ROXBURGH’S FLORA INDICA. 
677 
I oow come to a description of the pass it- 
self. It runs nearly E. and 'VV-> and resem- 
bles that of Kifri in its composition and ap 
pearance. though on a larger scale. On the 
west side of the hill, which faces the plain, 
the strata are horizontal and parallel. On 
the north side of the pass they are inclined 
downwards at an angle of about 45^, and 
somewhat curved or convex. On tHl south 
side of the pass the hills are more more 
earthy, and have been furrowed and crumbled 
down by the rains ; and in one part some 
pillars, as it were, of the hill are left detached. 
The naphtha-pit may, indeed, be said to be 
situated in these de ^ris on the edge of the 
torrent’s bed ; gypsum is apparent in every 
part. On the north side is sandstone ; and 
at the bottom of all, as I saw in an arch or 
cavern in the very foot of the clilf, is clay- 
s.iate, or hardened clay of a blue colour. The 
determination of the water is all to the north 
side of the pass, where it has cut down the 
hills into a preftipice or cliff. On the summit 
of this clilf are the ruined walls of an old 
castle, the age of which it is difficult to de- 
termine : it may be Sassanian. At the foot 
of this is a little hollow in the rock, contain 
ing a naphtha-pit. The top has been arched 
over with large square blocks of gypsum, and 
is apparently a very ancient work. 
I had forgotten to say, that in the great 
naphtha-pit is a beam of wood, just above 
the surface of the water, fixed at both ends 
into the side of the pit. This wood, they say, 
is as old as the time of the Ghiaours, and has 
been preserved by the virtue of the naphtha 
oil. . They also attribute the castle to the 
Ghiaours*. In the earth about the foot of 
the castie-hill, near the small naphtha-pit, i 
saw many stains of a bright yellow, and per- 
ceived a strong smell of sulphur. The people 
consider this clilf as a great preserver of 
Toozkhoorraattee ; they say it turns off the 
torrent and gives it an inclination from the 
town. On the summit of the hills, on the 
north side of the pass, overlooking-the plain, 
is a .small kumbet or dome, marking the site 
of some foolish story about Ali. They say, 
on the eve of Friday, a little lamp is seen to 
burn of itself there : it is most probably a 
similar phenoznenOn to Baba Goorgoor*. 
After having finished our observations on 
the naphtha-pits, we rode round the town by 
the torrent to the w^est, to see some ruins, 
but we found little worthy of observation. 
A party of peasants were employed in cleans: 
ing a canal, to the sound of the zoorna, or 
trumpet, and double drum. The reapers 
were at work in some places. On the west 
* tihiaour, originally Geber or fire-worship- 
per, is now synonymous with Kafer, and is 
applied to the people who preceded the Maho- 
metans, as well as to Europeans. 
♦ Baba Goorgoor is the name given to a 
spot three miles from Kerkook, where, in a 
little circular plain, white ith naphtha, flames 
of fire issue from many places. There appears 
to be little doubt, as D’Anville conjectures, 
that this is the Korkura of Ptolemy.— See 
“ D’Anville on the Euphrates and Tigris.” 
Quarto edition, p. 108, 
of the town are some mounds of rubbish, 
with nothing to .characterize them. I'hey 
may possibly be ancient, as antiques are said 
to be found here ; but I have not yet been 
able to procure any. On a little square 
platform of a building is one pier of it stand- 
ing, of coarse masonry, apparently not very 
ancient. Farther north, are six piers stand- 
ing, forming part of an oblong building, whose 
direction is east and west, and it appears to 
have been composed of a body and two aisles, 
or verandahs. The door is west, and ano- 
ther corresponding recess or opening on the 
east has been supported on each side by a 
semi-circular pilaster or buttress. The whole 
has been vaulted ; the masonry is extremely 
rude. I should conjecture this to have been 
a church ; it greatly resembles the ruins of 
Chaldean and Syrian churches I have seen. 
The mounds are scattered about to a great 
extent, and prove this to have been, at some 
former period, a considerable place. From 
the principal mound the Hamreen mountains 
were in sight, in the western horizon ; the 
distance is said to be about nine hours We 
could also see plainly where the Karatepeh or 
Zengabad range strikes off from the Ham- 
reen, and pursues a more easterly direction,’ 
Here we must part with our interesting 
travellers for the present. We hope to accom« 
pany them in our next. * 
Art- — VI. A Tabular View of the Gene- 
ric Characters in Roxburgh’s Flora 
Indica, compiled by H. Piddington, 
Esa. 
The above has appeared forming an ap- 
pendix to the Journal of the Asiatic Society 
for the benefit of travellers. We beg to exhi- 
bit them in the following form. 
MONANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 
GENUS, Canna, Linn. Schreb. 
FLOWER — Style, spatulate ; growing 
to the tube of the corol. Stigma, linear. 
Anthers, single ; attached to the edge of 
the petal-like filament. FRUCTIFICA- 
TION — Capsule, three-celled. Seeds, 
several ; naked. 
GENUS, Phrynium, Willd. FLOWER 
— Style, growing to the tube of the corol. 
Stigma, infundibuliform. Anthers, sin- 
gle ; terminal, on a short, erect filament. 
FRUCTIFICATION— Capsule, three- 
celled ; three-valved. Seeds, solitary ; 
arilled at the base. Embryo, uncinate, 
and furnished with a perisperm. 
GENUS, Hedychium, Kdn. FLOWER 
— Anthers, Double ; naked. PERIANTH 
— Corol, with a long, slender tube ; both 
borders three-parted ; inner resupinate. 
