'Kurdistan and the Kurds' [‎5v] (10/122)

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Its prosperity was much increased during the last century by the late
Ibrahim Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. , the paramount chief of the Milli, who made it the centre
of his power. Cultivation was improved in the plain and the extent of
country under tillage was enlarged, and many new villages sprang up ; but
after the death of Ibrahim Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. in 1908, the Turks and Arabs plundered
t.he town and massacred many of the inhabitants.
Mardin also is the capital of a sanjaq ; it is built on the high slopes
of a mountain, 830 metres above the sea level, overlook the plain of
Mesopotamia. The only entrance to the town, owing to its rocky position,
is from the south ; the citadel, which is a large building of solid stone,
runs all along the northern side. The population is now about 40,000, of
whom nearly 1‘2,000 ;: are Christians ; the bishops of the Syrian Catholics,
the Chaldaeans and the old Syrians have their seats in the town. Arabic
is universally spoken and the majority also know Turkish, while about one
third of the inhabitants understand Kurdish also. In the town and its
immediate outskirts there are three Kurdish tribes : the Mishki, who
inhabit the H&rat-el-Mishkiyah or Mishki Quarter, in the western part
of the town; the Dashi who live in the Bab-es-Sur, in the east; and
the Medlikani, who occupy the Taht-el Qa.l ah in the north. The larger
part of the inhabitants possess* rifles or revolvers, for the roads
outside the town have been for many years unsafe owing to the
presence of Kurdish bandits. Wheat, barley, maize, and lentils are grown;
butter is a leading product, and almond groves are numerous. Large
quantities of wool are woven, and red slippers, which are made in the town,
are to be seen in almost every street. There is also some wood-felling in
the Ordek Dagh, Balyk Dagh, and Tell Karakol, near the city. The main
supply of water is obtained from cisterns, in which rain is collected in
every house; there is also a. large cistern in the citadel. There is a small
perennial spring, known as the Ain-el-Madrasah, inside the town, and two
others called ‘Ain-el-Joseh and the ‘Ain-el-Fardos, a short way outside, to
the east. There is a, branch-line of the Baghdad Railway here, but it does
not yet pass the town. The road to Diarbekr is metalled all the way, and
unmetalled roads, which can only be used in fine weather, run to Tell
Blrmen and Ras-el-‘Ain, Tell Ermen, Veranshehr, and Urfah, and to Darin
and Nisibin. The climate is severe in winter and cool in the summer; the
rainy season begins in October and ends at the end of April ; during this
period, heavy rains fall, and snowstorms occur in the mountains. Malaria
is uncommon ; typhoid fever has been introduced since the war.
Diarbekr is the capital of a vildyah, ard hy far the most important
city in Northern Kurdistan. It is built on a low plateau, through which
I/he Tigris flows, and is surrounded by an ancient but still solid wall,
varying in height from 18 to 27 feet, and strengthened with towers at
intervals; these towers contain large caverns, where the inhabitants can
* Another estimate puts the Christian population at 20,000 or 22,000 ; but so many
disappeared during the Armenian deportations, that no accurate figures can be
given at present.