THE MOUNTAINS OF TKHUMA AND JILU.
From the top of the “Staircase” pass immediately above Amadia. The mountain in the centre is Ghara Dagh on the southern side of Tkhuma. To the left is Galiashin, the dominant peak of Jilu; and Sat Dagh further off upon the right. The crags in the middle distance rise up out of the Zab Gorge.
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The plain measures about sixteen miles by ten, and is in form an oval with pointed ends, the long axis running nearly north and south. It is absolutely treeless, save for a few poplars round the villages that are scattered over[{177}] its face. Though but little of the plain is cultivated it is all magnificently fertile; for the black alluvial soil grows anything that will endure the long winter and deep snow natural at an elevation of six thousand feet; and the corn and melons of Gawar are famous throughout the land.
A considerable river, the Nihila or Nile, wanders down the centre and is joined by several others from the high mountains at the sides. This river on leaving the plain flows northward through a deep and fine gorge to join the Albak; and their united streams constitute the Zab.