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TYPES AND COSTUMES— GROUP OF ZEIBEKS. 



THE EARTH AND ITS INHABITANTS 



THE 



UNIVERSAL GEOGRAPHY 



By ELISEE RECLUS 






SfS. 



EDITED 

By A. H. KEANE, B.A. 

MF.MB. OF' COUNCIL, ANTHROP. INSTITUTE; COR. MEMB. ITALIAN ANTHROP. SOC. ; PROFESSOR OF 
HINDUSTANI, UNU'ERSITY COL. LONDON; AUTHOR OF "ASIA," ETC. 



VOL. IX. 

SOUTH-WESTERN ASIA 




ILLUSTRATED BY KUMEEOUS ENGRAVINGS AND MAES 



LONDON 
J. .S. VIRTUE & CO., Limited, 294, CITY ROAD 



Loxnox ; 
pnrxTED nv j. s. viutue an 

CITY ROAD. 



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.A 



CONTENTS. 



CHAP. PAGE 

I. General Survey ............... i 

II. Afghanistan IB 

Afghan Highlands, p. 19. River Systems, p. 26. Climitte, Flora and l'aun;i, p. 31. 
Inhabitants, p. 33. 
Topography, p. 46. 

III. BALUCHIST.iN . . ............. 5S 

Highlands, p. 60. River Systems, p. 03. Climate, Flora and Fauna, p. 65. Inhabi- 
tants, p. 66. 
Topography, p. 70. 

IV. Pehsia 7.5 

Historic Retrospect, p. 75. Mountain Systems, p. 78. The Caspian Coastlands, p. 86. 
The Western Highlands, p. 91. The Central Deserts, p. 93. Hydrographic Systems, 
p. 95. Climate, Flora, Fauna, p. 101. Inhabitants, p. 104. Topography, p. 117. Social 
Condition, Administration, Prospects, p. 151. 

V. Asiatic Turkey ............... 162 

Lazistan, Armenia, and Kurdistan, p. 163. Ai-menian Highlands, p. 165. Kurdistan High- 
lands, p. 167. Lake Van, p. 168. Climate, Flora, and Fauna, p. 169. Inhabitants: 
Lazes, Armenians, Kurds, p. 171. The Kizil-Bashes, Yezidis, and Nestorians, p. 177. 
Topography of Armenia and Kurdistan, p. 180. 

VI Lower Kurdistan, Mesopotamia, Irak-Arabi 192 

Historic Retrospect, p. 193. North Mesopotamian Orographic System, p. 196. The 
Tigris Basin, p. 199. The Euphrates Basin, p. 201. The Shat-el-Arab and Euphrates 
Delta, p. 211. Climate, Fauna, and Flora of Mesopotamia, p. 213. Inhabitants— The 
Arabs and Kurda, p. 214. Topography of the Tigris Basin, p. 218. Topography of the 
Euphrates Basin, p. 230. 

Vll. Asia Mi.vor 241 

General Survey, p. 242. Anatolian Mountain Systems, p. 245. The Anti-Taurus and 
Cilician Taurus, p. 247. Isaurian and Lycian Taurus, p. 250. West AnatoUan Coastlands 
and Islands, p. 254. North Anatolian Ranges, p. 200. The AnatoUan Water Systems: 
The Yeshil-Irmak, Kizil-Irmak, and Sakaria, p. 262. Eiverj flowing to the ^gean, p. 266. 
I,acustrine Basins and Rivers flowing to Ihe Mediterranean, p. 273. Climate, Flora, and 
Fauna, p. 278. Inhabitants : Yuruks and Turks, p. 283. The Anatolian Greeks, p. 290. 
Topography, p. 294. Prospects of .\natolia, p. 313. 



iv CONTENTS. 

cBAP. '*<"; 

VIII. CvPKUs 344 

Mountains and Rivers, p. 346. Climate, Flura, and Faun, p. 347. Inhabitants, p. 348. 
Topocjraphy, p. 349. 

IX. Syru, Faiestine, Sinai 354 

Historic Ketrospect, p. 354. Mountain Ranges : Libanon and Anti-Libanon, p. 356. 
Hermon, Hills of Galilee, Mount Carmel, p. 359. Trans-Jordan Uplands, p. 362. Sinai 
Highlands, p. 363. Rivers of Syria and Palestine, p. 367. The Jordan and Dead Sea, 
p. 370. Climate, Flora, and Fauna, p. 374. Inhabitants of Syria and Palestine, p. 376. 
The Ansarieh, Druzes, and Maronites, p. 377. The Melkites and Jews, p. 380. Topo- 
graphy of Syria, p. 382. Topography of Palestine, p. 409. 

X. Arabia -130 

Historic Retrospect, p. 430. General Survej', p. 433. Mountain Systems, p. 435. The 
Hejaz and Assir Uplands, p. 437. The Yemen Highlands, p. 438. Hadramaut and South 
Coast, p. 439. The Oman Highlands, p. 441. The Central Ranges and Harras, p. 443. 
The Northern Steppes and Deserts, p. 446. The Southern Desert, p. 449. Climate of 
Arabia, p. 450. The Persian Gulf, p. 454. The Red Sea, p. 456. Flora of Arabia, p. 462. 
Fauna, p. 464. Inhabitants ; the Bedouins, 467. The Wahabites, p. 471. 
Topography, p. 472. 



Statistical Tables 




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



MAPS PRINTED IN COLOUES. 



PAGE 

1. Assyria and Chaldea 1 

2. Teheran and Demavend .... 129 

3. Asiatic Greece 290 



4. PaJestine— Northern Sectiqn 

5. Palestine — Southern Section 

6. Peninsular of Sinai 



352 
352 
363 



PLATES. 



Types and Costumes— Group of Zeibeka Frontisi 

Baalhek— Ruins of the Two Temples To face page 

Kandahar .... 

View taken from the Paiwar Pass 

Tiie Amir Sher Ali, Prince Abdallah Y.an, and 

Durani Chiefs . . 
Kelat-i-Nadir — Arghavan-Shah Gorge . 
Types and Costumes— Group of Haz;irehs 
Hamadan and Mount Elvend — View taken 

fi-om the South-east 
Bridge of Dizful 
A Bdluch Mendicant 
Fortress of Veramin 
Hamadan, Ruined Mosquo of 

century . 
Bandar-Abbas . 

Types and Costumes — Kurdish 
Town and Citadel of Van 
The Euphrates at Birejik 
Types and Costumes — Arabs of Bagd id 
Uoueral View of Sinope . 



tlie fourteenth 



Gentlemen 



The Bosphorus — View taken opposite Arnaut- 
Koi, near the Asiatic Side To face page 

Turkish Batteries at the Black Sea entrance of 
the Bosphorus ..... 

Cypresses in the Cemetery of Scutari 

Brussa— General View .... 

Gulf of Smyrna — General View of Kara-Tash 
and Gioz-Tepe 

Smyrna — View taken from Mount Pagiis 

Ephesus— Ruins of the Aqueduct and Citadel 

Isle of Rhodes — Lindos Bay . 

Mount Hermon — View taken from Easheya 

Lake and City of Tiberias 

Druze Princess and Lady of the Libanon 

Aleppo — General View .... 

Ruins of Palmyra — The Colonnade . 

Jerusalem — Omar's llosque 

Jaffa — General View .... 

Aden — Steamer Point .... 

Cisterns of Aden ..... 

Mecca — Court of the Kaaba 



307 
309 
311 

323 

326 
329 
338 
359 
372 
379 
383 
405 
417 
425 



L1S1 OF ILLUSTEATIOXS. 



ILLUSTRATIONS IN TEXT. 



of 



SOUTH-WESTERN ASIA. 

Ethnical Divisions of Hither Asia 
Asiatic Origin of various cultivated 

Plants 

Density of the Population of Hither Asia 
Central Point of the Old World 
Centre of Gravity for the Populations 

the Old World .... 
Religions of Hither Asia . 
Marsha Pass, North of Kandahak 
Itineraries of Afghanistan 
The Eastern Hindu-Kush . 
The Western Hindu-Kush 
The Sefid-Koh of East Afghanis'.an . 
The Kabul River — View taken ni 

CUZEROAO, SUAKDEH VaLLEY 

The Hamun Basin .... 
The Gomul Pass .... 
Populations of Afghanistan 

Darah Nur 

Kabul and Neighhoiirhood 
Kelat-i-Ghilzai ..... 
Kandahar ...... 

Herat 

Routes of the chief E.\pIorers of Ualiic 
Stan 



Passes in North Baluchistan 

East Mekran Seaboai'd 

Inhabitants of Baluchistan 

Kalat and Neighbourhood 

General View of Kalat . 

Kachi-Gandava Oasis 

Routes of the Chief Explorers of Persia 

since Marco Polo .... 
Mountains and Passes of Astrabad 
Demavend — Views taken from tui 

North-West .... 

Savalan 

Khu2istan Border Range . 

Lake Urmiah ..... 

liakes Niris and Nargis 

Faunas of Persia .... 

Kurdish Cavalry. 

Inhabitants of Persia 

Persian Types and Costumes — Nobleman 

Dervish, and Mendicant 
Noble Persian Lady 
Yezd and Neighbourhood . 
Tower OF Meimandan on the route 

Dami.han to Meshed . 
Meshed and Kelat-i-Nadir 



6 
8 


46. 
47. 


11 


48. 




49. 


12 


50. 


14 


51. 


18 


52. 


19 




■20 




23 ■ 


53. 


25 


54. 




55. 


27 


56. 


30 


57. 


39 


58. 


41 


59. 


44 


60. 


48 


61. 


50 


62. 



(i2 


65 


63 


66 


68 


67 


69 


68 


70 




72 


69 




70 


78 


71 


83 


72 


8.5 


73 


89 


74 


91 


75 


98 


76 


100 


77 


102 


78 


103 


79. 


105 


80. 




81. 


106 


yi. 


108 


83. 


113 


84. 


119 


85. 


121 


86 



TAUB 

Kushan and Source of the Atrek . . 124 

Teheran 128 

Tehkuan — View t-aken on the Kasoni 

Route 129 

Takht-i-Sulaini!m . . . . .131 

Hamadan and Mount Elvend . . . 132 
The Resonant Lion of Hamaiian . . 133 
Ispahan and Environs . . . .135 

Ispahan — Bridge over the Zendeh-rud . 136 
Shiraz and Persepolis . . . .138 

Valerian at the Feet of Sapor — Bas- 
relief OF the Royal Tombs at Naksu- 
i-Rustem, near Persepolis . . 140 

Ormuz and Bandar- Abbas . . . .143 

Bushir ....... 146 

Kermanshah ...... 147 

Shuster and Band-i-Kir .... 149 

The Dam of Ahwaz ..... loO 

Range of the Plague in Kurdistan . . 152 
Routes and Telegraph-lines in Persia . 157 

Routes of the Chief E.xplorers of Armenia 164 

Bingol-dngh 165 

Lake Van — Tadwan Bay and Mou.nt 

Nimrud 168 

Populations of Turkish Armenia . . 175 
Catholic and Protestant Missions amongst 
the Nestorians and Chaldeans . .179 

Trebizond 181 

Erzerura ....... 183 

Upper Murad VaUey . . . .185 

Bayazid — The Mosque and the Ruined 
Quarter . . . . . .186 

Confluence of the Two Euphrates . .187 

Lake Van 189 

Town and Citadel of Van . . . 190 
Mounds in the Tigris Valley, South of 

Seleucia 195 

The Mardin HiUs 197 

Source of the Western Tigris . . . 198 
Caravan on the B.inks of the Euphr.\tes 203 
Windings of the liliddlo Euphrates . . 204 
The Euphrates and Lake Nejef . . . 206 
Confluence of the Euphrates and Tigi is . 207 
Boats on the Euphrates .... 2US 
Canals of Mesopotamia West of Bagdad . 210 
Mouths of the Shat-el-Arab . . .211 
DiARBEKiR— Bridge over the Tigris . 217 

Mossul and Niniveh 221 

Calash, and Confluence of Tigris and Great 

Zab 223 

Haklcari Kurd Tribes, Great Zab Valley . 224 
Keikuk 2J6 



I,rST OF ILLL'STRATIOXS. 



sr B;ig.iaJ . . . . . . ■ . 2-J8 

58. Aiutub and Birejik 231 

59. Orfa 232 

90. Okfa— MosauE AND Fountain of Abra- 

ham 233 

91. The Mound of Babil .236 

92. Babylon 237 

93. Old Cities of Chaldea . . . .239 
9t. Old Provinces of Asia Minor . . . 245 
9-5. The Bulgar-dagh 249 

96. Mount Arga;us 2-31 

97. The Chimsra of Lycia .... 253 

98. Nisyros 256 

99. T.MOLUs Valley, Plain of Sardis . . 258 

100. Mytilene • . 259 

101. Dbltaof the Kizil-Irmak . . . .263 

102. Lake of Sabanja 265 

103. Nicea and Ghcmlik . .... 267 

104. The Tuzla-Su Valley . . . .268 

105. Smyrna Channel 269 

106. Falls of Pambuk-K.adeh, or Tamruk . 272 

107. Plains of the Lower Meander . . . 274 

108. Lake of Egherdir 275 

1(19. Mouths of the Seihun and Jihun . . 277 
110. VilLiges of various Nationalities in the 

Dardanelles District .... 285 

HI. Turkish Woman OF Brvssa . . . 288 

112. Inhabitants of Anatolia .... 293 

113. Amasia — View taken from the South- 

east 296 

114. Amasia 297 

115. Samsun 298 

116. Sinope 300 

117. Erekli 302 

118. Remains of the Temple of Augustus 

and Rome at Anctra .... 303 

119. Asiatic Suburbs of Constantinople . . 306 

120. Street View, Scutari .... 307 

121. Environs op Scutari — Turkish Ladies 

Abroad 308 

122. Ismid 309 

123. Brussa 310 

124. To.MB of Mahomet II. in the Green 

Mosque at Brussa . . . .312 

125. Syzicus and Artaki Peninsular . . 313 

126. TheTroad 314 

127. HiSSARLIK (IlION) — ViEW TAKEN FRO.M 

THE Mendereh ..... 316 

128. Pergamus — Ruins OF THE Basilica . . 317 

129. Pergamus 318 

130. Phocea 320 

131. Sardes — Columns of the Temple of 

Ctbele 321 

132. Mount Sipylus 322 

133. Smyrna 324 

134. Isthmus of Vurlah 325 

135. Strait of Chios or Chesmeh . . .326 

136. Chio — View taken after the Earth- 

quake OF 1881 328 

137. Ephesus 330 

138. Ephesus— Prison of St. Paul . . 331 

139. Strait of Tigani or Samos . . .332 

140. Vathy 333 



no. PAQR 

141. Miletus and Didynia .... 334 

142. Budrun and Kos 335 

143. Pout of Rhodes 337 

144. Rhodes 3:f8 

145. Valley of the Xanthus . . . .339 

146. Chief Itineraries of Lj'cia . . . 340 

147. Elmalu 341 

14S. Albistan and Murash .... 342 

149. Railways opened and projected in Asia 

Minor 344 

150. C)-pru3 346 

151. Nicosia 349 

152. Larnaka and Famagusta .... 350 

153. Kerynia ....... 351 

154. Limassol and Akrotiri Peninsular . . 352 

155. Passes of the Amanus .... 35? 

156. Beirut Hills 357 

157. The French Road 358 

158. Jebel Sufa 360 

159. The Zerin Depression .... 361 

160. Peninsular of Sinai — Ain-el-Hudekah 363 

161. Mount Serbal 364 

162. Mount Sinai ...... 365 

163. Convent OF Sinai 366 

164. Lake Yamuneh and Nahr-Ibi ihiui . . 368 

165. Gorge of the Xahr-el-Leitani . . .369 

166. Sources of the Jordan .... 370 

167. Lake Huleh 371 

168. Dead Sea 373 

169. Landscape in the Sinai Pexinsulak — 

View taken at Raphldim . . . 375 

170. Inhabitants of Syria .... 378 

171. Horns . . ' 384 

172. The Ancient Tomb op D.ana . 387 

173. Antiochia and Suedieh .... 388 

174. Latakieh 389 

175. Ruad and Tostosa 390 

176. k.4lat-el-h0san 391 

177. Madgah Castle 392 

178. TripoU 393 

179. Beirut 395 

180. Sidon 397 

181. TjT-e 398 

182. Damascus — Viewt.aken from the Chris- 

tian Quarter 401 

183. Damascus 402 

184. Jebel Hauran and Bosra .... 406 
1 S 5. Petra and the Arabah Depression . .409 

186. Lake Tiberias 410 

187. Jericho -411 

1 88. Nazareth and Mount Tabor . 412 

189. Akka and Kaifa 413 

190. Nablus 416 

191. Remains of the Antonia Fortress, 

Jerusalem 418 

192. Jerusalem 420 

193. Rock of Masada 422 

194. Masada 424 

195. Jaffa 425 

196. Tor 427 

197. Itineraries of the Chief E.^plorers of 

Arabia 432 

198. The Mascat Highlands . . .441 



LIST OP ILLUSTRATIONS. 



199. Masandam Peninsular .... 

200. Sandstone Hills near Meshakek . 

201. View of a Fulj in the Northern Nefud 

202. Bab-el-Mandeb 

203. Guriah Island, Gulf of Akatah 

204. Coral Banks in the Central Basin of the 

Red Sea 461 

205. Types and Costvmes — Group op Arab 

Women 470 



PAGE 

442 
445 
449 
4.57 
459 



206. Derreyeh . .... . . 471 

207. Koveit 473 

20s. Mascat 474 

209. Aden ! 476 

210. Sana ....... 477 

211. Hodeidah and Loheiyeh .... 478 

212. Mecca and Jeddah 479 

213. Medina 432 



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THE UNIVERSAL GEOGEAPHY. 



SOUTH-WESTERN ASIA. 



CHAPTER I. 




GENERAL SURVEY. 

HETHER the first Aryan hearths were kindled on the Bactrian 
plains, in the valleys of the Hindu-Kush or of the Caucasus, or on 
the steppes of Scythia, the attention of the European student is 
stUl directed by the oldest historic records chiefly to Egypt and 
Western Asia. Peering back ia thought through the mist of ages, 
we see the now luminous lands of the West wrapped still in darkness, while a 
dazzling light is shed over the regions east of the Mediterranean — the Nile valley, 
the Ionian shores and isles, the Syrian coast, the Mesopotamian plains, and Iranian 
plateaux. The origiu of our culture remaias unrevealed, but in South- Western 
Asia must be sought the first germs of the civilisation which has grown up from 
age to age, until it has become the common patrimony of the peo2:)les of Europe 
and the New World. For is it not here that the Hellenic myths have placed the 
first Olympian seats of the gods ? And is it not here also that Jewish, Christian, 
and Mussulman legend has planted the " tree of life," beneath whose shade the 
first man and the universal mother awoke ? In Chaldea, amid the hills of the 
Indian Caucasus, iu the oases of Irania, has been sought the terrestrial paradise ; 
while the remaias of the ark in which the Noachian family found refuge from the 
overflowiag waters are still fabled to lie stranded on the Armenian Masis (Ararat), 
the Nizir of Kurdistan, the Persian Demavend, or some other lofty peak of Hither 



2 SOUTH-WESTEEN ASIA. 

Asia. Later on, the Christians spreading westwards and the Mohammedans over- 
nmning the east, multiplied endlessly the number of mountains " witnesses of 
the Deluge." Such witnesses may be found in the Pyrenees, in Roussillon, and 
Andorra, even in Afghanistan, the Siah-Posh country, and the " Throne of 
Solomon," overlooking the plains of the Indus. 

At the dawn of history, properly so called, the first definite events are referred 
to the south-western lands of Asia and to Egypt, which, east of the Nile, was 
regarded by the ancients, and especially by Herodotus, as belonging to the Asiatic 
world. Here the national groups began to be classified under the names of Sem, 
Cham, and Japhet ; perhaps also, according to many Orientalists, under those of 
Simier and Accad, a contrast which reappears later on in the opposition of Persian 
and Mede, of Iran and Turan. The various peoples between the Central Asiatic 
plateaux, the isles of the Mediterranean, and the African deserts, are numbered 
according to their races, usages, and industries, while on the Babylonian cylinders 
and prisms are inscribed ethnological and geographical documents of the highest 
importance. One of the oldest myths relates the dispersion of the peoples at the 
foot of the Tower of Babel ; but despite the " confusion " of tongues, Chaldean 
history begins to follow the career of each nation, recording its growth, wars, and 
conquests. 

The geographical form of Hither Asia — an expression comprising the whole of 
the Asia of the ancients as far as the Indus — sufficiently accounts for the pre- 
rogatives of this region as the cradle of early culture. Not only is it situated 
near the geometric centre of the lands forming the ancient world, but it at the 
same time offers the easiest highways of communication between the three con- 
tinents and the great marine basins. The Nile valley is separated only by a strip 
of sand from those of the Syrian seaboard, while between the European and 
Asiatic shores there flows an arm of the sea narrower than many a river. From 
the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean, Hither Asia presents two natural routes — 
the Isthmus of Suez and the Mesopotamian plain, which is by far the more 
important in the history of civilisation, and which commimicates through several 
openings with the Syrian seaports. The roads leading also from the Upper 
Euphrates down to the Euxine may be said to connect the Indian Ocean at once 
with the Mediterranean and with the lands facing the North Atlantic inlets, for 
the main axis of the highlands forming the European water-parting between the 
Alps and Balkans terminates on the Black Sea coast, while the Bessarabian low- 
lands east of the Carpathians lead, by easy transitions, to the northern slopes of 
the continent. 

A large portion of Hither Asia consists of elevated tablelands, some standing 
even at a height of over 6,000 feet. But the seaboard is everjnivhere indented by 
deep gulfs and marine inlets. The Indian Ocean penetrates far inland between 
Mekran and Oman, forming beyond the Strait of Ormuz the inland sea known as 
the Persian Gulf, On the opposite side of Arabia the Red Sea fills a surprisingly 
regular depression in the crust of the earth, terminating on either side of the 
Sinai peninsula in secondary basins, also noted for their remarkable sjTnmetry. 



GENERAL SURVEY. 8 

The Mediterranean, flowing by Cyprus, describes a series of bays along the south 
coast of Asia Minor, and by a thousand channels and ramifications carves the east 
side of the ^gean into a second Greece, with its countless islands, peninsulas, and 
headlands. Another basin, which may be described rather as a vast lake — the Sea 
of Marmora, or Propontis of the ancients — connects the Archipelago with the 
Euxine, which flows eastwards to the foot of the Caucasus and Armenian high- 
lands. Lastly, the circle of marine waters round the West Asiatic seaboard is 
completed by the closed basin of the Caspian. Account must also be taken of 
lakes Urmiah, Yan, and others, often large enough to present the aspect of oceanic 
gulfs. Here and there old marine inlets have been replaced by extensive plains, 
the most remarkable of which is the vast Mesopotamian valley, forming a con- 
tinuation of the Persian Gulf towards Alexandretta Bay, and dividing the whole 
of Mohammedan Asia into two distinct halves — Arabia, with the coast ranges of 
Syria and Palestine on the south, the highlands of Asia Minor and the Iranian 
plateaux on the north and east. 

Thanks to this disposition of the surrounding waters and inland plains. Hither 
Asia, centre of the Old World, is, at the same time, almost a peninsular region, 
and thus easily became, during the course of history, a common point of imion for 
peoples of diverse origin and usages. Nowhere else have the rival races of the 
globe had more civilised representatives, sharply contrasting one with the other, 
than in this region. The North Asiatic hordes, now confused together under the 
collective name of Uralo- Altaic races, had penetrated into the uplands far south of 
the Oxus, assumed limit of Iran and Turan, and the struggle between these two 
ethnical elements has here been continued throughout historic times. It is even 
still maintained between the Persian and Turkoman, whUe the Mongol invasions 
are recalled by the presence of many populations, notably the Hazarahs and 
Aimaks, south of the Hindu- Kush. Other ethnical elements belonging, if not to 
the black race, at least to that of the Kushites, a Negroid stock allied to the 
Ethiopian, were also diversely represented in these regions. Some trace of their 
presence on the plateaux of Susiana may be detected in the processions of captives 
figured on the bas-reliefs of Nineveh. Nimrod, the " mighty hunter before the 
Lord," is the legendarj- ancestor of these mythical peoples. 

The facility of conmnmication between the two shores of the Red Sea had also 
at all times brought about a mingling of the Arab and African races. Neverthe- 
less, the Negro element proper appears never to have had any relative importance 
in the history of the West Asiatic peoples. The preponderating influence, enjoyed 
at first by the " Turanians " and Kushites, passed eventually to the Semites in the 
south and to the Aryans in the north. The whole of Arabia, as far as the 
Euphrates, is the domain of the former, while the latter prevail numerically on the 
Iranian plateaux, the Armenain highlands, and certain parts of Asia Minor. 

In the general historic movement Hither Asia preceded Europe ; but it was 
precisely in this direction that civilisation progressed. The commercial and intel- 
lectual axis of the Old World followed the direction from south-east to north- 
west. Hence the zone of greatest vitality in the history of nations stretches frord 

B 2 



4 SOUTH-WESTERN ASIA. 

India and Mesopotamia through Ionia, the Mediterranean peninsula, and France, 
to the British Isles. Before Europe fonned part of the civilised world, commercial 
intercourse naturally found its chief centre in the regions of the Asiatic seaboard. 
The legend of the Argonauts and the Golden Fleece commemorates the relations 
formerly established between the Caucasian highlanders and the Hellenic seafaring 
populations. But history speaks more clearly of the great marts that flourished on 
the shores of Syria, and of the services rendered to civilisation by the Phoenicians, 
not only by exploring the coast of West Europe and conducting caravans across 

Fig. 1. — Ethnical Divisions of Hither Asia. 

Scale 1 : 45,000,000. 




ES3 EI3 iia lIiIO SMI 

Turks, Tatars. TuxkomanB. Hezareh and others. Kirghiz. Georgians and others. Brahui. 



Caucasians. Drayidians. 



da ^ ^ ' 

Arabs and Bedouins. Syrians and others. Egyptians. Nubians and others. 



the natural lines of communication between the Indian Ocean and Mediterranean, 
but still more by spreading abroad a knowledge of the phonetic alphabet derived 
from the Egyptian hieroglyphics. Continually meeting with strangers speaking a 
thousand different tongues, the Phoenicians must have been struck especially by 
the great diversity of sounds which could be reproduced only by employing the 
Wgns used by the Egyptians to express ideas as well as the sounds of the corre- 
sponding words. Separating the most available symbols from the ideographic 
sense, the Phoenicians applied them exclusively to the reproduction of sound, thus 
emancipating the mind from the primitive symbolism, and imparting to written 



GENERAL SURVEY. 5 

characters a purely phonetic value. Their geographical discoveries, their distant 
voyages round Europe and Africa, their inland travels up the great rivers and 
across portages, their traffic in metals, -woven goods, pottery, manufactured wares 
of all sorts since discovered by archaeologists in so many lands, prepared the tribes 
of the western forests for a higher culture by developing trade and mutual inter- 
course among them. To the Phoenicians especially are we indebted for the work 
of prehistoric transition, without which the European world could never have 
entered on its historic career. To the civilised peoples of the future they 
bequeathed, in the alphabetical system of writing, the true germs of progress from 
a chaos of hostile elements to a common hmnanity, and their work in this respect 
is justly sjTnbolised by the travels of the Tyrian Hercules, conqueror of the world. 

Five or six centuries after the Phoenicians, the Hellenes dwelling on the coast 
of Asia Minor also took a large share in the discovery of the western regions. 
Their colonies were scattered along the Mediterranean shores as far as the Atlantic 
seaboard. As traders they introduced methods of exchange unknown even to 
the Phoenicians ; they developed a true coinage, whereas the dealers of Tyre and 
Sidon were still confined to a cumbrous system of barter. But how many other 
discoveries of a higher order than those associated with commercial pursuits are 
due to those Asiatic Greeks, precursors of Europeans in nearly all branches of 
himian knowledge ? Miletus, metropoKs of so many colonies, was, twenty-five 
centuries ago, the chief centre of geographical studies. Here Thales taught the 
first principles of the subject, and here the earliest-known charts were planned by 
Anaximander, Hecatffius, and Aristagoras. The neighbouring town of Hali- 
carnassus gave birth to Herodotus, " father of history and geography," the first 
comparative ethnographist, a charming writer, artless in his style, but always a 
shrewd observer, just and accurate in his conclusions, impartial enough to love the 
" barbarians " themselves while still assigning the first place to the Greeks, and 
especially to the Athenians. And how many other scarcely less illustrious names 
are the proud boast of that glorious land towards which we turn to hail the dawn 
of our intellectual life, and whence comes the distant echo of those Homeric songs 
irradiating the first essays of our forefathers on the path of human progress ? 

The name of Asia, or Asiadis, seems to have been originally restricted to a 
simple provonce of Lydia, and afterwards gradually extended, first to the whole of 
the Anatolian peninsula, and then to all the continent, advancing, so to say, in the 
footsteps of the early explorers. Slowly it dawned on the Greeks how small was 
their Hellenic world east of the ^gean compared with the great Asiatic mainland. 
Nevertheless the expression Asia Minor sums up accurately enough the historic 
part played by the peninsula projecting between the Euxine and Cj^rian waters ; 
for those nations that failed to cross the Caucasus in their westward march were 
thrown together at this extremity of the continent in a space confined on three 
sides by the sea. Pressing one on the other, nations and tribes of diverse origin 
were unable always to preserve their distinctive traits, and many became so 
mingled together that it is no longer possible to recognise with certainty their 
ethnical elements. But in the vast laboratory of humanity nothing is ever lost 



6 SOUTH-WESTEEN ASIA. 

utterly, and the genius of the various constituent races is still reflected ia the 
history of Asia Minor and in its influence on European culture. The northern 
tribes, commonly grouped under the general name of "Turanians," and often 
regarded as inferior to those classed as " Aryans," do not appear to have played a 
less important part in the common work of progress than their neighbours. From 
them was acquired a knowledge of iron and the other metals,* and to them also we 
are doubtless indebted for most of our domestic animals. At any rate, in the lands 
occupied at the dawn of history by the Turanians, zoologists now seek the centre of 
dispersion of those animals which have become the chief companions of man. In 
the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates, at the foot of Ararat, on the slopes of the 
Caucasus, or on the Iranian plateaux, were grouped together the wild precursors of 



Fig. 2. — Asiatic Origin or various cultivated Plants. 
Scale 1 : 26,000,000. 




the domestic dog, of the ox, goat, sheep, pig, perhaps also of the camel. Of the 
two primitive equine species one is supposed to have represented the " Arj^an," the 
other the " Turanian " horse. 

From Hither Asia also probably came most of the more useful cultivated plants, 
such as the olive, the plum, almond, vine, and perhaps the peach ; flax, lucern, bean, 
pea, and above all wheat, barley, and oats.t If such be the case, may not the old 
legend be right in placing the cradle of civilised man in the same region ? For 
what can the condition of the human animal have been before he knew how to 
cultivate the nourishing cereal symbolised by the Greeks imder the form of the 
goddess-daughter of Demeter, now black and of awful mien, reigning over the 

• Eawlinson, " The Five Great Monarchies " ; Maspero, " Histoire Ancienne des Peuples de 1' Orient." 
t Alphonse de Candolle, " Geographie Botanique Raisonuee." 



GENERAL SUEVEY. 7 

shades of the dead, now fair and radiant, cl•o^vned with bluebells by the sparkling 
stream ? 

The northern races also took a noteworthy share in the moral develojoment of 
the peoples occupying the vast Anatolian quadrilateral. Their genius is revealed 
in the religions of the East, especially in the practice of magic analogous to the 
Shamanistic rites of the Samoyedes and Tunguses. From them came also those 
divinities which, as belonging to inferior peoples, were by the Greeks banished to 
the lower regions. Such were the himdi-ed-armed monsters, the deformed beings 
who tear up the ores from the bowels of the earth and forge the metals in its 
echoing caverns swayed by Vulcan, the lame god, butt of Olympian wit and 
laughter. Like the Chaldeans, whose venerable astronomic system survives in the 
signs of the zodiac and in our duodecimal divisions and week of seven days, the 
Semitic or Semitised peoples of Asia Minor took also a twofold part in the develop- 
ment of nations, influencing them both by their commercial intercoui'se and religious 
ideas. In the Hellenic world the social groups assumed above all a civic character, 
whereas in Phrygia and the neighbouring states they formed so many " congrega- 
tions," in which the priest held sway in the name of the gods, and in which the 
temple alwaj's occupied the centre of the city. Those subtle eastern cults, which 
were associated especially with the worship of death, identified with life by the 
resurrection ever springing from the sacrifice, were even threatening to prevail 
over the joyous rites of Greece, when Christianity, traditionally attributed to a 
Semitic source, but already penetrated by Iranian elements and anticipated by the 
Alexandrian neo-Platonic philosophy, spread rapidly over the western world. In 
this religious revolution, which laid the temples of the gods in ruins, it was, 
perhaps, Asia Minor that took the largest share. It was Paul, a Cilician Jew, but 
already a Greek in temperament, that became the most zealous apostle of the new 
doctrine, preaching it no longer to the narrow circle of the children of Israel, but 
to the vast multitude of the Gentiles. From the earliest time of his propaganda 
the " Seven Churches of Asia " were the chief centres of proselytism, and when 
the now established religion of Christ formulated its dogma in precise terms, it was 
in the Anatolian city of Nicsea that were proclaimed the articles of faith still 
repeated in every Christian community. Then came, some centuries later on, the 
monotheism of the Arabian prophet, and it was in the Anatolian peninsula that 
were fought the great battles which sealed the triumph of the Crescent over the 
Cross in the Euxine basin. 

And the lands which were the scene of all these great events have again lapsed 
into the silence of death. These regions, legendary cradle of mankind and historic 
source of our culture ; this hallowed spot, where, towards the dawn of history, the 
poet reveals to us men and gods doing battle under the walls of Ilium ; these 
renowned cities, Babylon and Nineveh, Ecbatana and Susa, Baalbek and Palmyra, 
Antiochia and Damascus, which shine with such effulgence in the past, what are 
they now compared with the western lands formerly held by a few painted 
barbarians, now crowded with vast multitudes, conquerors of the ancient solitudes ? 
Within a brief three thousand years what an amazing contrast ! Then the 



8 SOUTH-WESTERN ASIA. 

Euphrates valley, succeeding to that of the Nile, formed the centre of the western 
world, while Europe was the region of Cimmerian darkness, an unknown wilderness. 
Now the focus of light has moved westwards, and the East has become wrapped in 
gloom. 

In the number of its inhabitants, known only approximately. Hither Asia has 
fallen quite as low as in the relative importance of its culture. The region 
stretching from the coast of Makran to the ^gean Sea has a superficial area equal 

Fig. 3. — Density of the Popllatiox of Hither Asia 
Scale 1 : 45,000,000. 




n 



Inhabitants per Square Mile. 



1 to 5. 6 to 10. 10 to 20. 20 to 50. 50 to 100. 100 and upwards 

Each square represents a population of 30,000 inhabitants. 
— ^_^^_^^_.^^_^^^^.^_ 1,200 Miles. 



to about three- fourths of the European continent ; but its population is probably 
ten times smaller, and, so far from increasing, seems to be actually diminishing. 
What are the causes of this decadence, which inspires so many eloquent pages to 
the hi.storian and moralist ? Are they to be sought exclusively in the intestine 
wars and foreign invasions by which these lands have been so frequently 
wasted ? But since the time of Attila, how many exterminators have overrun 
Europe in all directions ! It must, however, be confessed that in WeBtern Asia 
the area of cultivation was relatively less extensive, and far more exposed to 



GENERAL SURVEY. 9 

inroads ttan the European countries bordering on the Mediterranean and Atlantic. 
Between Persia and Asia Minor the habitable zone formed merely a narrow- 
isthmus, like that connecting Egypt and Syria. Torn by incessant internal strife, 
the peoples of Iran, Mesopotamia, Syria, and Asia Minor were also exposed to the 
attacks of their southern and northern neighbours, the Arabs on the one hand, 
the Uralo-Altaic nomads on the other. These enemies, being protected by the 
wilderness, were unconquerable, and always ready to seize the favourable oppor- 
tunity in order to fall upon the settled districts, massacre the inhabitants, or 
carry them off into slavery. Several times during the historic period the 
spontaneous cultui-es of "Western Asia were in this way mown down like the grass 
of the fields, and by none more frequently than by the ancestors of the Tui-k, who 
now rules over all the land west of Iran. And how few of these peoples have 
found within themselves sufficient elements of regeneration to recover their national 
independence ! The masses have remained in a state of shameful thraldom, 
consumed by vice as by a moral leprosj'. 

To explain the disappearance of the populations, an argument has also been 
drawn from the assumed exhaustion of the soil, which formerly yielded abundant 
crops of cereals. The lands on the plateaux and slopes which are not exposed to 
periodical floodings, Kke the plains watered by the Tigris and Euphrates, are 
certainly, in course of time, deprived of their chemical elements, and thus gradually 
become improductive. The very works that were formerly most beneficial are now 
often injurious. Ruined buildings redden the soil with the dust of their crumbling 
brick walls, and the choked-up canals spread their sluggish waters over the plains. 
The arable lands are thus on the one hand invaded by the desert, while on the other 
fever and death are propagated by the ever-increasing marshy tracts. 

But whatever weight be assigned to these causes of decay, another must be 
sought in the gradual di-ying up of the land. Although everywhere surrounded by 
marine waters, the climate of Hither Asia is as thoroughly continental as the heart 
of the continent. Before meeting on the Iranian plateaux and Babylonian plains, 
the prevailing northern and southern winds have been deprived of all their 
moisture in their passage across thousands of miles of arid land. Hence the 
equatorial and north-east polar currents, which meet in Western Asia, are amongst 
the driest on the globe. Their track across Asia and Africa is indicated bj' the 
great desert zones of the Gobi and Sahara, while Persia, and especially Arabia, 
have their own sandy or stony wastes. These regions would be altogether 
uninhabitable but for the slight quantity of moisture, partly, however, arrested by 
the coast ranges, which is borne inland by the monsoons attracted from the sea by 
the rarefied atmosphere of the heated soil. Such is the dearth of rimning waters 
that in the whole of Arabia there is not a single perennial stream ; while from 
Karachi to Teheran, a distance of nearly a thousand miles in a straight line, the 
traveller meets with no river more than two feet deep. The rainfall is insufficient 
to support a rich spontaneous vegetation anywhere except along the southern shores 
of the Caspian and Euxine, where the northern winds traverse two marine basins 
before reaching the coast, and here and there on the Mediterranean, where the raia- 



10 SOUTH-WESTEEN ASIA. 

bearing clouds are deflected towards the seaboard. The whole of Hither Asia, 
fifteen times larger than France, probably sends seawards a liquid mass but slightly- 
greater than that of the French rivers. 

Although always less favoured in this respect than Western Europe, there are 
many iudications that in former times Hither Asia was more abundantly watered 
than at present. The descriptions of the old writers do not, on the whole, convey 
an idea of such a lack of flowing waters as now exists. Even the nomads, dwelling 
in the midst of rocks and sands on the skirt of the desert, could scarcelj' now 
regard Canaan as " a land flowing with milk and honey." Many formerly fertile 
regions also have lost their forests, their arable lands, even their grassy tracts and 
brushwood. How could the great marts of the Ionian seaboard have acquired such 
importance if, behind the narrow zone of the coast region, there was not found a 
reserve of vital force in the plateaus sufficiently watered to support a much larger 
population than is now jDOssible ? And the cities of the wilderness — Palmyra and 
Baalbek, wealthy enough to build simiptuous temples, whose ruins stiU excite the 
wonder of the traveller — could scarcely have attained such splendour- had they not 
been surrounded by more extensive oases, sufficient to supply abundant provisions 
to their inhabitants and the multitude of strangers visiting them. Modern explora- 
tion has revealed in Asiatic Turkey, Persia, and Baluchistan vast spaces, formerly 
thickly peopled, which have been changed to deserts. Cities have been partly 
swallowed up in the encroaching sands ; navigable rivers have been reduced to 
shallow streams, inaccessible to the smallest craft ; the site of ancient lakes is often 
indicated onlj' by swamps or saline efflorescences. 

But notwithstanding the desiccation of the land, Hither Asia cannot fail to 
recover much of its former importance. The position to which it owed its prepon- 
derating share in the work of civilisation lost its value when the great highways 
of trade were deflected westwards. But the direct lines are resuming all their 
importance in international relations, and the main overland route from Europe to 
India is tending more and more in the direction of the Euphrates vallej' and the 
Iranian jjlateaux. Thus Western Asia again claims the advantages of its position 
as the geographic centre of the Old World. The exact centre of the irregular 
figure formed by the three continents of Europe, Asia, and Africa is not far 
removed from the plains where stood the famous cities of Persia and Assyria. It 
lies at the south-west angle of the Caspian, so that the tower of Babel really stands 
where the legend placed it, on the confines of three worlds. Eastwards Asia 
stretches away to the ocean where " the sun rises ; " on the south the parched 
Arabian peninsula announces the neighbourhood of Africa ; while on the north- 
west Anatolia lies at the threshold of Europe. Through the Suez Canal, separating 
it from Africa, Hither Asia has again become for maritime trade the centre of 
gravity of the continental group ; through the jimction of the future railway 
systems it wiU also, sooner or later, become the central emporium of the Old 
World. According to the approximate estimates of the number of inhabitants of 
the eastern hemisphere, the centre of population would at present coincide with 
the south-western region of the Tibetan plateau — that is, with an almost unin- 




BAALBEK-EUINS OF THE TiV u TiilPLEb. 



UNlVthSnYoflLUNUlS, 



GENERAL SURVEY. 



11 



habited land. But the rapid increase of Europeans -is deflecting the point of 
equilibrium more and more to the -west, towards the passes of the Hindu-Kush, 
which are historically so important as highways of conimimication between the two 
halves of the Aryan world. 

Doubtless the assimilation of Hither Asia to the West in respect of its trade, 
industries, and general culture must prove a work of time and great difficulty. 
Nor can the material civilisation iatroduced from Eui-ope fail to be affected by the 
genius of the East, in appearance so pliant, in reality so tenacious. The Asiatic 
will never slavishly accept the lessons of the foreigner. He modifies all he touches, 
and, to their cost, the Greeks and Eomans abeady discovered what it meant to live 

Fig. 4. — Central Point of the Old ^VoRLD. 
Scale 1 : 200,000,000. 




Central Point without the islands. 



Central Point with the islands. 
— 3,600 Ililes. 



in the midst of those Oriental populations. Instead of plajong the part of civilisers, 
they were themselves subdued by the manners and religions of the lands where they 
dwelt, and were fain to propagate them in the West. But at present, however 
original be their national characteristics, the Asiatic Greeks, the Armenians, and 
Syrians are being more and more attracted by the contemporary scientific movement. 
And what neglected resources, what undeveloped treasures, do not these peoples still 
possess ! The reaction of civilising influences towards the East, which has already 
assimilated Himgary, the Danubian Principalities, Greece, and Russia, and which 
has already renewed the aspect of many Syrian or Greek cities in Western Asia 
itself, must necessarily spread towards the Euphrates and Iranian tableland, 



12 



SOUTH- WESTERN ASIA. 



Once before, during the Crusades, the conquest of the East was attempted by 
the European nations. For nearly two hundred years — ^from the end of the tenth 
to the end of the twelfth century — an almost incessant movement of warlike 
migrations was directed from Europe agaiust Asia. On the battle-field fell 
hundreds of thousands, attracted more by a love of conquest and plunder than 
by proselytising zeal. Millions of warriors, of captives, or retainers perished in 
the camp or on the march ; yet after two centuries of massacres and pestilence the 
Crusaders had to abandon the East without retaining a single citadel on the main- 
land. Nevertheless, their efforts had the result of delaying the faU of the Byzan- 
tine Empire, by carrying far beyond the Bosphorus the scene of the struggle 



Fig. 6. — Centre of Gravity for the Popdlations of the Old World. 
Scale 1 : 200,000,000. 




lon^Uudeof G 



between the two rival religions. The commercial populations of the Mediter- 
ranean, whether Christian or Moslem, were also brought into closer contact, while 
the Italian traders became familiar with all the highways of Hither Asia, gradually 
acquiring more wealth by peaceful means than the Crusaders had obtained by the 
sword. Certainly the political ascendency of Europe could not have failed to 
increase rapidly in the East even, despite the fall of Constantinople, had not the 
circumnavigation of Africa, and especially the discovery of the New "World, 
attracted the spirit of enterprise to other fields, and transferred to the Iberian 
peniasula the commercial pre-eminence hitherto enjoyed by Italy. The dis- 
coveries of Colimibus obliged Europe, so to say, to turn to the rightabout, thus 



GENERAL SURVEY. 13 

giving to the Eastern peoples a respite of three hundred years in the hereditary- 
struggle which may be said to have begun in mythical times by the Argonautic 
expedition and the Trojan war. 

At present the pressure of the "West is felt more strongly than ever, although 
the religious fervour of the days of the Crusaders has been nearly eliminated from 
the "Eastern Question." If the Western nations cared now to recover Jerusalem, 
the only difficulty would be, not the conquest, but the appointment of guardians 
from amongst the rival Protestant, Catholic, or Greek claimants to the possession 
of the Holy Sepulchre. The partition of the Mohammedan world has, in fact, 
already begun, not only in European Turkey, but throughout the whole of "Western 
Asia. Not satisfied with the occupation of the Trans-Caucasian valleys of the Kur 
and Rion, Russia has seized the most formidable strongholds in the Armenian 
highlands, and now holds the passes enabling her to hurl her armies at pleasure 
on Constantinople, Aleppo, or Bagdad. Beyond the Caspian they have also 
occupied more than one position whence they might easily assail the A-ital strategic 
points of Persia ; while the conquest of the Turkoman oases places them at the very 
entrance of the highway to India through the Heri-rud valley. 

Their English rivals for the political hegemony of Asia have on their part 
strengthened their outposts by the occupation of Cj'prus, which commands at once 
the Anatolian and Syrian seaboards, close to the great bend of the Euphrates and 
to the regions directly threatened by the Russians in Armenia. At the entrance 
of the Red Sea, on the main route of steam navigation, they also hold the citadel 
of Aden, while a few subventions distributed among the tribal chiefs render 
them predominant over all the populations along the seaboard. In many inland 
cities of Persia, Anatolia, and Irak Arabi, the British consuls are moreover far more 
the masters than the provincial governors themselves. Amongst the Maronites 
and Druses of the Syrian ranges the suzerainty of France has been often admitted, 
often disputed, according to the oscUlation of political rivalries. Jerusalem itself 
has been placed, through the embassies, under the joint control of aU. the European 
powers, each enjoying in its turn a preponderating voice according to the influences 
prevailing for the moment in the Golden Horn. 

The two religions that took their rise in Palestine are now represented in 
Hither Asia only by a few relatively unimportant communities. The Jews are 
nowhere numerous except in Jerusalem and some of the surrounding towns, while 
the Christian congregations flourish chiefly in the shadow of the Holy Sepulchre 
and some other venerated spots. Elsewhere they are almost exclusively confined 
to the Lebanon, and to the Hellenic and Armenian districts of Asia Minor. Most 
of the inhabitants of Asiatic Turkej', and nearly the whole of the popidation in 
the other regions of Hither Asia, are followers of the Prophet. Arabia, where 
stand the holy cities of Islam, and whence the faith was propagated over the 
rest of the world, is still the true centre of Mohammedanism, and here dwell its 
zealous apostles. But notwithstanding their religious fervour, a uniform creed 
has failed to give political cohesion to this section of the continent. The 
Pan-Islamitic coalition, of which so much has recently been heard, can never be a 



u 



SOUTH-WESTEEN ASIA. 



source of anxiety to the European powers contending for supremacy in the East. 
The zealous Wahabite sect, which professes scrupulous observance of the Prophet's 
teaching, is numerous only in the interior of Arabia, where it is shut off from all 
contact with the outer world. On the other hand, most of ilohammedan Asia is 
divided between the Turkish Sunnites and Persian Shiahs, who mutually detest 
each other, and who often regard the Giaour himself as less impure than a 
member of the rival sect. In many places religious indifference is universal, and 
most of the Bedouins have never known any god except their lance, with which 
they fall at times even on the pilgrims returning from Mecca. Amongst the 

Fig. 6. — Religions of Hither Asia. 
Scale 1 : 45,000,000. 




, . M l I n i n i 1 '-) ^ ^ 'I i..'.l.l.l.M.'.'.l pi 1,1,1 U.l 1,1 K'AvV^.l'J ^'i'''''!ii t=-=Z=---^ 

^^ 11U£J LL..J L J BMia imm ^^ fc#M Bgaj 

Sunnites. ShutLs. \\'Hlialiitis. Inures. Ansarieb. Greeks. Armenians, yestoriana. Maronitea^ 



other Religions. 

Kaiiis. Partis. Buddhists. Hindus. Jews. 

^_^^_^^^__^^^.^^^_^____ 1,200 Miles. 



majority of the Turks themselves the faith has lost its active force, degenerating 
into a dreary fatalism, forerunner of death. If conversions to Christianity are 
all but unknown, this resistance must be attributed not to their religious con\-ictions 
so much as to long political rivalry, to traditional hatred, and to the thousand 
contrasts presented by different social usages and habits of thought. 

But apart from this lack of political and moral cohesion, the geographical 
condition of the land itself must always prevent its inhabitants from combining 
successfully against the European powers. By vast deserts and waterless wastes 
these Asiatic regions are divided into distinct sections, without any means of 
intercommunication except by the high seas, which are controlled by the fleets of 



GENERAL SURVEY. 15 

the "West. Even by its two chief rivers, the Euphrates and Tigris, Western Asia 
is, so to say, divided from the strategic standpoint into two parts, connected only 
by a narrow mountainous isthmus between the head of the fluvial navigation and 
Russian Caucasia. Politicallj', Pan-Islamism is far less formidable in the land of 
its birth than in India, where fifty million Mohammedans are united by a common 
worship and a common patriotic sentiment, or even in Africa, where unknown 
multitudes are massed geographically together, and still animated by the fiery 
spirit of proselytism. 




CHAPTER II. 




AFGHANISTAN. 
Kafiristan, Kabul, Herat, Kandahar. 

HROUGrH the East Afghan uplands, limited northwards by the 
snowy Hindu-Kush or Indian Caucasus, Hither Asia reaches the 
Great Pamir, or " roof of the world," which forms the orographic 
centre of the continent, and the converging-point of the Anglo- 
Indian, Chinese, and Russian Empires. Here the plateau, above 
which rise some of the highest peaks on the globe, exceeds in altitude the loftiest 
Pyrenean crests ; yet a little farther west lie the passes that have at all times been 
the most frequented between the Turkestan depression and the Indus valley. 
Hence the extreme military importance of Afghanistan, and the still greater part 
it has played in the history of trade and migrations. 

Although the early migratory movements of the Aryans across the mountains 
are mentioned neither in tradition nor in legend, nevertheless the close resem- 
blance, amounting almost to identity, in the religious rites and ceremonies, in 
the languages and civilisations, of the peoples dwelling on the banks of the " seven 
rivers" of Irania and the "seven rivers " of India, leave no doubt that the passes 
between the two regions were well known and frequented from the remotest times. 
The expeditions of Alexander, followed by the establishment of the Graeco- 
Bactrian states, stretching probably into the heart of India, again connected the two 
extremities of the Aryan world through these defiles of the Hindu-Kush. Later 
on the same passes were chosen by the Buddhist missionaries to bring India into 
relation with the regions of North Asia and the far East. The colossal images 
carved ages ago on the rocks at Bamian have been witnesses of many a warlike, 
religious, or commercial expedition by which the course of human events has 
been largely influenced. The same highways have been traversed by Mongols, 
Turks, and Persians ; and now Russians and English, encamped on the Oxus or 
behind the fortified lines of Peshawar, await, in the popular belief, the signal to 
renew the secular struggle for empire. 

At this point the plateau separating the Indus valley from the Turkestan 
slopes scarcely exceeds 180 miles. Kabul, already thrice seized by the British, 



. :.,.;;Y 

THE 

JiMvUoiiUf ILLINOIS. 




>=^^gSBl tj^. 



AFGHANISTAN. 17 

stands within some sixty miles from the highest pass leading to what may now be 
called the Russian slope. English guns and Muscovite envoys have already 
crossed this very pass of Bamian. Towards the north-west of Afghanistan the 
mountain barrier disappears altogether between Merv and Herat, where no serious 
obstacle stands in the way of military expeditions. In a few days a gang of 
European " navvies " might now complete the carriage route leading from the 
Caspian to Kandahar.* 

Afghanistan may altogether be regarded as a laud of transition. It is the 
Roh or highland region mentioned by the old writers as comprised between Iran, 
Turan, and Hind. Forming the eastern continuation of the Iranian plateau, it 
separates one from the other the two centres of civilisation in the Indus and 
Euphrates valleys, and its chief importance is consequently due to the routes 
traversing it between these two regions. Its cities, standing either in fertile 
valleys, in the midst of oases, or at the entrance of mountain gorges, are mentioned 
in history mainh- on account of their strategic value, and of the advantages they 
afford to armies marching to the conquest or defence of distant territories. Hence 
the expression " key of India," so often applied to Herat, to Kandahar, Grhazni, or 
Kabul. " Since the remotest times," wrote Akbar's historiographer, Abu '1 Fazel, 
in 1602, "Kabul and Kandahar are regarded as the gates of Hindustan ; one opens 
the road from Iran, the other from Turan, and if these points be well guarded, 
the vast empire of India is sheltered from foreign invasion." 

Yet, notwithstanding the military expeditions that have so frequently tra- 
versed the land, and despite the labom-s of numerous explorers, such as the two 
Conollys, Lord, Forbes, Burnes, and others, Afghanistan cannot yet be called a 
well-known region. Several routes carefully laid down by Government surveys 
have long remained sealed documents, while the valuable charts accompanying 
them have become mildewed in the portfolios of the India Office. The districts 
lying at a distance from the strategic routes have remained imexplored, and most 
of the travellers who have recently penetrated into the coimtry have followed in 
the wake of the military expeditions. The direct route from Kabul, through the 
Hezareh territory to Herat, has not yet been traversed by any European. Mac- 
Gregor, who last attempted to penetrate in this direction from Persia, was dis- 
owned by the pusillanimous British authorities, and compelled by the Amir to 
retrace his steps. At the same time the isolated masses and ridges everywhere 
intersecting the base of the plateau transform many districts into a labyrinth of 
mountain gorges and valleys, rendered still more inaccessible by their savage 
denizens. Apart from the various routes between Kabul, Kandahar, and certain 
regions bordering on India, the surface of the country is only roughly sketched on 
our maps from the itineraries of European explorers, and the points astronomicalh' 
determined by them, chiefly towards the Persian and Indian frontiers. 

Nor are there any accurate returns of the popidation, the only census ever 
taken having been made bj' Nadir Shah for the purpose of determining the taxa- 
tion and military conscription. On the basis of this rough calculation, the various 

• Lessar, Rawlinson, Marvin, " The Russians at Merv and Herat." 
VOL. IX. C 



18 



SOUTH-WESTERN ASIA. 



tribes are stlU estimated at so many hundred or so many thousand families, 




notwithstanding all the wars, crossings, and migrations that have taken place 



THE AFGHANISTAN HIGHLANDS. 



19 



during the last hundred and fifty j'ears. Present estimates range from three to 
five millions and upwards for Afghanistan proper. 

Afghan Highlands. 

Disregarding the irregidarities of its political frontier, Afghanistan may be 
described as a plane inclining to the south-west from the north-east corner of 
Kafiristan to the marshy depression into which are discharged the waters of the 
Hilmend. The upper borders of the plateau are enclosed by two lofty barriers ; on 
the north the Hindu-Kush, with its western continuation, sometimes designated by 
the classic name of the Parapomisus ; on the east the Sulaiman-dagh, with a 
number of secondary chains. Within these two frontier ranges the ridges and 



-Itineraries of Afghanibtan. 
Scale 1 : 13,000,000. 




3,300 to 6,600 6,600 to 13,200 13,200 and 

Feet. Feet. upwards. 

— ^^-^^^^^— ^-^^— ^ 30O Miles, 



intermediate river valleys intersecting the plateau run in various directions, but 
mainly follow the general tilt of the land from north-east to south-west. 

Of all the Afghan ranges, the loftiest and most regidar is the Hindu- Koh, or, 
" Mountain of the Hindus," better known as the Hindu-Kush, or "Hindu kiUer," 
probably in allusion to the mortality of the traders who risk their lives amidst its 
snows in order to retail their wares to the Tajiks and Uzbegs of Tiirkestan. To 
the same range modern writers have applied the expression " Indian Caucasus," 
whereas by the Greeks it was called the " Caucasus " simply, regarding it as a 
continuation of the Ponto-Caspian ranges. 



20 



SOUTII-"RTi:STEEN ASIA. 



Althougli forming a south-western continuation of the Karakorum range, the 
Hindu-Kush is separated from that system by a profound gap to the north of the 
Upper Yasin valley. The gorge traversed by the Mastuj, a tributary of the 
Chitral, leads by easy stages across the pastures to the broad, grassy Baroghil Pass, 
where the inhabitants of the upper Oxus graze their cattle. According to the 
" Mollah," or native explorer, who crossed this part of the parting-line in 1874, 
this pass is only 12,000 feet high ; and Bidduli^h tells us that at this point the great 
divide between the Indus and Oxus basins might easily be crossed in a wheeled 
waggon. The highest R ummi ts occur farther south in a chain which runs from the 
western extremity of the Karakorum in a south-west direction between the Mastuj 

Fig. 9. — The Eastern Hixdu-Kush. 
Scale 1 : 1,250,000. 



^*5!^if-^~S^ 





^..:/Pv3l!tf^!^ ^ .-r-J^ ■>.. E -a.X 



E f. 



and the rivers flowing to the Qilgit and the Indus. This lateral ridge, sometimes 
known as the " Labor i Mountains," from a central pass of that name, rises at 
certain points to elevations of 19,200, 19,700, and even 22,800 feet. 

Towards the west and south-west 'the Hindu-Kush gradually increases in eleva- 
tion, attaining an altitude of over 25,000 feet in the Tirich-mir, a rival of the 
Karakorum giants. But even here the range is crossed by the practicable Nuksan 
Pass at a height of 16,000 feet ; and farther west by two others, the Khartaza and 
Dora, of which the latter appears to be the easiest, with an estimated altitude of 
16,000 feet. Beyond these peaks the water-parting between the streams flowing 
south through Kafiristan and north to the Badakshan and Kunduz, has not yet been 
visited by Europeans. But we know that the Kafirs of the southern slopes drive 



THE AFGHANISTAN HIGHLANDS. 21 

their herds to the northern pastures, so that here also the main range presents no 
impassable barriers. "West of the Anjumau Pass, the better-known section, which 
describes a crescent about 120 miles long, with its converse side facing north-west- 
wards, is broken by some twenty gaps varying in height from 11,000 to 15,000 
feet, and sometimes accessible even to caravans of camels. Amongst those 
mentioned in history are the Kawak, immediately west of Anjuman, probably used 
bj' Alexander, and crossed by the pilgrim H'wen-tsang on his return to China, as 
well as by the English travellers, Wood and Lord, on theii- return to India ; the 
Thai, crossed by Tamerlane ; the Shibr, east of Bamian, the most frequently men- 
tioned in Sultan Baber's memoirs ; the Kuchan, about the middle of the crescent, 
probably the most frequented at present. The peak which rises above this pass 
to an absolute height of nearly 20,000 feet, and which is more specially known 
as the Hindu- Koh or Hindu- Kush, is visible both from Kunduz on the north and 
from Kabid on the south. Nowhere else does the chain present a more imposing 
aspect, being here completely encircled on the north by the valleys of the Surgh-ab 
and Inder-ab, whose junction forms the Kunduz or Ak-Serai, and on the south by 
those of the Ghorband and Panjir, both of which flow to the Kabvl River. The 
northern slope presents an almost perfectly regular outline, forming an inclined 
rampart, black at the base, white at the summit, streaked by the horizontal snow- 
line, varying with the seasons. Southwards the contrast is perhaps still more 
striking between the rugged hills and the magnificent vegetation of the valleys, 
including as many as fifty species of the tulip. 

The vast triangular space comprised between the Hindu- Kush and the Lahori 
chain is almost entirely occupied by mountain ranges falling gradually towards 
the south-west. Although European explorers have failed to penetrate into much of 
this territory, they have succeeded in measm-ing from a distance a large nimiber of 
peaks ranging from 14,000 to 16,000 feet in height. Some of the crests within 2-4 
miles of the Kabul Eiver still retain an elevation of 10,000 feet, while their spurs, 
scored by erosive action, are continued southwards to the Sefid-Koh, forming a suc- 
cession of wild gorges and ravines between the Kabul plain and the Peshawar basin. 
Some 60 miles south-west of the Anjuman Pass these rugged highlands are broken at 
short intervals by three profound fissures, through which the three rivers Panjir, 
Parwan, and Ghorband escape to the Kabul. Farther on the main range is con- 
tinued by the Paghman chain, the first barrier which travellers have to cross on 
the direct route between Kabul and the Bamian Pass. After reaching the Unah 
or Honai Pass, about 5,000 feet high, this stony but far from difiicult highway 
descends into the Hilmend valley, beyond which it winds up the Hajikak and Irak 
slopes. In 1839 and 1840 the English carried their field artillery without much 
difficulty over the Irak Pass. 

The preference given to the Unah Pass as the ordinary caravan route explains 
the position of the Afghan capital in the narrow basin which it now occupies. As 
a city of war and commerce, it was necessarily founded in the immediate vicinity of 
the main route followed by caravans and armies. When the main highway crossed 
the Ghorband Pass, the capital stood at the outlet of three valleys, converging 



22 SOUTH-WESTEEN ASIA. 

towards the Daman-i-Koh plain, where all the paths are united from the eighteen 
practicable passes of the Hindu-Kush. Here doubtless also stood " Alexandria ad 
Caucasum," the city built by the Macedonian conqueror to guard the point where 
the routes diverge towards Bactriana. No better site could have been chosen, either 
for its strategic and commercial importance, or for the fertile soil, abimdant water, 
and natural beauty of the surrounding district. Although standing at a mean 
elevation of 6,500 feet above the sea, the plain, the largest in the whole of north- 
east Afghanistan, lies in the same latitude as Cyprus, Crete, and Tangier. Hence 
it enjoys a temperate climate, with a vegetation corresponding to that of Southern 
Europe. Here the open spaces are shaded by the plantain ; the apricot and other 
fruit-trees cluster round the villages ; the miilberry and vine clothe the lower 
terraced slopes of the hills ; grassy tracts, varied with tobacco and corn-fields, 
and the vivid colours of the garden-plots contrast pleasantly with the brown or 
yellowish hues of the rocky escarpments and the glittering peaks of the Hindu- Kush 
bounding the northern horizon. 

East of the Daman-i-Koh, at the foot of the heights of Kohistan, and at no 
great distance from the Panjir River, lies the little desert of E,eig Rawan, or 
" Moving Sands." Here the silicious particles blown about by the winds and 
falling into the rocky fissures of the ground produce a sound resembling the 
distant beat of the drum, accompanied by an aerial music like that of the seolian 
harp. Hence the legends of armies swallowed up in the sands, whose martial 
strains continue to echo beneath the surface. 

"West of the passes leading to Bactriana, the great divide, here aboiit 120 miles 
broad, consists of steep parallel chains running mainly east and west. These 
highlands, held by the Hezareh tribes of Mongol stock, are still almost an 
unknown land, overshadowed, as it were, by the mighty Koh-i-Baba, which rises in 
isolated majesty north of the Upper Hilmend valley, to an extreme height of 
17,800 feet. Another peak in the centre of the system also attains an elevation of 
over 16,000 feet, and there may be other snowy crests still farther west ; for these 
highlands, apparently the Parapomisus of the ancients, are known between the 
sources of the Murgh-ab and the course of the Upper Heri-rud, by the local name 
of Sefid-Koh, or " White Mountains." Ferrier, who traversed them in the middle 
of July, expressly states that the elevated peaks are snow- clad throughout the 
year. Northwards they are flanked by another chain, also running east and west, 
the Tirband-i-Turkestan, southern rampart of the Oxus plains. 

But as it advances westwards the Sefid-Koh falls gradually to the Mazret-i-Baba 
(Karrel-i-Baba) Pass, which is crossed by the Maimeneh route north-east of Herat, 
and which is free from snow from the end of April to December.* Farther on 
nothing remains except the low Barkhut ridge, falling to about 1,000 feet at the 
Cheshmeh-sebz and Khombu Passes on the route between Herat and the Mui-gh-ab 
plain. 

The Upper Heri-rud valley is skirted southwards by the Siah-Koh, or " Black 
Mountains," which also run from the Koh-i-Baba east and west parallel with the 
* Grodekov, "Bulletin of the Paris Geographical Society," August, 1880. 



THE AFGHANISTAN HIGHLANDS. 



m 



Sefid-Koh. South of Herat this range forms the continental water-parting, and is 
crossed at an elevation of nearly 6,500 feet bj' the direct route between Herat and 
the Hilmend basin. Its western continuation forms a junction with the Khorassan 
uplands at the pyramidal Siang-i-Tokhter, whilst on the south the territory of Gur — 
that is, "highlands" — is scored by countless river valleys running mainly in a 
south-westerly direction towards the desert. But about the centre of this almost 
unknown rugged region rises the Chalap-dalan, which from its form and the 
multitude of hot springs welling at its foot appears to be of volcanic origin, and 
which is said by Ferrier to be " one of the highest on the globe." In the middle 
of July he saw it still covered with snow, below which its grassy and wooded 

Fig. 10.— The Western- Hindi'-Kvsh. 
Scale 1 : 2,300,000. 




lower slopes occupied a vast space studded with villages and nomad encampments. 
This appears to be one of the richest mineral regions of Afghanistan, containing 
unworked mines of gold, silver, copper, lead, iron, sulphur, coal, besides rubies and 
emeralds. 

Besides the western Sefid-Koh, another sj^stem bearing the same name and far 
better known in the military history of Asia, occupies the north-eastern section of 
Afghanistan south of the Kabul River valley. Under its Afghan name of Spin- 
ghur, also meaning " White Moimtains," the main range rims east and west for a 
distance of 120 miles at a nearly uniform elevation of considerably over 12,000 
feet. The culminating peak, which has preserved its Sanskrit name of Sikaram, 
attains a height of 15, -500 feet, and this is flanked eastwards by the Keraira, 



21 SOUTH-WESTERN ASIA. 

almost rivalling it in altitude and majesty. Despite its name, the Sefid-Koh is not 
snow-clad throughout the year, nothing remaining from August to January but a 
few white streaks, except perhaps in some of the gorges sheltered from sun and 
wind. These imposing highlands, which everywhere abound in the grandest 
scenery, have been traversed in all directions by British officers and explorers, who 
ascended six of the highest summits in 1879. The Sefid-Koh lies on the British 
side of the " scientific frontier " recently laid down, but subsequently abandoned to 
the Afghan tribes. But the sites of future encampments and health resorts are 
marked on the charts in the neighbourhood of the passes, near the running waters 
and wooded slopes. 

At its western extremity the Sefid-Koh projects northwards a number of spurs, 
radiating like the ribs of a fan in the direction of the Hindu-Kush system, from 
which they are separated only by the gorges of the Kabul River. Of these spurs 
the loftiest is the Karkacha ridge, terminating near the river in the Siah-Koh, or 
" Black Mountain," which is so called by contrast with the snowy peaks of the 
main range. The Karkacha is crossed by the pass of like name (8,000 feet), and 
farther north by the less elevated Jagdalak Pass, near Gandamak, names ever 
memorable in the annals of Anglo- Afghan warfare. The Lataband, Ilaft-Kotal, 
Khirrd-Kabul and other passes over the more westerly spurs are all alike equally 
associated with the triumphs or disasters of the British arms during their three 
invasions of Afghanistan. The route skirting the southern foot of the Sefid-Koh 
has also acquired great strategic importance, and during the last war the Paiwar- 
Kotal, south of Sikaram peak, and Shutar-gardan ("camel's neck") at the south- 
west corner of the Sefid-Koh, became familiar sounds. 

At the eastern extremity of the main range the most famous pass is the 
Khaibar, which, to avoid the gorges of the Kabul River, bends south and west of 
Mount Tartara (6,850 feet), and rejoins the river over against Lalpura, 40 miles 
above the plain. The overhanging cliffs on either side are crowned with forts, 
some in ruins, some still standing ; and other monuments, such as topes and tombs, 
attest the former presence of peaceful as well as warlike elements ; for the 
Buddhist missionaries had freqiiented this route long before it was followed by 
Mahmud the Ghaznevide, Baber, Akbar, Nadir Shah, Ahmed Shah, and the British 
generals. Here Akbar constructed a waggon-road ; but Alexander and the first 
conquerors of India appear to have passed north of the Kabul River through the 
Yusuf-zai territory. 

The southern ramifications of the Sefid-Koh may be regarded as collectively 
forming the outer scarps of the Afghan tableland. Each of the successive terraces 
is separated from the previous by a border chain less elevated above its western 
than above its eastern base. Hence in ascending from the banks of the Indus to 
the grassy inner steppes, the traveller passes through a series of steep slopes, 
separated from each other by terraces of varying width. The chain usually Ivnown 
as the western Sulaiman-dagh is the loftiest, if not in its isolated peaks, which 
have not yet been surveyed, at all events in the mean altitude of its crest. South 
of the Shutar-gardan Pass, separating it from the Sefid-Koh, it runs mainly in the 



THE AFGmmiSTAN HIGHLANDS. 25 

direction of Baluchistan, where it forms the outer wall of the plateau west of the 
Kachi-Gandava deserts. The western Sulaiman-dagh thus constitutes the parting- 
line between the waters flowing east to the Indus, and west to the inland basins of 
the tableland. It also forms a political frontier between the western tribes, who 
recognise the Amir's authority and those to the east, who still enjoy a certain 
independence, and pay the taxes onlj^ when they cross the border with their flocks. 
On most maps another central Sulaiman chain is traced from Mount Sikarara 
in the Sefid-Koh southwards bej'ond the Paiwar-Kotal ; but it does not ajopear to 
form a continuously regular range, natives who have traversed the coimtry speak- 
ing only of a rugged plateau without any well-defined mountain system. Still 
farther east the various ridges, exclusive of the detached groups projecting 
towards the Indus, are all comprised under the general name of the Eastern 
Sulaiman-dagh, or Mihtar Sulaiman. Although cut into numerous sections by the 
Km-am, Tochi, Gomiil, Zhob, and other streams rising in the western ranges, they 

Fig. 11. — The Skfid-Koii of East Afghanistan'. 
Scale 1 : 2,400,000. 




none the less constitute a remarkably uniform orographic system. Wooded slopes 
are rare on the scarps facing the Indus valle}', which in the glare of the sun glow 
like a furnace, while the heat reflected by their white, red, or yellowish rocky walls 
becomes at times quite intolerable. 

The various lateral sandstone or limestone chains run in nearly parallel lines 
either north and south or north-east and south-west, and all slope gently west- 
wards, but fall abruptly towards the Indus. South of the Gomul Pass there are 
seven of these parallel ridges, and still farther south as many as twelve have been 
reckoned near the Suri River. The higher western ranges visible above the others 
from the Indus valley are sometimes by the Afghans called the Koh-i-Siah (Siah- 
Koh), or " Black Mountains," while the lower part of the system is designated by the 
name of Koh-i-Surkh (Sui-kh Xoh), or " Red Mountains." At intervals the ranges 
are pierced by darahs, or gorges, between whose vertical waUs intermittent torrents 
rush down during the rainy season. The Eastern Sulaiman-dagh cubninates with 



2R SOUTH-WESTEEN ASIA. 

the Pirgul peak (11,800); but the most famous group is the Takht-i-Sulaiman, or 
" Throne of Solomon," whose twin peaks are visible from the plains. The northern 
and most elevated (estimated at from 11,000 to 11,400 feet) is one of the many 
spots where Noah's ark is supposed to have rested, while a niche cut in the rock 
represents the " throne " whence Solomon contemplated the vast abyss of the 
universe. Towards the southern extremity of the Sulaiman-dagh occurs the wooded 
and weU-watered Borai valley, which, thanks to its easy incline, seems destined 
one day to become the chief route from Multan to the Afghan plateau. 

West of the border range the section of the plateau comprised between the 
northern and eastern highlands is intersected by no ridges rising more than 2,000 
or 2,500 feet above the surrounding countsy. Except at their junctions, these 
ridges run uniformly north-east and south-west, falling gradually towards their 
southern extremity. The most important between the Hilmend and Tarnak Rivers 
is the Gul-Koh, or " Blue Mountain," so named from the flowers covering its 
slopes. North of Ghazni the Sher-dahan Pass, leading to the Logar valley and 
Kabul, still maintains an elevation of 9,000 feet, whereas the crests overlooking the 
plain of Kandahar nowhere reach a height of 6,500 feet. 

South of the Kandahar plain other chains connected with the main range of the 
western Sulaiman-dagh rise to a considerable elevation, forming towards Baluchistan 
a double barrier, which the English still hold as their most advanced outpost since 
their withdrawal from Kandahar. The Khwaja Amran, or northern ridge, is 
crossed by the famous Khojak Pass at an elevation of 7,600 feet. Although this 
route has been usually followed by the British armies, the line of the future 
railway to Kandahar has been traced through the far less elevated Gwaja Pass, 
beyond which the hUls merge in the Shorawak territory, west of the farthest point 
surveyed by the English oflacers. The ridge running south of the Khwaja Amran, 
although higher, presents more practicable passes. Here the Takatu, with its twin 
peaks, attains an altitude of over 12,000 feet. Between the two ranges stretches the 
fertile Pashang basin, wrongly called the Pishin valley, a district of great strategic 
importance, traversed by the brackish Kakar Lora, the official frontier towards 
Baluchistan. 

Afghan River Systems. 

All the Afghan rivers, except those rising in the Hindu-Kush and eastern 
Sefid-Koh, flow to closed basins, or else run dry in the sands before reaching their 
natural seaward outlets. Nearly all the waters of the north-east highlands are 
collected by the Kabul River, whose volume is probably equal to that of all the 
other Afghan streams together. The Kophes, Kophen, or Kabul, whose valley has 
been followed by all the conquerors of India, rises at the foot of the Paghman 
hills, and below the city whence it takes its modern name is joined by the more 
copious Logar, fed partly by the torrents flowing from the Ghazni hills. Farther 
down comes the Panjir, formed by all the streams which the snows of the Hindu- 
Kush send to the Daman-i-Koh plain. Below this confluence the main stream 



THE KABUL RIVER. 



27 



receives on both its banks smaller contributions from the Nangnahar uplands on 
the south and the Lakhman or Lamghan district on the north. A few miles below 
Jalalabad the Kabul is probably doubled in volimie by the Kunar, which rises at the 
Baroghy. Pass, under the name of Mastuj, and takes the appellation of Chitral and 
Kamah. As in Kashmir and the Himalaj-as, the torrents in this highland region 
ai'e crossed by frail bridges of the willow and twining plants ; but large rivers, such 
as the Kunar and Swat, are traversed by means of inflated skins, as in the Panjab. 

Fig. 12. — The Kabul Eitek — View taken neak Cuzeegao, Shardeh Valley. 




The last Important stream joining the Kabul is the Swat, with its tributary the 
Panjkora, often called the Landi Sind, or " Little Indus," to distinguish it from 
the Abu Sind, or " Great Indus." In the British province of Peshawar both 
streams mingle their waters, and after irrigating the whole of the Peshawar plain, 
the Kabul seems scarcely inferior in volume to the Indus at its confluence with 
that river above Attock. 

South of the Sefid-Koh the Kuram is the only perennial stream flowing east to 



29 SOUTH-WESTERN ASIA. 

the Indus. All the rest, rising on the Sulaiman slopes, either run out in the .sands 
or are exhausted in irrigating the land before reaching their natural outlet. Thus 
the GoniTil, with a basin, according to Walker, 13,000 square miles in extent, and 
which sometimes spreads out to a width of 10 miles on the plains, remains without 
a drop of water during the drj^ season. In Afghan Turkestan, the rivers of the 
Khulni, Balkh, Siripul, and Maimeneh districts also run out before reaching the 
Oxus. In the same way the Jlurgh-ab is used up in the irrigation canals of the 
Merv oasis; while the Heri-rud, or " river of Herat," rising between the Sefid and 
Siah-Koh, after a longer course westwards to the Persian highlands, ultimately 
disappears in the Turkestan sands under the name of the Tejen (Tejend). Ferrier 
was informed by the natives that before the end of the last century its lower 
course lay much farther to the right, in the direction of the Murgh-ab ; but in any 
case it fails at present to reach the dried-up lacustrine depression which, according 
to Lassar, stands at a lower level than the Caspian. 

The only closed basin comprised entirely within Afghan territory is that of the 
Ghazni, which has an area of about 7,000 square miles. Rising on the southern 
slope of the hills which send most of their drainage through the Chintz, Logar, and 
Kabul to the Indus, the Ghazni, after receiving numerous small tributaries, flows 
beyond the Band-i-Sultan, or " Sultan's Dyke " raised by Mahmud the Ghaznevide, 
first south and then south-west, in the direction of the afiluents of the HiLmend. 
But during its progress across the arid plains of the Ghilzai nomads it generally 
diminishes in volume, and at an elevation of 7,000 feet loses itself in the highland 
lake Ab-Istada. This " sleeping water," as its name is interpreted, has a depth of 
less than 14 feet in the centre, and is so brackish that the freshwater fish of the 
Ghazni perish on reaching the lake, which is said to have overflowed in 1878 into 
the Hilmend basin. 

The salient features of Lake Ab-Istada are reproduced on a vaster scale by the 
Hamun basin, which, besides about half of Afghanistan, embraces a considerable 
portion of Persia and Baluchistan, with a total area of perhaps 200,000 square miles. 

The Hilmend, which is the main artery of this hydrographic system, has a 
course of over 600 miles, and is the most copious Asiatic river between the Indus 
and Tigris. By the Great Moghids it was regarded as the moat dug by nature's 
hand round Kandahar, bidwark of their empire towards the west. Other streams, 
also some hundreds of miles in length, such as the Rud-i-Sabzawar (Harut-rud), the 
Farah-rud and Kash-rud, drain to the Hamxm depression, although during the dry 
season their course is marked only by the tamarinds, mimosas, and dwarf palms 
fringing their banks. At other times they form broad impetuous watercourses, 
flooding the plains and stopping all caravan trafiic for weeks together. 

The Hilmend (Hclmand), which rises 36 miles west of Kabid, between the 
Paghman and Koh-i-Baba, flows first for a long way at an elevation of 11,500 feet 
through a little-known highland region. After skirting the grassy Zamindwar 
Hills, it sweeps into the plains, a broad majestic stream 3,000 feet wide at high- 
water, and with a mean width of over 1,000 feet. Here it receives during the 
floods its chief affluent, the Argand-ab, swollen by the Tarnak, Arghesan, and 



THE SISTAN HAMUN. 29 

Dora, whose converging waters near Kandahar give to that city such paramount 
commercial and strategic importance. But at ordinary times these streams, 
exhausted bj' irrigation works, send but feeble supplies to the Argand-ab, which, 
15 miles from its confluence, is arrested by the " Dyke of Timur," a dam by which 
all its waters are diverted and distributed over the plain. The Hilmend also sends 
its overflow through a network of canals to the Germsil, or "Hot lands," a fertile 
tract bordering its banks at a mean distance of about a mile. The remains of 
former embankments attest the care with which its inhabitants, at one time far 
more numerous than at present, regulated the discharge of the Hilmend, whose 
very name, reproduced under the Greek foi-m of ArjTnanthus, is said to mean 
" embanked river." 

The Sistax Depression. 

The lower part of Sistan (Seistan), figured on most maps as a lake, or at least 
a swamp, is, for the most part, simply a waterless plain. Far from presenting any 
obstacle to intercommunication, it is more easily traversed even than the surround- 
ing lands, which are intersected by irrigation canals, strewn with boulders, or 
covered with dunes. Such an easily accessible region could never constitute any- 
thing more than a conventional frontier, and Persia has now seized the most 
fertile tracts east of the pretended lake. Here pass the most frequented routes, 
along which the depression is recognised only by the freshness of the vegetation, 
interrupted, however, at several points by white patches of saline efilorescence 
and moving sands. But northwards stretches the Naizar, a sea of stimted reeds, 
yeUow in the dry season, but while tender affording pasture to the cattle of the 
nomads. 

South of this tract the limits of an old lacustrine basin are indicated here and 
there by argUlaceous banks, still washed by the overflowing waters during the floods. 
In the midst of the basin rises a solitary bluif, the Koh-i-Kwaja, or Castle of 
Rustem, which Nadir Shah besieged in vain. But north of the marshy district 
stand several other rocky heights, which, like the Koh-i-Kwaja, are of basaltic 
formation. 

South-east of the Sistan depression stretches the Zirreh (God-i-Zirreh), another 
dried-up basin covered with a saline efilorescence. All the streams flowing from 
Baluchistan in this direction are completely evaporated on emerging from the 
hills, and recently Colonel MacGregor skirted the Zirreh for two days and a half 
without finding a solitary pool of brackish water.* 

In its widest extent the Sistan depression develops a crescent 240 miles long, 
parallel with the course of the Lower Hilmend, and at an elevation variously 
estimated at from 1,200 to 1,500 feet above the sea. Here is consequently the 
lowest ascertained level in Afghanistan. 

The present lakes, known to the Persians by the name of Hamun — that is, 
" expanses " — are nothing but lateral expansions of the rivers that reach the low 

* " Wanderings in Baluchistan," 1882. 



30 



SOUTH-WESTERN ASIA. 



and level region of Sistan. On their maps recent travellers show us two such 
basins, one to the west formed by the Harut-rud and Farah-rud, the other to the 
east, fed by the Kash-rud and Hilraend, both incessantly fluctuating with the 
lower course of the streams contributing to their formation. During the floods 



Fig. 13.— The Hami-n Basix. 
Scale 1 : 1,800,000. 



iGft 




these streams send down much alluvial matter, which is deposited in the lowest 
parts of the depressions. But at other times the streams, failing to reach the 
lakes, take advantage of the least apertures along their banks to flood the plains. 
The shifting of their course is further facilitated by the irrigation canals excavated 
on both sides of their beds. Along the Hilmend some of these canals, receiving 



CLIMATE OF AFGHANISTAN. 31 

most of the current, become each in its turn the main stream, and again disappear 
between the dunes lining their banks. The local hydrography has thus for ages 
never ceased to change, as attested by the descriptions of the oldest -nriters and 
most recent explorers. The shif tings of the Hilmend, and consequent displacements 
of the Hamim, take place within an area upwards of 90 miles in length, and at 
least 50 miles wide.* In this area traces everywhere occur of the old beds of the 
Hilmend. Before 1830 it flowed west, and then formed a " hamun " near the 
Koh-i-Kwaja eminence. But after a great inundation it forsook this channel, and 
turned northwards to an outlet 60 miles north-west of the previous basin. These 
changes also necessitate modifications in the system of canalisation. Towns and 
vUlages thus frequently become displaced and few other regions present so many 
ruins, mostly however mere heaps of rubbish, without any remains of monumental 
structures. 

A solitary species of fish, by Goldsmid called a barbel, inhabits the Sistan 
waters, which are frequented by such countless flocks of geese, ducks, and swans 
that the sun becomes eclipsed when they rise on the wing. One of these flights 
seen by Khanikov formed a compact square mass considerably over half a mile on 
all four sides. The natives pretend that they can foretell the level of the next 
floods by the height at which these birds buUd their nests above the water. 

Climate — Flora — Fauna. 

Afghanistan is, on the whole, a badly-watered region, and enjoys a rainfall far 
inferior to that of 'V\^estem Europe. The plateaux limited eastwards by the 
Sulaiman-dagh are comprised with India in the range of the south-west trade- 
winds. But the atmospheric currents which discharge such copious downpours 
along the Malabar coast derive their moisture from the Indian Ocean, whereas 
Baluchistan and Afghanistan are exposed rather to dry continental breezes blowing 
from equatorial Afi-ica along the north-west seaboard, and crossing in their course 
only two arms of the sea, the Gulfs of Aden and Oman. The humidity acquired 
by deflections to the Indian Ocean is reserved almost exclusively for the lofty 
Koh-i-Baba, Hindu- Kush, and the two Sefid-Kohs in the north and east. 

Thus, despite its proximity to the sea, the Afghan plateau comes within the zone 
of continental climates, along the track of the winds blowing from the Upper Nile 
and Arabia. Hence many of its solitudes present the same appearance as those of 
Persia, which are also exposed to dry winds. Like aU lands affected by a conti- 
nental climate, Afghanistan is subject to great and sudden changes of temperature. 
On the bare rocky or argillaceous elevated plateaux the transitions are very severe, 
not only from season to season, but even from night to day. Thus snow falls occasion- 
ally even at Kandahar ; and in the Herat district, of Ahmed Shah's army as many as 
18,000 men are said to have perished of cold in a single night. On the other hand, 
although Ghazni stands at an altitude of 7,800 feet, its temperatui-e is reported to 
base reached 130° F. in the shade — a heat all the more intolerable that it had been 



32 SOUTH-WESTERN ASIA. 

preceded by a cool night. Hence to Ghazni, as to Aden, Mascat, Bu.sbir, Sbikarpur 
and other eastern cities, the well-known saying has been applied : " Since thou 
hast made this furnace, what need, Allah, hadst thou to make hell ? " Still 
more oppressive is the heat when the sands of the desert are raised and sent 
whirling before the wind over the face of the land. Afghanistan is one of those 
regions which are most frequently exposed to these frightful sandstorms ; while in 
Sistan the wayfarer has been stifled by the fiery midday blast, which here at times 
resembles the African simoon. 

The violent changes of temperature have also the efEect of stimulating evapora- 
tion, partly through the intense heat, partly through radiation into the rarefied 
atmosphere. Thus is further diminished the scanty supply of water, which the 
Afghan and Persian cultivators are obliged to economise by the skilfully-constructed 
khariz, Jcarez, kanat, or underground aqueducts, made in imitation of the rivers 
which flow in the galleries of the limestone rocks. In every badly- watered district 
of Afghanistan villages and hamlets are met whose names recall these indis- 
pensable works. Some, such as that of Ghazni, are from 20 to 25 miles long, and 
receive countless underground tributaries flowing from reservoirs at depths of 150 
and even 300 feet and upwards. Vertical shafts simk at certain intervals enable 
the people to descend in order to clear out the canals and strengthen their walls. 
The rubbish accvtmulated in heaps at these openings marks from a distance on the 
slopes of the hills the couj'se of the subterranean rivulets. 

The dearth of water and the sudden transitions from cold to great heat, combined 
with the elevation of the land, tend to imiDoverish the Afghan flora. Even com- 
pared with the parched hiUs of the Pan jab, many districts in the Sulaiman high- 
lands and on the plateaux appear destitute of verdure. In some places nothing is 
visible except the bare rock, with perhaps a little herbage in the hollows, fed by 
the moisture oozing amid the scattered boulders. The hamlets are elsewhere sur- 
roimded by a few dwarf palms, olive, and fruit-trees, while the streams are fringed 
with the cj'press, willow, and poplar. Throughout more than half of the country 
vegetation is represented only by some green patches amid the white, gray, or 
reddish waste of argillaceous clays and rocks. So great is the contrast between 
the naked slopes and the oases at the foot of the hiUs that the marauding tribes 
look on it as a sort of "providential" arrangement. "Others," they say, "have 
the fertile lands, but we have the strength," that is, to plimder them. 

But the lack of variety in the vegetation and the absence of a rich foliage are 
at all events balanced by the excellent flavour and quality of most fruits and 
cereals, such as the walnut, apricot, peach, plum, almond and several kinds of 
corn. The pomegranates of Kandahar are pronounced by Ferrier to be the finest 
in the world ; the wild vine of Kohistan yields a delicious grape to a height of over 
6,000 feet on the slopes facing southwards ; and the walnut, here a forest tree, 
attains colossal proportions, especially in the Upper Xuram valley, where the trunk 
sometimes exceeds fifteen or sixteen feet in girth. 

Vegetation is natm-ally most vigorous in the well-watered region of the north- 
east. In the upland valleys of the Ilindu-Eush and Lahori, as well as on the 



LiBRASy 

OF THE 

nNIVERSlTY of ILLINOIS. 



INHABITANTS OF AFGHANISTAN. 33 

Sefid-Koh slopes, the goat browses on the tender sprouts down to a height of 
7,000 feet. , The plantains growing on the terraces near the Paiwar Pass have a 
circumference of over 33 feet. The oak is elsewhere followed higher up suc- 
cessively by the deodar, yew, juniper and various species of conifers, one of which 
flourishes on the Sefid-Koh at an altitude of 11,000 feet. Farther up nothing is 
met except the stunted junipers and birch, which are succeeded by herbage and 
the carex as far as the snow-line. In the Sulaiman-dagh the shrubs are of the 
Himalayan species, whereas the herbaceous plants are allied to those of the west ; 
but in other respects both the Himalayan and Afghan floras have much in common 
with those of Europe. The date-palm grows onlj' in Sistan, and the myrtle a little 
farther north in the Anardereh district. 

Nor is the Afghan fauna remarkable for many characteristic types. The 
lower valleys near the Pan jab are infested by the leopard, hyena, and jackal of the 
plains, while the Hindu-Kush regions, like the Karakorum, Himalaya, and Trans- 
Himalaya, have maiulj' a Tibetan faima, including the chamois, various species of 
wild goat, the black and brown bear, wolf, and fox. The wild boar has his lair 
amid the rush-grown swamps of the Hamxm ; the rat-kangaroo, which hibernates 
from September to April, is met in multitudes on all the stony wastes ; while the 
gazelle and wild ass abound on the southern plains, as well as in the neighbo\u"ing 
solitudes of Sistan and Khorassan. In the seventeenth century the rhinoceros 
still survived in the forests above Peshawar, where it afforded sport to Akbar and 
Jahanghir. Elphinstone and Raverty speak of lions still to be seen in the hot 
valleys, although observed by no naturalist, and Blandford questions even the 
presence of the lion. The dromedary and camel of Sistan are famous for their 
strength, speed, and endurance ; and ui some hilly districts, notably amongst the 
Char-Aimaks, these animals, useless as beasts of burden, are reared solely for their 
hair, used in the weaving of the tent canvas. The sheep of the Zamiudwar and 
Aimak districts yield perhaps the finest wool in Asia. But the Herat horse is 
inferior to the Tui-koman, while elsewhere almost the only equine species met with 
is the zabu, an ungainly, short-legged animal used exclusively as a beast of burden. 

Inhabitants of Afghanistan. 

The name given by the people themselves to the region comprised between the 
Indus and Persia is not Afghanistan but Pukhtun-Kwa, or " Land of the Pakh- 
tana," or Afghans.* In India the Pakhtanah are collectively known as Rohilla, or 
*' highlanders," and more commonly as Pathans, obviously from the native name 
Pukhtun. The term "Afghan" is perhaps derived from the Sanskrit Acvaka 
(Assaka), that is, " horsemen," a title due to their mounted bands sweeping across 
the plains of the Indus. According to a local tradition they claim a Jewish origin, 
regarding Saul as their ancestor. But no serious importance can be attached to 
such pretensions, common enough in a region where every other chief traces his 

* Pidiituii, Fushtun, pi. Pakhtanah, Pashtana, according to the dialects, is the collective national name. 
The language is Pukhtu or Pushtu. 

VOL. IX. D 



34 SOUTH-WESTERN ASIA. 

genealogy back to Alexander, and wliere whole tribes boast of their descent from 
the mythical Persian heroes Rustem or Jemshid, or from Mohammed, the prophet of 
Allah. Doubtless amongst the Afghans, as well as among.st the Tajiks and other 
Iranians, men are frequently met distinguished by the eagle eye, aquiline nose, 
thick lips, and bush}- beard of the typical Semitic trader. But this is not very 
surprising in a country lying on the main route of wars and invasions between 
India and Hither Asia — a country where the races have been incessantly inter- 
mingled through migrations, conquests, and tribal warfare. The earliest records 
show us the Afghans as a group of highland clans on the west frontier of India ; 
but by gradually encroaching on the surrounding districts, eastwards as far as the 
Ganges basin, westwards to Sistan, these clans became united with divers other 
peoples, imposing on them their own name and speech. Dorn and Lassen have 
identified the Pukhu nation with the Paktiyces of Scylax, quoted by Herodotus, 
a people who dwelt west of the Indus basin towards the south-east of Persia. This 
term is not mentioned by the historians of Alexander, although the national names 
of many Afghan tribes have been recognised in the nomenclatui'e of the Sanskrit 
poems. 

The Pukhtu language is a member of the Aryan family, and the Semitic words 
foimd in its vocabulary are derived not from the Hebrew but from the Arabic, 
since the conversion of the natives to Mohammedanism. The current alphabet is 
also the Arabic, which is so iU-suited for the transcription of the soimds of an 
Arj'an language. In this family philologists have not yet determined the exact 
position of Pukhtu, some deriving it from the Zend, others, with Trump, regarding 
it rather as intermediate between the Persian and Indian branches, but approaching 
nearer to the latter. Harsh and guttural, " as if the cold winds blowing from the 
Hindu-Kush compelled the people to speak with half-closed lips," this language is 
regarded as one of the least agreeable in the East — " a language of hell," according 
to a saj-ing groundlessly attributed to Mohammed. The national literature is not 
so poor as had till recently been supposed. It comprises heroic poems and love 
songs, some of which have been collected by Raverty, besides some theological, 
legal, and even grammatical writings. The sciences are taught in Persian, and the 
authors most highly appreciated are the poets of Iran. The Pakhtanah are 
extremely fond of singing and music, and amongst them the Hindu traders always 
find a ready sale for their flutes. 

Most of the Afghan tribes are noted for their robust frames and muscular 
energy. The men are vigorous and well made, with long head, prominent cheek- 
bones, large nose, very thick lower lip, bushy eyebrows, coarse hair, and beard 
nearly always black. The fair or chestnut type is found ahnost exclusively amid 
the Kafiristan highlanders, who are of a different stock. But the western tribes 
towards the Persian frontier have a lighter or more olive complexion than those in 
the eastern uplands, whose dark brown colour resembles that of their Rajput neigh- 
bours. Compared with the Persians the Afghans are rude, almost coarse, and 
careless of outward show. But they are skilful artisans, hospitable, generous, and 
even truthful, at least in peaceful times, when not inspired by the evil passions 



INHABITANTS OF AFGHANISTAN. 35 

stirred up by war — cruelty, revenge, stratagem, and love of pillage. "The man who 
shuts his door to the stranger is no Afghan," says the national proverb. The 
women are generally much respected, and manage the household with intelligence 
and firmness. " Go to India for wealth, to Kashmir for pleasure, but to the 
Afghans for a wife," says an Oriental proverb. Temperate and discreet, and ever 
eager for enterprise, the Pukhtvm readily sacrifices comfort for work ; but he does 
not put up his freedom for a price, like the Persian and Hindu. While absolutely 
resigned to inevitable misfortunes, he resists oppression energetically, except, 
perhaps, at court, where prevail the capricious and cruel habits of despotic power. 
Most English travellers complain of the extreme bad faith of the Afghans. But it 
should be remembered that Europeans enter the land generally as conquerors, so 
that their very presence is regarded as an insult. Hence it is not surprising that 
in their weakness they have recourse to every sort of ruse and stratagem against the 
hated invader. And when their hatred is once roused, they certainly yield to it 
with passion and j)er severance. " God shield you from the vengeance of the 
elephant, cobra, and Afghan," is a saying cm-rent amongst the Mohammedan 
Hindus. 

The various tribes, all claiming some patriarchal forefather, form so many 
separate little commonwealths, each again divided into clans and septs (^zai or 
khel\ some of which consist of but a few families. All these groups have the 
same organisation. The smallest clan, the most insignificant khel, has its chief, 
usually chosen for his birth, while each tribal grouj) is governed by a khan, mostly 
appoiated by the Amir of Afghanistan, but also at times chosen by the tribe. His 
authority is not absolute, all weighty matters being decided by the Jirga, or 
assembly of headmen, which alone in its collective cajiacity can confer on the khan 
the necessary sanction for his acts. In these gatherings of the elders the tribe 
seldom fails to recognise the true sovereign power, for the old communal spirit still 
survives. Ahmed Shah himself, conqueror of India and absolute master of millions 
beyond the frontiers, in his own country was only the first chief amongst others his 
equals by right. Nevertheless the balance of power oscillates greatly according to 
the thousand vicissitudes of personal rivalries, feuds, and wars, by which the country 
is continually harassed. Hence the occasional appointment of a dictator, entrusted 
with supreme control during critical times, but who, the danger past, withdraws 
to private life, laying aside all prerogatives over the other members of the tribe. 
Frequently, also, temporary combinations are formed amongst several tribes, when 
the united jirgas constitute themselves a national convention for carrying on war 
or concluding peace. But whether swayed by amir, khan, or jirga, the Afghan 
stiU fancies himself free. "We are all equal," they are constantly assuring the 
English traveller, and on his boasting his monarchical institutions, " we prefer our 
dissensions," they reply. " Let our blood flow, if needs be, but we will have no 
master." And if local feuds are frequent, the tribes at a distance from the largo 
cities escape, on the other hand, not only from a system of imlimited oppression, 
but also from the general revolutions which decimate the inhabitants of some other 
Asiatic lands subject to capricious autocrats. 

n 9 



86 SOUTH- WESTERN ASIA. 

Few of the tribes have ever had any slaves, for the Afghan considers it a crime 
to " sell men." He may kill, but will not degrade them. 

The custom of hereditary vengeance still survives, and certain tribes are always 
at war, not for any definite interests, but for the " price of blood." Recourse, 
however, is often had to mediation ; the jirga interferes, and occasionally a khel is 
chosen to arbitrate between two hostile groups, in which case the guilty side 
is usually sentenced to surrender one or more marriageable women to the family of 
the offended tribe. This is one of the chief causes of the mixture of blood observed 
amongst the various Afghan communities. Crossings are also occasioned by the 
rites of hospitality. Strange families are generously welcomed into the clan ; lands 
are shared amongst them, and their chief is admitted to the tribal council, although 
these guests may still continue to govern themselves by their own usages. Besides 
such specially-favoured strangers, there are others, the " hamsoyeh," or " neigh- 
bours," who are regarded as the " clients " of the tribe, and who, as a ride, are not 
admitted to the ownership of the land they cultivate. But in the course of one or 
two generations even these generally become fused in the friendly tribe. On the 
other hand, the clans themselves may become broken into hostile factions through 
some private wrong or public difference. The postfix zai, or " son," attached to 
so many tribal names, does not necessarily imply real descent, and is now often 
merely a distinctive sign without any definite value. Thus during the boisterous 
days preceding the last British invasion, the Kabuli people were divided into 
Cavagnari-zais, favourable to an English alliance, and Yakub-zais, who sided with 
the amir Yakub against the foreigner. Common interests also frequently group 
the tribes of one district against those of another, irrespective altogether of ethnical 
affinities. Thus the Logari, or people of Logar, whether Ghilzais or Tajiks, will 
combine against other Ghilzais and Tajiks of the Laghman territory. 

The contradictory statements of travellers, caused by the complexity and 
shif tings of the tribal names, prevent any strict classification of the khels according 
to common descent. The official tables published by the English envoys and by 
the Russian staff have merely a remote resemblance to each other. Still a general 
classification may be attempted, such as that published by Professor Keane in a 
recent issue of Nature* According to all wi-iters, of the 400 different khels the 
dominating tribe is that of the Duraui, of which the present reigning family is a 
member, and which comprises perhaps a fifth of the whole population south of the 
Hindu-Kush. At the beginning of the last century this tribe was called Avdali 
(Abdali) ; but Ahmed Shah having, on the death of Nadir Shah, assumed the title 
of Durr-i-diiran ("Pearl of the Age"), his people have since been known as 
Durani. Their territory comprises most of South Afghanistan, all the middle 
Hibnend valley between the Ghilzai country and Sistan, the plain of Kandahar, 
Zamindawar, and the hills about Farah. In this tribe the pastors are very 
numerous, and are all nomads, possessing at least two camping-grounds, the 
Kishlak, or winter station of the plains, and the Ailak, or siuumer station on the 
hiUs. Proud of their relationship with the royal fanulj^ the Dui-ani — and especially 
* "Afghan Ethnology," by A. H. Keane, in Naliire, Jan. 20, 18S0. 



THE GHILZAIS AND YU3UF-ZAIS. 87 

the Popalzai, Ahmed Shah's clan, and the Barakzai, that of the reigning amir 
and of most of the Government functionaries — have shown themselves less jealous 
of their republican institutions than the other Afghan tribes. 

North-east of Kandahar the upland valleys and plateaux limited eastwards by 
the Sidaiman-dagh belong to the Ghilzais or Ghiljis, called also Mattai, who form 
a group of about fifty clans, all claiming a Tatar origin. They are supposed to be 
the Khilji or Khalaji of Arab ASTiters, and to have migrated from the west about 
the tenth century. They soon embraced the Moslem faith, without, however, 
abandoning certain practices of the ancient Christian worship which they are 
traditionally said to have adopted at a still earlier period. Although keeping aloof 
from the other tribes, they now speak the common Pukhtu language, and differ in 
no respect from the ordinary Afghan physical type and usages. Hence, whatever 
their origin, they have now become entirely assimilated to the other Pakhtanah, 
amongst whom they are generally distinguished bj^ their noble bearing and regular 
features. They were formerly the most powerful tribe in the coimtry ; but they 
fell to the second position aj^parently through the exhaustion caused by the 
foreign wars carried on during the early part of the last century, when they con- 
quered Persia and laid Ispahan in ruins. Amongst them the republican spirit has 
been preserved much better than amongst the Durani. Every clan, almost every 
family, is independently administered, seldom interfering in the affairs of the 
neighbouring communities. Peace is also generally maintained between the clans, 
except during times of general disturbance, such as that caused by the conscrip- 
tions for the amir's armies. The Ghilzais are extremely hosj^itable, and maintain 
in every clan a special fimctionary charged with the entertainment of strangers. 
Their largest branch are the Sulaiman-khels, who comprise numerous nomad clans 
in the Sulaiman hills. The southern shepherds are obliged periodically to foUow 
their flocks down to the neighbouring plain of Kandahar, and they thus become 
reluctant tributaries to the Durani. Those of Kabul, mingling with the various 
races attracted to the capital by trade, wars, and intrigues, have mostly lost their 
national characteristics ; but it was they who took the chief part in the destruction 
of the British forces during the retreat through the Khaibar Pass in 1842. 

The north-eastern tribes, occupjdng the Kabul River basin and surrounding 
heights, are sometimes classed together as Bardurani, a collective name imposed on 
them by Ahmed Shah, but never recognised by the clans themselves. Here the 
largest group are the Yusiif-zais, or " Sons of Joseph," who are settled chiefly in 
the northern valleys, but some of whom also occupy the hiUs about Peshawar. 
According to Elphinstone, they nimiber as many as 700,000 altogether, and Raverty 
credits them with 100,000 " swordsmen." Like the Ghilzais, they are grouped in 
a multiplicity of clans, but their national customs have been much modified by 
their repeated incursions into the rich plains of India, by their habit of taking 
service under foreign princes, and by their intercom-se with the traders of all races 
constantly passing through their territory. Intestine feuds are very frequent 
amongst them, thanks, as they say, to the dying blessing of one of their saints : 
" You will always be free, but never united." Like the old Jews, the Yusuf-zais, 



83 SOUTH-WESTERX ASIA. 

Mahomed-zais, Swati, and other neighbouring tribes redistribute their lands at 
interrals of ten, twenty, or thirty years, the occupiers changing domicile in order 
to take possession of the fresh lots assigned to them. Whoever objects to his 
share or wrangles about its limits is expelled from the tribe, losing at once land, 
wife, children, and civil rights. This custom, which recalls the old communal 
system of tenure, does not prevent their fields from being well tilled, although in 
many districts the introduction of slave labour has caused a great decline of 
agricultural and other industries. Various clans reduced to captivity, as well as 
the prisoners of war formerly brought back from India, have been distributed 
amongst the Yusuf-zai and Swati tribes, and these falcers, as they are called, are 
occasionally allowed to trade in the villages, or to ply some personal occupation, 
for which they pay a tax to the owners besides the tribal impost. 

The Swati, so named from the river valley where they occupy numerous large 
villages, greatly resemble the Yusui-zais, from whom they are, however, distin- 
guished by sundry practices. Thus the dead are buried in the fallow lands about to 
be reclaimed, and when the husbandman comes along with his plough, he cries out : 
" Get up ! get up ! here comes the plough ! " Then if the bodies get ploughed 
up and the mangled remains strewn over the ground, it does not matter, because 
" the dead have gone to holy Mecca." South of the Swati dwell the Momands on 
the banks of the Kabul Hiver, near the Af ridi clans, who hold the eastern Sefid- 
Koh valleys, and who accept a subvention from the British Government to keep the 
roads ojjen between Peshawar and Kohat. West of them are the less vv-arlike Shinwari, 
on the trade route to Kabul, against whom the amir had to send an expedition in 
1883. StiU farther west and south-west the parallel Sulaiman ranges and valleys 
are occupied by semi-independent clans, whose allegiance oscillates between the 
amir and the British raj, according to the vicissitudes of wars and migrations. 
Thus the Bangashes, formerly of the middle Kuram (Kurmah) valley, have moved 
down towards Kohat, and are now mostly under the jurisdiction of the English, to 
whom they supply nmnerous mercenaries. Their old lands have been occupied bj-- 
the Shiah-Turi, who are also seeking the protection of the Indian Empire against 
the fanaticism of theu- Sunnite neighbours. 

But most of the tribes reject all political allegiance as soon as the foreign 
troops have quitted their hills. Such are the Jaji of the Upper Kuram vaUey, 
deadly enemies of the Turi and British alike, and unfortimately divided also 
amongst themselves by hereditary feuds, or " exchanges," as they call them. The 
quarrel begins nearly always between the father-in-law and son-in-law, and is 
caused by the latter attempting to abduct the betrothed instead of paying the heavy 
price set on her by her friends. Then blood is sure to flow, for the father must 
either kill the ravisher or fall at his hands. Nor have the Mangals, Khosti, and 
other turbulent neighbours of the Jaji miich greater respect for human life. 

The numerous Waziri-khels have their camping-grounds on the outer terraces 
of the Sulaiman-dagh south of the Bannu River. Although claiming political in- 
dependence, they may be regarded as having been definitely brought within the 
British system, thanks to the yearly migration of large numbers to the plains of 



THE WAZIEI AXD LOHANI. 



39 



the Indus. Amongst them are the fierce and daring Mahsuds of the Shaktu valley, 
who were, so to say, discovered during the late Afghan war. They fight with 
short sword and buckler, and use the sling with great skill. But notwithstanding 
their warlike spirit, the TVazii-i open their territory for the passage of caravans of 
the Povindahs, or " Runners," belonging mainly to the great trading tribe of the 
Lohani, but also including many Ghilzais, Kharoti, and Nasars. To protect them- 
selves, however, from possible attack, the Povindahs are organised in bands of 
hundreds and even thousands, strong enough to open the way with their swords 
should the tax offered to the local chiefs not be deemed sufiicient. In summer 
these martial traders encamp on the Ghazni plateaux, descending in autumn 
towards the Indus through the Gomul, Gwhalari, or some other mountain pass, and 

Fig. 14.— The Gomul Pass. 
Scale 1 : 1,600.000. 




returning the following April. Some of the Lohani merchants trade regularly 
between Bokhara and Central India, indemnifying themselves for their innumerable 
risks and hardships by exorbitant charges for their wares. On crossing the Indus 
they leave wives, children, and aged in the Derajat camping-grounds, with the 
flocks and their arms, no longer needed in traversing British India. Little 
bannerets and pikes planted on the mounds by the wayside recall the memory of 
those that have perished en route. Their yearly exchanges with India alone are 
estimated at about £1,500,000. About 12,000 traders, with their convoys of camels, 
pass annually down the Gomul route, and many of the Povindahs now seek 
employment on the public works in India. 



40 SOUTH-WESTERN ASIA. 

Towards the Baluch frontier various formerly independent and turbulent clans 
have recently been reduced or partly reconciled to the rule of the English, who 
here maintain the "scientific frontier" between Kandahar and Kwatah (Quettah). 
Thus the Pishins and Tari (Tarim) of the Khojah-Amran range have become 
vassals of the Indian Empire, and now derive their chief wealth from their dealings 
with the British encampments. Manj' of the inhabitants of these valleys, although 
pure Afghans, call themselves Seids (Sayads), claiming descent from the Arabs, 
and even from the Prophet. As horse-dealers they are known throughout India, 
and in their district Hindustani is current. The neighbouring Kakars, notwith- 
standing their evil repute for brigandage, are really amongst the most peaceful 
nomads in Afghanistan. At the approach of warlike expeditions they move away 
to other pastures, and give a hospitable reception to the Hindu, Povindah, and other 
traders, through whom they thus maintain their intercourse with the outer world. 
Their nomad Nasar neighbours, like the Banjari of India and European gipsies, 
have no fixed abodes, nor even any regular winter and summer camping- groimds. 

Although forming the majority of the inhabitants, the Afghans often escape 
the notice of travellers, because they dwell mostly away from the towns on the 
lands inherited from their forefathers. The people met by strangers in Kabul, 
Ghazni, Kandahar, and Herat are chiefly the Tajiks, who are scattered throughout 
the whole of Afghanistan, except in the grazing districts. In most respects they 
resemble the Tajiks of Central Asia, and like them are descended from the old 
political masters of the land, variously intermingled with Turks, Uzbegs, Arabs, 
and other races. Both at Kabul and Bokhara they are known as Parsivan, that is, 
Parsi-zeban, " of Persian tongue," and the term " Sarte " is also applied to them in 
common with other settled communities. In Afghanistan they represent the 
Industrial and commercial life of the nation, and in the towns they have kept alive 
a knowledge of letters, thereby preventing the Afghans from relapsing into utter 
barbarism. In the west some cultivate but few own the land, most of these 
peasants being subject to Afghan masters. The Kohistani of the Daman-i-Koh and 
valleys di-aining to the Panjhir may be regarded as forming a distinct class from 
the Tajiks, whom however they resemble in their intelligence and industry, though 
not in their peacefid habits. 

Next to the Tajiks the chief civic elements are the Hindki and Kizil-Bashes. 
The Hindki or Hindus are nearly all traders or money-lenders, and in their hands 
is soon swallowed iip the produce of Afghan labour and pliuider. The Kizil- 
Bashes, or " Red Heads," of Turkoman origin, came from Persia during the time of 
Nadir Shah, and have since kept aloof from the surrounding populations. Most of 
those settled especially at Kabul are attached to the court and higher functionaries 
as secretaries, inspectors, and employes of all sorts. Trained to servUity towards 
their masters, and to truculence towards the masses, they have acquired the vices of 
their class, and are accused of insolence, ostentation, cruelty, and perfidy. The 
Red Heads of the Herat district, being engaged in trade and industrj% are exempt 
from these charges. 

The moimtainous region north and east of Kohistan and west of the Swati 



THE SIAH-POSH KAPIRS. 



41 



territory is inhabited by aborigines stigmatised as Kafirs, that is " infidels," because 
most of them have hitherto refused to embrace the Mohammedan faith, but more 
commonly known as "Siah-Posh," that is, "Black Clad," from the black goat- 
skins foiTuerly worn by them. These Hiudu-Kush tribes have succeeded iu main- 
taming their independence, thanks to the inaccessible nature of the land, which is 
skirted west and south by the historic routes of Bactriana and Hindustan. The 
whole of the rugged uplands comprised between the Hindu-Kush, the Kabul River, 
and Indian frontier have a population of 500,000 ; but the Kafirs proper can 



15. — PoPULATIOXS OF Afohaxistan. 
Scale 1 : 11,000,000. 




i£ ^ „,.,__ 

!!!!!!l!l!!i!!!i!i!!!i!i !!!i!!!aii!!liliSi!!lill!il!!!!iii!i!B 

of Greenw-ch 



R^\..:J f!-''l-!--1 



iJurani. Ghilzai. Kakars and "Waziri. Tribes of the Tari and Tajikand Kafirs, 
tribes of the North-East. Pi&hin. tribes of 

South-East. Iranian Race. 



Dardes. Hi dus. 



Afghans. 
Jaluches. Tarkomana. 



EZ] ED 

Aimaks. Hezarehs. 

Mongols. 
SOO Allies. 



scarcely number more than 150,000. But no modern explorers have hitherto 
penetrated far into the heart of the country. When Wood visited Badakshan in 
1840 he met a few Kafirs, who invited him to visit their territory, which he would 
find flowing with vdne and honey. But he was unable to accept the invitation, 
and a similar offer had again to be declined by Biddulph in 1878. Hence these 
tribes are known only through the few of them that have been seen beyond their 
own domain either as traders, shepherds, or slaves in Kabid. During the war of 
1879 an excursion was made to the north of Jalalabad by Major Tanner, who 



42 SOUTH- WESTEEN ASIA. 

penetrated with a small escort into the Darah Nur district, and visited the 
Chugani Tillages of Aret and Shulut. But he brought back little further informa- 
tion regarding the Kafirs, whom Yule and Rawlinson suppose to be Aryan Hindus 
driyen ages ago into the highland region by them called Wamastan. According to 
Trump, who has seen a few of them, the Siah-Posh differ in no respect from the 
northern Hindus, while other observers describe the Kafir as of all Asiatic tj^es that 
which approaches nearest to the European. Fair hair and blue eyes are common 
enough, although brown or light chestnut hair and grey eyes predominate, while 
the complexion is not darker than that of the average European. Some have 
regarded them as perhaps descended from the Macedonians left in the moimtains 
by Alexander ; but before their relations with the English they had never heard 
of " Sikender," and most of them now call themselves the " brothers " of the English 
conquerors of India. More than one writer has suggested the policy of taktug 
them as allies, raising a corps amongst their tribes, and building forts in their 
country, thereby outflanking the Afghans, and thus definitel}- ensuring British 
supremacy in Kabul. On the other hand, fiatriotic Russians have suggested that 
the " Black Clad " may just as likely be brothers of the Slavs as of the British, 
and have already begun to regard them as the future outpost of Russia on the road 
to India. 

But the Kafij's themselves possess no political unity, being split up into eighteen 
hostile clans in a chronic state of intertribal warfare, suspended onlj' dm-ing the 
harvest. They also come frequently into collision with their Mohammedan neigh- 
bours, who seek to take them alive, a Kafir slave being generally regarded as 
worth two of any other race. The Kafirs, on their part, give no quarter, for in 
their eyes no glory is comparable to that of a slayer of men, and those only can aspire 
to the dignity of bahadur or surumnali who have struck off four heads with their 
own hand. The woman whose husband has killed many Mussulmans decks her hair 
with cowries, or wears a red ribbon round her neck. The unhappy wretches who 
have had no chance of striking off a head or two are obliged to eat apart. Yet 
disputes rarely arise amongst members of the same clan, and when they come to 
blows the antagonists must strip for the fight, throw awaj- their arms, and after the 
scuiHe make it up in the presence of all the village. 

A frequent cause of border warfare is the obligation of seeking a wife outside 
the clan, the members of which are all regarded as brothers and sisters. While 
the "infidels" are away wife-hunting, the Mohammedans penetrate into the 
district in order to buy or take by force victims destined for the harems of the 
chiefs, the Siah-Posh women being the "Circassians" of Afghanistan. A clan 
subject to the ruler of Chitral is obliged to send him a yearly tribute of honey and 
butter, woven goods, costly vases, and cattle, besides a number of young women and 
children of both sexes. In general these " brothers of the English " show very 
little respect for their women, on whom falls all the household and field labour, 
and who in many districts are yoked together with the oxen. In most of the tribes 
polygamy is permitted, forbidden in others, and altogether there are Jew countries 
where wars, slavery, religious influences, and interminglings have brought about a 



THE SIAH-POSH KAFIRS. 43 

greater variety of social usages. Amongst the Siah-Posh seeu by Biddiilph the 
conjugal tie is very lax, whereas elsewhere the mere suspicion of infidelity on the 
part of a young woman wiU set the whole village in uproar. The culpits are com- 
pelled, imder pain of death, to acknowledge their guilt, their dwellings are burnt, 
and they themselves banished for ever. The very road they have taken to escape 
is held as polluted, and the elders of the community offer jjropitiatory sacrifices on 
the banks of the first stream crossed by the fugitives. Amongst the tribes of the 
interior property is as much respected as the family reputation. An object lost by 
a Kafir will remain for years on the spot where it fell, and even the assassin will 
scrupulously restore to their friends the property of his victims. Couriers also may 
fearlessly traverse the land, prox'ided their letters are carried on the point of a 
wreathed stake. 

The dialects current amongst the various gali or tribes differ so much one from 
the other that the natives of remote districts are unable to converse together. 
All, however, belong to the common Aryan stock, and seem more nearly related to 
the Sanskrit than to any other branch. The native cults belong also to the group 
of Yedic religions. Some of the local deities, such as Imbra (Indi-a), recall those 
of the Hindu pantheon, while the sacrifices resemble the holocausts formerly 
celebrated on the banks of the " Seven Rivers." Like the Hindus, the Kafirs offer 
a vague worship to the Supreme Being, but their homage is addressed chiefly to 
countless divinities represented by stocks and stones, animals, or rudely-carved 
images, after the manner of the famous Yishnu at Jagganath. To these sujDplica- 
tions are addi-essed for rain or fine weather, against sickness, famine, and war. 
Certain practices seem to have been borrowed from the Guebres. Thus fire is 
carefully kept alive and guarded from all impurities. The snake, in common with 
so many mythologies, is highly venerated, and regarded as the guardian of hidden 
treasures. To kiU him would be sure to bring down some disaster on the land ; 
but, on the other hand, a stranger daring to violate one of their sanctuaries would 
be instantly hurled from the nearest precipice. 

The Siah-Posh recognise some of the neighbovu'ing Mohammedan tribes as 
their kinsmen. They are aware that their territory was formerlj' far more 
extensive than at present, and that they have been gradually driven from the plains 
towards the perennial snows, thereby losing not onlj' much wealth but also their 
civilisation, for " our forefathers," say they, "could read and write like the 
Hindu pundits." Amongst the surrounding Mussulmans many Kafir usages are 
still observed, as, for instance, the use of benches instead of squatting Turkish or 
Persian fashion on the ground, wine-drinking, and the vigesimal system of notation. 
The women of these Moslem tribes also go abroad imveiled, and take part in all 
outdoor occupations. Amongst these half-Afghanised peoples are the Safi, or 
"Pure," and the Chugani of the Darah Nur ("Yalley of Noah") and lower 
Kimar River, who are often called jS^imshah, that is, "Half and Half." They 
intermarry both with the Afghans and Kafirs, and generally endeavour to keep on 
good terms with all their neighbours. Through them the Chitrali carry on a 
considerable export trade ia fine cattle, hounds, and sheep, thereby acquiring much 



44 



SOUTH-WESTERN ASIA. 



wealth, which they spend in building large many-storied houses embellished with 
elegant wood carvings, and in surrounding their villages with high and strong 
palisades. 

Besides these pure Aryan " Black Clads," Afghanistan is also occupied bj' 
numerous jDeople of Mongol stock. Such are the Hczareh (Hazarah), that is, the 
"Thousand," who hold the Koh-i-Baba and Siah-Koh valleys of the Upper 
Hilmend and Heri-rud basins. Being thus in possession of most of the highlands 
between Kabul and Herat, they compel armies and caravans to make a great detour 
southwards by Kandahar and Farah. In a straight line the distance from Kabul 



16. — Dak4h Nur. 
Scale 1 : 750,000. 




to Herat is scarcely more than 360 miles, whereas the historic route followed at aU 
times by trade and war is longer by fully one-half. The Hezareh, doubtless so 
called from their countless segmentations, are unquestionably of Mongol origin, as 
shown not only by the designation of Moghel apjDlied to them by the GhUzais, but 
also by their Kalmuck features, small oblique eyes, high cheek-bones, flat face, 
scanty beard, as well as by their own traditions and the unanimous testimony of 
Eastern writers. According to Akbar's historiographer, Abu '1 Fazil, they were 
sent in the thirteenth century by Mangu-Khan south of the Hindu-Kush, though 
it is difEcult to understand how, without any apparent contact with the Persians, all 



THE HEZAEEHS AND AIMAKS. 45 

except a single tribe have exchanged their Tatar mother-tongue for a pure Iranian 
dialect, affected only by a few Turki words borrowed from their Turkoman neigh- 
boxirs. Eawlinson supposes that they were settled from the remotest times in the 
country, where they were brought into close relations with the Persians at the time 
when the civilising influences of Iran were most active. Numerous ruins of cities 
spoken of by the natives certainly imply a far higher culture than that now existing 
in this region. 

Except those to the north of the western Sefid-Koh, scarcely any of the Hezareh 
tribes are nomads, all dwelling in permanent villages of small thatched houses half 
buried in the grovmd. But while taking to fixed abodes, they have preserved 
many of their Mongol usages, such as horseracing, at which they are scarcely less 
skilled than the Khalkas of the Gobi steppes. Although endowed with sufficient 
poetic genius to make their amatory declarations generally in extemporised verse, 
they are far inferior in culture to the Afghans and Tajiks, to whom their artless 
and vmcouth ways are a constant source of ridicule. ^Nevertheless, by these neigh- 
bours they are also dreaded as sorcerers, capable by a single glance of bm-ning up 
the liver in the bodies of their enemies. In theii- exuberant hospitalitj' thej' have 
retained the old custom of accommodating the passing stranger with their women, 
who in other respects enjoy a large share of freedom. They manage the household 
and overlook field operations, and in time of war take part in the tribal councils, 
even joining in the fray on horseback. No family matters are transacted without 
the advice of the women, against whom the hand of man is never raised. 

The national government is monarchical, the wealthiest tribe, which takes the 
title of Ser Xhane ("Head of the House "), being considered by all the others as 
forming a privileged class. Each commim.ity obeys its own beg or sultan, who 
administers justice, imposes the fines, condemns to prison, and even to death. These 
kinglets are often at war among themselves ; at other times forming temporary 
confederacies either to plunder a powerful neighbour or resist the tax-gatherers 
sent among them by the amir of Kabul. Thus the political map of the country 
is incessant!}' shifting with the vicissitudes of war, the interest or caprice of rulers. 
Towards the border lands the race has been considerably modified bj' crossings, and 
amongst the Hezarehs many are now met with Afghan featm-es, while, on the other 
hand, some Ghilzais might be taken for Kalmidis. In recent times the Hezarehs 
have begun to migrate in large numbers to India, where they obtaia emplojinent 
on the public works. Thousands also have become enslaved to the surroimding 
Afghan communities. 

The Hezarehs are all of the Shiah sect, whereas their Aimak neighbours and 
kinsmen are zealous Sunnites. Of these Aimaks, that is, "Hordes," several, 
especially ia the Herat uplands, still speak Mongol dialects, and the chief tribe 
bears the strictly Mongol name of Kipchak. Theu- domaiu comprises the hiUy 
pasture lands of the Ghur district south of the Hezarehs, the highland valleys 
encircling the Herat basin, and the northern slopes of the Parapomisus facing the 
Turkestan lowlands. The Taimuri, one of the Char Aimak, or " Four Hordes," 
have also settled west of Herat in Persian territory Most of the Aimaks stiU 



46 SOUTH-^raSTEEN ASIA. 

rlwoU in the unhi, or tents, ■which are grouf)ed irregularly round some defensive 
tower occupied by the chief, and which are made either of grey felt or black skins. 
The settled villages in their country are inhabited almost exclusively by Tajiks. 
Brave as the Hezarehs, and like them ruled by despotic chiefs, the Aimaks are even 
more dreaded on account of their ferocity. Elphinstone tells us how after the 
fight they quaff the blood of the slain ; and according to Ferrier the girls of some 
tribes cannot wed until they have taken part with the men in some warlike expedition. 

The Jemshidis, whose 5,000 families encamp under plaited reed tents in the upper 
Murgh-ab valley, are by some writers classed with the Aimaks, although their 
regidar features and Persian speech leave little doubt as to their Aryan descent. 
But through incessant war and migrations, combined with camp life, they have 
acquired the manners and character of their Turkoman neighbours. Like them 
they are marauders, and lose no opportimity of falling on passing caravans. But 
these raids are not always successful, and since the beginning of the present 
century their numbers have been much reduced. In the neighbourhood of Herat 
dwell their kinsmen, the nomad Persian Firiz-Kui, removed hither by Tamerlane 
from the Firuz-Koh district at the southern foot of Demavcnd. 

To this motley assembly of races and peoples at jiresent inhabiting Afghan 
territory must be added a few Jewish and Armenian money-lenders ; some 
Abyssinians, Kalmuks, Arabs, Lezzhians, and Kurds, slaves or adventurers fighting 
under the amir's flag ; many Turkoman, Baluch, and Brahui nomads encamped 
on the frontiers, whence they make freqiient raids into the interior. Thus all the 
peoples of Western Asia are represented in a land where so few Europeans have 
penetrated, except in the wake of the British invading hosts. 

Topography. 

In the south-eastern regions between the Hindu-Kush and Kabul River all the 
Kafirs, Dards, Afghans and other highlanders dwell in small towns or villages, 
usually situated in fertile alluvial valleys or on the slopes facing southwards and 
sheltered from the icy northern blasts. As in the Alps, the Hindu-Kush towns 
consist mostlj' of a number of hamlets relieved by no monuments except their 
turreted forts and religious edifices, often surrounded by extensive ruins. The Swat 
valley still contains one well-preserved structure of this sort, surmounted by an oval 
cupola 90 feet high and encircled by a series of niches in ten stories. The Skankar- 
dar, as this sanctuary is called, seems to recall the worship of Shankar, one of the 
Sanskrit names of Siva. Within their walled enclosures each of the fortified Swat 
villages of Tarrnah and Cliahil contains about 1,000 families. In another formerly 
resided the venerable Akhund, who, though posessed of little political power, was 
supposed in Northern India to be an all-iDowerful prophet, a standing menace to 
British rule, capable at any moment of hurling against it tens of thousands of 
fanatical Wahabites. Tall and Kalkot, in the Upper Panjkora valley, have each a 
population of 1,500 families of Bushkars, a branch of the Dard nation. Lower 
down the same river stands Miankalai, capital of the petty Afghan state of Jundul. 



TOPOGEArHY— K.VBUL. 47 

In the Kunar Rirer valley are the relatively important towns of Mustuj, 
picturesquely situated at an elevation of 7,600 feet, at the junction of the Yasin 
and Upper Oxus roads, and Chitral or Chitlal, capital of the most powerful state on 
the southern slope of the Hindu-Kush. Here resides the mihtar or hadshaJi, who 
rules over some 200,000 Dard and Kafir tribes, some exempt from imposts, others 
compelled to supply slaves even of their own kindred. He is himself tributary to 
the maharaja of Kashmir, to whom he sends a j'early convoy of horses, hounds, and 
falcons. Further down are Asmar, Shiyar, Serai, and Kunar, the last two governed 
by Afghan chiefs. Kunar gives its name to the lower course of the Chitral River, 
whose sands are here washed for gold. 

The villages of Kafiristan are unknown even by name, while those of the upper 
Panjir and Ghorband valleys are insignificant hamlets. But within 12 miles of 
the confluence of the streams, and at the foot of the Paghman range, stands Charikar, 
probably occui^ying the site of Alexandria, which was here built by the Mace- 
donian conqueror to guard the highland routes converging on the lowlands. The 
neighbouring plain takes the name of Bagram, supposed to be a corruption of 
Vigrama, that is, " chief town," a term long applied to the capital of the Daman- 
i-Koh district. The town, also traditionally known as Shehr-Tunan, or "Greek 
city," was still standing at the time of the Mongol invasion, and amidst its ruins 
Masson picked up about 60,000 Bactrian coins, rings, and other objects, nearly all 
in copper. South of Charikar the crest of a wooded hill is crowned by the 
picturesque town of Istalif, whose mild climate, sparkling streams, shady 
plantations, orchards, and gardens render it the pleasantest place in the whole 
of Afghanistan. 

Kabul, present capital of the state, is the " oldest city of all," say the natives, 
and according to the local legend here fell the devil when he was cast out of 
heaven. The inhabitants also proudly point to the " tomb of Cain," thus carrying 
back to the beginning of the world the bloodstained annals of this turbulent 
region. In any case the city was certainly in existence at the time of the 
Macedonian expedition, and is mentioned by the old writers first \mder the name of 
Ortospana, or " "White Camp," * and afterwards by that of Cnbura (Ptolemy). 
On the south-eastern road leading to India stand the remains of the Sm-kh-Minar 
("Red Minaret), and of "Alexander's Pillar," structures betrajang evidence of 
Greek or Graeco-Bactrian style. At the end of the fifteenth century Baber, who 
knew no spot comparable to the "paradise of Kabul," made it the capital of his 
vast empire, and amid the gardens of the south-west is still seen the white marble 
enclosure, carved with arabesques and covered with inscriptions, which was raised 
to the memory of this emperor. Timur, son of Ahmed Shah, also chose Kabul as 
his residence, and since then the city has for over a century held its position as 
capital of the kingdom. But apart from its official importance, it occupies a site 
which could not fail to make it a great emporiimi of trade, for it stands on the 
historic route between India and Bactriana, in the midst of fertile plains offerino- 
every resource to caravans after their toilsome journeys across the snowy Hindu- 
•Eawlinson, in "Jour. Geographical Soc," 1843. 



48 



SOUTH-WESTERN ASIA. 



Kush. Thanks to its altitude of over 6,000 feet above the sea, it enjoys as 
temperate a climate as European cities lying 10 degrees farther north, and its 
fruits are famous throughout the East for their exquisite flavour. 

Kabul covers a space of about 2 miles on the south bank of the river to 
which it gives its name, and which 10 miles lower down is more than doubled 
in volume by its junction with the Logar. West of the defiles just above the city 
there stretches a vast triangular basin of well- cultivated plains, shaded with 
poplars and willows, and encii'cled by bare rocky hills. Eastwards a projection is 
crowned with the military quarter of the Bala-Hissar, or "High Fortress," 
partially destroyed by the English in 1880. Within the enclosure stand the 
amir's palace and gardens, and the city itself is intersected in all directions 



Fig. 17. — Kabul and Neighbourhood. 
Scale 1 : 260,000. 




by walls, di\'iding it into distinct plots like the cells of a honeycomb. But 
these inner lines have in many places been demolished, and the breaches are 
connected by a whole labyrinth of narrow winding lanes, the intricacies of which 
were increased by the ruins of about 1,000 houses destroyed by the earthquake 
of 1874. Many of the inhabitants have since then withdrawn to the suburbs, 
which stretch north-west and north along both sides of the stream. In order to 
overawe the city, the English in 1880 occupied the heights of Sherpur [Behmaru), 
which rise on the north-east to an elevation of 800 feet, and which Shere Ali had 
already chosen as the site of fresh fortifications. Shcrpui- has the advantage over 
Bala-Hissar of standing isolated in the midst of the plains, and of not being 
commanded by any neighbouring hills. About 6 miles east of Bala-Hissar are the 



TOrOGEAPHY— GUAZNI. 49 

ruins of au older city kao\vn by the name of Barjam or Bagvami, that is, " Capital,"' 
and Kabul itself seems to have formerly stood on the banks of the Logar. 

On the route between Kabul and Peshawar the chief intermediate station is 
Jalalabad, which stands at a height of scarcely 1,800 feet below the gorges by 
which the Kabul Eiver pierces the Siah-Koh range, and in the centre of the 
Nangnahar basin sheltered on all sides from the winds. Hence the heat is often 
oppressive at this threshold of the Iranian plateau ; but the fertile plain is in many 
places shaded by leafy trees. In winter the population is greatly increased by the 
shepherds returning from the surrounding pasture-lands. Beyond this point 
the only place of any note is Lalpura, at the Afghan entrance of the Khaibar Pass, 
which is guarded at the other end by the British fortress of Jamrud. 

South of the Sefid-Koh most of the " towns " on the eastern slopes of the 
Sidaiman-dagh are mere aggregates of mud huts surrounded by walls of the same 
material. Such are Kuram, capital of the district of like name, and in the Tochi 
vallej' the old but deca3'ed Shehr or S/iar/i, that is, " city " in a pre-eminent sense, 
which still exports a remarkably strong and hardy breed of horses. Kaniguram 
and Makin, farther north, are the chief centres of population in the Waziri territory. 

West of the SiUaiman-dagh no towns are met till we reach Ghazni, the chief 
place on the military route between Kabul and Kandahar, and in the eleventh cen- 
tury capital of an empire stretching from the plains of Delhi to the shores of the 
Euxine. Yet the residence of Mahmud, the "Ghaznevide" conqueror of India, 
presents few of the advantages required by an imperial metropolis. Lying at an 
elevation of 7,800 feet above the sea, in a region exposed to fierce gales, sultry in 
summer, extremely cojd ip winter, Ghazni is also destitute of cojjious streams and 
fertile plains. "I have often asked mj'self," says Sultan Baber, "how the 
princes who reigned over Hindustan and Khorassan came to fix the seat of their 
government in such a wretched country." Hence it is not surprising that when 
it ceased to be a ro3'al residence Ghazni soon lost most of its population, although 
stiU preserving its importance as a formidable stronghold between Kabul and Kan- 
dahar. It stands at the foot of a long gj'psum ridge, with here and there j)atches of 
vegetation, and at its highest point crowned with a citadel, whose walls are flanked 
with bastions and towers. Like that of Kabul, this citadel, which was stormed by 
Lord Keane in the first Afghan war, takes also the name of Bala-Hissar. Although 
never a very large place, the ruins of old Ghazni stretch for a considerable distance 
to the north of the present city. Here doubtless stood Mahmud' s " Heavenly 
Spouse," the marble and granite mosque built by him to commemorate his 
conquests. To this mosque belonged probably the two graceful minarets em- 
bellished with Kufic inscriptions now Ipng on an artificial platform in the district. 

Ghazni takes the title of " Second Medina " from the great number of 
illustrious persons whose tombs it formerly contained. That of the Ghaznevide 
is still seen in the old town, but it has no longer the sandalwood gates brought 
hither by Mahmud from Somnath in Kattyawar, and by the British removed to 
Delhi in 1842. Doubts, however, have been entertained as to the identity or 
antiquity of these gates. - 

VOL. IX. E 



50 



SOUTH-WESTERN ASIA. 



Gliazul is peopled by Ilezarelis aud Ghilzais ; but Kclat-i-Ghilzui, that is, 
" Castle of the Ghilzais," the only other stronghold between Kabul aud Kandahar, 
is inhabited almost exclusively by members of this tribe. It is rather a fortress 
than a town, its irregular lines, barracks and magazines crowning an isolated 
eminence on the stony plateau which separates the Argand-ab from the Tarnak 
valley. At its foot are scattered the villages of the peasantry, besides the palace, 
bazaar, and other buildings, which might form the nucleus of a city. Numerous 
ruins are strewn over the cultivated and weU-watered plain, while the heights are 
crowned with the remains of tombs, forts, and signal towers, attesting the former 



Fig. 18. — Kelat-i-Ghilzai. 
Scale 1 : 45,000. 




taf&reenw.ct. 



strategic importance of Kelat-i-Ghilzai. During the late war it was the chief centre 
of General Roberts's operations on his famous march from Kabul to Kandahar. 

Like so many Asiatic towns, Kandahar or KJiand, a term identified by some 
etymologists with an ancient "Alexandria," by others with a still more ancient 
Hindu " Ghandara," has several times shifted its position. The city of Arachosia 
(in Sanskrit Harakicati) lay more to the south-east, where now stands the ruined 
station of 0/aii Rabat, or Shahr-i-Toltak, in the midst of the Ai-gand-ab solitudes. 
To this place succeeded " Old Kandahar," which has not yet completely disap- 
peared. About 3 miles from the modern enclosure the hills are skirted by solid 
ramparts, the remains of a Bala-IIissar, which was formerly one of the strongest 



TOPOGEAPHY— K2\.NDAHAn. 



51 



places in Afghanistan, and which held out for eleven months against Nadir Shah. 
Another Kandahar, founded by Nadir himself, enjoyed a brief existence of a few 
years during the last century, and its well-preserved walls still stand at about 3 
miles to the south of the present city, which was built by Ahmed Shah, founder of 
the present dynasty. He chose it as the royal residence, and the finest edifice 
within the waUs is the domed mosque standing over his tomb, the resort of thousands 



Fig. 19. — Kaxd.ih.^k. 
Scile 1 ; lOO.OftO. 




of blue pigeons. No one better than the conqueror could appreciate the extreme 
strategic importance of Kandahar, the " key of India." Lying on the semicirciilar 
route between Kabul and Herat, commanding the outlet of the Argand-ab and 
Tamak valleys, as well as the defiles of the ranges separating India from the Hil- 
mend basin, it has the further advantage of being surrounded by a fertile region, 
which might supply abimdant provisions to armies on the march. On the south and 
south-west it is unassailable, being protected in this direction by vast desei't tracts. 

E 2 



52 SOUTH-WESTERN ASIA. 

The quadrilateral of Kandahar stands at a height of 3,o00 feet above the sea on 
a plain sloping gently towards the south-east in the direction of the Tarnak River. 
The irrigating waters which supply the city, and which convert the surrounding 
district into a vast garden, are drawn from the Argand-ab, and skirt the foot of 
the advanced spurs of the Gul-Koh, which is here pierced by the profound Baba- 
Wali Pass. Here was fought the battle by which General Roberts raised the siege 
of Kandahar in 1880. The city walls, though flanked by over fifty towers, and 
supported northwards by a citadel, are in a bad state of repair ; but the interior 
presents a favoui-able contrast with Kabul, its well-kept streets generally running 
at right angles, while the whole space within the enclosure is divided by two main 
avenues into four nearly equal quarters, approached from the north through the 
citadel, and on the other sides by three gateways. At the junction of the avenues 
stands the bazaar, surmounted by a fine cupola, and thronged with a busy crowd of 
buyers and sellers. The eastern section of the avenues leading to the Kabul gate is 
occupied chiefly by cloth merchants, while that leading west to the Herat gate is 
alive with the incessant din of workers in copper and blacksmiths. The dyers, 
potters, and fruit-vendors are grouped along the southern avenue terminating at the 
Shikarpur gate, and the road to the citadel is lined with large warehouses well 
stocked with English and Russian goods. The dealers in the bazaar belong to 
every race in Western Asia ; but the great bulk of the inhabitants are members of 
the Durani tribe. 

Recently Kandahar lay within the " scientific frontier" of the Indian Empire; 
but consequently upon a change of Government in England it was restored to the 
amir in 1882. Here was to have terminated the Shikarpur railway, first section of 
the transcontinental line between India and Asia Minor. But although the works 
have been temporarily suspended, the portion of the railway already completed from 
the Indus to Sibi, at the foot of the Bolan Pass, is continued up to the plateau by 
routes practicable for artillery, and the present military frontier station has been 
fixed at Chaman, within tliree days' marcb of Kandahar. From this encampment, 
which is flanked by spurs of the Khoja-Amrau, the British forces guard the 
eastern extremity of the main military route traversing Aighanistan from the 
south-east to north-west. Any further advance could scarcely stop short of Kushk- 
i-Nakud, memorable for the defeat of General Burrows in 1880, or even of the 
fortress of Ghirisk, which commands tbe passage of the Hilmend and the Zamin- 
dawar valleys. The numerous ruined fortifications scattered about this spot attest 
the great importance attributed at all times to this strategic point. It might 
also be foimd necessary to secure Farah, a stronghold standing at the south-west 
angle of the northern highlands and of the great military highway near the fertile 
plains of Sistan. Then there is Sistan itself, whose chief stronghold. Lash, stands 
on an eminence surrounded by valleys, impregnable to any but the heaviest modern 
artillery. Nor could Sibzaicar or Sebzwar be neglected. This fortress, which holds 
the Aimaks in check, and which has replaced the ancient Isfezar, is the last 
strategic point south of Herat, and prophets of ill-omen have already named it as 
the probable site of future collision between the great rivals for empire in Central 



TOPOGEAPHY— HERAT. 53 

Asia. To tlie south- west tlie Tajik village of Anardereh stands near the Persian 
frontier, at the foot of a hill rent throughout its entire length hj a cleft nowhere 
more than 20 inches wide, and caused, says the local legend, by a stroke of the 
sword of Ali. 

Herat, which fi-om its strategic importance has been called the "Gate of 
India," and from its vast agricultural and industrial resources the " Pearl of 
Khorassan," is one of the oldest, and at times has been one of the most populous, 
cities in the world. It is clearly identified with the Aria which was a large place 
in the days of Alexander, and which, according to the Persian historians, was in 
the twelfth centuiy the " queen," and the " illustrious," containing 444,000 
inhabited houses, 12,000 shops, 6,000 public baths and caravansaries. In the next 
century it was captured after a six months' siege by Jenghiz-Khan, who butchered 
its inhabitants to the number of 1,600,000, forty persons alone escaping the sword of 
the ruthless Mongols. Such is the vital importance of its position, that it has been 
fifty times attacked and levelled to the groimd, each time again rising from its 
ruins. Lying on the Per so- Afghan frontier, it has never ceased to be a subject 
of contention between these conterminous states, and if, despite its geographical 
dependence on Persia, it now belongs to the Amir of Kabul, its Persian-speaking 
inhabitants have to thank England, which has twice interfered and compelled the 
Shah either to raise the siege or surrender the prize. At present the political 
equilibriimi has changed. Russia has become the most powerful neighbour of 
Herat, and her engineers are surveying the ground with the view of making it 
the future terminus of their Trans-Caspian railway system. Lessar has recently 
shown that the Heri-rud forms the natural approach from the Turkestan depression 
to the Iranian plateau, and this route, ah-eady traversed more than once by 
Turkoman and Mongol, is henceforth open to the Russian. 

Situated about 2,600 feet above sea level, Herat occupies the centre of an 
extremely productive plain traversed east and west by the Heri-rud, and skirted on 
both sides by hills, which diminish in height towards the west. Amidst the 
clumps of conifers are here and there detected piles of ruins, tombs, and other 
remains, recalling the prosperous days when Herat covered an area ten times 
larger than at present, and when a dog " could bound from roof to roof all the way 
from the citadel to the villages on the plain." The enclosui'e of the modern city, 
forming a quadrilateral with its longest side rimning from east to west, is not so 
much a rampart in the strict sense of the word as a huge irregular moimd, with a 
mean height of 80 feet, and separated by a deep ditch from the plain. On the 
north side stands the citadel of Ekhtiar-eddin, a solid structure commanded within 
1,000 yards by an enormous eminence said to have been raised by K"adir-Shah. Like 
Kandahar, Herat is divided into four quarters by two transverse streets, whose 
point of intersection, till recently surmounted by a dome, has become the centre 
of the bazaar. The local craftsmen have retained their reputation for the 
manufacture of sword-blades, carpets and cotton goods ; but at present the bazaar 
is chiefly stocked with English and Russian wares. The population, which varies 
enormously with the political vicissitudes of the country, was reduced to 7,000 



54 



SOUTH-WESTERN ASIA. 



in 1838, and when most of its Shiah inhabitants had quitted the city to escape 
the persecution of its Afghan masters. A considerable proportion of the citizens 
represent ancient families who have fallen with the place itself from their former 
greatness. Amongst them Ferrier met descendants of Jenghiz-Khan, Tamerlane, 
and Nadir-Shah. 

Most of the palaces, caravansaries, mosques, and other public buildings form 
picturesque ruins in the suburbs, where a solitary tower, a broken arch, or a 
crimibUng wall still covered with lovely enamelled porcelain blend their softened 
tints here and there with the foliage of the shady plantain. The district is noted 
for its healthy climate and balmy atmosphere, due to the northern breezes which 
prevail during the hot summer months. " Bring together the soil of Ispahan, the 
air of Herat, and the waters of the Kharezm, and there man will live for ever," 



Fig. 20.— Herat. 
Scale 1 : 1,300,000. 







L of I 



says an Iranian proverb. Nor need Herat envy the waters of the Kharezm itself, 
for those of the Heri-rud, " clear as a pearl," are amongst the purest in Asia ; and, 
thanks to the nine main channels and their countless ramifications fed by the 
neighbouring river, Herat has become the " City of a hundred thousand Gardens." 
Here are grown seventeen varieties of the vine, and many species of melons, apricots, 
and other frmts, all renowned throughout Irania for their exquisite flavour. In 
these gardens the public help themselves, and pay the reckoning according to the 
difference of their weight on entering and leaving. Beyond the watered tracts the 
plains yield the ink or assafoetida of the Afghans, abhorrent to the European sense 
of smell, but which supplies a dainty dish to the Iranians. 

Above Herat are a few groups of houses that may still be called towns. Such 
is Kuriikh, capital of the Jemshidi territory, on the route to Maimench, noted for 
its hot springs, of which as many as eighteen bubble up within the town-walls. 



TOPOGEArHY— OHURIAN. 55 

111 the Heri-rud valley west of Herat the ruiued cities of Ohurian and Kusan 
owe all their importance to their position near the political frontier of Persia. 
According to Kanikov, Ghurian was in 1820 a larger place than Herat itself. Now 
it is little more than a pictiu-esque fort, surrounded by hovels in the midst of a 
splendid district, where the neglected banks of the Heri-rud are fringed in many 
places bj' groves and even forests of large trees. Here the hare, partridge, 
pheasant, and grouse are met in vast multitudes, while larger animals, such as the 
deer, wild boar, and wild ass, frequent the surrounding thickets. Thiis has nature 
again taken possession of this formerly populous and highly cultivated region of 
Afghan Khorassan. The same desolation has fallen on the hilly districts of the 
Hezarehs and Aimaks, which abound in the ruins of ancient cities, but where 
nothing is now seen except miserable hamlets. Zerni, or Glmr, capital of the 
country, has almost ceased to exist. Here Ferrier tells us he met a few Guebres, 
a statement which has been questioned by most subsequent writers. 

Trade — I>-DrsTRiES — Administration. 

Owing to its sparse population, the conflicts of hostile tribes and races, the 
absence of large towns, roads and bridges, Afghanistan holds a low place even 
amongst Asiatic countries as an agricultural and industrial region. Certain 
valleys and a few oases on the plains are doubtless carefully cultivated, while the 
system of underground channels, dams, and irrigating riUs bears evidence to the 
labour sustained for centuries by whole communities. In the agricultural districts 
also, where the land is parcelled out amongst small holders, independent of factors 
or middlemen, the soil is remarkably productive, and has frequently met the 
demands of invading hosts without being completely exhausted. But in ordinary 
times wheat, the staple national food, and the other products of the land, suffice 
only for the local demand, leaving little for export except some dried fruits, corn, 
and medicinal gums. Yet the temperate plateaux and cool upland valleys ought 
to yield abundant supplies to the Hindu populations, with whom scarcely any 
traffic is maintained. Nor do the industries of the Tajiks in Kabul and the other 
Afghan cities contribute much towards the export trade. Hence the Povindahs 
import from India and elsewhere far more than they are able to offer in exchange 
for the wares purchased by them from the English, Russians, Bokhariots, and 
Hindus. The Anglo-Indian Government, while withdrawing from Kabid and 
Kandahar, has at the same time suspended the works which were intended to 
connect those cities with the peninsular railway system, the two main lines towards 
the plateau terminating at present at the eastern entrance of the Khaibar and 
Bolan passes. Bridges, viaducts, cuttings, embankments, tunnels, everything was 
suddenly and senselessly abandoned after upwards of £520,000 had been 
expended on these indispensable works. But while the British lines have thus 
been interrupted by a Liberal Government, those of the Russians are steadily 
advancing in the opposite direction, from the Caspian, through the Turkoman oases, 
towards the Afghan frontier. And thus arises the question, which of the two 



5G SOUTH-WESTEEX ASIA. 

great powers, compelled by the very force of events to contend for supremacy 
in Central Asia, will be the first to secure by the locomotive the commercial pos- 
session of Afghanistan. The advantage must certainly lie with those who shall 
take the lead in placing the inhabitants of the plateau in easy communication 
with the rest of the world. 

Afghanistan is not likely long to maintain any real political independence, to 
preserve which its inhabitants should possess a common patriotic sentiment and 
confidence in their destinies. But Afghan, Hezareh, Tajik, Kizil-bash, Kafir are 
aU so many antagonistic elements, while the many tribes of the ruling race itself 
lack all political cohesion. Most former wars possessed little more than a special 
interest for the different clans, whose chiefs were struggling from time to time for 
the foremost rank. The Ghilzais, Kafirs, "Waziris, Yusuf-zais, Lohani, do not 
regard themselves as the subjects of the amir or of his great Barakzai chiefs. They 
supply provisions, guides, and convoys to the stranger without feeling that they 
thereby incur the charge of treason ; their only fatherland is the tract held by their 
respective clans. And as regards the central Government itself, all the inhabitants 
of the country have for the last half-century grown iip under the idea that the real 
sovereignty lies ultimately with the English or the Russians. European travellers 
in the country are incessantly besieged with questions touching the rivalry of the 
two great conquering powers and the probable issue of the pending conflict. 
Such also is the universal topic of discussion in the bazaars, where the news- 
messengers play the same part as the political press elsewhere. 

The Afghans themselves seem generally inclined to believe in the future 
supremacy of Russia. "However disagreeable the confession, there can be no doubt," 
says MacGregor, " that in their eyes the prestige lies with the Russians, whom 
they regard as the next conquerors of India." Doubtless they have not yet 
obtained a footing in Afghanistan, but all their expeditions in Central Asia 
invariably end in conquest, which is never followed by retreat. The English, on 
their part, have thrice invaded Afghanistan, but at what a price P and with what 
results ? In 1842, after three years' occupation, the Anglo-Indian garrisons, 
some 13,000 strong, perished almost to a man in their attempt to withdraw from 
Kabul. Three persons alone escaped from the greatest disaster ever suffered bj' 
the British army. In the last war also the serious defeat of Kushk-i-Nakud had 
to be repaired ; and although on this occasion they quitted the country of their 
own accord, the popular report, rapidly spread from tribe to tribe, represented 
them as fugitives. Their attitude fully justifies the saying attributed to 
Aimed Shah in speaking of his Afghan kingdom, " Beware of my bee-hives ; 
the bees are there, but not the honey." To avoid diplomatic difl5culties, and 
for other motives of "high state policy," the British Government not only 
sacrifices blood, treasure, and prestige by withdrawing when it might easily remain, 
but seldom even allows its o^-n subjects to explore the country in times of peace. 
Even in the far west, on the route between Farah and Herat, caravansaries are met 
at intervals, formerly erected by the English, but which they dare not now make 
use of. In 1840 their advanced posts stood to the north of the Bamian Pass, 



LIBRARY 

OF THE 

UNIVERSITY of ILLINOIS. 



GOYEENMENT OF AFGHANISTAN. 57 

whence the Eussian van might now he visihle, and their guns obstruct the bed of 
the torrents flowing down to the Oxus. Unless wiser counsels are adopted, the 
Afghan view of the situation cannot fail to be realised. 

The present amir, former guest of the Russians, now a British pensioner, 
represents in his person the political state of the laud for which the two rival 
powers are contending. His kingdom is far more extensive than seems consistent 
with his real weakness, for its limits have been arbitrarily laid down by the two 
protecting states. North of the Hindu-Kush, Koh-i-Baba, and Siah-Koh, the high- 
lands and plains stretching to the Oxus belong geographically rather to Eussian 
Turkestan than to Afghanistan proper, to which they are poKticaUy attached. On 
the southern frontier also many tribes pay the taxes only on compulsion, while the 
three rival cities of Kabul, Kandahar, and Herat themselves form part of one state 
only in virtue of an "Asiatic equilibrium" temi^orarily guaranteed by the two 
paramoimt powers in Central Asia. 

Like other Eastern sovereigns, the amir is in theory an autocrat ; but practi- 
cally his power is limited not only by the Shariat, or " way of the faithfiil," that 
is, by the religious and civil traditions of Islam, but also even more decidedly by 
the privileges of the sirdars and republican tribes. At once absolute master of the 
Tajiks, head of the Durani, and suzerain of the other tribes, he commands, advises, 
or solicits according to the respective attitudes of these sections of the community. 
Certain offices are hereditary in many families, and these could be interfered with 
onlv at the risk of a general insurrection. A large number of clans receive 
neither his magistrates nor his tax-gatherers, but administer their own affairs, tax 
themselves, and send to the amir the amount of tribute settled by custom. Thus 
limited, the royal power is transmitted if not from father to son in the order of 
primogeniture, at least in the same family. Formerly the sovereign was elected 
by the sirdars or great chiefs ; now the English Government exercises the right 
of nomination as well as that of control by the presence of an ofiicial resident at 
the Court of Kabul. But for motives of prudence this dangerous office is entrusted 
to a native. 

When he ruled over the Peshawar district and aU the eastern Daman-i-Koh 
between the Indus and the Sulaiman-dagh, the amir was a wealthy potentate, 
with a revenue exceeding £2,000,000. In those days the plains supplied him 
with money, the plateau with men. But now that all his resources are derived 
from the latter, his yearly income has fallen to little more than £600,000. Hence 
the Court has been compelled to economise, more especially since the ordinary 
revenue has been absorbed almost entirely by the army. Although most of the 
troops are raised amongst tribes boimd to military service in lieu of tribute, and 
although provisions are mostly supplied gratuitously in the garrison towns, large 
sums are still spent, especially in the purchase of war materials. In 1879, at the 
time of the rupture with England, the amir had in his arsenals 379 guns and 
50,000 rifles procured in English workshops or manufactiired in the country. The 
troops are drilled in English, chiefly by deserters from the British army. 

The various provinces are administered by a Lanhim and commanded by a 



58 SOUTH-AVESTERN ASIA. 

military sirdar. But both functions are frequently exercised by the same 
official, especially if he be a member of the Durani tribe. In the nomad districts 
his principal duty is to collect the taxes and settle disputes, the Kazi, who accom- 
panies him, delivering judgments and fixing the fines. 

The Afghan provinces proper, determined mainly by the relief of the land, are 
comprised in the subjoined table : — 

I. Kabul — 

Kabul, Upper Kabul, and Logar River valleys, Daman-i-Koh. 
Ghorband, Upper Ghorband, and Panjir valleys. 
Laghman, Kabul riverain tracts between the capital and Jalalabad. 
Safi and Tagao, Hindu-Kush valleys between the Daman-i-Koh and Kafiristan. 
Jalalabad, Lower Kabul River valle)-. 
Ghazni, Ghazni River basin, and surronndins hills. 
II. Kandahar — 

Kandahar, eastern Durani territory. 

Kelat-i-Ghilzai, Tarnak valley, Gul-Koh. 

Ghirisk. 

Farah, Farah-rud basin. 

III. SlSTAN — 

Lash, Shakansur. 
IV. Herat — 

Herat, Middle Heri-rud basin. 
Kan-ukh, Upper Heri-rud basin, Obeh. 
Ghurian, Lower Heri-rud. 
Sibzawar, Ardrashkan basin. 
Shahband, Aimak territory. 
V. Hezareh Territout. 
VI. Kafirtstan — 

Mastuj, Kaskar or Chitral, Kunar, Bushkar. 
Panjkora (Jundul), Dir, Bajaur. 
Note. — Attached to Afghanistan are also the khanates of Turkestan south of the Oxus, although 
geographically comprised within the region of which the Russian city of Tashkend has become the 
political centre. These are the states of Wakhan, Badakshan, Kuiiduz, Balkh, Andkhoi, Sliibirkau 
Ak-Cha, Saripul, Meimeneh, Gurzivan, Darzab, for which see Vol. VI. 




CHAPTER III. 

BALTJCHISTAN. 




HE land of the Baluches has scarcely retained a shado'w of political 
independence, and is now practically a province of the Indian 
Empire. Kachi-Gandava, its most fertile and relatively most 
populous division, belongs geographically to the region of the 
plains, and here the English have long maintained military canton- 
ments. Kwatah (Quetta) also, the chief stronghold on the plateau, is held by a 
British garrison, commanding on one hand the Afghan city of Kandahar, on the 
other the Baluch capital of Kalat. In Kalat itseK the advice of the English^ resi- 
dent, representing the Indian viceroy, is always followed by the sovereign. 
Along the coast the small seaports, peopled mainly by sailors and traders, subject 
to the direct jurisdiction of England, are veritable Hindu colonies ; while the 
telegraph stations on the same seaboard are guarded by troops in the p\iy of the 
Calcutta Government. 

Several English officers, notably Colonel MacGregor, have been sent to survey 
the roadsteads along the coast and the strategic routes leading inland to the 
Afghan plateaux. Nevertheless, miich of the land still remains to be explored, 
consisting, however, chiefly of bleak highlands, sandy wastes, rocky or saline 
argillaceous tracts. Thus the region, mostly a wilderness, covering a space of 
about 30,000 square miles, and stretching from the Hiknend southwards to the 
Washati or Koh-i-Sabz and Sianeh-Koh ranges, is regarded as a worthless and 
ownerless land. While Hughes assigns it to the Afghan amir as being naturally 
included in the Hamun basin, on most maps it is represented as belonging to the 
Khan of Kalat. The official map prepared in 1872 by Goldsmid on the banks of 
the Hilmend marks the common frontier of Persia, Afghanistan, and Baluchistan 
at the Koh-Malak-i-Siah, or " Mountain of the Black King," west of the Hamun, 
and from this point the Baluch border is traced directly to the great bend of the 
Hibnend below Eudbar. This would give an area of over 100,000 square miles to 
Baluchistan ; yet, according to the most liberal estimates, this vast region has 
scarcely the population of a second-rate town. Even including the pro\ince of 



CO 



SOUTH- WESTEEN ASIA. 



Kachi-Gandava, which belongs ethuicall}^ aud geogi-aphically to India, the whole 
state contains less than 500,000 inhabitants. 

The Baluchistan ITighi.ands. 

The khanate attains its greatest altitude towards the south-east frontier of 
Afghanistan, where it probably cidminates in the double-crested Takatu, north of 
Kwatah, and where other peaks in the Chihil-Tan range appear to rise nearly as 
high. A few points in the Koh-i-Muran, or " Snake Mountains," which lie more 
to the south between Mastang and Kalat, are also said by Cook to rival the Takatu, 



Fig. 21. — Routes of the chief Exploreks of Baluchistan. 
Scale 1 : 9,000,000. 




Railways Completed. 



Projected. 
. 240 Miles. 



all these, as well as the Kaliiiat peak north of the projected line of railway, 
attaining an elevation of 12,000 feet or thereabouts. All the Brahui ranges, 
which form the eastern scarp of the plateau above the Kachi-Gandava plain, run 
in remarkably regular parallel lines in the direction from north-north-east to 
south-south-west. Carved into terraces of unequal size, shaped like pyramids, or 
bristling with sharp peaks, these rugged limestone hills are mostly destitute of 
vegetation, a few juniper forests alone blending their pale green with the blue and 
rosy tints of the rocks bathed in the light of the sun. According to the hours of 
the da)^ with their shifting lights and shades, the hills appear on the horizon like a 
scarcely vi.sible pink or violet veil, a transparent luminous vapour, or glowing 



TUE BALUCHISTAN HIGHLANDS. fil 

cones of molten red lava. Between the parallel chains, the basins forineily fillod 
"with lacustrine waters have all been emptied by their mountain emissaries. Yet 
some of these sequestered dells, with their grassy swards and clumps of trees, 
remotel}' resemble fresh AljDine valleys ; while others are like fragments of the 
desert enclosed in an amphitheatre of hills. Such is the Dasht-i-Bedaidat, or 
"Desolate Plain," separated from Kwatah by the Madar or "Dead Man range," 
which is traversed by the main route from India through the Bolau Pass. This 
dismal waste is exposed in winter to tremendous snowstorms, in summer to the 
still more dreaded whirlwinds, driving the hot sand in eddies across the plain, and 
often swallowing up the belated wayfarer. 

Like most limestone systems, the parallel Brahui chains are broken at intervals 
by deep transverse fissures, through which the perennial or intermittent torrents 
rush from terrace to terrace, do^-n to the plains. Many of these gorges present 
a series of zigzag lines, disposed at sharp angles with almost geometrical symmetrj-. 
Tin recently they formed the only route from the plain to the plateau, although 
practicable only in the dry season, or when the water was low enough to leave a 
footing on either side. As many as eleven roads of this sort, some not yet explored 
by Eui'opeans, connect the Kalat uplands with Kachi-Gandava. Of these the easiest 
is that of Milon or Mula, which rises gradually from the Gandava oasis to the 
Jalawan tableland. But, owing to the great length, it has at all times been less 
frequented than the famous Bolan Pass, which runs from the northern extremitj' of 
Kachi-Gandava up to the Dasht-i-Bedaulat, and which the British engineers have 
converted into a fine carriage road, accessible to artillery. But the Bolan itself has 
now been abandoned by most travellers, who generally proceed by the new Line of 
railway from Shikarpur to Sibi, at the foot of the hiU, and thence follow the Harnai 
valley to Kwatah. 

The loftiest section of the Brahui highlands is occupied bj- Kalat, capital of the 
khanate. As shown by the coiu'se of the streams radiating in all directions from 
this water-parting, the traveller must descend from the plateau of Kalat, whatever 
route he may take. Kalat stands at an altitude of 6,800 feet, which is rivalled by 
but few crests in the highlands stretching south of the Brahui hUls. The parallel 
chains, which begin bej'ond the Mula Pass, and run neai'ly due north and south, 
form a well-marked natural limit between the Baluch uplands and the plains of 
Sind, thanks, however, to their arid character rather than to their absolute elevation. 
These Khirtar or Hala Mountains in fact scarcely rise more than a few hundred 
feet above the plateau stretching westwards. One peak alone ajjpears to exceed 
7,000 feet above the sea, while most of the crests attain an altitude of little more 
than 5,000 or 6,000 feet. 

West of the Khirtar range the Baluch plateau falls gradually towards the 
Ai-abian Sea. Here a spur from the Kalat highlands projecting southwards forms 
the water-parting between the Meshkid basin and the region draining southwards to 
the sea. This southern plateau is broken into three main sections of parallel chains 
running chiefly east and west and increasing in altitude landwards. Thus we 
ascend from the southernmost section, which is scarcelv 200 feet above the sea, to 



62 



SOUTII-AMSSTEEN ASIA. 



a central terrace 2,000 feet higli, and thence to a third attaining an elevation 
of 4,000 feet. Most of the intervening ranges are pierced by ravines or broad 
openings, so that the whole country is intersected in all directions by natural 
routes accessible to caravans. 

Parallel with the inland ranges runs the Baluch seaboard, better known 
by the name of Mekran, which has been cut by the action of the waves into 
numerous steep headlands from 300 to 400 feet high, following in uniform 
succession and separated from each other by sandy bays with regularly curved 
beaches. Thus the peninsulas of Gwadar and Omara projecting seawards between 

Fiij. 22. — Passes in North Baluchistax. 

Scale 1 : 900,000. 




Railways Completed. 



semicircular inlets of smooth water present an analogous appearance to the 
promontory of Giens and other headlands, connected only by a few sandy strips with 
the mainland. But the whole coast of Meki-an seems to have been considerably 
upheaved since the formation of these promontories, for they stand at present 
at a much higher level than the intermediate strands. 

Notwithstanding its numerous inlets, the Baluch seaboard nowhere offers any 
convenient havens for large vessels. The water shoals everywhere so gradually 
that men-of-war are xmable to approach nearer than 2 or 3 miles of the coast, 
where no landing could be attempted during the prevalence of the south-west 



THE BALUCHISTAN COAST. 



63 



monsoon, from March to September. But when de^jths of 140 or 150 feet are 
reached, the plummet often sinks abruptly 400 or 500 fathoms into the abyss 
of the Indian Ocean. 

Like the islands of Ramri and Chcduba in British Burma, the Mekran coast 
presents abundant traces of igneous action, betraj-ed by nimierous thermal waters 
and as many as eighteen mud volcanoes, forming in many places prominent features 
in the landscape. In the province of Las, bordering on India, seven of these 
cones, running close to the shore, are regarded by the Hindus as so many fragments ■ 
of the goddess Durga, and from the bubbling mud of these volcanoes the devout 
pilgrims cast their horoscopes. Near the For or Puri River, west of the port of 



Fig. 23. — East Mekr.vn SEAiio.\i:n. 
Scale 1 : 1,150,000. 




E Of&r 



320 Feet and 

upwards. 

__ 30 Miles. 



Somniani, another rises in the middle of the plain to the height of 400 feet, 
terminating with a crater 460 feet in circumference. This is the Raj Ram 
Chander, or Chander Kups, which, like all the others, ejects mud and salt water. 



River Systems. 

Baluchistan is one of the most arid regions in Asia, notwithstanding its 
exposure to the south-west monsoons, which discharge much of their moisture 
especially at the north-east corner of the plateau, where the land attains its 
greatest elevation. Here there is a considerable rain during the summer months. 



6-4 SOUTH- WESTEEN ASIA. 

when some of the closed basins, as well as the valleys confined between the pai-allel 
ranges, are occasionally converted into temporary lakes. But the trade-winds 
reaching the Mekran seaboard have already lost much of their moisture in their 
passage across the South Arabian deserts. Hence the Hindu peasantry in the 
Baluch oasis have been obliged, like those of the other part of Irania, to construct 
karezes, or underground conduits in some of the most fertile valleys. But 
the Baluchi natives, being unable to keep these channels in repair, depend for 
their supplies altogether on the waters of the nudi, or intermittent streams. Yet 
from its general appearance the land seems to have formerly been much more 
copiously irrigated. Traces of inundations, and even of permanent flooded basins, 
are visible in valleys which are now completely destitute of water, and wells 
sunk near the shore prove that there is still a large supply below the surface. 

The Baluch rivers falling into the Arabian Sea flow mostly in narrow beds 
direct to the coast, and even in the rainy districts send down but little water. 
The Dasht, or " Eiver of the Plain," which reaches the sea close to the Persian 
frontier, has a larger volmne than the other coast streams, because in its upper 
course it follows one of the depressions between the parallel coast ranges, thus 
developing a basin of considei-able extent. Yet for half the year it fails to reach 
the sea, and at this period the bar at its mouth remains exposed. The most 
copious river in Baluchistan is the Meshkid, most of whose headstreams rise in 
the Persian district of Sarhad, and flow first south-east in the direction of the 
Arabian Sea. But on entering Baluchistan they converge in a common channel 
south of the Sianeh-Koh, and thence flow east to the Rakshan, which drains 
the Panjgur district. The \mited stream then trends northwards through the 
gorges separating the Sianeh-Koh from the Koh-i-Sabz, beyond which it takes a 
north-westerly course to the closed basin, where it runs out in the swamps and 
sands. But this basin never sends its overflow farther north to the great depression 
of Sistan, as still represented on many modern maps. The Hamun, or marsh, to 
which the Meshkid sends its waters in the rainy season, occupies the central 
position of the Charan desert between the 28° and 29° north latitude, and from 
MacGregor's recent exploration it appears that this Hamun is completely cut off 
from that of Sistan by a lofty range of hills. During the floods it forms an 
extensive freshwater basin, but at other times it becomes a shallow reservoir 
of saline or brackish water. Parts of the surrounding plain are naturally fertile, 
although little cultivated, but the surface is elsewhere covered with a saline 
efflorescence several inches thick, which yields an abundant supply of salt to the 
surrounding districts. West of the Hamun-el-Mashkid the natives report the 
existence of the Kindi or Talah, another swamp, which receives the northern 
drainage of the basin. In north-east Baluchistan also the Lora, or river of 
Sharawak, flows to a third hamun in the middle of the desert. 

According to MacGregor the Kharan desert is much more accessible than 
many of the sandy wastes in Persia, Arabia, and Africa. It is well known to 
the caravans, which can always rely after a day's march at least on a well of 
brackish water and a little fodder for the camels. But there are certain districts 



CLIMATE OF BALUCHISTAN. G5 

carefully avoided by travellers, who would inevitably perish if overtaken by the 
terrible " simoon," a hot pestilential wind before which the dunes di-ive like ocean 
billows. At times also the air, although perfectly stiU, is filled with suffocating 
clouds of dust, a phenomenon attributed by the natives to the action of the solar 
rays on the fine particles of sand. Towards the east Pottinger traversed for five 
days a region of dunes with a mean height of 15 to 20 feet, all moving west 
and east, iinder the influence of the prevailing winds, and consisting of a fine 
reddish dust. Camels coming from the Meshkid across the sea of sands glide on 
their knees gently down the slopes facing eastwards. North of the Meshkid 
Hamun, MacGregor saw a large number of dunes of a different character, all 
moving north and south, some rising 60 feet above the plain and developing 
perfectly regular crescents, capacious enough to embrace a whole regiment between 
their two horns. Towards the Afghan frontier the sands take mainly a north- 
easterly direction, so that the various forms and disposition of these dunes, like 
those of the Thar desert in India, may perhaps be to some extent caused by the 
various oscillations of the ground. 

Owing to the relief of the land, the cKmate of Baluchistan presents within a 
relatively limited extent the most surprising contrasts. In the argillaceous and 
rocky basins of the coast streams, as well as on the Kachi-Gandava plain at the 
foot of the Brahui Hills, many districts are popularly compared to the lower 
regions ; while on the bleak plateaux, at elevations of 6,000 feet and upwards, the 
traveller is exposed to keen northern blasts, and often runs the risk of being 
swallowed up in the winter snows. A similar contrast is naturally presented by 
the vegetation, which, however, is everywhere characterised by the almost total 
absence of forest growths. The slopes are sometimes clothed with various species 
of the jvmiper, and with the happuer (^zizip/uis Jujuha^, which j'ields a useful 
building-timber. In the valleys the hamlets are surrounded by a few mulberries, 
tamarinds, or plantains, while the brooks are fringed with willows. Most of the 
fruit-trees indigenous to "West Asia, such as the peach, apricot, pear, apple, plum, 
pomegranate, almond, walnut, fig, and vine, besides the mango and date, flourish in 
the more favoured districts. In the hot lands the most common plant is the pish 
{^chamcerops rifchiana'), a species of dwarf pahn, whose trailing roots spread out 15 
or 16 feet along the ground. To the Baluch it is as serviceable as is the bamboo to 
the Hindu, supplj-ing him with food, and materials for cordage, tinder, sandals, and 
excellent matting. 

At corresponding altitudes the Baluch fauna, which was little known before the 
exploration of St. John, differs in no respect from those of the Afghan plateaux, 
of the Hilmend depression and plains of India. But the lion, now so rare even in 
India, has disappeared altogether, while the leopard is very common. The hyena, 
wolf, wild boar, and a species of black bear that lives on roots, are also met. 
GazeUes frequent the skirt of the desert, and herds of wild asses are able to pass 
the whole day in solitudes entirely destitute of water and vegetation. Peculiar to 
Baluchistan are the nectarinia, a beautiful bird resplendent in all the coloui-s of the 
rainbow, and the tirosmastix lizard, which at a distance looks like a rabbit, and to 

VOL. IX. F 



66 SOUTH-WESTERN ASIA. 

which the Persians give the name of " goat-sucker," believing that he bleats like a 
kid in order to atti-act and milk the she-goat. The Mekran coast teems with fish, 
and St. John derives this name from the Arabic Mohi-Khoran, that is, " Fish- 
eaters." The inhabitants of this seaboard certainly deserve this title of ichfhyophagi 
already given to them by the Greeks of Alexander's expedition. 

Inhabitants. — Baluches — Brahuis. 

The Baluches, whose name is applied to the khanate of Kalat as well as to the 
whole of south-east Persia, are not the dominant people of the country. The race, 
in fact, seems to be most numerouslj^ represented beyond the khanate — in Persia, in 
the Indian province of Sind, and in Rajastan, to which the Baluches emigrate in 
large numbers from their bleak and barren highlands. They are usually grouped 
with the Aryan stock, and are regarded as closely related to the Persians, being 
descended from the natives converted to Islam at the time df the Abassides. Some, 
however, do not appear to belong to this stock, and, to judge from their features, 
the tribes on the Afghan frontier have much Mongol blood, being often indis- 
tinguishable from the Kirghiz nomads. Unanimous tradition traces other Baluches, 
as well as some Brahuis, to Syria and Arabia, from which they are supposed to 
have migrated either about the time of the Prophet or much later. Several Arab 
tribes of the Damascus and Aleppo districts are said to bear the same name as 
some of the Baluch clans ia Mekran and Kachi-Gandava, whom they also greatly 
resemble in appearance. Except on the plateaux, nearly all are of a deep brown 
complexion, with high brows, long face, piercing glance, abimdant hair and beard. 
But notwithstanding these and other traits, including a decided taste for brigandage, 
which they have in common with the Bedouin, all speak a language akin to modern 
Persian, but the pronimciation of which differs greatly from that of the polished 
Iranians. Religious expressions are borrowed from the Ai-abic, and those of trade 
and the industries from the Hindu dialects. 

With the exception of a few hostile Shiah tribes on the Persian frontier, all the 
Baluches are Mohammedans of the Sunni sect. Like the Afghans, they are divided 
into a large number of khels, which occasionally change both name and residence. 
Hence the tribal nomenclature differs with almost every writer, although the great 
natural divisions correspond mainly with the geographical areas. The Baluches 
of the uplands are collectively known as Nharui, and those of the Kachi-Gandava 
lowlands as Rinds, and Maghsi or Moghasi. The latter, however, have become so 
intermingled with foreign elements that they may be regarded as forming a distinct 
ethnical group, now speaking Jatki, a Sind dialect current amongst the Jat 
peasantry. Much diversity also prevails in their dwellings, some tribes living in 
ghedans, or black felt tents, others in huts, and even in a kind of mud forts. 

In several parts of the plateau many tribes form an intermediate link between 
the Baluch and Brahui races, the latter of whom are found in the purest state in 
the central provinces of Sarawan and Jhalawan. According to Masson, these' 
Brahuis penetrated from the west, as apparently indicated by their name of 



IXHABITANTS OF BALUCHISTAN. 67 

Barolii-i, which has been interpreted, " Ai-rivals from the "West." Yet their central 
position on the plateau would seem to imply that they are the true aborigines, or 
at least the oldest inhabitants of this section of the Iranian tableland. They are 
probably the descendants of the Gedrosians met here by Alexander, and their 
national speech, although affected by numerous Persian and some Pushtu and 
Hindu elements, would seem to be fimdamentally connected rather with the 
Dravidian family of the Dekkan, and more particularly with the Gond group of 
the Central Indian highlands. Judging from their language, which, however, 
possesses no written monument, the Brahuis would therefore appear to be a 
detached fragment of the old Dravidian people who, before the arrival of the 
Aryans, occupied the whole of India and a portion of Irania, and who, by some 
ethnologists, have been affiliated to the Uralo- Altaic stock. Broken into separate 
groups by the intruding Aryans, they may have thus remained for ages isolated 
from each other in the Baluch and Yindhyan highlands. 

This assxmiption of the philologists is to some extent justified by the physical 
appearance of the Brahuis, who differ greatly from the Persians and Arabs, and 
whose features are much flatter and roimder than those of the Baluches, with more 
thick-set frames, larger bones, and shorter figures. They are also of much darker 
colour, and amongst them persons of fair complexion are never found, as amongst 
the Baluches. TYhile no less hospitable than the other inhabitants of the plateau, 
they are more truthful, less cruel, revengeful, and avaricious. At the same time 
they are very industrious, and seldom interrupt their ordinar}' pui'suits to engage 
in tribal warfare, readily allowing themselves to be persuaded by their women to 
peacefully settle their differences. The women themselves are much respected, 
and the death of one of them in a local feud would be regarded by both sides as a 
public calamity. Some freedom is also allowed to the youth of both sexes in the 
choice of their partners for life, and in this matter a simple promise on the part of 
either family interested is regarded as permanently blading. Even should the 
young man die before the marriage, his place is unmediatelj' taken by a younger 
brother. In the Brahui country ckedas or mounds are erected over the graves of 
the dead by the waj-side, and chaps, or rings of stones, commemorate the marriages 
and other important events among the nomad tribes. 

As in Afghanistan and Turkestan, the great majority of the iahabitants of the 
towns and villages are Tajiks, here cnmmnnly known as Dehvars or Dekhans, that 
is, "Peasants." They speak Persian, and in physique differ in no respect from 
their kindred elsewhere. They are a peaceful, industrious people, who have had 
much to endure from the conquering races, and who ask for nothing except to be 
allowed tranquilly to pursue their iadustrial and agricultui-al occupations. The 
Tajiks have maintained the purity of their blood in most provinces, alliances with 
the women of the intruding tribes being interdicted by custom. Near the coast, 
and especially in the province of Las, bordering on Sind, the industries and culti- 
vation of the land are chiefly in the hands of the Numri or Lumri, akin to the Jats 
of Hindustan. Like the Baluches, the Numri are divided into a great number of 
khels, caused by differences of pursuits and locality, but all evidently belonging to 

V 2 



68 



SOUTH-WESTEEN ASIA. 



the same ethnical stock, and speaking dialects of the same Jatki language. They 
hold an intermediate position between the Iranians and Hindus, betraying even in 
their religious observances some remarkable transitions between the two races. 
Thus by some tribes Mohammed is venerated as the tenth incarnation of Vishnu, 
■while others combine Brahmanical rites with the precepts of the Koran. In the 



Fig. 24. — IxHABiT-iNTS OP Baluchist.in. 
Scale 1 : 7,800,000. 




Aryans. 



Dehvarsand Baluches. Afghans. Metoani. Hindus. Kurds. Tariand Kakai's. Brahui 
Tajiks. Jats. Pishin. 
18 Miles. 



large towns a considerable portion of the inhabitants also belong to the Hindu race 
properly so called, and nearly the whole trade of the coimtry is in the hands of the 
Baniahs from Gujarat and Bombay, or of the Multani, Shikarpuri, and Marwari 
merchants from Sind and Rajputana. 

Other ethnical elements in Baluchistan are the Kakar and Tari Afghan tribes 
on the north-east frontier, some Arab communities on the Mekran coast, a few 



IXHABITANTS OF BALUCHISTAN. 



69 



Kurdish adventurers from West Irania, and some Negro or Mulatto slaves imported 
from Ma scat. Here are also the Luri nomads, who speak a peculiar language, and 
■who diifer in no respect from the gipsies of the Danube in Europe. They roam 
about as stroUing minstrels with their dancing bears and monkeys, and every tribe 
has its "king," besides its fortune-tellers, who know all the secrets of the magic 
art, and predict the future bj' chiromancy, by the combination of numerals, and 

Fig. 25. — Kalat A^'D Neighbovkhood. 
Scale 1 : 340,000. 




L . of Ljreqnwic>i 



6B-50 



the disposition of the figures formed by the sand on vibrating plates. By means 
of these jDractices the Lui'i are said to frequently insinuate themselves into the 
household in order to rob or kidnap the children ; for these Baluch nomads, 
like their European brethren, are popularly accused of all manner of crimes and 
malignant influences. 

The English, who are the paramoxmt race, are represented by a mere handful of 



70 



SOrTII-WESTERN ASIA. 



officials aud others in the territory of their vassal, the Khau of Kalut. But their 
subjects of other races, especially Hindus, are numerous in all the trading centres. 

ToPOGRAniY — Ad^iixistratiox. 

Several of the Baluch pro^^nccs are inhabited exclusively bj- nomads, and in 
these districts the so-called " towns " are mere groups of tents. Towns and villages 

Fig. 26.— Gexeral View of Kalat. 




with fixed residences are found only in the eastern and southern divisions. The 
Afghan frontier is guarded by Kwatali [Quetta, Kot, Shal, 8hal-kot), the chief 
British stronghold, which lies on the route leading from Shikarpur to Kandahar, 
and which is garrisoned by a detachment from the Anglo-Indian armj'. It stands 
in a basin, which belonged formerly to Afghanistan, and which is at present 
scarcely 18 miles from the stream forming the official frontier of Baluchistan. 
Here converge the two routes from India, through the Bolan and Chapar Passes, as 



TOPOGEAPHY OP BALUCHISTAN.- 71 

■well as those runuing north from the capital of the khanate, and over the Khojak 
Pass south from Kandahar. Some old towers still standing here and there at the 
entrance of the gorges attest the imjjortance attached at all times to this strategic 
position on the threshold of Afghanistan, Baluchistan, and India. Under the 
shelter of the Kot or Kiccita/i, ihat is, "Citadel," a considerable town of about 1,000 
houses has sprung wp, inhabited chiefly by Afghans, Brahuis, and Hindus. Lying 
5,600 feet above the sea level, in the midst of extensive grassy plains, and enjoying 
a temperate cHmate, corresponding to that of Western Europe, Kwatah offers special 
advantages as a British health resort and military cantonment. Mastang, the chief 
station on the road to Kalat, to these advantages adds that of a very fertile and 
well-watered district, j-ielding excellent grapes and other produce in abundance. 

Kalat, that is, the " Castle," has become the largest place in Baluchistan since 
its selection as the seat of government. Its position at the highest point of the 
plateau enables it to command all the routes to India, to the coast, to Afghanistan, 
and Persia. But Kalat lies at the extremity of a rocky mountain range, where it 
is exposed to the full fury of the northern gales. Here the ground remains covered 
with snow for two months in the year, and corn ripens later than in the British 
Isles, although standing 25 degrees nearer to the equator. The surrounding 
gardens are watered by a copioiis stream of pure water, which rises near the royal 
necropolis on a plain draining north-westwards to the Lora Eiver of Pishin. In 
the neighbourhood are the shapeless ruins of three other considerable towns, which 
bear witness to the great importance attached from the remotest times to this region 
of the plateau. 

South-east of Kalat begins another river valley, whose waters di-ain through the 
Mula gorge towards the Indus, but are not copious enough to reach that stream. 
In the neighbourhood of some ruins near the head of the vaUey the face of the rock 
bears an inscriiDtion in Greek. The modern town of Zehr or Ze/iri, encircled by 
mud enclosures, and built, like Kalat, of half-baked bricks, gives its name to one of the 
side valleys of the Mula and to the Brahui tribe inhabiting it. This is the chief 
place met by travellers on the route to India. At the issue of the gorge, where 
the waters of the torrent are distributed in irrigating rills over the suiTounding 
gardens, lies Ganclava, which has acquired some importance both as the capital of 
the province of Kachi-Gandava, as a British military cantonment, and as the 
winter residence of the khan. Formerly the most populous place on the plain was 
Bayh, or " the Garden," which lies north-east of Gandava in an oasis of palms on 
the western verge of the desert. Bagh enjoyed a monopoly of the sulphur mines 
situated in the neighbouring hills not far from the town of Clwram. North of the 
plain are Dadur and Sihi, the present terminal stations of the railway from the 
Indus to the Afghan plateau. 

Through this railway Kalat and the whole of Baluchistan already enjoy direct 
communication with the coast at Karachi. The shorter route from Kalat to 
Sonmiani has been abandoned owing to the great scarcity of water along the road. 
Throughout the whole descent of about 330 miles there are only six springs copious 
enough to supply the caravans without being exhausted. Khozaar, one of these 



72 



SOUTH-'W'ESTEEN ASIA. 



stations, with a small British garrison commanding the Mula Pass, lies at an alti- 
tude of 4,000 feet, in the midst of gardens and palm-groves. But the antimony 
and lead mines near Sekran, farther to the west, are no longer worked. Yast ruins, 
heaps of rubbish, and the remains of towers known as ghar-bastas, or " palaces of 
the infidel," show that the district must have been formerly much better watered, 
as it certainly was far more densely peopled than at present. One of these ruined 



Fig. 27. — Kachi-Gandava Oasis. 

Scale I : 440,000. 




E. Df&reenwIcK 67"50 



cities, to the north-west of Bcia, still preserves its ancient name of Shehr-i-Rogan. 
It crowns the summit of a conglomerate cliff, at whose foot flows an affluent of the 
Pujali, the Arabis of the Greek navigators. 

Sonmiaiii, the seaport of the province of Las, and at one time of the whole of 
East Baluchistan, has been completely eclipsed by Karachi, which enjoys the 
decided advantage of lying nearer to the Indus delta. Possessing no artificial 



TOPOGEAPHY OF BALUCHISTAN. 73 

shelter, the harbour of Somniani, with a depth of about 16 feet, is exposed to the 
full fury of the south-west monsoon. It is also badly supplied with water from 
wells, which, although sunk in the sands above the level of the tide, soon become 
brackish. This part of the khanate is connected with India both commercially 
and by the origin and religion of a large number of its inhabitants. On a 
mountain near the river Aghor or Hiughol, in the west of the province, stands the 
famous temple of HinglaJ, still frequented by thousands of Hindu pilgrims. Here 
animals are sacrificed to the goddess Kali, and the devotees never fail to visit the 
islet of Ashtola, or SatacUp, between the ports of Ormara and Pasni, whose rugged 
crest is crowned bj- a highly-venerated sanctuary. Ashtola was the " Enchanted 
Island " of Xearcbus. 

The seaports of Somniani, with its two harboiu-s, and Pasni, with its telegraph 
station, are mere groups of huts built of matting suspended on poles. But Giaidar, 
capital of Baluch Mekran, is regarded by the neighbouring half-savage tribes as 
quite a magnificent city, famous far and wide for its sumptuous edifices. It 
occupies a picturesque position on the strip of sand connecting a rocky islet with 
the fantastic Mehdi Hills, where its mat houses are grouped roimd a square fort of 
somewhat imposing appearance. The chief industry of Gwadar is fishing, in which 
hundreds of small craft are employed, besides some thu-tj- larger vessels engaged in 
the export trade to Mascat, Karachi, Bombay, and Malabar. The British mail- 
steamers touch twice a month at this place, which thus enjoys dii'ect communica- 
tion with the ci^•ilised world. Its chief imports are cotton and other woven goods, 
timber, rice, sugar, taken in exchange for wool, raw cotton, butter, dates from the 
interior, besides large quantities of salt fish and sharks' fins for the Chinese market. 
On the flank of the hill overlooking Gwadar are the remains of a vast reservoir 
constructed by the Portuguese. 

Kej is often mentioned as the chief town of Baluch Mekran ; but no such 
place exists, Kej really consisting of a group of oases, each with its separate village. 
Such " towns," as Tamp, Mand, Nigor, Sami, Dasht, Parom, and Panjiir, are also 
mere collections of hamlets scattered over the oases. The gardens of Panjui-, 
watered by imderground galleries (karez) attributed to supernatural agency, yield 
as many as seventeen varieties of dates. 

The khan belongs to the Kambarani branch of the Brahuis, who claim Arab 
descent, and refuse to iatermarrv with the other tribes. Residing alternately at 
Kalat and Gandava, the khan enjoys a nominal authority over a vast territory ; 
but he is really one of the least powerfid of all the vassals of the Indian Empire, 
and he is so poor that his chief source of revenue is the pension granted him by his 
protectors. According to the treaty of 1841 tie binds himself to be alwaj^s guided 
by the coimsels of the British Resident at his court, to allow English garrisons in 
every suitable town in Baluchistan, to lend his assistance whenever called upon, 
and lastly to accept the annual subsidy, which constitutes him a simple functionary 
of the paramoimt State. Since then diplomatic relations have been disturbed, but 
on the other hand good services have been rewarded, and the subsidy advanced 
from £5,000 to £10,000. The alliance with England has also helped to consolidate 



74 



SOUTH-WESTERN ASIA. 



the authorit}' of tbe klian over the feudal chiefs, whose claims to independent 
rights are comijletely ignored by the British Government. The khan alone is 
recognised, made responsible for the general tranquillity, and when necessary 
assisted in his efforts to reduce unruly tribes and restless chiefs. Next to the 
khan the foremost state dignitaries are always the two great Brahui sardars of 
Jhalawan and Sarawan. The hereditary vizier belongs to the Dehvar or Tajik 
section of the community, which, by the regular pajnnent of the taxes, contributes 
abnost exclusively to the support of the State. In Mekran most of the local tribes 
are practically independent of the central power, and the Port of Gwadar, pledged 
to the Sultan of Mascat, is governed by one of his officers. The khan disposes of 
an armed force of about 3,000 men, while the j-early revenue scarcely amoimts to 
£40,000. 

Excludiiig the desert wastes and the districts claimed b}' Persia, the political 
divisions of Baluchistan proper are as under : — 



Provinces. 


Chief Towns 


Shal . 


Kwatah 


Kalat . 


Kalat 


Kachi-Gandava . 


Gandava 


Sarawan 


Sarawan 


Jhalawan . 


Khozdar 


L18 . 


Bela 


Mekran 


Gwadar 



Chief Districts. 



Sarawan, Xushki, Kharan, Mushki. 
Khozdar, Sohrab, Wadd, Kolwah. 

Mekran, Dasht, Kej, Panjiir. 





CHAPTEE IV. 




HE term Persia, or Farsistan, is at present locally applied only to a 
small province in the kingdom. The natives still call theii" country 
by the old name of Iran, which, however, is also used geographically 
to designate the whole region of plateaux comprised between the 
Eujjhrates and Indus basins. From the historic standpoint, Iran 
has even a wider application in contrast with the term Turan, in this sense 
embracing all the cultured peoples of more or less pure Iranian blood scattered 
over the plateau and the Turkestan lowlands, where they form the fixed agricul- 
tui'al and industrial element in the midst of the half-savage nomad intruders from 
the north. In the historic evolution of Hither Asia, Iran thus represents the 
traditions of labour and intellectual cultm-e ; it recalls a long succession of 
powerful nations engaged from age to age in an incessant struggle with countless 
barbarous hordes. Conscious and proud of their antiquity as a polished race, the 
Persians look scornfullv on the surroimding populations, less cultured or more 
recently reclaimed from barbarism than themselves. Whatever progress even the 
Western peoples may have made in science, art, and the industries, they none the 
less consider themselves as vastly superior in hereditary nobility to these later 
arrivals on the scene. It must in any case be allowed that Iran has played no 
slight part in the common work of humanity. In order to trace their languages to 
their source, the peoples of Aryan speech turn necessarily to the plateau where 
flourished the Zend and other Persian tongues, at all times the pre-eminently 
cultured idioms for the surrounding popiilations. Even in our days Afghans and 
Baluches aUke affect the Persian speech when desirous of courtiag the esteem of 
their audience. Even in India Persian letters long struggled for the supremacy 
with Sanskrit and neo-Sanskritic tongues ; and Hindustani, so widely diffused 
throughout the peninsula, is still overcharged with Persian elements introduced by 
the Iranian conquerors. 

In the religious evolution of the West Asiatic and Eurojjean peoples, a para- 
mount influence was also exercised by the land of Zoroaster. In the sacred 
writings of the ancient Persians the conflict between the two principles is set forth 



76 SOUTH-WESTEEN ASIA. 

with the greatest fulness, and from them the later beliefs have borrowed their 
degrading teachings on the everlasting struggle between "good" and "evil," 
surrounded by their respective hosts of angels and demons. Dui'iug the first 
developments of Christianitj' the action of Persia is betraj^ed in the rise of 
numerous Gnostic sects, the indelible trace of whose theories still tinges the 
doctrines of modern Christendom. The cult known specially by the name of 
"Persian " has now scarcely any adherents in the country itself, and flourishing 
communities of " Parsis " survive only in India. But while embracing Islam, the 
Iranians imparted a fresh form to the conquering religion. They became Shiahs, 
thus breaking the unity of Mohammedanism, which elsewhere, in Turkey, Arabia, 
Afghanistan, India, Turkestan, is almost exclusively Sunnite. Since the birth of 
the Shiah sect, the movement of religious life has continued in Persia, and con- 
temjDorary European pantheism is associated more closely than is generally 
supposed with the Asiatic ideas of the universal godhead, which have nowhere 
found more fervent interpreters than among the Persian jjoets. Every philosophic 
concept, every fresh dogma, finds in Persia eloquent champions or zealous apostles. 
Iran has thus ever been one of the chief centres of inspiration for the religious 
world. 

Yet a land which has jDlayed such a prominent part in the historj' of Asia and 
the West represents numerically but a small fraction of humanity. Even including 
Turks, K\irds, Baluches, and Arabs, the whole population of Iran cannot exceed 
ten millions. The estimates usually made by travellers and the best-informed 
local functionaries range from seven to eight millions ; that is, five times less than 
France absolutely, and fifteen times less relatively to the respective areas of the 
two countries. Although various writers speak of fifty millions in the empire of 
Darius, Iran seems not even in the most flourishing times to have been very densely 
peopled. Much of the country is a complete desert, where the sands, hard marl, and 
saline tracts, although formerly less extensive than at present, encroached in one 
direction on the arable lands, which were on the other hemmed in by the rocky 
scarps of the highlands. It was from the conquered peoples of the surrounding 
plains that the Persian monarchs mainly drew those prodigious armies of several 
hundred thousand men with which they overran Scythia, Egypt, Asia Minor, 
Thrace, and Northern Hellas. But however weak they may have been in point of 
numbers, the ancient Persians still enjoyed all the advantages ensured to them by 
the geographical position of the land. 

Historically the Iranian plateau forms a region of ti'ansition for the various 
races moving westwards. Here the Asiatic continent is, by the Caspian Sea and 
Persian Gulf, limited north and south to a space scarcely 400 miles wide. This 
narrow isthmus is further reduced by the low-lying and unhealthy coast-lands and 
almost inaccessible highlands to a tract not more than 300 miles wide reallj' 
available for the movements of migrating peoples between the two great sections 
of the continent. The xmknown Scythian steppes north of the Ilyrcanian Sea 
served only as camping-grounds for barbarous nomads cut off from all intercourse 
with civilised peoples. Hence history properly so called could find a fitting scene 



lEAN AND TUEAN. 77 

nowhere beyond the narrow plateau comprised between the Elburz and Susiana 
llountains. Here was the natural meeting-place of peoples of diverse speech, 
cultures, and religions ; here consequently were developed the new ideas inspired by 
the contact and intermingling of these conflicting elements. Throughout the 
historic period peoples of " Turanian " origin have at all times foxmd themselves in 
juxtaposition with the Aryan races on the Iranian plateau. These two great 
Central Asiatic stocks were here represented formerly by the Medes and Persians, 
who in modern times have been respectively succeeded by the Turki and Farsi 
ethnical groups. Thus have been perpetuated in this region open warfare, 
internecine strife, provincial and local rivalries, and this very incessant conflict has 
doubtless largely contributed to the Iranian doctrine of the eternal struggle between 
the two priaciples of good and evil. But all these hostile elements, while 
bequeathing to each successive generation an inheritance of endless discord, have 
at least intermingled their blood and genius, as is well attested by their history, 
religions, and literature. In this Iranian laboratory the migrating tribes thus 
became rapidly modified, and issued forth endowed with a new intellectual life, 
some descending the Euphrates valley to Syria and Egypt, some through Asia 
Minor and across the iaterveniag waters to Southern Europe, or else through the 
various " gates " of the Caucasus into the northern plains of Sarmatia. Persia in 
this way became the great centre of disjDersion along the three main historic high- 
ways diverging towards Xorth Africa, South Europe, and the regions draining to 
the Baltic and German Ocean. 

Formerly almost unassailable in the centre of the vast continental political 
systems, Persia has long ceased to enjoy the advantages of this geographical 
position. The Arabian Sea, which had hitherto guarded the approaches from the 
south, now on the contrary invites foreign aggression. On the north the Caspian 
waters, no longer stretching away to unknown solitudes, are girdled round by 
military highways and chains of Slavonic settlements, while the ports and routes of 
the opposite shores are connected by regidar lines of steamers. Thus Persia, which 
2,000 years ago enjoyed perfect immunity from attack on her northern and southern 
flanks, is now exposed in these directions to the encroachments of the two great 
Asiatic powers whose capitals are seated on the Thames and Neva. Between these 
rivals for supremacy, the political independence of Iran has become little more than 
nominal. The Russians, who had temporarily seized the west Caspian seaboard so 
early as 1725, have since 1828 wrested from Persia all her Trans-Caucasian 
provinces, and by a recent treaty the hitherto imdetermined frontier towards 
Turkestan has been modified to their advantage. The island of Ashuradeh, 
held by them at the south-east corner of the Caspian, is an advanced military post 
whence the Cossacks might in a few days present themselves before the residence of 
the Shah. 

And if the Caspian has become a Russian, the Persian Gulf has become an 
" English " lake, where the practical supremacy of the British consuls is never 
challenged. The headland of Jask, at the entrance of the Gulf, is even already 
occupied by a Sepoy garrison, while a simple naval demonstration would suffice at 



7S 



SOUTH-WESTEEX ASIA. 



once to dejDrive the Persian Government of all its maritime customs. In recent 
years the " King of kings " has been fain, at the pleasure of England, to renounce 
his designs on Herat, and to allow a " rectification " of his frontiers in Sistan. In 
the interior British and Russian officers are alike received as masters. They are 
permitted quietly to survey the land, prepare charts, collect for strategic purposes all 
needful information, which is kept mostly sealed up in the military archives of the 
two empires. Although Persia has heen frequently visited since the days of 
Marco Polo, and although the travels of Jonas Hanway, Thevenot, and Chardin 



Fig. 28. — Routes of the Chief Explobeus of Persia since Makco Polo. 
Scale 1 : 18,000,000. 











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during the last century may still be read with interest, still by far the most 
important cartographic documents are those drawn up by the English and Russian 
surveyors at the request of their respective Governments. The Turco-Persian 
frontier in Kurdistan has been determined exclusively in accordance with the 
surveys of the two generals Williams and Chirikov. 

Without precise natural limits toward the east, where the plateau and mountain 
ranges merge imperceptibly in those of Afghanistan and Baluchistan, Persia pre- 
sents on its three other sides well-defined geographical frontiers. Here the plateau 
is everywhere enclosed by barriers of lofty ranges, separating it on the north from 



NOETn PERSIAN HIGHLANDS. 79 

the Caspian and Turkestan depressions, westwards from tlie Mesopotaniian plains, 
elsewhere from the Persian Gulf and Sea of Oman. Within these outer ramparts 
the surface is largely covered with extensive sand}', argillaceous, or saline waters 
depressed towards the centre. Hence the population has been concentrated chiefly 
on the outskirts, in the north, west, and south-west, in the valleys supplying 
sufficient water for irrigating purposes. The inhabitants thus nowhere present 
a compact mass, but are distributed in two distinct columns converging between the 
Caspian and Upper Tigris vallej' in the province of Aderbeijan. 

The North-Eastern Highlands. 

Notwithstanding the intermediate flooded cavity of the Caspian, the north- 
eastern scarp towards Turkestan really forms the regular continuation of the 
Caucasus. The existence of a connecting axis between the two systems is clearly 
indicated by the Apsheron peninsula, b}' the submarine banks and islets terminating 
at the Krasnovodsk headland, lastly by the two ridges of the Great and Little 
Balkan, running directly to the " Turkoman Caucasus," which under the divers 
names of the Kuran-dagh, Kopet-dagh, Gulistan Hills, and Kara-dagh, stretch 
south-eastwards to the Heri-rud valley. Beyond this point the moimtains, which 
take first an easterly then a north-easterly direction, belong to the Parapomisus 
system. Thanks to the exjolorations of the Russian surveyors commissioned to lay 
down the new frontier, the whole of this region of the Turkoman Caucasus has 
begun to be better known in its topographical details. The large chart of the 
lower Atrek region jDublished some years ago is now being extended on the same 
scale to the Turkoman Daman-i-Koh ("Skirt of the Hills") as far as Sarakhs and 
Merv. 

By the boimdary treaty of 1882 some fertile valleys draining to the Atrek, with 
extensive grazing-lands and magnificent oak forests, have been restored to Persia. 
But in return for this concession the Shah surrenders to Russia his claims to 
the suzerainty of Merv, the " Key of India," as well as some of the Kopet-dagh 
valleys west of Askhabad, and south of Geok-tepe. Here the Russians have 
absorbed the whole of the southern declivity as far as the water-parting, and have 
thus acquired complete control over the streams irrigating the oases of their new 
Turkoman subjects. 

Special importance is imparted to this border range by the presence of springs 
and running waters, which evaporate in the sandy plain at a short distance from the 
hills. The Persian inhabitants of the uplands are the natural owners of these 
streams, which they utilise in the irrigation of their fields. But in this dry and 
sultry climate the water seldom suffices for the wants of all the riverain populations, 
so that those dwelling along the upper and lower course of the rivers necessarily 
become hostile to each other. During the flourishing periods of the Persian 
monarchy the whole of the Atok, or Daman-i-Koh — that is, the fertile zone at the 
northern foot of the hills — was held by the Iranians, who drove the Turkomans 
into the desert, and guarded the arable lands from their attacks by a chain of 



80 SOUTH-WESTERN ASIA. 

walled towns and strongholds. But whenever these formidable nomads succeeded in 
breaking through, they avenged themselves by the capture or slaughter of those 
who had deprived them of the fertilising waters and of all the arable or grassy 
tracts. Before the advent of the Eussians the border-lands knew no respite from 
the Turkoman marauders, while traditional hatred was intensified by differences of 
race, religion, and customs, and kept alive by the unequal distribution of the waters. 
Now the frontier-line between these antagonistic elements has been laid down by 
Russia, which has assigned some of the rivers to the Turkomans, and forbidden the 
Persians to enlarge their cultivated riverain lands, or increase the number of their 
irrigating canals. But seasons of drought cannot be prevented, and then the 
old animosities may easily be revived in a region where the very conditions of exist- 
ence seem to constitute an obstacle to the perfect harmony of the conterminous 
populations. 

In its eastern section the border chain, whose upper slojDes are covered with 
juniper, maintains a tolerably uniform elevation, ranging from 8,000 to 10,000 feet. 
Projecting towards the plain are several lofty spurs, the most remarkable of which 
is the famous Kelat-i-Nadir, or "Nadir's Fort," so named from Nadir Shah, who 
had made it one of his chief strongholds. It consists of a limestone rock running 
about 20 miles east and west, with a mean breadth of 6 miles, and rising 1,000 or 
1,200 feet sheer from the plain. A torrent rising in the southern highlands 
penetrates through a fissure into the interior, where it is distributed in irrigating 
canals over the fertile plots filling the cavities of the plateau. In ordinary seasons 
enough water remains to return to the bed of the stream and escape to the plains 
through a gorge traversing the rocky mass from south to north. The atmosjjhere 
of the district is at times rendered very insalubrious by the marshy soil at its outlet. 
The two gates traversed by the stream, as well as three other breaches opened in 
the surrounding ramparts, are all carefully fortified, and the culminatiug-poiut 
towards the west is crowned by a dilapidated citadel, amid whose ruins a small 
village has sprimg up. From the old fortified palace of Nadir an extensive view is 
commanded of the grey Turkoman plains, while southwards the horizon is bounded 
by the long chain of the Kara-dagh, or "Black Mountains," which are continued 
westwards by the Hazar Masjid, or " Thousand Mosques." The highest peak, 
which gives its name to this range, is broken into a multitude of pointed eminences, 
compared by the fervid imagination of the pilgrims from Meshed to gigantic 
minarets. 

North-west of Kelat-i-Nadir the main range throws off other elevated spurs, 
enclosing the rich and productive basin of Dereghez, or the " Tamarind Valley," 
whose exuberant vegetation rivals that of the Caspian seaboard in the provinces of 
Ghilan and Mazanderan. Askhabad, standing at the foot of these advanced hills, 
forms the present tei-minus of the railway constructed by the Russians during the 
late Turkoman war, which is doubtless destiaed in the near future to be continued 
round the foot of the hills to Afghanistan. The Russian engineers have also 
projected a line through one of the Dereghez valleys, and across the main range 
south-eastwards to Meshed. A short distance beyond the Garm-ab Pass, both 




V(UO Kj 



KELAT-I-XADIll-^UlGUAVAN-SUAn GUKOE. 



UNlVERsff/ilUNOlS. 



THE KHOEASSAN HIGELANDS. 81 

slopes of the water-parting are included within the new Russian frontier, which 
here descends into the valley of the Sambar, across its tributary, the Chambir, and 
along the parting-line between the Sambar and Atrek basins, to the confluence 
of these rivers. In this region the hills fall gradually towards the Caspian, so 
that the Iranian plateau is easilj- reached by travellers following the numerous 
valleys between the divergent mountain ranges. 

The Atrek, chief affluent of the Caspian on its Asiatic side, gives its name 
to the whole basin comprised between the Kopet-dagh and Iranian tableland. The 
main stream, which has a total length of not less than 300 miles, reaches an. 
elevated plain near Kuchan (4,500 feet), which forms the water-parting between the 
Caspian and Heri-rud declivities. Here we have a striking illustration of the fact 
that the dividing lines of water systems do not always coincide with the crests 
of main ranges. In this region of North Persia the horizon is everywhere limited 
by lofty chains, while the drainage westwards to the Caspian and eastwards to the 
Herat Eiver is determined by scarcely perceptible differences of level on the surface 
of the land. As in so many other cases, the perennial head-stream, although not 
the largest, is regarded by the natives as the true source of the Upper Atrek. 
This spring, known by the name of the Kara Kazan, or " Black Cauldron," forms 
a basin about 150 feet broad, in which the slightly thermal waters well up through 
a thousand vertical channels and remain in a constant state of agitation. 

The hUls south of the Atrek valley, although falling to a lower mean altitude, 
are dominated by several peaks higher than any of the summits in the Kopet-dagh 
system. Thus one of the crests visible to the west of Meshed appears to attain an 
elevation of over 11,000 feet ; the Shah-Jehan, near the water-parting between the 
Atrek and Kashef-rud, is said to be about the same height, while the Ala-dagh and 
Kurkud, south-west and west of Bujnm-d, rise to 12,500 and 12,700 feet respectively. 
All these north-eastern chains run mainly parallel to the Kopet-dagh, that is, 
aorth-west and south-east ; but they present a less imiform aspect, and are broken 
by a greater number of fissures than the border range. Yet they are less accessible 
to travellers, owing to a greater lack of water, and consequent scanty vegetation. 
The rains brought by the polar and equatorial winds being both alike intercepted by 
the border chains, but little moistiu'e remains for the uplands Ij'ing within the 
outer barriers of the Iranian plateau. 

The north-eastern highlands vary greatly in breadth, those lying between the 
Astrabad and Shah-rud plains in the west being scarcely 25 miles wide, while in the 
east the orographic system broadens out in a vast semicircle sweeping roimd 
between the great desert and Afghanistan. Here as many as twelve lateral ranges, 
nearly all following the normal south-easterly direction of the Persian Moimtains, 
are crossed by the route from Meshed to Sistan over passes varying from 3,000 
to upwards of 6,000 feet in height above the sea. On the other hand, the inter- 
mediate depressions between the parallel ridges are often mere sandy wastes, 
rendering the approach from Afghanistan equally difficult whether the route follows 
the valleys or the crests of the hiUs. 

The mountains whose wooded slopes skirt the southern shores of the Caspian 

VOL. IX. G 



82 SOUTH-WESTERN ASIA. 

are commonly called the Elburz range, although this term belongs properly to an 
isolated mass rising to the north-west of Teheran. This is the ancient Alborj, the 
" first mountain whence sprang all others," the centre of the seven " symmetrical 
divisions of the earth, corresponding to the seven heavens of the planets and the 
seven circles of hell, the glittering peak that pierces the sky, the source of streams 
and cradle of mortals." 

All these uplands between the Caspian and the jDlateau consist, not of a single 
range, but of several distinct masses connected together by secondary ridges. The 
Shah-Kuh ("King's Mount "), the first of these masses to the east, is one of the 
highest of the system. Its rugged crest, contrasting with the rounded or flat 
summits of the other Elburz mountains, rises immediately to the west of the grassy 
heights separating the plains of Astrabad from those of Shah-rud. It is traversed 
by one of the most frequented historic routes between Iran and Turan, which 
crosses the Chalchanlyan Pass at an elevation of 8,700 feet, above which the highest 
peaks attain an absolute altitude of 13,500 feet. The northern cavities remain 
thi-oughout the year filled with masses of snow, and the village of Shahkuh-Bala, 
lying probably at an elevation of 8,000 feet, is supposed to be the highest group of 
habitations in Persia. Deposits of coal and salt are found in the limestone and 
sandstone rocks of the Shah-Kuh and neighbouring hills. 

More frequented than the Chalchanlyan is the Shamsherbur or " Sword-hewn " 
Pass, which skirts the west side of the Shah-Kuh, thereby shortening by one day 
the journey from Teheran to the province of Astrabad. It takes its name from 
the popular belief that it was hewn out of the mountain by the sword of Ali ; and 
few other passes look more like the work of man. At the culminating-point it is 
flanked for a. space of 450 feet by two pillar-shaped rocks, whose polished walls, 
standing about 20 feet apart and from 20 to 30 feet high, are completely detached 
from the side of the mouiatain. Although Napier may be wi'ong in identifying it 
with the " Caspian Gates " of the Greek writers, this natui-al gallery is certainly 
one of the oldest routes of Media, and the sacred character of the whole district is 
attested by various still-remembered local legends. Near the village of Astana, at 
the jimction of several routes south-west of the joass, a rock bearing the impress of 
a human foot was formerly attributed to the gods, but is now regarded by devout 
Shiahs as a mark of All's presence. The spot, however, is carefully guarded from 
the prjdng eyes of sceptics, more numerous in Persia than elsewhere in the 
Mohammedan world. In the vicinity is the Cheshmeh-i-Ali, or " Fountain of Ali," 
probably the most copious spring in the whole of Persia, with a flow, according to 
Napier, of about 75 cubic feet per second. Round about Astana this perennial 
stream has created a smiling oasis in the midst of the desolate yellowish rocky 
scenery so characteristic of the southern slopes of the Elburz highlands. To its 
waters are attributed mysterious virtues, which, while purifying the soul, act also 
efiicaciously especially in the treatment of cutaneous affections. 

Beyond the Shamsherbur Pass, the main range is regularly continued under the 
special names of Hazarjar and Savad-Kuh towards the south-west, everjT^^here 
presenting to the Caspian steep richly- wooded slopes, but falling down to the 



LiSRARY 



THE EL15UEZ EANGE. 



83 



tableland through a series of rocky or grassy terraces, destitute of timber, except in 
a few depressions watered by perennial springs. The Tilar or Talar, the most 
copious river in this part of Mazanderan, receives its first affluents not from the 
northern but from the southern slopes, rising on the Khiug plateau at an altitude 
of 9,500 feet, and after collecting a large number of head-streams, forcing its way 
through a gorge in the Elburz range northwards to the Caspian. This defile is 
flanked on the east side by the Nezwar, a lofty peak rising to a height of 13,200 
feet, and almost completelj^ surroimded by affluents of the Talar. The approach to 
the pass near the village of Firuz-Kuh was formerly defended by some forts now 
in ruins, and attributed, like so manj' other structui-es in the East, to the Macedonian 



Fig. 29. — Mountains and Pas.sbs of Astrabad. 
Scale 1 : 1,600,000. 




3'2 Feet and npwards. 
3 J JIUes. 



conqueror. This section of the Elburz is separated from the arid plains of the 
interior by the Samnan, a parallel but far less elevated range, consisting to a 
large extent of conglomerates and rolled detritus. From this range a spur now 
known as the Sirdara chain projects far into the plain across the main highway, 
and is surmounted by a pass probably identical with the " Caspian Gates " of the 
ancients. The ruins of numerous fortifications attest the great importance at all 
times attached to this defile, which avoids a long round through the saline wastes 
of the south or over the rugged northern highlands. 

The Demavend volcano, culminating-jDoint of the Elburz, above which it towers 
to an absolute height of over 18,000 feet, does not belong geologically to the 
same orographic system. It consists exclusively of eruptive rocks and ashes, 

G 2 



84 SOUTH-WESTERN ASIA. 

whereas all the surrounding hills are sedimentary formations, whose limestone and 
sandstone strata have not been at all disturbed by the appearance of the higher 
cone. East of the volcano, however, an enormous crevasse serves roughly to 
indicate the line of separation between the igneous matter ejected from the crater 
and the sedimentary layers, which at several points crop out above the volcanic 
scoriae and lavas. The central cone is inclined a little towards the west, as if its 
eastern base had been tilted up, while the peak is encircled by the semicircular 
remains of an older crater, like another Somma attached to a higher A^esuvius. The 
altitude of this giant of the Elburz and loftiest cone in Persia has been diversely 
estimated by Kotshy, the first who after Aucher Eloy reached the crater, at from 
13,000 to 15,500 feet, by Thomson, Lemm, and others at upwards of 20,000, and 
lastly at 18,700 feet by Ivashintzov, who took accurate trigonometrical surveys of 
the mountain. It is visible even by moonlight from Teheran, and from the foot of 
the Kashan hills beyond the desert. Although there appear to have been no 
eruptions diu'ing the historic period, columns of smoke frequently ascend from the 
fissures, and especiaUj' from the Dud-i-Kuh, or " Smoky Peak " on the south side. 
The copious thermal springs which well up round about the cone appear to be 
formed by the melting snows oozing out through the surroimding igneous deposits, 
and emitting sulphurous odours injurious to vegetation, but credited by the natives 
with healing properties. Copious ferruginous and other mineral waters also flow 
from the slope of Demavend, which seems to have been still active when the old 
lakes of the Iranian plateau had already been filled with alluvia. 

According to the local legends, Demavend, or Divband, that is, " Dwelling of 
the Divs or Genii," has been the scene of all the events veiled under the foiTU of 
myths. Here, say the Persian Mohammedans, Noah's ark was stranded; here 
dwelt Jemshid and Rustem, heroes of the national epics ; here was kindled the bon- 
fire of Feridun, vanquisher of the giant Zohak ; here the monster himself is 
entombed, and the smoke of the mountain is the breath of his nostrils ; here also 
is chained down the Persian Prometheus, Yasid ben Jigad, whose liver is eternally 
devoured by a gigantic bii-d. The caverns of the volcanoes are full of treasures 
guarded by snakes, which, however, do not prevent the natives from iitilising the 
sulphur deposited in the crater and surrounding cavities. Many engaged in this 
industry perish in the sudden storms, which raise dense clouds of snow and ashes 
mingled with suffocating sulphurous exhalations. From the crater, which is 
filled with ice, the eye in clear weather sweeps over a vast horizon 50,000 miles in 
extent, embracing the blue waters of the Caspian, the surrounding highlands, and 
the Iranian tableland studded with the dim outlines of towns and green oases. 

North-west of Demavend the Elburz takes a north-westerly trend parallel with 
the Caspian, but graduallj' drawmg nearer to the coast. Here the Tochal rises to 
an absolute height of 13,000 feet above the plain of Teheran, while several passes 
stand at an elevation of over 8,000 feet. One of the peaks north-west of Teheran, 
although not the highest, is specially designated by the name of Elburz, and 
another, forming the culmiuating-point of the north Persian Alps, is one of those 
" thrones of Solomon " (Takht-i-Sulaiman) which are found in every Moham- 



MOUNT DEMAVEND. 85 

medan laud. It seems to attain an altitude of over 14,600 feet, and still sparkles 




Bii»' iialjiia. aiHlBcfc liriisl&S'i^l la 



t^l 



in the July sun with the glint of its winter snows. But there are no traces of old 



86 SOUTH-T\^STERN ASIA. 

or recent glaciers, nor is there apparently any evidence of a glacial period in 
Persia, which nevertheless retains so many indications of a remote epoch of snows 
and abimdant raias. A little to the south-east of the Takht-i-Sulaiman stands the 
frowning Alamut, or " Eagle's Eyrie," chief stronghold of the " Old Man of the 
Mountain," the theocratic king of the "Assassins," that is, of fanatics maddened 
by "hashish." After a long siege this place was cajJtui-ed by the Mongols in 
1270, and with it fell the hundi'ed other castles of the sect. But the religion of those 
so-called Ismaili still sui-vives, and the direct descendant of the " Old Man of the 
Mountain" is a peaceful citizen of Bombay, depending' for his support on the 
voluntary contributions of his followers. 

Beyond the Takht-i-Sulaiman the main range is continued at a lower elevation 
by the grassy Saman hills, which are pierced by the copious Sefid-rud, or " ^Vhite 
River," flowing from the Kurdistan highlands to the Caspian. West of the Heri- 
rud, this is the only stream that makes its way through the northern scarp of the 
plateau — a geographical phenomenon no less remarkable than that of the local 
climate. All travellers speak of the terrible northern wind which in summer 
penetrates from the Caspian through the Sefid-rud gorge to the tableland, continu- 
ally increasing in violence until it acquires the force of a hurricane at the 
entrance of the gorge, where the river is crossed by the Menjhil bridge. Such is 
its intensity at this point, that the very animals refuse to cross the bridge for fear 
of being swept into the torrent beneath. The gale itself admits of a very obvious 
explanation. During the hot smnmer days the valleys sheltered from the north 
wind by the Elburz range become intensely hot, their rarefied atmosjDhere thus 
attracting the denser Caspian currents, which rush up the Sefid-Koh defile to the 
plateau. In winter, on the contrary, the colder winds of the uplands are drawn 
through the same opening down to the lower temperature of the Caspian. 

The Elburz orographic sj'stem is usually supposed to terminate at the Sefid- 
Koh, beyond which the highlands sweej)ing round the Baj^ of Enzeli to the Russo- 
Persian frontier form a continuation of the Talish uplands, whose first eminences 
rise above the Mugan steppe in Trans- Caucasia. Here the crests of the hills 
approach to within 12 miles of the coast, and at many points they present the 
aspect of steep escarpments above the Caspian waters. Nevertheless the Ader- 
beijan plateau may be reached through several openings, and the chain is crossed 
at an elevation of 6,600 feet by two roads rimning respectively from the Russian 
station of Astara, and the small seaport of Kerganrud. Between these two sides of 
the Talish range the contrast is very abrupt ; on the one hand steep declivities 
clothed with forest trees down to the water's edge, on the other the gently 
undulating slope of a plateau almost destitute of vegetation. 

The Caspian Seaboard and North-'Western Uplands. 

The narrow strip of coast-lands between the hiUs and the Caspian forming the 
two provinces of Ghilan and Mazanderan differs so much in appearance, soil, climate, 
and products from the rest of Persia that it should be considered rather as a 



MAZANDEEAN AND GHILAN. 87 

geographical dependence of Caucasia tlian a portion of Iran, to which it is 
politically attached. So great is the contrast between the southern plateau and 
the fertile valleys north of the Elbui-z Mountains, that in this sharp opposition 
many writers have sought one of the chief sources of the dualism lying at the root 
of the old Persian religion. But if in the abundance of its rimning waters, its 
vigorous and gorgeous vegetation and productive soil, Mazanderan represents an 
earthly Eden compared with the dreary southern wastes, it is also constituted a 
land of evil by the wild beasts infesting its forests, the clouds of mosquitoes 
darkening the heavens, and especially the pestilential atmosphere of its marshy 
tracts. Hence this lovely region was in the popular fancy the home of baneful 
spirits ; and " If you wish to die," says a local proverb, " go to Ghilan." Mazan- 
deran also came to be regarded as a maleficent land in contrast with the 
encircling uplands, because these were the abode of the "heroes" and mythical 
conquerors of Persian poetry, whereas the unprotected coastlands were occuj)ied by 
tributary and enslaved popidations. A low-ljdng strip of territory stretching some 
350 miles round the shores of the Caspian, with a mean breadth of scarcely 10 or 
12 miles, was necessarily at the mercy of the surrounding highlanders, who swept 
down suddenly from the hUls and easily carried off the accumulating wealth of the 
rich trading-places lying at their feet. 

For its exuberant vegetation Mazanderan is mainly indebted to the moisture- 
bearing northern winds blowing inland from the Caspian. According to the 
approximate estimates of recent observers, the rainfall on the northern slopes of 
the Elburz is about five times heavier than on those facing southwards. The 
vapour-charged clouds rising from the sea are generally arrested by the crests of 
the encircling ranges, and the water here discharged retui'ns in numerous torrents 
and streams to the Caspian. Owing to this unequal distribution of the rainfall, the 
most marked contrast is presented by the northern and southern declivities of the 
Persian Alps. The latter rise in regidar terraces above the plateau, while the 
former are everywhere furrowed by deep gorges, whose detritus has been distri- 
buted in the form of allu\'ia and gravel over the intervening narrow belt of 
low-lying coastlands. Every advanced spur is continued seawards bj^ parallel lines 
of headlands, each marking the entrance of some river valley, with its side 
branches and a complete network of torrents, streams, and irrigating canals. 
Hence, although lying north of the thirty- sixth parallel, the Mazanderan seaboard 
is characterised by a semi-tropical vegetation, fully as rich as that of Southern 
Europe. The steppes and deserts stretching north of the Caspian are succeeded 
southwards by a rich Italian landscape, where flourish the almond, fig, pomegranate, 
orange, and citron. The hills are clothed with box and cypress groves, while the 
higher grounds are covered to an altitude of over 6,000 feet with forests of beech, 
ash, oak, and other European trees. The low-lying cultivated tracts are also 
extremely fertile, and in the language of Strabo, " The grain here falling from the 
ear suflices to raise a fresh crop, the trees serve as hives for the bees, and distil 
honey from their leaves." 

Mazanderan thus continues to be the garden of Persia, supplying the neigh- 



88 SOUTH- WESTEEN ASIA. 

bouring capital with rice, wheat, fruits, raw silk, with fuel from its forests, and fish 
from the Caspian. Hence the jealous care with which the Persian sovereigns have 
guarded this rich province from the raids of the Turkoman marauders holding the 
Atrek and Gurgen valleys south-east of the Caspian. Easily defended on its 
western flank, where the spurs of the moimtains advance close to the sea, the 
Mazanderan plain broadens out on the opjiosite side towards the valley of the 
Gurgen, that is, the " Wolf River," which gave its name to the Hyrcania of the 
ancients.* Hence this approach had to be protected by towers and ramparts 
running from the foot of the hills to the coast. It was this barrier that arrested 
the advance of the mythical Yajuj and Majuj tribes, that is, the " Gog and 
Magog " of the mediaeval Arab writers. But in historic times it has more than 
once been broken through, and the present population of Mazanderan includes a 
large number of agriculturists descended from Turkoman nomads. 

Although within 20 miles of the shore the Caspian reveals depths of 300 to 
400 fathoms, the Mazanderan coast is completely destitute of good harbours. The 
alluvia washed down by the moimtain torrents is distributed along the seaboard, 
which here almost everywhere develops straight lines or slight curves. The only 
important seaward projection is formed by the deposits of the Sefid-rud, which 
advance at least 15 miles beyond the normal coast-line. Thus is formed the 
extensive inlet which receives the western branch of the delta, and which is 
known as the Murd-ab, or " Dead Water." Although 160 square miles in extent, 
it is so shallow that it is navigable only in a few narrow channels, while the bar at 
Enzeli is inaccessible to vessels drawing more than 2 feet. The swampy reed- 
grown tracts stretching far beyond the limits of the lagoon give their name to the 
province of Ghilan, that is, " the Marshes." Owing to the annual floodings of the 
Sefid-rud, its banks have been considerably raised, and according to a local tradi- 
tion the town of Langherud, now lying some miles inland, was still a seaport on 
the Caspian so recently as the middle of the last century. Anchors are even said 
to have been dug up in the neighbourhood. 

Corresponding with the Mm-d-ab in the west is Astrabad Bay at the south-east 
corner of the Caspian, which, however, is much deeper, and accessible in fine 
weather through several channels to vessels drawing from 12 to 1-4 feet. It 
is separated from the open sea by a tongue of land, which gradually narrows east- 
wards, where it terminates in three islets, of which the largest, Ashuradeh, has 
been chosen by the Russians as a naval station. Nearly the whole of the 
surrounding coast is covered with thickets well stocked with game. Astrabad Bay 
presents on the whole the appearance rather of a flooded district than of a natural 
inlet of the sea, a view that is confirmed by analogous cases of submersion at several 
points along the Caspian seaboard, and especially at Baku and Gumish-tejje, close 
to Ashuradeh. On the other hand evident traces of upheaval, or at least of a former 
higher level, can be detected along the coast, dating, perhajis, from the time when 

* The roots hijrc and ouri/ (wolf) are identical in old Aryan, and are explained by the Latin gurges. 
For the interchange of /; and y compare Latin homo with Gothic giima =: »«ih, as in the English bridegroom. — 
Editor. 



MOUXT S AVAL AX. 89 

the Caspian was still conuected with the Euxiae. High above the present sea level 
the old beach is fringed in some places by the stems of trees half buried in the 
soU, all belonging to the same species stiU flourishing on the neighbouring 
uplands. The fossil shells are also identical with those now inhabiting the 
surrounding waters, although no trace can be discovered of the cardiaceas at present 
so common in the Caspian. 

West of the Talish hiUs stands the almost isolated Savalan volcano, whose 
highest cone, attaining an elevation of over 14,000 feet, is almost constantly- 
covered with snow. Although abundant hot springs well up at its base, no trace 
of a crater has been discovered, nor does it appear to have been the scene of igneous 
disturbances during historic times. It is completely detached from the surrounding 



Fig. 31.— Satalan'. 

Scale 1 : ISO.OOO. 




mountains on all sides except the west, where it is connected by a chain of hQls 
with the Kara-dagh ("Black Mountains"), whose crests develop a semicircle 
south of the gorges of the Aras River, and terminate in Armenia at Ararat. The 
Kara-dagh thus forms the north-west border-range of the Iranian plateau. But it 
cannot be regarded as a natural limit, for the Xorth Persian, South Trans- Caucasian, 
and Turkish Armenian highlands constitute collectively a single orographic 
system, connecting the Iranian with the Anatolian ranges. This is the upland 
region to which Carl Hitter has applied the general designation of " Medic 
Isthmus," a region of rugged plateaux, whose lowest depression, flooded by Lake 
Urmiah, stiU maintains an elevation of 4,400 feet above sea level. 

In north-west Persia the culminating-point is Mount Sehend (11,800 feet). 



90 SOUTH-WESTEEX ASIA. 

which at its base has a circumference of 90 miles, and which plunges its roots deep 
into the basin of Lake Urmiah. Consisting chiefly of trachytes, limestones, schists, 
sandstones, and conglomerates, Sehend abounds with mineral waters of all kinds, 
hot and cold, acidulated, ferruginous, sulphurous, while the saline streams flowing 
from the west slope to Lake Urmiah tend to increase the quantity of salt contained 
in the waters of that basin. A deep cavern in the moiintain emits carbonic acid in 
such abundance that animals penetrating into this fissure perish inevitably. The 
entrance is encumbered with heaps of bones, and according to the local tradition it 
takes the name of Iskanderiah, or " Alexander's Grotto," because the Macedonian 
conqueror concealed his treasures in its poisonous atmosphere. On the east side 
the rocks contain rich copper and argentiferous lead ores. 

South of Savalan the triangular region comprised between Elburz and the west 
Persian border-chains is occupied by various mountain masses and ridges forming 
a transition between the two orographic systems. Of these the most imposing is 
the famous Kaflan-Kuh, at once a climatic and historical frontier, which runs 
nearly parallel with the Elburz, joining it at its south-east extremity, while on the 
other three sides completely limited by the long bend described by the KizU-Uzen 
before effecting a junction with the Shah-rud above the Menjhil Gorge. North of 
this parting-line the climate is moist and the grassy steppe well watered by 
perennial streams ; south of it the air is much drier, the land more arid. On one 
side the population is chiefly of Turki, on the other of Iranian, stock. Ilence, not- 
withstanding its moderate elevation compared with the Elburz, Kurdish, and 
Armenian highlands, the Kaflan-Kuh is regarded as forming part of the continental 
diaphragm, and in any case it really belongs to the orographic system which forms 
the water-parting between the Caspian and the Persian desert. It consists of marls 
partly disturbed, and even changed to a sort of porcelain, by volcanic eruptions of 
porphyry. The lofty Khamseh ridge, which stretches southwards between the 
Elburz and the Shah-rud valley, abounds in minerals, and one of the spurs crossed 
by the road from Sultanieh to Kasvin forms a solid mass of ferruginous ores with a 
very high percentage of metal. 

The Kurdistan mountains, some of whose peaks are nearly as high as the 
Sehend, are connected with the Tendurek cone over against Ararat, and like it are 
partly of volcanic origin. In this upland district a crater has been opened whence 
the lavas have flowed in a broad stream over the sands and gravels of the valley of 
the Sehnas, a north-west afiluent of Lake Urmiah. Here the river flows at some 
points between basaltic cliffs over 300 feet high. The upper crests seem, like the 
Sehend, to consist mostly of trachitic porphyries. All these west Persian highlands 
rim with surprising imiformity north-west and south-east, with a somewhat more 
southerly trend than the Great Caucasus and North Khorassan ranges. Most of the 
chains consist of tertiary limestones and chalks, whereas the spurs advancing 
towards the Tigris are mainly more recent nummulitic and sandstone formations. 
The West Persian frontier highlands are sometimes collectively known as the 
Zagros Mountains, although this Greek appellation appKes properly only to the 
range skirting the Mcsopotamian plains and separated by the Kerkha river-valley 



LIBRAKV 

OF THE 

'IVERS/Ty of ILLINOIS. 



THE WEST PERSIAN HIGHLANDS. 



91 



from tlie more easterly Luristan and Khuzistan systems. They are fissured ' at 
intervals by broad tengs, or gorges, occurring not in the lower chalk and nummu- 
litic ranges, but in the more elevated sections, so that they are evidently due rather 
to fractures in the crust of the earth than to slow erosive action. From the large 
number of these defiles, through which the routes ascend in a succession of terraces 

Fig. 32. — Khuzistan Boeder Range. 
Scale 1 : 1,600,000. 




from the Mesopotamian plains to the Iranian plateau, the whole region takes the 
name of Tengsir, or " Land of Gorges." 



The "Western Highxaxds axd Great Deserts. 

The general elevation of the West Persian highlands, as determined by the 
English surveyors appointed to lay down the Turko-Persian frontier-line, was 
found to be greater than had hitherto been supposed. Amongst the most 
conspicuous peaks is the famous Elvend, the Eevand of Iranian mj-thology, a mass 
of quartz and granite rising to a height of 11,000 feet south of Hamadan, which 
city itself stands some 6,000 feet above sea level. Elvend is covered with snow for 
eight months in the year. Mount Alijuk also, south of Ispahan, is said to have an 



92 SOUTH- WESTEEN ASIA. 

elevation of 14,000 feet, but all these highlands appear to culminate in the Kuh- 
Dinar, which runs north of Shiraz parallel with the Persian Gulf, and which from 
the sea near Bushir is visible for a distance of over 120 miles, towerin» above the 
intervening ranges, themselves exceeding 9,000 or 10,000 feet. Accordiuo- to 
Saint John some of its j^eaks are at least 3,000 feet higher than had been supposed, 
and the Kuh-i-Dena, the colossus of these highlands, is believed considerably to 
exceed 17,000 feet, being thus second to Demavend alone in the whole of Hither 
Asia west of the Hindu-Kush. But some of the lower ranges of the Tengsir 
region are even of more difficult access than the giants of the plateau. At certain 
points they present vertical waUs 1,500 or 1,600 feet high, thus forming the so- 
caUed dis, or natural strongholds, which can be reduced only by hunger. 
Yezdijerd, the last of Persia's native sovereigns, held out for some time in one of 
these rocky citadels against the Arabs. 

The violent disturbances by which the northern ranges were deflected jjarallel 
with the Persian Gulf, and with its former northern extension now filled by the 
alluvia of the Tigris and Euphrates, have also given to the Laristan system a 
direction mainly parallel with the Strait of Ormuz. Here the Jebel-Bukun, north- 
east of Bandar Abbas, attains an altitude of 10,700 feet. But while the coast 
ranges generally run east and west, the neighbouring island of Kishm is disposed 
in the direction from south-west to north-east. The other islands on the east side 
of the Persian Gidf are mere fragments of coast ranges partly submerged, and 
following the normal direction of the Persian orographic system from north-west to 
south-east. 

For a distance of 1,100 miles from the banks of the Kizil-Uzen in Azerbeijan 
to the Bampusht uplands in Baluchistan, this direction is mainly followed by a 
chain of mountains, which in some places assume quite an Alpine character. The 
Garghish and Darbish, south-west and south-east of Kashan, are both over 11,500 
feet high ; while the snowy Shir-Kuh, south of Yezd, exceeds this elevation by 
nearly 2,000 feet. According to Saint-John, various summits in the Jamal-Baris, 
or " Cold Mountains," as well as the basalt Kuh-i-Hazar, south and south-west of 
Kirman, all rise to heights of 13,500 feet and ujjwards, while the Kuh-i-Berg on the 
Baluch frontier still maintains an altitude of 8,000 feet. In this little-known 
south-east corner of Persia names such as Sefid-Kuh (" White Mountains "), Sarhad 
(" Cold Region "), Kuhistan (" The Highlands "), all imply the presence of 
ranges of considerable elevation. Here also the volcanic cones of Naushadur and 
Basman, besides some other less elevated volcanoes in Narmashir, stand close to the 
edge of a former marine basin now filled with the sands of the desert. And it is 
noteworthy that the prolongation of the main Iranian axis through the Sehend 
woidd terminate in the extreme north-west in the corresponding igneous mass of 
Ararat. Along the south coast, both in the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea, traces 
of oscillation have been discovered which are also probably associated with Plutonic 
phenomena. In Persian and Baluch Mekran numerous eminences occur which 
are found to be the craters of now extinct mud volcanoes. 

The small isolated groups rising in the midst of the sands and clays of tlie 



THE PERSIAN DESERTS. 93 

desert on the plateau also follow the general direction of the Persian mountain 
system, although the trap and trachitic Siah-Kuh ("Black Mountain"), some 90 
miles from Teheran, runs exceptionally rather east and west. Like Elburz, 
although to a less extent, the Siah-Kuh, which scarcely exceeds 5,000 feet, 
presents a remarkable contrast between its northern and southern declivities. The 
latter are bare and parched, while the former are overgrown with brushwood, 
which in the eyes of the siuTounding nomads seem like magnificent forests. 

The vast triangular region enclosed by the border ranges is little more than a 
sandy, argillaceous, stony, or saline desert studded here and there with a few oases. 
" In order to form a correct idea of the more 2:)opulous parts of Khorassan, we should 
fanc}%" remarks llacGregor, "a small green circle round every village indicated on 
the map, and shade all the rest in brown." These waste spaces, encircled on all 
sides by mountains, were certainly a marine basin at the time when the volcanoes 
rising above the northern edge of the plain were still active. The regular strata 
observed by Filippi on the banks of the Ahvar south-east of Sultanieh show that 
the basin was not completely filled in till comparatively recent times. Here the 
layers of sand, pebbles, and clay clothed with vegetable hmnus rest on heaps of 
debris containing pottery, incised bones, fragments of charcoal, and other remains 
of himian industry. These deposits may be traced for a distance of over 40 miles, 
a sufficient proof that there can here be no question of recent disturbance and 
redistribution of the soil. Hence the present surface of this Iranian depression 
has been formed since the surrounding slopes were inhabited by man, whose 
pottery has been swept by the rimning waters down to the jjlain. These remains, 
carried down probably during a cold epoch, corresponding to the Alj)ine glacial 
period, contributed to completely fill up the Persian Mediterranean. Throughout 
the whole of the Iranian plateau, as well as in Afghanistan and Baluchistan, vast 
quantities of sand and argillaceous dust have been gradually accumulated by the 
weathering of the surrounding uplands, combined with the action of rain and 
running waters distributing the detritus over large spaces and filling up all the 
depressions on the plains. But although resembling in appearance the " yellow 
earth " of China, this detritus is now imsuitable for cultivation owing to the 
absence of irrigating streams. The inland sea itself could never have been diied 
up but for the excessive evaporation. "With a more copious rainfall it might 
have been permanently maintained, while slowly raising its bed by the sedimen- 
tary deposits from the encircling hills, through which it must have ultimately 
found some outlet seawards. 

In the south-eastern deserts the prevailing element is sand, disposed by the 
winds in ever-shifting dunes, by which caravan routes are effaced, arable tracts 
continually encroached upon, the very villages and towns themselves threatened 
with destruction. Some places have even already been invaded, and their inhabi- 
tants compelled to migrate to new homes. Elsewhere the sands themselves have 
been swept away, leaving nothing but the hard rocky surface, or perhaps extensive 
gravel tracts, like the beds of dried-up torrents. Thus within a single day the 
caravans will often traverse districts of very different aspect — strips of clay and 



94 SOUTH-WESTEEN ASIA. 

sand alternating with gravel and stony wastes. A wilderness to the north-west of 
Sistan has been well named the Dash-i-Na-iunmed, or " Plain of Despond," and 
east of it, on the Afghan frontier, stands the famous Reig Rawan, an isolated 
blufp, noted for the music of the surrounding sands, which at times is heard a 
mile off. 

But the most formidable desert in Persia is the Lut or Loth, as it is called by 
the people of Khorassan, a name associated by some with the Lot of Holy Writ, 
but by others more correctly explained to mean any wilderness or waterless tract. 
The ground of this dreary waste is almost everywhere formed by a compact layer 
of coarse sand bound together with salt, and covered with a lighter sand, which is 
olown about by every wind. Lying between the Kirman and South Khorassan 
highlands, the Lut is completely uninhabited, and possesses so few wells that 
caravans in its narrowest part have to provide themselves with suiEcient water to 
last three days and four nights. The Gobi and Kizil-Kmn themselves are 
fertile regions compared with this "Persian Sahara," which in the tenth century 
Istakhri already described as the most dismal solitude in aU the lands subject to 
Islam. Seen from some of the siirrounding heights it presents the appearance of 
a pale red mass of incandescent metal stretching away beyond the horizon, 
the fierce glare of its cloudless skies nowhere relieved by a flitting shadow from 
dawn to sunset. Yet it is at least in one respect somewhat less desolating than 
many of the Turkestan steppes. The outline of its horizon nowhere presents 
the form of a perfect circle, the monotonous prospect being here and there broken 
by bluish or violet hiUs, floating like light clouds in the liquid atmosphere, and 
serving as landmarks to the wayfarer. 

The deeper parts of the Persian basins are generally occupied by saline marshes, 
known in the north as hevirs, in the south as kcfihs or ka/ahs. Of these the 
most extensive is that stretching across the sandy desert, north of the Tebbes 
Mountains. Another, extending from the Kuh-i-Siah range towards Kashan, is 
said to have a circumference of 45 miles, while its real size is perhaps doubled by 
the mirage. Other large kev-irs, the remains of dried-up lakes, are scattered over 
the valleys of Kirman, which, like the moimtain ranges, have a normal direction 
from north-west to south-east. Most of these basins present a very ii-regular 
surface, being broken at various points by small hollows, presenting considerable 
diiEculty to camel traffic. But round the edge of the true.kevirs quagmires are 
of rare occurrence. In winter the moist earth is black and uneven, as if turned 
up by the plough, but in summer it is covered with a saline film, beneath which 
the treacherous soil remains soft and swampy for a long time. At its lowest point 
the kevir north of Yezd stands probably at a height of 2,000 feet above sea level ; 
but towards tlie south-east it falls gradually lower and lower, sinlving at Dihi-Seif, 
north-east of Kirman, to 1,250 feet, and at its lowest point, according to Khanikov, 
its absolute elevation scarcely exceeds 400 or 500 feet. 



wiffW'^f'ff^fi'n'i^' 




THE KAEUN EIVEE. 95 

Hydrography and Climate of Persia. 

It is difficult to form even an approximate estimate of the seaward drainage to 
the Caspian, Persian Gulf, and Arabian Sea compared with the extent of these 
inland basins. The respective areas have even been modified during past geolo- 
gical epochs. Rivers formerly copious enough to reach the coast are now lost in 
some inland swamp, while a number of now landlocked lakes at one time dis- 
charged their overflow to the surrounding mariae basins. Similar changes are 
stni going on from season to season, and most of the streams reaching the sea 
during the floods are absorbed in the sands at low water. But even including 
these intermittent tributaries in the outward drainage system, its whole area cannot 
be estimated at more than one-third, leaving to that of the closed basins about two- 
thirds of the "West Iranian plateau.* 

The short streams flowing from the Elburz range to the Caspian can alone 
compare in size with those of Western Europe. The Atrek and Gui-gen reach the 
coast through a sluggish and shallow current, while the Sefid-rud, although more 
copious, is quite unsuited for navigation. The Jerrahi, Hindiyan (Zohreh), 
Shems-i-Arab, and other affluents of the Persian Gulf are mere wadies fordable 
throughout the year, and in summer separated by a strip of sand from the sea. 
Nevertheless Persia possesses one really navigable river in the Karun or Kuran, 
which is formed by the united torrents of Xorthern Susiana and Southern Luristan. 
Little, however, of this stream goes directly to the Persian Gulf, from which it is 
mainly diverted by an artificial canal to the Shat-el-Arab. It has thus become a 
mere tributary of the great ilesopotamian artery, like the Diyala and Kerkha, 
which join the Tigris higher up. StiU the Karun should be the natural highway 
for merchandise forwarded by the Persian Gulf to the plateau, for it is nearly four 
feet deep throughout the year, and accessible to steamers for a distance of 150 
miles from its mouth. The only obstacle to its navigation is a ledge of rocks near 
the old fortress of Ahwaz, where the valley is contracted by fantastic sandstone 
hnis some 300 feet high, which at a distance look like structures raised by the 
hand of man. Here the river enters a gorge, in which it descends through a 
series of rapids between the projecting rocks all disposed parallel with the main 
axis of the Persian orographic system. Estcourt ascended the Karim. to this point 
in a steamer in 1836, and six years afterwards the obstacle was surmoim^ted by 
Selby, who penetrated within a mile and a half of Shuster. StiU greater facilities 
for navigation are afforded by the Ab-i-Gargar canal, which runs west of the main 
stream between Shuster and the confluence of the Dizful. For two months in the 
year the Dizful itself is accessible to small craft as far as the town of like name, 
so that a whole network of water highways might be developed in this region, 

* Persiaii areas of drainage according to Saint John : — Sqnare Miles. 

To the Indian Ocean 130,000 

„ Caspian 100,000 

„ Hamun Basin 40,000 

„ Lake Urmiah 20,000 

Kivers and other depressions ...... 320,000 



96 SOUTH-WESTERN ASIA. 

especially if the Ahwaz rapids were avoided bj- constructing an abeady projected 
canal less than two miles in length. According to M. Dieidafoy, Shuster might be 
reached by steamers of 600 tons biirden and 120 horse-power merely by restoring 
the dam and locks at Ahwaz. 

The streams flowing to the inland basins are relatively even far less copious 
than those draining seawards. This is evident from the state of the innumerable 
depressions on the plateau whose moisture is evaporated in the dry season, or else 
lost in the mud of the saline marshes. A watercourse descending from the Khuz 
Moimtains to the south of the Lut desert traverses the whole length of the 
solitudes, but within the memory of man it has never been flooded. Even in rainy 
years the water never rises above the arable tracts, although its bed is deeply 
excavated by the long and constant action of an old current. 

At present the rainfall, everywhere very light except on the northern slopes of 
the Elburz, scarcely exceeds a yearly average of 10 inches, falling in Central Persia 
and on the Baluch frontier to about 5 inches. This scarcitj' of moisture is due, as 
in the regions tying farther east, to the atmospheric currents, which are mainly 
continental. The two great marine basins of the Indian Ocean and Mediterranean 
lie respectively on the south-east and west, whereas the prevailing winds come 
either from the south-west across the African and Arabian sands, or else from the 
north-east across the Asiatic mainland from the polar regions to the Tiu'kestan 
steppes. This last is the dreaded wind of "a hundred and twenty days," which 
blows, especially in Sistan, with such violence that the trees are unable to take root 
in the ground. To this breezy region has been attributed the invention of the 
windmill. 

The atmosphere of the plateau is thus extremely drj-, the relative proportion of 
humidit}' ranging in the cidtivated parts of Kirman from 16 to 20 per cent., and 
faUing in the desert of Lut to 11 '2 j)er cent., the lowest that has yet been recorded 
on the surface of the globe. Even in West Persia the air is so dry in summer and 
autumn that metal objects exposed on the terraces at night retain their lustre 
for months together. To this deficiency of moisture must be attributed the 
extreme variation of temperature between day and night. In the month of July 
the glass has risen from 56° F. before sunrise to 133° in the sim at eight o'clock 
in the morning. At times the air becomes darkened by " dry fogs," during which 
neither dust nor dew is precipitated. Little dust whirlwinds are of daily occurrence. 
They spring up between nine and eleven o'clock in the morning, according to 
the heat of the sun, and graduall}^ increase in number and volume till two o'clock 
in the afternoon. Sometimes also dense clouds of sand are formed, boimding 
the horizon like a solid wall. The summer heat is often as intense as in the African 
Sahara, and near Meshed stores of stearine and sulphate of soda have been liquefied, 
impljong a temperature of 131° F. To the sultry region of the Lut desert, 
Khanikov attributes the southern deflection of the isothermal lines throughout 
Northern Persia ; and to the same source of heat may perhaps be due the almost 
tropical character of the vegetation in Mazanderan compared with that of the other 
Caspian coast-lands. The pestilential dry wind, kuowii as the hadeh simun, which 



LAKE UEMIAH. 97 

occasional!}- blows from the desert to the coast about Bandar-Abbas, is much 
dreaded by travellers, who report that its victims turn rapidly blue, and soon 
perish. 

To supply the want of a sufficient rainfall, the peasantry have developed 
a sj'stem of underground kanats or kaiiofs (irrigating canals), which, like those of 
Afghanistan, are excavated with imerring instinct and maintained with jealous 
care. But even with this resource, cultivation is scarcely possible beyond the 
upland valleys, for there are no summer rains, moisture falling as a rule only 
in winter and spring. Hence in summer no water can be had except in the Alpine 
regions, where the deep springs are fed by the melting snows. Lower down the 
soil is completely dried up by the twofold action of the solar heat and kanat 
drainage. Except in the higher valleys, how little this dreary, parched-up land 
corresponds with the ideal descriptions of the national poets, Hafiz and Sadi ! 
Long joiu'neys must be made across the plateau and down to the intervening 
depressions before we meet with those spicy groves, rosy bowers, and purling 
brooks echoing with the song of the nightingale, which on the whole are rather 
the dream of the poet seeking in fancy what nature denied him. The famous 
Band-Emir, described in eastern and western poetry as a noble stream flowing 
beneath the cool shade of a rich vegetation, is merely a canal diverted by a dam 
from the little river which waters the plain of Persepolis. So precious is water 
in this arid region that an ordinary reservoir becomes a limpid lake encircled by 
picturesque cliffs and umbrageous slopes. 

The only lake reallj- deserving the name is the Dariacha (" Little Sea "), better 
known as the Lake of Urmiah, Maragha, or Armenistan, at the west foot of the 
Sehend, in the extreme north-west, and already within the region of the Armenian 
uplands. Here a delightful and ever- varying prospect is presented by the islands 
and headlands and surrounding hiUs, plunging their roots deep into the water, by 
the wooded shores and distant view of snowy Ararat. Yet, compared with the 
Alpine lakes of Central Europe, Urmiah is a mere lagoon, nowhere exceeding 45 
feet, and with an average depth of probably not more than 15 or 16 feet. Hence, 
although covering an area of about 1,600 square miles, its volimie is six or eight 
times inferior to that of Geneva, which is relatively so much smaller in size. Off 
the town of Urmiah the basin falls from the west to the east shore through a 
succession of five perfectly regular plateaux, while at other points the marshy banks 
stretch far inland through saline flats, scarcely rising a few inches above the 
surface. Towards the south is a group of about fifty islets, of which three are large 
enough to be cultivated or laid out in pastures. The water is more saHne and 
richer in iodine than that of the Dead Sea itself. Swimmers cannot dive in it, and 
their bodies become immediately covered with a coating of salt, which sparkles in 
the sun like diamond- dust. WTien the -n-ind blows, large sheets of saline foam are 
developed on the surface, and along the shore salt has been deposited in slabs 
several inches thick, and extending in some places for a distance of three or four 
miles. Wherever the shore is easily accessible, the natives have established 
salines like those of the Mediterranean, although they prefer in general the 

VOL. IX. H 



98 



SOUTH- WESTERN ASIA. 



mineral salt of the neighbouring hills, which is much purer and more easily 
worked. No fishes or molluscs live in the lake, which, however, teems with a 
particular species of small Crustacea, distinguished by a thin tail, and serving as food 
to the flocks of swans and other birds frequenting the lake. Here are also some 
species of insects not found elsewhere, and a special saline flora developed on the 
surrounding mud renders the shore almost everywhere unapproachable. These 

Fig. 33. — Lake Uumiah. 
Scale 1 : 1,600,000. 



Marand f3 



y . ^f_ 








"^t 



E . of Gr 



blackish or dark-green tracts, sometimes shining with a metallic lustre, stretch 
a long way below the surface of the water, and contain magnesia and iron, beside 
a large proportion of organic remains. The oUy residue of this decomposed matter 
imparts such consistency to the liquid surface that even under the action of high 
winds it fails to rise into rolling waves, but breaks sluggishly against the beach. 

Near the Selraas valley, on the north-west side of the lake, and near the village 
of Dihkergan in the south-east, are the famous " marble springs," -^N'hose deposits 



LAKE ITEMIAH. 99 

have supplied materials for some of the finest buildings in Persia and Western 
Asia. This " marble of Tabriz " is generally of a j'ellowish, pink, or milk-white 
colour, and sparkles like quartz. It often forms concretions like stalactites, and 
its reins of oxides impart to it the most deKcate tints. It was probably deposited 
at a time when the springs had a much higher temperature than the present, which 
scarcely exceeds 65'^ F. The precipitates now consist of very thin snow-white 
layers, in other respects exactly resembling the marble of the neighbourhood. 

The level of Lake Urmiah has frequently changed. According to the local 
tradition it was formerly much higher than at present, while on the other hand 
there was a time when it had shrimk to considerably lower dimensions. These 
oscillations are attributed by the natives to a prodigious monster who dwells at the 
bottom, and passes his time in alternately di'inking and disgorging the waters of 
Urmiah. Its former higher level is in any case shown by the old water-marks on 
the rocks high up above the present surface, and bj' the headlands, such as that of 
Shah-i-Kuh towards the north-west in the direction of Tabriz, which at one time 
were islands in the middle of the lake. 

At present the lacustrine level is sinking, a cii'cimistance explained by the 
spread of cultivation, which necessarily absorbs a larger quantity of water for 
irrigating pm-poses. The whole basin, as far as the sources of its farthest affluents, 
exceeds 20,000 square miles, and the rainfall within this area, even estimating it at 
no more than 10 inches j'early, represents a total mass of at least 350 million cubic 
feet, or about half of the whole volume collected in the lake itself. According to 
the extent of the outflow, as regulated by the requirements of the surrounding 
cultivated lands, the contours of the lake must change all the more rapidly that the 
water is spread in shallow masses over a wider area. The area of Lago Maggiore, 
notwithstanding its great depth, changes as much as 16 square miles between the 
dry and wet seasons. Some idea may thus be formed of the great alterations 
presented by the surface of Lake Urmiah, a large portion of which is little better 
than a flooded swamp. Such a basin evidently affords little scope for navigation, 
and the transport of merchandise and passengers is usually effected by means of 
rafts. In 1838 an uncle of the Shah had himself appointed grand admit-al of the 
lake, and to secure a monopoly of its navigation forthwith caused aU the craft 
belonging to private persons to be seized and destroyed. 

Of the numerous feeders of the lake the most important is the Jaghatu, which 
comes from the south, and one branch of which, the Saruk, receives a poi'tion of its 
supplies from a large well on a Limestone eminence known as the Takht-i-Sulaiman, 
or "Throne of Solomon." The hill itself, which is of oval shape and about 150 
feet high, has evidently been gradually formed by the water, which precipitates 
layers of travatine at the orifice. Other petrifications caused by the irrigating rills 
derived from the main stream have sprung up here and there rmmd about the 
Throne of Solomon. One of these has the form of a dragon, and is traditionally 
supposed to have been a monster changed into stone by the son of David. Mineral 
and thermal springs, acidulated, sidphurous, and calcareous, bubble up on all sides 
roimd about these eminences. 

h2 



100 



SOUTH-WESTERN ASIA. 



In Southern Persia the only body of water which may be regarded as a lake, 
if not for the depth at least for the extent of its flooded basin, is Lake Niris or 
Bakhtegan, which receives the discharge of the Band-Emir Canal. It stretches 
south-east of the ancient Persepolis, between two ranges of parallel hills, for a 
distance of about 60 miles, broken into several secondary basins by islands and 
headlands, all ramifying in tortuous channels among the side valleys, and uniting 
through two straits in a second reservoir, the Tasht or IS'argis Ipng at the other 
side of the northern hiUs. The whole group is continued in the direction of 
Persepolis northwards to the plain of Merv. Its waters are saline like those of the 
Deriah-i-Nemek, a smaller basin lying parallel to it in the valley of Shiraz, and 
blocks of salt, like the floes of the polar seas, may be occasionally seen floating on its 

Fig. 34. — Lakes Niris and Nargis. 

Scale I : 1,400,000. 






E.of Gr^-. 



.J^LJ. 




surface towards the end of summer. The surrounding limestone hills mirrored in 
its blue water, the ruins crowning the cliffs along the shore, the tamarinds and 
willows of the riverain valleys, the flocks of flamingoes and other aquatic birds 
giving animation to the scene, impart a great charm to the landscape of Niris, 
which, however, is in reality nothing more than an area of permanent inundation. 
For himdreds of yards from the shore it is scarcely more than 2 feet deep, and 
the mud when disturbed emits a suffocating odour. It is noteworthy that no 
mention is made by the old writers of this lake, which nevertheless lies in one of 
the most famous and commerical regions of the ancient world. It is first aUuded 
to by Ibu Haukal in the tenth century, and from that time forth it is spoken of 
by all geographers. It is probable that formerly, when the district was covered 



FLOEA AXD FAUXA OF PERSIA. 101 

witli cities and land under cultiyation, the water flowing from the mountain gorges 
was used up to the last drop, so that none was left to settle in lagoons on the now 
flooded plains. 

Flora axd Fauna. 

As a land of transition between Eastern Asia and the western world, Persia 
naturally partakes of the flora and fauna belonging to the surrounding lands. 
Hence according to the altitude, dryness, and special climatic conditions of its 
various provinces, it exhibits the plants and animals characteristic of Turkestan, 
Caucasia, Afghanistan, or Arabia. Persia is thus everywhere a region of contrasts, 
where the forests of Ghilan and Slazanderan, with their leafy foliage, creeping 
plants, and flowery glades are suddenly succeeded by the saline plateaiix producing 
nothing but a little grey brushwood. E\en the fertile regions themselves offer the 
greatest differences in the aspect of their vegetation, for all these productive lands 
are exclusively highland countries, where the various vegetable zones overlap each 
other, or follow in quick succession, according to the relief and latitude. All the 
higher siramiits are like so many islands inhabited by polar species, while the 
great diversity of altitude strews the land with isolated floras, rendering any broad 
generalizations extremely hazardous. In the north wheat is cultivated to a height 
of 9,000 feet on the slopes of the hills, and the flats in the neighbourhood of Lake 
Urmiah are occupied by rice grounds at an elevation of over 4,000 feet above the 
sea. In this part of Azerbeijan the fig grows only in sheltered spots, whereas the 
vine flourishes on the slopes of El vend up to 7,500 feet. On the other hand, the 
magnolia and camellia, which resist the damp climate of the British Isles, are not 
found in Persia under the corresponding latitudes. The palm is cultivated only in 
the lower valleys of the border ranges, and in the south-east of the plateau as far 
north as Tebbes. But it is again met on the shores of the Caspian, and, according 
to a local tradition, the Mazanderan coast-lands were within comparatively recent 
times overgrown with pabns, which have since yielded to other vegetable species. 
Excluding the Caspian seaboard as belonging to a distinct vegetable region, the 
Persian flora is on the whole much poorer than that of Trans- Caucasia and West 
Europe, and the local saying that " In Fars you cannot take a single step without 
crushing a flower," must be regarded as a poetical exaggeration. 

So little does the Persian faima differ from that of the conterminous lands, 
that it might almost be supposed to have migrated in modern times to the plateau. 
The real explanation lies doubtless in the more recent drying up of the land. 
From the frontier upland regions, which were first upheaved, the various species 
gradually spread towards the centre, according as the waters subsided. The West 
Iranian mountains, plateaux, and solitudes, like those of Afghanistan, have their 
herds of wUd asses and gazelles, their leopards, wild boars, bears, wolves, and foxes. 
In the same way Iranian Baluchistan corresponds to that of Kelat, while the West 
Persian frontier has on its outer slopes the fauna of Mesopotamia, that of Kurdistan 
in its valleys, and that of the plateaux on its rocky heights and in its kevirs. 
Lastly, the well-watered regions of the north-west, the Azerbeijan plains and 



102 



SOUTH-WESTERN ASIA. 



especially the northern slojjes of the Elburz, belong to the animal as well as to 
the veo-etable zones of Armenia and Trans-Caucasia. The summits of isolated 
mountains, such as Sehend and Savalan, have not only a Caucasian flora, but also 
several animal species, notably various kinds of butterflies, which do not elsewhere 
occur south of the Aras. 

According to a local tradition, which may, perhaps, rest on a foundation of truth, 
the Mazanderan forests were formerly peopled by elephants, which were exter- 

Fig. 35.— Faunas of Persia. 
Scale 1 : 18,000,000. 




mj\ 



C.-' ■ j 



Caspian Wooded Area of the I'eisiau Persian tiulf and 
Area. Border Range. Mesopotamia. Baluch Area. 



minated by the national hero, Rustem. In its climate, flora and fauna, as well 
as in many popidar customs, this low-lying valley resembles the Indus valley. 
The wild ox, hvmted by the Assyrian kings in the Kiu-distan highlands, has dis- 
appeared ; but the maneless lion, a less powerful animal than his African congener, 
has held his groimd in the valleys of the border ranges between the Iranian plateau 
and the Tigris plains. He is also frequently met west of the Shiraz Mountains 
in the oak forests, where he preys on the wild boar. The tiger also infests the 



FAUNA OF PEESIA. 103 

forests of IMazanderaii . The chamois is very common on the highlands, where 







he ranges from an altitude of 1,500 feet on the Bushir hills to 13,000 feet on 
Elbvirz. The rat, said to have originated in Persia, has disappeared from the 



104 SOUTH-WESTEEN ASIA. 

plateau, and is now found only on the Caspian seaboard, wliere it has been 
reimported by the shipping. Altogether the Persian fauna is poor in the number 
of species, although the reptiles, esj^ecially lizards of quite an African tj'pe, 
are represented by a great many varieties. Owing to the intennittent character 
of the surface streams, fish are found chiefly in the underground canals, where 
they have adapted themselves to the dark surroundings by the gradual loss of 
sight. Snails and other land molluscs are nowhere to be found, doubtless owing to 
the general aridity of the land. 

Amongst domestic animals there is at least one fine breed of horses. In 
the towns bordering on Turkestan those of Arab origin have acquired a surprising 
resemblance to the English racehorse, combined with imrivalled powers of endurance. 
The Kurd breed, smaller than that of Khorassan, is more elegant and not less 
fiery. In many parts of Fars it is customary to give the horses little pigs for 
companions, and the closest friendship springs up between these two animals. 
The camels of Khorassan and Sistan are highly esteemed, the finer specimens 
carrying loads of 625 poimds weight, while the ordinary camel-load varies from 
125 to 190 pounds. The sheep, like those of the steppe regions, are of the 
fat-tailed species. In some districts they acquire an extraordinary development, 
and yield a wool of the finest quality. Of dogs there is one very ugly species, 
noted, however, for his remarkable watchfulness and sagacity. The Persians have 
also a very handsome breed of greyhoimds, swifter than the European varieties, 
and several species of falcons are still trained for the chase. 

Inhabitants of Persia. 

Like the flora and fauna, peoples of different origin have become intermingled 
in the Iranian lands, some of whom still preserve their national characteristics, 
while others have blended in a new t}'pe. The chief ethnical elements are the 
Iranians, properly so called, the Turco-Tatars, the Kurds, and Arabs. 

The bulk of the population is concentrated in the southern region, between 
Kirman and Kermanshah, where one of the provinces even bears the name 
of Fars or Farsistan; that is, "Land of the Farsi " or Persians. But for the 
whole race the collective name is Irani. Amongst the peoples of the earth the 
Persians are, on the whole, one of those that approach nearest to the type of beauty 
as vmderstood by Europeans. Of symmetrical figure, graceful and pliant, with 
broad chest and noble carriage, they have, for the most part, regular oval features 
enframed in a setting of black curly hair. But baldness is very common, caused 
doubtless by the habit of wearing high head-dresses of hair or wool. The eyes, 
mostly brown, except in Fars, are large, with perfectly round eyebrows, long 
curved lashes, slightly aquiline nose, well-shaped mouth, dense wavy and silky beard. 
The children, especially grouped together in the schoolroom, present a charming 
sight, with their black curly heads, large browu eyes, and animated expression. 

The form of the skull occupies an intermediate position between those of the 
Semites and Afghans. But if we take as typical Persians the Guebres of Yezd, 



INHABITANTS OF PERSIA . 



105 



five crania of whom have been studied by Baer, tbe Iranian head would appear 
to be distinguished by considerable brain capacity. "V^Tiile very dolichocephalic, 
with index No. 70, it is lower than the Semitic but higher than the Turanian, and 
flattened on the upper surface. In the Darabgherd relief, which represents the 
triumph of Sapor over Valerian, in the year 260 of the new era, both Persians and 



Fig. 3; 



— Inhabitants op Persia. 
Scale 1 : 10,000,000. 







Sebzevar^^^^^-^^ 







C'df Greenwich 50 



MM 



CilB HDl 



HDD 



Turks and Turtmenians. IMongols. Arabs. 
12 Miles. 



Eomans are figured bareheaded, and in the case of the former all these character- 
istics are plainly marked. Hands and feet are small and flexible, and although the 
average height scarcely exceeds 5 feet, the troops are capable of making long 
forced marches without apparent fatigue. Formerly tatooing was generally 
practised by the women, who embellished the chin, neck, chest, and stomach with 



106 SOUTH-WESTEEN ASIA. 

Fig. 38.-PERSIAN- TvrES and Costumes-Nobleman, Dervish, and Mendicant. 




various artistic designs. But the practice survives now chiefly amongst the 
peasantry of Kirman and Persian Bahichistan. In some districts the depraved 



THE PEESIANS. 107 

taste of earth-eating still prevails, as does also the habit of blood-letting at every 
new moon, whence the cadaverous look of the inhabitants, which has earned for 
certain localities the reputation of being insalubrious. 

The Persian tj-pe seems to have been best preserved in the eastern and central 
regions and upland valleys, which have been less exposed to invasion than the 
fertile western districts and oases. Thus the Kahrud highlanders between Kashan 
and Ispahan still betray the haughty expression of the contemporaries of Cyrus, 
and speak a dialect supposed to be closely related to the old Pehlvi. This language, 
which was cm-rent in Iran before the Arab conquest, appears to have held its 
groimd in some other remote districts, while the race has been almost everywhere 
modified by mixtui-e, especially with Chaldean, Kurd, Semite, and Turki elements. 
Under the successors of Alexander, and during the sway of the Arsacides, the 
people were exposed to Greek or Hellenised influences, and later on, under the Arab 
rule, Semitic blood penetrated to the lowest layers of the Iranian populations. For 
thousands of years pure or mixed Negroes, Abyssinians, and Somali have entered 
Persia either as slaves or traders, and certain districts of Susiana were perhaps at 
one time occupied by peoples of dark or negroid complexion and origin. The 
Turkomans and other Tatar tribes have also had a considerable share in the gradual 
modification of the old Iranian stock, which has been fxu'ther improved by the 
thousands of Georgian and Circassian female slaves introduced dm-ing the three 
hundred j^ears preceding the conquest of Georgia by the Russians at the beginning 
of the present centmy. On the other hand, the Pei'sians themselves have spread 
far beyond the limits of their original home. Under the name of Tats and Talishes 
they are found to the number of about 120,000 in Trans-Caucasia, while they 
constitute the basis of the sedentary population in Khorassan, Afghanistan, and 
Trans-Oxiana, where they are variously known as Sarts, Tajiks, and Parsivans. 

The Persians are not only physically but also intellectually one of the foremost 
races of mankind. Their quick wit, shrewdness, poetic fancy, and excellent 
memory excite the admiration of Europeans, while to these very qualities must 
perhaps be attributed a certain lack of perseverance and application. Readily 
grasping a subject, they seem careless of prosecuting it fui-ther. Heirs of an 
ancient cultiire, and fully conscious of their intellectual superiority over the 
surrounding races, the modern Iranians unfortunately yield to them in prowess. 
Hence in the local wars and revolutions the initiative has constantly been taken by 
Arabs, Kurds, Turks, Turkomans, Afghans, or Baluches, and the state itself is 
ruled by a sovereign of foreign origin, successor of other conquering dynasties. 
Deprived of that freedom by which alone the national culture and vitality might 
be revived, the Iranians are fain to live in the past, sedulously cherishing the old 
traditions of urbanity and refinement, no less rigid observers of ceremony than the 
Chinese themselves. Even in remote rural villages the stranger is almost invari- 
ably welcomed with courtesy, and in no other country is " the art of rising and 
sitting down " more punctiliously observed. Trained to jealously watch over his 
own emotions and their muscular expression, the adult Persian presents a striking 
contrast to the children of his race, who are usually fuU of animation and buoyant 



108 



SOUTH-WESTERN ASIA. 



Fig. 39. — NoKLE Persun Lady. 





-^1 


- ■•^^■ 


X 


J^ 


^^^1. 



spirits. Fond of speaking and giving free bridle to his natural eloquence, he still 
maintains an impassive air in mixed company, carefully discriminating the various 
social ranks, and assuming the suitable or conventional attitudes towards each 
without effort or affectation. In conversation he aptly quotes the national proverbs 
and poets in support of his views, leading up, with great apparent ease, to the 
subject he wishes to broach, and unerringly adapting his language to his audience. 
This characteristic is expressed in the local sajang, "Birds of a feather should 
mate together — dove with dove, hawk with hawk."* How different this modern 
Parsi, by long thraldom become an adept in duplicity, from the free Persian of 
antiquity, of whom Herodotus tells us that he held falsehood to be the greatest of 
infamies. Frankness woidd place the peasant entirely in the hands of his 

oppressors; hence from generation 
to generation he has learnt to avoid 
ruin by wile. Hence those who em- 
ploy their talents not only in self- 
defence but in pushing their way in 
the world, often become dangerous 
by their tact and spirit of intrigue, 
ever at the service of cupidity. One 
of the ordinary national types is that 
of the fiizul, who shrinks from no 
baseness in order to " eat." These 
are the first to thrust themselves on 
Europeans as servants, stewards, 
couriers, or simple advisers, and to 
them is largely due the unfavourable 
judgment so often pronoimced 
against the whole nation. At the 
same time, within the race itself 
there frequently occur the greatest 
contrasts, as between the brave and 
energetic Talish and the craven 
Kashani ; between the shrewd Shi- 
razi, whose eyes beam with intel- 
ligence, and the dull Mazanderani 
peasant, the yabii or "pack-horse," as he is called, of Irania. 

About the dawn of history the plateau was occupied in the south by Aryans, in 
the north by "Turanian" Medes of distinct speech, but ridcd by an Aryan caste. 
The country is still divided between two races, descended, with more or less 
intermixture, from the old stocks, still probably on the whole maintaining their 
original ethnical distribution. The conquering race is represented by the Turks 
and Turkomans, ranking in numerical importance next to the Iranians, but, like the 
Manchus in China, subject to their intellectual influence. Hence, although the 

• " Kund hamjins bii hamjina parwaz — kabutar ba kabiitar, baz ba baz." 



L^ 



101 



l^ 






>'fm^l 






THE IRANIAN TURKI TRIBES. 109 

Turks are the official administrators and almost exclusive military element, the 
Persians monopolise the industries, control all business relations, constitute, in a 
word, the civilised section of the nation. Compared physically with the Iranians, 
the Tui'co-Tatars have a rounder head, less oval face, less expressive features, 
smaller eyes, more massive jaws. In general they are also taller and more 
muscular, heavier and more awkward in their movements. They are at the same 
time less wily, and thus often allow the property of the plundered Persian to 
revert to its rightful owners. But while despising the old rulers of the land, 
they are always ready to make common cause with them against their Osmanli 
kinsmen ; for they are far more alienated by sectarian hatred from the AnatoKan 
Turk than by racial difference from their Persian fellow- subjects of the common 
Shiah faith. Their speech differs somewhat from that of the Osmanli, and is much 
more harshly pronounced, although the Anatolian and Iranian Turks are still 
mutually intelligible. The latter also understand and even speak Persian, which, 
since the middle of the present century, has again become the Court language. 

Of all the Iranian Turki tribes the first rank is now taken by the Kajars, of 
whom the reigning dynasty is a branch. But the Afshars, whom they have 
succeeded, and from whom Nadir-Shah was sprung, are still by far the most 
nimierous. At the beginning of this century their various clans comprised 
altogether as many as 88,000 families; and of other Turki tribes probably the most 
powerful at present are the Kara-geuzly of Hamadan, and the Shah-seven of 
Ardelil. The latter enjoy the privilege of supplj^ing the Shah with his himdred 
"gholams" or bodj-guard. The Turki element is naturallj^ most numerous in the 
northern and north-western provinces, conterminous with the land of their origin. 
In Azerbeijan it comprises nearly the whole of the rural population, and numerous 
Tatar communities are also found in the central provinces. The Kashkai horde, 
dating from the time of Jenghiz-Khan, have penetrated to the neighbourhood of 
Shiraz, Forg, and Tarun in the south-west, where they are said to be numerous 
enough to supply an army of 30,000 horsemen. 

In the east Iranian uplands the Tatar element is represented by those Turko- 
man tribes that have maintained an incessant warfare against the settled peoples 
of the plateau since the remotest historic times. Before the recent reduction of 
the Tekkes by Russia, Persians and Turkomans were continually struggling for 
the pastures of the border ranges, and especially for the upper course of the 
streams feeding the irrigation canals. In these contests the former were generally 
worsted, and gradually acquired such a dread of the nomads that in recent times 
they had almost ceased to resist them openly. The usual resource of the peasantry 
were the towers of refuge, thousands of which had been erected all over the frontier 
districts. The marauders might have even permanently occupied the uplands but 
for their nomad tastes attracting them continually to the open plains fringing the 
desert. Nevertheless some of their tribes remained here and there in possession 
of the conquered lands, where they either continued their wandering lives, shifting 
their camping- grounds with the seasons, or else established agricultural village 
communities. In Mazanderan, on the northern slopes of Elburz, in the riverain 



110 SOUTH- WESTERN ASIA. 

districts south of the Atrek and in Khorassan as far as the limits of the desert, 
numerous hamlets and encampments are met still occupied by the Turkoman 
descendants of the former steppe nomads. At present the same movement continues, 
but under a more pacific form, for the Khivan and Bokhara slave-markets are 
now closed, frontier warfare has ceased ; the towers of refuge, replaced by Russian 
outposts, are crumbling to ruins. 

The Kurdish populations of the western and north-western highlands are 
ethnicallj' distinct from the Turkomans, whom they resemble in their warlike 
spirit and habits. Occupying in Persia, Eussian Trans-Caucasia, and Turkish 
Armenia most of the frontier uplands, they are politically broken into detached 
sections, the most numerous and imited of which are foimd in Turkish territorj'. 
Here is the rallying-point of the whole race, those tribes only excepted which have 
been forcibly transplanted by the Iranian Government to the Persian Gulf, to the 
Kopet-dagh border ranges, and even to Mekran, in the midst of the Baluches on 
the south-east frontier. To the same ethnical group belong the Luri, who give 
their name to the province of Luristan, comprising the valleys of the Upper Kerkha 
basin. In speech they differ little from the Kurds, with whom, however, they 
would deem it an insult to be confounded, and to whom they apply the collective 
name of Lek. The chief Luri tribe, in some respects the most important in all 
Persia, are the Feili of the Upper Karim basin above Shaster and Dizful, where, 
according to Mourier, they comprise 100,000 tents under a thoroughly feudal 
system of government. 

The national type and usages have also been well preserved by the Bakht)-ari, 
that is, the " Fortimate" or "Brave," who occupy parts of Luristan and Susiana, 
and who are by some writers regarded as genuine Kurds, although now speaking 
Persian dialects. According to Duhousset, commander of a Bakhtyari regiment, 
they are the most brachycephalous of all Iranian races. Thickset, robust, and 
muscular like the Kurds, they are distinguished bj^ their brown complexion, black 
wavy hair, thick eyebrows, large aquiline nose, square chin, prominent cheek-bones, 
bearing altogether a marked resemblance to the figures represented on the coins of 
the Sassanides. They camp in summer on the pastures assigned to them by usage 
or usurped by force, and in winter occupy small villages on the plain or lower 
slopes of the hills. Their two great divisions — Haft Leng, or " Seven Feet," and 
Chatar Leng, or " Four Feet," — are divided into numerous tirhas or clans, family 
groups governed by patriarchal chiefs with the assistance of a council of elders. 
Some of the clans are regarded as specially ennobled, either through the genealogj' 
of their chiefs or by their wealth and heroic deeds. Others, occupying a j)Osition 
of vassalage or subjection to the more powerful tribes, are traditionally supposed 
to be of inferior Turki or Persian origin. Till recently the Bakhtyari were 
much dreaded as brigands and plunderers of caravans. Hence travellers from 
Shiraz or Ispahan to the Lower Euphrates basin carefully avoid their territory, 
although Mackenzie, who lately ventured amongst them, was well received and 
provided for.* 

* " Proceedings of the Roj-al Geographical Society," March, 1883. 



-' ""-n.M-roMLUNGiS. 




A BALTJCH MENDICANT. 



THE IRANIAN AEABS AND ARMENIANS. Ill 

The Arab and Baluch tribes are found concentrated chiefly in the districts 
bordering respectively on their native lands. Thus the Arab tribes, who claim to 
have originally migrated from Nejd, have their camping-grounds in the south- 
west, and especially in the part of the Karun plain which from them has received 
the name of Arabistan. So also the Persian Baluches dwell in the south-eastern 
province, which at one time formed part of Baluchistan, and which still retains that 
name. Floj-er describes them as in general taller and more robust than those of 
the Khanate of Kelat, and many of their clans claim membership with the family 
of the Rinds, or " Brave," dwelling on the Indian frontiers. In some districts 
they are no less dreaded than were the Tm-komans recently in Khorassan. Mounted 
on their swift camels, which cover as many as 90 miles a day, they have at 
times penetrated to the neighbourhood of Kirman and Yezd ; but, unlUve the 
Tui'komans, these marauders never kill their victims. 

Amongst the nomad tribes, estimated at a fourth, and even a third, of the whole 
population of the plateau, there are many who claim Arab descent, although now 
completely assimilated in speech and appearance to the Iranians. Such are the 
" Arabs " of the Yeramin district to the south-east of Teheran, who speak the local 
Persian dialect, and who cannot be distinguished physically from their neighbours. 

All the nomads, of whatever race, are comprised under the collective name of 
Iliats, or " families." Their numbers increase and diminish with the political 
vicissitudes of the country, and when a province suffers from the rapacity of its 
governor, or from any other cause, the Shehr-nishin, or " town Iliats," abandon 
their settlements, and resume their wandering life as Sahara-nishin, or " desert 
Iliats." But the Kauli, Lull or Karachi, as the Gipsies of Persia are variously 
called, undergo no change. Adapting themselves to all religions without believing 
in any, they closely resemble their European congeners in their tastes and pursuits. 
Forgers, tinkers, fortune-tellers, tramps, horse-dealers, robbers, or state couriers, 
they comprise altogether some 15,000 families, encamped here and there on the 
outskirts of the large towns. With them may be grouped the Luti, strolling 
minstrels, conjurers, owners of dancing- bears, and the like, although the term is 
commonly applied to any tribes associated together for the purpose of robbing or 
raiding. 

The Armenians, formerlj' very numerous, are now represented in Persia only 
by a few small communities. Most of those at one time settled in the northern 
districts of Azerbeijan, to the number of some 40,000 or 50,000, withdrew in 1828 
to Russian Armenia, where half of them perished of cold and hunger. Not 
more than 2,500 families remained in Azerbeijan, and beyond this province 
the chief Armenian settlement is that of IsjDahan, whither 12,000 families were 
removed under great hardships by Shah Abbas in 1605. Here they fl^ourished 
for a time, but were afterwards reduced to the greatest straits by the rapacity of 
the local governors. Of late years the Armenians in Persia are regarded almost as 
Russian subjects, and thus enjoy the special protection of the powerful Muscovite 
ambassador at the Court of Teheran. Many are nevertheless still driven by 
poverty to seek their fortimes in Trans-Caucasia, India, Constantinople, and even in 



112 .South-western asia. 

China and Java. The Armenian patriarch of Ispahan, when questioned by 
Polak, estimated his scattered flock at about 20,000 altogether. 

Still less numerous are the Persian Jews, who are greatly despised, and confined 
in the towns to a ghetto or separate quarter, as was formerly the case in Europe. 
Like their European brethren they offer two distinct types, one with handsome 
regular features, black eyes, and high brow, the other with broad faces, large 
nose, and crisp hair. All speak a Persian dialect with a peculiar accent and mixed 
with archaic expressions. As in Europe, they show a love of finery even in their 
pursuits, being generally embroiderers, silk-weavers, or jewellers. But amongst 
them are also found the best phj'sicians and nearly all the musicians of Persia. 

The European colony consists of a few adventurers and traders, besides the 
suites of the envoys, and such specialists as teachers, physicians, artisans, or military 
men employed by the Government. All look on themselves as visitors, and by the 
natives are shunned as strangers. Hence few settle in the country, although many 
Polish deserters from the Russian army have become Mussulmans, and are now 
classed as Iranians. 

The old Zoroastrian religion is now practised by a mere handful of Persians, 
and in a very different form from that which must have prevailed when the 
doctrines of the Zend-Avesta were first promulgated. The Zardushti, or Parsis, 
have their chief communities beyond Persia, in Bombay and the neighbouring 
towns. In Persia itself they form a compact body only in the district of Yezd, or 
Yezdan, that is, " City of Light," and even there they number little over 8,000. 
Yet down to the tenth century every village had its temple, its priests, and sacred 
writings. But since that time the "altars of fire " erected on the crests of the hills 
have all been destroyed," except that of Taft, near Yezd. The Guebres, however, 
still enjoy the privilege of burying their dead according to the old rites, and some 
isolated eminence near all their communities is crowned by a dakhmeh, or " Tower 
of Silence," where the bodies are exposed to the fowls of the air. The Guebres 
would have long ago been exterminated as detested idolators but for a letter of the 
Caliph Ali promising them his protection. But this document does not exempt 
them from the special tax extorted from the " infidel," and their numbers have 
till recently been constantly reduced hy the practice of kidnapping their female 
children and bringing them up in the Mohammedan faith. Even now the wealthy 
Guebre merchants are permitted to ride only on asses, and compelled to dismount 
whenever they meet a Mussulman. They are also obliged to wear some special 
marks or colours, by which the populace may be able to conveniently abuse them 
without the risk of attacking the " true believers." Nevertheless, the condition of 
the fire -worshippers has been greatly improved since the middle of the present 
century, thanks mainly to the national spirit of the Indian Parsis, who help their 
Iranian co-religionists with money, and have on several occasions induced the 
British Government to interfere on their behalf. Some few influential Persians 
have begim to show sympathy for a community which has remained faithful 
for so many ages to the old traditions of the land. Amongst the more recent 
sects some have also endeavoured to bring about a revival of the Zoroastrian cult. 



THE GUEBEES. 



113 



■whicli in the " Shah-nameli," the great national epic of Firclusi, seems even to be 
celebrated in terms of scarcely disguised irony towards the Moslem innovation. 
" Our fathers also worshipped God," he sings. " The Arabs turn in prayer towards 
a stone ; they turned towards the bright-coloured fire." The old religion is still 



Fig. 40. — Yezd and Neighbourhood. 
ScTle 1 : 1,800,000. 





'.1H»...' 


•^ 


Ardakan 






• r'.vbout 







t-' •!*' 



Sakhy,d„ 



. f'^^^'a 



ofGreenw.r^, 54-- 



recalled by many civil ceremonies still practised by the modern Persians. Thus in 
Khorassan strangers are met by a deputation of villagers bearing, winter and 
summer, a brazier fidl of burning embers ; and the great national feast is still 
that of the Nau-roz (" New Year ") kept on March 20th, in honour of the new 
spring sun. 

VOL. IX. I 



11-1 SOUTH-WESTEBX ASIA. 

The Guebres of Yezd aud Kirmau take a leading jjart in the trade with ludia, 
and ill all their dealings are favourably distinguished from the Persians by their 
honesty and truthfulness. Most of them, however, are veiy superstitious, allowing 
themselves to be blindly led by their mobeds, or priests, who repeat iu Pehlvi 
prayers aud formvdas uuiutelligible even to themselves. Religion has degenerated 
to an intricate ceremonial, the attention of the ministers beiug exclusively occupied 
with outward forms, attitude, arrangement of the sacred homa, and of the vessels 
contaiuiug the juice of this diviae plant (sarcostema vimi)utlis\ incense vases, 
mortars for poimding the ingredients of the traditional sweetmeats, and the like. 
The old dualistic faith itself has been gradually transformed to a monotheism, 
differing from that of the surrounding Mussulmans only in its outward form. In 
order to stand well with their neighbours the fire-worshippers now pretend that 
Zerdusht (Zoroaster), author of their sacred writings, is the same person that Jews, 
Christians, and Mohammedans recognise under the name of Abraham. A kind of 
schism has lately sprung ujj between the Persian and Indian Parsis, which, however, 
is due not to any question of dogma, but to some purely material poiats. Owing 
to their long separation, the two groups no longer keep the same calendar, and 
pronounce differently certaiu formulas of the common ritual. But in other respects 
their social usages remain much tbe same. Both expose their dead to the birds 
of the air, and amongst both commimities unions with closely-related kindi-ed 
continue to be contracted without any ajjparent deterioration of the race. 

Nine-tenths of the inhabitants of Persia belong officially to the Shiah sect, a 
form of Mohammedanism which the nation may be said to have adopted in a spirit 
of patriotic reaction agaiast the Arab and Turki Sunnites. AVIiile imposing their 
religion on the people, the conquering Arabs, or " eaters of lizards," as they are 
contemptuously called, failed to conciliate the friendship of the vanquished. 
Half a century had scarcely elapsed since the overthrow of the Sassanides dynasty 
before the political reaction began to be felt. The Persians showed greater 
zeal than the Arabs themselves for the maintenance of the Caliphate in Mo- 
hammed's family, a feeling due to the fact that his nephew and son-in-law, 
AH, had married his son Hussein to the daughter of the Persian king Yezijerd, 
last of the Sassanides. Thus was united in the family of Ali tbe blood of the 
Prophet with that of tbe hereditary Persian sovereigns. But by tbe massacre 
of the imfortunate caliph in the mosque of Kufa, and of his sons Hussein and 
Hassan at Kerbela, both lines were simidtaneously extinguished. Great was the 
grief of the Persian Mohammedans at this deplorable event, a grief much intensi- 
fied by the atrocious details of the sanguinary di-ama. These details soon passed 
into legend, and became a source of strife between the two empires, two hostile 
forces perjjetuating the everlasting struggle between the two princi^jlcs of the 
old Mazdean dualism.- Ali was placed on the same level as Mohammed by his 
partisans, who made him the icali, or lieutenant, of Allah himself. In the eyes of 
many Shiah sectaries Ali is the true successor of Ormuzd, while the Ali-Allahi 
(Nosairi or Naseri), who include not only Iranians, but also some Turks, and 
perhaps even some fragments of Jewish tribes and Nestorians, draw no distinction 



THE SHIAH SECT. 115 

between Allah and AH, the last and most perfect of his thousand earthly incarna- 
tions. There are also some sects devoted to the special worship of the twelve 
imams, the descendants of the venerated caliph. On the other hand, Omar is 
regarded as a sort of Satan, to be cursed by all true believers. Every year a 
special day is set apart to celebrate the death of Omar, and pilgrims flock in 
thousands to the supposed shrine of his mui-derer at Kashan. 

The Shiah sect gradually embraced the whole population of Persia, although it 
did not become the State religion till the beginning of the sixteenth centmy, at the 
succession of the Sefvide dynasty. It is still spreading, both in Afghanistan and 
amongst the Trans-Caucasian Tatars, and gives proof of its vitality by the develop- 
ment of a national Hteratm-e, which has grown up independently of priestly 
influence. Formerly Ali and his sons were commemorated only by prayer, lamen- 
tations, funeral processions, accompanied by those voluntary tortures which render the 
Shiah ceremonies such a harrowing spectacle to onlookers. The jjersons of the drama 
— Ali, Hussein, Hassan, the women and children massacred at Kerbela — figured in 
these representations merely as dumb witnesses of the tragedy. But they have 
now become actors, and the tazie/i, like the mediaeval " mysteries," are now real 
dramatic pieces, into which the authors, for the most part unknown, have intro- 
duced monologues, dialogues, unforeseen incidents, departing even from the legend 
in order to enhance the interest of the situation. Theatrical companies, mostly 
natives of Ispahan, who of all Persians are credited with the finest voices and 
purest accent, have been formed to give representations in all the large towns. 
Other scenes, besides the Kerbela tragedy, have even been exhibited, and thus is 
slowly being developed a national drama. The families of the Se//eds, all claiming 
descent from the prophet, who form at least a fiftieth jiart of the whole Persian 
jDopulation, take a special part in the management of the tazieh. 

Besides these political dissensions, many doctrinal and ceremonial differences 
have gradually widened the schism between the two great divisions of Islam. In 
Persia the old caste of the magi has undergone a slow reformation ; the sacerdotal 
hierarchy has assumed a much more definite form than amongst the Sunnites, and 
the Koran, elsewhere freely interpreted by the faithful, is in Persia read and 
commented on only by the MoUahs. Images, held in horror by the Sunnites, give 
no offence to a Shiah, and a picture of the prophet Ali may be seen in almost every 
house in the coimtry. Hence in some respects the Shiah sect indicates a return to 
the pre-Mohammedan religions, and the charge brought against it by the Sunnites 
of still clinging to the Zoroastrian cult would seem to be not altogether groundless. 

On the other hand, most Persians secretly entertain sentiments very different 
from those of the official religion. The metaphysical speculations, to which all are 
prone, have brought about a great variety of beliefs, and the same individual will 
often pass successively from one system to another. Conflicting of)inions are thus 
mutually neutralised, and great religious movements become abnost impossible. 
Although the clergy reserve to themselves the right of interpreting the sacred 
writings, every Persian fancies himself a theologian, and fearlessly approaches the 
most abstract subjects, even at the risk of heresy. All, however, are held to be 

I 2 



116 SOUTH-WESTEEN ASIA. 

justified in concealing their inmost convictions, and outwardly jjrofessing a faith 
they inwardly reject. The ^^Titings of the sectaries, like those of so luanj- medieval 
philosophers, have two perfectly distinct meanings, the official or orthodox, and the 
hidden or mystic, the key of which is held by the disciples, and discussed in the 
secret conventicles. In refined circles the most pre^■alent doctrine is that of the 
Sufis, who disregard the Mussulman practices, and whose high-priest is Shemseddin, 
better known by the name of Hafiz. This delightful poet, who flourished in the 
fourteenth century, proclaimed in exquisite verse the superiority of human morals 
to all mystic formulas and to all hope of reward. By constantly repeating these 
verses and the words of then- own great writers, the Sufis give expression to their 
religious indeijendeuce, which for some is the merest scepticism and for others is 
allied to metaphysical speculations. Most of the Sufis would be classed in Europe 
with the pantheists, believing as they do in the intimate imion of all things with 
God, consequently recognising their own divinity, and regarding themselves as the 
centre of all things. Certain cynical Mollahs suggest that Sufi doctors recommend 
the intoxication of hashish or opium, because in the attendant visions all objects 
become commingled or transformed, all outliaes fade away, and the dreamer is again 
merged in the primeval wave of universal divinity. The Persians are mostly only 
too prone to seek this ecstatic state in the intoxicating effects of narcotics or 
alcoholic drinks, eagerly degrading themselves in their desire to contemplate the 
universal godhead in their own hallucinations. 

But during the present century society has been most deeply moved by the sect 
of the Babists, who have not limited their action to religious pro8elyti8m, but by 
invading the field of politics have been the cause of sanguinary civil strife. To 
their theological views, in which a great part was played by the theory of numbers 
and jDoints regarded as divine manifestations, the disciples of Mirza Ali Moham- 
med, better known by the name of Bab, or " Gate," superadded the ideal of a new 
social system realised in theii' own commimities. They recognised no method of 
government beyond benevolence, mutual affection, courtesy, even in serious cases 
tolerating no remedy except the appeal to an umpire. In the education of children 
the rod was laid aside, and even during study hours no check was put on their 
play, laughter, or on " anything conducive to their happiness." Bab condemns 
polygamy, divorce, the veil ; he advises the faithful to be solicitous for the welfare 
of their women, to consult their pleasure and tastes, and refuse them no finery 
becoming their personal appearance. Hence the women eagerly adopted Babism, 
and amongst its apostles no one has left a greater name for devotion, zeal, and 
eloquence than the fair Zerrin Taj, or " Golden Crown," surnamed also Gurret-ul- 
Ain, or " Consolation of the Eyes." By several European writers the Babi have 
been wrongly classed with the Communist sects. But although Bab did not recom- 
mend a communitj^ of goods, he exhorted the wealthy to regard themselves as trustees 
for the substance of the poor, and to share their superabimdance with the needy. 

When his doctrines were first formulated, neither he nor his followers had any 
thought of acquiring civil power. But they were di-iven to revolt by the 
persecutions of the priests, alarmed for the stability of their status. After the 



TOPOGEArHT— MESHED. 117 

sanguinary struggles of 184S all the BabI of Mazanderan were put to the sword, 
the city of Zenjan delivered up to fire and massacre, and Bab himself put to death. 
Some of those who had escaped having attempted to revenge themselves on the 
person of the Shah, an order was issued for the extermination of all still professing 
the doctrines of Ali Mohammed. The captives were then distributed amongst 
the State officials, who vied with each other in giving proof of their loyalty by the 
refinement of the tortures inflicted on their wretched ^•ictims. Some were hacked 
to pieces with knives, some slowly flayed or dissected piecemeal, some bound hand 
and foot with iron fetters and scourged to death. Women and children moved 
about amid the executioners, stuck all over with bui-ning torches, and so consimied. 
Above the silence of the awe-stricken multitude nothing was heard but the shouts 
of the tortui-ers and the song, growing fainter and fainter, of the tortured, " Yerily 
we came from God, and unto Him we return." 

Nevertheless these butcheries do not appear to have entirely suppressed Babism, 
which is commonly believed to be more flom-ishiug than ever, and all the more 
formidable that its operations are now conducted in secret. In Persia it has no 
recognised heads, although amongst its followers are some of the high-priests of 
the State religion, who correspond freely with Bab's successor, now resident in 
Asiatic Turkey. But whatever real power he may possess, it is none the less 
certain that Persia is now passing through a critical period of her social life. 
Many inward changes indicating a fresh development of the national genius seem 
to be imminent at the very moment that the ever-increasing pressure from without 
threatens to deprive her of the last semblance of political autonomy. 

Topography. 

In proportion to the whole population, the m-ban element is far more 
considerable in Iran than in Cis-gangetic India. The relative area covered by the 
large towns is also, as a rule, much greater than in Europe. The houses are low 
and surrounded by coui-ts and other structures, whUe the palaces of the nobles 
occupy extensive quarters, where the stranger may easily lose his way m a 
labyrinth of courts and passages. Yet these buildings seldom last long, every 
fresh proprietor allowing his predecessor's residence to fall in ruins, either through 
love of change or perhaps to avoid the misfortimes by which he may have been 
overtaken. Fresh edifices are thus raised by the side of the old palaces, and the 
city continues to grow in size if not in population. Hence the crumbling ruins, 
often covering large spaces, have been wrongly appealed to by many travellers as a 
proof that the country was formerly much more densely peopled than at present. 

Few cities occupy a less advantageous position than Meshed, present capital of 
Khorassan, and the largest place in north-east Persia. To the tomb of the imam 
Reza, one of All's disciples, it is mainly indebted for its present importance. Meshed 
the " holy " having been a mere village before the remains of that " saint " began 
to attract pUgrims in thousands to his shrine. Lj-ing 3,100 feet above the level of 
the sea, in a dry and very moderately fertile plain some six miles south of the 



118 SOUTH-AVESTEEN ASIA. 

Kasliaf-rud, a western trihutar}' of the Herat River, it enjoys easj* communication 
only witli tlie Ujiper Atrek basin, running north-west between the parallel Kopet- 
dagh and Ala-dagh ranges. To reach any other part of Khorassan loft)' mountains 
must be crossed, on the west towards Nishapur and Damghan, on the south and 
south-east towards Turbat-Haidiri, Turbat-Sheikh-i-Jami, and Herat, on the north- 
east and north towards Sarakhs and Kelat-i-Nadir. But the highways followed by 
the pilgrims have become trade routes ; the hundred thousand faithful who j'early 
visit the imam's shrine have brought commerce in their wake, and Meshed has 
succeeded Herat as the commercial metroijolis of Khorassan. Under Nadir-Shah 
it was for a short time capital of the whole emj^ire. 

The only interesting monument in the holy city is the mosque, whose golden 
cupola rises above Reza's tomb nearly in the geometrical centre of the place. No 
European has hitherto succeeded in penetrating undisguised into this building, which 
in the eyes of the faithful would be polluted by his presence. The precincts, 
however, serve as a place of refuge for criminals, and this convenient sanctuary has 
contributed not a little to the enlargement of the city. All pilgrims visiting the 
shrine receive twice a day for a week a plate of pilaw at the expense of the imam's 
establishment, that is, of the five hundred priests who live on the contributions and 
endowments of the mosque. The library attached to it contains nearly three 
thousand works, including some of great value. The Khiaban, or central avenue, 
running for about two miles east and west between the Herat and Kuchan gates, is 
divided by the m.osque into two sections, planted with shady trees, lined by 
numerous shops, and watered by a running stream, which, however, is little better 
than an open sewer. Within the ramparts are vast spaces occupied by cemeteries, 
whither are brought from distances of 300 miles the bodies of devout Mussulmans 
anxious to ascend into heaven in company with the imam Reza. Some gardens 
are also comprised within the enclosures, beyond which are other cultivated grounds, 
not, however, sufiicient for the support of the inhabitants, who depend for their 
supplies mainly on the caravans. In exchange these take carpets, arms, metal work, 
and vases of "black stone," a species of steatite jaelded by the neighbouring 
quarries. Amongst the inhabitants of Meshed are a few hundred Jews, who were 
compelled in 1835 to purchase their lives bj' conversion to Islam, but who are 
merely nominal Mohammedans, still cherishing the old faith in secret. 

The plain stretching north-west of Meshed and draining to the Heri-rud is 
dotted over with Kurdish villages, fortified against the attacks of the Turkoman 
marauders. In this region, which is one of the granaries of Persia, and noted for 
its excellent breed of camels, are also situated the towns of Kasimahad and Radkan, 
the latter near the marshes about the sources of the Kashaf-rud. North of 
Kasimabad stand the ruins of the famoiis city of Tus, where Harun-ar-Rashid died, 
and where, in 940, was born the poet Firdusi, author of the "Shah-nameh." The 
little shrine which tiU the beginning of the present century stiU marked the site 
of his tomb has since disappeared. 

The towns Ipng on the northern slope of the mountains north of Meshed have 
hitherto been prevented from flourishing by the incessant border warfare with the 



TOrOGRAPnY— MESHED. 



119 



Fig. 41-— Tower of Meimandan on the 



Eoi-TE from Pamohan to Meshed. 




LorZ^fet^ Jjg 



Tuvkcnan raiders. But since the pacitication of this -»-- Y;.-";;^;,* ^ 
Tekkes, Mokammcdabad, Lutfabad, and other places on the fertile slopes of 



120 SOUTH-WESTEEN ASIA. 

Deregliez (" Tamarind Valley "), cannot fail to become important centres of trade 
between Persia and the Caspian basin. But how many ruined cities are shown over 
these productive regions, formerly cultivated by the industrious inhabitants of 
Margiana ! From the spurs of the mountains projecting Into the Tejen valley, the 
horizon appears in many places fringed with the countless remains of walls and 
ramparts quivering in the mirage. Here and there whole towns with their streets, 
squares, and citadels, have remained in almost as perfect a state of preservation as 
when they were first abandoned. But their only denizens are now the prowling 
leopard and jackal. One of these phantom cities is Khivahad, peopled by Nadir- 
Shah with captives from Khiva and Bokhara, but where no native would now 
dare to take up his abode. The Turkomans who cultivate the surrounding lands, 
all dwell in the plain of the Tejen, some 16 or 18 miles farther north. Khusru- 
tepe, or the " Hill of Khosroes," a much more ancient place, lying to the east of 
Lutfabad, is shunned in the same way, notwithstanding the efforts of the Khan of 
Dereghez to found a Tiu-koman settlement within its enclosures. Some of these 
places have had to be abandoned owing to the shifting of the rivers. Such was 
Abiverd, which still figm-es on most maps, although it has been long replaced by 
Kalik, towards which now flows the copious river Lain-su. Various ruins desig- 
nated by the name of Kailich, Kalisa, or Kalisi, a term wrongly identified with 
ecelesia, or " church," arc commonly supposed to attest the existence of ancient 
Nestorian communities in this region. But this word would appear in most cases 
to be simply the Persian Kalasa, a well, and especially the watering-places main- 
tained at intervals in the desert, for the use of caravans and pilgrims to Mecca.* 

A ruined tower near Mohammedahad, present capital of the Dereghez district, 
marks the site of the tent where was born the famous Turkoman conqueror, Nadir- 
Shah. He gives his name to Kidat-i-Nadir, or " The Castle of Nadir," which 
stands on the almost impregnable plateau commanding the Tejen valley, between 
Mohammedahad and Sarakhs. Kelat is the chief military station of the district, 
and here the Persian Government maintains a strong garrison. But the most 
jealously defended strategic point on the north-east frontier is the town of Sarakhs, 
which stands on the Heri-rud (Tejen) at its entrance to the Turkoman territory. 
Even more than Merv, Sarakhs may be regarded as the gate of India ; for from 
this point access might be most easily obtained to the Herat valley between Persia 
and Afghanistan. Hence, according to MacGregor, Sarakhs must one day become 
the bulwark of British India or the point of attack for Russia. Its present 
population consists of Persian troops, Jewish traders, and a few Turkoman residents. 
The surrounding district is little cultivated, although it might easily be converted 
into a vast cornfield by means of irrigating canals from the Tejen, and by the water 
which is found everywhere by sinking wells to a depth of 18 or 20 feet. 

South of Meshed the only to\vn in the Henri-rud basin is Turbat-Sheikh-i-Jami, 

which lies on the Jam, near the Afghan frontier. TurukJi and Sherifabad, situated 

farther west, derive some importance from their position at the junction of the 

pilgrim routes converging from the west, south, and east, on ileshed. In this 

* A. H. Keane, in Xaturc, for Feb. 15, 18S3. 



TOrOGEAPHY-NISHArUE. 



121 



district are tlie salt liills of Kafir- Kalali, wheuce tke surrounding region derives its 
supplies. North-west of the Sherifabad Pass, that of Dahrud connects the Meshed 
with the Nishapur valley. Owing to the snows the ascent is difficult, and some- 
times blocked altogether in winter. But from these uplands, which attaia an 
elevation of probably 10,000 feet, the road leads south-westwards down to one of 
the most fertile and picturesque regions in the whole of Persia. Here the villages 

Fig. -12. — JIesheu and KELAT-i-N.\Dm. 
Scale 1 : 1,200,000. 




disappear beneath the dense foliage of the fruit-trees, ever)^ valley has its splashing 
streams, waterfalls flash between the fissures of the rocks, the path winds amid 
flowery meads. Accustomed to the shifting dunes, sandy or saline wastes, and 
swamps of the Kevir, the traveller asks in amazement whether this can stiU be the 
same region of East Persia, elsewhere so arid and destitute of vegetation. Nishcqna; 
the Nisaya or Nisoa blessed by Ormuzd, the birthplace of the Dionysos of Greek 
legend, one of the Iranian " paradises," and present capital of this district, 



122 SOUTH-WESTERN ASIA. 

certainlj' offers far greater advaatages than Meshed as the metropolis of East Iran. 
By Ibn Hankal it is mentioned with Herat, Merv, and Balkh, as one of the four 
capitals of Khorassan ; and Yakut, who had traversed the whole Mohammedan 
world, could find no place worthy to be compared with it. Before the Mongol 
invasion it was described as the most flourishing and populous city in the world, 
and its destruction was spoken of as the greatest calamity that had ever befallen 
Islam. At present Nishapur is still a lifeless place, notwithstanding the fertility 
of the surrounding j^lains, which yield excellent fruits, cereals, cotton, and other 
produce. The Binalud hills, separating it from Meshed, abound in gold, silver, 
copper, tin, lead, and iron ores, besides saltpetre, marbles, and several varieties of 
choice malachite and turquoises. 

Sebzeicar occupies a narrow valley between two salt deserts west of K^ishapur 
on the Teheran route. It is separated by a lofty range from the flourishing town 
of SuUanahad, which lies in a well-watered and productive district surrounded by 
extensive pasture-lands said to be occiqDied by some 8,000 Nomad Baluch families. 
Another commercial centre in this region is Turhat-i-Hardari (^Turhat-Isakhan^, 
which lies in a secluded mountain valley 4,500 feet above the sea, on the route 
between Meshed and KIrman. South-east of it is the town of Ehaf, near the 
Afghan frontier, which derives some importance from its position as capital of the 
Taimuri Aimaks. Of the few noteworthy places in the arid and less populous 
region of Southern Khorassan, the most frequented by the caravans are Bajistan, 
lying to the south of Sultanabad, Kakli, famous for its embroidered silk fabrics, and 
Tm, former capital of the district of Tun and Tebbes. Tun, traditionally said at 
one time to have possessed " two thousand mosques and two thousand tanks," has 
been succeeded as the administrative centre by Tchhcs, which Is situated much farther 
west, almost in the midst of the wilderness, at one of the lowest points of the 
plateau. Although without industries and inhabited by a wretched fanatical 
population, Tebbes is important as the last station on the western verge of the hiEy 
Khorassan region for caravans crossing the great desert in the direction of Yezd 
and Ispahan. Here the traveller finds at least pure water and a grateful shade, 
while the neighbouring district yields dates, tobacco, opium, and assafoetlda for export. 

Kain, ancient capital of Kain or Kuhistan, a region stretching from Tun east- 
wards to Afghanistan, lies on the confines of the wilderness, which in this direction 
reaches to Farah beyond the frontier. Kain, whose ramparts and 8,000 houses are 
mostly ia ruins, has been succeeded by the present capital, Birjand (^Mihrjan), one 
of the busiest places in East Persia. But the so-called " Birjand " carpets, famous 
throughout West Irania, are woven almost exclusively in the village of Daraks/i, 
50 miles to the north-east, by artisans originally from Herat. Nih, in the neigh- 
bourhood of Sistan, is noted for its copious hot springs, which, like fresh water, are 
drawn off to the underground galleries for irrigation purposes. But the neigh- 
bouring lead and copper mines, once extensively worked, are now abandoned. That 
this region was formerly far more civilised and prosperous than at present is also 
evident from the ruins scattered over Sistan, the ancient Sej estan, along the routes from 
Nih to the Hllmcnd. This birthplace of the legendary Rustem was mainly the scene 



TOrOGRAPHT— KUCHAX— SHIRWAN. 1 23 

of the heroic history of Iran, and even since those remote epochs the Sistani have 
more than once influenced the destinies of Persia. Nasirahad, the present capital, 
lies nearlj' midway between the Hamun depression and the Hilmend. It had been 
preceded by Sahuha, whose citadel still crowns one of the thi-ee eminences whence 
this place takes the name of the " Three HiUs." Here the fertile frontier district, 
watered by canals from the Hilmend, is defended by Kalah-nrin (" New Castle"), 
one of the best-constructed and picturesque strongholds in Persia. 

The north-west corner of Khorassan, comprising the valley of the Atrek, 
belongs to the Caspian basin. Near the low water-parting between the Atrek and 
Kashaf-rud lies the city of Kabushan, or Kuchan, at an elevation of 4,200 feet 
above sea level. Thanks to this position, it enjoys a mild climate, in which the 
grafie ripens ; but the district is exposed to violent earthquakes, by which Kuchan 
has been frequently laid in ruins. Nevertheless it is still a flourishing place, 
doing a large traffic in horses, wool, and agricultural produce. Owing to its 
position near the water-parting, it is also an important strategical place, where the 
Government maintains a garrison and permanent encampment. Two miles to the 
north-east is shown the hill where Nadir-Shah was killed while besieging the 
revolted city. 

Farther do-svn the Atrek valley follow the picturesque towns of Skirwan and 
Biijnurd, the latter lying on a southern affluent of the main stream, and noted for 
its delicate silk fabrics. TV^est of this place there are no important towns either in 
the Atrek basin or in the Upper Gurgeu vallej% which are inhabited oul}^ by 
nomad jDopidatious. But the south-east corner of the Caspian, a position of great 
natural and historical importance, is occupied by Astrahad, at the converging- 
point of all the main routes between Iran and Turan. Astrahad also enjoys the 
local advantages derived from its fertile and well-watered surroundings, and its 
proximity to one of the least dangerous seaports of the Caspian, In this district 
the chief ethnical element is the Kajar Turkoman tribe, of which the present 
roj^al family of Persia is a member. The old palace of the khans in the centre of 
the town still serves as the residence of the provincial authorities ; but Astrahad 
itself is a mere aggregate of hovels encircled by crumbling walls and infested by 
packs of jackals and half-savage dogs. Its industries are restricted to felt, carpets, 
and soap made of sesame oil ; but the neighbouring districts, watered by the 
Kara-su and the Gurgen, yield abundant crops, pomegranates, and other fruits of 
prime quality. The outport for this produce is Kenar-Oaz (^Bandar- Gas, or simply 
(?«s), which lies some 24 miles west of Astrabad and south-east of the Russian 
island of Ashm-adeh. From this jjlace the Armenian traders export considerable 
quantities of cotton and boxwood from the neighbouring hills. 

Besides its defensive works, the j)laLu of Astrabad is studded with numerous 
sepulchral moimds and other structures, the most remarkable of which are those of 
Gumish-tepe, or the " Silver Hill," near the mouth of the Gurgen. Gumish-tepe, 
so-named from the silver coins often picked up among its debris, is regarded by 
the local population as the work of Alexander. In any case it forms a link in a 
series of important military works, being connected with the Karasuli moimd by 



124 



SOUTH-WESTERN ASIA. 



the Kizil-Alan, or " Red Wall," which is continued as far as Bujmird by a triple 
line of ramparts, indicated by a series of eminences along the water-parting between 
the Gurgen and Atrek. These earthworks, which during the Middle Ages served 
as the Persian line of defence against the formidable Yajuj and Majuj hordes, 
have a total length of over 300 miles. They run by the old city of Gurgen, 
terminating towards the Caspian in a number of causeways carried over the inter- 
vening marshes. Here the village of Gumish-tepe is one of the few permanent 
encampments of the Yoniud Turkomans, who own about a hundred smacks, and 



Fig. 43. — KrsHAN and Souuce of the Atrek. 
Scale 1 : 1,800,000. 









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capture enormous quantities of fish at the mouth of the Gurgen. From these they 
prepare the caviare which is exported to Russia by the local Armenian dealers. 

"West of Astrabad the Mazanderan seaboard contains no towns or structures of 
any size until we reach the famous palaces of Aslnrf, erected by Shah-Abbas on 
the slopes of a headland commanding an extensive view of Astrabad Bay and the 
Caspian. These edifices, built in separate blocks within a common enclosure, are 
in a ruinous state, having suffered much from the followers of the rebel Cossack 
Stephen Razin, from fires, and the ravages of time. Very few of the apartments 



TOPOGEAPHY— BAEFRUSH— EESHT. 125 

are still inbabitatle ; but the surroimding- gardens and thickets are unrivalled in 
Persia for the -wealth and variety of their vegetation. Sari, -which lies farther 
-west in the district -n-atered by the Tcjen, is also a decayed place, whose popidation 
has fallen from over 30,000 at the beginning of the century to little more than 
7,000. Sari is a very old place, which D'Anville and Eennell haA'e endeavoured to 
identify -with the ancient Zadi-a-Karta, the largest city in Hyrcania, -n'here the 
army of Alexander stopped to sacrifice to the gods. Feridun, the legendary hero 
of Persia, is supposed to lie buried under a mosque which stands on the site of a 
temple of fire, while a ruined tower in the vicinity is said to have formed part of 
the tomb of his two sons. Like Ashref, Sari is surroxmded by a vast garden, and 
the neighbouring plains covered with midberrj', cotton, rice, and sugar plantations. 
Its outjoort on the Caspian is Farah-abad, at the mouth of the Tejen, whose 
inhabitants are chiefly occupied with fishing and the preparation of caviare. In 
the time of Pietro della Yalle (1618), Farah-abad (Ferhabad), which Shah-Abbas 
had recently foimded, was the chief city in Mazanderan, with several streets a 
league in length, and a superficial area equal to, if not greater than, that of Eomc 
or Constantinople. 

Bar/rush (^Bar/crush or Bar-furuf/i^ is a much more modern place than the 
neighbom'ing Sari. Three centuries ago it was a mere "VTllage ; but thanks to its 
healthy position and greater facilities of communication with Teheran over the 
Elburz Passes, it has gradually become the most important city of Persia on the 
Caspian seaboard. Its bazaar is one of the best stocked in the East, and its seaport 
of Meshed-i-Ser, at the mouth of the river Balul, is the busiest place along the 
whole coast, not-withstanding its difficult approaches. The staple export is raw 
cotton shipped by the Armenian traders in exchange for Russian wares. AU-ahad, 
lying south-east of Barfrush, is the agricultm-al centre of the sm-rounding sugar, 
cotton, and rice-gro-wing districts. South-west of the same place is the small town 
of Sheikh-Tabrisi, memorable for the massacre of its Babi defenders, not one of 
whom sur-dved. 

Like Sari, Amul or Amol is an historic place, which in the time of Yacut ranked 
as the first city in Tabaristan, as Mazanderan was then called. And, although it 
has lost its famous carpet and cotton industries, Amid still remains the great 
mart for the agricultiu'al produce of the whole region between Elburz and the 
Casjjiau. Here terminates the carriage road that has been constructed from the 
capital through the Lar valley, east of Demavend, down to the Mazanderan 
plains. From this point to the Sefid-rud Delta, a distance of some 150 mUes, the 
strip of open country between the hills and the coast is too narrow for the develop- 
ment of any large centres of population. Towards its western extremity are the 
copious sidphur-springs kno-wn as Ab-i-Germ, or "Hot Waters," and farther on 
large quantities of hard asphalte are collected and worked into jewellery. 

In the districts of Ghilan, east of the Sefid-rud, the chief places are Lengherud 
and Lahijan. Eesht, the largest city in this province, lies west of the river in an 
imhealthy swampy district crossed by the main route from the plateaux to the 
"Dead "Water," or Gulf of Enzeli. From this seaport Eesht receives large 



12G SOUTn-A\TiSTEEN ASIA. 

quantities of caviare, reed mats, and ornamental birds' feathers, and through ihc 
same place it exports raw silks, cocoons, carpets, and other local produce. The 
trade of Resht is chiefly in the hands of Russian Armenians and Jews, 
although Hindu Baniahs, and even Povindahs from Afghanistan, have heen met in 
its streets, together with European merchants. In the neighbouring lagoon of the 
Murd-ab, or "Dead Water," over two million perch {litciojjerca^ have been taken 
in a year, and as many as 300,000 carp {cijpri)itis cephallus) in a single day. Enzeli, 
one of the worst anchorages in the Caspian, lies about 18 miles north-west of 
Resht, facing the bar over which the sea communicates with the shallow lagoon. 
The difficulties of transport across this lagoon and the dangerous roadstead are the 
great obstacles to the development of the local trade, which would be increased 
fourfold by the construction of a navigable canal connecting Resht with a good 
artificial seaport. But the commercial question is affected by political considera- 
tions, for the Persian Government naturally fears to excite the cixpidity of Russia 
by fully develoj^ing the natural resources of the Caspian seaboard. Nevertheless, 
the time cannot be very remote when effect must be given to some of the 
nimierous projects for connecting Resht with Teheran by a railway running from 
the Ghilan coast, through the Sefid-rud valley, up to the Iranian plateau. As 
soon as the Russian lines are connected with those of Trans-Caucasia, a further 
continuation of the system in the direction of Persia will become a primary 
necessity of international traffic. 

At present the route from the coast to the interior does not follow the natural 
opening of the Sefid-rud valley, but ascends in abrupt inclines to the heights 
flanking its western edge. Here the town of Rudbar, or Rudbar of the Olives, as it 
is often called, covers a space of at least 3 miles in a plain thickly planted with 
fruit-trees, and especially with olives. The latter, which flourish in no other part 
of Persia, are employed chiefly in the manufactiu'e of soap. Higher up the bridge 
of Mcnjhil, just below the confluence of the Shah-rud and Kizil-uzen, which unite 
to form the Sefid-rud, is taken as the limit of the two provinces of Ghilun and 
Irak-Ajemi. The southern approach of the routes, descending beyond the hills down 
to the Ashabad plains, is guarded by Sharud, whose position thus secures to it some 
strategic and commercial importance. Some 4 miles to the north is Bostani, which, 
like Shahrud, is surrounded by forests of apricot, fig, mulberry, and apple trees. 
On the neighboui-ing upland pastures are bred some of the finest horses in Persia. 
Bamghan, lying to the south-west of Shahrud, and like that place one of the chief 
stations between Meshed and Teheran, was formerly a very large city, whose ruins 
still cover a vast space. But among them no traces have yet been discovered of 
ancient monuments, although Damghan (Damaghan) is usually identified with the 
old Parthian capital, to which the Greeks had given the title of Hecatonpt/los, or 
the " City of the Himdred Gates." In any case Damghan shares with Shahrud 
the advantage of standing at the converging-point of numerous routes from the 
Elburz highlands and Iranian plateau. And if no ancient buildings are here found, 
tradition at least speaks of a " Silver City," said to have flourished in the neigh- 
bourhood. The prosjierity of Damghan was due chiefly to tlie irrigating waters. 



OF THE 

UNIVERSlTy Of ILLINOIS. 



TOPOGEAPnY— TEHEEAN. 127 

derived tliroiigh undergroimd galleries from the Elburz range, and Yacut describes 
as one of the finest monuments he had ever seen the reservoir supplying Damghan, 
the one hundred and twenty villages and tobacco-fields of the surroimding district. 

Seinnan, which lies also on the Teheran route, although strategically less impor- 
tant than the " City of the Hundred Gates," is equally populous, while its mosques, 
caravanserais, public baths, and other buildings are in a better state of repair. 
From this point to Teheran there is no other large town on the main highway, the 
vital importance of which is attested by numerous forts, artificial mounds, and 
other defensive works scattered along the route. In the popular belief, all the 
topes in this region are the remains of towers formerly raised by the fire- worshippers, 
hence still known as Ghebr-abad, or " Dwellings of the Ghebrs." Most of them 
have been used as entrenched camps, and the bonfires kindled on their summits 
often served to flash the tidings of warlike movements across the salt desert. 

Of the ancient Vermnin, whose name survives in that of the surrounding 
district, nothing now remains except a ruined fortress, a few country residences, 
and a fine m.osque dating from the fourteenth century. Yet Veramin preceded 
Teheran as capital of Persia, and the neighbouring village of Aiican-i-Kaif still 
guards the western approach to the pass, which by most historians has been 
identified as the famous " Caspian Gate." 

Teheran, the present capital of the Shah's dominions, although situated on the 
verge of the desert, does not occuj)y such an inconvenient geographical position as 
is generally supposed. It lies nearly in the centre of the great crescent formed by 
the Elburz range south of the Caspian, and it thus commands both the eastern 
and western provinces. It also communicates by easy passes over the Elburz 
range north-eastwards with Mazanderan and Astrabad, north-westwards with 
Ghilan, and over the older capitals, Shiraz and Ispahan, it possesses the further 
advantage of presenting a strategical front to Russia, that is, the power from whom 
Persia has most to fear. Lastly, standing at an altitude of 3,860 feet above the 
sea, it enjoys a relatively temperate climate with the convenience of cool, healthy 
retreats during summer on the southern slo^^es of the neighbouring Elbm-z Mountains. 

Teheran, or rather Tihran, the " Pure," is a modern city, heir to the Rhai of 
the Arabs, which had itself succeeded the older capital, Raghes. The walls of 
Rhai, with a circumference of over 21 nules, are still visible in the plain stretching 
to the south of Teheran. But with the exception of two towers, nothing now 
remains within the enclosure, which has been converted into a cultivated tract, 
where the plough occasionally tm-ns up a few gold and silver coins. Repeatedly 
captured and destroyed, Rhai never recovered from its overthrow by the Mongo- 
lians in the thirteenth century, when its surviving inhabitants were transferred to 
Teheran, which at that time was regarded as a northern dependence of the capital. 
But the religious sanctuary, as so often happens, continued to be maintaiaed in the 
fallen city, which was traditionally said to be the birthplace of Zoroaster. An old 
suburb of Rhai, containing the tomb of the martyr Shah Abdul Azim, has become 
a small town of that name, with bazaaj-s, baths, and shady avenues converging on 
the mosque containing the imam's shrine. 



128 



SOUTH- WESTEEN ASIA. 



The present fortifications of Teheran, modelled on those of Paris, but built of a 
less dui-able material, already show numerous signs of decay, and although capable 
of resisting a local insurrection, thej' could offer no serious obstacle to modern 
artillery. A second enclosure has recently been planned and partly constructed, 
which is intended to include all the suburbs, thus doubling the official extent of the 
citj', although the space contained within the old walls is still far from being built 



Fig. 41. — Teheran. 

Scale 1 : 225,000. 




E . of Gr<,en.v.ct. 



over. The approach to Teheran presents no domes, towers, or other striking 
objects, but the gates with their fine pointed archways, columns, and elegant 
enamelled porcelain decorations, show that amid the general decadence the Persian 
race has at least preserved its artistic taste and originality. Within the walls two 
distinct influences are everywhere apparent : the old conservative spirit, and the 
mania for imitating everj'thing Euroj^ean. The grand bazaar resembles those of 
other Eastern cities, while the neighbom-hood of the palace is akeady laid out with 




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TEHERAN. 



129 



shops aud houses in the western taste. Elsewhere the whole place is maiiilj^ a 
labyrinth of narrow, crooked streets, obstructed by heaps of rubbish, full of deep 
ruts and pitfalls, cleansed only by dogs and jackals. Still the aristocratic quarters 
have their boulevard planted with trees, lighted by gas, and enlivened by elegant 
equipages. The neighbourhood, especially towards the north, is well irrigated by 
underground channels from the hills, aud covered with cultivated fields and 

FiV. 45, — Tf,het!\x — View take:j ox the Kasovi Eovte. 




gardens. In summer the wealthy classes migrate in this direction towards the 
northern heights, which are covered with villages and coimtrj^ seats, known by the 
collective name of Shemiran or Shimran. Here the Court retires to the roj-al j)alace 
of Niaveran, and removes later on to the banks of the Lar at the foot of Demavend, 
some 6,000 feet above sea level. In this pleasant retreat both English and Russian 
embassies have a simimer village, where the authority of the Queen and Czar 
is alone recognised. The inhabitants of Gul/iak, the British village, being exempt 

VOL. IX. K 



130 SOUTH-WESTERN ASIA. 

from taxation, are in a very prosperous state, and here is a little colony of Guebres 
largely employed as gardeners. 

Teheran is now connected bj' a fine carriage-road, 90 miles long, with Kasvin, 
which was itself at one time a capital city, and which has again acquired some 
importance from the reTival of trade between Persia and Caucasia. One of the 
chief stations on the same north-western route is Sultanieh, which preceded Ispahan 
as metropolis of the State, but which is now little more than a heap of ruins. 
Beyond it, in the same direction, lies Zenjan, the last town in Irak-Ajemi where 
Persian is still spoken. It is replaced on the northern side of the Kaflan-kuh 
range by Turki, which is the current speech of Mianeh, a wretched place on a head- 
stream of the Sefid-rud, dreaded by all travellers and infested by the argas Persica, 
a venomous insect whose bite, harmless to the natives, has occasionally proved 
fatal to strangers. Here died the illustrious French traveller Thevenot, in the 
year 1667. A little to the north-west lies the large village of Turkmanchai, 
celebrated for the treaty of 1828, by which Persia ceded to Russia the districts of 
Erivan and Xakhichevan, as well as the absolute possession of the Caspian Sea. 

Tabriz (Tebriz, Tauris\ capital of Azerbeijan, and till recently the most 
populous city in Persia, is the ancient Kandsag of the Armenians, which was 
founded at the end of the fourth century of the new era. It lies in the basin of 
Lake Urmiah, in the middle of a plain dominated southwards by the lofty Sehend 
volcano. The city is surrounded by thousands of well-watered gardens ; and 
although the enclosures are scarcely 11 miles in circiunference, it was described in 
1675 by Chardin as one of the great cities of the world, with 300 caravanserais, 
230 mosques, a bazaar containing- 15,000 stalls, and a total popiilation of 550,000. 
But since then it has been wasted, not only by fire and the sword, but also by five 
disastrous earthquakes, by which 70,000 persons are said to have perished in 1727 
and 40,000 in. 1780. To these causes is due the scarcity of fine monuments, 
notwithstanding the antiquity of Tabriz, the wealth of its merchants, the power 
and influence of its former rulers, the gi-eat beauty of the marbles, porphyries, 
lavas, and other materials available for building purposes. The citadel, a massive 
quadrangle 80 feet high, is the most imposing structure, since the almost total 
destruction in 1780 of the famous " Blue Mosque," a marvel of Eastern architecture 
and decorative art, of which nothing now remains except a few broken shafts and 
the fragments of a gateway. 

The commercial importance of Tabriz, combined with its vicinity to the Russian 
frontier, has caused it to be chosen as the residence of the heir to the throne. 
Lying at the north-west corner of the empire, near the Russian and Turkish frontiers, 
it has naturally become a great international entrepot, where Armenian and even 
European traders have settled in considerable numbers. The foreign exchanges 
were estimated by Frazer at about £1,000,000 in 1832, and the vast bazaar is always 
well stocked with English, Russian, and other European wares. Although very 
cold in winter, the surrounding district yields all the produce of the temperate zone, 
including almonds, apricots, and other fruits of prime quality. The baths of Lala, 
near the flourishing village of Sirdanid, are much frequented by the inhabitants, 



TJEMIAH— MIAEACtITA. 



131 



who also resort iu summer to the shady villages and mineral waters of the Sehend 
slopes. 

Ahnr, Ij'ing in the Araxis valley to the north-east of Tabriz, is noted chiefly 
for its rich iron mines, while equally productive cojjper mines are found in the 
neighbourhood of Ardchil, which is situated in the same basin close to the Russian 
frontier. North of this place, on the route to Caucasia, lies the ancient city of 
Marand, where the tomb of Noah's wife is shown by Christians and Mohammedans 
alike. "West of it lies the fortified town of Klioi, close to the Turkish frontier, 
noted especially for its mulberries. On the main route running from Khoi north- 
westwards to Erzerum and Trebizond, the only noteworthy place within the Persian 

Fig. 46. — Takht-i-Svlaiman. 
Scale 1 : 18,000. 




frontier is Malm, which stands at the foot of a hill pierced bj' a ya^\^liug cavern 
over 600 feet broad. 

Another grotto, traditionally said to have been occupied by Zoroaster, is found 
near the city of Urmiah (Urmij), which lies in a highly-cultivated and thickly- 
peopled plain sloping down to the great lake of like name. From the station of 
Seir, founded by the American missionaries in 1831, a delightfid view is commanded 
of this wooded plain with its " three hundred villages," inhabited chiefly by 
Nestorian Chaldeans, amongst whom Protestantism has made considerable progress 
in recent years. All these frontier towns carry on a large contraband trade across 
the borders with the adjacent Russian and Turkish provinces. 

Maragha, which is pleasantly situated on the southern slopes of Sehend, was 
famous in medireval times for its scientific establishments. Here lived during the 
second half of the thirteenth centurj^ the famous astronomer Nassir-Eddin, for 
whom the Mongol khan Hidagu built an observatory, which soon attracted students 

K '2 



132 



SOUTH-WESTEEN ASIA. 



from all quarters. South-west of this point formerly stood a flourishing city, whose 
ruins still encircle the lakelet of Tahht-i-Sulahnan. Here are the remains of a 
<^reat fire-temple, which, with the neighbouring buildings, have been identified by 
Hawlinson with the ruins of the Median capital Ecbafaiia. A modern legend has 
converted this place into the "Throne of Solomon," and in the north-east another 
hill is known as the Takht-i-Balkhis, where the Queen of Saba is supposed to have 

Fig. 47. — Hamadan and Mount Elvend. 
Scale 1 : 545,000. 




Iff 



HAMAMK 




E. ofGreenw.ck 



reigned. In this district are some cimeiform inscriptions, and an " inscribed 
stone " invoked by the Kurds as a sort of living magician. 

Hamadan, the ancient Ecbatana or Agbatana, and the Hagmatana of the 
cuneiform inscriptions, appears at the verj^ dawn of history as already a great city. 
As the capital of an empire it was favourably situated at a time when the centre of 
gravity of Irania was moving westwards. Lying about midway between the 
Caspian and Persian Gulf, on the very border of the Median and Persian frontiers, 
it commanded the water-parting of the two basins, and all the passes leading over 
the border range into Mesopotamia and Babylonia. But of the ancient Ecbatana 
nothing now remains except heaps of ruins, amid which archtcologists seek in vain 



HAMADAN. 



133 



for the site of tlie famous citadel where the Median sovereigus deposited their 
treasures, and where Alexander accumulated such prodigious quantities of plimder. 
Nevertheless the past greatness of Ecbatana is still recalled by the Takht-Ardeshir, 
or "Throne of Artaxerxes," a terraced eminence near the hiU which was formerly 
crowned by the central fortifications. Not far from the city are seen the remains 
of a lion carved out of a resonant block, and by the inhabitants regarded as a super- 
natural guardian of the city against cold and famine. A comparatively modern 
cupola is also held in great honour by the local Jews, who believe it to be the shrine 
of Esther and Mordecai. The Jewish commimity at Hamadan is the largest in 
Persia, comprising as many as one thousand families, but living in great misery. 

Fiff. 48. — The T?r,soNANT Lion of Hamapan. 




^ cHknis 



" Beaten, despised, and oppressed, cursed even by slaves and children, they yet 
manage to exist, earning their living as musicians, dancers, singers, jewellers, sUver 
and gold smiths, midwives, makers and sellers of wines and spirits. When 
anything very hlthy is to be done a Jew is sent for." * The celebrated Bokhariot 
physician Avicenna (Ibn Sina) lies buried in Hamadan. An abundance of good 
water is obtained from the springs and wells sunk to dejjths of over 300 feet at the 
foot of Elvend. But the proximity of this snowy peak, combined with the great 
altitude of the place (5,000 feet above sea level), and its northern aspect, render its 
climate excessively cold in winter. In siunmer, however, it is one of the most- 

* Dr. C. J. Wills, "The Land of the Lion and Sun," page "4. 



134 ' SOUTH-AVESTEEN ASIA. 

agreeable residences in Persia, and the neighbouring vineyards 3-ield an excellent 
red \\rine like Bordeaux, and a white compared by Bellew with Moselle. Except 
leather-dressing, harness-making, carpet-weaving and dyeing, there are no local 
industries, but a considerable trade is carried on with Mesopotamia, and the bazaars 
are well supplied with wares of all kinds. Hamadan may be regarded as the 
capital of the western Turkomans, whose camping- grounds are dotted over the 
surrounding plains and valleys. 

East of these pasture-lands, and on the very skirt of the desert, stands the holy 
city of Kum {Ko)n'), whose gilded dome surmounts the shrine of Fatinia, sister of 
the imam Reza. Hither the Persian women flock in thousands to obtain fecimdity, 
domestic happiness, and beauty. Roimd about the central shrine are scattered 
" four hundred and forty-four " tombs of lesser saints, beyond which stretches a 
vast necropolis, occupied by the faithful who have had the happiness to die or be 
transported after death to the holy city. Next to Meshed, Kum ranks as the most 
venerated place of pilgrimage in Persia, although its reiDutation seems to have 
somewhat waned since the time of Chardin. Its trade and industries have also 
fallen oif, and it is now little more than a vast ruin, resembling a city of the dead 
rather than the abode of the living. 

Kashan, on the contrary, which occupies a central position in Irak-Ajemi, on 
the great highway between Teheran and Ispahan, is a very flourishing place, 
supplied with good water from the neighbouring hills, and surrounded by j)roductive 
gardens, orchards, and cultivated tracts. But Kashan is chiefly famous as an 
industrial centre. Here has been jDreserved the art of decorating mural surfaces 
with painted mosaics, and here arc produced the finest velvets and brocades in 
Persia, besides porcelain, jewellery, cloth of gold and silver, and other costly wares. 
From its position Kashan promises to become the centre of the future railway 
system of Persia. It already possesses the finest highways, next to those of Teheran, 
and some of the sumptuous caravanserais along these routes are maintained with 
the same care as in the days of their founder. Shah Abbas. From the same period 
dates the Band-i-Kuh-rud, or " Dyke of the Mountain Torrent," one of the grandest 
works of general utility in Persia. 

The caravan road running from Hamadan directly to Ispahan along the eastern 
foot of the border ranges is much less frequented than the main route from 
Teheran through Kashan to Ispahan. Till recently it was infested by the Bakh- 
tyari marauders, who were kept in awe by the stronghold of Sultanabad, itself a 
mere collection of wretched hovels, but the centre of one of the great carpet- 
weaving districts of Persia. The neighbouring hills j-ield an abundant supply 
of manna (geizingebin^, a sweet substance secreted by a worm which lives on the 
foliage of a species of tamarind. On the route running from Sultanabad south-east- 
wards to IsjDahan follow the towns of Khumcin, surrounded by vast ruins ; Gnlpaigan, 
still supplied with water by a kanot excavated under Ilarun-ar-Rashid ; Khonsar, 
straggling for a space of 6 miles along both sides of the road ; Tihran and Nejefahad, 
with their cotton and tobacco plantations, beyond which a magnificent avenue of 
plane-trees leads to the historic citj- of Ispahan. 




|Blll!l!lil!lllilllllliilll!lll!lllimillllllll!illllli:lllllllli:i«illlillii ,:. 



LIBRARV 

OF THE 

UNIVERSITY of ILLINOIS, 



ISPAHAN. 



135 



But Ispahan (Isfahan, Isfahun) is uo longer "Half of the AVorld," as it was 
formerly styled, in allusion to its superb edifices, teeming industries, and loveh' 
surroundings. Most of the space within the enclosures, some 22 miles in circum- 
ference, is uninhabited, and the fox and jackal have their dens amid the ruins of 
its finest palaces, mosques, and bazaars. Yet Ispahan recovered from the blow- 
inflicted on it by Tamerlane, who raised a pyramid of 70,000 heads of its slaughtered 
citizens, and in the seventeenth century it again became one of the great cities of 
the world during the reign of Shah Abbas. At that time it contained over 32,000 
houses, with a population variously estimated from 600,000 to 1,100,000, including 
the suburbs. In this entrepot of the Central Asiatic trade the great houses of 
England and Holland had their agents, and the Armenians possessed rich factories 
in the suburb of Julfa, so named from the ruined city on the banks of the Arras. 

Fig. 49. — Ispahan and Envikons. 
Scale 1 : 1,100,000. 




The local industries were imrivalled throughout Irania, and the taste and skill of 
the native artists are stiU attested by the buildings dating from that period. But 
Ispahan was completelj' ruined by the subsequent disasters attending its siege and 
capture by the Afghans, the protracted civil wars of the eighteenth century, and 
the displacement of the capital on the accession of the Kajar djTiasty. Yet 
although the slow work of revival has been frequently interrupted by famine, its 
bazaars are again beginning to show signs of renewed trade, while its numerous 
looms continue to produce cottons, silks, and carpets in large quantities. Nor has 
its wealthy corporation of painters greatly degenerated since the time when 
thousands of artists were emploj-ed in decorating the palaces of Shah Abbas. But 
it must be confessed that the modern art of Ispahan is less pure, less elegant and 
noble than that of the Seljuk and Mongol epochs from the eleventh to the thirteenth 



136 



SOUTH-WESTEEN ASIA. 



century. Most of tlie pleasiirc-grouiuls haw been changed to plantations or 

kitchen-gardens, and the riui- 
ning -waters, formerly distri- 
buted in fountains and other 
ornamental works, are now 
confined to irrigating canals 
in the midst of vegetable and 
tobacco fields. But the superb 
avenue, nearly 3 miles long, 
leading to the Zendeh-rud, or 
"River of Life," and crossing 
it with a noble bridge of thirty- 
four arches sui-mounted by an 
open gallery, still survives as 
the chief glory of Ispahan. 
This bridge connects the city 
with the suburb of Julfa, 
which is still inhabited by the 
descendants of the Armenians 
who migrated hither early in 
the seventeenth centuiy. In 
this metropolis of the orthodox 
Armenians of Persia, India, and 
the extreme East, they number 
not more than six hundred 
families ; but in the Feridun 
valley, to the north-west, seve- 
ral villages are exclusively 
occupied by Armenians. Some 
of these communities, origin- 
ally from Georgia, have em- 
braced the Mohammedan reli- 
gion, but continue to speak the 
Georgian language. Ispahan 
is also the chief centre of the 
Jewish nationality in Persia. 
Here the Jews are more nume- 
rous than in anj^ other city 
except Hamadan, and in the 
bazaar himdi-eds of stalls be- 
long to them. 

The district of Ispahan is 
the best watered and most productive on the Iranian plateau. Standing at 
ation of 4,750 feet, it enjoys a temperate climate suitable for the cultivation 




iiiiiiiiipni 



one of 
an elev 



SHIEAZ. 137 

of sub-tropical plants, and here are successfully grown tobacco, opium, cotton, 
wine, vegetables of all sorts, and especially melons, said to be the best in Persia. 
Amid the cultivated grounds are scattered numerous ruins, bamlets, shrines, and 
picturesque pigeon-towers circular in form, from 20 to 27 feet high and sometimes 
60 feet in diameter. Dr. Wills tells us tbat be has counted cells for seven thousand 
one himdred pairs in a single tower, but that most of those near Ispahan are now 
in ruins. Amongst the mosques of the neighbourhood the most remarkable is 
that of Koladun, noted for its two " shaking minarets," whose vibratory motion 
is attributed by the natives to the virtue of a saint buried under the intervening 
dome. But it is really caused by the wooden frame to which are attached the 
lightly-constructed towers, which are thus made to turn easily on an inner axis. 
A similar phenomenon is observed in a mosque at Bostam.* 

Although smaller than Ispahan, Shiraz is the capital of Farsistan, that is, of 
Persia in a pre-eminent sense, and its inhabitants are abnost exclusively of Iranian 
stock. Shiraz is, moreover, the heir to the imperial capitals which succeeded each 
other in this region, and one of which was the world-famed Persepolis. Renowned 
for their wit, intelligence, and purity of speech, the Shirazi regard themselves 
as the representatives of the national culture, and impatiently submit to the 
sway of the Tm-koman Kajar dynasty. Bab Ali-Mohammed, whose vaticinations 
endangered that dynasty, was a native of Shiraz, and in this place were gathered 
his first followers. In order to curb the unridy spirit of the people of Pars, the 
Persian Government garrisons their towns with Turki troops, national animosity 
thus helping to keep them in subjection. 

If less shad}', the vegetation of Shiraz presents a more southern aspect than 
that of Ispahan. Descending to the plain by the Persepolis route, or from the 
north-east, the traveller is suddenly arrested by the sight of the city with its 
avenues of cypresses, pleasant gardens, and glittering domes, enclosed by a back- 
ground of snowy mountains. Although still at an altitude of 4,500 feet, Shiraz, 
compared with those of the plateau, is already a southern city, and for the Iranians 
here begins the region of "hot lands." The transition from one zone to the other 
is indicated by the palm-trees dotted over the plain. While Ispahan lies on the 
eastern slope of the border ranges, Shiraz is situated in the Ccelo-Persis, or 
"Hollow Persia," of the ancients, that is, in one of the intermediate depressions 
between two parallel chains of the system, and its waters flow to a small basin with 
no seaward outlet. Towards the Persian Gulf it is completely defended by the 
regularly-disposed crests of the Tengsir, which might be easily held by a few 
regiments of resolute troops. But however favoured in many respects, Shiraz 
has many disadvantages, amongst which the most serious are a malarious climate 
in summer and frequent earthquakes of a violent character. In that of 1855 half 
the houses were overthrown, and ten thousand persons buried beneath their nuns. 

Shiraz is at present little more than a large village, with a circuit of less than 
4 miles, and no conspicuous buUdings except its mosques. Its industries are 
restricted to jewellery, chiefly carried on by the Jews, exquisite marqueterie work 

* J. Diculafoy, " Tour du Monde," 18S3. 



188 



SOUTH-WESTERN ASIA. 



in wood and ivory, rosewater of prime quality, and some trade. The local wine is 
bad, and even the nectar so lauded by the native poets, which comes from a dis- 
trict 30 miles off, is a heady perfumed drink at first disagreeable to the European 
palate. A small export trade is sujjported by the tobacco and other produce of 
the district ; but as a station for goods in transit Shiraz occupies an exceptional 
position at the converging-point of the routes from the Persian Gulf. Unfortu- 

Fil;-. 51. — .SmilAZ AND Peesepolis. 
Scale 1 : 750,000. 





"~^^ '' ' 1 !^ ^ . 



L . of oreenwich 



nately all these routes are difiicult and in bad repair, so that traders show a 
preference for other roads, such as those of Kermanshah and Tabriz. 

Of the three most famous Persian poets, Haflz, Sadi, and Firdusi, the first two 
were natives of Shiraz, through which no Pei^sian passes without visiting their 
tombs. On the marble slab which for five hundred years has covered the remains 
of Hafiz are inscribed two of his odes in gold letters. Kear it was buried Eich, the 
famous explorer of Kurdistan. The monmnent of Sadi, author of the " Gulistan," 
lies farther off, near the ^^llage of Sadii/cli, so named from this delightful poet, 



PEESEPOLIS. 139 

tliau whom " no night iu gale ever warbled sweeter notes in tlie garden of know- 
ledge." Near the tomb is a yawning chasm of artificial origin over 670 feet deep. 

The learned are unanimous in fixing the site of the ancient Pcrsejjolis 'and 
Istalihr, which lies on the Ispahan route some 30 miles north-east of Shiraz. Here 
begins a chain of grey marble hills, which is continued south-eastwards along the 
now marshy Merv-Dasht plain, through which the Band-Emir winds its way to 
Lake Neris. A dam surmounted by a bridge of thirteen arches retains the waters 
of this river, deflecting them to the innumerable channels of the plain, above 
which rise the three isolated rocks of Istakhr. Here stood the famous city of 
Persejjolis, where is still to be seen the finest ruin in Persia, a group of walls and 
columns locally known as the " Throne of Jemshid." From the cuneiform 
inscriptions engraved on the walls it appears that of the six palaces the largest 
was that of Xerxes, " king of kings, son of King Darius, the Achemenide." But 
to judge from the unfinished state of the carvings and inscriptions, the builder 
would seem to have left his work incomplete. According to tradition it was 
destroyed by fire, no traces of which, however, can be detected on the marble 
surface, smoother and clearer, said Herbert in the seventeenth century, than any 
steel mirror. The faces of the winged bulls and all representations of the human 
figure have been effaced by Mohammedan iconoclasts, and although walls have 
also been overthrown and columns broken by the hand of time, the building still 
presents an imposing appearance. The square terrace on which it stands is still 
approached by a double flight of black marble steps, but of the seventy-two 
original shafts twelve only now survive with their capitals. Some of the sculp- 
tures and many details suggest Egyjjtian influences ; but the graceful elegance of 
the whole attests the close relationshij) which at that time existed between 
Persian and Greek art. The architects of the palace of Xerxes had certainly seen 
the Hellenic temples of Ionia and the mommients of Lydia. At the foot of the 
neighbouring Naksh-i-Rustem hill are several bas-reliefs representing various 
events of the Sassanides dynast3^ Of these the most remarkable is that of King 
Sapor generouslj' extending his hand to the vanquished Emperor Valerian. 

According to most archaeologists the tomb of Cyrus lies near the village of 
Meshed-i-Murghah, some 36 miles north-east of Persepolis. On this spot a large 
city certainly stood in the time of that monarch, whose image is carved on a piUar 
with the legend, " I Cyrus, king, the Achemenide ! " A tomb, said by the natives 
to be that of Solomon's mother, and now bearing an Arabic inscription, is supposed 
by most travellers to be the monument of Cyrus, although it is still doubtful 
whether the plain of Meshed-i-Murghab be the ancient Pasargadcs, with which 
most archaeologists have till recently identified it ; for the inscription places this 
holy city much farther east in the jDrovince of Kirman, and not in an open plain 
but on the top of a hill. 

Darah (Darabjerd), lying 120 miles south-east of Shiraz, near the source of a 
stream flowing intermittently to the Persian Gulf, has also been identified with 
Pasargadcs, although no remains associated with the name of Cyrus have been 
found there. Nevertheless it is a very old place, and Firdusi makes it the scene 



140 



SOTJTH-WESTEBN ASIA. 



of many events in his mythical ejiic poem. Its name is said to mean " Enclosure 
of Darab or Darius," and a neighbouring rock is embellished with a bas-relief of 
Valerian at the feet of SajJor, a subject which is met in so manj* other parts of 
Persia. Another ancient moniunent in the yicinity of Darab is an imdergroimd 
rock-temple with smooth walls unadorned by anj' carvings or statues. North of 
Darab lies the town of Niris, which gives its name to the largest lake in Far- 
sistan, and which was recently one of the chief centres of the Babist sect. 

In Northern Farsistan, that is, on the plateau beyond the hiUy district, the 
only large towns are Ababdeh, midway between Shiraz and Ispahan, and Kumisheh, 
60 miles nearer to the latter place. Ababdeh is noted for wood-carvings, boxes, 
desks, chessmen, and the like, which compete even in North Persia with similar 

fig. 52. — Valerian at the Feet of Sapok — Bas-beliep of the Royal Tomks at Naksh-i-Eustem, 

XEAR PeRSEPOLIS. 




objects imported from Europe. North-west of Ababdeh an isolated crag is 
crowned with the almost inaccessible stronghold of Yczdik/iasf, which can be 
approached only by an old drawbridge. In the hilly region skirting the desert 
between Kashan and Yezd the most important places are Nahi, a chief centre of 
the pottery industry, Kiipa, one of the most flom-ishing towns on the plateau, 
Agda, Ardakan, and Maibiif. 

Yezd, which communicates with the rest of Persia only by caravan routes 
across the rocky or sandy plateaux, is a city of the desert, whose oasis, planted 
chiefly with midberries, is everywhere surrounded by the wilderness. At some 
points the moving sands reach the very gates of the city, threatening to swaUow 
up whole quarters, just as they have already destroyed the first city of Yezd, 



TEZD— KIEMAN. 141 

called also Askizar, whose ruius are still visible on the route to Kashan, 10 miles to 
the north-west. But notwithstanding its isolated jJosition on the plateau near the 
geometrical centre of Persia, Yezd is still a flourishing place, with numerous silk- 
weaving, si3uining, dyeing, and other industries. The cocoons supplied by the 
surrounding oasis are insufficient for the local factories, and raw silk has to be 
imported from Ghilan, Khorassan, and even Herat. A large export trade is 
carried on beyond the frontiers with Mecca and other Arab cities, through Mascat, 
and even indirectly with China, to which a yearly increasing quantit)' of oiDium is 
forwarded. This trade is almost entirely in the hands of a Guebre community, one 
of whose wealthy merchants owns as many as one thousand camels. The local 
population consists lai;gely of Seyids, who claim descent from the prophet, and 
Yezd has been called the " City of Worship)," a title which the inhabitants 
endeavour to justify by their extreme intolerance towards their Parsi brethren. 

Along the south-eastern caravan route no towns or even villages occur till we 
reach Bahrainahad, which is distant 120 miles from Yezd, and which owes its 
prosperity to its position in a fertile district at the junction of several highways. 
Opium and cotton are cultivated in the neighbourhood, and farther north some rich 
lead mines are worked near Baghabad on the northern slope of the Nugat hQls. 

Kirman, or Kerman, capital of one of the great provinces of Persia, has 
preserved the name of the Carmanes or Germanes mentioned by the old writers ; 
but, like Yezd, it has shifted its position. The remains of a vast city stretch away 
to the south ; other ruins are visible towards the west, while on the north side the 
suburb occujDied bj- the Guebres was almost entirely destroj'ed at the end of the last 
century. The jjresent Kirman fiUs an irregular square enclosure about 1,200 vards 
on all sides at the western foot of an eminence crowned by a ruined citadel. 
Standing at an elevation of over 6,500 feet, its climate is thoroughly continental — very 
cold in winter, oppressively hot in summer. The 12,000 Guebre families formerly 
settled in the district have been reduced by persecution and compulsor}'^ conversions 
to a small community of scarcely 1,500 souls. Kirman has also lost the reputation 
which it enjoyed in the time of Marco Polo for the manufacture of arms; but it 
still continues to produce fine embroidery work and carjDets, besides shawls, inferior 
in softness to those of Kashmir, but fully equal to them in delicacy of texture and 
design. In their preparation use is made of kark, or the do^Ti of goats, and this 
kark is exported to Amritsar, where it is mixed with the pashm of Tibet in 
manufacturing the fabrics for which that place is famous. 

Kirman is the last station in the south-east to which the European postal 
system extends. Beyond this point the venturesome traveller, passing from oasis 
to oasis, is excluded from all communication with the civilised world until he 
reaches the Baluchistan coast. The pojoulation itseK consists almost exclusively of 
Baluch nomads, whose " towns " are merely places of refuge against marauders. 
Yet there is no lack of fertile tracts in the valleys, which Marco Polo foimd covered 
with towns, villages, and pleasure-houses. Some of the slopes even still present 
the spectacle, now rare in Persia, of extensive woodlands, and towards the south- 
east occur some really picturesque spots, such as the district surrounding the fine 



142 south-western ASlA. 

mosque of Mahan (^Malnin^, and that of Raijin (^liai/itm), a largo village lying in 
the midst of vinej'ards and walnut-groves. 

The largest place in east- Kirman is Bam, which, like so man}' other Persian 
towns, has shifted its site in recent times. It lies within the Gei-msir or " hot 
zone," the oranges, citrons, and palms of the surroimding oasis imparting to it a 
southern aspect. But the desert soon resumes its sway, and from the station of liigan 
to Bampitr, for a distance of ahout 120 miles, many ruins but no inhabited houses 
are met. Bampur itself, although the capital of Persian Baluchistan, is a mere 
group of about a hundred thatched huts crowded together at the foot of an artificial 
eminence crowned by a crumbling citadel. Here are neither baths, school, nor 
mosque, scarcely even any cultivated lands, although the surrounding plain is very 
fertile and well watered by the river Bampur. 

Bampur is still distant 180 miles from the station of Mcshkid, through which 
runs the official frontier between Persia and the territory of the Khan of Kalat. 
But in the whole of this extensive region there are no towns, or even hamlets, 
beyond a few camping-grounds and forts, and even of these many are in ruins. 
Jalk, the "Desolate," which figures on the maps as the capital of a vast district, is 
merely a group of fortlets surrounded by cultivated ground and date-groves. On 
the western portion of the Mekran coast, politically included in Persia, the open 
ports of Khobar (Chaobar) and JasJi have acquired some importance as stations of 
the telegrajDh system connecting London with Calcutta through Caucasia and 
Persia. 

Topography of South-west Ir.\xia. 

At the headland of Ras-el-Kuh, 30 miles west of Jask, the coast-line trends 
northwards parallel with the Arabian peninsula of Cape Masandam, with which it 
forms the straits of Ormuz, connecting the Persian Gulf with the Sea of Oman. 
Here is situated the once famous port of Gamhrun, or Komron, since the time of 
Shah Abbas known as Bandar-Abbas, where was formerly concentrated the whole 
foreign trade of Persia. But its relative importance has been much diminished, 
partly by the difficult}' of the routes leading over the intervening highlands to 
Shiraz, partly by the excessive heat and imhealthy climate of the seaboard, but 
especially by the disjalacement of the capital northwards. Shiraz now communi- 
cates with the rest of the world through Bushir ; Ispahan and Hamadan transact 
their business chiefly oveidand with Bagdad, and the whole of northern Persia 
effects its exchanges with Europe through Tabriz or Enzeli. Thus the trade of 
Bandar- Abbas is now restricted mainly to Yezd and Kirman. Its so-called port is 
merely an open roadstead partly sheltered by the islands of Kishm, Larek, and 
Ormuz, and affording anchorage in 7 fathoms of water within a mile and a half of 
the coast. It is regularly visited by steamers, which take in cargoes of opium, 
dates, fish, the silks of Yezd, and carpets from Kirman. During the sultry summer 
heats, all who are not compelled to remain in the town retire to the neighbouring 
village of Sunt, or to the largo oasis of Miiiah, some 50 miles farther east, noted 



ORMUZ. 



143 



for its excellent dates, mangoes, pomegranates, almonds, oranges, and other fruits. 
Minab and the surromiding district of Maghistan do a considerable export trade in 
dates, cotton, and henneh tbrougb. Bandar- Abbas, whose exchanges amoimted in 
1877 to a total value of £514,000. 

In the time of Marco Polo the city of Hormos, or Omnia, then situated on the 
mainland, was the centre of a vast trade with every part of the East, receiving, 
especially from India, rich cargoes of spices, precious stones, pearls, ivory, silks, and 
cloth of gold. The site of the old city, still partly covered -n-ith ruins, has been 

Fig. 53. — Okmuz axd Bandar-Abbas. 
Scile 1 : 600,000. 




discovered on the banks of the Minab some 6 miles south-west of the fort now 
standing in the centre of the oasis. After its destruction by the Mongols, Ormuz 
was rebuilt on a little island of almost circidar form within 4 miles of the coast. 
It was captured by Albuquerque at the beginning of the sixteenth century, and 
soon became a great mart for the trade of the Portuguese with the East. The city 
stood on the side of the island facing the mainland, where is stiU found a little 
village with a Portuguese fortress in a good state of repair. Palaces and churches 
were scattered over the island, whose highest summit (6-50 feet) was crowned by 



144 SOUTH-WESTEEN ASIA. 

the chapel of Nostra Senhora de la Penha. Now the place exports nothing but 
some salt-fish, ochre, and salt, collected after the rains from the salt-hills of the 
interior. 

The large island of Kishm, or Tawilah, which stretches west of Omiuz parallel 
with the Persian coast, seems to have at one time formed part of the mainland, 
from which it is separated onlj' by a navigable channel from 2 to 6 miles wide, 60 
long, and nowhere less than 20 feet deep. There is good anchorage at Left, in the 
middle of the channel ; but notwithstanding its excellent position between two seas, 
and close to Arabia and Persia, this rocky and arid island exports nothing except 
some fruits, salt, and sulphur. At its western extremity the English founded the 
military station of Bamlnh (Bassadore), to command the entrance of the Persian 
Gulf ; but the jilace had to be abandoned owing to the want of water and the 
intolerable summer heats. During this season most of the natives themselves seek 
a refuge amid the groves of llinab, and the sulf)hur and salt mines are worked by 
the Arabs only for five months in the year. 

Henjam, which is separated by a channel li mile wide from the southern jDoint 
of Kishnu, had also been designated as a future station of the British navy ; but 
the project had to be given up for the same reasons that led to the abandonment of 
Kishm. Yet this island was at one time densely peopled. Thousands of stone 
houses, besides nimierous cisterns faced with an indestructible cement, are scattered 
over the dejiressions, while the remains of cultivated terrace-lands are still visible 
on the slopes. At the northern extremity stand the ruins of a large city with two 
mosques. But at present the population is reduced to two hundi'ed Arab families, 
originally from Sharjah on the Oman coast, now occupied chiefly with the pearl 
fishery off the south side. In the interior the rocks consist largely of salt, streaked 
in yellow, red, and green by the presence of foreign elements. 

Linjah, the first station for steamers entering the Persian Gulf, is a straggling 
village 2 or 3 miles long, commanded on the north by a hiU 4,000 feet high. The 
anchorage is better than at Bandar- Abbas, and the jDort owns about one himdred 
and fifty craft, some of which are engaged in the pearl fishery. West of Linjah 
the village of Cliarak marks the site of Siraf, a large and flourishing place in the 
ninth century. But it lost all its trade after its capture by the Arab chief of Kais, 
a small island 20 miles to the south-west, which gradually became the centre of the 
trade and shipping of the Persian Gidf . The ruins of a large Arab city are still 
visible on the north side of Kais, where the English founded a now abandoned 
military station in the present century. Beyond Charak the small harbours of 
Bandar-Nnkhl, Bandar-Bisaitin, and Bandar-Koncjun, are visited only by Arab 
fishing-smacks. 

The south-western seaboard of Persia is known only through the reports of 
travellers who have traversed one or other of the routes between Shiraz and 
Bandar- Abbas. The northern route, crossing at considerable elevations the crests 
of the transverse ridges, passes through Darab, Forg, and Tarun, while the southern 
runs through Jarun (Yarun) to Lcir, ancient capital of Laristan. This State 
stretched formerly along the whole of the coast region, from the Bahrein Islands in 



BUSHIR— SILVrUE, 145 

the Persian Gulf to the islet of Diu on the west coast of India. In the sixteenth 
century the silver coins of Lar, shaped like a date-stone, were the chief currency 
throughout Persia. But after seizing the maritime routes, Shah Abbas overthrew 
the kingdom of Laristan, whose capital has even ceased to be a provincial chief 
town. Nevertheless it still maintains a considerable local trade, and claims to 
produce the finest camels and dates in Persia. It contains no monuments of its 
past greatness ; but Fivuzahad, a group of villages lying midway between Shiraz 
and the coast, abounds in rock carvings representing battle scenes, and a neigh- 
bouring headland is crowned by a ruined temple dating from pre-Mohammedan 
times. 

Bushir, or Bandar-Bushir, the present terminus on the Persian Gulf of the most 
frequented highway on the Iranian plateau, dates only from the time of Nadir Shah, 
who founded a naval station on this site, the nearest on the coast to Shiraz. Bushir, 
that is, Abu-Shahr, or " Father of Cities," had been preceded by Rishchr, another 
commercial centre, whose position is still marked by a ruined Portuguese fort. 
But nearly the whole of the maritime trade of Persia is now concentrated at Bushir, 
which nevertheless offers none of the conditions indispensable to a good harbour. 
It lies at the northern extremity of a long island, now connected with the main- 
land, north of which stretches a semicircular bay obstructed by islets and sand- 
banks, and scarcely 4 feet deep at low water. Large vessels anchor 5 or 6 miles 
off the port, while smaller craft are able to round the headland and penetrate east 
of the city to a basin over 20 feet deep in some places. The exports consist of 
wine, tobacco, and especially opium for the Chinese market, taken in exchange for 
sugar from Batavia and European wares of all sorts. The total value of the 
exchanges was estimated in 1880 at about £720,000, jaelding a revenue of £2-1,000. 

On the route connecting Bushir and Barasjan with Shiraz the chief station is 
Kazerun, which stands at an altitude of 2,950 feet, in one of the intervening 
valleys between the parallel Tengsir ranges. Here begins Irania proper, both as 
regards climate and population, the lower coast region of Dashtistan being con- 
sidered by the Persians as already forming part of Arabia. Kazerun, formerly 
a flourishing place, is now a mere village surrounded by ruins, and noted only for 
its tobacco and horses. Some 18 miles farther north lie the extensive ruins of 
Shapur or Sapor, former residence of the Sassanides. The surrounding district is 
described by Ouseley as one of the "paradises of Asia," and nowhere else in 
Persia are there found so many rock carvings. On the eminence crowned by the 
acropolis, and on the face of the rocks encircling the valley, the great deeds of 
Sapor, his hunting-parties, victories, and solemn audiences, are described in a 
whole series of rich bas-reliefs, which acquire additional interest from the types 
and costumes of Pomans, Arabs, Persians, and Hindus, all faithfully reproduced 
in these monumental records. 

Other ancient remains, sculptured rocks, fire-altars, citadels, are scattered 
over the Tengsir district in the south-east towards Firiizabad, and in the north- 
east towards Ram Hormuz and Bahahan (^Behehaii). In some localities the strong- 
holds suggest a social state analogous to the mediaeval feudalism of the West. 

VOL. IX. L 



146 



SOUTH-WESTEPvN ASLV. 



Every rocky eminence is still crowned with the ruins of these crumbling castles, 
which are mostly associated in the local legends with the memory of the goddess 
Anahid. 

In the northern region watered by the head-streams of the Little Zab and 
Diyalah, and included in the relatively unimj^ortant province of Ardilan, the only 
noteworthy places are the picturesque town of Bana, perched on a wooded height 
between two cultivated glens, and the modern city of Senna {Sihnah\ residence 
of a governor of the Iranian Kurds, and surrounded by numerous Nestorian 

fig. 34. — BrsiiiD. 
Scale 1 : 400,000. 




(Chaldean) communities and nomad Ali-AUahi tribes. Here the Mohammedan 
popvilation of the slopes draining to the Mesopotamian basin is exclusively Sunnite, 
the border chain forming a distinct parting-line between the two religious sects of 
Persia and Turkey. 

Kongaver (GhenjaveA, one of the first stations on the historic route from 
Ecbatana through the valley of the Kerkha (Kerkhara or Kara-Su) down to 
Babylonia, lies in a fertile and well-watered plain at the foot of an eminence 
bearing a marked resemblance to the Acroj)olis of Athens. Here also stood 



XEHAVEND— BEHISTITN. 



H7 



a fortified citadel, which was originally a temple dedicated to Anahid, the Persian 
Artemis, hut now a crumhliug mass of picturesque ruins. In the middle of 
the jjlain stands an isolated mound, possihly of artificial origin, which is also 
covered with ancient remains, supposed to be those of a temple of the sun. Below 
Kongaver, the waters flowing from Mount Elvend effect a junction with the 
Gamas-ah, in whose upper Talley lies Nehavend, the " City of Noah," famous 
in the annals of Islam for the " victory of victories " here gained by the Caliph 
Omar over Tezdijerd, last of the Sassanides. Below the confluence the main 
stream enters a gloomy defile, at the northern extremity of which stands the hill 
and village of Binufun, which have become famous in the history of Eastern 
archaeology. No monument has been more useful than the rock inscriptions 



Fig. .5.5. — Kehmansh.-\h. 
Scale 1 : 800,000. 




discovered at this spot, which have contributed so much to the decijDherment of the 
Persian and AssjTian cuneiform writings. Thanks to the labours of Grotefend, 
Rawlinson, and Burnouf, a revolution in the study of ancient history has been 
effected at Bisutim, analogous to that which followed the discovery of Sanskrit and 
Zend in the last century. 

The rock of Bisutun, or Behistun, the ancient BagJiistnn, rises to a vertical 
height of 1,500 feet above the surrounding pastures. At its foot springs a copious 
sparkling stream, above which the surface is covered with bas-reliefs almost 
effaced, not so much by time as by the monarchs who caused their triumphs to be 
successively carved over the previous sculptures. Other figures still higher 
up are accompanied by some inscriptions now almost illegible. But the famous 
table, which has been studied with so much care, still exists almost intact. For a 

L 2 



148 SOUTH-'^TiSTEEN ASIA. 

space of about 150 feet horizontally by 100 in height the surface has been 
smoothed and polished, and here Xing Darius, son of Hystaspes, has caused 
some thousand lines to be inscribed, relating in Persian, Median, and Assyrian 
his victory over Babylon and the vows made by him on his return. At the foot of 
the rocks are visible the remains of a terrace by which visitors were enabled 
to approach the monument; but no trace can now be seen of the sculptures 
mentioned by Ctesias, and by him attributed to Semiramis. 

The same escarpments which bear the Bisutun inscriptions are continued 
westwards, and north-east of Kermanshah take the name of Tak-i-Bostan, or " Roof 
of the Gardens," a name recalling the hanging gardens that have been attributed 
to a legendary princess. Immediately above the plain two chambers have been 
hewn out of the rock, and these date from the Sassanide epoch, as is evident from 
the style of the sculptures, and the Pehlvi inscriptions deciphered by Silvester de 
Sacy. The hunting-scenes on the walls are executed with a vigour and purity of 
style imapi^roached by any similar works of ancient Persia. They are obviously 
due to the Greek artists living at the Court of the Sassanides. 

Kermaiishah, which lies in a fertile plain a few miles from Tak-i-Bostan, was a 
very small place at the end of the last century. But since then it has become one 
of the first cities in Persia, as capital of the Kurdistan province, which has been 
raised almost to a State within the State by Ali-Mirza, son of the Shah Fat'h-Ali. 
At that time officers from every European nation, and amongst them the 
illustrious Rawlinson, father of modern Persian geography and history, resided 
at Kermanshah, where they founded arsenals and factories of small-arms. Artisans 
were also attracted from Persia, Turkey, and Armenia ; but since those flourishing 
times the city has again diminished in population and prosperity. In the vicinity 
is the camping-ground of the Susmani, which tribe supplies most of the dancing- 
girls in Persia. 

Farther on, the great historical route between Irania and Mesopotamia leaves 
the Kerkha on the south, and rims direct to Kirind, rallj'ing-point of several 
Kurdish tribes. Beyond this place the road traverses a hilly district, gradually 
ascending to the crest of the Zagros chain, the natural parting-line between 
the Iranian plateau and the Mesopotamian plains. Throughout its lower course 
from Kermanshah to the Euphrates the Kerkha flows bj^ no large town, and 
in the whole basin the only place of any consequence is Khorramahad, which 
occupies a romantic position on the torrent of like name. Above it rises an 
isolated rocky eminence, which is encircled by a double rampart, and crowned by 
a fine palace, gardens, and extensive reservoir. 

West of this point runs a line of ruined cities parallel with the border range 
between the plateau and Mesopotamian lowlands. Amongst these are Sirwan, on 
a western affluent of the Kerkha, Biidbar, at the junction of the Kerka and Kirind, 
and farther south Seimara/i, or Shehr-i-Khusru, that is, "City of Chosroes," whose 
site is still marked by the remains of a vast palace known as the " Throne of 
Chosroes." But of all the ruins of this region none are more famous than those of 
Susa i^Shuz), whence the whole country often takes the name of Susiana. This 



8USA. 



149 



reno^-ned old capital was conveniently situated on the river Dizful, a tributary of 
the Karun, not far from its junction with the Kerkha. The intervening plain, 
some 9 miles broad, is intersected by numerous irrigating rills derived from both 
rivers, and by the Shapur or Shahwer, a navigable natural channel, which runs 
from above Susa south-east to the Karun. The grassy mounds marking the site 
of the ancient city occupy a space some 6 or 7 miles in circumference, and are 

Fig. 56. SUUSTER AND B.VXD-I-KlK. 

Scale 1 : 530,000. 




commanded by a square platform over half a mile on all sides, on which formerly 
stood the citadel. North-west of this terrace is an artificial eminence 165 feet 
high, marking the spot where the strongest ramparts of the acropolis had been 
constructed. But beyond a few scattered capitals, broken shafts, and carved 
blocks, nothing survives to attest the ancient splendour of Susa. The plan, 
however, has been traced of the great palace begun by Darius, finished by 



150 



SOUTH-WESTERN ASIA. 



Artaxerxes Mnenon, and resembling the " Throne of Jemshid " at Persepolis. 
The black slab bearing a bilingual inscription in hieroglyphics and cuneiform 
characters, and by the natives regarded as a talisman or protector of the country, 
has unfortunately been destroyed. 

The river Dizful, chief affluent of the Karun, rises in one of the longitudinal 
upland valleys between the parallel border ranges, flows south-east towards 
Burujird, and after successively piercing aU the rocky ridges of Laristan, enters 
the plains at Dizful. Such is the rugged character of this region that the solitary 
track connecting Burujird with Dizful is not everywhere accessible to pack 
animals. Dizful, which lies in the vicinity of Susa, may be regarded as the heir 
of that great citj'. The river is intermittently navigable to this point by small 



Fig. 57. — The Dam op Ahwaz. 
Scale 1 : 21,0»J. 



r~ 




'-"':T^W^- 






1P#*^ 




I'wi^i'^S 


■1 




5T- 
Qd 




;^ 


5|- 
'20 




" A ' ■ 


'-_.;_,'"' 






(^^%,:.,.: 






51 

50 


/ ■ /- / ■ 


'" M^ 


19 

50 




E.of.Gr.. <iB'«b '-LI' 


48' 16' 



craft, which here take in cargoes of wool, cotton, indigo, corn, bitumen, and 
sulphur from the surrounding districts. The local industries are also flourishing, 
and the neighbouring marshes j'ield the best reed pens in the East. At present 
Dizful, the " Manchester " of Khuzistan, is the largest city in the Persian low- 
lands. North-east of it stands the famous Kaleh-diz, or " Rock Castle," so named 
from a natural crag ascended by means of ladders, ropes, and steps cut in the rock. 
This natural stronghold is the residence of a Bakhtyari chief, who cultivates the 
upper plateau, and owns some flocks of sheep directly descended from a wild stock. 
Shuster, or the " Little Susa," on the Karun, was the first city of Arabistan 
before the plague of 1832. Since that fatal year, when it was ahnost depojjulated, 
it has again revived. It has the advantage of Ijang at the entrance of vast and 



SnUSTER-lSIOIIAMMEEAII. 151 

fertile plains on a river which, ii not easily navigable, is at least accessible to 
small vessels. It also marks the western terminus of the route which must sooner 
or later run across the Bakhtyari country in the direction of Ispahan. The 
h3'draulic works needed to make Shuster a riverain port are very slight compared 
with those executed in the third century of the new era by King Sapor, possibly 
under the direction of his imperial prisoner. Valerian. One of the old embank- 
ments still bears the name of Band-i-Kaisar, or " The Emperor's Dyke." At a 
sudden bend of the river above the city a cutting was made in the sandstone cliff 
on the left bank, and the canal thus formed has gradually taken, under the name 
of the Gerger, the aspect of a natural stream, with its windings, its alluvial 
deposits, and oscillations of level. Its two branches, which are again united below 
the cutting, enclose an island converted by the irrigating works into a vast 
garden. Most of these extensive undertakings have remained in good condition 
for fifteen hundred years, and attest a knowledge of hydraulics far beyond the 
capacity of the modern Persian engineers. 

At Band-i-kir the Karun is joined by the Gerger and Dizful (Ab-i-Diz), and 
the united stream flows thence south to the Shat-el-Arab. Ahtcaz, near the reefs 
and remains of a dyke which present the only obstacle to the navigation of the 
Lower Karun, is now a mere village, lost amid the ruins and tombs of an ancient 
city. But lower down it has been supplanted by the town of Mohammerah, which 
stands on a tongue of land between the Karun and Euj^hrates. This riverain port 
has the advantage of lying nearer to the Persian Gulf than Bassorah, and, more- 
over, communicates with the sea through the Bamushir Channel, which lies 
entirely within Persian territory, and which formed the chief arm of the Karun 
before that river joined the Shat-el-Arab. 

Social State. — Trade. — Indistries. — Administration. 

No people can be said to excel the Persians in natural intelligence and shrewd- 
ness, in mental capacity and artistic skill ; yet their present influence over the 
rest of Asia is scarcely perceptible. To ages long past must be referred the origin 
of those intellectual movements which introduced Persian ideas into the religions 
and philosophies of the West, and which enabled the language, literature, and 
industries of Irania to play so great a part in India and throughout the whole 
Mussulman world. But since then the pure Persian stock has been reduced in 
numbers relatively to the other inhabitants of the Iranian plateau, India, and 
Hither Asia. Even since the beginning of the present century, while the 
population of Caucasia has increased considerably, that of Persia has been still 
fiu'ther diminished by civil wars, pestilence, famine, Baluch, Kurd, and Turkoman 
invasions. Although there are fewer disorders than in "West Europe, epidemics 
are always of a deadly character, Persia in this respect resembling mediaeval 
Eui-ope. Leprosy still exists in the Khamseh district between Kasvin and Tabriz ; 
in Liiristan nearly all the inhabitants except the negro slaves suffer from the 
" Aleppo button " or the " Medina worm," and in Dardistan at least every third 



152 



SOUTH- WESTEEN ASIA. 



person is aifected by ophthalmia. The country is frequently wasted by pestilence, 
which seems generally to originate in the Azerbeijan highlands. It first attacks 
the nomad Kurdish tribes, passing from them to the settled communities, and 
spreading thence southwards, invariably towards the river mouths. But no 
calamity is more dreaded than famine, which rages chiefly in the large towns and 
in the insufficiently watered districts of the plateau. 

Besides these evils, the almost total absence of international highways has 
naturally tended to diminish the influence of Persia over the surrounding popula- 

Fig. 58. — Range of the Plaoue in Kuudistan. 
Scale 1 : 1,400,000. 




tions. The whole region comprised between Tabriz and Barapur, between Shuster 
and Meshed, might be suddenly effaced without in the least affecting the general 
movement of the peoples between East and West Asia. The great migrations 
which formerly j)assed along this route from continent to continent have been 
entirely arrested. The expeditions and conquests of Nadir Shah, followed by the 
advance and final retreat of the Afghans, are the last events that recall the ancient 
importance of Irania as a land of transition between the eastern and western 



AGRICULTURE. 153 

peoples. So far from occupying this position, it is at present itself hemmed in, so 
to say, between two new routes, a northern opened up by the Russians across the 
Kirghiz and Tm-koman steppes, and the southern oceanic highway, now regularly 
followed by the deep-sea and coasting steamers. 

The agricultural element represents scarcely two-thirds of the whole population, 
while the land actually under cultivation is certainly less than one-fifth of the 
empire. This restricted space is moreover almost exclusively in the hands not of 
the peasantry but of large proprietors. Vast tracts form part of the royal domain, 
and are tilled by a class little removed from the condition of mere serfs. Other 
lands of still greater extent, but mostly lying fallow, have lapsed, either through 
confiscation or conquest, to the Crown, which usually cedes them temporarily to 
Court favourites or creditors. Amongst the great landowners must also be included 
the mosques, schools, and religious foundations of all sorts, whose possessions 
expand from year to year, not only through legacies, but also through secret 
concert -with public functionaries, who avoid the total sequestration of their estates 
by bequeathing them to the Church in return for a fixed life annuity. The whole 
country was threatening to become a vast wakuf, or " mortmain," when Nadir- 
Shah deprived the mosques of a large portion of their immovable property. But 
the evil has since then become as bad as ever, and the question now arises whether 
a similar measure of spoliation may not soon be again called for for the public 
good. The private estates of any size are usually rented to farmers, who receive 
the water for irrigation, the seed, and stock in exchange for two-thirds or three- 
fourths of the produce. But when the conditions become oppressive beyond 
further endm-ance, the tenants will occasionally conclude the contract by firing 
their huts, felling the timber thej' have planted, and removing elsewhere in search 
of some less cruel taskmaster. According to Stack, no trace remains of the com- 
munal system still survi^Tng in India, although he speaks of village communities 
which annually allot the neighbouring sabra or plain according to the nmnber of 
available ploughs, each plough — that is, each head of a family — receiving a share. 

Agricultural property is subject to a fixed impost of one-fifth, which is vigor- 
ously exacted under all circumstances. When the country is ravaged by locusts, 
or the crops destroyed by long droughts, utter ruin overtakes the peasant unable to 
pay the taxes. Then arise those mdespread famines which sweep away whole 
communities, and convert flourishing cities into wildernesses. Dry winters, leaving 
the hillsides bare or without a thick mantle of snow, are followed by hot summers, 
during which the moimtain torrents become exhausted and the imderground 
galleries remain \vithout water. Nevertheless some provinces, especially in the 
north-west and on the Caspian seaboard, are favoured by a sufficiently copious rain- 
fall to render them independent of artificial irrigation. But here as elsewhere 
agriculture is still in a rudimentary state, field operations being carried on with the 
most primitive implements, although much skiU is shown in the use of the hoe, 
with which the gardens and orchards are carefully cultivated. 

Cereals are the staple crop in the western provinces from Tabriz to Hamadan 
and Kermanshah, which in good years yield sufficient corn to support a small 



154 SOUTH-WESTEEN ASLA.. 

export trade to Mesopotamia aud Caucasia. But owing to the difficulties of trans- 
port, most of the suijerfluous grain remains unsold. When Napier visited Ihe 
province of Ardilan, about 80,000 tons of wheat thus remained undisposed of in the 
Kennaushah district alone. Besides wheat, rice grown onlj^ in the Caspian 
provinces, and a species of millet used for a coarse kind of bread, barley is the 
only cereal cultivated, and this, in the absence of oats, is reserved exclusively for the 
horses. All the Eurojsean vegetables are known in Persia, and some, such as 
onions and cucumbers, are consumed to an enormous extent. Fruits also constitute 
one of the chief resources of the country. The melons and pistachio-nuts are of 
prime quality, and the vine, which grows in the upland valleys from 2,000 to 6,000 
feet above sea level, yields excellent raisins, which, under the name of /t-ishinis/i, are 
exported to Russia and India. Apricots and other fruits, dried or preserved, are 
also forwarded in yearly increasing quantities to Russia. The apple, pear, jDlum, 
and cherry are inferior to the European varieties ; but the j)each is highly esteemed, 
and was supposed to have originated in Irania until M. de CandoUe showed that 
China was more probably its true home. 

Amongst the industrial plants a foremost rank is taken by the mulberry, cidti- 
vated both for its fruit and as food for the silkworm. The raw material is partly 
used in the factories of Tabriz, Kashan, and Yezd, and partly exported through 
Trans-Caucasia to Europe. But since the silkworm disease fii-st appeared in the 
province of Ghilan in 1864, the crop has been reduced to a third. Flax is little 
cultivated, and hemp used only in the preparation of hashish. But cotton is 
extensively grown throughout the western provinces, and as far north as Azerbeijan, 
where the temperature is too low for the American varieties. The southern dis- 
tricts, and especially Laristan, yield henna, and a fine quality of tobacco, since the 
Crimean War well known throughout the East. But in recent times no industry 
has been developed so rapidly as that of opium, which is grown especially in 
Yezd and Ispahan, and which already threatens to become a formidable rival of 
the Indian narcotic in the Chinese market.* Nearly all Persians have acquired the 
habit of taking a little every day, and even give it to their horses. But it is seldom 
taken in excess, as is too often the case with hashish. While the cultivation of the 
poppy is extending, that of the sugar-cane is diminishing, the plantations at 
Ahwaz, Shapur, and other cities in the Karun basin and on the rivers of Farsistan, 
having already disappeared. Persia, where the art of refining sugar seems to 
have been invented in the tenth centurj^, now imports this product from France 
and Java. 

The nomad element is relatively more numerous than before the Mohammedan 
invasion. With the Arab conquest came many powerful tribes, which retained on 
the plateau their wandering habits. Then other hordes of Tui-ks, Turkomans, 
Kurds, and Baluches were attracted by the local troubles, and the territory 
occupied by them was constantly enlarged at the exj)ense of the cultivated lands. 
The displacement of whole communities from one province to another caused manj' 

* Exports of opium from the Persian Gulf in 1872, 872 chests, value £71,000 ; in 1880, 7,700 chests, 
value £847,000. 



IXDU8TEIES— TRADE. 155 

families to adopt nomad habits who had for generations led a sedentary life. The 
tyranny and exactions of the provincial rulers also drove many to become 
marauders, rovers, or mendicants. On the whole these nomads contribute nothing 
to the national resources, except as stock-breeders. Their flocks are numerous 
enough to sujd^jI}' the wants of the whole nation, which lives almost exclusively on 
mutton. They also yield considerable quantities of wool, while from the goats is 
obtained the soft fleece used in the manufacture of the exquisite Kirmanian shawls. 
Camel-hair, which in spring falls off in large tufts, is also collected for the prepara- 
tion of felts. The nomads own few horses, but many mules and asses, used chiefly 
as pack-animals. They leave all the industries to the women, who weave mats, 
coarse carpets, and rugs for the surrounding markets. 

For many ages the industrial processes have undergone but little change, and real 
attempts to introduce factories like those of the West have completely failed. But 
the growing taste for European wares is gradually causing the native industries to 
disappear. At present the Russian dealers are the chief gainers b}' this displacement. 
Till the middle of the present centurj^ the bazaars were stocked mainly with 
English goods ; but Russian competition has already monopolised the trade of the 
northern provinces, leaving to the British dealers only a narrow zone round about 
Bushir. As in Afghanistan and Asia Minor, the commercial as well as the 
political predominance of the Russians is becoming daily more evident, and the 
geographical conditions are so favourable to them that their British rivals can 
scarcely hope to recover the lost ground. The Russian domain is conterminous 
with that of Persia, all along the line from Trans-Caucasia round the Caspian sea- 
board to the Turkestan steppes, while the approaches to the plateau from the north, 
through Tabriz, Reshd, Barfrush, and Astrabad, are much easier than those open to 
the English from the ports of the Persian Gulf. Here the rugged track leading 
from Bushir up to Shiraz is carried over no less than six difficult passes. 

The invasion of the native markets by foreign wares has brought about, if not 
the ruin, at least the decadence of the national industries. Certainly Persia no 
longer possesses so many skilful artisans as at the time when Chardin visited the 
bazaars of Ispahan, and the finer qualities of earthenware have almost totally 
disappeared from the manufacturing centres. Nevertheless some of the old trades 
still flom-ish, and the traditions of the local schools of art have nowhere been 
entirely forgotten. Great skill is shown in damascene work, and the wrought steel 
and copper articles, chased with the graver, or embellished with silver, continue to 
excite the admiration of foreigners. Admirably-tempered swords are produced in 
Khorassan, and the arsenals imder European management turn out excellent small- 
arms and even rifles. Inventors of the narghili, the Persians, and especially the 
natives of Ispahan and Shiraz, still make the best kalians, which they enrich with 
gold and silver chased work encrusted with precious stones. Although nearly all 
the cotton stuffs, whether plain or printed, come from Eui-ope, many still jDrefer the 
stout kerbas or kalemkars embellished with hand-printed flowers and arabesques. 
Nor have the coarse woollen fabrics of the Turkomans and Kurds been completely 
driven from the field by the German and Polish cloths. The local felts ornamented 



156 SOUTH-W^STEEN ASL\. 

with figures and inscriptions also continue to be unrivalled. The brocades and 
velvets of Kashau, as well as certain silk fabrics of Yezd, are highly esteemed, while 
the carpets of Kirman are universally celebrated for their combined solidity 
and lightness of texture, exquisite design, and harmony of colour. In this branch 
the native craftsmen have nothing to learn from Euroj)eans, who, on the contrary, 
copy their work without attaining equally the varietj' and graceful sj'mmetry of their 
figures. Unfortimately weaving is carried on in Yezd, Kashan, and Kirman vmder 
extremely unhealthy conditions. Owing to the excessive dryness of the air, the 
artisans are obliged to work in undergroimd places, where the elasticity of the 
threads is preserved by the moisture produced by vessels kept constantly full of 
water. They are also very badly paid, those of Yezd receiving on an average not 
more than sevenpence a day. A shawl worth £40 will occupy three hands for a 
whole year, and their earnings will amount to scarcely £16 altogether. 

The capital being situated near the Caspian, and receiving most of its supplies 
from that basin and Trans- Caucasia, nearly all the nimierous new routes recently 
projected have reference to the north-western region between Teheran and the 
Russian frontier. But the formal concessions for railways have all been cancelled, 
partly no doubt owing to the fear of future iuvasions. As soon, however, as the 
Trans- Caucasian system has been completed and connected with that of European 
Russia, it will be impossible any longer to prevent the locomotive from penetrating 
southwards into the Iranian plateau. The physical obstacles are no doubt serious, 
and some elevated passes will have to be surmounted in order to reach Teheran. 
But modern engineers have elsewhere overcome far greater diflB.cidties, and the 
plateau once gained, it will be easy to extend the system to all the more important 
cities of Irania. It might be possible even to continue it to British India across 
settled districts throughout its whole course. Stations like Shah-rud, Nishapur, 
Herat, Farah, Kandahar would supply a local trafiic such as would be totally 
lacking to any line running farther north through the steppes and sands of Asiatic 
Russia. 

Another line has been proposed to run from Bagdad up the Diyalah river valley 
to Khanikin, on the Turko-Persian frontier, and thence through the Holwan valley, 
the old " royal route" of Alexander. But the costly nature of the works required 
to carry the rails across the border ranges and up the slopes of the plateau must 
for a long time prevent the execution of this scheme. "What is here more m-gently 
needed is the conversion of the present mountain-tracts into carriage-roads running 
from Bagdad to Hamadan by the already mentioned " royal route," from Shuster to 
Ispahan, from Bushir and Bandar- Abbas through Shiraz to Kirman. " But," say 
the natives, " the Europeans would have no roads if they had horses like ours," 
and so nothing is done to improve the local lines of communication. The only 
route hitherto opened for wheeled trafiic is that running from Teheran to Kasvin, 
along the line of the Russian telegraph-lines. 

The whole trade of the country is carried on by caravans, which radiate from 
the cities of the interior to Erzerum, Bagdad, and other marts beyond the frontier. 
In the west goods are transported by mules across the rugged border chain, but 



TE.VDE.— HIGinVAYS. 



157 



camels are chiefly employed on the tracts traversing the relativel}' level plateau 
and eastern districts. The convoys often consist of several hundred pack-animals 
following in single file the lead of some ■well-trained horse, and, o\ving to the great 
heat, marching usually at night. Journeys of 18 to 20 miles are thus performed 
by the light of the stars, and along the sixteen main routes known as " the Sliah's 
highways," stations are established at regular intervals for the service of the post 
and the accommodation of men and beasts in vast caravanserais. Nearly all these 

Fig. 59. — Routes and Teleokafh-lixes in Persia. 
Scale 1 : 15,000,000. 



V "■ . t*2>llkha7lov5l< 




Railways. 
Projected railways. 
Postal routes. 



' Principal caravan routes. 

• — - Telegraphs. 
^^ Navigable rivers. 



structures, some of which are not lacking in architectural pretensions, date from 
the time of Shah Abbas. But since then they have never been repaired, and they 
are now often rendered inaccessible by heaps of refuse. Most of the bridges 
erected by the same sovereign have become too dangerous for use, and the paved 
causeways here and there crossing the quagmires are also carefully avoided. But 
time is of little value in Persia, and if the roads are difEcult it costs little to travel 
at a slow pace. The route between Teheran and Reshd, the most frequented in 
the country, usually takes about seven days, although only 180 niUes long. The 



158 ftOUTII-AMilSTERX ASIA. 

journey from Teheran to Busliir occupies one month, to Bandar- Abbas forty days, 
to the Bahich frontier bej-ond Bampur two months. 

The foreign trade of Persia is estimated altogether at some £6,000,000. A fixed 
impost of five per cent, is levied on all goods imported and exported. But to this tax, 
the only one imposed on foreigners, octroi and excise dues are added for the natives. 
By this eccentric fiscal arrangement the European traders are " protected " against 
their Persian competitors. In the interior the commercial relations are expanding 
from year to year, as attested by the steady increase of the telegraphic business. 
Beside the Anglo-Indian system, which crosses Persian territory from Tabriz to 
Bushir, the Government has laid down a network of wires between all the large 
cities, the total mileage amoimting in 1881 to over 3,000 miles. Most of the heads 
of the telegraph-offices are members of the royal familj'. 

Public morality necessarily stands on a low level in a country where divorce is 
so frequent that temporary unions for periods of twenty-five days and even less are 
regularly sanctioned by the mollahs. Few women reach their twenty-fourth year 
without having had two or three husbands. The least liable to be divorced are 
those who before marriage were related to their husbands. These command the 
whole household, and exercise considerable influence even beyond the family circle. 
Slavery still exists, and the Arabs of Mascat continue to import negroes and 
Somalis, whom they sell to the highest bidder. Baluch and Turkoman captives 
are the only whites that are reduced to slaverj'. At the same time slaves are 
generally treated as members of the family, and are commonly addressed as bacha 
or " childi'en." They may even become proprietors, although all they may acquire 
belongs legally to their owners. 

Elementary instruction is more developed than in certain European countries. 
To nearly all the mosques is attached a school, where the children learn at least to 
I'epeat passages from the Xoran and strojihes from the national poets. The poetic 
taste has thus been so far cultivated that all Persians take pleasure in the recitation 
of the compositions of Hafiz or Firdusi. Many are themselves skilled versifiers, 
and capable of composing treatises on scientific or theological subjects. " The ink 
of the learned is more precious than the blood of martyrs," say the natives with 
the Prophet. Nevertheless the printing-press, introduced into Tabriz in the begin- 
ning of this century, is still little used. Manuscripts are usually reproduced by the 
lithographic process, which is best adapted to the graceful form of the Persian 
characters. There are also a few periodicals in Tabriz, Teheran, and Isjjahan ; but 
being under the direct control of the Government, these journals are far from 
constituting a " fourth estate." 

Notwithstanding the decadence of tlie Iranian monarchy in territorial extent, 
population, commercial and industrial activity, the sovereign has abated none of 
his ofiicial claims to supremacy. The language that he addresses to his subjects 
recalls the haughty tone adopted by Artaxerxes or Darius when commemorating 
their triumphs in rock inscriptions addressed to their coimtless subjects. What 
are the " majesties " of Europe, the " kings by the grace of God," compared with 
such a title as " King of kings, exalted like the planet Saturn, Pole of the Universe, 



ADMIXISTRATIOX. lf,9 

^Vell of Science, Footpath of Heaven, Sublime Sovereign whose standard is the sun, 
whose splendour is that of the firmament, Monarch of armies numerous as the 
stars " ? Amongst the rulers of men who is more legitimate than the " emanation 
of Grod himself " ? Every Persian subject repeats the lines of Sadi, " The vice 
approved by the prince becomes a virtue. To seek counsel opposed to his is to 
wash one's hands in one's own blood." But the Shah's omnipotence is already a 
thing of the past. In the eyes of his own people he is a sovereign only de facto, 
not de jure, for he is not a descendant of Ali, and such alone have any right to the 
Iranian throne. The grandiloquent titles possessed by the khan of the obscure 
Turki-Kajar tribe, who became Shah of Persia, have not prevented his power from 
becoming seriously limited. His last conflict with a European power occurred in 
1857, when the English lauded a small force at Bushir, and bombarded Moham- 
merah. Since then in his foreign policy he has been fain to conform to the advice 
of the ministers resident at his Court. He has especially to attend to the counsel of 
the Piussian ambassador, the maintenance of his power depending largelj^ on the 
will of his powerful neighbour. Since the murder of the envoy Griboj-edov at 
Teheran in 1829, the kingdom is being gradually but surely transformed into a 
Russian province. Without incurring the cost or responsibilities of conquest, the 
new masters of the country enjoy all the advantages of their undoubted political 
supremacy. 

Even iu the administration of the interior the royal power is limited by the 
precepts of the Koran, by custom, by the influence of the mushtehid, and other 
ecclesiastical functionaries. The Shah has even to take account of a certain public 
opinion, and still more of the unfavoui-able criticisms of the European press. But 
the Crown is assisted by no representative body. The ministers chosen by the Shah, 
whose number and rank he modifies at pleasure, are mere servants whom he loads 
with honours or causes to be strangled according to the whim of the moment. The 
principal wazirs are those of foreign affairs, of the interior, finance, justice, war, 
religion. 

The administrative regime resembles that of the ancient satrapies. The 
provinces are ruled b}^ the hakims or governors, "pillars and props of the State," 
who are mostly chosen from the royal family and reside at Teheran, being repre- 
sented on the spot by secondary wazirs. Their power, flowing directly from the 
royal authority, is without appeal, and comprises the right of life, torture and 
death. " The king smiles only to show his lion-teeth " is a proverb quoted bv 
Chardin, and recent instances are not lacking of wretched victims of the imi^ei-ial 
wrath being bricked up alive, torn to pieces with the lash, or burnt to death at a 
slow fire. Imprisonment, owing to the cost of maintenance, is a punishment 
seldom resorted to, and in any case the doors of all gaols are thrown open on the 
great feast of the new year. The district governors, as well as the police mao-is- 
trates in the towns, are absolute in their respective jurisdictions. As in other 
Mussulman countries, jurisprudence and religion are confounded together. The 
sheikhs-el-Islam sit as judges in the provincial capitals, and appoint the secondary 
judges and magistrates in their several circuits. Nevertheless, in all the villages 



160 SOUTH-^\'ESTEEN ASL\. 

and in many towns are found the rudiments of a judicial system, and even of a 
popular representation. All traders elect the sjTidic, who is charged with the 
defence of the communal interests before the judges and governors, but who is also 
held resjDonsible for disturbances arising within his jurisdiction. He is required to 
make compensation for all loss or damage to property. Hence, having a personal 
interest in the preservation of order, the police is much better organised than in 
Asiatic Turkey. The rural populations are not armed, and their disputes seldom 
lead to serious outbreaks. The nomads have a separate administration, but, like 
the provinces, they form strictly monarchical groups. The ilkhani, or tribal chief, 
depends directly on the Shah or on the provincial governor, takes, like the latter, 
the title of " Pillar of the State," and is the sole lord and master of the community 
for whose good conduct he makes himself responsible. 

The army is composed chiefly of Turki and Turkoman elements drawai from the 
north-west provinces, where the warlike spirit is much more developed than in 
the lands occupied by the Iranians proper. Troops of formidable cavalry are also 
furnished by the Kashkai chiefs, the Bakhtyari ilkhanis, and the sheikhs of 
Arabistan. All the large iliat groups are required to equip a fat)/, that is, a body 
of 800 horse, for the frontier service. Christians and Guebres are exempt from 
military duties, as are also the natives of Kashan, who bear a traditional reputation 
for cowardice. Altogether, the army, being of a different race from the bulk of 
the people, shows itself only too ready to treat them as conquered rebels, and has 
often recovered the arrears of pay by plundering them. Till 1875 the soldiers 
were enlisted for their whole life, returning to their homes only on temporary 
leave ; but according to the official documents, the service is now reduced to twelve 
years, and the recruits are raised by ballot, with the privilege of finding substi- 
tutes. But these reforms exist only on paper, and the old system still prevails. 
The nizam, or regulars, are equipped and disciplined in the European waj' under 
foreign instructors, formerly English, French, and Austrians, now chiefly Russians 
and Austro-Hungarians. With the exception of a few squadrons of cavalry 
dressed as Cossacks, the troops wear the Austrian uniform. According to the 
ofiicial returns they comprise 77 battalions of infantry, 79 regiments of cavalry, 
20 of artillery, and 1 battalion of pioneers, numbering altogether 100,000 men, 
with 200 guns. But there are probably not more than 50,000 effectives, some 
10,000 of whom form a special body of gendarmerie and police. The navy is 
reduced to a few custom-house boats and a royal yacht commanded by an admiral. 
In virtue of sundry treaties, the Caspian is now exclusively a " Eussian lake," while 
the British navy is supreme in the Persian Gulf. 

Persia is one of the few States which have no public debt. The Crown even 
possesses a well-fiUed treasury, said to contain about £4,000,000 in the precious 
metals and gems, or twice t annual receipts, which are estimated at from 
£1,800,000 to £2,000,000. The .to main sources of revenue are the land-tax, fixed 
at one-fifth of the produce besides supplementary charges, and the customs, farmed 
out for sums varying from £200,000 to £240,000. The Government also imposes 
at pleasure additional taxes, either throughout the empire or in special districts. 



ADlSnNISTEATION OP PEESIA. IGl 

thus enabling the jJi'ovinciul rulers to indulge in the most oj)pressive measures, and 
often involving whole communities in ruin. On the arrival or departure of a hakim, 
the mimicipalities are further called upon to contribute towards his travelling 
expenses. But the sheep and oxen formerly sacrificed at his approach are now 
replaced by presents of money, costly fabrics, horses, and mules. Lastly, to their 
official salary the higher officials add the so-called mokatel, or supplementary 
honorarium exacted from his subordinates. 

The gold, silver, and copper coinage, made of ingots imported from Russia, is 
minted in most of the large cities, as far east as Sikohah in Sistan. The gold and 
silver pieces bear the name of the reigning shah, Nasr-ed-din Kajar, and 
occasionally even his effigy, notwithstanding the precepts of the Koran. Formerly 
the tomans were of pure gold ; now they contain a large proportion of alloy, and 
are mostly so worn that traders will acceiDt them only by weight. Since 1879 the 
French monetary system has been officially introduced, and the toman now consists 
of ten krans (francs), subdivided into ten doubles [shai, shaghis), the other 
divisions being the same as in France. 

A table of the provinces, governments, and chief towns, with their approximate 
jDopulatious, will be foimd iu the appendix. The limits of the governments, 
districts, and buluks (cantons) are frequently modified according to the favour 
enjoj'ed by the royal princes and others entrusted with the administration of the 
land, their revenues increasing and diminishing with the extent of their several 
jurisdictions. 




CHAPTER V. 



ASIATIC TURKEY. 




S in European Turkey, the portion of Western Asia subject to the 
sultan of Constantinople forms a dismembered, political region, 
the remnant of an emf)ire still kept together mainly through the 
sufferance of the great European powers. In the north-east the 
frontier has recently been rectified to the advantage of Russia, 
which has seized on the strategic points about the main water-partings. The very 
routes are already planned by which her armies are to descend the Euphrates, and 
add the Armenian and Kurdish territories to her other conquests. England, also, 
unable directly to prevent these political encroachments, has sought compensation 
in the island of Cyprus, whence the course of events may at least be observed, if 
not controlled. Even the Greeks of the Anatolian seaboard have begun to reassert 
the old Hellenic autonomy, by the constitution of the principality of Samos, under 
the official suzerainty of the Porte. 

While the Turkish empire in Asia is thus thi-eatened, either by foreign powers 
on the frontiers, or by its own subjects on the coast, it is fast losing its cohesion 
in the interior, through the conflict of its discordant national elements. Greek 
and Turk, Laz and Kurd, Armenian, Maronite, Druse and Ansarieh, have begun 
that restless agitation which anticipates and hastens the final rupture of the ties 
still binding them together in one political sj'stem. The various provinces of the 
empire are, moreover, separated by intervening deserts or wasted lands ; and in the 
south long journeys must be made across the wilderness, in order to reach the 
Euphrates from the cultivated valleys of the Lebanon. Since the Roman epoch 
the waste spaces have increased in extent. Round about Palmja-a and other 
ancient cities nothing is now to be seen except scattered nomad camping-grounds. 
Even since the beginning of the present century, many cultivated tracts have 
become depopulated, either by famine, emigration, or the frequent conscriptions 
of soldiers seldom destined to revisit their homes. 

Hence, whatever be the official administrative divisions, it will be convenient 
to treat as distinct lands the various countries of Asiatic Turkey, which present a 
certain imity in their geographical outlines, their history, and ethnical relations. 
One of these natural regions is formed by the closed basin of Lake Van, with the 



TUEKIsn AEMEXIAX HIGHLANDS. KiS 

Kurdish and Armenian highlands between Trans-Caucasia and the Upper 
Euphrates. The Mesopotamian plain, formerly the seat of powerful empires and 
of many famous cities, also constitutes a well-defined geographical and historical 
land. The same is true of the Anatolian peninsula, whose seaboard, fringed with 
islands and islets, develops a vast zone of cultivated lowlands round about the 
thinly-peopled inland region of plateaux and saline steppes. Cyprus, now 
constituting a portion of the prodigious British empire, must also be studied apart, 
presenting as it does a distinctlj' original culture, intermediate between those of 
Greece and Phoenicia. Lastly, the long hilly district of SjTia and Palestine, 
skirted on one side by the Mediterranean, on the other by the desert, forms a 
separate physical region, whose inhabitants have played a leading part in the 
history of the world by their discoveries, commercial enterprise, and diffusion 
of ideas. There remain the Turkish possessions on the Arabian seaboard, which 
are best considered in connection with the peninsula with which they form a 
geographical whole. 

LAZISTAX, ARIIENIA, AXD KURDISTAN. 
(Black Sea Coast — Basins of Lake Vax anp the Upper Euphrates.) 

Although the present political limits of Asiatic Turkey no longer correspond 
with its natural frontiers, Moimt Ararat forms at least a convenient comer- stone at 
the converging point of the Russian, "Turkish, and Persian territories. From the 
depression between the Great and Little Ararat, where the three empires meet, the 
Turkish frontier follows for 90 miles to the west the water-parting between the 
Aras and Euphrates basins. This is confessedl}'^ a temporary arrangement, and to 
judge from past experiences, fresh wars must sooner or later be followed by fresh 
annexations to the Russian empire. Elburz, giant of the Caucasus, may repeat to 
Tandurek, Bingol-dagh and Argseus what it formerly said to Kazbek, in the lines of 
Lermontov : " Tremble ! Peering towards the icy north, I behold sights of ill- 
omen ! From Ural to Danube the clash of arms ; brazen batteries moving forward 
with sinister rumblings ; smoking fuses ready for battle ! 

West of Ararat, the green plain of the Echmiadzin basin is skirted by a 
rugged volcanic chain, some of whose cones, such as the Chinghil and Perli-dagh, 
exceed 10,000 feet, or about 5,000 above the plain. But the range falls gradually 
towards the west and south-west, again rising towards the water-parting, and with 
other converging ridges forming the Bingol-dagh, or " Mountain of the Thousand 
Lakes" (11,500 feet), whose winter and spring snows feed the streams radiating in 
all directions, east to the Aras, north and south to the Kara-su and Murad, the 
two main branches of the Upper Euphrates. Beyond this point the chief crest of 
these highlands runs for 150 miles westwards parallel with the Euxine seaboard. 
Here an opening is at last made for the Kara-su, which trends abruptly south-east 
to join the other branch of the Euphrates. 

The Bingol-dag is connected with the Erzerum Moimtains by a lofty ridge 
running north, and forming an irregular water-parting east of the sources of the 
Kara-su. Along this line passes the great military highwaj' between Erzerum and 

m2 



164 



S0UTH-TM3STEEX ASIA. 



Ears. Here the culminating point is the Palandoken (10,450 feet) ; but farther 
west a still greater altitude is attained by several summits of the Perli-dagh, 
which is skirted by the iirst great bend of the Kara-su. North of the Erzerum 
basin the Bingol is rivalled by the Ghiaur-dagh, another great centre of streams 
radiating in various directions. Such are the Tortum-su, which, after forming one 
of the finest waterfalls in the Old "World, flows through deep lava gorges with walls 
1,000 feet high, to the Choruk and Black Sea ; several head-streams of the Aras 
and Kiira, belonging to the Caspian basin, and lastly, the main source of the 
Euphrates, which flows to the Persian Gulf. The latter is associated with many 
local Armenian le'gends, and is regarded as sacred even by the Tui-ks, who believe 

Fig. 60. — Routes of the Chief Explorers op Armenia. 
Scale 1 : 6,600,000. 







Elbistin 









6tf<?^- ■.•'.■'*'°'*'' '''""'*''''' 



"%■ 



E. ofGreenwlct. 



that while ordinary sins are washed awaj' by the healing waters of the Euphrates, 
they prove fatal to those pursued by the wrath of Allah. After its junction with 
numerous other mountain torrents, the sacred stream descends into the Erzerum 
basin, where the extensive Sazlik swamps become flooded dui-ing the melting of 
the snows in spring. These swamps are probably the remains of an old lake 
formerly filling the Erzerum basin, although Radde failed, after a long search, to 
find any species of lacustrine molusc in its bed. 

The hills encircling this basin are largely of igneous origin, as is evident from 
the regular cones rising here and there above the crest. At the very gates of 
Erzerum is a crater formerly filled with water, which has escaped through a deep 



LAZISTAN IIIGin.ANDS. 



165 



gorge northwards to the Kara-su marshes. But the highest and most remarkable 
of these volcanoes is the Sishehik of the Ghiaur-dagh range, ■which rises to the 
north-west of Erzermn, 3,960 feet above the plain, and to an absolute elevation of 
10,550 feet. From the centre of the crater, which resembles Vesuvius in shape, 
but greatly exceeds it in size, there S23rings a cone of black and brown scoriae, 
round which runs a grassj' zone covered with flowers in spring. 

The Lazistan and Kurdistan Mountains. 

The Kara-su Valley is skirted on the north by a chain of hills running mainly 
parallel with the Black Sea, and merging westwards in the Sivas plateau. This is 
the Paryandi-es of the ancients, now better known as the Kop-dagh, from a peak 

Fig. 61.— Bingol-Daoh. 

Scale 1 : 150,000. 




of that name rising 13,000 feet above the great highway between Erzerum and 
Trebizond. The pass crossed by this route, the most remarkable engineering work 
in Turkey, is 9,000 feet high, or about the same altitude as the Stelvio of the 
Central Alps. North of it is the Churuk Valley, which, with that of the Kharshut, 
or Gumish-Kaneh River, forms a surprisingly regular semicircular depression. 
From the port of Batimi, near the mouth of the Churuk, to Tireboli, at the mouth of 
the Kharshut, the road runs along a vast avenue of peaks, and rises nowhere 
higher than the pass (6,330 feet) between the soui-ces of the two rivers, near the 



160 SOUTH- WESTERN ASIA. 

village of Yavug. The vast creseeut enclosed by these two streams is occupied bj' 
the Pontine Alps, a lofty range culminating with the Khachkar peak, about 12,000 
feet. In these Lazistan highlands the paths are blocked by snow for six months 
in the year. " The birds themselves," say the natives, " are unable to fly over the 
hills in winter." 

The mountains coasting the Euxine, west of the Kharshut, towards the Kizil- 
irmak, although less elevated than the Pontine Alps, are still high enough to 
render the coniTnunications very arduous. The)' project lofty headlands at intervals 
seawards, one of which still bears the name of Yasun-burun, that is. Cape Jason, 
from the navigator of Greek legend. Numerous traces of old glaciers and 
moraines are visible in the upland valleys of the Pontine Alps, whose lavas, 
pori^hyries, and other eruptive rocks have been everywhere scored by the ice-streams. 
In this region the glacial period seems to have been preceded by the igneous 
activity, the only surviving indications of which are the frequent earthquakes and 
numerous hot springs at the foot and on the slope of the hills. According to 
Strecker, the Kolat-dagh (9,600 feet), rising above the main range over 30 miles 
south of Trebizond, is the Mount Theckes whence Xenophon's ten thousand first 
sighted the sea on their retreat from Babylonia. But this peak is scarcely accessible 
to an army on the march, while the descent on the north side is altogether imprac- 
ticable. But south of it, and close to the route which the Greeks must have followed, 
there stands a hill 8,000 feet high, whence the Euxine is perfectlj' visible. On its 
highest point stands a monument of porphyry blocks some 30 feet high, surrounded 
by some truncated cones, which according to Briot, were erected by the Greeks to 
commemorate their arrival at the coast. 

The vast labyrinth of the Anti-Caucasus, or Armenian AIjds, comprises not 
only the region between the Kura basin, Black Sea, and Upper Euphrates, but 
also the extensive basin of Lake Yan, south of Ararat, and the surrounding districts 
as far as the Persian frontier. Throughout the whole of this region the mean 
elevation of the land is very great. Even the lacustrine depression of Lake Dalik- 
gol, south of the Perli-dagh, stands at an altitude of 7,o00 feet, whence its 
overflow is discharged to a tributary of the Aras. South of it flows the JIurad, 
or Southern Euphrates, in a narrow rocky bed over 6,500 feet above sea level. 
Northwards this rugged upland region is bounded by the twia peaks of Ararat, 
southwards by the less elevated Ala-dagh, whence flow the highest head-streams 
of the Euphrates, at an elevation of 11,700 feet. Due east of this point stands the 
still loftier Tandurek (11,850 feet), known also as the Simderlik-dagh, Khur, or 
Khori, which of all the Armenian volcanoes still preserves the most numerous 
traces of the former plutonic forces. The chief crater, over 3,000 yards in 
circumference and 380 deep, is now flooded by a small Alpine lake. But smoke 
still escapes from its flanks, and on the eastern slope is a cavern emitting vajjours at 
a temperature of 265° F. Here is heard a continuous booming, which resembles 
the sound of distant artillery, and which, during one of the Russo-Turkish frontier 
wars, caused an alarm ia the two hostile armies encamped in the neighbourhood. 
At the north-west foot of the Tandurek well up the copious sulphur springs of 



lOJEDISTAN HIGHLANDS. 167 

Diyadin, covering the ground with their many-colom-ed incrustations, and forming 
a thermal stream, which descends through a series of smoking cascades down to 
the icy waters of the Murad. Farther down the Murad itself disappears in a 
basalt underground channel, which is continued by a deep canon between two 
vertical rocky walls. 

The Tandurek is connected north-westwards with the Perli-dagh by a ridge, 
which is crossed by the route from Erzerum to Tabriz, and which would appear 
to form the true natural frontier between Turkey and Persia. But the eastern 
valley, watered by Lake BaHk with its emissary of like name, is at present included 
within the limits of the Ottoman empire. The range running east of Tandurek 
over against Ararat also forms a natui-al frontier, both slopes of which are 
occupied by semi-independent Kurdish tribes between the two conterminous 
states. Eastwards this range projects a few short spurs, terminating with abrupt 
headlands towards Lake TJrmiah. But in the direction of Lake Van several 
branches stretch for a long way westwards, gradually merging in the plateau, 
which has here a mean altitude of over 6,000 feet, while some of the peaks on the 
main range itself rise to an absolute height of 10,000 feet. The same elevation 
appears to be attained, if not exceeded, by the Hakkiari hills, which sweep round 
to the south along the southern shore of Lake Van. The circuit of mountains 
enclosing this lacustrine basin is completed on the north and north-west by 
another range, culminating with the extinct volcanic peak of Seiban, or Sapan, 
(about 12,000 feet), which, according to Tozer, is covered with snow for ten months 
in the year. This majestic cone, formerly supposed to rival Demavend in height, 
and associated with Ararat in the Armenian legends connected with the Noachian 
deluge, commands a magnificent prospect of the northern highlands, sweeping 
rovmd in a vast curve of 180 miles from Ararat to Bingol-dagh. Southwards is 
visible the side crater flooded by the Aghir-gol, or " Still Lake," beyond which 
stretches the basin of Van itself, with its inlets, bays, marshes, and encircling hills. 
At the west foot of Sapan lies the freshwater lakelet of Nazik, on the water- 
jDartiug between Van and the Euphrates, to both of which it sends emissaries. 

The last southern terraces of the Armenian plateau terminate above the 
Mesopotamian plains in a line of rugged cliffs scored by deep river gorges, but 
forming in their normal direction a regular north-western continuation of the 
Luristan border range. Immediately west of Lake Van rises the vast crater of the 
.Nimrud-dagh composed entirely of scoriae, the south side of which is indented by 
an elliptic bay, section of another volcano 'now partly submerged. The whole 
of Upper Armenia is an igneous region, still subject to frequent earthquakes. 

Lake Van. 

Lake Van, the Tosp of the Armenians, whence its classic name of Thospitis, 
stands at an altitude of 5,400 feet; that is, 1,100 feet higher than Urmiah. It has 
an estimated area of 1,470 square miles, or somewhat less than its Azerbeijan 
neighbour, which, however, it considerably exceeds in depth, and consequently also 



1G8 



SOUTn-"«'ESTEEN ASIA. 



in volume. On the east side, within 2 miles of the town of Van, the soundings give 
80 feet of water, while the bed of the lake sinks to far greater depths along its 
southern shore. The great bay, however, which penetrates some 3G miles north- 
eastwards, forms a shallow expanse, where in spring the mountain torrents develoj) 
extensive alluvial deltas. According to a local tradition, this inlet was formerly a 
fertile plain watered by two streams which continued their winding course south- 
westwards to Bitlis. In any case, the data collected by Jaubert, Loftus, Strecker, 

Fig. 62. — Lake Van — Tadwan Bay and Mount Nimrud. 




and others, leave no doubt regarding the great changes of level undergone by this 
inland sea. Between 1838 and 1840 it rose from 10 to 13 feet, and a similar rising 
seems to have occurred early in the seventeenth century, the waters again subsiding 
after a few years. Several of the islets along the coast have at times been flooded, 
and old promontories have been transformed to islands constantly diminishing in 
extent. The highway skirting the north side has in the same way steadily 
receded farther inland. The town of Arjish, on the north-east bay, has almost 



LAKE VAX. 169 

entirely disappeared ; while Adeljivas, on the north coast, is now threatened by the 
rising waters. On the east side also the lake is advancing towards Van, which has 
itself already replaced a more ancient city of that name. The village of IskeUa 
has been partly abandoned, and the boatmen moor their craft to trunks of trees 
which now stand far from the shore. To these constant invasions are perhaps to be 
attributed the local traditions regarding lai-ge cities formerly swallowed up by the 
lake. What is the explanation of a phenomenon, the very opposite of what is 
observed in nearly all the other Asiatic lacustrine basins ? Unless it be due to some 
local atmospheric currents attracting to this region more rain-bearing clouds than 
elsewhere, the reason given by the inhabitants themselves must be accepted. 
According to their statements the underground passages, through which copious 
streams formerly escaped to the head waters of the Tigris, have been partly effaced, 
and the reservoir receiving more supplies than can now be carried off bj' evapora- 
tion and subterranean emissaries, must continue to rise until an equilibrium is 
established, or until the excess is discharged south-westwards to the torrent of 
Bitlis. It is also stated that the neighbouring nomads have rolled a huge block to 
the head of one of the underground outlets, and since then the lake has been 
graduallj- but steadily rising. The lakelet of Erchek, east of Van, is also expanding, 
a circumstance which would seem to point rather at a change of the local climatic 
conditions. Erchek also resembles Van in its saline properties, but contains, 
according to Millingen, a strong proportion of arsenic. 

Van itself is far too brackish to be potable b}- man or beast. But being still 
less saKne than Urmiah, it contains a more developed fauna. At the mouths 
of the streams considerable captures are made of a species of fish wrongly identi- 
fied by Joubert with the anchovy of the Black Sea. As shown by the naturalist 
DejTolle, it is a blay (Ci/prinus Tarachi^, which appears to avoid the more saline 
waters, and shows itself near the surface only in the spring, from March to May, 
when the fresh supplies from the melting snows are spread over the heavier salt 
layers found at lower dej^ths. The saline deposits round the shores both of Van 
and Erchek, consist in even proportions of carbonate and sidphate of soda, utilised 
in the manufacture of soap, which is exported as far as Syria. 

Boats are rare on Lake Van, although Fanshawe Tozer recently crossed it in a 
fishing-smack, accompanied by a flotilla of five others, and a steamer was launched 
on its waters by the American missionaries in 1879. 

Climate — Flora — Fauna. 

The very existence of Van, Urmiah, Gokcha, and of the numerous smaller 
lacustrine basins on the Akhaltzikh plateau, between Ears and Tiflis, is sufficient 
proof that the climate of the Armenian uplands is far more humid than that 
of Persia. The whole of Lazistan and the hilly region comprised by the ancients 
under the name of Pontus, lie, in fact, within the influence of the western and 
north-western winds, which bring from the Euxine an abundant supply of rain 
during the summer storms, and of snow durins' winter. Althoug-h the rainfall 



170 S0UTH-T\T2STEEN ASIA. 

is less copious than on the southern slojjes of the Caucasus, where the annual 
discharge exceeds 75 inches in MingreKa and Imeria, it amounts to at least half that 
average in some of tlie more favoured valleys of Lazistan. In the absence of 
accurate returns, the mean yearly discharge may be approximately estimated at 
about 20 inches for the whole of the Armenian uplands. 

On the other hand certain districts, such as the Olti plateau, shut off by lofty 
ranges froniyrthe rain-bearing clouds, have seldom sufficient moisture for agricul- 
tural purposes. Hence, as on the Caspian slojJe of Trans-Caucasia, the brooks have 
here to be collected in reservoir's, and dispersed in a thousand channels over the 
arable lauds. But notwithstanding the barrier of the Pontine Alps, most of 
Southern Armenia is exposed to the influence of the moist winds, which blow from 
the Euxine across the Sivas plateau into the fimnel-shaped upland valleys facing 
westwards. They prevail chiefly in winter, when they clothe with a thick mantle 
of snow the amjjhitheatre of hiUs about the head-waters of the Euphrates. In 
summer they are succeeded by the dry northern and eastern breezes from the great 
polar current, which traverse the Asiatic continent and melt the Al^jiue snows. A 
supply of moisture is also yielded by the south-western winds from the Mediter- 
ranean, to which are due the soft, hazj^ outlines of the hills, and the delicate tints 
of the landscape, conspicuous even in clear weather. On the northern slopes the 
suj)erabundant humidity from the Euxine is sufficient to develop rivers, such as the 
Choruk and Kharchut, whose volume is out of proportion with the extent of their 
basin. Enough remains even for the southern slope, where it feeds the Euphrates 
and Tigris, whose united stream in the Shat-el-Arab exceeds all other rivers 
between the Indus and the Danube. The Euphrates may thus be regarded as a 
great emissary of the Black Sea, whose evaporated waters are precipitated through 
this perennial channel into the Persian Gulf. 

On the shores of the Euxine a tolerably mild temperature prevails throughout 
the year. Here the glass seldom falls 10° F. below freezing point, while the 
moderating influence of the sea prevents the summer heats from exceeding 77° F. 
But the Turkish Armenian uplands, lying beyond this influence, are subject to 
extreme vicissitudes of heat and cold. There is scarcely any spring at Erzerum, 
where the winter snows rapidly melting, suddenly change the torrents into large 
rivers. Extended observations are still needed to form a just estimate of this 
climate, as compared with that of other countries in Europe and Asia, whose 
meteorological conditions are already determined. But differences of no less than 
60° F. have been recorded between dawn and noon, while the glass seems to 
oscillate between the extremes of 13° F. and 112° F. of absolute cold and heat. 
The vegetation, retarded by the winter and spring frosts, is stimulated by the early 
summer heats, when all nature bursts suddenly into full bloom. Wheat is 
developed from sprout to ear within the space of two months ; but it would soon 
be burnt up by the fierce midsummer sun, were it not sujiplied with sufficient 
moisture by artificial irrigation. This cereal is cultivated to an altitude of 6,000, 
and barley up to 7,000, feet ; but at these extreme heights the crops are threatened 
by the sudden retuin of frost in the early autumn. On the whole, agricidtural 



FLOEA AND FAUNA OF TURKISH .ARMENIA. 171 

operations are coti fined to lower limits on the Armenian highlands than on the 
more northerly Georgian slopes of Caucasia. This is due probably to the form 
of the Armenian ranges, which give access through numerous openings to 
the northern winds, against which the Great Caucasus presents an unbroken 
barrier. 

In the neighbourhood of the Black Sea, the vegetation resembles that of Miu- 
grelia, but presents fewer species and a less varied display of bright colours. 
Lazistan, say the natives, is the land of fruits, while Armenia is supposed to be the 
original home of the vine, pear, and many other species. In the Trebizond district, 
the hills are clothed from base to summit with a rich vegetable humus, which 
supports a varied growth of garden plants, orchards, grassy tracts, evergreen and 
other trees. The towns .and villages on the coast are surrounded by citron and 
olive groves, which are succeeded higher up by the walnut, oak, and chestnut. 
Bej'ond these comes the zone of scarlet rhododendrons and azaleas, to the latter of 
which has been attributed the poisonous action of the honey that intoxicated or 
demented the Greek soldiers of Xenophon's expedition. 

Further inland the Ai-menian highlands are mostly destitute of arborescent 
vegetation. Nothing is seen but bare rocks and pastures, in a region which might 
be covered with timber. Hence animals and even birds are rare, most of the slopes 
being occupied hj nomad pastors, with their flocks of fat-tailed sheep, guarded by 
half wild collies, which are often more dangerous than bears or wolves. There is 
also a good breed of horses, extremely gentle yet full of spirit, but inferior in 
strength to the Turkoman and in graceful action to the Persian species. But the 
chief resource of the whole of this region is the sheep, of which as many as forty 
millions are said to be found between Ai-arat and the Persian Gulf. At the begin- 
ning of the centm-y Jaubert estimated at 1,500,000 the number sent annually to 
Constantinople from the Armenian uj)lands. Aleppo, Damascus, and even Beirut, 
are supplied with mutton from Armenia and Kurdistan, and during their 
campaigns the Tui-kish armies largely depend for their provisions on the region of 
the Upper Euphrates. 

Inhabitants — The Lazes and Armenians. 

The inhabitants of Lazistan, Turkish Armenia, and Kurdistan, estimated 
altogether at upwards of two millions, belong mainly to the same ethnical groups 
as the populations of Trans-Caucasia. Here the political frontier forms no ethno- 
graphic parting-line. On both sides dwell peoples of Georgian stock ; the Turkish 
Erzerum, like the Russian Erivan, belongs to the Armenian domain ; Kurdish 
nomad pastors frequent the shores of lake Van as well as those of lake Gokcha. 
At every fresh Russian conquest, migrations, forced or voluntary, have taken place 
between the conterminous states. Between 1828 and 1830 over 100,000 Armenians 
passed from Tui-key and Persia into Russian territory, where they received the 
lands of the Tui-ki and Kurdish immigrants into the Hohammedan countries. 
Since 1877 similar shiftings of the populations have taken place between Turkish 



172 . SOUTH-'R'ESTEEX ASL\. 

Armenia and the provinces annexed to Russian Trans-Caucasia. The Turks of 
Ardahan and Kars have retired to Erzerum and Sivas, those of Artvin to the Van 
I^lateau, the lands thus left vacant heing occupied by Ai-menians from the Upper 
Chorukh, from the Erzerum and Van districts. In this readjustment of the popu- 
lations, the Ottoman empire has on the whole benefitted most. The Mussulmans 
almost unanimously flee from their new Russian masters, whereas many Turkish 
Armenians prefer the misrule of the pashas to the meddlesome interference of the 
Muscovite administration. Thus the chief result of the Russian invasions has been 
to transform Armenia into another Turkestan. 

Nevertheless these displacements, which have been constantly accompanied by 
a frightful mortality caused by famine, fever, homesickness, and hardships of every 
sort, are still far from having produced an ethnological grouping coincident with 
the conventional political frontier. In case of fresh conflicts with the Porte, Russia 
naturally derives great diplomatic and military advantages from the presence of 
kindred communities in the conterminous provinces. On behalf of her Trans- 
Caucasian Georgian subjects, she acquires a right or pretext for interfering in the 
affairs of their Laz brethern in the Trebizond district. As mistress of the Kurdish 
pastors, she may claim the prerogative of maintaining order amongst these restless 
nomads on both sides of the frontier. But esj)ecially as possessor of the holy city 
of Echmiadzin, and guardian of the Armenian Christians, she may feel called upon 
to insist upon those administrative reforms which British influence has hitherto 
been jDowerless to introduce into Turkish Armenia. In European Turkey, Russia 
has successfully interfered on behalf of the Bulgarians, and obtained for them an 
autonomous territory stretching nearly to the Gulf of Salonica. In the same way, 
when the occasion serves, she will be ready armed with a pretext for intervention 
in favour of the Armenian commmiities scattered over Western Asia from Erzerum 
to the Gulf of Alexandretta, over against Cyj^rus, England's new acquisition in the 
East. England herself can scarcely expect to offer an efficacious guarantee against 
farther Muscovite encroachments on the present limits of the Ottoman empire. 
She can no longer control the course of events in these regions, and the refusal 
or neglect of the Turk to introduce the much needed reforms will merelj^ serve as 
an excuse for withdrawing from her new "Protectorate." 

It is sad to reflect that such a rich land, one of the fairest, and formerly one of 
the most productive in the temperate zone, is now so little utilised by man. The 
population, which cannot be estimated at more than ten or twelve to the square mile, 
seems to be even diminishing. Yet the dominant Turki race, although still mostly 
in the tribal state, possesses many sterling qualities, which ought to secure it a con- 
siderable part in the common work of human progress. Laborious, long-suffering^ 
persevering, the western Turkoman unweariedly returns to field labours interrupted 
by invasions. Conscious of the renown of their forefathers, the Kara-Koyunli and 
the Ak-Koyunli — that is, the " Black " and "AVhite Shepherds " — preserve a feeling 
of national cohesion unknown to most of their neighbours. Hence the facilitj' with 
which they absorb fresh ethnical elements, such as Lazes, Circassians, and Kurds, 
who gradually become assimilated to the ruling race, especially In those districts 



TIIE LAZES AND AEMENL\N8. 173 

where nomad habits have given phiee to agricultural pursuits. For Turkey the 
true source of regeneration lies rather in these vigorous Turkoman peasant com- 
munities than in political alliances or " European capital." 

The Lazes of the seaboard and the A jars of the coast ranges between Batum 
and Trebizond, are Mohammedans of Georgian stock, endowed with the same fine 
phj-sical qualities as their Trans- Caucasian kinsmen. Their speech is closely allied 
to that current on the Mingrelian lowlands, but affected by Turki and Greek 
elements. At the same time, the migratory habits and difierent religious and 
political institutions 'of the Lazes, cause their dialect to diverge more and more 
from that of the Russian Georgians, and become more assimilated to the Turkish, 
which has even already displaced it in some districts on the Upper Chorukh river. 
These moimtaineers are a hardy, industrious race, fond of adventure, formerly 
much addicted to piracy on the Euxine waters. They are now chiefly occupied 
with fishing, agricultiu'e, and the transport of merchandise, while thousands seek 
employment as porters, copjjersmiths and tide-waiters in Constantinople. In 
Lazistan proper, which reaches westwards to Cape Kemer, the inhabitants are 
almost exclusively of Laz stock. But beyond this point, in the direction of 
Trebizond and Platana, Laz commimities become gradually less numerous, and 
more interspersed with Greek and Turkish populations. Next to them the most 
important ethnical elements are the Cherkesses, Abkhasians, and other refugees 
from the Caucasus, about 6,000 of whom are annually moving westwards. The 
Armenians have only a small group of villages about Kopi, on the frontier of the 
Batum district, and the Greek colony is reduced to a few isolated families in the 
towns along the coast. In certain inland villages, especially at Jivislik, on the 
road from Trebizond to Gumish-kaneh, there occurs an intermediate class of 
" Mezzo-mezzos," in the morning speaking Turkish and visiting the mosques, 
in the evening conversing in Greek and celebrating Christian rites. These half- 
caste Hellenes and Lazes have by some been identified with the Macrones, who^ 
according to Herodotus, practised circimicision, and who may have consequently 
been regarded as a sort of Mussulmans before the Moslem conquest. 

Although nowhere in Trans- Caucasia or Asiatic Turkey forming a compact 
national community, the Haikans (Ai-menians) form the dominant population on the 
southern slope of the Chorukh Valley, as weU as on the main branches of the 
Upper Euphrates. They are also in exclusive possession of some upland valleys in 
the Jihun basin, Asia MiQor, where the traditions of the old Armenian empire 
are still best preserved. The total number of Armenians in the provinces left to 
Turkey has been variously estimated, according to the political bias of the writers, 
at from 500,000 to 2,000,000 or 3,000,000. They may approximately be calculated 
at some 700,000 or 800,000 — that is to say, about one third of the whole Armenian 
nation. In Erzerum, as in Constantinople, they are distinguished from the Tiu-ks by 
their greater love of instruction and industrious habits. In the vilayet of Van they 
have almost a complete monopolj' of the local trades. They readily migrate, and thou- 
sands are now settled in Constantinople, and the other cities of European and Asiatic 
Turkey, where they find emploj-ment especially as builders, artisans, and carriers. 



174 SOUTII-WKSTEEX ASIA. 



The Kurds. 



While the centre of gi'avity of the Armenian nationality now lies at the foot of 
Mount Ararat within Russian territory, the Kurds are concentrated chiefly on the 
Van plateau, whence their numerous tribes radiate over a vast extent of coxmtry. 
Including in this group the Luri and Bakhtyari of the Persian border ranges, and 
the various nomads removed by the Persian sovereigns to Khorassan and the 
Baluch frontier, their domain is fomid to stretch for about 600 miles from the 
neighbourhood of Haraadan to Aintab, with a mean breadth of 150 miles. But the 
few tribes scattered amongst the Armenians, Georgians, and Tatars of Russian 
Trans-Caucasia, have little cohesion with the Persian and Turkish divisions of the 
family. The majority recognise the sovereignty of the Porte, although various 
communities, especially in the Dersim highlands, south-west of Erzerum, stiU form 
petty semi-independent states. Elsewhere also, and notably in the basin of the 
Great Zab, they constitute a compact nationality, powerful enough to aspire to 
political autonomjr in the Turko-Persian border lands. Attempts have even been 
made to found a common league or confederacy of all the Kurdish tribes, which, 
however aggressive towards other races, seldom quarrel amongst themselves. 

Scattered over such a vast range, the Kurds naturally present considerable 
diversity of phj^sical types. In some respects they even form distinct ethnical 
groups, some being affected by Turkoman or Tatar, others by Armenian or 
Persian elements. Certain tribes, regarded as of pure Armenian stock, are 
supposed to be descended from old Christian communities converted to Islam. 
Nearly all the Turkish soldiers stationed in the Kurdish highlands intermarry with 
the natives, whereby the physical appearance becoraes stiU farther modified. 
Some are noted for their coarse and even ugly features, while others rival the finest 
Cherkesses in grace and sjonmetry of form. Those of the Urmiah and Van basins, 
who are regarded as the descendants of the Kudraha, mentioned in the Persepolis 
inscriptions (the Kardukhi and Gordyans of Greek writers), are of middle size and 
thick- set, with a haughty expression; while those of the Persian frontier have 
generally a receding brow, wide eyebrows, long lashes, large moi;th, projecting 
chin, pointed aquiline nose. Many, especially of the Persian tribes, dye their bushy 
beards and hair red or black, although naturally light hair and even blue eyes are 
far from rare. Five skulls measured by Duhousset are strongly brachycephalic, 
thus presenting a marked contrast to the East Persian, Afghan, and Hindu crania. 
But no general conclusion can be drawn from such partial measurements, still less 
from the vague comparisons made by the American missionaries with the Red- 
skins of the New World. 

The children are veiy prett}', and the features of the women, who never go 
veiled, distinguished by great regularity, large eyes, aquiline nose, robust figure, 
deep black hair, well harmonising with a slightly brown or swarthy complexion. 
Unfortimately they are too often disfigured, like their Hindu sisters, by the gold 
ring passed through the nostrils. Both sexes are fond of finery, bright-coloured, 
costly robes, high head-dresses, enveloped by the men in gorgeous turbans. The 




TYPES AND COSTIBIES— KXJEDISH GENTLEMEN. 



THE KURDS 



175 



Kurd completes his costume by an arsenal of small-arms — revolvers, knives and 
yatagans — attached to the girdle, rifle swung to a shoulder-belt, a long lance 
decorated with ribbons and carried in the hand. But this is mere parade, most of 
such encumbrances beuig dispensed with in actual combat. 

Most explorers and missionaries that have resided any time amongst them 
have recognised two well defined castes, descended probably from distinct 
ethnical stocks, and known as the Kermani or Assireta — that is, nobles — and 
guran, or peasants. The latter, fom- or five times more numerous that the former 
in South Kurdistan, are regarded, not without reason, as the descendants of a 
conquered and enslaved race. Like other serfs attached to the soil, they are 



63. — PorVLATIONS OF TUKKISH ARMENIA. 

Scale 1 : 6,000,000 




known in Turkey as raya, or riots. In certain districts they are compelled to 
till the land for masters who claim over them the right of life and death. 
Under no circmnstances can they rise to the rank of warriors, biit, like cattle, 
change their owners according to the vicissitudes of battle. On the other hand, 
the military, or noble caste, would be dishonoured by agricultural labour. Besides 
stock-breeding, their only occupation is pillage and warfare, either on their own 
account or as mercenaries. The tj'pe is inferior to that of the Gurans, being 
marked by angidar features, small sunken ej'es, heavy figui-es. Amongst them 
are also found a few Chinghianehs, or gipsies, differing in no respect from those 
of Europe ; and the Tere-Kamehs, who occupy about a himdred villages near the 



176 SOUTII-WESTEEN ASIA. 

Persian frontier, and who, owing to their Turki speech, are regarded as of 
Tatar descent. 

Like the race itself, the Km-dish language presents a great diversity of form, 
although the common structure is essentially Iranic. The vocabulary has been 
enriched in the east by Persian, in the west by Arabic and Turkish words, in 
some district even by Syriac and Russian terms. The Zaza, current at Mush and 
Palu, presents certain analogies with the Ossetian of the Caucasus ; and, 
according to Lereh, there are altogether five distinct dialects, one of which, the 
Kermanji, is spoken by all the tribes west of Mossul. All these idioms are harsh, 
sounding like a series of explosions, yet less affected by sibilants and gutturals 
than most of those current amongst the surrounding peoples. To the national 
literature, consisting of a few songs in praise of their heroes and wild mountain 
scenery, the American missionaries have added a translation of the Bible and a few 
religious works. Having no distinct writing system, the Kurds employ the 
Arabic as modified by their Persian neighbours, and the lettered classes usually 
exchange the rude national speech for the more cultured Turkish or Persian. 

Neither Baluch, Bedouin, nor Apache has developed the marauding instinct 
to a higher degree than have the warlike Kurd tribes. The chief, whose moun- 
tain fastness commands like an eyrie the entrance of the gorges, entertains a 
band of freebooters, who scour the surrounding highwa3^s, and sweep the plunder 
into his inaccessible den. Armed robbery is regarded as the most honourable of 
deeds ; but smuggling, which might be so easily carried on in an upland region 
on the confines of three empires, is held in contempt. Advantage, however, is 
taken of the conterminous frontiers, in order to organise excursions now against 
one, now against another of the neighbouring states, and when pursued rapidly 
retire across the border. It is to avoid these dangerous hereditary foes of their 
race and religion that so many Armenian communities have forsaken their homes 
and withdrawn to Russian territory. In many districts of the j)lateau, a chronic 
state of blockade is kept up against whole towns and groups of villages, where 
the inhabitants live in constant dread of the marauders. The di-astic measures, 
such as impaling and the stake, taken against them, instead of striking terror 
into these brigand tribes, have often the effect of stimulating them to frightful 
reprisals. Suppressed in one place, the incessant struggle breaks out in another, 
at times compelling the Turkish Government to fit out costly military expeditions. 
According to Polak, there is one Kurdish sect which strictly forbids the plunder 
of the living, in consequence of which these sectaries first scrupulously murder 
their victims before rifling them. Nevertheless, under ordinary circiunstances, 
human life is respected, and clothes and provisions are even occasionally left to 
the poor in the villages plimdered. Bloodshed is avoided except in the case of 
personal or hereditary feuds, when the laws of vendetta may be enforced in the 
mosque itself. The chiefs, to whom all yield blind obedience, keep open table, 
and return in banquets the jDresents exacted and the products of their plundering 
raids. The stranger al.so is well received when he presents himself as a guest. 
Notwithstanding their warlike habits and marauding propensities, the Kurds 



THE KIZIL-BASIIES. 177 

are on the whole more honest and trustworthj^ than the surrounding races. In 
general they respect their women, who enjoy far greater freedom than their 
Turkish and Persian sisters. But the incessant toil to which they are condemned 
renders their existence so burdensome that mothers are said frequently to make 
away with their female offspring, in order to save them from their hard lot. But, 
unlike the Circassians, whom the}' resemble in so many other respects, they have 
never been accustomed to sell them to the piirveyors of the Turkish harems. 
Notwithstanding their many sterling qualities, the Kurds are threathened with 
extinction in many districts in Persia and Turkej^ where they are diminishing 
in numbers, and here and there merging in the surrounding populations. The 
serfs, who constitute the bulk of the nation, have no interest in maintaining the 
relations binding them to the warlike caste, which on its part is condemned to 
exhaustion by its very mode of existence — a perpetual warfare against all their 
neighbours. Religious animositj- contributes to the work of destruction, at least 
in Persia, where three-fourths of the Kurds are zealous Sunnites, and consequently 
regarded by the Iranian Shiahs as heretics deserving the worst of fates. 

The Kizil-Bashes, Yezidis, axd Nestouiaxs. 

In this land of transition, where the remnants of so manj^ peoples have 
become amalgamated, traces have survived of the most varied forms of worship. 
A Kurdish community in the sanjak of Sert, has even been mentioned as pro- 
fessing no religion. Amongst the tribes on the Armenian and Kurdistan plateaux 
there exist not only members of every Mohammedan and Christian sect, but also 
unconscious heirs of the old Persian Mazdeism. The Kizil-Bashes, or " Red 
Heads," a term applied in Afghanistan and other eastern countries to peoples of 
Persian stock, are for the most part Kurds. Of 400,000 of these sectaries not 
more than 15,000 are of Turkoman descent, while two or three tribes call them- 
selves Arabs. The Red Heads, who are centred chiefly in the middle Euphrates 
basin, on the banks of the Ghermili and Upper Kizil-irmak, are included by the 
Mussulmans among the Christian sects, because they drink wine, allow their 
women to go unveiled, and practice the rites of baptism and communion. They 
are also accused, rightly or wrongly, of celebrating nocturnal feasts or orgies, in 
which unbridled licentiousness prevails. Hence the term Terah Sonderan, or 
" Extinguishers of Lights," bj^ which they are commonly known. Their religious 
chief resides in the Dersim district, near the river Murad. 

Other detested sectaries are the so-called " Devil Worshippers." These 
Yezidi, or Shemsieh Kurds, although they number scarcely 50,000 souls altogether, 
are scattered over a very wide area. Their chief settlement is in the Sin jar hills, 
north of the Mesopotamian plain, but they are also found on the Van and 
Erzerum plateaux, in Persia and in Trans-Caucasia, near the east bank of Lake 
Gokcha. One of their colonies is even said to have penetrated westwards to the 
Bosphorus, over against Constantinople. Hated by all their neighbours, persecuted 
and reduced by famine and epidemics even more than by the sword, they 

VOL. IX. N 



178 SOUTII-WESTEEN ASIA. 

have nevertheless contrived to survive from age to age, with nothing to sustain 
them except their faith, and the memory of their trials and afHictions. They 
pretend that their great saint, Sheikh Adi, wrote a code of doctrine, the so-called 
Aswat, or " Black " Book. But the assertion is unsupported by any documentary 
evidence. The autonomous Sin jar Yezidis, half-caste Kurds and Arabs, were 
mostl}' exterminated in 1838, when those who had taken refuge in the caves were 
smoked to death, and their women sold into slavery. Since then no Yezidi com- 
mimity has maintained its political independence. 

The accounts given by travellers of the different Yezidi tribes vary so greatly 
that these sectaries have been referred to several distinct origins. Those residing 
near the Armenians seem to belong to that ethnical group, and extant documents 
mention a village in the Van district where the sect was founded in the ninth 
century. In Sinjar, on the contrary, they are traced to an Arab source, and their 
cult associated with Islam. In Persia again they are regarded as Guebres. Yet 
they are connected with the Mussulman world by their very title of Yezidi, derived 
from Yezid, the detested caliph, grandson of the prophet, and murderer of Hussein. 
Lastly, the Kurds confound them with the Christian sects of the lowlands, 
attributing to all alike every conceivable abomination. The ceremonies vary with 
every district. Some baptise their children and make the sign of the cross ; 
others practice circumcision, which is prohibited elsewhere ; in one place polygamy 
prevails, in another all are strict monogamists ; formerly blue was chiefly worn ; 
now this colour is held in horror, and replaced by white. 

But the common bond of imion between all the Yezidis, is the worship of the 
melek Taus, their peacock or phoenix king. Lord of Life, Holy Ghost, Fire and 
Light, represented under the form of a bird with a cock's head, perched on a 
chandelier. His "prime minister" is Lucifer, the morning star, still venerated 
notwithstanding his fall. Having themselves fallen, by what right, they argue, 
could they curse the fallen angel ? And as they themselves hope for salvation 
through the divine favour, why may not Lucifer also resume his rank as chief of 
the heavenly hosts ? The prophets Moses, Mohammed, Jesus Christ, may them- 
selves have been his incarnations ; possibly he has already returned to heaven, in 
order again, as supreme minister, to execute the decrees of the divine legislator. 
They are struck with horror when they hear the archangel's name blasphemed 
by Moslem or Christian ; and the sentence of death is said to be pronounced 
against those amongst them who take the name of " Satan." Those who hear it 
are bound to kill, first the blasphemer, then themselves. They scrupulously comply 
with the orders of their priests, and many make the pilgrimage to the shrine of 
Sheikh Adi, on the route to Amadiah, north of Mossul. Their pope, or Sheikh- 
Khan, resides at Baadli ; but the sanctuary is in the village of Lalest, where lived 
a prophet, the " Mohammed " of the Yezidi. Here are performed the great 
ceremonies, and here the holy effigy of the melek Taus is exposed to the veneration 
of the faithful. Travellers, and even Christian missionaries amongst them, unani- 
mously represent the Yezidi as far superior, morallj', to their Nestorian or Gregorian, 
Shiah or Sxmnite neighbours. They are perfectly honest, showing a scrupidous 



THE NESTOEIANS. 



179 



regard for the propert}- of others. They are also extremely courteous to sti-angers, 
kind to each other, faithful to the marriage vow, and of industrious habits. The 
songs sung by them while tilling the land, or during the evening rest from labour, 
consist either of fragments of epic poems celebrating the great deeds of their 
forefathers, love ditties fidl of sentiment, or else plaiative appeals for redress. 
" The jackal preys only on carrion ; but the pasha drinks the blood of our youth. 
He severs the young man from his betrothed. Cursed be whosoever two loving 
hearts sever. Cursed be the ruler to pity a stranger. Its dead the grave gives 
not up, but the angel of doom our cry will hear ! " 

Of the Christian sects surviving in Kiirdistan, the most important is that of 
the so-called Nestorians, a title, however, which they reject, calling themselves 



Fig. 6-1. — Catholic and Protestant Missions amongst the Nestobxans and Chaldeans. 

Scale 1 I 5,600,000. 





Shardevar >^ujda' 



C. of GreenwicK 




Catholic Missions. Protestant {American) Missions. 



"Messianic Nazarenes," "Syrian Nazarenes," or simplj' " Nazarenes." Their 
language is an Aramean dialect derived directly from the Syriac ; hence the 
surprising facUity with which they learn Hebrew, which the missionaries have 
introduced iato their schools. Numbering, perhaps, 200,000 altogether, they are 
scattered, like the Yezidi, over a vast territory ; and to them probably belonged 
the now extinct Nestorians of China, as well as the Nassareni-Moplahs of the 
Malabar coast, whose liturgical language is the Syriac, and who recognise as 
their head the Babylonian patriarch residing in Mossul. Their diffusion to such 
remote regions doubtless preceded the occupation of Mesopotamia by the Moham- 

N 2 



180 SOUTH-WESTERN ASL\. 

medans, who did not invade the Julamerk highlands between lakes Van and 
Urraiah, where the Nestorians had their strongholds and most important communi- 
ties. But in 1843 their villages were overrun by the surrounding Mussulman 
Kurds, who massacred the men taken in arms, carried the women into captivity, 
and brought up the young in the Mohammedan faith. 

At present the Porte has no more loyal subjects than the surviving Christians of 
Julamerk, who, like the neighbouring Kurds, are divided into two classes, the 
assireta, or nobles, and the peasants, little better than slaves. They are governed by 
a sacerdotal hierarchy, imder the patriarchate of a priest-king known as " Mar 
Shimun," or "Lord Simon." The Nestorians trouble themselves little with the 
theological subtleties on the human and divine nature of Christ which gave rise to 
the schism of Nestorius. But ceremonial diiferences have sufficed to create secular 
hatreds between them and the other religious sects. The Chaldeans of Mesopo- 
tamia and Zagros, who are settled mostly in the Diarbekir district and north of 
Bagdad, have been united at least officially to the Church of Rome since the six- 
teenth century. Nevertheless they retain various old rites, and celibacy is 
restricted to the higher orders of the clergy. Recently, however, some of the 
Catholic missionaries have been endeavouring gradually to assimilate the Chaldean 
to the Latin ritual. On the other hand, the Nestorians, who remained faithful to 
the old Nazarene cult of Syria, have since 1831 been brought chiefly under the 
influence of the American missionaries. These Protestant evangelisers maintain 
about sixty stations in the country, contribute to the support of the native clergy 
and schools, and have more than once protected their highland congregations from 
the Turks and Kurds. 



Topography. 

There are comparatively few towns in these upland regions, which have been so 
frequently wasted by pillage, famine, and military expeditions. Half the popula- 
tion still leads a semi-nomad existence between the winter and summer pastures, 
residing during the heats in felt tents 15 to 20 feet high, for the rest of the year 
in hovels half bm-ied in the ground, with grass-grown roofs rendering them almost 
indistinguishable from the surrounding land. Some of the powerful Kurdish chiefs 
possess large stone houses, but always so disposed as to keep in view the horses who 
form their main pride and delight. 

West of Batum and the Chorukh delta, recently ceded to Russia, no town of 
any consequence occurs for a distance of over 90 miles along the coast. Atina, an 
old Greek colony, formerly known by the name of Athens, consists of a few 
scattered houses, and in the neighbourhood some mural remains mark the site of Eski- 
Tirabzon, or Old Trebizond. "West of Atina follow the open roadsteads of Rizeh, 
Of, and Simnench, beyond which comes the famous cit}' of Trebizond, the Trapezos 
of the Greeks, founded some 2,600 j'ears ago by a colony from Sinope. Trebizond 
was the capital of Pontus, and in the thirteenth century became the metropolis of 
the emjoire which was founded by Alexis Comnenus, and which for over 250 years 



TEEBIZOND. 



181 



arrested the progress of Islam. Although now merely a provincial capital, it pre- 
serves a certain importance as the outlet of Persia on the Black Sea. Notwith- 
standing its imsheltered anchorage, it has at all times been the port where 
passengers and goods are landed for the Iranian plateau, and where the produce of 
Persia is shipped for the West. The route, carried southwards over the rugged 
intervening highlands, is essentially a historic highway, the shortest and easiest 
between the Euxine and North Persia by the Bayazid Pass and the plain of Erzerum. 
The section between Trebizond and Erzermn now forms a fine carriage-road 200 
miles long, accessible even to artillery. But the Trans-Caucasian railway from 
Batum and Poti through Tiflis to Baku, which must sooner or later be continued 
round the Casjjian seaboard to Persia, is already threatening to deprive Trebizond 



Fig. 65. — Trebizond. 
Scale 1 : 215,000. 



4lj'.„;Pli^srli 



VREBlZo'Nr 



I?,. ..y^'n'y^' 



,5 L cfGre.n 



76 to 152 162 Feet and 
Feet . upwards. 
3 llile?. 



of most of its trade. Nevertheless the imports and exports were still valued in 
1881, at £1,733,000 and £1,000,000 respectively ; and since the interdict imposed 
by the Russian Government on the Caucasian transit trade, the French sugars and 
English woven goods intended for the Persian market have again been diverted to 
the old route over the Armenian plateau. 

Of the old ramparts, built in form of a trapezium, whence the name of the city, 
the lines are stiU marked by several ivy-clad towers and a ruined castle on the 
coast. The modern quarter of Ghiaur-Meidan, lying beyond the walls on a cliff 
east of the town, is occupied by Armenians, Greeks and the Eui'opean merchants 
settled in the place. Here is also a considerable Persian colony, which supplies 
nearly all the local artisans. In an enormous cave on the Kolat-dagh hills south of 
Trebizond is the famous Panagia of Sumelas, the Miriam ana, or " Mother Mary," 
annually visited by 8,000 or 10,000 Greeks in the month of August. Even the 



182 S0UTH-"^T:STEEN ASIA. 

Turkish women flock in large numbers to the shrine to implore her intercession 
against fever or sterility. She can dispel all calamities, but is especially potent 
against locusts, whence the title of " Panagia of the Locusts," by which she is 
known from Paj)hlagonia to Cappadocia. To the monastery belong extensive 
domains along the Euxine seaboard between Trebizond and Constantinople. 

West of Trebizond other Greek names recall the days when Hellenic influence 
predominated on the coast of Pontus. Tireholi, or Tarabulus, is one of the 
nimierous Tripolis or " Three Cities," whose walls afforded a refuge to people of 
threefold origin. It has the advantage over Trebizond of lying at the mouth of a 
considerable stream, the Kharshut, which, however, flows through gorges too 
narrow to allow of a road being opened along its course. Farther on is the little 
seaport of Kiresun, the old Greek settlement of Kerasos, so named from the 
Armenian keraz, cherry, whole forests of which tree formerly encircled the town. 
But the staple exports at present are filberts, of which 3,500 tons, valued at £60,000, 
were shipped for Russia and other places in 1881. 

Between Trebizond and Erzerum the chief station is Baibitrt, which lies at the 
foot of the Kop-dagh on the eastern head-stream of the Chorukh. Like most other 
uj)land towns in Turkish Armenia, it is little more than a collection of hovels and 
ruins, commanded by a strong citadel dating from the Seljuk period. In the 
neighbourhood is a still finer castle, the Ghenis-kaleh, built by the old Genoese 
traders on the highway to Persia. The silver mines in the vicinity, as well as those 
of Gurmish-khaneh, lying further west in the upper Kharshut basin, are no longer 
worked, having been partly flooded since the middle of the present century, when 
they were the most productive in the Ottoman empire. The copper mine situated 
some 12 miles to the south-east of Baiburt, at one time employed 500 hands, 
and its deepest shaft descended 1,300 feet into the ground. The whole A'alley of 
Chorukh is strewn with the ruins of castles, churches, and towns. Yet the entire 
district might be changed to a vast garden, like the lateral valley of Tortuni, which 
supplies Erzerum with fruits and vegetables. In the neighbourhood stand the 
church and monastery of Ecek VunJc, the most remarkable monument of Georgian 
art. 

Erzerum retains some of its former importance as the most advanced bulwark of 
Turkey towards Russia, and as the converging point of the caravans crossing the 
Armenian highlands, or radiating from this point towards Trebizond and Batimi, 
Sivas and Diarbekir, Bagdad, Teheran, and Tiflis. The transit trade between the 
Euxine and Persia has greatly diminished since the completion of the Trans- Cauca- 
sian railway from the Black Sea to the Ca.spian ; and after the Russian invasions of 
1829 and 1877, the most skilful and industrious Armenian artisans, notably the 
workers in metal, left the city in the wake of the conquerors. Thus deprived at 
once of its trade and industries, and threatened with further aggression and politi- 
cal changes, Erzerum has in recent times suffered greater losses than most other 
Turkish towns. It is also avoided by strangers, owing to its excessively severe 
winter climate. Lying at an altitude of 6,500 feet above the sea, in a treeless, 
marshy plain, its streets are blocked by snow for more than half the year. But during 



EEZERUM. 



183 



the summer months it presents a more inviting aspect, with its amphitheatre of 
mountains and snowy cones, the grassy slopes of the lower hills, and the cultivated 
tracts of its fertile and well watered allu\-ial plain. 

The isolated hiU crowned for centuries by the citadel of Erzerum, explains the 
choice made of this spot for strategical purposes. The ancient Armenian trading 
city of Arzen stood farther east. The fort of Tlieodosiopolis, erected at the begin- 
ning of the fifth centm-y above the city of Gariu [Karin), also took the name of 
Arzen, or Arzcn-er-Rum, that is, " Arzen of the Romans " (Byzantine Greeks), 
whence the modern Erzerum. Few places have been subject to more frequent 

Fig. 66. — Erzerum. 
Scale 1 : D4n,nnn, 




assaults than this stronghold, which was successively taken and retaken by the 
Persian Sassanides, by the Arabs, Mongols, Tiu-ks, and Russians, belonging in turn 
to every nation except the people in whose territory it stands. According to the 
^•icissitudes of war, the population has fluctuated enormously. Before the siege of 
1829, Erzerum is said to have contained 130,000 inhabitants, who were reduced 
the following year to 15,000. Its only striking monuments are the pictui-esque 
gray basalt citadel, and the mosque of the "Two Minarets," covered in the Persian 
style with enamelled porcelain. With the exception of leather-dressing, and some 
metal works, the local industries have almost disappeared, and the neighbouring 



18i SOUTH-WESTERN ASLA.. 

mines are now closed. Yet this is the traditional home of the first workers in 
metal, those Tibarenians and Chal3^bes, who forged arms, and bronze and iron 
instruments, at a time when their neighbours were still in the stone age. 

West of Erzerum, the main route follows the banks of the Kara-su (Upper 
Euphrates) down to the hot springs of Ilija, the most frequented in Armenia, and 
across several populous basins alternating with narrow gorges. But for a distance 
of 120 miles no town of any size occurs, till the ancient city of Erzenjan, or 
ErziiHjan (Erez), is reached, which lies in a fertile plan watered by several small 
tributaries of the Euphrates. Even before the Christian era, Erez was famous as 
the sanctuary of the Armenian goddess, Anahid (Anaitis), who became successively 
the Artemis of the Greeks, the Roman Diana, and the Panagia of the Christians, 
when the old temple was transformed to a church of the Madonna. Before the 
rise of Erzerum, Erzenjan was the chief city of the Haik country, whence the 
Armenians take their national name of Ha'ikans ; and even when visited by Marco 
Polo it was still a large place, where were produced the finest "bouquerans" 
(muslins ?) in the world. But it was overthrown by an earthquake in 1667, when 
half of the inhabitants perished in the ruins. Lying at an elevation of 4,500 feet, 
it enjoys a milder climate than Erzerum, and on its fertile plain are successfully 
cultivated the vine, melon, and other fruits of the temperate zone. 

Below Erzenjan, a bluff overhanging the Euphrates, before it plunges into the 
profound gorges lower down, is crowned by the walled city of Kemakh, where the 
kings of Armenia at the beginning of the Christian era had their finest temples, 
their treasury, state prison, and tombs. But a still more remarkable place is Eghin 
or Akin, which stands on the right bank of the Kara-su (Euphrates) above the con- 
fluence of the Chalta-chai. Here the river is deflected from its westerly course 
towards the Mediterranean, and begins to describe the series of bends through 
which it escapes from the Armenian highlands to Mesopotamia. In this romantic 
region Eghin occupies one of the finest sites in Western Asia, and has become a 
favourite retreat for the Armenian traders who have made their fortunes in Con- 
stantinople and in the cities of the lowlands. In the tributary Chalta-chai valley 
the chief place is Divrig or Divrujhi, which is supposed to stand on the site of the 
Nicopolis, or " City of Victory," founded to commemorate the triumph of Pompey 
over Mithridates. Goitre is very prevalent in these highlands, and especially in the 
Eghin district. 

East of Erzerum the main route to Persia crosses the easy pass of Deceh-boinu, 
leading from the Euphrates to the Aras basin, and formerly fortified to protect the 
city against the Russians. Here is also the old fortress of Hassan-kaleh, now a 
mere collection of hovels at the foot of a hiU crowned by the ruins of a fort wrongly 
attributed to the Genoese. Below Hassan-kaleh the route bifurcates near the 
Trans- Caucasian frontier, one branch running north-east along the course of the 
Aras to the town of K/iorasmn, and thence to Kars, the othtr winding up to the 
Deli-baba Pass and down to the vaUey of the Upper Murad, or Eastern Euphrates. 
Here are Topra-kaleh, almost entirely abandoned since the first Russian invasion ; 
Uvh-KUma, or the " Three Churches," a much frequented place of pilgrimage ; 



BAYAZID. 



185 



aud Dii/adin, at the foot of an ancient fortress at the junction of the head-waters of 
the Murad. Near Diyadin, now merely a ruined caravan station, formerly stood 
the great city of Zahrawan, destroyed by the Persians in the middle of the fourth 
century, when it is said to have contained about 80,000 inhabitants, of whom 50,000 
were Jews. 

Bayazid, which lies south of the main route to Persia, and of the water-parting 
between the Euphrates and TJrmiah basins, replaced the old Armenian city of 
Pakovan, founded in the first century of the new era. The present town, which is 
named after its founder, Sultan Bayazid I., forms one of the most picturesque 
groups of ruins in "Western Asia. The steep slopes are covered with an amphi- 
theatre of buildings, above which rise a half-ruined palace and a graceful minaret, 
commanded by a strong citadel. StiU higher up a red marble crag streaked in 
white forms, with a snowy crest, a suitable background to this romantic scene. The 
palace, built by a Persian architect, was, till recently, the finest in the Turkish 



Fig. C7. — UiTER MuRAD Valley. 

Scale 1 : 250,000. 




empire. Porticoes, colonnades, and walls are entirely constructed of the rich red 
marble from the neighbouring hill ; the interlaced arabesque and foliated sculptures 
display marvellous taste and delicacy, combined with a sobriety of judgment rare 
amongst Persian artists. The mosque has been degraded to a barrack ; the 
neighbouring buildings have been rent, and a large portion of the city levelled to 
the ground, by earthquakes ; but the graceful minaret still maintains its equilibrium. 
Convalescent fever patients were formerly sent from Erivan to enjoy the benefit of 
the pure air of Bayazid. 

South and south-west of the old lacustrine basin, where the Murad is joined by 
the Sharian-chai from the Pasia plateau, the course of the Upper Euphrates has 
not yet been entirely explored, although traversed by numerous travellers. No 
great caravan route runs in the direction of this upland river valley, which is 
inhabited by fierce and formidable Kurdish tribes. Amongst the few centres of 
population in this wild region, the most noteworthy are Melezgherd (^Manazgherd), 



186 



SOUTH-WESTERN ASIA. 



which sujjplies a great part of Armenia with salt from the Tuzla-su, or "Salt 
River," and Mush, capital of the Pashalik, watered by the Murad. Mush lies not 
on the river itself, but on an extensive lateral plain at the issue of a rockj' goi'gc 
commanded by mountains, on which the snow lies for six months in the year. But 
lying 1,600 feet lower do\vn than Erzerum, it enjoys a milder climate, in which 
fruit-trees and even the vine are cultivated. The ruined citadel was formerly the 
residence of those Mamigonians who were governed by jJrinces from Jenasdan — 



Fig. 68 — Bayazid — the MosauE and the Ruined Qdaeteb. 





that is, China — during the first centuries of the vulgar era. In the Mush district 
were born two illustrious Armenians : Mezrop, inventor of the Hai'kan alphabet, 
and Moses, the historian. 

After Its junction with the Kara-su, which flows from a "fathomless" crater 
in the plain of Mush, the Murad plunges into a deep gorge, forming a cataract, 
from the sound of whose roaring waters the neighbouring village of Gurgur, or 
Kurkur, takes its name. Although already very cojDious, the river is not yet 



GUEGUR— PALU. 



187 



navigable below this point. Dashing against its rocky walls, the current here 
recoils in swift eddies, or descends in rapids over the reefs. At certain points the 
hills running athwart its course confine it to a very narrow bed between vertical 
walls or abrupt escarpments rising several hundred yards above the stream. Near 
the village of Akrahli, the Murad is only some twenty paces broad, and assumes the 

Fig. 69. — CoNFLUEN-CE OF THE TwO EUPHRATES. 

Scale 1 : &40,000. 



'''•'-^a^^' " 



.o^'""'' 



i)j«''V«H 



^%W'. 






0?' If. I , % ■. <^ 

-y; ,i%«M - ■.' , t(, - <^ *^ 



"1 




'':mM 



character of a regular river only after passing the town of Palu. But the attempts 
made to navigate it, from this place to the confluence of the two Euphrates, have 
hitherto proved imsuccessful. The current, which at Pain is still 2,880 feet above 
sea-level, is too swift for ordinary craft, which are here replaced by the kelleks, or 
rafts made of thin planks boimd together with ropes and supported by inflated 
iins. Six of these floats will carry four men over the eddies and rapids. 



188 SOUTH-WESTERN ASL\. 

The last bridge across the river above Hilleh is at Palu, which is commanded by a 
jjicturesque citadel, traditionally attributed to the hands of genii. In the neigh- 
bourhood is a cuneiform rock inscription, and the district yields the best wine in 
Armenia. A little farther south are the important iron-works of Sivan-madeii, 
where the hills and valleys are strewn with rich blocks of black ferriferous ore. 
Near Sivan-maden the water-parting between the Tigris and Murad Kes within half 
a mile of the latter river, whose chief northern affluent is the Mezur-su. Near the 
junction is the wretched hamlet of Mazgherd, in which Taylor recognises the 
Iranian Hormuz-ghere, or " City of Hormuz." Here formerly stood a fire-temple, 
whose remains, visible at a vast distance, are still venerated by the neighbouring 
Kizil-bash and Armenian communities. 

Below the confluence of the Murad and Kara-su, the main stream is still locally 
known as the Mm-ad, a name said to be derived from the numerous forts erected on 
the surrounding hills by Mm-ad I. The term Frat (Euphrates) borne by the 
Kara-su, is not usually extended to the united waters till they reach the plain. No 
large town has sprung up at the confluence, and Kyehan-maden, which stands on 
the left bank a little lower down, evidently owes its origin to the recently 
abandoned argentiferous lead mines of the vicinity. The cliffs here at intervals 
confining the stream to a narrow bed, also prevent the formation of roads, so that 
all the caravan routes, towns, and strongholds, lie higher uj) on the plateaux and in 
the lateral valleys. In the triangular space formed by the two Euphrates, the 
chief place is Chemech-gadzak, the ancient HierapoUs, which is enclosed on three 
sides by sandstone rocks, full of formerly inhabited caverns. On the western 
f>lateaux Arabkir, or "Arab Conquest," lies 2 miles south of Eski-shehr ("Old 
Town") in a depression encircled by black basalt scarps. This gloomy upland 
recess has been converted into a smiling garden by its industrious inhabitants, 
whose weavers import spim cotton from England for the local looms. 

The peninsular district limited north by the Miu-ad, west and south by the 
great bend of the Euphrates, is commanded by the fortified city of Kharput 
{Karherd^, which overlooks a fertile and well cultivated plain, yielding all the 
fruits of the temperate zone. In the middle of this plain stands the town of 
Mezereh, known also as "New Kharput." The "Armenian CoUege" foimded at 
Kharput by the American missionaries, has become the chief centre of public 
instruction for the whole of Armenia and Kurdistan. 

In the south-eastern section of the Armenian plateaux, the largest place is Van, 
which gives its name to the neighbouring lake. It stands about 2 miles from the 
east bank in a level plain, surrounded on the north, east and south by bare lime- 
stone hills. The city proper is enclosed on three sides by broad ditches, and a 
double rampart of crenelled walls flanked by towers. But the outer city, that of 
the Baghlar or " gardens," is far more extensive, stretching a long way across the 
fertile plain, which has given rise to the saying, " Van in this, heaven in the 
next world ! " In summer nearly the whole pojmlatiou leaves the inner town for 
the suburban district, whose glories are mostly concealed by high walls from the 
passing traveller. The wine of the local vintages is light and very pleasant to the 




[ mmamsmmm 



SEMIEAMGHERD. 



189 



taste. The native women weave a species of goat-hair waterproof moire antique, 
highly esteemed even in Constantinople. The walled town, like so many other 
places in Kurdistan and Persia, is sometimes known as Shemiram or Semiram. In 
this case, however, there is historical evidence to show that, before taking the 
name of Van, from an Armenian king, its second founder, it was specially 
designated by the title of Scmiramghcrd, or " City of Semiramis." The historian, 
Moses of Khorene, who saw the magnificent palaces attributed to the famous queen, 
states that she brought from Assyria sixty architects and 42,000 workmen, who 
were emploj^ed for five years in the construction of those palaces and gardens which 
became one of the " wonders of the world." Here Semiramis chose her svmimer 
residence in order to enjoj' the pure air of the highlands. Although no trace 

Fig. 70. — Lake Van. 
Scale 1 : 1,500,000. 




E . of Green cK 40 £0 



remains of the Assyrian buildings, the rock of Van, which towers in isolated 
majesty above the terraced houses clustering at its foot, offers none the less an 
inexhaustible mine of wealth to the archaeologist. This huge mass of nummulitic 
limestone, which is 2,000 feet long and about 100 high, comprises three main 
sections, all containing numerous galleries, flights of steps, crypts, and inscriptions. 
At all elevations the lines of cuneiform characters are visible on the bare rocky 
walls. Schultz, who was afterwards assassinated in Kurdistan, was the first to 
study them by means of a telescope erected on the top of a minaret. Rubbings 
were subsequentlj' taken by Deyrolle, by means of ropes and ladders suspended in 
mid-air. One of the inscriptions, which, like that of Bisutun, is trilingual, relates 
almost in the same words the great deeds of Xerxes, son of Darius. But other far 
more ancient writings had long defied all efforts to interpret them, till they yielded 



190 SOUTH-WESTERN ASIA. 

up their secret to the patient labour of Professor Sayce and M. Guyard. Their 
texts, composed in Old Armenian, are no longer a mystery, and the events here 
recorded in marble archives will gradually be revealed b'y these imperishable 
documents. But in the Van district there are other rock inscriptions, ■which still 
await an interpreter, for the attempt made by Sayce to find a key for their solution 
in the Georgian language of Trans-Caucasia cannot yet be regarded as entirely 
successful. 

Topra-lxaleh, another Assyrian stronghold, south-west of Yan, has been recently 
explored by MM. Chantre and Barry. From the fortifications, which form three 
distinct systems of basalt walls and towers, a view is commanded of the vast 

Fig 71. — Town and Citadel op Van. 






amphitheatre of hills, and of the lake, in whose blue waters is mirrored the snow- 
capped cone of Seiban-dagh. Farther on, the town of Akhlat occupies a point on 
the lake, where the route to Mush and the Euphrates begins to ascend towards 
Lake Mazik. But little now remains of this formerly populous city, whose ruins 
are scattered amidst the surromiding gardens, and whose tombs are still to be seen 
hollowed out of the surroimding sandstone rocks. East of Van the town of Ercliek 
overlooks the southern shore of Lake Erchek or Ertesh, beyond which nms the 
border range between the two empires. Here the " Cut-throat Pass," familiar to 
the marauding Kurds, leads down to the military station of Kotitr, which belonged 
formerly to Turkey, but which, by the Treaty of Berlin, has been ceded to Persia, 



KOTUR— YEDDI-KII,LIS!^A. 191 

together with a territory some 500 square miles in extent. The last Turkish 
valley in this direction is the lovely plain of Abaga, which begins at the southern 
foot of the Bayazid Mountains. 

From Van is visible towards the south-west the hiUy islet of Aldamar, which 
was formerly a peninsula, but is now about 2^ miles from the shore. To the 
Armenian kings, who long resided here, is due the church, dating from the 
tenth century, which stands in the middle of the island. It is the finest and 
richest in Turkish Armenia, and its patriarchs at one time claimed equal rank 
with those of Echmiadzin. In a river valley south of Van is another famous 
monastery, that of Yeddi-Kilissa, or the "Seven Churches," where young 
Armenians of good famUies are educated in a college, modelled, like the normal 
school of Yan, on the training establishments of the West. The Armenians of 
this district are great travellers, thousands annually seeking emplojrment in 
Constantinople and the cities along the Euxine seaboard, or visiting Bagdad, 
Aleppo, Vienna, Paris. The total number of emigrants was estimated at upwards 
of 30,000 in 1837, when the return movement averaged about 3,000 




CHAPTER YI. 




TIGRIS AND EUPHRATES BASINS. 
Lower Kubdistan, Mesopotamia, Irak-Arabi. 

HE section of Western Asia watered by the two great rivers 
Euphrates and Tigris, is one of those regions which differ most 
from the surrounding lands in their phj'sical aspect and historic 
evohition. Nowhere else do the outward conditions show more 
clearly how the destinies of nations harmonise with their sur- 
roundings. The civilisation of Chaldea and the • Assp-ian empire find their 
explanation in the Tigris and Euphrates alone. And as the name of Egypt 
conjures up the image of the Nile, at first pent up between two deserts, and then 
broadening out in an alluvial delta, so are the great arteries of the rich Mesopo- 
tamian plains at once suggested by the words Babylon and Nineveh. The 
importance of the part played in history by the peoples dwelling between Taurus 
and the Persian Grulf was not due to any special ethnical qualities, for the nations 
that have been developed in this region were composed of the most heterogeneous 
elements. But Chaldea and Assyria were indebted for their long pre-eminence 
in the history of the old world precisely to this intermingling of races in an 
environment favourable for their fusion, as well as for their social and intellectual 
develojjment. 

The Iranian plateau, which skirts the plains of the Tigris on the east, is 
disposed like a transverse barrier, whence the rimning waters flow down to the 
lowlands. Mesopotamia itself forms a sort of emissary for the populations of the 
neighbouring uplands, who found easy access to the Tigris through its numerous 
lateral valleys. In the same way the inhabitants of the Armenian and Taurus 
highlands on the north and north-west, as well as those of the Mediterranean 
coast ranges, were all attracted towards the plains watered by the two great rivers. 
To all these imTnigrants from the surrounding plateaux it offered a vast and 
productive lowland region, where all the discordant ethnical elements could be 
blended in one homogeneous nationality. 



IIISTOEIC EETEOSPEC'T. 193 

Historic Eetrospect. 

As a historic highway, the united Euphrates- Tigris Valley occupied a position 
of supreme importance in the Old "World. Here passes the route connecting the 
lines of coast navigation between India and the Mediterranean seaboard. The 
vaUey which continues across Western Asia the transverse fissure of the Persian 
Gulf, penetrates in a north-westerly direction towards the Mediterranean. Here 
it communicates through a breach in the intervening ranges with the Lower 
Orontes Yalley, thus continuing the natural depression from sea to sea. Hence 
from the first rise of navigation the Euphrates naturally became the main high- 
way between East and West, offering in this respect analogous advantages to 
those of the Nile Valley. Babylonia thus became the natural rival of Egypt for 
the trade of the world, and the powerful rulers of both regions have ever aimed 
at the conquest or sujjpression of the competing route. During one epoch at least, 
Mesopotamia appears to have acquired the ascendency, and two thousand five 
hundred years ago Nabuchodonozor, already master of Teredon, on the Persian 
Gulf, occupied Tyre on the Mediterranean, in order to secure possession of the 
whole route. The Euphrates thus becoming the chief commercial highway of the 
world, acquired even greater importance than the Red Sea and Nile Valley. But 
the Persian conquerors, familiar with the overland routes across the plateaus, and 
without experience of maritime affairs, arrested the movement between India and 
Mesopotamia. 

Alexander, in his turn, fully alive to the value of the great lines of communi- 
cation which fell into his hands as master both of Persia and Egypt, endeavoured 
to restore the Euphrates route. He removed the defensive works erected by the 
Persians, revived the port of Teredon, built fleets, and formed a basin at Babylon 
large enough to refit as many as one thousand vessels. Hence, not only during 
the Greek rule, but even after the time of the Seleucides, the Euphrates remained 
the chief line of trafiic between East and West. Under the Arab caliphs, the 
Mesopotamian markets again acquired a prominent position in the trade of the 
world. And although this revival was followed by the silence of the wilderness 
under the Turkish rule, the first sj'mptoms of returning prosjjerity seem to be 
already visible. The ebb of civilisation has set in towards the lands whence came 
the flow. Athens, Smyrna, and Alexandria have acquired new life, and Babylon 
will also rise from her ruins. 

Including the whole historic period, Mesopotamia is one of those regions 
which have enjoj'ed the longest culture. When the Medes and Persians inherited 
the Assyrian sway, thousands of years had already elapsed since the Chaldean, 
Elamite, Babylonian, and Ninivite dynasties had succeeded each other, and since 
their institutions, religions, and languages, had accomplished their evolution on 
the Mesopotamian plains. The riverain populations of the twin streams dated 
their legendarj^ history from the time of the great inundation which gave rise to 
the myth of the biblical deluge, and even their authentic annals begin over four 
thousand one hundred years ago. But before that now definitely fixed date, how 

VOL. IX. O 



194 SOUTU-'U'ESTEEN ASLV. 

many generations must Lave elapsed to bring about tbe thorough fusion of 
Scythian, Iranian, Semite, and the other ethnical elements which gave birth to a 
culture marked by such uniformity in its religious, social and political aspects. 
Recent research even tends to show that the science of the Chinese, hitherto 
regarded as of spontaneous growth in Eastern Asia, derived its first inspirations 
from the banks of the Euphrates.* The magic of Babylon is found still practised 
by the Siberian Tunguses. 

Such was the pre-eminence of Chaldean civilisation that the sui-rounding 
peoples placed between the two rivers the legendary land where the first men 
lived a life of innocence and pleasure. Like other nations, those of the Euphrates 
basin reserved their special veneration for the region whence came their arts and 
sciences, and in their eyes this region became glorified as a land of bliss, a 
" Paradise," or an "Eden," where death was unknown, where no tempting serpent 
had yet penetrated. As the Iranians turned their gaze tov/ards the Elburz 
valleys, the Hindus towards the " Seven Rivers " overshadowed by Meru, so the 
Hebrews, of Mesopotamian origin, kept their eyes fixed on the land of great 
rivers, and their " paradise " was watered by the Tigris, Euphrates, and the not 
yet identified Pison and Gihon. Travellers ascending the Shat-el-Arab are still 
shown the site of paradise, where grow the palms of Korna at the confluence of the 
waters. Endless are the theories of archaeologists and biblical interpreters 
regarding the exact position of the garden of happiness as described in the Jewi.sh 
writings. But may it not be simply identified with the arable zone irrigated by 
the two rivers and their canals, beyond which lay the sandy wilderness ? In the 
cuneiform inscriptions Babylonia is always represented by the names of the four 
streams, Tigris, Euphrates, Sumapi, and TJkni, probably the same as those of 
Genesis. The word Eden, or Gan-Eden, would itself appear to be identical with 
that of Gan-Duni, one of the names applied to the land of Babylon, consecrated to 
the god Duni or Dunia.t Since the discovery of the Zend and Sanskrit literatures, 
the name of "terrestrial paradise," localised by the legend in Aram Naharain, 
that is, " Syria of the Two Rivers," has become a floating expression aiDplicable to 
Kashmir, Bactriana, or any other fertile region of Hither Asia. 

Chaldea, towards which those western dreamers turn their eyes who still 
believe in a golden age of the past, could not fail to exercise a vital influence on 
the religion of the peoples civilised by them. The sacred writings of the Jews, 
accepted by Christendom, embody numerous passages transcribed from the 
Chaldean books, and even fragments in the Babylonian dialect. The legends 
associated with the lives of the Patriarchs, the Flood, the Tower of Babel, and 
confusion of tongues, are identical in both literatures ; while the cosmogony of 
Genesis differs little from that preserved in the surviving text of Berosus. But 
to the west Chaldea also bequeathed its secular science, its knowledge of the stars 
and their movements, the art of dividing time according to the revolutions of the 
heavens. She taught the western peoples how to weigh and measure accurately, 

* Lenormant ; Fritz Hommel ; Lepsius ; Terrien de la Couperie. 
t H. Eawlinson, " Notes on the Site of the Terrestrial Paradise." 



IIISTOEIC EETEOSPECT. 



195 



besides a thousand primary notions in astronomy and geometry, traces of which 
survive in modern nomenclature. In commerce the Chaldeans were probably the 
first to emplo}^ orders for payment indelibly inscribed on brick tablets, an inven- 
tion which passed from Babylon to Persia, and thence through the Arabs to 
Europe.* Their influence made itself also felt in the arts and literatures of the 
peoples inhabiting the whole of the Euphrates basin, mainly, however, thi-ough 

Fig. 72. — Mounds in the Tioeis Valley, Sovth of Selevcia. 
Scale 1 : 425,000. 




the indirect action on the one hand of the Jews and Phoenicians, on the other of 
the Hittites, Cypriots, and Phrygians. 

In no region of Hither Asia is the ground strewn with more numerous ruins 
than in Mesopotamia. For vast spaces the soil is in some places mixed with 
fragments of bricks and earthenware. The so called tells or mounds of rubbish 
are dotted in hundreds and thousands over the plains, while a few remains of 
towers and crumbHng walls mark the sites of large cities, the very names of manj' 

* Lenormant. 

o 2 



196 SOUTII-^VESTEEX ASIA. 

of which are now unknown. But, like the neighbouring nation.s, those of the two 
rivers have fallen from their former pre-eminence in consequence of the gradual 
westerly movement of civilisation towards the Mediterranean seaboard, and thence 
to Western Europe. Consisting of traders and agriculturists scattered over a 
plain exposed on all sides to the incursions of barbaric hordes, they were even less 
able to defend themselves than their neighbours. Their great cities were sacked 
and razed to the ground, and the population reduced to scarcely five millions in a 
region as large as France, and far more fertile wherever artificial irrigation is 
possible. And even of these more than one half are nomads, whose tents are 
pitched on the verge of the desert. 

North Mesopotamian Orographic System. 

Of Mesopotamia the natural limits are the advanced spurs of the Persian and 
Kurdistan border ranges on the east and north, and on the north-west the Tauric 
• uplands, which have a normal south-westerly direction towards the Mediterranean, 
where they terminate in bold headlands. But within this vast amphitheatre of 
highlands, and even within the space enclosed by the twin rivers, the plains are 
intersected by several independent ridges, separated by profound fissures from the 
surrounding orographic systems of Kurdistan and the Taurus. 

The Karaja-dagh, south of the narrow rocky isthmus which rises between the 
sources of the western Tigris, and the sudden bend of the Euphrates at Telek, runs 
in the direction from north to south, thus forming the chord of the vast arc 
described by the Armenian border ranges. It is separated by a pass 2,600 feet 
high from the Mehrab-dagh, an advanced spur of the Taurus, occupying the 
extreme angle of the interfluvial region. The Karaja-dagh is a huge mass of 
black basalt some 3,600 feet high, deeply scored by the beds of mountain torrents, 
such as the Karaja-chai, which flows from the north-eastern slopes to the Tigris 
below Diarbekir. Near the confluence it is joined by the Kuchuk-chai, another 
stream, whose right bank is skirted by a vertical basalt wall 230 feet high. 

Farther west the Karaja hills merge in the Nimrud-dagh (" Nunrod Moun- 
tains ") and other ridges ramifying towards the EujDhrates, and rising at some 
points to a height 2,600 feet, or some 1,500 feet above the level of the lower 
plains. But in their western section these uplands assume mainly the aspect of 
plateaux. Such is the Kara-seka, a limestone table with a mean elevation of 
2,400 feet, interrupted at intervals by crevasses, which terminate in circular 
cavities forming reservoirs for a little water during the rainy season. 

Towards the east the Karaja-dagh is separated from the Mardin uplands by a 
wide fissure some 2,500 feet deep, which presents an easy route for travellers 
proceeding from Diarbekir to the steppes skirted by the river Khabur. A com- 
plete geological contrast is offered by the two sides of the gorge, which is skirted 
on the west by steep basalt cliffs, on the east by chalk and limestone formations, 
but the crests attain on both sides the same extreme altitude of about 5,000 feet, 
and are occasionally streaked with snow down to the end of AjDril. The Mardin 



NORTH MESOPOT^yvnAN OROGRAPHIC SYSTEM. 



197 



Hills, the Masios of the ancients, are crossed by numerous passes about 3,300 feet 
high, leading from the Euphrates to the Tigris basin, while towards the west they 
are separated by a broad valley from the less elevated dolomitic Tur-Abdin mass, 
which is contuiued in the direction of the Tigris by the basalt Hamka-dagh and 
Elim-dagh. The Tur-Abdin crests are mostly treeless, and in many places destitute 
even of herbage. But the plain at the foot of the southern escarpment, being well 
watered by the mountain torrents distributed in a thousand channels, has been 
converted into an extensive garden, as crowded with villages as the best cultivated 
regions in Europe. Here the mounds formerly crowned by temples and defensive 
works are now generally encircled by poplars. 

In this district the water-parting lies much nearer to the Tigris than to the 



Fig. 73. — The Mardin Hills. 
Scale 1 : 1,750,000. 








N.sib.nruT 



L , of Greenwich 



Artificial Moiinds. 



Euphrates. It merges southwards in the Kara-chok and Butman heights, which 
skirt the Tigris, and cause its bed to deflect eastwards. The Butman ridge itself 
is connected at its eastern extremity with the Sinjar, or Singali Hills, a low but 
conspicuous chain, penetrating south-westwards far into the steppes of central 
Mesopotamia. From the river banks nothing is here visible except the rocky 
escarpments of these Sinjar HiUs, which stretch through the Jebel Akhdal, and 
Jebel Aziz, beyond the Euphrates westwards to the Jebel Amur, Jebel Euak, and 
Anti-Lebanon.* Although rarely visited, the Sinjar supports a considerable 
population, thanks to the rains which feed the brooks on its slopes. The plains 
stretching thence westwards to the Euphrates were ia the ninth century the 
* Aime Bhmt, " Among the Bedouins of the Euphi-ates." 



198 SOUTH-WESTEEN ASIA. 

scene of a great scientific event. Here was mea.sured a degree of the meridian by 
a group of Arab astronomers, ■who foimd that the degree was 56| Arab miles long. 
The precise value of this mile has not been determined ; but in the calculation 
there appears to have been an error, according to some of one-tenth, to others of 
one-fiftieth only, in excess. 

South of the Sin jar, the Mesopotamian plains are broken only bv low mounds, 
nearly all artificial, and by rocky tables eroded by intermittent streams. But 
east of the Tigris the land rises everywhere to lofty ranges intersected by the 
tributaries of the river. These highlands, which belong geologically to the Iranian 
system, rim north-west and south-east, parallel with the Persian border ranges 
whose snowy peaks are vi.sible fi'om the Bagdad lowlands. North-east of ilossul 

Fig. 74. — Source of the Western Tigris. 
Scale 1 : 600,000. 



,.u-* 



/■ 



^ 



^^^^'^'vf 






the more irregular uplands converge at several points in mountain masses with 
numerous peaks exceeding 13,000 feet in altitude. Such is the Tura Jelu, east of 
the Great Zab, which, according to Layard, has an elevation of over 14,000 feet. 
The main ridge, crossed at great intervals by a few passes, and overlooking the 
villages and camping- grounds of the Hakkari Kurds, runs from the lakes south of 
Lake Van to the Persian border chains between the sources of the two Zabs. In 
this north-eastern corner of Mesopotamia the Kurd domain is limited by the 
sandstone Jebel Hamrin, an almost geometrical square mass, furrowed by no less 
regular river gorges. All the highlands skirting the Mesopotamian plains are 
known to the Persians by the collective name of Pusht-i-kuh, an expression which 
occurs on many maps, but which belongs to no range in particular. It simply 
means the " mountains beyond." 



THE TIGRIS BASm. 199 



The Tigris Basin. 



The Tigris, the shortest of the two rivers whose united waters flow through 
the Shat-el-Arab to the Persian Gulf, rises in the neighbom-hood of the Euphrates. 
The chief sources spring from the Utch-gol or " Three Lakes," near the Sivan 
mines, within half a mile of the deep gorge traversed by the Murad ; and the 
united stream flows south-west towards the Euphrates. But it is intercepted by 
another watercourse, also rising near the Euphrates, by which it is deflected south- 
wards. This is the Dijleh, which is regarded as the main branch of the Tigris, 
and which at first traverses the peninsular region formed by the windings of the 
Euphrates round three sides of the upland Kharput plain. Rising within a few 
miles of one of these sharp bends, the Dijleh begins by seeking an outlet from the 
vast circuit thus described by the rival stream. The Goljuk, Goljik, or Golenjik, 
a brackish lakelet, here occupies a dej)ression in the plateau some 200 yards higher 
up, whence emissaries flow both to the Tigris and the Euphrates. At least the 
level of the Goljuk was recently raised by a series of wet seasons so high that its 
surplus waters found an outlet at its south-east end towards the Tigris. A cutting 
has even been undertaken to regulate the discharge, and convert the lake into 
a constant afiluent of the river.* Thus have the two streams been made to inter- 
mingle their waters, as if to confirm the accoimts of the old writers. 

On reaching the Diarbekir plains, the Shat or " River," as the Tigris is here 
designated, is rapidly swollen by the contributions received from the northern 
highlands. The Batman-su, one of the largest of these, resembles the main stream 
in the impetuosity of its current, and like it, takes its rise near the Upper Euphrates 
on the southern slope of the Mush hills. Lower down comes the Arzen-su, and 
the Bohan-su, -n-ith its romantic afiluent, the Bitlis, from the heights skirting the 
south-west corner of the Van basin. 

Below the junction of the two Shats, that is, the Dijleh or Western, and 
Botan, or Eastern Tigris, the main stream, already developed to one half of its 
full volume, turns south-eastwards to a rugged region where it flows for a space of 
about 40 miles through a series of profound limestone and basalt gorges. Beyond 
this point it merges on an open alluvial plain, but soon plunges again into a series 
of wild and inaccessible ravines. Here also the tracks leave the river banks, 
making long detours over the hills to avoid both the main stream and the lower 
course of the tributaries, all of which flow through gorges 45 or 50 feet deep. 

Throughout the series of defiles, which begin at the Botan-su confluence and 
terminate above Mossul, the Tigris maintains the normal direction parallel with the 
border ranges of the Iranian plateau, which it preserves to its junction with the 
Euphrates. Throughout its whole course it receives large afiluents only on its left 
bank, the drainage on the opposite side being almost exclusively to the Euphrates. 
But some of these atflueuts themselves occupy basins of considerable extent. Such 
is the Great Zab (Zarb-el-Kebir), whose head-streams drain the whole region com- 
prised between Lakes Yan and Urmiah. The Little Zab (Zarb Saghir) also sends 

*Fansliawe Tuzer, "Tmkisli Annunia, and Eastern Asia Minor." 



200 SOUTH-WESTERN ASIA. 

down a copious flood, some of which comes from beyond the Persian border. The 
Dij'alah also, which joins the Tigris below Bagdad, receives numerous feeders from 
Persia, where they take their rise in the parallel depressions of the frontier ranges. 
Like the Tigris itself, the tributaries have to pierce a series of parallel mountain 
barriers before escaping from their old lacustrine cavities down to the Meso- 
potamian plain. On issuing from the upland Kui-distan valleys, the Great Zab 
flows east of Mossul through masses of conglomerate, in a broad bed in some places 
over half a mile from bank to bank. The Little Zab also reaches the Tigris 
through a succession of mountain gorges. South-east of a so-called " Gate of the 
Tigris," a fissure from 160 to 230 feet deep affords an outlet for the waters of the 
Diyalah across the red sandstone formations of the Hamrin. Here the water 
collects during the rainy season in a temporary lake on the Kizil-robat plain above 
the ravine. The Adhim, another aifluent of the Tigris, flowing from the Pir 
Omar Gudrun, a holy mountain 8,300 feet high, forms a permanent morass above 
the Demir-kapu or " Iron Gate," by which it is separated from the alluvial plains 
of Mesopotamia. 

Below all its tributaries the Tigris overflows its banks at several points, and 
sends eastwards the sluggish Hadd, which forms a junction with the Kerkha of 
Luristan. In winter the whole plain stretching from the Lower Tigris to the 
advanced spurs of the Persian highlands is converted into an inland sea, often 
ironically called the " Umm-el-Bak," or "Mosquito Sea." In summer there still 
remains a network of winding channels, navigable by boats for nearly 100 miles 
between the Tigris and Kerkha. 

At its junction with the Euphrates at Korna, the Tigris, contrary to the state- 
ment of Strabo, is the more copious of the two rivers.* Between its source and 
mouth at the confluence, it has a total length of about 1,200 miles, or one half that 
of the Euphrates, while the extent of its basin is also much less. But instead of 
wiuding through the desert, like the Euphrates after leaving the Taurus highlands, 
the Tigris continues to skirt the western escarpments of the Iranian plateau, 
whence it receives numerous feeders along its whole course. Rising many himdred 
feet above the Euphrates Valley, and pursuing a less winding, but more precipitous 
course towards the Persian Gulf, it has a very swift current, whence its old Persian 
name of Tigris, or " Arrow," which has replaced the Assyrian Hiddekel (Idiklat), 
still surviving in the Armenian Dikla and Arabic Dijleh. Owing to its greater 
velocity, it also loses less water by evaporation, and develops fewer stagnant pools 
and swamps along its banks than does the Euphrates. It is ascended as far as 
Bagdad by steamers of light draft, which might even penetrate to Tekrit, 600 miles 
from the sea. From that point to Mossul it is open only to small boats, and thence 
to Diarbekir the only craft found on its waters are the kelleks, or rafts formed of 
planks with inflated sheepskin floats. De Moltke and Miihlbach were the first 
Europeans to descend its stream on these frail craft, and thus explore the grand 
defiles through which the Tigris escapes to the plains. 

• Mean discharge of the Tigris at Bagdad, 163,000 cuhic fee t per second ; of the Euphrates at Uit, 
72,000 cuhic feet. 



THE EUPHRATES BASIN". 201 

The Euphrates Basin. 

Below the junction of its two head- streams, the Murad and Frat, or Kara-su, 
the Euphrates has already received most of the supplies that it discharges at the 
Tigris confluence. The head-streams have each an average width of about 350 
feet, with a depth of nearlj- 4 feet, and a velocity of 10 feet per second. During 
the floods, that is, from the middle of March to the end of Maj-, it usually rises 
some 15 or 20 feet, and occasionally much higher. Before leaving the hilly region, 
the main stream still receives a few tributaries about the point where it describes 
the great bend west of the last spurs of the Taurus. Here the drainage of the 
Armenian highlands had formerly been collected in a lacustrine basin, whose old 
beach is stiU ^•isible on the surrounding escarpments, and the alluvial deposits from 
which have enriched the Jlalatia plains. Few districts in Hither Asia have a 
more productive soil than this depression, which, however, is also one of the 
unhealthiest in Asiatic Turkey. Of the streams here joining the Euphrates from 
the western slopes the most copious is the Tokma-su, the Melas of the ancients, 
whose farthest sources are intermingled on the water-parting with those of the 
Jihun or CiUcian Pyramus, which flows to the Mediterranean. The fertile 
Tokma-Euphrates plain lies exactly mid-way between Constantinople and Bagdad, 
and thus forms a central resting-place on this main route of the empire. Other 
historic highways also traverse the same basin, which forms the natural converging 
point between Armenia, SjTia, Asia Miaor, and the lower Euphrates. Forming the 
western continuation of the Upper Tigris Valley, it also offered the easiest line of 
commimication for caravans and armies proceeding from Persia to the Ionian sea- 
board. Scidptured cxmeiform inscriptions on a rock overlooking the Euphrates, 
where It was crossed by the main route, record the great deeds of some now for- 
gotten Persian conqueror, whose name still remains undeciphered. 

In the Malatia basin the Euphrates, still at an elevation of 2,800 feet above the 
sea, is separated from the lowland plains by the barrier of the Taurus. Turning- 
first eastwards along the northern foot of the hills, it soon bends south-eastwards 
between rocky escarpments over 1,650 feet high. Here begin the " cataracts," to 
which the Turks have given the name of the " Forty Gorges." For a space of 90 
miles some three hundred rapids follow in such close proximity, that in many 
places after escaping from one the boatman hears the roar of the waters rushing 
over the next. At times the floating ice collecting about these rocky ledges 
presents a temporary bridge to the riverain populations. The dangers attending 
the navigation of this section of the stream vary with the height of the water, 
which sometimes flows in one sheet down an inclined plane, sometimes in cascades 
from ledge to ledge. Eight and left the stream is joined by foaming mountain 
torrents, whose ravines often afford glimpses of the upper terraces, here clothed with 
a grassy sward shaded by widespreading walnut-trees. 

One of the most dangerous of the cataracts is the first of the series on leaving 
the Malatia plain, where there is a fall of 16 in a space of 180 feet. Other formid- 
able rapids follow near Telek, at the point where the Euphrates, turning abruptly 



202 SOUTH-WESTEEN ASIA. 

to the south and south-west, flows beneath the plateau on which the western Tigris 
takes its rise some 1,300 feet higher up. Here the sulphur-charged waters, issuing 
from a fissure in the rock, are revealed at a distance by the wreaths of vapoui- rising 
above them. Lower down the stream is contracted by a projecting bluff from a 
mean width of 650 to about 40 feet. This defile is known as the Geik-tash, or 
" Stag's Leap," and one of the last of the series has been well named the Gerger 
(Gurgur, Kharkar), that is, the "Roarer." Nevertheless the cataracts have been 
rim more than once, as in 1838 and 1839 by Von Moltke, at that time employed 
by the Turkish Government to survey the ground, and study the means of trans- 
porting military supplies along this route. On the first occasion he passed through 
safely ; but in the second trip, undertaken during the floods, he escaped with 
difficulty from the rapids at Telek. 

On issuing from the gorges of the Armenian Taurus, the Euphrates skirts this 
range first on the east and then on the south, receiving from its slopes nirmerous 
torrents, and stiU forming a few rapids above the village of Kantara. Here the 
valley continues to be confined especially on the right side by chalk or limestone clifEs 
300 or 400 feet high. But from their summit a view is already commanded of the 
open Mesopotamian plains and the great river winding away between its sandy 
banks westwards. For the Euphrates in this part of its course is still flowing 
towards the Mediterranean, to which it approaches within 95 miles at the last bend 
between Rum-Kalah and Birejik. At this important historical spot converge the 
natural highways between the sea and the river. The very name of Rura-Kalah, 
or "Castle of the Romans," indicates the importance attached by the Romans or 
Bj'zantines to this part of the river valley, known to the ancients as the Zeugma, 
the yoke or link between east and west. Higher up, the stream had been bridged 
at various times, and in 1836 Lynch discovered some remains, which seemed to be 
connected with these works. Lower down the chief crossing for caravans is at Bir 
or Birejik, where as many as five thousand camels have at times been detained 
waiting for the ferry-boats. As far as Balis, 90 miles still farther down, the 
Euphrates continues to run nearly parallel with the Mediterranean ; but here it at 
last bends to the south-east, henceforth flowing obliquely across the Mesopotamian 
plains to the Persian Gulf. 

The level plains on both sides are diversified by moderately elevated cliffs, 
especially along the right bank, where the erosive action of the stream is most felt. 
Here and there the hills terminate in bluffs overlooking and even contracting the 
bed of the river. Thus the Euphrates below Deir is deflected by the Jebel Abyad 
(White Mountain), westward to the gorge where it is joined by the Khabur. 
Below Anah, and as far as Hit, the limestone cliffs skirting its course approach so 
near that no space is left for houses or gardens. Villages, such as Hadidha, El-L^z, 
Jebah, and others, are either excavated in the rock itself, or else occupy the rocky 
islets in mid-stream, built like strongholds above the level of the summer floods, 
which here rise some 24 feet above the winter low-water mark. 

Navigable throughout a portion of the year, at least for steamers of light draft, 
the Euphrates from Birejik to the sea has a fall of scarcely more than 8 inclies in 



iiT r 



Mi^iliSHM^:? «li! . ' 




LIBRARY 

.lu- THE 

'ILLINOIS. 



THE EUPHRATES BASIN. 



203 



the mile. Hence it flows very gently, especially in the dry season between the end 
of autumn and beginning of winter. Like the Nile, it also diminishes continually 
in volume throughout its whole course across the Mesof)otamian plains below 
Birejik. At Hadidha it is fordable even for the villagers, and for camels at many 
other points, where the depth scarcely exceeds 5 feet. It is doubtless joined on 
both banks by a few affluents, such as the Sajur from the Tauric range, the Nahr- 



Fig. 75. — Cakavan on the Banks of the Euphrates. 





Balik from the TJrfa hills, the Khabur frona the Tur-Abdin heights. But with the 
exception of the last-mentioned, the torrents reaching the middle Euphrates send 
down a considerable volimie only during the rainy season. The other tributaries 
are mere wadies, dry throughout most of the year, and when flooded mostly used 
up in irrigating the surrounding fields. Several of these intermittent streams are 
thus completely absorbed by the reservoirs, or else are lost in the marshes. Such is 
the Wad-Ali, which rises near Palmyra, and which although fully 180 miles long, 



204 



SOUTH-WESTERN ASIA. 



presents generally the appearance of a dry watercourse. Such also are the Gharra 
and Hauran, whose broad beds, winding between high cliffs, are little better than 
quagmires even in summer. But all these wadies of the Syrian desert are vastly 
exceeded in extent by the Er- Rumen or El-Nej, which rises within some 30 miles 
of the coast of Madian, and after describing a great bend southwards into the heart 

Fig. 76. — Windings of the Middle Euphrates. 
Scale 1 : 123,000. 




Jit I ' f ^=^-t 



^**»"« '"isW,, 




E. cfG^ 



_^-E(3 



of Arabia, falls ultimately into the Lower Euphrates after a course of at least 1,200 
miles. This " waterless river " attests the great changes of climate that have 
occurred since the time when the rains were copious enough to develop such a 
mighty watercoui'se across the eastern slope of Arabia. If account be taken of all 
the ephemeral streams flowing from the centre of the Arabian peninsida towards 
Mesopotamia, the basin of the Euphrates and Tigris, usually estimated at nearly 



THE EUPHEATES BASIN. 205 

200,000 square miles, •will have to be increased by fully a thii'd. The mouths of 
the wadies are at times dangerous to pass, even when their dry beds seem perfectly 
level. During the great heats the ground becomes fissured by wide and deep 
crevasses, which the first raias, charged with fine sand, cover with minute particles 
of silicate no thicker than a sheet of paper. The space enclosed by the Kubeissieh 
and Mohanimedieh wadies, which join the main stream from the western steppes 
immediately below the town of Hit, is occupied by vast layers of a bituminous soil 
covered with clay and gypsum. Countless grey eminences, dotted over the plain 
like the tents of a camping-ground, discharge from their bases smoking streams of 
asphalt with a mean temperatm-e of from 75° to 85° F. The viscous fluid winds 
sluggishly over the surface towards the Euphrates. 

At the point where the western artery approaches nearest to the Tigris, and 
where the twin rivers run parallel, at a mean distance of 20 miles, the Euphrates 
flows at an elevation of about 16 feet higher than the Tigris, and consequently 
supplies the irrigation canals of the intervening plain. It appears at some former 
time to have even joined the Tigris, the slope between the two being vmiform and 
interrupted by no intermediate heights. But the constant erosions in its right 
bank, and the accimiulation of alluvia on its left, caused the two channels gradually 
to diverge, although stUl connected by lateral streams. The volimie of the 
Euphrates thus continues constantly to diminish, and much of its waters also 
escapes through the iU-kept embankments to the surroimding plains, where they 
develop reedy marshes of vast extent. Above Babylon its course has been 
repeatedly shifted, now to the right now to the left, sometimes spontaneousl)', more 
frequently at the pleasure of Nitocris, Cyrus, Alexander, or other conquerors. 
During the epoch of the Seleucides, the main channel still flowed east of a slight 
elevation directly south-west of Bagdad, and winded through the plain within 15 
miles of the Tigris. Along this old bed are found nearly all the heaps of refuse 
marking the sites of former cities, no ruins of which have been discovered on the 
banks of the present channel. Some 50 miles south of the original bifurcation 
begins the branch known as the Hiudieh Canal, said to have been so named from an 
Indian nawab by whom it was repaired in the last centiuy, although it appears to 
have existed under other names at a former period, when many cuttings were made 
to regulate the discharge. At present the Hiudieh Canal diverts nearly half of 
the main stream westwards to the vast " sea " of Nejef. In this marshy reservoir 
much is lost by evaporation on its emerging to rejoin the river lower down. Owing 
to all these ramifications, it has become diflaciilt to recognise the branch which ought 
to bear the name of Euphrates, which amid the Lamlim swamps is scarcely 250 feet 
wide from bank to bank. In the dry season it shrinks to 14 or 15 feet, with a 
depth of scared}' 2 feet, and when descending this channel Kemball and Bewsher 
had often to di-ag their boat through the mud and reeds at places where thirty 
years previously Chesney's steamers had found from 15 to 20 feet of water. 

Farther down the Euphrates resumes its normal proportions, thanks to the 
Hindieh branch and to the riverain canals, as well as to the Tigris itself, which, by 
a remarkable phenomenon, after receiving the overflow of the Euphrates, becomes 



200 



SOUTH-'U'ESTEriN ASIA. 



in its turn a tributary of its rival. The canali.sation system is, however, ever}'- 
where so defective that many channels, instead of ramifying into secondary rills 
and cuttings, become lost in vast pestiferous morasses. During the floods the 
dykes above Bagdad often give way, isolating the city from the eastern uplands for 
months together bj' a broad sheet of water dotted over with solitary eminences, 
where the riverain populations take refuge. The inundations are now no longer 

Fig. 77. — The Euphrates aud Lake Nejef. 
Scale 1 : 875,000. 




[.ofG 



controlled by all those lateral canals, which communicated with inland reservoirs, 
and thus protected the lower plains while harbouring the superfluous waters for the 
dry season. The eastern afiluents of the Tigris, having a greater incline, are more 
suitable for irrigating pui'poses than the main stream. To the waters of the 
Khalis, a branch of the Diyalah, the plains of Bagdad are indebted for their 
exuberant vegetation. Here have for the first time been successfully introduced 
the improved European methods of irrigation. 



THE EUPIIEATES BASIN. 



207 



Efforts have at all times been made to established a sort of mystic contrast 
between the two great Mesopotamian arteries. In the marriage of the converging 
streams, the Euphrates thus represents the male, the Tigris the female element. 
Several miles below the confluence, the difference is still perceptible between the 
two currents in the Shat-el-Arab. The less copious and more sluggish Euphrates 
sends down a warmer, more limpid, and regular stream, depositing its alluvia in the 
riverain marshes, while the Tigris keeps its sedimentary matter much longer in 
solution. Korna, where the confluence takes place, forms the southern extremity of 
the vast oval peninsula of Mesopotamia, the Jezireh or " Island " of the Arabs, the 
Aram Neherain of the Chaldeans and Egyptians in the Tutmes and Ramses epochs. 

Fig. 78. — Confluence of the Euphrates and Tigris. 
Scale 1 : 230,000. 



£.!r,iMi,/ik^ 





.__!?■ LI! ( ^ ' 

Hamid ill Ojarr.h 






E. af&n. 



This insular region begins properly speaking at the Telek bend, where the 
Euphrates rapids are separated only by a narrow rocky barrier from the sources of 
the Tigris. But from the geographical, climatic, social, and historical standpoints, 
the true Mesopotamia is simply the plain in which are intermingled the irrigation 
canals derived from both rivers. Northwards this fertile tract is limited by a 
rampart running from the Tigris near the Samara bend, south-west towards the 
western extremity of the Saklaviyah Canal. This "rampart of Nemrod," as it is 
called, had a mean height of from 36 to 50 feet, and was flanked by towers at 
intervals of 160 feet ; but in many places nothing remains of these works except 
shapeless heaps of rubbish. 



208 



SOUTH-WESTEEN ASIA. 



The Euphrates is little used for na^agation, although since 1836 steamers have 
plied on its waters below Birejik. At various epochs since the time of Alexander 
it was utilised by the Greeks, and as many as 1,100 vessels were collected on this 
great highway of Western Asia. In peaceful times the middle Euphrates is 
accessible for eight months in the year to boats 40 feet long, drawing 3 feet, and 
carrying cargoes of fifteen tons. Since 1563, when the Venetian trader, Cesare 
Federigo, sailed from Birejik down to Feluja, riverain port of Bagdad, European 
travellers have frequently followed this route from the Mediterranean to the cities 
of Mesopotamia. Before the introduction of steam the chief obstacle was the 

Fig. 79. — Bo.\Ts oy the Euphrates. 




difficulty of stemming the current. Hence most of the boats, after the downward 
trip, were taken to pieces and sold for timber or fuel, the boatmen returning by 
land, as in the time of Herodotus. The scarcity of wood on the Armenian and 
Tauric uplands contributes to render this traffic very expensive, and on the Lower 
Euphrates, below Hit and its asphalt springs, wickerwork craft are used, made of 
tamarind twigs stuffed with straw and covered on both sides with a coating of 
asphalt, which is found to be perfectly waterproof. Hundreds of such boats may 
at times be seen spinning round with the stream, and laden with cargoes for the 
caravans awaiting them along the banks. But since the expeditious of Chesney 
and other British officers, the Euphrates has been sufficiently surveyed to organise 



TIIE EUniEATES BASIN. 209 

a regular service of steamers throughout its lower coiu'se during the rainy season. 
But the towns that have succeeded Babylon and the other great cities of antiquity 
are not large enough to encourage such undertakings. From time to time a 
Turkish vessel ascends above Hillah, as far as Anah. But the small importance of 
the river as a navigable highway may be judged from the fact that nearly the 
whole trade of Anah with Bagdad is carried on, not by water, but by the land 
route running across the desert eastwards to Tekrit, on the Tigris. 

There is authentic record of the prodigious fertility of the Babylonian soil, when 
the fluvial stream was skilfidly distributed over the riverain plains. Herodotus, 
who had visited the Nile delta, declined to describe the vegetation on the banks of 
the Eujjhrates, lest his accoimt might be suspected of exaggeration. Even after 
the devastation caused by so many invasions, and especially by the destruction of 
the Assyrian works of canalisation, the harried southern section of Mesopotamia, 
so different from the arid northern steppes, continued to retain its exuberant 
fertility. It yielded a vast revenue to the first caliphs without the oppressive 
taxation which afterwards depopidated the land and caused the desert to encroach 
on the arable tracts. From a statistical report, made by order of Omar, it appears 
that certain districts, known as the Sawad, or "Black Lands," not more than 
2,750,000 acres in extent, furnished a yearly income of no less than £3,400,000 to 
the public treasury. Although greatly reduced, the yield is even now so 
considerable that one asks in amazement how so much can be drawn from the land 
under the present rudimentary system of cultivation. The Arab peasant selects 
his plot — some " khor," or marshj^ strip, with little but mud and reeds in the 
centre. Here he sows his barley, without clearing the ground or any preliminary, 
except, perhaps, scratching the sm-face with a hooked stick. Then the cattle are 
let loose to graze on the first sprouts of corn, after which nothing is done till 
harvest-time. Four months after the Ajjril sowing the crop is ready for the sickle, 
each grain yielding several hundredfold.* 

So much water is still drawn off by the somewhat primitive methods of irriga- 
tion, that the river becomes considerably reduced in certain parts of its com-se. 
Most of the peasantry water their fields by means of a contrivance which 
alternately raises and lowers an inflated goatskin. In more flourishing districts 
wheels are employed to raise the water to the stone aqueducts built on the summit 
of the cliS. Elsewhere the water is drawn directly from the river by means of 
channels regidated at the issue by a system of sluices. Such is all that survives of 
the colossal hydi-aidic works described by Herodotus, when the lateral reservoir 
suppljong the network of rills was vast enough to receive for several days the 
whole stream of the Euphrates without overflowing. The canal, attributed to 
Nebuchodonosor, which ramified parallel with the river from Hit to the sea, was 
no less than 480 nules long ; it has never been surpassed by any similar work, 
even in modern times. 

The old canals, whose remains are still visible along the riverain tracts, were 
of two kinds. Some, such as the Nahr-el-Melek or " Roj-al Stream," which ran 

* Baillie Fraser, "Travels in Mesopotamia." 



210 



SOUTH-WESTERN ASIA. 



transversely with the Euphrates to the Tigris at Seleucia, were excavated to a 
sufficient depth to allow the current to flow at aU seasons and scour its hed by erosive 
action. These were navigable. Others, used exclusively for irrigation pm'j)oses, 
were flushed only during the floods, that is, precisely at the time when vegetation 
was most vigorous. But these rills were continually silting, and the mud 
dredged annually from their beds and deposited along both sides, gradually formed 
embankments risiag from 20 to 24 feet above the surrounding plains. Some are 
still to be- seen exceeding 33 feet in height. Eventually the labour of maintaining 
such works became excessive, and fresh canals were dug, thus gradually covering 
the plain with a succession of lofty dykes. In many places the horizon is bounded 
by five or six of these parallel walls, which at a distance look like the lines of 



Fig. 



-Caxals or Mesopotamia West of Bagdad. 
Scale 1 : 500,000. 




entrenched camps. Nothing would be easier than to restore these old canals by 
clearing out the sand and mud now obstructing them. Some partial repairs have 
already been effected, as in the Saklaviyah canal, which was navigated in July, 
1838, by a steamer down to the Tigris at Eagdad. Since then some other 
Babylonian canals have been restored. But the modem irrigating riUs mostly 
lack the magnificent proportions of the older works, which ranged from 60 to 
250 feet wide; nor are they provided with any of those paved or cemented 
reservoirs, a few of which are still to be seen here and there in the interior of the 
land. The Arab and other riverain i^opulations still, however, imderstand the 
art of constructing the fluvial embankments, using tamarind branches and reeds 
to make their fascines, which being elastic, offer greater resistance than stone. 
The mud lodging in the interstices also contributes to their solidity. 



THE SIIAT-EL-^iEAB AND EUPHRATES DELTA. 



211 



The Shat-el-Arab and Euphrates Delta. 

A few miles below the confluence, the Shat-el-Ai-ab is joined on its left bank 
by a considerable tributary, the Kerkha, flowing from the Luristan highlands 
mainly through Persian territory. About 500 or 600 j-ards wide, with a depth of 
from 20 to 35 feet, the Shat-el-Arab ranks among the great rivers of Asia, 
although it cannot be compared with such mighty streams as the Yangtze, Ganges, 
or Brahmaputra. It is even far inferior to the Danube, which, while rivalling the 
Euphrates in length, flows through a more humid region. Barnes estimates the mean 
discharge of the Shat-el-Arab at about 234,000 cubic feet per second. As the 
Persian Gulf has an average depth of some 250 feet, it would take the Shat about 

Fig. 81. — Mouths op the Shat-el-Arab. 
Scale 1 : 2,700,000. 




£ . SfGre 



seventy years to IlU this cavity, were it to be dried up by any natural convulsion. 
The argillaceous particles held ia suspense are deposited at the mouth of the river, 
where they have developed a crescent-shaped bar with scarcely more than 15 feet 
at low -water. Large steamers are thus obliged to wait for the tide, which usually 
rises about 10 feet, or else force the bar by steam pressui-e. The alluvia, which 
are continually encroaching on the guli, during the sixty years from 1793 to 1853 
advanced, according to Eawliuson, some 3,500 yards, or at the annual rate of about 
60 yards. The whole delta appears to have thus pushed seawards about 90 miles 
altogether dm-ing the last 3,000 years. The plains of marine formation stretch, 
on the other hand, northwards to the vicinity of Babylon, where their origin is 
revealed by mj-riads of fossil shells belonging to the same species as those now 
living in the Persian Gulf. But while gradually gaining on the oceanic domain, 



212 S0UTn-WE8TERN ASIA. 

the river itself is continually shifting its course to the right and to the left, thus 
displacing its bed from year to year and from age to age. There was a time 
when the Tigris, the EujDhrates, the Karun, and even the Korkha, reached the sea 
in independent channels. The twin rivers, united in their middle course, flowed 
lower down in separate but parallel streams to the coast. The cuneiform inscrip- 
tions mention an expedition undertaken by Sennacherib against the country of 
Elam, in which he had to face the dangers of the sea in order to pass from the 
mouth of one to that of the other river. The old independent channel of the 
Euphrates, the PaUacopas of the Greeks, now known as the Jahri-zadeh, lies 
some 12 miles west of the Shat-el-Arab. Although frequently called the 
" Waterless River," it is, nevertheless, still flushed by a branch of tlie Euphrates 
for eight months in the year.* But the " Abdallah mouth," or embouchure of 
the Pallacopas, has been gradually obliterated by the marine current which skirts 
the Persian Gulf, flowing east and west from the Persian to the Arabian coast. 
The present estuary is also subject to displacements, and since the construction of 
the first charts of the British Admiralty, it has shifted eastwards, thus approach- 
ing the old mouth of the Karim. This Persian river, which formerly found its 
way independently to the sea, is now connected with the Shat-el-Arab by the 
Haifar, an artificial canal excavated 24 miles below Bassorah. The original 
channel of the Karun stiU exists under the name of Bamishir, and offers to the 
Persians a separate commercial route, of which, however, they make no use, in 
order not to have the trouble of cleansing and keeping open the passage. 

The Shat and Bamishir mouths, the now forsaken channels, the upper water- 
courses, the Intermittently flooded depressions, and the shallow, muddy shores, form 
altogether a sort of debatable region between the land and sea, which may be 
compared with the Gangetic Sanderbans. But the impenetrable thickets of tangled 
stems and branches characteristic of the Indian delta are here represented only by 
patches of reeds strewn over the flooded plain. Even these disappear at high-water, 
when travellers, after crossing the bar and ascending the Shat, might still fancy 
themselves on the high seas. Nothing is now visible except the feathery crests of 
the palm groves shovdng in mid-air like flocks of birds on the northern horizon. 
The saline spaces rising above high-water mark are clothed with alkaline plants, 
while the tracts exposed to periodical fresh-water floodings bear the marisciis ehitm, 
whose fibrous roots become so closely matted together that the whole surface is 
completely protected from further erosions. The shallow muddj^ waters skirting 
the reedy zone harbour myriads of gurnards, which, by burrowing in the mud, 
gradually raise the soil, and thus promote the encroachments of vegetation. 

The fauna of the Shat-el-Arab is partly marine. Sharks ascend with the tide 
as far as Bassorah, and even higher up, both in the Tigris and Euphrates. They 
also penetrate into the Karun, whose waters, flowing from the Khuzistan highlands, 
are much fresher than those of the Mesopotamian rivers. Within a few hundred 
yards the temperature differs by some 14 degrees Fahr. These sharks have been 
met as high up as the dam at Ahwaz, and even in the vicinity of Shuster. 
* Carl Ritter, " Asien," vol. xi. 



CLIM.VTE, FAUNA, AND FLORA OF MESOPOTAMLi. 213 

Climate, Fauna, and Flora of Mesopotamia. 

Along the banks of both rivers, and in the steppes as far as the Sinjar and 
Mardia Hills, the summer heats are almost unbearable. In winter the cold is also 
acutely felt, especially in the open plains, where the stagnant waters freeze at night. 
"Wlien the keen north wind sweeps down from the uplands, the Ai-ab horsemen fall 
prostrate on the ground, and the camels, nimibed with cold, are unable to continue 
their march. The Mesopotamian region, which is indebted exclusively to its two 
rivers for its remarkable geographical individualitj', thus forms climatically a zone 
of transition, in which the meteorological phenomena of the surrounding lands 
become intermingled, and in which are met the faunas and floras of diverse regions. 
While the northern districts are occuj)ied by the advanced spurs of the Kurdistan 
highlands and by the first buttresses of the Iranian plateau, the vast interfluvial tracts 
form argillaceous or rocky stejjpes, where the vegetation fi-inging the right bank 
of the Euj)hrates is hemmed in bj^ the sands of the desert, or by the saline 
efflorescences of dried-up morasses. On the one hand, the mountain slopes are 
carpeted in sj^ring with flowers of every hue, and here the gazelle finds a shelter 
in the tall grasses. On the other, the arid soil yields little but a stimted growth of 
scrub, infested by wild beasts prowling nightly round the Bedouin's tent. Between 
Bagdad and Mardia no trees are to be seen, except in the cultivated depressions or 
on the summit of the hills. Nevertheless even the northern steppes contain some 
extremelj^ fertile tracts, where millions of human beings might be supported by 
utilising the waters of the torrents and of the great rivers. In spring, hounds 
pursuing the game across the steppe return yellow ^^dth the pollen of the prairie 
flowers. The vast plain, green from Februarj' to Maj% yellow for the rest of the 
year, is connected by its mugworts with the Hussian zone, by its mimosas with the 
Sahara, by its grasses with the Mediterranean basin. Most botanists have confirmed 
the statement made two thousand three hundred j^ears ago by Berosus, that 
MesojDotamia is pre-eminently the land of cei-eals. Here was probably kneaded the 
first loaf; and in 1807 Olivier here discovered wheat, barley, and spelt, growing 
spontaneously in ground unsuitable for cultivation. Since then the same species 
have been found by several botanists in the region of the middle Euphrates. 

As we proceed northwards and eastwards, we traverse ia Mesopotamia a 
succession of distiact zones, separated from each other by irregidar lines. The 
palm reaches northwards no farther than the southern foot of the Sinjar hills. On 
the Euphrates the last great palm-grove is that of Anah ; at Tekrit on the Tigris 
are to be seen the two last date-trees, pioneers of the lower Mesopotamian forests. 
Thej^ mark the natural limit of the Arab domain, which is succeeded farther north 
by the olive of Kurdistan and Armenia. Cotton grows on the plain of Diarbekir, 
but nowhere beyond that point. Higher up the villages are siu'rounded by fruit- 
trees, such as the apple, pear, and apricot, common to Europe, although indigenous 
in Western Asia. But the cherry, so characteristic of North Armenia and the 
Eusine seaboard, is nowhere to be seen. 

Down to the middle of the present centurj', the lion still roamed as far as the 



'214 SOUTH-WESTERN ASL\. 

neiglibourliood of the Mardin Hills ; but he has disappeared from the banks of the 
middle Tigris above the Kerkha marshes. The elephant and wild-ox, hunted by 
the Assyrian monarehs romid about Niniveh, have here been extinct for at least 
two thousand five hundred years. The wild-ass has also vanished, and the pelican, 
till recently so common along the Euphrates, also threatens soon to disappear. In 
the steppe the most common animal is the jerboa, whose burrowings render the 
ground in certain places very dangerous for horses. The Euphrates has preserved 
a few remnants of a fauna distinct from that of the steppe. The great river has its 
own vegetation, its birds and wild beasts. Here are met the partridge, the francolin, 
the magpie, duck, goose, and other fowls, which are never seen stra^dng far from 
the banks of the stream. The ibis comafa, an Abysinian bird, builds on the Birejik 
heights, but apparently nowhere else in the Euphrates Valley. He is protected by 
the inhabitants of Birejik, who regard him as the patron of their city. The beaver 
has held his ground along the middle Euphrates, and the riverain marshes are 
inhabited by the trionix euphratica, a peculiar species of tortoise about three feet 
long. Chesney's statement, that crocodiles infest the stream where it approaches 
nearest to Syria, has been questioned by some zoologists. 

Inhabitants of Mesopotamia — The Arabs and Kurds. 

At all times, from the very beginning of recorded history, the population of 
Mesopotamia has been of a mixed character. The Iranians of the northern and 
eastern uplands, the Semites of the south and west, have met on the plains of the 
Tigris and Euphrates, where new peoples have been developed, differing from the 
original stocks, and distinguished, like the alloys of two or more metals, by special 
qualities. Assyrians and Chaldeans had their peculiar genius, contrasting with 
those of their Persian, Medic, Arab, Syrian, and Jewish neighbours, who have 
outlived them. Losing their political sujjremacj^ they were either exterminated, 
or else absorbed in the victorious races, forfeiting name, speech, and the very 
consciousness of their nationality. Nevertheless, there still survives amongst the 
Kurds a tribe bearing the name of Aissor, which claims direct descent from the 
Assyrians. Over the ruins of the Babylonian and Ninivite cidtures the primitive 
elements were enabled to resume the ascendant, and at present Mesopotamia is 
parcelled out like a conquered land between the ethnical domains of the lowland 
Arabs and highland Kurds and Turkomans. In the middle of the seventeenth 
century, when the Turlcish empire was engaged in warfare with Austria, the 
Shammar or Shomer Arabs of Nejd, talung advantage of the absence of the 
Turkish garrisons, seized some of the towns along the banks of the Euphrates, and 
overran the plains as far as the Mardin Hills. The Anazeh, another Arab tribe, 
followed in their wake, eager to share the spoils of conquest, and after a pro- 
tracted and sanguinary struggle, the whole region stretching from the Syrian 
highlands to the Iranian escarpments became divided between the two great tribes 
and their allies. The Anazeh remained supreme in the north-western steppes as 
far as the gates of Aleppo ; the Shummars prevailed in the rest of Mesopotamia. 



IXILIBIT.^^TS OF MESOPOTAMIA— THE AE.U3S .\XD KURDS. 215 

"War, in the strict sense of the term, has ceased between the two rivals, but peace 
has never been concluded, and incursions are still frequent into the respective 
territories.* 

Since the Crimean war the Tiu-ks have retaken the riverain cities ; military 
stations have been established along the caravan routes, and some tribes have even 
abandoned the nomad life and become settled agriculturists. Thus the powerful 
Montefiks, that is, " United," formerl)- numbering at least thii-ty thousand tents, 
now consist of fellahin dwelling in houses on the lower Euphrates and Tigris. 
The Beni-Laam, comprising four thousand families, the Battars, Zigrits, Abu- 
Mohammeds, Shabs of the lower Karun, the last-mentioned largely mixed with 
Iranian elements, also form agricultiu-al Arab communities in the neighbourhood of 
the large towns. But the change has been effected not so much by force as through 
the growing spirit of trade. The attempts made by the Tm-kish Government to 
compel them by force of arms to adopt a sedentary life have always failed. Those 
pass most readily fi-om the nomad to the settled state who are engaged in buffalo 
and sheep-farming, while horsemen accustomed to the use of the lance can rarely be 
induced to leave the desert. Certain tribes have taken to living under reed huts in 
the midst of the marshes. Such are the Khozails and Madans, whom no conquerors 
have ever dared to pursue into their swampy domain. Other Arab clans, such as 
the Zobeirs, are engaged exclusively as boatmen on the lower Euphrates and 
Tigris. Mesopotamia boasts of no finer men than these robust watermen, none of 
whom can aspire to the honour of matrimony imtil they have made the trip at 
least three times from the Shat-el-Arab to the Tigris at Bagdad. 

The Kurds of the advanced spurs belong, like those of Persia and Armenia, 
probably to different races, although now assimilated in habits and pursuits. The 
majority are Mohammedans, but the Nestorians are also numerously represented, 
especially in the valley of the Great Zab, roimd about Julamerk. The Chaldeans 
have wealthier communities in the Mossul district than on the Urmiah plateau ; 
the Suriyam, or Jacobite Christians, number about thirty thousand in the Tur-Abdin 
Mountains at Midat and the convent of Der Amer. The ruins of seventy large 
monasteries attest the important position formerly held by this sect. In Upper 
Mesopotamia the Shemsieh, Yezidi, or " Devil Worshippers," have also found a 
refuge in the Sin jar Hills, where they long enjoyed abnost complete autonomy. 
Other peculiar sects, remnants of the persecuted Gnostics, have also maintained 
themselves in the remote mountain retreats of Upper Mesopotamia. Mention is 
made of a highland community in the Mardin district supposed to be descended 
from the sun worshippers di-iven out of Harran, the city of Abraham. Threatened 
with death by the Caliph Al-Mamun, because they had no "book" like the Jews 
and Christians, they were compelled to conform officially to one of the tolerated 
religions. Most of them thus became attached outwardly to the Christian 
Jacobites, who occupied with them some sis.ty villages in the Mardin and Tor 

* Anazet and allied tribes : 30,000 tents, or 120,000 souls. 
Shammars „ 28,300 „ 112,000 „ 

— Anne Blunt, "The Bedouins of the Euphrates." 



21(5 SOUTH-WESTEEN ASIA. 

IMountains. With a claaractcristicallj' Oriental powei* of simulation, they regularly 
perform the ceremonies prescribed by the patriarch ; but they still secretly invoke 
the sun, the moon, all the host of stars, and regulate their lives according to the 
conjunctions of the planets and magic incantations. 

The Sabiaxs — Moiiamjiedan SEfTs. 

On the Euphrates and in the Karun Valley there are other Gnostic Christians, 
who are also said to have preserved some practices associated with star-worship. 
These are the Haraniks, or Sabians (not Sabfcans), so named from one of their 
prophets, who call themselves Mandayeh, or " Disciples of the Word," and who are 
by the Catholic missionaries usually spoken of as " Christians of St. John the 
Baptist," whom they claim as the founder of their religion. The Sabians appear 
to have been formerly very numerous, forming in the Bassora district alone as 
many as thirty-six groups, some of whom comprised two thousand families. But 
in 1875 there were only about one thousand on the banks of the Tigris, and eight 
thousand in the whole of Mesopotamia. On the Euphrates their chief village is 
Suk-esh-Shiok in the Montefik territory. Before the middle of the present century 
all the Sabian priests in the Bassora district had been carried off bj' the plague, and 
their successors practised the outward rites alone, amongst which the most important 
is the frequent baptism of the faithful, a preliminary condition of the remission of 
sins. The Sabians are not permitted to dwell far from a " Jordan," or river, most of 
their ceremonies, including marriage itself, being celebrated in the running waters. 
They worship] the cross, because the world being divided into four quarters, is itself 
the cross in a pre-eminent sense. Their religion, hostile sister of Judaism, Christi- 
anity, and Islam, is based on the Gnostic idea of the two principles formerly 
preached by their theologians and philosophers, at a time when the Sabians also had 
their period of literary activity. Like the Christians, Jews, and Mussulmans, they 
have their "Treasure" or Bible, called also the "Book of Adam," although posterior 
to Mohammed, and composed in a distinct Semitic dialect. This language, however, 
has no currency beyond the sacred writings, the Sabians now speaking Arabic, 
like the other inhabitants of the country. Polygamy is not prohibited, but they 
can marry only within the community itself. In civil life they are distinguislied 
from the Moliammedans only b}^ their greater honesty, the practice of wliich is 
indispensable for all compelled to earn the respect, in order to secure the tolerance, 
of their neighbours. 

Like Christianity, Mohammedanism has given birth to a groat number of sects in 
this region, where so many religious traditions have become intermingled. AU the 
Eastern sects have their representatives in Mesopotamia. Here the Wahabis of 
Arabia have their jealously guarded communities ; here the Babi of Persia hold 
their secret conventicles ; hero thousands of Mussulmans call themselves the 
disciples of the Akhund, the humble and poor priest of the Swat Valley in Afghan- 
istan. Amongst the Montufiks and other Arabs of the lower Euphrates and Shat- 
el-Arab, there are also said to exist some adherents of the religious brotherhood of 



THE S.VBIAKS— MOHAMMEDAN SECTS. 



217 



tlie Senusij-a, wliicli Lad its origin in Algeria, where it caused serious eniLarrass- 
nient to the French. Besides the persecuted sects, which are obliged publicly to 
simulate some tolerated religion, while practising their own in secret, there are 
villages in which two worships are held in honoiu'. The inhabitants of Mossui, 
Moslem and Christian alike, have the same patron saint, Jerjis, or George. In many 
ilesopotamian districts, and notabl}- at Orfa, the Mussulman women bring their 

Fig. 82. — DiARBEKiB — Bkidge over the Tigris. 




offerings to " Our Lady " in order to obtain children. If their prayers are heard, 
they never fail to resort to the church to return thanks, scrupulously following 
the Christian practice on these occasions. On the other hand, there are many 
Bedouins who would have some difficulty in stating to what religion they really 
belong. They fear the evil eye, and conjure it by gestures, Kke the Neapolitans, 
but they recognise no form of prayer, and are Mohammedans only in name. 

In the towns, the Arab population, intermingled with Turkish and Chaldean 



218 SOUTH-TVESTEEN ASLA. . 

elements, professes the Sunnite dogma. Nevertheless Babylonia contains, next to 
Mecca, the most venerated shrines of the Shiahs. Such are Kerbela, with the tomb 
of Hussein, and Nejef, where stands the domed mosque of Ali. Faithful Shiahs, 
fortunate enough to live and die in these holy jjlaces, have naught to fear in the 
after life, and will be held unanswerable even for the evil deeds committed here 
below. Hence thousands of Persians and hundreds of wealthy Hindus have settled 
either in Bagdad or in Ghadim, near the sacred tombs, and even in Nejef and 
Kerbela. Very numerous also are the rich Iranians who, not having the 
happiness to live in the venerated places, seek after death to have their remains 
here deposited. The transport of the bodies to Kerbela and Nejef, although at 
times prohibited, has remained one of the chief sources of traffic between Persia 
and Asiatic Tui'kej^. According to a recent statistical report, the number yearly 
conveyed across the frontier averages about 4,000. But in 1874, after the famine 
and great ensuing mortality, as many as 12,202 were registered. Several Arab 
tribes, carried away by the force of example, have also acquired the habit of 
consigning their dead to the holy Shiah cities, which have been gradually trans- 
formed to vast cemeteries. Owing to the decomposed state of the bodies brought 
from a distance, and to the absence of proper sanitary measures, Irak-Arabi has 
become a chief focus of the plague in Asia. Of the forty last epidemics, as many 
as twenty-two either had their origin here or were disseminated through this 
region. 

Topography of the Tigris Basix. 

In the upper basin of the Western Tigris, the highest place above sea level is 
the mining city of Khapur (Maden-Khapur'^, standing at an altitude of 3,450 feet, 
and 830 above the torrent. The neighbouring Mount Magharat j'ields an abun- 
dance of copper ore, which is partly smelted on the spot, but mostly exported to 
the industrial cities of Asiatic Turkey, such as Diarbekir, Erzerum, and Trebizond. 
Till recently, most of the copper utensils used throughout the East, from Con- 
stantinople to Ispahan, came from the workshops of Maden-Khapur. At the 
beginning of the present century, about four hmidred tons of ores were annually 
sent down from the Upper Tigris to Bagdad ; but since then the yield of copper 
has greatly fallen off. The argentiferous lead mines are little worked, and those 
of the precious metals are entirely neglected. A bluff overlooking the torrent 
south-west of Khapur is crowned by the town of Arghana, which from the neigh- 
bouring mines also takes the name of Maden — Arghana-Madcn, or " Arghana of 
the Mines." 

Diarbekir or Biarhckr, that is, the "Bekr country," so-named from the Arab 
clan, Bekr, which conquered it in the seventh century, is the ancient Amid 
(Amida^, and is still often called Kara-Amid, or " Black Amid," from the colour 
of the basalt used in its construction. Standing at an altitude of 2,000 feet above 
sea level, with a climate like that of South France, Diarbekir occupies a peculiarly 
happy position at the northern extremity of Mesopotamia, at the converging point 
of the chief routes between the Euphrates and Tigris basins, as well as of the 



TOPOGEArHY OF THE TIGRIS BASIN. 219 

Turkish, Armenian, Kui-d, and Arab etlinical domains. It has the fui'ther advan- 
tage of commanding a vast alluvial plain of great fertility, a plain vfhich has at 
aU times been the " granarj' " of "Western Asia. Hence the great importance 
enjoyed by Diarbekii- ia former times, when its inhabitants were counted by 
hundreds of thousands. During manj' a protracted siege, more victims feU. beneath 
its ^yalls than there are now residents iu the whole place. The old basalt ram- 
parts, flanked with round towers stiU in good repair, have a circuit of 5 miles, 
sweeping round from a quadrangular citadel in ruins to a ten-arched bridge, the 
last structure of the kind now crossing the Tigris. Within the walls the city is 
gloomy, dull, damp, and unhealthy, with narrow, muddy streets, the widest of 
which scarcely exceeds 12 feet. This thoroughfare runs through the bazaar, 
which is well stocked -n-ith European and local wares, the latter including copper 
utensils, filigree jewellery, woollen, silk, and cotton fabrics. The bazaar is always 
crowded with a motley gathering of Kurds, Armenians, Turks and Turkomans, 
Chaldeans, Nestorians, Jacobites, Yezidis, Jews, Syrians, and Greeks, besides many 
Bulgarians recently banished to this place by the Tiirkish Government. Nearly 
half of the inhabitants are Christians, whose churches rival the Mohammedan 
mosques in number and size. 

The valleys of the Upper Tigris and its affluents aboimd in ruins, and the 
modern towns themselves stand mostly on the site of ancient cities. Of the older 
structures, the finest remains are those of a bridge, whose broken arches rise 80 
feet above the main stream, near its junction with the Batman-su. North-east of 
Diarbekir, and on a tributary of the Batman, lies Maya-Farkein (JFarkehi), the 
Marti/ropolis of the Byzantines, where are still to be seen the imposing ruins of 
the monument raised in the fifth century over the remains of several thousand 
Christians massacred by Sapor, King of Persia. Farther east, the Batman is 
crossed by a Persian bridge with pointed arches 165 feet high. The picturesque 
town of JETiizK (K/iuzu, K/tazu), stands on the ruins of an ancient castle near an 
Armenian church yearly visited by numerous pilgrims from Syria, Armenia, and 
Russia. Sert, or Saert, also stands on ruins supposed by d'Anville and others to 
be those of Tigranocerta. The polished surface of the rocks in several places in 
this district bear Armenian inscriptions in the cuneiform character. 

But next to Diarbekir, the largest town in the Upper Tigris basin is BiiUs, 
which occupies a delightfid position 8,000 feet above the sea near the south-west 
corner of Lake Van. Near it is an ancient fortress commanding the junction of 
the main stream with the Bitlis-su, a mountain torrent formed by the mineral, 
thermal, and other rivxdcts flowing fi-om the Nimrud-dagh. Bitlis, which is partly 
inhabited by Armenians, has some weaving and dyeing industries, and enjoys a 
considerable trade as the chief station between the Upper Murad and Tigris 
valleys. 

The ancient city of Jezireh-ibn-Oiner, or " Island of Omar's Son," lying below 
the Tigris gorge on an island formed by the river and an artificial canal, despite 
its Mussulman name, was often the centre of non-Mohammedan communities. In 
the fourteenth century it contained a large Jewish colony, whose schools produced 



220 SOUTH-WESTEEN ASIA'. 

some famous rabbis. About the beginning of the present century the Yezidis had 
made it one of their chief strongholds, but when the phice was stormed by the 
Turks nearly all of them were jjut to the sword, and Jczireh has since been 
occupied by the Kurds. In the neighbourhood grows a shrub resembling the 
cytisus, which is sometimes covered by thousands of cocoons belonging to a wild 
species of silkworm. From these cocoons the women of the district manufacture 
a very durable sillien fabric. Lower down is the decayed city of Enki-Mossul, or 
" Old Mossul," occupying a chalk terrace on the right bank of the Tigris. 

Mossul itself is a relatively modern place, for it is first mentioned in Moham- 
medan times. But it stands on the groimd which must have been formerly 
occupied by the western suburb of Niuiveh, on the right banli of the river. Like 
Birejik on the Euphrates, it lies on the natural highway leading from the 
Mediterranean along the southern foot of the Kurdistan hills eastwards to the 
" royal route " through Zagros to the Iranian plateau. Even caravans from 
Alejopo to Bagdad pass through Mossul, in order to avoid the territory occupied by 
the marauding Anazeh tribes. According to an old writer quoted by de Guignes, 
" Damascus is the gate of the West, Nishaj)ur the gate of the East, and JIossul 
the high road from East to West." Although much decaj'cd, like the other cities 
of the Tigris, Mossul still presents a fine ajopearance, its houses developing a vast 
amphitheatre within an enclosure 6 miles in circuit, on the slope of the Jebel- 
Jubilah, an eastern spur of the Sinjar range. The summit of the hiU is occupied 
by the dwellings and gardens of the better classes, while lower down those of the 
artisans and poor are crowded round the bazaars, baths, and mosques. Bej'ond the 
walls, the city stretches southwards through the suburb of Mahalch, in front of 
which the Kurds stop and take their rafts to jjieces. The public buildings, mostly 
in bad taste, are noted chiefly for the beauty of their materials, amongst others 
the so-called " marble of Mossul," an alabaster brought from the quarries of 
Mehluh-dagh, on the east side of the plain. Instead of exporting its delicate 
muslins to the whole world, as in the time of the caliphs, Mossul now imports 
nearly all its woven goods, the local industries being mainly restricted to tanning 
and filigree work. But some trade is done in gall-nuts, cereals, and other produce 
from Kurdistan. 

At its narrowest jjoint, some 560 feet broad, the Tigris is crossed by a bridge 
of boats, which is continued across the plain subject to floodings by an embank- 
ment winding amidst the fluvial channels. About a mile and a quarter from 
Mossul, the east side of the river is skirted by an extensive level terrace limited on 
all sides by ravines now choked with refuse. On this plateau stood Niniveh. By 
the Hasser-chai, a small afiluent of the Tigris, it is divided into two halves, each 
with a circuit of over 5 miles. A square mound 60 feet high, pierced in all 
directions by galleries, stands in the northern section immediately above the 
Ilasscr-chai. This is the far-famed Kuyunjik hill, a huge mass of bricks estimated 
at fourteen and a half million tons weight. The southern qiuxrter is commanded 
towards the middle of its western scarp by the Yunes-Pcgamber, or Nebi-Yunas, 
another mound so named in memory of the prophet Jonah, \^•llOln Mohammedans 



TOrOGEArilY OF THE TIGRIS BASIN. 



221 



aud Christiaus alike believe to be bm-ied there. A third less extensive heap of 
detritus marks the south-west angle of the terrace. But the whole place, exclu- 
sive of the suburbs, which probably stretched beyond the enclosures along the river 
and highways, represents about one-eighth of the area of Paris. The multitudes 
spoken of in the Book of Jonah could scarcely have been packed together within 
such narrow limits. 

It had long been known that under the momids facing Mossul lay concealed 
many curious vestiges of the ancient Assyrian capital. Travellers had detected 
the remains of buildings and sculptures, and had brought away inscribed stones, 
cylinders, and other small objects. But the first explorations were made in 1843, 
imder the direction of Botta, French consul at Mossul. Since then a new world of 



Fig. 83. JIOSSUL AND NiNIVEH. 

Scale 1 : 77,000,000. 



3S\ 




art has here been brought to light, a new science has been created, unfolding the 
annals of Assyria, revealing the ceremonies and feasts of its people. But much 
still remains to be discovered. Even the Kuyunjik mound, examined especially by 
the English archaeologists Layard, Loftus, and Smith, is far from being exhausted. 
The rough plans, however, have been detenniued of the two palaces here discovered, 
which have yielded the colossal blocks, weighing from thirty to forty tons, now in 
the British Museum, besides the stUl more valuable libraries composed entirely of 
brick tablets, each forming, as it were, the page of a book. The mound of Jonah, 
protected from profane hands by the Mussulman tombs and houses covering its 
slopes, remained vmtouched till 1879. Here Mr. Hormuzd Rassam has recently 
discovered the remains of the palace of Sennacherib. 



222 SOUTH-WESTEEN ASIA. 

But amidst all the debris of Assyrian cities, the most carefully studied ruins are 
those of Khormhad, or Khos-rohat, lying some 12 miles north-east of Mossul, 
far bej'ond the limits of Niniveh. Here -was the " Versailles of some Assyrian 
Louis XIV." The city scarcely covered much more than an area of one square mile ; 
but its enclosure is well preserved, and the palace, methodically explored by Botta 
and his successor, Place, is more thoroughly known in all its details than any other 
Mesopotamian edifice. It was built between the years 705 and 722 of the old era, 
under the reign of Sargon, whose bas-reliefs and inscriptions, covering a surface of 
more than a mile in extent, commemorate the hitherto forgotten glory and power 
of that monarch. Some idea of the j^rodigious labour represented by this " City of 
Sargon " (Hisr-Sargon, or Dur-Saryukin), from the fact that the outer walls were 
no less than 80 feet thick and 100 feet high. Near the i^alace stood the Zirjiirat, 
or storied tower, perhaps an observatory, resembling the royal tombs of Eg}i5t in 
its pyramidal form. One of the most remarkable finds of Place was an iron 
magazine, containing over one hundred and sixty tons of all kinds of instruments. 

East of Koyunjik are the mounds of KaramUs, and of the other Chaldean 
villages, the most famous of which, some 18 miles south of Mossul, bears the 
legendary name of Nimrud. It is now known that this hillock stands on the site 
of Calash, the first caj)ital of Assyria, founded nearly thirty-two centm-ies ago by 
Salmanazar I. Later on it continued to be a large city, even after the royal 
residence had been removed to Niniveh. It occupied a convenient position near 
the confluence of the Tigris and Great Zab, and amongst its monuments con- 
spicuous was the palace of Assur-Nazirpal, dating from the ninth century of the 
old era. The sculptures here collected are the masterpieces of Assyrian art, and 
the " black " obelisk is the most precious epigraphic monument of the empire. On 
the Balawat mound, 9 miles north-east of Calash, Bassam discovered the famous 
bronze gates now in the British Miiseum, which are covered with sculptures and 
inscriptions commemorating the great deeds performed by Assur-Nazirpal 2,750 
years ago. 

Many other mounds still harbour unknown treasures. All the cities of the 
plains had their temple and palace, and the valleys of the Khabur and Great Zab 
contain numerous remains of structures built by the Assj^rian kings, who spent half 
their time in the upland wooded region pursuing the chase. Some of the most 
remarkable sculptures in Upper Mesopotamia are carved on a rock overlooking the 
Dulap riATilet near Maltai, 50 miles north of Mossul. Still more curious colossal 
figures were cut in relief on a limestone wall in the narrow Bavian Valley, 
separated by the Meklub hills from the plain of Mossul. 

At present the Great Zab basin is one of the most dangerous regions in Asia, 
being held by the fiercest of all the highland Kiu'dish tribes, who have been least 
affected by the influence of the Tiu'ldsh and Arab Mohammedans settled on the 
plains. Here were also situated the mountain fastnesses of the marauding Nestorian 
tribes, who so long defied the power of the pashas. No record occurs of any 
Assyrian, Persian, or Greek conquerors who ever dared to penetrate into this 
dreaded region. All skirted it either on the north or south, in order to reach the 



TOrOGEAPHY OF THE TIGRIS BASIN. 



223 



Persian tableland, or descended into the plains of tlie Tigris. Schulz, the first 
European traveller who ventured into this district, in 1829, perished, with all his 
companions. The Kiirdish chiefs, formerly independent but now subject to Turkey 
thanks to their mutual jealousies, reside during a portion of the year in fortresses 
siuTOunded by a few houses. In winter, on the return of the tribes from their 

Fig. 84. — Calash, and Confluence of Tigris and Great Zab. 
Scale 1 : 445,000. 



k\/ 



Vf-fJlF'^ 



L-!.iS-m\ ^ I ^(CALASH) ,, /S'^ 

1$ 







^s ■^ 










%^ 



E of C eenw cV- 



mountain pastui-es, these places become veritable cities. The most important is 
Julamerk, capital of the Hakkari Kurds, crowning a bluif on the right bank of the 
Great Zab. A little farther north lies the village of Koch Sannes, residence of 
the Mar Shimen (" Master Simon "), patriarch of the Tiyari (Nestorians). The 
Hakkari chief works some of the iron and lead mines in the Julamerk district ; but 



224 



SOUTH-WESTEEN ASL\. 



the great mineral wcalf h said by the missionaries to be contained in the surrounding 
hills is entirely neglected. 

South of the Ilakkari countrj', the town of Amadiah, lying on a slope near the 
Great Zab and Khabur water-parting, was long a chief emporium of the highland 
Eurds, who here assembled to effect theii- exchanges with the Mesopotamian dealers. 
A Jewish colony, comprising nearly half the population, recalls that period of corn- 
Fig. 85.— Hakkaki Kcrd Tkibf.s, Great Zab Valley. 
Scale 1 : 1,000,000. 



sasg':™-' '■■■'?3|py;»*j^ 




>, Amadiah , 






': r.« ^/ ,'« 



r o 01 



-^^;t ('R 






ICheTkh Ad. V 






mercial activity. These Kurdistan Jews readily contract alliances with the Turks, 
and have thus become gradually assimilated to the surrounding populations, from 
whom they dilfer little in appearance and usages. South of Amadiah stands the 
little temple of Sliclkh Adi, with its graven serpent, symbol of the fallen angel. 
Round about are disposed the altars which on the great feasts arc lit up with fires 
of naphtha and bitumen. El Kouli, another religious centre, and residence of the 



TOPOGEAPHY OF THE TIGRIS BASIN. 225 

Chaldean jjatriarch, stands at the foot of a hill, which is honeycombed with 
grottoes, old dwellings, and tombs, and crowned with the monastery of Rahbaii 
Ormiis. 

Revandoz (^RowaiuJiz), ly''^o between profound lateral gorges of the Great Zab 
above the issue of the ravine, is a large place, whose inhabitants are crowded 
together within its narrow ramparts. Here are closel}^ packed over one thousand 
houses, each with two or three families and even more. During the summer 
months the whole population, men, women, children, dogs, and poultry, pass their 
time mostly on the flat roofs stre\vn with foliage. Revandoz is visited by the 
Mossul dealers, who here barter their European wares for gall-nuts and some other 
local produce. 

The chief market of the Kui'ds occuping the basins of both Zabs is Arbil 
(^Erbil^, the Arhela of the Greeks, which lies at an elevation of 1,430 feet beyond 
the mountain region, on a pleasant undulating plain opening westwards to the 
Great Zab and Tigris, southwards to the Ijittle Zab Valley. It stands exactly on 
the ethnological frontier between the Arab and Kurd domain, but is little more 
than a ruin, compared with its former greatness. The remains of the ancient 
enclosure may still be traced, and the old town occupies one of those artificial 
mounds, which are so numerous in this region. The explorations recently begun 
have already revealed vaults and galleries probably of Assyrian origin. Farther 
west extend the conglomerate Dehii'-dagh Hills, pierced by ancient irrigation 
canals, which descend towards the ShemamHk plain between Erbil and the Great 
Zab. At Gaugamela, where this river escapes from its last gorge between the 
Dehir and Arka HiUs, was fought the so-called battle of Arbela, which threw open 
the Persian highway to the Macedonians. 

In the Little Zab basin the only town is Altin-Kiopru ("Bridge of Gold,") a 
small place commanding the caravan route between the Erbil plain and the valley 
of the Adhim or Diyalah. It occupies an extremely picturesque position on a 
conglomerate island, steep and rugged above, sloping gently down to a sandy 
point at its lower extremity. The river is here crossed by a lofty pointed bridge, 
from whose parapets a fine view is commanded of the town and surrounding 
country. A little farther to the south-west begins the Khaza-chai Valley, 
occupied by Kerkiik, the largest place in Lower Kurdistan. Kerkuk consists in 
reality of three distinct towns — the fortress crowning an artificial moimd 130 feet 
high ; the lower quarter, forming a semicircle round the foot of the citadel, and the 
mahaleh, or suburb, whose houses and gardens line the right bank of the stream. 
Here resides a dervish sheikh, spiritual head of fifty thousand murids (" dis- 
ciples,") dispersed over various parts of Mesopotamia. Here are also some much- 
frequented thermal waters and copious saline springs, and rich alabaster quarries 
in the neighbouring hills. A little to the north lies a famous igneous district, 
like the Phlegrean Fields of Italy, where was worshipped the goddess Anahit. 
From its imderground rumblings this land 'of fire has received the name of Baba 
Gurgur, or " Father Grumble." The naphtha of Kerkur is forwarded to Bagdad 
and every part of Mesopotamia. Supplies are also drawn from the bituminous 

VOL. IX. Q 



226 



SOUTH-WESTERN ASIA. 



springs of Tuz-Khiirmapli, farther south, and of Kifri or Sulahieh, a small place on 
a tributarj' of the Di3-alah. 

Below the confluence of the Tigris and Great Zab, the main stream is lined 
with ruins, indicated from a distance by the telk or heaps of refuse, now clothed 
with grass and brushwood. Near one of these heaps, the highest in Mesopotamia 
above Bagdad, stands the village of Kaleh-Sliaryliat on the site of the ancient 
Assur, which preceded Niniveh, and gave its name to the Assyrian empire. In 

Fig. 86.— Kehkuk. 
Scale 1 : 45,000. 




the midst of the wilderness the Shammar nomads pitch their tents on the ruins of 
another ancient capital, whose very name of El Hatr or Hatra, seems to have 
meant " City " or " Residence," in a pre-eminent sense. On the banks of the 
Tartar, a streamlet flowing from the Sin jar valleys, stand the perfectly circular 
walls of a temple of the sun facing eastwards. This richly sculptured edifice 
dates from the period of the Sassanides ; but it stands on far more ancient 
foundations, some fragments of which recall the Chaldean ejioch. 




Ti'PES AND COSTUMES- ARABS OF BAGDAD. 



TOPOQEArilY OF THE TIGRIS BASIN. 227 

Ou the Tigris the scattered groups of modem dwellings are usually indicated 
from afar by the encircling belts of verdure. Between Mossul and Bagdad the 
only oasis containing a large population is that of Tekrit, which is situated below 
the fattha or cutting of the Hamriu. Here may be seen the black naphtha 
springs welling up from the bed of the river, and covering the yellow waters with 
their iridescent bubbles. The low houses of Tekrit are commanded by a vast 
ruined castle, birthplace ef Saladin. Along the left bank of the Tigris follow in 
succession one of the many EsJd Bagdad or " Old Bagdads," on the site of an 
unknown city, and Samara, now a small village, but in the ninth century capital 
of the empire of the caliphs. Near this spot are the remains of an earthen rampart 
known to the Arabs as " Nimrud's Wall," possibly a fragment of the " Medio 
Wall " which formerly guarded the plains of Lower Mesopotamia from the 
incursions of the northern barbarians. 

Bagdad (Baghdad^, which bears the official title of Dar-es-Salani or " Abode of 
Peace," stands on the site of an ancient city, whose name Oppert interprets by the 
Persian word bagadata or " God-given." But of this place nothing but ruins 
remained when Bagdad was rebuilt by Abu-JafPar-al-Mansur, in the second half of 
the eight century. It lies in one of those regions where the converging historic 
routes necessarily give rise to large cities. Here the Tigris approaches so near to 
the Euphrates as to form with it and the connecting canals a common hydro- 
graphic S3'stem. Here also the Tigris is itself joined by the Diyalah, which offers 
the best approach through the iatervening border ranges to the Iranian tableland. 
But the very importance of Bagdad attracted the invaders, and few other cities 
have been more frequently levelled with the ground. Remains of galleries are 
still found below the surface, whose bricks are inscribed with the name of 
Nabuchodonosor. But the very vestiges have disappeared of the palace occupied 
by the renowned Harun-ar-Rashid, contemporary of Charlemagne. Of this 
floiu-ishing epoch Bagdad preserves nothing but the rifled tomb of Zobeid, 
favourite wife of Harun. 

The city founded by Ali-Mansur stood on the right bank ; but it continued to 
grow beyond its too narrow enclosures, gradually overflowing to the other side 
through suburbs and gardens, which have since become the true city. The old 
quarter, now sunk to a mere suburb, has lost its very name, and is now called 
Karshiaka, and inhabited chiefly by Arabs of the Agheil tribe. At the narrowest 
point of the river both banks are connected by two bridges of boats, each some 
730 feet long. Formerly Bagdad spread over the surrounding plains, where it 
formed an agglomeration of forty distinct groups, connected by lines of houses 
skirting the highways. At present it no longer fills the rectangular space 
enclosed by the ramparts, half of which is covered with ruins. Several quarters 
consist of wretched tumble-down hovels little better than those of the country 
villages. Nevertheless, taken as a whole Bagdad is one of the most prosperous 
cities in Turkey. As an emporium and station for the transit trade, it receives the 
produce and costly wares of the whole of Hither Asia, and the eight English and 
Turkish steamers now plying between Bassora and Bagdad no longer suffice for 

Q 2 



228 



SOUTn-TVlSSTEEX ASIA. 



the riverain traffic in corn, wool, and gall-nuts. To the export trade the local 
industries contribute largely ; the dates, fruits, and vegetables of the surrounding 
gardens are famous throughout the East, and the native breeds of horses, and white 
asses speckled with henna, command the highest prices. Besides the Moslem 
colleges and the Catholic and Protestant missionary schools, Bagdad possesses a 
technical institution for the metal, textile, paper, chemical, and other industries. 
It even pays some attention to hygienic matters, and a fine " peojjle's garden," 

Fig. 87. — Bagdad. 

Scale 1 : 70,000. 







t . of Gree.w^ck 



watered by steam hydraulic works, has been laid out on the left bank of the Tigris. 
Thanks to the improved sanitary arrangements, the plague, which carried off or 
dispersed three-fourths of the population in 1831, and again committed serious 
ravages in 1849 and 1877, is continuously diminishing in virulence. Bagdad is 
also better protected than formerly from inundations by means of a lofty dyke 
constructed round the town walls. But the "Bagdad date," another form of the 
" Aleppo button," attacks nearly all the native and foreign residents. 



TOPOGR-U:'HY OF THE TIGRIS BASIN. 229 

The Tui'ks have remained strangers in Bagdad as well as elsewhere in Meso- 
potamia, where they are chiefly represented by the ofiicial and military classes. 
The city is essentially Arab, as much in speech and usages as in the patriotic 
feeling of the people. Yet the Jews form at least one-fourth of the urban 
population, being thus numerous enough to preserve the use of the Hebrew tongue, 
which they speak as well as Arabic. Most oi the Iranians, including many of the 
Babi sect, are settled beyond the walls at Ghaclim, Khatimaim, or Imam-Jfiisa, 3 
miles north-west of the upper bridge over the Tigris. Above the houses of 
Ghadim rise the six minarets of the mosque containing the tomb of the Shiah 
martyr, Musa-ibn-Jaffar. Bagdad boasts of no monument comparable to this Shia 
sanctuary, which is ajjproached by zealous pilgrims on all- fours, by fashionable 
worshippers in the comfortable carriages of the tramway. Over against Ghadim 
stands Madhim, another place of pilgrimage on the right bank, visited by the 
" orthodox " Sunnites. 

The Ghadim horse-railway forms the first section of a system of lines destined 
some day to connect Bagdad with Kerbela, Nejef, and Ililleh southwards, and north- 
wards with Kli(inil;iii or Khancihln, on the Persian frontier. From forty to fifty 
thousand Iranian pilgrims pass yearly through this place to the Shiah sanctuaries 
below Bagdad. Due north of Khanikin, ia the fertile Diyalah basin, the modern 
city of Suleimanieh, dating only from 1788, occupies a strong strategical position 
in the heart of the mountains at the foot of the snowy Avroman, where it guards 
the Persian frontier and serves as a market for the suiTOunding Kurdish tribes. 
In the same Diyalah Valley the large village of Bakuha lies some 30 miles north 
of Bagdad near the ruins of Dastag/ienl, another "Eski Bagdad," which has not 
yet been explored. 

The plain round about Bagdad is dotted over with numerous fclk, one of which, 
the Tell Mohammed, stands at the very gates of the city. Another, 18 miles 
farther west, bearing the name of Kasr-Nimrud, or " Palace of Nimrod," is one of 
the highest in Chaldea, toweriag over 130 feet above the plain. Like the other 
mounds in this region, it consists of sun-dried bricks alternating with layers of 
reeds. Other barrows above Bagdad fringe the left bank of the river, like a long 
line of military outposts ; and below the Diyalah confluence heaps of bricks and 
earthenware mark the sites of the Madain or " Two Cities," ancient caj)itals facing 
each other on either side of the Tigris. Of Seleucia, the city on the right bank, 
so-named in honour of the sovereign who built it after the destruction of Babylon, 
not a single monument survives, and the traces of its square enclosures are 
scarcely to be recognised. A portion of this old Syrian capital has been swept 
away by the erosions of the stream, while fi-esh land has been added on the left 
side to the peninsula where stood Ctesiphon, capital of the Parthians. Of the city 
itself little remains except bricks and potsherds; but the palace of Chosioes 
Nui'shivan, dating from the sixth century of the new era, still lifts its colossal 
gateway over 100 feet above the plain. This Tak-i-Kesra (Tak-Kosru), or Arch 
of Chosroes, leads to a nave 160 feet long, grouped round which is a structure 
several stories high, laid out in apartments of small size. The ornaments and 



230 SOUTH-"\VESTEEN' ASIA. 

sculptures have disappeared, but the majestic archway, the only pre-Mohammedau 
Persian monument in Lower Mesopotamia, is all the more imposing in its naked 
grandeur. Beneath this vault the Arab victors on the fatal field of Kaderia found 
the throne, cro^^^l, girdle, and standard of the Persian monarch. 

Below Aladain many other hillocks recall the existence of vanished cities, while 
the still inhabited villages gradually give place to nomad camping-grounds. On 
the route, some 480 miles long, traversed by the steamers between Bagdad and 
Bassorah, there are only four stations, one alone of which, Kut-el-Amara, founded 
in 1860, has become a market for hundreds of tribes. Here and there is seen 
some domed shrine, such as the " Tomb of Esau," and near the Euphrates jimction 
that of Esdras, the latter equally venerated by Jew, Christian, and Moslem. The 
Shat-el-Hai canal, which branches from the Tigris at Kut-el-Amara, flowing 
thence southwards to the Euphrates, waters a cidtivated and populous district, 
containing the remains of some of the oldest cities in Chaldea. Here lies Tello, or 
Tell Loll, the Sirtella (Sirbida) of archa3ologists, where the explorations of M. de 
Sarzec suddenly revealed a remarkable period of art antecedent to the Niniveh 
and Babylonian epochs. At that time writing had not yet acquired its cuneiform 
aspect, and each character still showed the vague outlines of the object represented 
imder its hieroglyphic form. The monuments of Tello, sculj)tured in hard stone 
possibly brought from Egypt, there being none in the country, have been removed 
to the Louvre. , 

T0P0GR.\PHY OF THE EUPHRATES BasIN. 

The Euphrates, a less copious stream than the Tigris, farther removed from the 
fertile upland valleys, and hemmed in on its right bank by the wilderness, has 
consequently far fewer cities above Babylonia proper. Although its course marks 
the great diagonal line between the Mediterranean and Persian Gulf, it is a lifeless 
artery compared with its eastern rival. But formerly it was not so. From the 
issue of the gorges down to Susiana, the Tigris was lined by all the great Assyrian 
cities. But in Lower Mesopotamia, south of the Medic wall, nearly all the towns 
stood either on the Euphrates or else in its vicinity. The contrast between the 
Assyrian and Babylonian empires thus corresponds to that of the two rivers 
themselves. 

From the confluence of its two great headstreams down to the issue of the 
Tauric gorges, the Euphrates has nothing to show except a few insignificant 
hamlets. But in the lateral basin of the Tokma-su are situated the two capitals, 
Malatia and Azhuzu, between which nearly the whole urban population formerly 
migrated with the seasons. Malatia, the Melitene of the Romans, was resorted to 
in winter, but quitted in summer for the more elevated and breezy Azbuzu. At 
present this movement has mainly ceased, most of the inhabitants having 
definitely settled in Azbuzu, a delightful place, where every house has its fountain, 
garden, or grove. Guritii and Derendah, the two chief places in the Upper Tokma 
Valley, are also mostly abandoned in summer, when the population removes to the 
surrounding: districts. 



TOrOGEAPHY OF TlIE EUrUEATES BASIN. 



231 



Samosata, former capital of Comagena and birthplace of Lucian, is now a 
ruined hamlet, less important than the small town of Surerek, which lies in a 
lateral vaUey on the route to Diarbekir. In this neighboui-hood have recently 
been discovered the sumptuous sepulchral monuments of the kings of Comagena, 
ornamented with colossal statues over 50 feet high. The natives regard this 
structure as the tomb of Nimrod, legendary hero of Mesopotamia, whence the 
name of Nimrud-dagh that they have given to the surroimding hills. 

Below Samosata follow the Turkish town of Behesni and Rum-Kaleh, or 
" Castle of the Romans," former residence of the Armenian Catholicos. Here the 
Euphrates was at one time crossed by the great caravan route which has now been 
deflected southwards to Bir (^Bir-al-Birat or Birejik'), where, according to the 
Greek legend, Bacchus threw the first bridge over the river on his march to the 



Fig. 88. — AiNTAB AND B1RE.TIK. 
Scale 1 : 720,000. 




[. ofGreenu.ch 57-50- 



Artificial Mounds. 



conquest of India. An i.solated bluff on the left bank is crowned with the 
picturesque ruins of a vast fortress, which formerly guarded the passage of the 
river at this point. Bir is inhabited chiefly by Turks, with au Armenian colony 
engaged in the transit trade, and near the citadel numerous Kurdish families, 
burrowing amidst the ruins and in the caves of the limestone rocks. In the 
district much barley is grown, and towards the west lies the moimd of Ballds, 
where were foimd some fine Roman mosaics and paintings. 

The main highway from Bir to Alexandi-etta traverses the small town of Nizih 
and its olive groves, where the Turkish defeat in 1839 placed Asia Minor at the 
mercy of the Egj-ptian army under Ibrahim-Pasha, and led to the European 
intervention. The chief place in this region is Aintah, which develops an 
amphitheatre along the northern slopes overlooking the Sajur VaUey. Between 



232 



SOUTn-WESTEEN ASIA. 



the town and river stands an artificial mound covered with the ruins of a now 
abandoned fortress. Aintab, which is inhabited chiefly by Turkomans, has few 
industries, but does a large transit trade, as the chief station between Birejik and 
the coast. Towards the south-west an artificial canal continued by a tunnel 8:50 
feet long, runs from the Sajur to the headwaters of the Gok-su, flowing southwards 
to the i^lains of Aleppo. This cutting, which dates from the thirteenth centurj', 
and which has been recently restored, thus connects the Euphrates basin with the 
closed depression of which Aleppo occupies the lowest level., Roman ruins are nume- 
rous in this district, which for four hundred years formed the frontier of the empire. 

Fig. 89.— Orfa. 
Scale 1 : 50,000. 




On the right bank of the Euphrates, near the Sajur confluence, stand the remains 
of the temple of Jarahis (Jerablus), which till recently was supposed to have been 
that of the ancient Europus. But the explorations of Conder and Henderson 
have placed it beyond doubt that these are the ruins of Karkhoiiitsh, the long 
sought for capital of the mysterious Hittite nation. The sculjjtures, carved in the 
basalt and limestone rocks, while recalling those of Assj'ria, present some original 
features. The inscriptions appear to be in hierogl}'j)hic characters, that have not 
yet been deciphered. South of the Sajur, common limit of the Arabic and 
Turkish languages, lies the ruined city of J](iii/Iti/c(\ the lU'cseut Maiiihij, which was 



TOPOGRAPHY OF TIIE EUPIIEATES BASIN. 



233 



one of tlie nmuerous Hierapolis formerly consecrated to the sun and to the " Great 
Goddess." It bears also the name of Magog. 

East of Birejik the first great caravan station on the route to Mossul, is Orfa 
(Urfa), the ancient Bohas and the Edessa of the crusaders. Standing on the west 
bank of the Kara-chai, which flows through the Nahr-Belik to the Euphrates, 
Orfa is flanked hj the advanced spurs of the Top-dagh, and its castle, erected bj' 
Justinian, rises above a steep bluff completely isolated b}' moats cut 40 feet 
through the live rock. A triangular rampart strengthened wdth square towers 
separates the town from the wooded and fertile district watered by the Kara-chai. 
From the citadel, on the west, a view is afforded of the city, with its domes and 
minarets, and the vine-clad slopes of the surrounding hills. A spring, the ancient 



Fi^. 90. — OiiF.v — Mosque axd Fovxtain' of AEu.iH.iM. 




Callirhoe, still wells up at the foot of the castle, and overflows into a sacred tank, 
in which are mirrored the walls of a mosque consecrated to the jj^^triarch 
Abraham, the Khalil, or " Friend of God." Two columns, traditionally attributed 
to the father of Israel, stand near the citadel, and the surrounding cliffs are pierced 
bj^ at least two hundred caves, ancient tombs converted into modern dwellings. 
In the city are some mediaeval remains, including fragments of the palace occujjied 
\>j the princes of Courtenay, riders of Edessa during the Crusades. The buildings 
of Orfa are constructed of alternate layers of limestone and basalt, jjroduciug a 
very pleasant effect. The industries are restricted mainly to weaving and 
earthenware, but there is a large transit trade, and considerable quantities of 
wheat are now exported. Hundreds of half-sedentary Bedouins and Kurds ijitch 



234 SOUTII-WESTEEN ASIA. 

their tents in the neighbourhood, and are employed by the French Consul on the 
extensive plantations of Mejeri-Khan, which, besides cereals, yield sesame, hemp, 
and cotton. 

All the cities of Upper Mesopotamia are associated with religious events. 
South of Orfa, sacred to the memory of Abraham, Harran, the ancient Charrce, is 
mentioned in Genesis as having been the residence of the same patriarch, and here 
star- worship long held its groimd. Farther east Mardin is famous as a centre of 
the sectaries driven into the mountains first by the orthodox Christians, and then 
by the Mussulmans. Nearly half of the population belongs to various Christian 
sects — Chaldeans, Syrians, Jacobites, Armenians, besides the more recent Catholic 
and Protestant converts, who do not live in separate quarters. Mardin is thus a 
city of mosques and churches, colleges and schools. It is picturesquely situated 
3,950 feet above the sea, on a crevassed limestone crag crowned with a white 
fortress reputed to be impregnable. Some 15 miles to the south-east, the main 
route towards Nisibin and Mossul passes the issue of a gorge formerly defended by 
the Byzantine city of Bara. The crenelled towers, flights of steps, galleries, and 
colonnades, hewn in the live rock, have been preserved intact ; but the crowds that 
once swarmed about the portals and temples of this great underground city are 
now represented hj a few Turkoman families crouching here and there amid the 
caves and piles of refuse. 

Farther east Ke Midi/at, metropolis of the Jacobites, and the far-famed Nisibin 
(Nisibis), residence of Tigranes, a Roman bulwark against the Parthians, a "second 
Antioch," said to have at one time contained several hundred thousand inhabitants. 
Its site is now marked only by the columns of a temple, and a bridge thrown by the 
Romans across the Jakhjakh, a foamiug torrent rushing headlong down to the 
Khabur. In the Khabur basin to the south-west of Mardin, Sachau thought he 
had discovered the long sought for site of Tigranocerfes in the Tell Ermett, or 
"Armenian Hills" near the village of Bunaisir. But no ruins have here been 
found. Ras-et-tin, in the same valley, was till recently the centre of Chechenz 
settlers from Caucasia, but most of these refugees from the Russians have been 
massacred by the Arabs, or driven to enlist in the Turkish police service. At the 
foot of the now almost desert plain runs the broken range of the Sin jar Hills, 
whose chief town Siiigaa, the Siagali of the Kurds and Beled of the Arabs, is the 
princijjal market of the Yezidis. In the Jebel-Aziz, west of this range, rimiour 
speaks of a " bottomless chasm," where the Yezidis make their yearly offerings of 
gems, gold, and silver, to the devil. 

On the banks of the Euphrates the ruined cities, all marked by mounds crowned 
with citadels, are more numerous than the still inhabited places, which are them- 
selves mostly mere remnants of larger towns. Balis is reduced to a dilajjidated 
castle standing on a chalk cliff, where the river trends south-eastwards to the Persian 
Gulf. Thnpsacus has disappeared, and Rakka, just above the Bclik confluence, 
successor of the Greek cities of Nikcphorion, Kallinikon and Leoiitopo/is, has jjre- 
served nothing but a few fragments of the palace here built by Harun-ar-Rashid 
when he made it his capital. On the neighbouring Teffin plains were fought the 



TOPOGEArilY OP THE EUPHRATES BASIN. 235 

sanguinary battles between the armies of Ali and Moavieh, which decided the order 
of succession in the caliphate at the cost of 70,000 lives. 

Zelibi, the ancient Zenohia, perched on a crag on the caravan route between 
Palmyra and Persia, still shows a few scattered remnants of its alabaster monuments. 
The route is now guarded by the garrison town of Deir (^Dcr^, the " Convent," 
which lies 240 miles below Birejik by water. The bridge connecting it with a 
large and fertile island in the Euphrates was swept away by the floods in 1882. 
Farther down, the Greek city of Kirkesion, till recently supposed to be the 
Karkhemish of the Hittites, has given place to the wretched hamlet of Buseirah, 
south of which a steep rock overlooking the little town of Mayadini is crowned by 
the superb ruins of the castle of Rahaba, supposed to be the biblical Rehoboth. 

Anah, the ancient Anetho, is a unique town in Western Asia, resembling those 
straggling places on the Ceylon and Malabar coasts, where an endless line of houses 
fringes the shaded highways. It extends some five miles along the west bank of 
the Euphrates, through a marvellous oasis of palm-groves, vineyards, figs, oranges, 
pomegranates, sugar and cotton plantations. Anah is the capital and chief market 
of the Bedouins who have their camping-grounds on the plains between Syria and 
the Euphrates. On the opposite side lies Ravah, starting-point of the caravans 
proceeding to Tekrit on the Tigris. 

Farther down follow Hadihah-el-Uz, Jibbah, and Hit, the last-named famous 
for its asjihalte springs. Hit is also an imjDortant station of the transit trade 
between the two rivers, but here the chief riverain port is Felujah, terminus of the 
shortest route from Bagdad to the Euphrates. Near it are the fertile lalains of 
Saklaviyah, where are bred tens of thousands of camels and Arab horses, famous 
throughout the East. These grazing- grounds are continued southwards to the 
marshy tracts bordering the Euphrates in ancient Babylonia. 

" Great Babylon " itself is now nothing more than a plain dotted over with 
mounds and heaps of biicks, the remains of former palaces and temples. The 
space enclosed within the walls, 14 miles both ways, or some 200 square miles 
altogether, is now mainly a wilderness, although south of it lies Hilleh-et-Feidah, 
or " Hilleh the Vast," one of the chief inhabited cities of Lower Mesopotamia. 
Shaded with date-groves, surrounded by magnificent gardens, laid out with fine 
streets well kept and lined with rich bazaars, Hilleh skirts the right bank of the 
Euphrates, communicating with a suburb on the opposite side by means of a 
bridge of boats 660 feet long. 

The huge mound lying nearest to Bagdad, and specially known as Babil 
(" Gate of God "), or Mujelibch (" The Overthrown "), has for two thousand years 
supplied the bricks used in building all the surroimding cities. Even now whole 
families, belonging mostly to the Babili tribe, who claim direct descent from the 
ancient Babylonians, are exclusively employed in quarrying these materials. But 
on the west side of the river the highest mound is the Kasr, or " Palace," which 
dates from Nabuchodonosor, and which has a circuit of no less than 1,650 yards. 
Farther south, and on the same side, the Amran moimd probably marks the site of 
the hanging gardens. During the epoch subsequent to the death of Alexander, 



230 



SOUTH-AVESTEEN ASLV. 



tliis hillock served as a necroijolis, doubtless owing to the advantages presented by 
the vaulted galleries supporting the upper platforms. Still farther south the date- 
grove encircling the village of Jumjumah conceals all that remains of the market- 
place of Babylon, whence have been exhumed over three thousand tablets re\ealing 
the financial history of the Chaldean metropolis. On the right bank, at Hilleh, 
which, according to Oppert, was the industrial quarter, mounds are of rare occur- 

Fig. 91. — The Mound or Babil. 




rence, and all vestiges have vanished of the palace here erected by Semiramis over 
against the Kasr of Nabuchodonosor. The complete disappearance of the monu- 
ments west of Babylon must be attributed to the fluvial erosions which have taken 
place chiefly on the right bank. Extensive strips of soil have been swept away 
with all their contents, and replaced by fresh alluvial matter. Nevertheless one 
famous monument still stands towards the south-west, on the site of the ancient 
Borsippa, near the marshes, here stretching at some distance paiallel with the 



TOPOGEAPHY OF THE EUPHRATES BASIN. 



237 



right bank of the river. This is none other than the Birs-Nimrud, or " Tower of 
Babel " itself, traditionally supposed to be the oldest structure in the world, which 
was to have reached the heavens, but the progress of which was arrested by the 
" confusion of tongues." Yet this vast heap of earthenware has hitherto yielded 
no remains anterior to Nabuchodonosor, whose name alone is found inscribed on 
its brick tablets. According to Rich, it is 140 feet high, exclusive of a broken 
wall raising its total height to 175 feet, although Strabo gives it an elevation of 
one stadium, or 660 feet. As far as can be judged from its present aspect, the 

Fig. 92.— Bahylon. 
Scale 1 : 376,000. 




!ri3 En^ EZ3 ^ 

Palm-groves. Tilled lands. Pasture. Marshes. 

The double square of dotted lines marks the site of the old -walls. 

— ^^^_^.^_^_^_ 6 ISIiles. 



west side was a vertical waU, while on the east side it formed a series of terraces 
disposed at equal intervals. Long a puzzle to archteologists, this structure is now 
known to have been the "Tower of the Seven Spheres," a zigurat or observatorj^ 
like that of Khorsabad. 

It is not likely that either Babylon or any of the other ruined cities of lower 
Chaldea will yield any monumental sculptures or stone records, such as those of the 
Assyrian cities. Being an entirely alluvial region. South Mesopotamia offered no 
materials to the builders, except its reeds and scrub, its mud and asjihalt, looselj' 
worked up for the Arab hovels, more carefullj' cast in moulds for durable struc- 



238 SOI TTH- WESTERN ASIA. 

tures. The stone required for the statues of gods and kings had to be brought from 
the Iranian border ranges, from the shores of Arabia, or even from Eg}'pt. But if 
the ruins of Babylon contain few monuments or sculptures in stone, they abound in 
brick tablets of vast antiquity, carrying the records of mankind back many 
centuries nearer to the origin of human cidture. On a canal north of Babel stood 
the twin cities of Sippar and Aglimleh, which flourished some forty centuries ago, 
when the extinct Alikad and Samar nations were struggling for empire. In the 
same district are the Ahu-Huhha mounds, with the remains of the temjjle of the 
sun, where dwelt Xisuthrus, king of the Chaldeans. The marshy and often 
flooded region of the lower Euphrates south of Babel is dotted over with the 
mounds of the ancient Erekh ( UruhX the Orhhe of the Greeks, and Warka of the 
Arabs. This was the city of " books," containing the oldest library in Chaldea, 
and here hopes are entertained of some day discovering the whole poetic legend of 
Isdubar, some fragments only of which have yet been foimd. The history of the 
Deluge, recorded originally on the bricks of Niniveh, has also been procured in 
duplicate at Erekh. This place is surrounded by vast cemeteries, extending for 
many miles in some directions. The dead were doubtless sent from all parts of 
Mesopotamia to be buried here, just as they are still sent from Persia to Kerbela. 
In the early Chaldean epochs, other great cities stretched farther south of Babylon. 
Such was Ur, a flourishing place four thousand years ago, of which nothing now 
remains except an imposing mound, the Mugheir or "Bitumen " of the Arabs, so 
named from the material used in cementing its brick edifices. 

Babylon, heir of all these venerable cities, jireserves the prestige conferred by 
long ages of culture and power. The Bedouin approaches its mighty remains 
with awe. The Jews, recalling the " Halls of Bab^'lon," where their fathers wept, 
look on the place of their captivity as a second fatherland. Here was the seat of a 
famous school, whence came the learned Rabbi Hillel, whose teachings were enrolled 
in the Talmud, and here was also the birthplace of the Kabbala. At the time of the 
journey of Benjamin of Tudelas, in the twelfth century, as many as twenty thousand 
Jews were settled within the enclosures of ancient Babylon. AU the money- 
lenders of Ililleh are stiU Jews, and they also hold in mortgage most of the 
surromiding lands and houses. Soiith of the ruins lies their colony of Kifil, 
grouped round a tomb believed by them to be that of theii- prophet Ezekiel. To 
this venerated shrine flock Jewish pilgrims from all quarters, and as many as 
twenty thousand have at times been encanijDed on the plain round about the 
village. 

The memories of great Babylon may possibl}' ha\e also intensified the fervour 
of the Shiah pilgrims, who gather from the extremities of Persia, from India and 
the Caucasus, at the holy cities of Kerbela and Nejef. The former, lying north- 
west of Babylon, west of Tuerij, on the Hindieh, is sruTounded by swamps and 
stagnant waters caused by the overflow of the great canal which rims from the 
Euphrates to the Nejef lagoon. Kerbela is encircled by avenues of palms, which 
partly shelter it from the malaria of the neighbouring marshes. But in the very 
heart of the city, which is also known as Meshed- Hussein, stands the cemetery ; 



TOPOGEAPHY OF THE EUPHEATES BASIN. 



289 



or rather the whole place is one vast necropolis. The very houses serve as graves, 
and earth extracted from them to make room for the dead is retailed in talismanic 
cakes to the pilgrims. The inhabitants themselves, amongst whom are some 
thousand Hindus, are chiefly occupied in burying the dead brought hither from all 
parts of the Shiah world, even from Bombay itself on board the English steamers. 
Thiis the living are ever in contact with the dead, especially in the month of 
February, when the faithful come to lament over the murder of Hussein. In 
March they pass on to Nejef, or Meshed- Ali, the city of the " Martyr AH," beneath 
whose lofty mosque with its gilded domes the bodies are deposited in a vast three- 
storied crypt, taking precedence according to the price paid by their heirs. A group 
of hovels a little to the east of Nejef is all that remains of Ktifa, which was at one 

Fig. 93. — Old Cities of Chalde.\. 
Scale 1 : 5,425,000. 




time capital of the caliphate, and which is said to have been as large as Babylon 
itself. But this renowned city of letters and art is now known only by those 
beautiful inscriptions in " Kufic letters " which embellish all the palaces and 
mosques of the great architectural epoch of Islam. Pilgrims proceeding to the 
shrine of Ali avoid this place, which they regard as accm'sed, because here stands 
the roofless and dilapidated mosque the scene of All's murder. Of Hirci also, another 
great city, nothing is left but ruins. Near Kerbela is the village of El-Kadder, 
the ancient Kadesia, where was fought the battle which put an end to the national 
monarchy of Persia. In 1801 the Wahabites seized and plundered Kerbela. 

Below Babylon the formerly populous banks of the Euphrates are not j'et quite 
deserted. One of the routes to Nejef traverses the village of Divanieh on the right 



240 SOUTH-"W^STEEN ASIA. 

side, which is here fringed with rice-grounds. Lower down on the same side lie 
Samara, at the mouth of the Shenafich canal, and Nazrieh, a modern place near the 
junction of the Euphrates and Shat-el-IIai. The latter is inhabited by Arabs of 
the Montefik tribe, as is also Suk-esh-S/iiok/i, which is situated near the niar.shes, 
and which is said to have formerly contained as many as 70,000 inhabitants. 
This is the only place where the Sabians have a church. 

At the confluence of the two rivers stands Korna, traditionally supposed to be 
the " City of Paradise," where maj'^ still be seen the " tree of the knowledge of 
good and evil." But little trade is here done, the chief port on the Shat-el-Arab 
lying lower down at Bassonih (Basra/iX about midway between Korna and the sea. 
When Bagdad was one of the great cities of the world, Bassorah, which at that 
time stood farther west, on a canal communicating with the main stream, was the 
busiest port in the East, and contained many hundi'ed thousand inhabitants. But 
partly through inundations, partly through the silting of the canals, it lost all its 
trade, and of the old town nothing remains except a heap of bricks near the little 
towns of Zoheir, and Jelel-Sinan, the latter of which has been identified with the 
Teredon of Nabuchodonosor and Alexander. The new town of Bassorah, dating ai 
least from the sixteenth century, lies nearly 2 miles west of the Shat-el-Arab, on a 
canal at the mouth of which the English have established their dockyards and 
warehouses. The Turkish arsenal lies 3 miles higher up, at the busy little town of 
Maaghil. Hundreds of millions of date-palms, noted for their exquisite flavour, 
flourish in the moist district of Bassorah, the plantations stretching along the right 
bank of the Shat for some 36 miles, and at some points extending 6 miles inland. 
On the oj)posite or Persian side, nothing is seen except a few clumps of neglected 
date-trees, and the striking contrast between the two riverain tracts has been 
appealed to as a proof of the superiority of the Turkish over the Persian adminis- 
tration. But the plantations on the Ottoman side belong almost exclusively to the 
Arabs of the port of Koveit, who form a sort of independent commonwealth. 
Since the opening of the Suez Canal, the value of the Bassorah dates, of which 
there are said to be seventy varieties, has increased sixfold ; yet even before this 
event the yearly export averaged about £80,000. Cereals also are here grown in 
such quantities that, to save the cost of tran.sport, wheat is used as fodder and even 
as fuel. 

At the mouth of the Shat-el-Arab lies the seaport of Fao, residence of the 
riverain pilots, the custom house oflicers and officials connected with the semaphore 
and telegraph services. The annual traffic at this place exceeds 500,000 tons. 
On the opposite side the Persian riverain port of Mohanimerah lies higher up, at 
the junction of the Shat with the canal flowing from the Karun. 



CHxVrTER VII. 




ASIA MINOR. 

HE terms Asia Minor and Anatolia, now used synonjTiiously, are of 
Byzantine origin ; but their meaning Las gradually been modified 
during the coui'se of centuries. But about the beginning of the 
fifth centui-y of the new era, the expression Asia Minor was already 
appKed to the peninsula comprised between the Cj'prus waters, the 
Euxine, and the course of the Halys, to distinguish it from the rest of the continent, 
the " Greater Asia," as it was then called. In the same way Anatolia, at first 
designating a small portion of the Asiatic peninsula, and, imder Suleiman the 
Magnificent, the ofiicial name of a particular province, at last acquired a general 
meaning, replacing the term Rum or Romania, which custom had attributed to 
the Byzantine provinces exposed to the invasions of the Osmanli. The Turks 
themselves use the Greek term under the modified forms of Anadoli or Anadolu, as 
synonymous with the western expressions, the " East " and the " Levant." 

Both terms are now employed in a sufficiently definite sense, being applied to a 
clearly defined physical region, whose extreme south-eastern angle is marked by 
the Gulf of Iskanderun (Alexandretta), which penetrates far inland between Cilicia 
and Syria. The natural frontier at the neck of the peninsula is indicated by the 
moimtain range forming the northern continuation of the Syrian crests, and con- 
stituting the water-parting between the Jihim (Pyramis) and the Euphrates basin. 
But towards the north-east corner the frontier line becomes somewhat vague, where 
the Pontine Alps run parallel with the Euxine. Here a purely conventional 
geographical frontier has been traced from the Sivas plateau to the Yasun head- 
land, across the valley of the Ghermili, a tributary of the Yeshil-irmak. Within 
these limits the peninsula covers an area about equal to that of France, but with 
scarcely one-fifth of its population. 

Yet Anatolia might well sustain as many inhabitants as the richest lands in 
Europe. Doubtless most of the surface is occupied by elevated tablelands and 
moimtains, the mean altitude being scarcely less than 3,500 feet. But millions 
might be easily sujaported in the exuberant valley of the Meander and other plains 
facing the Archipelago. Even on the uplands of the interior, multitudes might be 

VOL. IX. R 



242 SOUTII-'SVESTERN AS^IA. 

siistained wliorc nothing now is .scon but the tents of nomad pa.slois, and where (he 
surface is stiewft ^\itli cities in ruins. Here the great altitude is balanced by the 
lower latitude, and on the slopes facing southwards the climate is almost tropical. 

General Survey. 

Asia Minor enjoys a special advantage in the remarkable dcvelojDment of its 
seaboard compared with its total area. Eastwards, both on the Euxine and Mediter- 
ranean, the coast describes long semicircular undulations, which towards the south- 
west corners are replaced by deep inlets. Here the great projections themselves 
ramify into smaller headlands in a sea studded with covmtless islands and islets. 
Thus the coast-line between the Dardanelles and Rhodes is at least four times, and 
including the shores of all the inhabited islands, fully ten times longer than the 
distance as the bird flies. 

At the same time the western section of Asia Minor affords a striking instance 
of the arbitrary character of conventional divisions. Certainly the islands, 
peninsiJas, and river valleys, right up to the mountains and plateaux of the interior, 
nowhere present an Asiatic aspect ; they belong geographically as well as histori- 
cally not to Asia but to Europe. On both sides of the intervening waters the 
climate corresponds ; the seaboard has the same appearance and formation ; popula- 
tions of the same race have here settled over against each other, and have taken 
part in a common historic movement. So far from separating Hellas from Anatolia, 
the ^gean Sea has on the contrary cemented their union bj' affording free scope 
for mutual intercourse from island to island, from shore to shore. As in the days 
of Herodotus, Athens and Smyrna, on either side of the archipelago, have remained 
Greek cities, spite of conquests and repeated barbaric invasions advancing at first 
from east to west, later on reacting from the west to the east. 

Nevertheless, a remarkable contrast is presented by the two Greek domains. 
While the Peloponesus, as indicated by its very name, is rather an island than a 
peninsula, and continental Greece itself an almost exclusively maritime land, 
separated by lofty ranges from the northern mainland, the richly diversified 
Ionian coastlands form on the contrary a natural dependence of the inland plateaux. 
The commimications between the seaboard and uplands are doubtless rendered 
difficult by the intervening boghaz or rugged hills, which often approach close to 
the shore. In certain places also the river vallej's on the Ionian coast are rendered 
almost inaccessible to each other by the encircling ridges, so that the Hellenes 
were long enabled here to preserve their original autonomy and culture on the very 
flank of powerful Asiatic monarchies, from which they were separated only by a 
few miles of rocky hills. But it is none the less certain that in a general way 
continuous intercourse, an uninterrupted exchange of commodities, ideas, and even 
family ties, was from remote times established between the maritime and inland 
pro\-inces of Anatolia. Herein consists the original character of the work 
accomplished in the history of human progress by the inhabitants of the peninsula, 
a region Avhich may be described as consisting of two lands incapsulatcd one in the 



GENEE.IL SrEVEY. 243 

other — a section of the Asiatic mainhind, so to say, do\ctailcd in a detached strip 
of the European seaboaid. 

As a highway for the eastern peoples moving westwards, Asia Minor forms the 
natural continuation of the Armenian plateaux and " Medic Strait." But at this 
extremity of Asia, a time necessarily arrived when the further western movement 
of the Asiatic peoples was arrested. In the north-west alone, where the marine 
waters are contracted in the BosjDhorus and Hellespont to the proportions of a 
river, the migrations from one continent to the other could be effected under easy 
conditions. Elsewhere the relations between Europe and Asia, impeded by 
extensive maritime tracts, were carried on, not by the displacement of the masses, 
but rather by the action of war and commerce. At the same time a decided 
contrast between the populations of the peninsula was brought about by the 
physical and climatic differences existing between the elevated inland plateaux and 
the low-ljong maritime region. Thus was developed in Anatolia itself the zone 
of transition between the inhabitants of the two continents, between lonians on 
the one hand, and Lj-dians or Phrygians on the other. Here also the genius of the 
maritime Hellenes accomplished that marvellous fusion of all the elements of the 
arts, sciences, and general culture brought from Chaldea, Assyria, Persia, the 
Semitic world, and even indirectly from remote Egypt itself. They gave 
practical effect to all these foreign materials, transmitting tbe new inheritance to 
theif kinsmen in the archipelago and on the coasts of continental Greece. 
Anatolia has been likened to a hand extended by Asia to Europe. But this hand 
would have failed to impart its benefits but for the HeUeues acting as intermedi- 
aries between the two continents. 

In few other regions of the globe has more history, in the language of Curtis, 
been condensed within a narrower area. Rival populations were irresistibly 
attracted to a seaboard presenting so many physical advantages — a delightful 
cHmate, a coast diversified by endless inlets and headlands, rich alluvial plains 
yielding in abundance all kinds of plants useful to man. On the one hand, the 
inhabitants of the plateaux and inlaind valleys sought to retain possession of the 
riverain vallej's giving access to the ^gean Sea ; on the other, the seafaring 
peoples, traders or pirates, endeavoured to gain a footing on such inviting territorJ^ 
After long vicissitudes of sanguinary struggles and wholesale extermination, 
commemorated in the old myths and poems, the issue was decided in favour of 
the more active and energetic maritime tribes. Greeks of diverse stocks, Leleges, 
lonians, Dorians, seized the most convenient seaports, and the towns founded bj' 
them rose to great power and influence. They became the true cradle of "Western 
culture, for from these centres were diffused those combined elements of the various 
Egyptian, Syrian, Persian, and Indian ci\'ilisations, those artistic and scientific 
impulses by which the European world is still vivified. Here the Homerides sang 
the oldest songs of Mediterranean literature ; here Ionian art attained the acme of 
its grace and splendour ; here their sages enunciated those problems on the 
constitution of the universe which are still discussed by modern philosophy ; and it 
was in Miletus, a renowned Anatolian city, that over two thousand four hundred 



244 S0UTH-'\\T3STEEN ASLV. 

years ago the fii'st charts were engraved on bronze plates by Anaxiniander, Hecataeus, 
Aristagoras. Yet full justice is rarely done to these Asiatic Hellenes. Just as for 
many centuries Greece itself was viewed through a Roman atmosphere, so by a 
natural law of perspective Hellenic Anatolia is still contemplated, overshadowed, as 
it were, by continental Greece. Now, however, the discoveries of archaeology 
have shown that Asiatic Greece not only took the lead in point of time, but was 
never surpassed by her European sister in the works of art. " Ionian culture," 
writes Perrot, " was the sjiringtide of Greek culture. To her the world is indebted 
for epic and lyric poetry, the firstlings of Hellenic genius." Asia Minor was the 
birthplace of Homer, of Thales, of Heraclitus, Pythagoras, and Herodotus. And 
while the full blaze of science and letters seems in European Greece to be mainly 
centred in Athetis, it was diffused on the Asiatic side throughout many centres, 
such as Pergamus, Smyrna, Ephesus, Miletus, Halicarnassus. 

But how profound the difference between the Ionia of those days and the 
modern Turkish province of Anadoli ! So striking is the contrast, that the name 
of Asia Minor conjures up the memory of its glorious past, without a thought for 
its present state of decay. The tongue refuses almost to name its cities and 
provinces by their contemporary designations, and the mind loves to stUI think of 
them as they existed two thousand years ago. Nevertheless, it would be unfair 
merely to echo the current charges against the Osmanli, as if they alone were to 
blame for the decadence of Anatolia. As ChihachefE remarks, its Turkish 
conquerors succeeded to an already ruined inheritance, ruined by the repeated 
devastating wars and massacres that followed each other from the arrival of the 
Romans dovni to the Crusades and the Mongol incursions. Some of the changes 
that have ensued must also, perhaps, be attributed to climatic conditions and to 
a bad treatment of the soil. Of timber-growing lands, few have suffered more than 
Asia Minor from reckless waste. Many old records speak of forests covering 
extensive tracts, where nothing is now to be seen but arid solitudes or stunted 
scrub. The extremes of temperature between the seasons have certainly been 
intensified by the disappearance of the woodlands. To the same cause are due the 
prolonged droughts and the sudden inundations in the riverain valleys. Less 
subject to control than formerly, the running waters have developed vast morasses, 
poisoning the atmosphere and almost depopulating whole districts. In certain 
low-l3'ing tracts the villages standing on the sites of once flourishing cities are 
altogether uninhabitable in summer. In some of the most dangerous parts, the 
malarious exhalations arc felt even at altitudes of 6,000 feet. And besides the 
devastations of miasmatic endemics, the country has also been frequently ravaged 
by frightfid epidemics, which have spread thence westwards to the seaports of Italy, 
France, and Spain. 

But despite the present deplorable condition of Anatolia, sjTnptoms are not 
lacking of a brighter future. The work of European culture is no longer 
restricted to the peopling of new worlds across the Atlantic and at the Antipodes. 
It has also begun to re-act on the eastern lands whence came the first elements of 
its civilisation. The work of geographical exploration has already been all but 



ANATOLIAN MOUNTAIN SYSTEMS. 



245 



accomplished along all the main lines of communication across Anatolia, and this 
general survey is now being complemented by more detailed and accurate local 
research. From the seaboard the progress of discovery is moving inland, where a 
rich field of exploration awaits the archajologist in the numerous artificial mounds, 
piles of refuse, sepulchral monuments, broken shafts, dismantled strongholds, half- 
buried cities, strewn over the plateaux. 

Anatolian Mountain Systems. 

The Anatolian rectangle may, roughly speaking, be described as a plane 
inclined towards the Black Sea. All the more elevated lands and main ranges are 



Fig. 9i. — Old Provimces op Asia Mi.vob. 
Scale 1 : 11,000,000. 




BlDiNl 

Names and limits of the Vilayets. 



lVbia 

Names and limits of the Old Provinces. 

ISO Miles. 



massed in the southern section of the peninsula, along the Mediterranean seaboard. 
The northern slopes of these uplands merge imperceptibly in the central plateaux, 
which are themselves furrowed in every direction by river valleys, gradually 
broadening out and draining to the Euxine. But in the extreme north, where the 
coast-line advances in a vast convex curve into the sea, independent and almost 
isolated masses rise between the Kizil-irmak and Sakaria river basins, sldrting on 
its northern edge an extensive central plain, whose deeper parts are still flooded by 
the remains of an inland sea. The ranges which foUow at some distance the 
line of the southern shore, and which are broken into ii-regidar chains and moun- 
tain masses, are mainly disposed in the form of a crescent, with its convex side 
facing the Mediterranean, and thus corresponding to the northern curve turned 



246 SOUTH-M^STEEN ASIA. 

towards the Euxine. This southern orographic system takes the collective name 
of the Taurus. 

But like that of the Caucasus, this appellation of Taurus was one of those 
vague terms apjilied by the ancients to different and often far removed ranges. 
The term Davr or Davri, still occurring throughout the whole of the peninsula, is 
merely a modified form of the same word. But according to the most accepted 
usage, by Taurus was understood the whole system of crests running from the 
western headlands of Anatolia to the xmknown regions of the extreme east, and 
forming the diaphragm of the continent. At present the name is still aiDplied in 
a general way to several distinct chains of Hither Asia, each, however, carefully 
distinguished bj' some secondary local designation. Thus the Armenian Taurus 
comprises collectively the whole of the south-western Armenian highlands which 
are pierced by the Euphrates on its way to the Mesopotamian plains. The Cilician 
Taurus forms in the same way the angular rampart rising above the valley of the 
Seihun in the south-east corner of Asia Minor, and this again is followed from 
east to west by the Isaurian, Pisidian, and Lycian Taurus. The local Turkish 
names, whose sense is more defined, are applied to distinct highland groujjs. 

In the regions of Upper Armenia and Pontus, Ij'ing north of the Murad, the 
continental axis is formed by the Pontine ranges skii-ting the Black Sea, whereas 
in Anatolia it trends southwards to the Mediterranean. But both systems are 
connected b}' a transverse ridge running north-east and south-west, in the same 
direction as all the hills, valleys, and coast lines in this part of Asia Minor. The 
first link between the Pontine and Cilician Alps is the Karabel-dagh, which rims 
from the great bend of the Euphrates at Eghin to the head-streams of the Kizil- 
irmak. It attains at one point an absolute elevation of 5,800 feet ; but relativclj^ 
to the surroimding plateaux, which have a mean altitude of 5,000 feet, it presents 
the appearance of a very moderately elevated chain of hills. With it begins the 
system of the Anti-Taurus, which develops a series of parallel barriers running in 
a south-westerly direction, and standing out all the more boldly that their base 
has been profoundly eroded by the Seihun and its tributaries. Besides, these 
rocky walls, intersected at intervals by narrow difiicult passes, really increase in 
altitude as they advance southwards. The Khauzin-dagh (" Wild Boar Moun- 
tain"), and Bimbogha-dagh (" Mountain of the Thousand Bulls "), and some other 
peaks, remain snow-clad till the mouth of July, while many rockj^ gorges develop 
perennial snow-fields. One of the Kozan-dagh crests rises to a height of 9,350 
feet, and another in the Kermez-dagh chain, east of the river Seihun, attains an 
elevation of 10,650 feet. The copious rainfall on this southern portion of the 
Anti- Taurus, as compared with the rolling plateaiix farther north, fosters a much 
richer vegetation, in which extensive woodlands are interspersed with grassy and 
flowery slopes. Some of the valleys draining to the Seihun thus present a 
striking contrast in the variety of their plants and their brilliant verdui-e to the 
impoverished flora of the central Anatolian regions. 



THE ANTI-TAUEUS AND CILICIAN TAURUS. 247 

The Anti-Taurus and Cilician Taurus. 

The various broken ridges, wliich follow each other in a general south-westerly 
direction, with a slight convexity towards the west, bear no collective local 
designation. Nor can the term Anti-Taurus applied to the system hy geographers 
be justified, for it does not stand like a rival over against the Cilician Taurus, but 
both of these highlands belong to the same orographic system, interrupted only by 
a slight intervening fault. The Anti-Taurus forms a continuation of the Cilician 
mountaius, in the same way that in the P3'renees the Mediterranean forms a 
continuation of the Atlantic section, from which it is separated only by the Aran 
Valley. In the Tauric sj'stem the breach is formed by the valley of the Zamantia- 
su, the most copious western affluent of the Seihun. To the west rise the Ala-dagh 
crests, forming the northern extremity of the Cilician Taurus; eastwards the 
Ghadin-bali and Kozan-dagh form the southern termination of the Anti-Taurus, 
although the Kaleh-dagh, the Khanzir-dagh, and several other chains regarded as 
belonging to this section of the Tauric highlands, are continued to the west of the 
Zamantia-su. Farther east the Kermcz-dagh merges through the Borut group 
(8,000 feet) in other parallel ramparts, as regularl)^ disposed as those of the Anti- 
Taurus, but rimning in a different direction, from west to east. These constitute the 
Armenian Taurus, which deflects the Euphrates for some distance eastwards, before 
allowing its waters to escape through a series of deep gorges southwards. On the 
south the Ghiaur-dagh, or " Mountain of Unbelievers," so named from the Greeks 
and Armenians inhabiting its valleys, forms the south-eastern barrier of Asia 
Miuor, which is here clearly marked by the deep valley of the Ak-su, flowing to 
the Jihun. The Ghiaur-dagh, which runs north-east and south-west, is connected 
by a transverse ridge with the Syrian Amanus range. Interrupted by profound 
depressions, it reappears on the Gulf of Alexandretta, where it develops the two 
headlands of Jebel Nui' and Jebel Missis. These hills are skirted southwards by 
the Jihun, beyond the broad alluvial plain of which they are continued by a 
number of heights, formerly islets in the gulf, but now connected by swampy 
tracts with the mainland, and terminating abruptly in the steep promontory of 
Kara-tash, or the " Blackrock." 

The Cilician Taurus, properly so called, begins with the majestic Ala-dagh, 
which culminates iu the Apish-Kardagh, over 11,000 feet high. But here the 
crests are so entangled in a labyrinth of other transverse or parallel ridges, that a 
clear idea of the main axis, with its snowy peaks, can be formed oul}' by surveying 
it from some commanding summit at a distance. And although forming the south- 
eastern scarp of the Anatolian plateau, these lofty uplands nowhere form a true 
water-parting. Two rivers rising on the uplands north of them force their way 
through the Ala-dagh on their course to the Seihun, which is itself formed by all 
the streams issuing from the parallel valleys of the Anti-Taurus. The two gorges 
traversed by the Goklu-su and Chekid-su are absolutely impracticable, so that the 
range has here to be crossed by dangerous jDasses, one of which in the old itineraries is 
named the Kai-ghah-Kermez, " Impassable bj' the Raven." The only route bj' which 



248 S0UTH-'\^^3STE^tN ASIA. 

artillery could penetrate from the coast to the interior of Anatolia ascends the river 
Cydnus north of Tarsus, beyond which it plunges into the lateral gorge of the 
Gulek-boghaz, thereby turning the escapments skirting the west side of the Chekid- 
su ravine. 

The Pylac, or " Cilician Gates," as this passage is called, have an altitude of 
3,200 feet, and were at all times of vital strategic importance. Here terminates the 
diagonal line running from the Bosphorus across Asia Minor to the Gulf of 
Alexandi-etta, and this route must be taken by military expeditions advancing from 
Constantinople towards the Syrian coast, or towards the great bend of the Euphrates 
where it enters Mesoj)otamia. No highway is more famous in the annals of war- 
fare than this narrow defile, where converge all the routes of the peninsula. Even 
before the days of Xerxes and AJexander it had been forced by many invading 
hosts, and since then it has been frequently used down to recent times. In 1836 
Ibrahim-Pasha, victorious at Nizib, strongly fortified the Gulek-boghaz to bar the 
road against the Turkish armies. All the paths crossing the crest were also ren- 
dered impassable by artificial works, and the whole of the Cilician Taurus was 
converted into an impregnable citadel. Some remains of the formidable Egyptian 
lines are stiU. visible, as well as some older works constructed by the Genoese and 
Armenians. Above the route traversing the Gulek-boghaz, may be distinctly seen 
the remains of an ancient road cut in the live rock either by the Assyrians or the 
Persians. At the narrowest point of the defile stands a ruined altar with two 
votive tablets, the inscriptions on which have been effaced, as has also the flight of 
steps leading up to the gates, which were closed in time of war. At present the 
Cilician Gates have lost their strategic value, but retain their commercial impor- 
tance, notwithstanding the charges imposed by the inland custom-houses on every 
camel-load. All the gorges intersecting the Taurus range present a meteorological 
phenomenon analogous to that observed in the Sefid-rud ravine between the Iranian 
plateau and the Caspian lowlands. A fierce wind here constanth' prevails, blowing 
alternately up and down the narrow valle}^s according to the diurnal oscillations of 
temperature. 

The whole of the western section of the Cilician Taurus, terminating eastwards 
at the Chekid-su Valley, is specially known as the Bulgar-dagh. This is the range 
visible from the sea along the northern horizon, and pointed out to travellers as the 
" Taurus " in a pre-eminent sense. And it certainly is one of the loftiest Anatolian 
chains, as well as one of those which, in their bold outlines, jagged crests, and rich 
vegetation, most resemble the west European liighlands. But the culminating 
peaks of the Bulgar-dagh are rather more elevated than those of the PjTcnees, and 
they are also disposed parallel to a marine shore, where the white groujjs of houses 
are seen nestling amidst dense tufts of the feathery palm. The highest point of 
the Bulgar-dagh, 11,650 feet, or some 300 feet higher than Maladetta in the 
Pyrenees, is locally known by the name of Metdesis. It was first ascended in 1836 
by the engineer Russeger, who from its summit enjoyed a sujjerb prosjject, 
embracing all the chief jjeaks of the range, and the chaos of uplands limiting the 
north-eastern horizon. Here the mountains present an endless variety of form and 



THE .-VXTI-TAUEUS AND CILICIAN TAUEUS. 



249 



colour, ten-aces, p3-ramids, needles, some red or j'ellow, others grey or black, and 
ever shifting with the shifting lights. In these spurs of the Bulgar-dagh are 
situated the rich argentiferous lead mines of the Bulgar-maden, beyond -which rise 
the Ala-dagh and Anti-Taurus. To the north are faintly mirrored the great lakes 
of the plateau, above which sparkle the eternal snows of Arjish, culminating point 
of the peninsula. Southwards the view commands the slope of the whole range, 
with its advanced spurs and ramparts, beyond which are visible the shores of 
Syria as far as Latakieh, and in the midst of the blue waters the faint outlines of 
the Cyprus hills in the hazy distance. 

Notwithstanding its southern position and complete exposure to the solar rays, 
the Bulgar-dagh remains wrapped for several months in a snowy mantle, while its 

Fig. 95. — The Bulgar-bagh. 
Scale 1 : 240,000. 



^^om^^s^w^m 




L- o^ (jreenv\ 



higher gorges are sometimes completely blocked throughout the j'ear. A small 
glacier was even supposed to exist on the slopes of Moimt Chuban-huj'u, near the 
Metdesis peak. But the massess of transparent bluish ice here discovered are due 
to a copious spring, by which the snow is melted, and the water soon again frozen 
to ice during the cold nights. 

Seawards the Cilician Taurus presents a much more imposing appearance than 
towards the interior, where its absolute height is lessened by the mean altitude of 
the plateau, which considerably exceeds 3,000 feet, and which is connected by 
numerous transverse ridges with the Bulgar-dagh and Ala-dagh. An interrupted 
series of mountains follows successively between the Taurus and the Hassan-dagh, 
which latter groups, however, belong to a different geological system. They form 
part of the extensive volcanic region, which at one time displayed intense igneous 



250 SOUTH-^TSSTEEN ASIA. 

activity on the shores of the ancient inland sea occui^ying the centre of the peninsula. 
This plutonic mass culminates towards the north-east in the mighty Erjish (Arjeh), 
the Argaeus of the ancients, which is the highest peak in Anatolia, as was already 
known to Strabo, who was born some distance to the north of the volcano. Accord- 
ing to Chihacheff, the southern edge of the crater is 12,800 feet high, and above it 
some vertical rocky walls rise some 300 feet higher. But the report cm-rent in 
Strabo's time, that both the Euxine and "Sea of Issus" were visible from its 
summit, has no foundation in fact. Southwards the Mediterranean is concealed by 
the intervening Bulgar-dagh and Ala-dagh, while towards the north-east the vague 
outlines of the Pontine highlands are scarcely visible in the clearest weather.* 

Mount Aro.t.us — The Isaurian and Lycian Taurus. 

Mount Arga3us rests on a very lofty jjcdiment. Even the northern plain of 
Kaisarieh, the lowest of all the surrounding lands, has an elevation of over 3,300 
feet, whilst a depression separating the central mass from another volcanic group 
towards the west exceeds 5,000 feet. The mountain properly so called is encircled 
by spurs, cones, and lava streams, giving to the whole group a total area of about 
450 square miles. The southern ascent, chosen by Hamilton, the first to scale the 
cone in modern times, passes successively over broad tracts disposed iu a series of 
terraces roimd the highest cone, which is 2,G50 feet high, and scored by deep 
crevasses and divergent ravines describing a pendant necklace of white snow round 
the crater, and descending in long streaks amid the reddish scoriae. On these 
furrowed heights the least change of temperature during the night suffices to arrest 
the progress of the snowy masses, which with the morning sun become again dis- 
engaged, and then continue to rush down the slopes, bounding from crag to crag, 
across the crevasses. When the snows begin to melt in spring, the danger from 
this cause becomes so great that the ascent has to be made at night " before the 
moimtain is awake." In summer the snow disappears altogether from the southern 
slopes ; but some remauis throughout the year in the deejD crater, where it even 
forms real glaciers. 

In the time of Strabo the cone was not yet quite extinct. Its slopes were covered 
with forests, which have since disaj)j)eared ; but the surrounding plain was 
" undermined by a subterranean fire," frequently emitting flames, and so late as 
the fifth century Claudian still .sjjeaks of the " burning summits " of Arga>us. 
Chihacheff refers to the coins found in the neighbourhood of Kaisarieh representing 
the crater in a state of eruption ; and although in modern times no trace has been 
observed of vapour or carbonic acid springs, the scoriai, lava-streams, and craters 
everywhere j)resent the appearance of recent cooling. The Ali-dagh to the north- 
east, the Sevri-dagh to the south-west, and hundreds of other eminences dotted over 
this igneous region, have preserved their craters. Of these the highest, next to 
Argceus, are those of the Hassan-dagh, which attain an elevation of nearl}' 10,000 
feet. They are connected towards the south-east with the scarcely less elevated 

* Altitude of Mount Arg.x'us, according to Hnuiilton, 13,'JOOfeet; Cooper, 13,300; Tozer, 13,350. 



MOUNT AEG^US— THE ISAUEIAN AND LYCIAN TAURUS. 



251 



Yeshil-dagh, wliose vertical walls and basalt colonnades rise abruptlj^ above the 
plains. Towards the south-west the volcanic range merges in the Karaja-dagh, 
which extends for 120 miles beyond Argaeus. One of the craters of this range, 
visible in a saline lakelet five miles south-east of Karabunar, presents the probably 
unique appearance of an oval bowl, with the rim gradually rising towards the east, 
where it terminates in a vertical spout. 

West of the Cilician Taurus the whole seaboard between the gulfs of Taurus and 

Fig. 96. — Mount Argteu.s. 
Scale 1 : 540,000. 




55-;Cr E . of Gere«nV,a, . 



Adalia is occupied by a labyrinth of highlands known as the Isaurian Taurus. 
Here geogi-aphers have not yet succeeded in positively identifying the Cragus, 
Imbarus, or Andricus of the ancients, names which were applied especially to the 
peaks visible from the coast, whatever might be their importance relatively to the 
more elevated summits of the interior. In this region the chief group is that of 
the Gok-kuh, or " Celestial Mountain," whose highest crests attain an altitude of 
10,000 feet. Most of the ridges connected with it are disposed in the direction 



252 SOUTH-^^TiSTEEN ASIA. 

from north-west to south-east, parallel with those skirting the east side of the Gulf 
of Adalia. None, cxceiit the Gok-kuh, exceed 5,000 feet ; yet, despite their 
moderate elevation, the Anatolian seaboard nowhere presents a more rugged aspect 
than on the coast of Cilicia Trachfca, as this district was named in opposition to the 
low-lying shores of Cilicia Campestris, stretching along the foot of the Bidgar- 
dagh towards the Gulf of Alexandretta. Headlands of schists, conglomerates, 
limestone, or white marble follow almost uninterruptedly around the convex coast- 
line over against Cyprus. Coming westwards the first of these headlands, some of 
which rise in vertical cliffs 600 or 700 feet above the waves, is the superb promon- 
tory of Manavat (" Cavalier Point "), almost detached from the mainland, and thiis 
forming a natural stronghold, which has been further strengthened by defensive 
works and ditches cut in the live rock. A few miles farther east is Provencal Isle, 
another marble rock completely surrounded by water, and also crowned with a 
fortress standing amidst the debris of houses and chapels. These remains of 
military and religious structures, as well as the names of the cape and island still 
current along the coast, recall the presence of European Christians in the district. 
The two Cilician rocks were amongst the fortresses ceded by Leo, King of Armenia, 
to the jjope about the end of the twelfth century, and here the knights of Saint 
John of Jerusalem established a refuge for liberated Christian slaves. The other 
headlands west of Cavalier Point, if less interesting historically, are none the less 
picturesque. Cape Kizliman, which is attached to the mainland by a low isthmus, 
consists of perfectly regular strata with the most varied and brilliant tints — red, 
violet, brown, yellow, and deep blue. Farther on. Cape Anamur marks the 
southernmost point of Asia Minor. 

North of the Trachaean highlands, the isolated Kara-dagh, or "Black Moun- 
tains," rise like an island amidst the uniform plams of Konieh. This group lies on 
the prolonged axis of the chains, which stretch north-westwards for some 120 miles 
beyond Konieh. The eastern rampart, skirting the Central Anatolian depression 
on the west, is broken by nimierous breaches, and has a mean altitude of scarcely 
more than 800 or 900 feet above the plateau. But at its north-western extremity 
it terminates in the Emir-dagh and Keshir-dagh, which attain a somewhat greater 
elevation, and which afford abimdant pasturage during the summer heats. The 
western section, known as the Sultan-dagh, possibly on account of its greater 
height, forms a lofty range towards the east ; but west and north it merges in 
many places with the hilly tableland, where rise the Ghediz-chai, Meander, and 
other streams flowing to the iEgean Sea. 

South-west of the Sultan-dagh, the hills gradually increase in height as they 
advance seawards. In Pisidia, where the Boz-burun, or " Grey Head," falls little 
short of 10,000 feet, they run north and south ; but in Lycia they are mainly 
disposed north-east and south-west. In the Lycian Taurus the Ak-dagh, or 
" White Mountain," attains an altitude of 10,250 feet, and is almost rivalled by the 
Suzuz-dagh facing it on the east, and possibly surpassed by the Bei-dagh east of 
Elmalu, which is said to have an elevation of 10,500 feet. Next to Metdesis, the 
Ak-dagh and Bei-dagh are the loftiest summits in the Tauric sj-stcm, and from 



MOUNT ARGiEUS— THE ISAUELVN AND LYC'L\N TAURUS. 



253 



their greater viciuity to the sea they present a still more imposing appearance. 
The northern slopes of the Lycian Taui-us are covered or flecked with snow 
throughout the year. To their white crests many of the uplands in this part of 
Asia Minor are indebted for their designation halt, a term almost identical with the 



Fig. 97. — The Cuim.era of Lycia. 
Scale 1 : 450,000. 





160 Feet and 
upwards. 

—^ 72 Miles. 



Slav word for ichife, which is also applied to snowy summits. But the general 
appellation of Taurus has also been preserved in the local nomenclatm-es ; and the 
chain beginning at the southern extremity of lake Egherdir and forming the main 
axis of all the branches ramifying towards the Lycian coast, still bears the name of 
Davras or Dauras (Taurus). 



254 8()UTII-WKSTEli\ ASIA. 

On the east coast of Lycia the wooded aud fissured Takh-t;du, the Solyma of 
the ancients, rises to a height of 7,300 feet. On the southern slope of this 
majestic peak lies the famous Chimacra, which burns night and day, and which has 
given rise to so many fables. The Yanar, or Yanar-tash, source of the everlasting 
fires, wells up from a fissui-e about 3 feet deep, above which stand the remains of a 
temple. The flame is perfectly smokeless, aud a few yards off the serpentine rock 
whence rises the mj'sterious fire, has a temperature no higher than that of the 
surrounding soil. Plants flourish in the immediate neighbourhood, which is 
watered by a shadd sti'eam. The shepherds of the district often prepare their food 
in the Chimsera, which, however, according to the legend, refuses to cook stolen 
aliments. Another fissure resembling the Yauar is now extinct, nor has any escape 
of gas been observed on the spot. This district, where undergromid rumblings are 
said to be occasionally heard, was formerly known by the name of Moimt Phronix, 
and one of the neighbouring villages still bears the designation of Phineka. 
Eagles and vidtures incessantly hover above the flaming rock, a circumstance 
which may possibly have inspired the legend of the phoenix springing eternally 
from its ashes. 

Like those of Cilician Trachaea, the Lycian promontories mostly terminate 
abruptly in white limestone headlands, contrasting vividly with their dark pine 
forests. The seaboard, indented by numerous inlets, presents in its peninsular 
formation a forecast of the insular groups on the west coast. Here a Greek or 
Italian nomenclature begins to prevail. Thus Castel Orizzo (Castel Rosso), the 
largest island on the coast, probably takes its Italian name from the reddish tints 
of its rocks. The promontory and islets of Chelidan (Chelidonia) at the south-east 
corner of Lycia, are so called by the Greeks from the swallows frequenting them ; 
and farther on the harbour of " Port Genovese " occurs on the east side. In the 
straits winding between the CheKdan islands, the currents, which set steadily from 
Syria along the Anatolian shores westwards, are more rapid than elsewhere in the 
Levant. After striking the cliffs of Adalia, which project like a huge barrier 
across their course, they are deflected to the left, escaping with great impetuosity 
through the Chelidan channels to the high seas. At certain points the stream 
attains a velocity of nearly three nules an hour. Amongst the other curiosities of 
this archipelago is a freshwater brook in the islet of Grambusa, apparently far too 
copious to be maintained bj^ the rainfaU on such a small area. Hence the conjec- 
ture that it flows in an underground channel from the mainland, although the 
intervening strait is no less than 170 feet deep. 

The West Anatolian Coastlands and Islands. 

The western section of the Anatolian plateau does not fall uniformly towards 
the ^gean seaboard, whose numerous indentations find their counterpart along the 
face of the escarpment, even stUl more complicated by lateral ramifications like 
those of the Norwegian fiords. The uplands are thus frayed, so to say, like the 
ravelled edge of a textile fabric, the main axes being disposed mostly in parallel 



THE WEST ANATOLIAN COASTLANDS AND ISLANDS. 255 

lines falling in successive terraces seawards. Detached from these by jjrofound 
fissiires are other ridges, which in their turn are interrupted by broad, verdant 
depressions connecting together the fertile plains on either side. Farther on the 
ranges reappear, projecting as peninsulas far into the ^gean, where they terminate 
in precipitous headlands. But the mainland vanishes only to emerge again in hilly 
islands, which are themselves continued by lower insular groups, gradually dying 
away in stiU smaller islets and reefs. The continental uplands and insular masses 
thus belong to the same fonuation, so that with a change of sea level new islands 
would either be developed farther inland, or else the archipelagos become con- 
verted into promontories jDrojecting seawards. 

This broken section of the plateau, which develops towards the south-west an 
intricate highland system, begins with the majestic Baba-dagh, or Cadmus of the 
ancients. It rises to a height of 10,200 feet, and is skirted eastwards by a depres- 
sion connecting the basin of the Meander, which flows to the .^gean, with that of 
the Duluman-chai, draining to the Sea of Rhodes. South of the Baba-dagh, the 
Boz-dagh, or " Gray Range," falls gradually to heights of 3,000 and 2,000 feet, and 
even less, so that the spurs projecting from the south-west corner of Anatolia far 
into the sea have a very moderate elevation, although still presenting an endless 
v-ariety of bold and fantastic forms. Here the insular eminences are higher than 
those of the mainland, ilount Attairos, in Rhodes, attaining upwards of 4,000 feet, 
and exceeding Mount Lastos in Karpathos only by some 60 feet. From this 
culminating point a clear view is afforded of the eastern extremity of Crete, which 
is connected with Anatolia by a submarine bank 1,000 to 1,200 feet deep, with 
abysses of from 6,500 to 7,000 feet on either side. North of Rhodes another 
headland is continued by the islet of Symi, while the long hilly strip terminating 
at Cape Krio reappears at Nisyros, whose pyramidal cone rises to a height of 2,300 
feet. Farther on the peninsida of Halicarnassus is separated only by narrow rocky 
channels from Kos and the Kalynmos and Leros ins\ilar groups. It is noteworthy 
that Nisyros, the only still active volcano in Asia Minor, stands exactly at the 
corner of the peninsula, between the ^gean and the deep basin of the East 
Mediterranean Sea. At present the only visible indications of igneous activity, 
are the clouds of smoke with a temperature of over 220° F., the jets of vapour, 
and crystallised sulphur deposits. The underground energies are stimulated 
during the rainj- season, when the bottom of the crater is converted mto a sulphu- 
rous lake with the temperature of boUing water. This crater is used as a sort of 
refinery by the people engaged in the sulphur trade. According to a Greek legend, 
Nisyros was a fragment of the island of Kos, hurled by a god into the sea. In 
reality the surrounding lands have been largely formed by the matter cast up by 
Nisyros during its former explosions. Thus the islet of Yali, lying between Kos 
and NisjTos, consists of such volcanic tulfa alternating with travertine aboimding 
in fossils. According to M. Gorceix, this islet has undergone continual changes of 
level, continued down to the present time, thus attesting the uninterrupted play of 
the subterranean forces in the neighbouring volcano. In this part of the Mediter- 
ranean the tides are verj- perceptible, risiag about one foot in the Gulf of Symi. 



256 



SOUTH-WESTERN ASIA. 



The same Baba-dagh group, whence radiate the south-western spurs of the 
peninsula, also projects westwards a branch interrupted at intervals by deep 
valleys. Above the crest rise several peaks considerably over 3,000 feet high, and 
towards the western extremity the Besh-Parmak, or " Five Fingers," attains an 
elevation of 4,570 feet. North of the Meander Valley, the range projecting west- 
wards from the plateaux is much more regular than the Baba-dagh system. Known 
by various local names, but generally spoken of by the Greeks by its old appella- 
tion of Misoghis, this chain extends uninterruptedly for a distance of S-l miles 



Fig. 98. — NisYRos. 
Scale 1 : 230,000. 




E,. of Gre 



640 Feet and upwards. 
^—^—m^m^^,^^^ 6 Miles. 



from the Meander gorge near Buladan, to the Scala Nova promontories in the 
gulf of Ephesus. The highest crests, whose mean height scarcely exceeds 3,000 
feet, follow in regular succession from east to west, without any intermediate 
depressions. Yet the whole range presents the most varied outlines, thanks to 
the terraces of conglomerate skirting its base at an altitude of from 300 to 450 
feet, and cut into cubic and pyramidal figures by the mountain torrents. Here the 
cultivated terraced tracts and the dense foliage of the valleys present a striking 
contrast to the red tints of the detritus swept down and deposited by the torrents 
as alluvia in the Meander Valley. All these crumbling rocks are evidently the 



THE WEST ANATOLIAN COASTLANDS AND ISLANDS. 257 

remains of sedimentary formations, deposited during an older geological epoch, 
when the Anatolian seaboard was more deeply submerged than at present. 

Towards its western extremity, the Misoghis range falls as low as 800 feet at 
one point, where it is pierced by a tunnel on the railway, running from Symrna up 
the Meander Valley. This depression separates the main chain from the Gumish- 
dagh, or "Silver Mountain," which abounds in deposits of emery and other 
minerals. Southwards the Lower Meander is skirted by groups of hiLls facing the 
Besh-Parmak escarpments, beyond which the jagged crests of the Samsun-dagh, 
the Mycale of the ancients, are seen stretching east and west. Here the Asiatic 
seaboard of the ^gean Sea culminates in the rocky pyramid of Rapana, which rises 
to a height of 4,180 feet about the centre of this range. Immediately to the west 
is a somewhat less elevated but more venerated peak, on which stands a ruined 
shrine dedicated to the prophet Eliah, who has replaced Apollo- Melkarth as the 
tutelar genius of the Ionian Greeks. Over against it lies the island of Samos, 
terminating westwards in the still loftier peak of Kerki (5,900 feet), beyond which 
are visible the summits of Nikaria (over 3,000 feet), and towards the south-west 
Patmos and other islets are dimly seen, now like deep shadows, now like luminous 
vapour floating on the purple waters. The strait separating Samos from the 
mainland is less than a mile and a half wide, and even this is divided by a rocky 
islet into two channels. From the town of Samos is visible the last promontory of 
the mainland, which has retained its old name of Mycale, changed by trans- 
position of syllables to Camilla or Camello. 

North of the Misoghis chain is developed another of the same elevation, the 
Tmolus of the ancients, terminating immediately to the east of Smyrna, and 
forming jointly with the Misoghis a vast semi-circle round the valley of the 
Caj'ster. West of this valley the hills break into independent groups, which were 
formerly separated by broad straits from the moimtains of the interior. The 
Alaman-dagh, the Gallesion of the ancients, has preserved its insular aspect, the 
verdure clothing its spurs and penetrating into its gorges serving to define its out- 
lines as sharply as might the marine waters themselves. Differing from nearly all 
the other Ionian chains, which run normally east and west, the Alaman-dagh is 
disposed in the direction from north to south, as is also the more westerly ridge, 
which crosses the Smyrnian peninsula, terminating with the twin peaks of the Two 
Brothers, whose wooded slopes overlook the entrance of the roadstead. Farther on 
another and loftier chain follows the same direction from Cape Karaka to the 
Mimas or Kara-burun promontory. Chio, the nearest island to this part of the 
coast, also runs north and south, differing in this respect from all the other islands 
of the Ionian Ai'chipelago. Chio culminates northwards with Mount Saint Elias 
(4,220 feet), which occasionally remains covered with snow for a few days, or even 
weeks in winter, whence perhaps the name of the island (Jihion, snow). 

The rocks of Chio belong to various geological epochs, and the underground 
forces are still at work producing fresh formations. Igneous rocks, such as serpen- 
tine, porphyries, trachytes, occur in several places, as well as in the neighbouring 
Erythrean peninsula, for the two parallel ridges, here separated by a marine 

VOL. ix. s 



258 



SOUTH-WESTERN ASIA. 



channel scarcely 80 feet deep, are comprised within the same area of volcanic 
disturbance. This district of Ionia, one of the richest in thermal springs, is also 
one of those that have suffered most from subterranean con\'ulsions. 

During the second half of this century, the town of Ohio was destroj-ed by a 
tremendous earthquake seldom exceeded in violence, and the island was again 
shaken in October, 1883, when the sjjrings were dried up or replaced by others. 



90. — Tmolt-s Valley, Plain or Sardis. 





several villages and parts of towns overthrown, and over 50,000 people rendered 
houseless. 

The chain, connected by a low depression with Mount Tmolus, and bending 
westwards round the north side of Smyrna harbour, is famous in legend and 
history as the Sipylos of King Tantalus ; and over against the city stands the " Seat 
of Pelops," where reigned the chief of the family that gave its name to the Pelopon- 
nesus. The old writers speak of frightful earthquakes, which destroyed the cities 



THE "W^ST ANATOLLiN COASTLANDS AND ISLANDS. 



259 



and " devoured " Sipylos. No trace can now be detected of these convulsions ; but 
all the western section of the range, that is, the Yamanlar-dagh of the Turks 
consists of eruptive rocks. The Manissa-dagh, or " Mountain of Magnesia," as the 
western part of Sipylos is called, is formed of chalk cliffs, which on the north side 
terminate abruptly in lofty walls diversely coloured, pierced by caves, and broken 
by faults, which seem to traverse the mountain in its entire thickness. East of the 
Manissa-dagh the northern slope of Tmolus, here known as the Boz-dagh, or " Grey 
Mountain," is skirted by the plain of Sardis, watered by the Hermus. 

The hills facing Tmolus north of the Alashehr Valley are partly of volcanic 

Fig. 100.— JIytilene. 
Scale 1 : 490,000. 








330 to 1,000 1,600 Feet and 

Feet. upwards. 



origin, and one of the plains enclosed by them is the Katakekaumene, or " Burnt 
Land " of the Greeks. Here the volcanic Kard DevHt, or " Black Inkbottle," 
which rises to a height of about 500 feet above the Kula plain, is entirely composed 
of ashes and blackish scoriaj, which crumble beneath the feet. West of it follow 
two other cones at intervals of 6 or 7 miles, both of which, like the Kara Devlit, 
have discharged streams of lava towards the Hermus Yallej'. Of these the 
westernmost, known as the Kaplan Alan, or " Tiger's Cave," presents a tei-minal 
crater about half a mile ia circumference. Besides these comparatively modern 
volcanoes, which are probably of the same age as those of Auvergne, there are 
several others, which can now be distinguished only in outline, and which are 



260 SOUTH-WESTEEN ASIA. 

clothed with the same vegetation as the surrounding districts. Others again, of a 
still more remote epoch, are dotted over the marble and schistose plateaux. 

The Murad-dagh, which forms a westei'n continuation of the Emir-dagh of the 
central plateau, may be regarded as the nucleus whence diverge the chief ranges 
and rivers in the north-west of the peninsula. Here the ileander, Hermus, and 
Thymbrius take their rise, and here the lofty Murad range, which exceeds 6,500 
feet in height, merges westwards in the At-dagh, or " "WTiite Mountain," which 
has an elevation of 8,120 feet. Farther on this system is continued by the 
Demirji-dagh, with its southern spurs, one of which is the superb trachytic Kaj'ajik, 
rising vertically above the surrounding valleys. The Hassan-dagh, by which the 
main range is continued to the east and south-east, sweeps round towards Mount 
Sipylos, as if to enclose the Hermus Valley. Its gorges, formerly crossed only bj- 
rugged tracks, are now traversed by the railway between Smyrna and Magnesia. 
Most of the other chains connected with the Demirji generally stretch away in a 
succession of gently rolling hills towards the sea of Marmora. But Syenitic 
Madara-dagh, over against Mytelene, consists largely of huge blocks piled up in 
fantastic shapes, and presenting all the transitions between the solid rock and 
disintegrated sands. Mytelene itself, which is separated by the Gulf of Edremid 
from the high seas, also bristles with peaks, amongst which is an " OljTnpus," 
whose summit is occasionally covered with snow. This large Anatolian island 
evidently belongs to two different orographic systems, its west side forming part of 
the Troad, while the east rims parallel to the shores of Mysia. To this double forma- 
tion Mytelene is indebted for its peculiar fan-like shape, giving access southwai'ds 
to circular marine inlets. 

Ida and Olympus — North Anatolian Ranges. 

The mountains of the Troad have their chief nucleus at its southern extremity, 
immediately north of the Gulf of Edremid, where rise the wooded heights of the 
Kaz-dagh, the Ida or Gargara of the ancients. These two names, however, must 
be applied in their poetic sense to other more central mountains of the Troad. 
At least from the topmost crest of the Kaz-dagh, 5,880 feet high according to 
Schmidt, and surrounded by other peaks scarcely less elevated, the plain of Ilion is 
not visible. Hence from this point Zeus could have been described as contemplating 
the struggles of Trojan and Greek on the banks of the Scamander. For the present 
Hellenes Ida is a sacred mountain, as it had been in pagan times. Near the 
summit are seen the remains of cells and shrines, and on the feast of the prophet 
Elias the surrounding peasantry spend the night on the peak, in order to kneel in 
worship as soon as the sun appears above the horizon. Doubtless the ceremony has 
little changed since the old poets celebrated the glorious crest lit up by the ruddj^ 
dawn, and diffusing a divine effulgence over the land. 

Ida is still clothed with the magnificent forests to which it owes its name. 
But on most of the advanced spurs, such as the Kara-dagh and Karali-dagh, 
nothing now remains except scrub and brushwood. Nevertheless, the upland 



IDA AND OLYMrUS-NOETH ANATOLIAN RANGES. 261 

pastures have here and there preserved their clumps of pines, nowhere dense 
enough to arrest the view. Lower down, the Mendereh mnds through the Trojan 
plain, stretching away to the Hellespont, beyond which spreads the glittering sea 
with its islands — Tenedos, Lemnos, Imbros, Samothrace — supported in the back- 
ground by the triangular headland of Mount Athos, The last hills of the Ida 
system, comprised between Besika Bay and the entrance of the Dardanelles, form 
an isolated barrier skirting the coast, and limited southwards by the mouth of the 
Scamander, towards the north by the delta of the Mendereh, the Simois of Homer. 
At this point Tenedos, with its bare hills, forms, with a few other islets less 
destitute of vegetation, a small archipelago off the Trojan coast. 

The south side of the Sea of Marmora, is also skirted by a small orographic 
system, separated from the southern hills by alluvial and tertiary formations, which 
mark the direction of an ancient strait flowing between the Euxine and -^gean. 
The peninsula of Cyzicum, connected by a narrow strip with the mainland, is also 
commanded by an eminence known as the Kopu-dagh, while the Marmora group, 
so named from its marble cliffs, consists of upheaved rocks. East of the Propontis 
is the peninsula lying between the gulfs of Ghemlik and Ismid, which has also its 
insular mass, whose chief summit, the Samanlu-dagh, rises to a height 2,730 feet, 
terminating westwards in the imposing headland of Boz-burun. This headland is 
of volcanic formation, like several other promontories stretching along the coast 
between the Guli of Ismid and the Black Sea. 

Olympus, whose hazy outlines are visible from Constantinople on the southern 
horizon, is connected only by irregular spurs with the inland Murad-dagh high- 
lands. It consists of an almost isolated mass of gneiss and granite, interspersed 
along its slopes with diorite and marble. Although easily ascended, even on 
horseback, the actual height of the Kechish or central peak is still unknown. But 
it can scarcely be less than 8,000 feet, thus taking the first rank amongst the 
mountains of Northern Anatolia. * "West of the Galatian Olympus, this is the 
first that has received the name of Olympus, and amongst the fifteen or twenty 
other peaks so named this has been chosen by the popular tradition as the chief 
abode of the gods. Facing Bithynia on the north, Mysia on the south side, it 
towers in isolated grandeur between these two provinces, commanding a vast 
horizon from the Euxine waters to the isles of Marmora and the Thracian shores. 
South-eastwards it is continued by a narrow regular crest, which branches off 
fui'ther on in parallel ridges. Eastwards other less elevated eminences stretch 
away towards the valley of the Sakaria, which flows in a narrow bed between 
vertical or steeply inclined walls, rising to a moderate height above the surrounding 
plateau. The highlands, properly so called, reappear east of the Sakaria and of 
the steppe region occupying the centre of Anatolia. 

The various ranges intersecting the plateau between the Sakaria, Kizil-irmak, 
and Yeshil-irmak basins, consist mainly of relatively slightly elevated crests, 
disposed in the direction from south-west to north-east. Few of them exceed 

• Height of Olympus, according to Kiepert, 6,280 feet; Peterinann, 6,420; Stebnitzkiy, 8,100; Mar- 
mont, 7,490 ; Fritsch, 7,060. 



262 SOUTII-^^'ESTEEN ASIA. 

6,000 feet, and several are merely rolling hills covered with pastures, but probably 
destined one day to receive a large sedentary population. For the soil is naturally 
fertile, and the atmosphere remarkably pure. Of the ranges in this region, the 
highest is the Ala-dagh, whose culminating peaks exceed 8,000 feet. It consists 
of five parallel chains, sloi^ing gently down to the surrounding plateau. The Ilkas- 
dagh, south of Kastamuni, and the Elma-dagh, south of Angora, also exceed 6,500 
feet. West of Sivas a range formed of parallel ridges running south-west and 
north-east, takes the name of Ak-dagh, or " White Mountains," from its winter 
snows. Chihacheff assigns a height of 7,400 feet to its loftiest peaks. It is 
continued north-eastwards by the Yildiz-dagh, or " Star Range," which falls to 
about 3,000 feet. But farther on the hills again rise to a considerable altitude, 
merging at last in the Pontine system. A lofty ridge skirts the coast north of the 
deep valley of the Lycus, or GrhermOi. Sienites and porphyries, here and there 
underlying sedimentary rocks, are the prevailing formations in these ranges, which 
are pierced in many places by lava streams. North of Shabin Karahissar, the 
Kazan-Kaza volcano rises to an elevation of over 8,300 feet. This coast range 
probably abounds more than any other Anatolian mountains in iron, copper, and 
argentiferous lead ores. Here, according to the legend, were invented the hammer 
and anvil. 

The Anatolian Water Systems — The Yeshil-irmak, Kizil-irmak and 

Sakaria. 

The Anatolian plateau being roughly inclined towards the north-west, its 
main drainage necessarily follows the same direction. Thus the running waters 
of more than half of the peninsula flow to the Euxine, through the basins of the 
two Irmaks and Sakaria. But there stiU remain extensive central depressions, 
where the rainfall is collected in saline lakes. In former times, when the climate 
was more moist than at present, these now landlocked basins probably discharged 
their overflow seawards. But the old freshwater lakes have been transformed to 
salt lagoons by the gradual dessication of the land and the excess of evaporation 
over the rainfaU. 

In north-east Anatolia the largest river basin is that of the YeshQ-irmak, the 
ancient Iris, which receives nearly all its feeders from the western spurs of the 
Anti-Caucasus. The TosanH-su, which, owing to its direction, is regarded as the 
main stream, has its source in the valley of the Kos-dagh, whose southern slope 
gives rise to the Kizil-irmak, the largest river in Asia Minor. It flows first west- 
wards, then trends north and south-east, receiving at Amasia the discharge of Lake 
Ladik-gol, now a small sheet of water, but which in the time of Strabo covered a 
vast area. Of the two streams, the Lycus, the Kelkit or Ghermili of the Turks, is 
the most copious, rising far to the east of the Tosanli about the meridian of 
Trebizond. Below the confluence the main stream receives no more afiluents, and 
after piercing a rockj^ barrier, by which its course was formerly arrested, it spreads 
out in an extensive alluvial delta, which has already encroached some hundi-ed 
square miles on the Euxine. 



THE ANATOLIAN WATEE SA'STEMS. 



268 



Immediately east of the Yeisliil-irmak flows the Termeh, the Thermodoii of the 
Greeks, a far more copious stream than might be expected from the limited extent 
of its basin. Its iipper valley was formerly associated with the legend of the 
Amazons, a legend which even still survives in the local traditions. One of the 
ridges pierced by the Termeh is continued westwards beyond the Iris under the 
name of Mason-dagh, or " Amazon Mountains." 

The Eizil-irmak, or " Red River " of the Turks, and Halys of the ancients, 
roughly describes a vast concentric curve with the Yeshil-irmak, or "Green River." 
The length of its course between its soiu'ce in the Kos-dagh and its delta, is at least 
fivefold the direct distance between these two points. Its upper bed is at times 
completely dry in summer, and even lower down it is fordable in manj' places as far 



Fig. 101. — Delta of the Kizil-Irmak. 
Scale 1 : 650,000. 




to 80 Feet. 



80 Feet and upwards 
-.-^^^^ 12 Miles. 



as the neighbourhood of the delta. The excess of evaporation over the rainfall in 
its basin gives it a brackish taste fully justifying its Greek appellation. In the 
Sivas plain it traverses beds of pure salt, whence the natives of Western Armenia 
derive their usual supply. Like the Yeshil, the Red River ramifies at its mouth 
into a number of branches, which have largely gained on the waters of the Euxine. 
The old geographers, following the examj)le of Herodotus, often took the Halj's as 
the natural limit of Asia Minor, calling the vast region beyond its delta Trans- 
halj'sian Asia. The choice of this boundary is explained by the military importance 
of three considerable streams — Thermodon, Iris, and Halys — following at short 
intervals like the moats of a citadel. 

Although the longest of all Anatolian rivers, the Kizil-irmak is less copious 



264 SOUTII-WESTEEX ASIA. 

than the Sakaria, the Sagaris or Sagarias of the ancients. Like the two Irmaks, 
the Sakaria pursues a very meandering course of about 360 miles in the normal 
direction from east to west. On the plains it has frequently shifted its bed, and in 
the Byzantine annals mention is made of extensive hj'draulic works undertaken to 
regulate its current. Several projects of canalisation have also been recently 
presented to the Turkish Government, one of which, prepared by French engineers 
in 1870, proposed to render the river completely na'sngable throughout the j^ear for 
150 miles from its mouth by a system of locks, cuttings, and lateral canals. 
Pending the execution of these plans, the Sakaria remains unnavigable, except for 
very light boats and rafts, on which timber and charcoal are floated down for 
Constantinople. The projected railway schemes have also hitherto remained in 
abeyance, but will no doubt sooner or later be realised, for the Sakaria route forms 
an important link in the shortest overland highway between England and India. 

The lacustrine region of Central Anatolia seems to have formerly formed part 
of the Sakaria basin, at least for the greater part of its extent. Here the largest 
sheet of water is the Tuz-gol, or "Salt Lake," which is at least 60 miles long 
north-west and south-east, and nowhere less than 3 or 4 miles wide. It covers a total 
area of over 400 square miles, but in summer its mean depth is probably less than 
7 feet. Towards the centre are seen the traces of a dyke over 7 miles long, 
constructed by a sultan for military purposes, and here the water is nowhere much 
more than 3 feet deep. During the dry season its outlines could scarcely be 
recognised but for the plants growing along the shore, beyond which an unbroken 
deposit of salt stretches for many miles in some directions. In winter the whole 
depression is flooded, but even then the surface is covered by a saline crust from 2 
inches to 6 or 7 feet in thickness, and generally solid enough to support a man on 
horseback. According to PhiHpps, the water of the Tuz-gol is heavier and more 
saline than that of the Dead Sea, containing over thirty-two per cent of salt, with a 
specific weight of 1'240. 

West of the Tuz-gol the plain is studded with nimierous ponds, tarns, salt pools, 
swamps, and rivulets, which evaporate in siunmer, and which besides salt, often 
contain sulphates of magnesia and soda. The temporary lakes stretching to the 
south and west are also charged with bitter magnesia salts, without any admixture 
of chloride of sodium. Such phenomena are common enough in closed basins, and 
are due to the different chemical constituents of the soil traversed by the streams. 
The drier parts of the steppe are clothed with an aromatic herb, which cattle 
eagerly devoui-, and which yields a perfumed oil, pronounced by Moltke to be as 
pleasant as essence of roses. 

Beside the steppe lakes, evidently the remains of an older and more extensive 
basin which drained northwards through the Sakaria, there are other reservoirs, 
which although now occuj)ying distinct cavities in almost closed cirques, appear to 
have belonged to the system of seaward drainage. Traces of old commimications 
are indicated at several places by channels and ravines still showing the marks of 
running water. To the same marine basin of Central Anatolia apparently also 
belonged the reservoirs scattered over the depression Ipng between the Emir- da gh 



TUE ANATOLLVN WATER SYSTEMS. 



265 



and Sultan-dagh, and which are alternately flooded basins and simiile meres 
surrounded by saline incrustations. 

In its lower course, the Sakaria receives the overflow of a lake, which though of 
small size is very remarkable as the remains apparently of a channel, through which 
the Euxine commxinicated with the iEgean before the opening of the Bosphorus 
farther west. This lake, the Sophon of the ancients, and present Sabanja, stands 
100 feet above sea level, and has a depth of over 120 feet. Yet it is a mere 
remnant of a former inland sea, as shown by the surrounding soil, which consists of 
fine sedimentary matter, wafted by the slightest breeze into dense clouds of dust. 
The lake seems even now marked out as the natural port of a navigable strait. 



Fig. 102. — L.1KE OF Sabanja. 
Scale 1 : 630,000. 








"li'^iH 



which might easilj^ be constructed or restored between the Sea of Marmora and the 
Eu xin e by the Gidf of Ismid and the lower course of the Sakaria. Such a project 
was proposed to Trajan by Pliny the yoxmger, and traces, still visible in his time, 
attested that the enterprise had already been undertaken by Mithridates, Xerxes, or 
some other sovereign. It was again resumed at various epochs since the time of 
Solomon the Magnificent, but always unsuccessfully. According to several careful 
surveys, the intervening ridge is about 135 feet, so that the relative level of land 
and sea has been modified at least to this extent since the closing of the Sabanja 
strait, an event probably coincident with the opening of the Bosfihorous. Along 
the Euxine coast old beaches are still visible at various points and at different 



266 SOUTH-WESTERN ASIA. 

heights up to 100 feet, covered with shells exclusively of the same species as those 
now inhabiting the surrounding waters. There are few more interesting regions 
than the.se shifting straits and isthmuses between Europe and Asia ; but their 
geological history is still but imperfectly known. The regime of the current and 
counter-current between the Euxiae and Sea of Marmora is not even j^et accurately 
determined ; nor has it been ascertained with certainty whether the two basins do 
not present some difference of level. The waters of the Euxine, setting from the 
shores of EurojDean Turkey towards the Bosphorus, are not all able to escape 
through this narrow outlet. A portion of the stream is thus deflected to the left 
along the Anatolian seaboard at a mean velocity of nearly 2 miles per hour, and the 
current is felt as far east as Siaope. At the foot of the Ineboli lighthouse, where it 
attains a speed of about 2^ miles, the existence of regular tides in the Black Sea 
were for the first time determined. On the neighbouring shores of the Bosphorus 
they vary with the winds from 4 to 5 inches. But at Ineboli the tidal wave rushes 
in the form of a bore for over a mile up the rivulet. 

Like that of Sabanja, the Lake of Isnik, or Nicea, is a freshwater basin com- 
municating through an emissary with the sea. Westwards the Gulf of Grhemlik 
penetrates far inland, as if to effect a junction with the lake, which was itself no 
doubt at one time a marine inlet. It lies within 7 miles of the coast, and the 
difference of level is only 100 feet. Towards the southwest another lacustrine 
basin, which has preserved its Greek name of Apollonia under the form of 
Abolonta or Abolumia, covers about the same area as the Lake of Nicea, and like it 
seems to have been much larger down to comparatively modern times. It com- 
mimicates westwards with the rapid river Susurlu-chai, nearl}' opposite the con- 
fluence of another stream, emissary of Lake Maniyas, the ancient Miletopolites or 
Aphanites. This basin, which is about the same size as that of Apollonia, also 
stands at a slight level above the sea. It forms the last western link in a chain of 
lakes running parallel with the southern shores of the Sea of Marmora, and 
apparently representing an ancient "Propontis" between the .3<lgean and the 
Euxine. Of the four chief lakes in this chain, ApoUonia is the most utilised for 
navigation, the riverain Greek population carrjn'ng on a local traffic with small 
craft which maintain the communications from village to village. 



The Granicus, Scamaxder, Meander, and other Rivers flowing to the 

^GEAN. 

West of the Susurlu-chai and of Lake Maniyas, the small basin of the Koja-chai, 
the ancient Granicus, is partly fed by the waters of Mount Ida. Like the neigh- 
bouring streams, the Koja, which separates the Trojan uplands from the rest of 
Anatolia, becomes a river properly so called only during the heavy rains and 
melting of the winter snows. Famous amongst these mountain streams is the 
Menendereh, immortalised in the Homeric songs, although it is still doubtful 
whether it is to be identified with the Siinois or the Scamander. According to 
most historians and archaeologists, the Mendereh is the Simois, although Schliemann, 



EIVEES FLOWING TO THE .q^GEAN. 



267 



the illustrious explorer of the Hissarlik ruins, makes it the Xanthus, in accordance 
with the etj-mology of the present name. The aspect of the land shows that the 
plain of Troy is one of those Anatolian districts that have undergone most change 
during the historic period. The hills themselves have been but slightly modified 
by erosions and weathering ; but the intervening plain, formerly partly covered 
with reservoirs, is now di-ied up. A line of dunes connecting the Eren-koi hills 
with the Kum-Kaleh headland, has served to retain the alluvia and detritus washed 
down to the plain by the Mendereh and other streams. These waters are no longer 
accessible to the smallest craft, and Kalafat, where boats were formerly built, is 
now an inland agricultural hamlet. At present the alluvia of the Menendereh are 
borne seawards and carried by the Hellespont far into the iEgean. Formerly the 



Fig. 103.' — NiCEA AND Ghemlik. 
Scale 1 : 735,000. 




-Jfei'T-SIWi'EFr 



. « :JW**4:KtftO*S» JJ^*. 








\ 0*Cr 



to 160 Feet. 160 Feet and upwards. 
. 12 MUes. 



Bunarbachi, identified by most travellers with the Homeric Scamander, drained to 
the Menendereh through a series of marshy lagoons. But its waters have been 
diverted to the sea near Tenedos by means of a cutting which now connects the 
Bunarbachi basin with Besika Bay. Thus the little rocky headland of Sigajus, with 
its funeral mounds, has been converted into an island. 

Amongst the torrents or rivulets flowing from Moimt Ida and the neighboui'ing 
hiUs to the iEgean, the Tuzla-su, or " Salt Stream," is remarkable for the fantastic 
form of its valley. After piercing the snowy heights, it rims parallel with the Guli 
of Edremid, thus reaching the ..Sllgean north of the Baba-kaleh headland. But 
instead of flowing directlj- to the sea, it skirts an intervening rocky barrier for a 
distance of 60 miles. The white cllSs at the outlet of its valley are streaked in 
blue, red, and yellow, and disintegrated by a multitude of little saline springs 



268 



SOUTH-WESTERN ASIA. 



intersecting the plain in all directions, at a temperature of from 140^ to 160^ F., and 
flowing through a common thermal channel to the Tuzla-su. A vast quantity of 
salt might be derived from this source, which, however, according to Chihacheff, 
scarcely j'ields eighteen or twenty tons yearly. 

Southwards follow the Madara-chai, Khoja-chai, and Bakyr-chai successively ; 
but here the first really copious stream is the Ghediz-chai, the ancient Hermus, 
fertiliser of the Lydian plains. Rising near the town of Ghediz, whence its name, 
it escapes from the hills through a series of gorges down to the old lacustrine plain 
of Sardis. The brackish little upland lake of Mermereh, north of this plain, is 
perhaps a remnant of the inland sea which once flooded the Lydian district, and 
which escaped through the Menemen defile between the Sipylos and the Hassan- 
dagh. Beyond the gorges the Ghediz, with its abundant sedimentary matter, has 



Fig. 104.— The Tuzla-Su Valley. 
Scale 1 : 77S,000. 




L* 'of breenwtch 



to 80 Feet. 80 to 160 Feet. 160 to 320 Feet. 

^^_^_^^^^^^_ 12 Miles. 



never ceased to encroach on the gulf, gradually filling up all the space, some 
hundred square miles in extent, stretching south of Menemen between the western 
promontories of the Sipylos and the Phocaean HUls. Pliny mentions Cape Levke 
(Leuke) as having thus become attached to the mainland ; and this headland, the 
Tres-tepeh of the Turks, now lies nearly 3 miles inland, being separated from the 
Gulf of Smyrna by shallow fishing lagoons. 

Ramifying into several branches, the Ghediz-chai delta still continues to 
advance somewhat irregularly seawards. Formerly it spread chiefly towards the 
west in the direction of the Phocoean Hills ; but the mouths of the delta are now 
extending southwards, in a way that threatens to block the entrance of the port of 
Smyrna. During the floods the sea is turbid with alluvia for a great distance from 
the mouth of the river, while farther east the harbour has lost all the limpid 



EI'S'EES FLOWING TO THE ^GEAN. 



269 



clearness of the ^gean waters. The time may even be calculated when the 
passage will be entirely closed. Before the chief mouth of the delta there is still a 
channel over 1 mile wide, with a depth varying from 60 to 120 feet ; but eastwards 
it narrows to a width of about 1J:0 feet between a fortified point on the south, and 
a sandbank on the north side, where the depth, now about 60 feet, is yearly 
diminishing by fi-om 8 to 10 feet. The channel has occasionally been suddenly 
scoured by storms; but after these passing interruptions, the silting process is 
resumed at a rate that will probably reduce the whole harbour to a mean depth of 
about 40 feet towards the year 2,000. Then deep sea navigation will become 
difficult and even impossible, imless meantime the lower Hermus be again diverted 



Fig. 10.5. — Smyrna Channel. 
Scale 1 : 155,000. 




6 to 32 Feet. 32 to 80 Feet. 80 to 160 Feet. 160 Feet and 

upwards. 
^^_____-^— _ 2i Miles. 



through its old bed towards PhocDca, so as to carry its alluvia westwards to the 
outer gulf. 

The same silting process, possibly aided by a gradual upheaval of the coast, is 
characteristic of the other streams flowing farther south to the ^gean. While the 
port of Smyrna alone is threatened by the Ghediz, the Cayster, the ancient " Swan 
River" and modern Kuchuk-Mendereh, or "Little Mendereh," has long since 
choked the harbours of Ephesus, and the Great Meander has converted that of 
Miletus into an inland lake. Nowhere else are the fluvial deposits encroaching so 
rapidly on the sea, due regard being had to the insignificant discharge of these 
streams compared, with that of such rivers as the Nile, Rhone, or Po. Thus, 
although the Little Meander has a course of scarcely more than 75 miles, in a basin 
only 1,200 square miles in extent, and although its average rainfall is one-fifth less 



270 SOUTH-WESTERN ASIA. 

than that of France, it has sent down sufEcient matter to fill the ports of Ephesus 
and the estuary, which, according to Leo the Deacon, was still open in the twelth 
century. Hence the coast-line must have advanced nearly 5 miles since that time, 
a rate of progress which has led to the conclusion that such changes must have 
been at least accelerated by oscillations of level along the Ionian seaboard. 

The Buyuk Mendereh, or " Great Meander," is in any case one of the most 
copious of Anatolian streams. From source to mouth it has a total length of some 
230 miles, while some of its affluents are 60 miles long, and the whole basin, about 
9,500 square miles in extent, with a mean discharge of over 7,000 cubic feet per 
second, judging at least from the average local rainfall. It rises in the lakelet of 
Hoirau, which lies at an altitude of about 3,000 feet on the plateau. After twice 
disappearing in the cavities of the limestone formations about the town of DineVr, 
it escapes from the hills to an extensive jjlain, formerlj' a lacustrine basin, where 
its waters are concealed by the dense sedge lining its banks for miles. On leaving 
this plain the Meander, doubled in volmne by the Banas-chai, forces its way 
through narrow gorges down to the magnificent lowlands stretching thence to the 
coast. During the floods it assumes formidable proportions, eating away its banks, 
opening new channels, forming or sweeping away islands. In its lower course it is 
joined by the scarcely less copious Choruk-su, the ancient Lycus, which in the time 
of Herodotus appears to have flowed at one point through a tunnel over half a mile 
long, formed by calcareous incrustations from the himdreds of limewater springs 
fringing both sides of its bed. The tunnel has disappeared, and the Ak-su, or 
" White River," which had contributed most to its formation, has been deflected 
farther up. Trees falling into the Ak-su, and even the wheels of mills erected on 
its banks, soon become petrified. 

The hill commanding the Meander and Choruk confluence is flanked for some 
miles along its base by a regular two-storied terrace, rising about 300 feet above 
the plain. This terrace, whose sparkling milk-white cascades are visible 18 miles 
off, has been entirely formed by the deposits of petrifying springs. Most travellers 
give it the name of Pambuk-Kaleh, or Pambuk-Kalessi, or " Cotton Castle," 
doubtless from the whitish fluffy looking masses precipitated by the waters. But 
the local name is Tambuk, which is certainly the Hierapolis of the Greeks. On the 
ujjper platform, over half a mile long, there well up numerous and extremely 
copious thermal springs, all slightly ferruginous and acidulous to the taste, all 
yielding carbonic acid, and varying in temperature from 98"^ to 206° F. The ground 
is covered by thick layers of travertine deposited by these springs, traces of whose 
shifting beds are everywhere visible. All these phenomena produced a vivid 
impression on the ancients, and Strabo tells us that the Hierapolis waters became so 
rapidly solidified that when diverted into new channels these were presently 
converted into a monolithic block. The cavern which in his time was said fo emit 
deadly carbonic acid vajjours, seems to have disappeared. 

But the ancients do not mention the real marvel of Tambidc, the rim of whose 
upper terrace is everywhere scored by sparkling cascades. Even where these are 
not fully dcveloi^ed or have ceased to flow, the neighbouring walls formed by the 



I 



EIVEES FLOWING TO THE .EGEAX. 271 

concretions of other streamlets look at a distance like so many rushing waterfalls. 
Of the six larger stony cataracts, one especially strikes the spectator by its vast 
size. This is the southern cliif lying immediately below the ruins of the ancient 
Hierapolis. Altogether these calcareous deposits of Tambuk are amongst the most 
remarkable formations of the kind in the whole world. Nowhere else does the slow 
and constant work of dripping or trickling water present more marvellous effects. 
In a cavity of the upper terrace several springs are collected in one pool over 10 
feet deep, studded viith broken white marble friezes and shafts, the remains of an 
ancient portico. A thermal brook, escaping from this lakelet, traverses the 
plateau, penetrating beneath the vaults of a palace, whose walls it has covered 
with a coating over 30 feet thick. Farther on it is joined by another thermal 
rivulet, the united stream falling from stage to stage over the brink of the preci- 
pice. Although the actual discharge is probably not much more than twelve 
gallons per second, seen from below the cascade, blending with its sparkling stony 
walls, presents the appearance of a mighty river. The illusion is heightened in 
winter, in spring, and diu'ing the summer mornings by the vapours rising above 
the tepid waters, and forming a misty veil, which seems to half conceal the fall of 
some tumidtuous Niagara. Even when the deception is dissipated by a nearer 
view, the glint of these glittering incrustations irresistibly suggests the presence 
of a vast glacier, or river suddenly congealed as it falls. Like the Alpine ice, the 
travertine of Hierapolis blends with its natural whiteness the lovely tints of a 
delicate blue, here and there interspersed with the green and rosy hues of marble 
and alabaster. Thus to the magnificent proportions of this marvellous amphi- 
theatre are added the exquisite details of its dazzling white or softly tinted rocks. 
In its fall the water gradually cooling spreads in gentle folds, the last of which is 
precipitated as a snowy border. Each successive stage is thus fashioned like a 
rounded bowl, below which follow other " fonts " with polished rim, the water still 
falling from step to step of these " Neptimian stairs." But in its course it 
everywhere flings an embroidered mantle of wa^•y pattern over the rocky surface 
of the cliff, leaving no spot miarra3-ed -n-ith scidptured arabesques. 

Below the confluence of the petrif3'ing waters from Tambuk and neighbouring 
heights, the Meander continues its course across the broad plain, where it describes 
those peculiar curves which are known by its name. At the same time these 
" meanderings," although remarkable enough, are far inierior to those of some other 
rivers, such as the Seine, Lot, Forth, and Mississippi. Its windings are on the 
whole of a local character, without any of those bold sweeps, by which the KizQ- 
irmak and Sakaria are distinguished. To these might, with far more justice, be 
applied the language of the Greek historian, who spoke of the Meander as on its 
course flowing back towards its source. 

On the other hand the Meander is speciallj' noteworthy for its extraordinary 
encroachments seawards, which during the last twenty three centuries, have been 
exceeded by no other river of the same volume. To explain the phenomenon 
recourse has naturally been had to the usual hypothesis of upheaval, which however 
in this case has not yet been determined by any direct observations. Of the old Gulf 



272 SOUTH-"^"ESTEEN ASIA. 

of Latmos, on which sfond tlir ininitime city of Miletus, and which stretched 





northwards to tlic loot uf the hUl crowned hy the temple of Priene, nothing 
remains except the small reservoir of lake Kapikeren Denizi or Akis-chai, whose 



THE MEAXHER. 273 

west side now lies over 10 miles in a straight line from the coast. The former 
island of Lade, west of Miletus and north of the present course of the Meander, is 
now a mere protuberance in the midst of the inland marshes. The space thus 
gained on the sea in two thousand three hundred years, may be estimated at 130 
square miles, giving a mean yearly advance of about 40 feet. Assuming that in 
this region of comparatively recent alluvial formation the sea itseli was only 60 
or 70 feet deep, and allowing a mean rise of some 30 feet through the alluvia of 
the Meander, the total quantity of matter deposited in this period would be about 
350,000,000,000 cubic feet, or 17;500 cubic feet daily. This is certainly no extraor- 
dinary proportion, for even the Brenta, whose discharge has been most carefully 
studied, with an inferior volume deposits eight times as much in the Chioggia 
lagoon. But the deposits of the Meander probably greatly exceed the assumed 
ratio, for according to Chihacheff, lake Alds-chai now stands at an elevation of 96 
feet above sea level. But however this be, the Meander delta is one of those in 
which are combined all the elements of transformation — gulfs filled in, islands 
attached to the land, cities swallowed up in the sands. From the peaks of the 
Samsun-dagh overlooking the plain, a varied prospect is commanded of all these 
secular changes, a white streak at the foot of a green hiU in the distance marking 
the site of Palatia, all that now remains of the once-famous Miletus. 

Lacustrine Basins and Rivers draining to the Mediterranean — The 
Seihun and Jihun. 

On the Anatolian slope draining southwards, the first lake which discharges to 
the Mediterranean appears, like the Akis-chai, to form part of a marine inlet 
closed bj^ recent alluvia, and gradually raised to its present level of 96 feet above 
the sea. This is the Kojez-liman, or Caunus of the ancients, which even in the 
time of Strabo was already cut off from the coast. Hence at least eighteen or 
nineteen centuries have elapsed since the old gulf has become a lake. But the 
coast-line has changed, for the town, which then stood close to the sea, now lies 5 
miles inland. Another proof of change is a sarcophagus, which, after having been 
submerged to a third of its height, now stands once more on dry land. This 
Lycian coast is the only part of the Anatolian seaboard where corals (^cladmora 
c(Fspifosa') build extensive reefs. Red coral also grows in the shallows, but its 
branches are too small to repaj' the trouble of fishing it. 

On the south-west coast of Lycia, the harbour of Patara has also been trans- 
formed to a lake, or rather a morass. But a far more important change has taken 
place in Pamphj-Ha, on the north side of the gulf of Adalia. Here the extensive 
lake of Cj'pria, of which Strabo speaks, has been replaced by marshy and scrubby 
tracts, and lagoons separated from the sea by a strip of yellow sand. Chihacheff 
estimates at about 160 square miles the surface of the Pamphylian lacustrine basin, 
which now forms part of the mainland. Besides the fluvial alluvia, this reservoir 
has been filled in hy the deposits from innumerable calcareous springs, like those 
of Tambuk. Near Adalia the face of the cliffs has evidently advanced at least 

VOL. IX. T 



274 



souT^-A^^:sTEI{N asia. 



1,000 feet, thanks to these accumulated inci'ustations. The streams that have 
covered the land with layers of travertine are incessantly shifting their beds, 
sometimes even disappearing altogether under natural galleries in the porous soil. 
Thus the hj'drographic system becomes modified from age to age, so that it is no 
longer possible to reconcile the old accounts with the present conditions. The 
Cataracts spoken of by Strabo as a large river rushing impetuously over a pre- 
cipitous rock has ceased to exist, having i^robably ramified into a nmuber of 
surface or subterranean branches. 

The Ak-su, or " White River," which furrows the western plains of this stony 
basin, rises in the hills to the west of Lake Egherdir, which may possibly com- 
municate with it through an undergroimd channel. Although less extensive than 
the great Lycaonian Salt Lake, that of Eghidir is much deeper, and probably the 



107. — Plains of the Lower Meandeh. 
Scale 1 : 650,000. 




E.ofGreen„,ch 



Secoud to 
present time. 



Utoa-JO 32U Feet and 

Feet. upwards. 



most voluminous in Asia Minor. It is divided by a transverse ridge into two 
sections, the southernmost of which resembles an Alpine lake. Encircled by steep 
wooded escarpments, and studded with islets where the white hamlets glitter amid 
clusters of poplars, it presents at every step an endless change of scenery. Very 
different are the two reservoirs of Buldar and Churidc-su, lying farther west, and 
with their low monotonous beaches presenting for the most part the aspect of 
dreary marshes or lagoons. 

Amongst the closed basins of Asia Minor must also be included the Beishehr- 
gol, or Kereli, the Karalitis of the Greeks, which, although smaller in extent, 
probably contains a larger volume than the great Salt Lake. Most of the nmnerous 
torrents flowing from the neighbouring hills disappear in the crevasses of the soil 
before reaching this reservoir, which is fed chiefly by springs welling up in the 



LAKES EGHEEDLR AND BEISIIEHR GOL. 275 

lacustrine cavity itself, or flowing from fissures in the encircling rocks. Miagling 
with the unwholesome waters of the lake, these springs thus become lost to the 
riverain populations, who are obliged to sink wells in the immediate neighbourhood 
of this fresh-water but unpalatable reservoir. 

The Beishehr-gol, which according to Chihacheff stands 3,800 feet above sea 
level, discharges its overflow through an emissary flowing from its southern 
extremity to a depression lying some 50 feet lower down. This depression was tdl 



Fig. lOS. — Lake of Eghekdir. 
Scale 1 : 750,000. 




[ afGr^-n ^^ i -3 



recently flooded by lake Soghlu, which had a mean depth of 20 to 25 feet, with an 
area of about 70 square mdes, and a volume of over 35 billions cubic feet. Yet 
this vast body of water disappeared towards the middle of the present century, 
having probably forced its way through some hitherto obstructed imdergroimd 
gallery seawards. The alluvial tracts developed ia the lacustrine basin have since 
been converted into productive lands by the local peasantry, who, according to a 
traditional custom, became proprietors of the reclaimed soil by jielding half of the 

t2 



276 SOUTH-WESTERN ASL\. 

first and a tenth of subsequent crops to the Government. The other small lakes of 
Lycia, in the Elmalu basin and neighbouring plains, also discharge their overflow 
through subterranean channels excavated in the limestone rocks. The Avlan- 
Oghlu, south of Elmalu, is fed by a rapid stream some 30 feet broad and 6 or 7 
deep, and its emissary, after plunging into a deep crevasse, reappears in the form of 
copious springs near the village of Phineka, not far from the coast. According to 
a tradition mentioned by Hamilton, the valley now flooded by Lake Eghedir was dry 
land eight hundred years ago, when the obstruction of some subterranean passage 
caused the waters to accumulate in the depression. 

East of this depression some other now closed lacustrine basins appear to have 
formerly drained to the Mediterranean. Such is the Kara-bunar, or " Black 
Fountain," which is encircled by volcanic cones and lava streams. South of it the 
shallow lagoon of Eregli stretches for some 60 miles parallel with the northern base 
of the Bulgar-dagh. This extensive basin is studded with reservoirs, some always 
saline, others filled in winter by small freshwater afiluents, but again slightly 
brackish in summer. Ei'egli still drains to the Mediterranean through a rivulet, 
which in spring is swollen to considerable proportions by the melting snows. At 
this season both Eregli and Kara-bunar, as well as all the low-lying marshy tracts, 
are converted into a vast inland sea 60 miles broad, and stretching westwards to the 
gates of Konieh. 

In classic times both the Castros, or modern Ak-su, and the neighbouring 
Eurymedon, or Kopro-su, were navigable at their mouth. Now they are closed to 
small craft ; while the Malas, or Manavgat, is navigable by sailing vessels, although 
not spoken of by the old writers as accessible to shipping. On the other hand, the 
Calycadnus (Ermerek, or Gok-su) although the most copious coast stream west of 
Cilicia Campestris, is too rapid to have ever been navigable. Farther east the 
Tarsus-chai, or " River of Tarsus," in Cilicia proper, is the famous Cydnus of the 
ancients. At its source, one of the most copious in Asia Minor, countless rivulets 
springing from a crevassed rock are collected in a common basin, whence the 
Cydnus descends through wild gorges and romantic cascades down to the fertile 
plain of Tarsus. Farther on it winds through a series of swamps, remnants of an 
old lake, to the coast a little west of the Seihim. Like so many other Anatolian 
streams, it has frequently shifted its bed, and since the end of the sixteenth century 
has been deflected to the east of Tarsus, which formerly stood on its banks. 

But the pre-eminently wandering streams are the East Cilician Sarus and 
I'yramus, the Seihun (Sihun, Sihan, Saran) and Jihun (Jihan) of the Turks and 
Arabs. The Sarus, which is the longest and most copious, flows from the highlands 
north-east of Mount Argscus, and collects all the streams traversing the parallel 
depressions of the Anti-Taurus. On the west it is joined by other torrents which, 
descending from the central plateau, pierce the Taurus through gorges even more 
inaccessible than the Cilician Gates. The Pyramus rises in the upland region, 
forming the water-parting between its basin and that of the Euphrates. But 
hitherto Strabo is the only traveller who describes its source, and he also speaks in 
remarkably precise terms of the gorge through which it escapes to the plains. 



TEE SEinUN AND JIHUN. 



277 



" The prominences of one wall correspond exactly with the depressions of the other, 
so that if brought together they would fit into each other. Towards the centre of 
the gorge the fissure is so contracted that a dog or a hare could clear it at a bound." * 
In its lower course the Pyramus collects all the torrents from the hilly district 
stretching east of the Anti-Taurus ; but these uplands, being less exposed to the 
raiu-bearing winds than those of west Cilicia, receive a smaller quantity of water. 
Hence, notwithstanding the greater extent of its basin, the Jihun is much inferior 
in volume to the Seihun. According to the engineers who have surveyed the land 
for the iDrojected railway between Mersina and Adana, its discharge is scarcely 



Fig. 109. — Mouths of the Seihun and Jihun. 
Scale 1 : 1,280,000. 








^j^:^ 



80 to 160 Feet. 



160 Feet and 
upwards. 



more than a third of that of the western stream.t Nevertheless it is navigable in 
its lower course for over 60 miles from its mouth. 

Throughout the historic period both rivers have never ceased to wander over 
the alluvial plains which they have developed west of the Gulf of Alexandretta. 
At present their mouths are separated by a space of 43 miles as the bird flies. 
But from the old records it apjiears that their currents were often intermingled in 
a common estuary. During the last twenty-three centuries as many as seven great 
changes have taken place. Three times they have flowed together in a common 



* Book XII., chap. 4. 

t The Cilician rivers : — 
Cydnus (Tarsus-chai) 
Sarus (Seihun) 
Pyramus (Jihun) 



270 
270 



Area of Basin 

(square miles). 

660 

9,000 

9,650 



Mean discharge 

per second 

(cubic feet). 

700 

8,750 

3,300 



27R 80UTII-WESTERX ASIA. 

channel, four times independently to the sea ; and even now a slight lateral cutting 
would suffice again to unite them. During these shiftings over the plain, they 
have continued to advance with their alluvia incessantly seawards. The Chukur- 
ova plain, and most of the tract stretching for over 60 miles between Tarsus and 
Sis alonf the east foot of the Taurus, are their creation. The Kara-tash, or " Black- 
rock " headland, which serves as a southern barrier to the sedimentary matter 
washed down from the interior, is an old island, which has thus become connected 
with the mainland. " In the same way," says an oracle quoted by Strabo, " the time 
will come when the silver waters of the Pyramus will reach the sacred shores of 
Cyprus." The muddy tracts about both mouths are still a sort of debatable 
territory between land and sea. Flora and faima suggest the recent ascendency of 
the marine waters, which teem with fish, and which are frequented by myriads of 
aquatic birds, such as the pelican, swan, goose, and duck. The surrounding sands 
are also the resort of turtles of gigantic size. 



Climate, Flora, axd Fauna. 

Regarded as a whole, Asia Minor is colder than the European peninsulas imder 
the same latitude, and is subject to greater extremes of temperature. The contrast 
is due to their relative positions, Spain, Italy, France, and Greece being protected 
from the polar winds by the Pyrenees, Alps, and Balkans, whereas Anatolia is 
partly exposed to these currents sweeping unimpeded across the Russian steppes 
and the Euxine. The section of the Anatolian seaboard washed by the Euxine 
waters itself sujjplies a striking exam2:)le of the climatic effects produced by 
sheltering mountain-ranges. Thus the western coast zone, comprised between 
Constantinople and Sinope, is exposed to keen winter blasts and sultry sum m er 
heats, while farther east this " Byzantine " climate becomes continually modified 
towards the north-east, where the lofty barrier of the Caucasus intercepts the arctic 
winds blowing towards Anatolia. Here the extremes of annual temperature are 
less marked, and plants which avoid the bleak west coast flourish on the banks of 
the more sheltered eastern streams. The olive and orange begin to be met in the 
neighbourhood of towns and villages, while the hill-sides are clothed with magnifi- 
cent pine forests. According to Koch, the Choruk Valley is the original home of 
thejnnca, so characteristic of the Mediterranean botanical zone. 

The western shores of Asia Minor, washed by the ^Egean, are intersected by 
isothermal lines slightly divergent from the parallels of latitude. Here the mean 
temperatiu'e is somewhat lower than on the opposite coast of Greece, and the 
climatic changes are also generally more abrupt and irregular. The normal direc- 
tion of the winds is at the same time endlessly modified by the islands fringing 
the seaboard, and by the numerous indentations along the Ionian coast. Every 
headland, every channel, so to say, has its special atmospheric currents, while at 
the entrance of the marine inlets a struggle takes place between the winds of 
different temperature sweeping down from the interior and blowing inland from 



CUM.\TE, FLOEA, AND FAUNA. 279 

the sea. The fudden gusts aud squalls due to this cause render certain waters 
absolutely unnavigable in winter, while the vicissitudes of temperature prevent the 
vegetation from assuming a sub-tropical character. The chamaerops palm and date 
do not grow spontaneously in west Anatolia, and clusters of palms are met on the 
coast no farther north than Patmos, hence called Pabnosa. 

Being well sheltered by the various sections of the Taurus, the southern zone 
of Asia Minor natui-ally enjoys a far warmer cKmate than other parts of the 
peninsula. Within an equal distance there are few regions presenting a greater 
difference of mean temperature than the coasts of Tarsus and Sinope. On the 
Cilician coast the pleasantest season comprises the last two months of the year, 
separated from the summer heats by the so-called kassim, a short autumnal 
interval which usually lasts about eight days. During this period the atmosphere 
becomes cleansed from all impurities by violent storms accompanied by heavy 
downpours and haU, and the inhabitants are now able to descend from their 
summer encampments down to the plains. 

The upland valleys and plateaux of the interior offer the greatest diversity of 
climate, according to the altitude aud aspect of the land, and the thousand con- 
trasts presented by its relief. But a common feature of the whole region com- 
prised within the encircling ranges is its scanty rainfall. Little moisture is 
brought to the Anatolian plateaux by the clouds, while the coastlands themselves 
receive less rain than western Eurojje. Although Asia Minor has an area about 
equal to that of France, the collective discharge of all its rivers can scarcely be 
estimated at more than 70,000 cubic feet per second, or about one-thii'd of the 
united volume of the French streams. Contrasted with the Pontine region, which 
enjoys a considerable rainfall during the summer months, the peninsular region 
belongs to the sub-tropical zone, which is marked by comparatively diy summers. 
Thus even at Smyrna, notwithstanding its exposui'e to the moist sea-breezes, the 
fall during the months of June, July, and August, is only two inches, or less than 
the fifteenth part of the average annual discharge. But in certain inland districts 
the blue sky remains at times unflecked by a single cloud for six or seven months 
together. While the coast climate may on the whole be compared with that of 
southern France, the inland plateaux present meteorological conditions analogous to 
those of the Turkestan steppes.* 

In Anatolia malaria has long been endemic. In shifting their beds all the 
rivers have strewn the plains with meres and stagnant waters, while so many 
swamps have been formed by inmidations or the retreat of the sea that large tracts 
on the plains and uplands are constantly wrapped in a pestiferous atmosphere. 
There can be no doubt that since the floui-ishing period of Ionian culture the 
climate has greatly changed for the worse. The deterioration is attested by the 
ruins of ancient cities, such as Miletus, lying in districts now no longer inhabitable. 
There was a time when the rivers were confined to their beds, and when the 
vapoiu'S were arrested by the trees fringing their banks. But so ruthless has been 

* Mean probable temperature of Asia Minor: winter, 40° F. ; summer, 72° F. ; average, 5-4° F. 
Climate of Smyrna : extremes, 40° — 103° F. ; mean, 65° F. ; rainfall, 24 inches. 



280 SOUTH- •U^STEEX ASIA. 

the destruction of timber in the greater part of the peninsula, that the contami- 
nated air of the plains and valleys is freely wafted over the uplands. The natives 
show great skill in selecting the sites of their summer camping-grounds amongst 
the hills, where they are sheltered by crests or headlands from the effluvia of the 
low-lying marshy lands. In some districts, the villages on the plains are com- 
pletely abandoned during the hot season, when oflacials, peasants, thieves, and 
mendicants migrate bodily to the upland yailas or encampments. In the open 
districts these are composed of tents or stone cabins ; in the wooded regions of north 
Anatolia, of log-huts, like the Russian izbas. Several of these temporary villages, 
standing mostly on the ruins of old towns, are important markets, visited by 
traders from the coast for the purchase of butter, cheese, cattle, and other agricul- 
tural produce. 

On the inland plateaux, the scanty vegetation flourishes chiefly in the spring. 
It presents a marked contrast to the varied flora of the surrounding coastlands, 
where are successively represented all the botanical zones of the neighbouring 
lands. Thus the rich vegetation of the Pontus forms a transition to that of 
Mingrelia, while in the Troad are found all the plants of Macedonia and Thrace, 
side by side with many Asiatic tj^pes. The two lonias of Anatolia and Europe 
have in the same way exchanged their characteristic sjjecies across the islands of the 
..^ilgean Sea, while in Cilicia many Syrian and even Egyptian specimens have 
become acclimatised. Thus in the history of its flora, as well as ia that of its 
inhabitants, the peninsula forms a land of transition between the three continents 
of Europe, Asia, and Africa. The Mediterranean vegetation is represented chiefly 
by evergreen shrubs, such as the laurel, arbutus, and myrtle, which on the slopes of 
the Anatolian hiUs acquire an extraordinary development. The oak also is here 
found in greater variety than in any other part of the world, offering as many as 
fifty-two species altogether, of which twenty-six occur nowhere else. 

The most extensive Anatolian forest is the Agach-deniz, or " Sea of Trees," 
which covers the BoU Hills to the east of the Sakaria Valley. All the northern 
slopes of the ranges running parallel with the Euxine are richly wooded, while 
forest tracts are also met in the intervening valleys and river gorges. The Agach- 
deniz supplies timber for building jDurposes and masts for the Turkish navy ; but in 
general, forestry is still in a rudimentary state. In the inland districts lying off 
the main roiites little use is made of the timber except for fuel, and in Caria this is 
often obtained bj' the destructive process of firing the woodlands. 

The terraced disposition of the vegetable zone on the slopes of the encircling 
ranges is nowhere better seen than along the southern face of the Cilician Taurus. 
The subtropical belt of pabn-groves and garden-plots enclosed by hedges of aloes 
leads to the caduceous forest timber clothing the lower hiUs. Farther up come the 
conifers — at first the sombre pine and many species of juniper, then Cilician spruce 
and cedars. Nowhere else in Anatolia or Syria, not even on the Lebanon itself, are 
to be found such magnificent cedar-groves as those which girdle the Bulgar-dagh 
escarpments to an altitude of 6,000 feet and ujDwards. Here grow several millions 
of these glorious evergreens, disposed in clusters towering above the pines, firs, and 



CLIMATE, FAUNA, AND PLOEA. 281 

juuiijers. But here also the fires kiudlecl by the improvident natives, often 
wrap the hill-sides in a sheet of flame, destroying thousands of trees in a few 
hours. Beyond the forest zone follows the brushwood corresponding to the 
upland pastures of Alpine Europe. On the Cilician Taurus grassy slopes are rare, 
except along the line of running waters, and to the very foot of the arid or snow- 
flecked crags the ground is overgrown with woody plants and lovely evergreen 
shrubs. At an elevation where the European highlands present nothing but 
monotonous gray surfaces, the heights are carpeted with stretches of bright- coloured 
flowers, imparting to these silent uplands a diversity of aspect of which the western 
Alps can give no idea. The north-eastern Pontine ranges present a much greater 
resemblance with those of Central Europe, but they are far more diversified, some 
of the pastures yielding as many as two hundred species of Alpine plants. 

The presence of foreign varieties has been found associated with the settlements 
of immigrants from distant lauds. Thus amid the ruins of strongholds erected by 
the Genoese, or the Knights of Rhodes, along the headlands and islands of the 
southern seaboard, flourish the soapwort and other European plants, sprung from 
those brought hither by the western settlers some six or seven hundred years ago. 
Garden-plots and orchards also occur, where according to the local tradition, the 
walnut, apple, cherry, and other fruit-trees, were planted by the Genoese. On the 
other hand, Europe has during recent times been indebted to Anatolia for a far 
greater number of specimens. Diu-ing the sixteenth century the western botanic 
gardens were little more than nursery-grounds, for acclimatising the evergreen oak, 
the agnus castus, eastern juniper, white and black midberry, viburnum tinus, 
sumach, and other Levantine varieties. 

Little effort has hitherto been made to repair former waste by fresh plantations. 
The attempts made in this direction have hitherto been chiefly limited to the few 
trees that have, so to say, become the inseparable companions of man — the plantain, 
associated with his repose, his prayers, his pastimes, and whole domestic life ; and 
the cypress, which watches over his grave. Nowhere else are these plants more 
venerated than in Anatolia, where they are almost regarded as sacred objects of 
worship. 

The wholesale destruction of tunber has been followed by the disappearance of 
numerous animal species. Thus the lion, which survived down to the time of the 
Crusades, is now no longer met, except, perhaps, in the more inaccessible gorges of 
the Lycian Taurus. Here also the Turks speak of the presence of another large 
feline variety, to which they give the name of kaplan, and which may perhaps be 
a leopard or a panther, like the variety that still infests the Tmolus highlands. 
Nor is the hyena completely extirpated, and the night is still everywhere alive with 
the bowlings of the jackals, with which the village pariah dogs keep concert. In 
the eastern districts the jackal is rarer than in the centre and on the Ionian coast, 
and it has been partly replaced by the brown and the black wolf. The fox is also 
less frequent than in southern Europe, and the carnivora are altogether mainly 
represented by the various species of half- savage dogs that prowl about the streets 
of all the large towns. They are rarely if ever attacked by hydrophobia, although 



282 SOUTH-WESTEEN ASIA. 

in the neighbourhood of Smyrna a few cases are reported of deaths following the 
bite of mad dogs, wolves and jackals. Against this malady the peasantry use a 
decoction of bitter roots. 

The larger Eurojiean game is also found in Anatolia, where the wild- boar is very 
common in some districts. The deer and roebuck are met in herds, and the gazelle, 
unknown in Europe, frequents the lowland plains of Cilicia, while other species of 
antelope probably inhabit the plateaux. The segagra, or wild-goat, still sxu-vives in 
the Cilician Taui-us and the Anti-Taurus, near the regions where the goat appears 
as a domestic animal in ancient times. So striking is the resemblance between the 
two in size, outward form, and shape of the horns, that it is probable the tame 
variety has sprung from the wild stock. The upland steppes are also frequented 
b}^ the wild- sheep, a species of mufflon supposed to be the prototype of the European 
shee2J. Thus Asia Minor, the original home of so many vegetable species, would 
appear to have also yielded two of our most valued domestic animals. On the other 
hand, it may be doubted whether the Angora goat, so remarkable for the delicacy of 
its silken, glossy down, is of Anatolian origin. It is mentioned by none of the old 
writers, who nevertheless describe all the sheep whose wool was used ia the 
manufacture of fine woven fabrics. Hence the introduction of the Angora goat is 
attributed by Chihacheff to the Turkish immigrants in the eleventh or twelfth 
centuries. This writer is inclined to trace these tribes and their flocks back to the 
vaUey of the Bukhtarma, a tributary of the Irtish, in the Altai Moimtains. Here 
is also found a species of cat, more remarkable even than that of Angora, 
distinguished like the native goat for its silky fleece, and apparently indicating 
analogous climatic conditions. But however this be, the Angora goat is at present 
limited to a district about 16,000 square nules in extent, and even here it floui-ishes 
only on the plateaux and in the valleys lying between the altitudes of 2,000 and 
5,000 feet above the sea. The flocks number altogether from 400,000 to 500,000 
goats, which are extremely difiicult to acclimatise elsewhere, the least change of 
locality causing a corresponding deterioration in the quality of the fleece. Of the 
ovine family, the most ordinary variety is the haramanli, or fat-tailed sheep, which 
prevails also in Syria, on the Asiatic steppes, and even in Southern Russia. The 
open plateaux and steppes are the proper domain of the sheep, the goat being 
confined to the escarpments of the encircling ranges. The steppes themselves are 
everywhere undermiued by the galleries of the burrowing jerboa. 

Horned cattle were never very numerous in Asia Minor, although the south- 
western regions are said to be frequented by a few zebus, with a hmup and short 
movable horns, like those of the Indian variety. But the most common bo\'ine 
species is the buffalo, which is everywhere found along the river banks and on the 
marshy lands fringing the peninsula. It is even said to roam wild, or else to have 
lapsed into the savage state, in the swampy tracts formed by the shifting beds of 
the Seihun and Jihim, and perhaps in some other districts. The only variety of 
camel is the one-humped species, which is utilised as a pack animal, bearing loads 
of 250 lbs. even over the mountain passes and escarpments. The caravans, consist- 
ing of from seven to nine camels tied together by a string, are usually headed by a 



INHABITANTS OF ASIA MINOR. 283 

small ass, whose rider's legs almost touch the groimd. The Anatolian camel 
nowhere betrays that antipathy for the equine species which it manifests else- 
where ; it associates peaceably with the horse, and has even been seen yoked 
tog-ether with the ass. 

The immigration of the camel, jDrobably dating from the twelfth century, is one 
of the most striking signs of the territorial and political changes that have taken 
place in Asia Minor. For this animal symbolises the substitution of Oriental 
culture for the civilisation of the Mediterranean races. Even the present race of 
Anatolian horses seems to be mostly a cross on eastern stock. Like the Turkoman 
variety, it has long legs and a comparatively large head, while the tail resembles 
that of the Persian breed. It is an active, hardy animal, distinguished, especially 
in the eastern provinces, for its graceful form, but nowhere very numerous. As a 
beast of burden it yields not only to the camel, but also to the ass, the latter a 
small debased variety far inferior to the superb donkeys of Syria and Egypt, and 
to the wild si^ecies, a few specimens of which are said still to survive in the 
wooded districts of Eastern Anatolia. The mide, said by a tradition recorded 
in the Iliad to have been first bred in the peninsula, is still employed by the 
Anatolians, and preferred even to the horse, both for mounting and as a pack 
animal. 

One of the most characteristic features of the Anatolian landscape is the stork, 
which in some villages is more numerous than the people themselves. At the time 
of the yearly migrations to the winter quarters in Egypt, they collect in flocks of 
25,000 or 30,000 on the borders of the marshy tracts, where they take wing for the 
flight across the Mediterranean. Like the crows, magpies, and swallows, they 
prove valued allies to the husbandman when the locusts settle in vast multitudes 
on the land. But a stiU more welcome friend is the smarmar {turdus roseus), a 
pink thrush with black wings, which falls furiously on the destructive insects, 
killing them not only for food, but for the mere pleasure of exterminating them. 
On one occasion the French engineer, M. Amat, saw the inhabitants of a whole 
village coming out, volimtarily giving up their houses to these carnivorous birds 
during the breeding season. 

Inhabitants of Asia Minor. 

The inhabitants of Asia Minor are of very diverse origin. Forming the western 
extremity of the continent, the peninsula became the natural converging point of 
all the warlike, nomad, or trading peoples migrating westwards. The southern 
districts were formerly occupied by Semitic tribes, whose speech seems to have 
prevailed even in the interior. In the south-west they appear to have become 
intermingled with a dark race, possibly Kushites. In the eastern provinces the 
chief ethnical elements were allied to the Iranians, and spoke dialects akin to the 
Zend, while others represented those immigrants from the North collectively 
grouped as " Turanians." In the west opposite streams of migration poured in 
across the Bosphorus and Hellespont. Here the Thracians maintained the com- 



284 SOUTH-WESTERN ASIA. 

inercial and social relations between the European and Asiatic lauds encircling tlie 
Propontis, while a constant intercourse was kept up by the Hellenes between the 
opposite shores of the iEgean Sea. Numerous contingents arrived even from the 
remotest parts of Europe, amongst them the Gauls (Galatians), who for centuries 
maintained a separate national existence in Western Asia. But at no period did 
the peninsula belong to a single homogeneous people, one in sjjeech and culture, 
lonians, Leleges, Carians, Phrygians, Paphlagonians, Lycians, and Cilicians, one 
and all sought each to preserve their own autonomy. Many isolated cities, after 
securing their individual independence, rose to power and splendour; but no 
political unity was ever achieved by the confederation of these places. Such 
uniformity as finally existed was the result rather of foreign conquests, and was 
effected by reducing the inhabitants to a state of political thraldom. 

In this vast ethnical crucible most of the old nationalities have lost their very 
names, and the traditions of their racial origin. Where are now the Chalybes, who 
taught their neighbours the art of smelting and forging ii-on ? Where are the 
Galatians, brethren of the Western Gauls, who gave their name to one of the great 
Anatolian provinces? These, in common with most of the peoples originally 
occupying the inland plateaux, have become gradually fused with the surrounding 
populations. The Greeks in the west, the Kurds and Armenians in the east, are 
the only communities that can trace their origin back to the dawn of history. And 
even amongst those calling themselves Greeks there are many belonging to the 
older stocks, although now assimilated in speech and religion to the dominant race 
on the Ionian seaboard. 

The Yuruks and Turks. 

In the interior the bulk of the people are now of Turki stock. On these 
plateaux with their saline lakes the immigrants from the Aral and Balkash steppes 
fomid a new and congenial home, where they could continue to lead the same 
pastoral life as heretofore. Amongst these intruders there are many whose social 
usages have undergone little change since their arrival, living witnesses of a 
general culture that has ceased to exist in the regions of the globe regarded as 
civilised. Thus the Yuruks, sprung from the earliest Tm-ki immigrant tribes, and 
belonging to the horde of the " Black Sheep," which also included the Seljucides, 
are still nomads, migrating with their flocks twice a year between their summer and 
winter camping-groimds. Some possess real houses, like the civilised Turks, but 
most of them still dwell in black goat-hair tents or huts made of branches, 
approached on all fours, and nearly always full of smoke. The Yuruks are 
Mohammedans in name only, and their women go unveiled, even raising their heads 
when appealed to by the passing wayfarer for mUk or water. The cabins are 
usually disposed in a circle with an opening towards the open space, where the 
tribal interests are discussed in common. Each encampment forms a world apart, 
which neither invites the stranger nor yet refuses hospitality when asked. The 
Yuruk tribes scattered over Asia Minor are reckoned by the hundi-ed ; in the 
province of Brussa alone there are over thirty, subdivided into clans without any 



THE YUEUKS AND TURKS. 



285 



geographical coliesiou. They are commonly spoken of under the generic name of 
"Turcomans," a somewhat vague term, here applied indifferently to nomad 
shepherds of all races, and not necessarily implying identity of origin with the 
Central Asiatic Turkomans. Nevertheless several writers draw a distinction between 
Yuruk and Turcoman, regarding the former as tent-dwellers without fixed abode, 



Fij;. 110. — Villages of variovs Nationalities in the Dakdanelles Distkict. 
SoaJe 1 : 300.000. 




[ of breenv. ch ?6 PO 



C Perron 



80 to 160 Feet. 



the latter as already half settled, chiefly on the central plateaux and eastern 
upland.s. At the same time the transition from one to the other habit of life is far 
more common than is generally supposed. In Anatolia, as in Persia, the increase 
or diminution of the agricultural element is a question not so much of race as of 
public security. The Turcomans especially pass readily from the nomad to the 



286 SOUTH-WESTERN ASIA. 

settled state in peacefiil times, when the camping-grounds soon give place to 
permanent hamlets. Even the Chingani, or Gipsies, tramps, horsedealers, tinkers, 
who are very numerous in Anatolia, and who usually camp on the outskirts of the 
towns, are often confoimded with the Yuruks under the general designation of 
Turkomans. In Lj-cia, where they reside in permanent villages, the Gipsies are 
chiefly stock-breeders. 

In the same region villages and encampments often belong to totally different 
nationalities — Greeks in one place, Cherkesses in another, elsewhere Turks or 
Yuruks. In the towns also every race has its separate quarter, so that no general 
ethnological map could convey a complete idea of all these intermingled yet distinct 
populations. Even where the people belong to the same stock, they are frequently 
split up mto tribes living apart and at times hostile to each other. Certain Afshar 
or Turkoman hordes prowling about the Turkish villages differ from the residents 
only in their habits of life and traditions of independence. They constitute distinct 
communities, who seek to distinguish themselves from their neighbours by their 
arms and costumes. Conspicuous amongst them are the Zeibeks of the Misoghis 
highlands, descendants of one of the first intruding Turki tribes, who have kept 
alive the memory of their ancestral glories, and who still endeavour to impose by 
the sjjlendour of their attire. Thanks to this love of finery and of sumptuous arms, 
these tall and athletic Tatars have unjustty earned the reputation of dangerous 
brigands. At the same time they are certainly a warlike people, with traditions of 
honour, full of pride, and, as the name implies, each "a prince imto himself." 
They fancy the whole world is theirs by right, and the Turkish Government has 
in vain endeavoured to assimilate them to the rest of the population by interdicting 
the use of their national costimie. Other means have been adopted to enforce 
submission ; nearly all the yoimg ;nen have been pressed into the service, and 
thousands perished on the Bulgarian battlefields during the late Russo-Turkish war. 

" Turk," in the ordinary language, is a term applied indiscriminately to all 
sedentary Mohammedans in Asia Minor, whatever be their origin. Thus the 
numerous Albanians sent against their will to serve in the peninsula are regarded 
as Turks, although through their Pelasgian forefathers really akin to the Greeks. 
The Mussulman Bosniaks and Bulgarians, who since the recent wars have migrated 
in thousands across the Bosphorus, are also called Turks, although belonging to the 
same race as the Serbs, Croatians, and Russians who drove them out. The Nogai 
Tatars, from the Crimea, are more entitled to this name, being really of the same 
stock and speech as their Osmanli rulers. The term is applied also to the officials, 
the offspring of Georgian or Circassian women, and more remotely descended from 
all the nations whose captives have for ages peopled the harems. Lastly, amongst 
the Osmanli are also grouped the descendants of the Arabs and negroes formerly 
imported by the slave-dealers from every part of Africa. In many Anatolian 
towns a great part of the population shows traces of negro blood, while whole 
villages in the Jebel- Missis, near Adana, are inhabited by blacks. The Kurds, how- 
ever, notwithstanding their common Mohammedan faith, present such a marked 
contrast to the Osmanli in their features and social usages, that to them the term 



THE YURUKS AND TURKS. 287 

Turk is never applied. Like those of the Zagros and Upper Tigris and Euphrates 
basins, they are for the most part evidently of Iranian origin, although amongst 
the Anatolian Kurds the Kizil-bashes are very numerous. 

The Turks, properly so called, that is, the Turkoman section of the community 
which has adopted a settled life and embraced the Mussulman faith, are seen to 
much greater advantage in AnatoHa than in European Turkey. They are generally 
of a swarth)' complexion, with black hair and eyes, slightly prominent cheek-bones, 
great muscular power, but bad address, a heavy slow gait, rendered more ungainly 
by too ample garments. They lack the grace and activity of the Iranians, but 
thanks to their frugal and temperate habits, they are a remarkably healthy race, 
subject to few maladies. Most of them may be described as "flat-heads," the 
occiput being compressed by the position of the infant in the cradle. On the 
Asiatic side of the Bosphorus, especially round about Olympus, where they are 
less mixed than elsewhere, the Osmanli still preserve all their natural qualities. 
Here they feel themselves more at home than in Thrace, in the midst of Greek, 
Bidgarian, Albanian, and so many other foreign elements. When imcorruptod by 
the enjoyment of authority, or not debased by oppression, the Turk certainly 
contrasts favourably with most other peoples. His very honesty, truth, and 
uprightness have made him a subject of ridicule and compassion in. the eyes of his 
Greek, Syrian, Persian, and Armenian neighbours. Possessing the sentiment of 
solidarity to a high degree, he willingly shares with his comrades, but seldom asks 
in return. "Whatever may be said to the contrary, the " bakshish " nuisance is a 
greater evil in Southern Europe than in the East outside the large towns, where 
the Levantine element prevails. What traveller, however haughty and suspicious, 
has failed to be deeply moved by the hearty welcome always awaiting hiin in the 
Anatolian Turkish villages? At sight of the traveller, the head of the family 
hastens to help him dismount, receives him with a pleasant smile, spreads the most 
costly carpet in his honour, invites him to rest and refresh himself. Respectful, 
but with the dignity of one who respects himself, he spares the stranger all 
indiscreet questions, and essentiallj'' tolerant himself, especially avoids all religious 
discussion. Different in this respect from the disputatious Persian, he is satisfied 
with his own belief, and leaves others to their conscience and their God. 

In the family the Turk is never false to the true spirit of kindness and justice. 
Despite the latitude of the Koran and the example of the pashas, monogamy is the 
rule among the Asiatic Osmanli, and whole cities, such as Phocaea, are mentioned 
in which not a single case of polygamy occurs. No doubt in the rural districts a 
second wife is taken in order to have an extra assistant, while in some manufactur- 
ing towns employers seek to increase the number of hands by this means. But 
under all circumstances, the Turks are far more faithful to the marriage ties than 
are some western comimmities. Absolute mistress in her home, the wife is always 
treated with kindness, and the children, however young, are already considered as 
equals b)'' right. The natural kindliness of the Turks is nearly always extended 
to the domestic animals, and in many districts the asses are still allowed two days 
of rest in the week. 



288 



SOUTH- WESTERN ASIA. 



Although descendants of the conquering race, amongst whom are chiefly 
selected the Government officials, the Turks are themselves no less oppressed than 
the other nationalities of the empire, while in the embassies they find no one to 
Y>\ead in their favour. The taxes, usually farmed out to Armenians, who have 
become the worst oppressors of the land, weigh heavily on the unfortunate 
O.smanli, burdened as they are by so many other charges. To passing officials and 



Fis?. 111.— TinKisu WoM.^N OF Bki-ss.*. 




troops the villagers are bound to supjjly all requisites freely, and this enforced 
hospitality often impoverishes them as much as downright plunder itself. 

When the approach of functionaries or military is announced, the inhabitants 
leave their dwellings and take refuge in the woods or mountain gorges. The con- 
scription also falls exclusively on the Turks, and by a people amongst whom the 
family sentiment is so highly developed, this blood-tax is naturally held in special 
abhorrence. During the period of conquest the Osmanli moved forward in clans 
and families, old and young, wives and sisters, following the warriors to the battle- 
iield, conquerors or vanquished all sharing the same lot. But now the conscription 
carries ofE the young men not merely for a few months, or four or five years, as in 
Western Europe, but for a long period, and often for their whole life. The con- 



TIIE YUEUKS AND TUEKS. 289 

scripts, most!}- married for two or three years, hare thus to part from parents, wife, 
and children, and all the family ties become suddenly broken, perhaps for ever. 

"Weakened and threatened in their national existence by the systematic blows 
of this enforced military service, endowed also with the fatal gift of resignation, 
the Turks are exposed to the greatest danger in the vital competition -with a race 
possessed of a more enterprising spirit. They cannot contend successfully with the 
Greeks, who by pacific means are avenging themselves for the war of extermina- 
tion of which Cydonia and Chio have preserved the traces. In the struggle the 
Tui'ks are hea^-ily handicapped, being mostly ignorant and artless, and speaking 
their mother-tongue alone ; whereas the Greeks are clever, full of subterfuge, and 
acquainted with' several languages. Without being lazy, the Turk disHlces hurry. 
" Haste," he says, " is the devil's ; patience is God's." He cannot dispense with 
his kief, a vague dream in which he Lives the life of plants, free from the effort to 
thiak or will. His very excellences tell against him. Honest and faithful to his 
pledged word, he will work to the end of his days in order to discharge a debt, a 
quality of which the money-lender takes advantage to offer him long and ruinous 
credits. " If you wish to succeed," says an Anatolian commercial axiom, " trust 
the Christian to one-tenth, the Mussulman to tenfold his income." Thus trusted, 
the Turk no longer possesses anything he can call his own. All the products of 
his toil are destined for the usurer, into whose hands will successively pass his 
costly carpets, his crops, his live-stock, his very land. Nearly all the local 
industries except weaving and saddlery have alreadj' been monopolised by others. 
Deprived of aU share in the seaborne traffic and in the industrial arts, he is being 
graduaUj' driven from the seaboard to the interior, where he lapses to the nomad 
life of his forefathers. If agriculture is stiU left to him, it is only that he may tiU 
his own land as a hireling. Presently nothing wiU remain open to him except the 
guidance of caravans or a purely pastoral existence. The Osmanli have been 
almost completely driven from the islands of the Ionian coast, while in the large 
maritime cities, where they were till lately the dominant element, they are now 
reduced to the second rank. In Smj-rna itself, the great mart of their peninsular 
empire, they seem rather tolerated than obeyed. Even in certain inland towns 
Hellenic already counterpoise Tm-kish influences. The movement seems as irresis- 
tible as the surging tides, and the Osmanli are themselves as fully conscious of it as 
are the Greeks. Long since the simmions to withdraw from Europe has been issued 
not only against the ruling Osmanli, but also against the mass of the Turkish nation, 
and we know that the cruel mandate has ah'eady been to a great extent realised. 
By hundreds of thousands the emigrants have taken refuge in Anatolia from Greek 
Thessaly, from Macedonia, Thrace, and Bulgaria, and these fugitives are a mere 
fragment of the victims that have had to quit theii- paternal homes. The exodus 
continues, and wiU doubtless cease only when the whole of lower Rimielia shall 
have again become European in speech, habits, and usages. And now the Turks 
are threatened in Asia itself. The ominous cry " To the steppes ! " has been raised, 
and one asks in terror must this mandate also be realised ? Is there no possible 
means of reconciliation between the conflicting elements ? Is the unitv of civiHsa- 



290 SOUTH-WESTEEN ASIA. 

tion to be had only by the sacrifice of whole populations, and those above all which 
are most distinguished bj- the highest moral qualities — uprightness, truth, manliness, 
courage, and tolerance ! 

The Anatolian Greeks. 

The Greeks, those children of oppressed riots, who already regard themselves as 
the future masters of the peninsula, are probably to a large extent descendants of 
the lonians and other maritime Hellenes. Still they cannot on the whole lay 
claim to any great purity of blood. The fusion has been complete between them 
and the various peoples who penetrated into the petty Ionian states, and who later 
on became Hellenised imder Byzantine influences. The distinctive mark of Greek 
nationality as constituted in Asia Minor is neither race nor even speech, but 
religion in its outward forms. The limits of the nation, which may be estimated at 
about one million altogether, coincide with those of the orthodox communities. 
As in the island of Ohio and in the Erythrean peninsula, many villages are 
inhabited by Osmanli, descendants of fugitives from the Peloponnesus, and speak- 
ing Greek exclusively. So also a large niunber of Greek communities usually 
converse in Tm-kish, and even write their ancient language with Tui-kish characters. 
Several villages in the Hermus and Cayster valleys have only revived the Greek 
tongue since the establishment of schools. Farther inland also numerous Greek 
populations are met withiu a few hours of the seaport who know Turkish alone. 
On the other hand there exist Hellenic communities which have scarcely been 
modified for the last two thousand years. Such are the inhabitants of Karpathos, 
Rhodes, of some other neighbouring islands, and of some valleys on the Carian 
coast, where the old Dorian idiom has left a large number of words. In the islands 
of the archipelago vestiges survive of customs anterior even to Hellenism itself. 
Thus in the interior of Cos and Mitylene the daughters alone inherit from their 
parents, and from them come the offers of marriage. "When the eldest daughter 
has selected her husband, the father gives up his house to the couple. 

At the neck of the peninsula on the Armenian frontier there survive some 
Greek communities which have resisted the influence of their Kurd, Armenian, and 
Osmanli neighbours, and which speak the old Hellenic language full of archaic 
forms that have disappeared from the Greek current on the Ionian seaboard. 
Thus Pharash (Pharaza), perched on a bluff overlooking the Zamantia-su on the 
border of Cappadocia and Cilicia, has preserved its Greek nationality in the midst 
of the surroimding Turkoman population. Proud of their primitive speech, the 
Pharaziots claim Peloponesian descent, and it may at all events be admitted that 
Hellenic colonists have here become intermingled with the descendants of the 
ancient Cappadocians, who had early adopted Greek civilisation. Eut unless 
fostered by the spread of education, the Greek language must soon disappear from 
the eastern provinces of the peninsula. In some of the former Grcek-sjieaking 
villages, the national songs are now remembered only by the old, and in many 
families the rising generation has ceased to sj)eak the language of Homer. Some 



ASIATIC GREECE 







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GemblL 



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LONDON. J. S. VIRTU E c* C -' LIMITED 



THE ANATOLLAJS" GREEKS. 291 

communities have even adopted Islam since the beginning of the present century, 
and similar conversions seem to have taken place during the time of the first 
Mohammedan invasions. The Afshars of Cappadocia, differing so greatly from 
those of Persia, are by some ethnologists suspected of being descended from the 
formerly Hellenised aborigines. Although spealdng the same language as the 
other Mussulmans, thej- betray a marked resemblance to the ancient Greeks in their 
habits and customs. Now, however, the decadence of Hellenism in the inland 
villages seems to have reached its extreme limits. Those who have preserved the 
name of Greeks have also preserved the proud consciousness of their real or supposed 
origin, and the recently established direct relations with their western kindred 
will henceforth uphold them in the struggle for independent existence. 

In any case the rcA^ival and expansion of the Greek national sentiment along 
the coastlands, has been so rapid that a rough calculation might almost be made 
of the time when the ancient Asiatic Hellas wiU be recovered as far as the central 
plateaux by the gradual and peaceful substitution of one race for the other. 
Although religion is the outward token of this ethnical movement, proselytism is 
not it chief leverage. The Anatolian Greeks are, in fact, seldom, distinguished by 
their religious fervour ; the clergy have but slight influence over them, and except 
in the villages, are rarely consulted on the secular affairs of the commimity. The 
true bond of union between the scattered Hellenic groups is patriotism. They feel 
their kinship with their brethren wherever settled on the Mediterranean seaboard, 
and apart from conventional political divisions, their eyes are turned rather towards 
Athens than Constantinople. At the same time, they see the fatherland not in any 
given city, but in the rising tide of Hellenism, surging up amidst the islands of the 
archipelago, and advancing along the encircling shores at so many points between 
Alexandria and Odessa. AH the AnatoKan Hellenes are animated by the " great 
idea," and all understand how it is best to be reaKsed. No other race is more alive 
to the value of education in this respect, and their zeal for the instruction of the 
rising generation rivals that of the Armenians themselves. In every village the 
chief business of Kfe is the schools, in the prosperity of which the wealthy classes 
take the deepest interest. On one point aU. are agreed, that is, the paramount 
importance of fostering the national sentiment and the pride of race in the young. 
All students are taught ancient Greek, and read the classic writers in whose pages 
are reflected the greatness and the glory that made their forefathers the teachers 
of mankind. All study modern history, and especially the heroic deeds performed 
by their race during the war of independence. Under the passive eye of their 
Turkish rulers, they inspire themselves with the thought of the day when these 
riders must withdraw, and thus is their political emancipation being slowly and 
peacefully accomplished. To endow and support the schools, rightly- regarded as 
the hope of the future, no sacrifice is grudged. Many private persons buUd colleges 
in their lifetime, while the sacred cause of education is never forgotten in the 
testaments of all patriots. 

Thanks to this general spread of culture, the Greeks have already wrested from 
the Turks many industries and all the liberal professions. In the towns they are 



292 SOUTH-WESTEEN ASIA. 

the physicians, lawyers, and teachers ; and as journalists or interpreters they have 
become the exclusive channel of information for Europeans. To their nationality 
everywhere belong the most skilful craftsmen, and a single visit to their dwellings 
suflSces to show that they have not lost the inheritance of perfect rhythm and pro- 
portion bequeathed to them by their ancestors. Despite many centuries of 
barbarism and oppression, they still produce works which might serve as models for 
European artisans. In their houses the woodwork, floors, wainscoting, and ceilings 
are fitted with a marvellous nicety, while the eye is delighted by the taste displayed 
in the ornamentation and disposition of colours. In the port of Smyrna the boats 
of the humblest oarsman are masterpieces of solid building, graceful outline, and 
happy adjustment of all the gear and rigging. The only fear is, lest through love 
of change the imitation of western models beguile them from a purer standard, and 
induce them to copy objects of foreign woi-kmanship far inferior to their own. In 
the Anatolian towns most of the Greeks already dress in the European fashion, 
ashamed of the rich and elegant national costume which lends so much grace and 
dignity to the carriage. 

The Osmanli rulers are also threatened by the very ubiquity of the Greek 
element. Seafarer and traveller, as in the days of Herodotus, the versatile Greek 
is stiU everywhere to be found, his restless activity rendering him a match for ten 
sedentary Turks, who never quit the natal home except to breathe the purer air of 
the uplands in their summer camping-grounds. Amongst the Asiatic Greeks are 
a large nimiber from Peloponesus, the European mainland and islands, while 
multitudes pass over from Anatolia to reside with their western brethren. Thanks 
to these frequent visits and the consequent family alliances, thanks also to the 
falsification of passports facilitated by the venal Turkish ofiicials, many Ionian 
Greeks find little difficulty in making themselves legally subjects of Greece. 
Supplied with the documents exempting him and his from direct Tiu'kish control, 
he returns to his Asiatic birthplace a proud citizen of the Hellenic State. Thus it 
happens that in Smyrna and the other Anatolian seaports the Greek consul finds 
himself enjoying jurisdiction over whole communities. In Turkish territory itself 
are in this way developed Hellenic colonies, possessing all the priceless advantages 
of political independence combined with the superiority derived from personal 
enterprise. 

Amongst the Europeans migrating to Asia Minor there are many who are con- 
nected by the bond of religion with the Greek world, and who gradually become 
absorbed in it. Such are the Bulgarians and Wallachians, who soon learn the 
Greek language, and who in the second generation mostly adopt Greek habits of 
life. To these are added a number of Cossack fishing communities settled in the 
Kizil-Irmak and Yeshil-Irmak deltas, near Lake ^Maniyas and on the lower Caj-ster, 
m the neighbourhood of Ephosus. Like those of the Danube, these Cossacks are 
" Old Believers," who towards the end of the last century fled hither from the 
persecutions of the Russian Government. 

But during the last few decades the stream of immigration has been swollen 
chiefly by the Cherkesses, a collective name under which are comprised all refugees 



TIIE ANATOLLiN GREEKS. 



293 



of Caucasian origin. Fearing to render them too independent in the Pontine or 
Taurus uplands, which would have been more congenial homes for these highlanders, 
the Turkish authorities have grouped them in scattered cantonments, mostly on 
lands taken by enforced purchase from the Turks and Hellenes. Here they 
naturally came to be regarded as intruders and brigands, the more so that they 
kept aloof from the surrounding populations, and found it difficult all at once to 
lay aside their old marauding habits. Thus all combined against them, especially 
in the Greek %-iEages, and in many districts standing feuds, accompanied by much 
bloodshed, have since prevailed amongst these antagonistic elements. When a 
Cherkess strays into hostile territory he disappears suddenly, and no questions are 



112. — IXHABITASTS OP AxATOLIA. 
Scale 1 : 11,000,000. 




"^ ^ "--^ " .. - '■ J; 




C, Cossacks. 
Y, Yuruks. 



CZ] 



Greeks. 



Bul^rians. 



Af, Afshara 
Neg, Negroes. 



asked. Nevertheless Cherkess communities have already been developed which, 
possessing sufficient land and live-stock, live in peace with their neighbours, and 
gradually adapt themselves to the new en^^ronment. Some of the Caucasian settle- 
ments in the upper Meander Valley might serve as models for the surrounding 
Osmanli, such is the care they take in tilling the land and keeping the irrigation 
works in repair. Of all these immigrants the Abkhasians have given least cause of 
complaint to the natives. 

Formerly most of the Anatolian trade was in the hands of foreigners, nearly all 
Catholics of the Latin rite settled in Smyrna and the other seaports, and collec- 
tively kno-n-u as " Levantines." Before the revival of the Greek nationality they 



294 SOUTH-"S^^:STEEN ARIA. 

were the exclusive commercial agents between the Turks and the West of Europe. 
But the increasing activity of the Hellenes, combined with the facilities afforded 
for direct intercourse by steam navigation, has greatly diminished the influence of 
the Levantines. Settled for several generations in the peninsula, they are mostly a 
mixed race, speaking their several national languages indifferently, but always 
appealing to their consuls, and enjoying exemption from Turkish jurisdiction. 
Amongst them are nearly always chosen the consular agents and the official 
employes of the foreign representatives. Sooner or later they wiU doubtless 
disappear as a distinct class, and even long before them will also vanish the lingua 
franca, which has been developed by the commercial relations of the Levantines 
with the other inhabitants of the seaboard. This jargon, consisting of a few 
hundred words placed side by side without any inflections, was mainly Italian, but 
also comprised some Provencal, Spanish, and French terms, as weU as a few local 
Greek and Turkish words connected with trade. But this crude form of speech has 
already almost ceased to exist, having been replaced by an Italian dialect and by 
French. In course of extinction is also the " Spaniol," another Levantine jargon 
introduced by the Jewish refugees from Spain — a barbarous or archaic Spanish 
mixed with a number of Hebrew expressions. Education is gradually substituting 
cultured languages for all these crude forms of speech, and in many parts of 
Anatolia French, often spoken with remarkable purity, has already become the real 
lingua franca of trade and social intercourse. 



TOPOGKAPHY. 

From the very relief of the land, its inhabitants have necessarily been con- 
centrated along the seaboard. Here are situated the great majority of the towns 
and large villages, and, as in the Iberian peninsula, with which AnatoHa presents 
so many points of resemblance, the population diminishes in density towards the 
interior. Nevertheless the central plateaux, like those of Spain, contain a number 
of important places, serving as indispensable stations along the great trade routes 
crossing the peninsula from shore to shore. The water-parting between the Euxine 
and Mediterranean corresponds almost exactly with two distinct styles of archi- 
tecture. The pitched roofs covered with tiles characteristic of the north are every- 
where succeeded southwards by terraces of beaten earth or shingle, independently 
of the climatic conditions. 

West of Cape Jason, regarded as the eastern limit of the Anatolian Pontine 
coast, the town of Unieh serves- as the outpost of the rich Janik district, whose 
quarries yield fine red and white limestone blocks, besides the jasper of which 
were perhaps made the vases that Mithridates delighted to show his guests. The 
limestone hills of the interior are covered with a yellow argillaceous clay containing 
ferruginous ores, which are smelted and forged by the natives, possible descendants 
of the ancient Chalybes. The iron, refined with charcoal, is of excellent quality, 
and is bought up by the Turkish Government for use in the arsenals. On the 



TOIvAT— AMASIA— C^SAEEA— SINOPE. 295 

same coast are the small ports of Fa/isa, Orlu, and Vona-Uman, the last of which 
offers the best anchorage along the whole Anatolian seaboard of the Euxine. 

In the rugged u^jper valley of the Ghermili, chief affluent of the Ycshil-Irmak, 
the most important place is Kara-Jiksar, or " Black Castle," distinguished from so 
many other towns of like name by the s^Decial designation of Sheb-Khaneh {^Shahanah, 
Shabin^, so called from its alum mines. The produce of these works is conveyed 
over the Gumbet-dagh to the port of Keramn, from which place a carriage-road 
has been traced, but not yet executed, to the quays of Tireboli. In the Ghermili 
Valley is also situated the ancient city of Niksar (Neo-Csesarea), the Cabira of 
Strabo, which lies about 30 miles from the confluence of the two main forks of the 
Iris, 1,600 feet above sea level. 

TOKAT AmASIA CvESAREA — SiNOPE. 

Tokat, capital of the Upper Iris (Tosanli-su) basin, is one of the greater inland 
cities of Asia Minor, and a chief station on the highway between Constantinople 
and Upper Mesopotamia. Its suburbs and gardens stretch far along the side 
vaUej^s, and 7 miles higher up stand the ruins of the sumptuous Comana 2^ontica, 
where a Bj^zantine bridge crosses the Iris. The wretched earth or adobe hovels, of 
which Tokat largely consists, might easily be replaced by marble houses with the 
admirable building material from the neighbouring hills. On one of these stand 
the picturesque ruins of a Byzantine castle, while its sides are pierced by natural 
and artificial caves, which probably served formerly as a necropolis. The busy 
copper foundry of Tokat is supplied with ores from the Koben-Maden mines beyond 
Sivas, and its household utensils of this material are exported to Egypt, Persia, and 
Turkestan. The pears and apples from the surrounding gardens have a finer 
flavour even than those of Angora. 

On the verge of the fertile Kaz-ova plain below Tokat stands the large village 
of Turkhal, commanded by a completely isolated pyramidal rock, which presents a 
curiously striking likeness to an Assj'rian temple, and which is still crowned by a 
ruined fortress. On a plain watered by a tributary of the Iris south-west of 
Turkhal lies the town of Zilleh, the ancient Zela, whose citadel is also perched on 
an isolated eminence, on which formerly stood a famous temple of the goddess 
Anahit, regarded by the old Persian monarchs as the most sacred shrine of the 
national divinities. The numerous pilgrims at one time attracted to this spot have 
been succeeded by traders from all quarters. Zilleh has thus become one of the 
chief Anatolian market-towns. On the route leading north to Amasia lies the 
battlefield where Caesar overthrew Pharnaces, king of Pontus, an event rendered 
memorable by his laconic description : " I came, I saw, and conquered." 

Amasia, birthplace of Strabo, fills a narrow basin traversed by the Iris, just 
above its confluence with the Tersakan-su. East and west rise the lofty crags tha 
shelter the city from the solar rays for several hours in the day. The less 
precipitous east heights are partly laid out in terraces, planted with vineyards and 
studded with houses. Those on the opposite side, at whose base are still visible 



296 



SOUTH-WESTERN ASIA. 



remnants of the palace of the Pontine kings, present an almost vertical flank, 










;iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiia,;iiiii[!iiiiwiiiiiistiiii;iiaMiaiiiiii«L. i i\aimm^^m'mk.'i 



topped by the citadel described by Strabo. The present fortress is ahnost entirely 
of Byzantine and Turkish erection ; but there still remain two fine Hellenic towers, 



TOKAT— AMASI A— C^SAEE A— 55IXOPE . 



297 



besides galleries cut in tlie rock auci leading to a secret spring in the interior. On 
the face of the bluff are shown five royal tombs, standing out sharply against the 
grey ground of the rock. 

This old metropolis of Pontus has preserved no other remains except a few 
fragments of sculptured marbles used in building the piers of one of its bridges. 
But it boasts of a handsome mosque, fine fountains, quaint houses, large irrigating 
mills, and streets that may almost be called clean, thanks to the white vultures that 
act as industrious scavengers. There are also some local industries, such as silk- 
carding and cloth-weaving, chiefly carried on by the Greeks and Armenians, who 

Fig. lU.— Amasia. 
Scile 1 : lOO.OOfl. 




constitute about one-fourth of the population. Nevertheless Amasia, the " Oxford 
of Anatolia," is a stronghold of Turkish fanaticism, containing some 2,000 
Mohammedan students, who are distributed in eighteen medreseh or colleges, 
supported by revenues derived from lands, houses, and shops. 

Along the lower Iris follow the towns of Chorum, Mersifun (^Mersiwcui), and at the 
head of the delta Charshamla, a mere group of houses scattered along both banks 
of the muddy stream. Nearly midway between the two deltas of the Iris and 
Kizil-Irmak lies the modern port of Samsun, which has succeeded to the ancient 
Amasiis of the Greeks, rather more than a mile farther north. The present town. 



298 



SOT'TII-WTSSTEEN ASIA. 



with its narrow dirty streets, has nothing to show except its roadstead, comprised 
between the two vast semicircles of the fluvial alluvia. Since the middle of the 
present century its trade has much imj^roved, especially with Russia, and in 



Fig. 115. — Samscn. 
Scale 1 : 1,760,000. 




LofG, 



Otol6 
Feet. 


16 to 82 
Feet. 


32 to 48 
Feet. 


48 Feet and 
upwards. 

_ 4,400 Yards. 



numerous engineering projects Samsun is designated as the future terminus of a 
railway intended to run through Tokat and Sivas to the Mesopotamia!! plains.* 

Siras, capital of a large province, lies on the right bank of the Upper Kizil- 
Irmak, in a gently sloping plain some 4,000 feet above sea level. Notwithstanding 
some waste spaces strewn with rubbish, and debased structures dating from Persian 
* Shipping of Samsun (1880), 310,000 tons. 



TOK.\T— AMASIA— C^.SAEEA— SIXOPE. 299 

times, Sivas is one of the most flourishing jDlaces in Central Anatolia, thanks to its 
convenient position at the converging point of the chief caravan routes between the 
Euxine, the Euphrates, and Mediterranean. The Armenians, who constitute a 
fifth of the population, have here several schools, and in the neighbourhood a much 
venerated chm-ch and a wealthy monastery. On the south side, near the village of 
V/ash, are some very productive salines worked by the Government. 

Kaisarieh, the ancient Csesarea and capital of Cappadocia, occupies an old 
lacustrine basin, south of the Kizil-Irmak Valley, sheltered from the southern rays 
by the gigantic Argaeus, and traversed by a small affluent of the Red River. 
Nothing now remains of the lake except a swampy tract flooded in winter, when 
the overflow is discharged through the Kara-su, which also receives the drainage 
of Ctesarea itself. The ravine through which these waters escape is undoubtedly 
the outlet said by Strabo to have been dammed up in order to convert the plain into 
an inland sea. Of the ancient Caesarea (ilazaca), which lay nearer to Argaeus than 
the modern city, nothing survives except a few shapeless piles, while a more recent 
mediaeval town overthrown by earthquakes is now a heap of ruins. The present 
Caesarea, where the Greeks and Armenians form over one-third of the population, 
has lost some of its transit trade since the development of steam navigation along 
the seaboard. The chief place in the district is Everek, an exclusively Christian 
town at the southern foot of Argaeus. Many of the surroimding villages are 
inhabited hj Greeks, who for the most part now speak nothing but Turkish. 

The main route running from Caesarea westwards to the Bosphorus passes by 
the towns of Injeh-sti, Urgub, and Nem Shehr (^Nev Skehr"), the last of which is one 
of the richest and largest places in the interior. About half of the population are 
Greeks, who have monopolised nearly the whole of the local trade. Urgub and the 
neighbovu'ing village of JJch-hissar, or the " Three Castles," lie in one of the most 
remarkable districts of Asia Minor, famous alike for its natural and archaeological 
curiosities. Here the groimd, consisting of a layer of hard stone, rests like a slab 
on strata of tiiffa, which are easily eroded by the action of water. The surface 
itself has in course of ages been weathered by sun, winds, and rains into a network 
of ravines, fissm'es, and barrancas. Some of the hills thus carved out of the tuffa 
have preserved their capitals of hard stone, like the argillaceous obelisks met in 
some of the valleys of erosion in the Alps. Others, rising to heights of from 30 to 
300 feet, have lost their terminal block, and present the appearance of a vast 
encampment covered with thousands of tents. Most of these grej- or reddish cones, 
encircled at their base with a zone of verdure, are pierced by openings giving 
access to interior recesses, the habitations of men, pigeons, or the dead. Some of 
the caves are simple square or roimd excavations, while others are approached by 
scxdptured vestibules or colonnades, and decorated with paintings. "\Yhole com- 
munities might be accommodated in these crj-pts, which were excavated in pre- 
historic times, and undoubtedlj- inhabited by the aborigines of the country. 

At the point where the Kizil-Ii-mak sweeps round from the north to the south- 
east, the town of Kalejih, standing on the left bank, commands the route here 
crossing the river from Angora through Yuzgat to Sivas. Yiizgaf, which lies almost 



800 



SOUTH-'^'ESTEEN ASIA. 



in the geometrical centre of the great curve of the Kizil-Irmak, between Sivas and 
the Euxine, is of modern origin, dating only from the middle of the eighteenth 
century. It stands at an altitude of 5,950 feet, and would scarcely be inhabited in 
the cold season had it not been chosen as the civil and military centre of a large 
district. 

This region was undoubtedly at one time more thickly peoi^led than at present, 
for it contains the ruins of numerous cities which appear to have been very 
flourishing, and which were adorned with sumptuous monuments. Some 2-4 miles 
north-west of Yuzgat, and near the village of Bo(jhaz-Koi, are seen the ruins of a 
vast temple. The surrounding rocks are covered with bas-reliefs, representing 
solemn processions ; and according to Tericr, the city that occupied this site was the 
Pteria, destroyed by Croesus over two thousand four hundred years ago ; while 



Fig. 116. — SiNOPE. 
Scale 1 : 450,000. 






\ . ^fLi.r..-nw,ct, 



I Feet and upw.ards. 
— 6 Miles. 



Hamilton identifies it with the Tavium, which Strabo describes as having at one 
time been a very commercial place. No less remarkable are the ruins of Oyi(k, 
lying 24 miles farther north near the pyramidal trachytic rock of Kara-hissar. 
Here the old palace gateway is guarded by two gigantic animals, with the heads of 
women, body and feet of lions, and in style resembling the Egyptian sphinxes. 
Other sculptures, amongst which the two-headed eagle, revived by some modern 
empires, recall the hunting scenes and battle-pieces figured on the Persian and 
Assyrian monuments. 

Chang vi, and Iskelih, lying in fertile river valleys tributary to the Kizil-Irniak, 
are considerable places ; but the middle and lower courses of the main stream are 
almost destitute of towns. One of the most important is Osniaiijik, standing on the 



Hi l.nl 1M.1 



iiiiiiiililuiultailillltikta 




HEEACLEA— ANCYRA-SCUTARI— BEUSSA. 801 

right bank at the head of an old stone bridge with fifteen arches, crossed by the 
direct route between Constantinople and Amasia. Lower down follow the 
manufacturing town of Kastamuni, one of the chief stations on the road from 
Constantinople to Samsun, Tash-Kbpri, or " Stone Bridge," which has replaced the 
ancient PonipeiopoUs, Vhir-kopri, lying in a valley, and Bafra, the chief mart of the 
delta. The tobacco grown in this moist and fertile region is shipped for Constan- 
tinople at the little port of Kunjaz or Kumjiugaz on the east side of the delta. 

The ancient Assyrian city of Sinope, colonised twenty-seven centuries ago by 
the Milesians, lies near the northernmost headland of Anatolia, on an almost insular 
limestone rock covered here and there with trachytes and volcanic tufPas. The 
absence of commimications with the interior almost severs it from the mainland, so 
that it maj' be regarded as a sort of island, owing its importance entirely to its 
maritime advantages. A narrow sandy isthmus connects the hilly peninsula with 
the mainland, and the cliffs overlooking this neck of land afford an attractive view 
of Sinope with its two roadsteads and surroimding district. But except a few 
fragments of sculptures and inscriptions built into its Byzantine walls, Sinope has 
preserved no remains of the monuments erected here when it was a free Greek city, 
birthplace of Diogenes the Cynic, or later on in the time of Mithridates, who was 
also a native of this place. Although unsheltered by any pier or breakwater, the 
southern and more frequented harbour affords perfectly safe anchorage even 
against the dangerous west winds. The Turkish Govermnent has rebuilt the 
arsenal and dock destroyed when the squadron at anchor in the harbour was burnt 
by the Russians at the beginning of the Crimean war in 1853. The local trade is 
limited to the export of wood and fruits.* 

West of Cape Syrias (Injeh-burnu), western limit of the olive, as already 
remarked by Xenophon, the rocky headlands enclose a few small havens, such as 
the old Greek colony of Iiteboli, Sesamyus, Amasfris (AmasraX where are still 
Aasible the remains of a hanging garden supported on nineteen colossal arches ; 
Bartaii, also of Greek origin, lying over 2 miles inland on the ancient Parthenius, 
navigable to this point by vessels drawing 7 feet. The Filias (Billaeus), a more 
copious stream than that of Bartan, but obstructed by a bar at its mouth, waters 
the gardens of the two important towns of £ast and West Bolt. The former, 
specially known as Zafaran-Boli, from the saffron here largely cultivated and 
exported chiefly to SjTia and Egypt, lies in a large and fertile basin traversed by 
the Sughanli-su, an affluent of the FUias. The latter, the ancient Bithynium, 
stands at an altitude of 2,860 feet amidst the hills crossed by the route from Erekli 
to Angora. It is commanded by a ruined citadel perched on a lofty bluff, whence 
stretch southwards the long wooded ridges of the Ala-dagh, or Galatian Oljonpus. 
On the western headland, overlooking the mouth of the Filias, are scattered the 
ruins of the city of Tium, the " Pearl of the Euxine," whose ivy-clad walls and 
gates, amphitheatres, temples, tombs, and aqueducts, now lie half bm-ied amid the 
foliage of forest trees. 

* Shipping of Sinope (1880), 113,000 tons. 



802 



SOUTK-WESTEEN ASIA. 



Heraclea, Axcyra, Scutari, Brussa. 

Erekli, the aucient Ilcraclca, or " Port of Hercules," althougli much decaj-ed, is 
still one of the most charming towns on the coast. Lying at the issue of a verdant 
glen on a creek sheltered by a headland from the north wind, it is enclosed by old 
walls hidden here and there by clumps of trees, and encircled by beech-clad hills 
stretching away beyond the horizon. Erekli seems destined to become one of the 
chief ports on the Euxine, as soon as the resom-ces of the coimtry shall be properly 
developed. The neighboui'ing coalfields, feebly worked since the Crimean war, 

Fig. 117.— Erekli. 
Scale 1 : 12,500. 




stretch east and west for a distance of at least 70 or 80 miles, with a mean breadth 
of 6 miles, and contain beds 12 or 14 feet thick. A few remains of the ancient 
Heraclea still survive within the modern enclosure, and amid the rocks of the 
northern headland is shown the cave of Acherousia, where Hercules descended to 
shackle Cerberus and vanquish death. In the hilly and wooded district stretching 
southwards to the Ala-dagh lies the town of JJskub, the ancient Frum {Prusias ad 
Hi/pium), where may be seen the remains of a Greek threatre, and some long and 
curious uicriptions. 

Alx-scrai, or the " White Palace," capital of the almost desert region of which the 
Great Salt Lake occupies the chief depression, is inhabited exclusively by Turks, 



IIEKACLEA— ANCYEA— SCUTAEI— BlIUSSA. 



303 



and produces little except the saltpetre collected under the walls after the rains. 
Towards the south the spurs of the Hassan-dagh are covered with the remains of 
cyclopean structures, citadels, tombs, and temples, dating from the times anterior 
to the Macedonian conquest. Viran-shehr, the " Deserted City," is supposed by 
Hamilton to be the Nazianziim known in ecclesiastical history as the birthplace of 
Saint Gregory. 

The lacustrine basin enclosed by the Emir-dagh and Sultan-dagh is much more 
thickly peopled than the saline Lycaonian steppes, and here are found the impor- 



IIS. — Remains of the Temi'LE of Avovstis and Rome 




tant towns of Ihjiin, Ak-s/ic/ir, Buhadin, Afium-];ara-liismr, the last named a large 
and industrious place producing morocco-leather, carpets, and woollen fabrics. It 
is one of the chief stations on the route from the Bosphorus to Syria, and is 
probably destined to form the junction of the two lines from Constantinople and 
SmjTna on the future railway to India. Beyond the northern hills lies the ancient 
JSsIci-Iiara-Mssar, which contains some of the finest sculptured marbles in Asia 
Minor, tombs, baths, and columns, the materials for which were supplied from the 
neighbouring quarries. 



304 SOUTII-^VESTEEN ASIA. 

The region about the head waters of the Sakaria abounds in ruins, but is now 
but thinly peopled. The debris strewn over an extensive plain at Herrjnn-kakh 
are supposed by Hamilton to mark the site of Amorium, while in the broken shafts 
and friezes at Bala-hissar Texier recognises the remains of Pessinus, where the 
Gauls (Galatians) erected a temple to Cybele. The old Greek and Galatian cities 
have been succeeded by Serri-hissar, which stands nearly 3,500 feet above the 
sea, at the south foot of a precipitous granite crag sheltering it from the northern 
winds. 

The Enguri-su, or eastern branch of the Sakaria, waters the plains of the famous 
Ungiirieh or Angora, the ancient Galatian capital, which became the chief centre 
of western civilisation in the interior of Anatolia. The modern town is an unin- 
teresting place standing on a jjlateau over 3,000 feet above sea level, which is 
here intersected by low monotonous hills. But Angora, the Ancyra of the Greeks 
and Romans, contains the remains of a fine temple dedicated to Augustus and 
E-ome, now enclosed within the precincts of the Haji Beirami mosque. Here is to 
be seen the precious "Ancyra Monument," a bilingual inscription in which 
Augustus iu his seventy-sL^th year relates his great deeds, his conquests, and the 
buildings erected by him. The Latin text and Greek translation of this important 
historical document were not critically determined till 1861. The walls and gates 
of Angora are to a large extent constructed with the fragments of Roman edifices, 
temples, colonnades, and amphitheatres. A lion in good style is embedded in a 
Turkish fountain near the modern gates, and in a gorge one day's march towards 
the south-west MM. Perrot and Guillaime have discovered a Hittite monument, 
representing two large figures wearing tiaras and pointing with the right hand 
towards the west. Above these sculptures rise the cj'clopean walls of a fortress 
locally known as the Giaur-kciJeh, or " the Infidels' Castle." 

About a third of the population of Angora are Roman Catholic Armenians, who 
have forgotten their mother-tongue and speak Turkish exclusively. They are 
distinguished from those of Constantinople by a more lively temperament and less 
reserve towards strangers. The type also is less swarthy and coarse, many being 
characterised by light hair, blue eyes, oval faces, and a European phj^siognomy, 
whence Perrot's suggestion that they may possibly be a mixed race, partly 
descended from the old Galatian conquerors. Even the Galatian Mohammedans, 
the mildest and most genial in Anatolia, would seem to have a dash of Gaulish 
blood in their veins, although at least eighteen centuries have passed since the 
complete fusion of the Keltic element in the Anatolian population. The statement 
of Saint Jerome is often repeated that in his time — that is, in the fourth century of 
the new era — the language current in Ancyra was the same as that of the people of 
Treves on the Rhine. But for three centuries Greek had already superseded 
Galatian names, a sufficient proof that the Gaulish idiom had disappeared at this 
epoch. In Galatia no Keltic inscriptions or monuments have ever been found in 
any way recalling the remote western home of the invaders. During the last 
century the trade of Angora was chiefiy in the hands of EngHsh, French, and 
Dutch merchants ; but it is now monopolised by Greek immigrants from Kaisarieh, 



HERACLEA—ANCYEA— SCUTARI— BRUSSA. 305 

who buy up for the English market the delicate fleece of the Angora goats. They 
also forward other local produce, especially wax, and the yeUow Chekeri berry 
{^rhamnus alaternus), which yields a beautiful green dye. 

On the Upper Pursak (Pursadu), western branch of the Sakaria, the chief 
place is Kiui(njch, which rivals Angora in size, while enjoying greater commercial 
advantages through its proximity to Brussa and Constantinople, and to its position 
on the maiu route across Anatolia. Lying 3,100 feet above the sea, on a fertile 
plain, apparently the bed of an old lake, Kiutayeh is commanded by one of the best- 
preserved Byzantine fortresses in Asia Minor. No other remains have sm-vived of 
the ancient Cotymum, a name preserved under the modern Turkish form of Kiutayeh. 

Eski Shekr, or the " Old Town," the old Lorylceum, is frequently mentioned in 
the early Turkish records, and here a great victory was gained by the Crusaders 
under Godfrey de Bouillon. It has some frequented mineral waters, but its chief 
imj^ortance is due to the deposits of meerschaum in the district, of which valuable 
commoditj^ it has hitherto enjoyed a monopoly. It is forwarded to Paris, New 
York, San Francisco, but chiefly to Vienna, for the manufacture of pipes and cigar- 
holders. The beds, which are worked mainly by Persian miners, have already 
betrayed sjTnptoms of exhaustion, although the yearly export has steadily increased 
from 3,000 chests in 1850, to 11,000, valued at £160,000 to £200,000, in 1881. 

In the lower Sakaria basin the chief places are Ayash and Bei-bazar, noted for 
their pears ; Nalli-khan ; Mudurlu (^Modzeni^, commanding the route from Eski 
Shehr to Boli over the Ala-dagh ; Sogul {^Shugsliat^, which contains the tomb of 
Ottoman, founder of the Othman empire ; Bilelijik ; Lefkeli, the ancient Leime, at 
the junction of the Gok-su and Sakaria ; Ada-bazar, a flourishing place near the 
rivulet through which Lake Sabanja discharges to the Sakaria. The magnificent 
bridge, 890 feet long, here thrown across the old channel of the Sakaria, is still in a 
perfect state of preservation. But the stream having shifted its course, it now 
crosses nothing but swampy ground, which has been so raised by alluvial deposits 
that the spring of the arches is comi^letely concealed. The fruit-growing district 
of Sabanja jaelded in 1880 over 6,250,000 lbs. of apples and pears for the Con- 
stantinople market. 

The towns and villages on the Asiatic side of the Bosphorus are mere suburbs 
of the Turkish capital. The peninsula at the extremity of which it stands belongs 
geologically to Asia, for its consists of the same formations, the promontories and 
inlets along the coast corresponding exactly on both sides of the strait. The true 
geological limit is indicated some 18 miles to the west of the Bosphorus, where 
the Devonian rocks of the Anatolian system develop a line of cliffs above the 
more recent Tertiary and Quaternary formations. But from the historic standpoint 
the possessions of both shores of the Bosphorus belongs to Europe, at least since 
the foundation of Byzantium. The fortifications, hai-bours, mosques, cemeteries, 
promenades, fishing hamlets, smnmer retreats, and even the very towns are mere 
dependencies of the neighbouring metropolis. At the Black Sea entrance of the 
Bosphorus the Anatolian lighthouse corresponds to the Rumeli on the opposite side, 
and hostile Russian fleets attempting to force the passage would be exposed to the 

VOL. IX. x 



306 



SOUTH-WESTERN ASIA. 



cross fire of European and Asiatic batteries. The narrowest parts of the strait are 
guarded by the two Genoese towers of Anadoli-kavak, and Rumeli-kavak, while 
the pleasant towns of Bujiik-dereh and Therapia, with their marble palaces, plan- 



Fig. 119. — Asiatic Suburbs of CoNSXANTisorLE. 
Sciile 1 : 78,000. 




I . of Greene, ch QO' 



to 64 Feet. (!4 to IGO Feet. 160 to 320 Feet. 320 and upwards. 
^— ^— — — ^^^^ 3,300 Yards. 



tain-groves, and shady gardens are reflected on the east side by the white colon- 
nades, cupolas, minarets and verdant glens of Beikos, Injir-koi, Chibuklu, and other 
Asiatic villages. The centre of the passage, guarded on the west by the strong 



HEEACLEA— ANCYEA— SCUTAEI— BEUSSA. 



807 



towers of Rumeli-liissar, bxiilt by Mahomet II., is defended at the opposite point by 
those of Anadoli-hissar, dating from the same conqueror. 




Just south of the Anatolian Castle, the valley of the " Sweet "Waters " marks 

x2 



808 



SOUTH-WESTERN ASIA. 



the limits of the Asiatic suburbs of Constantinople — Kandili, Vnni-Iioi, Kuleli, 
Clte)i(jel-koi, Beiler-hcij, Istavros, Kuz-gunjuk, and Scutari ( Ushudar^, which stretch 
about 6 miles iu a continuous line along the east side of the Bosjjhorus. They 
jointly contain upwards of ten thousand inhabitants, grouped iu Turkish, Greek, and 
Armenian quarters according to their several nationalities. More than half of the 
whole number are concentrated in Scutari, which lies over against the Golden Horn, 
and here the Turldsh element greatly prevails. Uumiadful of the Greek origin of 
the ancient CItrysopolis, the Osmauli have come to look on Scutari as a holy city. 
For them it is the extreme promontory of the fatherland, and when di'iven from 
Stambid, hither must they withdi-aw, say their prophets. On the brow of the hill 

Fig. 121. — ^ENvmoNS op Scutari — Turkish Ladies Abroad. 




in the background stand the great cypress trees overshadowing perhaps some 
millions of their dead, their dust mingling with that of other millions of Byzantines, 
Thracians, and still earlier settlers. Hitherto the Ottoman town has been little 
modified by European ianovations. Many quarters have preserved their original 
character ; the fountains with their arabesque carvings, the sculptured tombstones, 
the two-storied wooden houses with their projecting gables, the steep winding 
streets and shady plantains, remain unchanged. From Mount Bulgurlu, overlooking 
the town, a superb panorama is commanded of Constautiuoj)le, the Bosphorus, and 
Propontis. 

South-east of Scutari the line of suburbs is continued by huge barracks and 



HEEACLEA—ANC^YEA— SCUTARI— BEUSSA. 309 

cemeteries as far as the headland of Kadi-koi, the ancient Chalcedonia. Here has 
already begun the European invasion that is gradually changing the aspect of the 
place. The resident population is chiefly Greek, with a few hundred merchants, 
mostly English, from Constantinople. On the plain separating Kadi-koi from the 
great cemetery of Scutari were formerly assembled the armies of the padishahs 
for their Asiatic expeditions. Here, close to the " largest barracks in the world," 
now stands the Haidar Pasha terminus of the railway which skirts the north side 
of the Gulf of Ismid, and which is destined one day to be continued through Syria 
and Babylonia to India. It touches at the little ports of Mal-iepeh, Kortal, Pendik, 
and reaches Ghabize (G/ii/bissa,) where Hannibal died, and where a hillock shaded 
by three cj'presses is said to preserve the ashes of the great captain. 

Ismid (^Is/cimid^, the ancient Nicomedia, "built by a son of Neptune," and 

Fig. 122. — Ismid. 
Scale 1 : 136,000. 




E . of GreenwlcV. 



32 to 80 Feet. 80 and upwards. 
3,300 Yards. 



which Diocletian wished to make the imperial capital, is admirably situated at the 
extremitj' of the gulf of like name on the advanced spurs of a loft}' hill facing 
southwards. The town, with its docks and harbour, is commanded by a modern 
imperial kiosk and a fine old Greek acropolis flanked with Roman and Byzantine 
towers. Nicomedia may be regarded geographically as the real port of the Sakaria 
River, from which it is separated only by a low eminence west of Lake Sabanja. 
But notwithstanding its convenient position at the converging point of all the inland 
routes, its trade is limited to the exportation of some wood and corn. 

An analogous position is occupied by GheniUk, at the eastern extremity of a 
gulf which penetrates far inland, and communicates with the Sakaria Valley by the 
depression of the lake of Niccea. The latter place, now called Isnik, is reduced to 
a wretched village, lost within its double Roman enclosure, and almost completely 



810 



SOUTH-WESTERN ASIA. 



deserted during the unhealtliy season. Yet from a distance Nicaea, " City of 
Victory," residence of the Bithynian kings and birthplace of Hipparchus, still 
looks like a large metropolis, so well preserved are its lofty walls and massive 
flanking towers. But within the ramparts all is desolation. Scarcely a vestige 



Fig. 123.— Brussa. 
Scale 1 : 330,000. 



-' 'Wloud 




r 



i:8"5 L, of Grfp ^ CI 



80 and upwards. 
- G Miles. 



remains of its Roman monuments ; the very mosques are in ruins, and the only 
noteworthy object i.s a small Greek church containing a coarse painting of the 
Nicsean Council, which in 325 embodied in its " Creed " nearly all the articles of 
faith comprised in the "SjTubol of the Apostles." Nicaja was also a famous place 
during the Crusades. In 1096 the Christian army lost 20,000 men in the neigh- 



HEEACLEA—ANCYEA— SCUTARI— BEUSSA. 811 

bouring defiles, and the next year took the town by means of a flotilla transported 
overland to the Lake of Isnik. 

Bnissa, capital of the vilayet of Hiidavendighiar, is one of the great as well as 
one of the most picturesque cities of Anatolia. Divided into several distinct 
quarters, separated from each other by shady glens and running waters, its red- 
roofed houses, gilded domes, and white minarets present a charming picture, seen 
from the fertile plain of the Ulfer-chai. Immediately above the city rise the 
densely wooded slopes of Olympus, which is girdled with successive zones of the 
chestnut, walnut, hornbeam, oak, and various species of conifers. Brussa, which 
retains in a slightly modified form the name of Prusium given to it by its founder, 
Prusias, king of Bithynia, preserves no remains of the Roman epoch. But 
notwithstanding the frequent earthquakes by which its buildings have been 
shattered, it still retains some precious monuments of the time when it was the 
capital of the Ottoman empire. Here Orkhan the " Victorious " received the title 
of padishah of the Osmanli, who had captured it in 1328, and here the Ottoman 
Turks first felt the consciousness of the strength, which made them a great power 
in the world. But after succeeding Ycni-sher as residence of the sultans, it was in 
its turn replaced first by Adrianople and finally by Constantinople as the imperial 
capital. Nevertheless it still remains a venerated city, where the faithfid come to 
worship at the shrines of Osman, Mahomet II., and the other early sovereigns of 
the empire. Amongst its " three hundred and sixty-five " mosques, several are 
noted for the richness and beauty of their enamelled j)orcelains, and one of them, 
the Yeshil Jami, or " Green Mosque," has been restored bj' a French artist in the 
original stjde of Persian art. Brussa is the centre of a considerable trade, and has 
some flourishing industries, especially flour-mills and sericulture. But since 1865 
the silkworms have suffered so much from parasites that the production of the raw 
material in the province of Hudavendighiar has been diminished by two-thirds, and 
the mean annual value of the crop has fallen from £1,250,000, and even 
£2,000,000, to £400,000. The forty-five spinning-mills now work almost exclu- 
sively for the Lj^ons market, and the foreign commercial relations of Brussa are 
carried on solely with France, through Armenian, Greek, and Turkish houses. 

The permanent European colony at Brussa is temporarily increased in May and 
September by visitors to the medicinal waters of Chehirjeh, which are very copious 
and present a great variety of composition, with temperatures ranging from 92° to 
208° F. During the summer heats the wealthy classes and visitors retire to the 
villas scattered over the slopes of Ol3rmpus, or else resort to Mudania, Arnaut-koi, 
and other marine water in g-jjlaces. Mudania, the chief oiitport of Brussa, has an 
open roadstead, exposed especially to the north-east gales, when the shipping takes 
refuge in the port of Ghemlik. Since 1875 Brussa has been connected with 
Mudania by a railway 25 miles long, but which has never yet been opened to the 
public. The rusty locomotives, rails and sleepers carried o£E by the peasantry, 
roadway ploughed up by the rains, are emblematic of the solicitude displayed by 
the Turkish authorities for the public weal. 

In the fertile valley of the Susurlu-chai, which yields rich crops of opium. 



312 



SOUTH-WESTEEN ASIA. 



hemp, and tobacco, there are several flourishing places, such as Si man, near the 
ancient Ancyra of Phrygia; Bogadich (^Bognditm); Balikesri (^Bnlnk-hissar^, a much- 
frequented market-town ; MuaUch, at the junction of the Susurlu with the 
emissaries from Lakes Manyas and Abullion ; ApoUonia ( AbulHon) a fishing town on 
an island in the lake of like name. 

Little now remains of the sumptuous city of Cj'zicus, which occupied an 
admirable position on the south side of a hilly island now transformed to a peninsula, 
with two sheltered harbours facing the Hellespont and the Bosphorus. The strait 
has been completely filled up, and the two bridges which in Strabo's time connected 

Fig. 124. — TdMp OF ;\r.\iioMET II. IN THE Ctrebn MosauE AT BmssA. 




the island with the mainland, have given place to an isthmus about 1,200 3'ards 
broad. At present the eastern port has been replaced by that of Pandermos 
(Panormos), a small Turkish, Greek, and Armenian town regularly visited by the 
steamers from Constantinople. The western port has been succeeded by Edek, the 
ancient Artake, which is surrounded bj^ vineyards yielding the best wines in 
Anatolia. Facing it on the mainland stands the large village of Aidinjik, where 
are seen numerous inscriptions found amongst the ruins of Cyzicus. In the 
neighbourhood are the marble quarries whence came the material used in facing 
the granite buildings of the city. 



TEOY— PERGAMUS— S.iEDES— SJIYEXA. 



313 



Troy, Pergamus, Sardes, Smyrxa. 

On the mainland stretching west of the Gulf of Erdek and of the Marmora 
islets, the only important place is Bigha, which lies some 12 miles inland, at the 
point where the Koja-chai (Granicus) escapes from the hills, and where Alexander 
gained his decisive victory over the Persians. Nor is the Asiatic side of the 
Hellespont much more densely peopled. Here Lamsaki, the ancient Lampsacus, 
whither Themistocles withdrew when exiled from Athens, is now a mere hamlet 
buried amid the surrounding olive-groves and vineyards. Of Ahydoa the very 
ruins have disappeared, or have been replaced by the barracks and batteries 



Fisj. 125. — Svzicvs AND Artaki Penixsula. 
Scale 1 : 400,000. 






7 "'r?" 




^'' 



E . af Green .%^;ch' g/'O 



80 to 160 Feet. 160 and upwards. 
6 Miles. 



defending the entrance of the strait. The Castle of the Dardanelles, central point 
of all these fortifications, stands on the southern side at the mouth of the Chinarlik, 
the ancient Rodius. Kaleh-Sultanieh, as the Castle of the Dardanelles is officially 
called, maj' be regarded as the port of entry of Constantinople, where all vessels 
are obliged to cast anchor before passing on to the capital. This place also takes 
the name of Chanak-Kalessi, or " Castle of the Potteries," from the local glazed 
earthenware, noted for its eccentric forms. The surrounding hills abound in 
metalliferous deposits, of which the Government has mostly retained the monopoly. 
On a headland south of Kaleh-Sultanieh are seen the regular lines of the 
acropolis of the ancient Dardanus, whose broken marbles strew the surrounding 



314 



SOUTH-WESTERN ASIA. 



slopes. Farther on the large Greek village of Eren-koi {Ughelmez), perched on a 
terrace planted with walnut and oak-trees, affords a distant idew of the Trojan plain 
and conic moxmds crowning the surrounding hills. The valley and a rivulet supposed 
bj^ SchKemann to be the Simois, separates the Eren-koi heights from a chain of 
hills, the last of which, overlooking the marshy plain of the Mendereh, is the 
famous terrace of Hissarlik, or the " Fortalice," identified by most archaeologists 



Fig. 126.— The Troad. 
Scale 1 : 160,000. 



' J 




L, .<b^een 



160 and upwards 
3 Miles. 



with New Ilion. Contrary to the opinion of Strabo, Schliemann regards it as the 
Homeric Ilion. Hence the natural tendency shown by the illustrious explorer to 
exaggerate the value of the discoveries which have resulted from the enormous 
labour undergone by him on this spot. 

Here the solid rock is covered with remains disposed in regular laj'ers, which 
date apparently from six different epochs, and which have a total thickness of 
52 feet. Below the upper layer, belonging to the historic Greek period, a very 



TROY— rERGAMUS— SARDES— SMYENA. 315 

tliin stratum containing vases of Lydian origin is followed by two strata, where 
the houses, of mean appearance, had been built of small stones joined together with 
mud, and plastered inside with clay. Beneath these is supposed to lie the Troij of 
the Iliad, a burnt city whose ashes contained a thousand objects attesting the 
Hellenic origin of the Trojans and their special worship of Athene. Lastly comes 
the lowest stratum, indicating the settlement of a people anterior even to legend. 
Judging from the form of the objects found in the ruins, the burning of Troy took 
place some thirty-six centuries ago, during the pure copper age, when the deities 
were represented with animal faces. Nevertheless the Hissarlik terrace, about 
200 acres in extent, is much too confined to have ever afforded space for a large 
and strongly fortified city. It is also destitute of water beyond a little moisture 
oozing out at the foot of the cliff in rainy weather. According to Lechevalier and 
Forchhammer, the site of the ancient Ilion is to be sought rather on the Bunarhnc/ii 
hill, south of the alluvial plain, which is strewn with shattered blocks, and which 
commands the west bank of the Mendereh with impregnable escarpments 330 feet 
high. The hovels of the present Bunarbachi stand on the north side, which slopes 
gently down to the plain, and at the foot of the cliff lie the " forty springs," which 
are collected in two rivulets flowing to a common channel regarded by Lechevalier as 
the true Scaraander of the Iliad. Here no extensive excavations have yet been 
made, and the remains of buildings hitherto discovered do not belong to the proto- 
Hellenic period. 

There exists a third Troy, built by Alexander the Great, on a heacUand of the 
.^ilgean facing the grey clifi's of Tenedos. This place was also long regarded as the 
residence of Priam, and its present name of Eshi-Slambul, or Old Constantinople, 
illustrates the delusion which everywhere in this district conjured up a great city 
dating from the dawn of history. Alexandria Troas certainly presents some impos- 
ing ruins, fragments of ramparts, remains of baths, palaces, temples, and aqueducts. 
The quarries of a neighbouring granite hill contain columns resembling those 
brought to light at Bunarbachi and Hissarlik, and in one of them is a monolith over 36 
feet in length. At present the inhabitants of the Troad are concentrated chiefly at 
the very extremity of the continent, in the isolated space limited on one side by the 
Mendereh, on the other by the Besika channel. Here the southern cliff is crowned 
by the large Greek village of Neo-lchori (Yeni-koi), while on the north side the 
ancient Sigmmi has been succeeded by Ycni-shehr, or "New Town," at the 
extremity of the cliffs. Still farther north the low point separating the mouth of 
the Mendereh from the ^gean is occupied by the fortress and small town of Kum- 
kaleh. The whole plain is covered with extensive cemeteries and sepulchral mounds, 
which with some trach5'te cones heljj to break the monotony of the uniform slopes 
and crests. The mounds traditionally associated with the names of Achilles, 
Patroclus, Antilochus, Ajax and Hector, have probably no connection with these 
Homeric heroes, for the objects extracted from them date only from the Mace- 
donian and imperial times. Ujek-tepe, the highest of the artifical eminences 
standing on the plateau on the east side of Besika Bay, was formerly consecrated 
to the Prophet Elias, and was annually visited by Greek pilgrims from the surround- 



816 



SOUTH-WESTERN ASL\. 



ing districts. But since the ground has been desecrated by Schliemann's excava- 
tions, the religious feasts have been discontinued, and the devotees have ceased to 
visit the spot. 

Baba-kaleh, at the south-western extremity of the Troad, rises in picturesque 
terraces along the steep slope of the headland. A little farther east stands the 
ancient to'wn of Assus, described by Leake as the j^erfect ideal of a Greek city, 
when speaking of the amphitheatre of its well preserved trachyte walls. Edremid 
(^Adrami/tfi^, on the alluvial j)lain skirted northwards by the spurs of j\Iount Ida, is 
still a popidous place, although its harbour has been completely choked by the 
alluvia of the torrents converging from all parts towards the neighbouring bay. 
On this coast the chief trading place is Cydonia, the Aivali of the Turks, which 

Fig. 127. — HissAKHK (Ilion) — View t.\ken tkom the Mendekeh. 




stands on a bay separated bj' the archipelago of the " Hundred Isles " from the 
Gidf of Edremid, and connected through its harbour with the isolated town of 
Moskhinisia. After its destruction by the Turks in 1821 this place long remained 
imoccupied ; but it has been rebuilt by other Greek settlers, and is once more 
distinguished for its enterprise and commercial activity. Nowhere else in Asia 
Minor is the contrast more striking between the two rival races. Some 9 miles 
south-east of Aivali recentlj^ stood the Turkish town of Ayasmat, whose inhabitants 
massacred their Aivaliot neighbours in 1821, and usurped their vineyards and 
olive-groves. Now Aj^asmat is reduced to about twenty wretched hovels on the 
edge of a vast necropolis, while the Greeks of Aivali have increased threefold, and 
repurchased their old landed property. The harbour having silted up, thej' have 



TROY— PEEGAMUS— SAEDES— SJdTENA. 



317 



excavated a channel over 12 feet deep, affording access to the vessels which here 
take in cargoes of oil, wine, and grapes. 



■i'>l 




Mytilini, which carries on a large trade with Aivali and the other ports on the 



818 



SOUTH-MrESTERN ASIA. 



mainland, lies on the west side of Mytiliui, or Lesbos, the famous island that gave 
birth to Sappho, Alcseus, Terpander, Arion. The town is pleasantly situated under 
the shelter of a low hill crowned with irregular mediaeval fortifications, which seem 
to have been constructed rather with a view to effect, so artistically disposed are 
the walls and ramparts amid the surrounding vegetation. The delicately tinted 
houses rise in a series of terraces along the slojDe, and are succeeded higher up by 
extensive olive-groves. In Mj^ilini, tiU recently called Castro, from its castle, are 
concentrated over a third of the inhabitants of Lesbos, nearly all Greeks, noted for 
their commercial enterprise. The harbour is tmfortunately accessible only to light 



Fig. 129. — Peeg.vmus. 
Scale 1 : 30,000. 




E of Greenock 



craft, and although Lesbos possesses the two really fine havens of Kalloni and the 
Olives, these lie off the main highway of vessels plying between the Gulfs of 
Smyrna and Edi-emid. Besides a Roman aqueduct at Mytilini, the remains of 
temples and citadels are scattered over various parts of the island. 

In the fertile valley of the Bakir (Caicus), the chief places are KirJiayach, in a 
district which grows the best cotton in Anatolia ; Soma, a centre of the corn trade, 
and Berguma, the ancient Pergamus, on the Boklujeh (Selinus), formerly one of 
the great cities of Asiatic Greece. Built in prehistoric times by the mythical 
Pergamus, son of Andromache, it became in the Macedonian era the capital of a 
kingdom, which the dynasty of Attains bequeathed to the Romans. From this 



TROY— PEEGAMTS— SAEDES— SMYENA. 319 

period date the temple known as the " Basilica," and the remains of many other 
fine monuments. Over 1,000 feet above the plain rises the steep hill crowned by 
the acropolis, north-east of which a stadium, a theatre, and an amphitheatre mark 
the site of the Asklepeion, a watering-place famous in the Greek world for its 
salubrious air and its copious thermal springs. Pergamus also boasts of prehistoric 
monvuuents, galleries cut in the live rock, and four tombs, one of which is supposed 
to mark the grave of the founder of the city, and his mother, Andromache. 

Until 1878 Pergamus had jaelded but few antiqtdties of much importance. 
But since then, the German Government having obtained pel-mission from the 
Porte to make a complete exploration of the acropolis, the upper terrace has been 
subjected to a thorough survey under the direction of Conze and other archiBologists. 
About half of the ground, covering a space of 20 acres, has been carefully examined, 
and the plan of the buildings crowning the hill is henceforth clearly determined. 
On the south stood an altar over 130 feet on all sides, surrounded by colonnades ; 
towards the centre of the acropolis the temple of Minerva Polias rose above the 
edge of the western escarpment, and several other structures were grouped round 
this sanctuary of the tutelar deity of the city. Farther on, at the culminating 
point of the hill, the Romans had erected an Augusteum, while the northern 
promontory terminated with a temple of Julia. Round the altar and temple of 
Minerva were found the most precious bas-reliefs, which with those of Olj'mpia 
have become the glory of the Berlin Museum. About two hundred statues and 
sculptured pedestals of the best period were recovered from the ruins, besides an 
admirable frieze some 330 feet long, representing a battle of the giants, the last 
struggle of the Titans against the gods. In the whole range of Greek art there 
is no heroic subject treated with greater variety of invention combined with a 
m.ore powerful grasp of the predominant idea and skilful execution. These Titans 
are supposed to symbolize the Gauls (Galatians), overthrown near Pergamus in the 
year 168 B.C. Another scarcely less interesting discovery was that of a Greek 
house two thousand years old, with all its compartments and mural paintiags com- 
plete. Henceforth the name of Pergamus takes the same position in the history of 
art that it hitherto occupied in the history of the sciences, thanks to its illustrious 
citizens, such as Galen, and to the precious manuscripts written on the skins fii'st 
prepared here, and hence caMeA pergamena, whence our vforA. parchment. 

A road 17 miles long, constructed by Humann, explorer of the ruins, leads from 
Pergamus to its new port of Dikli, ab-eady a flourishing Greek town, the rise of 
which has seriously affected the trade of Chaiidarlik on the north side of the gulf 
of like name. On the opposite side the hamlet of Lamurt-koi marks the site of 
the ancient Cumes (^Ci/me^, mother of the Italian Cumes, where Yirgil places one 
of the entrances to the lower regions. Farther on the Greeks have founded the 
settlement of Yenijeh-Fokia, or " New Phoc«a," on a part of the coast exposed to 
the north winds. 

Karaja-Fokia, or simply Fokia (^Fuges, Fogkrieh^ is the famous Phociea, whose 
daring navigators founded Marseilles and so many other colonies. Its harbour, 
sheltered on the north and north-west by the little Peristerides archipelago, was 



820 



SOUTH-WESTERN ASIA. 



formerly defended by a citadel, whose ruins still cover the crest of a neigbouring 
headland. The modern town, inhabited almost exclusively by Greeks, is grouped 
round the beach, whence are visible the remains of an old acropolis overlooking 
the modern seaport of Varia, the Haji-Liinan of the Turks. The trade of Phocsoa 



Fig. 130.— Phocea. 
Scale 1 : 70,000. 




L , 0^ breenW'Ch 



to 32 Feet. 32 to 80 Feet. 80 to 160 Feet. 160 and upwai-Js. 

■^^— ^^— — ^.^^— — ^^ 3,;i00 Miles. 



is at present restricted to the export of salt, enormous heaps of which are piled up 
on the quays. 

Ghediz, which gives its modern name to the valley of the Hermus, is a small 



TROY— PEEGAMUS— SAEDES— SMYENA. 



321 



place standing on a creek commanded by the snowy crests of tlie Muvad-dagh and 
Ak-dagh. It is probably the Cadi of the ancient Greeks, and occupies a position 
somewhat analogous to those of Bcmirji, Gordis, and Ak-hissat; in the upper valleys 
at the southern foot of the hills skirting the northern edge of the Hermus basin. 
Ak-hissar, the ancient Thijatira, has preserved nothing but a few sculptured frag- 
ments of its old temples and palaces. It is now eclipsed by Mcrmerefi, which 
stands on a hill on the north side of the lake of the same name. 

JTiila, lying in the " burnt " region south of the Hermus, is noted for its rugs 
and other woven goods, and is also an agricultural centre for the opium and other 

Fisr. 131. — Sakdes— Columns of the Temple of Cybele. 




produce forwarded to Smyrna by the Hermus Valley railway. The present 
terminus of this important line is Ala-shehr, the ancient Philadelpliia, founded by 
Attains Philadelphus, king of Pergamus. Although frequently overthrown by 
earthquakes, Philadelphia, which lies at the foot of a spur of the Tmolus (Boz-dagh), 
in the valle}' of the Cogamus (Sari Kiz-chai), a tributary of the Hermus, still 
preserves the remains of several temples, of a stadium, a theatre, and of the city 
and acropolis walls. It was one of the " Seven Churches " mentioned in the 
Apocalypse, but no ruins have been discovered dating from the first period of 
Christianity. It was the last Anatolian city captured by the Tm-ks, against whom 
it held out till the year 1390. At present its Greek inhabitants are increasing 
rapidly and developing an active local trade. 

VOL. IX. V 



322 



SOUTn-WESTEEN ASIA. 



Sardcs (Sardin, Sart), former capital of Lydia, is now a mere roadside railway 
station surrounded by a few sheds and hovels. It stands on the famous Pactolus, 
a rivulet flowing from Mount Tmolus to the left bank of the Hermus, and here 
crossed by a jjlank. The gold-dust washed down from the surrounding conglo- 
merate and red argillaceous hills was used to strike the first known coins, and 
earned for the Pactolus a reputation for inexhaustible wealth. At present the 
native Greek and Turkish shepherds do not find it worth their while to wash the 
sands for the precious metal. Although a great part of the groimd occupied by 
the old city has been covered by the alluvia brought down by the torrents from 
the spurs of Tmolus, the remains are still visible of some ancient monuments. Of 
these the first is the temple of " Cybole," probably a sanctuary dedicated by 



Fig. 132. — Mount Sipylus. 
Scale 1 : 700,000. 




£, of Green vch 7 111 



32 Feet and upwaids. 

——— 18 Miles. 



Alexander to Jupiter Olympius, of which two lofty columns are still standing. 
Since the place was visited ia 1699 by Chishull, the door and six columns, with 
their architraves, have all disappeared ; but a systematic exploration would pro- 
bably yield many precious sculjjtures from the renowned city of Croesus. Farther 
north the numerous sepulchral barrows in the neighbourhood of Lake G3'ges 
(Mermereh) form quite a necropolis, known as the Bin Bir Tcjie/i, or the " Thousand 
and One Mounds." Of these the largest, traditionally assigned to Alyattes, 
father of CrcDsus, is no less than 1,200 j'ards in circumference, but the explorations 
here recently made have only served to show that it had already been rifled by 
former treasure-seekers. 

The modern town of Durgutli, lying west of Sardes, and better known by the 
name of Casmba, stands at the foot of the hills in an extremely fertile plain watered 



uf ILLINOIS. 










' p #-7 II' 






MAGNESIA— SMYRNA-CHIO. 323 

by numerous streamlets flowing nortli to the left bank of the Ilermus. Here 
terminates the easiest route, leading from Smyrna over the Boz-dagh, down to the 
Ilermus valley. Before the opening of the railway which sweeps round the west 
foot of Mount Sipylus, all the traffic with the coast followed this route, which 
nowhere rises much more than 600 feet above sea level. Here are still visible 
numerous traces of an ancient highway, and in the neighbourhood of the road 
descending to the Hermus Valley a gray limestone cliff shows the bas-relief 
described by Herodotus as a figui-e of Sesostris, and now known as the Nymphi 
monument, so called from the neighbouring village of Ninfi or NIf, the site of an 
ancient nj-mpheum. The rock has been much weathered, and many details of the 
armour and costume can no longer be recognised. Nevertheless it seems certain 
that this bas-relief never bore any hieroglyphic inscription, while its style has 
nothing in common with Egyptian art. Wliether of Lydian, or possibly of Hittite 
origin, it betrays evidences of Assyrian influence. Conspicuous also in other pre- 
HeUenic bas-reliefs of Asia Minor. In 1875 the vestiges of a second " Sesostris " 
were discovered by Humanu on a rock in the same valley. 

Magnesia — Smyrna — Ohio. 

The modern Manissa (^Manscr^, the old Mat/nesia, either of the Hermus or of 
Mount Sijjj'lus, occupies a sujjerb position at the foot of the steep cliffs separating 
it from the Gulf of Smyrna. But by the side of the picturesque Turkish quarter, 
which still retains its original aspect, a Greek Magnesia has recently sprung up, 
which threatens soon to outstrip its sleepy rival. About 5 miles to the east a 
recess in a rocky wall contains a somewhat decayed colossal statue, which has been 
identified by some with the Niobe of Homer, by others with the Cybele, mother of 
the gods, spoken of by Pausanias. In any case it seems to be one of the first 
tentative efforts of Hellenic statuary. The scientific term "magnetism " is derived 
from Magnesia, which was formerly noted for its rocks veined with loadstone. 

Below Magnesia the only town in the Hermus Valley is Menemen, which lies at 
the point where the river escapes from the gorges and enters its alluvial plain. It 
may be regarded as an advanced suburb of Smyrna, the Ismir of the Turks, the 
great emporimn of Asia Minor, which lies at the eastern extremity of the gidf of 
like name, where it covers a large space rising gently southwards along the foot of 
Mount Pagus, still crowned with the ruins of an ancient acropolis. But its position, 
much inferior to that of many other less vamited Ionian towns, presents little to 
relieve the dull monotony of its general aspect, esccjjt when approached from the 
south. Here a good view is commanded of the Turkish quarter, spreading out with 
its domes, and minarets, and cjqjress groves between the hiUs and the gulf. 

Next to Constantinople, Smyrna is the most populous, and next to Athens the 
most influential, city of the Hellenic world. In the port little is seen but European 
shipping, and all the quarters skirting the quays belong to the " Infidel." Here 
everything bears the stamp of Western enterprise. The quays paved with lava- 
blocks from Vesuvius, the English trams, Austrian carriages, houses built in the 



824 



SOUTH-WESTERN ASIA. 



French taste ; bricks, marbles, piles, timber, and other materials have all been 
imported from bcj'ond the seas. The stranger scarcely knows any other Smyrna 
excejDt that of the Greeks and Franks, whence the Turks have been driven to the 
slopes of Mount Pagus. Here they occupy a labj-rinth of wretched wooden houses, 
which would never be purified but for the fires which occasionally break out and 

Fig. 133.— Smyrna. 
Scale 1 : 3S,000. 




L. of G 



•«ViV* Cenieterii 



32 to 64 Feet. 64 Feet and upwards. 
1,100 Yards. 



make great gaps in their midst. Judging from the state of public instruction, 
there can be no doubt that the Greeks are rapidlj^ acquiring the supremacy over 
their political rulers. Their college, which has long been protected by British 
influence from the jealous interference of the Turkish Government, occupies a whole 
quarter, and is still spreading. It possesses a constantlj^ accumulating collection 



M.\GNESIA— SliklYEN A— C'HIO . 



325 



134. — Isthmus op Vurlah. 

Scale 1 : 400,000. • 



of antiquities, and a large library of priceless value at this threshliold of Asiatic 
ignorance. The Armenians are also zealous in the cause of public instruction, and 
even the hitherto despised Jews are gradually rising in the general estimation, 
thanks to the energy they display in the education of their children. Many have 
substituted French for Si^anish as the current language of social intercourse.* 

The local industries are unimportant, and even the so-called " Smyrna " carpets 
come from the interior. Nothing 
is produced in the city and suburbs, 
except some coarse cottons, ■wicker- 
work, ribbons, and light silken 
fabrics interwoven with gold 
thread. The chief comestible is 
halra, a paste made of sesame- 
flour and honey, highly appre- 
ciated by Eastern communities 
condemned to frequent abstinence 
from flesh. Most of the exports 
consist of industrial and agricul- 
tural produce brought from the 
interior by the railways, which at 
the end of 1883 had a total length 
of 340 miles. These products- — 
grapes, figs, cereals, oils, cotton, 
tobacco, opium, hides, dressed 
skins, carpets, and rugs — are ex- 
changed for English cotton and 
linen goods, German cloth, Lyon- 
ese silks, brocades, hardware, and 
other manufactures of all sorts. 
The trade of Smyrna with Europe 
is increasing rajjidh", having risen 
from about £3,000,000 in 1816 
to i28,500,000 in 1882. 

Of the summer retreats and 
health resorts in the neighbour- 
hood of Smyrna, the chief are 
Burnabat, Hajilar, Bunar-bashi, 
Kakhija, all situated amongst the 
hills and valleys stretching east 
from the gulf. But amid aU 
these new centres of population, where is the site of the ancient Smyrna, and 

* Approximate population of the "nations" in Smyrna: subject Greeks, 90,000 ; Hellenic citizens, 
30,000; Turks, 40,000; Jews, 15,000; Armenians, 9,000; Levantines and foreigners, 8,000; Tola 
192,000. 




OtoSO 


80 to 160 


160 to 320 320 Feet ' 


Feet. 


Feet. 


Feet. and upwards 



326 



SOUTH-WESTERN ASIA. 



■where are we to look for the Meles, on whose banks Ilomer is supposed to have 
been born ? The old traditions had placed this streamlet under the walls of 
Sraj-rna, and with each successive displacement of the city the name of the river 
■was transferred to a new watercourse. Accepting this tradition, most travellers 
identify the Meles with the rivulet at present flowing to the north-east of the town 

Fig. 135. — Strait of Chios or Chesmeh. 
, Scale 1 : 460,000 



/j^:" 




QB'SO E , of Gneenw^h 



under the " Caravan " bridge, while others think that the true Meles was either 
the Kara-biinar, more commonly known as "Diana's Bath," or the torrent entering 
the roadstead at the north-east corner of the gulf. 

Like the city of Ilomer, the ancient Clazomencs, birthplace of Anaxagoras, has 
almost entirelj'' disappeared. It stood on an island in the outer gulf, which has 
now been converted into a quaranfine station for sliippiiig arriving from infected 



MAGNESIA— SMYBNA—CHIO. 327 

seaports. A causewa}', now razed to the level of the water, had been constructed 
by Alexander, connecting the island with the mainland, at the point where now 
stands the small seaport of Scala, the outlet of the trade of Vurlah, which lies in a 
rich wine-growing country some 3 miles farther inland. On the south coast of the 
isthmus, to which Vurlah gives its name, the two towns of Sevri-hissav and Sigajik 
have also become important agricultural centres. About Ij mile south of Sig-ajilc 
stand the imposing ruins of the Ionian city of Teos, birthplace of Anacreon. 
Within the ramparts, nearly 4 miles in circuit, may still be distinguished the 
remains of temples, of a theatre, and of the shrine of Dionj'sus, to whom the place 
was dedicated. On the same coast, but farther south-east, a few shapeless heaps 
mark the site of Lehedos ; while almost every trace of Claros and Colophon has 
disappeared. This district, formerlj^ thickly peopled and noted for a famous breed 
of horses, is now a wilderness, frequented only in winter by a few nomad pastors. 

During Gi'eek and Roman times Lebedos was much visited by strangers, for the 
sake of the neighbouring thermal waters, which are still utilised. Few regions are 
richer in hot springs than this peninsular district projecting between the Gulfs of 
Smyrna and Scala Nova. The most frequented are those of Chcsmeh ,.Sii the western 
extremity over against Ohio, and near the ruins of Enjthrea. Chesmeh, that is, 
the " Foimtain," in a pre-eminent sense, is memorable for the naval battle in which 
the Ottoman fleet was destroj-ed by the Russians in 1770. The high temperature 
of the springs in this district is attributed to the undergromid forces, which are 
still active in the whole peninsular and adjacent islands. By the terrific earthquake 
of October, 1883, over six thousand houses were demolished in Chesmeh, Latzafa, 
Rifra, and Re'is-dereh. 

The dilapidated appearance of the town of Ch'w, which stretches for some miles 
along the east coast of the island of like name, still bears witness to the disastrous 
effects of the earthquake of 1881, when the whole place was nearly destroyed, 
burying over 5,800 victims beneath its ruins. But such is the enterprise of its 
inhabitants, that they ai'e already recovering from the calamity, as they had 
previously survived the still more frightful catastrophe of 1822, when, during the 
war of independence, 25,000 Chiots were massacred by the Turks, 45,000 carried off 
as slaves to Smyrna and Constantinople, and 15,000 driven to take refuge in the 
islands and mainland of Greece. Of 100,000 souls at that time inhabiting the 
island of Chio, not more than 2,000 survived to repeople this "Paradise of the 
Archipelago." The town of Chio, or Castro, as it is called, from the neighbouring 
Genoese castle, occupies a convenient position on the main route of vessels coasting 
the west side of Asia Minor. It thus serves as the advanced outport of Smyrna 
towards Athens and the West. It is continued north and soiith through the 
extensive suburbs of Vrontndos, the shipping quarter, and Campos, the resort of its 
wealthy merchants. The Chiots have at aU times been famous for their trading 
instincts, and their Greek kindred, jealous of their enterprising spirit, pretend that 
they are the descendants of an old Jewish or Phoenician colony. Nor can it be 
denied that the women esjDeciallj^ betray a certain Semitic expression in the nobility 
and regidarity of their features. Like the Jews, they keep aloof from strangers. 



328 



SOUTH-WESTERN ASIA. 



and even from the Hellenes of the ncighbouriug islands, intermarrying only 
amongst themselves, and manifesting the same clannish spirit in all their business 
relations. Although the island is not naturall}' very fertile, except in the glens 
and lowlands, its industrious inhabitants raise enormous quantities of fruits of all 
kinds, annually exporting from thirty-five to forty millions of oranges, forty to 
fifty millions of lemons, one hundred and twenty-five to one hundred and fifty 
million poimds of mastic, besides large quantities of raisins, grapes, figs, and other 
produce. A remarkable phenomenon of the local vegetation is the olive, which 
bears fruit only every two years, while the lentiscus or mastic- tree, elsewhere almost 
unproductive, here yields in abundance the precious gimi or resin used in the 

Fig. 136. — Chio — View taken after the EAiiTHauAKE op 1881. 




preparation of mastic. The only ancient monument still preserved in the island is 
a seat carved in the rock, about 5 miles north of Castro, supported by rude images 
either of lions or sphinxes. The Turks keep a garrison in the citadel, but take 
little part in the government of the island, which, like most others in the archi- 
pelago, is administered by an almost autonomous body of patricians. 



Ephesus — MiLExrs — IIalicarnassus. 

South of the Smyrna hills the valley of the Cayster, or "Little Meander," 
terminating in the Ephesus marshes, comprises the little territory in ancient times 
specially designated by the name of Asia. It is still one of the most densely 



EPHESUS— MILETUS— H.U:.IC.\ENASSUS. 320 

peopled tracts of xVnatoHa, comprising liimdreds of villages, and the three important 
Turkish towns of Oedernish, Tireh (^Tltijm^, and Baindir, which export to SmjTna 
the grapes, olives, figs, cereals, and other produces of the surrounding districts. 
West of Tireh, which is connected with the Smyrna railway system, lies the 
extensive chiflic of Manliat, presented by the Sultan to the French poet Lamartine, 
but never cultivated by him. 

The city of Ephesus, at the issue of the Cayster Valley, has ceased to exist. Its 
now fever-stricken marshy plain is strewn with superb ruins, but entirely depopu- 
lated, except at the wretched hamlet of Ayasuluk, overshadowed by the broken 
arches of a Eoman aqueduct. Originally comprising three distinct towns, Ephesus 
at one time covered a large space, its ramparts enclosing the steep slopes of the 
Koressos ridge as well as the isolated Moimt Pion (Prion), while another bluff 
farther east was crowned by Hellenic buildings since replaced by a Turkish castle, 
former residence of the Ayasuluk sultans. This extensive area of about 2\ miles 
east and west is thickly strewn with magnificent remains, still attesting the power 
and splendour of the " Eye of Asia," capital of the Ionian confederation, religious 
metropolis of the Hellenic world, consecrated to the di-ead goddess, " Mother of 
Nature," and " Soiu'ce of all things," who imder the triple title of Anahid, Artemis, 
and Diana, rided at once over Europe and Asia. After eight years of incessant 
laboiu', the archseologist Wood at last discovered, in 1871, the foundations of the 
Artemision, the great temple of Ephesus, lying over twenty feet below the surface 
close to the mosque of Ayasuluk, which itself stands on the site of a Christian 
church. The prodigious building, four times larger than the Parthenon, may now 
be reconstructed in imagination, with its rows of fluted and richly sculj)tured 
columns, with its groups of statuary and altars, whose fretted marbles stiU afforded 
glimpses of the neighboming groves and wooded slopes. Some idea of this 
"seventh wonder of the world" may even be had from the admirable fragments 
removed to the British Museum. The remains Ijong on the siirface had been 
partly utilised both for the construction of the aqueduct and, later on, for that of 
the mosque, an original and remarkable specimen of Tiu-ko-Persian art, which is 
embellished with verses from the Koran, disposed in marvellous arabesque designs. 
The foundations exposed on the slopes of Pion and Koressos also reveal the 
amaziug wealth of sumptuous edifices grouped within the walls of Ephesus. 
Conspicuous amongst these was the theatre, which seated over twenty-five thousand 
spectators,* and which was followed by an uninterrupted line of temples reaching 
all the way to the harbour. The avenues were lined by thousands of statues, the 
materials for which were extracted from the vast quarries of Mount Pion. 

As in all religions cities, every stone in Ephesus had its legend, while every 
prominent site on the surrounding hills was noted for some miraculous event. The 
Christians themselves, heirs of the Hellenic traditions, came to regard Ephesus as 
one of their holy places. Here were the "Prison of Saint Paul," the tomb of 
Mary Magdalene, or the cave where the "Seven Sleepers" slimibered with their 

* Wood, "Discoveries at Ephesus." Falkner and other explorers had estimated the numher of 
seats at .56,000. 



330 



SOrTH- WESTERN ASL\. 



faithful dog for two hundred years. Tradition also places at Ephesus the residence 
of the Apostle John, the " holy theologian," whence the name of the hamlet of 
Haghios Theohfjos, corrupted by the Turks into Aj'asuluk. According to Heraclitus, 
the most illustrious Greek born in Ephesus was ApeUes, of whom no work sm-vives 
to justify his reputation in the eyes of posterity. 

The two harbours formerly possessed by EjDhesus have been completely filled in, 
and are now replaced by the port of " New Ephesus," better known by its Italian 
name of Scala Nova. Formerly much frequented, this place has fallen into decay 
since the opening of the Meander Valley railway, by which the produce of the 
whole district is forwarded direct to Smyrna. West of it, near the ruins of Ncapolis, 
lies the Greek town of Chcnujli, said to be the Panionium where the delegates of 



Fig. 137.— Ei'HESus. 
Scale 1 : 90,000. 




E. ffGr 



) Feet and upwards. 
2 J MUes. 



all the Ionian cities came to deliberate on the interests of the cinifodoi-ation. 
Facing it is the island of Samos, of whose old capital nothing remains except a 
single column of the Ilereion, the most venerated sanctuary of Hera in the whole 
of Asiatic Ionia. On its site now stands the little town of Tigani, or the "Shovel," 
so named from the shape of its port on the Strait of Samos, separating it from the 
Mycale peninsula. The surrounding plain is strewn with shapeless ruins, and 
under the hill of the acropolis near Khora has recently been discovered the double 
subterranean gallery, about 4,000 feet long, which suj)plied ancient Samos with 
water. This gallery is now being cleared out, and Tigani will soon receive an 
abundant stream of j)urc water thi'ough a tunnel excavated some two thousand 
four hundred years ago. 



EriIESUS— MTLKTUS— IIAIJCARNASSUS. 



331 



Yttthij, present caj)i(al of the Saraos jirincipalitj', lies on the opposite side of the 
island, at the head of an inlet opening towards the north-west, and accessible for 
large vessels right up to the new quays. The town consists of three distinct 
quarters, the old Palaio-Kastron beyond the steep hill to the south, the city projier 
on the northern spurs, and Knchitni, the new district grouped round the harbour. 
Vathy does a large export trade in fruits, wine, and other produce. It is connected 
by a broad carriage-way with Tigani, on the east side of the island, which is rapidly 
becoming transformed by the spread of agriculture and gardening. The inhabi- 
tants enjoy an almost complete autonomy, being administered by a number of 



Fig. 138. — Ephesus— Prison of St. Paul. 




patricians under a prince nominated by the Porte, to which it pays a nominal yearly 
tribute of £1,900. It flies its own flag, and, thanks to the industry and frugal 
habits of the people, it is rapidly increasing in population and material prosperity. 
Thousands migrate yearly to Smyrna in search of emj)loyment, and the same 
movement is going on in the neighbouring islands of Nikaria and Patmos, the last 
of which has lost nearly half of its jiopulation since the middle of the centuiy. 

JD/iu'ir, at the head of the fertile Meander Valley, lies on the very threshold of 
the central plateaux, and, as the destined terminus of the Smyrna-Meander railway, 
must soon become the central mart for Phrygia and Pisidia. Uchak, lying on one 
of the headstreams of the Meander, in a district which grows the best opium in 



332 



SOUTH-WESTERN ASIA. 



Anatolia, is noted for the so-called " Smyrna cai'i^ets," of which the yearly export 
to England, France, and the United States is estimated at about £80,000. The 
cotton stuffs known in the market as alajas are chiefly woven by the women in the 
neighbouring Musstilman town of Eadi-koi, in the Lj-cus basin, between Saral-koi 
and Dcnizli. About one thousand looms are employed at this place, and in order 
to increase the number of hands, nearly all the Turks of Kadi-koi take the four 
lawful wives permitted by the Koran. 

Benizli, at the east foot of the Baba-dagh, has never recovered from the 
disastrous effects of the earthquake by which it was overthrown in the middle of 
the last century. North of it lie the imposing remains of Lnodkea, one of the 
" Seven Churches of Asia," whose aqueduct, temjjles, and two theatres are now 

Fig. 139. — Strait of Tigani or Samos. 
Scale 1 ; 200,000. 




to 80 Feet. 80 to 160 Feet. 160 Feet .ind upwards. 
6 Miles. 



collectively known as Eski Hissar, or " Old Castle." Here ai-e al.so found some 
traces of Colossus, at the village of Khonas, of Aphrodisias at Geira, and especially 
of HierajJoUs, whose magnificent theatre is one of the best-preserved monuments 
of the time of Hadrian. On the opposite or northern side of the Meander Valley, 
Nazli is the chief centre of the so-called "Smyrna figs," whole forests of which are 
here cultivated for the export trade to the west. But the most important place in 
this region is Aidin-Guzel-Hissar, or simply Aidin, which gives its name to the 
vilayet of which Smyrna is the capital. Its yellow, green, and blue houses stretch 
for some miles at the foot and along the slope of the hills skirting the north side of 
the middle ISIeander Valley. Of its 32,000 inhabitants in 1883, 23,000 were Turks, 
6,500 Greeks, 1,800 Jews aud 1,000 Armenians. Here stood the ancient city of 



EPIIESUS— MII.ETUS— IIALICAENASSUS. 



333 



Trullen, whose ruins have for centuries supplied their building materials to the 
inhabitants of Aidin. 

In the lower Meander Vallej' the onlj' place of note is Soliia, which has acquired 
some importance from its liquorice factories, and from the neighbouring lignite and 
emery mines. In this district are found some of the most precious remains of 

Fig. 140.— Vathy. 
Scale 1 : 60,000. 




ancient art. The village of Samsun marks the site of Priene, whose temple of 
Minerva Polias was a masterpiece of Ionian architecture. At the wretched vdlao-e 
of Palatia, some 12 miles farther south, stood Sliletus, the renowned birthplace of 
Thales and Anaximander, of which little now survives except the remains of a 
theatre, the largest in Asia Minor. Myonte, on a bend of the Meander, north-east 



334 



SOUTH-WESTERN ASIA. 



of Miletus, has completely disapijeared ; but Heraclea, at the head of the old Gulf 
of Latmos, has preserved its agora, and at Didi/ma [Hieronda) are seen the ruins 



Fig. 141. — MiLETCS AND DlIJVMA. 

Scale 1 : 170,000. 




L . o'f Lreenwch 



27° eo' 



160 Feet 
and upwards. 



of the sanctuary of Apollo Brauchides, the largest and one of the most remarkable 
in Anatolia. This temple was connected with the nearest port by a road 23 miles 
long, lined with seated statues recallmg the Egyptian style. 



EPHESUS— MILETUS— UALIOARNASSUS. 



335 



Tlie suiiiU Sari-chai, or " Yellow Eiver " basin, also abounds iu autiquitics. 
Near the town which has given its name to the Gulf of Mendelia, the ancient 
Enromus shows the remains of a fine Corinthian temple ; every house in Melassa 
{Mi/kiHa) has been built of materials taken from old palaces, temples, and mauso- 
leums ; the tombs and cj'clopean waUs of lassiis, near Asiii-kaleh, north of the mouth 
of the Sari-chai, have been iitilised iu the construction of a Venetian fortress, facing 
Canjanda on the opjDosite side of the Gulf of ]\rendelia. From this point an easy 
pass leads down to ITalicaniassiis, now Biidriiii, birthplace of Herodotus, on a deep 



Fig. 142. — BUDKUN AND Kos 
Scale 1 : 3.80,000. 






'fir 




=^Sfj:-: a'' /Cj J 





to 640 
Feet. 


640 to 1,280 
Feet. 


1,280 Feet 
and upwards. 
_ 60 MUes. 



and sheltered inlet lying between two headlands cro^vned resjoectlvely by a temple 
of Aphrodite and the famous mausoleum erected by Artemisia. After escaping 
the effects of repeated earthquakes, this stupendous monument ' was at last 
demolished by the knights of St. John, and the materials used to build a strong- 
hold, which after all they failed to defend agamst the Sultan SoHman. In 1857 — 8 
its site was revealed by Newton and Pullan, and some admirable fragments removed 
to the British Museum. It was the oldest mouument in Anatolia, dating, according 
to Raj'et, from the middle of the fourth centuiy before the Christian era. 

Of Cnidtis, metropolis of the Dorian Hesapolis, which possessed a statue of 
Venus by Praxiteles, nothing remains except some tombs and cyclopean walls. 



336 



SOUTII-AVESTEEN ASIA. 



from which Mehemot AH drew the materials for some of his Egj'ptian palaces. At 
present the chief mart of south-east Anatolia is Kos, at the eastern extremity of 
the island of like name, one of the richest in the archipelago. It exports excellent 
wines, onions, sesame, and supplies the Alexandrian mai-ket with grapes, lemons, 
almonds, pomegranates, and other fruits. Like Halicarnassus, Kos is commanded 
by a fortress erected by the knights of St. John. Here still flourishes a secular 
plantain 63 feet in circumference, beneath whose shade Hijjpocrates is traditionally 
said to have administered advice to his patients. Lying near the Nisyros volcano, 
Kos abounds in thermal springs, and its fertile soil is due to the igneous matter 
formerly ejected by that now extinct crater. Of Kal}Tnnos, Astropalaa, SjTni, 
and the other rocky islets in these waters, the chief resource are their sponge 



Fig. 142. — Pexixsilar of C'nidvs. 
Scale 1 : 700,000. 



'^^^^^ 




1,280 Feet 
and upwards. 
12 Miles. 



fisheries, in which Symi alone employs over one hundred and sixtj' vessels of all 
sizes. All the Symiots are skilful divers, plunging fearlessly into deep waters 
infested by sharks. 



Rhodes — Iconium — Mersina. 

Rhodes, the " Land of Roses," or rather of " Pomegranates," as appears from the 
old coins, is one of the largest islands in the archipelago, where in some respects it 
occupies an exceptionally favourable position. Sheltered from the north-east winds 
by the Lycian highlands, unexposed to direct northern gales, while in summer 
enjoying cool marine breezes, its fertile valleys have the advantage of a more 
equable climate than any of the other Sporades. Rhodes is the " Bride of Helios," 



RHODES— ICONIUM—lSIEESrNA. 



337 



the " Abode of the Heliades," a land free alilic from sunless daj's and leafless trees. 
Lying at the south-west extremity of the peninsula, it forms a converging xooint of 
all the marine highways in the Levant, whence the suvjDrising extent of its com- 



Fis:. 143. — Port of Rhodes. 




mercial relations in former times. In the third and second centuries of the old era 
the Rhodians were " the first navigators in the world." Heirs of the Phoenicians, 
who had i^lanted colonies in the island, they founded trading settlements as far 
west as the Iberian peninsular, where their presence is stiU recalled by the town of 

VOL. IX. Z 



338 



SOUTH-WESTEEN ASL\. 



Rosas, and tlie Rlioda Mountains in tlie Pyrenees. Thej^ carried on a brisk trade 
with kSiuopc, wliicli supfilicd tliem with corn from the Crimea, with slaves and fish, 
and the free nayigatiou of the Eosphorus was at all times secured to their shipping 
by theii- friendly relations with Byzantium. The position of Rhodes was also one 
of vital importance strategically, and when driven from the mainland, the knights 
of St. John showed their sagacity in establishing their chief stronghold on a point 
of great natural strength at the northern extremity of the island. Here they 
stemmed the tide of Moslem invasion for over two hundred years, and in 1522, 
after a heroic resistance, at last capitidated to the forces of Solimau the Magnificent. 



Fig. Hi. — Rhodes. 
Scale 1 : 43,000. 





[ afGre.n....^ 



8 to 160 Feet. 160 to 640 Feet. 640 Feet and upwards. 
-_-^.^___^^_ 1,100 Tarda. 



The town still retains somewhat the aspect of a feudal city, although the church of 
St. John, the palace of the Grand Masters, and some other medieeval monuments 
were unfortunately destroyed by an explosion in 1856. Its three harbours have 
also been nearly obliterated, the central alone being still accessible to ordinary 
craft, but exposed to the dangerous north-east gales. On the east coast stands the 
now deserted jjort of Lindos, near the old Phcenician town of Caniiros, where 
thousands of curious earthenware objects have been found. 

Facing Rhodes on the mainland is the noble harbour of Mah-i, large enough to 
receive all the shipping of the Mediterranean. But Makri itself is a mere village 



EHODES— ICOXIUM— MEESIXA. 



339 



on the site of the ancient Tclmcssus, of which important remains still sui'vive. 
Some remarkable debris of Lycian architecture have also been foimd at Xanthos, 
which formerh' crowned an isolated hill on the alluvial plain watered by the 
CEren-chai or Xanthus River. The tombs and bas-reliefs collected in 1836 by 
Fellows in this district now fill one of the rooms in the British Museum. Since 



Fig. 145. — Valley or the XAXTHVii 
Scale 1 : 630,000. 




160 to 320 Feet. 



320 Feet and upwards. 
12 Miles. 



that time dozens of old towns full of curious remains have been explored in the 
river valleys and along the coast of Lycia. Such are Finara, now Minara, on a 
western affluent of the Xanthus ; Tlos, near the left bank of the same river ; Patara, 
to the west of Kalemaki Bay ; Phellus and Anti-PhcUus farther east ; and in the 
Dembra-chai YaUey Giol-hachi, whose ancient name has not been determined. 

z 2 



340 



SOUTH- WESTEEN ASIA. 



The numerous Lycian inscrijjtions on the rocks and tombs of this region, although 
written in a character resembling the archaic Greek, have not j-et been completely 
decij)here(i. 

Of modern Lycian towns the most flom'ishiug is Elmahi, in the closed basin of 
Lake Avian- gol, which lies near the geometrical centre of the semicircle described 
by the Lycian seaboard between the Gulfs of Maki-i and Adalia. Elmalu is 
inhabited chiefly by Greeks and Armenians, with a Turkish quarter overlooked by 
a graceful mosque. It does a considerable export trade in naorocco leather, skins, 
fruits, and dyes, chiefly through the seaport of Phenika in Lycia, and Adalia, 
probablj' the Atfalea, the city of Attains Philadelphus, present capital of Pamphylia. 

Fig. 14(i. — Chief Itineraries of Lycia. 
Scale 1 : 800,000. 




E of Grecnu i^ l- 



-Schontiom. D. & S.— Daniell & Spratt. B. & lf.—Beiinaorf& Niemann. Toh.— Tchihatoheff. F.— Fellows. 
— ^^^— _^.^_— _ 30 Miles. 



Lying in a rich agricultural district, Adalia carries on a considerable traffic, esj^eci- 
ally with Egypt. It is the natural outlet of the closed basins limited northwards 
by the Sultan-dagh, where are situated some industrial towns, such as Buhhtr, the 
ancient Polydorion, on the right bank of Lake Biddur ; I-sbarta, formerly Paris, on 
a rich plain watered by the headstreams of the Ak-su ; Aghlasan, near the extensive 
ruins of Sagalassus, at one time one of the strongest places in Asia Minor ; Eghedir, 
the Greek Akrotiri, occupying a picturesque position at the southern extremity of 
the lake of like name ; Bei-shehr, on a stream flowing to lake Soghla-gol. 

Konieh, the ancient Iconium, capital of Lycaonia, is strongly situated at the foot 
of the hills overlooking the plains south of the Great Salt Lake, on the main route 
between Syria and Constantinople. It is a decayed place, interesting only for its 
mediteval and ancient remains, amongst which the mosques dating from the Seljuk 



RHODES— ICOXK'M- MEESrNTA. 



841 



period are specially remarkable for their exquisite arabesques and enamel work. 
Zilkh, Ij'ing to the north-west, is entirely inhabited by the Greek descendants of 
the old Hellenic pojnilation expelled by the Turks from Iconiimi. In the region 
stretching west of this point, where Davis has i-eccntly discovered some Hittitc 
inscriptions, are Karaman, formerly capital of Karamania ; Eregli, Kftra-hunar, and 
Nigdeh, near Ti/ana, birthplace of Apollonius, recently discovered bj- Hamilton. 

Mersina, the chief seaport of Cilicia, has been partly built with the broken 
marble blocks of an older Greek city. Some miles to the west other remains 
indicate the position of Soli, where was spoken the barbarous Greek dialect whence 
incorrect expressions take the name of " solecisms." Farther on stand the Roman 









Fig. 147.— Eljialv. 










Scale 1 : 4SO,00O. 




















\-' 






V-- .;v"-^--: 




1 


- '- 


^San 


nan^ 












# 






tl-- 


■ ■ 




















lo' 


w..- 


i ' ' " ,-- 






;0 




[. of... 


^=.-..,.r.- 



colonnades of Ponqjciopolis, and the remarkable megalith known as the BerihU-tash 
a huge prehistoric block resembling the menhirs of Brittany, 50 feet high and 
weighing at least 300 tons. Mersina is connected by a good modern road witli 
Tarsus and Adaiia, the former near the right bank of the Cydnus (Tarsus-chai), 
the latter in the fertile valley of the Sarus (Seihim). Tarsus claims a vast antiquity, 
and, according to a local legend, the plain on which it stands was the first left dry 
by the subsiding waters of the Deluge. In the time of CsDsar and Augustus it was 
the rival of Alexandria, and its schools were considered superior even to those of 
Athens. Mark Antony made it the capital of his Asiatic empire, but it was ruined 
by subsequent wars, and its harbour became choked with sand. Of its former 
greatness not a vestige now remains beyond a huge mound of potteries, consisting 



842 



POUTH-T\Ti;STEEN ASU. 



chiefly of votive figures, and the Dumilc-tash, a huge square block of masonry 
nearly 300 feet long and about 2G feet high, the date and pui-pose of which have 
not been determined. A portion of the trade of Tarsus has passed to Adana, which 
is the natural outport of the Seihun and Jihun basins, and which occupies a vital 



Fig-. 148. — ALiiiST.uf AND Mauash 
Scale 1 . 450,000. 




,-JS: 






I r 






.^MflBASH 



■t.. ofb.een.v.cr, 



position at the southern terminus of the historic route leading from the Upper 
Euphrates to the coast of CiHcia. The Seihun is also navigable to the quays of the 
city, which has a large export trade with Cyprus and Sp-ia, and which is soon to 
bo connected with Mersina by a narrow railway 36 miles long. 



FUTUEE TEOSPECTS OF .VXATOLLV. 343 

In the Ujijoer Seihun Yalley Sfir or Sarfere/i, near the new town of Azizieh, 
marks the site of the ancient Komana, or Sierapolis, whose temples, theatres, 
gymnasia, and other remains date from the Graoco-Roman period, although mostly 
of an Eg}-})tian rather than of a classical type. Albistan, sometimes Icaown as El 
Bostan, or "The Garden," is the chief jilace on the Upper Jihun. It lies in a 
fertile well-watered plain cultivated by members of the Armenian Confederacy, 
consisting of six small republican communities, which from a remote time have 
maintained a semi-independent position in the neighbouring upland Zeitun Yalley. 
Marash, also near the confluence of the Jihun and Aksu, is largelj^ inhabited by 
industrious Armenians occupied with cotton- weaving and the preparation of cloth of 
gold and silver. The governor of the vilayet removes during the simimer heats fi-om 
Adana to this health-resort. Sis, in the same district, was a royal Armenian residence 
from 1182 to 1374, and is stiU the seat of a patriarch, whom the Turkish Government 
has set up as a sort of rival to the Catholicos of Echmiadzin in Russian Armenia. 

Future Prospects of Axatolia. 

Geographically, ethnologically, and historically a land of transition between 
Eui'oije and Asia, Anatolia presents in its social and political condition a twofold 
movement of decay and progress, the prelude of inevitable revolutions. The Greek 
element is advancing, the Turkish receding ; the seaboard cities are flourishing, 
those of the interior falling to ruins. Modern industry finds a genial home in 
Smj'rna in close proximity to the camping-groimd of nomad tribes, as destitute of 
material comforts as the Kirghiz of Central Asia ; certain coastlands are as highly 
cultivated as the plains of Western Europe, while elsewhere whole districts are a 
prey to the brigand. Large landed estates are being developed, reducing entire 
popidations to a state of disguised serfdom, and extensive tracts are at times wasted 
by frightful famines, such as those of 1874 and 1878. ^Nevertheless trade, the index 
of agricultm-al and industrial activity, is j'carly increasing. The exportation of 
madder and raw silks has no doubt fallen off ; but cotton, opium, and dried fruits 
have more than compensated the loss. At present Smyrna alone carries on a larger 
foreign trade than the whole of Anatolia at the beginning of the century. 

Hence the balance seems decidedly to point at a general revival, which must 
tend to soften the sharp contrast now prevailing between the coast districts and the 
central plateaus. The locomotive is already beginning to compete with the 
160,000 camels engaged in the peninsular caravan trade, and as soon as the interior 
is opened up bj^ more accessible highways, the prosperity of the maritime regions 
must overflow to the steppes now occupied chiefly by a few Yuruk nomad tribes. 

In the gradual work of transformation, to Smj'rna rather than to Constanti- 
nople belongs the initiative. The railway which has its terminus at Scutari 
does not yet penetrate even into the Sakaria Yalley, whereas the capital of Asiatic 
Ionia already possesses a network of lines extending eastwards into the Hermus, 
Cayster, and Meander basins, and creeping gradually iip to the central plateaux. 
At the same time these lines, however useful in developing the local industries, can 



344 



SOUTH-WESTEEN ASIA. 



have but a secondary importance in the future trade of the world. The great 
diagonal trunk line destined to connect India with Europe must necessarily pass 
through Constantinople. The English, hoM'ever, although masters of India, arc 
not interested in the construction of this direct line, M'hich would be conunandod by 
the batteries of the Bosphorus. Its completion would also have the immediate 
consequence of giving the Central European states the advantage in their coiruner- 
cial relations with the East. Hence the route preferred by Great Britain is that 
which, starting from some Mediterranean port facing Cj^rus, woidd have its 
terminus on the Persian Gulf, that is, a basin commanded hj her fleets. In any 
case, the commercial and industrial conquest of Anatolia is pregnant with 



Fig. 149. — Railways opened akd projected in As a Minor. 
Scale 1 : 11,000,000. 








[ , of l>reenn ^h 



fr^h n 



K .Ron eh ^fj ^jg^, 

jfl-i+na 

n 

AleF'pa 



to 3,320 Feet. 3,320 to 6,640 Feet. 6,640 Feet and upwards. 



Railways. Railways conceded. Railw.ay.s projected. Roads projected. 

~—.^—^^—^^~^—— 240 Miles. 



consequences affecting the political equilibrium of the woi'ld. In an administrative 
sense its unity maybe regarded as already secured. The Sultan's authority is more 
firmly established than ever. Everywhere the vassal or semi-independent princi- 
palities of the dereheij, or " Chiefs of the Vallej^s," have been sup^Dressed and the 
organization of all the vilayets is uniform, although the inhabitants are ^ 'U far 
from being fused in one nationality. Every town in Anatolia has at least four or 
five, often as many as twelve or fourteen " nations," each of which maintains 
relations with its fellow-countrymen or coreligionists in the provinces. Is it too 
much to hope that all these conflicting elements may be moulded into one nation, 
without the violent scenes of slaughter and disorder attending the " renovation" of 
European Turkey under Russian auspices ? 



CHAPTER VIII. 



CYPRUS. 




lYPRUS, having a total area of three thousand eight hundred square 
miles, is the largest island in the Mediterranean next to Sicily and 
Sardinia. It belongs geographically to Asia Minor, from which it 
is separated by far shallower waters than those flowing between it 
and the Syrian coast. Its hills also run in the same direction as 
those of Cilicia. In its flora and fauna, however, it is allied rather to North Syria, 
while historically it is connected at once with both regions. Through the archi- 
pelago it was also brought within the sphere of Hellenic influences, and the religion, 
industries, and arts of the ancient Cypriots bear abundant traces of these various 
elements. But the people were sufiiciently cidtured to impart an original 
character to the germs derived from the surrounding lands. Easily accessible to 
the seafaring populations of Sidon and Crete, Cyprus was still too isolated to 
become a simple dependence of any of the neighbouring nations. From the earliest 
times its inhabitants appear as a people distinct from the other Hellenes. They 
possess a special dialect showing Kolian afl3.nities, and even a peculiar ■m-iting 
system of a syllabic type, apparently related rather to that of the Hittites than to 
the Phoenician, unless it is to be traced to a cuneiform source. 

Politically also Cyprus often enjoyed a certain autonomy, and although subject 
successivelj' to Egypt and Persia, it was never completely reduced by the great 
continental empires. Under Alexander it formed part of the Macedonian world, 
passing thence into the power of Rome and Byzantium. After the fall of 
Constantinople it became a separate kingdom, and for two hundred and fifty years 
it was ruled by the Lusignan family. From them it passed to the Venetians, who, 
after an occupation of a century, surrendered it in 1571 to the Turks. Since then it 
has continued to form officially a part of the Ottoman empire, although since 1878 
it is "administered " by England. For a great naval jjower the position of Cj-prus 
is of great strategical importance, Ij'ing as it does at the entrance of a bay whence 
it commands both the Anatolian and Syrian coasts, while its eastern extremity is 
directed towards the vital point of Hither Asia, that is, the great bend of the 
Euphrates, where all the main routes converge from Syria, Armenia, the Euxine, 



46 



SOUTH- WESTERN ASIA. 



and Persian Gulf. But ttc island is still too destitute of resources to be otlierwise 
a valuable acquisition, and for many years must remain a burden on the iinperia 
revenue. Eoads, harbours, dockyards, fortresses, and arsenals have all to be 
restored, and the topographical survey has only just been begun. 

Mor.XTAIXS AND RiVERS. 

The chief mountain mass of the Olympus, now more generally Imown as the 
Troodos, attains in the south-west an altitude of about G,600 feet, and is streaked \vith 



Fig. 150.— CYi'iirs. 
Scale 1 ; 2,800,000. 




Depths. 



OtoGoO 650 to 1,600 1,600 to 3,200 

Feet. Feet. 3,200 Feet. Feet and 

upwards. 



to 320 320 to 1,600 1,600 to 3,200 
Feet. Feet. 3,200 Feet. Feet and 
lipwai'ds. 
CO Miles. 



snow for the greater part of the year. East of the culminating point other peaks, 
such as the " Two Brother.s," and " Makheras," rise to heights of 4,000 and 5,000 
feet, while the headland of Stavro Vuno (Santa Croce), although only 2,300 feet 
high, owing to its isolated position on the most frequented part of the coast, was 
long regarded as the true " Olympus." Here formerly stood a famous temple of 
Venus, since replaced by a Benedictine monastery. The eruptive rocks of this 
system, bursting through the Tertiary limestones and marls at their base, have 
variously modified the lower strata, and on both sides are foimd mineral deposits, 
especially copper, which bears the name of the Island. Iron mines also occur here 
and there, but lilce those of copper, all have long been abandoned. 



CLIJiLVTE— FLOEA AND FAUNA. 347 

The northern part of the island, terminating north-eastwards in the long 
peninsular of Karpasos, the " Ox- tail " of the ancients, is completely filled by a 
range of mountains quite distinct from the south-western highlands. Cj'prus, in 
fact consists geologically of two islands, sej^arated by an old marine channel now 
forming the plain of Mesaria (Mcsorea), the Makaria, or " Happy " of the ancients. 
The northern chain forms a crescent nearly 100 miles long, but very narrow, and 
running close to the coast. It cidminates towards the western extremity in Mount 
Elias, about 3,400 feet, falling to 2,000 feet in the Kantara peak at the neck of the 
Karpasos peninsular. To the whole range Gaudry has given the name of Cerines, 
from the town at the northern issue of the only carriage-road crossing it. This 
pass might easily be held by a handful of resolute men against a whole army. 

The Pedias, the largest river in Cyprus, flows from Olympus for over 60 miles 
north-eastwards to the Gulf of Famagusta. But notwithstanding its numerous 
affluents it is not a perennial stream, being almost completely dry in siunmer. The 
few lakes also are mere saline lagoons without any outflow, mostly old bays or 
inlets now separated by sandj^ strips from the sea, such as those of Larnaka and 
Limassol, which annually yield from twenty five to thirty thousand tons of salt. 
For agricultural purposes the perennial springs at the foot of the hills or in the 
upland valleys are of more impotance than the so-called " rivers," and many towns 
owe their origin to .such sources of supply. They are less abimdant in the central 
highlands than in the northern coast range, where all take their rise between the 
altitudes of 500 and 700 feet. To explain their existence in such a comparatively 
arid region the natives suppose that they flow from the Cilician highlands in 
submarine channels across the intervening strait at a depth of over 1,000 feet 
below the surface of the Mediterranean. From this source is fed the canal, 9 miles 
long, which supplies Larnaka. 

Climate — Flora axd Faixa. 

Owing to its position between the Syrian and CUician hills, the climate of 
Cyprus is continental rather than maritime. In winter it is exposed to the cold 
winds from the Anatolian plateaux, causing snow to fall even on the plains. The 
rainfall is abundant, especially during the three last months of the year, when the 
rivers overflow their banks and often interrupt the commimications. But the 
change is very sudden from winter to siunmer, when the sky remains cloudless for 
months together, vegetation becomes bui-nt up, and the temperature rises at 
Larnaka to 90° F. in August. Dm-ing this season malaria about the lagoon 
districts on the coast is very prevalent, and the plaias to the foot of the hills are 
wrapj)ed in dangerous exhalations. At times the winds from the mainland waft 
across the sea swarms of locusts (stauronatus crmiatus), which settle on the northern 
coastlands and devour all green things. Till the middle of the present century the 
island was wasted by this scourge about once every two years, but since then 
precautions have been taken, by which the evil has been greatly abated. 

The local flora is very rich, comprising over one thousand phanerogamous 



848 SOUTH-WESTEEN ASL\. 

species, and iuclucTing nearly all the plants of Crete and the archipelago, as well as 
many others belonging to the neighbouring continent. But there are only four 
indigenous, amongst which is the " aldcr-leafed oak." The most common forest- 
tree is the Caramanian pine ; and the cj'press, which takes its name from the island, 
still grows wild in the eastern districts. The kopher, from which according to 
some authorities Cj'prus has been named, seems to be either the lawsonia, from 
whose leaves hennah is extracted, or the cidua creticus, which flourishes between 
the altitudes of 2,000 and 5,000 feet, and which distils the ladanum balsam, an 
odoriferous resin highly esteemed by the ancients. 

Wild animals have almost entirely disappeared. The oris cyprius, or Cj'prian 
mouflon, is still met in the rocky uplands ; wild cats are numerous in the forests, 
and the ■wild boar and venomous snakes infest the plains. The western districts 
about Cape Epiphani are said to be frequented by horses, asses, and oxen which 
have reverted to the wild state. Since the British occupation game is protected by 
a tax on himtina-. 



IXHABITAXTS. 

The inhabitants of Cyprus comprise the most diverse elements — Greeks, Turks, 
Syrians, Arabs, and others — from the surrounding lands. They are grouped not so 
much according to race as according to speech, and especially religion. The 
Greeks, constituting four-fifths of the population, are all Cj'priots speaking the 
peculiar local Hellenic dialect and conforming to the rites of the orthodox Church. 
All Mohammedans, even those of Cypriot speech, are classed as Turks ; and the so- 
called Linobambaki form an intermediate group, outwardly Moslem, but who 
baptise their children, and in the family circle call themselves Christians. As else- 
where in the Levant, the Greeks constitute the active element, although by their 
Hellenic kindred regarded as of a somewhat dull and passive type. The Cypriots 
have never taken part in the patriotic movement of the other islanders, preferring 
to live peacefullj', and yielding read)- obedience to their successive Mohammedan 
and Christian rulers. 

Formerly the Maronites were numerous in the northern districts, where they 
founded several settlements on the slopes of the coast range, and especially' in the 
KarjDasos peninsiila ; but the great majority have gradually been assimilated to 
the Hellenes, while others have become Mohammedans. But a Maronite com- 
munity of about 500 souls still survives in the Kormakiti promontory, at the 
western extremity of the Cerines range. A few thousand negro slaves, introduced 
at various times, have merged in the Moslem population, while the Armenians, 
Levantines, Jews, and Europeans of every nation who have immigrated since the 
British occupation, remain mostly speculators rather than colonists. But they 
have hitherto done little to increase the resources of the island. Agriculture and 
the industries are in the same rudimentary state as imder Turkish rule, and niue- 
tenths of the soil still remains unfilled. Cotton, sugar, dates, wine, and other 
produce have greatly fallen off since the Lusignau and Venetian epochs. The 



TOPOGE.VPHY OF CYPETJS. 



349 



whole island, to an altitude of -1,000 feet, might be converted into a vast vineyard 
yielding magnificent ^"intages, whereas the present annual production never exceeds 
550,000, and sometimes falls to 350,000, gallons. Next to wine, cereals, and olives, 
the chief agricultural product is the carob-bean partlj^ exported to Russia and 
parti}- used in the local distilleries. The whole annual trade of the island varies at 
present from about £420,000 to £600,000. 



Fig. 1.51. — ^Nicosia. 

Scale 1 : 55,000. 



Topography of Cyprus. 

Lcvhosia, or Nicosia, capital of Cyprus, is strongly situated on a slight eminence 
in the Mesorea plain, at about equal distances from Morfu bay in the west and 
Famagusta and Larnaka in the east. It thus forms the natural centre of the two 
maritime zones, and also com- 
municates easily with the north 
coast thi'ough the pass over the 
Cerines range. Its Venetian 
wall, a regular polygon about 3 
miles in circuit, and flanked h\ 
eleven bastions, is still in a good 
state of repair, but the English 
garrison is encamped on the 
.slopes of the neighbouring Mount 
Macliwra, above the fever zone. 
The village of Bali, where for- 
merly stood the country seat of 
the Lusignan kings, marks the 
site of the ancient Idaiium, which 
has }-ielded some Cj-priot inscrip- 
tions, besides the famous bronze 
tablet now in the Paris National 
Library, and the bilingual Phoe- 
nician and Cypriot monument 

w'hich gave George Smith the key to the local dialect. Here also M. de Cesnola 
explored over fifteen thousand tombs of the vast necropolis, which yielded a mag- 
nificent collection, now in the New York Metropolitan Museum. Other treasures 
have been recovered from Afhieno, farther west, where stood the temple of 
Aphrodite Golgia, in former times \'isited by pilgrims from every quarter. 

The harbour of Kerijnia {^Ghirneh or Cerines), the northern seaport of Nicosia, 
is now a mere creek some 10 or 12 feet deep, overlooked by the picturesque castle 
of the Lusignan sovereigns. Other Lusignan strongholds crown the neighbouring 
heights, and some of the rocks near the ancient Lapef/ios and the modern convent 
of Akteroperitid have been excavated within and without, so as to form gigantic 
towers with inner galleries and terraced palaces. 

During the Hellenic period, the chief port on the east coast was Salamis, 




1,100 Yards. 



50 



SOUTH-WESTEEN ASIA. 



whence the Yenetians drew the blocks of stone used in erecting the formidable 
ramparts of Famagusta, the ancient Amakhosfos, that is, Amta Khadasta, the " Great 
Goddess " of the Assyrians, some 5 miles farther south. The citadel of Fama- 
gusta is little more than a picturesque ruin ; but the town walls are as uitact as on 
the day when, in 1571, the Venetians capitulated to the Turk. The harbour has 
silted up ; but north of it stretches a roadstead over a mile long, sheltered from the 
east by a chain of reefs and sandbanks rimning parallel with the coast. This 



Fig. 1.52. — Laexaka axd Famagusta. 
Scale 1 : 600,000. 



^CT 



■ ■J^^'s 



. ') 



V \ I 



.^ 













-^1 




5i5'50 



to 32 Feet. 32 to 320 Feet. 



320 Feet and upwards 
— 12 Miles. 



anchorage, which has a mean depth of 50 feet, is probably destined to become in 
British hands a second Malta in the Levant. 

Larnaha, which at present almost monopolises the foreign trade of the island,* 
consists of two distinct towns, the Marina, or new quarter, fringing the beach, and 
the old quarter, over half a mile farther inland. Southwards stretch the extensive 
lagoons or salines, which yield a large and almost inexhaustible supply of salt. 
The old Greek port has ahuost completely disappeared, and the shipping now 
anchors in the roadstead. Mariaa stands on the site of the old Phoenician town of 
Kittini, or Eition {^Citiuni), where was found the precious Assyrian bas-relief of 
* Shipping of Larnaka, about 200,000 tons yearly ; exchanges, £600,000. 



TOrOGEAPHY OP CYI'EUS. 



351 



King Sargou II. For centuries Kittini was regarded as a Syrian city, wlicncc 
Zeno, a native of this place, is spoken of b}' Cicero as a "Phccniciau." 

Limisiio, or Limassol, on the semicircuhir beach terminating southwards at Cape 
Gatto, ranks as the second seaport in the isLmd. Its exjjorts consist chiefly of salt, 
graj)es, raisins, brandy, and the famous Kolossi wiae, of a total yearly A'alue of 
about £160,000. Pa/wo-Limisso, about 8 miles farther east, stands on the site of 
Amathos, or Amatlwna', the Pha'uician llamath, where Astarte and Melkart were 



Fig. 163.— Kerynia. 




worshipped with hiunan sacrifices. The ancient Curium, \juig on a rockj^ emiaence 
west of the Akrotiri headland, almost unknown till the. year 1870, has since then 
yielded the most intrinsically valuable as well as the most artistic treasures in the 
whole island. Here Cesnola has found a perfect storehouse of costly Assyrian, 
EgyjDtian, Phconician, and Greek objects, some imported by traders, others evidently 
fabricated on the spot. Yet still more extensive treasures had formerly been 
accumidated in the district of Faphos, on the south-west coast. Of the ancient 



352 



SOUTH-WESTEEN ASIA. 



temple of Venus, which stood on a lofty eminence visible far seawards, little remains 
but a few fragments. But the surface is in some jDlaces strewn with scidptured 
blocks, broken walls, tombs, and imderground openings. The village of Bafa 
(Papho) on the coast is even still visited by the Cypriot women, and although the 
sea-foam is no longer consecrated to Venus, the sea itself ranks ^vith St. George and 
St. Lazarus as a chief patron of the island. 

In virtue of the treaty concluded in 1878, England undertakes the exclusive 
administration of Cyprus, handing over to the Porte a yearly sum of about £90,000. 
The revenue varies from £100,000 to £200,000, and in 1882 the expenditure 
amomited to £300,000. The English commissioner has full powers, although 

Fig. 151 — LiMASSOL AND Akrotiei Pexixsllak. 
Scale 1 : 290,000. 




OtoSO 

Feet. 


SO to 160 

Feet., 


IGO to 320 
Feet. 


320 Feet 
and upward 



assisted by a council of eighteen, six chosen by the Government, and twelve elected 
by a limited suffrage. Of the latter nine are Christians, three Mohammedans, and 
English and Greek are the official languages. The Porte retains the waste lands 
and forests, that is, over three-fourths of the island ; but the British Government 
enjoys the right of forced purchase, while on the other hand engaging to 
restore Cyprus to Turkey when the Russians retii-e from their recent conquests 
in Armenia. Meantime they hold the island with a garrison of 600 men. 

The Archbishop of the Cypriot Church is independent of the patriarch of Con- 
stantinople, and enjoys a large income, while the rui-al clergy are mostly so poor 
that they are obliged to support themselves by manual labour. 



PALESTI]>fE_]^0{ 



-TT 



'Tlin of 
JERUSALEM 




irahredl * 







To, 


heT 




O 


JK 





Pbol of Saoam _ga^Qu ^ ^g-^,^ 






NaJiT Abu el Asvrad. ^ 
NaiLT eJ Easimiyehi 



EXPLAKAnON 



I /7"07i«>fa7i Convent 

ir Jinrdi of the Sepulx^tre 

ly BexeJaa?w Pool 

VI ATiiristAn. 



Domjs of Oie Rode 

Mosque ei AJcscl 

Wailing Flcux of the Jcys 

Robinsons Ar-ch 

Tomb of the Viram. 

Oe^isfmane 
Tombs of JehoshaphaX ttAhsahr l 
I Tombs of S' James <t Za^mnah 
I Fountaui of the Virgm 



-X- 







Mas eaUakarab. 






^«i^ 

'"-^t 



VpbrVai 



KumBan 



■ah 






■■^. 



/ Cdbul 

"^^ oJidru JOTAftTA r^, 



ShetcCAmr- 






Scale of English Statute Mile: 




Caesareat 

NabrelMefj: 



PALESTIJN^E_ ^ 



TeU. Kahwxn 

Jokaeam. ^"^ *^ 



Itaiaret 




Scale of £ji£lis}i Statute Miles 



UTHEUF SECTIOT^. 




CHAPTER IX. 

SYRIA, PALESTINE, SINAI. 

HE narrow zone of habitable land skirting the eastern Mediterranean 
seaboard between the Gulf of Alexandretta and Egypt, forms a well- 
limited geographical region. East of the Aleppo basin the 
frontier is di.stinctly marked by the course of the Euphrates, and 
east of the Dead Sea an arid mountain barrier merges southwards 
in an almost uninhabited wilderness, terminating in a regular triangle between the 
two gulfs of Akabah and Suez. But the whole region, which stretches from the 
Amanus to Sinai for about 600 miles north and south, with a mean breadth of 90 
miles, is itself divided into several sections, differing in their relief, climate, and 
historic evolution. Such are in the north the basin of the Orontes, in the centre the 
Jordan Valley and conterminous lands, in the south the Sinai peninsular. 




Historic Retrospect. 

A great role in the history of mankind has been played by the sections compris- 
ing Syria and Palestine, which lie between the sea and the desert, and which are 
traversed by the natural routes connecting the Nile and Mesopotamian basins. In 
remote ages, when these regions enjoyed a more abundant rainfall, more easy and 
direct communications may have existed between the Persian Gulf and the Nile 
delta. But throughout historic times the space lying between the Lower Euphrates 
and the Trans-Jordan highlands has been a wilderness intersected only by inter- 
mittent streams and inhabited exclusively by nomad tribes. A semicircle of 
arable tracts and towns sweeps round the sands and steppes fi'om Bagdad to 
Damascus, and this direction has been followed by all the great movements of the 
surrounding peoples. 

The importance of the Syrian coast as an overland route was soon enhanced by 
its commercial supremacy on the high seas. From the remotest times the 
Phoenicians appear as great navigators, a fact which has tended to obscure their 
essentially agricultural character. Yet Canaan is described as a land " flowing in 
milk and honey," and it was to find markets for their superfluous produce that the 
Tyrians and Sidonians turned their attention to navigation. Their grandest 

VOL. IX. A A 



354 SOUTH- WESTEEN ASIA. 

architectural remains are monolithic wine and oil-presses, cisterns, millstones, 
reservoirs for water, oil, or corn hewn out of the live rock. Later on came the 
great hj'draulic works, artificial harbours and breakwaters, of which scarcely a 
vestige is now to be seen. The form of the coast, where once flourished the famous 
cities of Tyre, Sidon, Berytus, Byblos, Aradus, has been modified by the silting 
sands, or possibly by changes of level. Nevertheless, after a lapse of three thousand 
years some of these Phoenician seaports have again become busy commercial 
centres. 

Their maritime supremacy once established, the Phoonicians soon monopolised 
the carrying trade of the East. The Mesopotamian nations necessarily forwarded 
their wares through the Syrian ports, and Egypt herself, possessing no timber for 
the construction of vessels, was fain to effect its exchanges by means of her 
Phoenician neighbours. The merchants of Tyre and Sidon jealously preserved the 
magnificent cedar forests which supplied them with building materials. They also 
carefully preserved the secrets of their distant discoveries, and the true source of 
the metals, amber, ivory supplied by them to the eastern potentates long remained 
unknown to the ancients. On the other hand, by disseminating a knowledge of 
letters, they constantly enlarged the circle of civilisation of which they were the 
centre. Even the tribes of Israel, although confined to the interior, contributed by 
their migrations to the diffusion of cultm-e throughoiit the narrow zone of the 
Syrian seaboard. Reaching Palestine from Egypt, and transplanted thence to 
Babylonia and the Iranian uplands, the Jews reflect in their genius the 
characteristics of the peoples amongst whom they sojourned. As traders settled in 
every part of the Mediterranean world, they participated in the commercial inheri- 
tance of Tyre and Sidon. In the same way Gra^co-Iloman influences have been 
superimposed on those of Egypt, Chaldaja Persia, and Arabia ; and although the 
geometrical centre of Europe, Asia, and Africa lies beyond the limits of this region, 
no other land of transition is more important in the historic evolution of the 
Mediterranean peoples than the highway whose chief stations are Damascus and 
Jerusalem. 

In the history of religious thought Jerusalem takes a pre-eminent position. 
Towards Golgotha the Christian turns to worship a crucified God ; the country 
formerly inhabited by the twelve tribes is a " Holy Land ; " Nazareth and 
Bethlehem, Lake Tiberias and Mount Tabor, the Pool of Sichem and Momit Olivet 
are in their eyes the most hallowed spots on earth. Here they seek the origin of 
their cult, and here they look forward to the appearance of that " New Jerusalem " 
in which human suffering shall cease to be. Yet the Christian system, which had 
never taken firm root in the land of its birth, rapidly disappeared before the 
advance of Islam, and the protracted efforts of the crusaders to rescue the Holy 
Ijand from the grasp of the " Infidel " ended in failure. 

Ijike the other provinces of Asiatic Turkey, Syria is a land covered with ruins, 
on whose sites no new and flourishing cities have arisen. The wilderness has 
encroached on the arable zone, and even the most frequented highwaj's have now 
to traverse many solitudes. Nevertheless a great jiart of this region has been 



HISTORIC EETEOSrECT. 



355 



completely explored from the geographical standpoint. The whole of Palestine, 
for a space of 6,000 square miles this side Jordan, has been trigonometrically 
surveyed, and the vrork of the English cartographists is now being extended to the 
land of Moab east of that river. Three-fourths of the old names occurring in the 
Bible, in Josephus, and the Talmud have been identified, and most even of the 
Canaanite terms j)receding the Israelitish settlement have been recovered. By 
means of the Karnak hieroglyphics Mariette has been enabled to map out the land 
of Canaan at the period of the battle of Meghiddo, fought over 3,700 years ago. 



Fig. 1-55. — Passes of the A«.\xvs. 
Scale 1 : 260,000. 




L. ofG. 



160 Feet and 
upwards. 



In the north the Libanon has also been carefully studied bj- the French expedition 
of 1860 and 1862, and the surveys are advancing along the lines of the projected 
railway towards the Euphrates. 

With the exception of a few vallej's in the Libanon, no part of Syria can be 
said to be adequately peopled, regard being had to the fertility of the soil. The 
whole population of the region stretching from Cilicia to Sinai, which three 
thousand 3-ears ago supported at least ten million inhabitants, seems at present 
scarcely to exceed a million and a half. 



356 SOUTII-A\i:STEEX ASIA. 



MoixTAiN Ranges. 



The Akraa-dagh ( Amanus) range, which rises immediately south of Alexandretta 
Bay, may in many respects be regarded as forming part of the Anatolian orographic 
system. It is attached to the Ghiaur-dagh by a hilly plateau containing the 
Ghiaur-gol, or " Lake of the Infidel," and its mean direction is north-east and south- 
west, parallel with the Cilician Taurus and the Anti-Taurus. Its highest peaks 
scarcely exceed 6,500 feet, but its seaward slopes are very steep, and the coast 
route is carried over precipitous spurs forming headlands along the seaboard. At 
Portella, north of Alexandretta, the remains of a white marble gateway at the 
entrance of a defile, enlarged to a carriage-road by Justinian, are locally known as 
the " Pillars of Jonah," this being the spot where, according to the local legend, the 
Prophet was cast ashore by the " great fish." Farther south the rugged Amanus 
and its southern continuation, the Jebel Musa, are avoided by the main route, which 
runs directly through the Beilan Pass, or " Syrian Gates," down to the plains of 
Antiochia. This extensive tract, through which the Orontes winds seawards, is the 
true portal of Syria, whose geographical limits are here clearly marked by the 
river, the Lake of Antiochia, and its eastern affluents. 

South of Antiochia the Ausarieh hills culminate in the pyramidal Jebel- Akra, 
or Casius (5,900 feet), at the mouth of the Orontes. This was one of the sacred 
mountains of the Phoenicians, and for the Greeks another Olympus, whence Jove 
contemplated the advancing dawn in the east, while the western world was still 
wrapped in gloom. Southwards the gently undulating chalky crests of the 
Ansarieh range fall in many places to a height of 3,000 feet, but are everj'where of 
difficult access, owing to the countless gorges intersecting them in all directions. 
Eastwards they are separated by the Orontes from the hills fringing the desert, 
while their southern extremity is skirted by the Nahr-el-Kebir, rising like the 
Orontes on the eastern slope of Libanon. 

The LiiiANox ami Anti-Lihanox. 

South of the Nahr-el-Kebir Valley begins the lofty coast range of the Libanon, 
which runs uniformlj^ north-east and south-west, parallel with the Jebel-esh-Shark, 
or Anti-Libauon, from which it is separated by the intervening plains of Coele- 
Syria. The long unbroken crest of Libanon, blue in summer, silvery white in 
winter and spring, presents an imposing aspect seawards, the atmospheric vapours 
lending to the distant hills an aerial transparency and softness, to which solidity is 
added by their bold outlines and rugged slojDes. A near view is less pleasing, the 
long barrier presenting in its entire length of some 90 miles nothing but yellow 
treeless summits and monotonous valleys. In the extreme south the vallej's are 
more fertile and better tilled, and here the traveller occasionally meets a few 
picturesque landscapes, especially in spring, when the higher elevations are still 
glittering with a pink or white glint in the solar rays. 

The Libanon highlands consist mainlj'^ of dolomites, coarse limestones, marbles, 



THE LIBAXOX AND AXTI-LIBAXOX. 



857 



sandstones, and marls, pierced at innumerable points, without being disturbed, by 
protruding basalts. The cliffs are broken by profound crevasses running mostly 
north and south, or east and west, and breaking the system into a nimiber of distinct 
groups. This disposition of the ujilands explains the relative independence main- 
tained by theii- inhabitants. In the very midst of a ^lussulman laud the Libanon 
highlanders have for centuries preserved their national religion almost vmmodified. 
Nor had they any mineral treasures to temj)t the greed of foreign conquerors. 

Libanon is in Hebrew sjTionymous with "Milk," that is, the "White Moun- 
tains," although nowhere reaching the zone of permanent snows. The loftiest 
peak at the northern extremity scarcelj' exceeds 10,600 feet, and not more than 



Fig;. 156. — Beirut Hills. 
Scale 1 : 300,000. 



^■^•ffV^ 




160 Feet 
and upwards. 
- C miles. 



three others rise to 10,000 feet. The great carriage road constructed by a French 
company between Beirut and Damascus attains 6,000 feet, and the mean elevation 
is slightly inferior to that of the Pyrenees. But the higher temperature explains 
the relatively small extent of the snowfields and the present absence of glaciers. 
The limestone rocks are pierced by caverns, some running for miles into the heart 
of the mountain, and containing animal remains as well as traces of human 
habitations. The slopes facing eastwards are far more arid and destitute of springs 
than the opposite side, which receives a considerable aniount of moisture from the 
Mediterranean. Here the climate and vegetable zones are distinguished by special 
names. Thus the coast region, the Canaan of the Hebrews, is known as the Sahil, 



358 



SOUTH-WTESTERX ASIA. 



a narrow fertile strip, where stood the great trading cities of Phoenicia. Above it 
stretches the Wusut or middle zone, less densely peoj)led but still studded with 
villages, and yielding crops of tobacco, cereals, and potatoes. The Wusut, which 
in some places is clothed with conifers and other forest-trees, is succeeded about the 
altitude of 4,000 feet by the Jurd, a barren upland region exposed to fierce gales 
and avalanches. Cultivated tracts occur in the sheltered dells and basins as high 
as 6,500 feet, and here and there occur clumps of gnarled oak, the turpentine-tree, 
wild pear, and juniper often attaining a gigantic size. In this upper region grow 
the famous cedars, at an altitude of over 6,500 feet near a pass south of the Jebel- 
Makmal. Formerly a glacier descending from the surrounding height filled a 



Fig. 15". — The Fkench Road. 
Scale 1 : 1,800,000. 







L. o, o... ...h 



OtoSO 
Feet. 


80 to .320 
Feet. 


.320 Feet 
and upwards 

- 12 Miles. 



cirque at this spot, and the roots of the cedars lie embedded in its terminal moraine. 
Since the sixteenth century, when they still numbered twenty-five, the really 
gigantic specimens have been reduced to five, surrounded by a few hundreds of 
moderate size. 

Eastwards the Libauon falls in abrupt escarpments down to the longitudinal 
valley of Coele-Syria, or " Hollow Syria," which forms the most regular section of 
the depression running north and south from the Lake of Antiochia to the Dead Sea 
and Gulf of Akabah. The Bekaa, or " Mulberry Yallej'," as Ccele-Syria is now 
called, has a double slope, draining northwards through the Orontes, southwards 
through the Leontes, or Nahr-el-Leitana, the almost imperceptible water-parting 
standing at an elevation of 3,900 feet, while the mean elevation of the valley may 



HEEMON— HILLS OF G.VLILEE— MOUNT CAEIMEL. 359 

be estimated at about 3,000 feet. It is strewn with marshes, remnants of an old 
lake, which formerly flooded the space between Libanon and Anti-Libanon. 

The Anti-Libanon presents on the whole a remarkable analogy to the parallel 
western range. Composed of the same limestone rocks, covered with the same red 
soil of glacial origin, it is equally arid and bare in its northern section, iequally 
varied with fertile tracts southwards. The Sheikh-el-Jebel, its highest point, also 
faces the culminating point of the Libanon ; and although its mean altitude is about 
1,000 feet less,* it is distinguished even by more picturesque outlines, bolder crests, 
more savage gorges, more vivid tints, and striking contrasts. In the eastern range, 
however, it is not the cedar or pine, but the pojjlar, which enriches every hamlet in 
this otherwise almost treeless region: Eastwards the Anti-Libanon falls in 
terraces towards the desert, and in the south it is intersected by the deep valley of 
the Barada. Just below this point the range is crossed at an elevation of 4,330 
feet by the French route connecting Damascus with the coast at Beirut. 

Hermox — Hills of Galilee — Mount Carjiel. 

The broad oj^ening utilised by this route separates Anti-Libanon from Mount 
Hermon, which may almost be regarded as its southern prolongation. Like 
Libanon, Hermon is a holy mountain, where Christian shrines have everj'where 
replaced the old pagan sanctuaries, Elias, Jonah, or Saint George thus succeeding 
to the Baal, Adonis, or Eliun of the ancient Semite peoples. The mountain itself 
was a god, and all the temples of the surrounding district are found to face its chief 
summit, which rises in three peaks 9,400 feet above the Mediterranean. Of all the 
Syrian mountains, Hermon is the most densely wooded, groves and even small strips 
of forest clothing its basalt slopes. Some 60 miles south-east of Hermon stands the 
volcanic Jebel-Hauran, whose highest crest has an elevation of 6,170 feet. Its 
main axis runs nearly due south and north, terminating in this direction in rugged 
escarpments surmounted by the Tell-abu-Tumeis (5,320 feet). Within a space of 
6 miles are grouped four other extinct cones, whence formerly flowed the vast lava 
streams of the Argob north-westwards, in the direction of Damascus. The thick- 
ness of the molten masses overlying the marls and limestones, the Leja, as this 
district is now called, has been estimated at 600 or 700 feet. 

The Safa, or " Naked Mountain," is another group of extinct volcanoes, lying 
on the shore of the old lacustrine basin which skirted the east side of the Syrian 
uplands. The dreary and savage region covered with the black lavas ejected from 
these cones well deserves the name of Trachonitis, or the " Rugged," given to it by 
the ancients. It seems to have midergone little or no change since the time when 
the burning masses cooled down into all sorts of strange and fantastic forms. In 
its widest extent the Safa covers an area of some 500 square miles, its cones rising 
1,500 to 2,000 feet above the surrounding plains, and 3,500 above sea level. Some 

* Chief Scmmits of the Libanon and Anti-Libanon : — 



Timarun . . 10,600 feet 

Muskiyah . . . 10,2.50 ,, 

Zahr-el-Kazib . . . 10,130 „ 



Sheikh-el-Jebel . . . 8,900 feet. 
Halimat-el-Kabu . . . 8, .350 ,, 
El-Akhyar .... 7,830 „ 



360 



SOUTH- WESTERN ASIA. 



clayey tracts, where a little moisture is collected during rainy seasons, limit the 
base of this burnt-up region north-westwards in the direction of Damascus, and in 
the south-east towards the equator ; but elsewhere most of the surrounding districts 
are covered with lavas and scoriae. Such is the desert of Kra, which towards the 
south-west separates Safa from Hauran. Still farther south stretches the desert of 
Harra, or the " Burnt Land," a circular plain of impalpable sands accmnulated 
roimd a lofty central black crag. So fine are the sands of this dreaded region, that 
according to the Bedouins, horses, camels, and other animals sink in it, as if it were 



Fig. 158. — Jebel Safa. 
Scale 1 : 1,340,000. 






T Jt 3r s ^ 



•-^tl 



5 ^ ^ --^^^^^-jiv;; 






•' >C \ 



J&f* 



'^ 



f^AMn 



^1 ShtjthS.ralt 




i A, /•t\ 



5reo E , of Greenwich 



a liquid mass. After heavy rains the surface becomes a paste too weak to bear the 
weight of a camel. 

The lower Leontes, or Nahr-Kasimiyeh, forms the southern limit of the 
Libanon proper, although the Palestine highlands stretching thence southwards 
between the headwaters of the Jordan and the coast may be regarded as belonging 
to the same orographic system. But in this confused labyrinth of Galilean hills 
and valleys it is difficult to discover any regular order, except perhaps in the east, 
where the ridge skirting the depression of the Upper Jordan runs in the same axis 
as the Libanon. From this ridge several others branch off, mainly in the direction 
from east to west, and are themselves connected by secondary lateral chains. The 
Jebel- Jarmuk (;3,9o0 feet), forming the culminating point of the Galilean high- 
lands, rises north-west of Safed on the water-parting between the Jordan and the 
Mediterranean. But here the most venerated peak is Tabor (Jebel-Tor), a nearlj' 



HEEM(1X— HILI.S OF G.AJ.n.EE— MOUNT CAEMEL. 



861 



isolated mass rising to a height of scarcely 1,900 feet south of Nazareth. Its 
position on the edge of the great plain of Esdraelon, traversed by the Nahr-el- 
Mukattah and its affluents, formerly imparted a certain strategic importance to 
Tabor, on which are still seen the remains of mediceval fortifications, themselves 
preceded by stUl older Roman and Jewish works. A legend dating from the fourth 
century transfers the scene of the Transfiguration from Hermon to Tabor, on 
which three churches and three monasteries were erected in the sixth century in 
honour of the three tents, which Peter here joroposed to pitch for Jesus, Moses and 
Elias. 

South of Galilee the hills are almost comjjletely interrupted by the broad and 



Fig. 159. — The Zerin Depression-. 
Scale 1 : 1,190,000. 



;^^ ..^■.^fR^-^ - p*: -i:-Ts^er 



»«s'r.3!«a!"J»^^ 




E.-of Cree . ^h 



Below the level of the Mediterranean. 



fertile plain of Merj-ibn-Amir (Meghiddo, Esdraelon, or Jezrael), stretching south- 
east and north-west, with an average width of 15 miles, and sloping very gently 
towards the Mediterranean. The fall is much more precipitous towards the Jordan, 
where the Zerin depression, some -400 feet above the sea, has been selected as the 
most convenient point through which to cut the canal, by which some eccentric 
English engineers propose to connect the Gulf of Acra with that of Akaba in the 
Red Sea. Dividing Palestine into two distinct sections, and commanding both 
slopes of the country, Esdraelon was formerly a great battlefield between tribes or 
armies. Here Jews and Canaanites, Saracens and Crusaders, frequently met in 
deadly strife, and here, according to the expounders of Revelations, is to be fought 



362 SOUTH-WESTERN ASIA. 

the final battle of Armagheddon, which is to secure the empire of the world to the 
Hebrews. 

The semi-elliptical Bay of Acra is limited southwards by the headland of Mount 
Carmel, which forms the seaward extremity of the Jebel-Mar-Elias. This range, 
consisting maialy of limestones, is the most regular in Palestine, running due 
north-west and south-east from the coast to the low pass separating it from the 
Samarian uplands. Eastwards it falls abruptly down to the Esdraelon plain, and 
slopes gently to the Mediterranean, maintaining throughout a mean elevation of 1,000 
or 1,200 feet. It cidminates in the centre with Mount Carmel proper (1,830 feet), 
that is, the " Orchard," so named from the flowering shrubs and fruit- ti-ees clothing 
its upper slopes. The more rugged headland was formerly the seat of an oracle 
visited by Pythagoras and consulted by Vesjjasian. Here, according to the Jewish 
tradition, took place that contest between Elias and the prophets of Baal which 
symbolises the everlasting warfare between the local gods of Syria and Palestine. 
Above the " Cave of Elias " now stands a sumptuous convent of recent date. 

G II, BOA — Trans- Jordan Uplands. 

South-east of Carmel the Jebel-Fokuah, that is, the hills of Gilboa, form the 
commencement of the central range of Palestine, which runs mainly parallel with 
the Jordan and Mediterranean. Consisting of chalk cliffs interrupted here and 
there by eruptive basalts, it presents monotonous unpicturesque outlines, but 
encloses some extremely fertile valleys. Its axis, which here forms the water- 
parting, runs twice as near the Jordan as the Mediterranean, its geographical 
position thus explaining the incessant antagonism between the western lowlands, 
with their civilised population, and the uplands occupied by the rude inhabitants of 
Judaea. In these uplands the crests have a mean altitude of 2,000 to 2,500 
feet, while Ebal and Garizim, the two famous peaks overlooking the plain of Sichem, 
exceed 3,000 feet, and the whole system culminates in the Tell-Asur, rising north of 
Jerusalem to a height of nearly 3,400 feet. Farther south the hiUs gradually fall in 
the direction of the Sinai peninsular, where they merge in the rugged plateau of 
Badiet-et-Tih. 

Like those of Palestine proper, the Trans-Jordan highlands consist of a 
crevassed tableland from 2,500 to 3,000 feet high, seldom presenting the aspect 
of a distinct range. East of the Upper Jordan the plateaux of Jaulan (Gaulanitis), 
have the appearance of hills only along their western escarpments, which fall in 
terraces down to Lakes Huleh and Tiberias. These uplands are broken into xmequal 
sections by the channels of the Yarmuk and its atHueuts in the north, and south- 
wards by the Jabok torrent and the Mojib (Anion), draining to the Dead Sea. 
East of the Ghor, properly so-called, that is, the Jordan Valley between Lake 
Tiberias and the Dead Sea, the Jebel-Ajlun, or heights of Galaad, present towards 
the river a series of fertile terraces covered here and there with groves of oak and 
other forest-trees, and in the depressions yielding in wet seasons rich crops of 
excellent cereals. East of the Dead Sea the escarpments are more abrupt, and 



PENINSULA OF SINAI 



MED I T E H n A N E A JW^ 



( Pop( Said 



or XoAo 
MenxaZeh ^^i 

= of fillT'iira. •'"■""n^K" 



* KaiilAr'i ^iif^itt^ Sands 

/ .... -MaKada jf' , ,. 

--iKinnilia ,■* ■ >«, 




'-'Ralirf^''*^ Beerseba 



%V-f'b', 



? «. V 




7" / A 1.. 



''j^ ah 






< ,' ^ 

^ ^ 



*# 





Magh,A,-., An,.,lH,n,drr.h - 

,..fa-.., - 

' °v 'f ABAN FOmmON 


o 


•C- - 5^^ .^1 J.KaUtenoX 


«4 









"V ^. Oiint Shomer 
^.AVutoiAv 






S f- 



Makiia ^ 



RED SEA 



32 root 32 r/7 iffO iffO a> 320 3SO to SSOO 3S0P & uptrnrds 

1:2.315.000 



riDCN . J. S.VIRT U E feC^ LIMITED. 



THE SINAI HIGHLANDS. 



363 



vegetation becomes rarer on the slopes and plateaux of El-Belka, or Tjand of Moab 
and Ammon, as this region is more generally called. On the whole the Trans- 
Jordan highlands are more elevated than those of Palestine. The Jebel-Osha, or 
Mount Osea, nearly opposite the Tell-Asur, has a height of 3,520 feet, and a summit 
in Moab 3,900 feet, while farther south the hills skirting the Wed-Arabah and 
merging in the Midian uplands rise to 4,000 feet. Of all the Trans-Jordan peaks 



Fig. IGO. — rENiNsuLAR or Sinai — AiN-EL-irri>ERAu. 




the most famous, although not the highest, is the Jebel-Neba, traditionally supposed 
to be the Mount Nebo whence Moses comtemplated the promised land. 



The Sinai Highlands. 

The Sinaitic orographic system is clearly separated from that of Palestine, the 
uplands of Arabia Petrsea consisting mainly of irregular masses from 1,500 to 2,000 
feet high, broken by broad ravines into distinct groups. The region lying between 



364 



SOUTH -WESTERN ASLV. 



the Suez Canal and the Arabah depression forms, roughly sjieakiug, a plane inclined 
towards the Mediterranean, and terminating abrujjtly southwards in the Jebel-et- 
Tih, which consists of two ranges converging at a right angle, and facing in the 
same direction as the Ras-Mohammed at the apex of the triangular peninsular. 
Some of the summits in the Jebel-el-Tih are over 8,000 feet high, and the whole 

Fig. 161. — Mount Seiiual. 
Scale 1 : 55,000. 




chain is separated from the southern 23lateau of Arabia Petrasa b}* the broad beds 
of the Wad-el-Ain, Ain-el-Huderah, Wad-Nesb, Wady-Feiran, and other mostly 
dry watercourses draining east to the Gulf of Akabah, west to that of Suez. 

The hills skirting the Red Sea, west of the Jebel-et-Tih, consist of monotonous 
chalk masses, whicli are replaced in the south by the arid granite, gneiss, and 
porph3'ry highlands of Sinai proper. Many of these formations abound in iron 



THE SIXAI HICtHT,AXDS. 



365 



and copper ores, and in turquoises, which arc difficult to work, owing to the lack of 
fuel and of means of transport. Yet the copper heds in the Magarah Valley are 
often visited by the Bedouins in search of the tiirqxioise, which is supposed to 
dispel evil influences, to procure the favour of princes, to ensure victory, or 
dissipate dreams of ill omen. From the earliest historic times the Egyptians drew 
their supplies of copper and mineral dyes from Magarah, and here the polished 
walls of porphjTy bear well-preserved hieroglyphic inscriptions, which are supposed 
to be the very oldest written documents in the world. In these rocky archives are 

Fig. 162.— Mount Sinai. 
Scile 1 : 65,000. 



'%f0i^\^\\^47^>m^~^^ 







i. o-f Ue 






1' 



recorded the names of Snefi'u, first of the Pharaohs, Shufu (Cheops), builder of the 
Great Pyramid, Ramses II., father of Menephta, during whose reign the Israelites 
escaped from Egj'pt. The written history of the Pharaohs thus comprises a period 
of over fifteen hundred years ; and in the neighbouring Wed-Mokattab the rocks 
are covered with innumerable graffiti or " scribblings," mostly in a Syrian dialect 
mixed with Arabic terms, and dating apparently from the last century of the old 
and first of the new era. 

The mountains which at present bear the collective name of Sinai, form a 
confused group of heights rising above a still more entangled network of wadies. 



366 



SOUTH -WESTERN ASIA. 



which seen from above presents the appearance of a storm-tossed sea. The Jebel- 
Katheriu, highest and central point of the system, occupies very nearly the 
geometrical centre of the peninsular. North-westwards it throws off the Jebel- 
Serbal ridge, terminating at the AVady-Feiran, while another range falls gradually 
southwards to the Ras-Mohammed. The whole eastern slope is also filled with a 
labyrinth of eminences commanded by the Jebel-Farani and Abu-Mesul groups. 
But in the south-west the highlands present the form of a regular sierra skirting 
the shingly El-Gaat plain, which appears to be an upheaved marine bed. It falls 
from about 1,000 feet at the foot of the hills uniformly to the present coast, and 



Fig. 163 — Congest <ji Sinai 












the slope is continued under the Gulf of Suez, which in the middle of the channel 
has a mean depth of about 240 feet. 

Most explorers have accepted the hypothesis of Lepsius, who regards the Serbal, 
or " Baal's Peak," 6,820 feet, rather than the central summit, as the true Sinai of 
Scripture. The veneration in which this region was formerly held is abundantly 
attested by the ruins of churches and monasteries at its northern base, by the 
remains of Pharan Phoinikon, or " Pharan of the Palms," and the thousand 
inscriptions left by generations of pilgrims in the Mokattab Valley. But the tradi- 
tion changed after the time of Justinian, when a fortress was erected near the 
Jebel-Katharin, and a new monastery sprang up in the neighbourhood. The Arabs, 



Bm:ES OF SYELA. .\ND PALESTINE. 367 

who formerly offered sacrifices at this spot, have no tradition identifying Serbal 
with the " Throne of Allah," or the " Seat of Moses." Their veneration is directed 
more to the less elevated Jebel-Monneija in the north-east, which they regard as the 
summit on which Moses conversed with God. Notwithstanding its extremely 
rugged aspect, 8erbal has been several times ascended since the time of Burkhardt. 
It is pierced in some places by natural caverns, which were formerly occupied by 
hermits, and which the faithful even regarded as excavated by the recluses. 

The Jebel-Katharin, highest point of the Sinaitic group (8,650 feet), rises 
above the winter snowline, and from its summits a panoramic view is commanded 
of the surrounding heights and wadies, of both gulfs, and even of the distant 
African highlands. East of it rises the nearly isolated Um-Alowi, possibly the 
ancient Jebel-Elohim, or " Moimtain of God," and the southern view is broken by 
the Um-Shomer, only a few feet lower than the Jebel-Katharin itself. Still farther 
south stands the Jebel-Thebt, and to the north the Jebel-Musa, or " Mountain of 
Moses " (7,470 feet), which the monks of the neighbouring convent regard as the 
mountain where was promulgated the Hebrew Law. Between this and the twin 
peak of Ras-Safsafeh stands the wealthy convent of St. Catharine (5,100 feet), 
whose revenues are derived from palm-groves scattered over the peninsular, and 
from large estates in Crete and Cyprus. The community, which claims the pro- 
tection of a pretended finnan from Mohammed, formerly possessed some valuable 
manuscripts, which are now in St. Petersburg. 

Rivers of Syria and Palestine. 

The Syrian hydrographic system is mainly determined bj' the long depression 
of the Bekaa, which lies between the parallel Libanon and Anti-Libanon ranges, 
and which has a northern and southern slope. In one direction flow the waters of 
the Orontes to the Gulf of Alexandretta, in the other those of the Jordan through 
two successive lakes to the Dead Sea. The permanent and intermittent streams 
east and west of this depression have not the space required to develop basins of 
any considerable size. Those to the west reach the Mediterranean as soon as they 
escape from the mountain gorges, while those flowing eastwards run dry in the 
sands of the desert. Of these the largest is the Barada, and of the Mediterranean 
affluents the most voluminous next to the Orontes is the Leitani, and both rise in 
the same region as the Orontes and Jordan. The Sjaian water system thus presents 
the form of a cross, in which the Orontes and Jordan constitute the trunk, the 
Iveitani and Barada the arms, all radiating from the moderately elevated water- 
parting of the Bekaa between the Libanon and Anti-Libanon. Near the point of 
intersection lies the small closed basin of the Kefr-kuk, which is regarded by the 
natives as one of the sources of the Jordan. 

The Orontes, which is locally known as the Nahr-el-Asi, rises on the west slope 
of the Anti-Libanon, a little to north of Baalbek, and its upper course has to over- 
come many obstructions, causing its waters to collect in lakes or swamps. Above 
Horus it thus developes a large basin, which covers an area of over 20 square miles, 



368 



SOUTH-AVESTEEX ASIA. 



thanks to an old Roman dam raising its level over 10 feet. Farther down it also 
expands below Hamah into riverain marshes, the remains of another lake formed 
by an embankment near Apamea (Kalat-el-]\Iedik). Even in its lower course, 
between Antiochia and the coast, the Orontes falls in rapids over the remains of an 
ancient rocky barrier, which formerly caused it to fill a large lacustrine basin, now 
an undulating plain with a central depression still known as the Ak-Deniz, or 
" White Sea." This marshy and sedgy tract, the haunt of myriads of waterfowl, 
stretches north-east of Antiochia to the southern foot of Amanus, and is fed by the 
Nahr-Afrin, the Kara-su, and a few other streams. 

The space between the Orontes and Eujjhrates systems is a region of closed basins, 
such as those of the Koveik (Kwaik), flowing southwards to Aleppo from near 



1G4. — Lake Yamvneh and Naur-Ibkahim. 
Scale 1 : 400,000. 




E.bfG 



160 Feet and 
upwards. 
, 6 Miles. 



Aintab, and the parallel Nahr-ed-Dahab, which expands into the great Sebk/in, or 
saline lagoon of Jabul. The river of Damascus, the ancient Chrysorhoas, or 
" Golden Stream," also loses itself in marshes. Formed by two headstreams rising 
east and west of the Jebel-Zebdani in the Anti-Libanon range, it escapes from the 
hills through deep ravines down to the plains, where it joins a more copious stream 
flowing from the fathomless lakelet of El-Fijeh. Formerly the pure waters of this 
basin were conveyed by an aqueduct to Damascus. At present they join the more 
turbid Chrysorhoas, and after ramifying into numerous irrigation canals the waters 
are again collected in a common system of marshy tracts or lagoons. After a 
succession of wet seasons the Barada and its canals, as well as the Pharphar or 
Nahr-el-Arwad from Mount Hermon, spread out into a series of meres or " lakes," 
described by Oriental poetic fancy as " blue sapphires set in emerald rings," but in 



EIVEES OF SYELi AND PALESTINE. 



369 



reality dreary plains occasionallj' flooded, but usually quite dry, and here and there 
covered with a saline efflorescence. 

On the west slope of Libanon the streams are partl)^ fed by the iiuderground 
waters collected in the cavities of the mountain limestones. Thus above its jxmction 
with the Nahr-el-Arus, the Nahr-el-Kebir receives the intermittent Nahr-Sebti, 
the "Sabbatic River" of Josephus, which is supposed to be drj^ for six days, and 
to flow only on the seventh, which falls, according to the Jews on Saturday, 
according to the Mohammedans on Fridaj'. But its channel is generally flooded 
every third day. Farther south the Nahr-Kadisha, or " Holy River," receives 
similar supjilies from the highest peaks of Libanon, while the more copious I^ahr- 



Fig. 16o. — Gorge of the Nahr-el-Leitaxi. 
. Scale 1 : 450,000. 







"^'":^^ 



teZr<rieh 






'^^^ 



E. of&n 




- 0>^ 




160 Feet and 
upwards. 



Ibrahim flows for a long distance below the surface. Its headstream rises on the 
eastern slope in a lakelet near the village of Yaniimeh, and after winding through 
a series of subterranean fissures, reappears intermittently on the western slope 
about 4,000 feet above sea level. After emerging from the Afka cavern, the 
Nahr-Ibrahim, or Adonis of the ancients, enters the Mediterranean about 4 miles 
south of Jebail (Byblos). 

The Leitani or Leontes, next to the Nahr-cl-Asi the largest flowing into the 
Mediterranean, rises north of Baalbek, within a few hundred yards of the farthest 
headstreams of the Orontes. But its first permanent feeder springs fi-om a gorge 
in the Anti-Libanon some 15 miles to the south of Baalbek. And after receiving a 
thousand rivulets from both ranges, the Leitani at present trends at a sharp 

VOL. IX. B B 



370 



SOUTH- WESTERN ASIA. 



angle -westwards to the coast, but it seems to have formerly continued its southern 
course to the Upper Jordan basin above Lake Huleh. A precipitous bluff on the 
left bank above the bend is crowned by the superb mediaeval Castle of Beaufort 
(Kalat-esh-Shukif), below which the river takes the name of Leitani of Nahr- 
Kasimiyeh, or "River of Separation." It discharges on an average about 5,000 cubic 
feet per minute into the Mediterranean, at a point a little over 4 miles north of Tyre. 

The Jordan and Dead Sea. 

The Jordan, that is, the " Eiver " in a pre-eminent sense, differs from all other 
streams in the depth of its valley relatively to the ocean level. Throughout nearly 
the whole of its course between the " Waters of Merom " and the Dead Sea, it 



Fig. 166.— Sources of the Joedan. 
ilSoale t : 125,000. 




2J Miles. 



flows in the Ghor depression, which is everywhere lower than the ileditcrranean, 
the difference in the southern portion of the valley being scarcely less than 1,300 
feet. The Ghor may be regarded as a continuation of the Bekaa, although at the 
point of junction west of Hermon the direction of the longitudinal valley is 
changed from north-east and south-west to due north and south. Like the other 
Syrian rivers, the Jordan is assumed to take its rise where it becomes a permanent 
stream. Hence, although occasionally sending down a considerable volume, the 
upper torrents springing in the Wady-et-Teim, an advanced valley of Mount 
Hermon, are not regarded as belonging to the Jordan s}' stem. The true source is 
a copious perennial spring near Hasbeya, whence the Nahr-el-Hasbani, or western 
Jordan, flows southwards in a deep and narrow gorge in the surrounding lavas. 
Some 15 miles farther south the Tell-el-Kadi bluff gives rise to an extremely 



THE JORDAN AND DEAD SEA. 



371 



copious spring, whicli 'w'hen joined by another from above, becomes the Nahr-el- 
Leddan, or Central Jordan, about the northern limit of Palestine proper. For Tell- 
el-Kadi appears to be the eminence on which formerly stood the city of Dan, on the 
very border of the " Promised Land," and Leddan is doubtless a modified form of 



Fig. 167. — Lake Huleh. 
Scale 1 : 160,000. 




~^s. 






• *>.-,'&Mki.^-- -a i ■ "-' 



E. JSf Lreer. c 



Below the level of the Mediterranean. 
,^_^__^^^_^^___ 3 Miles. 



Ed-Dan, or "River of Dan." Lastly, a third and stiU more famous, although less 
copious Jordan, rises more to the east in the Banias gorge, whence it flows south- 
westwards in a channel whose banks are fringed with the oleander and strewn 
with ruins. Here a chapel of St. George has succeeded a temple of Augustu.s, 
which had been itself preceded by an older sanctuary. 

bb2 



372 SOUTH-WESTEEN ASIA. 

The three headstreams uniting in a common channel about 5 miles below Tell- 
cl-KacIi, continue their winding course southwards to a broad valley, where they 
soon disappear in a forest of joapyrus reeds, merging farther on in the shallow basin of 
the " Waters of Merom," now known as the Bahr-el-Huleh. According to the 
English survey, this basin is only 6 or 7 feet above the Mediterranean ; but beyond 
this point the decline is so rapid that at Lake Tiberias, 24 miles farther south, the 
river is already 690 feet below the Mediterranean, while the lacustrine cavity itself 
is 830 feet deeper still, although its mean depth is not more than 135 feet. This 
ancient Sea of Galilee, or Genezareth, co^■ers a space of about 700 square miles, but 
was formerly far more extensive, as is evident from the old shingl)^ beaches left by 
the subsiding waters on the surrounding terraced lands. The highest of these 
beaches corresponds with the level of the Mediterranean, with which it appears to have 
at one time communicated through the Esdraelon plain. Since its severance from 
the sea, Tiberias has become a fresh- water basin, while of its fauna many represent 
intermediate s^iecies between those of fi-esh and saline waters. As in the days of 
the iishers of jSTazareth, the riverain pojjulation still capture large quantities of fish, 
although but few boats are now seen on the lake. 

About 6 miles below Tiberias the Jordan is crossed by a solitary bridge, beyond 
which it continues its imiform descent through the Ghor depression down to the 
Dead Sea. In this section of its course, about 63 miles altogether, there is a total 
fall of 660 feet, evenly distributed over the whole distance. But before reaching 
the lake it expands into sluggish shallows fordable at a little distance above its 
mouth, through which it discharges a volume roughly estimated at from 1,000 to 
2,350 cubic feet per second. 

The Dead Sea, so named by the early Christians in probable allusion to the 
biblical legend of cities engulfed in its depths, deserves the title from the arid 
and lifeless aspect of its shores, its heavy waters, and dreary surroundings. Its 
area may be estimated at about 370 square miles, its level at 1,310 feet below the 
Mediterranean, and its greatest depth, near the north-east coast, at 1,330 feet. 
Since the middle of the present century its level has risen, and the mean depth is 
now about 1,100 feet north of the Lisan peninsiilar, a small rocky ridge connected 
by a tongue of sand with the Moab coast. The circular gulf south of this promon- 
tory is nowhere more than 14 feet deep, and the whole volume of the lake is 
probably about 120,000,000,000 cubic j'ards, or about twice that of Geneva ; but, 
like Tiberias, it was formerly of far greater extent. Round the whole basin stretch 
at various altitudes shingly terraces, which are evidently old beaches, and which 
contain the shells of species still living in the Mediterranean. On the west side no 
less than nine such terraces occur, the chief of which, consisting partly of 
bituminous strata, forms a continuation of the Ghor Valley, while the highest 
corresponds exactly with the level of the Mediterranean. A study of these beaches 
naturally suggests the idea that the Dead Sea, together with Lake Tiberias and the 
whole of the Ghor depression, formed at one time a marine gulf connected with the 
Mediterranean through the Strait of Esdraelon. But the southern depression 
continuing the Ghor Valley towards the Red Sea does not appear to have ever com- 



THE JOEDAN AND DEjVD SEA. 



373 



Fig. I6S.— Dead Sea. 
Scale 1 : POO.OOO. 



municated with the Gulf of Aliabah, from ^yhich it i.s scjjarated by a ridge 800 feet 
above sea level. 

Even about the mouth of the Jordan the water of the Dead Sea is fully one- 
sixth heavier than fresh-water.* It supports the human body, leaves a slight 
saline coating on objects plimged into it, 
deposits crystals on the shore, and has so 
nearly reached the point of satiu'atiou that 
it scarcely dissolves the base of a salt hill 
skirting the south-east coast. But the Dead 
Sea is distinguished even less by its great 
abundance of salt than by its extreme rich- 
ness in chloride and bromide of magnesium, 
which has been attributed to the almost 
complete absence of all the fishes and other 
animals inhabiting its affluents. The crus- 
taceans and insects carried down by the 
Jordan perish on reaching the lake, which, 
unlike marine basins, is quite destitute of 
iodine and 2)hosj)horous. On the other hand, 
it abounds in bituminous substances, whence 
its ancient name of the " Lacus AsiDhaltites." 
The large masses of bitumen, however, 
spoken of by the ancients as floating on the 
surface are now rarely seen. The naphtha 
springs which probably exist at the bottom 
seem to indicate geological formations anala- 
gous to those of the bituminous districts in 
West Persia and Mesopotamia. But there 
are no traces of recent volcanic action, or 
of anything to justify the hypothesis of an 
eruption which some four thousand years 
ago destroyed Sodom, Gomorrha, and three 
other cities in the district. The sites of the 
cities themselves have also been sought for 
in vain. Nor are the fruits fair to behold, 
bitter to taste, pecidiar to this basin ; some, 
like the ilex, belonging to the flora of Asia 
Minor, others to those of Yemen and Nubia. 

The Arish, whose lower course forms the 
fi'ontier between the Turkish province of 

Sj-ria and the Khedive's possessions, is represented on the maps as draining a 
basin some 10,000 square miles in extent. In reality it is a mere system of mostly 

* Mean specific weight of sea-water : 1,027 ; of the Eed Sea, 1,033 ; of the Dead Sea at the surface : 
1,162; on the beach: 1,256. 




374 SOUTH-WESTEEN ASIA. 

dry watercourses, where there is abundant evidence of extensive erosive action in 
former geological times. Far more important than these occasionally flushed 
wadies are the permanent springs, such as those of Ain-Musa, or the " Fountains of 
Moses," which have their source near the coast, some 12 miles east of Suez. These 
wells, which according to the legend were formerly saline, but rendered sweet by 
the leader of Israel, are slightly thermal, and support a rich vegetation in the 
surrounding gardens and palm-groves. 

Climate. — Floka and Fauna. 

In 8}- rid and Palestine a great diversity of climate is caused by the longitudinal 
form of the land, stretching across nine degrees of latitude, and stiU more by the 
differences of relief, rising in the Libanon 10,000 feet above, in the Ghor depres- 
sion sinking 1,300 feet below, the Mediterranean. While the Syrian desert and 
Sinai resemble the Sahara in their extremes of temperature, certain sheltered valleys 
facing the Mediterranean enjoy a marine climate varj'ing little from month to 
month.* The isothermal lines run nowhere normally east and west, but follow 
rather the mountain ranges, which are disposed north and south, parallel with the 
coast. In the Ghor they develop concentric ovals corresjjonding with the outlines 
of the escarpments, and the temperature is six degrees higher on the shores of the 
Dead Sea than on the Jerusalem plateau. 

In Syria there are only two seasons, summer and winter, the latter rainy, the 
former almost absolutely dry. Snow rarely falls, although in 1753 most of 
Palestine was covered with snow, and the cold was so intense that people were frozen 
to death in the neighbourhood of Nazareth. The west and south-west winds are 
the chief cloud-bearers, while the di-eaded shurlmyeh, or sii'occo, blowing from the 
southern and south-eastern deserts, burns up the vegetation. Notwithstanding the 
abundance of winter rains, the land becomes parched in the early summer, when 
all spontaneous vegetation disappears except prickly shrubs and trees. Nor is 
there any vegetable humus properly so called in Palestine, where even the most 
fertile soil is merely so much sand or clay mixed with disintegrated limestone. 

The general aspect of the land, which once " flowed with milk and honey," 
seems to show that it formerly enjoyed a more himiid climate than at present. 
The old writers describe Palestine as mostly covered with forests, which have since 
entirely disappeared, except near the coast and on some slopes exposed to the moist 
winds. The arable lands were also much more extensive, reaching far into the 
surrounding deserts, where the traces still remain of old plantations. But if the 
atmosphere, as elsewhere in Western Asia, has become drici', the general salubrity 
of the country has at least remained \mimpaired. Drainage is facilitated by the 
slope of the ground, and fever- stricken marshes are small in extent, except in the 
neighbourhood of Antiochia and a few other spots. 

The SjTian flora, like the climate, has undergone a few modifications. Dates 

• Mean winter temperature at Jerusalem, 47° Fah. Summer, 76°. Rainfall, 36 inches. 
,, „ „ Beirut 64° Fah. „ 81°. „ 22 „ 



CLIMATE.— FLORA ANT) FAUNA. 



375 



are now rare in the Jericho oasis, the banana is no longer cultivated on the 
banks of lake Genezareth, and the cedars of Libanon have been mostly replaced by 
the pimis bruttia. The forest vegetation has retained its primitive aspect only in 
some districts of the Anianus, where the groves of oak, beech, cedar, and pine 
resemble those of the Cilician Taurus. The fauna also has been slightly changed. 
Most of the domestic animals are inferior in size to those of Asia Minor and 
Europe. The boar and jackal still sui-vivc, but the lion has disappeared, and the 



Landscape ix the Sinai Pesinsvlau. — View takex at EArinrnM. 




panther and ounce have become rare ui the Libanon and Anti-Libanon. The 
Syrian bear is now confined to the Jebel-esh-Sheikh and some other northern 
uplands, and the crocodile, whose presence in this region had been doubted, still 
lingers in the Nahr-Zerka, south of Carmel, the " Flumen Crocodiluni " of Pliny, 
and in the Nahr-el-Falek on the coast of Samaria. The Syrian variety is much 
smaller than the monster of the African rivers, seldom exceeding five feet in 
length. The Ghor depression resembles Africa no less in its fauna than its 



376 SOUTH-WESTERN ASIA. 

climate, and the fifty-eight sfiecies of birds commou to that continent and Palestine 
are found almost exclusively in the Jordan and Dead Sea basin. 

Inhabitants of Syria and Palestine. 

The so-called " Arab " population of Syria is Arab in speech alone, and really 
descends from the old inhabitants of the countrJ^ So far from being exterminated 
by the Mussulman conquerors, they were left in possession of their lands and 
houses, subject only to the tribute. Although not compelled to become Moham- 
medans, the majority accepted the new faith, just as under the Byzantine regime 
they had accepted Christianity. But beneath these outward forms the Syrian fellah 
still clings to the old heathen rites, and as in the days when the Hebrew prophets 
hurled their maledictions against the worshipjDers of the " high places," they have 
still their fetish in every large tree and rocky eminence. The holy places, the 
makam or " stations," like the makom cursed by the law of Moses, are surmoimted 
by small white cupolas sheltering the tombs of sheikhs or prophets. But these very 
" nebi," mostly named from the district, are probably the old local divinities, and 
like them are frequently associated in couples. The ceremonial is the same as it 
was three thousand years ago. The lamb is still slaughtered at the shrine ; the holy 
rock or lintel of the tomb is still anointed with henneh ; the elders of the vUlage 
perform their solemn dances at the " station," rags and shreds of cloth are attached 
to every bush, bonfires are kiadled on the siu'rouuding hill-tops. 

The ancient Canaanitish people also raised megalithic doLnens, menhirs, and 
stone circles, which are no longer met in Judtoa, where they were demolished by 
the zealous observers of the law. But a few are still visible in Galilee and near 
Tyre, while many hundreds are still standing both in Moab and the Sinaitic 
peninsular. They are stiU regarded as altars by the Arabs, who worship the 
rising sun at these spots. 

Like those of Anatolia, the inhabitants of Palestine consist of two distinct 
elements, the wandering Bedouins and the fellahin settled in villages and the 
outskirts of the towns. The former are diminishing in Palestine proper, where a 
few are found only in the Plain of Sharon, between Carmel and Jaffa. Beyond the 
Jordan, where they are still numerous, the chief Bedouin tribes are the Adwan 
(11,000), and the more powerful but less numerous Beni-Sakhr, or " Sons of the 
Rocks." In the Sinaitic peninsidar, the Towarah, as they are collectively called, 
umnber about 8,000, and are supposed to be descended from the Amalekites. 
Their women, like those of the Awans, tattoo the lower lip in blue, and trace a few 
geometrical figures on the face. Amongst the Bedouins, who appear to be of 
diverse origin, some gipsies are also foimd wandering imder the name of Nauri. 

The Palestine fellahin, generally called Kufars or " Villagers," are despised bj- 
the Arabs on account of their rude speech and servile character. Yet they are 
mostly well made, and the women of Narazeth and Bethlehem are renowned for 
their beauty, which rightly or wrongly is attributed to a mixture of Euroiiean 
elements. In some districts women taken in adultery are still stoned, and leprosy 



THE ANSAEIEH— DEUZES AND MAEONITES. 377 

prevails amongst tlie riu-al classes as it did thousands of years ago. The ui-ban 
population, although of a somewhat heterogeneous type, is distinguished by certain 
characteristic traits — regidar features but rather too broad, well-shaped nose, 
almond eyes, slightly prominent lips, animated expression. They are universally 
described as an extremely intelligent and highly gifted people, worthy of their 
Phoenician ancestors, and after long ages of servitude still full of national life and 
energJ^ They show a natural capacity, especially for trade, and numbers of Syrian 
merchants are settled in JIarseilles, Liverpool, Manchester, and even in America 
and Scandina\-ia. Their chief defects are a disregard for truth, expressed in the 
national saying, " Lying is the salt of man," and an intolerable vanity and self- 
sufficiency. Every town, however, is distinguished by special characteristics, 
indicated or exaggerated by such local sayings as, " Halehi, cheleli ; Shnmi, 
shumi!" "Aleppo folk slaves, Damascus all knaves!" Owing to their constant 
commercial relations with Mecca, the people of Damascus are the most Arab of all 
Syrians, and here Ai-abic is spoken in its greatest pmity, although the old Syriac 
still sm-vives in the district. 

The Ansakieh — Druzes and Maronites. 

The highlauders along the north coast between the Gulf of Alexaudretta and 
the Nahr-el-Kebir, known as Nosairi ("Little Christians"), or more properly 
Ansarieh, are variously estimated at from 120,000 to 180,000. They are shepherds 
on the hills, labourers on the plains, but all keep aloof from their neighbours, 
although thejr now speak Arabic, and in the towns call themselves j\lohaimuedans 
to escape persecution. But in secret they practice a special cult, the " mystery of 
the gods," supposed to have been orally revealed, and consisting of a Manichasan 
form of Christianity based on Sabaism. But the different as/iair, or tribes, do not 
all profess the same dogmas, whence the contradictory statements of writers who 
describe their practices. Most of them are said to worship a " Quintinary," or 
deity of five persons, and prostrate themselves before trees, and especially before 
the " two princes of the bees," that is, the sun and moon. Women are held to be 
essentially impure, for " God," they say, " created the demons with the sins of man, 
but woman with the sias of the demons." Hence she is viler than the devil himself, 
and has not even the right to pray. The practice of deforming children's heads by 
bandages is very common amongst the Ansarieh, many of whom are distingiushed 
by their light hair and blue eyes. 

The Druzes, numbering probably about 100,000, occupy the south Libanon 
valleys and Hermon, but are gradually moving eastwards to the Hauran iiplands. 
Here they verge on the steppe, where they have contracted alliances with the 
Anazeh and Shammar Bedouins. While still nominally subject to Turkey, they 
enjoy in this remote region a certain immunity from the oppression of the pashas, 
possess good arable lands and pastures, abundance of water, and a healthy climate, 
while the ruins of ancient cities supply them with the materials required to erect 
their dwellings. Like the Ansarieh, they call themselves Mohammedans, but are 



378 



SOUTH- WESTERN ASIA. 



Fig. 170. — Ikh.\1)ITAnts oi- Svki.i. 

Scale 1 : 5,550,000. 



justly disowned by all orthodox Miissulmaus. The "Ed-Deruz," or followers of 
the jirophet Mohammed Ed-Derazi, profess an extremely intricate system, in which 
metaphy.sical subtleties are blended with Shiah doctrines and older Gnostic and 
Mazdian reminiscences. The sect was founded by a Persian sage about the middle 

of the tenth century, while Hamza, 
another Iranian teacher, subse- 
quently modified and codified its 
doctrines. The Drazes regard them- 
selves as " Unitarians," and their 
fundamental dogma is certainly the 
unity of God, but a imity often em- 
bodied in human form. One of these 
divine incarnations was Ali ; ano- 
ther the terrible Caliph Hakim, 
whose folly and cruelties are still 
legendary among the Mussulmans, 
and the last was Hamza, the " Cen- 
tre of the Circle." He was the 
light of which Mohammed was the 
shade, for the birth of every dis- 
ciple of evil is balanced by a disciple 
of good. And thus goes on the 
everlasting struggle between the two 
principles, a ceaseless warfare, in 
which the Druzes and the countless 
followers of " Gog and Magog " re- 
present the host of the Lord. The 
number of soiils having been fixed 
from all eternity, they pass endlessly 
from body to body, renewing the 
contest in each successive existence. 
"The soul is like a fluid poured 
out from vessel to vessel ; " its 
destiny is pre-ordained, and the con- 
tract between God and the elect is 
deposited in one of the Egyptian 
pyramids. On the Last Day Hakim 
will entrust his sword to Hamza, 
that he may achieve the triumph 
of the true religion, and distribute rewards and penalties. Much of this doctrine 
is esoteric, veiled from the profane by formulas, signs, and numbers, the key to which 
is held only by the okkal, or " initiated." Sentence of death is pronounced against 
anyone revealing the mysterious rites, which are celebrated before a sacred calf set 
up on the "high places." 




Jews 



Druses 



^ njio 

Syrians Ai'abs 

^ ill IM iSi OIIIl 

Ansarieh Melouali lemailiatis Turcomans Turks 
or Hashi- Kurds 
shim 

.^^-...^-^— .^^^ 60 Mile; 



Maronites 
Greeks 







.-^1) 



DEUZE PRINCESS AND LADY OF THE LIBANOX. 



THE ANSAEIEH— DEUZES AND MAEONITES. 379 

The first moral precepts inculcated to the Druzes are truth and brotherhood, 
all owing one to another the natural duty of veracity and acts of good-wiU. The 
same obligation does not exist towards strangers, who may even be justly killed, if 
their death be necessary for the national cause. Nevertheless the Druzes are 
distinguished above all their neighbours for great uprightness, dignity of manners, 
lasting friendships, and unaffected speech. They are generally very frugal, dressed 
with taste but without display, discreet of tongue, and courteous, saluting each 
other with the title of skeikh. Being the elect of the Lord, they consider it a point 
of honour to be better than others. Nowhere in the East are women more respected 
by the men, who concede to them equal rights in marriage and tenure of property. 
In instruction they are generally even superior, nearly all being able at least to 
read and write, and forming part of the initiated class. Monogamy is strictly 
observed, and the family is restricted by custom to four and two children for the 
wealthy and poor respectively. The political influence of the Druzes greatly 
exceeds the limits of the tribe, and such is their valour that in equal combat they 
hold victory over any foe as a foregone conclusion. Amongst the subjects of 
their emirs are peasants of various sects, all of whom are treated with great 
tolerance. 

One of these non-Chiistian sects are the Jletuali, who live in Tyre and 
Sidon, in Coele-SjTia and surrounding valleys, and who are everywhere noted for 
their extreme exclusiveness. They are Shiahs, who, like the Iranian Mussulmans, 
have a special veneration for the Caliph AH, ranking him with or even above 
Mohammed himself. On all their wanderings they carry about a handful of 
Persian soil, would regard themselves as polluted by contact with a heretic, whether 
Sunni or Christian, and break the vessel used by a stranger. 

Farther north, in the hills between Horns and Tripoli, dwell the IsmaQians or 
Bathenians, a sect that has preserved the traditions of the Hashishim, or 
"Assassins," the Seyids of the "Old Man of the Mountain," enthroned in his 
stronghold of Alamut in the heart of the Elburz range. Like those of Kurdistan 
and Armenia, the Syrian highlands have long been a refuge for persecuted 
religions. On the open plains and plateaux imity of faith prevails, while diversity 
of worship is fostered by the inequalities of the relief in hiUy districts. 

The Maronites, who notwithstanding the original difference of their rites and 
dogmas, are now attached to the Latin Chui'ch, are one of the chief Christian 
commimities protected by the physical character of their mountain homes. Firmly 
consolidated in one nationality, they are concentrated mainly along the western 
slope of Libanon, between the Nahr-el-Kelb, which reaches the coast a little north 
of Beirut, and the Nahr-el-Barid, which flows from the northern spur of Libanon. 
Some of their groups reside also in the Ansarieh coimtrj^, in the cities of the plain, 
where they find support in the r'atholic commimities, and lastly in Cyprus, where 
a few of the old Maronite settlers still sur'sdved. So named from the patriarch 
Maron, founder of their Church in the seventh century, they became later on the 
natural allies of the Crusaders against Islam, and their doctrines thus became 
gradually assimilated to that of the strangers whom they followed to the battlefield. 



360 SOUTH- WESTEEN ASIA. 

In 1215 they recognised papal authoi-ity, and from that time they have been 
considered as under the special protection of the Western Catholics. Some of their 
families even bear European names, pointing at a probable intermingling of Frank 
elements duiing the time of the crusades. They show with pride two letters from 
Louis XIV. and Louis XV., promising them the constant aid of France, and during 
the i^resent century they have always regarded themselves as the " French of the 
Libanon." Hence the extreme importance taken by the " Maronite Question " in 
the diplomatic contests in the East. In virtue of the treaties, the pasha of the 
Libanon must bo a Christian, and as France protects the Maronites, the English 
extend their patronage to the Druzes. Then the local feuds fomented by foreign 
residents and by the Turkish authorities, glad to divide and rule, broke out into 
open war and massacre. In 1860 thirteen thousand Christians ■were butchered in 
the Libanon and neighbouring districts, and although the Druzes were accused of 
these wholesale atrocities, the chief perpeti-ators were the regular and irregular 
Turkish troops. Attracted to the spot by the heaps of slain, the ounces, hyaenas, 
and wolves resumed possession of the land, which remained a prey to chaos till 
tranquility was restored by French intervention. 

Amongst the Maronites the clergy are very powerful. Over a fourth of the 
soil belongs to the Church ; at least 200 convents of monks and nuns, usually 
disposed in couples side by side, are scattered over the Libanon valleys. The 
priests marry, but if left widowers cannot take a second wife. The)' are elected by 
the monks, as are also the bishops, who in their turn nominate the batnik, or 
patriarch, under reserve of papal approval. Mass is said in Syriac, a language 
understood neither by the clergy nor the people. A great many Maronites learn 
French and speak it fluently, but seldom study the literature, theia- ambition being 
iisually limited to the offices of dragoman (interpreter) or corresponding clerk. 
Those engaged in trade display little enterprise, generally confining themselves to 
local or retail business. The mass of the people remain tillers of the land, without 
energy or higher inspirations. Foreign artists, mostly Greeks, erect and decorate 
their buildings ; what they themselves build is heavy and tasteless, although the 
Maronite art of mediseval times has left a few original edifices adorned with fresco 
paintings. The Yuk Mikail weavers also manufacture some fine silken fabrics, 
and the local goldsmiths, who have preserved the old Phoenician and Greek 
processes, make jewellery of a highly artistic type. 

The Melkites .vnd Jews. 

Other miited Catholics of pure Arab stock are settled in the neighbourhood of 
the desert south and west of Damascus. Immigrants from Yemen long before the 
Christian era, and subsequently reinforced by colonists from Hejaz and Nejd, these 
"Arab Arabs," as they call themselves, were converted to Christianity towards the 
end of the fourth centurj-, and then came to be called " Greeks." After the Arab 
conquest, some preserved their religion, while others accepted the supremacy of the 
pope, who permitted them to keep their own hierarchy, and in their liturgy to 



THE MELKITES AND JEWS. 381 

substitute the Arabic for tlie Greek language. They are called " United Greeks," 
although in no way connected with the Hellenes, and also Melkites, or " Royal," 
while their spiritual head, resident in Damascus, takes the title of Patriarch of 
Autiochia, Alexandria, and Jerusalem. Of all Asiatic Christians the Melkite 
Arabs are the most respected. Their valour is unquestioned, their natural 
intelligence has been developed bj' instruction, they speak their mother tongue 
with rare purity and elegance, and through their enterprising spirit they enjoy an 
influence out of all proportion with their nvunbers, which cannot be estimated at 
more than 100,000. 

The Jews are now strangers in the land which belonged to their forefathers, 
and which they still consider as their original home. Poland and Galicia are the 
present centres of Judaism, and of 6,000,000 Hebrews scattered over the world, 
scarcely 40,000 are settled in the Holy Land. In Damascus alone they form a 
community which seems to be descended directly from an ancient colony. Till 
recently all the others were " Maugrabines " or " Spanioles," that is, descendants 
of the Jews expelled from Spain by the Inquisition. But since, the middle of the 
present century, these have been largely reinforced by the so-called Ashkinazim, or 
Jews of East Europe. According to the Talmudic tradition, accepted by the 
German Jews, the Messiah ■«'ill set up his throne at Safed. Hence the new 
arrivals have settled chiefly at the foot of that volcano. Tiberias also, where the 
Messiah is to be born again, has attracted numerous colonists, while some thousands 
of others have grouped themselves round the Temple of Jerusalem. The movement 
has been stimidated by the late persecutions in East Europe, and several agricultural 
colonies have recently been founded, especially on the Esdraelon plain, under the 
shadow of Carmel. Some English ^philanthropists have also endeavoured to obtain 
for them the rich lands of Gilead, beyond the Jordan. Unfortunately all these 
attempts were at first attended by disastrous consequences. The imhappy refugees 
were decimated hj famine, sickness, and hardships of all sorts, and in many places 
the immigrants were dispersed or sent back by the Turkish Government. Never- 
theless the movement must certainly tend to improve the social status of the 
Hebrew element in Palestine. The Sephardim or Spanioles, recently condemned 
to wear a black turban, are distinguished by their handsome features and dignified 
bearing, but being less enterprising and instructed than the Ashkinazim, they 
seem fated to become the proletariate of the nation. 

Transformed to a battlefield for the various Christian sects, who claim the 
exclusive possession of the Holy Sepidchre, Palestine has in recent times not only 
received numerous missionaries, but also several colonies of European agriculturists. 
Of these the most flourishing are the Suabian Protestants settled near Jaffa and at 
Khaifa, at the foot of Mount Carmel. These colonists belong to the sect of the 
"Templars," who await the coming of the Messiah, and hope to be the first to 
answer his summons on the Day of Judgment. After many vicissitudes, their 
establishments, supported by the voluntary contributions forwarded by the mother 
coimtry, have acquired some importance as industrial and trading centres for all 
the surrounding districts. They are gradually losing their religious character and 



382 SOUTH- WESTEEN ASIA. 

laying aside their communistic ideas, and several of tlie colonists have alreadj' 
begun to accumidate property on their ovra account. Some Greek and European 
specidators are also obtaining extensive concessions in the more fertile districts, and 
one of them has bought up half of the plain of Esdraelon with about twenty 
villages. The land is thus changing hands to the great injury of the feUahin, and 
the old communes, in which everyone had at least a virtual right to the soil, have 
already ceased to exist. The rural districts are becoming impoverished and the 
villages depopidated, while foreign settlements are increasing in the towns. The 
land is also frequently wasted by famines, when the peasantry are driven to 
consume wild herbs and the mallow-seed cooked in oil or milk. 



Topography of Syria. 

The Amanus highlands are one of those regions on the Mediterranean seaboard 
where the popiilation has most diminished. Here the ancient city of Issus, where 
Alexander gained a memorable victory over the Persians, has ceased to exist, and 
can no longer be identified. Iskanderun or Alexandretta, that is, the "Little 
Alexandria," is nearly abandoned during the summer months, when the miasma 
from the surrounding marshes is especially fatal to Europeans. The latter then 
retire to the picturesque town of Beilan, which lies 1,600 feet above the sea in the 
neighbouring hills. Notwithstanding the sudden gusts that sweep down from these 
hills, the port of Alexandretta is one of the safest on the Syrian coast, and is also 
the most conveniently situated to become the future terminus of the projected 
railway between the Mediterranean and Euphrates basin. It is at present the chief 
outport for the cereals and other agricultural produce from the fertile region 
comprised between the Taurus, the Euphrates, and Orontes. Caravans of ten 
thousand camels are constantly on the road between Aleppo and Alexandretta, and 
the exports were estimated in 1882 at over £1,240,000. 



Aleppo. — Homs. — Hamah. 

Aleppo or Haleh, the chief caravan station between the Gulf of Alexandretta 
and the Euphrates, is one of the great cities of Asiatic Turkey. It stands at the 
converging point of several trade routes, and has also the advantage of abimdant 
water from the river Koveik, which irrigates an extensive cultivated district noted 
for its pistachio-nuts. Aleppo, the ancient Berea, which Itself succeeded to a still 
more ancient Khalebon or Khalebo, a name preserved in that of the present cltj^, was 
at all times an important commercial mart. Before the discovery of the Cape of 
Good Hope and of the sea route to India, it was one of the most flourishing 
emporiums in the world. It had a very large population, even down to the year 
1822, when over half its Inhabitants perished iu an earthquake of almost unprece- 
dented violence. From that disaster it never quite recovered, and even declined in 
prosperity after the opening of the Suez Canal, by which it was deprived of a 



'^ T 




ALEPPO— HOMS—HAMAH. 383 

portion of its traffic. Although two-thirds of its citizens are Mohammedans of 
Arabic speech, the population is otherwise of a very motley description, including 
Armenians and other Christians, Jews, Ansariehs, and Druzes, who are numerous, 
especially in the outskirts, while hundreds of Circassians, expelled from Bulgaria, 
have also found a refuge here. 

The city properly so called, enclosed within ramparts three miles in circum- 
ference, is intersected by narrow streets, some of which are completely roofed in by 
the projecting upper storeys of the opposite houses. In the centre of the most 
closely built quarter stands an artificial eminence about 200 feet high, whose steep 
slopes are faced with a regular coating of huge blocks. On this mound stood the 
citadel which held out against the Crusaders in 1124. Although since then ruined 
by the ravages of time and earthquakes, the fortress still presents an imposing 
appearance, with its broad square towers, posterns, flanking-turrets, and bastions. 
As a stronghold it has been replaced by the fortified barracks erected beyond the 
walls by Ibrahim Pasha, which afford accommodation for as many as ten thousand 
men. In medical records this Sjrrian city is well known for the cutaneous eruption 
known as the " Aleppo Button." This distemper, however, from which few of the 
inhabitants escape, and which even attacks the dogs and cats, is not peculiar to 
Aleppo, but also prevails in Orfa, Bagdad, and many other places, especially in the 
south of Persia. 

In the upper Orontes basin the chief place is the ancient Emessa, a name 
surviving in its modern form of Horns. Like Aleppo, it owes its origin to trade, 
for here converge the natural highways following the course of the Orontes, and 
connecting the Mediterranean transversely with the Palmyra oasis and the 
Euphrates through the Nahr-el-Kebir Valley. The breach formed by this river 
between the Amanus and Libanon ranges marks the line that must be followed by 
the future railway destined to run from the coast at Tripoli to the Euphrates basin. 
At present over ten thousand camels pass along this route to Tripoli during the 
month of August, after the harvest. Horns, like Aleppo and most other Svrian 
towns between the hills and the Euphrates, is commanded by an artificial mound 
surmounted by old and crumbling fortifications. Even of its mediasval structures 
but few traces now remain, while of those dating from pagan times nothing but 
fragments have been preserved. Not a vestige is now to be seen of the sumptuous 
temple consecrated to the sun, whose priests ranked as kings, taking their seat with 
Heliogabalus on the imperial throne. At the beginning of the present centmy 
Homs was a very small place, but has since then acquired considerable importance 
as an industrial centre. Besides the silks interwoven with gold threads for which 
it was always noted, it now produces coarse cottons and other fabrics retailed 
throughout Syria and amongst the Bedouins of the desert. The raw silks from the 
Ansarieh highlands no longer sufficing for the local demand, it imports this produce 
from distant lands, exporting its manxifactured goods especially to Egypt, Arabia, 
and Asia Minor. In 1883 its four thousand looms employed as many as twelve 
thousand hands, and yielded about £240,000 worth of textile fabrics. LjTng on 
the verge of the SjTian desert, Homs is crowded with Bedouins during market- 



884 



SOUTH-WESTEEN ASIA. 



Fig. 171.— IIoMs. 
Scale 1 : 380,000. 



days, and the Ai-ab tribes encamped in the vicinity have recentlj' been reinforced 
by some Circassian immigrants. 

South-west of Homs and above the lake traversed by the Orontes, Lieut. 
Conder has discovered on the isolated eminence of Tell-Nebi-Mendeh some 
extensive ruins, -n-hich he identifies with Kfidesh, the " Holy City " of the ancient 
Hittites, where in the year 1301 of the old era Ramses II. gained the great victory 
represented in the Ramesseum of Thebe-s. A miU near the mound still boars the 
name of Kadesh ; but the marbles of the old temples and sarcophagi have lately 
been broken up and employed in the construction of some sugar works. In the 
neighboui-hood is a deep chasm, the source of a copious spring, and, according to a 

local Mohammedan tradition, 
the spot whence the waters of 
the Deluge burst forth A 
square eminence on the edge 
of the lake is known as 
" Noah's Ark." 

Hamah, standing on both 
sides of the Orontes some 28 
miles to the north of Homs, 
is also a venerable city. Its 
very name differs but little 
from that which it bore some 
four thousand years ago, when 
the Israelites entered the 
Promised Land. Seen from 
the neighbouring heights, it 
seems divided into several 
quarters by the gardens and 
orchards, forming broad ver- 
dant spaces between its groups 
of white houses. From the 
banks of the Orontes it presents 
a still more striking appearance, 
with its green terraces and the enormoiis wheels of its chain-pumps, some of which 
have diameters of over 70 feet. The great depth of the channel through which 
the Nahr-el-Asi flows has necessitated the emploJ^llent of these heavj- liydraulic 
works to raise the water to the level of the siirromiding gardens. Even so irriga- 
tion is so difficult and expensive, that the riverain population mostly restrict 
themselves to the cultivation of the so-called zhors, or " narrows," that is, the strip 
of land fringing the stream at the foot of the cliffs. These alluvial tracts, which 
average about a third of a mile in width, and which are extremelj^ fertile, yield 
abimdant crops of cott'-'i, sesame, onions, and all kinds of vegetables. The arable 
lands on the upper plain as far as the desert grow barley and wheat of prime 
quality, and these cereals are largely exported. The industries of Hamah, much 




E of Gr.enw,ch 



ANTIOCHIA— ELT AD— TRIPOLI. 385 

inferior to those of Horns, are limited mainly to silk and cotton fabrics, employing 
about three thousand weavers, and representing an annual 3-ield of £40,000. 

Hamah has become famous in the history of ej^igraphy, thanks to the inscrip- 
tions discovered by Burckhardt in 1812 on some basalt blocks built into the walls 
of the bazaar, and now preserved in the museum of Constantinople. Subsequent 
discoveries made in various parts of Syria and Asia Minor have showTi that these 
hitherto undeciphered hieroglyphical writings were due to the Hittite people, 
whose sacred city was situated farther south, near Lake Kades. The two recently 
dismantled towns of Mnssiad and Kadmus, standing on spurs of the Ansarj'ch 
range south-west of Hamah, are the religious centres of the sect of the " Assassins." 

North of Hamah the population is thinly scattered over the Orontes Yallej^, where 
unhealthj' swamps alternate mth rugged and almost inaccessible gorges. The 
Aleppo highways run east of the hills skirting the river on a slightly undulating 
plateau at an altitude of from 1,150 to 1,300 feet. Here several caravan stations 
in the midst of corn-fields have grown into considerable centres of population. 
Such are Maarah-en-Noaman, Serniin, Riha, and Edlip or Idlip, which last is a 
flourishing place surrounded by rich arable lands, and possessing some large soap 
and weaving factories. This part of Syria is especially noted for its numerous 
remains of Christian architecture, dating from the first centuries of the new era. 
El-Barah, lying in the heart of the hills south-east of Riha, may be compared to 
Pompeii, so admirably preserved are its churches, villas, tombs, and other structui-es. 
In some of the dwellings the windows, floors, and ceilings of the apartments are 
almost intact ; the inscriptions are perfectly legible, and the doors, formed of a 
single slab, still turn on their hinges. At Dana, on the road between Aleppo and 
Antiochia, may be seen the finest Roman tomb in Syria, the date of which, 324 A.n., 
has been deciphered by ISI. de Vogue. 

In the vast triangular space comprised between Aleppo, Hamah, and Antiochia 
are found the remains, if not of "three hundred and sixty-five cities," as asserted 
by the Arabs, at least of over a hundred Christian towns dating from the fourth to 
the seventh century, and still almost intact. But for the earthquakes, which have 
here and there rent the walls and caused the roofs to fall in, nothing would be 
missing except the woodwork carried off by the builders of more recent cities. 
The removal of the basalts and other hard materials, drawn from the quarries of 
the district, would have been too troublesome and expensive. 

Antiochia — Ruad — Tripoli. 

Below the great gorge of the Orontes, and beyond the point where it sweeps 
round the Jebel-Kosseir, the gate of inner Syria was formerly guarded by the 
mighty citj' of Antiochia, which for a time ranked next to Rome and Alexandria 
as the largest metropolis in the world. Its site had been admirably chosen, near 
the north-east corner of the Mediterranean, where the GuP of Cilicia penetrates 
farthest inland, and at the converging point of three grei^i national highways. 
One of these runs obliquely across Anatolia to the Bosphorus ; another follows the 

VOL. IX. c c 



886 SOUTH-WESTERN ASL\. 

Sj-rian and Palestine seaboard to Egj^pt and Arabia, while the third reaches the 
Mesopotamian plains through the valley of the Euphrates, which here describes a 
vast curve in the direction of the Mediterranean. Thus nature itself points out 
this spot as a great centre of trade and intercourse between the surrounding peoples. 
Hence at two distinct epochs, during the first centuries of the new era, and at the 
time of the Crusades, Antiochia became one of the most commercial emporiums in 
the world. In those days the Syrian capital became the chief mart for the costly 
products of India, and here thousands of artisans were employed in the manufacture 
of the rich textiles known throughout the West as Antiochia cloth. 

But the district was a great focus of underground disturbances, and few cities 
have suffered more from disastrous earthquakes. Probably the most terrific on 
record occurred in the year llo a.d., when as many as 260,000 human beings are 
said to have been crushed beneath her ruined edifices. The city was again over- 
whelmed in 583, when the survivors were unable to recognise their dwellings amid 
the universal chaos, and even during the present century it was half destroyed in 
1822 and again in 1872. It suffered also from nimierous sieges, such as that of 
1098, when it fell into the power of Bohemond. Thus the capital of the Seleucides 
has preserved few traces of its ancient splendour, and even the ramparts raised by 
the Norman Crusaders were partially destroyed by the Eg3'ptian trooi^s of Ibrahim 
Pasha, who used the materials in the construction of their barracks. The walls, 
formerly flanked by three hundred towers, follow the left bank of the Orontes, and 
then ascend the slope of the southern hills, where stood a formidable citadel. But 
the vast quadrilateral thus described is now a city of the dead, where everything 
has crumbled to dust. The flanking-towers, however, are still known by the names 
they bore at the time of the Crusades, names which thus serve to commemorate the 
great part played by Antiochia in ecclesiastical history. Here was born St. John 
Chrysostom, and this was the seat of one of the four great patriarchs of the Greek 
Church. 

The present town of Anfakich, lying on the banks of the Orontes at the north- 
west corner of the enclosure, is almost lost amid the surrounding gardens and 
orchards. Seen from the encircling hiUs, it presents the aspect of one of those 
Eastern cemeteries where every grave has its cypress, as here every house has its 
mulberry, plantain, or fig-tree. Antakieh is gradually recovering some of its former 
importance as a centre of the export trade and of the soap industry. Some 
companies have also been recently formed for bringing under cultivation the 
surrounding plains, where the most remarkable monument is the still almost intact 
embankment constructed hj Justinian, west of the citadel, across the deep ra'vane of 
the Onopnietes. 

"West of Antiochia the Orontes Valley, broadening out in one place, hemmed in 
in another between steep rocky walls, elsewhere ramifying into lateral verdant 
dales watered by sparkling rividets, presents everywhere a charming prospect. 
Here the hamlet of Beit-el-Ma marks the site of the ancient Daphne, where stood 
the temples of Apollo and other pagan deities. The hills enclosing the valle}' on 
the north are kno^vn by the name of Jebel-Seiman, or ]Mount Saint Simeon, and 



ANTIOCHIA— EUAD— TBIPOLI. 



387 



the memory of the famous " Stylites," or " Christian fakir," as he has been called, 
is perpetuated all over the district. The column, 30 cubits high, on which he lived 
and died, stands to the north of Antiochia near the ruins of Kalat-Seman, or 
" Simeon's Castle." 

The present port of Antiochia is the pleasant little village of Suedich, which 
lies on the southern slopes and at the foot of a hill skirted on the south by the 
mouth of the Orontes. Here the Arab craft is able to approach the shore some 6 

Fig. 172. — The Ancient Tomb of Dana. 





miles to the south of the now choked-up harbour of Seleucia. The roadstead south 
of the Ras-el-Khanzir headland has the advantage of lying near the Orontes, and 
would become the natural outport of this fertile basin but for its exposed position 
on the coast. At the foot of the limestone promontory bounding the low-lying 
plain of the Orontes on the north, the ancients had excavated an artificial harbour, 
the disjointed blocks of which are still visible on the beach at Seleucia. This little 
harbour might again be cleared out, but it would be inadequate for modern shipping, 
and long piers would have to be rim out for half a mile seawards. Even then the 



388 



SOUTII-WESTEEN ASIA. 



approaches would be dangerous, and the projected port will probably be constructed 
at Suedieh, near the river-mouth, and connected with Antiochia by a railway, the 
concession for which has already been granted. The hill at Seleucia is honey- 
combed with graves, and one of the roads leading to the interior is carried across 



Fig. 173. — Aktiochia and Suedieh. 
Scale 1 : 360,000. 




640 Feet and 
upwards. 



the clifp through a series of cuttings and tunnels. This is one of the grandest 
works of the kind executed by the ancients. 

When the inhabitants of Antiochia were reckoned by the hundred thousand, 
the chief port was not in the exposed basin of Seleucia, but at Laodicea, which lay 



ANTIOCHIA—EUAD— TRIPOLI. 



389 



some 60 miles farther south near a little gulf indented with numerous inlets. One 
of these, since partly filled in, was spacious and deep enough to receive a large 
number of vessels, which were sheltered by breakwaters and reefs from the surf. 
Notwithstanding the difficulties of communication with the interior across the 
Ansarieh hills, the ancient Laodicea, now called Latakieh, is one of the outports of 



Fig. 174. — Latakieh. 
Scale 1 : 170,000. 




toSO 
Feet. 


80 to 160 
Feet. 


160 to 320 
Feet. 


320 Feet and 
upwards. 
_ 6 Miles. 



V 



Aleppo, and the seat of a small European settlement. It stands on a terrace within 
half a mile of the " Marina " which lines the circular beach. It does a large trade 
in the strong tobacco grown in the neighbouring district, which is distinguished by 
its dark colour and a peculiar fragrance caused by fumigation over cedar-wood 
braziers. Latakieh also exports cotton, cereals, oils, and fruits, and is one of the 
ports proposed as the starting point of the Euphrates railway, which would be 



390 



SOUTH-WESTEEX ASIA. 



carried over a pass iu the Arnanus range at an elevation of 1,650 feet, and cross the 
Orontes at the flourishing town of Esh-Shugr. 

About midway between Latakieh and Tripoli lies the reef or islet of Ruad, the 
ancient AracJ, or Arcad, which is about half a mile long, over a quarter wide, and 
crowded with houses. Some four thousand years ago this rock ruled an extensive 

kingdom, stretching on the 

Fig. 175.— EuAD AND ToKTosA. Ansarieh mainland beyond 

Scale 1 : 125.000. ^j^^ j^qj^ j^^^^ ^ ^^^ Orontes 

Valley. While so many other 
royal capitals have disap- 
peared, Arad still exists ; but 
although scarcely less popu- 
lous than in the days of its 
splendour, its only industry 
is sponge-fishing, and its 
only monuments are the re- 
mains of its Phoenician 
walls, which consist of huge 
blocks resting on foimda- 
tions cut in the live rock. 
Formerly the town outgrew 
its narrow enclosures, and 
spread far and wide on the 
opposite coast, where its 
ruins may still be traced 
uninterruptedly for a dis- 
tance of 9 miles. The north- 
ern quarter took the title of 
Antnradits, which became 
celebrated iu mediaeval times 
under the name of Tortosa, on 
the mainland. This strong- 
hold successfully resisted 
Saladin in the year 1188, 
and was the last place sur- 
rendered by the Crusaders 
in 1291, when they with- 
drew to Cyprus. The for- 
midable fortress and walls of Tortosa are built of large blocks, which no doubt 
belonged to older Phoenician monuments. Mamthus, the modern Amrit, one of 
the southern quarters of the continental Ruad, contains a monument which is 
supposed to be the most ancient in the land of Canaan, and which is the only 
extant Semitic temple stiU easily recognised. El-Maabed, or the "Sanctuary," 
as this building is rightlv designated by the natives, rises in the form of a cube 




OtolS 
Feet. 


16 to 32 

Feet. 


32 Feet and 
upwards. 
3 Miles. 



ANTIOCHIA—EUAD— TRIPOLI. 



391 



above a square court cut iu tlie rock, aud formerly flooded with the waters of a 
sacred reservoii-, ou which floated au " ark " like that of the Israelites. 

Other Phoenician remains are strewn over the Aradite plain, while the highways 
are commanded by formidable citadels crowning the heights, such as Sajita, or 
" White Castle," the possession of which was often contested by Crusaders and 
Saracens. One of the terraces in this hilly region bears the colossal remains of 
Hosn-SuUman, whose enclosures are the best preserved in Syria. Like the 
" August Sanctuary " of Jerusalem, this was a harain, comprising a temple conse- 
crated to Baotecetian Jupiter. Here is also the stronghold of Kalet-el-Hosn, the 
Krah of the Crusaders, which commands the fords of the Nahr-el-Kebir west of 
Homs. North of Tortosa the coast-route was guarded by the castle of Margat, the 

Fig. 176. — Kalat-el-Hosan. 




modern Margab, which was held by the Franks from 1140 to 1285. All these 
castles were mostly built by European craftsmen, and nearly all the stonecutters' 
marks are in Roman letters. 

Tarahulus, or Tripoli, one of those " triple cities " which occur in so manj' 
parts of the Old World, is at once the seaport of North Libanon and the emporium 
of Homs and Hamah on the Upper Orontes. In the Phcsnician period it was the 
common mart of the three cities of Tj^re, Sidon, and Arad, whence a title which at 
present it deserves on other grounds. For it really consists of three distinct 
quarters : the castle of Sanjal (Saint Giles), former residence of the Counts of 
Tripoli, standing on a hill above the winding valley of the Nahr-Kadisha ; the 
upper town, the " Pilgrim's Moimt " of the Crusaders, which occupies the most 
advanced terrace of the spurs of Libanon on the left bank of the river ; lastly the 



392 SOUTH-WESTEEN ASIA. 

" Marina," or El-Mina, lying over 2 miles to the north-west on a narrow peninsular, 



■I 'I 



7i 














where some remains may still be seen of mediaoval fortifications. Some reefs lying 
a third of a mile from the coast are all that now remains of the Bakar, or break- 



ANTIOCHIA—BUAD— TRIPOLI. 



893 



water, which formerly sheltered the port from the fierce western and northern 
gales. Being broken through at Aarious points, these works are no longer able to 
protect the anchorage, where shipwrecks often take place when northern winds 
prevail. During the Crusades Tripoli, at that time held by the people of Provence 
and Languedoc, was the chief centre of trade between Syria and the West ; besides 
four thousand silk and camelot, or camels' hair, looms, it had a flourishing glass 



Fig. 178.— Tripoli. 
Scale 1 : 85,000. 




E. c=fbreer.-.,c^ 



industry, and here was the chief emporium for the costlj- produce of the East. From 
this point the sugar-cane was transplanted to Sicily, whence it spread to Andalusia 
and the Xew World. And although the Crusaders began their occupation by 
burning its library, Triijoli also became a great school of learning, where Arabs, 
Xestorians, and Jacobites taught philosojjhy, medicine, and histoiy even to the 
Westerns. At present it has no university, but as a trading place it is rapidly 
increasing. From Homs and Hamah it annually imports about twenty thousand 



894 SOUTH-"V\"ESTEEN ASIA. 

tons of merchandise by the caravan route, which may sooner or later be replaced by 
a railway to Aleppo crossing the coast-range at an elevation of 1,100 feet. To 
Europe and the Levant it forwards raw silks, coarse woven goods, delicious oranges, 
tobacco, soap, and the famous wines of the El-Marj district. The finest sponges on 
the SjTian coast are taken at Triijoli and the little port of Batrun to the south-west, 
and this industry is yearly growing in importance. Originally established by the 
Greeks of the archipelago, it is now mainly in the hands of the Syrian fishers, who 
have become as skilful as their masters, and who have the advantage of residing on 
the spot. They now employ over three hundred boats, and the yield increased from 
£24,000 in 1874 to £160,000 in 1880. 

Batrun, the ancient Botri/s, is now a mere fishing hamlet, while Jehail, the 
Gebal of the Hebrews and Byhlos of the Greeks, occupies but a small portion of 
the square enclosure constructed by the Crusaders. Byblos, the " Holy City," 
dedicated to the worship of the goddess Baalat, and birthplace of the god Tammuz, 
the Adonis of the Greeks, is one of the oldest cities in the world, claiming a 
higher antiquity even than Tyre and Sidon. But all its pagan monuments having 
been systematically destroyed by the Christians, it has little now to show but its 
mediaeval ruins and the vast necropolis hewn out of the live rock in the surrounding 
hills. Here is also to be seen the old channel cut in the cliff to deflect to Byblos 
the waters of the sacred river of Adonis, the Nahr-Ibrahim of the Arabs. The 
district yields a choice tobacco, which is sent to Latakieh, and there jjrepared for 
the market. Farther south the fertile Maronite valleys of the Kesruan forward a 
portion of their produce through the bay of Juni. Jebail itself has no harbour 
beyond a little basin less than three acres in extent, and badly protected by a 
dilapidated breakwater from the winds and sui-f. 

Beirut — Sidox — Tyre. 

Beirut, the most commercial and largest citj^ on the S3'rian coast, and which 
presents a magnificent panoroma, almost rivalling those of Naples and Constanti- 
nople, is also a very ancient place. For the Phoenician Berytus, founded by the 
god El on the same day as Byblos, claimed to be the first that "Time," created 
with it, beheld on the face of the earth. But the " Root of Life," the " Nourisher 
of Cities," the "Primitive Queen of the "World," as its titles ran, stood in 
Phoenician and Roman times more to the east, near the river now known as the 
Nahr-Beirut, moving gradually westwards in the direction of the most conspicuous 
headland north of Mount Carmel The coast itself is so badly sheltered that vessels 
lying at anchor in the roadstead frequently suffer during stormy weather. The 
city, which is unenclosed, skirts the beech for some miles, and spreads inland along 
the advanced spurs of the hills, which are themselves covered with hundreds of 
viUas surrounded with gardens and palm-groves. On the west the plantations are 
encroached upon by dunes of red sand, which stretch southwards to the magnificent 
pine-forest which is the pride of Beirut, and from which the city probably takes 
its name. 



BEIEUT— SIDON— TYRE. 



395 



Like Smyrna, Beirut has already assumed a European asj^ect. It has a 
considerable colony of foreigners from the west, whose speech and dress have been 
adopted by thousands of Levantines, Greeks, and even Syrians, settled here. About 
half of the population consists of Christians of various sects — Maronites and Latins, 
United Armenians, Orthodox and Catholic Greeks, Protestants of every denomina- 
tion. In the streets elegant equipages are intermingled with convoys of camels ; 
on the " French " route, which winds in easy gradients up the escarpments of the 
hiUs, carts and diligences are seen in strange contrast with the pack-mules and 
asses plodding along the dusty side-paths. Being the outport of Damascus, Beirut 
receives all the produce of the villages strewn in hundreds over the terraces of 
Libanon — the " golden wine," the fruits, the wools, raw silks, and cocoons, of the 
thrifty rural population. The import trade has also greatly increased of late years. 



Fig. 179.— Beirut. 
Scale 1 : 90,000. 




E.ofGre.. . 



and the exchanges now amount to considerablj^ over £2,000,000 annuallj'. The 
shipping, which exceeds 350,000 tons, is about equally divided amongst the 
mercantile navies of Great Britain, France, and Austria. Owing to the increased 
size of the vessels now frequenting Beirut, a new harbour has become indispen- 
sable. According to the plan proposed by M. de Perthuis, a large portion of the 
present shore with its rocky creeks and reefs would be cleared and dredged and 
protected by breakwaters, by which accommodation would be afforded to a shipping 
of about 200,000 tons annually. 

European influence is apparent as much in the schools as in the trade of Beirut. 
Famous during the Roman epoch for its university of jurisprudence, it is no less so 
now for its educational establishments founded by the various religious commimities 
and supported by subsidies from abroad. Two of these institutions, provided 



396 S0UTH-\NT:STEEN ASIA. 

with observatories, museums, workshops, and printing-offices, claim the title of 
university, and are connected with schools of medicine. The American College 
stands outside the city on the western headland commanding the roadstead, while 
the vast establishment of the Jesuits lies in the heart of the town. Nearly every- 
thing is modern in Beirut, and of its old monuments nothing is now to be seen 
except fragments of pavements, columns, sarcophagi, and in the gorge near the 
mouth of the Nahr-el-Kelb, numerous bas-reliefs and inscriptions of all epochs. 
A portion of this stream is now brought to Beirut by a recently constructed 
aqueduct, and traces have been discovered of another channel, which had been 
carried across the bay on a double or triple row of arches. The modern hydraulic 
works on the right bank of the Nahr-el-Kelb brought to light in 1878 some 
interesting cuneiform inscriptions enumerating the provinces subject to Nabucho- 
donosor. East of the city, on a spur of the Libanon enclosed by the deep valley of 
the Nahr, the hamlet of Beir-el-Kalah marks the site of a large temple dating 
from the Grseco-Roman period. It had evidently been erected on the stiU older 
foundations of a Phoenician sanctuary, whose enclosures may be recognised by 
their huge blocks, several yards high, mingled with the more recent masonry. 

Beir-el-Kamar, capital of the Druze country, but now inhabited b}^ Christians, 
lies in the heart of the mountains on a lofty terrace about 3,000 feet above the sea. 
From this elevated position it commands the course of the Nahr-el-Kadi, or Nahr- 
el-Damur, which falls iato the Mediterranean between Beirut and Saida. The 
" Convent of the Moon," as its name implies, doubtless in reference to a church of 
the Virgin, so often symbolized by the crescent, is not so much a town as a group 
of villages and hamlets scattered over the terraces above those astonishing hanging 
gardens, which are here supported by masonry built into the side of the hill. The 
women of Delr-el-Kamar are mostly occupied -svith weaving those robes of brocaded 
silk which the Druze chiefs are fond of paradiug on state occasions. Farther 
south and -on the opposite side of the ravine, a steep crag is crowned with the 
Beit-ed-Din (^Bheddhi), the palace of the famous Druze prince Beshir, who 
maintained an almost indej)endent position till the arrival of Ibraham Pasha and 
his Egj^ptians in 1839. This building, now occupied by the Governor of the 
lilbanon, is a most remarkable Moorish edifice, noted for its graceful arcades, 
elegant domes, and varied structures jjiled in terraces one above the other, each 
with its turrets, galleries, and gardens. 

South of Beirut follow two cities which, due regard being paid to the difference 
between former and present times, certainly played a vast part ia the commerce of 
the Old World. But both alike, Sidon (^Saidda') and Tyre (^Sur"), are now reduced 
to very modest projtortions. Sidon, confined within dilapidated ramparts, has no 
longer even a harbour accessible to anything larger than the local Arab craft. 
The northern basin has silted up, although if cleared out it would form a sort of 
natural dock, enclosed on two sides by rocks and reefs, and in the north-east by a 
bridge with nine jwlnted arches connecting the j)Icturesque Kalat-el-Bahr, or 
" Sea Castle," with the mainland. This basin communicates through a now almost 
filled-up channel with the southern port, which is too exposed to afford safe 



BEIRUT— SIDON—TYEE. 



397 



Fig. 180.— SiDON. 
Scale 1 : 23,000. 



anchorage to the shipping. The modern town, inhabited by Maronites, Greeks, 

Metualis, Levantines, and Sunnite Mussubnans, is largely built of materials drawn 

from the old city. A small museum stands near the beach on the northern 

harbour, which even so recently as the seventeenth century was the entrepot of 

trade with France and Spain. Although there are no monuments dating from the 

time when Sidon was the 

metropolis of the vast colonial 

empire of the Phoenicians, 

it at least still remains the 

"Flowery City" of former 

times. No other Syrian town, 

except perhajDS Damascus, is 

encircled by more beautiful 

gardens, none produces more 

choice fruits or lovely flowers. 

The mean annual yield of its 

gardens is estimated at from 

£250 to £300 an acre, and its 

orange trade now rivals that 

of Jaffa itself. 

In the necropolis stretch- 
ing south-eastwards along the 
foot of the limestone cliffs, 
are foimd the most remarkable 
monuments of ancient Sidon. 
Such are the walls, caves, and 
sarcophagi, besides the tomb 
of King Eshmimazar, in the 
purest Egyptian style, but 
with a precious Phoenician 
inscription. This important 
historical monument has lately 
been transferred to the Louvre. 
In the immediate neighbour- 
hood of the town, the beach, 
rimning north and south, is 
everywhere encumbered with 
huge heaps of shells left by 

the manufacturers of the pui-ple dye which at one time constituted the most 
famous and lucrative branch of Sidonian industry. One of these mounds, composed 
exclusively of the murex trunculus, used for dyeing coarse materials, is no less than 
400 feet long, with an average height of 26 to 28 feet. Others, which are very 
numerous, consist of the debris of the murex hrandaris and purpura hemastoma, 
used only in dyeing more costly fabrics. A town lying on a fine sandy beach to 




0tol6 
Feet. 


16 to 32 
Feet. 


32 Feet and 
upwards. 
1,100 Yards. 



398 



SOUTH-WESTERN ASIA. 



the north of Sidon had taken the name of Porphyrion, that is, the " Purple City," 
from its extensive dye-works. Here, according to the local Jewish and Mussulman 
tradition, the prophet Jonas was cast ashore, whence the name of Khan-Nebi- 
Tunas given to the neighbouring village. When their vast maritime trade began 
to decline, the Sidonians turned their attention to the industrial arts, and soon 
became the most renowned craftsmen in the world. "Skilled in aU things," 

according to the Homeric ex- 
Fig. 181.— Tyue. pression, they became as famous 

Scale 1 : &4,0CiO. „, n ji -tr 

as were aiterwards the Vene- 
tians for their glass-works 
which were situated at Sarepta, 
a three hours' journey to the 
south near the modern village 
of Sarfend. 

Tyre, the " daughter " and 
rival of Sidon, is a still more 
decayed place, where it is diffi- 
cult to recognise the great city 
supposed to have been founded 
bj' Baal himself. At present 
it occupies only a smaU portion 
of the rocky islet which held 
out for ten 3'ears against the 
Assyrians under Salmanasar 
and Suryakin, for thirteen 
against Nabuchodonosor, and 
arrested the progress of Alex- 
ander for seven months. West 
of the islet, to which the citj' 
was probably indebted for its 
name of Tyre, that is, the 
" Rock," some debris, visible 
beneath the transparent waters, 
appear to be the remains of an 
ancient town built on a terraced 
embankment, and either swept 
away in a storm or swallowed 
in some local subsidence of the land. Over half a mile to the north is seen a 
reef formerly connected with Tyre by a dyke, of which every vestige has dis- 
appeared ; and the same fate has overtaken the pier or breakwater which towards 
the south connected other islets in a continuous rampart stretching in the direction 
of the Ras-el-Abiad, or " "White Point." But the causeway constructed by 
Alexander to connect the island with the mainland still exists, its preservation 
being due to the sands brought by the winds and currents to consolidate it on 




B^LILBEK— DAJJLiSCUS. 399 

both sides. This causeway has thus gro\vii into an isthmus 2,000 feet broad at its 
narrowest part, above which the sands have here and there formed low dunes or hills. 

Beyond some graves, which have mostly fallen in, nothing is to be seen of 
Paleo- Tyre, the continental city that stretched for a distance of 7 miles north and 
south between the mouth of the Orontes and the copious springs of Ras-el-Ain. 
One of the tombs in this district is associated in the local traditions with the name 
of Hiram, the renowned royal builder, whose memory still presides at the gatherings 
of the " masons " who have imdertaken to reconstitute the world. The same tradi- 
tions attribute to Solomon some old reservoirs still filled with the abundant 
overflow of the Ras-el-Ain springs, which are thence distributed in a thousand 
channels over the plain, and which formerlj' supplied a now ruined aqueduct 
running northwards in the direction of the Maashuk moimd. Here it ramified 
into two branches, one of which penetrated to the insular city, while the other was 
carried northwards to the neighbouring coast-stream. 

Although small, the present Tyre, inhabited by Sunnites, Metualis, Jews, and 
Greeks of both rites, still enjoys a certain prosperity, thanks to its export trade in 
cotton and tobacco, shipped in the modern port, which is a mere inlet of the old 
northern harbour. The excavations undertaken in 1874 amid the ruins of the 
ancient cathedral in search of Frederick Barbarossa's tomb, brought to light some 
magnificent single and double columns in granite and Egyjjtian syenite. 

The valley of the Leontes, or Kasimiyeh, the products of which are cxjjorted 
through Tyre, has no towns in its lower reaches. No centres of population occur, 
even along its upper course, until we reach the Bekaa depression and the region 
lying beyond the sources of the Leitani. Here the largest and most industrious 
place is Zahleh, inhabited by Syrian and Greek Christians, and built in amphi- 
theatrical form on the slopes of a hill intersected by the precipitous bed of a 
mountain torrent. Its name recalls a " landslip," during which it descended from 
the higher level of the escarpments rising northwards in the direction of the Jebel- 
Sannin. Zahleh is surrounded by vineyards, and all the rividets in the neigh- 
bouring plain are fringed with poplars. Forming an important intermediate 
station between Beirut and Damascus, it is inhabited chiefly by muleteers and 
leaders of caravans, who enjoy a universal reputation for their trustworthiness. 

Baalbek — Damascus. 

Baalbek is not, as might be supposed from many popular descriptions, the 
simple debris of a ruined temple standing in the midst of the wilderness. It is 
rather a small town with its Arab khan, a hotel, and a telegraph station for 
European travellers. A wall nearly 2 miles in circumference encloses several 
hundred houses, inhabited, as elsewhere in Syria, by members of various religious 
sects. Although its decadence is sufficiently explained by wars and misgovernment, 
it is nevertheless surprising that a larger population and a more active trade have 
not been maintained in a city so happily situated in this favoured region of Ccele- 
Sj^ria, on the scarcely perceptible waterparting between the Leitani and Orontes 



400 SOUTII-WESTEEN ASIA. 

basins. Nor can there be any doubt that Baalbek must sooner or later again take 
its place among the foremost cities of Syria. The old terraced lands visible on the 
surrounding slopes await only the tiller's hand to bloom and blossom again. A 
portion of the plain has already been bought up by European .speculators, who here 
cultivate cereals, beans, cotton, and the vine. Baalbek will soon be connected 
with the ]\Iediterranean by a carriage-road branching from the main route between 
Beirut and Damascus. 

The ruined monuments which are the glory of the " City of the Sun," lie 
towards the west. Here a circular dilapidated temple occupies an isolated position 
on the plain, beyond which are grouped together all the other edifices — Temple of 
the Sun, Temple of Jupiter, propylse, cyclopean walls — collectively forming "perhaps 
the finest group of buildings in the world." * Yet what still remains is but little 
compared with what has been overthro'^^^^ by earthquakes or the hand of man. 
The shafts lying scattered about are more numerous than those still standing with 
their Corinthian capitals and entablatures against the blue sky. These, however, 
are of imi^osing magnitude, and their fine proportions, the great height of the 
columns and wealth of sculpture are specially noteworthy. But in the presence of 
the cyclopean walls the observer is struck with amazement at the enormous blocks 
which the hand of man has here been able to manipulate. These masses are 
imrivalled in Asia for their vast dimensions, so vast that it is difiicult to understand 
how they could have been placed in position even by thousands of workmen aided 
by every mechanical appliance. Built into the walls are huge monoliths fully 71 
feet long, and several yards broad and deep, and amongst them are some estimated 
at over 10,000 cubic feet in bulk, and weighing not less than 800 tons.t A single 
stone still lying in the quarry over half a mile off, which was doubtless intended to 
support the inner colonnade, is 15,000 cubic feet in bulk, and weighs upwards of 
1,000 tons, while a defective obelisk cast aside in another quarry is over 98 feet 
long. The largest menhir in Britanny weighs no more than 250 tons, less than 
one-fourth of the largest Baalbek monolith, which is exceeded in Europe only by 
the Anteguera dolmen with a bulk of 33,000 cubic feet. The erratic boulder 
supporting the equestrian statue of Peter the Great in St. Petersburg weighs about 
1,500 tons. Compared with these gigantic blocks, worked with such simple 
mechanical contrivances as ropes, levers, and rollers, how insignificant appear even 
the huge masses of concrete piled up on our modern breakwaters. 

Damascus, whose strategical and commercial position is analogous to that of 
Baalbek, has not declined like the city of Coele-Syria. Formerly inferior to 
Antiochia alone, it is now the first city in Syria, and in the whole of Asiatic 
Turkey it is exceeded in population only by Smyrna. Hence its title of " Esh- 
Sham," or " Syria," as if the whole province were here concentrated. It stands in 
an extremely fertile and abundantly watered plain, directly facing the depression 
separating the Hermon from Anti-Libanon. Through the Bekaa it thus commands 
all the northern and central positions through the Orontes and Leontes Valleys 

* Loret, " Tour du Monde." 

t Steppe, " Munich GeogTaphical Society." 



15AALBEK— D.\M^\.SCUS. 4(11 

respective^. " Damascus is the e)'e of the East," said the Emperor Julian. But 





besides commanding the seaboard and counecting it coiumerciallj' with the Mesopo- 
tamiau plains, Damascus occupies a completely independent position, rendering it 

VOL. IX. D D 



402 



SOUTH-WESTERN ASL\. 



self-suj)j)ortiug, even were its communications with the sea entirel}' interrupted. 
During the wars of the Crusades, it was vainly attacked by the Franks, who were 
admitted into the place only for a few years in the character of allies. It was the 
residence of Salah-ed-Din (Saladin) and Melek-ed-Dhaher-Bibars, the two most 
renowned ojjponents of the Crusaders, whose tombs are still shown in the neighbour- 
hood of the great mosque. At this time Damascus was a famous centre of learning, 
celebrated esj)ecially for its school of medicine. 

Esh-Sham claims to be the oldest place in the world, and in any case it already 
figures in the list on the walls of Karnak amongst the cities reduced by Thotmes III. 
nearly three thousand eight hundred years ago. According to the Arab legend, 
the red soil of the surrounding plain su25plied the " virgin earth " from which the 



Fig. 183.— Damascus. 
Scale 1 : 120,000. 




E cf-Gr 



first man was made, and which is still suj^posed to possess miraculous medicinal 
virtues. Other traditions associate the neighbouring gardens with the Paradise of 
Genesis, and point out where was shed the blood of Abel, or where Noah's Ark was 
built. The house of Abraham is also confidently shown, and the local Jews gather 
every Sabbath in the synagogue erected over the tomb of Elias. 

But, however important in the history of the Jewish and Mohammedan religions, 
Damascus is not less so in the early records of Christianity. Here Paul was 
converted to the new faith, and began the mission to the Gentiles which was 
destined to have such far-reaching consequences for mankind. No less than two 
places are pointed out as the precise spot where the vision took place which 
suddenly transformed the fiery persecutor into a zealous ajjostle. One of the many 
caves of the "Seven Sleepers " is also to be seen on the slope of the neighboui'ing 



B.i.U.BEK— DAMASCUS. 403 

mountain. Damascus even shares in the sanctity of Mecca and Medina, for at this 
place the largest caravan of pilgrims yearly assembles to \'isit the holy places. 
Thousands of the faithful accompany the sacred camel, bearer of the Sultan's gifts 
for the Kaaba. 

The sight of Damascus is one of the marvels of the East. From the hUls 
commanding it on the north and west, it appears white and rose tinted in the 
midst of the surrounding masses of verdm-e. The subm'bs, stretching away_ amid 
the garden-plots, are here and there hidden from the view by clumps of forest- 
trees, while the clear waters of pond or reservoir sparkle beneath the clusters of 
feathery palm. But on penetrating into the tortuous streets the contrast is all the 
more depressing. As in other Oriental cities, even the finest houses present a 
cheerful asj^ect only in the interior, where they are disposed round flowing waters 
and flower-beds. The city, properly so called, is of oval form, with the main axis 
running west and east, and occupied in the north-west corner with a square citadel. 
It is traversed in its entire length by the " Straight Street," a thoroughfare which 
has replaced a superb avenue of columns erected during the Roman period. This 
is still the centre of trafiic, full of life and movement, but leaving the adjoining 
side streets almost deserted. At night the various quarters are separated from each 
other by gateways, which convert them into so many distinct towns. Northwards 
the El-Amara suburb stretches along the opposite bank of the chief branch of the 
Barada, while the Meidan, a much larger quarter, extends for over a mile along the 
southern highway leading to Mecca. 

The chief edifice in Damascus is the " great mosque," originally a Roman 
basilica, some of whose columns still remain, either in detached groups or built into 
the walls of the mosque and adjacent bazaars. Although the Christians have only 
of late years obtained permission to enter this building, they hold it in great venera- 
tion, for it was formerly their cathedral, and stiU contains, as they suppose, the 
remains of some of their saints, amongst others those of John and Zacharias. One 
of its three minarets is even called the " Tower of Jesus," and here, according to the 
local belief, the Son of Man will appear on the last day to judge the quick and the 
dead. These lofty minarets, dating from the time of the Ommiades, and famous in 
the history of architecture, served as the models of the Giralda in Seville, of the 
belfry of Saint Mark's in Venice, and of the Torrazzo in Cremona. 

As a commercial centre, Damascus is as indispensable for Central as is Aleppo 
for Northern Syria. It sends everj^ year five or six caravans to Bagdad, while 
others are equipped for Bii-ejik, Rakka, Bassora, Nejd, and other parts of Arabia. 
But of the wares thus distributed throughout the East few are of local manufacture. 
Of these the most important are some highly esteemed silken fabrics, gold filigree 
work, and saddlery. Since the visit of Tamerlane, who butchered nearly all the 
inhabitants, Damascus has ceased to produce the highly tempered blades so famous 
during the first centuries of the Arab rule, and these objects are now more frequently 
seen in the bazaars of Cairo than in those of the Syrian city. But in the palaces 
of Damascus and Aleppo are still preserved perhaps the finest old Chinese ceramics, 
imported during mediaeval times by the Bokhara dealers. In these articles Syria is 

D D 2 



404 SOUTH-WESTEEN ASIA. 

said to be richer than the Middle Kingdom itself. The essence of roses, at one 
time so highly appreciated, is no longer prejiared on the banks of the Barada, and 
the southern slopes of the Balkans, and the Fayum district in Egypt, now remain 
unrivalled in the production of the costly attar. 

The various trades and professions are distributed in Damascus amongst the 
religious communities, which here mostly represent so many distinct nationalities. 
The Jews, different in their origin from the " Spanioles " of the coast towns and 
from the German and Russian Hebrews who have recently immigrated into 
Palestine, are the direct descendants of the Beni- Israel of the Promised Land. The 
Christians, three times more numerous, possess no common bond of imion, and 
during the massacres of 1860 they mostly allowed themselves to be butchered 
imresistingly. On that occasion the so-caUed Arab " Greeks " alone fought hard for 
their lives. At present, notwithstanding much smouldering fanaticism, the foreigners 
yearly visiting the place to the number of several hundreds, have nothing to fear 
from the populace, and move freely about in the bazaars and suburbs. * 

Salahiyeh, a long suburb winding up the advanced slopes of the Jebel Kasiura, 
north of the plains, may be regarded as a distinct town separated fi-om Damascus 
by a space of nearly 2 miles. Rising above the vapours which at times hang over 
the humid plain, Salahiyeh enjoys a more healthy climate than the lowland city. 
Here the chief schools were formerly established, and here most of the Europeans 
at present reside, while others retire to Biidaii, which lies more in the hills on the 
slope of one of the chief summits of Anti-Libanon, whence a magnificent prospect 
is commanded of the marvellous plain. All that the earth contains of pleasure or 
beauty the Arab imagines summed up in the one magic term, El-Guta, as he calls 
the vast garden encircling Damascus. According to the natives, the irrigating 
waters here ramify into seven streams and three hundred and sixty five- canals, 
diffusing fertility over thirty thousand gardens. Thanks to this abundance of water, 
and to the diversified climate caused by the neighbourhood of cool mountains and 
burniug deserts, the most varied floras are found here concentrated in charming 
contrast. The oak and walnut flourish by the side of the olive and cypress, while 
the apple overshadowing the fragrant rose-bush is itself sheltered b}' the tall palm. 
Of all the fruits cultivated in these productive gardens, the most highly prized are 
the plums. 

Palmyra — Philadelphia — Petra. 

The village of Harran-el-Awamid, lying east of Damascus, not far from the 
great Bahr-el-Ateibeh marsh, is said to have formerly been an important city, bj' 
biblical commentators identified with that in which Abraham dwelt.f But still 
farther east, in the midst of the Hamad wilderness, must be sought the grand ruins 
of antiquity. Tadmor, a chief station in the desert between Damascus aud the 

* Approximate population of Damascus, according to religions : Sunnite Mussulmans, 125,000 ; 
Metualis, 4,000 ; Greek Christians, 7,000 ; United Greeks, 7,000 ; Syrian and other Christians, 3,000 ; 
Jews, 6,000; Sundries, 8,000. Total, 160,000. 

t Mrs. Beke, "Jacob's Flight." 



i 




i 




PALMYRA— PHILADEIiPHIA—PETEA. 405 

Euphrates, has preserved the name by which it was known when first mentioned 
in history, at the time of Hiram and Solomon. The alternative designation of 
Palmyra, unknowTi to the natives, is itself merely the Latin translation of Tadmor, 
" City of Palms." But as a city it no longer exists, and the wretched hamlet which 
has succeeded it is concealed within the ruins of a temple, the entrance of which is 
now closed at night against the marauding Bedouin. Yet even so late as the twelfth 
century, when visited by the traveller Benjamin of Tudela, it still contained a 
considerable population, including two thousand Jewish merchants. 

The city of Zenobia is no longer anything more than a narrow oasis approached 
through the dry beds of wadys. The traveller is even obliged to make a provision 
of water while crossing the intervening wastes. It would be impossible to under- 
stand the amazing development of Palmyra during the period when its empire was 
spread over Syria, Asia Minor, and Mesopotamia, imless we suppose that it was 
supplied with copious springs, and its plains watered by a considerable stream. 
Ptolemy tells us, in fact, that a river comparable to the Chrysorrhoas (Barada) of 
Damascus flowed by its temples, and down to the tenth and eleventh centuries 
mention continually occurs of the running waters, the fields and orchards of 
Palmyra. Even in the middle of the last century the English traveller, Wood, saw 
two small rivulets at Tadmor ; but the water had become so sulphurous that it 
could not be drunk until it had settled down. At present a solitary streamlet 
flowing south of the city soon runs dry at the foot of the chalk cliffs. The soil has 
evidently become dryer ; the desert has encroached on the oasis, and Palmyra for a 
time disappeared altogether. After a search of thirteen years some English 
explorers again brought it to light in 1691, and for many years afterwards it 
continued to be of difficult access across the trackless desert. 

Palmyra was a city of colonnades, and even still, although most of the buildings 
have been overthrown by earthquakes, the horizon seems bounded on all sides by 
lines of pillars. Of the four hundred which originally adorned the Temple of the 
Sun, as man}' as fifty are still erect ; and of the one thousand five himdred which 
formed the grand central avenue rimning for four thousand feet between the palaces, 
one himdred and fifty have been preserved in position. But not one of the statues 
remains which stood ujjon pedestals attached to the shafts. On the numerous tombs a 
large number of inscriptions have been found in the Aramean language, which differs 
little from modern Syriac ; some are bilingual, in Greek and the Palmyrene dialect. 
In the Trans-Jordan region south of Damascus aU the old cities have either 
fallen to ruins or sunk like Tadmor to mere hamlets. Yet at one time towns were 
coimted by the hundred in this district, which is now occupied chiefly by Bedouin 
encampments and some recently foimded settlements of the Druzes from Libanon. 
In many places columns, triumphal arches, and tombs like those of Palmyra break 
the monotonj' of the view, and here monuments dating from the first centuries of 
Christendom are scarcely less numerous than in North SjTia itself. West of the 
Hauran abandoned cities and groups of fine buildings with carved stone doors and 
windows, and here and there even with roofs still standing, follow in quick succession. 
El-Musmiyeh, Shakka, and Slnihba, are mere ruins ; Kanavat and Sueideh are small 



406 



SOUTH-AAT.STEEX ASIA. 



villages surrounded by siunptuous remains. Here the vine has ceased to he culti- 
vated, but the surrounding slopes are still girdled with the terraces where it entwined 
its tendrils amongst the branches of fruit-trees. Farther on Basra, the Bostra of 
the Romans, lying at the south-west angle of the Hauran highlands, on a wady 
flowing through the Yarmuk to the Jordan, presents the aspect of a metropolis, 
thanks to its massive Arab citadel, imposing ramparts, and mosques. A theatre, 
triumphal arches, arena, porticoes, and jjalatial remains are grouped within the 
now almost uninhabited enclosures, where a few UTetched Bedouin hovels are over- 
Fig. 18-1. — .Tebel Haurax and Bosra. 

Scale 1 : 500,000. 



■I . Shouhb 

L ^ -«: 
ii' 



TelJ ll^ar- % 





56- 50' E , of Gr-eenw.ch 



shadowed by the ruins of a superb cathedral. West of Bosra, and not far from 
Derat, the ancient Edrei, an extensive underground city cut in the live rock, has 
been explored by Wetzstein. Beyond it, on the plateau overlooking the east bank 
of the Jordan, Umm-Keis (^Mkeis^, the ancient Gadara, still preserves the remains of 
one of those " straight avenues" or colonnades which arc met in so many Syrian 
cities, dating from the first century of the Christian era, between Pompeiopolis and 
Tadmor. Of all these cities of the wilderness, Jerash, the Gerasa of the Romans, 
lying north of the upper valley of the Jabock torrent, has next to Palmyra best 



P.VL^IYEA— PHILADELPIIIA— PETEA. 407 

preserved these avenues, -n-ith the surrounding forum and outbuildings. Here the 
main avenue, intersected at intervals by other streets also lined with colonnades and 
statues, is nearly three-quarters of a mile long, and it is still fringed with over two- 
hundred vertical or inclined pillars. 

JE-s-Salf, the chief modern to-mi in the Trans- Jordan region, was also probably 
an ancient place, the Ramofh-GaJaad of the Hebrews. This capital of the Belka 
district and residence of a Turkish military commander lies on the southern slopes 
of the Jebel-Osha, whence it commands the whole .surrounding coimtrj'. 

The ruins of Amman, Ijang near the sources of the Jabock torrent, recall the 
ancient kingdom of the Ammonites, hereditary enemies of the Hebrews. Here 
stood their capital of Rabbath-Amman, which by the Romans was re-named 
Philadeljyhia. Few strongholds occupy a more formidable position than this 
ancient Ammonite citadel, perched on a crag isolated on all sides except the north- 
west, where the hand of man had completed the work of nature. South of the 
castle stretched the city properlj' so called, and on the opposite side of an interven- 
ing wady are still visible the semicircular rows of steps belonging to one of the 
largest and best-preserved theatres anywhere erected by the Romans. The 
surrounding hollows have become the camping-ground of some wretched Cherkess 
families, removed by the authorities to this district, whose climate diifers so greatly 
from that of their Caucasian homes. 

Of Hesban, the ancient Heshon of the Amorites, who were so often in arms 
against the Hebrews, nothing now remains except shapeless ruins. But farther 
east in the same district of the plateau stood the city of Zisa, famous for its large 
reservoirs and ensilage pits. Near this spot, on the route of the Mussulman 
pilgrims, Tristram has discovered the sumptuous remains of an isolated palace which 
the Arabs have named Mashifa, but the builders of which are unknown. The 
surprisingly rich scidptures of the facade, more varied even than those of the 
Alhambra, are attributed by Fergusson to the Sassanides. The edifice is supposed 
to have been erected at the beginning of the seventh century by Chosroes, after one 
of his victorious expeditions into Syria and Egj-pt. * 

Mashita lies at no great distance from the sources of the Z;iin-Merka, a deep 
wadj' which in the neighboiu-hood of the Dead Sea receives the hot sidphm-ous 
waters of the Callirhoe, so named by Herod. The vaj)oury cascades of this pleasant 
stream sparkle amidst the surrounding oleander-bushes, beyond which they are 
collected in a single channel shaded by the palm. The concretions precipitated by 
the water have developed a series of terraces along the face of the cliff, one of 
which, containing the petrified trunks of pabns, is no less than 160 feet thick. 
A special local flora flourishes in the vicinity of these springs, whose temperatiu'e 
varies from 180° to 190° F. The thermal stream has forced its way by erosion 
round a basalt barrier formerly blocking the valley. 

Eahbath-Moab, the present Rabba, ancient capital of the Moabites, is far less 
rich in antiquities than the rival Rabbath of the Ammonites. But several other 
cities of the Moab country have j-ielded many treasures to the archfeologist. The 

* Tristram, "Land of Jfoab." 



408 S;OUTH- WESTERN ASIA. 

most remarkable discovery made in this region is the famous stone, or pillar of 
Mesa, king of Moab, which was found in the middle of the vast ruins of Dhibaii, 
a town situated to the north of the Arnon torrent. Fortunately saved from 
destruction by M. Clermont-Ganueau, but not intact, this precious monument, 
which is now in the Louvre, bore an inscription of thirty-four lines in a dialect 
differing little from the Hebrew, and engraved in characters resembling the 
Phoenician tj'pe. The language spoken by Mesa some two thousand eight hundred 
years ago bears witness to a perfect parity of ideas and usages between the iloabites 
and their Israelitish neighbours. The inscription on this stone reads like a chapter 
in Judges, only the name of Jehovah is replaced by that of the god Kamosh. 

South of Rabbath-Moab the most considerable place is Kerak, which lies near a 
wady flowing to the Dead Sea on a steep rock encircled by a rampart. At the 
southern extremity of this rock, which is isolated by a deep cutting from the 
plateau, stands one of the strongest citadels erected by the Crusaders during their 
wars with the " Infidel." Here also stood the still more massive castle of !Moab, 
mentioned in the Bible under the name of Kir-Hareseth, or " City of the Hill." 
Kerak held out against Saladin, and again in 1844 against Ibrahim Pasha. Beyond 
it stretches the red land of Idumsea, or Edom, where all the cities are in ruins, 
and not a single inhabited town is now to be seen. The Christian inhabitants of 
Kerak themselves differ little from the Bedouins of the wilderness, and like them 
dwell chiefly in tents. 

Petra, which, under the name of SeJah, was capital of this region from the very 
dawn of history, is the city of " Stone " in a pre-eminent sense. Discovered, so to 
say, by the traveller Burckhardt in the year 1812, this city lies in the Wady Musa 
(Wady of Moses), a sort of cirque enclosed on all sides by rocks and mountains. 
East and west the heights rise abruptly from the ground ; towards the north the 
horizon is bounded by a continuous ridge furrowed by deep ravines, while the 
slopes fall more gently southwards, although even in this direction the basin is 
closed in by a steep sandstone wall. Access is gained to this basin by a gorge a 
few yards broad, a mere fissure in the rocks rising from 280 to over 300 feet on 
either side, and even at noon admitting but a few rays of crepuscular light. The 
defile is still crossed by a Roman archway, resembling those by modern engineers 
thrown across deep raQway cuttings. West of Petra another gorge receives the 
intermittent waters of the wady, whence they are carried either to a bottomless 
abj^ss, as the Arabs assert, or more probably deflected to the Arabah depression, as 
indicated by the relief of the land. But no modern explorer has hitherto penetrated 
to the extremity of the valley, which is overgrown by a dense mass of oleander- 
bushes. 

An isolated column, tombs, and the remains of other biiildings, are scattered 
about the cirque and its approaches. But the most remarkable monuments are 
those cut in the rock itself. To the Syria of the Roman epoch Petra stands in 
the same artistic relation that Ellora and Ajanta do to the India of Buddhist times. 
Temples with their colonnades and facades are let into the red cliff, while the face 
of the rock is everywhere carved into palaces or tombs, superimposed one above 



TOPOGRAPHY OF PALESTIXE. 



409 



another. From the earliest recorded times the inhabitants of the district were 
" Horim," that is to say, Troglodj'tes, whose first rude grottoes, shapeless caverns 
hollowed out of the hillside, have been transformed to architectural galleries 
decorated with statues and bas-reliefs. Then the whole population perished or 
disappeared, and the city of the wilderness became a vast necropolis, which has not 

Fig. 185. — Petra and the Arabah Depression-. 
Scale 1 : 300,000. 




K^'^ } 




T^>^ 




E. cf !,...»- . rh 



yet been entirely explored. West of Petra rises the crest of Mount Hor, venerated 
alike by Christian, Jew, and Mussulman as the tomb of the high-priest Aaron. 



TopoGR.\PHY OF Palestine. 

The valley of the Jordan is relatively well peopled only in its northern section, 
where the running waters flow in abundance, where the slopes of the hills are 
clothed with verdure, and wbere the summer heats are tempered by the elevation 
of the land. Here Easheya and Hasbeya, standing on cultivated terraces in the 
hilly and fertile region of the Wady-et-Teim, forming the western slope of Mount 
Ilermon, almost deserve the name of towns. But few traces now remain of Banias, 
the city of the " god Pan," the ancient Cwsarea, famous for its proud citadel at 
the verj' source of the Jordan, above the chasm into which were hurled the victims 
immolated at the sacrificial altar. 

Far less densely peopled than the Upper Jordan Yallej', the basin of Lake 



410 



SOUTH-"V\'ESTEEN ASIA. 



Galileo has now onlj- a single centre of urban jJopulation. Tnharii/eli, the ancient 
Tiben'cix, lying on the west side of the lake, is now a mere fcH or mound, overgrown 
with brushwood. TeU-Hum, another hillock at the north-west corner of the 
lacustrine lake, is supposed to indicate the site of Kapharnaum. For the Hebrews 



Fig. 186.— Lake Tiberias. 
Scale 1 : 280,000. 



Safad'^fe 



3^' -^ 'Jtfe 






J Je 







t . O-fbrsenw.ch 



J±-^ 



Below the level of the Mediterranean. 
n Miles. 



Tabariyeh is a sacred spot, whose Rabbinical school, famous throughout mediaeval 
times, had succeeded to that of Jerusalem. The town, where is still shown the tomb 
of the great doctor and expoimder of Holy Writ, Maimonides, is now people chiefly 
by Jews of Spanish and Russian descent, who here await the coming of the Messiah. 



EMMAUS— JERICHO— AKKA . 



411 



Safed, lying at the foot and on the slopes of a fortified hill near a wady flowing 
to Lake Tiberias, has also attracted a Jewish population, animated by the same 
expectation of a future liberator. To them the tremblings of the ground, frequent 
in this volcanic district, seem to be so many " signs " heralding the advent of their 
king. These underground disturbances have often been very disastrous, and in 
1837 the whole Jewish quarter, built in amphitheatrical form on a steep incline, 
was overthrown, burying four thousand persons in the ruins of its houses, which 

Fig. 187. — jEEICHOi 

Scale 1 : 140,000. 




55*50 E. of Green vvitV. 



were swept, with the accompanying landslip, like an avalanche down the precipitous 
declivity. 

Emmaus — Jericho — Akka. 

The thermal springs of the ancient Emmaus {Hammam Suleiman and Hnwmam 
Ibrahim), lying at a short distance from Tabaryieh, are much frequented. The 
undulating tract stretching west of them near the village of Rattin was the battle- 
field where Saladin gained the decisive victory which in 1187 secured to him the 
possession of Jerusalem. South of the hills of Tiberias in the fertile valley of the 
Wady-Jabul, one of the " Gates of Paradise," is situated the hamlet of Bcisan, the 
ancient city of Bdh-san, which held out against the Hebrew invaders and preserved 
its local cult for centuries. During the Roman period it was known as ScythopoUs, 
a name doubtless due to a colony of " Scythians " who had settled here. 

In the Ghor, or deep fissure of the Jordan between Lake Tiberias and the Dead 



412 



SOUTH-"«'ESTEEN ASIA. 



Sea, there are no towns. RiJia (^Erilia^, standing on the site of the Jericho of 
Herod's time, which lay some distance to the east of the older Jericho destroyed 
by the Israelites on entering the land of Canaan, is now a mere group of hovels. 
The famous city, which after the Babylonian captivity became the second city in 
Judaea, which was the school of the prophets, and later on the residence of Herod I., 
l^crished with the destruction of the irrigation canals derived from the Jordan, and 
the copious spring of Elishah, or the Sultan (Ani-es-Sultan). It is no longer the 
" City of Palms," and has ceased to export the caryopcs, or "date-nuts," of which 
it had once a monopoly. "When it lost its date-groves, its sugar-cane plantations, 
and rose-gardens, Jericho also lost its inhabitants. But the population would 
doubtless return were the old system of irrigation works restored. Notwithstanding 
the pestilential fevers which now prevail, and which have proved fatal to many 

Fig. 188. — Nazaketh and Movxt Tabor. 
Scale 1 : 120,000. 




55'QS E .of Greeny.. cK 



explorers of the Holy Land,* it still continues to be one of the most frequented 
places in Palestine. Whole caravans of pilgrims, mostly Russians of the Orthodox 
Greek Church, flock hither to bathe in the holy waters of Jordan, and worship at 
the many hallowed spots in the district. Some devout Abyssinians also come to 
perform their forty days' fast in the grottoes of a neighbouring hill, in imitation of 
the fast of the Saviour in the wilderness. Hence the appellation of the " Forty 
Hays " given to this rugged crag. Yarious tropical birds have settled in the 
valley of Jericho, and here are also now seen various plants of the Torrid zone 
from Sudan and the Sahara. 

The land of Galilee, divided by its numerous mountain ranges into a labyrinth 
of secluded valleys, is almost destitute of towns. Nazareth, or Eii-Nacira, is its chief 
city, bej-ond ihc highland region, facing southwards in the direction o£ the plain 
• Lieut. R. Conder, "Tent- work in Palestine." 



EiliLUTS-JEEICHO— AKKA. 



413 



of Esdraelon. In any case it is indebted for most of its population to the hallowed 
memories awakened by its name. So recently as the begianing of the last century 
it was merely a wi-etched Mussulman village, which since then has gradually grown 
into a considerable town, thanks to the immigration of Christian settlers. Churches,, 
convents, asj'lxmis, and schools of all " denominations " have sprung up in the two 
Latin and Greek quarters, while the Mohammedans have been compelled to remove 
towards the cidtivated grounds in the south-east. Nazareth is one of the few cities 



Fig. ISO. — Akka and Kaifa. 
Scale 1 : 200,000. 




0to32 

Feet. 


32 to 80 
Feeet. 


SO Feet ai 
upward 
_ 3 MUes. 



of Palestine provided with highways of communication, and is now connected by a 
carriage-road with Khaifa, at the foot of Momit Carmel. 

Akka, or St. John of Acre, belongs like Nazareth to the province of Galilee, 
and like it is situated beyond the hillj' districts. It occupies the rocky headland 
which on the coast forms the northern extremity of the semicircular bay limited 
southwards by Mount Carmel. The position of Akka, the Phoenician Akko and the 
Ptolemais of the Lagides, is naturally strong against th