Previous to the overthrow of the Califate, A.D.1258, their churches were scattered over the region forming modern Persia, and were numerous in Armenia, Mesopotamia, and Arabia.

They had churches in Syria; on the island of Cyprus; among the mountains of Malabar; and in the extended regions of Tartary, from the Caspian Sea to Mount Imaus, and beyond through the greater part of what is now known as Chinese Tartary, and even in China itself.

The names of twenty-five metropolitan sees are on record, embracing of course a far greater number of bishoprics, and still more numerous congregations.
These facts, though known to learned historians, had fallen out of the popular mind.

Indeed, they were not in the recollection of the executive officers of the American Board, when the author drew up the instructions to Messrs.

Smith and Dwight.