362 ESTIMATE OF TEL BAGDAD BY THE MULETEER. CHAPTER XXII. Apostrophe of the old Muleteer to Tel Bagdad -The Dying Englishman -The Khan of the Black Garden- Incivility of some Koords--View of the Tigris-Diarbekr- General Description of that place-Made Acquaintance with more English Families-Silk produced at Diar bekr-Description of them-Bargain for a Raft-Ancient Accounts of Diarbekr-Description of the Raft, and how it was put together -Scenery on the Voyage Places passed---Aledino Kalessi--Misadventure on the Voyage-A Man drowned-A halt--Excessive Heat as we proceed-The Pious Boatman-Mosul in Sight. MAY 31st. Our old muleteer awoke me. He was apostrophising the place: "Oh Uutsch Kupu," he said, "I have visited you in the summer, I have visited you in the winter, but you are always the same nasty cold place as you are now. Your neighbours are warm, and why are not you ? Storks will not live on you." I met a mule coming along; on either side hung what resembled a very roughly made Bath-chair; it was a takterwan, and contained an Englishman and his wife, on their return from Bagdad. We halted, and conversed for some half-hour. Poor man! the next news I heard of him was his death from the fatigues of this journey. THE KHAN OF THE BLACK GARDEN. 363 We passed a few villages whose names I could not learn, and passed another, Berguttar. The road now became a steep ascent; at the upper portion we reached the large ruinous khan called Khan Karabaytsche, or khan of the black garden. The people from it were out in tents. We continued our ascent, and in half an hour reached the site of their encampment. Here the view was lovely an immense expanse of undulating plain to the north, shut in by lofty mountains; to the west and south, hill and plain in beautiful variety; the tints and colours shed over the whole rendered the scene one of great beauty. This place was 1905 feet by the aneroid barometer above the spot where we began the ascent. There was also some wood, a pleasant sight, for it was the first almost we had seen, save about the towns, since we left Aleppo. The Koords near were very uncivil. At first, they took us for Turks, and swore on their lives they had nothing; now they say, as we are not Turks, they will sell us nothing. We were joined by a Turk and his suite. He had accompanied the Persian princes to England, and had certainly gained much by his voyage. His janissary quickly 364 VIEW OF THE TIGRIS. made the Koords give of their abundance; but they appeared to wish to have nothing to do with us, pay or no pay. June 1st.-Off early. We wound down a rocky ravine. Ascending again, we reached the summit, whence a noble view burst before us. Dr. Johnson says the sublime consists in general descriptions, not in descending to details. It was, indeed, magnificent; and countless folds of the Tigris glistened like silver here and there along the plain before us. Diarbekr was there. We descended 1202 feet to the plain; here we halted, and found the post waiting, and a poor caged one in a closed takterwan,-a poor thing, transported like a canary in a cage, save of one the bars are open, of the other shut,-beyond hope of the smallest peep. The plain that from the mountain top had seemed so far and smooth, was sadly hilly work to traverse. We arrived at the gate in the afternoon, and pitched our tents at a village some half-mile from the town of Diarbekr. Sunday, June 2nd.-Walked from the tents to the town the village near which they are pitched is one that has deserted its creed,-the Nestorian -and lately become Roman Catholic, or, rather DESCRIPTION OF DIARBEKR. 365 says it has, for much most unjustifiable violence has been used by the Church of Rome in the country, particularly in places remote from observation. Diarbekr is surrounded by high walls of black basalt, to which may be attributed much of its unhealthiness. The wall is further strengthened by towers ranged rather closely along it. One or two of these are very large, with handsome over-hanging battlements. Near the gate at which we entered, were large fine mulberrytrees, beneath the shade of which the idlers assemble, smoke, drink coffee, and quaff iced sherbet. Just within the gate is a dome, beneath which repose some Mussulman martyrs slain in a contest with the Christians. The streets are dirty, and struck me as more wretched-looking than those of most Eastern cities. We called on our consular agent, finding there two English families on their way to Bagdad. It was indeed like cool water on a hot march to meet countrywomen in such a place. Mr. M. read the service, and one of the gentlemen, a missionary, preached. A deep gorge runs round the west and south-west of the city; the bed of it is now called the Kara Kanesse, or black church, from an old Nestorian 366 BAZAARS OF DIARBEKR. church, which even now has its ruins remaining. A more ancient tradition says Armida stood on the east side of the Tigris. This, then, must be the bed along which it flowed. It would be a fact worth ascertaining, as giving a greater antiquity to this ancient city.* Monday, June 3rd.-The ladies, with their husbands, came out and breakfasted with us, we sending our horses for them, and there they sang and talked away the morning. I wandered over the bazaars. Formerly, Diarbekr was famous for its silk, but its hand-looms are now nearly stopped by the mighty power working in our own land. However, some silk is still produced, and there is a great trade in buffaloes' hides. A sort of sherbet is made here of the cocoon of the silk-worm ; it is considered a great luxury, and is exported for a beverage of the rich all over the surrounding country. To me it appeared very nauseous, tasting exactly as the cocoons smell, which, though perhaps a delightful odour to him who trades, is not pleasant as an abstract perfume. They also cover pipe-sticks very delicately with embroidered silk; this, and working in leather, and a few * Vide Mr. Badger's "Nestorians, and their Creed." |