CHAPTER XVI

OF KURDS AND THEIR COUNTRY

“Shedders of blood, raisers of strife, seekers after turmoil

and uproar, robbers and brigands; a people all malignant, and

evil-doers of depraved habits, ignorant of all mercy, devoid of

all humanity, scorning the garment of wisdom; but a brave race and

fearless, of a hospitality grateful to the soul, in truth and in

honour unequalled, of pleasing countenance and fair cheek, boasting

all the goods of beauty and grace.”--_Bustan us Siaha_, p. 459.

The race of Kurds is so little known, and so maligned when mentioned,

that some idea of their origin and history, as well as an attempt at a

vindication of their character, is not out of place here. Within recent

years they have probably never come before the eye of the British

public except in their traditional character of rapacious and furious

fiends, fantastic figures of savagery pouring out from impregnable

mountains and carrying desolation before them, slaying Christian and

Musulman alike, resisting all efforts by princes and powers to subdue

or even coerce them.

Of what they may be, their origins and history, I suppose less is

known than of any other race in the East, so numerous and powerful,

and it may come as a surprise to many that Kurdistan has a history,

and an ancient one, noble families, and a fine--if somewhat

limited--literature. So well have the secrets of the race been guarded,

that one at least of the many travellers who have remained among them

for some time goes so far as to state definitely that “they are as

destitute of annals as the wolves and jackals among whom they have

lived in the high mountains from immemorial time,”[75] a statement

which reflects more upon the ignorance of the writer than upon the

Kurds, whom he would thus brand as being but little removed from the

denizens of the hill-sides.

The Persian legend has it that Kurds are descendants of those young

men who were saved from the voracity of the serpents of the monster

Zohak of the Persian mythology, which were fed upon human brains at the

devil’s suggestion, and which were deceived by having the brains of

goats substituted for those of the two youths who were to become the

progenitors of the Kurdish race.

Another and less known legend is that Solomon, having sent for four

hundred virgins from the East, and they having arrived in the country

now called Kurdistan, were deflowered by the devils therein, whereupon

Solomon resigned them to those devils, and their offspring were called

Kurds.[76]

It is a long retrospect back to 1200 to 1500 years B.C., for it is

there we are to see the kings of Nairi, who appear to be the forbears

of those Medes who later gained renown, and again later, under the name

of Kurd, remained a word of terror in the ears of the neighbours.

In those days the Assyrians reigned in the lands about Mosul and

between the rivers Zab. Following the course of the Greater Zab, from

its middle to its source, was an obscure, little-known land, and here

was the heart of the Nairi land. Here, too, later, were the Medes

established, and here is still the heart and centre of Kurdistan.

Armenia, or Urartu, was tucked away north of all this, behind the

mountains and Lake Van, upon its plateau, and the kings of Urartu are

not to be confounded with the men of Nairi. Nor were the Nairi lands

confined to the upper waters of the Great Zab, for the people between

the Tigris headwaters and the Euphrates north of Mount Niphates,

that is, in modern times, Kharput and Darsim, in Bitlis and the

Taurus range, were mentioned by Tiglath-Pileser and his successors

(1100 to 600 B.C.), as the Nairi; that same land that later harboured

the Invincible Gordyene, whose name appeared immediately after the

disappearance of the name Mede at the middle of the Achæmenian dynasty

of Persia (about 400 B.C.), and in reference to races inhabiting the

lands of modern Kurdistan--which was Media.[77]

[Sidenote: HISTORICAL]

And since that time it has been Kurdistan, home of wild races speaking

a language the purity of whose ancient forms is one of the best proofs

of the occupation by the Kurds of their great mountains ever since

the Aryan horde started from its “land of the Dawn” to people Persia,

Media, and part of Europe--of which we ourselves are the descendants,

through the Saxons, and so kin to the Kurd, who has never mixed his

blood with that of the Arab or Turk, but kept it as pure as his unmixed

speech.

Assyria, that conquered its world, found in these people of the

mountains a more difficult problem than any they had yet encountered.

We are told[78] that there is no reason to believe, although the

Assyrians passed through the Zagros (the mountains _par excellence_ of

the Kurds) that they subdued any but the people immediately upon their

route, a characteristic of Kurdistan and the attempts to invade it so

like the tales of modern Persia and Turkey, that it might be the story

of any of the sultans and shahs of the last two centuries.

Professor Ragozin, in the work referred to below,[79] remarks: “It

is impossible not to notice the remarkably mild treatment which

Tiglath-Pileser awarded to the kings of Nairi, a treatment so strongly

contrasting with his usual summary proceedings as plainly to indicate a

conciliatory intention.”

And again, speaking of the mountains above Erbil: “An expedition into

the south-east, into the outposts of the Zagros mountains, is mentioned

indeed as successful and profitable, but without much emphasis, which,

in view of the tremendous stress always laid upon any victory by the

inscriptions, points to a somewhat abortive expedition.”[80]

Nor was it always a case for aggression by the Assyrian king, for the

great amount of the time spent by some of their monarchs in fighting

with the Kurds seems to indicate that the Assyrians may even have been

defending themselves rather than adopting an aggressive part.

Shalmaneser II., in the records of whose reign (860 to 824 B.C.) all

the lands which he conquered are set out in detail, must have failed to

make any impression upon the Zagros hills, for no mention is made of

the Nairi whatever.

And when a tribe, important or unimportant, was subdued or vanquished,

it was reckoned so great a feat of arms and courage, that it was worthy

of particular record in the king’s annals. Thus we find Sennacherib,

who performed so many great deeds, marching against a tribe in Zagros

called Kasshu, and actually subduing them. Care is taken to mention in

the record that this tribe had never before been conquered.

As the Assyrian dynasty grew old and feeble, the Medes were gaining

in strength. Their tribes were in unison of purpose, and at last were

gathered under the first Median king, who established himself at

Hamadan (the Biblical Ecbatana), situate upon the eastern border of his

kingdom, and protected from Assyria by great mountain ranges.

This was a member of the “House of Dayaukku,” a family with which the

Assyrians had fought before in the neighbourhood of Van.[81]

His son, Fravartish, and his son after him, too, Uvakshatara,

spent their days in organising an army, the younger man, when he

succeeded his father, altering the formation of the army from that

of a disconnected mass of small tribes fighting independently, to a

homogeneous force. And as long as the Medes held thus together they

carried all before them, to which fact there is no better evidence than

the Bible itself.

But Mede and Persian fell again; the Persians were subdued, and the

Medes, deprived of the support of these their kinsmen, retired to

their fastnesses and commenced the later period of history of their

race--under the name of Gordyene, or Kurd.

Xenophon found them--his Karduk--to his cost, as all who read the

“Retreat of the Ten Thousand” may learn, and he found them there in

Anti-Taurus, or as we call it to-day, Hakkiari, Central Kurdistan.

When it is remembered that this part of Western Asia has been subject

to the most wholesale revolution, to invasions by the armies of

every nation that ever acquired fame and name in the Eastern world’s

history--Assyrian, Parthian, Greek, Roman, Persian, the Arabs under

Muhammad, and the Mongols--the fine stability of the race stands out,

for among all the people of these lands they alone have withstood

every army, and retained pure their language and blood, and claim with

a pride of race to which none can grudge admiration, that they are

the pure Aryan, the “holders of the hills, and the possessors of the

tongue.”

Within the last century the national spirit awoke four times and

asserted itself in attempts to throw off the yoke of the Turks.

The first occurred in 1806, when Abdurrahman Pasha, the Baban of

Sulaimania, fought long and bravely against the Turks for the

independence of southern Kurdistan, being defeated at Darband-i-Bazian

in 1808 by the Bagdad Pasha, who, assisted by one of the Kurdish

Pasha’s relations at feud with him, succeeded in taking him in flank.

A few years later, Muhammad Pasha, also of the Baban stock, at

Rawanduz, acquired great power, and he too made a bid for national

independence, and actually possessed himself of Upper Mesopotamia,

Erbil, and Kirkuk. His rule was of so cruel and inflexible a nature as

to subdue even the most turbulent, and his power such that, aided by

his large army of irregular cavalry, he kept his provinces in absolute

subjection and excellent order. He was eventually, at an advanced age,

lured by the Turks into a snare, and after a journey to Constantinople,

where he had been received with great honour, and a restitution, his

murder was contrived on his return journey to his provinces.

Yet once again, one of the last of the Sulaimania pashas, Ahmad,

attempted a revolution against the Turks, and went out to battle

against them, marching on Bagdad, to fail.

The fourth event, which can be hardly termed quite a bid for

independence, was the revolution under Badar Khan Bey in 1847, mention

of which has been made in the chapter dealing with the history of the

Chaldeans.

In recent times, commencing some five hundred years back, and as

their surroundings have become accessible, as well as owing to the

very gradual increase of their numbers, they have spread north and

west. Their southern limit always was, and still is, the ancient road

from Kermanshah to Qasr-i-Shirin, but in Turkish territory they have

established themselves in Armenia, and have pushed their way west from

Darsim and Kharput, so that now there are villages of the Milli Kurds a

day out of Aleppo and away up in the mountains of the north-west.

So little is known of their history, that it is hardly realised that

among them there are ancient tribes and noble families, some of whom

it will not be out of place briefly to mention here. To attempt an

adequate treatment of the history of the tribes, so far as it is

possible to learn it, would be to write another volume.

Turning first to the centre of ancient Kurdistan, Bitlis and the

Hakkari[82] country (the upper Great Zab and the mountains south of

Lake Van to the Tigris at Jazira ibn Umar), we find the tribe of

Hakkari, that has sent its philosophers as far north as Bayazid, and

peopled to a great extent that city, and given princes to Rawanduz and

the south.

[Sidenote: THE HAKKARI]

After the conquest of Diarbekr by Timur-i-Lang (Tamerlane) in the 14th

century, a governor was placed over the district of Hakkari, named

Amir Qara Uthman (the Black Lord Uthman), who, finding the country

impregnable and access to it impossible, took the politic line of

seeking in marriage the hand of a lady of the noble Hakkari clan of

feudal lords. In doing so he identified himself with the tribe, and

when the hand of Timur-i-Lang grew weak in the environs of Kurdistan,

this Amir Qara Uthman became to all intents and purposes a Kurd, and

his descendants founded or rather exalted the old Hakkari family,

adopted the title of Prince, and ruled in great state at Bitlis, where

the princes of the Hakkari ruled up to the 19th century.

They became so powerful, and contracted such wise alliances with the

tribes, that at Jazira ibn Umar, Amadia, Julamark, and Rawanduz, the

beys and princes were of the Hakkari, ruling independently of all

outside powers, and never troubling about the claims of Turkey and

Persia to the possession of their land, which were inaccessible.

Under its princes Bitlis became a very important centre, and Edrisi,

the brilliant minister of Sultan Selim, himself a Hakkari Kurd, was

responsible for expanding the territories held by some of the tribes

under Hakkari rule.

He moved the Haidaranlu and the allied tribes northward into the

Armenian country to guard the Persian frontier, and there they have

stayed, till now Kurds of these, the most savage of all the Kurds, are

domiciled across Armenia, and as far west as Erzerum, living in such

numbers as almost to warrant the application of the name Kurdistan to

these provinces.

The princes of Bitlis reached their greatest power in the 16th, 17th,

and 18th centuries, when they were independent, sometimes acknowledging

a kind of suzerainty of Persia or Turkey, and at others denying the

right of any Power to claim them as subject rulers. The last of

the line, Sharif Bey, held out against the Turks for several years

during the first half of the 19th century, when Turkish effort was

concentrated to bring Kurdistan to subjection. He was captured by the

Turks in 1849 and taken to Constantinople, and Bitlis has since been

ruled by a Turkish governor.

Though their capital has been taken from them, the Hakkari are still a

very powerful and famous tribe, and remain unmolested in the highlands

of their country. The Turks have also adopted a more conciliatory

attitude towards them, as, being on the frontier, it is highly

advisable that they should be favourably disposed to Turkey.[83]

In the neighbourhood of the Hakkari--to the west and north-east in

Darsim--are the Kurds of the Zaza, a curious tribe, of the history of

which nothing is known except that they have been in these mountains

for ages. I regret exceedingly not having stayed among them, for

their dialect is of extraordinary interest, Aryan of the Persian and

Kurdish group, but differing from both. The tribe inhabit mountainous

regions in most of the least-known parts of the lands about the

Tigris headwaters and in Darsim. By travellers they have been

described as “shy, impish little people,” and those of them I met,

while shy, certainly were of a genuine and simple type, courageous

and hard-working little men, with a large proportion of blue-eyed,

fair-haired people among them.

[Sidenote: THE MUKRI]

Turning once more south-east, we come by the Hakkari to the tribes

south and south-east of them, the Mukri and Ardalan of Persia, and the

Jaf of Turkish territory, three famous tribes--and yet farther south

the Kalhur and Guran.

The Mukri tribe, which inhabits Persian territory south of Lake Urumia,

is the southern arm of what may be termed the northern branch of the

race, that speak the Kurdish language in all its purity of accent

and grammatical form. The Mukri claim that their dialect is the most

ancient of all, and while its antiquity is probably not greater than

that of its neighbours, its excellent preservation of ancient forms

gives it a claim to be considered the standard by which to compare

other dialects.

The tribe is not now a large one, but is allied to those surrounding

it, particularly to the west and south-west, and enjoys a great name,

which it has won for itself by the bravery of its people and the power

of its sardars, or rulers, who at their curious little capital, Sauch

Bulaq, have reigned for several hundred years. Shah Abbas, Nadir Shah,

and Fath Ali Shah have all relied upon the Mukri for assistance in

their various wars, and the first mentioned and greatest of them--who

relied upon the Kurds to a very great extent for his fighting

forces--made many of them high officers in his army, and it is said

owed many of his victories--particularly in the west--to the Kurds in

his army. This was the case in 1624, when the bulk of Shah Abbas’ army

was composed of Mukri Kurds, who defeated the Turks in a considerable

battle. The tribe has always been kept in good fighting form by the

proximity of the renowned robber tribe of the Bilbas, with whom they

have often been to battle, and whose depredations in Persia they have

not infrequently been called upon to punish. The Mukri and Bilbas are

of almost exactly the same stock, and probably are two branches of the

same tribe.

It is interesting to note that in the territory of the Mukri is the

place where Zoroaster, the great prophet of old Persia, was born and

first taught.

Here in their northern boundaries lies an interesting ruin, which--now

known as Takht-i-Sulaiman--is said to be ancient Shiz, and capital of

Media.[84]

The Mukri, thus knowing many of the legends that hang around this

place, indicate it as evidence to support their assertion that they

are original Kurdish stock. They have, however, did they know it, a

more notable proof of their descent from the Medes in the very language

they talk, for it is the nearest of all the dialects to the Avestic of

Zoroaster himself.

Their southern neighbours are a more famous race in modern times, and

have played a more important part in Persian history than have the

Mukri. These are the Beni Ardalan, whose capital is the beautiful

little town of Sina, in the province known in Persia as Kurdistan--the

Kurdistan _par excellence_ of Persia. Here in the province of Ardalan

ruled a noble and gifted family, which was founded, so it is said, in

the 14th century, before which the old Ardalan chiefs reigned. The

family claims descent from no less a person than Saladin himself, a

Kurd of the Hasan Kaif, sub-tribe of the Hakkari.

That Sina is of great antiquity is evidenced by the number of

inscriptions near and around it, mostly of the Sasanian period, when

the district to its south-west, Holwan, the Zohab, and Qasr-i-Shirin of

to-day, were seats of the Sasanian kings.[85]

The khans of Ardalan, after ruling in absolute independence for some

centuries, accepted the title of Vali of Ardalan from the Persian

shahs, and identified the province with Persia, to which state Ardalan

has always been very loyal. The independence of the khans at Sina was

hardly affected by the change, for the only proof of allegiance they

were called upon to supply was men for war, which they did. Up till the

time of Khosru Khan, son of Amanullah Khan--a famous chief whose name

lingers yet in these districts--Ardalan had preserved almost intact its

independence, working with Persia in her wars more as an ally than as a

vassal.

[Sidenote: THE BENI ARDALAN]

The little kingdom had extended its borders during the preceding

centuries to include all the provinces and weaker tribes up to the

borders of the Jaf, Mukri, and Rawanduz rulers.

These provinces were Juanru, Aoraman, Merivan, Bana, Saqiz, and the

Persian districts of Hasanabad and Isfandabad.

Of these, undoubtedly the most interesting is Aoraman. This tiny

province was practically independent, living under its own rulers, a

proud family claiming descent from Rustam, the Persian national hero,

speaking a language of their own, not admitting themselves Kurds, but

“Aorami.”

These Aoramani live in a knot of great mountains, guarded on every

side by the mighty walls of Nature, and their habit and temperament

is as exclusive as their country. According to their legend, Darius

the Mede expelled the original Aoram from his native place near

Demavend, in northern Persia, and he fled with his brother Kandul[86]

to Media, finding in the recesses of these mountains a refuge. Here he

established himself and founded the Aorami tribe.

At times during the ascendancy of the Ardalan khans attempts were made

to dislodge and subdue the Aoramani, but they were fruitless, and alone

among the small tribes of the Perso-Turkish frontier Aoraman can still

look over its own mountain slopes to-day, and bid defiance to all and

sundry, for the ruler, Ali Shah, of Aoram Castle, is to-day independent

in all but name.

The sub-provinces of Merivan and Bana, which lie to the north of

Aoraman, were under their respective beys and khans, and never gave the

trouble that Aoraman did, being purely Kurdish, and also possessing but

little strength. The begs of Merivan had a habit of fighting with the

sultans of Aoraman (as they have to-day), but so long as the Ardalan

family retained their normal power the whole province was kept in good

order.

The Court at Sina was kept up till well into the last century, and

probably one of the most noted of all the Sina khans was Amanullah

Khan, vali of Ardalan in the first two decades of the 19th century, who

kept regal style in his little capital.

The family had, however, thrown in its lot to a great extent with

the Qajar tribe of Persia when it first began to contest the Persian

throne, and had made treaties of friendship and alliance. And once

having given their allegiance to the Qajar dynasty (the present

reigning one of Persia),[87] they kept true to their word, and assisted

with men in the battles against the unfortunate Lutf Ali Khan Zend,

whose defeat and death left the throne in Qajar hands.

Khosru Khan married a daughter of Fath Ali Shah, who, being a woman of

strong character, still continued to hold the reins of government after

her husband’s death, and was succeeded by Ghulam Shah Khan in 1865.

Upon the demise of this, the last Ardalan vali, Nasir ud Din Shah took

advantage of his power both as relative and sovereign, to introduce

such factors into the succession as should render the candidate

uncertain, and in the meantime, while the young khans were waiting a

decision, he by a coup established his own uncle, Mu’tamed ud Douleh, a

strong man, as governor of Kurdistan.

[Sidenote: AORAMAN]

The people of Ardalan made little resistance, for they had become

accustomed to the rule of the Qajar princess, and moreover the dynasty

had lost a great deal of its influence and power, and become decadent.

So Mu’tamed ud Douleh found it an easy task to retain his seat at Sina.

But when he turned his attention to Aoraman he found himself confronted

by a very different situation. The Aoramani, who had found it hard

enough to have to submit to the Ardalan family, discovered in Persian

suzerainty a condition of life to which their natures could not consent

without a struggle.

Mu’tamed ud Douleh had a long and hard struggle before he could subdue

Hasan Khan, sultan of the Aorami; and even when he did so, the respect

the tribe had gained for itself was so considerable that the government

was given into the hands of the son and his brother.

At the present time Aoraman lies part in Turkish and part--the

greater--in Persian territory, and while the rulers on both sides

are nominally subjects of those powers, they are to all intents and

purposes independent, particularly Ali Shah, the Persian Aorami, who

owns allegiance to none. An expedition is at the time of writing being

sent against him from Sina to collect taxes and attempt to bring him to

order.

The Ardalan family, though shorn of their power, are still a noteworthy

family, and holders of position under the Persian Government. Fakhr ul

Mulk, the present head of the family, an old man of great culture and

learning, is Governor of Shushtar and Dizful, in Arabistan, and has an

heir who is about twenty-five years of age.

From this advanced and powerful family we have to turn aside to their

neighbours, of a different stamp--the Jaf, known throughout southern

Kurdistan for their ability and ferocity in war. Up to the present

little if anything has been known of their history, and it is given

here upon the authority of a member of the ruling family, Muhammad Ali

Beg Pushtamala, of Qizil Rubat, in extreme southern Kurdistan.

The tribe lays claim to having been domiciled in Juanru, one of the

sub-provinces of Ardalan already mentioned, from the earliest times

till about A.D. 1700, and there they lived under the rule of the

valis of Ardalan. It appears, however, that either the Ardalan valis

cast jealous eyes upon the extremely fertile province of Juanru, or,

piqued by the growing strength of the Jaf, made an attempt to bring

the government of the land more directly under their own hands. This

was not accomplished without fighting, and after a battle in which the

chief of the Jaf with his brother and son were caught and slain, the

remaining chiefs of the tribe fled to the protection of the Kurdish

pasha of Sulaimania, except a few sub-tribes whose attachment to the

land was greater than their detestation of the conquerors.

Some of these, however, the Qadir Mir Waisi, Taishai, Qalkhani, Yusif

Yar Ahmadi, Kuyik, Nirji, and Gurgkaish, unable to submit to the rule

of the arrogant Ardalan valis, took refuge with the Gurans and adopted

the name also, being to-day known as the Jaf Guran.

The Kurdish pasha of Sulaimania gave the chiefs protection, and granted

their tribes the right to migrate in the spring and autumn on the

routes they still occupy, namely, northward towards Panjwin, and south

as far as Qizil Rubat and Khaniqin. They thus became Turkish subjects,

and have remained so ever since.

The tribe is estimated to number some hundred thousand people, and the

pasha--Mahmud Pasha is the head now--claims to be able to put four

thousand horsemen into the field at a few hours’ notice.

[Illustration: ENCAMPMENT OF JAF KURDS IN SHAHR-I-ZUR.]

One of the late chiefs, Uthman Pasha, who died in the autumn of 1909

(to whom reference is made in the chapters on Sulaimania and Halabja)

strengthened and enriched the tribe by his marriage with Adela Khanum,

who was a lady of the old Ardalan family of ministers to the valis,

and at once drew upon himself the displeasure of the Turks and the

approval of the Persians, who granted him a sword and title as a mark

of the recognition of his having chosen a Persian subject to wife.

[Sidenote: THE JAF]

The pashas of the Jaf are a proud and haughty class of men, speaking

little, but prompt to act, and they have, during the last hundred

years, whenever trouble occurred in the tribe, taken such swift and

effective action that since the first division of the tribe none

further has taken place. Almost alone among the greater tribes of the

Kurds this one of the Jaf has been able to live in good interrelation,

for, as the heads of the various families have worked in concert, the

tribe has grown wealthy and strong.

This is a remarkable feature of Kurdish life, for the reason why Persia

and Turkey have been safe from the great invasions by Kurds that would

otherwise have occurred, is the inability of the tribes to live at

peace with one another--a not uncommon feature of the temperament of

mountain races in all parts of the world.

The tribe seldom passes the Persian frontier, except at its northern

migration limit near Bana, for over their southern border lies the

territory of the Guran, an ancient and renowned tribe, which, while not

so strong as it used to be, still commands a sufficient respect to keep

in check its turbulent neighbours in Turkish territory.

Of all Kurdish tribes, perhaps the Guran has been best known and has

excited most interest among those who have travelled in western Persia

and southern Kurdistan. If, however, ethnological research could be

brought to bear upon the tribe, it is possible that the Guran would be

discovered to be not Kurdish, but either Lurish or Persian. Along the

border that separates Kurdistan from Luristan, are a number of tribes

that are neither Lur nor Kurd, and speak a dialect which is imagined to

be the relic of the old Persian Tajik.

It is now thought that this country was peopled by a sedentary

population called Guran, speaking the dialect above referred to, and

which is still spoken with variations by the Aoraman, Kanduleh, and

Rizho settled tribes. The tongue was, and still is in a measure, the

classical language of the Ardalan family, and is used in all the very

extensive poetry that was and is written in and about Sina. It is now

called Aorami, or Shahrazuri.

This theory accounts for the fact that a large portion of the Guran

tribe--the sedentary section--still speaks the language. The nomadic

section speaks a definitely Kurdish dialect, but this is readily

accounted for by the circumstances which led certain Jaf and Kalhur

sub-tribes to put themselves under the protection of the Guran and

adopt their name.

The original tribe, which, governed by families of “Sultans,” is a very

ancient one, and claims direct descent from Bahrum Gur, whose name

is familiar to those who have read FitzGerald’s translation of _Omar

Khayyam_.

After 1639, when the least indefinite of all the frontier treaties

between Persia and Turkey was concluded and when the Jaf and other

tribes joined them, the Gurans ruled with great power from their

old capital at Gahwara, and made more famous their ballads and

poems--which have given rise to the Kurdish name for certain kinds of

poems--“Gurani.”

They have lost their power recently owing to the weakness of their

rulers, and have in the last few years quite retired into the

background, leaving the field in possession of the Kalhur tribe, now

stronger than ever before, a compact amalgamation of the sub-tribes

bearing the generic name.

The Guran are the professors of that curious and obscure cult the Ali

Illahi, those who have ostensibly accepted Ali, the son-in-law of the

Prophet, as the personification of the Deity, and worship him as such.

It is impossible even to mention generally the mass of report and

rumour that has grown up around the tenets of this faith. Every

traveller, Persian and European, failing to find out what it is, yet

desiring to place information on record, has advanced as fact what

have sometimes been nothing but his own theories. Among the mass it is

difficult to select any one that bears signs of even probable approach

to the truth.

[Sidenote: THE ALI ILLAHI]

It would appear from reading through a collection of theories on the

Ali Illahi sect that some have confused them with the Yazidis, of whom

a description is given in Chapter IV., for they are accused by some of

nocturnal congregation at which orgies occur, the very same accusation

as was brought against the Yazidi. Among many of these descriptions

the report of the Shi’a Muhammadan is evident, for it is common with

him, when endeavouring to describe a sect of which he is ignorant, to

attribute to it a leaning towards the things unlawful in the Muhammadan

code, as well to make a narrative as to impress his hearers with the

extent of the schismatics’ backslidings. Thus--“In their own villages

they do not deny themselves the use of wine or spirits, nor do they

abstain from the prohibited food of the Quran; on the contrary, they

indulge freely in swine’s flesh and intoxicating liquors.”

Be their customs what they may, their tenets at any rate include a

great reverence for the Baba Yadgar, who was reckoned by them as one of

the incarnations of God, for they apparently held such to be possible,

and to have occurred in the case of Benjamin, Moses, Elias, David,

Jesus Christ, and Ali; and seven “bodies,” one of whom was the saint,

who is buried at Baba Yadgar, the place of pilgrimage.[88]

They frequently invoke David, and the name Daud is a popular one among

the Guran and Kalhur tribes; and it is said that before going to war,

sacrifices of sheep are made to David.

Once a year a feast is observed, before winter commences, at which Ali

is worshipped, and during the summer is the feast of “Birkh,”[89] when

sheep and fowls are sacrificed. A reverence is undoubtedly paid by them

to fire, as is done to a great extent among many other tribes all over

Kurdistan.

Their holy places are, besides the Baba Yadgar above mentioned, Zarda,

which is quite near, in the Dalahu Mountain, and Dukkan-i-Daud. This

last is an ancient Persian sculpture representing a religious ceremony

by Zoroastrians.

It is evident that there is no definite code which can be described as

Ali Illahism. It appears rather to be, as in the case of the Yazidis,

an agglomeration of certain of the customs of many religious systems,

some of which have been adopted to give an appearance of conformity

with the religion of the ruling races in order to avert persecution

for the rites they practise in secret. There is no guarantee even that

Zoroastrianism was the original faith, though there are strong traces

of it among them. Islam has obviously never touched them to such an

extent as to convert them, and the reverence paid to Ali was doubtless

the same as granted to other “incarnations of the Deity,” and adopted

for the reasons given above. The people are quite as ignorant of

Musulman tradition as of Jewish, though certain travellers, Rawlinson

in particular, thought certain of their habits to be Judaic.

The Persian opinion of their sect is as follows, as expressed in the

most impartial works. It will be noticed that they give them a purely

Muhammadan origin.

Their principal belief is that Ali is God, and, like the Nusairi sects,

they say that to know God is impossible, because the essential entity

and the non-essential (God and man) are in no way related one to the

other, unless the essential entity descend from its inaccessibility

and by beneficence guide men. The Divine matter and command may then

become visible and cognate in order to be appreciable by man, and did

so in the case of the Virgin Mary, who was made the receptacle of such

a manifestation.

In every cycle some spirit is vouchsafed to guide men,[90] that of this

present age being Ali bin Abu Taleb, “to whom all creatures of Heaven

testify,” and him they call Qasim ul Arzaq (the Giver of Blessings).

There is current among them a belief that God Himself actually becomes

visible in the most perfect men, and that He is visible in Ali.

A sect of them assert “that the saint is continuous with God, as the

ray with the sun, but is not God, and yet is not other than God,

neither is he separated from God nor commingled.”

Abdulla ibn Saba, an Arab, and contemporary of Ali himself, first

proclaimed him to be God, declaring, “God shall not appear but in Ali

abu Taleb: prophecy pointed to him and the saints were inspired by him,

taking all knowledge from him, who was creator and enricher, and in

whom all limitations ceased.” Ali himself, who execrated their beliefs,

seized this Abdulla, and caused his followers to be cast into a pit,

and fire thrown upon them. But so stubborn was their belief that as

the burning brands descended they cried: “Now is the certainty of all

certainty that thou art God, for the Prophet has said, ‘None but God

shall punish with fire.’”

This action did not exterminate the sect among the Arabs, for after

the death of Ali they asserted that he was but temporarily absent,

perchance in heaven, and that the lightning was a visible sign of his

presence, and the sun his manifestation.

The Persian or Kurdish section say that Ali appeared three hundred

years ago and renewed their faith and law.

They have given secondary names to their saints, and thus designate Ali

the Sahib-i-Karam, Ibn Yamin they call Pir, Imam Reza they name Daud,

Imam Husain they know under the name of Yadgar.

Their own people they term “yar,” and strangers “jouz,” and when a

convert is made he must bring a nutmeg (jouz), which is a sign of his

renunciation of all other beliefs. They abhor shaving the beard or

clipping the moustache.[91]

Their chief men are called Sayyid; they are known as a manifestation of

the Sahib-i-Karam, and they have the power to decide what is lawful and

what is unlawful.

One Persian writer, Mirza Muhammad Husain Isfahani, Zaka ul Mulk,

says:--

“The author has been for years among them, and--while refuting their

doctrines--he is bound to say that though they do not veil their women

there is little or no immorality among them.”

Such are the opinions of the best Persian authors regarding the origin

of the sect, and it is evident that they explain very inadequately the

curiosities of their beliefs, and have been led to commit some errors

by attempting to give the Ali Illahi a purely Muhammadan origin.

There remains for notice the tribe of Kalhur, which is hardly within

the province of this book, and to which therefore the briefest

reference will suffice.

The tribe is to-day the most powerful of southern Kurdistan, and has

for several centuries inhabited the lands near the frontier, upon the

extreme southern border of Kurdistan and towards Kermanshah. Their

leader is Daud Khan, an extremely powerful man, who from being a pedlar

has risen to chief, and up to a month or two ago exercised the sway of

an almost independent chief from Kermanshah to the Turkish frontier,

as he has dispossessed the Guran of some of their power, and subjected

entirely some small tribes, such as the Senjabi.

All kinds of curious theories have been put forward to account for the

origin of the Kalhur, none being more fantastic than that of Rawlinson,

that they are the descendants of the Jews carried into captivity by

Nebuchadnezzar.

[Sidenote: THE KALHUR]

They themselves are fond, like one or two other of the southern tribes,

of asserting that they originated near Shiraz, and are southern

Persians.

There is no particular reason to believe that they are other than

Kurds, of the Kurdish race, mixed certainly with Lur blood, but of no

other origin than the race among whom they are reckoned.

So much information has been collected about the tribe, that it

is redundant to detail any here. From its situation along the

Bagdad-Kermanshah road, the intercourse its chiefs have with Persia,

and the fact that it is Shi’a by religion, the Kalhur is probably the

most accessible of all the tribes of Kurdistan, and by no means the

most interesting, either from the point of view of language, customs,

or history.

As to the Kurdish language, so little is known of it that it has been

described as a corrupt dialect of Persian and Arabic, “a kind of

dog-Persian,” and “a degraded old Persian dialect.”

It is none of these.

Probably the Persian of to-day, beautiful language as it is,

and perfect--the most euphonious and complete of all the Aryan

tongues--cannot show such manifest signs of antiquity as does Kurdish.

For there is a Kurdish language, a complete tongue, having rich

grammatical forms, distinct syntax, and a total freedom from those

Arabic importations which have, while enriching Persian, thrown into

abeyance the old words of pure Aryan origin which were formerly used.

Ranging side by side the many dialects of Kurdistan, which differ

in pronunciation and form so much as to be practically different

languages, we find that one among them shows a regularity of form, a

perfectly developed grammatical scheme, with a conciseness and clarity

of construction and pronunciation.

This is the Mukri language, spoken in Lahijan of Persia, south of Lake

Urumia, and at Sauch Bulaq, a little town in the mountains, capital of

the Mukri tribe.

This is not the place for an excursion into investigations of the

similarity of Kurdish roots to those of the Zendavesta; it is

sufficient to say that the Mukri people, living where Zoroaster

commenced his teaching, and where was possibly his native place, and

speaking the language most nearly approaching the archaic form, have

some good claim to be considered the preservers of one of the best

specimens of a pure Aryan tongue extant.

Investigation of the Kurdish language generally shows it to be a

pure language which has suffered only from the erosion of form and

corruption of pronunciation inevitable in a language not “fixed” by

possessing a generally used literature.

From the point of view of the interest of the student, it is most

regrettable that Kurdish has so little literature; indeed, it is

commonly supposed to have none. As has been mentioned before, however,

there is a large amount of written matter.

Nor has the Kurdish nation, popularly supposed to be so obscure and

savage, been deficient in supplying eminent men to the Government and

army of Turkey. Probably few people know that the famous Saladin was a

Kurd, or that Edrisi, the minister of the Sultan Selim, was of the same

race.

As to their part in military affairs, the instinct of the race has

given its members pre-eminence wherever as leaders they have sought it,

and Turkey has counted among its bravest generals several Kurds of the

north.

Bayazid, the frontier town of Turkey in Asia, close under Mount Ararat,

is nowadays practically a Kurdish town, and as early as 1591 there

was resident there one of the most celebrated Kurds of his time,

Ahmadi Khani of the Hakkari, who built a mosque, wrote a number of

philosophical, religious, and poetical works in his native tongue, and

conducted a large school at which Kurds were the students, and their

own language the chief subject of instruction.

[Sidenote: KURDISH LITERATURE]

One of the first books was a curious little vocabulary of Arabic,

written in verse, as he says himself, for the instruction of “Kurmanj,”

_i.e._ Kurdish, children when they have finished their course of the

Quran, “when it is well that they become acquainted with reading and

writing.”

The little volume begins with the admonition:

“If your grammar and lessons you fail to construe,

No fame nor renown is in store for you.”

The text is cleverly written in various metres, the name of which the

author states at the head of each stanza, and which it is impossible to

imitate in translation:--

“‘Man’ and ‘woman’ of the Arabs, we call mīr and zhin.

‘Father,’ bāb; and ‘mother,’ dā; ‘brother’ we call brā.

‘Son,’ say we kurra; ‘daughter,’ kich; and ‘uncle,’ mām.

‘Aunt’ is mata; ‘turban,’ shāsh; ‘grandfather’ goes like pīra-dā.

‘Rent’ is kirā; ‘a pledge,’ kīrū; ‘loss,’ ziān; and durū, ‘lie.’

‘Selling’ we say firūhtin; ‘giving,’ dān; and ‘buying,’ kirrin.

‘Neck’ is mil or ustū; ‘heart’ is dul; shāhīna is ‘gay.’”

In this manner some two thousand words are taught to the child, and,

with the excellent memory of the Aryan, this style of teaching (a

popular one throughout the East) is less automatic and “parrot-like”

than might be imagined.

From Ahmadi Khani we may turn to the _Sharaf Nama_, a famous history of

the Kurds written by Sharaf ud Din Bey Hakkari of Bitlis, a rare and

eagerly sought after volume, of which there is a copy in the British

Museum. This is the best known of the literary works of Kurds, the

fact, however, of its not being written in Kurdish denying it a place

in Kurdish literature.

Sulaimania, during its short life of two centuries, has produced a

great number of poets, who have contributed in verse to the literature

of Kurdistan, generally in Kurdish, and some have progressed so far as

to have written very bulky volumes.

The best known was Nali, who was the author of most of the various

styles of poems that go to make up a complete “Divan,” or, as it may be

called, “set of Works.”

The subject of the Sulaimania poet is like that of nearly all the poems

of townsmen, love; page after page of fanciful allusion and play upon

words, quite in the Persian style, which the Kurd always allows to

influence the poem when it is of one of the forms used in Persian. The

Kurdish poets of Sulaimania have, however, committed to writing some of

the peculiar Kurdish chorus poems, which have a grace all their own. To

translate such is to lose all the beauty of the original, which depends

for its charm upon the language and the turn of the phrases more than

upon the idea, for the love poems are much restricted in their simile,

using all the stereotyped metaphor that Persian prosody allows, and

little else, so close does the Kurdish taste in literature run to the

Persian, unconsciously. Still, I only speak of the Sulaimania poets

here. Outside, in the plain and upon the mountain-side one hears myriad

songs, simple and pretty, for the Kurds are a race naturally gifted

with all the kindred abilities to the linguistic sense, and it is

extremely infrequent to meet one whose memory (unweakened by the use of

memoranda and the art of writing, and unburdened by too many ideas) is

not a storehouse of ancient folk-songs.

My bovine Hama was very fond in quiet moments of singing to a curious

tune the old Mukri song, that of the fighter leaving his wife to go to

the blood-feud:--

“I would across the hills and far away, wife,

Say, shall I go, or shall I stay, wife?

“If you would go, God guard you on the track,

And I will watch you from the pass, till you look back;

I shall stand there in the sun until your clothes are shining white,

Till you overtake the pilgrims that are travelling towards the night.

“What like of wife am I if I should weep or wail for you?

Or leave neglected home and field to make a child’s ado?

Christian, Turk, and Persian whimper thus, and fear.

Come, kiss me, and go swiftly, man and Mukri, Ah! my dear.”

There are many hundreds more of this kind of song, some of love, some

of war, and others of nothing more than comic histories, such as the

Kurds love, and a collection, once started, would never end.

[Sidenote: KURDISH POETRY]

Of the written poetry there is a large quantity--from Sina--written in

the old Guran dialect by Kurds who learned it at the Court of Sina,

and the following verses are taken from a manuscript volume containing

some of the poems of the most celebrated poets of Sina, Aoraman, and

Sulaimania, mostly written about A.D. 1750.

From the poems of Zain ul Abidin Palangani:--

THE EARLY DAWN OF SPRING.

“I look around upon the pearl drops of the dew

Suspended from the branch, and from the foliage new.

“The purple budlets show a new year’s wounds are nigh,

And tears are dropping from the mist--itself a sigh.

“The buds and flowers are laughing at the nightingale,

For though they’re wingless, yet they live within the flowery pale.

“From out the turf, the narcissus seems like a scar

Upon the ground, of winter--who still has not passed far.”

From Shaik Ahmad Takhti, about A.D. 1770:--

“Come with me and view the forest’s treasury now,

The silver’s turned to gold, and yet the trees in sorrow bow.

“The treasury and I, we both are weak and desolate,

It, for its turn is come, and I, for grief’s my autumn mate.”

* * * * *

“Autumn goes

And winter’s storms will leave the forest no repose.

“The weeping, whining wind is singing for the autumn forest’s death,

The golden trees are weeping leaves of gold into the mountains’ chilly

breath.

“Some of them now are shedding all their blood-stained cloaks, and

soon

Each one shall stand denuded, brave and stark as Bisitun.[92]

“Their boughs displayed--not long ago--tints a hundred thousand fold,

So that the hot blood-feud, hunting in their glades, from awe grew

cold.

“Then, catching them all unprepared, a wind arose and blew,

And cast away their ropes of foliage, their glory overthrew.

“And tore their leaves asunder, stripping off their raiment green

So poured away their gaudy glory, and left their stature mean.

“And where the autumn’s gorgeous temples stood, was left forlorn

A melancholy company of mourners with garments rent and torn.”

An old song of the Mukri:--

“A three-fold anklet jingles in thy skirt,

Ah, Amina, then turn about this way;

Dancing forward, rustling here and there, O flirt,

Shake thy bangles, naughty one, in play.

“But love will catch thee while thou yet mayst dance,

And catching thee, will stay the tripping feet

That turn thee round, to meet a sudden fiery glance:

The head will whirl, the feet stand still, the heart will beat.

“Ah, Amina, thy budlike mouth awhile will sing thy song,

Ah, Amina, then turn about this way;

But love will take his toll, before so very long,

And age, that poor old hag, will have her day.”

These are not scraps and doggerel as it appears here, owing to the

translator’s poor English: the originals are sweet, and go far enough

to show that the nation is not devoid, as is popularly imagined, of all

poetry or any idea beyond savage and insensate war and killing.

The race certainly is, these days, a savage one, and many tribes fully

merit the execration that has been poured upon them for outrages and

massacres; that is, they fully merit the execration of modern European

times. Yet, if justice be done, we must for purposes of comparison

place Kurdistan side by side with the Europe of six hundred years ago,

and then it requires but little comparison to show very conclusively

that in point of mercilessness, lawlessness, and savagery, this people

of a militant creed stand out in almost creditable relief against

the black deeds of the Middle Ages in a land where the religion of

submission was supposed to be the guiding motive of life. Nor, in the

present day, does the Kurd appear unfavourably in comparison with

the European, judging him by the gauge of ideal and precept, upon

the adherence to which alone a man can be judged, having in mind the

exalted nature of each, or, as is too often the case, their absence.

There is less crime of a despicable nature among any thousand Kurds,

picked at random, than among the same number of Europeans taken in the

same manner.

[Sidenote: KURDISH CHARACTER]

Yet the character of the Kurds is one on which the would-be writer is

to experience enough difficulty, for the tribal character differs so

much as to make one summary quite inadequate for the whole nation.

In the north, circumstances have to a great extent made the Kurd what

he is, a brigand. Among the tribes of Hasananlu, Sipkanlu, Haidaranlu,

Adamanlu, and Zirkanlu, who inhabit the mountains of Armenia and

the country on the Turkish frontier, the character resultant from

the precarious life of a robber is developed to the full. With the

tribes on the frontier, who have always lived a life of duplicity, by

the nature of the stratagems they adopt to escape the wrath of the

countries whose frontiers they ravish, the man becomes suspicious,

wary and unscrupulous. Their mountains, too, are not such as to lend

to much cultivation, nor are there any commercial towns. So they are

driven back to the horse and rifle, and as is natural, such a life

demands scheme and counter-scheme, which speedily becomes a treacherous

habit. Of their bravery there is little doubt, though I take it that it

is more the bravery of “derring-do” than a calm, cool courage against

steady odds. This, however, is a feature of many mountain peoples and

guerilla fighters.

The true feudal spirit is strong in the race. Devoted to the mountains,

to his own clan, intensely proud of being a Kurd, the northerner

will take to arms at the word of his chief, never asking to hear his

reason. Fraser, a traveller in the early part of the 19th century,

observes: “The similarity between these Kurds as they are, and the

Highland (_i.e._ Scottish) clans as they were not many centuries ago,

is wonderfully strong.”

The fighting Kurd is, like the Highlander of old, looking about

him ever for the enemy, always on the defensive, and the character

developed by these circumstances, coupled with the wild and terrible

country in which the northern Kurd lives, has gone to make that

character, composed of suspicion, bravery, an intense alertness, and

highly developed faculty of observation.

In considering the criminal characteristics of a race or class, the

conditions among which it exists must always be regarded, as also the

amount of instruction in what we may call recognition of the existence

of others.

Self-sacrifice, except that of the mother for the child, which is an

instinct, is a purely artificial quality, and one instilled with great

difficulty, and easily lost by those who fail to hold before them an

ideal or principle. Now Islam provides no such ideal. The Christian has

the highest incentive to this quality, which must be the foundation of

all true civilisation, and yet even he is extraordinarily apt to forget

it as time goes on.

The Kurd has not even the strict commands of Islam before him, and

so is fain to learn by hard experience how he must live his life if

he is to exist, and this, as among most rough communities, is a pure

selfishness; and since the man thinks of nought but himself, there is

no occasion for the birth of those qualities by which we are apt to

appraise men. Moreover, it may be said, though it be a platitude, that

the decadence and backward condition of the Islamic states generally

is due to this omission in the religious code, for every public

improvement is fundamentally due to the recognition of the existence of

others.

If, then, we are to find in the Kurdish character any quality that

falls within our Western category of good qualities, it must be

ascribed to a nature which, fundamentally possessing such tendency,

would be capable of development along those lines to the ultimate good

of the community.

[Sidenote: KURDISH CHARACTER]

And we do find it.

A steady faithfulness, a recognition of the given word, a generous

affection for the near relatives,[93] a manlier treatment (among the

southern and middle Kurds) of his women than is seen among any other

Musulman race, a keen literary sense and love of poetry, a ready

willingness to sacrifice himself for his tribe, and a fine pride of

country and race. With what a fine air does the Kurd draw himself up

and say, according to his dialect, “Az Kurmanjam,” or “Min Kurdim” (“I

am a Kurd.”)

If, then, one can hardly acquiesce in the eulogistic description by

a French traveller, that “en somme les Kurdes sont des beaux hommes,

forts, intelligents, d’un joli type, et lorsque la civilisation les

aura policés, ils seronts supérieurs à leurs voisins les Turcs et

les Persans,”[94] one can still see that there is more good in them

than in many races at present preening themselves in the sunshine of

“civilisation.”

They have a terrible temper, suddenly roused--consequence again of

the violent and precarious life they lead--and with it all, among the

southerner, an extraordinarily keen sense of humour. They are always

ready to tell stories against themselves of this very characteristic.

There was once a khan of the Herki of Oramar (in the Hakkari), who

being bitten by a fly, scratched the place, five minutes afterwards it

irritated still, and again he scratched. Yet again it commenced, and he

snatched a pistol from his belt, and cursing the father of flies, shot

his finger off.

Two Kurds were discussing the position in which the star Sirius

(which marks the end of the warmest weather) might be expected in

the firmament. Without any abusive language they disagree as to the

position, stop upon the road, and fall upon one another. One remains

there dead.

Such is, as briefly as possible, the character of the Kurd. In the

south the same description holds good, except that the furious

savageness of the northerner is absent, tempered to a steadfastness, a

humour of determination in any business he undertakes.

Yet of course there is the terrible ignorance of the mountain

tribesman. How many among them even know their own age? or have any

idea of what is outside Kurdistan? They learn swiftly enough, given the

opportunity, and the Kurd learning is as rapacious for knowledge, as

robbing he was for loot. The linguistic ability is remarkable, and, as

has been mentioned, the literary instinct inherent.

Among the people of the south, where a large population has become

sedentary, a very good type has been evolved, mostly recruited from

the Kalhur, Bajlan, and Jaf tribes, and they have had an opportunity

for discovering their natural aptitude for mechanical work with an Oil

Concession, which commenced boring near Qasr-i-Shirin. Here these men

were employed on the well-rigs and in the machine shop, and displayed

such ability that when the company transferred its work to the present

oil-field in south-western Persia, a number of Qasr-i-Shirin Kurds

were taken there, and still remain one of the most satisfactory and

skilled sections of the workers, some having attained great proficiency

in technical and mechanical work. The type is steady and quiet,

hard-working, with a great enthusiasm for all things appertaining to

engineering.

The Kurd from north to south is monogamous, and the family seldom

exceeds three or four. The wife has a remarkable freedom, and the

Kurdish women are a fine class of unaffected, brave women, deserving

as much praise for their domestic qualities as for the physical beauty

that is so often theirs. Many are fine, bold riders, and can handle a

rifle, and among the more warlike tribes the women themselves join in

the fray.

[Sidenote: THE KURDISH WOMAN]

Millingen, a traveller among the Kurds, quotes a fantastic story of how

the Kurdish women form themselves into bands for the decoy and robbery

of the unfortunate traveller.[95]

In the house they look after everything, and while they are,

particularly among the sedentary tribes, forced to do excessively

arduous manual labour, such as the fetching and carrying of water, they

get through all their labours with a jovial and hearty spirit, and keep

the family and flocks in excellent order, taking the severest hardships

as but a trivial incident in a life in which they seem to find plenty

of enjoyment.

Many a time in villages has the housewife, in the absence of her man,

entertained the writer, sat with and talked to him, never displaying

any of the false shame or modesty of the Turk or Persian, and sharing

cheerfully with him whatever the house had to eat and drink; and when

the man came in, ignoring him in the attention to the guest, till

having bestowed his horse, the husband comes in and joins the guest.

Mind, I speak of their attitude towards those they consider humble like

themselves. Towards the European I understand there is a different

attitude.[96]

As a result of this frank nature and free life, it may be credited that

in the Kurmanj language the only words for “prostitute” are Turkish

and Persian, and those only understood in towns. Adultery among the

country Kurds is looked upon as a remarkable and unnatural lapse from

all reason and tradition, and is punished by death.

Many and many a marriage is one of mutual attraction--an example of

which I have quoted in the chapter dealing with my stay in Halabja.

Genuine affection between husband and wife (so rare among the Islamic

nations) is by no means unknown among the less savage tribes, and

there is no finer feature of the race than its open intercourse and

good understanding between the sexes. Witness the example of Lady

Adela,[97] of the widow of Ghulam Shah, khan of Sina; of the women of

the ancient Hakkari family--who are entitled “Khan”--whose power is

equal to, nay, greater than many of the men of their own families;

and many others all over central and southern Kurdistan. Such can be

solely the result of an understanding between the sexes more nearly

approximating to our English ideas than obtains among any other

Oriental race, and at the same time goes to show how little Islam has

affected what must be the habit of ancient times.

Judged as specimens of the human form, there is probably no higher

standard extant than that of the Kurds. The northerner is a tall, thin

man (obesity is absolutely unknown among the Kurds). The nose is long,

thin, and often a little hooked, the mouth small, the face oval and

long. The men usually grow a long moustache, and invariably shave the

beard. The eyes are piercing and fierce. Among them are many of yellow

hair and bright blue eyes; and the Kurdish infant of this type were he

placed among a crowd of English children, would be indistinguishable

from them, for he has a white skin. In the south the face is a little

broader sometimes, and the frame heavier. Of forty men of the southern

tribes taken at random there were nine under six feet, though among

some tribes the average height is five feet nine. The stride is long

and slow, and the endurance of hardship great. They hold themselves

as only mountain men can do, proudly and erect, and look what they

are--the Medes of to-day, worthy, were they only united, of becoming

once again a great military nation, whose stern, hard nature could keep

in hand the meaner races among whom they live. Many and many a man have

I seen among them who might have stood for the picture of a Norseman.

Yellow flowing hair, a long drooping moustache, blue eyes, and a fair

skin--one of the most convincing proofs, if physiognomy be a criterion

(were their language not a further proof), that the Anglo-Saxon and

Kurd are one and the same stock.

[Sidenote: KURDISH DRESS]

In dress they have always been fantastic, and I cannot do better than

quote from travellers the style of the Kurds of a hundred and of

seventy years ago:--

“In front, on a small, lean, and jaded horse, rode a tall, gaunt

figure, dressed in all the tawdry garments sanctioned by Kurdish taste.

A turban of wonderful capacity, and almost taking within its dimensions

horse and rider, buried his head, which seemed to escape by a miracle

being driven in between his shoulders by the enormous pressure. From

the centre of this mass of many-coloured rags rose a high conical cap

of white felt. This load appeared to give an unsteady rolling gait to

the thin carcase below, which could with difficulty support it. A most

capacious pair of claret-coloured trousers bulged out from the sides

of the horse, and well-nigh stretched from side to side of the ravine.

Every shade of red and yellow was displayed in his embroidered jacket

and cloak; and in his girdle were weapons of extraordinary size, and

most fanciful workmanship.”[98]

The following refers to the dress of the northern Mukri Kurds, south of

Urumia:--

“On their heads they wear a large shawl of striped silk, red, white,

and blue, with fringed ends, which is wound in the most graceful manner

round their red skull-cap. Its ample folds are confined with some

sort of band, and the long fringes hang down with a rich fantastic

wildness; their true Saracenic features, and bright black eyes, gleam

with peculiar lustre from under this head-tire. Their body garments

consist of a sort of ample vest and gown, with magnificent wide Turkish

sleeves, over which is worn a jacket, often richly embroidered and

furred, according to the owner’s rank. Their lower man is enveloped

in ample _shulwars_, not unlike those of the Mamlucs, into which,

in riding, they stuff the skirts of their more flowing garments.

Around their waist, instead of a shawl, they wear a girdle fastened

with monstrous silver clasps, which may be ornamented according to

the owner’s taste with jewels, and in which they stick not only

their Kurdish dagger, but a pair of great brass or silver-knobbed

pistols. From this, too, hang sundry powder-horns and shot-cases,

cartridge-boxes, etc., and over all they cast a sort of cloak or

_abba_, of camel’s hair, white, or black, or striped white, brown, and

black, clasped on the breast, and floating picturesquely behind.”[99]

The costume here described has changed not at all, except perhaps

that the big pistols have given place to revolvers, and a carbine

swings over the shoulder, four and sometimes even five rows of

cartridge-belts, one above the other, encircling the horseman’s body.

Of the southern Sulaimanian and Jaf, J. C. Rich gave the following

description:--

“His gown was of a rich flowered gold Indian stuff; he had a superb

cashmere shawl, ornamented with gold fringe, on his head, put on in a

wild, loose manner; his upper dress was a capot, or cloak of crimson

Venetian cloth, with rich gold frogs, or bosses, on it.

“The Jaf men wore a dress belted round their middles, light drawers,

with the worsted shoe, which is a comfortable covering for the feet,

and a conical felt cap on their heads.”[100]

Describing the costume of the northern Hakkari, Binder, a modern

traveller, says:--“ils ... se coiffent d’un bonnet de feutre blanc

conique autour duquel ils enroulent d’énormes turbans; leur pantalon,

d’une largeur demesurée, est en tissu de poil de chèvre rouge et

souvent bariolé de dessins; ils portent une petite jaquette descendant

à peine à la taille, pardessus laquelle ils mettent souvent un manteau,

pas plus long que la jaquette en poil de chèvre, garni sur le devant de

grossières passementeries; comme chaussures, ils ont des bottes en cuir

rouge, avec de fortes ferrures au talon.”[101]

The Mukri and Rawanduz Kurds have exchanged the pointed white cap for

one in green, and of cloth, and not so high, but with a little stiff

tassel sticking up from the point. The turban is smaller, and wound

so that the fringes conceal both sides of the face. They have adopted

the Persian “qaba,” a short tunic not reaching to the knee, and over

it often wear the “sardari” or plaited frock-coat, but made in a

bright-coloured velvet.

As one comes south the dress becomes more like that of the Arab. The

workmanlike costume of the north, where the man is, so to speak, in

his shirt-sleeves all the time, is replaced by a long tunic reaching

to the ankles, over a white shirt, the sleeves of which, made like

“bishop-sleeves,” touch the ground. A “salta” or zouave jacket is worn,

generally of some sober-coloured cloth ornamented with gold-thread

work, and according to the tribe different kinds of turbans are worn,

the skull-cap usually being of cotton cloth embroidered.

In addition to this costume all tribes of the south wear the typical

Kurdish felt waistcoat, which is sleeveless, and about half an inch

thick.

It may be said that in the south the Kurd has preserved no prejudices

in the matter of dress, except the turban, which is his distinguishing

feature.

The costume of the women is simple. In the north, a long coloured

shirt, and full trousers, or full skirts, supplemented in cold weather

by more shirts, and perhaps a felt, constitutes the dress. A large

turban is worn.

In central and southern Kurdistan, however, the dress becomes more

complicated. The Mukri and Sina women enjoy the reputation of wearing

the biggest turbans of any tribes, huge masses of coloured silk

handkerchiefs cocked to one side. Earrings, bracelets, strings of gold

coins around their foreheads, are all common enough features of their

dress. Among the Mukri the women often wear the “sardari,” and if not

that, the “charukhia,” a kind of heavy cloth thrown over one shoulder.

The veil is absolutely unknown to the Kurds, and the women never hide

their faces.

The dress adopted by the Sulaimania women is, while Kurdish in

character, yet influenced by the Arab style.

The underclothes are a short shirt and baggy trousers, the upper

parts of which are made of white cotton and the lower of some striped

material. Over this is a long shirt reaching to the feet, with small

bishop-sleeves of white cotton, and open at the neck. Over this again

is the “kawa,” a long coat--also reaching to the feet--buttonless, not

meeting at the front, of some heavier stuff, the sleeves of which are

tight, but slit on the inner side for a few inches from the wrist.

The headgear consists of, first, a little ornamented skull-cap, over

which is thrown the “jamana,” a coloured handkerchief, which hangs

behind and is often brought once round the neck. The Kurdish turban has

given place to a long thick cord with pieces of black cloth fastened

in it, in contact with one another, making an apparatus more like a

“boa” than anything else. This, the “pushin,” is wound round the head

over the jamana, and the costume altogether is graceful and dignified,

particularly when the wearer is tall, as are most of the women of

Sulaimania.

The Kurds are by no means devoid of the superstition and folklore that

is to be expected among such a people.

Like the Persians, whose Islamiyyat has not expelled the ancient

fables, they still believe in the fairies, and although the Jinn of

the Arabs have taken a large place in the scheme of beings of the

underworld, Peri and Shait still hold their own. There is too the

Pir or saint, the origin of whom is wrapped in obscurity, and who is

popularly supposed to exist in certain spots and tombs, where the

votive offering of rags is made, just as in Persia--relic of a custom

surely older than Islam.

[Sidenote: SUPERNATURAL BEINGS]

The Shaits are a curious class of supernatural beings, for among them

are classed all the martyrs of Islam and many Kurds who have fallen

in defence of their tribe, and they, like the living, are a wandering

tribe of beings, beneficent, and desirous of helping the mortal Kurd to

his desires. In fact, they are regarded in a light very similar to the

Pir, and may be appealed to at their halting-places--often enough great

trees on the hill-sides.

The Peri--whence our own word and idea of fairies--are essentially the

same beings as our own folklore teaches us, for as our lore has come

from the northern Aryans, so are our fairies the same little folk as

the Peri.

As to the Jinn, they have adopted the unfortunate Arabic fellow, just

as Muhammad, perhaps in his turn borrowing from tradition, introduced

him, “a being made of fire, but like men, dependent upon food for

existence, and like men, some malignant and some well disposed, and not

all malignant like the devils.”[102]

As to the Div--devils--they exist, as they did in the days of

Zoroaster, but the Kurd, living the strenuous life he does, seems to

think but little of them.

FOOTNOTES TO CHAPTER XIII:

[75] Creagh, _Armenians, Koords, and Turks_, vol. ii., p. 167.

[76] One of the many stories invented on account of the fear and dread

they inspire in the people around them.--_Sharaf Nama._

[77] Speculation has had its day even with the origin of the Kurds,

in the theory put forward by some that they are the descendants of

the Parthians, a theory quite impossible to consider, now that the

Parthians are known to be of Scythian race, of a type ethnologically

and linguistically different from the modern Kurd, who is a pure Aryan.

[78] Ragozin, _Assyria_.

[79] P. 54.

[80] Ragozin, _Assyria_, pp. 54–5.

[81] _Ibid._, p. 420.

[82] This word is often spelt Hakkiari, the first “i” providing the

word with the vulgar and the Turkish pronunciation.

[83] A curious custom is told of in connection with the succession

to the Khanate. This was, and is, hereditary, but if the khan be not

considered equal to his exalted post, a meeting of important men is

called. If after deliberation the khan is deemed unworthy, a pair of

shoes is placed before him, and he is expected to don them and quit the

room, thereby consenting to the transfer of the succession to the next

candidate. The deposed khan’s lands and property are not taken from him.

[84] For a detailed description of the place and full references

regarding it, see Prof. Williams Jackson, _Persia, Past and Present_,

pp. 123–143.

[85] The present town of Sina was built about A.D. 1633, beside the old

town, which was on a flat space, whereas the present town is on a slope.

[86] Whose descendants are said to be the Kandula tribe, east of

Kermanshah, speaking a similar dialect.

[87] This commenced with Agha Muhammad Shah, who grasped the throne in

1794, and was succeeded by Fath Ali Shah, contemporary of Amanullah

Khan.

[88] Sayyid Rustam, who is head of the sect, is asserted by a great

many of them to be an incarnation of the Almighty.

[89] “Birkh” in Kurdish = a lamb.

[90] One of the Shi’a axioms.

[91] The Musulman clips the “sharib,” that part of the moustache liable

to dip into liquids when drunk from a cup or bowl.

[92] A famous rock in southern Kurdistan.

[93] This may not occur to the reader in Europe as anything but what

must be in the nature of all, like maternal love, perhaps; but it is an

unusual thing in the East, where the nearer the relative also means the

greater enemy.

[94] Henry Binder, _Au Kurdistan_, p. 110.

[95] Millingen, _Wild Life among the Koords_, p. 244.

[96] Not always, however; see Layard, _Nineveh_, vol. i., p. 153.

[97] Also the ladies of Kerind, who each keep a little court.

[98] Layard, _Nineveh_, vol. i., pp. 206–7 (description of a Hakkari),

1848.

[99] Fraser, _Travels in Koordistan_, p. 86, 1835.

[100] Rich, _Residence in Koordistan_, vol. i., pp. 77 and 181, 1820.

[101] Binder, _Au Kurdistan_, pp. 109–10, 1887.

[102] From a little book on the Fundaments of Faith, Shiraz, 1902.

APPENDIX

KURDISH TRIBES

The following table includes the main tribes upon the Turkish and

Persian frontier. Numbers 1 to 9 term themselves generally “Kurmanj,”

“Kurdmang,” _i.e._, Kurds, while the rest use the designation “Kurd” to

signify their race. Those using the first appellation are of the purest

Kurd blood.

+----+--------------+-----------------------+------------------------+

| No.| Name of | Sub-tribes. | Situation of Country. |

| | Tribe. | | |

+----+--------------+-----------------------+------------------------+

| 1 | Haidaranlu | Zilanlu, Hasananlu, | The Armenian plateau, |

| | | Adamanlu, Sipkanlu, | and up to the |

| | | Jibranlu, Zirkanlu, | Persian frontier. |

| | | Shadi, Milan, | |

| | | Mamanlu. | |

| | | | |

| 2 | Shekak | | Persian frontier near |

| | | | Salmas. |

| | | | |

| 3 | Hakkari | Oramar, Shamisdinan, | Bitlis, the Great Zab |

| | | Jelu, Herki, | valley, the Tiyari, |

| | | Zebari, Ruzhaki | Amadia, Jazira ibn |

| | | (an ancient clan | Umar. |

| | | of which the | |

| | | princes of Bitlis | |

| | | were members), | |

| | | Shernakli, Khizan, | |

| | | Barzan, Girdi, | |

| | | Bahdinan (from | |

| | | which the powerful | |

| | | religious families | |

| | | and Shaikhs came), | |

| | | Missuri, Bohtan, | |

| | | Hasankaifan, | |

| | | Nauchai, Jelali, | |

| | | Rawan, and many | |

| | | other small | |

| | | sections. | |

| | | | |

| 4 | Mukri | | Sauj Bulaq and the |

| | | | district around, |

| | | | up to the Turkish |

| | | | frontier. |

| | | | |

| 5 | Pishdir | Nuraddini and others. | Upper Lesser Zab |

| | | | River valley. |

| | | | |

| 6 | Bilbas | | The Kandil Dagh in |

| | | | Central Kurdistan. |

| | | | |

| 7 | Rawanduz | | Rawanduz. |

| | | | |

| 8 | Shuan | | South of the lower |

| | | | Lesser Zab, N.E. of |

| | | | Kirkuk. |

| | | | |

| 9 | Baban | | Sulaimania. |

| | | | |

| 10 | Bana | | Bana. |

| | | | |

| 11 | Merivan | | Merivan. |

| | | | |

| 12 | Jaf | Pushtamala, Amala, | From Qizil Rubat |

| | | Jaf-i-Sartik, | along the west |

| | | Tilan, Mikaili, | bank of the Sirwan |

| | | Akhasuri, Changani, | River as far as |

| | | Rughzadi, Tarkhani, | Shahr-i-Zur, |

| | | Bashaki, Kilali, | Panjwin. |

| | | Shatiri, Haruni, | |

| | | Nurwali, Kukui, | |

| | | Zardawi, Yazdan | |

| | | Bakhshi, Shaikh | |

| | | Ismaili, Sadani, | |

| | | Badakhi, Musai | |

| | | Tailaku. | |

| | | | |

| 13 | Hamavand | | Qaradagh, near |

| | | | Sulaimania. |

| | | | |

| 14 | Sharafbaiani | | Haorin, on the south |

| | | | of the Sirwan |

| | | | River, in Persian |

| | | | territory. |

| | | | |

| 15 | Bajlan | Jumur, Shirawand, | Immediately south of |

| | | Hajilar | the Sharafbaiani. |

| | | Gharibawand, | |

| | | Dandawand, and | |

| | | Qazanlu. | |

| | | | |

| 16 | Aoram or | Haoram-i-Ali Shah, | The Aoraman Mountain. |

| | Haoram | Haoram-i-Ja’far | |

| | | Sultan. | |

| | | | |

| 17 | Salahi | | Kifri, Salahi |

| | | | district. |

| | | | |

| 18 | Guran | Gahwara, Baziani, | The western part of |

| | | Nerzhi, Qalkhani, | the province of |

| | | Buyani, Kalleh | Kermanshah. |

| | | Zanjiri, Qadir Mir | |

| | | Waisi, Taishai, | |

| | | and other small | |

| | | sections. | |

| | | | |

| 19 | Kalhur | Shuan, Kuchimi, | The province of |

| | | Charzrbari, | Kermanshah. |

| | | Alawand, Khaledi, | |

| | | Shiani, Sia-Sia, | |

| | | Kazem Khani, | |

| | | Khamman, Kalajubi, | |

| | | Harunabadi, | |

| | | Baidaghbagi, | |

| | | Kerkah, Mansuri, | |

| | | Vermizyari, and | |

| | | others. | |

| | | | |

| 20 | Sinjabi | | Near the Turkish |

| | | | frontier, in the |

| | | | Kermanshah province. |

+----+--------------+-----------------------+------------------------+

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The undermentioned are the principal works which have been used for

purposes of reference and comparison:--

The Bible.

_A Literary History of Persia_, Prof. Browne, M.A., M.B., F.B.A.

Unwin, 1906.

_A Year among the Persians_, Prof. Browne, M.A., M.B., F.B.A.

Murray.

_Bustan us Siaha_, Haji Zainu’l ’Abidin Shirwani.

_Haqaiqu’t Taraiq_, Haji Mirza Ma’sum Shirazi, Naibu’s Sadr.

Teheran, 1314 A.H.

_Treaties between Persia and Turkey_, Aitchison.

_Ghayyath ul Lugha._ Bombay.

_Dictionary of Islam_, Hughes. Allen, 1895.

_Athar-i’-Ajam_, Fursat Shirazi. Bombay, 1314 A.H.

_Persia, Past and Present_, Prof. T. Williams Jackson. MacMillan,

1906.

_Nineveh and its Remains_, Layard. Murray, 1850.

_Dabistanu’l Mazahib_, A.H. 1267.

The Qur’an.

_Commentary on the Quran_, Wherry. Paul Trench Trubner, 1896.

Sale’s _Quran_.

_Persia_, Lord Curzon.

_Assyria_, Ragozin. Unwin, 1898.

_Parthia_, Rawlinson. Unwin, 1893.

_Armenia_, H. F. B. Lynch. Longmans, 1901.

_Travels in Koordistan_, Fraser. Bentley, 1835.

_Residence in Koordistan_, Rich. Duncan, 1836.

_Armenia, Koordistan, etc._, Kinneir. Murray, 1818.

_Wild Life among the Koords_, Millingen. Hurst & Blackett, 1870.

_Au Kurdistan en Mesopotamie_, Binder. Paris, 1887.

_Travels in Persia, etc._, Wagner. Hurst & Blackett, 1856.

_Armenians, Koords, and Turks_, Creagh. Tinsley, 1887.

_History of Persia_, Malcolm (Persian translation).

_Assyrian Life and History_, Harkness. R. T. Soc.

[Illustration: MAP OF

MESOPOTAMIA AND KURDISTAN

_Route described_ ➖➖➖➖➖➖

_Parts of other journeys by the author at various times_ ------]

INDEX

Abaidulla, Shaikh, his invasion of Persia, 160

_Abba_ or cloak, 400

Abdul Aziz, Sultan, his death, 187

Abdul Hamid, Sultan, 10;

his accession, 187;

policy, 191

Abdul Qadir, 221

Abdulla ibn Saba, 385

Abdulla Pasha, 185

Abdurrahman Pasha, the Baban of Sulaimania, his revolt against the

Turks, 329, 371

Abgarus, King of Edessa, 48

Adiabene, 104, 106;

history, 111–113;

the see of a Chaldean bishopric, 112

Afshin, 362;

fate of, 363

Ahmad Bash Chaush, the muleteer, 325, 329

Ahmad Kulwan, 220

Ahmad Pasha, his revolt against the Turks, 185, 372

Ahmad, Shaikh, 284;

appointed Qaim Maqam of Chemchemal, 302

Ahmad Takhti, Shaik, his poems, 391

Ahmadi Khani, his literary works, 388;

method of instruction, 389

Ahwaz, Chaldean colony at, 158 _note_, 160

Al-i-Ayub tribe, 80 _note_

Al Ma’mun, 362

Al Musta’sim b’Illah, Khalifa, 360

Al Mu’tasim Khalifa, 150

Al Mutawakkil, Khalifa, 151;

his persecution of the Jews and Christians, 151;

murdered, 151

Al Qush, patriarchate at, 155

Al Wathiq, Khalifa, 151

Aleppo, 25;

history, 26;

manufacture of cotton cloth, 27

Ali Abu Taleb or Qasim ul Arzaq, 385

Ali bin Muhammad, 363

Ali Effendi, 242

Ali Illahi, cult of the, 382–386

Ali Shah, ruler of Aoram Castle, 378, 379

Altai Mountains, 152

Altun Keupri, 109, 113, 337, 349;

the “Golden Bridge,” 114

Amadia, 373

Amanullah Khan, 377, 378

Amin Effendi, his appearance, 240;

history, 241;

character, 242–247;

punishment, 249

Amrikani sect, 159

Anab, 254

Anti-Taurus or Hakkiari, 371

Antoine, the merchant, 281

Aoraman Mountain, 182, 184, 213, 254, 324;

province, 377, 379;

tribe, 171, 377;

their language, 171

Arabia, bishopric of, 150 _note_

Araq, the drink, 340

Ararat, Mount, 83, 388

Arbela or Erbil, 99, 104, 108;

history, 109–113;

meaning of the name, 110;

sacrilegious outrage, 112

Ardalan, province of, 160, 376;

history, 218;

the Khans of, 376

Ardashir Babakan, the Persian king, 359

Armenia or Urartu, 111, 368;

bishopric of, 150 _note_

Armenians, 3;

their mode of eating, 4;

of Diarbekr, 63

Arsaces I., founder of the Parthian empire, 111

Artaxerxes, the Persian, 112

Ashtoreth or Ashtaroth, 35

Asima Khan, 298, 322

Asshur, 89, 98

Asshurnazipal, 99, 110

Assyria, 54, 104, 106, 369;

bishopric of, 150 _note_

Assyrians or Chaldeans, 140, see Chaldeans

Atergatis, the worship of, 32, 34, 36

Azarbaijan, bishopric of, 150 _note_

Azmir Mountains, 184, 211, 228, 254

Baal, or Bel or Moloch, the Sun-god, or Dagon, 35

Baalbak, 24

Bāb, 29

Baba Murda, 325, 327

Baba Yadgar, 383, 384

Babak, the tenets of, 362;

crucifixion, 363

Babylonia, 140

Badar Khan Bey, revolution under, 156, 159, 372

Bagdad, 27, 217, 365;

railway, 37;

patriarchate transferred to, 150;

preparations for the passage to, 352–355;

journey, 355–365

Bahrum Gur, 382

Baji Raihan, her house, 269–271

Balkh, bishopric of, 150 _note_

Bana, 377, 378

Basra, bishopric of, 150 _note_

Bayazid, 179, 373, 388

Bazian, plain, 164, 170, 175;

range, 337;

valley, 326;

meaning of the word, 176 _note_

Bekr, Abu, 49

“Belit” or Ishtar, the worship of, 34

Beth Qurma, bishopric of, 150 _note_

Beyrouth, 21

Biara, 223;

pilgrimage to, 253–257

Bilbas tribe, 375

Binder, Henry, _Au Kurdistan_, extracts from, 395, 400

Birejiq, 32

“Birkh,” feast of, 384

Birtha, 359

Bishop, Mrs, 159

Bisitun, Mountain of, 221

Bitlis, 373;

power of the princes, 374

Bokht Yishu, director of Jund-i-Shapur College, banished, 151

Bosphorus, the, 2

Bread, method of making, 296

British Museum, collection of the works of Kurdish poets, 218 _note_

Brown, Rev. W., his missionary work among the Chaldeans, 159

Browne, Prof., _A Literary History of Persia_, 143 _note_, 145

_note_, 363

Buhtan Su, 80

_Bustan us Siaha_, 362 _note_, 364 _note_, 367

Canterbury, Archbishop of, his mission at Urumiah, 159

Caucasus, the, 103

Chaldeans, the, found the college at Edessa, 49;

character, 64, 122;

dress, 123, 156;

varied sects, 140;

adopt the tenets of Christianity, 142;

treaty with Muhammad, 149;

prosperity, 150;

number of bishoprics, 150;

persecutions, 151, 154, 157;

missionary campaign in Merv, 152;

in China, 152;

Mongolia, 153;

condition, 157;

attempts to regenerate the Church, 158;

the Archbishop’s mission, 159;

American mission, 159;

Creed, 161;

the Sacraments, 161;

orders of clergy, 162;

fasts and feasts, 162;

the new, 157

Charmelik, 43

“Charukhia,” the, 402

Chasemgara, bishopric of, 150 _note_

Chemchemal, 180, 332;

raids of the Hamavands, 288

Chengiz Khan, first Mongol Emperor, 152;

his tolerance towards the Chaldeans, 153

China, bishopric of, 150 _note_;

Chaldean missionaries in, 152

Christians, their character, 64, 141;

persecutions, 65, 151, 154;

dress, 66;

freedom from persecution at Mosul, 93;

condition of the Church, 147

Cigarettes, Kurdish, 52

Cluzel, Father, 160

Cochrane, Dr, 160

Constantinople, 1;

three quarters or districts, 2;

the Golden Horn, 2;

Galata quarter, 3;

population, 3;

climate, 12;

power of the Majlis, 194

Cook, T., 5, 17

Crassus, Marcus Lucius, 32, 48

Creagh, _Armenians, Koords, and Turks_, extract from, 368

Dailam, bishopric of, 150 _note_

Dalahu Mountain, 384

Damascus, 26

Dar el Sayeda, 158

Dara Shamana, 184

Darband-i-Bazian, 327, 329

Darius the Mede, 377

Darnes, Father, 160

Darsim, 369, 372, 374

Darvish, his mode of chanting, 326

Daud Khan, leader of the Kalhur tribe, 386

Daur or Dura, 360

“Dayaukku, House of,” 370

Demavend, 377

Derghezeen, 328

Diarbekr, 27, 57, 60–72;

population, 60, 63;

curious stones, 62;

history, 63;

gates, 63;

sects, 64;

conquest, 373

Div, the, 403

Doctor, a quack, 299–302

“Du,” or curds and whey, 168, 214

Duaisa, the Vazirs of, 218

Dukkan-i-Daud, 384

Ecbatana, or Hamadan, 370

Edessa or Urfa, 45;

history, 47–50;

college, 49;

transferred to Jund-i-Shapur, 144;

massacre of Armenians, 50

Edrisi, the minister, 373, 388

Elam, 110;

bishopric of, 150 _note_

Elie, Bishop of Jazira ibn Umar, 158

Ephesus, General Council at, 143

Erbil, 108, 113

Esarhaddon, 99, 110

Euphrates, the, 32, 34, 53;

crossing the, 38;

valley, 39

Fakhr Ul Mulk, Governor of Shushtar, 379

Fath Ali Shah, 218, 375, 378

Fez, result of wearing a, 6, 18, 114

Fitz Gerald, his translation of _Omar Khayyam_, 382

Fleas, number of, 215 _note_

Flies, number of, 133

Fraser, David, _The Short Cut to India_, 89 _note_, 191 _note_;

on the character of the Kurds, 394;

_Travels in Koordistan_, 400 _note_

Fravartish, 371

Gahwara, 382

Galata, tower of, 3;

population, 3;

drainage, 3

Gavar, 51

Gavarnai, the, 51, 157

Ghafur Agha, 196, 203, 314

Ghafur, his character, 295;

behaviour, 295

Ghazan Khan, 154

Ghazar river, 104

Ghulam Husain, 131, 204, 242, 251;

his confession of identity, 316–318;

profession of faith, 330

Ghulam Shah Khan, 218, 378

Godarz, 111

Golden Bridge at Altun Keupri, 114

Golden Horn, 2, 12

“Gordyene,” or “Kurdian,” 54;

the Invincible, 369

Gozan, 99

Greeks, their costume, 3

Gulambar, “The Amber Flower,” 213, 220;

Mudir of, 208

Gulchin, her character, 297, 299, 322;

sad history, 298

Guran tribe, 217, 224, 381;

dialect, 218 _note_, 382;

professors of the cult of Ali Iliahi, 382

Habib Badria, 205, 269, 276;

his appearance, 205;

appointed Mudir of Serajiq, 208

Habor river, 99

Hadra, 89

Hadrian, Emperor, 112

Haifa, 21

Haji Fattah, his office broken into, 314

Haji Vali, his journey in a kalak to Mosul, 67–88;

purchases, 68;

religious sentiments, 69;

dual personality, 70;

attack of rheumatism, 76;

passport, 85;

at Mosul, 88

Hakkari or Anti-Taurus, 371, 373;

tribe, 86, 102;

succession to the Khanate, 374 _note_;

dress, 400

Halabja or Alabja, 13, 213;

journey to, 210–215;

trade, 220;

gardens, 220;

bazaar, 220, 231

Halak, 99

Hama, 24

Hama, the servant, his appearance, 248;

wages, 249;

attacked and wounded, 256;

commercial transactions, 279, 294;

purchase of shoes, 280;

arrival with loads of “run,” 309;

denunciation of Shaikh ul Islam, 310;

loss of a load of “run,” 311, 320

Hama Ali, 274

Hama Beg, chief of the Hamavands, 176, 179

Hamadan (Ecbatana), 370

Hamavands, 44, 95, 119;

their dress, 98, 173;

protection against, 164;

raids, 164, 179–182, 287, 288;

custom at meeting, 172;

cleanliness, 173;

characteristics, 174;

claim Arab origin, 178;

dialect, 178;

attack on Turkish soldiers, 289;

on the Khan-i-Ajam, 291

Haoril or Haolir, 108 _note_

Harun al Rashid, Khalifa, 150, 361

Hasan Kaif, 79;

legend of, 79

Hasan Khan, Sultan of the Aorami, 379

Hasan, clerk or scribe to Tahir Beg, 236;

his flight to Halabja, 237;

falls in love, 237

Hasanabad, 377

Herat, bishopric of, 150 _note_

Herki of Oramar, Khan of, 395

Hierapolis, 36

Hittites, the, history, 34–37

Homs, 34

Hormuz, bishopric of, 150 _note_

Howley, Archbishop, 159

Hulagu Khan, 152;

his invasion, 153;

advance on Tekrit, 360

Hulvan, or Zuhab, bishopric of, 150 _note_

Hulwan, 221

Husain al Askari, 363

Ibn ul Athir, his birthplace, 86

Ibrahim Pasha, 27, 43, 185, 191

Imam Daur, 360

Indates, defeat of, 106

India, bishopric of, 150 _note_

Isfandabad, 377

Ishtar, the goddess, worship of, 35, 110;

temples, 35, 36;

ruins of the temple, 113

Islam, the creed of, 65;

revival, 154;

conversion to, 251

Isma’il Pasha, 185

Izates, the King of Adiabene, 107, 111

Izzat Pasha, 188;

exiled, 195

Jabal Hamrin Range, 356

Jackson, Prof. Williams, _Persia, Past and Present_, 376 _note_

Jaf tribe, 179, 379–381;

their dress, 98, 400;

encampments, 212;

coherency, 216;

history, 217–219, 223, 380;

number of people, 380

“Jamana” or coloured handkerchief, 402

Jawan Mir Khan, leader of the Hamavands, 179

Jazira or Jazira ibn Umar, 81, 373;

his history, 86

Jews, the, of Kirkuk, 123

Jinn, the, 403

Jonah, the prophet, theory on, 89–92

Juanru, 223, 377, 380

Julamark, 373;

patriarchate transferred to, 154

Jum’a, the Arab, 333

Jund-i-Shapur, medical college at, 144;

deprived of its rights, 151

Kalah, 89, 99

Kalak, or raft of skins and poles, 66;

construction, 72;

cargo, 73;

passengers, 73;

crew, 73;

mode of eating on board, 75;

effect of stormy weather, 75–78, 80;

change of crew, 81;

cast on a rock, 87

Kalhur tribe, 382, 386;

origin, 386

Kandil Dagh, 336

Kandula tribe, 377 _note_

Karaja, 53

Karkhemish, 26, 32, 37

Kashgar, bishopric of, 150 _note_

Kasshu tribe, 370

Kauther brook, 99, 100

“Kawa” or long coat, 402

Kawad (Sasaman), the Persian leader, 63, 144

Kazemain, 364

Keraite tribe, 152

Kermānjī or Zaza tribes, 11

Kermanshah, 317, 372

Keui Sanjaq, 95

Keuwi Lash, or The Mountain of a Body, 102 _note_

Khabur, 99

Khan Baligh, bishopric of, 150 _note_

Khaniqin, 211, 294

Khanum, Lady Adela, of Halabja, 215;

her marriage, 219, 225, 380;

position, 219, 398;

appearance, 226;

dress, 226;

debts, 232;

reception, 233–236;

sons, 263;

defence of Ghulam Husain, 310

Kharput, 369, 372

Khayyam, Omar, his birthplace, 115

Khorsabad (Dar Sharrukin), 89, 99

Khosrova, mission at, 160

Khosru Khan, 377, 378

Khusrava, 51

“Khwolmur” “The Dead Land,” 213 _note_

Kileh Shergat, 98

Kirkuk, 109, 119, 164, 338;

population, 120, 124;

police, 120;

architecture, 120;

honesty and goodwill of the people, 121;

the Chaldeans, 122;

Jews, 123;

the Faili Lurs, 124;

the Persian Consul, 124–127;

climate, 133, 344;

flies, 133;

scarcity of water, 134;

price of vegetables, 138

Koyunjik, 99

Kuchuk Sulaiman Pasha of Bagdad, 329

Kufa, bishopric founded at, 150

Kurdistan, 164, 317, 372, 376

Kurdistan Mountains, 53, 54, 104, 118

Kurds, 3;

use of the “kursi,” 13;

hospitality, 40;

characteristics, 41, 55, 392–396, 398;

their form of cigarettes, 52;

derivation of the word, 54;

dress, 60, 399–402;

levity, 131;

freedom of the women, 168, 268, 396;

power of endurance, 177;

result of free intercourse between the sexes, 237, 397, 398;

repugnance to the system of government by representation, 239;

origin and history, 367;

legends, 368;

language, 369, 387;

tribes, 372, 406;

the Hakkari, 373;

the Zaza, 374;

the Mukri, 375;

the Beni Ardalan, 376–379;

the Jaf, 379–381;

the Guran, 381;

the Kalhur, 386;

dialects, 387;

literature, 388;

eminent men, 388;

poets, 389;

songs and poems, 390–392;

feudal spirit, 393;

faithfulness, 395;

violent temper, 395;

ignorance, 396;

appearance, 398;

costume of the women, 401;

belief in fairies, 402;

sub-tribes, 406

“Kursi,” meaning of the term, 13

Lahijan, 387

Lash, or the place of a body, 102

Layard, Sir H., _Nineveh_, 49 _note_, 100 _note_, 141, 150 _note_,

152 _note_, 153 _note_, 155 _note_, 161 _note_, 397 _note_, 399

_note_

Lazarists, French, their mission at Salmas, 160

Lettuces, price of, at Kirkuk, 138

Levantines, 3;

mode of eating, 4

Luristan, 381

Lutf Ali Khan Zend, 378

Lycus, the, 106

Mahmud Pasha, 217, 224, 380

Mahmud Pasha Jaf, his encampment, 215

Majid Beg, 215, 223;

his appearance, 233

Makha, the Jew, 279

Malabar, the Christians of St John of, 150 _note_

Ma’mum, Khalifa, 150

Mamuret ul Aziz, 38, 47

Mandali besieged by Hamavands, 179

Mansur, a native of Sina, 229, 265;

his room at Halabja, 230

Manubaz, King of Adiabene, 112

Mar Elias, patriarch of Al Qush, 155

Mar Shimun, patriarch at Julamark, 155

“Marhabba,” custom of, 116

Marwan, Abdullah ibn, defeated, 107

Masius, 53

Matti Tuma, 203, 269;

his office at Sulaimania, 204;

mode of living, 281, 283;

his grief at the murder of Mustafa Beg, 314;

wish to know the identity of Ghulam Husain, 316–319

Mazdak, sect of, doctrines, 145;

persecuted, 146;

execution, 146

Mazyar, the rebel, 363

Mecca, pilgrims returning from, 23, 45, 51, 67

Medes, the, 55, 370, 398

Media, 369

Meherdates, a Parthian prince, 48;

at Jazira, 86;

defeated, 111

Membich, 32, 36

Merivan, 239, 377, 378

Merv, bishopric of, 150 _note_;

missionary campaign in, 152

Mesopotamia, 47

Milli Kurds, 40, 42, 372

Millingen, _Wild Life among the Koords_, 397 _note_

Mirza Hasan Khan, 6

Mithridates conquers Adiabene, 111

Mitylene, 18

Mongols, their treatment of the Chaldeans, 153;

cruelty, 154 _note_

Mosul, 27, 89, 92;

trade, 93;

language, 93;

squalid condition, 93;

feud with Sulaimania, 94;

result of the Valis’ visit of investigation, 193;

amount of his bribe, 194

Muan tribe, 214

Muhammad Ali Beg, 224

Muhammad Ali Mirza, his invasion of Shahr-i-Zur, 222

Muhammad Ali Shah, 7, 10;

eulogium on, 126

Muhammad Husain Isfahani, Zaka ul Mulk, 386

Muhammad Mustafa, “The Prophet,” his birth, 147;

compiles the Quran, 147, 149;

his treatment of the Chaldeans, 149

Muhammad Pasha, 371;

character of his rule, 372;

murdered by the Turks, 372

Muhammad “as Saghir,” 363

Mukri tribe, their dialect, 375, 376, 387;

song, 392;

dress, 399, 401

Mules, mode of loading, 167

Mulla Ahmad, 184

Muradi tribe, 223

Musafiru’ Zahid, 102

Mustafa Beg, 208, 283, 292;

his mode of life at Sulaimania, 196, 209, 275;

various appointments, 206, 312;

his avariciousness, 275;

purchases, 275;

murdered, 313–315;

his last words, 313;

interment, 319

Mu’tamid, Khalifa, 361

Mu’tamed ud Douleh, 218, 379

Mu’tasim, Khalifa of Bagdad, 361;

his fanatical nature, 362

Mutawakkil, accession of, 363

Muzaffar ud Dim Shah, 10

Naaman, Kas Jacob, Archbishop of Bagdad, 157

Nadir Shah, 375

Nairi, the lands of, 47, 54, 368

Nali, his poems, 389

Namiq Pasha, 185

Nasir ud Din, Shah of Persia, 218, 378

Nebi Yunis, “The Prophet Jonah,” shrine of, 89, 99, 100

Neo-Syriacor Aramaic language, 52

Nestorians, the new sect, 143;

Church, 144;

character of the doctrines, 148

Nestorius, Patriarch of Constantinople, 143;

his doctrines, 144

Nicolai founds the village of Khusrava, 51

Nimrud or Kalah, ruins of, 99

Nineveh, 86, 89, 99;

battle of, 111

Niphates, Mount, 53, 54, 369

Nishapur, 115

Nisibis, bishopric of, 150 _note_

Nurullah Bey, 156

Nushirvan, the Just, Shah of Persia, 145;

his relations with the Christians, 145;

persecution of the Mazdaks, 145, 146;

death, 147

Osman Pasha, 156

Osrhœne, 47

Panjwin, 223, 239

Parthia, 32, 48

Parthians, the, 360 _note_

Passport, procuring a, 16;

police enquiries, 292, 302–307

Pera, 2, 4;

Palace Hotel, 5

Peri, the, 403

Persia, first Constitution granted, 10;

condition of roads, 44;

bishopric of, 150 _note_;

invasion, 160

Persians, their attitude towards the inauguration of the Turkish

Parliament, 8;

treatment at Rayak, 23;

dual personality, 70;

language, 115, 387;

doggerel, 117;

treatment of Chaldeans, 143, 146

Pir or saint, origin of, 402

Pir-i-Mugurun Mountain, 169, 336

Piruz, her house, 268

Piruza, 237

Pishdr, 184

Prester John, Khan of Tartary, 152

“Pushin,” the, 402

Pushtamala section, 223;

sub-tribes, 224

“Qaba,” or short tunic, 401

Qadir, Shaikh, 187, 192, 195

Qajar tribe, 378

Qalà-i-Chwalan or Qara Chulan, 184

Qara Chulan, 184

Qarakorum, 152

Qasr-i-Shirin, 179, 221, 372;

Old Concession at, 396

Qizil Rubat, 217, 223, 224

“Quffa,” or round bitumen-covered coracle, 365

Quietus, Lucius, 48

Quran, mode of compiling the, 147, 149

Quria, 348

Ragozin, Prof., _Assyria_, 91 _note_, 107 _note_, 110 _note_, 369, 370

“Rashaba,” or north-east wind, 272, 319

Rashid, the muleteer, 97, 132, 136

Rasul Ahmad, 266

Rasul Haji, 126, 128;

his cats, 129;

wanderings, 130;

characteristics, 130;

fanaticism, 130;

meditations, 131

Rasul Qawl, 80 _note_

Rawanduz, 118, 373

Rawlinson, _Parthia_, 32 _note_

Rayak, 22

Reza, Shaikh, 134;

his fanaticism, 135

Rhodes, 18

Rich, J. C., _Travels in Kurdistan_, 328, 329;

_Residence in Kurdistan_, 400

Roman Catholics, 153;

their persecution of the Chaldeans, 155;

unscrupulousness, 155;

result of the Bull of Papal Infallibility, 157;

clauses, 158

Ronkus, Thomas, 157

“Run” or clarified butter, 253;

mode of transporting, 265;

theft of a load, 311, 320

Rustam, the Persian hero, 377

Sabbah, Hasan, 49

_Saghalien_, the, 17

Sagirma, 176

Sa’id, Shaikh, his system of administration at Sulaimania, 187–191;

tyranny, 189;

relations with the Hamavands, 190;

murdered, 192

S’airt, massacre of Chaldeans at, 157

Saladin, 376, 388

Salim, Khaja, 338

Salmas, 52;

French Lazarists at, 160

“Salta” or zouave jacket, 401

Samarqand, bishopric of, 150 _note_

Samarra, “Surra-man-ra,” 150, 361;

history, 361–364

Saqiz, 377

“Sardari,” or plaited frock-coat, 401

Sasan, 221

Sauch Bulaq, 375, 387

Sauj Bulaq, 116

Sayce, Prof. E. G., his researches into the history of the Hittites,

34, 36

Sayyid Nuri, 299;

at Sulaimania, 284;

his appearance, 284;

inquisitiveness, 285;

use of a pistol, 285;

miserable existence, 286;

at Kirkuk, 345

Sayyid Rustam, head of the sect Ali Illahi, 383 _note_

Scorpion bites, remedy for, 61

Se-gan-fu, tablet at, 152

Senjabi tribe, 386

Sennacherib, King, 99, 110, 370

Serajiq, Mudir of, 208

Sert, 51

Severik, 53

Severus, Emperor, 49;

his invasion of Adiabene, 112

Shah Abbas, 375

Shahr-i-Bazar, 220;

meaning of the name, 221

Shahr-i-Zur or Sharizur, 186, 220, 254;

plain of, 212;

meaning of the name, 221;

population, 221;

dialect, 222

Shaikh Ali, the Yezidi saint, 102

Shaikh ul Islam, 11, 250;

interviews with, 12–14;

his visits to Halabja, 252, 264;

at Biara, 252;

reception of Ghulam Husain, 257–263;

denunciation of him, 309

“Shaitan Baizi,” meaning of the term, 97

Shaits, the, 403

Shalmaneser I. founds Kalah, 99 _note_

Shalmaneser II., 370

_Sharaf Nama_, or history of the Kurds, 389

Sharaf ud Din Bey, Hakkari of Bitlis, his history of the Kurds, 389

Sharafbaiani Kurds, 181

Sharif Bey, 374

Shefiq Effendi, 132, 163, 165, 171

Shi’a, mode of praying, 301

Shiraz, 251, 302, 387

Shiz, 376

Shuan Kurds, meaning of the term, 165;

villages, 167, 169

_Shulwars_, 400

Siazurus, 214 _note_

Sina, 378;

Chaldeans of, 160;

art and literature, 218;

antiquity, 376

Sinjar range, 86, 103

Sirwan River, 181

Sistan, bishopric of, 150 _note_

Stamboul, 2, 5, 238;

the Great Bazaar, 5

Suez Canal, result of the opening, 27

Sulaiman Pasha of Bagdad, 185

Sulaimania, feud with Mosul, 94;

costume of the people, 97, 200, 400, 402;

journey to, 163–183;

situation, 183, 184;

history, 184;

population, 185;

tyranny of the Shaikhs, 186–191;

trade, 188, 195;

revolt, 189;

result of the murder of Shaikh Sa’id, 192;

the Vali of Mosul’s visit of investigation, 193;

system of currency, 197;

customs, 198;

the habit of “Aiba bokum,” 199;

dislike of innovations, 199;

suspicion of strangers, 200–203;

pleasantry, 203;

Persian architecture, 210;

return to, 267;

method of buying and selling, 273;

Military School, 277;

attacks of Hamavands, 287, 291;

departure from, 323;

poets, 389

Sunni, their mode of praying, 301

Surchina, plain, 182;

valley, 193, 326

Susa, 49

Suverek, 55

Syria, bishopric of, 150 _note_

Syrians or Christian Arabs, 64

Tabaristan, bishopric of, 150 _note_

Tahir Beg, 215, 223;

his literary skill, 228;

appearance and dress, 228;

his clerk or scribe, 236;

views on the Balkan and Cretan questions, 238

Takht-i-Sulaiman, 376

Tanguth, bishopric of, 150 _note_

Tarshish, 90

Tartary, the Chaldean Bishop of, 152

Taurus Mountains, 37

Tekrit, 358;

history, 359

Tel Kaif, 158

Teumman, King, 110

Tiglath-Pileser I., 54, 98, 107

Tigran I., the Parthic-Armenian king, 63, 111

Tigran V., King of Armenia, 112

Tigris, the, 34, 78, 98, 106, 118, 356, 373;

derivation of the name, 54;

the plain, 337

Tikrit, 90

Timur-i-Lang (Tamerlane), his massacre of Christians, 154;

conquest of Diarbekr, 373

Trajan, Emperor, 48, 86, 112

Tripoli, 21, 320;

Hamavands deported to, 179

Turkey, inauguration of Parliament, 8;

lawlessness, 9;

condition of roads, 44, 55;

custom of “Marhabba,” 116;

constitution proclaimed, 190;

views on the Parliament, 239

Turko-Egyptian war, 27

Turkomans, their characteristics, 116;

language, 117

Turks, their inquisitiveness, 11

Umar, the muleteer, 345, 349, 353

Urfa or Edessa, 45, 52;

population, 47

Urumia, Lake, 375, 387

Urumiah, 156;

missions at, 159, 160

Uthman, Amir Qara, governor of Hakkari, 373

Uthman, Haji, 352

Uthman, Pasha, governor of Halabja, 206, 217, 224;

his dress, 207;

appearance, 207;

his wife, Lady Adela, 208, 219, 225, 380;

return to Halabja, 263;

death, 380

Uvakshatara, 371

Van, Lake, 51, 368, 373

Vologases I., 107, 112

Vologases V., 49

Willocks, Sir William, his investigation of waterways in the

Euphrates valley, 83 _note_

Xenophon, 371

Yazdigird III., 145 _note_, 147

Yezidis or “Devil-Worshippers,” 100, 383;

religious views, 100;

origin of the name, 101;

customs, 102;

the saint Shaikh Adi, 102;

ranks of the priesthood, 103;

persecutions, 103;

poverty, 103

Yizdijird I., King of Persia, 142, 143

Yusif, Odo, Patriarch, his secession, 158

Zab River, the Greater, 98, 104,106, 368, 373;

battle at, 106;

the Lower, 106, 113, 169, 351, 356;

battles of, 107, 149;

valley, 170, 172

Zagros Mountain, 94, 106, 108, 118, 166, 170, 369

Zailan, 104

Zain ul Abidin Palangani, his poems, 391

Zainu’l Abidin Shirvani, Haji “Bustanu’s Siaha,” extract from, 92

Zarda, 384

Zaza tribe, 374;

their dialect and character, 374

Zeno, the Isaurian, 49, 144

Zoroaster, the prophet, 376, 388

Zuwayid bin Sawda, 92

PRINTED BY

OLIVER AND BOYD

EDINBURGH

Transcriber’s Notes

Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a

predominant preference was found in the original book; otherwise they

were not changed.

Simple typographical errors were corrected; unbalanced quotation

marks were remedied when the change was obvious, and otherwise left

unbalanced.

Illustrations in this eBook have been positioned between paragraphs

and outside quotations. In versions of this eBook that support

hyperlinks, the page references in the List of Illustrations lead to

the corresponding illustrations.

Odd-page running page headers are shown here as Sidenotes. They have

been placed between paragraphs near the tops of the pages on which they

occurred.

Footnotes, originally at the bottoms of pages, have been collected,

sequentially renumbered, and placed at the ends of the chapters in which

they occur.

The index was not checked for proper alphabetization or correct page

references.

Footnote 40, originally on page 150: Bishop 23 is missing.

Page 166: “handerchiefs” was printed that way.

Page 360: “This was in the first half of the 9th century” probably is

incorrect: the people mentioned in this paragraph lived in the the 13th

Century, and the battle occurred in the middle of the 13th Century.

Page 379: “the Qajar princess” perhaps should be “princes”.