'Kurdistan and the Kurds' [‎10r] (19/122)

17
the east bank of the Tigris. In March the semi-nomad tribes go into
tents till the harvest is over; then, in June, they migrate with their flocks
and herds to the lofty pastures on the mountain-plateaux from the Argot
Dagh to the Avroman Dagh, on the confines of Persia and Mesopotamia.
The pure nomads leave the plains somewhat earlier, before the harvest.
Similar movements take place from the plains and valleys of Mosul to the
high tablelands on the mountains round Lake Van, between which and
Hamadan they live in plenty. These nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes
exact blackmail and plunder from the sedentary population, and in times
of need they seek asylum across the Turco-Persian frontier among the
Persian Kurds.
The Persian Kurds and the Lurs, who are a branch of the Kurdish
race, are not true nomads; they devote considerable attention to agri
culture. Grain especially is grown in abundance for export in the Kurdish
valleys north of Kermanshah. The sedentary mountain Kurds of the
frontier, also, .are industrious agriculturalists and hardy fighters. They
spend the summer in tents beside their villages or on the roofs of their
houses, and in the winter they live in tjieif houses; their villages are
often fortified with a strong blockhouse for defence against their predatory
neighbours.
The Kurdish tribe was formed probably by the agglomeration of
several families which had long lived in the same locality or which had
grouped themselves round some powerful clan for protection. The idea, of
a common descent, which is so powerful a factor among the Arabs, has
certainly been effaced by the lapse of time and perhaps never existed.
The tribal ties are very weak among the urban Kurds; they are less weak
among the tribes, but they only exert their full force among those who
lead a completely nomad life. Consequently, small numbers frequently
break away from the larger whole in order to join other groups ; for no
hesitation is shown by a tribe in receiving fresh additions to its numbers.
The small tribes are of no importance and only act through the orders of
the main body. Each tribe is controlled by an aghd or chief, whose power
depends ultimately on his qualifications to hold office ; he also relies much
on his near relations, who form a kind of advisory council, and by the loss
of whose support he is rendered powerless. The authority of a chief is
also often paralysed by an obstinate minority, who can only be coerced
at the expense of a blood-feud, which is to be avoided at all costs, for the
inevitable result is the weakening or virtual extinction of the whole tribe.
A religious significance is attached lo some chiefs, who, in consequence,
usually hold a wider sway beyond the limits of their own tribe. The
Moslem Kurdish chiefs of Neri and Suleimaniyah, for instance, are in
vested with a religious authority which confers on its holders a wide
secular power. As a rule, the ayhd must belong to one family, though
office is not. strictly hereditary. On the death of a chief, the head men of
all the sub-sections of the tribe meet in session and elect his successor,