Chapter I: Front Matter

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

(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.

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.