'Reconnaissances in Mesopotamia, Kurdistan, North-West Persia, and Luristan from April to October 1888. By Lt F R Maunsell, Intelligence Branch. In Two Volumes. Volume I: narrative report, description of larger towns and routes leading from them. Simla: Intelligence Branch, Quarter Master General's Dept, 1890' [‎89v] (183/312)

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To Jazirah is 110 miles by Route X and from there to Diarbekr is 100
miles, making a total of 210 miles. Another road follows the right bank of the
Tigris to Jazirah, but is not much used because of want of supplies in the
summer months. It is six stages, and there are no villages of any size, the
principal being Eski Mosul, Karhol, Abou Maria (good wells), Halaila, and are
along the river bank. They are all small collections of Arab huts.
Merchants say that the roads by Bitlis and Sairdt to Van or through
Rawanduz are open all the year for traffic and never entirely closed by snow.
The route to Van through Amadiyeh, Julamerkand Bashkala is usually closed
for three months in winter, that is from the middle of December to the middle
of March, unless the snowfall is light.
A good carriage road goes from Diarbekr to Samsun passing through
Kharput, Malatia, Sivas, Tokat, and Amasia. • It has only recently been com
pleted, and the section from Kharput to Diarbekr is not yet as good as ti e
rest.
NESTORIAW CHRISTIANS.
To understand the various sects into which the Nestorians are at present
divided, a short account of their early history will be necessary. The Nes
torians are so called because they adhere to the doctrines of Nestorius who
was Patriarch of Constantinople in A.D. 431. For refusing to acknowledge
to the Virgin Mary the title of mother of God and holding not only to tvvo
natures but two persons in Christ and other religious differences he was excom
municated and banished. His followers formed a new sect, and to avoid per
secution left Roman protection and lied to the Persian Court at Seleucia
where they were well received and allowed to settle.
They g-radually grew to be the dominant Christian community in Persia.
Great missionary zeal was displayed and their preachers penetrated as far as
China and India. A section of them still remains on the Malabar Coast of India.
After the M uhammadan conquest the Church gradually declined, until finally
about A. D. 1400, when Tamerlane sacked Baghdad, the remnants of them fled
and settled in the districts round Mosul. Some accounts say the mountain
Nestorians are descendants of Jews from the Captivity who had settled in
these inaccessible mountains and were converted to Nestorian doctrines.
The Patriarch of the Nestorians round Mosul lived at Alkosh and the
Patriarch of the mountain districts, then called Mar Shimun, lived at Kochau-
nis near Julamerk.
About A.D. 1625 disputes arose between the Patriarch of Alkosh and Mar
Shimun, resulting in a division into two sects, the mountain districts adhering
to Mar Shimun who was their elected Patriarch.
The Mosul sect soon after transferred its allegiance and adopted the doctrines
of the Church of Rome, and the Pope consecrated their Patriarch as “Patri
arch of Babylon,” the portion under Mar Shimun remaining true to their
former doctrines. The name Mar Shimua eventually came to be used as a
hereditary title by successive Patriarchs.
In 1873 dissensions arose in the Romish Church at Mosul, chiefly owing
to a Bull of infallibility issued by the Pope. This led to a large portion abjui^
iug the authority of the Church of Rome altogether and forming a new
sect electing their own Patriarch : these are now under a Mattran (Metropolitan)
called Mar Elia Melus. These latter are called New Chaldeans and those still
under the Romish Church Old Chaldeans, while those under Mar Shimun are
usually called Nestorians.