CHAPTER VII.
Oct. 29th.—We left Mardeen at 11 a.m., and in four hours passed the remains of a Roman building called Kasr (palace) Karandelân, not far from the Coordish village of Kasr Ibreej. Two hours beyond is the large village of Amooda, where we put up for the night. This plain, which might be rendered one of the most fertile in the world, is only cultivated here and there by the Coords and a few Arabs of the Jeboor and Tai tribes. Our road to-day lay along the Toor Mountain, about ten miles from its southern base. This range stretches to the north as far as the Tigris, which separates it from the Taurus.
Oct. 30th.—We started from Amooda at half-past 6 a.m., and after travelling ten miles, passed the site of another Roman building, called Kasr Serteka, or Senjeka, the stones of which were removed about five years ago by Meerza Pasha to build the new barracks near Nisibeen. At noon we reached the latter place, which at present can scarcely claim the title of village. What a change has come over this famous city, once the firmest bulwark of the Roman provinces of the east, which defied the attacks of the victorious Shapoor, who thrice besieged it with the flower of the Persian army, a.d. 338, 346, and 350! It finally
