"كتيّب بلاد الرافدين. المجلد IV .١٩١٧" [ظ‎‎٧‎٩] (٥٣٠/١٦٣)

154
Miles from
Bash
Qarah
4
10
13i
14
m
19
m
LAND EOUTES
Junction of the road from Dilman to Bash Qalah which
comes in from the NE. (See 75.)
Proceed round the shoulder of a hill, a spur from the
Valitan Dagh. From here the road, continuing to be
easy as it passes through clay,- leaves the Bash Qal'ah
plain and descends some rounded spurs of the Valitan
Dagh on 1. Another track leads to Chukh (m. 10).
Route crosses a stream by a shingly ford, and goes up
1. bank by an easy clay track.
A good track runs down 1. bank to Deir, 12 m. distant.
Bevrashen, 20 Kurd houses, close by on r. Some
cultivation.
Alternative route to Khoshdb.
Over the Ouzel Dereh pass (alt. about 9,500 ft.), to which there is
a very difficult ascent, quite impassable for horses, followed by an
easy descent to Sail Kilissa, where it meets the alternative route
irom Basn Qa'lah to Khoshab. (See Route 74 b, m. 14^.)
Pass Chukh, 50 Armenian houses on 1., on the S. bank of
the stream.
The valley opens out, with bare rounded hills on either
side. The track, which goes over stony clay, continues
to be easy, until a steep ascent is made by zigzags.
Small khan at summit of steep ascent. There is here an
outpost of zajotiehs. Beyond this khan an easy ascent by
a small stream in a shallow valley leads to
Chukh Gredik (alt. 9,100 ft.), a pass over the Chukh Dagh,
a range of hills running NE.-SW. This range, bare of all
vegetation, is noted for the severity of its cold blizzards
and for the depth of its snowfall: the snow lies so late on it
that the pass is never open for laden animals until the
middle of April, and has actually been closed to them so
late as the end of May.
Tracks lead to Shushlamerg down the Guzel Dereh. The
cart-road, partly remetalled in 1900, descends easily, but
is rather steep in places. It follows a broad clay spur
^ between two deep ravines.
Khan (alt. about 7,000 ft.) at the junction of several small
sti earns. Gradual descent by a gravelly track.
Ravine (alt. 7,500 ft.) in gravel and shale on r. at the foot of
the Chukh Gedik.
The broad valley of a stream is crossed, and the route