As the result of these explorations, Mr. Rhea made an eloquent appeal for more effective labor in Western Koordistan, which was published in the "Missionary Herald," but cannot be sufficiently condensed for these pages.[1] His health had suffered in his mountain tours, which resembled those performed by his eminent predecessor, Dr. Grant. This rendered it necessary for him to spend a year for recovery in his native land, where his missionary addresses were well received. Two other members of the mission, second to none in the field,--the venerable Dr. Perkins, and Miss Fidelia Fiske,--were obliged to visit the United States in 1858; the former to care for the health of Mrs. Perkins, who, after burying six of her children, had accompanied Mrs. Crane to America, taking her only surviving child; and the latter, in consequence of a disease, which proved fatal after a few years. Dr. Perkins was also accompanied by Mrs. Stoddard, and three children of the mission. [1] See _Missionary Herald_, 1858, pp. 317, 318. Mr. Rhea's appeal had not been without effect. The Rev. Thomas L. Ambrose joined the mission near the close of 1858, the Rev. John H. Shedd and wife in 1859, and the Rev. Henry N. Cobb and wife in 1860, with direct reference to the mountain field; and the Rev. Amherst L. Thompson and Rev. Benjamin Labaree, with their wives, and Frank N. H. Young, M. D., in 1860, to strengthen the force on the plains, together with Misses Aura Jeannette Beach and Harriet N. Crawford. Mr. Thompson had given much promise of usefulness, but died at Seir, August 25, 1860, only fifty-four days after his arrival. Miss Beach was to be associated with Miss Rice, who had rendered efficient service in the girls' Seminary as the associate of Miss Fiske, but was then alone and overburdened. The unexpected but providential withdrawal of so many older laborers, at this juncture, was not favorable to a more enlarged occupation of the field; and the plan of forming a station on the western side of the mountains, was not carried out. The height of Amadiah above the plain of Mesopotamia, and its salubrity in summer were found to have been overestimated; and further researches made it evident, that the demands of so trying a mountain field were more than the average health of missionaries would be able to endure at any season of the year. Indeed, impaired health obliged Mr. and Mrs. Cobb, who had been specially designated to the mountain district, to return home within two years; and, to their own great regret and that of their associates, they have never been able to rejoin the mission.