'IRAQ AND THE PERSIAN GULF' [‎233v] (471/862)

346 PEOPLE
by a wide and wide-sleeved hashimi, more a veil than a coat, made of
transparent net of striped black silk. Outdoor clothes are black,
indoor clothes usually turquoise blue, though girls wear puce, green,
or orange. For ornaments tribal women wear the nose-ring or
khezama and the war da, a jewelled rosette of gold set in the nostril.
Among Christian women the outer dress is more splendid than with
the Arabs. The silken izar, with tapered hood, which replaces the aba,
worked in gold or silver thread, may cost £10-^45. The Chaldean
women are famed, especially at Tel Qaif, for the charm and brightness
of their clothes, and for their elaborate head-dresses of gold and beads.
A peculiarity among the Jews is the blinker or eye-shade worn by the
women. Henna stains are used on fingers, palms, and the soles of the
feet, and kohl and tattoo marks are used by both men and women,
the men being rather vain.
Kurdish dress differs greatly from Arab and has many local varia
tions. The principal garments are: wide trousers or pantaloons
hitched up by a calico girdle of great length wound round the body,
in which money, valuables, and knives are kept, a wide-sleeved
shirt or gown, a short quilted jacket or tunic, and a long voluminous
cloak. In cold weather or as a kind of body armour a waistcoat of
felt an inch thick is added. Peaked leather slippers {qalik) or boots
are a necessity because of the hard going, and the headgear is a bushy
fringed turban wound round a small skull-cap or among mountain
tribes a tall conical cap with a tassel. The most notable variant is
among some southern Kurds, especially Hamawand and Jaf, who
wear the Arab dishdashi over their trousers. Among southern Kurds
trousers usually have bell bottoms; in the north they are baggy at
the top and narrow at the ankle. Women wear trousers and long
gowns reaching to the feet, sometimes covered by a long buttonless
zibun, and on their heads a silk handkerchief or a small turban over
their skull-caps. Both men and women favour bright colours and gay
striped materials (photos. 139, 140).
Weapons, when carried, include rifle, dagger, or club. The Kurdish
dagger is the curved khanjar, up to 18 inches long, in a scabbard
often of silver, which may be plain or decorated and cost a great
sum, from 8 to 40 rupees Indian silver coin also widely used in the Persian Gulf. .
Though there is no sense of sanitary hygiene in Iraq, both Kurds
and Arabs deserve some credit for attempting to maintain a certain
standard of personal cleanliness of both body and clothes. Arab
women of town and tribe are said to labour very hard to this end
despite a general lack of water.