Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1922-10-18
Kurd Coolies IN Irak.

Kurd COOL
I prepared BY the National Geographic So
ciety, Washington. y. c.
The so-calleG kurdish Republic.
one Of the latest governmental units
reported 20 have been set up In the
prOtean Middle East, Is supposed 10
have been created by n Kurd bandit
I from the Persian part OF the region
I that has been indefinitely termed
"Kurdistan" for generations.
Kurdistan has Sprawled across in.
& ternational lines with a fine disregard
FOR those Hypothetical, man-made
limits: and its people too. have disre-
F garded national boundaries. Semi
nomadic. many Of them spend their
T winters In the warm plains of Irak, and
T their summers In the cool uplands of
T Persia or Eastern Turkey.
The Kurds are par excellence, the
mountaineers OF the Middle East. The
+ highlands have ever bred not only
i love OF liberty and independence, bur
I often an aggressive and marauding
/ spirit as well and all these traits the
Z Kurds have in abundance. Big and
muscular. with piercing dark eyes and
4 long muStaches that contribute n look
4 Of fierceness. every one armed 10 the
teeth. the men might be described as
the worlds nightmare conception Of
] brigands.
Three thousands years ago the
I proud kings OF Assyria led their
I trained armies northwestward into the
mountainous region Of the upper Eu-
I pirates and Tigris rivers. The tur-
bulent mountaineers against whom
they advanced fed before the civilized
soldiers Of the Mesopotamian plain
and took refuge i'm inaccessible
heights. leaving their rude villages OF
mud and stones 10 be destroyed.
Not Easy to Conquer.
/ Invariably the kings claimed 10
have defeated the wild upland tribes,
/ as boaStful inscriptions carved In the
I living rock still prove; but the defeat
was never permanent. As soon rs the
I soldiers retired the mountaineers re-
7 occupied their villages. and soon be-
\ gan 10 plumber the lowlands as law
\ lessly as ever.
Centuries later. when N,nophon led
HIS ten thousand Greeks from the
lower Euphrates northward across the
/ Armenian plateau 10 Trebizond, the
/ mountaineers were still untamed. An
/ night they rolled stones down the
/ mountain-side upon Nenophon's army,
and were vanquished only by a
/ stratagem.
Today the great empires Of Meso-
I potamia have fallen; the power Of
/ Greece has passed away; but. still. as
/ OF old. the mountains breed lawless-
ness. and the mountaineers are the
unsubdued scourge of the people of
1 the plains
The lineal descendants OF the Car
/ duchi who opposed the march OF
I Xenophon are the Kurds-a sturdy,
strong-featured race Of Mohammedan
Aryans allied 60 the Persians on the
one hand and 10 the Armenians on the
other. Their home is I'm the southern
7 part OF the Armenian plateau, among
I the headwaters Of the Euphrates and
7 Tigris rivers. and in the Zagros noun
I tains. which W. southeastward from
/ Lake Van 70 the Persian gulf and
/ form the boundary between Turkey
and Persia. There they tend their
/ flocks: for the majority are primarily
I shepherds. although they cultivate the
/ soil as far as possible.
Although most Of the Kurds pos
/ sess villages. composed Of clusters of
7 low. fiat-roofed houses Of stone or
mud. all the tribes are more or less
nomadic. The majority live In dark
I brown. many-peaked tents OF goats
I hair during the summer. not wander
Ing far from home. but merely going
I up, into the high mountains, whore II
I j. too cold and snowy TO live in winter.
/ A considerable number, however
I live n purely nomadic life. wandering
hundreds OF miles along regular
routts. Among the pure nOmads so
clety Is organized upon a half-tribal,
1 half-patriarchial system. while the
half-patriarchsl Kurds are either d.
vided into tribes or clans. Ike those of
medieval Scotland. or are ruled by
,eudal lords, whose pswer is often
absolute.
Poverty Is the rule among the
Kurds: their mountain Businesses are
Mfiicult OF access. and they them
selves are strong and hardy by reason
y their life Of exertlon. The people
4 the nelghboring fertile lowlands. on
he other hand. are relatively well-tO-