"تقرير عن كردستان" [و‎‎٦] (٢٢٠/١٦)

REPORT
O N
KURDISTAN.
PROVINCE OF KURDISTAN.
The Province of Kurdistan is situated in the hilly districts between Azarbai
j an and Kirmanshah, and extending to the
Turkish frontier on the west and bounded
on the east by Garrus and Hamadan. It extends 24: fcLTsaJchs from north to
south and 56 from east to west.
“From the river Saruq, * which separates it from J Azarbai] an, to
General features. Senna, the face of the country is everywhere the
same. It presents to the view either progressive
clusters of hills, heaped as it were upon each other, or great tablelands covered
with flocks and the tents of the Uyats. The valleys are narrow strips at
the foot of the mountains, where the villages are commonly built in situations
which protect the few inhabitants that remain in them from the inclemency
of the weather. The soil is good and would yield abundance, but the Kurds
prefer a pastoral life. The oil plant is everywhere common, and tobacco is cultivated
in small quantities. Wooded mountains, separated by narrow valleys and occasional
plains, producing excellent pasture, cover the north portion of Ardalan. The
woods yield excellent oak and fine gall apples.
Between Kaleh Shah Khani and Khizr Elias in Kirmanshah the nature of
the country entirely changes, and instead of a succession of verdant hills, inter
mixed with deep glens, there are here extensive cultivated plains, bounded by
bleak and barren mountains.”
Cultivation.
Cultivation.
‘ ‘ Land is cultivated under one or other of
the following arrangements:
Nisf-i-Kari .—Under this system the cultivator and the proprietor of the
land divide the produce equally. The cultivator supplies the seed
and ^necessary labour. The landlord pays the maliat and the
expense of reaping.
Dah-du .—Under this arrangement, which is most common in Kurdistan,
the produce is divided into twelve parts of which the proprietor takes
two, the cultivator ten, the latter paying all expenses.
* Also spoken of as Saruk, Suruk or Surkh river. The frontier of Kurdistan
(Ardalan) is, however, further south than this river.
H. L. R„
A
14 IB