Pires Mountain • چیایێ پیرس

In about 12 hours we ascended the steep wooded mountain Zibari, called by the Kurds Baris. On attaining the summit, the Kurdish guide called out to me, Tam Turah! (the mountain is ascended), words which are derived from the Chaldaic. ... On the whole desert way to this mountain I found but very few wild fruits and nuts; instead of these a very good salad, which is eaten by many of the inhabitants without any dressing. From the summit of the mountains the eye is refreshed by an extensive view into deep valleys, scattered villages, and fruitful smiling plains, in which, surrounded by gardens, rise the tents of the nomadic Kurds. We spent 6 hours in descending Zibari. Among the Nomads, dwelling at the foot of the mountain, I found four Jewish families by whom I was received with hearty and almost child like joy; and they assured me at the same time that never before had a Jewish European traveller been seen or heard of here. The Jews of this part languish under a heavy yoke; the condition of the Nestorian Christians is in the contrary more endurable. Benjamin II (1859), p 79