Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-08-25

the mules carried over afterward. II
took six or seven men to lift each mule
and the animals bore it reAgnediy and
without much kicking. That is a land
OF battle murder and sudden death the
explorer went on THE KurdS, who live
in the hills, never have been conquered
by the Turks. with whom they remain
at daggers drawn, and the Turks, Fer
slams and kurds take turns in perse-
cutting the Yezedis. whose worship of the
devil naturally makes them unpopular
with these devoted followers of the
prophet and of Buddha.
There were peculiar white stones here
and there along the trail which puzzled
me, and when l asked what they meant
| got the interesting reply that they
marked the graves of travellers who had
been murdered. I actually saw several
robber bands, but l believe that as
great parsonage. and the idea pre-
vailed that If / were molested an army
would march down from the west and cut
off their heads. l wasn't altogether easy
in my mind at any time" Riley confessed.
but my hair never came so near chang
ing color as 1t did one evening on the
march. when / was on the point of killing
one man. and expected to be killed by his
companions a few minutes afterward.
| had planned to spend the night with
a Christian chief of a village, and I was
tired after a day in the saddle and anx-
ious to get to him. So I rode on ahead
of my caravan, which was foolish.
We were travelling over rolling coun-
try, and looking back 1 discovered that
my caravan was out OF sight behind a
ridge. Suddenly 1 heard yells ahead of
me, and in the twilight saw two mounted
men galloping down on me, with spears
leveled. The spears that the natives of
these regions use are uncommonly long
longer than those that our British Ian
GERS use, and these fellows had theirs
ready for business They came for me
full tilt, yelling diabolically
drew my revolver and cooked it,
thought that as 1 was not much of a
shot l would wait until they were
So l covered the nearest man, a
fierce looking, turbaned Kurd Ny
finger was on the trigger and was in
the very act of pressing it when sud
denly they both refined their horses
back on their launches and flung up
their spears in greeting. They were
servants of my host, come to meet me
This is their fashion of Welcoming an
honored guest, but 1t is rather a mis-
leading one, and came within an ace
Of sending at least one of those chaps
to Nirvana-"
It was just at shutdown Of his sew
enth day in the saddle that Riley ar
rived at the temple of the devil. at
stood in the center Of a lovely gar
stone There appeared to be two
'naves' surmOunted by fiat roof with
three futed and cone shaped domes or
spires over what I believe to be the
tombs Of Sheikh Adj. the prophet of
Yezedis, and other saints On the outer
door was carved a serpent and a comb
yes. an ordinary hair comb AS I
dismounted the high priest Of the tenn
pie, a turbaned, white-bearded man
of great age. came forward and babe
me welcome in the Kurdish dialect,
which my interpreter translated. had
the forethought, by the way. to have
nothing blue about me. a color for
which, for some unexplained reason,
the Yezedfs have the greatest horror.
Prom the moment | arrived" he went
on. there We're black looks between my
Persian retainers and the Yezedis. and
there came near being trouble owing to
an ingenious attempt by my men to kill
OF one or more Of our hosts. A. .