74 THE LANDS OF THE TIGRIS. 



arch, — a crushing blow to the theory that the latter 

 was a Roman invention ; and in another a wall orna- 

 mented with figures in has - relief had recently been 

 discovered. 



The present counterpart of ancient Nineveh is Mossul, 

 which, as may already have suggested itself, has given 

 its name to one of those fabrics which have found such 

 favour with the ladies of the West : the connection is 

 obvious — Mossul-lin, muslin. It stands on the right 

 bank of the river, just opposite the site of the ancient 

 city, and of course it is surrounded by walls — no town 

 would have remained a town for five minutes without 

 them, encompassed by freebooting Arabs. Seven gates 

 give access to the town, or nine if you include two 

 which I think give on to the river. Of course its 

 interest cannot compare with that aroused by the 

 stupendous piles of debris opposite, nevertheless it is 

 possessed of a distinct charm of its own. For it is a 

 town which first and foremost can only be described 

 as of the East — Eastern. Absolutely untouched by 

 Western influence, it remains what it has been ever 

 since it came into being, affected little more by slight 

 contact with the Turk in the shape of barracks, and the 

 governor of the province, of which it is the capital, 

 than it is by the utter absence of European ideas. The 

 bazaar is a scene of animated life, but the majority of 

 the streets, when not mere tunnels through the build- 

 ings, as is often the case, form a complex maze of 

 narrow alleys, so narrow in many instances as to make 

 it difficult for two persons to walk abreast conveniently, 

 and enclosed by blind walls of such height that the sky 

 is often only to be seen by craning one's neck upw^ards. 

 Filth indescribable and unutterable is, needless to say, 

 the predominant feature of the town, whose sanitary- 

 arrangements cannot even be described as primitive. 



