"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" [و‎‎١‎١‎١] (٣١٢/٢٢٦)

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Bader Khan Beg, the Dergulek chief, celebrated for his massacre of the
Nestorian Christians in 1842, was their grandfather, they were found most
hospitable and friendly. ... , a • c
The valley above the village runs up 23°, with a large stream flowing from
a rocky basin topped with cliffs, and joins the Nurdush below the village.
The stream bank for 3 miles above the village is lined with gaidens ot
almond, fig, walnut, sycamore, ash, and several low shrubs.
The valley is 200 yards broad for about a mile, and then opens out. Ilie
remains of string masonry wall still remained which had been drawn across
tilB Shakh is most interesting from an archaeological point of view, and would
take a long time to thoroughly explore. t t K c , t on
1 noticed several rock cut chambers, one of them measured 15 leet by ~0
feet by 10 feet high. It had a door and window, and evidently was used as
a dwelling house. . ,,
There were some large inscriptions and carving on the cliff further up. .
There was high up the hillside a large council chamber also cut m the
rock 60 feet in depth and 30 feet broad, the entrance being a well turned
arch some 40 feet high. Towards Hubla the line of the walls and some
towens still remain, and the place must have been once, a large fortress.
Traditions relating to the ancient city are numerous amon^ the villagers
and one says there were seven distinct walls encircling the town, and Csesar s
daughter had a summer palace here. A gateway into the village passes
through a portion of the old Roman wall, and other portions are visible down
the valley. Of the Romans it may he said “ Si monumentum quaeris, cir-
cumspice.s probably the s [ te 0 f the Roman frontier fortress of Bezabde
supposed to be at Jazirah or Finik.* _ . , ,
A kind of wild silk called "gez” is procured in some quantities here, the
cocoons being gathered from the trees. A very strong silk cloth is spun from
it and used by the Kurds. ,
Fever is prevalent here now. ‘Weather was rather cooler here under the
trees than at Jazirah; temperature 9b° at noon ; Hies and mosquitoes very
troublesome. Snow is said to lie 2 feet deep here in winter, but this is rather
exaggerated.
1 st July—General direction N.E. and E. Left Shakh (1,900 ) at
5-0 a.m., and started north-west up the valley of the Nurdush, following at
first a 4 feet ledge in the hillside, obstructed in places by jutting boulders and
low cliffs. The river below is a rushing torrent in a narrow bed among enor
mous boulders.
Gulijuna. —At 1| miles pass a few huts at the mouth of a small gorge
(1,900 ) called Gulijuna. Seme large chambers and on the opposite bank of
the river the remains of a large aqueduct are cut in the solid rock.
The valley is 200 yards wide at the bottom. On the left bank^ some
enormous cliffs of vertical sheets of rock 600 feet to 1,000 feet perpendicular.
On the right hank is a very steep slope with rock jutting out here and
Pir-i-Gbelli. —At 2£ miles crossed the river by a small masonry bridge
(1,910'), and zigzaged up a rough difficult track in the cliff for about 200 yards,
struggling up a 2 feet track on the edge of the cliff. If the bridge were de
stroyed, it would be impossible to get baggage animals through here.
* See Kawlinson’s Seventh Monarchy, pages 184-187, for the siege of Bezabde by the Persians,
in which a body of Kurdish archers played a prominent part in the defence.
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