The nearest route would have been on the west side of the Tigris.
Ten days after this, Mr.Marsh and Mr.Williams went to Diarbekir to attend the second annual meeting of the mission.

The next day Dr.
Lobdell prepared a sermon, talked with a crowd of papists, preached to eighty-five patients, delivered his sermon to the church in the evening, and went to bed with a chill and fever.

On the day following, he wrote his last letter, and made his last entry in his journal.

He gradually grew worse, and was at times delirious.

A message was sent for the absent brethren, but, owing to the disturbed state of the country, it was the twentieth day of his sickness, and only five days before his death, when Mr.Marsh reached Mosul.