The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1894-06-23

1
| among the nomads:
THE disk of the sun had already
touched the western horizon when we
/ came to the black tents of the Kurdish
encainpment, which at this time of the
day presented a rather busy scene.
The women seemed to be doing all the
work, while their lords sat round on
their launches. Some of the women
were engaged in milking the sheep and
goats in an enclosure. Others were busy
making butter in a churn which was
nothing more than a skin vessel three
feet long, of the shape of a Brazil nut,
suspended from rude tripod; this they
swung TO and fro to the tune of a weird
Kurdish song. Behind one of the tents,
On primitive weaving machine, some
Of them were making tent roofing and
mating, others still were walking
about with ball of wool in one hand
and distaff in the other, spinning
| yarn. The hocks stood round about,
bleating and lowing, or chewing their
cud in quiet contentment. All seemed
very domestic and peaceful except the
| Kurdish dogs, which set upon us with
| loud, fierce growls and gnashing teeth.
Not so was it with the Kurdish
chief, who by this time had finished
reading the mutessarif's message, and
who now advanced from his tent with
salaams of welcome. As he stood be-
fore US in the glowing sunset, he was a
rather tall, but well-proportioned
man, with black eyes and dark mus
tache, contrasting well with his brown
tanned complexion. Upon his face was
the stamp of rather wild and refining
character, although treachery and de-
ceit were by no means wanting. He
wore a head-gear that was something
| between a hat and turban, and over
| his baggy Turkish trousers hung a
| long Persian coat of bright-colored,
large-fgured cloth, bound at the waist
| by belt of cartridges. Across the
shoulders was slung a breech-loading
Martini rifle, and from his neck
dangled heavy gold chain, which.
was probably the spoil of some preda-
tory expedition. A quiet dignity sat
on Ismail Deverish's stalwart form.
''It was with no little pleasure that
we accepted his invitation to cup of
tea. After our walk of nineteen miles,
in which we had assembled from three
thousand to seven thousand feet, we
were in fit condition to appreciate a
rest. That Kurdish tent, as far as we
were concerned, was a veritable palace,
although we were almost blinded by.
the smoke from the green pine-branches
on the smoldering fire. We said that
e d Il
tea; so he debut we pro-,
vided the tea, and that, too, not
only for our own party, but for half
a dozen of the chiefs personal friends
There being only two glasses
in the camp, we of course had TO wait
until our Kurdish acquaintance had
quenched their burning thirst. In
thoughtful mood we gazed around
through the evening twilight. Far
away on the western slope we could
see some Kurdish women plodding
along under heavy burdens of pine
branches like those that were now
fumigating our eyes and nostrils.
Across the hills the Kurdish shepherds
were driving home their herds and
focks to the tinkling of bells. All this,
TO us, was deeply impressive. Such
peaceful scenes, we thought, could
never be the haunt of warlike robbers.
The focks at last came home; the
shouts of the shepherds ceased; dark
ness fell: and all was quiet.
Zone by one the lights in the tents
broke out, like the stars above. AS the
darkness deepened, they shope more
and more brightly across the amphi-
theater of the encampment. The tent
in which we were now sitting was OBJ
long in shape, covered with a mixture
of goats and sleeps wool, carded,
spun and woven by the Kurdish women.
This tenting was ali of a dark brown
or black color The various strips
were badly joined together, allowing
the snow and rain. during the stormy
night that followed. to penetrate plen-
tifully. A wicker-work fencing, about
three feet high, made from reeds gath
cred in the swamps of the Aras river,
was stretched around the bottom of the
tent to keep out the cattle as well as
to afford some little protection from
the elements. This same material, of
the same width or height, was used to
partition off the apartments of the
women.
Far from being yelled and shut up
in harems. like their Turkish and Per-
sian sisters, the Kurdish women come
and go among the men, and talk and
laugh as they please. The thinness
and lowness of the partition walls
does not disturb their astonishing
equanimity In their relations with
the men the women are extremely
free. During the evening we fire.
ouently found ourselves surrounded by
a 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
OF baggy trousers, better described in
this country as divided skirts, e bright
colored oyerskirt and tunic, and lit
tie round cloth cap encircled with
band of red and black Through the
right lobe of the nose hung a peculiar
button-shaped ornament studded with
precious stones. This picturesque COS
tune well set off their rich olive com
plexions. and black eyes beneath dark
brown lashes.
There were no signs Of an ap-
preaching evening meal until we
opened our provision bag. and handed
over certain articles of raw food 10 Dc
.