'Turkish Arabia: Being an Account of an Official Tour in Babylonia, Assyria, and Mesopotamia, 1886-87' [‎22v] (44/72)

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Shekh wiped his greasy hand, or " khamsah,"* on the smart cloak of a Mosul merchant;
and the tent was given over to tobacco-smoke, endless coffee, brewed by African slaves,
and talk. Several of the townsmen present knew all about England and Englishmen ;
and it was only their asides that made the Shekh feel satisfied his visitor was not
an Osmanli officer come to squeeze him, or walk him off to prison ! Luckily a tente
d'abri had been brought, so that a separate place to sleep in was ready. The crowd
gathered round this in the morning showed that if the Kochars were a curiosity to the
European, he was equally so to them. His ablutions in particular set people who rarely
wash in winter a wondering what secret cause or infirmity necessitated such an inconve
nient custom. The central tent was found still full of sleepers, the Kochars, like the
Arabs, evidently loving to talk half the night, and lie down when they ought to be
rising. Presently the Shekh, followed by numerous sons, came cut of his haram ; and the
work of buying and selling began. The mules proved fabulous ; at all events very few
were seen, and not one was brought for sale. Horse-breeders, also, these people are
not. They showed about a dozen good-limbed and fairly well-bred mares, brought from
the Shammar, and used for riding; but no stallion. In the Dilem, as described above, had
been seen one form of modern desert life, that of Bedouin turning into Fallahtn. Of the
unchanged Bedouin, the only specimens met with, so far, had been in the tents of the
Shammar/ Ih-ni-zah Salgah, between Hit and Tiknt; and the S&-yih in A1 Hawija. Here
was a third type: not Arabs, but Bedouin Kurds, resembling Bedouin Arabs (i) in not
building; (2) in declining agriculture; and differing from them (1) in migrating only from
one well-known spot to another; (2) in paying under pressure the Government demands;
(3) in satisfying, not fighting, neighbours, like the Shammar, who would otherwise raid on
them; and, lastly, in breeding neither horses nor camels. If ever, in Egypt or Asia-Minor,
a commissariat have a large order for mutton, Shekh Mustav and others like him would be
• • • o
the men to send to. In point of religion the Mesoptamian Kochars are Sunni Muslim, of
a stamp little likely ever to let considerations of this sort interfere with business. After
breakfasting, chiefly on Kurdi cheese, not bad, but oversalted, and full of chopped herbs, the
next thing was to overtake the kdfila at the town and Kaim Makamate of Sinjar. With
nothing but featureless plains or downs touching all round the horizon, and a broken compass,
the chances seemed against this. But the Shammar guide Ishteywi —diminutive of the
word for winter—picked out here and there a landmark, and went very straight. At first
the soil was dry, but verdant; then, towards the northern base of the Sinj^r hills, full of
springs, and hollows containing water. The start not having been made till noon, there
was no hope of getting out of the wilds that night. Towards sunset, flock upon flock of
Mustav's sheep, each led by its own shepherds, were seen converging, like regiments on a
rendezvous, in the direction of an undulating ridge where they were to be massed for the
night. Beside them was soon pitched the little tent amid the remonstrances of their
canine guardians. Not to be propitiated these with a handful of tobacco, or a copper,
and even after they had been thumped by their masters into acquiescence, one or two
seniors, it was noticed, put themselves on duty between the new object and their charges.
Next morning, a bowl of freshly drawn ewes' milk—the most milky milk that had been seen
for long, with a barley bannock baked, if baked it could be called, in the shepherds' watch-
fires, formed no bad substitute for "early tea." The two horses were nearly knocked up.
Mustav's encampment had yielded no chopped straw, or cut forage of any kind ; and the
barley carried on the mule was done.
To-day, instead of the eastern end of the Sinjar hills being
in] r range. rounded, the range itself was crossed.
This important limestone barrier, stretching from near Mosul to a little below Rakka
(pronouced Ragga) on the Euphrates, divides into a northern and southern half the great
Mesopotamian plain. The view commanded from some portions of it is thus most exten
sive. The narrow, sinuous, and rushy streams dispersing themselves through it, the ten
dency of its strata to split into flakes, forming here broad and slippery tables, there
gigantic obstacles, and the ravines which seam it, would make it, like most such places,
far easier to defend than to force. Still it is only moderately precipitous. Cavalry could
cross it anywhere, and in favourable spots even wheeled artillery. Dotted over it are
numerous mountain villages, where guides, but rarely supplies, are obtainable. In the
afternoon level country was reached again, and presently appeared, conspicuous a long
way off, the broken minaret, still some 40 feet high, of what must once have been a
noble mosque. This was close to the "Albalad" of the Arabs, that is the capital, Sinjar,
of what formed an independent Arab principality of the same name, when Harunu'r Rashid
» Meaning " the Jive this is what the Arabs always call their natural knives and forks !