^ TK E JORAK, OR ACAMPSIS. [CH A P . I .
The numerous windings of the Aras appear to give about
830 miles from its source to the sea; and of this length, 560
miles extend through the rich valleys of Eastern, or Persian
Armenia.
It is proper to notice that there is, in the tract of country
of which we are speaking, the source of another river, which
is also of the first class, although considerably smaller than
the others. This is the Jorak, or Acampsis, which rises
about 30 miles north of Erz-Rum, and is, according to Mr.
Brant s description, “ one of the largest rivers of Armenia.”
It unites the waters on the western and northern sides of the
mountains containing the sources of the Kur, Aras, Arpah-
chai, or Harpasus, and the Western Euphrates, which serve
as drains to the valleys on the opposite sides of the chain.
Rafts come down the Jorak, from Atvin to the sea, in three
days; and sometimes, though rarely, track up against the
stream in eight or ten; but, from all that I could learn, the
river is not navigable for boats, on account of rapids and
rocks. The windings of the river Jorak seem to give a course
of about 200 miles; it bounds Golchis to the west; and is, in
all probability, the Bathys, which, according to Pliny,1 is a
river of Colchis.
1 Lib. VI., c. 4.
✓
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CHAPTER II.
GENERAL COURSE OF THE T IG R IS .
The two Sources of the River.—The Town of Diydr Bekr described.—Junction
of the two Branches near ’Osmdn Keiu.—The Bitlis Chdl and Sert fall
into the Diydr Bekr branch near Til.—Brief description of Mosul and
Nineveh.—The dykes of Nimnid and Ismael.—Ruins of Sdmarrah.—The
Median Wall described.— State of the Tigris from Mdsul to Baghddd.—
The Diydlah River described.—Bifurcation of the Tigris at Kut el tamarah.
—Probable Bed of the Chaldean Lake.
A l t h o u g h much has been done by D’Anville, Rennell, Rich,
and, more recently, by Ormsby, Lynch, Brant, and others,
in investigating the origin and course of the Tigris, there
still remains a vast field for research concerning this important
river and its tributaries : these last, within an equal
extent of territory, are probably more numerous than those
of any other river with which we are acquainted.
The Tigris has, in Central Armenia, two principal sources,
both of which spring from the southern slope of the Anti-
Taurus, near those of the Araxes and Euphrates, and not very
distant from that of the Halys. It was called Diglah by the
Chaldeans, and the designation applied to it in the Scriptures
is Hiddekel, a name which it bears at the present day among
a large portion of the people living near its banks.1
The western branch rises at a spot which is about 20 miles
westward of Arghani Ma’den, and near 10 southward of the
centre of the Ghuiljik lake:2 its course is north-eastward
along the deep valley at the foot of the elevated ground of
Kizan ;3 and, after having continued in the same direction
1 Viscount Pollington also found this name in use.—Vol. X. Part III.,
p. 449, of the Royal Geographical Journal. Pliny calls it Diglito, lib. VI., c. 27.
8 This has been ascertained in the recent Journey of James Brant, Esq.,
Her Majesty’s Consul at Erz-Rum, accompanied by Mr. Glascott, R.N., and
Dr. Dickson.
8 4568 feet above the Black Sea.