removed as to the possibility of the Scriptures having been adulterated in the modern translation: the Committee of the British and Foreign Bible Society have resolved to carry this proposal into execution, and an edition of 1500 Testaments, arranged on this plan, is stated, in the Society's report for 1856, to be in progress. In the meantime, by the aid of the American Bible Society, the missionaries in Smyrna proceeded with the translation of the Old Testament into modern Armenian. In 1844 they were deprived by death of one of their assistants in this work, a pious Armenian, who had laboured with them during five years, and who was employed in the translation of the Turkish Old Testament of Mr. Goodell into modern Armenian. The work has, however, been subsequently completed. In 1857, an edition of 3000 Bibles in modern Armenian, with 2000 New Testaments in the same, issued from the press of the American Mission at Constantinople, on account of the British and Foreign Bible Society. A further edition of 2000 Testaments in modern Armenian was in 1858 completed at the same press; in addition to which, the Society are also printing an edition of 5000 New Testaments in London. The American Bible Society (as appears from their latest report) have recently, under the superintendence of the Rev. Dr. Riggs, completed an edition of the Modern Armenian Bible, and the plates of another and larger edition, with references, are already in progress.

III. RESULTS OF THE DISSEMINATION OF THIS VERSION.

The versions of Scripture in both the dialects of modern Armenian have received the manifest blessing of God, in a degree almost unprecedented in the history of other versions. The following are some of the accounts given by missionaries on the spot, concerning the remarkable effects wrought among the Armenians by the circulation of the modern version. "We might mention," they say, (writing in 1845,)" twenty towns in Turkey where Armenians are found who daily search the Scriptures for the purpose of guiding their lives according to its supreme teachings." In some of these places, this holy volume, owing to the fact of its being in modern language, is received as a fresh message from heaven; and in these towns especial assemblies are held on the Sabbath for studying the Scriptures; and this occurs also in towns where no foreign missionary has ever been. The reading of the Scriptures in an intelligible language has been the means, by God's blessing, of curing many of their scepticism. They have become convinced that whatever occasion they had had to doubt about the truth of Christianity, from what they were seeing around them, yet that here, in this book, they could see that there is a pure living Christianity. One individual, a banker among the Armenians, said, "Our nation owes, to those who have been the means of making us acquainted with the word of God in an intelligible language, a great debt of gratitude. They have saved not only me, but many others, from infidelity; for we have found that Christianity has deeper foundations than what we had supposed; and that there is in the word of God something upon which to anchor our faith." The numerous cases of conversion to God which followed the diligent perusal of the Holy Scriptures in the modern tongue, did not escape the notice of the worldly and unbelieving clergy at the head of the Armenian Church, and a cruel series of persecutions was commenced against the "Bible," "Evangelical," or "Protestant" Armenians, as all were styled who read and obeyed the word of God. Many of these Protestants (by this name they are now commonly designated) were solemnly excommunicated by the Armenian patriarch, but to no purpose, as many more were daily added to their numbers. In a village near the town of Nicomedia, a congregation of Protestant Armenians had sprung up, having the Scriptures for their rule of faith; no missionary had ever been among them excepting the missionary of missionaries, the Bible: like their brethren elsewhere, they were called to endure persecution, and were at last driven to the necessity of meeting for worship in the fields. On one of these occasions they were attacked with stones, but instead of resorting to violent means of defence against their enemies, they calmly took up the stones and deposited them at the governor's feet, demanding his protection, which was accorded. After enduring many similar outrages in the same Christian spirit, the Protestant Armenians resolved to free themselves from the tyranny of their church, by forming themselves into a separate church, founded on Scriptural principles. To effect this separation they were compelled to

appeal to the Turkish Government. Their application met with success, and their freedom from the oppressive jurisdiction of their patriarch is now fully recognised. "An officer of the government, a Turk (it is stated by Mr. Barker in 1847), is appointed to look after all their civil relations, and they are to choose their own representative to confer with him. Their ecclesiastical affairs are entirely free, and all patriarchs and other ecclesiastics are forbidden to interfere in any way with them; and all officers of government are called upon to see that their rights are respected. Truly the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, and He turneth it whithersoever He will."

Subsequent accounts received from the same field of labour continue to confirm, in the most gratifying manner, the intelligence above instanced in reference to the results of Protestant missionary labour amongst the Armenian population of the Turkish empire. The converts are now uniformly recognised by the term Protestants, and in 1850 a firman was issued by his Imperial Majesty the Sultan, confirming and enlarging the protection given to all his Protestant subjects throughout the empire, and securing to them the full and free exercise of their religion. "There are at present in Asia (writes the Rev. J. Lowndes, in 1851), Armenian Protestant churches established at twenty-one different places. These are superintended by sixteen American missionaries, six ordained native pastors, and one licensed preacher. . . . There are also many other places where native Christians are scattered. At Aintab, the greatest work appears to have been effected, for there the congregation is estimated at about 600.

The account given by Mr. Barker, on the occasion of his visit to England in 1852, of the origin of this movement, is deeply interesting. “In 1821, the Society's Armenian New Testament was placed by me in the hands of Armenian door-keepers, cooks, scullions, and grooms, who, strange to say, knew how to read. They were natives of the villages of the district called Arabkir, who, returning home at intervals, carried with them to their country the Gospel of truth, in which they took great delight. I sent the Armenian Scriptures to Aintab, where now the largest congregation of Protestant Armenians exists; and at Smyrna, where I subsequently went, I sold entire boxes of Armenian and Turco-Armenian New Testaments and Psalms, which were carried to those very places where the Gospel truth has, and is fast taking such a strong hold on the hearts of men. This good seed was lost sight of for many years, but with the blessing of God it took root, and is now bearing seed an hundred fold.”

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KURDIS H.

SPECIMEN OF ARMENO-KURDISH, FROM ST. MATTHEW, CHAP. VI. v. 10 to 15.

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Եա՛ Պաւէ մէ քի լը ազիւմանտայ, նավէ դա ազիզ պրպը • փատիչաչիԹիյե դա պէ . մէրամէ- դա պըպը, չավան քի լը ազիւմանտա՝ Լուսանժի լը սէր արտէ. Նանէ մա չէմու ռօյան իրօ ժը մառա պըտը : 2 Ու տէյնէ մա ժը մառա պախչ պը քը՝ շավան քի Էմ ժի պախշ տըքըն ժը տէյնտարան, խօրա : 3 Ումէ լը թ*րXուպէ յէ մէ պէ, լէ՛ ժը չէռէ խալաս պըքը, չըմաքի Էդայ է փատիշաֆիթի ու գուվէթ ու Համո Էպէտր Էպէտ . ամին : Ձրմաքի Էրքը Հուն ավֆ պըքըն գապահաթէ մռուվան ժը ւանռա Պաւէ ո' Ժի քը լը ազիւմանտայ է ժը ոռա ավֆ տէ պըքը : ն լէ երքէ չուն գապահաթէ մէռուան ավֆ նա քըն ժը ւանռւա, Պաւէ ո՛ ժի քը լը ալիւմանտայ է գապաչաթէ ո ժը ուա ա ավֆ նաքը

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I.—GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT AND STATISTICS.

KURDISTAN, the land of the Kurds, or Koords, is a mountainous region south-east of Armenia, extending about 300 miles in length by 150 in breadth, and forming a kind of descent from the high

table land of Persia to the low alluvial plains of Mesopotamia. It is thought by Rennell and others to be the country mentioned under the name of Kir in 2 Kings 16. 9, Isaiah 22. 6, and in Amos 1. 5 and 9.7. The Kurds are the descendants of the Carduchi, who are said by Xenophon to have given him so much trouble during his retreat with the ten thousand Greeks through the mountain passes of Kurdistan. The Carduchi derived their name probably from the chain of mountains called in the Targum of Onkelos "the mountains of Qardu," on which the Ark rested. That chain rises to the north-east of the plain of Sinjar (Shinar?), and commands an extensive view of the land of Assyria. The tradition of the ark having rested on the mountain now called Ararat, which is almost inaccessible to the summit, and several days' journey from the plains of Assyria, is entirely of Armenian origin. Whereas the "mountains of Qardu," are accessible, and have been visited by Jews in all ages as a place of pilgrimage; and for that reason they have received from the Turks the name of Tchudi-Dagh, or "Jews' mountain." The Kurds afterwards became again conspicuous in history under the name of Parthians; and Crassus the Roman general was slain with twenty thousand of his troops in an expedition against them, B. C. 53. Saladin, the opponent of Richard Cœur de Lion in the Crusades, was a Kurd by birth. Notwithstanding all these historical reminiscences, the Kurds are comparatively little known in Europe. From the time of Xenophon they have retained their wild and warlike habits; and though the northern part of their country, as far as lat. 35°, is nominally subject to Turkey, and the southern portion to Persia, yet they virtually maintain their independence to this day. They are divided into numerous tribes, supposed to number altogether about 800,000 individuals. Some of these tribes have settled in the provinces of Luristan in Persia, and other hordes have wandered westward, as far as the pashaliks of Aleppo and Damascus. The Kurds are also in possession of a portion of the mountainous region of Khorassan in Persia, whither, according to Morier, 4000 Kurdish families were transplanted by Shah Ismael, for the protection of Persia against the incursions of the neighbouring Turkomans. The Yezidees, a singular religious sect, who are commonly supposed to worship the Devil, are Kurds, and speak a dialect of the Kurdish language: they inhabit different parts of Kurdistan, the hills of Sinjar near the river Khabour, and the plains round Nisibin and Oorfah to the west of Mosul; and they are also found in Arabia among the native tribes. With the exception of this remarkable people, the Kurds in general profess Mohammedanism; but considerable numbers of them are Nestorian and Chaldæan Christians.

II. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE.

The Kurdish is in all probability a remnant of the old Farsi or Parsi language, and notwithstanding the harshness of its sounds, it bears much resemblance to modern Persian. The Rev. H. Southgate relates that this similarity is so great, that he could often understand something of the conversation of the Kurds by the great number of Persian words he heard in it. Like most dialects used merely for oral communication through a large extent of territory, the language of the Kurds, having no literature or written standard of appeal, undergoes very considerable alterations and modifications in different places by intermixture with the languages of neighbouring nations. Thus the Kurds who dwell in the Ottoman empire have adopted many Turkish words, while corrupted Syriac words have crept into the dialects of the tribes who live in the vicinity, or have embraced the religion, of the Nestorian Christians.

III.-VERSIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES IN THIS LANGUAGE.

A proposal to obtain a version of Scripture in Kurdish for the benefit of this ignorant and semibarbarous people, was brought before the Committee of the British and Foreign Bible Society in 1822, by the Rev. Henry Leeves. He experienced some difficulty in meeting with a person competent to undertake the translation, but at length the preparation of the version was entrusted to Bishop Schevris at Tabreez. The bishop accomplished a portion of this translation in the midst of discouragement and even of personal risk; and in 1827, Mr. Leeves announced to the Committee that he had received

from Tabreez the Four Gospels and the Apocalypse in Kurdish, written in Arabic characters. This MS. was subsequently forwarded by Mr. Leeves to the Committee. In 1829, the missionaries at Shushi offered their services in correcting, revising, printing, and distributing the portion of Scripture which had been translated into Kurdish at the expense of the Bible Society; and in 1832, the Committee in consequence forwarded the Four Gospels to Shushi, and authorised the engagement of a competent Kurdish teacher as an assistant in the work of revisal. In order to ascertain the critical value of this version of the Gospels, the Shushi missionaries prosecuted the most laborious enquiries at Tabreez; and in furtherance of the same object, the Rev. Messrs. Hörnle and Schneider undertook a journey into Kurdistan. The result of these investigations has been to prove that the version is not intelligible to the Kurds. The dialect in which the version is written is called the Hakkari, and is spoken in a district of the same name near the Turkish government of Wan;' but the Kurdish language branches out into so many dialects, that it is by no means easy to decide which of the almost endless variety would be most likely to prove an intelligible medium in communicating the divine truths of Christianity to the whole Kurdish nation.

The difficulty above referred to has happily been since overcome by the preparation of a version of the Gospels in Armeno-Kurdish, the language familiar to the Kurdish population of Turkish Armenia. In 1856, the British and Foreign Bible Society printed in Armeno-Kurdish the Gospel of St. Matthew; and an edition of 3000 copies of the Four Gospels in Armeno-Kurdish has since issued (on behalf of the same Society) from the American Mission press at Constantinople.

The Armeno-Kurdish version of the Gospel of St. Matthew was the first portion of Holy Scripture that had ever been made really intelligible to the Kurdish nation, and it is in the highest degree interesting to note the sensations which its appearance awakened. The following is from the pen of a missionary's wife, who was an eye-witness of the scene:-" Saturday, I was alone in the sitting-room of our kiosk, . . . . when I heard the voice of Deacon Shemmas. And soon he entered, looking very happy, and exclaiming, 'Thanks be to God—thanks, many thanks—the Kurdish Gospel of Matthew has arrived!' at the same time producing from his handkerchief, in which it was carefully wrapped, a small neatly-bound volume. And now,' continued he, alluding to a contemplated journey and absence of several weeks among some distant Kurdish towns, I hope I shall go on Monday. All I have been waiting for was these books.'

"This new Kurdish Gospel is the first book ever published in the Kurdish language. It has been translated by our native preacher Stepan, who lives at Hineh, and we hope he will soon complete the translation of the whole New Testament, and that through it many will receive a knowledge of Jesus Christ."

OSSITINIAN.

1. GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT AND STATISTICS.

THE Ossetes inhabit the central part of Caucasus, north of Georgia. In conjunction with several Circassian, Abassian, and other tribes, they occupy the whole of the hill country (called Kabardah and Little Abassia or Abazia) between the Upper Kuban and Lesghistan to the summits of the Caucasus. They are unquestionably a Median colony: Klaproth supposes them to be the Sarmato-Medians of the ancient, and the Alani or Ases of the middle, ages. According to Dr. Henderson, this tribe numbers about 16,000 individuals, but this appears to be too low an estimate. A mission was established

1 For Specimen of that Version, see page 91.

among them in 1752 by the Russian priests, with the view of converting them from heathenism, and in 1821 upwards of 30,000 Ossetes had joined the Greek Church.

II. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE.

The language of the Ossetes unquestionably belongs to the Indo-European stem. In a vocabulary of 800 Ossitinian words, one tenth have been traced to one or other of the Indo-European languages. The system of conjugation has some resemblance to that of the Persian and Armenian; the tenses are numerous and varied, but auxiliaries are likewise employed. The pronunciation of the Ossitinian greatly resembles that of the low German and Sclavonic dialects; the English sound th (Greek 0) occurs in it. The language is rendered harsh by the frequent concurrence of guttural letters and hissing consonants, such as kkh, dts, dtch, etc. Yet this harshness is modified by the influence of certain laws of euphony, which require some of the consonants to be softened when brought in contact with others of a different order. In Ossitinian there are six cases; the plural is formed by adding té, thi, or ton, to the nominative of the singular. According to Sjögren (Ossetische Sprachl. p. 4) there are forty-six or forty-seven letters in the Ossitinian alphabet, which he derives from the Russian; while Dr. G. Rosen (Ossetische Sprachl. p. 3) adopts the Georgian alphabet, and reckons the sounds in the Ossitinian language at thirty-four only. This language is very rich in prepositions and postpositions, and has four different modes of negation.

III.-VERSION OF THE SCRIPTURES IN THIS LANGUAGE.

At the period that so many of the Ossetes were joined to the Greek Church, Mr. Jalgusidse, an Ossitinian nobleman, who held an official appointment under the Russian Government, being anxious to provide his countrymen with a version of the Scriptures in their own tongue, proposed to the Committee of the Russian Bible Society to prepare a translation of the Gospels in the Ossitinian dialect. Mr. Jalgusidse's services were accepted by the committee, and a correspondence was entered into with the Exarch of Georgia, whose co-operation in so important an undertaking was considered desirable. The version was commenced without delay by Mr. Jalgusidse, but he confined it to the Gospels, which he translated chiefly from Armenian. His production was submitted to the inspection of competent persons, and after having been carefully compared with the original under the immediate superintendence of the Archbishop Jonas, it was presented for examination to the Synod. Its publication was strongly recommended by the Synod, and the committee of the Russian Bible Society resolved, in consequence, to print an edition of 2000 copies at Moscow, under the inspection of the Branch Committee of that city. The work was ordered to be put to press in 1824, but, from the suspension of the Russian Bible Society, no further intelligence has been received concerning it, and it appears certain that, even if the printing was completed, it was never put into circulation. The Ossitinians are therefore, in all probability, still unprovided with a version of any part of Scripture in their own language.