Geographical Journal (Journal of the Royal Geographical Society): Volume VIII, No. 5 [‎25r] (52/154)

A JOURNEY IN THE VALLEY OF THE UPPER EUPHRATES.
455
At one hour "beyond Zimarra we stopped at some ruins on a small
stream a short distance below the village of Zinika. These ruins, to
which allusion is made in‘Arch. Epigr. Oester.’ (1884, p. 239), are those
of a small fortress of circular shape, built round a low mound about 50
feet high and 200 yards in circumference. The walls consist of an outer
line, within which, at an interval of about 20 yards, is a small enceinte ;
they are built of large mostly unsquared^blocks of limestone laid in
uneven courses, the gaps being filled up with small stones and a little
mud mortar. It is difficult to determine the period to which these
remains belong; the rude style of building would point perhaps to a
pre-Koman date for the walls, and the mortar used in them to a Roman
THE EUPHRATES ABOVE CHERMUK (LOOKING SOUTH).
restoration of the same, but without further evidence no definite con
clusion can be arrived at with respect to their age. '' dhere is a direct
path leading from these ruins to Pingan, not more than 4 or 5 miles
distant.
From these ruins we proceeded by an easy path, which led us, after
three hours’ travelling over bare and undulating country, to the village
of Dostal, situated only a short distance from the western Euphrates.
The inhabitants of this village, which consists of forty houses, though
they described themselves as Kurds, talked nothing but Turkish. At
Dostal we were told of the existence of a “written stone” a short
distance from the village and close to the road which we were following *
* It is quite possible that the remains may be those of the fortress of Hisn-al-
Minshar mentioned by Ibn Serapion, as Hogarth suggests (vide J.Ii.A.S., 1895, p. AG).