'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.' [‎289] (356/905)

CHAP. XIII.] THE TEKELI TAGH AND KARA-BEL.
289
probably the Gymnias of Xenophon. From thence it con
tinues in the same direction to Kara Hisar, previously show
ing, towards the east, the elevated Almali Tagh and the high
ground near U'leh-Sheivan, with the lofty and remarkable
mountain of Gaur Tagh rising above it on the north.
The range is chiefly of limestone, bearing the barberry and Description of
rose-bush, near the half sunken villages of the Armenian and bra«c 0 h. them
Kurdish population, and its sides are covered with pine forests
almost to Kara Hisar. Here, however, naked masses of red
sandstone mark the seat of the extensive alum mines of Shebb-
Khaneh, and likewise connect the mountains on the northern
side of the valley of the Yechil-Irmak (Green River) and the
plain of Akshar with those forming the limits of both to the
south. The former range, under the name of Tekeli Tagh,
sweeps westward of Kara Hisar, where, being designated
Gemi-beli (ship peak), and subsequently Koseh Tagh (Mount
Thin Beard), it bounds the wide table-land as far as a point
20 miles north of Sivas, where it separates. One branch,
called the Ak or Akajik Tagh, continues along the plain of
Kaisariyeh till it meets the north-western offsets from Arjish
Tagh, and it consists of groups of hills less or more continu
ous, occasionally showing Armenian or Turkoman villages on
its wooded sides. The other and more considerable branch
has nearly a western direction, first showing the lofty and
remarkable peak called Yulduz Tagh (Star Mountain) and the
limestone chain of Chamlu Bel, 1 sloping into the valley of The ciiamiu
Tokat from a height of 5260 feet, and having, as the name e '
indicates, its sides covered with pine forests. 2
The groups southward of the plains of Sivas and Kaisariyeh
are bolder and more numerous than those lying to the north
ward, which have just been followed.
Towards the eastern side is the Kara-Bel, which, from the and Kara-Bel,
point of junction with the Tekeli Tagh, skirts the table-land
of Sivas and the southern side of the plain of Kaisariyeh ; and
a little way down its slopes, southward of the former town, is
Yarbassan, which is the Yailah or winter habitation of an
1 Scydisses of Strabo, lib, XL, p. 419.
1 Ainsworth's Assyria and Babylonia, p. 288.
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