CHAP. II. SELAMIYAH. 23 being mentioned at a very early period as a market-town by the Arab geographers, who generally connect it with the ruins of Athur or Nimroud. It occupies an ancient site, and in long lines of mounds, inclosing the village, can be traced the walls of an Assyrian town, or more probably of one of the suburbs of the capital. Even five years ago Selamiyah was a flourishing place, and could furnish 150 well-armed horsemen. The pashaw had, however, plundered it; and the inhabitants had fled to the mountains or into the neighboring province of Baghdad. Ten miserable huts now stood in the midst of ruins of bazars and streets surrounding a kasr or palace, belonging to the old hereditary pashaws of Mosul, well built of alabaster, but rapidly falling into decay. I had intended to take possession of this building, which was occupied by a few hytas or irregular troops; but the rooms were in such a dilapidated condition that the low mud hut of the kiayah, or chief of the village, appeared to be both safer and warmer. I accordingly spread my carpet in one of its corners, and giving the owner a few piastres to finish other dwelling-places which he had commenced, established myself for the winter. The premises, which were speedily completed, consisted of four hovels, surrounded by a mud wall, and roofed with reeds and boughs of trees. I occupied half of the largest habitation, the other half being appropriated for beasts of the plow, and various domestic animals. We were separated by a wall; in which, however, numerous apertures served as a means of communication. These I studiously endeavored for some time to block up. A second hut was devoted to the wives, children, and poultry of my host; a third served as kitchen and servants' hall the fourth was converted into a stall for my horses. In the inclosure formed by the buildings and outer wall, the few sheep and goats which had escaped the rapacity of the pashaw, congregated during the night, and kept up a continual bleating and coughing until they were milked and turned out ta pasture at daybreak. The roofs not being constructed to exclude the winter rain. now setting in, it required some exercise of ingenuity to escape the torrent which descended into my apartment. I usually passed the night on these occasions crouched up in a corner, or under a rude table which I had constructed. The latter, having been surrounded by trenches, to carry off the accumulating waters, generally afforded the best shelter. My cawass, who was a Constantinopolitan, complained bitterly of the hardships he was compelled to endure, and I had some difficulty in prevailing upon my servants to remain with me. The present inhabitants of Selamiyah, and of most of the villages in this part of the pashawlic of Mosul, are Turcomans, descendants of tribes brought by the early Turkish sultans from the north of Asia Minor, to people a country which had been laid waste by repeated massacres and foreign invasions. In this portion of the Ottoman empire, there is scarcely, except in Mosul and the Mountains, a vestige of the ancient population. The great tribes which inhabit the Desert were brought from the Jebel Shammar, in Nedjd, within the memory of man. The inhabitants of the plains to the east of the Tigris are mostly Turcomans and Kurds, mixed with Arabs, or with Yezidis, who are strangers in the land, and whose origin can not easily be determined. A few Chaldean and Jacobite Christians, scattered in Mosul and the neighboring villages, or dwelling in the most inaccessible part of the mountains, their places of refuge from the devastating bands of Tamerlane, are probably the only descendants of that great people which once swayed, from these plains, the half of Asia. The yuz-bashi, or captain of the irregular troops, one Daoud Agha, a native of the north of Asia Minor, called upon me as soon as I was established in my new quarters. Like most men of his class, acknowledged freebooters,* he was frank and *The irregular cavalry (hytas as they are called in this part of Turkey, and bashi-bozuks in Roumelia and Anatolia) are collected from all classes and provinces. A man known for his courage and daring is named hytabashi, or chief of the hytas, and is furnished with teskérés or orders for pay and provisions for so many horsemen, from four or five hundred to a thousand or more. He collects all the vagrants and freebooters he can find to CHAP. II. DISCOVERIES. 25 intelligent. He tendered me his services, entertained me with his adventures, and planned hunting expeditions. A few presents secured his adherence, and he proved himself afterward a very useful and faithful ally. I had now to ride three miles every morning to the mound; and my workmen, who were afraid, on account of the Arabs, to live at Naifa, returned, after the day's labor, to Selamiyah. The excavations were however carried on as actively as the means at my disposal would permit. An entrance, or doorway, had now been completely cleared, and the backs of several inscribed slabs had been uncovered.* A corner-stone which had evidently been brought from another building, was richly ornamented with flowers and scroll-work in relief; but there were no sculptures; nor could any idea be yet formed of the relative position of the walls. I therefore ordered a trench to be opened from the doorway into the interior of the mound, presuming that we should ultimately come to the opposite side of the chamber, to which, it appeared probable, we had found the entrance. After removing a large accumulation of earth mixed with charcoal, charred wood, and broken bricks, we reached he top of a new wall on the afternoon of the 28th November. In order to ascertain whether we were in the inside of a chamber, the workmen were directed to clear away the earth from both sides of the slabs. The south face was unsculptured, make up his number. They must provide their own arms and horses, although sometimes they are furnished with them by the hyta-bashi, who deducts a part of their pay until he reimburses himself. The best hytas are Albanians and Lazes, and they form a very effective body of irregular cavalry. Their pay at Mosul is small, amounting to about eight shillings a month; in other provinces it is considerably more. They are quartered on the villages, and are the terror of the inhabitants, whom they plunder and ill-treat as they think fit. When a hyta-bashi has established a reputation for himself, his followers are numerous and devoted. He wanders about the provinces, and like a condottiere of the middle ages, sells his services, and those of his troops, to the pashaw who offers most pay, and the best prospects of plunder. Since the introduction of the tanzimat, or reformed system of government, the number of irregular troops has been greatly reduced, and the hytas are no longer able to ill-treat the inhabitants of villages as formerly. Wall and entrance d, plan 2. B but the first stroke of the pick on the opposite side, disclosed the top of a bas-relief. The Arabs were no less excited than myself by the discovery; and notwithstanding a heavy fall of rain, working until dark, they completely exposed to view two slabs.* On each slab were two bas-reliefs, divided by an inscription. In the upper compartment of the largest was a battle scene, in which were represented two chariots, each drawn by richly caparisoned horses at full speed, and containing a group of three warriors, the principal of whom was beardless and evidently an eunuch. This figure was clothed in a complete suit of mail of metal scales, embossed in the center, and apparently attached to a shirt of felt or linen. This shirt was confined at the waist by a girdle. On his head was a pointed helmet, from which fell lappets, covered with scales, protecting the ears, lower part of the face, and neck, the whole head-dress resembling that of the early Normans. His left hand grasped a bow at full stretch, while his right drew the string, with the arrow ready to be discharged. The left arm was encircled by a guard, probably of leather, to protect it from the arrow. His sword was in a sheath, the end of which was elegantly adorned with the figures of two lions. In the sar chariot were a charioteer urging on the horses with reins an whip, and a shield-bearer who warded off the shafts of the enemy with a circular shield, which, like those of Solomon, and of the servants or shield-bearers of Hadad-ezer, king of Zobah, may have been of beaten gold. The chariots were low. rounded at the top, and edged by a rich molding or borde probably inlaid with precious metals or painted. To the sides were suspended two highly ornamented quivers, each containing, beside the arrows, a hatchet and axe. The wheels had six spokes. The end of the pole, formed by the head of a bull, was attached to the fore part of the chariot by a singular contrivance, of which neither the use nor the * Nos. 1 and 2, wall f, plan 2. † 1 Kings x. 17; 2 Sam. viii. 7. |