648 The Eight Hon. Earl Percy [May 17, 



villagers, and, having no source of income beyond the small fees paid 

 for marriages and burials, its members devote themselves, like the 

 rest of the population, to manual labour. Both priests and deacons 

 have been allowed to marry since the close of the fifth century, and 

 are usually called to the ministry at the age of 17 or 18. In con- 

 ducting the service the priest reads the collects while the deacon 

 reads the litany, and neither the Sacrament of the Eucharist nor of 

 Baptism can be administered without the co-operation of the two 

 orders, although if a deacon cannot be found, a second priest may, 

 in case of necessity, act in a diaconal capacity. 



Besides the clergy each village has its own headman or Malek, 

 appointed by the Catholicos, and they collect the annual tribute, 

 which is paid by him to the Turkish Government. The privilege of 

 paying tribute, instead of the ordinary taxes, is enjoyed by all the 

 mountain tribes or Ashirets, and distinguishes them from the Rayats 

 of the plain, who stand in the same position as the Turkish or 

 Armenian peasant, pay the sheep tax and the military exemption tax, 

 and are much more exposed to official rapacity and Kurdish raids. 

 The hill tribesman rarely comes in contact with any government 

 official. When he does so it is because the tribute has been withheld, 

 or because intervention is necessary to punish some glaring outrage, 

 or to settle disputes between the Kurds and Christians, who are per- 

 petually raiding and massacring one another. There is not very 

 much to choose between the two, and when quarrels arise between 

 the various Christian Ashirets they have little scruple in calling in 

 their Mussulman neighbours to help them. 



Up to the middle of last century, as I have said, Hakkiari, like 

 the rest of the country, was governed by great Kurdish chiefs who 

 protected their own clients and robbed everyone else, so that it was 

 to the interest of the Christian tribes (who were not then recognised 

 as a corporate body by the Turkish Government) to range themselves 

 in what were called Bazikki or " wings," under the patronage of one 

 or other of these over-lords. Generally speaking, the Christians of 

 the main valley of the Zab formed one league with the Kurds of 

 Artousha to the west of the river, while those on the east allied 

 themselves with the neighbouring tribes of Oramar and Apenshai. 



There appears to have been a curious parallelism at this epoch 

 between the tribal organisation of the Moslems and Christians ; for 

 the predecessors of Nurulla Beg, the Kurdish Mira of Hakkiari, 

 although hereditary chieftains in the sense that they belonged to one 

 family, depended for election to their office on the consent of their 

 own clansmen. They had no prejudice against the Christians as 

 such, and Dr. Radger believed that the dislike which culminated in 

 1830 in the murder of the German traveller, Schulz, was inspired 

 by fear lest the intrusion of the foreigner might be merely a precursor 

 of Turkish supremacy. Nurulla Beg himself allowed Dr. Grant, the 

 American missionary, to build an establishment in Ashitha. and for 

 centuries before his time the native Christians were not only tolerated 

 and protected, but even admitted to considerable privileges in common 



