'Military Report on Mesopotamia (Iraq)' [‎13v] (31/226)

Qalah hill, which is conspicuous for miles around. East,
south and north the town is surrounded by low ranges of
hills, devoid of vegetation and distant 800 yards to a
mile from the town. These hills rise about 500 feet
above the surrounding country and dominate Tel Afar.
To the west stretches the broad Sin jar plain bounded
on the north-west by the elephantine ridge of the Jabal
Sinjar. Tel Afar stream rises in the heart of the Qalah
hill, flows by an artificial stone channel to a pump-house
constructed at eastern edge of Qalah hill, and thence
in a south-westerly direction to the extensive gardens
west of the town. The Qalah hill, rising 200 feet above
the stream and surrounding country, dominates the town.
On it stand various government buildings, gendarme
barracks and telegraph office. Of the suburbs, one lies
on low ground immediately north of the Qalah, and was
in 1918-19 partially used as billets for the British
garrison and partially destroyed to give a field of fire;
four lie north of the stream and west of the citadel on
low-lying ground, and the remaining four are built on
a bluff south of the stream and of the Qalah. The houses
of the town are substantial buildings of stone, which is
quarried in the neighbouring hills. The townspeople
pride themselves on being tribesmen, and for this reason
possess only a small bazaar, chiefly for the sale of cotton
goods. There is a small vegetable market in summer.
Several roads passable for L.A.M. cars radiate from the
Qalah hill and military quarter, but the streets in the
town are only passable for animal transport.
Population.— population in May, 1920, was
approximately 8 , 000 , but at present it does not number
more than 6 , 000 . The people are mostly Turcomans, who
speak a Turkish dialect amongst themselves, but geneiyally
are able to converse in Arabic and Kurdish. There are
also small Christian, Arab and Kurd colonies in the
town. The inhabitants all belong to one of the nine Tel
Afar tribes, each of which inhabits a separate mohallah
or quarter and are engaged practically to a man in
agricultural work, in which they have a high renutation.
During the ploughing season many of the inhabitants
go out to various villages in the neighbourhood and
remain there until the ploughing is finished.
Tn June, 1920, the people of Tel Afar, led by their
Aghas, took part in a rising against the Government
and were compelled to flee before a punitive column to
the Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Suwaidiyah. On the submission of their