again, fall into two classes. Those in the mountains are called ‘ashīrah (tribe).[1] They consist of families, said to be courageous
FIG. 2.—ḲUDSHANIS.
(From a photograph by the Rev. F. N. Heazell.)
and warlike, in the mountain fastnesses, practically independent of the Turkish Government—for the usual reason, because the Government cannot get at them. They flourish and fight Kurds in the wild country where the great Zab takes its rise between the lakes Van and Urmi (Tiari and Tḥuma), pay taxes very irregularly, and really obey only Mâr Shim‘un. The other group is that of the ordinary ra‘iyyah in the open country, more accessible to the Government, and so very much more miserable in every way. A triangle between Lake Van, Lake Urmi and almost down to Mosul encloses the home of the present Nestorians. Its centre is the village Ḳudshanis, where dwells the Patriarch. South of this triangle we come to the plains around Mosul and Bagdad, now inhabited chiefly by the Uniate Chaldees. The distinction of religion is not, of course, entirely geographical. There are a few Nestorians at Mosul, in Persian towns, Armenia, perhaps at Urfah and Diyarbakr; but these are, so to say, strangers in a foreign land, just as there are some in America.
- ↑ From the root ‘ašar (Arabic: "ten"), a group of ten families.
