Part 3 (2/2)
Only one wife is strictly lawful, although the chief takes more; but concubines are not forbidden The wife reat misconduct, and the husband, with the consent of the Sheikhs, ain; but the discarded wife never can Even such divorces ought only to be given in cases of adultery; for formerly, when the Yezidis administered their own temporal laws, the as punished with death, and the husband of course was then released
The religious, as well as the political, head of all Yezidis, wherever they may reside, is Hussein Bey, who is called the Kalifa, and he holds this position by inheritance As he is young and inexperienced, he deputes his religious duties to Sheikh Nasr Sheikh Nasr is only the chief of the Sheikhs of the district of Sheikhan The Cawals are all of one family, and are under the orders of Hussein Bey, who sends them periodically to collect the voluntary contributions of the various tribes The amount received by theoes to the support of the tomb of Sheikh Adi, and half of the other to Hussein Bey, the re equally shared by the Cawals Neither the priests nor Hussein Bey ever shave their beards They ought not to h the men do not observe this rule very strictly, the woe to one out of the rank of the priesthood Hussein Bey ought to take his wife fro
After death, the body of a Yezidi, like that of a Moha water, and then buried with the face turned towards the north star
I have stated that it is unlawful ast the Yezidis to kno to read or write This, I anorance arises from want of means and proper teachers Formerly a Chaldaean deacon used to instruct the children Cawal Yusuf st the Yezidis, the ancient name for God was Azed, and from it he derived the name of his sect Their Kublah, he declared, was the polar star and not the east
On my way to Mosul from Sheikh Adi, I visited the ruins of Jerraiyah, where excavations had been again carried on by one of s were discovered The principal mound is lofty and conical in shape, and the base is surrounded by sularities in the soil which denote the re my residence in assyria to examine the spot as fully as it may deserve
[Illustration: Mound of Nimroud]
CHAPTER V
RENEWAL OF EXCAVATIONS AT KOUYUNJIK--FIRST VISIT TO NIMROUD--STATE OF RUINS--RENEW EXCAVATIONS IN MOUND--VISIT OF COLONEL RAWLINSON--MR H RassAM--THE JEBOUR WORKMEN AT KOUYUNJIK--DISCOVERIES AT KOUYUNJIK--SCULPTURES REPRESENTING MOVING OF GREAT STONES AND WINGED BULLS--METHODS ADOPTED--EPIGRAPHS ON BAS-RELIEFS OF MOVING BULLS--SCULPTURES REPRESENTING INVASION OF MOUNTAINOUS COUNTRY, AND SACK OF CITY--DISCOVERY OF GATEWAY--EXCAVATION IN HIGH CONICAL MOUND AT NIMROUD--DISCOVERY OF WALL OF STONE--VISIT TO KHORSABAD--DISCOVERY OF SLAB--STATE OF THE RUINS--FUTHLIYAH--BAAZANI--BAASHEIKHAH
We were again in Mosul by the 12th of October The Jebours, ht their families to the town I directed them to cross the river, and to pitch their tents over the excavations at Kouyunjik, as they had formerly done around the trenches at Nimroud The Bedouins, unchecked in their forays by the Turkish authorities, had become so bold, that they ventured to the very walls of Mosul, and I felt it necessary to have a strong party on the ruins for self-defence The Jebours were, however, on good terst them
About one hundred workmen, divided into twelve or fourteen parties, were employed at Kouyunjik The Arabs, as before, removed the earth and rubbish, whilst the more difficult labor with the pick was left entirely to the Nestorian mountaineers My old friend, Yakoub, the Rais of Asheetha, was named superintendent of the Tiyari workmen, for whom I builtbeen thus begun at Kouyunjik, I rode with Hormuzd to Nimroud for the first time on the 18th of October It seemed but yesterday that we had followed the sae, and found in each old acquaintances ready to welcome us From the crest of the hill half way, the first view of Niazed so often from this spot, and hich soboldly above the Jaif, the river winding through the plain, the distant wreaths of ses of Naifa and Ni, though somewhat in ruins, for it had been the habitation of the Kiayah duringin the rooms, my tent was pitched in the court-yard, and I dwelt entirely in it
The village had still, co appearance, and had not diminished in size since my last visit The _tanzimat_, or reformed system of local administration, had been introduced into the pashalic of Mosul, and although ulations were evaded, and arbitrary acts were still occasionally committed, yet on the whole a s of the authorities with the subjects of the Sultan The great cause of complaint was the want of security The troops under the command of the Pasha were not sufficient in number to keep the Bedouins in check, and there was scarcely a village in the low country which had not suffered more or less from their depredations Nimroud was particularly exposed to their incursions, and the inhabitants lived in continual agitation and alarst the ruins The e
There it rose from the plain, the same sun-burnt yellow heap that it had stood for twenty centuries The earth and rubbish, which had been heaped over the excavated chambers and sculptured slabs, had settled, and had left uncovered in sinking the upper part of several bas-reliefs A few colossal heads of winged figures rose caled bulls, which had not been reburied on account of their round of the north-west palace, that great storehouse of assyrian history and art
Collecting together my old excavators from the Shemutti and Jehesh (the Arab tribes who inhabit Nimroud and Naifa), and froered round the village to glean a scanty subsistence after the harvest, I placed workmen in different parts of the mound The north-west palace had not been fully explored Most of the chambers which did not contain sculptured slabs, but were simply built of sundried bricks, had been left unopened I consequently directed a party of workmen to resume the excavations where they had been formerly abandoned New trenches were also opened in the ruins of the centre palace, where, as yet, no sculptures had been discovered in their original position against the walls The high conicalthe north-west corner of Nimroud, the pyramid as it has usually been called, had always been an object of peculiar interest, which want ofWith the exception of a shaft, about forty feet deep, sunk nearly in the centre, and passing through a solidhad been ular ruin I now ordered a tunnel to be carried into its base on the western face, and on a level with the conglomerate rock upon which it rested
As I ascended the roup of travellers on its summit, their horses picketted in the stubble Ere I could learn what strangers had thus wandered to this reion, my hand was seized by the faithful Bairakdar Beneath, in an excavated cha cloak, was Rawlinson deep in sleep, wearied by a long and harassing night's ride For the first tis of old friendshi+p there was ether, and ues of the journey had, however, brought on fever, and ere soon co the principal excavations, to take refuge froe The attack increasing in the evening it was deemed prudent to ride into Mosul at once, and wetwo days Col Rawlinson was too ill to visit the excavations at Kouyunjik On the third we rode together to the mound After a hasty survey of the ruins we parted, and he continued his journey to Constantinople and to England, to reap the laurels of a well-earned fame
My readers would be wearied were I to relate, day by day, the progress of the excavations, and to record, as they were gradually ive a more complete idea of the results of the researches to describe the sculptured walls of a whole cha, one by one, as dug out, bas-reliefs which form but part of the sa the months of October and November, my time was spent between Kouyunjik and Nimroud, and that the excavations were carried on at both places without interruption Mr Cooper was occupied in drawing the bas-reliefs discovered at Kouyunjik, living in Mosul, and riding over daily to the ruins To Mr Hormuzd Rassam, who usually accoeneral superintendence of the operations, the payment of the workmen, the settlement of disputes, &c
His services were invaluable, and of the greatest consequence to the success of my labors
The Arab workes varied according to their respective occupations, as well as according to the tienerally paid weekly by Horers, ere exposed to very severe labor, and even to considerable risk, received from two piastres and a half to three piastres (from 5_d_ to 6_d_) a-day; those who filled the baskets froeneral workmen from one and a half to two piastres The earth, when removed, was sifted by boys, who earned about one piastre for their day's labor These wages may appear low, but they are amply sufficient for the support of a family in a country where the camel-load of wheat (nearly 480 lbs) is sold for about four shi+llings, and where no other protection from the inclemencies of the weather is needed than a linen shi+rt and the black folds of an Arab tent[31]
The Kouyunjik workalleries, so chosen for the purpose; those of Nie A scene of wild confusion ensued on these occasions, froue a sad want of order andbusiness usual in the country When there was a difference of opinion, he who cried the loudest gained the day, and after a desperate struggle of voicesperfectly satisfied Screanify ill will, or even serious disagreest the Turks, who are staid and dignified to a proverb, the most ordinary transactions cannot be carried on, and they are frequently rather symptoms of friendshi+p than of hostility
By the end of November several entire chambers had been excavated at Kouyunjik, and reat interest had been discovered The four sides of the hall, part of which has already been described,[32] had now been explored[33] In the centre of each side was a grand entrance, guarded by colossal hunificent hall was no less than 124 feet in length by 90 feet in breadth, the longest sides being those to the north and south It appears to have formed a centre, around which the principal charouped Its walls had been cohly-finished sculptures Unfortunately all the bas-reliefs, as well as the gigantic monsters at the entrances, had suffered more or less froh of them still remained to show the subject, and even to enable me in e leading froreat hall at the south-west corner had been completely explored Its sculptures have already been described[35] It opened into a chaes The one to the as entered by a wide doorway, in which stood two plain spherical stones about three feet high, having the appearance of the bases of coluh no traces of any such architectural ornament could be found This was the entrance into a broad and spacious gallery, about 218 feet long and 25 wide A tunnel at its western end, cut through the solid wall, as there was no doorway on this side of the gallery, led into the cha the
I have already described the bas-reliefs representing the conquest of a reat hall[36] The same subject was continued on the western wall, without much variety in the details But on the northern, the sculptures differed from any others yet discovered, and from their interest and noveltya description of thereat hall, as the sculptures still preserved in it form part of and complete this iallery had been entirely destroyed, except at the eastern end; and from the fehich still remained, every trace of sculpture had been carefully re the opposite wall (that to the right on leaving the great hall) only eight bas-reliefs still stood in their original position, and even of these only the lower part was preserved Detached fragments of others were found in the rubbish, and froallery had been occupied by one continuous series, representing the different processes adopted by the assyrians in s, and especially the hue stone in the rough froantic sculptures in the gateways of the palace-te in his chariot, superintending the operations, and work carts loaded with coils of ropes, and various i the colossi
I will com in their original position in the gallery A huge block of stone (probably of the alabaster used in the assyrian edifices), soated in for on a low flat-botto on a river It has probably been towed down the Tigris from some quarry, and is to be landed near the site of the intended palace, to be carved by the sculptor into the forth, projecting beyond both the head and stern, and is held by upright beams fastened to the sides of the vessel, and kept fires Two cables are passed through holes cut in the stone itself, and a third is tied to a strong pin projecting froe body of men, who pull by means of small ropes fastened to it and passed round their shoulders Some of these trackers walk in the water, others on dry land The nuether represented must have been nearly 300, about 100 to each cable, and they appear to be divided into distinct bands, each distinguished by a peculiar costuh which their long hair is gathered behind; the heads of others are encircled by a fringed shahose ends hang over the ears and neck, leaving the hair to fall in long curls upon the shoulders Many are represented naked, but the greater nue attached to the girdle They are urged on by taskmasters armed with swords and staves The boat is also pushed by ulates the whole proceedings, is seated astride on the fore-part of the stone His hands are stretched out in the act of giving commands