THE MOUNTAINEERS OF THE EUPHRATES 



143 



only very scanty crops from their sterile 

 mountain-sides and narrow valley bot- 

 toms. It was necessary to procure food 

 from more prosperous places. A few 

 l>egan to plunder their neighbors ; the 

 majority attempted to buy food in a 

 legitimate way. 



The government heard that a large 

 caravan loaded with grain which the 

 Kurds had purchased was on the way to 

 » Dersim. "Now," said the officials, "is 

 our chance to deal the Kurds a telling 

 l>low without danger to ourselves." 

 'Troops were ordered to seize the caravan. 

 When the Kurds heard that the grain on 

 which their wives and children must rely 

 for sustenance was lost to them, there 

 was a fierce uprising on all sides. The 

 •government ordered troops into the 

 mountains, but at first the soldiers would 

 not go. They were only half paid and 

 lialf clothed. Why should they risk their 

 lives in a wild region, where the enemy 

 "hid behind rocks high on the mountain- 

 sides and never gave .the invaders a 

 . chance to shoot them. Ultimately some 

 30,000 troops are said to have been sent 

 to the confines of Dersim. There was 

 more or less fighting, a number of men 

 were killed on both sides, and some of 

 the Kurdish leaders were imprisoned. 



The Kurds have been punished, but not 

 -conquered : they will probably remain 

 'quiet only until they become hungry once 

 more. Like those other scourges of Tur- 

 key, the Albanians in the Balkans and the 

 Arabs in the Syrian desert, they cannot 

 l>e made to keep the peace permanently 

 unless some economic change can be in- 

 troduced to prevent them from suffering 

 when their parched hillsides fail to fur- 

 nish an adequate supply of food. 



The southern part of the Armenian 

 plateau, where many of the most warlike 

 Kurds dwell, furnishes an admirable ex- 

 ample of the influence exerted upon man 

 l)y inhospitable mountains among which 

 lie fertile plains. The plateau is highly 

 diversified. Above its uneven surface 

 rise lofty ranges of limestone mountains 

 and scores of great volcanoes, such as 

 Nimrud and Sipan, near Take Van, so 

 recently extinct that hot springs still 



abound in the craters and elsewhere. Be- 

 low the general level of the plateau mag- 

 nificent canyons have been cut by the 

 Euphrates and Tigris rivers and their 

 tributaries, while broad basin-shaped de- 

 pressions are floored with smooth, fertile 

 plains. 



Originally the whole country was prob- 

 ably occupied by the Carduchi, the ances- 

 tors of the Kurds. Over two thousand 

 years ago, however, the Kurds gave way 

 before Armenian conquerors, who, in 

 turn, submitted to Turkish invaders in 

 more recent times. The result of these 

 invasions, on the one hand, and of the 

 diverse topography of the country on the 

 other, is seen today in the distribution 

 and character of the three races — Kurds, 

 Armenians, and Turks — who now occupy 

 the region of the upper Euphrates. The 

 Kurds, being the conquered race, hold the 

 mountains and some of the less accessible 

 valleys and basins. Like many races 

 which have been driven to the highlands 

 by strong invaders, they are now the ter- 

 ror of their conquerors. 



The Armenians occupy a position in- 

 termediate between the Kurds and the 

 Turks. Sometimes they live in the heart 

 of the mountains and are of a decidedly 

 warlike character. Often they occupy 

 somewhat secluded basins or valleys, girt 

 by lofty hills, and in many cases they 

 possess large portions of the most fertile 

 plains. The Turks, as befits the most 

 recent conquerors, are generally confined 

 to the richest plains and to the cities. 

 The areas occupied by the three races are 

 not marked off distinctly. In some cases 

 Kurds, Turks, and Armenians all live 

 close together. In the cities each race 

 often has its own quarter ; but it is very 

 rare to find all three in the same village. 

 Armenians and Turks, however, often 

 occupy different quarters of a single vil- 

 lage. Nevertheless, on the whole, the 

 three races live apart, each having its 

 distinct habitat. 



The Kurds, Armenians, and Turks 

 have little love for one another. The 

 Kurd hates the Turks because they have 

 often worsted him in battle, because they 

 tax him heavily whenever they are able, 



