Note 5 — Chapter V · FROM VAN TO BITLIS

Proceeding at four o’clock, we commenced to descend after half an hour from the range of hills which we had now crossed. In the plain before us, bordering the lake, we could see a winding river which our zaptieh knew under the name of Anguil Su, but which, I believe, is more correctly spelt Enghil Su (Brant’s Anjel Su). It comes from the territory of Mahmudia, where it is called the Khoshab.5 But we had not yet reached the floor of the valley before we were confronted by a swift stream which, fortunately for us, happened to be spanned by a bridge. It was the famous Shamiram Su, flowing towards Artemid along the slopes of the hills. I was informed that it has its source in some springs about two hours distant, near the village of Upper Mechinkert, and that a portion of its waters find their way into the Anguil Su at the neighbouring settlement of Lower Mechinkert. After irrigating the orchards of Artemid, it pursues its course to the gardens of Van, in which it is said to become absorbed.6 There can be no doubt that it is an artificial conduit; left to itself it would join the lake at the foot of this plain. My informant attributed to Semiramis the conducting of it as far as Artemid. We remarked the exceptional pureness of the current. Soon after crossing it, we reached the right bank of the Anguil Su at a convenient bridge. The basin proper of the river may have a width of some two miles, and it is a distance of three or four miles from the bridge to the lake. Looking up the valley, we could follow the outline of the Kurdish mountains as they circled round towards Varag; that ridge itself was concealed by the hills behind Artemid; but, although the range beyond had diminished in height after leaving the lake, it was still the same range of bold parapets and snowy peaks. The most elevated portion lay in the direction of Akhtamar, where there was a lofty mass, known as Mount Ardos.