ORFA, or Ourfa, a pachalik or division of Asiatic Turkey. It is almost entirely formed by the windings of the Euphrates and the river Khabour, and occupies a considerable portion of the most barren part of Mesopotamia. It touches on the north and east the pachalik of Diarbekir, and the dependencies of Malatea; and on the south and west it is separated by the Euphrates from the deserts of Syria. The southern part of this province is, for the most part, flat, sandy, and uncultivated, and inhabited by tribes of wandering Arabs, who pitch their tents on the banks of the rivers and in the vicinity of the springs; but towards the north the country is mountainous and better inhabited. In the early ages of the Roman empire this division of Mesopotamia bore the name of Osrhoene, and had subsisted for 840 years as an independent kingdom, when it was reduced into the form of a Roman province by’the Emperor Caracalla. It was finally swallowed up in the Turkish empire. The principal towns are Orfa, Racca, and Soverick.

Orfa, a large town, and the capital of a pachalik of the same name, in Asiatic Turkey. It is situated on the eastern side of a hill, at the commencement of a plain; so that whilst its western extremity stands on elevated ground, the eastern quarter of the town stands on a lower level; and, with some trifling inequalities, the whole town may be said to be nearly flat. It is surrounded by a stone wall, which encloses a circuit of from three to four miles, in the form of an irregular triangle; and it is bounded on the west by modern burying-grounds, gardens, hills, and vales, on the south by a rising ground, on the east and south-east by a fertile plain, terminating at the foot of a bare ridge of hills, and on the south-west is a hill nearly overlooking the town, and crowned with the walls of a ruined castle. The houses are well built, and of good masonry; they have mostly a small door of entrance from the street, with an open court, and divans in recesses below, whilst the upper story is laid out in public rooms more expensively furnished. Above is the terrace, on which are placed sofas and beds, where, in hot weather, the family sleeps. The streets are narrow, but having a paved causeway on each side, with a central channel for water, and being more or less sloping downwards, are generally clean. The bazaars are numerous and well supplied, and are appropriated to the manufacture and sale of particular commodities. Most of these are commodious; they are also covered, and are always fresh and cool, being sheltered both from the sun and rains. The bazaar in which muslins, cottons, and other piece goods are exposed, is from twenty to twenty-five feet in width, and from thirty to forty feet in height, covered in by a range of fine domes in succession, admitting light and air by a sort of lantern windows in the roof. The khans and caravanse rais are numerous, and some few are excellent. The Khan Khoolah-Oghlee, on the outskirts of the town, is spacious, and capable of accommodating in its central court 100 camels with their lading, in the adjoining stables as many horses, mules, and asses, and in the chambers above there is room for 200 persons. The Khan-el-Goomrook, or the customhouse khan, consists of an open court 100 feet square, and paved throughout. Through this court runs a fine broad stream of transparent water, crossing it diagonally, and serving for the watering of horses, the ablutions of the pious, and the washing and cleaning of manufactures. There are, above and below, about 100 chambers large enough to accommodate eight or ten persons each. There are fifteen mosques crowned with minarets. The most magnificent of these, though not the largest, is that of Ibrahim el Khaleel, or the mosque of the patriarch. It is situated on a lake filled from a clear spring which runs in the south-west quarter of the town, and abounds with fine carp, in which the superstitious people believe that, owing to the care of the patriarch, no impression can be made by any process of cooking. The grand façade of this mosque is a square pile of building, over which rise three large domes of equal size; and a lofty minaret springs up from amidst a cluster of tall cypress trees. At each end of this central pile, towards the stream, are flights of steps descending to the water’s edge, for the ablutions of the pious. The wings are terminated by two solid masses of building, uniform in design, and “completing,” says Buckingham, “one of the most regular edifices of this kind to be found perhaps in Turkey.” The largest of the mosques at Orfa has a square steeple, and this form is also repeated in one of the smaller ones. The castle is on the south side of the city; the ascent is very steep, and is about half a mile in circumference, surrounded by a deep ditch cut in the rock, which can be filled with water from the river Scirtus. On this rock are the ruins of a building called by the Arabs the palace of Nimrod, consisting of two lofty and fine Corinthian pillars, and of some subterranean apartments, apparently of great antiquity. There are four or five large baths, some reported to be good; but the one which was seen by Mr Buckingham was, though spacious, dirty and badly attended. The manufactures of the town are chiefly confined to articles of the first necessity, namely, to coarse woollen cloths, used for shirts and drawers, and, when printed, made into gowns for females, shawls for the head, and some other articles. The process used for printing cottons is tedious. A few carpets are made, of a very good quality, also silk bands and tapes, hair-cloth for sacks and bags, and every description of saddlery and smith’s work, as well as of mason’s work and carpentry. Cook-shops and coffee-houses abound everywhere; and, during all the summer, there is an abundant supply of solid ice brought down from the summits of Mount Taurus, and sold at present for a farthing a pound. It is the seat of a considerable inland trade, being a thoroughfare for caravans passing from Aleppo into the interior of Persia. The population may be estimated at 50,000, amongst whom are 2000 Christians and 500 Jews, the rest being all Mahommedans. The Christians are chiefly Armenians and Syrians, each of whom have a separate church, and live in a separate quarter.

Orfa is of great antiquity, and is considered by all the learned Jews and Mahommedans, and by Christian scholars, as the Ur of the Chaldees. It was the Edessa of the Greeks and Romans, and was frequently taken and retaken during the wars between the Persians and Romans. In the reign of Heraclius, about a. d. 637, Orfa was taken by the Saracens, and its walls levelled with the dust. It was retaken by Baldwin in 1097, who founded the first principality of the Franks or Latins. It was also taken by Genghis Khan about the year 1144, and thirty years afterwards by [7:16:529]Saladdin. It was sacked by the Moguls in the thirteenth century; and two centuries afterwards suffered the same calamity from the armies of Tamerlane. It was visited in 1544 by Tavernier, in 1738 by Pococke, who describes it as being in a flourishing state, and in 1766 by Niebuhr, who gives the same account of it. It is sixty-seven miles from Bir, and 232 from Diarbekir. Long. 38. 25. E. Lat. 36. 50. N.