man _Amida_), the chief
town of a vilayet of Asiatic Turkey, situated on a basaltic plateau on
the right bank of the Tigris, which here flows in a deep open valley.
The town is still surrounded by the masonry walls of black basalt which
give it the name of _Kara_ or Black Amid; they are well built and
imposing on the west facing the open country, but almost in ruins where
they overlook the river. A mass of gardens and orchards cover the slope
down to the river on the S.W., but there are no suburbs outside the
walls. The houses are rather crowded but only partially fill the walled
area. The population numbers 38,000, nearly half being Christian,
comprising Turks, Kurds, Arabs, Turkomans, Armenians, Chaldeans,
Jacobites and a few Greeks. The streets are 10 ft. to 15 ft. wide, badly
paved and dirty; the houses and shops are low, mostly of stone, and some
of stone and mud. The bazaar is a good one, and gold and silver filigree
work is made, peculiar in character and design. The cotton industry is
declining, but manufacture of silk is increasing. Fruit is good and
abundant as the rich volcanic soil is well watered from the town
springs. The size of the melons is specially famous. To the south, the
walls are some 40 ft. high, faced with large cut stone blocks of very
solid construction, with towers and square bastions rising to 500 ft.
There are four gates: on the north the Kharput gate, on the west the
Rum, on the south the Mardin, and on the east the Yeni Kapu or new
gate. A citadel enclosure stands at the N. E. corner and is now partly
in ruins, but the interior space is occupied by the government konak.
The summer climate in the confined space within the town is excessively
hot and unhealthy. Epidemics of typhus are not unknown, as well as
ophthalmia. The Diarbekr boil is like the "Aleppo button," lasting a
long time and leaving a deep scar. Winters are frequently severe but do
not last long. Snow sometimes lies, and ice is stored for summer use.
Scorpions noted for the virulence of their poison abound as well as
horse leeches in the tanks. The town is supplied with water both by
springs inside the town and by aqueducts from fountains at Ali Punar and
Hamervat. The principal exports are wool, mohair and copper ore, and
imports are cotton and woollen goods, indigo, coffee, sugar, petroleum,
&c.

The Great Mosque, Ulu Jami, formerly a Christian church, occupies the
site of a Sassanian palace and was built with materials fro