might be taken by surprise by a few resolute Kurds. We found ourselves in the midst of a heap of ruins-porches, bazaars, baths, habitations, all laid open to their inmost recesses. Falling walls would have threatened passers-by, had there been any; but the place was a desert. We had some difficulty in finding our way to a crumbling ruin, honored with the name of Serai -the Palace. Here the same general sleep prevailed. Neither guards nor servants were visible, and we wandered through the building until we reached the room of the governor. His hangers-on were indulging in comfort and sleep upon the divans, and we had some trouble in rousing them. We were at length taken to a large gaudily painted room, in a tower built on the very edge of the rock, and overlooking the whole valley—the only remnant of the state of the old hereditary Pashas of Amadiyah. A refreshing breeze came down from the mountain, the view was extensive and beautiful, and I forgot the desolation and misery which reigned around.

A few miserable Nestorian Chaldæans, and one or two halfstarved Jews came to me with the usual melancholy tale of distress; and shortly after Kasha Mendi, a worthy ecclesiastic, who ministered to the spiritual wants of half the villages in the valley, hearing of my arrival, joined the party. The priest was, of course, better informed than the rest; and from him I obtained the information I required as to the state of the Chaldæans in the district, and as to the means of reaching Tiyari. The Albanian irregulars were to leave me here, the authority of the Pasha of Mosul not extending beyond Amadiyah. We were now to enter the territories of Kurdish chiefs, who scarcely admitted any dependence upon the Porte. I determined upon hiring mules for the rest of my journey, and sending all my horses, except one, with the Albanians to Dohuk, there to await my return.

It was the hour of afternoon prayer before Selim Agha, the Mutesellim or governor, emerged from his harem; which, however, as far as the fair sex were concerned, was empty. The old gentleman, who was hungry, half asleep, and in the third

CHAP. VI.

AMADIYAH.

113

stage of the ague, hurried through the ordinary salutations, and asked at once for quinine. His attendants exhibited illustrations of every variety of the fever; some shivered, others glowed, and the rest sweated. He entreated me to go with him into the harem; his two sons were buried beneath piles of cloaks, carpets, and grain-sacks, but the whole mass trembled with the violence of their shaking. I dealt out emetics and quinine with a liberal hand, and returned to the Salamlik, to hear from Selim Agha a most doleful history of fever, diminished revenues, arrears of pay, and rebellious Kurds. The tears ran down his cheeks as he recapitulated his manifold misfortunes, and entreated me to intercede with the governor of Mosul for his advancement or recall. I left him with his watch in his hand, anxiously looking for sunset, that he might console himself with a dose of tartar emetic.

Amadiyah was formerly a place of considerable importance and strength, containing a very large and flourishing population. It was governed by hereditary Pashas-feudal chiefs, who traced their descent from the Abbaside Caliphs, and were always looked up to, on that account, with religious respect by the Kurds. The ladies of this family were no less venerated, and enjoyed the very peculiar title for a woman of "Khan." The last of these hereditary chiefs was Ismail Pasha; who long defied, in his almost inaccessible castle, the attempts of Injeh Bairakdar Mohammed Pasha to reduce him. A mine was at length sprung under a part of the wall, which, from its position, the Kurds had believed safe from attack, and the place was taken by assault. Ismail Pasha was sent a prisoner to Baghdad, where he still remains; and his family, amongst whom was his beautiful wife, Esma Khan, not unknown to the Europeans of Mosul, together with Mohammed Seyyid Pasha of Akra*, a member of the same race, long lived upon the bounty of Mr. Rassam. Amadiyah is frequently mentioned by the early Arab geographers and historians, and its foundation dates, most pro

* A district to the east of Amadiyah.

I

bably, from a very early epoch. Kasha Mendi casually confirmed the assertion of Rich, that the town was once called Ecbatana, by saying that he had seen it so designated in a very early Chaldæan MS. The only ancient remains that I could discover were a defaced bas-relief on the rock near the northern gate, of which sufficient alone was distinguishable to enable me to assign to it an approximate date the time of the Arsacian kings; and some excavations in the rock within the walls, which appear to have been used at an early period as a Christian church. Amadiyah is proverbially unhealthy, notwithstanding its lofty and exposed position. At this time of the year the inhabitants leave the town for the neighboring mountains, in the valleys of which they construct "ozailis," or sheds, with boughs.

I made my way through the deserted street to a small enclosure, in which were the quarters of the Albanians. The disposable force may have consisted of three men; the rest were stretched out on all sides, suffering under every stage of fever, amidst heaps of filth and skins of water-melons, showing the nature and extent of their commissariat. One of their chiefs boasted that he had braved the fever, and insisted upon my drinking coffee, and smoking a narguileh of no very prepossessing appearance with him. He even indulged so far in mirth and revelry, that he disturbed a shivering youth basking in the last rays of the sun, and brought him to play upon a santour, which had lost the greater number of its strings. An air of his native mountains brought on a fit of melancholy, and he dwelt upon the miseries of an irregular's life, when there was neither war nor plunder. The evening gun announced sunset whilst I was sitting with the chief; and I left the garrison as they were breaking their fast on donkey-loads of unripe water-melons.

As

On my return to the Serai, I found the Governor recovering from the effects of his emetic, and anxious for his dinner. the month of Ramazan is, during the nights, one of festivity and open house, Ismail Agha of Tepelin (the Albanian chief in command of the garrison), the Cadi, the collector of the revenue,

a Kurdish chief, and one or two others came as guests. Our meal gave undoubted proofs either of the smallness of the means of Selim Agha, or of the limited resources of the country. When the dinner was over, I introduced a theological subject as becoming the season, and the Cadi entered deeply into the subject of predestination and free will. The reckless way in which the Albanian threw himself into the argument astonished the company, and shocked the feelings of the expounder of the law. His views of the destinies of man were bold and original; he appealed to me for a confirmation of his opinions, and assuming that I fully concurred with him, and that he had silenced the Cadi, who was ejaculating a pious "Istaffer Allah" (may God forgive him), he finished by asking me to breakfast.

Next morning I left my guards and the attendants of the Governor to collect mules for my journey from the peasants who had brought provisions to the town, and after some difficulty found my way to the quarters of Ismail Agha. They were in a small house, the only habitable spot in the midst of a heap of ruins. His room was hung round with guns, swords, and yataghans, and a few dirty Albanians, armed to the teeth, were lounging at the door. The chief had adorned himself most elaborately. His velvet jacket was covered with a maze of gold embroidery, his arms were of the most costly description, and ample fur cloaks were spread over the dingy divans. It was a strange display of finery in the midst of misery. He received me with great cordiality; and when he found that I had been to his old haunts in his native land, and had known his friends and kindred, his friendship exceeded all reasonable bounds. "We are all brothers, the English and the Tosques" (an Albanian tribe), exclaimed he, endeavoring to embrace me; "we are all Framasouns*; I know nothing of these Turks and their Ramazan, thank God! Our stomachs were given us to be

*The term Framasoun (or Freemason), as well as Protestant, are in the East, I am sorry to say, equivalent to infidel. The Roman Catholic missionaries have very industriously spread the calumny.

filled, and our mouths to take in good things." He these words with a very significant signal to or lowers, who, at no loss to understand his meani forming a pyramid of cushions, to the top of which at the imminent risk of his neck, and reached down huge bottle of wine, with a corresponding pitcher of Agha then dived into the recesses of a very capa looking purse, out of which he pulled twenty par contents, and despatched without delay one of h to the stall of a solitary grocer, who was appare commercial survivor in the wreck around him. T returned with a small parcel of parched peas, a f three lumps of sugar, which were duly spread o placed before us as zests to the wine and brandy. I that Ismail Agha had fully made up his mind to debauch, and my position was an uncomfortable drinking a few glasses of raki in solitary dignity, followers to join him. Messengers were despa directions for music; a Jew with the ague, the regiment, consisting of two cracked dwarf kettle fife, and two Kurds with a fiddle and a santour, w together. I took an opportunity of slipping out unseen, amidst the din of Albanian songs and Palicari dances.

On my return to the Serai I found the mule owners having been, after much discussion, broug stand that it was my intention to pay for their h thing being settled, and the animals loaded, I Mutesellim good day, and promised to bring h condition to the notice of the Pasha.

Accompanied by a Kurdish chief, we left Ama gate opposite to that by which we had entered obliged to descend on foot the steep pathway le valley below. Crossing some well-cultivated garde

*About one penny.