A JEW AND A TURK. 65 drummer and fifer in the van, and returned to the Factory singing and dancing all the way; our sounds of merriment breaking in upon the dead silence of the streets. VOL. I. 66 VISIT SOME ANCIENT RUINS. CHAPTER IV. Ancient Ruins-Tombs of Ali the Barmecide, and of Zobeir, an Arab Chief-Town of Zobeir-Sheikh of Dirhemmia-City of Bussorah-Filth of the StreetsOld and New Bazaars-Coffee-houses-Trade-Population-Productions-Preparations for departureGuard of Arabs-Aboo Nasir-Entertainment on board the Alligator. March 5.-Mr. Hamilton, two officers of the Alligator, and myself, went eight miles to examine some ruins in the neighbourhood of a town called Zobeir, situate on the side of the caravan road leading across the desert to Aleppo. The road was strewed with numerous carcases of camels, and here and there we saw some Martello-shaped towers, which had been built VISIT SOME ANCIENT RUINS. 67 for a protection to the traveller against the wandering Arabs, both pretty strong indications of the casualties attendant upon a journey through this country. We passed several people of both sexes: they were mounted either on horses or asses; the nostrils of these last were slit half way up. I was told that the wind of the animal was improved by the operation. The greater number of the asses were white, and are not esteemed more than those of any other colour. Amongst the ancient Israelites they appear to have been highly prized, and to have been a mark of dignity either conferred or assumed by the judges of the land. "Speak, ye that ride on white asses, ye that sit in judgement.*. Within two miles of the town, the remains of a wall can be traced; and here commence the ruins, which are very extensive. Large fragments of stone pillars lie scattered in every direction; many of which remaining in the * Judg. v, 10. 68 TOMB OF ALI THE BARMECIDE. original position, show that the former buildings were spacious, and supported by colonnades: about a mile west of Zobeir, the remains of buildings are much more indicative of former splendour, than elsewhere. Our guides informed us, that this quarter was formerly inhabited by the wealthy Barmecides, of whom mention is made in the Arabian Nights. This noble family was of Persian extraction, but settling afterwards in the cities of Bagdad and Bussorah, its members enjoyed, under several successive Caliphs, the highest honours of the state. The portion of a handsome arch, containing a Cufic inscription, was pointed out to us, as the Jamee Ali Barmekee, the tomb of Ali the Barmecide. This personage was the uncle of our old acquaintance, the Vizier Giaffer, of Arabian Nights' celebrity. Half a mile to the west of this tomb, is a small mosque, covered with glazed tiles, containing the tomb of Zobeir, an Arab chief, from whom the neighbouring town derives its name. Zobeir was one of the THE TOMB OF ZOBEIR. 69 earliest followers of Mahomet, and was slain at the battle of the Camel,* which was fought near this place; an action memorable in the Mahometan annals, as the first in which the arms of the "faithful" were stained with civil blood. It would be difficult to assign a correct date to these ruins. D'Anville considers them to belong to the city of the Orchæni, a sect of Chaldean astronomers and mathematicians, whom Pliny designates as "tertia Chaldæorum doctrina." These Orchani are supposed to derive their name from Erech,† in the land of Shinar, the next city after Babylon of which mention is made in the Scripture. Niebuhr, and other travellers, say they are those of ancient Bussorah; but then the time in which that city was founded has never been correctly defined. By some, we are assured, that Bussorah owed its existence to Omar, in the 14th year of the Hegira, and 635th of the Christian era; and by others |