orts, and their results had been inadequate to the energy expended.
His two principal adversaries, Nurramman and Amika, had eluded him, and
still preserved their independence at the eastern extremities of their
former states. Most of the mountain tribes had acknowledged the king's
supremacy merely provisionally, in order to rid themselves of his
presence; they had been vanquished scores of times, but were in no sense
subjugated, and the moment pressure was withdrawn, they again took
up arms. The districts of Zamua alone, which bordered on the Assyrian
plain, and had been occupied by a military force, formed a province, a
kind of buffer state between the mountain tribes and the plains of the
Zab, protecting the latter from incursions.

Assur-nazir-pal, feeling himself tolerably safe on that side, made no
further demands, and withdrew his battalions to the westward part of his
northern frontier. He hoped, no doubt, to complete the subjugation of
the tribes who still contested the possession of various parts of
the Kashiari, and then to push forward his main guard as far as the
Euphrates and the Arzania, so as to form around the plain of Amidi a
zone of vassals or tutelary subjects like those of Zamua. With this end
in view, he crossed the Tigris near its source at the traditional fords,
and made his way unmolested in the bend of the Euphrates from the palace
of Tilluli, where the accustomed tribute of Kummukh was brought to him,
to the fortress of Ishtarati, and from thence to Kibaki. The town of
Matiate, having closed its gates against him, was at once sacked, and
this example so stimulated the loyalty of the Kurkhi chiefs, that
they ha*tened to welcome him at the neighbouring military station of
Zazabukha. The king's progress continued thence as before, broken by
frequent halts at the most favourable points for levying contributions
on the inhabitants.1 Assur-nazir-pal encountered no serious difficulty
except on the northern slopes of the Kashiari, but there again fortune
smiled on him; all the contested positions were soon ceded to him,
including even Madara, whose fourfold circuit of walls did not avail to
save it from the conqueror.** After a brief respite at Tushkhan, he set
out again one evening with his lightest chariots and the pick of his
horsemen, crossed the Tigris on rafts, rode all night, and arrived
unexpectedly the next morning before Pitura, the chief town of the
Dirrabans.*** It was surrounded by a strong