Part 10 (1/2)
One of those furious and sudden storms, which frequently sweep over the plains of Mesopotaht Whilst incessant lightnings broke the gloo wind alth of the Arabs could scarcely hold the flapping canvass of the tents Rain descended in torrents, sparing us no place of shelter Towards dawn the hurricane had passed away, leaving a still and cloudless sky When the round clear sun rose frohtful called sensations of pleasure and repose
The vegetation was farthe day's journey than in the plain of Zerga We trod on a carpet of the brightest verdure, audy flowers On all sides of us rose lofty assyrian reat distance, and the best of landuide the Bedouin in his yearly wanderings[108]
Tel Ermah, ”thefar above the surrounding ruins As it was a little out of the direct line ofKhoraif to protect the caravan, rode with me to the spot The mound is precisely similar in character to Abou Khale of earthen walls I was unable to find any inscribed frag the ruins, Suttu the plain with his eagle eye At length it rested upon a distant h with a telescope I could scarcely distinguish that to which he pointed, the Sheikh saw that it was a rider on a droer with that eager curiosity and suspicion always shown by a Bedouin, when the solitude of the desert is broken by a hunorant Suttum soon satisfied himself as to the character of the solitary wanderer He declared hier from his own tribe, who had been sent to lead us to his father's tents Mounting his horse, he galloped towards hi horseman, and then commenced on both sides a series of manoeuvres practised by those who meet in the desert, and are as yet distrustful of each other I marked the, noing nigh, and then pretending to ride away in an opposite direction At length, recognising one another, they ether towards us As Suttuer had been sent to him from his father's tribe, to say that their tents would be pitched in three or four days beneath the Sinjar hill
Fro boldly on an eminence about tenour roup of mounds known as Tel Jereen lawn, enamelled with flowers, that furnished a carpet for our tents unequalled in softness of texture, or in richness of color, by the looms of Cashmere
The tents had scarcely been raised when a party of horse towards us As they approached our enca to and fro on their well-trained mares
They were the principal inhabitants of Tel Afer with Ozair Agha, their chief, who brought us a present of laht chestnut mare of beautiful proportions and rare breed His dress, as well as that of his followers, was singularly picturesque His people are Turcomans, a solitary colony in the h their connection with the Bedouins has taught the tribes, yet they still wear the turban ofrobes of their ancestors They allow their hair to grow long, and to fall in curls on their shoulders
As the evening crept on, I watched froradually sank in unclouded splendor below the sea-like expanse before me
On all sides, as far as the eye could reach, rose the grass-covered heaps reat tide of civilisation had long since ebbed, leaving these scattered wrecks on the solitary shore Are those waters to flow again, bearing back the seeds of knowledge and of wealth that they have wafted to the West? We wanderers were seeking what they had left behind, as children gather up the colored shells on the deserted sands Atned in the vast plain around, where the only thing having life or thened before the declining sun Above three years before, when, watching the approach of night from the old castle of Tel Afer, I had counted nearly one hundred ruins[109], nohen in the midst of them, no less than double that nu the lip of a natural aha and his Turcoreensward in earnest talk with the Arab chief, the horses picketed in the long grass, the Bedouins driving horooround to a picture of perfect cale of the Sinjar hills, furroith countless ravines, eachinto the evening haze
We had a long day's e of Sinjar The wilderness appeared still more beautiful than it had done the day before
The recent storetation which, concealed beneath a crust of apparently fruitful earth, only waits for a spring shower to burst, as if by enchantrew patches of a shrub-like plant with an edible root, having a sharp pungent taste likethe froreyhounds coursed hares; the horsemen followed a wild boar of enore; and the Doctor, as the sportsman of the party, shot a bustard, with a beautiful speckled plu feathers round its neck
We rode in a direct line to the Belled Sinjar, the residence of the governor of the district There was no beaten track, and the ca as they went the young grass The horsemen and footaeneral hilarity prevailed The more sedate Bedouins smiled in contempt at these noisy effusions of joy, only worthy of tribes who have touched the plough; but they indulged in no less keen, though ht the general enthusias
As we drew near to the foot of the hills we found a large enca to Sheikh Abdul-Azeez, and partly by a Sinjar tribe called Mendka, under a chief known as the ”Effendi,” who enjoys considerable influence in this district
I dismounted at a short distance froood ht, after alighting near a tent, would be thought a grave slight upon its owner The caravan continued its journey towards the village I was soon surrounded by the principal people of the cast them was one of round in the desert
It ith difficulty that I resisted the entreaties of the Effendi to partake of his hospitality, and we did not reach the Belled until after the sun had gone down, the caravan having been ten hours in unceasing overnor of the district, who resides in a small modern castle built on the hill-side, ca to the household of Kiamil Pasha, and complained bitterly of his solitude, of the difficulties of collecting the taxes, and of dealing with the Bedouins who haunted the plains He was almost shut up within the walls of his wretched fort, in coarrison of a score of half-starved Albanians This state of things was chiefly owing to the misconduct of his predecessor, hen the inhabitants of the Sinjar were quiet and obedient, had treacherously seized two of their principal chiefs, Mahmoud and Murad, and had carried them in chains to Mosul, where they had been thrown into prison A deputation having been sent to obtain their release, I had been able to intercede with Kiamil Pasha in their behalf, and now bore to their followers the welcome news of their speedy return to their ho, I returned the visit of the governor, and, fros of the principal objects in the plain The three ree of Kebriteeyah, behind Abou Khameera, were still visible in the extreme distance, and enabled me to fix with some accuracy the position of many ruins About four or five roup ofthat of Abou Khameera, called by the Bedouins simply the ”Hosh,” the courtyard or inclosure
The ruins of the ancient town, known to the Arabs as ”El Belled,” or _the_ city, are divided into two distinct parts by a range of rocky hills, which, however, are cleft in the centre by the bed of a torrent, for a narrow ravine between them The ruins are, undoubtedly, those of the town of Sinjar, the capital of an Arab principality in the time of the Caliphs
Its princes frequently asserted their independence, coined hbourhood of Mosul The province was included within the dominions of the celebrated Saleh-ed-din (the Saladin of the Crusades), and was more than once visited by hiara of the Romans
On coins struck under the Ey with that of the empress Tranquillina, this city is represented by a fe a mural crown surmounted by a centaur, seated on a hill _with a river at her feet_ (?) According to the Arab geographers, the Sinjar was celebrated for its paler found there, nor does it bear fruit, I believe, anywhere to the north of Tekrit in Mesopotaes of the _Shomal_, or northern side of the mountain, and at the same time to put an end, if possible, to the bloodshed between their inhabitants, and to induce theovernor, I quitted the Belled in the afternoon, accompanied by Cawal Yusuf and his Yezidi companions, Mr and Mrs R, the Doctor, and Mr
Cooper We followed a precipitous pathway along the hill-side to Mirkan, the village destroyed by Tahyar Pasha on my first visit to the Sinjar[110] Mirkan was in open rebellion, and had refused both to pay taxes and to receive the officer of the Pasha of Mosul I was, at first, somewhat doubtful of our reception Esau, the chief, came out, however, to meet me, and led us to his house We were soon surrounded by the principal e They were also at ith the tribes of the ”Shomal”
Seconded by Cawal Yusuf, I endeavored to st thethened discussion the chief consented to accoe of Bukra, hose inhabitants his people had been for some time at war
Mirkan had been partly rebuilt since its destruction three years before; but the ruins and charred timbers of houses still occupied much of its former site There are two pathways froh narrow valleys, the other crossing the shoulder of the mountain I chose the latter, as it enabledcountry, and to take bearings of many points of interest Near the crest of the hill we passed a white conical building, shaded by a grove of trees It was the tomb of the father of Murad, one of Yusuf s companions, a Cawal of note, who had died near the spot of the plague so with the horns of sheep, slain in sacrifice, by occasional pilgrims
I had little anticipated the beauty and extent of the viehich opened round us on the top of the pass The Sinjar hill is a solitary ridge rising abruptly in the es on one side over the vast level wilderness stretching to the Euphrates, and on the other over the plain bounded by the Tigris and the lofty mountains of Kurdistan Nisibin and Mardin were both visible in the distance I could distinguish the hills of Baadri and Sheikh Adi, and many well-known peaks of the Kurdish Alps Behind the lower ranges, each distinctly marked by its sharp, serrated outline, were the snow-covered heights of Tiyari and Bohtan Whilst to the south of the Sinjar artificial uish but few such renificent scene lighted up by the setting sun I have rarely seen any prospect more impressive than these boundless plains viewed from a considerable elevation Besides the idea of vastness they convey, the light and shade of passing clouds flitting over the face of the land, and the shadows as they lengthen towards the close of day, produce constantly changing effects of singular variety and beauty[111]
It was night before we reached Bukra, where elcoe had been made ready for us, and was scrupulously neat and clean, as the houses of the Yezidis usually are The elders of Bukra came to me after we had dined, and seated themselves respectfully and decorously round the room They were not averse to the reconciliation I proposed, received the hostile chief without hesitation, and proe of Ossofa, hich they were also at war In the e They were all neat and clean The wo their faces, which are, however, far froular, and their complexion sallow Those who are married dress entirely in white, with a white kerchief under their chins, and another over their heads held by the _agal_, or woollen cord, of the Bedouins The girls hite shi+rts and drawers, but over the silk dresses, open in front, and confined at the waist by a girdle ornaay kerchiefs round their heads, and adorn thelass and amber beads, when their parents are able to procure them But the Yezidis of the Sinjar are now very poor, and nearly all the trinkets of the wo since fallen into the hands of the Turkish soldiery, or have been sold to pay taxes and arbitrary fines Theeyes, and frequently a fierce and forbidding countenance They are of sly knit together, and are ue Their dress consists of a shi+rt, loose trowsers and cloak, all white, and a black turban, frolets