Note 4 — Chapter XVIII · ROUND NIMRUD BY LAKE NAZIK

Soon after crossing these heights, we entered the barren highlands on the north of Akhlat. The lava, which is thickly covered with pumice sand, shelves away towards Lake Van. A little river which we forded, coming from the direction of Lake Nazik, must be the same that cascades into the delta below the site of the old city, and is perhaps derived from the lake. Its water had exactly the same flat taste. On our right, in the direction of Nimrud, we observed a broken-down crater, which has sent its principal flows to Lake Van. A little further on we descended into the ravine of Akhlat, and crossed the stream within the hollow; and not long after we were again in our shady orchard, and in the society of the Kaimakam. The old imam was there, squatting among some beanstalks, taking foretastes of paradise. His mad son was not long in coming, nor his scold of a daughter-in-law; while in the morning the pretty little girls made their appearance, slipping gracefully on their errands through the bush. But our home was no longer there; we felt as emigrants feel when their voyage is already prepared. I handed over my rascal zaptieh to the Kaimakam, who consigned him to the prison. The rest of the crew, with their zabet, I dismissed. After resting a single day, we set out for Adeljivas, along the shore of Lake Van. The ride was shorter than we expected, for the position of Akhlat is wrongly placed upon the best existing maps.4