184 , EEPORT— 1889. 



expands it to a thin oval sheet, the thickness of paper ; this she deposits 

 on a very dirty pillow, one end of which is open to let in her hand ; and thus 

 poised she dashes it against the heated side of the tanure, and when 

 baked lo her satisfaction she removes it with two sticks. 



The village of Sinjate is one vast expanse of mud-roofs, over which we 

 could wander from end to end. The inhabitants were very civil in show- 

 ing us their houses, and the women always greeted us as we passed by 

 holding up their hands. 



Just below Sinjate we joined a stream, which is the source of the 

 Checkatoo, a considerable river flowing into the southern end of Lake 

 Urmia, and after a few hours' ride along its banks we reached Sainkalla, 

 a large village around a mud fort on a hill ; this place acts as a sort of 

 capital for the Afshah tribes, who frequent the neighbouring mountains, and 

 here Haidar Khan holds his court during half the year, but unfortunately 

 he was absent just then ; however, we were comfortably lodged in his 

 house and took the opportunity of resting for two days after our tedious 

 journey through the mountains. Sainkalla boasts of a little bazaar, 

 where we were able to obtain several much-needed commodities, but it 

 is a most desolate spot, having been entirely ruined during the invasion 

 of the Kourds a few yeai-s ago under Sheik Albidowleh ; the wild tribes 

 under his leadership overran most of this district and did irreparable 

 harm. Siaukalla from its position is a place of strategical importance, 

 inasmuch as it commands the entrance into Eastern Kourdestan, by the 

 way of the source of the Checkatoo down which we had come. 



After leaving Sainkalla at the distance of a few miles we came across 

 a very interesting place and an interesting tribe. This is Mahmond- Jute, 

 where Norooz Khan, the head of the Chehar-dowleh tribe lives in almost 

 regal state. 



The Chehar-dowleh is a small tribe, but has a great reputation for 

 bravery ; originally they came from the south of Persia but were trans- 

 planted to the neighbourhood of Kasvin by Fattiali Shah, the grandfather 

 of the present sovereign; Mahmoud Shah, Nasr-ed-din's father, again 

 transplanted them to the banks of the Checkatoo, and here they have 

 flourished exceedingly. 



Norooz Khan, their chief, was the only one in this neighbourhood 

 who succeeded in keeping back the Kourds from his district, consequently 

 his castle and village of Mahmoud-Jute was the only one we passed 

 through in this district which did not show traces of the ravages of war. 

 Here he lives, and may almost be said to be an independent sovereign, for 

 though he wears the uniform of a Persian general yet he refuses to pay 

 any taxes, refuses to go to Teheran, and exercises regal authority over 

 his small kingdom. He received us graciously in his large palace, with 

 a lovely reception-room or talya with a view over the rich valley of the 

 Checkatoo and Kourdish mountains. Around the palace, which covers 

 two acres or more with its buildings and gardens, runs a mud wall with 

 innumerable bastions, on tlie top of each of which a stork has built its 

 nest, as also they have done on every available vantage ground, so that 

 the whole place is alive with these sacred birds — a sure sign of peace and 

 prosperity. 



Norooz Khan told us much about his tribe ; he owns, he said, 2,000 

 houses, and he has about 5,000 reyet or dependents; his territory stretches 

 from Sainkalla to Mianduwab, and his subjects are chiefly sedentary and 

 engaged in tilling the fertile valley of the Checkatoo ; though there are 



