Part 9 (2/2)
On ive directions to the overseers for continuing the work during a prolonged absence which I meditated in the desert At Kouyunjik several new chareat hall, whose four sides were now cohty-two feet by twenty-six), the walls of which had unfortunately been almost entirely destroyed In the chainal places In length this room was the sahteen feet The bas-reliefs represented the siege and sack of one of the , and the transfer of its captives to some distant province of assyria The assyrians, as was their custoes of the Gods of the conquered nation, which were placed on poles and borne in procession on men's shoulders ”Hath any God of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of assyria?” exclaieneral to the Jews ”Where are the Gods of Hamath and Arphad? where are the Gods of Sepharvaim?”[100] They had been carried aith the captives, and the very idols that were represented in this bas-reliefallusion The captured Gods were three, a hu a long staff in one hand, and an ie inclosed by a square frareat hall the portal foruarded by colossal winged figures, led into a chamber one hundred feet by twenty-four, which opened into a further room of somewhat smaller di, to show that on the walls had been represented so, and, as usual, the triun The uards, was seen receiving the captives and the spoil in a hilly country, whilst his warriors were dragging their horses up a steepthe banks of a river, and slaying with the spear the flying enemy
The bas-reliefs, which had once ornamented the second chaments proved that they had recorded the wars of the assyrians with a maritime people, whose overthroas represented on more than one sculptured wall in the palace, and who may probably be identified with some nation on the Phoenician coast conquered by Sennacherib, and alleys, rowed by double banks of oarsh conical head-dress of their women, have already been described[101] On the best preserved slab was the interior of a fortified camp, amidst ed in various do in pots placed on stones over the fire, receiving the blood of a slaughtered sheep in a jar, andready the couches
Warriors were seated before a table, with their shi+elds hung to the tent-pole above thereat building, though so those formerly carried on, an additional chamber had been opened, in which several bas-reliefs of considerable interest had been discovered
Its principal entrance, facing the west, was formed by a pair of colossal human-headed lions, carved in coarse limestone, so much injured that even the inscriptions on the lower part of theible
Unfortunately the bas-reliefs were equallyany traces of sculpture One of the captives, who differed in costume from any other conquered people hitherto found on the walls of the palaces Their head-dress consisted of high feathers, for a kind of tiara like that of an Indian chief, and they wore a robe confined at the waist, by an orna a torch
Ayptians represented on their monuments is a tribe similarly attired Their name has been read Tokkari, and they have been identified with an Asiatic nation We have seen that in the inscriptions on the bulls, the Tokkari are st the people conquered by Sennacherib[102], and it is highly probable that the captives in the bas-reliefs I araph, or vestige of an inscription, remained on the sculptures themselves, to enable us to identify them
[Illustration: A captive (of the Tokkari?) Kouyunjik]
On a second slab, preserved in this chaateways, and inclined approaches leading to them from the outer walls Within arriors with horses; outside the fortifications was a narrow strea into a broad river, on which were large boats, holding several persons, and a raft of skins, bearing a , and two others seated before a pot or caldron Along the banks, and apparently washed by the stream, was a ith equidistant towers and battlements
On another part of the sa horses across the river in boats, whilst others were swi over on inflated skins The water swarmed with fish and crabs Gardens and orchards, with various kinds of trees, appeared to be watered by canals similar to those which once spread fertility over the plains of Babylonia, and of which the choked-up beds still re lowered into the water Upon the corner of a slab alarden, supported upon columns, whose capitals were not unlike those of the Corinthian order This representation of ornaretted that the bas-reliefs had sustained too much injury to be restored or removed
CHAPTER XI
PREPARATIONS FOR A JOURNEY TO THE KHABOUR--SCULPTURES DISCOVERED THERE--SHEIKH SUTTUM--HIS REDIFF--DEPARTURE FROM MOSUL--FIRST ENCAMPMENT--ABOU KHAMEERA--A STORM--TEL ERMAH--A STRANGER--TEL JEMAL--THE CHIEF OF TEL AFER--A SUNSET IN THE DESERT--A JEBOUR ENCAMPMENT--THE BELLED SINJAR--THE SINJAR HILL--MIRKAN--BUKRA--THE DRESS OF THE YEZIDIS--THE SHOMAL--OSSOFA--ALDINA--RETURN TO THE BELLED--A SNAKE-CHARMER--JOURNEY CONTINUED IN THE DESERT--RISHWAN--ENCAMPMENT OF THE BORAIJ--DRESS OF ARAB WOMEN--RATHAIYAH--A DEPUTATION FROM THE YEZIDIS--ARAB ENCAMPMENTS--THE KHABOUR--MOHAMMED EMIN--ARRIVAL AT ARBAN
I had long wished to visit the banks of the Khabour This river, the Chaboras of the Greek geographers, and the Habor, or Chebar, of the Samaritan captivity[103], rises in the north of Mesopota to the west of the Sinjar hill, falls into the Euphrates near the site of the ancient city of Carchemish[104] or Circesium, still known to the Bedouins by the nah the midst of the desert, and its rich pastures are the resort of wandering tribes of Arabs, it is always difficult of access to the traveller It was examined, for a short distance from its eneral course of the river was iraphical questions of interest connected with it were undetermined previous to uests at Mosul or Nirounds were originally on its banks, the Khabour was a constant theerated praise The richness of its pastures, the beauty of its flowers, its jungles teea an agreeable shade during the hottest days of su Arab eagerly turned his steps when he could lead his flocks thither in safety My old friend Sheikh Moha invited me to visit him, and sent me word that two colossal idols, similar to those of Nimroud, had suddenly appeared in a mound by the river side, I did not hesitate, but determined to start at once for the Khabour
As the Shammar Bedouins were scattered over the desert between Mosul and the Khabour, and their horsemen continually scoured the plains in search of plunder, it was necessary that we should be protected and accoly ements with Suttum, a Sheikh of the Boraij, one of the principal branches of the Shammar, whose tents were at that time pitched between the river and the ruins of El Hather, and punctual to his appointht his camels to Mosul on the 19th of March He was accompanied by Khoraif, his _rediff_, as the person who sits on the dromedary[105] behind the principal rider is called by the Bedouins Areat nomade tribes of the Shammar and Aneyza, the word ”rediff” frequently infers a more intimate connection than a mere companionshi+p on a camel It is customary with them for a warrior to swear a kind of brotherhood with a person not only not related to him by blood, but frequently even of a different tribe Two ether to war, they live in the same tent, and are allowed to see each other's wives They become, indeed, more than brothers Khoraif was of the tribe of the Aneyza, who have a deadly feud with the Shammar, and was consequently able to render equal services to any of his old or new friends, who ht fall into each other's hands It is on this account that a warrior generally chooses his rediff from a warlike tribe hich he is at enmity, for if taken in war, he would then be _dakheel_, that is, protected, by the family, or rather particular sept, of his companion On the other hand, should one of the rediff's friends become the prisoner of the sub-tribe into which his kinsman has been adopted, he would be under its protection, and could not be , on the naked back of the anis crouched up almost to his chin--a very uncomfortable position for one not accustoh motion
As our desert trip would probably last forwhich ties, or pered to take with us supplies of all kinds, both for ourselves and the workhoul (prepared wheat, to be used as a substitute for rice), and biscuits, fore Various luxuries, such as sugar, coffee, tea, and spices, with robes of silk and cotton, and red and yellow boots, together with baskets, tools for excavating, tents, and working utensils, fore
As it was ht see on our way, I chose about fifty of my best Arab excavators, and twelve Tiyari, or Nestorians, to accompany us They were to follow on foot, but one or two extra caue to keep up with the caravan After the usual noise and confusion in settling the loads on the caot ready to set out
I did not leave the town until nearly an hour and a half after the caravan, to give time for the loads to be finally adjusted, and the line of march to be forate, our party had swollen into a little army The Doctor, Mr Cooper, and Mr
Hormuzd Rassam, of course, with other friends, accoe of the camels, so that, with the workmen and servants, our caravan consisted of nearly one hundred well-armed men; a force sufficient to defy almost any hostile party hich ere likely to fall in during our journey Hussein Bey, the Yezidi chief, and many of our friends, as it is custoe; and my excellent friend, the Rev Mr Ford, an Americanunder our tents in the desert
Suttuht fleet dro expedition froh and picturesque saddle was profusely ornamented with brass bosses and nails; over the seat was thrown the Baghdad double bags adorned with long tassels and fringes of many-colored wools, so eneral direction and superintendence of our march The Mesopotamian desert had been his ho and pasture He was of the Saadi, one of the most illustrious fareat personal influence in the tribe His intelligence was of a very high order, and he was as well known for his skill in Bedouin intrigue, as for his courage and daring in war In person he was of ht, of spare habit, but well h a h, froht laular and well proportioned, and of that delicate character so frequently found a eye of the deepest black spoke the innerwithin its ken His dark hair was platted into eneral, was scanty He wore the usual Arab shi+rt, and over it a cloak of blue cloth, trimmed with red silk and lined with fur, a present from soreat man's wardrobe that had been appropriated without its owner's consent He was the very picture of a true Bedouin Sheikh, and his liveliness, his wit, and his singular powers of conversation, which reeable of coeneralzeal and activity, the loading and unloading of the aniht watches, which are highly necessary in the desert
As ound slowly over the low rocky hills to the west of the town of Mosul, in a long straggling line, our caravan had a strange and motley appearance; Europeans, Turks, Bedouins, town-Arabs, Tiyari, and Yezidis, were , by difference of costueneral picturesqueness and gaiety of the scene
The Tigris, from its entrance into the low country at the foot of the Kurdish mountains near Jezireh, to the ruined town of Tekrit, is separated froe of low liround for about an hour and a half, and then descended into the plain of Zerga, encae There is now scarcely one perris frohdad, with the exception of Mosul and Tekrit One of the able for nearly six hundred miles, has been turned into a desert and a wilderness, by continued lect
The loads had not yet been fairly divided ast the camels, and the sun had risen above the horizon, before the Bedouins had arranged them to their satisfaction, and were ready to depart The plain of Zerga was carpeted with tender grass, scarcely yet forward enough to afford pasture for our aniht scarlet hue, the earliest flower of the spring
A ride of three hours and a quarter brought us to a second line of limestone hills, the continuation of the Tel Afer and Sinjar range, dividing the sa from the true Mesopotas, the vast level country, stretching to the Euphrates, lay a map beneath le eroup of ruins was called Abou Khameera, and consisted of a lofty, conical e of earth, , as at Kouyunjik and Niht or ten of my workmen, under a Christian superintendent, had been for so in the ruins of Abou Khameera I therefore ordered the tents to be pitched near the reedy streaalloped to the eneral plan the ruins closely resemble those of Mokhamour in the Tai country[107] The workmen had opened deep trenches and tunnels in several parts of the principal ruin, and had found walls of sun-dried brick, unsculptured alabaster slabs, and soates, similar to those discovered at Niypsust the rubbish bore no inscriptions, nor could I, after the ning the ruins to the assyrian period