The Arizona sentinel., 1886-12-25
A KOORDISH VILLAGE.

Swarthy Asiatics Who Have Not the Least
 Conception of Mannerliness.
 The shades of evening are beginning to settle down over the wild mountain ous country round about. It is grow ing uncomfortably chilly for this early in the evening, and the prospects look favorable for supperless and most dis agreeable night, when descry avillage perched in an opening among the mountains mile or whereabouts of to the right Repairing thither I find it to
 be Koordish village, where the novels are more excavations than buildings; buffaloes, horses, goats, chickens and human beings all find shelter under the same low roof; their respective quarters are nothing but mere railing of rough poles, and as the question of ventilation is never even thought of the effect upon ones olfactory nerves upon entering is any thing but reassuring. The filth and rags of these people is abominable; on account of the chilliness of the evening they have donned their heavy raiment; these have evidently had rags patched on top of other rags for years past until they have gradually developed into thick quilted garments, in the innumerable seams of which the most disgusting chronological specimens, bred and en- gendered by their wretched mode of ex- istence, live and perpetuate their kind. However, repulsive as the outlook most assuredly is, have no alternative but to cast my lot among them till morning. l am conducted into the Sheikh's apartment, small room partitioned off with pole from stable of horses and buffaloes, and where darkness is made visible by the sickly glimmer of a grease lamp. The Sheikh, a thin, sallow-faced man of about forty years, is reclining on mattress in one corner smoking cigarettes; dozen ill-condit'oned rag mullins are s1uatting about in various attitudes, while the ragtag and bobtail of the population crowd into the buffalo stable and survey me and the bicycle rom outside the partition pole, A cir cular wooden-tray, containing an abundance of bread, bowl of yaort and small quantity of stringy cheese that resembles chuncks of dried codfish, warped and twisted in the drying, is brought in and placed in the middle of the floor. Everybody in the room at once gathers around it and begins eat ing with as little formalIty as so many wild animals, the SheySh silently mo- tions for me to do the same The yaort bowl contains one solitary wood en spoon, with which they take turns at eating mouthfuls. One is compelled to draw the line somewhere. even under the most uncom- promising circumstances, and I naturally drew it against eating yoart with this same wooden spoon; making small scoops with pieces of bread, dip you part and eat scoop and all together. These particular Koords seem absolutely ignorant of anything in the shape of or of consideration of each other at the table. When the yoart has been dipped into twice or thrice all around the sheikh coolly confscates the bowl, eats part of what is left, pours water into the remainder and delib- erately drinks it all up; one or two oth- CTS seize all the cheese, utterly regard less of the fact that nothing remains for myself and their companions, who, by the way, seem to regard it as perfectly proceeding. Thomas SterenS, i1 Outing.