'Turkish Arabia: Being an Account of an Official Tour in Babylonia, Assyria, and Mesopotamia, 1886-87' [‎24r] (47/72)

3i
two thousand families of them. Not to mention certain ^jz-sacerdotal orders established
among tlem, they ha ve a kind of patriarch (hereditary), or spiritual head; also a temporal
chief or Amir, with head-quarters at Ba-adh-rA in the Shaikhs district, a few hours from
osul. Not far from Ba-adh-ra, within a wooded valley, is a shrine, or so-called tomb, to
winch go up annually, like Islam to Mecca, all the Yazidis of Mesopotamia. This
p ace o pilgrimage is called Shekh Aadi, Aadt, strange to say, being also the name which
cu ! gy StandS f0r God - In l84 3' Mr - La y ard w as an honoured guest at
.. e during the three days the proceedings lasted ; and in the description given by
him of what he then witnessed the number of pilgrims when the festival was at its height
is set down at about seven thousand—a nice little contingent truly for guerilla warfare, of
which centuries of experience have made them perfect masters. In physique not unlike
the Gurkhas, early accustomed to arms, and by no means over-careful of their skins or
lives, they are the beau-ideal of light infantry, that is, if not stuffed into European
uniforms.* In the matter of diet they are very hardy, though not without their own
prejudices. Mr. Forbes (1838) wrote of them that they drank only water; but if ever
this was so, it is not so now. Though drunkenness does not seem common among them,
there is nothing they will work harder for than arrack, unless, perhaps, it be tobacco.
Only a few of them understand Arabic; and although, of course, Persian is unknown
among them, yet it is worth noting that one who can speak it is half-way towards master-
ing Kurdi. The funny thing is that, with so many possibilities ahead, the Government of
India has hardly any officers who can speak Turkish, Mosul could not be occupied with
out the Sin jar hills being held by way of outpost; and good as the climate of the former
may be considered, that of the latter is as superior to it as Gandumak is to Jalalabad. At
Sinjar, on the same rations, horses and mules improved greatly, which the natives all
ascribed to the excellence of the water.
Section XI.—Sinjar to Der on the Euphrates.
The muleteers brought out from Mosul refusing to proceed unless allowed to fix the
Reduction of kdfila route, the knot was cut by the whole of them being sent
back, and half the kdfila with them. The camp as pitched
the first march out of Sinjar was therefore merely thus
Flying camp: Sinjar to Karhalcu (all three tents Baghdad-made).
Yet there remained to be fed 1 clerk (Arab), 1 khawwass, 2 servants, 1 groom, 1 lascar A term used by the British officials to describe non-European sailors employed on East India Company ships. , 1
(feedouin) guide, 3 horses, 8 mules, with their 2 attendants ; total men 7, transport 11 ; besides
the Sinj&r escort, happily only of the mounted police, who, as usual, either helped them-
selves as they went along, or did without.
Course west by south, under Sinjar range; here presenting low saddles or spurs,
Ro te there serrated and truncated blocks. Search was made for
the river, said here to rise out of these hills, and go on to
water the southern plain; but the only streams observed were such as disappeared after a
little space in the desert. And yet nothing but these enable the Sinjar hills to support
even the semblance of a settled population ; poor squatters in hamlets often moved from
* One of the things which proved most distasteful to the Yazidis under the attempt alluded to above to draft
them into the Ottoman army was the uniform, the colour of which, blue, they hold, it seems, in religious reverence.
When in any of the villages inhabited by them a Jew or Christian starts a shop for dyeing cloth blue, the sacred
colour attracts them to it much as the herb valerian does cats.