Across the river from Diarbekir is Cutterbul, a large Christian village, where were twenty Protestants, with several church-members; and the missionary, in his occasional visits, gathered almost as large a congregation as the one at Mosul. The preaching would have been acceptable in Turkish, or Koordish, though the people preferred the Arabic. Cutterbul was but a sample of what the villages on all sides of Diarbekir might have been, were the station fully manned. The Protestants at Mosul obtained no relief from their oppressive taxes until January, 1854; when, through the efforts of Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, a firman was addressed to the Pasha for their protection. The Pasha then ordered an equitable rate to be made for them, which encouraged the Protestants, and disheartened their enemies. The year was one of progress. Five were added to the Protestants, and two to the church, while there was a decided improvement in the attention given to preaching. The boys' school prospered, with forty pupils. Women were to some extent instructed in reading the Bible by the scholars, who went from house to house for the purpose. Thirty adults were taught at their houses, and thirty others attended the male school regularly. The church-members gained a reputation for strict honesty, temperance, and general excellence. The mere existence of a church upon an apostolical basis, worshipping God in simplicity, told with force against the corrupt hierarchies. The excitements at Mosul during the Crimean war, were often intense. At one period there was great danger of an outburst of Mohammedan fanaticism, so that the Christians were in terror for their lives. Stringent orders from Constantinople aroused the local authorities to do their duty, and the insolence of those ready for deeds of blood was checked. Early in May, 1854, a volunteer reinforcement of two thousand Koords for the Turkish army, was quartered in the city, and certain outrages indicated an approaching massacre of Christians and Jews. The evil was averted by the bold decision of the English Consul, who went to the Pasha, and demanded that the Koords be sent at once out of the city. They were soon on their way to the seat of war. Mosul was regarded as free from miasma; but the heat of the summer days was exhausting to the foreigner, and the natives also suffered. For a hundred days in 1853, the mercury stood, at two o'clock in the afternoon, as high as 98º; and for eighty days it ranged from 100º to 114º. The highest point in the shade was 117º. It was much the same in the following year.