Dr. Asahel Grant was appointed a missionary in 1835 with the expectation that he would go to Persia. He proceeded to Urumia by way of Trebizond, Erzerum, and Tabriz. It was expected that Dr. Grant, the first missionary physician to enter that country, would investigate the conditions and needs of the mountain Nestorians who occupy the high lands of Eastern Turkey and western Persia. His allotted task demanded extensive journeys amid the wildest, least known, and most dangerous portions of the Ottoman empire. In addition to repeated tours up and down the country, his most important explorations were made in Koordistan and among the head waters of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. From 1839 to 1845 Dr. Grant visited Van, Diarbekr, Harpoot, Mardin, Mosul, and many other towns of importance, living among the people, studying their life, winning them by the depth and sincerity of his love for them, and planning to reach them by permanently organized missionary operations. Upon a part of these journeys he was accompanied by Mr. Holmes, while much of the time, except for native servants, he was alone. They reached Diarbekr in July, 1839, and found it in a state of anarchy. Robbery and murder were the order of the day, with a general hatred of all Europeans. They withdrew to Mardin, fifty miles south in Mesopotamia, accompanied by an escort of thirty horsemen sent for their protection by the Turkish pasha. In Mardin their lives were openly threatened. Almost by a miracle were they spared, for a mob suddenly formed and killed the governor in his palace and attacked the lodgings of the missionaries, who were providentially outside the city at the time. The city gate, closed to keep them inside for slaughter, barred them out and so saved their lives. From here Dr. Grant went on alone to Mosul, upon the Tigris, two hundred miles below Mardin, while Mr. Holmes returned to Constantinople. It is an interesting fact that the house in which he found lodging in this important city of the far interior was but a few feet from the place that was yet to be his grave. From Mosul he started alone in the fall of the same year for an extended tour through the unexplored mountains of Koordistan. He soon came into contact with the Yezidis, who are worshipers of Satan and more friendly to the Christians than to the Moslems. He took pains to call upon the chiefs of the country and make friends with them for the sake of the missionary work yet to be developed. He found many of the Koordish chiefs inclined to be friendly. By means of his medical skill he was able to command the respect if not the love of all. He attended professionally the emir of a large area of country in Koordistan, who gave orders a few years previously for the murder of the scientist Schultz. This tour covered eight months. He was so much changed by his native dress and rough appearance that he was not recognized by his associates at Urumia upon his arrival there.