Part 20 (1/2)
Not far below, and on the sareat canal of the Naharwan, the wonder of Arab geographers, robbed the Tigris of a large portion of its waters
Below the Naharwan, ruins, walls, and dwellings, built chiefly of large pebbles, united by a strong cement, a mode of construction peculiar to the Sassanian and early Arab periods, stand on the alluvial cliffs They are called Eski, or old, Baghdad; the Arabs, as usual, assigning a more ancient site to the h, now rises above the eastern bank of the river An ascending inds round it on the outside like the spiral of a screw, re the traveller of the common ideal pictures of the Tower of Babel It marks the site of the ancient city of Samarrah, where the Ro a long summer's day It subsequently becahth caliph of the Abbasside dynasty Weary of the frequent seditions of the turbulent inhabitants of Baghdad, he resolved to change the seat of government, and chose Samarrah as his residence If he did not build, he beautified, the city, and displayed in it great nificence Thehouses surrounded by a mud wall, defended by bastions and towers
On both sides of the river, as the raft is carried gently along by the now sluggish current, the traveller sees hugebanks, or overhanging the precipice of earth which hems in the stream Here and there one sees the res and of the first Caliphs The place is still called Gadesia or Kadesia, and near it was fought that great battle which gave to the new nation issuing from the wilds of Arabia the dominion of the Eastern world
Reeon the west bank of the river, and still within sight of Samarrah, is known to the Arabs as the Sidd-ul-Nimroud, the wall or raentle at every broad reach, until the raft scarcely glides past the low banks The water has lost its clearness and its purity; tinged by the alluvial soil it has turned to a pale yellow color
The river at length widens into a noble streaether on the banks to gaze at the travellers A solitary raft of firewood for Baghdad floats, like ourselves, alroves If it be autu beneath the fan-like leaves; if spring, the odor of orange blossost the branches, begets a pleasingof listlessness and repose
The raft creeps round a projecting bank and two gilded do in the rays of an eastern sun, suddenly rise high above the dense bed of palms They are of the mosque of Kathimain, which covers the tombs of two of the Imaums or holy saints of the Sheeah sect
The low banks sith Arabs,--men, women, and naked children Mud hovels screened by yellowwater-wheels worked by the patient ox, are seen beneath the palris becomes wider and wider, and the stream is almost motionless Circular boats, of reeds coated with bitumen, skim over the water Horse the river side Turks in flowing robes and white turbans, Persians in high black caps and close-fitting tunics, the Bokhara pilgriarments, the Bedouin chief in his tasseled keffieh and striped aba, Baghdad ladies with their scarlet and white draperies fretted with threads of gold, and their black horsehair veils, concealing even their wanton eyes, Persian woirls in their siether in one motley crowd A busy streaates of the western suburb of Baghdad to the sacred precincts of Kathimain
A pine-shaped cone of snohiteness rises to the right; near it are one or two drooping pal over which they can no longer throw their shade This is the tomb of Zobeide, the lovely queen of Haroun-al-Reshi+d, a name that raises many a pleasant association, and recalls to memory a thousand romantic dreaovernor, an edifice of mean materials and proportions At its s the pasha himself and the various officers of his householdon their divans, ae of boats crosses the streath the chains are loosened, two or three of the rude vessels are withdrawn, and the rafts glide gently through A fewfolds of the British flag, opposite a handsohbours, but kept in repair with European neatness A small iron steamer floatsof the English Consul-general and political agent of the East India Co of the 26th October that I landed at the well-remembered quay of the British residency In the absence of Colonel Rawlinson, then in England, his political duties had been confided to Captain Kemball, now the East India Coreat kindness, and I acknowledge with gratitude the hospitality and effective assistance I invariably experienced frohdad, and my researches in Babylonia
More than ten years had passed since st those who then forhdad Dr Ross was no more In him Arab as well as European, rich as well as poor, Mohaenerous and faithful friend
Twelve years ago four stea the then almost unknown rivers of Mesopotalish colony in Baghdad Three of those vessels had long been withdrawn, one alone having been left to keep up a monthly coretted, however, that a vessel better suited to the navigation of the rivers has not been selected
The expedition under Col Chesney, and the subsequent ascent of the Euphrates, by far the ation, but accoreat skill by Captain Campbell of the East India Company's service, have proved that for ordinary purposes this river in its present condition is not navigable even in the lower part of its course The neglect to keep up the embankments has increased the obstacles, and it is doubtful whether a steamer of even the sreat marshes that absorb the waters of the Euphrates for nearly 200 ris at Korna The latter river is, for the present, navigable fro from three to four feet water almost as far as Tekrit, and probably, for vessels purposely constructed, as far as Niovernes in the course and condition of this strea vaulted bazars rich with the produce and merchandise of every clime, its mixed population of Turks, Arabs, Persians, Indians, and ardens, its painted palaces and unsightly hovels, its present nificence, have been so frequently described, that I will not detain the reader with any minute account of this celebrated city
Tyranny, disease, and inundations have brought it very low Nearly half of the space inclosed within its walls is now covered by heaps of ruins, and the population is daily decreasing, without the hope of change During ates without the risk of falling into the hands of wandering Arabs, who prowled unchecked over the plains, keeping the city itself al these drawbacks, the ihdad must at all times command a considerable trade It is a link between the East and the West; it is the store-house fro and their supplies, and it is the key to the holy places annually sought by thousands upon thousands of Persian pilgrims of the Sheeah sect[190]
The only remains of the Babylonian period hitherto discovered within the city walls are the ruins of an enore square bricks bearing the name of Nebuchadnezzar; the lofty pile of sundried bricks, intermixed with layers of reeds, called Akker-Kuf, which now rises in the ris, about four or five ates, has frequently been described During hdad it was not easy to reach this ruin on account of the swamp, and as it is merely a solid mass of mud masonry, excavations in it would scarcely have led to results of any interest or ihdad so overrun with Bedouins and other tribes in open revolt against the government, that it was some time before I could venture to leave the city for the ruins of Babylon Not to lose time, I employed the Jebours who had acco soates of the city, on the eastern bank of the Tigris The largest was called Tel Mohahdad, near the Arab village of Gherara The only objects of any interest discovered there were several hollow bronze balls, with the naraved upon thees of the assyrian Venus in baked clay, such as are found in s, some terracotta vases, and other relics of the same nature Foundations in brick masonry were also uncovered, but there were no traces of sculpture or inscriptions
[Illustration: Figures of assyrian Venus in baked Clay]
It was not until the 5th of Dece withcountry was still in the hands of the Arabs, two reasons for reovernor of the province, placed hiainst the rebellious tribes Before beginning his cae canal called the Hindiyah, in order to drain the vast marshes to the west of Babylon Into these inaccessible swamps the Arabs had driven their buffaloes, and there they defied the Turkish troops
Before going to Hillah I deterovernor, and to make acquaintance with several Sheikhs of the southern tribes friendly to the Turkish governhdad, accoentleman in the service of the Porte, and by one Ahent, active and faithful Arab of the tribe of the Agayl, who had long been in the service of Captain Jones His acquaintance with the country, and his connection by e with Ferhan the Shauide and cohdad, after fording ditches and wading through water and deep mud, in three hours' time we came to the caravanserai of Khan-i-Zad, where we found Timour Mirza, one of the exiled Persian princes He was surrounded by hawks of various kinds standing on perches fixed in the ground, and by nu a falcon on his wrist
Ast his own countrymen and the Arabs the prince held the first place as a sports in its ai, and he knew every hunting-ground within e in war than for skill in the chase, and his exploits in both are equally notorious a the tribes of Mesopotamia
The plains between Khan-i-Zad and the Euphrates are covered with a perfect network of ancient canals and watercourses; but ”a drought is upon the waters of Babylon, and they were dried”[191] Their lofty e lines until they are lost in the hazy distance, or e into mountains, still defy the hand of time, and seem rather the work of nature than of man The face of the country, too, is dotted with mounds and shapeless heaps, the re ride of ten hours through this scene of solitude and desolation brought us to the tents of the Pasha of Baghdad, pitched on the western bank of the Euphrates, below the village of Musseiyib, and on the inlet of the Hindiyah canal A string of boats had been placed across the river to connect the cahdad As we approached we heard a loud hum of human voices; but the whole encampment was concealed by dense clouds of dust Once over the bridge we found ourselves in the midst of a crowd of Turkish soldiers, Arabs, and work to and fro in wild disorder; so earth andunder the weight of bundles of brushwood, led with the men, and as they labored they chanted in a monotonous tone verses on the Pasha and their chiefs, i was building up the dam which was to shut out the waters of the Euphrates fro the rebellious tribes to obedience The nature of the materials and of the work did not, however, promise a very favorable or speedy result They had indeed no sooner raised half their frail barrier of earth and fascines, than the iht the fruits of a month's toil The Pasha had summoned to his aid all the tribes that still owned his authority; his tents were croith Arab Sheikhs from the plains, and Kurdish Beys froe body of irregular horse and foot coathered round hi day with Abde Pasha, as an ardent sports The Arab and Kurdish chiefs, ere in his caether a very gay and goodly coazelles, francolins, and several wild anile and the plains, and before we returned in the afternoon scarcely a horse from his saddle
The hawk most valued by Eastern sportsrine falcon, and esteeh the s, and is constantly the theme of Persian verse Those fro only brought by occasional pilgrims from Mecca, are very rare The next best are said to coht and trained when young It strikes its quarry in the air, and le
The next in value is the _Balaban_, which can be trained to strike its quarry either in the air or on the ground It is found in the neighbourhood of Baghdad and in other parts of Mesopotaazelles, hares, cranes, bustards, partridges, and francolins
The _Baz_ and _Shah Baz_ (? Astur paluoshawk, and the Falco lanarius) is ree and for its size It strikes in the air and on the ground, and, if well trained, ame