The herald., 1894-08-26
IN A KURDISH CAMP.
4 NIGHT WITH THE WILD HERDsMEN
ON MOUNT ARAFAT.
Two American Tourists Enjoyed the Doubt
full Hospitality of a Kurdish Chief and
His Picturesque Scenes View
cd In the Twilight.

Id
cd In the Twilight.
Two young American students
Messrs Allen and Saohtleben-made
bicycle tour around the worldimmedi-
ately after their graduation. During
their passage through Asiatio Turkey
they celebrated the Fourth Of. July by
climbing Mount Ararat, the-irst Amer
leans to accomplish. the feat Their
course lay through the grazing grounds
Of wild Kurdish Sherdsmen, but they
were provided with an escort Of soldiers
through the influence Of letter from
the grand vizier. In The Century they
gave the following account Of a night
spent among the nomads:
The disk Of the sun had already
touched the western .horizon,when we
came to the black tents of the Kurdish
encampment, which at this time Of the
day presented ratherSbusy 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
ing butter in a churn which was moth
ing more than skin vessel 8 feet long,
of the shape of 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 mat
ting; others still We're walking about
with ball of wool in one hand and a
distaff in the other. spinning yarn. The
foclks stood round about, bieating and
lowing or chewing their cud in quiet
contentment. All scanned 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 before us in the
glowing sunset he was rather tall but
we'll proportioned man, with black eyes
and dark mustache, contrasting we'll
with his brown tanned complexion
Upon his face was fdle stamp # rather
wild and retiring character, although
treachery and deceit were by no means
wanting. He wore hsadgear that was
something between a hat and turban,
and over his baggy Turkish trousers
hung long Persian.coat of bright col
ored, large figured cloth, bound at the
waist by a belt Of cartridges. Across
the shoulders was slung breechload-
ing Martini rife, and from his neck
dangled heavy gold chain, which was
probably the spoil of some predatory
expedition. A quiet dignity sat on Is
mail Deverish's stalwart form.
It was with no little pleasure that we
accepted his invitation to a cup Of tea.
After our wall, Of 10 miles in which
feet, we were in ft'conditien to appre-
ciate a rest. That Kurdish tent, as far
as we were concerned, was q yeritable
palace, although we were almost blind
ed by the smoke from the green pine
branches on the .smOldering fire. We
said that the chief invited us to a cup
of tea So he did, but we provided the
tea, and that, too, not only for our own
party, but for half 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 tho 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 flocks
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 fiocks at
last came home, the shouts of the shep-
herds ceased, darkness fell, and all was
quiet.
One by one the lights in the tents
broke out, like tho stars above. As the
darkness deepened they shone more and
more brightly across the amphitheater
of the encampment. The tent in which
we were now sitting was oblong in
shape, covered with mixture of goats
and Sleeps wool, carded, spun and WOW
en- by the Kurdish women.
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 We're the viands intrusted 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 host and friends proceeded to
indulge their voracious appetites. When
our own meal was brought to us some
time after, we noticed that the IA eggs
we had doled out had been reduced to
six, and the other materials suffered
similar reduction. the whole thing be-
ing SO patent as to make their attempt
ut Innocence absurdly ludicrous
Before turning in for the night we
reconnoitered 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 dog at some distant encamp-
ment The hugo 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, so far was it
above the envaloy,;,,o ,1o,,a, W. 80