'Handbook of Mesopotamia. Vol. III. 1917' [‎375] (384/432)

SAMAEEA—SULEIMANIYEH
X,
375
At the accession of Abdul Hamid the town was a market for the
produce of all southern Kurdistan. Carpets for Mosul and Baghdad
came here for sale, gum from Banah began to be sold here in
stead of in Senna, and a large number of Chaldaeans of Mosul
carried on here an extensive and profitable business in the cotton
cloths of Aleppo and European fabrics. The beys and pashas of the
Jaf tribe entered into agreements to send all the produce of
the tribe—skins, wool, tobacco, and butter—to the bazaars of Sulei-
maniyeh.
In 1880 the value of the trade was estimated at .£T500,000. In
1909 it had sunk to =£T400,000 and was decreasing. The reason
is to be found partly in the history of the town during the interval
(see below), partly in the presence of a 15 per cent, customs duty.
An important local industry is the manufacture of fire-arms,
especially of rifles. The model for this is the Martini-Peabody
American patent, but the bore is that of the Russian Bourdan rifle.
All the cartridges are of Eussian manufacture. These weapons,
which can be turned out at the rate of about 9,000 per annum, are
fairly reliable up to 500 yds. One craftsman constructs the barrels
(spirally welded strips of sheet-iron), another the locks and springs,
a third collects and browns the arms and an agent sells them, the
cheapest for £T2, the dearest for £T4. There is an excellent market
for the weapons among the neighbouring Kurds.
Shoe-making and saddlery are also important occupations.
The coinage-system and weights and measures at Suleimaniyeh
are more than usually complicated. Though it is long since the
town belonged to Persia the Persian currency has been retained, no
Turkish coin being accepted but the mejidieh. The actual coins are
the copper ' pul', the silver ' baichu ' or Persian ' panj shahi ' and
the ordinary 2-qran piece of Persia, here called ' tihraniEvery
thing is reckoned in ' qamari', an imaginary coin worth 4 pul.
The 'baichu' is worth 7 pul. For larger amounts there is the
'tihrani' which is equivalent to 5 baichu and 1 pul, or 9 qamari.
Other names used are 'charkhi ', ' jout' deh para', ' ghazi' qran',
and ' qran-i-rash
(It may be noted that in Kirkuk the baichu is called a qamari
and the tihrani a qran.)
As for weights, the local ' huqqa' is equivalent to 2-| times that
of the Stamboul ' okewhich is the basis throughout Asiatic
Turkey. It is also, however, f of the Panjurn huqqa, f of a Tabriz
man', and f of the Halebjeh 'man It is divided into 400 dirhams,
and all fractions must be expressed in Turkish.
Inhabitants. —The inhabitants are a mixture of Kurdish, Arab,