The Cradle of Mankind; Life in Eastern Kurdistan

Every attempt has been made to replicate the original as printed. No
attempt has been made to correct or normalize the spelling of
non-English words. Some illustrations have been moved from
mid-paragraph for ease of reading. (etext transcriber's note)




               THE CRADLE OF MANKIND

                     AGENTS

     AMERICA THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
     64 & 66 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK

     AUSTRALASIA THE OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
     205 FLINDERS LANE, MELBOURNE

     CANADA THE MACMILLAN COMPANY OF CANADA, LTD.
     ST. MARTIN'S HOUSE, 70 BOND STREET, TORONTO

     INDIA MACMILLAN & COMPANY, LTD.
     MACMILLAN BUILDING, BOMBAY
     309 BOW BAZAAR STREET, CALCUTTA
     INDIAN BANK BUILDINGS, MADRAS

[Illustration: THE RIVER OF EDEN.

(THE ZAB ENTERING THE TYARI GORGES).

The view down stream from the mouth of the Ori valley, a little above
Tal. The distant snow peak is Ghara Dagh on the southern side of Tkhuma.

No. 1]




                             THE CRADLE OF
                                MANKIND

                       LIFE IN EASTERN KURDISTAN

                                   BY

           THE REV. W. A. WIGRAM. B.D. (Camb.) D.D. (Lambeth)
             AUTHOR OF "THE HISTORY OF THE ASSYRIAN CHURCH"

                                  AND

                         SIR EDGAR T. A. WIGRAM
                       AUTHOR OF "NORTHERN SPAIN"

              ILLUSTRATED FROM SKETCHES AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY
                         SIR EDGAR T. A. WIGRAM

                            SECOND EDITION.

                             [Illustration]

                          A. & C. BLACK, LTD.,
                  4, 5 & 6, SOHO SQUARE, LONDON, W.1.
                                  1922

                  _First Edition published May, 1914._
             _Second Edition, with two additional Chapters,
                        published Autumn, 1922._

_The truth is, that ye ken naething about our hill country, or Hielands
as we ca' them. They're a kind of wild world by themselves, full of
heights and howes, caverns, lochs, rivers and mountains, that it would
tire the very deevil's wings to flee to the tap of them. And the folk
are clean anither set frae the likes of huz; there's nae bailie-courts
amang them--nae magistrates that dinna bear the sword in vain. Never
another law hae they but the length of their dirks; the broad-sword's
pursuer, and the target is defender, and the stoutest head bears langest
out._

SIR WALTER SCOTT ("Rob Roy")




NOTE TO SECOND EDITION


The first sixteen chapters of this book were given to the public in the
spring of the year 1914. Since that date the country has acquired an
additional interest for Englishmen, owing to the British acceptance of a
"mandate" for its supervision and also to the picturesque and heroic
part played in the Great War by the "Assyrian" mountaineers.

While no attempt has been made to tell the full tale of "England in
Irak," it has been thought well to take the opportunity given by the
appearance of a second edition, and to bring the story of the Assyrian
nation up to the date of writing; and the facts which the two concluding
chapters record have been collected and verified during a prolonged
personal intercourse with the principal actors on the spot.

1922.




PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION.


It requires at least four persons to compound a salad sauce, say the
Spaniards. The requisite incompatibilities can never co-exist in one. A
spendthrift should squander the oil, and a miser dole out the vinegar. A
wise man should dispense the salt, and a madman should do the stirring.

Similarly, it has been stated that it takes two people at least to write
a book of travel; a newcomer to give the first impressions and an old
resident to reveal the true inwardness of things.

Though the quality of the ingredients must remain of more importance
than the proportions, the authors of the present volume hope that at
least the latter are correct. One of the writers has spent but three
months in the country, the other has lived there for ten years. One was
quite ignorant of the East, and spoke no word of any Oriental language;
the other had become so intimate with the tribesmen of his own locality,
that they had even begun to tell him of their superstitions--the last
secret that they ever disclose.

And the country itself possesses most intense and varied interest. It
contains some of the grandest scenery, and some of the most venerable
monuments in the world. It is the very _fons et origo_ of our
Indo-European ancestors. Its traditions connect it with the Garden of
Eden, with Noah, and with Abraham. Its folk-lore preserves the old
Nature-worship which originated in the brains of the Ape-man. Its
history records the very dawn of civilization, and the rise and fall of
the earliest of the great empires. The every-day life of its present
inhabitants is to this hour the life of the Patriarchs, the life of
Europe in the Dark Ages, the life of the Highlands of Scotland in the
days of Stewart Kings.

It is not an accessible country, even when judged by half-civilized
standards.