182 KEPORT — 1889. 



to be under the immediate protection of their chief. They are all shep- 

 herds, and possess a fierce race of dogs to keep oflF the wolves. We had 

 an opportunity here of seeing how expert these people are in treating 

 mud, mixed with dung, and bringing it into use for most purposes. 

 Besides the kusks, or fuel domes, before alluded to, and on the top of 

 most of which storks had built their nests, called here Hadgi laclacs, 

 from the general idea that they always go to Mecca during the winter 

 season, they make beehives of the same material, long bai'rels, which are 

 stuck into the walls of houses, the inner end projecting into the apart- 

 ment, and stopped up with a cake of dung ; to take out the honey, the 

 owner makes a noise in his room, drives out the bees, I'emoves what 

 honey he wants, and claps on another cake of dung ; then, again, bowls 

 for household purposes are made of it — in fact, it supplies everywhere in 

 these parts the place of wood, which is exceedingly scarce in these tree- 

 less mountains. 



Their chief food is 'mast,' or curdled milk, and bread; on the tops of 

 the houses we noticed many roand white balls, which are made by press- 

 ing the curdled mast, mixing it with salt, and making a sort of very 

 coarse cheese ; the peasants in these villages eat little else. Outside the 

 village we found that in the graveyards the tombs are covered with slabs 

 made of the same mud and dung preparation. Most of the tombs are 

 empty, for the wolves of the neighbourhood seldom leave the bodies long 

 in the graves. 



A two days' ride from Paderlu brought us to the Kourdish village of 

 Gouaragatch, and for some time we found ourselves in quite a different 

 element. These Kourds are purely agricultural, and belong to the Jass 

 or race of wandering Kourds. Their women go about with uncovered 

 faces ; they are a fine, handsome race, dark hair, high complexion, and 

 large noses ; their faces are all tattooed, and their heads hung with all 

 sorts of ornaments, cowrie beads and savage jewellery. The women wear 

 large, baggy trousers, and heavy headdi-ess, and a loose red di-ess. We 

 were, with some difiiculty, able to obtain photographs of some groups. 

 The turban is the distinguishing feature of the male Kourd, no sheepskin 

 hat or red cap being worn by them ; the turban is made of chequered 

 silk, red, yellow, and blue, with gold and silver thread. A Kourdish 

 chief in travelling dress wears a light blue jacket, long flowing shirt- 

 cuffs, and magnificent things in the way of daggers. 



Everything here shows a tendency to superior art. Stone is intro- 

 duced into the construction of the houses, a relief after the many mud 

 villages we had passed through of the Afshah tribe. Red ornamentations 

 made with henna adorn the doors and windows, and the construction of 

 the compounds is interesting ; by a low wicker gate you enter a court- 

 yard, this gate bemg covered with dung cakes ; an outer covered shed 

 contains the tripod for hanging the skin on for making ' mast,' and the 

 blacksmith's bellows, with double funnel, ornamented at the top and at 

 the bottom, having feet formed like birds with beaks ; the family rooms 

 open into this shed ; they are only lighted from the roof, and full of 

 smoke, and have great store cupboards for grain, also made of dung 

 and mud, and ornamented with rosettes and other patterns. There are 

 many and elegantly-shaped waterpots, made of a clay found close to the 

 village, where we found the women busily engaged in digging ; any 

 number of quaint-shaped copper utensils for boiling milk stood around a 

 cauldron, and several dark, handsome women, with two dark tufts of hair 



