The province of Kurdistan, as it now exists, contains a great portion of the fourth Armenia, the whole of Arzanene, Zabdicene and Gordyena or Cordouene, and Northern Mesopotamia. With the exception of the latter, the general features of this tract are high mountains, enclosing fertile valleys, and an undulating upland, bounded on the east by the Tigris, and intersected at several points by numerous streams, having their rise in the mountainous districts of the Pashalik, and emptying themselves into that river.