"العراق والخليج الفارسي" [ظ‎‎٧‎٤] (٨٦٢/١٥٣)

GEOLOGY AND DESCRIPTION OF THE LAND
cities: Calah (Nimrud), Nineveh, and Khorsabad. Some 5 miles
north-east of Nimmd is the early Christian monastery of Mar Behnam
(Khidr Elias), on the road between Mosul and Quwair.
West of the Jabal Bashiqa the plain is traversed by the Wadi Khosar,
which after draining the crumbling red sandstone region below the
A 1 Qosh foothills, cuts a bed southwards and enters the Tigris through
the ruin mounds of Nineveh. Much of the water is used for local
irrigation, with the result that drinking-water is scarce for about
25 miles north of Mosul. Ploughing takes place in December and early
January; wheat and barley are the principal crops of all this region,
with millets, maize, lentils, beans, cucumbers, and melons as subsi
diary crops. Orange and fig, pear and plum trees are grown around
the many small villages, and there are occasional olive-groves. One
or two low hills near Tel Qaif and elsewhere relieve the monotony of •
the plain which is also dotted with the mounds of ancient settlements.
Some of these rise to a considerable height, but few have been exca
vated or identified.
In the extreme north of the plain the land between the Jabal Bakhair
and the Tigris forms a low plateau, the clay and gravel of which is
scored by watercourses from the foot of the hills sometimes as much
as 300 feet deep. The principal streams are the Rubai Dohuk and the
Rubai Faida.
The Foothill Belt. The north Assyrian plains are bounded on the
north by the Jabal Bakhair, variously known as Jabal Abyad or Chia
Spi (‘white hills’), forming a barrier 40 miles long and from 3 to 5 miles
wide, by the A 1 Qosh foothills, and by the Aqra Dagh. The upper
strata are of limestone. Twelve miles east of the western end is the
Geli Spi or Zakho pass which takes the road to Zakho. The range
widens and is more eroded in the south-east towards Dohuk, where
the Rubai Dohuk drains a fertile valley between the Tang-i-Daria
and the outer hills. Much fruit is grown in this upland valley and
there are extensive vineyards; the chief cereals are wheat and rice,
but much of the ground becomes very dry in summer.
The south-eastern slopes of the Tang-i-Daria are connected with
the A 1 Qosh foothills, which continue the line of the Jabal Bakhair
beyond Dohuk. These foothills include a number of broad ridges
and plateaux, about 3,000 feet above sea-level, but towards the north
a height of over 4,000 is reached. The chief constituent of these hills
is a hard limestone, and the strata are much contorted, but there are
low crumbling ridges of soft sandstone on the south. Immediately
behind the village of A 1 Qosh a limestone cliff marks the beginning of