| PREFACE
The Mission whose history is detailed in the following pages, was performed under the direction of the Foreign Committee of the Board of Missions of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America.
The author has found it impossible to embrace, in a publication of ordinary size, all the information which he has accumulated. Re has, therefore, omitted the narrative of his journey through European Turkey, as well as of two excursions in the Western part of Asia Minor. He has withheld, moreover, from unwillingness unduly to extend the size of his work, an account of the recent and present reforms in Turkey, for which he had collected ample materials, and has confined himself to a few incidental notices of them, which-will be found scattered hi different parts of the narrative. He has, also, been compelled, for the same reason, to confine himself, in his survey of Mohammedanism, to the most essential points in its present character and condition, without indulging in speculative disquisitions upon the numerous topics of interest which they suggest, or carrying out the in formation detailed, in all its bearings upon the advancement of Christianity in the regions over which his survey extended.
While the author was pursuing his inquiries among the Mohammedans, he soon found his mind drawn, almost unconsciously, to the state of the Eastern Churches, and his interest became, at length, so deeply excited in their behalf, that he devoted to them all the attention which the more immediate duties of his work permitted. The information which he collected and the views which be formed, are, so far as his limits allowed, embraced in the following narrative.
With regard to the plan of the work, he has endeavoured to combine, as much as possible, incident with instruction, and to relieve the dullness of statistical information by the interest of personal experience and adventure. A map of the countries surveyed being indispensable in a work of this nature, much time and labour have been expended upon it. In constructing it, a valuable French map, the most accurate of any which had come under the notice of the author, was selected as a basis, and its authority followed in most parts which the writer did not survey. Along his own route, however, everything is original, excepting the latitude and longitude of the principal places. These were taken, in part, from the French map, and, in part, from the best English authorities.
In the explanation of foreign terms, the author has followed the course which he has always desired to see pursued in works upon the East. He has explained them where they first occur, either by a brief definition in the text or by a note in the margin, excepting a few instances, in which they are explained by the context. In the most important cases, or where the meaning would not readily be remembered, the definition is repeated, or referred to, on the recurrence of the term. In the first instance, the original word is uniformly printed in Italics, which the reader may regard as an intimation to fix the meaning firmly in his memory.
Several items of information which could not conveniently be embraced in the narrative, are given in the Appendix, to which have been added some other pieces, particularly rules for the pronunciation of foreign terms, and a table of the distances travelled each day.
My acknowledgments for aid received in my work are, for the most part, made in the course of my narrative. I cannot, however, forbear to add in this place, the expression of my deep gratitude to the Committee, under which I went forth, for their hearty co-operation in all the plans and labours of my Mission, and also to the two Secretaries, the Rev. Dr. Milnor and the Rev. Dr. Vaughan, under the superintendence of the first of whom the work was commenced, and during the official term of the second, is now brought to a close. Nor may I forget to record the extraordinary liberality of a single congregation, the Church of St. Andrew, Philadelphia, by which a thousand dollars, annually, were contributed, for the space of three years, to the support of the Mission.
My work, with all its toil and suffering, and the deep interest which it has so long sustained in my breast, is now about to end. With these concluding words my labours terminate. There have already grown out of it, two Missions, one at Constantinople, and another among the Jacobite Christians of Mesopotamia, both which, I humbly believe, will be productive of rich and glorious results, if faithfully prosecuted and sustained. Other Missions may yet be established in the wide-spread field which I have been permitted to survey, and, perhaps, a new interest will be awakened in some hearts by the humble record which I now offer to the Church. I leave my work, therefore, with no other feelings than those of gratitude, joy, and encouragement, and with these feelings I turn to other labours in the sane good cause.
H. S. |
