'Transactions of the Bombay Geographical Society, from January 1847 to May 1849. Edited by the Secretary. Volume VIII.' [‎255] (364/496)

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doubt was, afforded in bygone times some pleasant retreats, under the
shelter of its groves, from the scorching heats of summer, which we, alas !
feel and must bear, without a hope of relief. The date tree, so luxuriant
and fruitful in the neighbourhood of Baghdad, is here a stunted and a
forlorn object. A headless minaret stands in the centre of the village, a
fit emblem of its fallen condition. At 6*25, the declining rays of the sun
induced us to quit our miserable abode for the saddle. Our course now
lay in a direction of 58°, over and through some extensive mounds of
ruin, probably the remains of the ancient Hilta, until 7*5, when we di
verged to 64°, a table flat on the Hamrin range, then bearing 33°. Conti
nued on this course to 7*37, when we crossed the Haruniyeh,* and
shortly after the Belad Buz,j* canals ; the latter by a fine brick bridge
recently built at the expense of an opulent Merchant of Baghdad for the
convenience of pilgrims visiting the holy cities of Najuf and Kerbela,
and, like most other works in this country, was erected from pious and
charitable motives. The Belad Buz canal is the most northerly and
easterly of all the cuts from the left Bank of the Diyaleh south of the
Hamrin, and being the nearest to the base of the range, has consequently
the deepest bed, with high steep banks. It waters the country as far
south as Mendalli, and, I believe, formerly extended far below it. Be
tween the Belad Buz and the last station noted, the country became
more undulating, and the road proportionably tortuous, winding from
N. E. to S. E.
It became necessary to collect the party after crossing the Belad Buz
and before entering the defiles of the Hamrin, J which are notorious for
harbouring parties that may be out in search of plunder. We halted
therefore until 8*30, and sufficient time and opportunity was afforded to
the Bustams of the party to alarm the nervous by horrible and incredi
ble tales of robbery and murder. We entered the much-dreaded gorge
* Named after the Khalif Harun-al-Rashid, who is said to have first excavated it.
t Bara Soth of Theophanes, and the Baraz-rud of Yakut. See Major Rawlin-
son's Memoir on the Atropatenian Ecbatana, page 95.
J An undulating barren ridge of tertiary formation, from 300 to 500 feet of
elevation, extending in a direction from S. E. to N. W., across tiie level plains of
Assyria. The ridge appears to be a spur thrown off from the skirts of the Zagros
chain in the neighbourhood of Mendalli, and can be traced, in almost a direct line,
to within a short distance of the ancient city of Al Hadhr in Mesopotamia. It is
severed by the Tigris, by the ’Atheim, and by the Diyaleh. That portion of the
range west of the Tigris bears the name of Jebal Mak’hul, and is considerably
more elevated than the parts to the S. Eastward.