Travels in Mesopotamia. Including a journey from Aleppo to Bagdad, by the route of Beer, Orfah, Diarbekr, Mardin, & Mousul; with researches on the ruins of Nineveh, Babylon, and other ancient cities

Chapter I. Caravan Rushing, By Night, To

A DEEP AND RAPID RIVER. TRAVELS IN MESOPOTAMIA. INCLUDING A JOURNEY FROM ALEPPO TO BAGDAD, BY THE ROUTE OP BEER, ORFAH, DIARBEKR, MARDIN, & MOUSUL WITH RESEARCHES ON THE RUINS OF NINEVEH, BABYLON, AND OTHER ANCIENT CITIES. BY J. S. BUCKINGHAM, AUTHOR OF TRAVELS IN PALESTINE AND THE COUNTRIES EAST OF THE JORDAN TRAVELS AMONG THE ARAB TRIBES; MEMBER OF THE LITERARY SOCIETIES OF BOMBAY AND MADRAS, AND OF THE ASIATIC SOCIETY OF BENGAL. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. II. LONDON : HENRY COLBURN, NEW BURLINGTON STREET. 1827. LONDON : PRINTED BY D. S. MAURICB, FKNCHURCH STREET. Page 1 147 CONTENTS OF THE SECOND VOLUME. CHAP. I. From the Plain of Sinjar, by Romoila, to Mousul CHAP. II. Description of Mousul ...... 26 CHAP. III. Visit to the Ruins of Nineveh, and Journey from Mousul to the River Lycus .... 48 CHAP. IV.

From Ain Koura, by the ancient Arbela, to Kerkook 92 CHAP. V. From Kerkook, by Kiffree, to Kara Tuppe, or the Black Hill 123 CHAP. VI. From Kara Tuppe, by Delhi Abass, to Bagdad CONTENTS. VI Page CHAP. VII. Description of Bagdad . . . • • .17-5 CHAP. VIII. Excursion to Akkerkoof . . . . 217 CHAP. IX. Journey from Bagdad to the Ruins of Babylon . 240 CHAP. X. Search after the Walls of Babylon . . . 296 CHAP. XI. Visit to the Tower of Babel and Temple of Belus, or the Birs Nimrood ...... 359 CHAP. XII. Observations made at Bagdad .... 400 CHAP. XIII. Excursion to the Ruins of Ctesiphon and Seleucia . 437 CHAP. XIV. Further Stay at Bagdad ..... 478 APPENDIX, Containing a brief statement of the result of certain legal proceedings connected with the literary character of the Author .... TRAVELS IN MESOPOTAMIA.

CHAPTER I. FROM THE PLAIN OF SINJAR, BY ROMOILA, TO MOUSUL.

July 3d. — We quitted our station on the plain, just as the moon was setting, and al though we had now an additional escort of eighty well-armed and well-mounted men, our whole party did not exceed in number two hundred persons. Soon after commencing our night-march, going in a direction of east-south-east, we passed over a deep ravine, filled with large basaltic masses, forming a vein in the earth, VOL. II. B like the deep and winding bed of a torrent. The rest of our way was over desert ground, though the whole tract was capable of being rendered highly fertile, being covered with a good soil, and intersected by several small rivulets of water. It was soon after the rising of the Pleiades, or just before the first gleam of dawn appeared, that we formed our halt, at a spot called Romoila, for the sake of filling our vessels with water, as our next stage was to be a night one, through which we might riot find any supply of this indispensable provision.

This march was intended to be prolonged without a halt, until we should arrive on the banks of the Tigris, in order that we might thus pass over this dangerous plain of Sinjar by night, and escape the prying sight of the Yezeedis under the cover of darkness.*' * " Les Yezidis sont census d<_pendre du pacha de Moussol, qui leur permet de venir acheter de temps en temps des provisions dans les villages de son departement ; mais ils n'en sont pas moins grands voleurs, et toujours en guerre avec les Arabes de la M(_sopotamie : ils ont pour armes, le fusil a meche, la fronde et la pique. Les caravanes souffrent beaucoup de leurs brigandages ; cependant elles ne sont jamais depouill<_es completement par ces bandits, qui ont coutume de les attaquer a Tun des bouts, et hem- BY ROMOILA, TO MOUSUL. 3 The prayers of El Fudjer, or day-break, were performed by all members of the caravan, with an unusual degree of solemnity, evidently betraying an extraordinary degree of ap prehension, and proving that fear was a more powerful incentive than devotion to the exer cise of this duty.

Among the rest, was one individual who repeated aloud the call to prayer, in a fine voice, and after the peculiar manner of Medina, the native city of the Pro phet, which differs from the common invoca tion, though both of them are peculiar to the Soonnee sect. This was, by some, highly ad mired, by others, thought an impertinent in novation, at such a place and at such a moment, and, by a third party, it was laughed at, as portent que ce qui peut servir a leur nourriture, ou a leur habillement. Je serai remarquer ici que les pachas de Bagdad ont essays a difftirentes epoques de reduire les Yezidis, en les attaquant avec des forces considerables; mais ils n^nt jamais pu en venir a bout. Ali-pacha, qui a tente depuis peu la meme enterprise, n'y a pas ete plus heureux que ses predecesseurs : on sait que son expedition contre cette race d'hommes agrestes et endurcis par les tra vaux, n'a abouti qu1.. d^truire trois ou quatre de leurs villages, et a massacrer ou emmener en esclavage quelques mis^rables families, dont la conversion forced a l'islamisme ne le dedommagera certainement pas de ses fatigues et de ses ddpenses." — Description du Pachalik de Bagdad, p. 98, 99highly ludicrous.

There was indeed just the same diversity of opinion on the merits of this fashion, as there would be in a country village in England, on the introduction of any new mode of singing the psalms, or chanting the Litany of the Church Service. As the Hadjee's tent was now crowded with the horsemen who formed our escort, and who, from their numbers and consequence, were here the lords paramount, every one of his usual guests was obliged to erect for himself some temporary shelter from the searching rays of the noon-day sun. There was not a breath of air stirring : the thermometer, under the shade of a double cloak spread over-head, stood at 118°, an hour before noon, and at two o'clock was 126°, while the parched state of the country, the dead calm, and the glare re flected from the desert plain, made our situation more oppressive to the feelings than any description can convey an accurate idea of.

At the same moment, while thus fainting un der so exhausting an atmosphere, we had in view before us, to the north-east, the lofty mountains of Koordistan, covered with snow, the very contrast of which served to increase our desire after a colder region, and to render BY R0M0ILA, TO MOUSUL. 5 us more impatient under our suffering in the present. Our course through the preceding night had been from one to two points southward of east, and the extent of our journey not more than ten miles, in four hours of march, from the last stage of our encampment at Chehel Aga, to the place of our present halt, at Romoila. It was at about an equal dis tance from both of these, or near the centre of our route, that we passed a stream called Dama Kaupy. The town of Jezeereh was spoken of as being about the same distance from hence, in a direction of north-north-east, as Nisibeen is in a direction of west-north west.

In describing its size, when in the height of its splendour, the people of the country say, that it had three hundred and sixty-six mosques, or as many as there are days in the year, which is not, however, to be taken literally, meaning merely an indefinitely great number. The buildings in this town, like those of Diarbekr, are all constructed of black basalt, which gives it the same dark appearance, and has obtained for it among the Turks the same characteristic appellation of Kara, or black. It is said to be, even in its present ruined state, as large as Orfah ; but all acknow ledge that it is not so agreeable, or so well built a city. The supplies of gall-nuts, which are brought to it from the mountains of Koor distan, and exported from thence to Aleppo, are the chief source of wealth and occupation to the inhabitants, who are principally Koords, with a small proportion of Arabs and Turks.

This town does not boast a very high an tiquity. Its name is purely Arabic, signifying an island; and though now applied particularly to the town, was anciently the general name of all Mesopotamia, or the whole space between the Tigris and Euphrates* Benja min of Tudela describes the Jezeereh of the present day, under the name of "Gezir ben Ghamar," which he places at " two days' journey from Netsibin." He says, it was " sur rounded by the Tigris," from which feature it probably derived its name ; " and was seated at the foot of Mount Taurus," as he calls the mountains of Koordistan, " at the distance of four miles from the spot where the Ark of Noah reposed." This town was then the metropolis of all Mesopotamia, and contained, according to the Rabbi's report, about four * Bibliotheque Orientale, vol. ii. p. 111. thousand Jews.

The population is greatly lessened since then, and the town declined in consequence ; but the local features, both of the site of the city, and the place of the moun tain, on which the Ark of Noah is believed to have rested, still remain unchanged. Having filled our water from the small stream at Romoila, and made such other ar rangements as were deemed necessary for our next long march, we began, after the public prayers of noon, in which all joined, to load our camels, and quitted our encampment at one o'clock. We now went to the south-east, over the plain, observing nothing peculiar in the way, except three small eminences, which we passed at equal intervals between noon and sun-set, the hills being called respectively Tal Fraat, Tal Howa, and Tal Moos, each serving as landmarks for our course, and elevated points of observation, Hke many others of a similar kind, scattered over the face of these desert wastes.

No halt was made at evening, but we con tinued our march through the night, having, in the former part of it, a bright moon to light our path. It was on the afternoon of this day that we had first noticed the Seraub or Mirage of the Desert ; and it was on this same night that we experienced 'the first fall of dew since our entering Mesopotamia. It was near midnight when we reached a marshy ground, in which a clear stream was flowing along, through beds of tall and thick rushes, but so hidden by these, that the noise of its flow was heard long before the stream itself could be seen. From the length of the march, and the exhausting heat of the at mosphere, even at night, the horses were ex ceedingly thirsty. Their impatient restless ness, evinced by their tramping, neighing, and eager impatience to rush all to one particular point, gave us, indeed, the first indications of our approach to water, which was perceptible to their stronger scent long before it was even heard by us.

On reaching the brink of this stream, for which purpose we had been forcibly turned aside, by the ungovernable fury of the animals, to the southward of our route, the banks were found to be so high above the surface of the water, that the horses could not reach it to drink. Some, more im patient than the rest, plunged themselves and their riders at once into the current, and, after being led swimming to a less elevated part of the bank, over which they could mount, were extricated with considerable difficulty ; while two of the horses of the caravan, who were more heavily laden than the others, by carry ing the baggage as well as the persons of their riders, were drowned. The stream was narrow, but deep, and had a soft muddy bottom, in which another of the horses became so fastly stuck, that he was suffocated in a few minutes.

The camels marched patiently along the edge of the bank, as well as those persons of the caravan who were provided with skins and other vessels containing small supplies of water ; but the horses could not, by all the power of their riders, be kept from the stream, any more than the crowd of thirsty pilgrims, who, many of them having no small vessels to dip up the water from the brook, followed the example of the impatient horses, and plunged at once into the current. For myself, I ex perienced more difficulty than I can well de scribe, in keeping my own horse from breaking down the loose earth of the bank on which he stood, and plunging in with the others ; it being as much as all my strength of arm could accomplish to keep him back from the brink, while he tramped, and snorted, and neighed, and reared himself erect on his hinder legs, to express the intensity of his suffering from thirst.

An Indian fakir, who was of the Hadjee's party, being near me at this moment of my difficulty, and when I was deliberating in my mind whether I should not risk less in throwing myself off my horse and letting him follow the bent of his desires, as I began to despair of mastering him much longer, took from me my tin drinking-cup, which was a kind of circular and shallow bason, capable of holding only about a pint ; this having two small holes in the sides for the purpose of slinging it over the shoulder on the march, longer pieces of cord were fastened to the short ones before affixed to it, and having now dismounted, by letting go the bridle, and sliding back over the haunches of the horse while he was in one of his erect positions from rearing, we succeeded in coaxing him into a momentary tranquillity by the caresses and tender expressions which all Arab horses understand so well ; and with this shallow bason, thus slung in cords, we drew up from the stream as much as the vessel would hold, and in as quick succession as practicable.

But even when full, the cup would hardly contain sufficient to moisten the horse's mouth ; and as, at some times, it came up only half full, and at others was entirely emptied by the im patience of the horse knocking it out of the giver's hand, we let it down and drew it up, I am certain, more than a hundred times, till our arms were tired : and even then we had but barely satisfied our own thirst, and done nothing, comparatively, to allay that of the poor animal, whose sufferings, in common with nearly all the others of the caravan, were really painful to witness. This scene, which, amidst the obscurity of the night, the cries of the animals, the shouting and quarrelling of the people, and the indistinct and perhaps ex aggerated apprehensions of danger, from a totally unexpected cause, had assumed an al most awful character, lasted for upwards of an hour : and so intense was the first impulse of self-preservation, to allay the burning rage of thirst, that, during all this time, the Ye zeedis were entirely forgotten, and as absent from our thoughts as if they had never once been even heard of.

July 6th. — Order being at length restored, after a detention of nearly two hours since our first reaching the stream, we again set out from hence, and proceeded in a direction of south-east over a desert and uncultivated plain until sun-rise, when we reached another stream of clear water, running, like the one last described, in a deep bed lined with tall rushes, and, Hke that water also, of a bitter mineral taste. This, however, was so welcome a refreshment, that, as the daylight enabled us to find parts of the stream accessible to all, we halted here for an hour ; some to drink and smoke their morning pipes, others to per form their ablutions and their prayers, and myself to bathe completely from head to foot in the stream, and to refresh my poor horse, for whom my sympathies had been strongly excited, and my affections strengthened, by our joint participations in a common suffering and common danger.

As we had now passed the plain and moun tain of Sinjar, and were supposed to be beyond all danger from that quarter, our look-outs were called in, many fire-arms were discharged in triumph, and every one seemed to feel at liberty to follow the bent of his own inclina tions. Accordingly, those who were the best mounted of the caravan pushed on, leaving the camels and other laden animals to follow after us. We went from hence over a succession of small hills, the basis of which seemed to be a white and clouded marble,* and about noon we reached the Tigris. Here we halted, at the tent of a sheikh, whose tribe formed a small encampment on its banks, near to a poor village, and just above the ruins which they call Eski Mousul, or Old Mousul. The sheikh himself, who was of a mixed descent, between the Koord and Arab race, was like an Indian in feature and complexion, and there was an effeminacy about his dress, in his muslin robes, gold ear-rings, and feathered fans, which con siderably strengthened the resemblance.

The other individuals of the tribe, over which he presided, had, however, nothing of this ap pearance ; though all of them were much darker than any people I had seen since leaving the valley of the Jordan. f * D'Olivier calls the materials of these hills, " gypse gris, et tres-beau gypse blanc, semblable a du marbre." — vol. iv. p. 264. Niebuhr, however, calls it marble. + The first approach to the Tigris is thus described by Otter, who appears to have come upon its banks nearly on the same spot with ourselves; this being the ordinary The stream of the Tigris was here narrower than any part of the Thames from the Nore to London, and its current, which was disturbed and muddy, did not flow at a greater rate than three miles per hour, though the Tigris has been celebrated for the rapidity of its current, and is even said to have had its Greek name from an arrow, to express its speed.* Exhausted as we all were after our long night's march, many of our party fell asleep before the meal of hospitality was set before them; and even those who staid awake to route of the caravans: — " Nous campames ce jour 10 d Avril, sur les bords du Tigre, a une petite distance d'Eski Mosul, c'est a dire, le vieux Mosul, que les gens du pays appellent Ninevi.

La vue de ce fleuve, dont Teau est excellente, nous fit oublier les desagremens du desert que nous venions de passer, et nous ne fumes sensible qu'au plaisir de soulager notre soif. Les Orientaux appellent le Tigre Didgele ; il prend sa source au Nord de Diarbekr, aupres d'un vieux fort mine, ou il sort d'une caverne avec un grand bruit ; dans son cours jusqu'a Diarbekr il est aug ments par plusieurs rivieres." — Otter, tome i. p. 126. * See the Note from Dr. Vincent's " Commerce of the Ancients," on the Euphrates and Tigris, at p. 29. Josephus also says, in enumerating the rivers of Paradise, " By Tigris or Diglath is signified, what is swift, with narrowness."— Ant. Jud. b. i. c. 1. s. 3. partake of it, did so with a languor and drow siness which shewed they needed rest more than food. When the meal was finished, the Tartars, or Turkish messengers, prepared to mount and continue their journey alone, or unconnected with others, as the great danger apprehended from the Yezeedis was now past ; but the caravan made its halt on the banks of the Tigris, and the chief camel-drivers in tended not to resume their march until to morrow.

As it was of importance to me to accompany these Tartars, that I might secure my journey with them from Mousul to Bag dad, I took leave of the Hadjee Abd-el-Rakh man, and his nephew, Hadjee Abd-el-Ateef ; and although I was now so sore in every limb as to feel nearly dislocated, and my poor horse was jaded and weary almost to death, I mounted with theTartars, who had here procured for themselves fresh horses from the sheikh, and making a great effort to accomplish my purpose, we galloped off from the camp together. After passing over some hilly land, and seeing a few small villages in the way, we cut off an angle made by a bend of the Tigris, to the eastward, and, in an hour after setting out, came again on its banks. We were here re galed with the most delightful odours, which filled the air, and were produced by some wild aromatic plants among the heath or brushwood that bordered the stream.* We noticed in our way the remains of a large Roman arch, apparently the portion of an ancient building ; but travelling express with Turkish couriers admits of no minute observa tions being made.

In going along the western bank of the Tigris, we passed over hilly land, and often travelled on the sides and at the foot of these hills, keeping still close by the stream, and directing our course nearly south. It was here that we passed some inconsiderable ruins, like those of a common town, but possessing no vestiges of former consequence. This was called Eski Mousul, or Old Mousul ; and according to the report of my companions, borrowed from the traditions of the country, was said to be the site of the ancient Nineveh. This, however, was evidently erroneous; as Nineveh was on the eastern bank ofthe Tigris, * See the Note from Xenophon, who, in the Anabasis, remarked this peculiarity of the heaths and brush-wood of Mesopotamia in his day. — p. 249. BY ROMOTLA, TO MOUSUL. 17 and had no part of it on the west ; while, here, all the ruins that are seen are all on the hilly ground of the western bank, and the eastern one presents nothing but flat cultivated land, covered with Koord villages ; besides which, the few ruins that exist, even on this side, are evidently of a very modern date .* * The following are the observations made by Otter on this subject : — " On ne voit a Eski Mosul, que des tas de pierres, et dans la plaine, a quelque distance des ruines, une arc qui paroit avoir €te le frontispice d'un Temple ou d'un grand palais.

Les gens du pays disent que Nineveh avoit soixante milles de circonference, et qu'elle fut batie l'an 1073 apres le deluge, par Ninus fils de Balos, (Belus.) Ils montrent dans son voisinage le lieu qu'habitoit le Pro phete Jonas, en I'honneur de qui ils ont bati une chapelle, qu'ils visitent avec devotion. Ebul-Feda dit que Nineveh etoit du cdti oriental du Tigre, a l'opposite de Mosul, et il entend par Mosul, celle qui existe aujourd'hui. II saut qu'il soit trompe, ou que les habitans du pays soient dans une grande erreur ; car ceux-ci placent Nineveh sur la rive occidentale du Tigre, a l'endroit qu'ils appellent Eski Mosul, ainsi quand meme on voudroit concilier les deux opinions en supposant que Nineveh etoit batie sur les deux bords du Tigre, on n'avanceroit rien, puisqu' Eski Mosul est a sept au huit lieues plus haut, en remontant le Tigre.

Une chose paroit favoriser le sentiment d'Ebul-Feda ; c'est qu'il y a, a Test de Mosul, un endroit appelle Telli-Toube, c'est a dire, la colline de la penitence, ou Ton dit que les Ninevites firent penitence, pour detourner la colere de Dieu."— Otter, t. i. pp. 132—134. VOL. II. C It was on the west of the Tigris that we ascended over hills, leaving the banks of the river far on our left ; in doing which we passed two or three small villages, each formed of about a dozen sheds of loose stones thatched over with mud, and having an appearance of great poverty. We continued now to leave the river still farther on our left, to the eastward, over hilly and uneven land, yet con stantly descending towards a lowrer level. We passed several small villages in the way, of which I could learn nothing but that they were inhabited by Koords ; and just before sun-set we reached the large village of Hama dan, where we halted to sup, and to take an hour's repose.

The habitations of the people were here equally as mean as those of the villages through which we had passed before. The occupiers of these last resembled very strongly the Afri can Arabs, or Moors, and also the mixed race of Egypt, in their physiognomy, complexion, and dress. The reception given by those villagers to my Tartar companions was like that of the most abject slaves to a powerful master ; and the manner in which these yellow-crowned couriers of the Sublime Porte treated their entertainers in return, was quite as much in the spirit of the despotic Sultan whom they served. July 5th. — After a hearty meal, and an hour or two of sleep, the Tartars mounted fresh horses here, and I remounted my own, whose spirit and energies had held out beyond all our expectations, and made his value greater and greater in my eyes ; when we set out together after midnight from Hamadan, just as the moon was setting.

Our course was directed generally to the south-east, as it had constantly been since leaving the banks of the river on the preceding day, the stream itself going more easterly as it approaches Mousul. Throughout the whole of the night we rode over hilly ground, and still constantly de scended towards a lower level, without passing any villages in our way. It was just as the dawn opened that we reached the gates of Mousul, having scarcely seen it at the distance of a hundred yards on our approach. As I had pictured to myself something of magnificence in the first ex ternal appearance of Mousul, from remem bering the report of some travellers to that effect,* I was disappointed in finding nothing, in the first prospect of the city, that could deserve admiration, although we had reached it through a succession of miserable villages and barren plains, by the contrast of which its beauties would have been much increased.

On entering the town, the interior seemed equally devoid of interest ; and on the whole it struck me as being the worst-built, and altogether the least interesting city, especially considering its large size, that I had yet seen in the East. The Tartars proceeded to the palace of the Pasha, attached to which is the station of the couriers ; and I repaired to the house of the chief Christian merchant here, who was also one of the secretaries to the Government. Having brought with me a letter from the Syrian Patriarch of Mardin, I found a welcome reception, and was furnished with a room for my accommodation. As soon as the ceremony of receiving the visits of the family was over, and I had par taken of the breakfast which was set before * Campbell, in his Journey over land to India; and others. me, a servant was sent to accompany me wherever I wished through the town, and we repaired together to the bath, the most agreeable of all modes of refreshment after excessive fatigue.

On leaving the bath, I found attendants in waiting ready to conduct me to the Pasha, who had already heard, through his secretary, that an Enghsh traveller had arrived here, and had sent his guards to conduct me to his divan. I followed them to the palace, which was close by, and was immediately ushered into the Pasha's presence. I found him to be a particularly handsome man, of about thirty years of age, habited in all the splendour of the Turkish costume, and sur rounded by all the pomp and state of which their manners are capable. He sat alone, on a rich sofa, in a corner of the room, near to an open window, which commanded an agree able prospect. Around the rest of the hall stood upwards of fifty Georgian and Circassian slaves, forming his body-guard of Mamlouks, most of them extremely handsome, and all of them young and superbly dressed, awaiting, in the most profound silence, and in respect ful attitudes, the commands of their lord. • My reception was at once polite, gracious, and even kind.

This young man, whose name was Hamed, was a descendant of a Turkish house, in whose family the Pashalic of Mousul had remained for many generations ; and his character, according to the report of those over whom he ruled, and his manners, such as I myself beheld them, bespoke in the strongest manner the feelings and notions of a kind hearted and benevolent man. In our con versation on the state of affairs in Europe, he displayed much more intelligence regard ing that quarter of the world than I had been accustomed to witness in similar personages ; and in making my inquiries of him regarding the countries eastward of us, to which my views were directed, I found him capable of giving me much valuable information. Our interview closed by his offering me his protection and assistance, in any thing that I might wish to undertake.

When I spoke of my proceeding to Bagdad, he advised my going with the couriers by land, if expedi tion was my object ; but on rafts, by the Tigris, if comfort was my study. In either case, he again assured me of his readiness to forward my views; and desiring only to know my wishes, pledged himself for their prompt exe cution. I confess, that a fear of the expenses in necessary presents to the inferior agents, was the only motive which induced me to decline the aid so promptly and apparently so cordially offered ; but this I knew would be greater than that of continuing my journey with the Tartars from Diarbekr, and the state of my finances at the present moment, after the fleecings which we had all undergone in our passage through Mesopotamia, was such as to make this consideration paramount.