will; and of course they did so again from the fear of the Russians. But additional fuel passed now under the caldron, and the Islam's hidden rage registered its highest temperature for a determined and hellish revenge.

The line of the Russian operations, in the province of Azarbaijan, extended at the time as far as the City of Savoojboolagh, some seventy miles from the city of Urmia; and in Urmia itself they maintained a small force of the cossacks together with a few hundred men of the infantry. In addition to this Urmia contingent there were other quotas of much larger numbers of troops in Salmas and also in Khoi. Both of these districts are situated immediately north of Urmia. The Russian operations in this front were held in abeyance, pending developments in the direction of Sari Kamish, in ancient Armenia, where a large army of the Turks was reported to be moving for the invasion of Caucasia. The Russian forces of Caucasia stationed there to confront these invaders, were considered altogether inadequate to cope with the situation. A successful invasion, as contemplated by the Turks, would have meant, not only the loss of vast areas in Southern Russia, but it would also have jeopardized the position of all Russian forces stationed in. various centers in Armenia and in Persia, and have led to their inevitable capture by the enemy. All Russian contingents in Persia, therefore, unbeknown to the Assyrians, were ordered to withdraw and retreat toward the Russo-Persian frontier, and remain there indefinitely, pending the fortunes of battle which was soon to rage in Sari-Kamish. And indeed, the fear of a successful Turkish invasion had become so great that many of the Christian inhabitants of Tiflis and the surrounding country had fled further into the interior of Russia.

Thus, during the night preceding the 20th day of December, 1914, the troops of the Czar had taken their departure, while the Assyrian soldiers remained still engaged in heated battles with the Kurds, who seemed to possess a full knowledge of the movement of the Russian forces in Persia. As the sun of the 24th day of December began to smile on the hilltops of the ancient Tebarma, the caldron of Islam's revenge was ready to overflow with the vengeance of demons. Copies of the proclamation of the Holy War, which were held in abeyance, were now instantly posted in the streets of the city. And before the Russian rear was within a hailing distance from the city, messengers were sent to all the Mohammedan villages, with the joyous news that the day of revenge and massacre had come!

The Assyrians of Persia woke up on that fateful morning stunned with astonishment and paralyzed with fear. Some of their contingents, as already stated, were less than twenty miles from the city, still holding back the inrush of the Kurdish hordes. They were unaware of the retreat of the Russians, and of the uprising of the entire Moslem element of the district. Those of the Assyrians-a "chosen" few-who had aspired to profitable leadership in former days, unmindful of the fate of the people, failed to notify the isolated troops; and mounting their horses, they escaped after the retreating Russians. The Assyrian soldiers, mostly made up of the young element of Takya and Ardishai, and the volunteers of the district of Barandooz, which was the farthest from the city toward the south, now realized that they also had to extricate themselves from their precarious position. They grasped tih6 situation after several hours of fighting on that fateful morning, when they failed to receive the regular supply of ammunition from the Russian headquarters, and also the assistance which was promised for that day. They retreated, inch by inch, so to speak, their face to the enemy. They bravely contested the loss of every new position to which they were steadily falling back. Night came to their rescue, darkness covered them from the view of the tenacious foe. They gave a sigh of relief as they turned their faces toward the homes and the families they had left behind. But with the fall of darkness, there loomed up before them another and a most terrifying sight! The whole firmament appeared ablaze, and mighty columns of smoke were seen curling upward to the sky! The caldron had been let loose! Islam had drawn the sword! The adherents of Mohammed had lighted the torch!

In a few hours, the news of the Russian retreat had spread to every Assyrian hamlet and village throughout the districts of Urmia. The fearful news needed no corroboration. The ugly and demoniacal looks on the faces of their Mohammedan neighbors would have sufficed to have appraised them of their awful peril. Bewildered and almost insane with fear, the Christians did not know which way to turn. Some ten or twelve thousands of them whose villages lay in the path of the retreating Russians, had left their homes and all their possessions, and without any provisions for the journey, had started to an unknown destination, following their former protectors. And as they advanced all along the journey, the multitude of the fleeing men and women and little children grew to such proportions that the highway was congested almost to a standstill. The sight was simply frightful. It did not take long before the roads were strewn with the bodies of the dead and the dying from cold and starvation. For these refugees, in their haste and fear, had not taken with them any coverings. The snow was deep on the ground, and the cold winds of Media appeared to be playing to the tune of Islam's rage. Women gave premature birth to children, and with their new born babes were left on their beds of snow, to be relieved of their agony by an awful death. Aged men and women stumbled and fell, and there was no helping hand to lift them up. They were hungry and exhausted. Their feet were half frozen, they simply could not move. They sat where they stopped, and'they died where they fell. Some of the people who joined the caravan of the refugees, as it approached their villages, ventured to carry with them part of their cattle, to be used as beasts of burden. But soon the carcasses of the oxen and the water buffaloes added to the horror and confusion of the road. It took more than a week for these wretched throngs to reach the boundary line of Persia. But when they put their frozen and blistered feet on the Russian soil, they discovered that nearly one-third of their number had perished on the way, and that the total sum of the remainder, as taken by the authorities, was more than 50,000 souls, including the Christians of Salinas and Khio.

Shortly after the first Russian retreat from Persie, and before the arrival of Mar Shimon's Army, the Persian Assyriahs began to flee to the protection of the American and the French flags in Urmia. But they were intercepted by the Moslems, who killed hundreds of them and carried their women captives.

But now we return to witness the awful tragedy of Urmia. Most of the people of Nazloo district and the country beyond, had escaped with the Russians. The vast majorities, who dwelled in Urmia and Barandooz and Margavar and Targavar districts, had had no chance to flee. As the fear of the latterrose mostly from the attitude of the Persian Mohammedans, the first thought that entered into their minds was to leave all their possessions and make a run to the only two centres, where they thought they could have protection. These centres were the extensive buildings of the American mission in Urmia, and the smaller quarters of the French Lazarist Monks. The only hope of the people's salvation was now in those two flags!-the stars and the stripes, and the tricolored flag of France. But could the people reach there? The flags were wavin- high in the city, where the two mission buildings stood. Driven by the awful fear of the massacre, the trembling throngs took to the roads that led into those two distant havens. But as they emerged from their homes and villages, they found all their ways intercepted and blocked! They felt then as if they had jumped out of the frying pan and fallen into the fire. The inhabitants of some of the nearby villages, situated within a mile or two of the city, and who had first heard of the Russians' retreat, managed to arrive in the city without much loss. To the larger majorities, however, it would have taken from two to four hours to make the journey, provided, of course, they continued on their way unhampered and unmolested. But now, the whole country around had assumed a terrible aspect! Friends had become foes; and all the highways leading to Urmia city were swarming with the packs of human wolves! They had come out for revenge, both to kill and to plunder. It was a wintry day, with temperature not far from zero. The fleeing throngs were literally stripped of their entire clothing. Naked women and little girls, eight and ten years of age, were subjected to the most revolting outrages. Little children were stabbed with daggers, or chopped to pieces by axes before the eyes of their frantic parents. Young virgins were assaulted while their helpless fathers were compelled to witness the hellish crime. Many of these refugees had fled back and sought the shelter of church edifices, thinking perhaps Islam's passion might balk at the sight of the sacred shrines which its adherents were accustomed to revere. But the malignant flood of crime knew no bounds. The Christians' Holy Bibles were opened on the pulpits, and their pages desecrated by the committal of unmentionable deeds. The houses of Christian worship were first transformed into houses of ill fame, and then turned into human abattoirs. Naked, frozen, wounded and bleeding, a remnant of the Assyrians managed to reach the "havens" they were so frantically seeking. Had the desire for greed and plunder been forgotten for a little longer by these Moslem brutes, perhaps this massacre would have surpassed in violence that of Tairmurlang, during his invasion of the same lands some centuries before. But as they were all anxious to be the first to enter the homes of the Christians for a richer haul of plunder, they deserted the highways, and got busy in the villages of their victims. They emptied every home of its entire contents and set the building on fire.

Fiske Seminary for girls before it was destroyed by the Moslems, and where the Assyrian refugees fled. Courtesy, Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions.

Two or three larger towns, situated not far from the city, their inhabitants did not flee. They relied either upon the influence of their Mohammedan landlords, or upon the promised protection of their Moslem neighbors who had apparently remained friendly. They, however, suffered more, and they were made to suffer more by those very neighbors! The male population of the towns were brought together, and driven during the night to the cemeteries. There the victims were promised immunity from death, if they would only disclose their gold and silver. This was a time when the smallest straw seen floating on the rolling waves might be grabbed at as a possible hope of a possible escape from an horrible death. But after the victims had given up all they possessed, they were so brutally murdered that many of them could not be recognized by their wailing relatives. On the heels of this fearful wave, there came another, equally as fiendish, when the invading Kurds arrived. So far as the plunder was concerned, the latter had come for the gleanings only. But as for the perpetration of the atrocious deeds, there was enough left for them also to quench their thirst for blood, and satiate their hellish passions. Thus, so far as the Christian villages were concerned, Urmia became a heap of ruins, and an area that looked like the scene of a hundred volcanoes. This was the hour of the jehad! the proclamation of the holy war! and the brute who committed more and blacker crimes, believed that he was listed for special favors in his prophet's paradise of sensual pleasures.

Ruins of Goolpashan, one of the richest Assyrian towns of Urmia. Destroyed prior to the arrival of the Mountain Assyrians.

THE GLORIOUS WORK OF THE AMERICAN MISSION

The total number of the Assyrian population in Urmia has been variously estimated. The Persian authorities, nowhere in the Kingdom, have ever taken any census of the people. Consequently, the number of the Assyrians was listed in accordance with the number of their villages, and the number of the families in each village. These Christian communities registered each from twenty-five to two hundred and fifty families. As a rule, the Assyrian families are large, and the common rule of allotting an average of five members to each family, cannot be applied in their case, in order to secure an approximate estimate of their total number. Some have figured this number at fifty- six thousand, and others at eighty-two thousand, exclusive of Targavar and Margavar population. To be, therefore, on the conservative side, and to include also the Persian Assyrians of the latter two districts, we may safely ascribe to them a total sum of seventy thousand people. Of this population about twenty-five thousand souls arrived in the mission buildings in the city, and the rest are yet to be accounted for, with the exception of those who deserted their homes and accompanied the retreating Russian soldiers.

Some of the American Mission buildings destroyed by the Moslems. Courtesy, Near East Relief.

Rev. John Shedd, D.D. Dean, American Mission and American Vice Consul in Urmia, Persia. He died as a martyr for the cause of Christ during the last exodus of the Assyrians from Urmia. By Courtesy, Near East Relief.

The work of housing the refugees was taken up first. The mission quarters were entirely too small to accommodate such throngs. There was an abundance of Christian homes to be had in the immediate vicinity of the mission compass, wherein the people could be made comfortable; but no one would venture to move a step further from the shelter and the protection of the American flag. Furthermore, the Kurdish hordes, who had hardly found any plunder left for them in the devastated villages, had now entered the city, and had mingled with their native co-religionists in search of additional blood and prey. Therefore, terrible as the congestion of the refugees was, it was deemed safer to let them stay,where they were.

The Turks also soon arrived; and all communications with the outside world stopped. But even if the postal service had remained unobstructed, checks and bank notes had come now to be of no value; and the mission funds were entirely too small to cope with the situation. Dr. William Shedd came to the rescue. He kept in touch with the moneyed moslems and borrowed freely of them. They had implicit confidence in him. And in addition to thatconfidence the very high rate of interest promised on the loan was, of course, not a small allurement to the lender. There was still another motive which led the Moslem bankers to lend freely to the American mission. It was the fear of the Turks. They did not know but that the invaders might search and collect all gold and silver. It was a day of lawlessness, a day of do as you please. They thus feared and delivered their cash with high interest into the only hands they could have trusted. But whence the source of this trust? What was the ground for this confidence? Surely, in the last analysis, it was not a trust in the riches of America, nor so much in the government of the United States. They trusted in the principles and the ethics of that very Christianity they were now so ruthlessly seeking to eradicate from their midst. How blind have been the sons of men in all ages! How enslaving the power of superstition when it has once bound its victims with its chains! How deliberate and determined the rebellion of human heart, in refusing to acknowledge the truth, and in choosing to continue in sin and degradation, this, too, against the persuasive influences of the clear light it beholds! In the day of judgment it will surely be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorah than for these faithful adherents of Islam, who had repeatedly witnessed the superiority of Christ's teachings over the vagaries or the wild fancies of their own empty religion! But it has always been so, and it will always remain so, till the divine author of Christianity returns to chain Satan, the great slaveholder of the human race, at his glorious advent the second time, when with the chaining of the arch enemy will also be eradicated forever all those evil and sinful influences, which have led the families of mankind to reject the saving light they see, and choose to remain in sin and total darkness.

Ruins of the American compound, where the Persian Assyrians were sheltered during the invasion of the land by the Turks.

Through the funds thus obtained, arrangement was made with the Moslem bankers of the city to supply daily a needed quantity of bread for the besieged refugees. The bakers agreed. But how deeprooted was the hatred of Islam! How merciless its schemes for the extermination of the Christians! They conceived the fiendish idea of mixing ground glass and large quantities of plaster with the bread; and as a result the entire compass became a vast hospital. Dysentery made a havoc among the people; and before it was through with its appalling toll, a new epidemic set in.

The space was so limited, and the people so crowded together, that it was impossible for them to stretch their arms and feet. Thev slept as they sat down, compressed together like sardines. More than two thousand people were crowded together day and night within the walls of a small church edifice situated on the compass of the missionary grounds. It was impossible to apply any rules of sanitation. Typhus broke out as if to thin down the densely crowded rooms. It raged so frightfully, that the toll of its victims soared up to eighty and a hundred a day. And all this while the maddened mobs were attempting daily to break through and totally destroy the rapidly dwindling multitude. They were held back only by sight of that flag, and by the appearance of a devoted sentry in the person of Mr. Miller, another American missionary, who stood as a faithful watchman at the gates, and often at the risk of his own life.

During the siege of the Persian Assyrians within the compound of the American Mission buildings, epidemics broke out among the refugees. From fifty to one hundred were buried every day. Couresty, Near East Relief

The medical service also was inadequate to cope with the situation. With Dr. Packard, an American missionary, there were some seventeen Assyrian physicians. Of this number, two native physicians died, and six or eight were incapacitated by the same epidemic. Dr. Packard with one or two assistants attended the sick and the dying in the American College buildings situated about two miles further west of the city. The other four physicians had their hands full day and night amid the indescribable agonies of a large number of the victims. The epidemic spared none of the eighteen members of the American missionary group. Twelve of them were stricken down by typhus, and two died. Disaster and sorrow always brings out the best that is in men. The affliction of the Assyrians disclosed some sterling qualities of these missionaries which were never known before. The wives of the missionaries, as well as the unmarried missionary women workers, most heroically plunged into the whirlpool of disease and death, freely administered to the wants of their wretched guests, and by doing so, they themselves suffered as well.

American College of Urmia. The only building left intact after the exodus of the Assyrians. Left standing because it was made the headquarters of the Kurdish chief Simkoo. By Courtesy, Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions.

With the arrival of the Turkish army, the Persian Moslem disorders ceased to some extent; but only to be followed by the inauguration of a new form of oppression, and by a series of fearful executions at the hands of the invaders themselves.

The American flag, which remained always floating day and night over the refugees' camp, was a thorn in the flesh of the Turks. It could not be violated, of course. But then, while the Turkish officers had received excellent European education, and are perhaps, the most modern element within the vast confines of Islam, the Tartar greed has never deserted them. And as to their ferocity, they belong to the age, of the Tartar Khans. By the aid of native mosulmans, they made out a list of the prominent Assyrians, and sought their apprehension. By military warrants, and under the pretense of investigating their records, they removed them from their places of refuge, and kept them as the prisoners of war in the Turkish barracks. They subjected their victims to all manners of cruelty. They took them out of prison nearly every day and for a number of days. On every occasion they told their victims that they were being led out to be shot. But after leading them a certain distance, they would bring them back again to suffer more cruelties at their hands. They had a motive for doing so. They demanded a ransom. But they might just as well have tried to draw blood out of a rock. The refugee captives had absolutely nothing left; they, together with all the Assyrians, had already lost all their possessions. A new task developed, and its attendant responsibility fell again upon the weary shoulders of that saintly and untiring missionary, Dr. William Shedd. He was appraised of the situation, and he immediately negotiated with the Turkish officers to settle the purchase price of the victims. With borrowed money several of the prisoners were rescued. The price was regulated not by the nature of the offense, for no offense had been committed by these men, but rather by the importance and also by an estimate of the previous riches of the individuals. The ransom price ranged from of $3,000 to a maximum of $6,000 each. a minimum

A great majority of these prisoners could not be released under any circumstances. Their doom had been sealed. They were to be shot. Among the latter was Bishop Dinha of the Nestorian church.

The gems of the divine love reveal their lustre in such hours of darkness! It has always taken a black night like this to bring to the view the satellites of grace. How narrow our conception of God's all embracing love! How bigoted those sectarian fences which have always excluded immeasurably more than what they have included within their limited bounds! And how supremely happy the knowledge of the fact that God has not confined His precious stones, or his witnesses, to within the boundaries of one clime, or of one land, or of one nation! The beauty of the new song in glory, shall appear, through the grace of the cross, in those queer syllables, which have given birth to the dialects of all nations of the earth. Here, then, in the ancient city of Tebarma, the scene of many previous martyrdoms, a Nestorian bishop is being led to be executed. He was not alone. He had a large company of his Christian brethren with him. What Mar Shimon Bar Sabaee, the first Nestorian patriarch had done, during the persecution of Shapur the Magi, in the eighth century, was now to be gloriously repeated by another bishop of his church in the twentieth century.

Mrs. John Shedd, who, as the saintly wife of the American College President, did Perhaps more for the spiritual uplift of the students than any other Missionary. A more consecrated pair than Dr. and Mrs. John Shedd, I doubt if any mission field has ever seen.

The Moslems had established a rule in asking of their victims to deny Christ and embrace Mohammedanism in order to save their lives. But weaker men and women than this body of the prisoners had already chosen to be burned alive, and to be cut to pieces with axes, than deny their Redeemer! "Be brave, take courage, be patient, falter not, be firm and look up. In a few moments we shall be with Christ!" With such words he continued to encourage his companions in bonds, till they reached the end of their fatal journey, where they were all shot to death. It would have been a pity if we had lost this testimony. Providence saved it for our joy and our edification through the intervention of the falling darkness. With the first volley of shots all the victims had fallen. But two of them had escaped mortal wounds. They laid motionless in the heap of the dead bodies till the executioners had departed. Cautiously and under the cover of the night, they rose up and made their way to the American College, where they were admitted as if by a miracle, and their wounds were immediately attended to.

THE RETURN OF THE RUSSIANS

The Russian Arms in Sari Kamish battle achieved a great victory. The Turks having been disastrously crushed there, the Persian contingents were ordered to return to'their former centres. Unbeknown, however, to the Russians, a Turkish force of twelve thousand men under Halil Beg, had entered Persia from the direction of Kurdistan. This force was regarded as a part of the flower of the Turkish Armies. It was swollen up to a total of twenty-five thousand strong with the additions from the Kurdish tribes and from the Moslem volunteers of Urmia. Halil Beg encountered the Russians in Salmas. The latter's strength at the time did not exceed twenty-five hundred men of the infantry including a small equipment of the artillery. The encounter took place in the early part Of February, 1915. After an all day battle, the Russians were compelled to fall back a little, and then from stronger Positions to make a stand till assistance would arrive. In the morning of the second day of the battle, the Russian force was strengthened to a total of nine thousand men. Halil Beg took the offensive, and his swollen army charged. It was cut down fearfully by the Russians' machine gun fire. The impression of the Russian victory over the Turks in the battle of Kars, nearly half a century before, had remained very vivid in the mind of the succeeding generation. In that battle, it is said, that, when the Russians opened fire with their guns, the fleeing Kurds in the Turkish army, ran yelling, "this is not war, it is the judgment day!" Both the scene and the impression of that victory were repeated perhaps with a greater slaughter in the battle of Salmas. Defeated, crushed, and almost annihilated, the Turkish General, with a small remnant of his extra fine army, retreated across the mou ntains over which he had come, and retired into oblivion.

The besieged Assyrians of Urmia knew that Ee clash between the Turks and the Russians was inevitable; but where and when the two contending armies would meet, they could not tell. Their American haven was entirely cut off from the outside world. And so far as the native Moslems were concerned, to elicit from them some news as to what was happening on the outside, it was, of course, entirely impossible. They possessed an amazing instinct of secrecy. The forebodings of the Assyrian refugees, however, were two-fold. They feared both the success and the defeat of the.Turkish arms. With the former possibility, all hope of deliverance would have to be given up; while with the latter, revenge and retaliation were regarded as certain items in the program of their misfortunes.

The Russians moved on gradually, feeling their way cautiously as they advanced. They did not know the extent of their great victory. They still expected to encounter the Turks; but no Turks were to be found anywhere, save their wounded, who had crowded the hospitals, and who were left under the care of Christian physicians. The Russians had retreated from Urmia on December 24, 1914, and they re-entered the city on May 2nd, 1915.. The refugees were then set free like birds out of a cage. They were told to return to the site of their former villages, and begin to rebuild their devastated homes the best they could.

But what a change had taken place during those five months of the Russians' absence from this beautiful district! They had seen it when it bloomed like a garden; now their eyes beheld successive heaps of ashes. They had once seen the Christian homes as a monument of Christian civilization; they now looked upon them as the natural product of the Mohammedan barbarism. They had seen Christian people advancing in prosperity, and excelling their former masters; they looked now upon a camp of dilapidated and emaciated refugees who were hardly able to stand on their feet. They had seen these Christian communities look like solitary oases dotting a wilderness of Islam's make; they were now led to see the fresh proofs of a superstitious Islam's curse. In fact, the sights witnessed by the Russian military authorities, appeared to them so appalling, and the outrages perpetrated upon Christians looked so heinous, that the Russian commanding General gave orders to a Siberian contingent, which had arrived in Urmia, to enter the city, and put all the Moslems to the edge of the sword. He was prevented from carrying out his issued orders only by the reasoning and the intercession of the witnesses and the representatives of Christ's Christianity.

The return of the Assyrians to their homes looked like the return of an army engaged in many battles. They now learned the full extent of their disaster. There were villages that had been entirely wiped off, and had absolutely no inhabitant left. There were families that had disappeared forever from their midst. Large towns had been reduced into little nests; while the family groups mournfully felt the absence of one half or two-thirds of their original number. In addition to this melancholy scene, there was the gloom of an abject poverty to which they had been reduced by the total loss of all their possessions.

The ruins of the Christian homes of Urmia. Courtesy, Near East Relief.

With the return of the Russians, postal service to Urmia was resumed, and the relief funds from America began to arrive at the most opportune MOment. This was the month of May, in which it was not too late to plant, nor the season for the cultivation of the vineyards was entirely passed. The very poor received their rations, and the owners of lands were lent money out of the relief funds to make a new beginning in the development of their properties. In some cases, those who had saved part of their furnishings, placed their rugs as security; in others, a promissory note of I. 0. U. became sufficient.

The Russian orthodox bishop also informed Petrograd of the pitiable condition of the Assyrians, and the ever sympathetic government poured rubles into Urmia for the aid of the Christians. With such assistance as they received for a start, the Assyrians commenced to erect some humble shelters, and undertook to pursue the shadow of their former industries.

The Persian Assyrians had no longer any fear of ati attack either by the neighboring Kurdish tribes, or by the native Moslems. For their own mountain warriors had now arrived in their midst. They had entered Persia shortly after the Russian victory in the battle of Sari-Kamish. Their former fears were indeed eliminated even if the Russian strategy should necessitate another and a similar retreat of the Russian forces. The Nestorian mountaineers were more than able to cope with any eventualities that might arise, even if all of Azarbijan was to venture to challenge their valor. In fact, their fame had already spread throughout Persia; and even the government of Persia entertained no small anxiety as to the future attitude of Mar Shimon's warriors, in case the Moslem fanatical element persisted in its previous course of mischief. When the staggering news of Mar Shimon's treacherous assassination, an account of which will be given in another chapter, reached America, the writer, not knowing the entire situation then, in the name of humanity, and in the name of the Assyrian National Associations of America, and through the courtesy of the Persian legation in Washington, cabled to the Persian Shah and the Persian Prime Minister, imploring the Persian government to save its good name, and intervene in rescuing the Assyrian Christians from extermination. The Persian Prime Minister, however, immediately replied, requesting the writer to use his influence in preventing the mountain Nestorians from exterminating the Moslems! But while the Assyrians rested perfectly immune from any fear of their Moslem neighbors, the uncertainty of the final outcome of the great war became to them an ever present shadow, giving rise to the surmisings of another dreadful flight, and keeping them in the misery of an unsettled situation.

THE VISIT OF THE PATRIARCH TO THE GRAND DUKE NICHOLAI

The headquarters of the Russian southern armies were in Tiflis; and the Grand Duke Nicholai had been shifted as the Commander-in-chief of the Western Armies to handle the Turkish situation in the south. The Assyrians, under the leadership of their Patriarch, were already recognized by Russia as an allied nation, having sided with the allied powers. The Russian military authorities ' in Persia, therefore, urged Mar Shimon to pay a visit to the Uncle of the Czar. The plight, as well as the future of his flock being an ever present burden upon his heart, the head of the Nestorian Church consented to do so. He was escorted with military honors as far as Julpha, the southern gate of entry into the empire of the Czar, where he was received with greater honors still. On a special train, provided by the authorities, and with an escort of high Russian officials, he arrived in the capital of the ancient Kingdom of Georgia. The city had assumed a bridal aspect. Its streets were bedecked with banners and bunting, and thousands of smaller flags were waving a hearty welcome to the hero of the Kurdistan Mountains. With an escort of Russian dignitaries, preceded by the stirring strains of patriotic music, and between the solid walls of cheering multitudes, the Nestorian Patriarch was conducted to a palace prepared for him by the government. Perhaps no greater honors could have been bestowed upon any monarch of any of the neighboring kingdoms. His arrival was also welcomed by the Czar himself through a telegram that will appear on another page. As the highly honored guest of the Uncle of the Czar, Mar Shimon remained in Tiflis seven days. And during those hope-inspiring days, from the Palace of the Grand Duke, he poured into the very heart of the Russian empire his just claims and complaints, together with the heart rending tale of his exiled people's woes.

The emperor was truly awakened to a deep sense of genuine sympathy, and also to a realization of Russia's responsibility toward the critical situation of a small Christian nation, which had so bravely risked its very existence, in order to do its humble share in the great cause, for which, even though the Allied nations were also bleeding, nevertheless, they were in no danger of such total extermination as were Mar Shimon and his people.

Had the Czar of Russia continued ' to sit upon his throne; or had the lawless regime succeeded the imperial house of Romanoff, appeared even in the rags of some political decency; or had it manifested even in a deteriorated form the standards of a rational government, a story altogether different than the one so imperfectly portrayed, would have appeared in these humble pages. The emperor meant well. He became truly solicitous as to the welfare and the future of the small Assyrian nation. But who can prophesy tomorrow's events? A continually grumbling race, which has steadily sought radical changes in the political forms of its government, without knowing what it desires, and without a desire to change its own character and alter its own attitude toward Christ the real and everlasting King of the earth, there is no telling what it may do, or what step it may take next. So Mar Shimon, the Patriarch of the Nestorian Church, and the acknowledged head of the Assyrian nation, in the midst of his most happy expectations, did not know that blacker days yet, and a more distant exile still, were awaiting his people in the near future.

It is a most gracious arrangement of providence, that tomorrow, with its joys or sorrows, with its successes or failures, should remain concealed from the view and the knowledge of the mortals. What could this brave Patriarch of thirty years of age have done, had he then seen the still sadder disasters which were yet to befall his people and his flock? How, would he have felt, had he seen in advance the fearful tragedy that was to follow his own assassination? Infinitely better not to see tomorrow, and be satisfied with what Christ taught when he said, "Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof."

Happy and hopeful, highly pleased and greatly encouraged, Mar Shimon thanked the Czar and bade farewell to the Grand Duke Nicholai. His departure from Tiflis was again marked with the bestowal of the previous honors, while his re-entry into Persia was made an occasion for a pageantry given the oriental monarchs.

Shortly after his arrival in Salinas, he decided to visit his people in Urmia. This decision had perhaps a greater significance to the Assyrian people as a whole, so far as their national aspirations were concerned, than any other event connected with their entry into the World War. With their characteristic broad mindedness, the Nestorian Patriarchs had never ob . jecte . d to the establishment of missionary enterprises in the midst of their people. They had welcomed every educational or religious effort that might contribute to the moral and spiritual uplift of their flocks. This liberal leniency of the successors of Bar Sabaee had given rise to the existence of certain sectarian factions among the Persian Assyrians, who had become so saturated with unreasonable religious prejudices and leanings of their own, as to be led to lose sight of national unity and national aspirations. It is indeed quite possible to become so absorbed with the hope and the reality of the coming Kingdom of Christ, as to see no distinction between man and man, or between nation and nation. But the adherents of the various factions were very far from having attained those spiritual heights, and perhaps they had never dreamed of the glory of the coming Kingdom. They were a set of sects, among them undoubtedly many genuinely converted Christians, many precious sons and daughters of God, but as a whole, they were almost entirely ignorant as to those potential possib'lities of an emancipated, united and liberally educated Christian Assyrian nation.

Urmia had witnessed many times re some gigantic processions accorded to the visiting crown princes of Persia; but this ancient city, perhaps never in its entire history had beheld such glorious reception, like the one that was given to the Nestorian Patriarch. The very Moslems, who a few months before were bent upon total extermination of the Christians, now o be the first in the bestowal vied with each other to be the first in the bestowal of their honors! Cowards and hypocrites they were, a genuine product of their own religion. For after the manner of Judas, while they were giving their reverential salams to a Christian Patriarch with their heads bent to the ground, in their wicked hearts they were concocting the devilish conspiracy, which led to the assassination of the very man at whose feet they lay prostrate now.

The Assyrians of Urmia gave a banquet in honor of the Patriarch. To the banquet were invited Russian Generals and officers, the Russian consul, various misbodies, the bishops of the Nestorian Church, sionary together with the Maliks of the mountain Assyrians. It was at this banquet that the great significance of the visit of Mar Shimon became apparent. Here in this banquet all sectarian fences were removed, old sectarian prejudices banished, and Mar Shimon Benyamin was publicly acknowledged and proclaimed as the political head of the United Assyrians.

In the midst of this joyous demonstration, the Russian consul, who had acquired the knowledge of the Assyrian language, rose to his feet, and in the Assyrian language said: "Gentlemen: You all have heard with what pageantry His Beatitude Mar Shimon, the Patriarch, was welcomed in Tiflis by Grand Duke Nicholai Nichalovich, and by all Russian dignitaries and Russian people there. You will all rejoice as I have rejoiced, to hear the telegram of His Majesty the Emperor, which he sent to Mar Shimon through His Highness the Grand Duke. I will read it:"

'I request of Your Highness to tell Mar Shimon, the Patriarch of the Nestorian Assyrians, how deeply I have felt the influence of his prayers. I believe our God will help us in the plan of our work to emancipate the Christians of Turkey from their centuries long afflictions. I feel heartily grateful to the Patriarch for the help he has rendered in the war, and for his willingness to co-operate with us.' "

(signed) "NICHOLAI."

"I will read another telegram," continued the consul, "from his Excellency the Russian Minister in Teheran." He says, "Please tell his Beatitude Mar Shimon, that I heartily share with the joys of the Assyrians in having the Patriarch in their midst. There is for his Beatitude and his people waiting a clear and peaceful future. I request his prayers.'

"Now, in the name of the Czar," added the consul, "I ask you all to be patient, and to believe that the servants of the Czar will do all in their power to carry out the wishes of his Majesty the emperor concerning you."

Who among the Assyrians would not be intoxicated with the effect of such joyous tidings? These assurances, together with the liberal assistance given by the Russian government, acted like tonic administered to a feeble body. All previous sorrows were almost entirely forgotten; all garments of mourning were transformed into festal robes; and the hopelessness of yesterday was turned into the happiest expec tations of tomorrow. Poverty, suffering, and even additional sacrifices from now on, were no longer looked upon by the Assyrians with a paralyzing fear, but rather, they were hopefully regarded as richteousness of their claim for independence and freedom, which they desired above all else. The star of Assyria appeared bright on the horizon, while the elements that would soon make it obscure were constantly working unseen and unobserved by the eye of man.

THE ASSYRIAN EXPEDITION TO THEIR FORMER HABITATIONS

In the sober moments, which followed the hope-inspiring promises of Russia, the Nestorian Patriarch came to recall with bitter sorrow the tragedy of Gavar, and the fearful outrages perpetrated upon his people by the Kurds. Dreadful as those massacres had been, still immeasurably more unbearable to him became the painful thought that a large number of young Assyrian women were being held in captivity in the various Kurdish harems. And now, having an ample supply of arms and ammunition placed at his disposal by the Russian military authorities, he deceided to take a punitive expedition into Kurdistan, with the view of rescuing the captives, and punishing those ferocious wolves of the mountains, who had so mercilessly devoured part of his beloved flock. The Russian staff hailed with joy the plan of Mar Shimon, and assigned a few officers to accompany the expedition, and report officially the result of their observations as to the merit and the fighting qualities of the Nestorian warriors, whose fame had become known in part only to the Russians.

It was in the early part of June, 1917, that the Assyrian expedition, under the immediate command of the Patriarch himself, crossed the Persian frontier, and entered into Turkey again; one-half advancing by the way of Margavar, and the other by the way of Targavar; thus making it impossible for the enemy to make any attempt of a flank movement. The Assyrian advance assumed the shape of a triangle, with Garvar, the scene of the Nestorian massacres, as the goal where the two armies were to meet.

The northern expedition, which the Patriarch accompanied, was placed under the command of his brother, David Efendi, the father of the present Mar Shimon; the southern expedition was commanded by a younger Assyrian, who was destined to become in generalship one of the wonders of the great war. He is now known as General Agha Petros, and rightly called by western correspondents the "New Nebuchadnezzar of Assyria." His native land was Baz, and belonged to the independent tribe of that name. He received a fair education, and early in life he manifested those instincts and aspirations that led him to his present position. He moved into Persia, and some years before the war he was appointed as the Turkish Consul in Urmia. In this capacity he served largely the interest of his own people, protecting even the Persian Assyrians from their oppression in the hands of local authorities. For the deliverance of a large number of Kurdistan Assyrians from extermination at the hands of the Kurdish hordes by the diplomatic use of his consular authority, he received a medal from the Pope of Rome. At the commencement of the great war, foreseeing the plight of his people, he resigned his position, and devoted his entire time to devise ways and means to solve the problem of his people's salvation. Perhaps he alone, together with the Patriarch, were the only two persons who fully apprehended the peril to which their nation was exposed. And Mar Shimon found no little comfort in relying upon the judgment, tactics, patriotism, fearlessness and the military prowess of his young general. The wonderful achievement of this lion of Baz will appear in the progress of these chapters. We endeavor now to follow the expedition.

The notorious Soto, a Kurdish chief, seeking medical aid from Christian physicians. Attended by his servants. They are known as the Wolves of the Kurdistan Mountains. He was later killed during an engagement with some Assyrian forces.

The country through which these two Assyrian armies were to pass was linked together by an endless chain of natural fortifications; and behind these lofty ramparts lay the nests of Islam's vipers. The treacherous Moslems of Urmia had, of course, apprised their co-religionists of the contemplated move of Mar Shimon, and the Kurds had rallied in strong bodies to contest the progress of the Patriarch's armies.

The weak resistance of the Kurds to the advance of the right wing, under the corn mand of David Efendi, gave no indications of a determined stand on the part of the enemy. The Kurds were evidently retreating constantly to stronger positions, and with an apparent advantage of drawing the Assyrians further away from their base. They felt also confident that the left wing under Agha Petros, could not advance one step further from the eastern slopes of the high mountains, which surrounded, in a semi-circle form, the fertile plateau of Margavar, and where also a considerable number of the Turkish soldiers had remained for the sole purpose of encouraging the Kurds, or possibly holding them from bolting, as one of their chieftains later did. In the third day of its progress, David's army sighted the Kurds in force. The observations of the Russian officers, by the aid of their field glasses, gave them no little unrest. It was a strong force, strongly entrenched on both sides of the receding slopes, over which the Assyrians had to climb before they could dislodge the enemy. It would indeed have been an act of insanity for them to have done so. But everyone of these warriors of Mar Shimon understood the mountain warfare better than the Russian officers. The Kurds instantly opened a terrific fire, which fortunately fell short, on account of the misjudged distance. One Russian officer shouted to the Assyrians to retreat. They apparently did so, but not with the same meaning the Russian had in mind. Using his own language, "I could not see them; I looked for them; they had all disappeared." Mar Shimon, against his will, was forced to remain a considerable distance in the rear. The Russian officers sheltering themselves behind the rocks, remained almost breathless, wondering what was going to happen next. There was a long silence. The Kurds also were evidently in a dilemma. The morning sun had climbed to its zenith, and there was no sign of the Assyrians yet. They had 'gone back a considerable distance, and, unobserved by the Kurds, they had sent two bodies of their men to attack the latter in the rear. A third body advanced again to the front, so as to be observed by the enemy, and arrest his attention. It kept the Kurds busy in sending volley after volley to check the advance. The Assyrians in this manner succeeded in holding the attention of the enemy till their own brethren had made the opposite slopes of the mountains. Early in the afternoon of the same day they stood over their enemies! The execution of this day was the first instalment paid by the Kurds for the massacre of Gavar. The achievement of the Assyrians was so great, and the destruction of these Kurds so extensive, that the Russian officer, in addressing later the Patriarch, said: "Your Beatitude, having seen the valor and the courage of your men, I wish to be received not as an officer, but as an ordinary soldier."

It fell to the lot of the left wing to encounter a stronger resistance. The fearless young General was always indiscreetly at the head of his army. He had many narrow escapes. In one instance, after the defeat of the enemy, as he continued to advance across the treacherous hills, he was fired at from behind a rock at a range of eight feet. He captured the Kurd, fed him and set him free, telling him to go back and tell the Kurds everywhere that the Christians were not only not killing their prisoners of war, but they were feeding them and taking good care of them.

The positions which Agha Petros attacked were a nest which had become a pest of annoyance to the Persian government for more than ha a century. It was this Shiekh of Nochia, who nearly forty years before had laid siege on Urmia with the view of capturing aild plundering the city. And he would certainly have succeeded if it had not been for the great influence of Dr. Joseph Cochran, an American Medical Missionary, who, while dead, yet he speaketh by the undying impressions of his Christian life, and by his great humanitarian service for both the Assyrians and the Moslems as well. The Sheikh was later called to Constantinople, from which place he never returned. But he was succeeded by his sons and grandsons, who continued to remain as a cancer spot in these mountains of Margavar.

Because of the priestly position of the house of Abdul Kader, a large number of the Kurds had rallied around the Sheikh. They were assisted, as stated above, by a force of the Turkish regulars under Turkish officers. The Kurds and the Turks were completely routed after a battle that lasted all day. Agha Petros, in his report of this battle, says: "The Assyrian soldiers attacked like tigers, assailing one bulwark of the enemy and then another in succession. They looked as if they were flying across the hills to attack the foe in the rear as well. Among the dead we found a number of Turkish regulars, and among the took one Turkish officer." The Russian officers who accompanied the left wing of the Assyrian army recommended on this day eight men to receive the cross of St. George.

A group of Targavar Assyrian Warriors, feared by the Kurds. While protecting the Persian North Western boundaries, they were betrayed into the hands of the enemies by Mahamad Ali Shah, now the deposed King of Persia.Col. Baijan with his decorations, appears seated on the left.

After this crushing defeat, the lawless brigands of Kurdistan deserted their homes and their villages, and fled to the mountains further west. After several small skirmishes with the enemy, the eastern portion of Kurdistan was made safe for a child to travel through. During the month of July the right and the left wings of the punitive expedition met in Gavar as previously arranged.

The lawless brigands of the Kurdistan Mountains.

The Kurds, situated between Gavar and the Persian frontier, had been severely punished, but the arch enemy, and the chief instigator of the Assyrian massacres in Turkey, still remained nestled in his fortress of Chal, which was some three days' journey distant from the victorious army of the Patriarch. The Assyrians remained a considerable length of time in Gavar, sending smaller expeditions to the surrounding country in search of the hiding Kurds, and also waiting for the reports of their spies as to the movement of the Turkish forces. While waiting in Gavar, the Nestorian warriors excavated the ruins of the burned villages, to collect the bones of their martyrs, and give them decent burials. They also removed what was left of the bodies of the victims out of the wells -of water, and from the miry ditches, to be interred with religious ceremony in the Christian cemetery. It was the discovery of these bodies that revealed the fiendish nature of the atrocities to which these Christians had been subjected before they were finally stabbed or shot or cut to death. The Nestorian mountaineers, as a rule, were accustomed to such sights, inflicted periodically by the Kurds upon their defenceless brethren who dwelt in Kurdish 'communities. But now they could not restrain the floods of their tears, nor check their burning zeal to avenge the blood of the helpless women and their infants. Chal, the nest of hellish crimes, must be invested in spite of its apparently impenetrable ra' mparts; and Soto, the author of the atrocious deeds, must pay in full for the long list of his iniquities.

The spies, in the meanwhile, had returned, and brought a favorable report to the expedition. The Sari-Kamish defeat had staggered the Turkish forces, and some Russian contingents had crossed the Persian frontiers further north, and were stationed in commanding positions on the Turkish soil.

It was in the early part of September when Mar Shimon ordered the advance of his army for the punishment of Soto. The latter had concentrated his forces in Oramar, which he maintained as his headquarters. It was such a stronghold, protected by such inaccessible heights, that the Russian officers became skeptical of any success, and suggested the advisability of a retreat. Their estimate of the difficulty of the task was correct, but they would soon be compelled to form newer opinions as to the fighting qualities of the Patriarch's men. The expedition was supplied with two machine guns, which were loaded on mules. The beasts of burden might have been serviceable if the ordinary, narrow and zigzag paths were chosen in order to make the summit of the towering heights. The guns were actually borne by men over the steep and slippery slopes. Soto had relied on his alliance with the innumerable obstacles of nature, and therefore had these cloudy peaks guarded by only a small portion of his men. The Assyrians made the steep slopes, and Soto's guards opened fire. Had this personified demon had his entire force stationed there, this battle would have been known in history as "the Assyrian battle in the clouds." The guards fled after they had killed one and wounded two of their pursuers. But their own dead numbered sixteen and their prisoners thirty. This task had fallen upon men under the command of the Patriarch's brother. The army of Agha Petros had advanced from another direction and had already invested Oramar. When the Russian Officers saw the place they again urged a retreat, and the leaving of Soto alone. But the Assyrians could not forget the ghastly sights they had beheld in the ditches and in the ruins of Gavar. It was this man also who had poured a rain of bullets into the camp of the refugees, when the Nestorians were trying to extricate themselves from between the many millstones of Islam's wrath. Nor would Agha Petros listen to the counsel of the officers to postpone an attack on Soto till the other wing of Mar Shimon's army had arrived. He pointed to the restlessness of his men. The were as fearless as he himself. Before nightfall Oramar had fallen, and Mar Shimon arrived to see the smoke of the place rising to the heavens. Soto had fled, and the Assyrian captive women were released out of his harem. The Russian officers could hardly believe their eyes.

It became evident, however, that the man the Assyrians were seeking had fled to Nervi, situated at a distance of two days' journey from Oramar. At Nervi, Soto had erected his lordly palace and there he had also constructed his strongest defenses. It was deemed advisable to let Agha Petros and his men return to Urmia, and on their way back search once more the nests he had disturbed, and also to allow an opportunity to the men under the command of the Patriarch's brother, to make the second attack on the devouring wolf they were so persistently hunting. With the brother of the Patriarch there was another brave warrior in the person of Malik Khoshaba, who came to be known as the "Lion of Tiari," and possibly surpas . sing in his courage, if it were possible, all other Assyrian generals.

The ruins of Oramar and its villages were still smouldering when Agha Petros turned toward the east, while the Patriarch, with the second wing of his expeditionary forces, headed for the west, persistent on the capture of Soto, dead or alive. On the 17th day of September, the Assyrians fell in line. The Kurdish chieftain had seen to it that the progress of his pursuers was to be contested at every pass, and at every point in the way which gave the defenders a decided advantage. Their resistance, however, caused absolutely no change in the program, as it never lasted any length of time. The ferocious wolves of prey had now become so many packs of shivering foxes, anxious only to make a run to the obscure places of concealment and hide from the righteous wrath of a people they had so maliciously wronged.

On the 20th day of September, the Assyrians saw in the distance the fortifications of Chal, nestled on the summit of a mountain, which rose up 4,000 feet in the air, and stood almost in perpendicular form, overlooking the valley below.

Was it possible that this gorgeous country should have fallen to the lot of a wild people, whose hand was against every man, and every man's hand against them? Some of the most picturesque mountains on earth were lording over the rich possessions of a notorious brigand and murderer! The valley below abounded with all kinds of fruits, both of vine and tree. A horseman on horseback might ride unobserved through the grass that had grown to such astounding height in that fertile soil. The sun had descended from its zenith, and it was fast rolling away to kiss the equally charming cheeks of those eternal heights on the opposite side that overlooked the western horizon. The entire outlook appeared like a vast cathedral, covered by a huge roof of purple hue, and supported by the most gigantic pillars of solid rock. On the very brow of this temple of matchless splendor was seated a Kurd behind his ramparts. apparently certain that there was no sin in the killing of the Christians, or if there was any, that sin could never overtake him in his impregnable fastness which had dofied even the menace and the mandates of the Turkish Empire.

Artoosh, a town of three hundred Kurdish families, was the first to fall in the way of the advancing Assyrians. Its inhabitants, anxious to save time and perhaps their homes as well, sent word to the Patriarch that they would surrender. A genuine surrender, according to the long-existing etiquette of these highlands, had to be accompanied by a tribute. The Assyrians waited patiently till the nightfall. Seeing no sign of any emissaries, they lighted the torch that had lighted the Christian villages of Gavar. Artoosh went up in the smoke, and Soto, as he saw the conflagration that illumined the valley, realized that he was paying another instalment toward his enormous debt to the Assyrians.

Without waiting for rest the punitive expedition moved forward. The Russian official observers could no longer glory in the fortitude of the most hardened elements of their empire's vast armies. It was a machinery of constant motion, as if the feet that carried these men on their mission were made of other material than flesh, blood and bone. Before midnight the Assyrians were at the gates of Arbush, another village which added to the wealth of the Kurdish chieftain.

For centuries this Kurdish town had tolerated the existence of an Assyrian settlement. But now the Christian inhabitants were detained as prisoners and captives. The Kurds had fled, and only the Christians had remained. No pen can possibly describe the joy of these people as they, with the light of the candles in their hand, went out to meet their Patriarch and their emancipator! But Soto must be captured; his men must be punished; and the expedition moved further on. Morning had just begun to light the summit of the hills, when Assyrians found themselves in the midst of the Kurds of Apinyanish. The latter were well aware of the expedition, but had never dreamed that the men whom they had once sought to exterminate could so quickly have overtaken them. They were taken by surprise. They became demoralized. They left their homes and fled. The Assyrians gave them no chance to escape. They pursued them across the hills and in the valleys. A few only escaped to tell Soto of the disaster that had overtaken his Apinyanish allies. The burning villages were left behind, and the Assyrians were on their way to the final goal, known by the name of "The Castle of Chal."

In giving a description of this battle, perhaps it would be better to use the language of the Assyrian eye witness, who says:

"In the history of our forefathers, there have been many battles between the Kurds and the Assyrian independent tribes. But not one could possibly equal in heroism, or in the greatness of the victory, the battle of Chal, which took place in the latter part of September, 1917.

"The Assyrians were under the impression that, after the fall of Oramar, and the disastrous defeat of the Kurds, the Castle of Chal, with its one hundred forts, would have been deserted. They, therefore, were very much surprised when their advance guard reported that the Kurds had assembled there and were prepared to give battle. We must admit that had the fact of the assembling of the Kurds in Chal been known to the Assyrians, in all probability the attacking force would have been prevented from taking a step that might have meant its annihilation, although it is a known fact that the A ssyrian warriors would have preferred death to the reproach of the Kurds by falling back at this stage of their victories. One indeed can hardly believe his own eyes to see this mighty place fall so easily. Here was a castle with its one hundred ramparts, all constructed in tiers. Here were the fortifications that were nestled on a height that measured on one side of the mountain three hundred yards, and on the other one thousand. Behind these ramparts the Kurds stood ready to send destructive volleys when the Assyrians came within their range. Five men of the advance guard removed their shoes and stockings, unbeknown to their commanders, and unobserved by the K urds who were defending the side of the lesser height, climbed up on their hands and knees till they reached the top and stood over the fortifications. They were observed by their comrades below, who did not recognize them. And just as they were being made a target by the Assyrians below, Malik Khoshaba shouted, 'Don't shoot! Climb up after them!' Twenty others did the same. But after the latter reached the top, the first five had thrown themeslves into an upper rampart, losing one man, but killing eleven of the enemy. When the Assyrians below saw their flag lifted over the castle, they in a body gave a deafening yell and ran to the giant gate of Chal. They smashed it by sheer force, and with bombs in their hands they entered. The sound of the explosives simply paralyzed the enemy. A remnant of two hundred and forty Kurds, including the son of the chieftain of Chal, were taken captive. Soto had escaped, and his whereabouts could never be traced! The Castle was burned to the ground, and the plunder of sheep and cattle and horses recovered."

The expedition then penetrated as far as the banks of Zava. From there it turned and returned to Urmia, where the victors were received with a great demonstration, and where the Assyrian officers were decorated by the Russian medals which were awaiting them.

THE FALL OF THE CZAR AND ITS EFFECT UPON THE ASSYRIANS

Those were happy days for the Assyrians when their ancient lands were cleared of the enemy, and they expected soon to occupy a part of their historic Fatherland made forever free from the Moslem bondage. And even the Persian Assyrians entertained strong hope that the district in which they had been dwelling, because of the pre-war contention of Turkey as to its ownership, might now be attached to the eastern Kurdistan, to form an Assyrian Republic. A clear sky for the Assyrians could have never hung over those Islam-cursed lands; brighter hopes could have never filled the heart of Mar Shimon; and the final triumph of the All'-es could never have made a sweeter balm to heal the most gaping wound of the great war. But who knows what tomorrow may happen? The wheels of destiny are not run by the will or the wishes of men. Perhaps the most abundant, and the most painful of earth's pains are its disappointments;-cherished hopes that were never realized, dreams that never came true, glorious prospects that turned into heaps of melancholy ruins. In the midst of those joyous hopes and expectations, and out of a clear sky, one day there came the sound of a deafening thunderclap. The commander of the Russian forces in Persia, who was at the time in Urmia, called his officers and men together, and in the hearing of Mar Shimon and his leaders, with tears in his eyes read a telegram which he was holding in a trembling hand. He suppressed his emotions, and said: "Officers, men and friends, I have received this telegram from Petrograd, which I am compelled to read to you all: " 'Czar has been dethroned!'

A news of this astounding import would naturally act like a thermometer that would register the real feelings of the hearers. Its stunning effect upon the Assyrians was, of course, a foregone conclusion. But what about the rank and file of the Russian forces, which had heretofore, all alike, served the Emperor and their country? A few wept, and wept bitterly; but the vast majority broke loose like animals released from an iron cage. They shouted, they sang, they unfurled the red flag of the so-called "freedom," and began to celebrate the impending doom of their country and their people!

Human race has never been satisfied with any regime of its own making. Patriarchal, Judicial, Feudal, Monarchial and Imperial systems had had their day. Democracy now had to be experimented with by all peoples and all races. But democracy is not a code of laws; it is the condition of a welldeveloped and well-advanced mind. It is not a system despotically formed by masses; it is a moral state of the individuals. It is not an imitation of a certain ideal; but the inspiration that gives form to that ideal. In other words, it is not in what we want, but in what we are and what we are capable of being. Therefore, of most of the people of the earth, the Russians were least prepared for the inauguration of a regime which they never understood. A new wine could not be put in an old bottle. The Russians took an irrational chance by doing so; consequently, the bottle ripped open in a thousand places. Neither the hand of a Lenin, nor that of a Trotsky, will ever be able to mend together the shattered fragments of the vessel. There must, in this land of stupendous areas, either a perpetual chaos reign for many decades yet to come, or else this unprepared people return to a modified semblance of their former authority, before they can command the respect and the confidence of other nations.

For the Russian soldiers, heretofore, it was a campaign for the protection of the Assyrians; but now it became one of destruction. They heartlessly deserted a forest of guns, piles upon piles of ammunition, together with a vast number of stores, all filled with provisions and other accessories of the war, only to fall into the possession of their former enemies. Thanks to those two hundred loyal Russians, who determined to cast their lot with the Assyrians, and die with them if necessary, rather than return to a country which was destined to suffer by the misrule of men who had gone hopelessly mad. They immediately laid their hands on the stores that had been established in Urmia, and saved from plunderers a certain supply of arms and ammunition. These were turned over to Mar Shimon and his army, and were considered as sufficient for the Assyrians to defend themselves therewith, till some miraculous assistance came to . them from some unseen source, or some mira culous way was opened to them that would lead them to where they knew not yet! For now that Russia had become a nonentity in the war, the Turks would surely return in force to invade Persia again, and to harass the British operations in Mesopotamia.

How infallibly true the meaning and the import of those awful words which Christ spoke when he said: "Not everyone that says, Lord, Lord, will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven." The men who would never venture on any mission or task without crossing themselves, began now to trample upon the very cross they thought they were defending in those benighted lands of Islam! The iniquitous deeds of which they became guilty equaled in the'.r repulsiveness those of the Urmia Tartars. They exchanged their guns for wine, and their garments for vodka. And when their scanty means were exhausted, they inaugurated a campaign of oppression and robbery upon the very people who had before been their protege, as well as upon the Mohammedans. On their way back to the dreamland of Bolshevism, they resembled an army of locusts, devouring everything and everybody, leaving behind ruin and destruction, disgrace and humiliation, together with a helpless people who had staked all upon the pledges and the honor of Russia.

THE ISOLATED POSITION OF THE ASSYRIANS

The Persian Assyrians had already tasted of the bitter ingredients, squeezed into their cup of affliction by a sudden and unexpected departure of the Russian soldiers from Urmia. But terrible as their experience had been, they had been abl e to endure the horrors of those frightful days in the certainty of the Russians' return to their former positions.

While the fear of a local uprising against the Christians was now eliminated by the presence in Urmia of the mountain Assyrians, nevertheless, blacker clouds still rolled into their skies, and threatened them with fiercer storms. The position of the Assyrians resembled that of a small boat, ready to be lashed by the mighty waves of an angry sea. They found themselves surrounded on all sides by at least fifty millions of Moslems, with Russia gone to pieces, and more than 600 miles of almost impassable mountains intervening between them and the British expeditionary forces in Mesopotomia. It was a terrible plight. The whole situation presented the outlook of a sweeping catastrophe. It spelled a disaster that meant to Mar Shimon and his people the eradication of a Christian race from the face of the earth!

In moments like these the strongest of men lose their courage, and the wisest heads lose their mental equilibrium. Mar Shimon called his leaders together for consultation. To the conference he invited also the heads of the missionary bodies in Urmia, together with the former Russian consul who was now decidedly more pro-Assyrian than pro-Russian. The telephone service between Urmia and Tiflis, in Caucasia, had not been interrupted yet. It was soon learned that, with the breaking up of Russia, and by the approval of the new regime in that land, Caucasia had attained her century-long aspirations, and had become an independent Republic. Cognizant of the great part the Assyrians had played in the war, the new government of South Russia had urged Mar Shimon to hold on in his struggle, and had suggested also the