from the Pashas of Baghdad, who permitted Bâj, or toll, to be levied here upon all caravans crossing the desert; but not being able to maintain their ground against the incursions of the Shammar Bedooeen, the Gargarè abandoned it, since which time it has fallen into ruin. An inscription on the walls states that the fort was rebuilt by the then governor of Baghdad in a.h. 1212.
May 4th.—We started from Hegneh at half-past five a.m. and at nine o'clock reached Aiwenât, another tell with a spring of brackish water, where we found about two hundred tents pitched in readiness to receive Shereef Pasha, who was hourly expected. Here our Albanian guards left us to join the military escort which was encamped here, with two pieces of artillery, waiting the arrival of his Excellency; and the road being now deemed safe, we resumed our journey at 6 p.m., and in a couple of hours passed the Tell-ool-Hawa, famous for having been the scene of an engagement between Sufoog, the Sheikh of the Shammar Arabs, and the Mosulean soldiery, in which Sufoog speared the Turkish commander at the outset, took a cannon from him, and entirely routed his followers. At midnight, we had on our right a cluster of small mounds called Tcil Parât, (the "Char Pera" of Ainsworth) or Forty Paras, so called from their diminutive size and circular shape. It was here that Colonel Taylor's brother is supposed to have been murdered by the Arabs about fifteen years ago, and our muleteer, who was generally very much averse to fast travelling, bade us urge our animals to their utmost speed as we passed the dreary-looking spot. We cantered the greater part of the way over a level country, the grass sometimes reaching to our waist, and at 3 a.m., stopped at Roomeilât, where we found another military detachment waiting to receive the Pasha. We pitched our tent close to the stream which runs at the foot of the mound, and tried to get a little rest, after our night's journey; but the noise of the straggling bands which ever and anon arrived foretelling the Pasha's approach put any such attempt out of the question. At 7 o'clock we saw his Excellency's suite escorted by about 800 soldiers who followed him in the usual helterskelter disorder of the irregular Turkish cavalry. A salute was
