Part 23 (2/2)

Our course was nearly due east About sixsand-hills, extending far and wide on all sides

The fine sand shi+fts with every breeze, and the wrinkled heaps are like the rippled surface of a lake When the furious southerly wind sweeps over the Arab, and leaving him to perish in the trackless labyrinth

After four hours' ride we left the sand-heaps, and again ca to drink water we proceeded to a sht in thehis poverty, received us very hospitably He related toplains were frequently taken, after rain had washed away the soil, earthen jars and coffins containing ornaold and silver

As we continued our journey during the following day, still keeping in the Desert, we passed one or two small encampments of the Zobeide tribe The Arabs, alar us to be horsemen on a foray, sallied forth totheir weapons and chanting their ar-cry The plain, although noithout any stationary population, was once thickly inhabited The lion, the hyena, the wolf, the jackal, the wild boar, the fox, and the porcupine now alone break the solitude of a wilderness once the seat of the most luxurious and civilised nation of the East

It would be needless to describe the few deserted villages we passed during our day's journey; theirArab, are unable to resist the encroaching sand, which has already overwhelion the habitations of men are turned almost in a day to mere heaps of earth The district is called Shomali

After a ride of six hours we reached an ancient mound of considerable size, called Haroun On its summit was a ruined Imaum-zadeh (Mussulman oratory) It was a sacred place to the Arab, and on this account had been used as a burying-place The grave of the wandering Arab is rarely far beneath the surface of the soil, and the wild beasts of the Desert soon scrape away the scanty earth Human skulls and remains, scarcely yet bleached by the sun, were scattered over the ruins, lass, and other relics of ancient population

We had scarcely passed Haroun when a party of Arabs on horseback and on foot suddenly came forth from behind the lofty banks of a dry canal They had seen our caravan from afar, and had waylaid us After they had followed us for so it prudent not to venture an attack, as ere fully prepared for theazelle rose from a thicket, and bounded across the plain Seyyid Jasiht of horseathered round a s to a chief called Karboul The uides, however, soon made themselves known to the a wild dance, shouting their war-cries, singing war-songs, and firing theirthan the shi+rt taken off their shoulders and tied round their loins Their countenances were singularly ferocious, their bright eyes and white teethblack matted hair was scattered over their heads in horrid confusion, and their bodies were tanned by the burning sun to the color and substance of old leather

Their Sheikh, Karboul, was scarcely less savage in his appearance, though soht have been towards Europeans, or travellers in general, he acknowledged the protection that had been extended to us by the Afaij chief, and led me ords of welcome to his spacious tent His followers, excited by the late alarm, and now full of warlike enthusiasm, were not, however, to be dis various warlike dances

They did so in circles before the tent, raising a few tattered flags, and deafening s, little better than mere beasts, lived in hovels e herds of buffaloes; but the greater part of their sheep and cattle had been driven away by the Bedouins Their tribe was the Shabaneh, a branch of the Ahl Ukra

NextKarboul sent his son and a party of horsemen to escort us for some distance on our road We had to make a considerable circuit to the east to encompass the marsh, which has now spread over the lower part of the Mesopotamian plain We passed nulass and other relics that er fed by the Euphrates, everywhere crossed our path, and limited our view The parched soil outside the swamp has become fine sand, amidst which setation

After two hours' ride, we e a heap of rubbish covering so on the horizon like a distant mountain, the principal object of my journey--the mounds of Niffer They were still nearly ten e they appeared far to exceed in size and height any artificial elevation that I had hitherto seen

To the east of us rose another great ruin, called Zibbliyah, a lofty, square mass, apparently of sundried brick It resembled in form, and was scarcely less in size than the well-known rehdad

Between us and Niffer were still est of the foruides El Hamra, ”the red” The principal canal, whose waters had once been confined between two enormous embankments, ran in a direct line towards the ruins It is now dry, but appears to have once supplied the city

After a journey of five hours we reached the ruins of Niffer They differ in general forreat mounds of assyria, hich h at their north-east corner is a cone sihat, yet, in their broken outline and in their division into several distinct parts, they have s than that of one regular platform surrounded by walls

In this respect they are not unlike the Mujelibe (Kasr) and the Aether a very considerable area of ground, and stand on the edge of theupon theh floods of the Euphrates colass A loose nitrous soil, into which the feet sink above the ankles, for about a yard deep over a harder and e earthen jars and portions of brick masonry are occasionally uncovered by the rains

Co my search after antiquities as soon as we had reached the su before I discovered, in one of these newly-for human remains Other objects of the same kind were found by the Arabs ith me But I left more careful researches to the time when I could co, therefore, the ruins, I hastened to the place where my tents were pitched about two in of the marsh In front of the encampment was a small lake or pond, from which the reeds seemed to have been carefully cleared

We had sent one of our Afaij guides to infor seated ina party of Arabs, darted from the reeds and approached the shore They were of various sizes In the bottoht or ten persons sat crouched on their ha at the head and stern with long bauided and iest were built of teakwood, but the others consisted simply of a very narrow fra probably ”the vessels of bulrushes” mentioned by Isaiah[228] They skireat rapidity

The tiradas, for so these boats are called by the Arabs, drew up along the bank in the open basin before our tents The largest evidently contained three chiefs, who landed and advanced towards me They were the sons of the Sheikh of the Afaij Their father had sent theht with thee, they said, was still far distant, and it would be ie and lead our horses thither before nightfall The young men were handsome, well-dressed and well-armed, and very courteous

The complexion of these marsh Arabs, from constant exposure to the intense heat of the sun, is almost black, with the usual contrast of eyes of extraordinary brilliancy, and teeth of the whiteness of pearls They wear their hair in long, well-greased plaits

The young Sheikhs had been ordered by their father to reuard round the tents, as the outskirts of theBedouins and ained, as other travellers had done before e by predicting, through the aid of an almanack, a partial eclipse of the uests, ell nigh knocked out the bottohten away the Jins who had thus laid hold of the planet[229]

Soon after sunrise the Sheikh's own tirada issued from the reeds into the open space It had been spread with carpets and silken cushi+ons for e was placed in other boats, but the unfortunate horses, under the guidance of a party of naked Arabs, had to swih the swamp as they best could The armed men entered their various vessels, and we all left the shore together

The tirada in which I sat was skilfullybamboo poles It skimmed rapidly over the sreen reeds rising fourteen or fifteen feet on both sides of us The current, where the vegetation had thus been cleared away, ran at the rate of about twotowards the Euphrates, was against us We passed the entrances to ht and to the left From the the produce of their buffalo herds to the Souk or led and splashed ast the rushes, their unwieldy bodies completely concealed under water, and their hideous heads just visible upon the surface Occasionally a sround, scarcely an inch above the level of the marsh, and itself half a swaht yellow s of the Afaij, and, as we passed by, troops of half-naked men, woaze at the strangers

The lanes now became more croith tiradas The boatmen, however, darted by the heavier vessels, turned the sharp corners, and reat skill and ease The openings in the reeds began to be e of the various windings and streets to follow the right way This singular scene recalled vividly tothe assyrian wars in marshes of the same nature, and probably forh the reeds, and the tiradas or boats of rushes smeared with bitu how little the barbarous inhabitants of these great swaed after the lapse of nearly three thousand years If we e, however, from the spoil of furniture and of vessels of old and silver, carried away from them by the conquerors, the ancient tribes appear to have been enious than their descendants

Soon after entering a narrow canal, we stopped near soer and better built huts than any we had yet seen Before the to receive us, were drawn up a number of armed men, at the head of who robe of scarlet silk of Damascus, over which he wore one of those cloaks richly eold thread down the back and one arab, Sheikh of the Afaij As I stepped out of the tirada he threw his arave me the usual embrace of welcome