13th July. The road still continued bad; we had to ascend an immense pile of mountains. Far and wide, nothing was to be seen but rock and stone, although, to my astonishment, I observed that in many places the stones had been gathered on one side, and every little spot of earth made use of. A few dwarf ash-trees stood here and there. The whole has the character of the country near Trieste.
Although there were no villages on the road, there appeared to be some near, for on many of the heights I observed large burial-places, especially on those which are overshadowed by ash-trees. It is the custom throughout Kurdistan to establish the burial-places on high situations.
We did not travel more than seven hours today, and halted in the valley of Halifan. This little valley has an uncommonly romantic situation; it is surrounded by lofty and beautiful mountains, which rise with a gentle slope on one side, and on the other are steep and precipitous. The whole valley was covered with a rich vegetation; the stubble-fields were interspersed with tobacco and rice plantations, and meadows. Poplar-trees surrounded the village, which was pleasantly situated at the foot of a hill, and a stream of crystalline clearness rushed forcibly out of a mountain chasm, and flowed calmly and still through this delightful valley. Towards evening, numerous herds of cows, sheep, and goats came from the mountain-slopes towards the village.
We encamped at some distance from the village; I could not procure any relish for my dry bread, and had no other bed than the hard ground of a stubble-field. Nevertheless I should include this evening among the most agreeable; the scenery round compensated me sufficiently for the want of every other enjoyment.
14th July. Ali allowed us to rest only half the night; at 2 o’clock we were again mounted. A few hundred paces from our resting-place was the entrance of a stupendous mountain-pass. The space between the sides of the rocks afforded only sufficient room for the stream and a narrow pathway. Fortunately the moon shone out brilliantly, otherwise it would have been scarcely possible for the most practised animal to ascend the narrow and extremely dangerous road between the fallen masses of rock and rolling stones. Our hardy animals scrambled like chamois along, over the edges of the steep precipices, and carried us with safety past the terrible abyss, at the bottom of which the stream leapt, with a frightful roaring, from rock to rock. This night-scene was so terrible and impressive that even my uncultivated companions were involuntarily silent—mute, and noiseless, we went on our way, nothing breaking the death-like stillness but the rattling steps of our animals.
We had proceeded about an hour in this way, when the moon was suddenly obscured; thick clouds gathered round from all sides, and the darkness soon became so great that we could scarcely see a few steps before us. The foremost man continually struck fire, so as to light up the path somewhat by the sparks. But this did not help us much, the animals began to slip and stumble. We were compelled to halt, and stood quiet and motionless, one behind the other, as if suddenly changed to stone by magic. Life returned again with daybreak, and we spurred our animals briskly forwards.
We were in an indescribably beautiful circle of mountains; at our side lay high cliffs; before and behind, hills and mountains crowded over each other, and in the far distance an enormous peak, covered with snow, completed the romantic picture. This mountain-pass is called Ali-Bag. For three hours and a half we continued going up hill, without intermission.
A short distance before reaching the plateau, we observed, in several places, small spots of blood, of which nobody at first took much notice, as they might have been caused by a horse or mule that had injured itself. But shortly we came to a place which was entirely covered with large blood-spots. This sight filled us with great horror; we looked round anxiously for the cause of these marks and perceived two human bodies far down below. One hung scarcely a hundred feet down on the declivity of the rock, the other had rolled further on, and was half-buried under a mass of rock. We hastened from this horrible scene as quickly as we could; it was several days before I could free myself from the recollection of it.
All the stones on the plateau were full of holes, as if other stones had been stuck in. This appearance ceased as we went further up. In the valley, at the other side of the plateau, there were vines, which, however, did not rise far above the ground, as they were not supported in any way.
Our road continued on through the mountains. We frequently descended, but again had to cross several heights, and, finally, came out upon a small elevated plain, which, on both sides, was bounded by steep declivities. A village of huts, made of branches, was situated on this plain, and on the summits of two neighbouring rocks fortified works were erected.