'Kurdistan and the Kurds' [‎17r] (33/122)

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with messages, letters and despatches were continually coming and going
on all kinds of business which the Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. transacted with extiaoidinaiy
celerity, never seeming to have to pause to think and always appealing
certain of his mind.
<4 The picture which now 7 presents itself, even making due allowance
for the effects of the war, is lifeless and listless. The Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. s son has
surrounded himself with a swarm of .Arab retainers, and one might easily
think oneself to be in any ordinary Bedouin encampment. One scarcely
hears a word of Kurdish, and instead of the open, frank and blunt
4 atmosphere of the Kurd, one sees nothing but dirty, swarthy Aiabs with
greasy black curls coiling over their necks, dressed in a motley collection
of yellow silk and soiled white nightgowns. They seem to have nothing
to do all day but sit round a fire of camel-dung.
“ Mahmud Bey himself struck me as being of an unformed character
w 7 ithout any strong or distinctive traits. For all this he is a factoi of
considerable importance, as he has inherited a good deal of his father s
influence, if not his masterful qualities. Living in the surroundings
described, he is becoming more and more Arabicised; nevertheless he
has no pro-Sherifian leanings, and, in fact, he professes considerable
apprehension of Arab encroachment on his domain.
44 Recent movements of the Anazah Arabs which, in the opinion
< of Mahmud Bey, were directed more against the Milli than the
Shammar Aiabs, have resulted in a rapprochement between the Milli
Kurds and the Shammar and Tayy Arabs. Mahmud Bey thinks that the
British were the instigators of the ‘Anazah, saying the} could not have
crossed the river at Deir-ez-Zor without our compliance.
“The Turks have been making great efforts to influence Mahmud Bey
in their favour, but without much tangible result, except that the
propaganda of the Kurdish nationalists at Diarbekr has not had the
success which they expected. He has been approached by the agents of
the Sherif, and quite lately he was>isitedby Captain Woolley from Aleppo.
He also let drop the fact that he is in communication with Sheikh Abd-ul-
^ Qadir at Constantinople. It will thus be seen that Mahmud Bey is in a
position of being coui’ted fr6m all sides by Turk, Arab, Kind and British.
It is not, therefore, a matter of surprise if he obtains a somewhat distorted
view of his own importance. The impression left on me was that of a
man who did not know his ow 7 n mind, but who had certain proclivities
towards a British form of administration, although seasoned with a deal
of misgiving. On the other hand I think it very probable that Kurdish,
Arab and Turkish emissaries have all formed a similar estimate of
Mahmud Bey’s attitude towards their respective interests.
44 One thing that must be put to Mahmud Bey’s credit is that he gave
an asylum to Armenians during the masacres in 1915. In this he was
following the tradition of his family, which has always been noted for its