16

KOORDISH ENCAMPMENT.

but rode along the side of the stream, and sought a ford, which enabled us to cross to the opposite bank without any similar sort of achievement.

Winding round a hill, and diverging through a mysterious-looking path to the right of the road, which did not appear much trodden, we were conducted to a Koordish encampment, called Ibrahim Kanchee. It. was a most dismal-looking place, but having travelled for so many hours, we were glad to accept even a bandit's invitation. Salvator Rosa never imagined a more suitable spot for a band of marauders. Shortly after our arrival, the chief of the camp assigned us a tent, and sent us a dinner consisting of a pair of grilled fowls, and some round cakes sprinkled over with the seeds of the simsin (Sesamum orientale). Our guide and an Armenian merchant were served with a wooden bowl of sour milk, and eggs fried in oil. After them came the owner of the tent, who was soon beard-deep in his meal, and, last of all, our old katurjee

CANINE SENTINELS.

17

bashee seized one of the wooden platters out of which we all by turns had eaten, and, gathering the fragments together, devoured them with the greatest avidity.

During the whole night, large fires blazed before the door of every tent, around which numbers of ferocious-looking dogs were crouched ready to attack all intruders. These faithful sentinels are attached to the camps of all the Nomadic Koords, and in form strongly resemble jackals. They have very long legs, and immense bushy tails.

The attachment of the Koords to their chieftains is indescribably strong, and the influence of these chiefs over their tribe equally so. If one is ever slain in war, it is never forgiven nor forgotten. They carry on an everlasting feud, never ceasing until they have had their "blood revenge." I know not what power could ever succeed in bringing them under subjection; for not only is the whole country mountainous and inaccessible, but they are eternally flying from one end of it to the other, the brief duration of their stay

18

A KOORDISH CHIEF.

in any given spot being regulated according to circumstances. In all their camps the tent of the chief occupies a central position; round him his relatives range, and round these again his vassals form the outermost circle.

The demeanour of the chief of Ibrahim Kanchee was frank, manly, and courteous: I shall never forget the expression of his dark resolute eye, which beamed through his clear olive complexion. He was truly a fine specimen of the independent Koord—straight, clean-limbed, and erect. The figure of the chieftain in the foreground of Hayter's splendid picture of "Koords assisting Georgians in surprising and carrying off Circassian women," gives a good idea of him. The complexion of the Koord is darker than that of either the Turk or Persian: and the older he grows the darker he becomes, from exposure to the elements. This, by the way, is the case with most Asiatics, especially the females, and with the Anglo-Indian, vulgariter, "half-cast," in a superlative degree.

GROUPES OF TOMBS.

19

On the 17th of April, we quitted Ibrahim Kanchee at sunrise, and, after travelling for several hours, passed the second range of hills on the southern side of Mount Zagros. The first was composed of calcareous limestone, but this last contained a great variety of breccias. The first, or northern, range was much higher than the second; but, in other respects, the superficial aspect of both was similar, and their strata inclined to the west. The descent to the plains was steep and rugged, but, after we passed the second or inferior range, we wound through low sandy hillocks composed of sandstone and gravel. This part of the country wore a desert aspect, and many groupes of tombs were observed upon the sloping heights to the right. These tombs stood alone; there were neither villages in the neighbourhood, nor any traces even of encampments. Many were heaped closely together, as if some great engagement had taken place, and the slain had been hastily interred. The central tombs, however, had granite pillars of some

20

INFLUX OF NOMADIC TRIBES.

elevation, intending, perhaps, to mark the graves of chieftains of rank.

The influx of the Nomadic tribes from Assyria and Mesopotamia had in this neighbourhood set in so strong, that the Koords are seldom seen in these wilds: they can endure fatigue and privation without a murmur, but the plains of Persia or Arabia, are to them "murder and sudden death." Their history is as mysterious, as their fate is severe. They disappear from the earth like appari