"استطلاعات في بلاد الرافدين وكردستان وشمال غرب بلاد فارس ولرستان في الفترة من أبريل إلى أكتوبر ١٨٨٨، كتبها المقدم ف. ر. مونسيل، فرع الاستخبارات. يوجد مجلدان. المجلد الأول: تقرير سردي ووصف للمدن الكبرى والطرق المؤدية منها. شيملا: فرع الاستخبارات، إدارة قائد الإمداد والتموين، ١٨٩٠" [و‎‎٧‎١] (٣١٢/١٤٦)

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Keren ,— Descending into the low country we rode by the village of Bila Keupri, the residence
of Mustafa Agha, the former head of the Zebari tribes, and halted in Heren, two miles beyond.
Early on the morning of the 19th July we left Heren, and, soon reaching the Zab, rode for
two hours along its banks to a spot where a small raft had been made ready for us to cross.
Rezan The Zab is not fordable in this part of its course. Numerous eddies and rapids
caused by sunken rocks render it unnavigable even by rafts, except during the Hoods of spring.
We had some difficulty in crossing, and were compelled to pass the night at the small village of
Rezan near the ferry, as one of the baggage animals refused to swim the stream and was not forced
over until near dawn on the following morning.
We now entered the tract which has probably been followed for ages by the nomad clans in
their periodical migrations. The principal “ kocher ” tribes found in this part of Kurdistan are the
Herki, who go in winter to the plains of the Tigris and Zab. They are notorious thieves and
robbers, and they commit serious depredations on the settled inhabitants of the district, especially
the Christians, during their annual migrations. As they possess vast flocks of sheep and herds of
cattle, their track has in most places the appearance of a beaten road, and is consequently well
fitted for beasts of burden.
The country beyond or to the east of the Zab is broken into a number of parallel ranges of
wooded hills, divided by narrow ravines. Small villages are scattered here and there on the moun
tain sides in the midst of terraces cultivated with wheat and planted with fruit trees. The
scenery occasionally assumes a character of beauty and grandeur as the deep green valleys open
beneath the travellers feet, and the lofty snow capped peaks of Rawanduz rise majestically in the
clear blue sky. The nights were still sufficiently warm for us to sleep in the open air. During
the middle of the day the heat of the sun compelled us to seek the shade. Our first rest after
leaving the Zab was in the gardens of Kouran, and our first night’s encampment near the small
hamlet of Bani on the declivity of a mountain- On the 21st July, crossing a high ridge, we left
the Zebari District and entered that of Shir wan, and halted in the large village of Bersiyah, where
Miran Bey, the chief, received us.
1 hrough the valley beneath ran a considerable confluent of the Zab dividing the districts of
Shirwan and Oerdi. Three names were given for this stream—Av Sherah, Rudbar Keklik, and
Berasghird. During the afternoon we rode for three hours along this stream, through open valleys
and narrow gorges, until we reached Harouni in the district of Baradost.
Most of the villages in these mountains have small mud forts, with either four or six towers, the
places of refuge and defence of the numerous petty chiefs during their frequent broils and blood
feuds.
We met a few Jewish families who wander from village to village. The men are pedlars and
goldsmiths, and are not unwelcome guests even in the intolerant families of the Kurds, as they
make and refashion the ornaments of the ladies.
On one of the many peaks above Harouni is the large village of Klum-i-Resh (elevation 4,872')
with its orchards and gardens, the residence of the chief of the district of Baradost. We reached
it by a very rapid ascent in an hour and a half. After breakfast we continued the journey, and at
sunset reached the small turreted stronghold of Beygishni.
The next morning we crossed on^ of the shoulders of the lofty peak of Ser-i-Resh into the
valley of Chappata (Chapnaia in Chaldean).
There were several Christian villages in Gerdi presided over by a Bishop of that name.
Zemin .—-We went to Zernin, the castle of the Kurdish Mir of Gerdi, and, having rested there,
we left the bold upland on which the village stands, and entered a wild and narrow gorge.
A very steep pathway led us to the summit of the northern shoulder of the Ser-i-Resh, from
whence we gazed over a sea of mountain ranges whose higher peaks were white with eternal
enow. We had now left the naked hills which skirt the Assyrian plains, and had entered the
wooded districts of Kurdistan. On the following day we journeyed through a valley thick with
walnuts and other large trees, and followed the windings of a stream called by the Kurds Shambo,
a considerable affluent of the Zab.
Neva .—We crossed it backwards and forwards by wicker suspension bridges until we ascended
through a forest of orchards watered by innumerable streamlets, to Nera, the village of Musa Beg,
the chief of Shemdina.
In Nera are many Jewish families who make a livelihood by wearing the coloured wooden
stuffs worn by the Kurds.
Left Nera early the following day, by a very steep pathway, winding over the face of a precipice,
and completely overhanging the village.
Reaching the top of the pass was a natural carpet of flowers, spread over the eastern declivity
of the mountain, and cooled and moistened by the snows and glaciers that fringed the deep
basin.
Shemesden .—The valley at our feet was the Nestorian district of Shemesden, thickly set with
Christian villages, the first of which, Bedewi, we reached after passing a few cultivated patches
cleared from the forest of oaks. The inhabitants looked miserably poor and the children starved
and naked; the men and women in rags. Leaving the caravan we turned down the valley to the
convent of Mar Khanishu. A ride of f hour brought us there, where Mar Isho, the Bishop, received
ns. This is on the high road of the Herki migrations who pass twice a year over the settlements of
the Christians and despoil everything.
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