574. TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION E. 
state of their beds, e.g., Wadi Abu Hamamid, Rod el Moghalat ; and more especially 
Wadi Hendosa and Wadi Abu Tiur, which have the same source. 
4. Arabie geographical terms, such as Gebel, Wadi, Rod, Kob, Talla, Khor, 
Sowahil, Dahariah, Ghradir, Galt, Bir. 
5. The history of the region, with special reference to (a) the Nubian Sand- 
stone escarpment; (b) the age of the drainage system; (c) indications of a former 
pluvial period ; (d) high-level gravels and alluvium ; (¢) the wide distribution of 
celts. 
5. The Kurdish Tribes of Asiatic Turkey. By Mark Sykes. 
From Uruma, in Persia, to Angora, in Asia Minor, there is scattered a nation 
or a group of people who have suffered considerable neglect at the hands of 
history and science alike. These are the Kurds—nomadic, semi-nomadic, and 
sedentary. Except that they are credited with a multitude of imaginary vices 
and are looked on as ignorant savages, they receive but little attention from the 
people either of Asia or of Europe. Fortune has enabled the author to make 
certain investigations concerning these people, among whom he finds such startling 
variety in physique, dress, and custom that he is unable to generalise on their 
characteristics, save in a very diffident manner. He has distinguished and marked 
on the map about 323 tribes and sub-tribes, which at a venture may be said to 
contain a population of close on 2,000,009. 
It is very difficult to say how the Kurds should be classified. As regards 
religion, there are to be found among them Sunni Moslems, Shias, Devil- 
worshippers, Pagans, and Christians. As to language, they are split up into a 
variety of dialects which are said to form two broad divisions, called respectively 
Zaza and Kermanji. In regard to appearance and physique there are, again, the 
most unexpected and astounding contrasts: small, wiry, agile mountaineers in 
Hakkiari; tall, slim horsemen in Irak; big-boned, heavily built, hook-nosed, and 
clumsy men north of Lake Van; stcut, full-bearded men with regular features in 
North Mesopotamia; fair-haired and ruddy-complexioned men north and west of 
Erzinjian; and straight-featured, exceedingly handsome men in Kochkiri. 
In respect of civilisation and mode of life we again find surprising contrasts. 
In Irak the Kurds are generally shepherds, but in the northern mountains south 
of Lake Van they are industrious agriculturists, some of whom build fine houses 
and castles. North of Lake Van they are idle; in the Dersim they are more than 
industrious; in Mesopotamia they are wholly nomads; in the western Taurus 
they are often degraded and poverty-stricken ; in the valley of Erzinjian they are 
capable and wealthy agriculturists. 
Consequently the author is unable to advance any theory, and ventures only 
to bring forward a certain amount of information which the historian.and man of 
science may find useful in the future. 
MONDAY, AUGUST 5. 
The following Papers were read :— 
1. The Land’s End Peninsula: a Regional Survey. 
By A. W. ANDREWS. 
The Land’s End peninsula consists of a granite plateau, of which the higher 
part is from 400 to 800 feet in elevation and about eleven miles in length by four 
in width, extending in a south-westerly direction from St. Ives to the Land’s End. 
This largely consists of moorland covered with furze and heather, but almost 
entirely bare of trees, owing to its wind-swept character. The hills which rise 
from the plateau are generally undulating, and only here and there assume bold 
shapes, though they are crowned by masses of granite boulders many of which are 
not inferior in size to the tors on Dartmoor. 
