The daily morning journal and courier., 1894-07-12

came home: the shouts of the shep.
 herds ceased; darkness fell. and all
 was quiet.
 One by ono the lights In the tents
 broke out. like the stars above As the
 darkness deepened. they shone more | and more brightly across the amphi- theatef or the eneampment. The tent
 In which We were sitting was obiong
 in shape. covered with a mixture Of
 goats and sheep's wool. earded, spun | and woven by the Kurdish women.
 This teniins was all of dark brown or black color. The various strips were badly joined together, allowing the snow aud rain during the stormy night
 That followed. To penetrate plentifuliy. A wicker-work fencing about three feet high made from the reeds gathered in
 the swamps Of the Arar river. was stretched around the bottom ot thetant to keep out the cattle as well as to af1 ford protection from the elements. This same material. Of the same width or.
 height. was used 10 partition off the apartments of the women.
 Far from being vefled and shut up in harems, like their Turkish and Persian sisters. the Kurdish women come and so among the men. and talk and laugh as they please. The thinness and low ness of the partition walls did not dis turb their astonishing equanimity. In 'heir relations with the men the wo- meh are extremely free. During the evening We frequently found ourselves surrounded by concourse of these mountain beauties. who would sit and stare at us with their black eyes. call attention to our personal oddities, and laugh among themselves. Now and then their jokes at our expense would produce hilarious laughter among the men.
 The dress of these women consisted or baggy trousers, better described in this country as divided skirts" bright colored outskirt and tunic, and a little round cloth cap circled with a band of red and black. Through the right lobe of the nose was hung a De- culiar button-shaped ornament studded With precious stones. This picturesque costume we'll set off their rich olive complexions and black eyes beneath dark brown lashes.
 There were no signs of an approach ing evening meal until we opened our provision bag and handed over certain articles of raw food to be cooked for us. No sooner were the viands entrusted to the care of our hosts than two sets of pots and kettles made their appearance In the other compartments. In half an hour our hosts and friends proceeded to indulge their voracious appetites. When our own meal was brought to us some time after, we noticed that the fourteen eggs we had doled out had been reduced to six; and the other materials suffered a similar reduction, the whole thing being so patent as to make their attempt at innocence ab- surdedly ludicrous. We thought how ever, if Kurdish highway robbery took no worse form than this we could we'll afford to be content.
 Supper over. We squatted round a slow burning fire on the thick felt mats, which served as carpets, drank tea and smoked the usual cigarettes. By the light of the glowing embers we could watch the faces about us and catch their mortified glances when reference was made to our intended ascent of Ak-Dagh, the mysterious abode of the jim.
 Before turning in for the night we reeonnoitered our situation. The lights in all the tents save our own were now extinguished. Not sound was heard, except the heavy breathing of some of the slumbering animals about us or the bark of a dog at some distant en- campment The huge dome of Ararat, though six to eight miles farther up the slope, seemed to be towering over us like some giant monster of another world. We could not see the summit, SC, far was it above the enveloping clouds. We returned to the tent to find that the zaptiehs had been given the best places and best covers to sleep in, and that we were expected to &C., commodate ourselves near the door, wrapped up in an old Kurdish carpet. Policy was evidently better developed trait of, Kurdish character than hospi- tality .