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THE RIGHT HONOURABLE J. H. FRERE.

DEAR SIR,

A complete stranger to you, I came to your house; and you not only granted me the rites of hospitality, but at a moment when I was deprived of all the means of executing my purpose of preaching the tidings of salvation in the land of Bokhara and Affghanistaun, you offered me, without my soliciting it, your kind assistance.* After enjoying for several months your most instructive conversation, and wandering in spirit together through the opinions of the Ancients, and communicating our ideas on higher points, regarding the eternal welfare of human beings, I set out for my perilous journey: with your help I was able to make out my way, and to rescue myself from difficulties; and during the time of my absence, you, your sister and Miss Jane Frere treated with the utmost kindness those that are dearest to me; so that even my boy of three years old seems to be sensible of it, and has learnt to look up to you with reverence and gratitude. To whom else, therefore, but to you should I dedicate these humble pages, containing the Acts of my Pilgrimage to Bokhara, Balkh, Cabool, Cashmeer, and

* Mr. Wolff repaid Mr. Frere every penny.

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Hindoostaun? especially as I hope soon to undertake another pilgrimage; not knowing that which may befall me, nor whether I shall ever see you again. none then, I repeat it, can I dedicate the results of my labours with more satisfaction to myself, than to you. But I feel that I am addressing one of whom I am incompetent to speak in terms commensurate with merit; indeed, to the inhabitants of this island it were superfluous to do so: all, from the highest to the lowest, allow, that to the native poor you are looked upon as a blessing; your hospitality is known to all. And I confidently add, that I do not know where I should look for an individual, combining, like yourself, so many of the best gifts of our nature with so much profound erudition; so much benevolence with so much nobleness of intellect. In venturing to write this my genuine sentiment, it is not flattery, but truth which prompts me, and I am convinced that in doing so I have the suffrages of all who know you.

This book then, thus dedicated, may remain as a mark of the ardent gratitude of the writer, who, with prayers for you and your whole house, is ever,

Dear Sir,

Your most humble and affectionate

Friend and servant,

JOSEPH WOLFF,

Malta, 29th January, 1835.

Missionary.

PREFACE.

The Reader must not expect to find in the pages of my journal descriptions of ancient monuments, or of natural or artificial curiosities. The object of my journey, as I have stated in it, was solely to proclaim the Gospel of the kingdom of Christ, among the Jews, and the tribes whom I have visited; and to seek for those tribes of Israel whom I conceive to be the Kings of the East, mentioned in the Revelation of Jesus Christ. I have however at the same time given the best account in my power of those sects which have been hitherto unknown, and of the character of those nations to whom the Gospel of Jesus Christ has not been revealed, their good qualities, and their vices; but chiefly the expectations, expressed by my own nation, the Jews, in distant countries. I have not entirely passed over in silence the adventures I met with in those countries, and the disappointments I experienced in my labours; nor the customs and manners of the nations I visited; which especially illustrate historical facts, manners, and modes of speaking, and which we frequently meet with in sacred writ. I have also pointed out such situations in which Missionary Societies may extend their operations; and I have spoken with impartiality of the success which Missionaries have met with in the East. So that I humbly trust, the Christian will here find sufficient motives to admire

God's Providence in preserving his servants; and Missionary Societies find matter for encouragement in the extending of their labours to those benighted countries. The individual Missionary may find matter for confirming his confidence in the Lord; the Divine, matter for research. By my openly disputing with Mussulmans at Meshed, and throughout Khorossaun, which I am enabled to testify by letters from Mohammedans of those countries, and the passports of the Princes of Persia, and the King of Bokhara, which I have annexed, it may be seen that one may travel with these objects without disguise. I have abstained from introducing subjects of controversy amongst real Christians; for my purpose in publishing this journal is, to edify all those who worship the name of our divine Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and to encourage them in uniting together in opposition to Jews, Mohammedans, Infidels, and Pagans. If the Reader should find that these objects have been attained, it will be a great satisfaction to the Author; and if they should feel themselves in some measure disappointed in their expectations, they will take into consideration, that these pages came from a humble individual, such as

JOSEPH WOLFF,

MISSIONARY.

I HAVE already given to the public, in three separate volumes, the journals of my Missionary labours among my brethren of the Jewish nation in Palestine, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia, Krimea, Georgia, and the Turkish Empire, which I began in 1821 and accomplished in 1826. My labours among my brethren in England, Scotland, Ireland, Holland, and again in the Mediterranean, fron the year 1826 to 1830, were published in the "Jewish Expositor." I now communicate to the Church my labours among my brethren in TURKEY, PERSIA, TURKESTAUN, BOKHARA, AFFGHANISTAUN, CASHMEER, HINDOOSTAN, and the RED SEA, from the year 1831 to 1834, which I have accomplished through divine grace, with the motives also, which induced me to undertake this journey.

In the first place, it was my earnest desire to make known to my brethren of the Jewish nation, Jesus Christ, the Son of God and rightful heir to David's throne; whose kingdom shall extend itself from the rising of the sun, to the going down thereof; and, encouraged by the example of St. Paul, (Rom. xv. 20,) to preach the tidings of Salvation in those places, where the pure light of the Gospel does not yet shine.

Besides this, I often asked myself, how my brethren fare, whose ancestors were scattered, after the captivity of Babylon: those tribes of Israel, who, according to the sacred oracles, shall be united to the house of Judah; and whose present abode is a matter of speculation among many Christian Divines, and Jewish Rabbies. The latter assign to them a fabulous country, which they call "The land of darkness, beyond the Sabbathical river." Benjamin Tudela, and the Jews of Jerusalem boldly asserted, that they were residing at Halah and Habor, which they state to be the present Balkh and Bokhara. In the year 1829, being then at Jerusalem, I said to my wife, “Bokhara and Balkh are very much in my mind, for I think I shall there find the Ten Tribes." "Well," she replied, “I have no objection to your going there." In consequence of this, I took my wife to Alexandria, and then made an excursion to Salonica, to see the followers of SHABATAY ZEBI, a Jewish sect;

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