I have stated that it is unlawful amongst the Yezidis to know how to read or write. This, I am assured, is not the case, and their ignorance arises from want of means and proper teachers. Formerly a Chaldæan deacon used to instruct the children. Cawal Yusuf mentioned accidentally, that, amongst the Yezidis, the ancient name for God was Azed, and from it he derived the name of his sect. Their Kublah, he declared, was the polar star and not the east. On my way to Mosul from Sheikh Adi, I visited the ruins of Jerraiyah, where excavations had been again carried on by one of my agents. No ancient buildings were discovered. The principal mound is lofty and conical in shape, and the base is surrounded by smaller mounds, and irregularities in the soil which denote the remains of houses. I had not leisure during my residence in Assyria to examine the spot as fully as it may deserve. [Illustration: Mound of Nimroud.] CHAPTER V. RENEWAL OF EXCAVATIONS AT KOUYUNJIK.--FIRST VISIT TO NIMROUD.--STATE OF RUINS.--RENEW EXCAVATIONS IN MOUND.--VISIT OF COLONEL RAWLINSON.--MR. H. RASSAM.--THE JEBOUR WORKMEN AT KOUYUNJIK.--DISCOVERIES AT KOUYUNJIK.--SCULPTURES REPRESENTING MOVING OF GREAT STONES AND WINGED BULLS.--METHODS ADOPTED.--EPIGRAPHS ON BAS-RELIEFS OF MOVING BULLS.--SCULPTURES REPRESENTING INVASION OF MOUNTAINOUS COUNTRY, AND SACK OF CITY.--DISCOVERY OF GATEWAY.--EXCAVATION IN HIGH CONICAL MOUND AT NIMROUD.--DISCOVERY OF WALL OF STONE.--VISIT TO KHORSABAD.--DISCOVERY OF SLAB.--STATE OF THE RUINS.--FUTHLIYAH.--BAAZANI.--BAASHEIKHAH. We were again in Mosul by the 12th of October. The Jebours, my old workmen, had now brought their families to the town. I directed them to cross the river, and to pitch their tents over the excavations at Kouyunjik, as they had formerly done around the trenches at Nimroud. The Bedouins, unchecked in their forays by the Turkish authorities, had become so bold, that they ventured to the very walls of Mosul, and I felt it necessary to have a strong party on the ruins for self-defence. The Jebours were, however, on good terms with the Bedouins, and had lately encamped amongst them. About one hundred workmen, divided into twelve or fourteen parties, were employed at Kouyunjik. The Arabs, as before, removed the earth and rubbish, whilst the more difficult labor with the pick was left entirely to the Nestorian mountaineers. My old friend, Yakoub, the Rais of Asheetha, was named superintendent of the Tiyari workmen, for whom I built mud huts near the foot of the mound.