CHAPTER XIV.
Thus equipped, on the morning of Feb. 25th we issued forth from the eastern gate of Amedia, and descended into the valley on the north of the fortress called Robâra, or the Meadow, covered with orchards, and dotted over with small country houses now in ruins. From this pretty vale we wound round the base of the Tcah Meteenah by a tortuous and narrow foot-path until we got fully into the Geli Mezurka, so called from a Coordish village of that name situated higher up in the pass. A copious mountain torrent, supplied by the melting snows above, toppled through the deep gorge, forming in its rapid course many a miniature waterfall, by the sides of which grew festoons of wild flowers in rich abundance. The remains of a pavement are still visible throughout the pass, but even with this assistance we found the ascent difficult and toilsome. In somewhat less than two hours we reached the Seri Keri, a large sugar-loaf mountain in the opening of the Geli, and a little to the right a gigantic cliff called Latikâtha d'Khalâva, forming an immense wall round a level space which in by-gone days served as a summer retreat for the people of Amedia. These elevated spots are called "Zozân" by the Nestorians and Coords, and "Yaila" by the Turks. The Syriac word Zoma is not equivalent to Zozân, as Dr. Grant would have it; but means a temporary hut or tent put up in the Zozâns. The
