'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.' [‎122] (175/905)

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social state of the chaldeans. [chap. vi.
Manners and creed. The hardy life of- the mountaineer has produced
customs. i n him an 0 p eil an d erect bearing; and he is courageous
and revengeful abroad, although kind and cordial at home.
The women are neither covered like other easterns, nor
secluded from social intercourse. The men are loosely
clad, wearing sandals of chamois skin, and a peaked woollen
cap, behind which their hair falls in one plaited tress. The
diet of the people is almost entirely vegetable; their houses
are scattered along the sides of the mountains, amidst groups
of fruit and other trees, and are clean and commodious. But
in summer time they remove their families to sleep on an
elevated platform, inclosed like an immense bedstead. By a
natural mistake, the Chaldeans have been confounded with
a schismatic branch; who, to the great annoyance of those
who consider themselves the orthodox party, adopted, and
have preserved, the doctrines of Nestorius.
Territory of the The remarkable country of the Kaldani stretches eastward
Kaidam. ^ ^ district of Amadiyah, between lake Van and the
Taurus : in the interior are terraces cultivated with rice
or other grain, with a succession of deep, dark, wooded
valleys, between the high and rugged Alpine ranges of
Julamerik, the Jawur Tagh, and other chains, which rise
to the uplands, situated beyond the back bone of Kurdistan.
Towards the eastern extremity of this sea of mountains,
the peak of Rowanduz towers to the height of 10,568
feet, and the view from thence towards the north-west is
in the highest degree magnificent, especially in the direction
of the distant sources of the Zab, where the summits rise to
about 15,000 feet. 1 The numerous tributaries of this river
and those of the Assyrian Khabiir, like the Diyalah and
Kerkhah, rise beyond the high chains, and force their way
through them in many directions: the intercourse from side
to side is by means of rope-bridges. 2
The general elevation of Kurdistan , and the height of its
mountain ranges, secures the province from the scorching
1 Collected during Mr. Ainsworth's recent visit.
2 Mr. Ainsworth's Visit to the Chaldeans.—Vol. XI. Part I., pp. 21 to 76,
of the Royal Geographical Journal.