XIIL] COMPARED WITH STRABO'S ACCOUNT. 269
on its northern shore, and in this perhaps the ancient name
survives, for it is found as early as the tenth century of our era,
when the place is mentioned by Constantine Porphyrogenitus1.
Both Strabo and Pliny suppose the Tigris to rise at a point
higher up than the Lake of Van, and to pass through it, dis-
appearing afterwards into a chasm at its further end, and rising
again after flowing for some distance underground. This view is
erroneous, because no connexion is traceable between the Tigris
and the lake; but it is a perfectly natural one, because the source
of the Tigris above Bitlis, which we have already noticed in
speaking of the retreat of the Ten Thousand2, though it is higher
than the level of the lake, and therefore could not be derived from
it, is only a few miles distant from it. It is clear also that the
authorities from whom these writers drew their information had
rightly observed that the lake had no visible outlet for its waters.
Again, when it came to be believed that the river passed through
the lake, the stream which enters the lake at its head would be
regarded as the upper course of the Tigris. This stream, which
is now called the Bende-Mahi-su, rises in the mountain range to
the southward of Ararat. The name Diglito, which Pliny gives
to it, is a genuine one, being an earlier form of the word Tigris,
which is found in the Biblical name of that river, Hid-dekel, and
is still in use, in the form Dijleh, among the inhabitants of
Mesopotamia8.
The stories which are told about the river and the lake in the
passages quoted above are partly based on fact, stiabo.sand
and partly suggested by the phenomena which had Pliny's
been observed in other lakes. The statement that
the water of the lake contains potash, and that this was used for
cleansing clothes, is equally true at the present day, for cakes of
that substance, which are made from the scum that is found on
the surface of the lake, are now used at Van for purposes of
washing. The statement about the fish, that those which live in
the river and those which live in the lake will not pass from the
one to the other, may have been suggested by what still occurs,
1 De Admmistr. Imp., c. 44, vol. 3. pp. 191, 19* «*• Bonn.
2 v. svpra, p. 114.
» Diet, of the Bible, art. Hiddekd; cp. Gen. ii. 14.