their mourning a year; the customs of women; with many things that do not now occur."

In a letter to a friend in London he gives the following description of them. "I found them with the countenances of the Hebrew race; and their children of so lively a resemblance to them, that a man would think himself in Duke's Place or Bury Street in London, when he sees them.

Another writer, Adair, who lived as a trader among those Indians for forty years, a man of integrity and character, thus expresses himself :"It is very difficult to divest ourselves of prejudices and favourite opinions; and I expect to be censured for opposing commonly-received statements. But truth is my object, and from the most exact observation I could make in the long time I traded among the Indian Americans, I was forced to believe them to be lineally descended from the Israelites. Hence (he adds) it is probable that the desert,' or further country,' referred to by

mankind dwelt,' may be

Esdras, where never

America; which coun

try, indeed, would much better accord than any contiguous one could do with that other repre

sentation which he makes of it, as a great way to go, namely, of a year and a half. Esdras further says, The same region is called Ararash or Ararat:'-and Dr. Boudinot says, ' A gentleman of the first character of the city of New York, well acquainted with the Indians from his childhood, assured him, that when with them at a place called Cohoch or Oulglah, yet well known, they showed him a mountain to the west, very high, and that appeared from Cohoch, much as the Neversinks do from the sea, at first approaching the American coast, and told him the Indians call it Ararat.' "*

Another and more recent writer has advanced the theory, that the whole of the nations which occupy the platform of the Roman empire, the modern nations of Europe, the English in particular, are the tribes in question.† That, originally located in Media and the sea-shores of the Caspian, extending into the provinces and countries north of that sea, they became those overwhelming floods, which the frozen north poured from its populous loins into Europe, to the con

* History of the American Indians.

Lectures on Ancient Israel.

sternation of its former inhabitants, in the early centuries of the christian dispensation.

I mention all these views, facts, and theories, that the reader may draw his own conclusions, and form his own opinions. The object of this little work is not to follow Israel in his wanderings and dispersions, and to reckon the real and probable fate of the various tribes. I have my own opinions on the dispersion of the seed of all the house of Israel among the nations; and I believe that the vestiges of the primitive worship of the Hebrews, which we find in various parts of the world, amongst the various nations and tribes, may serve to elucidate the truth of the prophecies concerning Israel, and the fate of this people. I am desirous simply to confine my attention to THE REMNANT spoken of in Scripture, and to consider whether, in or very near the seat of their original captivity, such a remnant does not exist.

PERSONAL NARRATIVE.

BEING at Tehran in the month of March, 1837, prosecuting my missionary labours in Persia amongst my brethren of the seed of Abraham, I paid my respects to His Excellency Graf Simoniech, ambassador extraordinary to the court of Mohammed Shah. In conversation with the ambassador concerning one of the objects of my mission, His Excellency informed me that about five years previously, the Russian government had sent a commission into Georgia to investigate the character and circumstances of the Caucasian Jews. The individuals sent returned without being able to give any satisfactory account of the object they were sent to inquire into their qualifications not being such as to enable them to throw any light on a question of this character. His Excellency, perceiving my ardent curiosity and interest in what relates to the Jewish people,

and in particular as to any facts which might illustrate the fate of the long-lost tribes, spontaneously offered me every assistance in his power, if I would undertake to follow up these inquiries;laying no other obligation upon me, than to furnish him with a copy of my journal, when I should publish it, containing investigations through the East on this important subject.

Having consulted Her Britannic Majesty's minister at the court of Persia, and obtained his sanction, I received from him a letter of protection, on which I could depend, in the critical circumstances of the country at that time. The Anglo-Indian army was preparing to march towards Cabul, and all individuals in connexion with England were under strong suspicion. This letter of protection was of the utmost importance, as it enabled me to resist and overcome the intrigues and repugnance of the Russian government of the Trans-Caucasian provinces at my presence during the military operations against Khiva, at this crisis. And I shall not soon forget the impressions left upon me at Tiflis, after I entered upon my investigations, when summoned before the Governor-general of those provinces. Every effort was made to daunt my courage