[555] It has only four now.
[556] The Tigris, or Shat (Arabic for river). After the junction of the Euphrates and Tigris, the river, on its way to the Persian Gulf, goes by the name of the Shat ul Arab.
[557] Hisn Keyf and Jezireh.
[558] Kara Amid-Diarbekr.
[559] Kharput, called by Arabic historians Khutburt and Hisn Ziyad, now Mauooriet el Azeezeh in Turkish official documents. It was a chief seat of the Orlokides, and here it was that Balak, the son of Behram, the son of Ortog, confined the gallant crusaders, Jocelyn de Courtenay and Baldwin du Bourg, after they had been liberated by their conquerors, Dejekermish and Soukman Ibn Ortok. Balak destroyed all his prisoners, with the exception of the royal captives, by throwing them over the battlements. It is now fast falling into decay, the fine old castle in the lower part of the town being now in ruins.
[560] Diarbekr.
[561] Mardin, the ancient Roman colony of Marde, still a prosperous town. Kinneir says, “Although in so elevated a situation, it has within itself a plentiful supply of the finest water; and, as the vine is cultivated with success in the recesses of the mountains, wine and brandy (arrack) are made by the Armenians in considerable quantities. The houses are all built of fine hewn stone, and appear to be very old. The windows are small, grated with iron, and, from the position of the town on a declivity, added to the narrowness of the streets, the buildings seem, progressively, to rise one on the top of the other. The population of Merdin amounts to nearly 11,000 souls, of which fifteen hundred are Armenians and two hundred Jews; the remainder are Turks, Arabs, and Kurds. The Armenians have here several churches, and a patriarch who was educated at Rome; he is a well-informed man, highly respected even by the Turks. The walls of the city are kept in tolerable repair, and a few old pieces of cannon are mounted on the towers of the castle, which is now in a very dilapidated state, and has never been completely repaired since the place was taken by Timour. Merdin is forty-six furlongs from Mosul and eighteen from Diarbekr. It is the frontier town of the Pashalik of Bagdad, towards Constantinople, and under the government of a Mussaleem appointed by the Pasha.”
[562] According to Kinneir this is not the case now. See [preceding note].
[563] Jezireh, on the Tigris, representing the old fortress of Bezabde, was an important town till the invasion of Timour, by whom it was taken and destroyed. It was a chief seat of the Atabegs, the ruins of whose castle still exist.
[564] Hesn Keyf.