"كتيّب بلاد الرافدين. المجلد IV .١٩١٧" [و‎‎٢‎٢‎٧] (٥٣٠/٤٥٨)

TEL ATAR—UEFEH
449
streets of the town, which are narrow and straggling, run generally
E. and W., or N. and S. The houses are built of stone, and there
are some good khans.
Supplies and Commerce. —There is much wheat grown in the
well-cultivated plain S. and SE. of Urfeh, and extensive pastures
are also to be found there. The town and its district would form
important bases of supply. The town has a plentiful water-supply;
several strong springs rise on the northern side of the citadel hill,
and feed the two tanks mentioned above. Another spring called
Qara Punar lies further to the E. Springs also exist in the hilly
ground N. of the town, and water is brought thence in hares.
Lastly, there are numerous small springs in the plain near Urfeh to
the S. Fuel is very scarce. Wood in normal times had to be
brought on camels from the Tur Abdin country. is most in
use: twigs, vine branches, and olive stumps are also employed.
Kerosine was imported in considerable quantities before the war.
Charcoal was very expensive.
Urfeh has been a most important point of transit for commerce
going from the Euphrates to Mosul or to Armenia by Diarbekr.
The railway, however, now passes some 40-45 miles to the S. of it,
and the branch line to Uffeh which is contemplated has apparently
not been taken in hand.
Inhabitants, —The bulk of the population before the war seems to
have been Moslem (Turkish and Kurdish). There was a large
Armenian community, estimated at 7,500, and settlements of
Jacobites, Jacobite Uniates, and Jews. Massacres of the Armenians,
deportation, and some resistance to the deportation order, are re
ported to have taken place in August-October 1915. An American
mission was the centre of a considerable Protestant community.
Administration. —Urfeh is the head-quarters of a Scinjaq in the
Aleppo Vilayet, and is therefore administered by a Mutessarif. A
small regular garrison was maintained here before the war.
History, —Urfeh is the ancient Edessa, and in the first centuries
b . o. and a. d . was the capital of a small state which was a
buffer between the Koman and Parthian Empires. The Roman
Government annexed it in the second century a.d . and for some
time it flourished as a commercial centre, as a in the
Roman frontier defences, and as a university town. In the Middle
Ages it was captured by the Crusaders, and for the first half of the
twelfth century was ruled by Christian counts. At present it derives
some importance from its position on the ordinary Aleppo—Diarbekr
trade route and from its connexion with Abraham in Moslem legends.
In 1896 there was a massacre of Armenians here.
MES. IV