'Turkish Arabia: Being an Account of an Official Tour in Babylonia, Assyria, and Mesopotamia, 1886-87' [‎17r] (33/72)

course from Sulimida to Mosul •varied but slightly from that now taken, and as his report
was printed the less need here be said. From Sulimania to Kuye Sanjak took three days ;
intermediate stages, hamlets of (i) Surt^sh, (2) Kh&lakan. Troops would find this whole
district most difficult. t In some places, if the track—it cannot be called a road—had been
but slightly more precipitous, it would have been impassable for laden mules, or even horse
men ; in others, a small force of mountaineers could have turned an army. Here was
entered the central of the three great segments into which the country of the Kurds is
divided by geographers; extending from Sulim&nia on the south to Lake Van on the
north—a region of mountain ranges intercrossing one another, and dominated by stupendous
summits, one of which recent authorities have pronounced to represent "almost certainly"
the Ararat of the Bible. Isolated hamlets deserted by their inhabitants, owing, it was said,
to the HamS.wands, were observed during the first march, a ten hours' one. Of the second,
the most marked feature was a stream, about 50 yards broad, which crossed the route.
The Caprus of antiquity, the name of Lesser Zab, by which the Arabian geographer Abu'l
Fida distinguished it, is given to this river still by map-makers; also, sometimes, by a
curious error, that of Altun Keupri,* the name really of a bridge which spans it, and of a
village naturally attaching itself to the bridge. The truth seems to be that the idea of a
river, as a whole, comes only with civilization ; and each successive bend, or reach, receives
from the people occupying its banks the name of some local landmark. At all eyents
none of the natives spoke of the Zab. Some called it the Soo, merely the Turkish equiva
lent for the Arabic mde and Persian db or «w=water. Others spoke of the stretch con
taining the ford as the Duk§.n—in Persian a store or workshop—probably from the raft
depots near it. Coming, with many other snow-fed affluents, from the Zagros mountains,
the lower Zab pours its waters into the Tigris some way below Kala Sharghat. After it
had been crossed, the vegetation of southern began to be exchanged for that of central
Kurdistan, Nature grew more liberal of her draperies; belts of fruit and poplar trees
were more frequent; and instead of low scrub or " bush ^ dwarf oak and elm, hollies and
gum-bearing trees gave shade and a certain degree of softness to the landscape. The nuts
on the trees were more plentiful than supplies in the hamlets. " The horseman's wallets
are his pantry" is an Arab proverb. Here the foot soldier is supposed to carry on his
person his commissariat and medical conforts " all complete—not to mention his "warm
clothing" and ammunition—so one who is mounted should think himself well off.
About eighteen hours for kdfilas separates the Kaim Makamate of Kuye Sanjak from
... 0 . , the Zib. The town contains only a few thousand people not
Kuye Sanjak. / . . . , r r
as yet very fully weaned from their ancient independence,
or reconciled to centralised rule. About two hundred infantry, ill-armed and worse-equip
ped, served as garrison.
Next march—nine or ten hours—over a country more "undulating" than ever, was to
Ashkaf Sakkah v ^ a & e Ashkak-Sakkah.f On the way was passed a
hamlet consisting of little more than a half subterranean
corn-mill {rahd) turned by a brook. On trying to fraternise with the inmates all went well,
considering the want of a common language, till the time of leaving. A rupee was then
presented, in return for the hospitality of a few minutes' shelter from the scorching after
noon sun. ■ This caused a panic, being supposed, as a soldier afterwards explained, to be
the purchase-money of the whole community, male and female, old and young. A rush
towards the mountain happened, and the innocent coin had to be deposited like an offer
ing to an idol on the mill hopper. Thus with the best intention does the European some
times frighten the Asiatic ! At Ashkaf-Sakkah, for once the principal figure was, not an
Ottoman official, but a masterful Kurdi chief of the olden time callled K&ka Muhammad,
rather like a Pathan, but speaking only Kurdi, type of the class which may any day once
more come to the top.
An easy march the following day saw the kdfila once more on level and cultivated
Arb , i j ground, containing another dwindled representative of the
Assyrian cities of antiquity, Arbil; the battle fought near
which several hundred years before the Christian era transferred the empire of Asia from
* Altun means, in Turkish, gold or money ; and keupri, a bridge. If the river be called golden, it would be
from its colour; if the bridge, from what it cost. In Arabic a bridge is jlsr also kantara, commonly pronounced
gantra.
+ Ashkaf is said to mean in Kurdi a cave, and Sakkah to be the name of a tribe ; but this may or may not be
the derivation.
C I