"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" [ظ‎‎١‎٢‎٥] (٣١٢/٢٥٥)

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in about three months' time. The first crops have just been harvested. Also
several patches of a tall purple-flowered vetch used either as green fodder
or dried for winter use.
At miles pass Takurava, at 9§ Disbera, and at 11 miles Maniss, all
small Kurdish villages surrounded by a few trees and orchards.
The hillsides abound in small streams and springs, and the water-supply is
very abundant. The long grass by the streams and “ karnoch ” on the fall-
sides were being cut as hay and stored for the winter.
After passing Maniss (7,250'), the road turns south-west down a long descent
towards the valley of the Mihaila Gavvari river, which lay at our feet.
After 2f miles reached the foot of the incline, the last 600 yards of
the descent being very steep zigzags down the end of a spur (6,000').
1 he Mihaila (xavvari flows north-west to join the Zab at Karmi on the
Bashkala-Julamerk route.
The stream is here 60 yards wide and 3 feet to 4 feet deep with a rapid
cm rent over rocks and boulders. There are occasional deeper pools, and it is
not fordable here.
Low trees and shrubs line the banks, willow, pear, apple and ash chiefly.
On the left bank the slope rises in a succession of grassy terraces and easy
slopes to a lofty snow range, a continuation of the Jelu mountains to the south,
flhisiange runs generally parallel to the Mihaila Gavvari stream until it joins
the hills overlooking the Zab valley. Missionaries going from Gavvar to
J ulamerk in summer usually cross the summit of the range without much
difficulty, taking a direct line between the two places. To the north-west, and
situated about half way up the hillside, are Dadi and Pirkauli, both Nestorian
villages, and five other villages out of sight. A narrow track follow the line of
the valley on this bank towards the Zab, and a path leads down the right bank
to Karmi.
Our route continues up the right bank of the river, which here almost
falls up the narrow valley.
The path is easy for mules, and the Turks have lately been cuttino
and revetting some zigzags in the worst bits. This is almost the only road by
which they can send troops from Bashkala to Liza to keep in order the
Kurdish districts round Gavvar.
1 he distance of miles in this valley and the descent of the spur leading
down to it are the only difficult points for the passage of field artillery in all
this route. Widening the track in the valley and cutting longer zigzao-s
m the slope would make this passable in a short time.
Several streams enter from the western slopes of the Mur Dagh on the
Persian frontier, and the country towards the frontier is cut up by a series
or deep valleys flowing generally east to west.
At 17 miles the valley gradually widens; the hills recede and become
more rounded ; the soil is a mixture of shale and clay, with patches of igneous
rock here and there.
^ u ^ n y ina ^ Agha Keupri .—At 18 miles is a wooden bridge over the stream
called Muhammad Agha's bridge built by the Shaikh of the Oramar Kurds.
It is a strong construction of 30 feet span, and is of great use, as the river is a
roaming torrent, and impossible to ford at any point.
1 rom the left bank roads lead to the districts on the east slope of the Jelu
mountains; it is a long day's march from here over the hill to Julamerk, and
tfae^ highest point of the range to be crossed is 14,000 feet.
_ The telegraph line (one wire on wooden poles) from ' Bashkala to Liza
rejoins our road here. It follows the Bashkala-Julamerk line as far as Karmi,