Mossoul rugs by Mary Beach Langton

Within sight of the ruins of the ancient city of Ninevehis Mosul, the great rug market of the Tigris Valley. Few, if any, of the Mosul rugs are made in or immediately around the city of Mosul, but by wandering tribes of Kurds and Bedouins, whose textile products find market at Mosul, and who inhabit the country from Lake Van southeast to the Persian border, and many of whom wander to the warm plains of the Euphrates in the winter. As when Abraham left Ur of Chaldea to go to Canaan, taking with him all his wealth in flocks of sheep and goats, so these pastoral, nomad tribes may be seen folding their oval goat's-hair tents, lading their women with their household furnishings, which consist of rugs, caldrons for cooking, and a few wooden bowls and platters, and seeking new pasture-lands for their flocks. A few of the tribes have become sedentary. The women do the weaving and, in fact, most of the work, and the men are given to plundering.

While the country is under Turkish rule, the rugs of this district have none of the characteristics of the Anatolian carpets. They follow either the floral patterns of the Persian rugs or the geometrical designs of the Caucasus; and while in color and blending of colors they resemble the Persians, they are of much heavier and coarser texture. The weavers of Mosulrugs show no originality in designs; the Saraband and Feraghan patterns are often seen, as well as various designs of the Dagestan’s.  These rugs have a thick, coarse pile of good wool, camel's or goat's hair of rich sheen; the warp and woof are of either wool or cotton. The colors, rich, soft, and mellow, are of good dyes, often with browns and yellows predominating. Sometimes a band of camel's hair, in the natural color, encloses the rug (as a border). They are a durable rug, and often a favorite on account of the color effects in soft yellows, golden browns, greens, blues, or reds, which can be obtained by their use. The usual tone is dark. The edges are overcast in dark wool, and the ends salvaged, with color woven in. The usual size is about four by eight feet; there are also runners, from two to four by twenty feet, and most desirable saddle-bags.
How to know oriental rugs, a handbook by Mary Beach Langton, D. Appleton and Company, 1904