1901.] on Turkish Kurdistan. 649 



with their Mussulman allies. This may possibly be explained by 

 the fact that when Malek Sambo, the Kurd, first obtained his hold over 

 Hakkiari in the eighth century, he did so by the help of the Christians 

 of the fortress of Diz. At all eveuts they were exempted from tribute 

 as well as from the haratch or j)oll-tax which was levied in the rayat 

 districts, and on condition that they supplied an armed contingent 

 for the purposes of common defence they were allowed to share in 

 the councils of the tribe, and even to assist in the election of the 

 chief (himself a nominal tributary of tho Turkish Government). In 

 cases where a dispute arose between a Kurd and a Christian, it was 

 brought originally before a Court in which the Patriarch and the 

 Mira sat together, and when later the two Courts were separated, the 

 litigants were allowed to choose the tribunal they preferred. On the 

 whole the system worked fairly well, but it was manifestly open to 

 great abuses, and after the massacres in 1847, the abolition of the 

 Mira's authority was followed by the introduction of a regular system 

 of government. Hakkiari was constituted a separate province or 

 vilayet, with a vali or governor at Bashkala and a subordinate official 

 or kaimakam at Julamerk. As, however, both these dignitaries, as well 

 as the members of their Councils, were Kurds (with the exception of 

 two Christians on the Medjliss at Bashkala), and as the Kurds man- 

 aged during the Russo-Turkish war to arm themselves with modern 

 rifles, the new plan proved to have all the disadvantages and none of 

 the advantages of the old one. Consequently, in 1888, Hakkiari was 

 incorporated with the province of Van, where the English Consul 

 now resides at the capital in constant communication with the Vali, 

 while his subordinate at .Julamerk is no longer a Kurd, although, 

 like all minor officials in out-of-the-way places, he is generally 

 meddlesome, obstinate and obstructive to travellers. 



Having said thus much of the history and main characteristics of 

 the inhabitants, I propose to deal briefly with the geographical features 

 and scenery of the country, and the ordinary life of the people. 



Kochanes, the seat of the Catholicos, is a tiny village situated on 

 a green tableland, between six and seven thousand feet above the sea. 

 To the west and south it is overhung by lofty peaks (on the summit 

 of which M. Binder found traces of what he conceived to be a petri- 

 fied forest), while on the remaining two sides it descends abruptly 

 to the level of two small torrents which unite here on their way to 

 join the Greater Zab. The Patriarch's house is built on the very 

 verge of one of these precipices : a large stone structure with rooms 

 comfortably furnished in the Persian style, and supplied with the 

 luxuries, not often met with in these parts, of wooden floors and 

 carpeted divans. Here he spends his time, partly in religious 

 exercises which occupy most of his morning, and partly in deciding 

 the quarrels of his subjects, and the difficulties which arise from time 

 to time with the Turkish authorities at Van and Julamerk. His 

 unmarried sister, Asiah, keeps house for him, and is rarely visible 

 outside the kitchen ; while his brother's children, Benjamin the 

 Patriarch designate, and Surma, who surreptitiously took the veil 



