"كتيّب بلاد الرافدين. المجلد IV .١٩١٧" [ظ‎‎٦‎٦] (٥٣٠/١٣٧)

128
Miles from
Mosul
87i
90i
92.
94i
97
974
LAND ROUTES
and descend a short stony track into a valley ; then rise
gradually to 3,330 ft., skirting a flat-topped spur, with
a broad spur, well watered and cultivated, on r.
Pass Bamurni, 2 m. to 1. among trees, a Kurdish village,
the home of Sheikh Mohammed, a man of influence
among the local Kurds (1888). Track now through
undulating country, dotted with low oaks and shrubs.
Aradineh (alt. 3,560 ft.), a Nestorian village of 150 well-
built houses, with good water, lying in a rice-growing
country, which also produces tobacco, wheat, and silk.
There is a Moslem village of 30 houses 1 m. away.
Round a low wooded spur by an easy stony track.
Cross a stream which flows to r., skirt a conical mound
4- m. to r., and ascend past the Christian village of
Anishik (alt. 3,210 ft.), 100 houses surrounded by orchards
and vineyards, 1 m. to 1. under a spur of the Ser Ama-
diyeh, a rocky range of hills rising to 8,500 ft., whose
upper slopes are of clay strewn with boulders, from
which several flat-topped spurs jut out to S., the Berwari
district lying on its N. side. On r. is the valley of the
Sipneh Chai, 6 m. wide, covered with vineyards and
low trees.
Kedisik, 50 houses, surrounded by a thick grove of poplars,
sycamores, and oaks. Soil here a red loam ; a good deal
of wheat is grown. Two villages about 1 m. to r.,
situated in the valley of the Qara Su, a tributary of the
Zab river. Country to r. much cut up by small ravines.
The road descends, and a small ravine is crossed at
3,200 ft. The head of the ravine to 1. is well wooded.
Some distance on, a short descent following a sandstone
ridge, and then across a small well-wooded valley (alt.
3,075 ft.) with a stream and several springs in it; track
good, over clay with scattered boulders.
Round the S. end of a plateau an outlier from the Ser
Amadiyeh.
Cross a stream by a 20 ft. single-arch stone bridge, 8 yds.
long and 6 ft. wide ; f m. up a valley to 1. is Biriazan
(alt. 3,100 ft.), 40 houses on a knoll, with orchards and
terraced fields of rice and wheat. From here a well-
frequented broad track, passing over fertile soil covered
with grass ; some brushwood and a few scattered patches
of cultivation.