fire to those they abandoned, insomuch that the enemy did not ride up to them, but looked on, wondering which way the Greeks meant to take, and what their intention was. I am led from this particular passage to think that the Greeks had approached to the foot of the mountains in the vale of Már Yuhannah, where they were so much struck, with what is before described, the depth of the water and the overhanging mountains, that they proceeded a short distance up the valley to explore the country, and deliberate upon their next steps.

This valley is now the seat of an almost isolated Chaldean community, who do not belong to the Church of Rome. They have several villages, among which are those of Mánsúríyeh, on Tigris, and seven others in the interior, at the head of which is Már Yuhannah, the seat of a Chaldean bishop.

Here, while the soldiers were employed in getting provisions, the generals and captains re-assembled, and ordering the prisoners to be brought in, enquired concerning every country that lay round them. The prisoners informed them that there was to the south a road that led to Babylon and Media, through which they came; another to the east, leading to Susa and Ecbatana, where the king is said to pass the summer and the spring; therefore evidently not the Assyrian Ecbatana ('Amádíyah), which was close by, but the Atropatenian Ecbatana2, recognised by Colonel Rawlinson as represented by the

2 Colonel Rawlinson remarks, (Journ. of R. G. S. Vol. x. p. 147) upon this, that it is perhaps the only marked geographical application to the Atropatenian Ecbatana, which occurs between the æra of Darius and the Macedonian invasion, but it is impossible to say whether Xenophon himself recognised the distinction between the Ecbatana of Media (Hamadán), the Ecbatana of Assyria ('Amádíyah), and the Ecbatana of Atropatene (Takhti Suleimán), or

whether he merely repeated the popular story of the country (Cyr. lib. iii.) without understanding its real allusion. Col. Rawlinson considers this route, from the foot of the Karduchian mountains to Ecbatana and Susa, refers to the line by Rowándiz and Sídek, but the road is stated distinctly as starting to the east, from the foot of the mountains, at the pass of the Tigris, and has no relation whatsoever to the road from Nineveh and Arbela by Rowándiz and Sídek to Ushnëi.

150

PREPARE TO PASS THE MOUNTAINS. [Book III.]

ruins at Takhti Suleimán, and therefore approachable by the valley through the country of the Berráwí, and the upper Zab, falling into the route usually pursued in traversing the mountains by Júl-ámerik into Persia. Why Susa is brought in here, I cannot tell, as it is nearer and more easily attained by Media and Babylonia, than by having to cross the mountains twice. The prisoners said there was a third road to the west, over the Tigris, to Lydia and Ionia; and that the road which lay over the mountains to the north led to the Karduchians. This people, they said, inhabited those mountains, and were a warlike nation, and not subject to the king; and that once the king's army, consisting of one hundred and twenty thousand men, penetrated into their country, whence not one of them returned, the roads being hardly passable. But that whenever there was a peace subsisting between them and the governor residing in the plain, there was an intercourse between the two nations. Thus have these hardy mountaineers, for these twenty centuries and upwards, amidst so many succeeding dynasties, preserved a sort of independence among all.

The generals hearing this, kept those prisoners by themselves, from whom they received the intelligence of each country; without discovering what route they designed to take. However, they found there was a necessity to pass the mountains, and penetrate into the country of the Karchudians; for the prisoners informed them, that, as soon as they had passed through it, they would arrive in Armenia, which was a spacious and plentiful country, and of which Orontas was governor ; whence they might, without difficulty, march which way soever they pleased. Upon this they offered sacrifice, to the end that when they found it convenient they might depart (for they were afraid the pass over the mountains might be possessed by the enemy), and commanded the soldiers, as soon as they had supped, to get their baggage ready, then all go to rest, and march upon the first order.

END OF BOOK THIRD.

BOOK FOURTH.

Entrance into Karduchia or Kurdistán.

Pass of the Tigris.

Fénik (Ancient Phoenica). Opposition of the Kurds. Dismissal of Slaves. Rivulet of Záwíyah. Pass of Kónákti. Village of Fínduk. Pass of Chelék. Baggage follows a devious Route. Two Greek Captains killed. Conflict of the Three Hills. Vale of Kúwárro. Kurd Houses. Plastered Cisterns. Ferry of Chelék. Pass between Chelék and Buhtánchaï. Villages on the Centrites. The Centrites (Buhtá nchai). Pass of Jániminíyah. Opposition at the Ford. Palace at So'rt. Sources of the Tigris. Teleboas (Kárá-sú). Elevation of Uplands. Extreme Cold of Armenian Uplands. Attack upon Teribazus. Ford the Euphrates. Village and Palace. Khanús Kaléhsí. Sufferings from the Snow. Armenian Cottages. The Guide runs away. River Phasis (Phison, Modern 'Arás). Pass of Kapán Tágh. Country of Taochians. Fort of the Taochians. Self-destruction of the Women. Chalybians, or Chaldeans. The Harpasus. 'Arpáchaï. Gymnias (Erz-Rúm). First Sight of the Sea. Theches 'Holy Mountain' (Kóp Tágh). River Apsarus (Tchórúk-sú). The Macronians. The Colchian Range. Intoxicating IIoney. Properties of the Apocyna and Rhodoracex. Arrive at Trebizond. Other Version of the March through Armenia.

BOOK FOURTH.

WHEN the Greeks,' says Xenophon, came to the

place where the river Tigris is, both from its depth and breadth, absolutely impassable, and no road appeared, the craggy mountains of the Karduchians hanging over the river, the generals resolved to march over those mountains,' for reasons previously detailed. To the end, therefore, that the enemy might not be acquainted with their design of penetrating into the country of the Karduchians, and defeat it, by possessing themselves of the eminences, they executed it in the following manner; when it was about the last watch, and so much of the night was left as to allow them to traverse the plain while it was yet dark, they decamped, and marching when the order was given, came to the mountain by break of day. Cheirisophus commanded the vanguard, with his own people and all the light-armed men, and Xenophon brought up the rear with the heavy-armed. Cheirisophus gained the top before he was perceived by the enemy, then led forward; and the rest of the army, as fast as they passed the summit, followed him into the villages of Karduchians, that lay dispersed in the valleys and recesses of the mountains.

Thus they accomplished their entrance into Kurdistan without opposition, and crossed one of the most defensible passes which they were almost destined to meet. This is the point where the lofty mountain-chain, now designated as Jebél Júdí, and the same, according to Chaldean, Syriac, and Arabian traditions, as that on which the ark rested, comes down to the very flood of the Tigris, which it encloses in an almost impassable barrier of rock.