"العراق والخليج الفارسي" [و‎‎٨‎٩] (٨٦٢/١٨٢)

DESCRIPTION OF THE LAND
III
rises to over 10,000 feet at its highest points (Shakiv, 10,068 ft.; Ser-i-
Khazni, 10,807 ft -5 Ser Kurawa, 10,999 ft-)- There are easy but
rough routes along the Shakiv, Kwakura, and Haji Beg valleys which
are all enclosed, with lower slopes thickly wooded, and are very liable
to flood-torrents during the melting of the snows. The spur between
the Kwakura and the Haji Beg ends rather abruptly some 8 miles
above their junction, and the tongue of lowland here forms a fertile
and well-cultivated plain with the village of Kani Rash overlooking
it on the north. It is over this tongue and through Kani Rash that
the old Turkish mule-road from Ruwandiz ran to Neri in the upper
Semdinan valley.
The Rubar-i-Haji Beg forms the boundary with Turkey. In its
lower reaches it is not a difficult river to cross, but it is very enclosed
higher up, and below the junction of the Barasgird and Haji Beg the
Rukuchuk cuts a deep impenetrable gorge through the limestone
folds to join the Great Zab.
(b) The North-western Block. Much less is known of the country
north-west of the Rukuchuk than of that to the south-east, but for
the greater part it follows a well-marked pattern. The Chia-i-Shirin,
between the Rukuchuk gorge and the Tang-i-Belindeh gorge of the
Rubar-i-Shin, and the Linki Dagh between the Tang-i-Belindeh and
Baiznur gorge of the Great Zab, are clearly continuations of the
Baradost Dagh to the south-east. Moreover, the Sipna Nihail tribu
tary continues the Zab trough to the west, so that the Ser Amadia or
Chia Matin, on whose lower slopes stands Amadia, is certainly a
continuation of the Linki Dagh. All display much the same charac
teristics, rising directly from the gorges cut through them to long
precipitous ridge-crests over 6,000 feet with occasional peaks over
7,000 feet, the slopes falling steeply to troughs on either side. But the
strike gradually changes, and north of Amadia it is almost due west,
also the trough of the Great Zab broadens and is less deep above the
junction of the Rubar-i-Shin than below the Rukuchuk, so that it
becomes more accessible and more habitable. Though most of the
lower slopes of the Zab valley below the Rukuchuk junction are too
steep or too rocky for cultivation, above the junction fans of fertile
soil from gully-mouths become more common; at one such compara
tively fertile spot the large village of Barzan, ruled by truculent aghas
(?• 377), stands a little upstream of the right-bank tributary, the Zibar.
Above the Rubar-i-Shin junction the change is even more marked;
the southern lower slopes of the Linki Dagh are well wooded with
oak of all sizes, sycamore, and ash. Mulberry trees are common and