Fri March 31 [31 March 1911] At 5.30 Temp 43 Bar 29.9. Off at 6 to Mar
Tamasgard and worked till 10.45. Then to the bp's whence I went with
a priest to see the small mosque which was once a church of the
Virgin and is still called the mosque of the Sitt Miryam. It is a basilica
with a nave and aisles divided by arcades of 3 arches borne on very
broad stunted piers. A high pointed vault. It is oriented, with W doors
in the nave and aisles and a door in the N aisle. The nave ends in 2
piers and behind is a sanctuary, covered by a pointed dome on
squinches. Chapels at the end of the ...... (vaulted). In the S chapel is
an old (medieval) woodwork frame which is still called the tomb of the
Sitt Maryam and probably stands on the site of some reliquary of the
Virgin. The quite unadorned vaults springing forward. On the N side
of the nave steps leading up to a platform part of which is probably
the old pulpit - it has been added to. So down to my tents got packed
up in an immense crowd, paid a visit of thanks on Shanket Effendi (the
Mutesarrif was at prayers and he was waiting for him to go and ..... at a
.....) and off at 12.45. Kerkuk [Kirkuk] is horribly dirty. In the upper town
and below it a smelly disgusting open drain runs through the middle of
the streets and on either side the narrow ways are covered with filth. A
new quarter has grown up on the W bank of the river, much cleaner,
the houses set in gardens. The official quarters are all here. We rode
out over cornfields and entered the hills close to a naphtha spring.
We then took a short cut over the hills, by a rough path, which up to a
year ago was infested by robber bands of the Hamawand. At 3.40 we
came to a Nuktah which is known as the Khan. Here we changed
zaptiehs and got 2 men of an Arab tribe the ....... which has for the last
20 years been charged with the guarding of the road from the
Hamawand. They used to be ashab but are now gom. My zaptiehs
sang the praises of 'Anullah, said he listened to everybody and gave
his attention to everything. They also spoke highly of Yusef Pasha.
Since the Mashrutiyyeh and especially since Muhammad Reshad
(and the coming of 'Anullah) an immense change for the better has
taken place and they hope that 'Anullah may be left for another 10
years. We crossed an abrupt hill and on the top saw a beautiful plain
covered with corn and villages and the horizon set with detached
snow mountains. The whitest and highest near Suleimaniyyeh
[Sulaymaniyah, As]. The plain is bounded to the E by the line of low
hills where the Hamawand territory begins and with it anarchy.
Shanket explained to me that it was not thought expedient to disarm
the tribes on the frontier and as their arms might some day be
needed. He dwelt on the necessity of dealing straightly with the Arab
tribes. Came into camp at 5 at Kelwir near the big mound of
Bashtepe. All the people hereabouts Kurds and friends with the
Hamawand. Lovely night. Saw the new moon.