til 



AKMKNIA- 



AHMKNIA. 



611 



of the pUin UK) l>eyon<l iu limit* there are Armenian* and houae- 

 living or stationary Kurds, dwelling sometimes together, sometimes in 

 separata Tillage*. Setting aside the tent-dwelling or nomad Kurds, 

 the Armenians exceed the Mohammedan population in numbers. The 

 Domad Kurds pay the pasha (as is the case in other parts of Armenia) 

 a tax fur KuUat, or winter-quarters. The pasha compels each Arme- 

 nian village to give ViMlt to a certain number of Kurd families, who 

 not only rob but are often guilty of the greatest atrocities towards 

 their entertainers. The pasha pays the Armenians, who are obliged 

 t<> furnish these savages with house-room and corn, hay, and straw for 

 their cattle, as he pleases. To escape from this abhorred service the 

 Armenians wished to emigrate in a body with the Russians in 1830, 

 but they were not allowed. The head of an Armenian family is 

 allowed at any time to emigrate, but ho is not allowed to remove hU 

 family. 



The town of J/iuA is situated in a ravine to the south of the plain ; 

 it U a wretched place, containing about TOO Mohammedan and 600 

 Armenian families. The Armenians are the wealthiest of the popula- 

 tion, and on them exclusively falls the payment of the Saliyanch, or 

 administration-tax. The trade of the town, which is entirely in the 

 hands of the Armenians, is chiefly in the products before mentioned, 

 wool, and gum-tragacanth. Some coarse cottons are manufactured 

 for the local consumption ; cloths are brought from Aleppo and Krz- 

 rum. Towards the south-west of the plain of Mush the land U arid, 

 and yields no grain but millet ; cattle and sheep are numerous. From 

 this part of the plain a high and difficult pass leads across the ranges 

 of the Mush-Dagh into the valley of the Kolb-Su, a feeder of the 



j _:.-. 



The plain of Mush is traversed from south-east to north-west by 

 the Kara-Su, a feeder of the Murad, which rises iu the Niumid-Dagh, 

 the ravines and valleys of which it drains. The Nimrud-Dagh runs 

 nearly north and south, separating the plain of Mush on the east from 

 the region of Lake Van. At its southern extremity is a cross range 

 named Kerku-Dagh, and running east and west with wooded sides 

 and flat summit resembling the truncated cone of an extinct volcano. 

 The Kara-Su, after skirting the base of the Nimrud-Dagh, turns 

 westward along the cross range and the mountains that bound the 

 plain of Mush to the southward. In its course to the north-west it 

 skirts several marshes and flows through extensive meadows, corn- 

 fields, and melon-grounds. The breadth of the stream near its junc- 

 tion with the Murad is 25 yards in summer, at which time it is fordable ; 

 iU whole length is about 40 miles. The southern part of the plain of 

 Mush has a gravelly soil ; grain does not ripen till the end of August 

 Some Yezidi Kurds spread their tents among the pastures of the 

 Niumid-Dsgh in summer. 



The villages in the plain of Mush as in other parts of the Armenian 

 highlands conaist of nouses built nearly or altogether underground. 

 On the flat roofs of the houses are built large ricks of hay, to supply 

 fodder to the cattle of the Armenians and for those of the Kurds quar- 

 tered upon them in winter. The number of children in the villages is 

 very great In various parts of the plain may be seen threshing-floors 

 to which the grain is conveyed from the fields in order to be trodden 

 out. Buffaloes are used for drawing the arabahs, or carts, which arc 

 of a very primitive pattern, entirely of wood ; not so much as an iron 

 nail is used in their construction, there being no smiths in this part 

 of Armenia ; the wheels generally are firmly fixed to the axle, and 

 revolve with it, but in a few cases the wheels turn on the axle, and 

 strange to say these are the cheaper sort, and used only by the poorer 

 peasant*. The plain of Muxh is infested in summer and autumn by 

 mosquitoes, especially in its lower parts and in the vicinity of the 

 marshes. The Kharzan Kurds, who dwell on the south side of the 

 Kush-Oagb, in the north of the basin of the Tigris, used a few years 

 ago to cross the mountains by night and rob the Armenians of their 

 cattle and whatever else they could carry away with them. It is not 

 unlikely that they continue the practice still. 



Valley of ZK//U. At the south-eastern cxtrc-mity of the plain of 

 Mush and a littlo east of Numhin (a pretty Kurdish village hi.-h 

 covers an extensive site, the houses being dispersed among gardens 

 and fields), a gentle ascent leads up to the eastern extremity of 

 Korku range, whence a narrow valley of gradual slope extends to 

 Bitlis. The valley is screen*! on cither side by lofty mountains ; its 

 bottom is traversed by a stream which flows in a ravine between the 

 perpendicular sides of basaltic rock. The rock in the valley is light and 

 soft like pumice, evidently of volcanic origin. In the valley are seve- 

 ral large and solid-built khans, now in a ruined state. They wore 

 Iniilt in such numbers and so near each other in order to afford a ready 

 refuge to caravans and travellers caught in the violent storms nf wind 

 accompanied by snow, which sweep down this valley in winter. Into 

 the valley of Bitlis, which runs nearly north and south, one ravine 

 opens from the west, another from the north-west, and a third from the 

 east. In the central space rises abruptly the castle rock of Bitlis ; the 

 town is built in the volley and along the ravines, above which bare 

 limestone mountains rise nearly to the height of 2000 feet The town 

 iUelf is at an elevation of 6156 feet above the sea. It U the most 

 important commercial and manufacturing place in this part of Arme- 

 nia, and is noticed in a separate article. [Brrun.] 



rinint of Trrjo* and Srzinyan.Oa the western side of the plain of 

 Erz-rum, at some disUnee from the Kara-Su, there is an elevated tract 



with little cultivation and thinly inhabited. The soil i-- 

 moisture, and it is only iu wet seasons that it yields w, 11. 

 plain succeeds to the westward, well watered, an.l inhabited by Turks 

 and a few Armenians. The climate in this plain is much milder than 

 in the plain of Erz-rum ; wheat returns tenfold. The habitations are 

 only half underground. The winter is not so severe as to prevent cattle 

 being driven out to feed. The Kara-Su, after it* junction in this plain 

 with the Mamah-Khatun (which flows westward from the western slopes 

 of the Bin-Gol-Dagh) becomes a considerable river, fordable only in a 

 few places even in the driest season. The dwellers on thin plain are 

 kept in a constant state of alarm by the robber Kurds who inhabit 

 the Dujik Mountains to the southward. Cattle must not be left out 

 at night, and grain must be housed as soon as reaped, otherwise these 

 plundering hordes would sweep both cattle and groin away. The Kurd* 

 of the Dujik Mountains, which they have all to themselves, are .- 

 bo rich ; they pay no contributions of any sort to the Sultan, and they 

 rob his subjects and every body else they can. They are divided into 

 tribes, and inhabit villages, round which they cultivate a .portion ( 

 the soil. They have large flocks of sheep and goats. The I>ujik 

 Kurds ore called Kizil-Bash (Red-heads) by the Mohammedans, 

 of them are idolaters of the sect called Chiragh-Sonduran (Lamp- 

 extinguishers). They dress a log of wood in fine clothes, and adore 

 it. When one of their great men dies they bury all his wraith with 

 his body ; but the valuables are disinterred on the earliest opportunity 

 by the Mohammedan Kurds. 



An offset of the Dujik-Dagh, furrowed by many defiles, intervenes 

 between the plains of Terjan and Erzingon. The town uf Kr/.ingan U 

 situated at the western extremity of the plain to which it gives name, 

 and has about 3000 houses, all of which, as well as the villages here- 

 abouts, ore built aboveground, the climate being mild even iu winter. 

 The plain of Erzingun is about 20 miles in length by 8 miles in breadth. 

 Harvest commences in the cud of June. The villages on the northern 

 side of this plain lie at the base of the eastern extension of 1 h.- Ami 

 taurus, which bounds the basin of the Kara-Su on the north ; they arc 

 surrounded by very extensive gardens, which furnish grapes, in 

 and other fruits. Wheat crops are very heavy here, the straw long, 

 and the yield about twelvefold. In the centre of the plain ore some 

 salt marshes ; on the pastures are reared a great number of mares, 

 cows, and sheep. The depredations of the Kurds have the effect here 

 also of diminishing the population and of contracting the produce of 

 this otherwise fertile and carefully-cultivated plain. 



Valley of Eijhin. The Kara-Su enters^ the plain of Erziugan by a 

 series of rapids ; it leaves the plain by a very narrow defile In 

 the Dujik-Dagh on the left, and a precipitous spur of the Antii 

 on the right At Kemakh (a singular place, situated partly on on 

 eminence surrounded by on ancient wall, partly on garden slopes 

 above the river bank, and governed by a Dereh-Bey, or vull. 

 iu whoso family the office has remained for many generations), tin- 

 valley is narrowed to the mere chasm in which the river flows, and 

 which is crossed by a wooden bridge. Just above this place the 

 Kara-Su U joined by the Kcumer, a stream from the Autituunu, by 

 which and the Kara-Su wood is floated down to Eghinand Keban-Maden. 

 The reaches of the Kara-Su below Kemakh are deep enough fur 

 barges, but they ore separated by rapid*, rocks, and shoals, which bar 

 navigation. The river continues to run in very narrow valleys, or 

 between vast rents in the mountains, from Kemakh toitsjm 

 with the Murad. In the valley of Eghiu the mountains rise rapidly 

 to about 4000 feet in height ; the lower slopes rising in terraces above 

 the narrow valley are laid out in gardens and planted with trees, 

 while above rise abrupt and naked limestone precipices. The cliinat-- 

 here is agreeably cool in summer, from the abundance of trees and 

 water ; in winter snow seldom lies iu tho valley, although the moun- 

 tains are then impassable. For want of level ground there is little 

 grain cultivated in this valley, the chief products are fruits and garden- 

 stuff. The trees are mostly white mulberry, the fruit of which i- 

 eaten fresh, or dried and distilled for brandy, or else boiled into a 

 conserve ; grapes ore grown and some wine i made ; common fruits 

 are abundant In this deep valley goitrous affections ore very common. 



Plain of Kharput, the ancient Sopkene.The western extremity of 

 the Dujik-Dagh is called Munsur-Dagh, and rises near the fork of tho 

 Kara-Su and Murad to about 9000 feet above the sea. Below tho 

 >i of tho two rivers, the Euphrates runs through a long series 

 of defiles, forming the pass of Ilijab, between the (Kil-Dagh on the 

 right bank, and tho mountains of Kharput on the left These moun- 

 tains are dreary and barren, without tree or shrub, or vegetation of 

 any kind ; but they contain rich ores of lead, iron, and copper. The 

 small town and argentiferous lead-mine of Kelian-Maden ore situated 

 iu a narrow ravine traversed by a feeder of the Murad, at a short 

 distance from tho left I tank of the river. At the head of the ravine, 

 and about 10 miles from the Euphrates, tho country is still moun- 

 tainous but more open and productive ; and 1 miles farther east 

 the mountains slope down into on extensive plain 12 miles long by 

 about 6 miles broad, fertile, well cultivated, and studded with villages. 

 A low range separates this plain from the adjoining one of Kharput, 

 v hi. h i" iliviili-d l>y a ridge of hills into two part*, together about 60 

 miles in length, anil from 4 to miles brood. The soil is here of unequal 

 fertility; Hi- -MHI'ITH ".<\ga of the plain skirting the mountains is 

 arid and stony, while the centre and lower parts being well watered 



