CHAP. XIII. TRAVELS IN MESOPOTAMIA. CHAPTER I. FROM THE PLAIN OF SINJAR, BY ROMOILA, TO MOUSUL. JULY 3d.-We quitted our station on the plain, just as the moon was setting, and although we had now an additional escort of eighty well-armed and well-mounted men, our whole party did not exceed in number two hundred persons. Soon after commencing our night-march, going in a direction of east-south-east, we passed over a deep ravine, filled with large basaltic masses, forming a vein in the earth, VOL. II. B like the deep and winding bed of a torrent. The rest of our way was over desert ground, though the whole tract was capable of being rendered highly fertile, being covered with a good soil, and intersected by several small rivulets of water. It was soon after the rising of the Pleiades, or just before the first gleam of dawn appeared, that we formed our halt, at a spot called Romoila, for the sake of filling our vessels with water, as our next stage was to be a night one, through which we might not find any supply of this indispensable provision. This march was intended to be prolonged without a halt, until we should arrive on the banks of the Tigris, in order that we might thus pass over this dangerous plain of Sinjar by night, and escape the prying sight of the Yezeedis under the cover of darkness.* *"Les Yézidis sont censés dépendre du pacha de Moussol, qui leur permet de venir acheter de temps en temps des provisions dans les villages de son département ; mais ils n'en sont pas moins grands voleurs, et toujours en guerre avec les Arabes de la Mésopotamie: ils ont pour armes, le fusil à mèche, la fronde et la pique. Les caravanes souffrent beaucoup de leurs brigandages; cependant elles ne sont jamais dépouillées complètement par ces bandits, qui ont coutume de les attaquer à l'un des bouts, et n'em The prayers of El Fudjer, or day-break, were performed by all members of the caravan, with an unusual degree of solemnity, evidently betraying an extraordinary degree of apprehension, and proving that fear was a more powerful incentive than devotion to the exercise of this duty. Among the rest, was one individual who repeated aloud the call to prayer, in a fine voice, and after the peculiar manner of Medina, the native city of the Prophet, which differs from the common invocation, though both of them are peculiar to the Soonnee sect. This was, by some, highly admired, by others, thought an impertinent innovation, at such a place and at such a moment, and, by a third party, it was laughed at, as portent que ce qui peut servir à leur nourriture, ou à leur habillement. Je ferai remarquer ici que les pachas de Bagdad ont essayé à différentes époques de réduire les Yézidis, en les attaquant avec des forces considérables; mais ils n'ont jamais pu en venir à bout. Ali-pacha, qui a tenté depuis peu la même enterprise, n'y a pas été plus heureux que ses prédécesseurs: on sait que son expédition contre cette race d'hommes agrestes et endurcis par les travaux, n'a abouti qu'à détruire trois ou quatre de leurs villages, et à massacrer ou emmener en esclavage quelques misérables familles, dont la conversion forcée à l'islamisme ne le dédommagera certainement pas de ses fatigues et de ses dépenses."-Description du Pachalik de Bagdad, p. 98, 99. |