nd from the north-west, flows
S.S.E. and S.E. along the foot of the range, between it and the Kebir
Kuh, till it meets the stream of the Abi-Zal, when it finally leaves the
hills and flows through the plain, pursuing a S.S.E. direction to the
ruins of Susa, which lie upon its left bank, and then turning to the
S. S. W., and running in that direction to the Shat-el-Arab, which it
reaches about five miles below Kurnur. Its length is estimated at above
500 miles; its width, at some distance above its junction with the
Abi-Zal, is from eighty to a hundred yards.

The course of the Kerkhah was not always exactly such as is here
described. Anciently it appears to have bifurcated at Pai Pul, 18 or 20
miles N.W. of Susa, and to have sent a branch east of the Susa ruins,
which absorbed the Shapur, a small tributary of the Dizful stream, and
ran into the Kuran a little above Ahwaz. The remains of the old channel
are still to be traced; and its existence explains the confusion,
observable in ancient times, between the Kerkhah and the Kuran, to each
of which streams, in certain parts of their course, we find the name
Eulseus applied. The proper Eulseus was the eastern branch of the
Kerkhah (Choaspes) from Pai Pul to Ahwaz; but the name was naturally
extended both northwards to the Choaspes above Pai Pul and southwards to
the Kuran below Ahwaz. The latter stream was, however, known also, both
in its upper and its lower course, as the Pasitigris.

On the opposite side of the Empire the rivers were less considerable.
Among the most important may be mentioned the Sajur, a tributary of
the Euphrates, the Koweik, or river of Aleppo, the Orontes, or river of
Antioch, the Litany, or river of Tyre, the Barada, or river of Damascus,
and the Jordan, with its tributaries, the Jabbok and the Hieromax.

The Sajur rises from two principle sources on the southern flanks of
Amanus, which, after running a short distance, unite a little to the
east of Ain-Tab. The course of the stream from the point of junction is
south-east. In this direction it flows in a somewhat tortuous channel
between two ranges of hills for a distance of about 30 miles to Tel
Khalid, a remarkable conical hill crowned by ruins. Here it receives an
important affluent--the Keraskat--from the west, and becomes suitable
for boat navigation. At the same time its course changes, and runs
eastward for about 12 miles; after which the stream again inclines to
the south, and keeping an