'Narrative of a Residence in Koordistan, and on the Site of Ancient Nineveh; with Journal of a Voyage down the Tigris to Bagdad and an Account of a Visit to Shirauz and Persepolis.' [‎248] (283/450)

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the river diala.
was at least as wide as the Diala ; and we arrived
here at four p.m . Finding that our old friend Hajee
Omar had gone into Bagdad the day before yester
day, I resolved on remaining in this Khan, which is
an excellent one. It is on the Bagdad side ol the
Diala, just opposite the villages of Bakooba and
Howeida, which I have no curiosity to visit. To
morrow morning: I march for Shehraban. I have
had, since I came in, an observation ot amplitude,—
nine altitudes of the sun, eighteen ol Sirius, and eight
of Rigel. We then went to dinner.
I must now close, as a caravanjee, who is setting
off, promises to give this to you. Pray give him
a bakshisk if he performs his promise. I have not
yet written my journal, which 1 must do before I
rest.
Shehraban, March 19M.
We left the khan soon after sunrise, and crossed
the Diala at the ferry of Howeida. The banks oi
the river were very high and steep, in most places
powerful army, had appeared before the capital of the empire. A
battle was fought at a place called Nahanvan, according to
d'Herbelot, in which Chosroes was defeated; and what is rather
singular, it is added, he was obliged to fly and take refuge in
a monastery, which coidd not have been very far from Ctesiphon
and Naharwan, as he was soon joined there by his friends. All
that country is now one vast solitude, and no traces of Christi
anity are discoverable in any form.—D'Herbelot, Bib. Oriental,
.996."—Gibbon's Decline and Fallof tile Roman Empire, vol.viii.
p. 187.