'Turkish Arabia: Being an Account of an Official Tour in Babylonia, Assyria, and Mesopotamia, 1886-87' [‎17v] (34/72)

20
Darius to Alexander * The remains of a town at least as large as the modern Baghdad may
here be traced ; but an artificial mount, some 150 feet high, now gives room to nearly all of
it that is left* Up this hill one had to climb, for the K4im Mak&m, or governor, with the
Mir Al^e, or Colonel Commandant, had come out to do the honours. In the house of the
former quite a reception took place followed by a repast introducing one to an infinity of
new and superfluous dishes. Proficiency in Arabic and other old world accomplishments
have advanced a number of Kurds to high office, both secular and religious, in Baghdad,
and many of those had Arbil relatives anxious to hear about them.
Next day's march—7^ hours over tolerably easy country—brought the kdfila to abroad
The Great Zab an ^ ra P^ r ^ ver > the "greater Zdb " of maps, and Lycus of
antiquity, the most important of all the tributaries of the
Tigris. The hamlet over against the ferry was called kalak ) which merely is the name
for a raft. The mules had to be unloaded, and taken over in a boat. End of November as
it was, the heat on the water was tropical, and the sun's power proved the value of the
veil-like Arab head-dress. On the further bank was a hill, the face of it full of natural
caverns, and shaded with trees like dwarf banians. To-day this was given up to a herd of
s ^ a &gy black cattle, fattening for the Mosul, or even Egyptian markets. Yesterday one of
its caves had been tenanted by a migratory Afghan darwesh.
On 24th November, a march of 9^ hours ended at Mosul, more correctly Mawsil, or
To Mosul. junction, f but in Europe often miscalled Mosool. At day
break the winding KMzir or Khosr, a considerable affluent
of the Zab, was forded The country then became level as the sea, and studded over with
villages. At one of these, Bartalla, inhabited by Yakubia, or Jacobite,J and distinctly non-
Papal Christians, a strong mounted escort sent out from Mosul was paraded. During an
hour s halt the local clergy were conversed with. Osmanli taxation, and differences among
themselves, were the topics they brought forward. But the fine physique and ponderous
silver ornaments of the matrons carrying skins of muddy water from a kind of horse pond
into the town showed that, if they would only clean their village, and club to pay a school
master, the people of Bartalla might, as things go, be prosperous enough.
With Layard s books inevery library it would be idle here to indulge in references
to Nineveh and Mosul from the historical, or archaeological, view point. Ancient history
apart, the modern Mosul is an important place. Strategically, not less than politically, it
forms one of the capitals of Asiatic Turkey. No power not holding it could be considered
fully master of the country, nor would any civilised commander try to defend it against
a force in possession of the surrounding plains. In one direction, as has been seen, it
dominates the Kurds, besides numerous other mountain races; on the other, as will
presently appear, elements not less turbulent. Caravan routes from all parts of Asia
meet in it. Its foreign Consulates are our own, under the Consulate-General of Baghdad,
<ind a French Consulate connected directly with Paris and Constantinople. The latter is
as ably filled as its action is evidently vigorous and sustained. The former, since Mr.
Russell made over charge of it in 1883, has four times changed hands. At the time of
this tour, as for a continuous period of seven months, merely the Mosuli dragoman gave
such attention to British interests as his qualifications enabled, and his commercial occu
pations allowed, him to do. There is no British Consulate house. The Vice-Consul,
whose salary is ^4 00 a y ear j receives an additional sum as house allowance, and flies his
flag over any house that may be selected by him. As a rule, he forms the only subject of
Her Majesty, eastern or western, resident in Mosul. Naturally the Osmanli here put on
the largest appearance possible. A Governor with the rank of Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. , whose corre
spondence is with Constantinople, occupies a huge building outside the town. Close to
that the barracks, and the chateau of a Liva or Brigadier-General. Soldiers in uniform
• # 0 r n u e a Tf a ' n (A D - 749) the banks of the zab ' or Diab . near Arbtla, witnessed a decisive battle, when the last
prince of the Damascus dynasty received his quietus from the soldier of fortune Abu Muslim, and ShAm, or Syria
was overrun by Persian hordes. '
f i.e., inter Jazira and Ir^k, as latter understood by certain Arabic geographers.
X Thus named after Jacobus Baradeus, a sixth century monk, who having been episcopally consecrated at
Constantinople devoted his life to the establishment all over the East of an ecclesiastical organization having as its
distinctive doctrinal principle the thesis (technically called " Monophysite ") first propounded by Eutyches affirm
ing that, the union of Chnsts two natures, only one nature remained, and that therefore his human body
essentially differed from other human bodies. This subtlety having been adopted by the Coptic, Abyssinian, and
Armenian Churches, these also, though with less than strict accuracy, are often called " Jacobite." The head of
he Jacobite Churches is the patriarch of Antioch," who however resides chiefly at D&rbakr, about twelve caravan
stages north-west of Mosul. '