[5] The lowest order of the Yezidi priesthood.
[6] A large drum beaten at both ends, and a kind of oboe or pipe.
[7] Nineveh and its Remains, vol. i. p. 245.
[8] Anab. book iv. c. 3.
[9] It was at the foot of this steep descent that Xenophon was compelled to turn off, as caravans still are, from the river, and to brave the difficulties of a mountain pass, defended by the warlike Carduchi or Kurds.
[10] The custom of assembling and transacting business in the gate is continually referred to in the Bible. See 2 Sam. xix. 8., where king David is represented as sitting in the gate; comp. 2 Chron. xviii. 9., and Dan. ii. 49. The gates of Jewish houses were probably similar to that described in the text. Such entrances are also found in Persia. Frequently in the gates of cities, as at Mosul, these recesses are used as shops for the sale of wheat and barley, bread and grocery. Elisha prophesies that a measure of fine flour shall be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria. 2 Kings, vii. 1. and 18.
[11] Mr. Ainsworth would take the Greeks up to the modern ferry, where there could never have been a ford, and which would have been some miles out of their route. (Travels in the Track of the Ten Thousand.)
[12] In Chapter X. will be found some farther remarks on this subject.
[13] He probably took the more difficult road over the pass, and not that round the spur, in order to cross the Khabour by a bridge or ferry. It must be remembered that it was winter, and that the rivers were consequently swollen.
[14] This halt, after so short a day’s march, may have been occasioned by the Hazel. The distance corresponds with sufficient accuracy.