examination, Azim Bey publicly declared, that the Turks were
indebted to them for everything of the kind. Travellers were no
longer obliged to depend on slow sailing vessels, since steamers ran
every week from Constantinople to Smyrna and Trebizond, and every
fortnight to Galatz on the Danube. A road for carriages was
constructed from Scutari to Nicomedia, a distance of sixty miles;
and as a means of arresting the ravages of the plague, the European
style of quarantine was extensively introduced.

The most determined opposers of the mission at this time were the
Papists, who spared no pains in exciting prejudice among the
Armenians. The Papal Armenians were estimated at from fifteen to
twenty thousand, and according to usage in Turkey they had a
Patriarch of their own. This functionary came out with a public
denunciation of all Protestant books, including the New Testament.
He even forbade the receiving of copies of the Armenian Scriptures
in the ancient language, which had been printed at their own press
in Venice, and were purchased, several years before, by the British
and Foreign Bible Society for sale at a reduced price or gratuitous
circulation.

There was so much desire for religious instruction among the
Armenians, that two weekly meetings, in the Turkish language, were
established in Constantinople, one conducted by Mr. Goodell, the
other by Mr. Schauffler. Their houses were frequented by
ecclesiastics as well as by laymen, and some of the former seemed to
be sincere inquirers after the truth. One of them, attached to the
patriarchal church, proposed that they publish a revised edition of
the modern Armenian New Testament; and offered to subscribe five
hundred piastres, or somewhat more than twenty dollars, towards the
object, and also to procure aid from others. It was a favorable
sign, that bishops and vartabeds began now to give instructions from
the sacred Scriptures, instead of the legends of the saints. It
subsequently appeared, indeed, that most of them were influenced in
this more by public opinion, than by personal interest in the
subject. They probably had exaggerated notions as to the actual
prevalence of evangelical sentiments.

Female education, which had been almost entirely neglected, began
now to receive attention, both at Constantinople and at Smyrna. No
regular school, indeed, had as yet been opened for females in the
former place, but a few parents were providing means for the
instruct