Thurs March 30 [30 March 1911] Frost in the night. At 5 Temp 34 Bar
29.15. Off at 6. I was inveigled into seeing the shrine of the Arbain in
the village but found it to be only 2 mud rooms with tiny domes.
Outside the village there is an Imam with a pointed dome of the Sitt
Zobeida type, built of brick and I shd think old. We got to Matara at
8.15 by a stream and here left the carriage road and took a shorter
road through the hills. My mare very ill and like to die. We reached
the Karali Chai at 10.25, the village of Karali is near it to the R of the
road. At 11.10 reached the Tochmarli Chai with the Tochmarli Karyasi
on this side of it and here my mare recovered. So on over wide
cornfields with hills to the E and Kerkuk [Kirkuk] high placed ahead of
us. All the people out in the cemetaries [sic] for it was a delicious day.
We got to Kerkuk at 1.30, rode through the town and camped in the
stony river bed near the bridge at 2. An immense crowd assembled
at once and I went off to the Seraya to get an escort for the town. A
Xian escorted me and I saw the head of the police (I think) Shanket[?]
Effendi a prompt and agreeable Baghdadi. He at once put matters
right. He says Sami Pasha is to go as Mufattesh to Baghdad and he
himself is very likely to be transferred there. They were evidently very
jealous of Nazim's authority here and managed their own affairs. He
said if Nazim had remained the tribal troubles wd have broken out
again. They have driven back the Hamawand to behind the Altun
Keupri [Altin Kˆpr¸ (Pirde)] road but I gather that Suleimaniyyeh
[Sulaymaniyah, As] is still very disturbed. I did not see 'Anullah
Pasha the Mutesarrif. He has been here 2 years nearly and the
prevailing peace is due to him. On all sides I heard him very highly
spoken of. Shanket said Yusef Pasha was extremely competent. So
I walked off with several police and Xians round the base of the
citadel hill to the E. suburb where S of the Tekkiyeh (with a very
crooked tiled minaret) we came to Mar Tamasgard built on a mound.
Extremely interesting with double columns like Sarvistan. I drew the
plan till 5.15 and being then tired went off to see the Chaldaean Bp.
He lives in the citadel and has a beautiful view from his windows. I
was received by the Abbe Dominique Counda [Arabic characters]
who was very friendly. Presently the bp came in, an old man who had
spent 8 years in Rome [Roma]. They have about 100 families[?] in
and near Kerkuk. The bp and all the priests spoke French. The bp
spoke highly of Yusef Pasha, who loved the Xians. I went across the
road to seen the big church which has just been finished on the site of
an older small church that had fallen into ruin. Then down to my tents.