File 2764/1904 Pt 2 'Baghdad Railway: General negotiations 1908-10.' [‎60r] (128/799)

undoubtedly the popular tongue from the earliest times—cuneiform beimr only used for
o cial purposes. And Laban called it Yegar Shahadutha ” (Genesis xxxi. 47), usW
words which are perfectly understood with the same meaning in the Chaldean villages
W i th r e Ca ptivity the Jews took it hack with them to Palestine and at
.ne beginning oi the Christian era it was spoken not only there but in Palmyra and
the whole of Mesopotamia. It is still the language of all the Christians of the Jebel
lur and a considerable district m Diarbekir, of all Nestorians and (as already stated)
of practically all the Christians in this vilayet.
^ therefore assumed that the Mosul Christians are of one origin though
denominationally divided into (1) Nestorians, (2) Jacobites, and (3), (4) recently,
Chaldean Catholics and Syrian Catholics, i.e., members of the Nestorian and Jacobite
communities respectively who under French missionary influence have acknowledged
the supremacy of Rome.
14. There are about 10,000 Christians in Mosul city and the rest of them (90,000)
are to be found in the closely adjacent villages and in the districts of Zakkho, Amadia,
and Acia, i.e ., in the north of the province. Roughly speaking, there are no Christians
at all nowadays in the towns and villages west, south, or east of Mosul.
15. 1 ezidis. It is difficult to estimate their numbers with accuracy—but there
aie probably 60,000 of them in the vilayet. All Beg, the hereditary chief of the
Yezidis has his head-quarters at Radri (nine hours from Mosul) but the greater part of
his people inhabit the Sinjar hills. Their language is of course Kurdish.
16. Turkomans. —The Moslem population of Kurkuk (40,000) and Tel Afar
(10,000) are Turkomans, and there are a good many of them in the villages round about
Mosul, e.g., Nebi Yunis, Yarimje, Al-Kasr, &c. Their language is very rough dialect of
Turkish. They are very independent and quarrelsome. To this day the Turkomans of
Tel Afar (twelve hours from Mosul) successfully decline to serve in the army.
17. Kurds .—Inhabit all the mountains on the north and east sides of the province,
i.e., from Zakkho to Amadia, Acra, and Rawanduz, and from there southwards to
buleimameh and Khanikm: (1) the Hamawand (400 families) roughly speaking
operate in the triangle formed by the Suleimanieh-Kerkuk and Bagdad roads ; (2) the
Jaff (10,000 families) district marches with the Persian frontier from Suleimanieh to
Khanikin.
18. Other notable Kurd tribes in this district are (3) the Sindi Gulli, in the neigh
bourhood of Zakkho (2,000 families); (4) the Daudie, who are neighbours and enemies
of the Hamawand, and who are sedentary between Tuz Khurmati and Tauk ; (5) the
Talabani of Kerkuk (2,000); (6) the Sheikh Berzeine (500), whose sphere is north of
the Kerkuk-Suleimanieh road ; (7) the Dizdei (2,000), who occupy the country between
the two Zabs, which was Assyria proper, and the centre of which is Karachak Dagh ;
(8) the Herkie and (9) Surchi, semi-nomads of the Ashair-i-Sabaa plateau, who wander
into Persia in summer; (10) the Atrush of Acra and Ymadia ; (11) the Diwani of
Acra and Zibar, whose chief is the unfortunate Sheikh Barzani; (12) the Gouvi, who
supply the Hamals of Mosul; (13) the Pishder of Rania and (14) the Bilbas of Keui-
Sanjak. Where figures are given, they do not claim to be more than approximate ;
and though they do not always accord with the estimates of recent travellers, it is
not suggested that they are based on better authority. Accuracy is unattainable.
19. Jews. —In the course of a recent tour (referred to below) it was noticed
that there was hardly a town or village in the province without its Jewish contin
gent, in fact there appears to be a pronounced Hebraic wave extending from Mosul
eastwards right away to the Persian frontier and beyond as far as Hamadan.
It probably had its origin in the First Captivity. The remarkable progress made
in recent years by the Jews of Bagdad suggest that the Jews of this district have
not improbably a great commercial future before them, a matter which is not without
interest for ourselves (vide paragraph ).
20. Arabs. —Excepting the Yezidis of the Sinjar and the Turkomans of Tel Afar,
mentioned above, the population west of the Tigris is exclusively Arab, chiefly of
the Shamar and Jiburi tribes. Eastward of the Tigris the Arab fringe (Leheb,
Bayat, Jiburi, &c.) extends to an imaginary line drawn from Kerkuk to Salahieh
(Kissi), consequently, from Mosul southwards to Bagdad the population is exclusively
Arab.
21. Products of the Mosul Vilayet. —The following list is only intended to give
an idea of the variety of the products of the district. Many of these, of course, are
not exported, but every one of them is to be found in the market, and consequently
has a local commercial value :—
Horses (to India) ; cattle, buffaloes, and sheep (to Damascus, Egypt, &c.) ;