'Transactions of the Bombay Geographical Society, from September 1850 to June 1852. Edited by the Secretary. Volume X.' [‎60] (193/458)

60
COMMANDER F. JONES.
$ See Appendix D,
overflowing of the rivers,-—so much is still left for the modern travellers
to contemplate, and if possible to connect the present with the past.*
The finding of urns entombed in the bed of the canal attaches more
than ordinary interest to the spot, for their number and regularity of
interment would mark it perhaps as the scene of a conflict, while the
canal was in the course of formation, t
Still following the course of the Serakha aqueduct, a nine minutes’
smart walk brought us to other extensive ruins now termed Suh lJjj*
a bazaar or market-place. J They occupy both banks of the canal,
which here makes a short bend, and was also led off, when in operation,
into minor branches, one on either side, to the East and to the South
west. These ruins, as far as can be judged from a surface view, are
comparatively modern ; from the excavations going on, however, the
foundations of houses show that they belonged to substantial buildings
at one time, and perhaps were a continuation of the ancient city we
have spoken of before—for, between it and Ser&kha, the smaller irrigants
are abundant, while to the North of the two larger ducts described above,
they are only occasionally seen. Here we quitted the course of the
Ser&ka, which now takes the name of Al-Suk, andean be distinguished
as coming in a tolerable straight line from the NNW. as far as the eye
can read).
* In the indulgence of the license generally accorded to travellers, in the absence of po
sitive grounds whereon to establish the identity of places, I take the liberty s P |
“ a castle in the air ” over this antiquated spot, by venturing to pronounce the loca 1 J .
position, in ray opinion, of the Silaki of Xenophon. This is not advanced ^ rom „ a ^® 3 <{ T
indulge in any theory of ray own, but from a consideration of the itinerary ot t
Thousand'* in the Anabasis from the extent and position of the rums, and more than a
half expressed ideas of Major Rawlinson, who sometime^ back, on digging 111
bordering the river to the West of the modern Baghdad, m a very low season, di >
below the usual low-water marks, the foundations of ancient edifices, whose \ u rnm
scribed with the cuneiform character, (see note, page 302, Beng. Asiat. Jour.^ April lo •’v ..
the modern Baghdad, on the West of the Tigris, to Serakha and the rums under , . g
tion, may have been the extent of the city and its environs. Xenophon, in the ,
Book II., distinctly says, (without reference to his usual distance^ of the parasang >
cordingly leading to the supposition that the positions were contiguous), that, at P
the canals, “ they came to the itiver Tigris, near which stood a large and P°P . >»
called Silaki, at the distance of fifteen stadia (a little less tk an t w <3 im^ 68 ’) f the
A glance at the map which accompanies this paper will show the distance the
Tigris with reference to Serakha and its ruins, agreeing in all respects with tn . s
military historian. The nature of the country, if we may judge from the canal, t irn }i ar
still m situ between it and Baghdad, the present position of a pontoon briage hosea
number of boats to that mentioned by Xenophon, which perhaps has . re "l aine "i*f things
spot of crossing, from the fact that Orientals are averse to any change m the ora f gilake>
when once established,—all tend sufficiently well, I think, to indicate the P 0Sltl ° an dthe
and moreover, the distance of the bridge from Opis, if the difficulties of a cavia ^ cou will
harassing nature of the marches undertaken in the face of an active enemy, be re ’ ^ t0
further accord in corroborating it, even if no indulgence on the score of e y r ®. rs f r me mory
the early geographer, who, we are led to believe, wrote most of the Anabasis lr
alone, subsequent to the return of the expedition to Greece.
t For the bearings observed at Serakha, see Appendix C.