The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1895-06-14


yero provided with an escort of soldiers
'he grand vi2ier. In The Century thCy
gave the following account Of q 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
nncampment. which ut this time of the
lay presented "a rather busy scene. The
women seemed to be doing all the work,
while their lords sat round ON their
Some of the women were
engaged in milking the sheep and goats
in an iuclusure Others were busy max
ing huttor in churn which was uuth-
ing more than "a skin vessel 3 feet long,
Of the shape Of II Brazil nut, suspended
from n rude tripod. This they swung to
and fro to the tune of weird Kurdish
song. Behind one Of the tents, on a
primitive weaving machine, some of
them were making tent roofing and mat
ting: others still were walking atyat
with u ball of wool in one hand and II
distaff in the other, spinning yarn. The
6ocks stood round about, bleating and
lowing or chewing their cud in quiet
All seemed very domestic
and peaceful except the Kurdish dogs,
which set upon us with loud, fierce
growls and crashing teeth.
Not 50 was it with the Kurdish chief,
who hy this time had finished reading
the mutes nrif's message, and who now
advanced from his tent with salaans Of
welcome As he stood before us in the
glowing sunset he was rather tail but
well proportional man, with black eyes
and dark mustache, contrasting well
with his brown tanned complexion.
Upon his face was the stamp of a rather
wild and retiring character, although
troachery and deceit We're by no means
wanting. He Wore headgear that was
something between hat and turban.
and over his baggy Turkish trousers
hung a long Persian coat of bright col
ored, large figured cloth, bound at the
waist by belt of cartridges. Across
the shoulders was slung breechload-
ing Martini rifle, and from his neck
dangled heavy gold chain, which was
probably the spoil of some predatory
expedition. A quiet dignity sat ON Is
mail Deverishs stalwart form.
1t was with no little pleasure that we
accepted his invitation to Il cup Of tea.
After our wall; of 10 miles, in which
we had assembled from 5000 to 7, 900
feet, we were in fit condition to appre-
ciate a rest That Kurdish tent, as far
as we We're concerned was a ycritable
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 chief
personal friends. There being only two
glasses i'll the camp, we of course had
to wait until our Kurdish acquaiutances
had quenChod 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 fiocks
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 flocks at
last came home, the shouts of the shep-
herds ceased, darkness fell, and all was
quiet.
One by one the lights in the tt Its
broke out, like the stars above. As the
darkness deepened they shone more and
more brightly across the amphitheater
OF the encampment The tent in which
we We're now sitting was oblong in
shape, covered with mixture OF goats
and Sleeps wool, carded, spun and WOW
Ell 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 were the viahds intrusted to
the care of cur hosts than two sets OF
pots and kettles made their appearance
in the other compartments. In half All
hour our host and friends proceeded t.
indulge their voracious appetites. When
our own meal was brought to us some
time after, we noticed that the Il egg
we had dolcd out had been reduced to
six, and the other materials suffered 2
similar reduction, the whole thiug be.
ing so patent as to make their attemp,
at innocence absurdly ludicrOas.
Before turning i'll for the night we
reconnoitered our situation. Tho lights
in all the tents save our own We're 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 encanp.
ment. The huge dome of Arargt, 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 il
above the enveloping clouds. We re.
turned to the tent to find that the zap
tiehs had been given the best places and
best covers to sleep in, and that we were
expected to accommodate ourselves mean
the door, wrapped up in an old Kurdish
carpet. Policy was evidently better de-
veloped trait Of Kurdish character than
hospitality