'Transactions of the Bombay Geographical Society, from January 1847 to May 1849. Edited by the Secretary. Volume VIII.' [‎277] (386/496)

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western prong, while the interior, or concavity, is filled up by undulating
slopes from the eastern ridge, terminating in the plain of Biwanij.
In this concavity, the Abi Zemkan takes its rise, and, running to the
S. E., at a distance of three miles west of the town of Gall war ah, to the
same length south of it, turns abruptly to the north, and again passes
close to it to the eastward, thus making a circuit of the S. E. prong of
the mountain.* Confined between the east face of Dalahu and the steep
barren cliffs of the Kal’eh Kazi chain to the eastward, it pursues then
nearly a direct course of north until past the oblique declivities abut
ting from the N. E. brow of Dalahu, in the neighbourhood of Bibiyan
and Kal’eh Zanjir, when it receives many petty adjuncts, and in the
winter becomes a considerable stream. It then diverges to the west
and N. W., keeping the latter direction through the vale of Darneh,f
bounded by the undulating peaks of the Pushti Kuh to the west, and by
the precipitous range near which the ancient city of Darneh stood, to
the right; finally falling into the Abi-Shirwan, or upper Diyaleh, oppo
site the base of Nilambu range, a few miles south of Gundar, in the
Sulimaniyeh territory, and about 100 yards east, or above the ancient
bridge of eight arches that in former times spanned the Abi-Shirwan,
and conducted directly from Sulimaniyeh to Kirmanshah. The Guran
Kurds^; are represented as a brave, frank, and hospitable, race, and, like
most mountaineers, are hardy and enduring. They are, however, prone
to quarrel, and serious frays, terminating in bloodshed, and the almost
total extinction of the rival factions, are said to be of frequent occur
rence. An injury is seldom forgotten, and will, sooner or later, be re
venged. These contentions generally originate either in domestic broils
or clan hatreds, and are at times secretly encouraged by the Persian
authorities, who find it difficult to coerce them in their mountain
fastnesses, and whose policy is, therefore, to keep them in check by
* The ranges on either side of the Zemkan expose vertical limestone strata,
much abraded by the action of the stream.
t See Herodotus in Clio. 189. In describing the Gyndes he expressly states
that that river ran through the country of the Darneans; we can, therefore, I
thmk, without being far wrong, identify the Diyaleh with the Gyndes of antiqui
ty. The ruins of Darneh are still to be seen, it is said, on the left bank of the
Zemkan, and an old man now residing at Az-galleh is pointed out as the last lineal
descendant of the proud family of the Darneans, who so long ruled over the dis
trict At all events the name is well known, and Major Rawlinson also assigns
the Darna of Ptolemy to this locality. Royal Geographical Journal, Yol. IX., Part
I., page 29.
t Bike most of the Kurdish tribes, they occasionally wear, when at war, an ar
mour consisting of a chain head-piece and a shirt of mail.