A LIFE OF ADVENTURE

Evening Star, Issue 14516, 7 November 1910, Page 1

A LIFE OF ADVENTURE

Tho late Mr IJormnzd Rassam was, as his nam© indicates, an Oriental, born at Mosul, on the banks of the Tigris, in Northern Mesopotamia, not far from the site of ancient Nineveh, in the year 1826. He had a singularly eventful career, and it must have seemed to him in the highest degree improbable, during more than one of the incidents of his life, that lie would attain to a ripe old age and die in his house at Hove. Mr Itassam, whose brother, Charles Itassam, was British Vice-Consul at Mosul, first came into prominence about the year 1845, when he was selected to assist Mr (afterwards Sir) A. H. Layard in his Assyrian researches, which were carried on for the British Museum. Ho was again engaged in the same class of work from 1849 to 1852, and in the latter year ho was commissioned by the British Museum to conduct researches, which he carried on until 1854, when ho received an appointment at Aden, where he subsequently rose to be Assistant Political Agent. He represented tho British Government at Muscat during tho disturbance between tho rulers of Muscat and Zanzibar in 1861. The most stirring chapter of his life undoubtedly opened in 1864, when he waa sent to Abyssinia by tho British Government to endeavor to persuade King Theodore of Abyssinia to release Consul Cameron and other persons who had been taken prisoner by tho King. It was first sought to win the King to a better temper by conciliatory measures, and Rassam was selected for the task. He was entrusted with a Royal letter and presents from Queen Victoria to King Theodore. The friendly reception which was accorded to Rassam was somewhat illusory 2 for in April of the same year the prisoners were retaken ami thrown into prison, together with Rassam. There w-as, of course, no alternative for Great Britain but to declare war when he was insprisoned, and tho campaign which ended in the storming of Magdala followed. "The Times' says: "An Oriental of exceptional ability, Mr Itassam was jiecognised by Layard as a suitable assistant, particularly on account of his capacity to deal with the natives in the search for Assyrian antiquities. In Professor It. W. Rogers's ' History of Babylonia and Assyria' Itassam is credited with having, 'by the exercise of a skilled judgment and a fortunate combination of circumstances, actually uncovered tho long-buried library of tho Royal city of Nineveh—the library which Assurbanipal had gathered or caused to be copied for tho learning of his sages. Here was a Royal storehouse of literature, science, history, and religiou brought to light, ready to bo studied in tbe West when the method of its reading was fully made out. Well might Itawlinson join with Layard in applause over this liappy and fortunate discovery, which had linked Rassam's name for ever with the history of Assyrian research.' " A son of the deceased is in the Permanent Forces of the Dominion.