1901.] on Turkish Kurdistan. 653 



and the muleteers to accompany me. From the Nestorian hamlet of 

 Zir, which stands at a level of about 7000 feet, a small burn flows 

 down through a beautiful wooded glen, gradually narrowing to a slit 

 between precipitous walls scarcely more than twenty yards apart. 

 After emerging from this defile you reach the banks of the Ishtazin 

 river and cross to the opposite side, which can only be done at low 

 water, as there is no bridge for the animals and the current is deep 

 and strong. The level of the stream at this point is only 3800 feet, 

 but the village of Oraniar stands 2000 feet higher, and above it to the 

 south-east rise two gigantic reddish-culoured cliffs with snow summits, 

 called the Jaita (the Slippery) and the Kalabiri Oroch, which are 

 probably higher than the Jelu peaks, although in making any 

 comparison the difference of at least 4000 feet in the elevation of 

 their respective bases must be taken into account. To the westward 

 the view is obstructed by the chaotic mass of pinnacled crags, 

 between which the river winds, and during the greater part of its 

 course till it joins the Zab the character of the scenery is much the 

 same as that which prevails in the northern reaches between Oramar 

 and Ishtazin. The Kurds, however, told me that further south the 

 hills decrease rapidly in size, and that very soon after passing the 

 main ridge of Oramar the country presents much the same aspect of 

 rolling, grassy downs, sprinkled with oak scrub, which marks the 

 districts between Neri and liowanduz. 



The Kurds whom I met at Oramar were not striking in appear- 

 ance. Most of them were tall, but thin and weakly looking, and 

 their houses, compared with those of the Christians, gave one an 

 impression of extreme squalor and poverty. In other j>arts of Asiatic 

 Turkey it is very rare to find the nomad Kurds inhabiting stone 

 villages at all. They are too lazy to build themselves, and being a 

 pastoral, not an agricultural people, simply move their tents from ono 

 grazing ground to another without even attempting to cultivate 

 the soil. 



Oramar itself is obviously a Nestorian village from which the 

 original owners have been expelled, and the church converted into a 

 mosque. The Kurds occupy it during the summer, and sow a few 

 acres to supply their immediate wants ; but during the winter they 

 migrate with their flocks and herds, like their neighbours, the Herki 

 and the Apenshai, to the plains of the Lesser Zab, raiding the settled 

 villages by the way. For this reason they have a bad name among 

 the peaceful section of the inhabitants, but the stories of their cruelty 

 and fanaticism have probably been grossly exaggerated. They rob, 

 — as indeed do the Christians, with far less excuse — but except where 

 resistance is offered, or in cases of blood feud, they do not generally 

 indulge in personal violence or insult women. Their own women go 

 unveiled, and in England would be considered decidedly forward in 

 their manners ; while the extent of their fanaticism may be judged 

 from the fact that they seriously discussed the advisability of putting 

 us up for the night in the mosque, and finally accommodated us with 

 the best quarters to be had in the sheikh's own house. Personally, I 



