"كردستان والأكراد" [و‎‎٢‎٨] (١٢٢/٥٥)

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who live in a kind of feudal subjection to rulers who speak Turkish and
veil their women, and who are the descendants of indigenous chiefs who
have settled down and have adopted Turkish customs. The Dersimli
Kurds are small, wiry men with sharp features; they are intelligent and
have a keenly developed artistic sense for colour, which is shown in their
dress. They speak a dialect closely akin to Zaza. Most of them are
regular migrants from south to north in the late spring, when their villages
are left empty and undefended.
Other tribes, or parts of tribes, whose names only are known, in upper
Kurdistan, are the Akari, Meshendan, Bakushan, Kavash and Shemsiki,
vaguely reported to be living in the district of Van ; the Merzehki and
Takuri,near Bitlis; the Halaji, Seidki, Jelali, Jemal-ud-Din and Milkan round
Kharput; and the Mimki and Mukri somewhere near Diarhekr.
§ 5 .—The Kurds in the Vicinity of Erzerum and Lake Van.
This section embraces the country to the north of Lake Van ; its
boundaries are on the north and east, the frontiers respectively of Russia
and Persia, on the south the northern shores of Lake Van and aline drawn
from that lake to the northern end of Lake Urmiyah, and on the west by a
line running from Erzerum in a wide sweep past Madrak and Mush and
round to the western end of Lake Van. The tribes who live in this zone
are extremely complicated in organisation, and very difficult to tabulate.
They fall into four groups, distinguishable by marked differences in their
habits and manner of life ; but this grouping by no means corresponds to
their geographical distribution.
Starting from the eastern end of this region we find a tribe of Yezidi
devil worshippers, whose tribal name is unknown, in the south-east corner,
between Lake Van and the Persian frontier. Above them the Haiduranli
stretch almost from the ‘Ali Dagh across the frontier to Maku. This tribe,
which numbers 20,000 families, is the largest Kurdish tribe in the tract
of country from Mush to Lake Urmiyah. They are a rough, low race of
no merit, either as soldiers, agriculturalists, or shepherds. In the fold of
the boundary on the south of Mount Ararat dwell the Adamanli, a semi-
nomadic tribe consisting of 1,800 families. Following the Turco-Russian
frontier westwards, we find the Bashmanli between Tashlija and Saribeg ;
many families from this tribe are said to live in Persia. In the next angle
formed by the boundary we find the Badeli and Shaderli; both tribes are
Shi'ites by religion and many of their tribesmen live at Alashgird.
Around Dnghar and Chalkani are the Zilanli ; between this tribe and the
western Haidnranli, on the south-west side of the Bashmanli, the
Hamdikan and Manuranli are encamped. West of the Manuranli are the
Mamakanli, and below them the Sipikanli ; this tribe reckons the number
of its families to be 3,000, and they count the Mamakanli as one of their