'Transactions of the Bombay Geographical Society, from September 1850 to June 1852. Edited by the Secretary. Volume X.' [‎98] (231/458)

gg COMMANDER F. JONES.
enclosed, at a very early period, a large town: nothing but the lines of
its walls marked in the soil remain * 9 but these, woin down as they
attest to its great age, Leaving this we maintained the same course
of 206°, the ridge hitherto deemed the Median Wall bearing through,
out the same aspect and character as at first, and from the uneasiness
felt by the party it was thought, at one time, that the reports of its
extending to the Euphrates were well founded. Determined, however,
to persevere at all risks for three hours, before turning back, we con
tinued onwards, and in fifty minutes from the Khayt-al-Abiad, the
true character of the work was at once seen by an opening in the
ridge or dyke, corresponding to a board, * a and shallow valley that,
rising at the base of the undulations of the higher country to the
North, traverses Mesopotamia in the direction of the low grounds to the
SE. The ravines in the undulations above are all seen to lead into
the head of this valley, which cut off from the lower portion by the
Chali Batikh,t forms a basin-like reservo r, that when the rampart was
perfect must have resembled a vast lake, at a time when the copious
winter rains coming from the up-lands contributed to i>s supply.
In addition to the valley we have mentioned, it would appear from
a canal on either side of the opening in the dyke, that any great body
of water in the reservoir could be diverted on to the more elevated
tracts adjoining, for a more extensive irrigation, while, during seasons
of drought or any great pressure on the dams in the Tigris, a copious
body of water might be led off by the trench of the Chali into the
heart of the country to prevent a rupture of the great dykes that must
have existed in the neighbourhood for diverting the stream into the
K&tuls, and which dykes I am inclined to think extended across the
Tigris from the NE. end of the Sidd Nimrud to the present mounds
of Jibb&reh on the opposite bank of the old course of the river, but I
shall recur to tin’s subject again after an examination of a spot called
Kan&tir in the vicinity.
Leaving the opening, another mile brought us to the termination of
the ridge or dyke on the other side of the valley, distinctly marked by
* Appendix v.
1*4 th®
f It is known also as the Sidd Nimrfid—" dyke of Nimrod,” - the other however, i*"}
more general term, thi< latter being-though a very appropriate title—but seld . otn /Lter
The openings had gates in all probability fitted to them lor regulating the supply 01
when in operation.
* Though a reear
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