Page:The Nestorians and their rituals, volume 1.djvu/112

76 sway over the mountains north of Amedia, and used every species of intrigue to get that district annexed to the Mosul pashalic. To this end he secretly fomented disturbances among the Coords and Nestorians, and was himself the first to convey the intelligence of such feuds to the Sublime Porte. Hereafter we shall see the baneful results of these machinations, and it is chiefly on account of the part which his avarice and ambition led him to take in the Nestorian affairs that this sketch of his history and character has been laid before the reader.

A severe fever which attacked four of our party, carried off one of our servants after a lingering illness, and brought Mrs. Badger and myself to the brink of the grave, suspended our operations and researches for the first four months after our arrival at Mosul.