On the 1st of June, an order from the authorities at Tabreez to Asker Khan was presented to him by the missionaries, which, after a calm recital of the facts in the case of poisoning, proceeded thus: "As the person who did this act is a criminal, and, if unpunished, the affair may lead to the destruction of life, it is necessary that you, high in rank, take the attitude of investigation, and having discovered the criminal, that you punish him, with the knowledge of the Americans, and so act that no one, Christian or Moslem, shall dare to repeat such a crime." This order was obtained through the kind offices of the Russian ambassador; but the criminals were only detained a few days, and not pressed at all to a confession. Asker Khan then proposed, as they had not confessed, that the missionaries should intercede for their release. Of course, they refused. Then, saying "that if he had known that, beforehand, he would not have touched the matter, and that he could defend himself at Tabreez," he dismissed the accused, and it was in vain for the missionaries to prosecute the matter further. Indeed, the opposition at this time was more serious than at any previous period, and for a time it seemed as though the seminaries, and especially the Female Seminary, would be destroyed. In the autumn, a commissioner, sent from Teheran to examine into the proceedings of the mission, made an inquisitorial visit, and went all through the building, peeping into the chambers, and making himself and suite every where at home. Coming into the recitation room, where most of the girls were engaged in study, he selected, a large, robust pupil, who could speak Turkish, and questioned her as follows:-- "Are you allowed to follow your own customs?" "We follow all that are good, but not such foolish ones as you would not wish us to follow." "Do these ladies let you see your friends?" "Certainly; we always see them when they come here, and we go home three times a year, staying, at one time, three months." "What do you do when at home?" "We work in the fields, and do any thing that our friends do. Our teachers tell us to help our friends all we can, and are displeased if we do not." "Can you work, or have you become Ingleez?" (English.) "Look at me; I am strong; I can carry very large loads." "What do you do here?" "We study, and learn all wisdom." "Are you allowed to use your own books?" "Certainly; the principal book of our religion they have printed for us, and we use it more than any other." "But have you not left the books of your fathers?" "The book I spoke of is our sacred book, like your Koran, and we use all others that agree with that." "Do you fast?" "One day at the beginning of the year, and other days afterwards." "But have you not forsaken some of your church fasts?" "None that are written in that book. I keep all those very carefully." "What! twice in the week?" "No; for that is not required in the book." "But your people do."