"العراق والخليج الفارسي" [ظ‎‎٢‎٣‎٢] (٨٦٢/٤٦٩)

244 PEOPLE
not always pass by primogeniture; a second son may become agha
while his elder brother lives quietly in the same village.
Peasants and Nomads
The agricultural Kurds are those of the mountains, where pasture
is restricted, and of the watered parts of the Assyrian plains.
The great shepherd tribes are found in the foothills and the less
well-watered regions of Erbil and Kirkuk plains (see Distribution,
pp. 273 ff.). But nomadism is a question of degree. Most agricultural
Kurds also own flocks of sheep and goats, and in summer a part or
even the whole of a village may accompany their flocks to higher
ground during the great heat; the plainsmen Kurds often make a
short migration between the sowing and the harvest to the freshness
of the hills, returning in May. Other tribes, such as Dizai and
Hamawand, are predominantly shepherds and make seasonal moves
with their flocks within the limits of one region, but also own many
villages and have much agricultural land. Then there are the purely
nomadic tribes, of which Jaf and Herki are the chief, that live in
tents in all seasons, often enduring great privations, and migrate in
autumn from the Persian border mountains down to the outer valleys
and plains accompanied by vast herds of livestock; at times their
passage is disputed by the sedentary Kurds and great fights ensue.
Pure nomadism has been discouraged by various economic and
political factors, particularly the attempted exclusion from Persia in
the time of Riza Shah (p. 317) and the forced settlement of nomads
in Turkey, but its total disappearance is unlikely as the shepherd
tribes must in the climate of Iraq always be semi-nomadic.
Daily Life
Food and Fuel
Diet differs little throughout the country, though it is more varied
in Kurdistan and more limited among the beduin than elsewhere.
The staple foods are barley or wheat flour usually baked as unleavened
bread in cakes or slabs {chupatties\ Kurdish nan), boiled rice (pilaf)
and boiled wheat (borghul; Kurdish saua) ; dried dates, or raisins in
northern Iraq; and milk products—including cheese, freshly soured
milk (Kurdish mast), buttermilk (du), and clarified butter (semn, ghi;
Kurdish run) —eggs and a few vegetables, onions being the com
monest and the only ones among the beduin. In Kurdistan many
more vegetables are available, including tomatoes, marrows, cucum-