'Transactions of the Bombay Geographical Society, from January 1847 to May 1849. Edited by the Secretary. Volume VIII.' [‎256] (365/496)

at 9 h.,* and continued winding slowly, and with proper caution, throiHi
its hillocks and defiles until 10-30, when we encamped on the plain be-
yond. The silence that had pervaded the party in the dreaded gorge
now gave place to boisterous tales of individual prowess in former ren
contres with the banditti of the desert: and it was amusing to witness
the bold front of one or two of the party, whose countenances but half
an hour previous wore an aspect as pale as the chaste luminary that was
shining above them, and who would have fled at the first alarm.
August 2Uh .—After a cool and refreshing night mounted at 4-30
A. M., and stopped at a dry cut from the Diyaleli at 5-20, for the follow
ing bearings : direction of the road came, and onwards, 22 ° ; isolated
Tumulusf on the right bank of the Diyaleh, 327°; village of Kizl’robat,
w , \ e ,r m ? r , P lya e l br0aks through the ridge about one and a half miles N.
VV. by W. ot tins position, in a full and impetuous stream. To tin’s spot we must
attach Herodotus s tale of the labors of the great Cyrus, who spent nearly a whole
yeai in ivei ting t m ilvei fiom its original bed into 360 channels, because his favo
rite horse was drowned in attempting to cross it. No other river will so well ac
cord with the description of Herodotus on the ancient Gyndes, and the remains of
a am acioss ae stream, constructed in a remote age, may continue a monument of
Al!l,T r 'i 'i, aild rr Pe '' 3e ^ e ? HCe f fchat monar ch. The Khalis, the Belad-ruz, the
l. IU j 16 aiumyeh, and numerous other canals, again branching out into
j 61 s ’. lave ^ leir origin at, and a little below, the dam. In the present
djy even, their number may amount to that described by the historian. v f
^ ra P h y of ^ Iero ^tus,Yol. II., Sec XIII., page 431, identifies
t> I* n el1 With the Gyndes of antiquity;, but the testimony of Major
is n 1 mosf- ^ ’ P 10 - laS travee< ^ IP rough most of the countries coursed by its waters,
still ponf * COnC n ,S1 J e eVI i ^ nce t P e ir being one and the same river, and yet our maps
and Hi Tp U ? i 1 ? Ule ^ a ^y n( ^es falling into the Tigris between the Diyaleh
. •,] ,? 61 v lai lver j w lereas, from my own experience, I confidently affirm that
Pear n- lp eX H eP m n . 0f l he Um l Kh ™™> the Nahri Sa’ad (insignificant torrents
went la 5 ? n° f o 1 ® 11S ^ Uri . n ^ tho winter months only,) and some outlets from the
the Tio-ric f aweza > n o liver is to be met with in the intervening space falling into
Tipris^-onnpP 111 / 0111 -?! 68 V 1 ^ 16 mouil tains of Persia. The Stud, a branch of the
sudden rises n/n ^ 1 iV 6 Haweza, has, however, been known, from
it times to f ll ' P fi G1 ^ la nver occu rring while the Tigris is in a very low state,
it times to fall into the narent. sfroa™ s , ,, .
13 }^? ^ le P aien f stream, and may have given rise to the supposition
ad of being derived from the Tigris. See
arePwT offc . en met with in Asia Minor, Syria, Kurdistan, and Persia,
e -i •j’ . a11 _ 111 e, ® s t |1, g relics ol a former age. Some have been fortified, and
o vp r rHc!* le . mass ^ veru *ns on tlieir summits. Others have been erected
eonfliVf J 1 ] 1 ??! 8 ) lef ln ^ lv ^ ua i s - who may have died, or have fallen in the numerous
entnml 8 h la Z 686 realities have witnessed, and the sepulchral urns so often foun
Hpvp nV 11 t leSe P1 68 give evid ence of the fact. The most ancient notice, I be-
Clrm t a i W ? P 088683 regarding these singular structures, is found in Died. Sic.,
tom w ' . ° 0 }\} 1 ' P a S e HI. He ascribes their origin to Semiramis, and the cus-
ou less followed by subsequent nations, until interment superseded the