'The Expedition for the survey of the rivers Euphrates and Tigris, carried on by order of the British government, in the years 1835, 1836, and 1837; preceded by geographical and historical notices of the regions situated between the rivers Nile and Indus. In four volumes. With fourteen maps and charts, and embellished with ninety-seven plates, besides numerous wood-cuts. Volume the first.' [‎98] (147/905)

98 PRODUCTS AND COMMERCE. [CHAP. V.
more mountainous districts, where, especially eastward of
Tarabuzun, the finest timber is very abundant. The scenery
here is at once beautiful and strikingly grand from various
points of view, as the mountains are seen rising abruptly from
the sea to an elevation of4000 and 5000 feet, their sides being
covered with dense forests, composed of gigantic chestnut,
beech, walnut, alder, poplar, willow, elm, ash, maple, and box
trees, with firs towards their summits, and a magnificent
underwood of rhododendron, bay, hazel, &C, 1 The less ele
vated grounds produce cotton, hemp, tobacco, and raw silk in
abundance; besides precious stones, such as the turquois,
beryl, 2 crystal, pearl, and ruby. Besides the more valuable
metals, gold and silver, Armenia abounds in copper, lead, iron,
saltpetre, sulphur, bitumen, quarries of coal, marble, and jas
per, with several mineral springs, which have been celebrated
for many ages. 3
The chief exports of this neglected and almost unknown
country consist at present of copper, which is carried to Con
stantinople for the sultan; also iron, silk, cotton, wine,
tobacco and gall-nuts. We learn from Strabo, that Pompey
demanded as a contribution from Armenia 6000 talents 4 of
silver; and we are told that the Romans, on reducing this
kingdom to the rank of one of their provinces, carried King
Alavasdus to Rome in golden fetters. 5
The rough clothing of the country people is manufactured
in the villages: a kind of bombazine is still made at Erzingan. 6
At Mush and Mardin, says Marco Polo, 7 cotton is produced
in great abundance, and the people prepare from "it cloths
called boccasine, with many other fabrics. The inhabitants,
he continues, are manufacturers and traders, and are subject
to the king of the Tartars. The same traveller likewise
mentions, 8 that all those cloths embroidered with gold and
silk which we call muslins, are the manufacture of Mosul; and
1 Mr. Brant's Journey, p. 5, and sequel.
2 Beryls are found at Coramagene, in the pasMlic of Diyar Bekr.
3 Strabo, lib. XL, p. 529. 4 Lib. XI., p. 530.
5 Philostrat in Vita Apollonii, lib. II., c. iv.
6 Marsden's Marco Polo, p. 47.
7 Page 53. 8 Ibid.