the whole of its course, and forming at its S. E. termination the range of the Zako-Dagh. This is the range which the 10,000 Greeks had to cross over, being stopped in their further progress up the Tigris by this lofty ridge which came close to the edge of the river. It took them a whole day's march ere they got beyond the first ridge which bounds on the N. the narrow plain, and arrived in the recesses of the Carduchian mountains, through which they had to march 7 days successively till they reached the plain of the Centrites. All these ranges except the Hatarash are connected with other ranges running between, so that the whole country seems a piece of net work, so interlined is it with mountains. The whole road from Betlis to Sert is through valleys and over mountainous ranges, the descent of one of which Kinnier makes 3 miles, by a road the worst he had ever seen. Another rugged range cost him 3 hours to ascend; and when the summit was gained nothing was seen but a labyrinth of mountains, glens, and valleys, the hills steep and craggy, their tops white with snow, and the glens wild, deep, and narrow.

The Susan and Khaboor.] The chief rivers are the Susan or Hazirsu and the Khaboor. The former rises in the Niphates, to the N.W. of Sert and to the W. of Betlis, an intervening range separating its source and course from those of the Khaboor. It is a much smaller stream than the Khaboor, of which it is a mere tributary.23 The Khaboor is the Centrites of Xenophon, and the Nicephorius or river of victory' of Tacitus, who gave to it this appellation from the memorable victory gained on its banks by Lucullus over the immense and ill-disciplined rabble of Tigranes. It is composed of two streams which flow through Betlis: the one from the Hatarash mountains 4 miles N.,-and the other from the W. of Betlis. It runs S.S.W. to Sert, the ancient Tigranocerta, a travelling distance of 54 British miles, and passes the plain two miles to the S. of that place. It is there 80 yards broad, very rapid, and so deep as to be unfordable. It runs thence S. E. till it meets the Hazirsu mentioned above. The combined stream, after forming an island on which is situated the town of Zako, meets the Tigris 15 miles below.

Soil and Produce.] Though this territory be mountainous and rugged, the valleys in most places are very fertile, and produce rice, millet, vines, and fruits. Several of the valleys to the W. of the Khaboor produce large crops of wheat and barley. In the vicinity of Betlis, apple, pear, plum, cherry, and walnut-trees, are numerous and productive, and the vineyards of Coulty produce excellent wine and brandy. But the principal part of the land is pasture, and the natives prefer the culture of fruits and vegetables to that of grain. The gardens in the vicinity of Betlis are irrigated by small canals which convey the water from the rivers or mountains, and considering the Koords to be a very illiterate, rude, ignorant people, they well understand the art of hydraulics. Some of their aqueducts convey water for 6 miles, and are small trenches cut round the sides of the hills, where the level is preserved with the nicest precision without the smallest aid from mathematical instruments. Wine is still as abundant as Xenophon found it 20 centuries since in all the Carduchian villages. The sides of the mountains are well wooded with oak, ash, apple, pear,

23 In all the modern maps but that of Kinnier its course is drawn due S. to the Tigris, and is identified as the Erzen branch of the Tigris; whereas it is not a branch of the Tigris at all, but of the Khaboor, and runs more than 120 British miles S. E. till it joins that stream under the name of the Hazirsu 6 miles above Zako, where it is a large stream.

plum, mulberry, and walnut-trees. So abundantly clothed with the majestic oak are the Koordistaun mountains throughout their whole extent, from the Tigris to the Nemrood-Dagh, and from the valley of Diarbekir to the high plateau of Media, that they are called the Daroo mountains 'the mountains of oaks." Gall nuts are consequently very abundant, and in many places the poorer Koords live for months successively on milk, cheese, and bread made of acorns.

or

City of Betlis.] The city of Betlis, the capital of this Koordish district, is situated in a charming valley covered with apple and pear-trees, in the very heart of the Hatarash mountains, and watered by the two streams whose confluence forms the Khaboor. In figure the city resembles a crab, of which the castle, a fine old building, is the body, and the claws are represented by the ravines which branch out in many directions. It is so ancient a city that, according to Koordish tradition, it was founded a little after the flood by a direct descendant of Noah. The houses are admirably built of hewn stone, flat-roofed, and for the most part surrounded with orchards. The streets being generally steep are difficult of ascent; and each house seems of itself a petty fortress. Many of them have large windows with pointed arches like the Gothic. The castle, partly inhabited and partly in ruins, is a very antique structure, standing upon an insulated and perpendicular rock, which rises abruptly from a hollow in the middle of the city. It was the residence of the ancient beys of Koordistaun, a most powerful race till ruined by family feuds. The walls are built of hewn stone, and the ramparts are about 100 feet high. The city contains 30 mosques, 8 Armenian churches, 4 public baths, several khans, and 12,000 inhabitants, of whom one-half are Mahommedans, and the other half Armenian Christians. The streams which water the city in different directions are crossed by more than 20 bridges, each of one arch, and built of stone. The bazaars are well supplied with fruits and provisions; but most other articles, as cloths, hardware, and other goods are excessively dear, and not always to be procured. Merchants sometimes venture to bring goods in well armed caravans; but the state of the country is such that they are in constant dread of plunder and death. Betlis is nominally subject to a Koordish bey appointed by the pasha of Moosh; but the real authority is possessed by the khan of the Koords,—the descendant of a long line of feudal lords, formerly masters of all the surrounding territory. This khan has of late, according to Kinnier, become in a certain degree subject to the Porte, and pays it an annual tribute. This was not the case in the days of Tavernier who passed through this district in his route to Van and Tauris. The khan of Betlis could then raise an army of 25,000 horsemen and a large body of infantry; and could whenever he pleased stop all caravans from passing his territory in any direction the mountain passes being so narrow that 10 men could easily defend them against 1000. The city was then an inviolable asylum for the subjects of the neighbouring beys or pashas, who could there dwell in perfect security. The latitude of Betlis, according to Kinnier, is 38° 30′ N., and the longitude 42° 50′ E. It is 20 miles S. W. of the lake of Van.

Sert.] About 54 travelling miles S.S.W. of Betlis is the casaban of Sert, the ancient Tigranocerta, so famous in the campaigns of Lucullus. It lies in a small plain watered by the Khabour,-the very plain visited by the 10,000 Greeks after seven days' successive toilsome march through

This appellation strikingly resembles the Greek Agus an oak:' whence the worshippers of oaks were called druids.

the Carduchian mountains. The erection of Tigranocerta, and peopling it with the prisoners brought from Syria and Cappadocia by that weakest of sovereigns, Tigranes, is an eminent instance of the absurdity of founding a vast city in a place where the nature of the country rendered it impossible for a numerous and condensed population to subsist. The rugged mountains surrounding the plain, and rendering access difficult, were an insuperable obstacle in the way of commerce; and the territory was not sufficiently productive to support a great agricultural population. Its sole existence as a great and populous city depended on the presence of a court and its numerous retainers. So soon as the city was captured, and Tigranes stripped of his power, the place was emptied of its inhabitants, who returned to their respective abodes, and Tigranocerta, as Strabo informs us, was reduced almost to a desert. It however retained some importance till taken by the Arabs. The ruins of Tigranocerta, as the bey of the place told Kinnier, may be traced for 6 miles in length, from the banks of the Khabour to the village of Wamour. The present town is 2 miles from the banks of that river, and contains a college and Armenian church, and 3000 inhabitants, who are partly Mohammedans, and partly Christians of the Armenian, Chaldean, and Nestorian sects. The people in the place and vicinity are notorious thieves, though at the same time they are very hospitable to strangers. The customary dress of the Koords in the vicinity of Sert is a long robe; but in that of Betlis and Moosh they wear a sort of stuff stripped like Highland tartan. In every sense of the word, the chief of Sert is a powerful feudal lord, exactly resembling the chief of a Highland clan some centuries since. The geographical position of Sert is in 38° N. lat. and 42° 40′ E. long.

Jezeerah-ul-Omar.] To the S. of Sert, 10 British miles direct distance, is the Koordish principality of Jezeerah-ul-Omar, the Zabdicene of the ancients, inhabited by the Bottani Koords. It is a narrow stripe on the left bank of the Tigris, betwixt it and the range of Al-Judi, which separates it from the valley of the Hazirsu; in other words, it comprehends the valley of the Tigris, from its issue out of the narrow gorge formed by the junction of the Masius and Niphates, 12 miles above Jezeerah, S.E. to its junction with the Khaboor river, and the range of the ZakoDagh.—Jezeerah, the ancient Bezabde, is situated on an island in the Tigris, formed by a deep bend of the river. The island is low and sandy, surrounded on all sides by mountains, which reach close to the edge of the river. The city is little more than a mass of ruins, inhabited by the retainers of the hakim or chief, who is professedly a robber, and who extorted 2000 piastres from Kinnier and the caravan which he accompanied, plainly telling him, that, unless he paid it, he and all the caravan would be put to death. The abode of this Koordish villain, once a princely palace, is now a mass of ruins. The city is surrounded with a wall of black basalt, like that of Diarbekir, but it is now in a state of decay.

Naharvan.] About 18 miles S.E. of Jezeerah is Naharvan, a Chaldean village, at the base of the mountains of Al-Yudi, or the Juda-Dagh. These mountains are inhabited by Christians of the Nestorian, Chaldean, and Armenian sects.2 25

25 On this range the voice of ancient tradition declares the Sept-al-Nuh, or 'ark of Noah,' to have rested after the waghal-al-typhoon, or deluge, had ceased. This tradition is as ancient as the Chaldeans themselves, as Berosus declares; and is equally current amongst the Christians and Mohammedans of this district. A villager of Naharvan assured Kinnier that he had often seen the remains of Noah's ark on a lofty peak behind the village. This peak is the Themanin of the Orientals, signifying 'eighty,' be

Zaco. S.E. of Naharvan is the petty Koordish principality of Zaco, the residence of Capot-Pasha. It is situated on an island in the Khabour, 15 miles N.E. of its confluence with the Tigris, and corresponds to the Saccopodes of Strabo. The Khabour here bathes the N.W. base of the Zako mountains, a long and lofty range running nearly E. and W. The defile through this range into the plains of Assyria is 6 miles in length. Zaco is the most considerable place between Jezeerah and Mosul, and is surrounded by a fertile district which produces a great quantity of excellent fruits; and in the days of Xenophon, who passed this district in his famous retreat, the villages abounded in wines, and here were great quantities of provisions laid up for the satrap of the country.

The Baldinan Koords.] E. of the Bedlisi Koords are the Baldinan Koords, separated from them by the range of Al-Khabour. Amadia, their capital, is the ancient Marde. The Koordish chief of this principality, though nominally subject to the pasha of Bagdad, is in reality an independent hereditary prince, descended from the house of Al-Abbas, which for more than 5 centuries reigned at Bagdad, and whose successors have, ever since the expulsion of that dynasty from Bagdad, reigned at Amadia. He is one of the richest and most powerful chiefs in Koordistaun, and is sovereign over 31 districts, well-peopled, and rich in corn and wine, and inhabited by Koords, Nestorians, Chaldeans, and Catholics. Amadia is situated on a mountain, whose ascent occupies more than an hour, by a flight of narrow steps cut out of the rock. It is a large city, and has a great arched bazaar in the centre, full of merchants' shops. Many of the native Koords bring their tobacco and gall-nuts to sell here. The city is destitute of water, and the people are obliged to fetch it from springs half way down the hill. It is 72 miles N.N.W. of Mosul.

The Sciambo Koords.] N. of the Baldinan Koords, and S. of the Van lake, are the Sciambo Koords, whose capital is Julamerick. They are also denominated the Kiaree Koords, from the loftiest ridge of the Koordistaun mountains, which runs through this principality. This district contains a number of villages, but no towns except the capital. It is traversed throughout its whole extent by the Zab, the Zabatus of Xenophon. As very little, or rather nothing at all, is known of the interior geography of this tract, we can of course say nothing of the sources of the Zab, and of the many branches which compose its stream, whilst passing through the country of the Sciambo, before it pierces the southern range of the Koordistaun mountains, here called Choatras. The Kiaree river, which passes, or rather is said to pass, by Julamerick, is said to be the western branch, and the Zab the eastern branch. The latter rises on the S.W.

cause so many were saved in the ark according to Mohammedan tradition. Naharvan also obtained the same name for the same reason; for we are told that the emperor Heraclius ascended the mountain Al-Yudi from the town of Themanin, and saw the remains of the ark. Others again place the supposed site of the ark on the same range, but farther to the N. W. and 4 miles from Jezeerah-ul-Omar. Benjamin of Tudela tells us in his Itinerary that the island of Jezeerah was so called because Omar-ebnAdbelaziz removed the remains of the ark into it, and built a Mohammedan temple with them. There was formerly a Nestorian monastery, called the monastery of the ark, upon the Kardu or Al-Yudi mountains, where the Nestorians used to celebrate a festival on the supposed spot where the ark rested; but in 776 that monastery was destroyed by lightning, with the church and all the congregation there assembled. How either monasteries or churches could be erected on the summit of a snowy mountain, or how monks could live there, is impossible to divine,-as Buckingham, who saw these mountains, tells us that they are exceeding lofty, and covered with one unbroken sheet of snow for at least one-third of the way down from the summit, although it was then the hottest season of the year, and when the intense heat of the plains was more than a European could well endure. The same fact is testified by Mr Sullivan.

side of the snowy range which lies to the W. of the lake of Oormeeah,— and after passing by a place called Rauha in a S.W. direction, joins the Kiaree branch coming from the N. at or near the point where it pierces the range of Choatras, and enters the plains of Assyria.

Chaldean Christians.] The following particulars respecting a sect calling themselves Chaldean Christians were collected by Dr Walsh, chaplain to the British embassy at Constantinople, from the Chaldean bishop and other persons of note among that singular people :-" A sect of Christians, called by themselves Chaldeans, has, from the earliest ages of the gospel, inhabited the country on each side of the Tigris, at the foot and on the sides and summits of the great chain of mountains which lie to the E. of that river. Shut out from intercourse with the rest of the world by the nature of the place, they are never visited by travellers. The face of the country is partly plain, and partly mountainous; but the mountain-tract is by far the most extensive, and so very healthy, that the plague, which sometimes rages in the countries all around, has never been known to infect this district. The population consists of about 500,000 persons, who are all Christians. They are free, and are independent of the Arabs, Turks, Persians, or Tartars, in the midst of whom they are situated; and though several attempts have been made in different ages to subdue them, they have successfully repulsed them all. The last great effort was made by the Turks in the beginning of the 17th century, in which they lost 100,000 men, and 5 pashas, and have never since attempted to invade them. The Chaldeans constantly live with arms in their hands, to preserve their independence; and they do not lay them aside even when they assemble in the churches for divine service on Sundays. Their government is republican, and at the head of it is a patriarch, who exercises both a spiritual and civil jurisdiction. Their capital is Jolemark. It is surrounded by a strong wall, protected by European cannon, which were some time ago furnished to the patriarch by French engineers. It contains, in winter, about 12,000 inhabitants; the greater part of whom, in summer, emigrate to numerous villages, which are scattered on the neighbouring bills. The patriarch resides at Kosharis, situated on the banks of the Zabat. They possess several towns in the mountains. In the low country their principal city is Djeziras, situated in an island on the Tigris, on the confines of Diarbekir. This town was formerly as independent as the rest; lying, however, in a low, exposed situation, on the confines of Turkey, it has latterly been obliged to receive a Turkish pasha as a governor. In the other towns a few Turks only occasionally reside. The exercise of their religion is tolerated, but not openly; they have, therefore, no minarets, and the muezzan is never heard calling the people to prayer; and if any Turk is seen in the street on Sunday, during divine service, he is immediately put to death. They have no schools for the general education of their children, and no printed books among them: their knowledge, therefore, is very limited; and very few, even among the better classes, learn to read. Instruction is confined to the clergy, as the only persons in the community who require it; and when a man is disposed to study he must become a priest. He is then supplied with such manuscript works as they possess in the different churches and convents. Among these are the holy Scriptures, translated into their language, which, though not printed, are sufficiently (?) common in written copies. They do not themselves know at what time Christianity was first preached among them, or by whom. Very early missionaries from the college de Propa