"سرد لإقامة في كردستان وفي موقع نينوى القديمة؛ مع مذكرات رحلة إلى بغداد عبر نهر دجلة ووصف زيارة إلى شيراز وبرسبوليس." [‎٤‎٢] (٤٥٠/٦٩)

42 VENERATION FOR CERTAIN SPRINGS. [CH. XIII
workmansliip. The archway which forms the descent
to the spring inside the ante-chamber may be mort
ancient, possibly old Christian architecture. It
seems to be built with large fragments of stone
taken from the ruins of Nineveh ; and on each
side of the door-way is a pedestal or capital of
a column, exactly similar to the one we found at
Koyunjuk.
Once a year the peasants assemble and sacrifice a
sheep at the well, with music and other festivities.
This is a superstition far anterior to the religion
they now profess. This veneration for certain springs
is common both to Christians and Mahometans.
Captain Kefala, himself a Greek, remarked that this
well had every appearance of having been a spot
consecrated by the Christians. The Greeks are in-
deed much attached to grottoes and wells. There is
scarcely one in all Greece and the islands which is'
not consecrated to the Virgin, who seems to have
succeeded tlie nymphs in their guardianship of these
places ; and where once on a rude basso relievo was
seen NTM^AIS, we now find an equally rude
figure with a dedication to the Panagia. 1 here is
something very poetic in the worship oi the \ irgin.
As I proposed to devote a day entirely to the in
spection of Nineveh beyond the wall, and was
besides anxious to take the angles at the base while
there was good light to see my distant signals, 1 i'6*
turned to the inclosure to take my last station,