Page:The Nestorians and their rituals, volume 1.djvu/360

306 but I doubt whether the Mygdonius (and I have seen it at its greatest height), was ever deep enough for such navigation, and therefore, for this as well as for other reasons, am inclined to agree with Ainsworth, that after taking Arbela, and descending the Tigris, Trajan conducted his fleet into the Euphrates by one of the canals which connect the two rivers, and thence to Babylon.

We started from Nisibeen at 2, and retraced our old route as far as Kasr Serteka, when we turned to the right with the intention of visiting , which we reached after a journey of four hours. On the following morning we commenced examining the remains of this once famous place, and went first to the cistern, which consists of ten parallel tanks, and is situated at the foot of the hill on which the modern Coordish village stands. The tanks are partly cut in the rock, and raised to the height of 40 ft. by walls of solid masonry; they are each 150 ft. long, and 15 ft. wide. Three out of the ten are destroyed, but the seven remaining reservoirs were partly filled with water, which however is not used by the present villagers, who prefer drinking the water of the stream which runs through the ruins. They are closed in with good arches, which are covered with longstalactites.

We next went to the hill on the south, where several yards of the old wall are still standing, and after careful search, could discover no remains of a second wall, as mentioned by Gibbon in his description of the ancient city. A little beyond, on another eminence, is a large apartment thirty feet square, cut out of the solid rock, and covered with an arched roof, supported by two massive pilasters. This the natives call "Beit el Antari ibn Sheddâd," and is supposed to have served as a granary.

We then bent our steps to the ancient cemeteries, extending along the western side of the town. These are all cut out of the native rock, which appears to have been the principal quarry. I did not count the number, but there are certainly not less than two hundred of these tombs, some sufficiently capacious to form comfortable dwelling-places for several Coordish families, who have encroached upon the tenements of the dead. The entrances are generally arched, and bear long Greek