Two or more rowers placed on each side help to propel and guide these vessels as they glide down the river. Much smaller rafts with a felt cabin raised above the deck, are constructed for travellers, in one of which we reached Baghdad from Mosul in three days and two nights.
There are only a few gardens near Mosul, but the mountains around supply the town with grapes, pomegranates, apricots, and other fruits; oranges are brought from Baghdad. The banks of the Tigris, however, and the islets formed in the river itself during the summer season produce melons, cucumbers, and many other esculents in abundance. In winter the market is stocked with turnips, carrots and beet-root; and in spring, camel-loads of truffles are brought into the town by the Arabs. The bread here is superior to any in Turkey; and the Kaimak, the cream of buffalo milk, may vie with the produce of the best Devonshire dairies. Snow seldom falls in Mosul during the winter, when the climate is temperate and delightful; but the heat of the summer months is excessive, and obliges the inhabitants to retreat into their serdâbs, (subterranean apartments with which almost all the dwellings are provided,) till after sunset. They then retire to the roofs of the houses, and there dine and pass the night.
There are no less than 19 mosques in the town of Mosul, 250 Mesjids, or chapels, and 12 Medressehs, or schools, besides the ruins of many others. The minaret of the Jâma-ool-Kbeer is an elaborate work of art, rising to the height of 90 feet, and covered with minute bricks which are inlaid after the manner of mosaic. There is a deep curve in the centre which some say was coeval with the building, but this is as much a matter of dispute as the slope in the tower of Pisa. Several of the mosques are said to have been Christian churches; one called Beit-ool-Tekneeti near Bâb-ool-Irâk, was undoubtedly such as far back as the year 1245. It is mentioned under that name in an historical record contained in an ancient manuscript which I discovered at Mosul. According to this document, the Church was dedicated to Mar Theodorus, and the book was written by the Presbyter Dokeek for the use of Deacons Ibraheem and Abdoon, of the house of Zorogheel, and for the noble Dadôn, in the days of Mar Ignatius, Patriarch and
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