Volcanic action probably did not cease in the region very much, if at all, before the historical period.

Fragments of basalt in many places strew the plain; and near the confluence of the two chief branches of the Khabour, not only are old craters of volcanoes distinctly visible, but a cone still rises from the centre of one, precisely like the cones in the craters of Etna and Vesuvius, composed entirely of loose lava, scorim, and ashes, and rising to the height of 300 feet.

The name of this remarkable hill, which is Koukab, is even thought to imply that the volcano may have been active within the time to which the traditions of the country extend.
[PLATE XXII., Fig.

2.] Sheets of water are so rare in this region that the small lake of Khatouniyeh seems to deserve especial description.

This lake is situated near the point where the Sinjar changes its character, and from a high rocky range subsides into low broken hills.