638 
ENTRANCE INTO THE CITY. 
We moved forward, in very good order, to- 
wards the city, if such it might be called, 
which was not above a quarter of a mile off. 
"I he crowd assembled to witness the proces- 
sion was immense. I did not think the town 
could have contained such a multitude ; yet 
the most perfect order prevailed. The 
police-officers of the darogha’s* train dealt 
around,! thought very unnecessarily, sundry 
blows with their heavy clubs, each one of 
which seemed sufficient to have felled an ox. 
Yet I alone appeared to be annoyed at this 
mode of opening the march ; the Koqrds, 
on whom the blows fell like hail, received 
them on their heads and shoulders with as 
little feeling as.an anvil. In this manner 
we arrived at the palace ; the etitrance 
to which is low, mean, narrow, and dirty, to 
a degree which I thought ill accorded with 
the residence of a governor, or even of a 
common individual: but 1 understood that 
it is not without its use in a country like this, 
and that it renders the seat of government 
defensible, in cases of emergency. The en- 
trance does not lead to the front of the palace, 
but turns round the side of itf, and here I 
was obliged to alight, as we could get no 
farther on horseback. We advanced up a 
handsome flight of steps into the hall of 
audience, which, had it been in good repair, 
would really have been a superb room. It 
was open in front on pillars The pasha 
met me at the door, and conducted me to a 
chair at the upper end of the room. Mr. 
Bellino and the doctor were seated just below 
me, on chairs likewise. '1 he members of 
council, headed by Osman Bey, sat on a 
broad nimmud, or thick felt carpet, on the 
opposite side, and my people arranged them- 
selves interspersed among the pasha’s officers, 
who were in double rows all round the roonr, 
in the centre of which stood the Ishik Agassi, 
or master of the ceremonies, with his staff of 
office in his hand. A crowd of well-dressed 
Koords filled the passages and the court 
below outside the room. After the introduc- 
tory compliments, the pasha saw I admired 
the room, and remarked that it was built by 
his late father; that it wanted repair ; but, 
said he, “Who will repair what he is not 
certain to enjoy ; and what may in a few days 
afterwards be ruined by the lurks or Pei- 
sians?” He told me the palace owed its 
elevated situation to its being built on an 
artificial mount, of great antiquity. § The 
view from it was very agreeable. 1 endea- 
voured to keep off politics, and to lead the 
pasha to speak upon the economy and anti- 
quities of Koordistan ; and I happened to 
make a fortunate hit at the outset. I told him 
♦ The chief of the police. 
t There is a better (but still crookedt en- 
trance in front of the palace, which is now 
wtider repair. 
:t This kind of apartment is called a Talar. 
^ Frol ably the f<-llow to those I had remark - 
(Pd at Tcbt mcbemal, Ferghezeen, and Tas;u- 
I had heard that tlie Vali of Sinna* was of a 
Gooran family ; and the Gooran racet were 
not so much esteemed as clansmen. A mur- 
mur of applause burst instantly ifom all the 
attendants and went round the room. My 
fortune was now made with the clannisb 
Koords; and the pasha, with more than his 
usual vivacity, went at once into the history 
of his family. He said, in the first place, 
that the Vali of Sinna’s family was very 
ancient and of an honourable clan. The 
name of his clan, he added, was Kermanj , 
Bebbeh being the appellation of his own 
particular family, the members of which are 
the hereditary chiefs of the clan ; and hence 
their whole territory and people are now cal- 
led the government of theBebbehs or Babans. 
The clan was originally established at Pizh- 
der, in the northern mountains near Sikeneh 
on the frontier of Persia. An ancestor^ of 
his, he said, had rendered important services 
to an Ottoman sultan in a war with Persia ; 
and obtained in recompense an investiture of 
all he could conquer. He and some succeed- 
ing chiefs gradually possessed themselves of 
districts they now hold, with several others 
which have since been retaken by the Per- 
sians ; and the whole was then erected into 
the banner of Babon, or Bebbeh, and made 
dependent on the pashalik of Shehrizoor, the 
capital of which was Kerkook. The pasha 
could not give me any dates, he only knew 
that his ancestors were lords of the Banner 
for a long time; and were finally made 
pashas of two tails not quite a century ago. 
He told me the Gooran race were easily dis- 
tinguishable by their physiognomy, and by 
their dialect of Koordish. \Ve had much 
more conversation of this kind, and i)arted 
exceeding good friends ; and all the pasha’s 
cousins, that is, his clansmen, seemed to look 
upon me with great satisfaction. 
At the door I found a handsome horse, well 
caparisoned, prepared for me, which 1 could 
not dispense with accepting : it was accord- 
ingly led before me. And we novv went to 
inspect the house which had been prepared 
for us : this was close by the palace, and 
turned out to be a very dismal place; spa- 
cious enough indeed, but ruinous and filthy. 
Such as it was, it was the dwelling of one of 
the chief officers of the palace, who had been 
dislodged to receive us. My repugnance to 
take possession of it was, I believe, very 
visible. After some whispering between the 
Koords and my people, the pasha sent his 
prime minister to request I would let my 
khaznadar or treasurer go about with one of 
♦ The governor of the province of that name 
in Persian Koordistan. 
+ The people of Koordistan are divided into 
two different races : the one consisting of the 
trii es, the other of the peasants or Goorans. 
± It was Suliman Baba, or Bebbeh. He went 
to Constantinople about one hundred and 
twenty -five years ago. A- D. 1678, and hecom- 
ing celebrated for the services he rendered 
the Turks against the Persians, his family 
were afterwards called by his name, Bebbeh 
or Baban, instead of the name of their tribe, 
which, as has been already observed, is Ker- 
manj- 
