68 HOEJIUZD RASSAM, ESQ., ON BIBLICAL LANDS, THEIR 



The Cooi'cls of wliose terrible acts avb have heard so 

 much Litely, and of whose infamous deeds the Christian 

 world has been convulsed, are descendants of the Medians 

 and Persians, and there is no doubt that their origin and 

 that of the Armenians come from the same source, namely, 

 the " Arians," and what Professor Max Miiller most probably 

 would call Indo-Germanic. They all profess Islamism of 

 the Soonee sect, and not like the Persians, who are Sheeas. 

 They consist of nomad and rural, but both are most strict in 

 conforming to the tenets of their religion, especially in the 

 matter of intoxicating drinks. They are most honest, 

 hospitable, and brave, and I always found them generous, 

 polite, and easy to deal with, but when anything happens 

 to wound their sensibility in matters of religion or honour, 

 they become fanatical and unmanageable. They always 

 believed the word of an Englishman and American, whom 

 they consider to be alike, more than a Turk or any European ; 

 but they always distrusted the Armenians. The nomad 

 Coords are always on the move with their flocks, and 

 support themselves by selling the produce of their pasturage, 

 mostly cheese and butter, and when they are in want, they 

 help themselves to their neighbours' property. Many of 

 their chiefs can muster ten or twenty thousand horsemen, 

 who are always ready to obey their command when they aie 

 wanted. The rustic Coords have a hard task to face, 

 because very often their crops fail, their animals die, and 

 sometimes they have scarcely anything to live upon, and 

 withal their rulers insist upon the payment of every para 

 (farthing) of the imposed taxes. In all my travels I never 

 saw any Christian village in the same condition as those of 

 the poverty-stricken Arab or Coordish villages, especially in 

 the time of war, when the conscription is forced, and few 

 able-bodied men are left to till the soil, or to take in the 

 harvest. Of course, generally speaking, the great fault 

 lies with the Arabs and Coords, Avho are not as thrifty and 

 industrious as the Christian peasants, because I suppose they 

 often depend upon mulcting their Nazarene* neighbours. 



I believe the Coords have a good deal of Israelitish blood 

 in them, as also the Armenians, especially the latter, from 



otliei's have been frozen to death. The towns and villages are desolated, 

 everywhere you see blood, everywhere you hear the groans of the dying, 

 the shouts of the victors, and the sobs and tears of the vanquished." — 

 Reviev) of Reviews^ December 14th, 1895. 

 * All the Christians in Mohammedan countries are called by this name. 



