ON THE NOMAD TRIBES OF ASIA MINOR. 183 



on either side of their faces and wearing round fezes bound to the head 

 by red handkerchiefs, with noses pierced for silver solitaires, were busily 

 engapjed in preparing the evening meal. 



The home-coming of the flocks at evening was interesting. At a given 

 spot outside the village crowds of women and children were assembled at 

 the hour appointed, and when the bleating was heard, each one rushed 

 forward to seize his own, wildly screaming, and creating a perfect pande- 

 monium of noises. Children of five were left in charge of two or three 

 kids as large as tliemselves, for the Kourd begins early to make himself 

 useful. The Kourds are nearly all Sonnee, and we were shown the 

 village mosque and bath — a thing unknown in the districts of the Shiah 

 faith. 



On the following day we rode over a mountain- pass, with rich moor- 

 land scenery, amongst the mountains of Kourdestan, with acres of fennel 

 growing where in England we should find bracken ; a dervish is seated at 

 the highest point begging alms, for many pilgrims pass over this road 

 on their way to Kerbela. The ground gradually descends towards the 

 level of lake Urmia, and we begin to pass encampments of nomads on 

 their way to their summer quai'ters, the poorest of them being armed 

 with guns and daggers, for this part of Kourdestan on the border of 

 Azebeijan is exceedingly dangerous, and the scene of frequent feuds ; 

 blood-tieuds are perpetual, which end in the extirpation of whole families, 

 and there is no Government here to keep them in check. The tents of 

 the nomads are black, of thick goat's hair, with tufts at the top, the walls 

 are of matting, to allow of a current of air during the summer heats, be- 

 fore the tents boil cauldrons of milk, and there is always the tripod for 

 making mast by vigorously shaking a skin suspended from the centre. 

 As they travel their cavalcades are most amusing to watch — on one cow 

 is strapped its lately born calf, another cow carries two or three kids, and 

 perhaps the mother goat, who has just been confined, other cows carry 

 the tents and poles, with men perched on the top : the donkey is laden 

 with the household utensils, on the top of which are tied the cocks and hens. 

 The women generally walk, and the young and active go before with 

 the flocks ; thus they march day after day till their summer quarters 

 are reached, up in the vast mountain range of Seehend. 



We arrived in the afternoon at another Kourdish village called Sin- 

 jate, favourably situated in a gorge, and surrounded by many Sinjate 

 trees, from which presumably comes its name. The Sinjate or jujube 

 tree is a common one in most of these villages ; it resembles the olive in 

 foliage, and its date-like fruit is a common means of sustenance amongst 

 the inhabitants ; it is sweet but very woolly and disagreeable to eat. 



Here, again, many amusing scenes of Kourdish life were brought before 

 our notice in our compound. We entered one room and found several 

 women seated on their haunches around the heated tanure or oven, made 

 of a large earthenware jar and stuck in the ground ; it is heated with 

 brushwood and connected by a flue with the outer air. At Sinjate the 

 women wore an immense number of cowrie beads, their caps and aprons 

 being trimmed with them, and even bracelets made of them. They were 

 busy making bread after the following fashion : — One woman makes the 

 dough into balls, the size of her fist, this she beats with her hand into 

 flat cakes, about a \ inch thick and 10 inches across. This she hands to 

 the chief bakeress, who presides over the ianure, and who, by some 

 mysterious legerdemain, merely by throwing the cake from hand to hand, 



