'Kurdistan and the Kurds' [‎4r] (7/122)

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Noithern Kurdistan embraces the vilaydt of Mamurat-ul-Aziz 1
Diarbekr 2 , Erzernm 3 , Van 4 , and Bitlis 5 . Southern Kurdistan covers the
vilayah of Mosul 6 entirely and that of Baghdad partly; the rest of
Southern Kurdistan lies over the Persian frontier.
§ 2 .—Northern Kurdistan.
The whole of Northern Kurdistan is mountainous; range joins range
in an unbroken chain of hills, and the country is intersected by ravines
and gorges, in many of which the streams dry up in the summer. The
western end of this country is watered by the upper reaches of the
Euphrates, which descends from the hills far in the north and flows past
Erzerum and the lofty range of the Merdjan Dagh, the Munzur Dagh and
the Aghnam Dagh, with which it forms a natural defence on the north ;
then, turning southwards, it sweeps round the Bereta Dagh, and passes
between Malatia and Kharput, till it rounds the Ziaret Dagh and, taking
once again a westerly course, it embraces the hills of Uriah in one hold
curve and then descends into the lowland by Birijik. Thus is Kurdistan
bounded on the west. On the north-east are the hills which link Erzerum
to Lake \ an, ol which the highest peak, the Bingeul Dagh, towers 3,200
metres above the sea-level. Then Lake Van itself on the east, and below
the lake a narrow and almost impassable gorge from Bitlis, joining the
alley ol the Tigris at Balak, enclose the country on its eastern side, and
from Balak to Jezirat-ibn-‘Omar the Tigris itself becomes the frontier.
This countiy is divided roughly into two equal halves by the upper reaches
of the Tigris, which rises in the neighbourhood of Kharput and flows in
a south-easterly direction through Diarbekr to Balak, where it turns
southwards.
The upper part of Northern Kurdistan is little known ; into some
districts even so distinguished a traveller as Sir Mark Sykes has been
forced to confess that he was unable to penetrate ; the natives are wild
and ignorant and unwilling to give information about themselves to
foreigners. Much of his account was gleaned from the tales of Kurds of
other tribes who had visited the country for trade. It is exceedingly hilly,
the more so the further the traveller journeys northwards. Above the
Muiad Su, which waters the central valleys, the mountains stand rarelj'
less than 1,500 metres above the sea, ahd the range which, with the
Euphrates, forms a sort of natural frontier on the north, varies from 2 000
to 3,000 metres in height. Kharput, Mush, and Bitlis are the only towns
of importance in the whole country. Mush is a town of some 14 000
inhabitants, consisting of Armenians and Kurds. It is situated in’ an
amphitheatre of high hills facing the north, on a spur jutting out from
2 1 Maiatia, Kharput, and Dersim ; that of Urfah is independent.
Sanajiq. Seveiek, Maidin, Diarbekr, and Arghana. 3Sanajiq : Erzingan, Erzerum,
g ZK 1 - - 4 S r aJ ‘? VY- and Mekkiaii - 5 Sanajiq: Gnenj, Mush, Bitlis, and
Bant. 6 ^anajiq : Mosul, Chehnsor, and Sulaimaniyah.