"كتيّب بلاد الرافدين. المجلد IV .١٩١٧" [ظ‎‎٩] (٥٣٠/٢٣)

14
INTEODUCTION
E.-W. All these rivers are simply mountain torrents, often running
through impassable gorges: they are in high flood during the
months April—June, when they are swollen by snow-water. The
country is almost treeless, although there are poplars in the bottoms
of some of the valleys, and junipers, oaks, walnut-trees, and others
are found occasionally. It is unfertile, and the hillsides are so steep
that most of the cultivation is terraced. There is a fair amount of
grazing for sheep and goats, and in the late spring or early summer,
when the snow has melted, nomad Kurds as well as the local inhabi
tants bring their flocks to the y or summer grazing-grounds,
for three or four months: most of the grass on these grazing
grounds dries up about the end of August. The crops produced
consist of rice, wheat, barley, millets, tobacco, &c., and there are
numerous small vineyards and fruit orchards: but the area suitable
for cultivation is so small that the soil produces little more than is
required for local consumption. The country, as indicated already,
is well watered by numerous streams. The winter is severe, with
a heavy snowfall: one result of this is that many of the passes and
higher roads are closed by snow for several months each year, while
snow-avalanches render some of the lower roads unsafe during the
spring. In summer the heat is considerable, but it is not so great as
to interfere with the movements of travellers.
The middle part of the Zab basin (i.e. between the Chal junction
and the point where the river enters the plain of the Tigris), sparsely
inhabited by Chaldeans and Yezidis with some Kurds, Nestorians,
Jews and others, consists largely of sandstone hills, rising to altitudes
of 8,000 or 9,000 ft., which are fairly well wooded with oaks, haw
thorns, &c. It is a fertile country, fairly well watered, which could
support a large population if it were not exposed to raids from the
Kurds who live in the hills to the N. To the S. and SW. these hills
fall away in lower ranges to the undulating plain of Mosul.
(ii; In the basins of Lakes Urmia, Archag, and Van, the hills are
considerably lower than those of the Upper Zab valley, few rising to
a greater altitude than 8,000 ft. The hill-country has hardly any
natural vegetation except grass, of which there is a certain amount
in the highest areas. The plain of Urmia is extremely well culti
vated, producing rice, cotton, tobacco, &c. A considerable part of it,
together with smaller plains in the neighbourhood, is marshy. The
country as a whole is fairly well populated by Armenians, Kurds, and
Nestorians (in the plain of Urmia), with a few Jews, almost all
agriculturists. The Christian population has recently been much
reduced by massacre (p. 32).
(iii) This part of Central Kurdistan is separated from (i), the