*** I do not know whether we may trace the name of the ancient Mount Khashmar-Khashmir in the present Azmir-dagh; it is at its feet, probably in the valley of Suleimanabad, that we ought to place the passes of Khashmar.

One kinglet, however, Amika of Zamru, showed no intention of capitulating.  Entrenched behind a screen of forests and frowning mountain ridges, he fearlessly awaited the attack.  The only access to the remote villages over which he ruled, was by a few rough roads hemmed in between steep cliffs and beds of torrents; difficult and dangerous at ordinary times, they were blocked in war by temporary barricades, and dominated at every turn by some fortress perched at a dizzy height above them.  After his return to the camp, where his soldiers were allowed a short respite, Assur-nazir-pal set out against Zamru, though he was careful not to approach it directly and attack it at its most formidable points.  Between two peaks of the Lara and Bidirgi ranges he discovered a path which had been deemed impracticable for horses, or even for heavily armed men.  By this route, the king, unsuspected by the enemy, made his way through the mountains, and descended so unexpectedly upon Zamru, that Amika had barely time to make his escape, abandoning everything in his alarm—­palace, treasures, harem, and even his chariot.* A body of Assyrians pursued him hotly beyond the fords of the Lallu, chasing him as far as Mount Itini; then, retracing their steps to headquarters, they at once set out on a fresh track, crossed the Idir, and proceeded to lay waste the plains of Ilaniu and Suani.**

* This raid, which started from the same point as the preceding one, ran eastwards in an opposite direction and ended at Mount Itini.  Leaving the fief of Arashtua in the neighbourhood of Suleimaniyeh, Assur-nazir-pal crossed the chain of the Azmir-dagh near Pir-Omar and Gudrun, where we must place Mounts Lara and Bidirgi, and emerged upon Zamru; the only-places which appear to correspond to Zamru in that region are Kandishin and Suleimanabad.  Hence the Lallu is the river which runs by Kandishin and Suleimanabad, and Itini the mountain which separates this river from the Tchami-Kizildjik.

** I think we may recognise the ancient name of Ilaniu in that of Alan, now borne by a district on the Turkish and Persian frontier, situated between Kunekd ji-dagh and the town of Serdesht.  The expedition, coming from the fief of Arashtua, must have marched northwards:  the Idir in this case must be the Tchami-Kizildjik, and Mount Sabua the chain of mountains above Serdesht.

Despairing of taking Amika prisoner, Assur-nazir-pal allowed him to lie hidden among the brushwood of Mount Sabua, while he himself called a halt at Parsindu,* and set to work to organise the fruits of his conquest.

     * Parsindu, mentioned between Mount Ilaniu and the town of
     Zamru, ought to lie somewhere in the valley of Tchami-
     Kizildjik, near Murana.