t of
his hiding-place to meet the Assyrian conqueror, and prostrated himself
at his feet. He delivered over his sons and the males of his family
as hostages, and yielded up all his possessions in gold and copper,
together with a hundred and twenty slaves and cattle of all kinds;
Tiglath-pileser thereupon permitted him to keep his principality under
the suzerainty of Assyria, and such of his allies as followed his
example obtained a similar concession. The king consecrated the tenth
of the spoil thus received to the use of his god Assur and also to
Ramman;** but before returning to his capital, he suddenly resolved to
make an expedition into the almost impenetrable regions which separated
him from Lake Van.

* The name of this chief's father has always been read
Khatukhi: it is a form of the name Khatusaru borne by the
Hittite king in the time of Ramses II.

** The site of Urrakhinas--read by Winckler Urartinas--is
very uncertain: the town was situated in a territory which
could belong equally well to the Kummukh or to the Kurkhi,
and the mention of the crossing of the Tigris seems to
indicate that it was on the right bank of the river,
probably in the mountain group of Tur-Abdin.

This district was, even more than at the present day, a confused
labyrinth of wooded mountain ranges, through which the Eastern Tigris
and its affluents poured their rapid waters in tortuous curves. As
hitherto no army had succeeded in making its way through this territory
with sufficient speed to surprise the fortified villages and scattered
clans inhabiting the valleys and mountain slopes, Tiglath-pileser
selected from his force a small troop of light infantry and thirty
chariots, with which he struck into the forests; but, on reaching the
Aruma, he was forced to abandon his chariotry and proceed with the
foot-soldiers only. The Mildish, terrified by his sudden appearance,
fell an easy prey to the invader; the king scattered the troops hastily
collected to oppose him, set fire to a few fortresses, seized the
peasantry and their flocks, and demanded hostages and the usual tribute
as a condition of peace.*

* The Mildish of our inscription is to be identified with
the country of Mount Umildish, mentioned by Sargon of
Assyria.

In his first campaign he thus reduced the upper and eastern half of
Kummukh, namely, the part extending to the north of the Tigris, while in
the followi