Part 15 (2/2)
July had set in, and ere now in ”the eye of the summer” My companions had been unable to resist its heat One by one we dropped off with fever
The Doctor, after long suffering, had gone with Mr Walpole to the cooler regions of the Kurdish hills, there to wait until the state of the excavations ht enable me to join them Mr Cooper, too, had so much declined in health that I sent him to the convent of Mar Metti, on the summit of the Gebel Makloub Mr Horth we also gave way Fortunately our ague attacks did not coincide We were prostrate alternate days, and were, therefore, able to take charge alternately of the works By the 11th of July I had sent to Busrah the first collection of sculptures froe of fever, and half delirious, I left Mosul for the mountains
While necessarily absent, I determined to visit those parts of central Kurdistan not yet explored by European travellers, to devote some days to the examination of the ruins and cuneiform inscriptions in and near the city of Wan, and then to return to Mosul through the unexplored uplands to the south of the lake of Wan, and by such of the Nestorian valleys as I had not seen during my former journey in the mountains I should then spend the hottest part of the suain at Nineveh by Septein to decline
As few European travellers can brave the perpendicular rays of an assyrian sun, we struck our tents late in the afternoon, and got upon our horses at the foot of the mound of Kouyunjik as the sun went down With me were Hormuzd, my old servants, and the faithful Bairakdar Mr Cooper was to join us on the following day, and ere to seek the Doctor and Mr
Walpole at Akra
Five hours' ride over the plain brought us to the se of Bir Hillan (the well of stone), which stands on the south-eastern spur of the Makloub hills After two hours' rest we continued our journey, and crossed this spur beforethe Gebel Makloub, we descended into a broad plain, stretching froe, and soon found ourselves on the banks of the Ghazir, here a clear sparkling strea under their rosy blosso the heat of the day, near the se of Kaiain on our way in the afternoon
Instead of striking for the mountains by the direct path across the plain of Navkur, we rode along the foot of a range of low hills, fore of Bardaresh Having rested for a few hours, we descended in the e of the surrounding highlands, and during the rainy season almost impassable from mud Artificial mounds, the remains of ancient civilisation, but of sreat ruins of assyria, rise ast the hovels of the Kurdish peasants
After we had crossed the parched and burning plain we entered a valley in the Kurdish hills, watered by a strearound--rocky ridge and ravine--before reaching the slope of the ardens and orchards of Akra We tarried for a rotto, and collected into two large basins
We had no difficulty in finding our European fellow-travellers The first Kurd we arden; above its trees peered their white tents As we rode into it, however, no one came out to welcome us I entered the first tent, and there, stretched on their carpets, in a state of half-consciousness, the prey to countless flies, lay the Doctor and Mr Walpole It ith difficulty I could rouse them to learn the history of their fever The whole party were in the same state; the servants prostrate like theira syste ue, hich long experience had given me some acquaintance
Some days elapsed before e of the delay to visit soe of Gunduk There are two sculptured tablets in the rocks above Gunduk They have been carved at the mouth of a spacious natural cavern, whose roof is fretted with stalactites, and dohose sides trickles cool clear water, and hang dank ferns and creeping plants It is called Guppa d'Mar Yohanna, or the cure of St John, and near it is an ancient Nestorian church dedicated to Saint Audishi+o The bas-reliefs are assyrian The upper represents a oat with a spear In the lower, as far as I could distinguish the sculpture, which is high on the rock andeach other, and seated on stools Each holds a child above a kind of basin or circular vessel, as if in the act of baptizing it Behind the seated feure bears a third child, and is followed by a woroup of three persons, apparently sacrificing an animal There are no traces of inscriptions on or near the tablets
On the 17th July her ed for a cooler cliarden A precipitous and difficult path leads up the mountain From the summit of the pass, the eye wanders over the plains of Navkur and Sheikhan, the broken hill country around Arbil, and the windings of the Zab and the Ghazir On the opposite side is a deep valley dividing the Akra hills froh the valley ran a broad clear stream, one of the confluents of the Zab, called by the Kurds Durusho or Bairaisho[155] We rode along its banks for nearly an hour, and then struck into a narrow gorge thickly wooded with oak Another stony and precipitous pass was between us and the principal district of Zibari
Descending into the low country we rode by the village of Birikapra, the residence of Mustafa Agha, the forha, dwells at Heren, about two miles beyond He had lately been at Mosul to receive fro his visit had been uest His abilities and acquirements were above the ordinary Kurdish standard, which indeed is low enough; for, as the Arab proverb declares, ”Be the Kurd a Kurd or a prophet, he will still be a bear” He spoke Persian with fluency, and was not ignorant of Arabic As he ell acquainted with the geography of Kurdistan, I learnt fro to the less-known districts of the mountains
The chief welcoh forbidden to eat hiuests uncared for The breakfast brought to us from his harem comprised a variety of sweetmeats and savoury dishes, which did credit to the skill of the Kurdish ladies
I was the bearer of a letter to him from the Pasha: no acceptable communication, however, as it treated of new taxes, a subject very generally disagreeable, upon tobacco, cotton, and fruit, which the Zibari Kurds were now called upon for the first time to pay The salian, too, a kind of property tax, was raised from twenty-five to sixty thousand piastres (about 550_l_) The late successful expeditions against the chiefs of Bohtan and Hakkiari had encouraged the Porte to ask ha; and although no Turkish troops had yet entered their mountains, the Kurds deemed it advisable to comply for the present with the demand rather than run the risk of an invasion, and a still ha's authority extended over Zibari, shi+rwan, Gherdi, Baradost, and Shemdeena, from Akra to the Persian frontier These districts are occupied by different Kurdish tribes, each having its own chief; but they had then subh hiovernor of Mosul Naha, as ordered to escort us to the borders of the pashalic of Hakkiari, now occupied by the Turkish troops Our guide was a tall sinewy arh conical felt cap, which gives a peculiar and ungainly appearance to the inhabitants of central Kurdistan He was accompanied by three attendants, and all were on foot, the precipitous and rocky pathways of thescarcely practicable for horses, which are rarely kept but by the chiefs They carried their long rifles across their shoulders, and enorirdles
We left Heren early on thethe Zab rode for two hours along its banks, to a spot where a small raft had been made ready for us to cross the strea, and were coe of Rizan, near the ferry, as one of the baggage-mules refused to swim the strea
We now entered the tract which has probably been followed for ages by the rations Besides the sedentary population of these districts, there are certain nomade Kurdish tribe called Kochers, who subsist entirely by their flocks They are notorious petty thieves and robbers, and during their annual rations commit serious depredations upon the settled inhabitants of the district on their way, and more especially upon the Christians As they possess vast flocks of sheep and herds of cattle, their track has in most places the appearance of a beaten road, and is, consequently, well-fitted for beasts of burden
On the 21st July, crossing a high ridge, we left the district of Zibari, and entered that of shi+rhose chief, Miran Bey, came out to meet us at the head of his are of Bersiyah, situated beneath a bold and lofty peak called Piran Most of the villages in these mountains have small mud forts, with either four or six towers,--the places of refuge and defence of the nu their frequent broils and blood-feuds We e The uests, even in the intolerant families of the Kurds, as they make and refashi+on the orna peaks, is the large village of Khan-i-resh, with its orchards and gardens, the residence of the chief of the district of Baradost We reached it by a very rapid ascent in an hour and a half[156]
We were received by the Mir, Fezullah Bey,[157] in a spacious chamber, supported by wooden pillars, and co the valley, over which it coh quite restive under the Turkish control, he received Mullah Agha with civility, and read the letters of introduction froha, of which I was the bearer Like e used in Kurdistan for all written communications, and in books, except the Koran and a few pious works, which are in Arabic The Kurdish dialects are mere corruptions of the Persian, and are not, with rare exceptions, eht with hi of his breakfast, I continued hold of Beygishni
The nextwe crossed one of the shoulders of the lofty peak of Ser-i-Resh, into the valley of Chappata We were met on the way by a party of Nestorians, who had come out to see me, headed by the brother of the Bishop of Gherdi He walked by me as far as Zernin, the castle of the Kurdish chief, and then left a relation to guide us to the dwelling of the Bishop of Shemesdin or Shemdeena As usual, he complained of bitter oppression and injustice froe part of the Christian population across the frontiers into Persia
After enjoying the hospitality of Iahya Bey, the Mir of Gherdi, at the village of Rua, we left the naked hills which skirt the assyrian plains, and entered the wooded districts of Kurdistan On the following day we journeyed through a valley thick alnuts and other large trees, and followed the windings of a stream, called by the Kurds Shambo, one of the principal confluents of the Zab We crossed it, backwards and forwards, by wicker suspension bridges, until we ascended, through a forest of orchards watered by innue of Mousa Bey, the chief of Shes on an open lawn, and waited the return of an aged servant who had been disturbed by the noise of our caravan, and had undertaken to announce our arrival to his master