Z A B 



the eighth part of an ounce, that is, a drachm Troy -weight ; 

 and it has in earlier times been ufed to exprefs the third 

 part of an ounce, or eight fcruples. 



On French coins, Z denotes thofe ilruck at /Srenoble. 



ZZ, thefe letters were ufed by fome of the ancient phy- 

 Ccians to exprefs myrrh. At prefent they are often ufed 

 to iignify zinziber, or ginger. 



ZAAB, or Zeb, in Geography, a diftri'ft of Africa, in 

 the country of Sahara, belonging to the Algerines. It was 

 anciently a part of the Mauritania Sitifenfis, and is a nar- 

 row traft of land lying immediately under the Atlas. N. 

 lat. between 34° 30' and 35^. 



ZAARA. See Sahara. 



Zaara, a word ufed by the jirabian phyfic'ians, to ex- 

 prefs the vigilia morbo/a, or continual watchings of perfons 

 in many illneffes. 



ZAARAM, in Ancient Geography, a town of Arabia 

 Felix, which, according to Ptolemy, was the refidence of 

 the king of the Cinaedocolpites. 



ZAARON, in Geography, a mountain of Africa, on the 

 weftern fide of the plain of Fez, in fight of Mequinez, on 

 which is a village confecrated to Mahometan devotion. It 

 contains the fanftuary of Sidi Edris, who came from 

 Medina at the end of the 8th century, introduced Maho- 

 metanifm, and was the firfl fovereign of his race in this part 

 of Africa. This fanftuary is an afylum for malefaftors, and 

 never violated by the emperor of Morocco. 



ZAB, a town of the Arabian Irak, on the Euphrates ; 

 65 miles W.S.W. of Bagdad. 



Zab, Great, the Zabatus of Xenophon, and Lycus of 

 Ptolemy, a river of the Lower Kurdiftan, in the pachalic of 

 Bagdad, which rifes in the fame range of hills, and con- 

 tiguous to thofe of tlie Diala, mentioned in hiftory by the 

 names of Delos and Arba ; this latter river, increafed by 

 feveral ftreams, continues its courfe to the fouth, and enters 

 the Tigris, about 5 miles above Taukc Kefra. During the 

 fummer it is fordable at Bakooba, 9 leagues from Bagdad, 

 on the road to Kermanfhaw, and is near 150 yards wide, at 

 the place where a bridge of boats is thrown acrofs it, for the 

 convenience of travellers, juft before it approaches the 

 Tigris. The Great Zab at firft purfues a northerly 

 courfe, when meeting with a fmall ftream, which comes 

 from the diftrift of Alhak, it proceeds to the weftvvard, 

 unites with the Hakiar, or river of Julamerick, and then 

 flowing in a S.W. direftion, forms a junftion with the 

 Hazir fu (anciently Bumadus), and difembogues into the 

 Tigris atToprukala, 14 furfungs (or about 42 miles) below 

 Moful. Between Moful and Erbille, this river can only be 

 forded in the fummer, and when low, it is fo deep and fo 

 rapid that it is- dif&cult of paffage. The 10,000 Greeks 

 commenced their retreat by crofling this river in the face of 

 the Perfian army. Xenophon reckons it 400 feet wide ; 

 but when the Greeks pafied it, it muft have been fordable. 



Zab, Little, the Zaius Minor and Caprus of the Mace- 

 donians, a river of Kurdiftan, formed by the junftion of 

 a great number of little brooks, which originate in the hilly 

 country to the E. of Khoi Sindjack. At Altun Kupri, 68 

 furfungs from Bagdad, on the route to Moful, it joms the 

 Altun f'J, or golden water, and terminates in theTigris, oppo- 

 file to the large and rich city of Ccene, or the prefent village 

 of Senn, 30 miles below Haditha. This river is narrow, 

 winds very deep, and very rapid. That part of the Lower 

 Kurdiftan that lies N. of the Little Zab, has in every age been 

 a rich and produftive province ; and Hill continues to fupply 

 Bagdad, Moful, and the other cities, with corn, cattle, cheefe, 

 butter, dried fruits, and almoft every other kind of provi- 

 fion. Another river, the Odorneh, fuppofed by fome authors 



Vol. XXXIX. 



ZAB 



to be the P^a/?aj of Xenophon, is alfo formed by the iunclion 

 of many ftreams, which arife in the hills between Kerkuk 

 the largeft town in the Lower Kurdiftan, (N. lat. 35° 20',)* 

 and Solymania (which fee). Kerkook or Kerkuk, (which 

 fee,) entitled Demetrius by Strabo, and Corcura by Ptolemy, 

 lies in the direft road from Bagdad to Moful, 59 furfun^rs 

 from the former, and 41 from the latter, on a commandin^r 

 emmence, but with narrow and fihhy ftreets and mean 

 houfes. Tlie population is eftimated at 18,000 fouls, 

 Turks, Armenians, Neftorians, and Kurds ; but this efti- 

 mate is fuppofed to exceed the truth by 5000. It is de- 

 fended by a mud wall, has 2 gates, 7 mofques, 14 coffee- 

 houfes,one hummum, one caravanfera, one Armenian church, 

 and 12 pieces of ufelefs artillery. The fuburbs contain j 

 mofques, 9 fmall caravanferas, 13 coffee-houfes, 3 convents, 

 and 3 catholic churches. Around the town the country 13 

 hilly, and on the N. fide a low range of barren and rocky 

 mountains feparates the diftrift of Kerkook from the fine 

 plain of Altun Kupri. At a fmall diftance there is a number 

 of naphtha pits, which fupply the neighbouring country with 

 the naphtha, which in a liquid ftate is raifed in leathern 

 buckets, and depofited in earthen jars. The river Odor- 

 nah, after purfuing a S.W. courfe, faOs into the Tigris, 20 

 furfungs above Bagdad. Its bed is about 60 yards broad, 

 and its fprings contain a large body of water. Kinncir's 

 Perfia. 



ZAB A, or Sabana Emporium, (Batu-Saber,) in Ancient 

 Geography, a confiderable place, and one of the princi- 

 pal trading towns of India, in the peninfula beyond the 

 Ganges ; marked in the map of D'Anville, a little W. 

 of the S.TL. point of this peninfula. 



ZABACHA, in Geography. See Azof. 

 ZABADtEANS, in Ancient Geography, Arabs who 

 lived to the eaft of the mountains of Galaad. In the ifl; 

 book of the Maccabees we learn that Jonathan marched 

 againft them, and defeated them. 



ZABATRA, in Geography, a town of Afiatic Turkey, 

 in the government of Marafch ; 48 miles N.E. of Marafch. 

 ZABDA, a large and pleafant town of Syria, fituated 

 among the mountains, and chiefly, if not folely, inhabited 

 by Chriftians, which furnifhes 700 men fit for vear. The 

 town is divided into five diftrifts, each having its feparate 

 fcheick, who pays tribute to the emir of the Drufes : they 

 complain of oppreflion ; and the ftate of the place and the 

 adjacent country fhew that their complaints are not un- 

 founded. The town is Iheltered by riiountains, but the 

 locufts are very deftruftive. Tobacco is one of the chief 

 articles of cultivation. A rivulet, rolhng from the rocks, 

 turns the mills, and waters the ground. The air is falu- 

 brious, unmolefted with excefGve heat. Near it is a long 

 ftrufture, apparently part of an aqueduft, called " the 

 tomb of Noah." It extends about 60 feet, being the 

 ftature of Noah, according to oriental tradition. The pil- 

 grims who formerly came to worftiip in an adjacent mofque 

 were very numerous ; and the religious revenue is faid to 

 amount to 300 purfes annually. Browne's Travels. 



ZABDICENA, in Jncient Geography, a country of Afiay 

 and one of thofe called by Ammianus Marcellinus Tranf- 

 tigritanes, becaufe they lay beyond the Tigris, with refpeft 

 to Perfia. It was extended along the Tigris. 



ZABECES, a people of Africa, in Libya, neighbours 

 of the Marges and Zygantes, according to Herodotus. 



ZABELTITZ, in Geography, a town of Saxony, in 

 the margravate of MeifTen ; 4 miles N. of Grofien Hayn. 



ZABER, a river of Wurtemberg, which runs into the 

 Neckar, near Lauffen. 



Q ZABERN, 



