The Frontiers of Language and Nationality in Europe

Chapter XII: The Peoples of Turkey (2)

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The ancestors of the Ansariyehs and other small sects in northern Syria were closely related to their powerful Hittite neighbors. These peoples all occupy, together with the Druzes and Maronites, the southern limit of known Hittite monuments.[245] Their land is the frontier zone between Syria, Asia Minor and the Armenian highland. It is studded with ruined strongholds which figured prominently in ancient battle.

THE DRUZES

The southern Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon ranges in the rear-land of the Haifa-Beirut coast[246] are inhabited by Druzes. Tribes of this people are met as far southeast as the Hawran volcanic uplift, whither they have steadily emigrated from the Lebanon in the course of the past hundred years and where they have succeeded in dislodging the former Bedouin inhabitants. These Druzes are best known for their warlike disposition. Although numerically inferior to the Christian population of their native districts, their bellicose qualities have won them predominance in central Syria. In religion they are pure monotheists. Their standard of morality is high. They call themselves Mohammedans but do not maintain mosques and rarely practise polygamy. Orthodox Moslems generally repudiate them on account of the discrepancy between their teachings and the tenets of the Koran. As far as can be determined the doctrines of the Mosaic law, the Gospels, the Koran and Sufi allegories are represented in their creed. Often when with Christians they will not hesitate to assert belief in Christianity. The leaven of Iranian influences which pervades their doctrines estranges them from the surrounding Semitism just as their highland home separates them from the plainsmen settled around them. The dominance of this eastern strain in their thoughts does not, however, necessarily indicate racial migrations. Historical testimony is available to prove that the known form of Druze religion can be traced to the teachings of Hamze, a Persian disciple of Hakem.[247] The case is more probably that of an infiltration of foreign ideals and its retention within a region deprived by its relief from intercourse with the more progressive life of the surrounding lowland.

THE MARONITES

Closely related to the Druzes are their northwestern neighbors, the Maronites, a Christian people, who seceded from the Roman Church in the great schism that followed the council of Chalcedon in 451 A.D.[248] They form a compact mass settled on the western slopes of the Lebanon mountains between the valleys of the Nahr-el-Kebir and the Nahr-el-Barid. Mountain isolation and intermarriage among them have maintained an old type with remarkable purity. Being better farmers than warriors they have suffered from the oft repeated depredations of their war-like neighbors.[249] Enmity with their Mohammedan neighbors dates from the time of the Crusades when the Maronites had sided with the Christian knights.

THE JEWS

The Jews of Turkey include a small remnant of the captivity settled around Jerusalem and in Mesopotamia.[250] After the destruction of Jerusalem, the valley of the Tigris became the most important seat of the Hebrews. Parthian tolerance granted them a partial autonomy under the authority of a chief chosen from among the descendants of the house of David.[251] This liberal régime ended with the decline in power of the Abbasside caliphs of Bagdad. The Jews were then forced to abandon Chaldea. Many emigrated to Spain. Later, under the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, they were compelled to flee from Spanish persecution and seek a home again in Turkey. Descendants of these emigrants, known as Sephardim, are settled in cities of Asia Minor and Syria. Small colonies of Ashkenazim Jews are also scattered in various Turkish towns. An old colony of a few hundred Samaritans survives in the vicinity of Nablus.

The Jews are an exceedingly composite people and, contrary to popular belief, do not represent as pure a type of the Semitic race as the Bedouin Arabs. Southern Syria was a prey to invaders from every quarter of the compass. It was the clashing ground of Hittite and Nilotic civilizations. From the west, Mediterranean seafaring populations swarmed in from earliest antiquity. At least three great waves of Semitic migrations overwhelmed the land prior to the coming of the Arabs. The Jew, therefore, represents the fusion of four distinct races of men. The purity he has retained is that of the fused type. His language alone is Semitic. His physical appearance recalls Hittite traits more prominently than Semitic and this probably accounts for the frequent mistaking, in western Europe and in the United States, of Armenians for Jews.

ARAMEANS

The Arameans are either direct ancestors of modern Jews or else close congeners of early Hebrews. Both peoples are closely allied. They represent one of the many waves of Semitic humanity which have rolled out of Arabia’s highland steppes. A period of settlement in the fertile districts around the mouth of the Euphrates and Tigris precedes their spread throughout Mesopotamia and northeastern Syria. References to their history abound in sacred texts, as well in inscriptional remains[252] found throughout western Asia. The accounts, however, are fragmentary and so far have made possible only partial reconstitution of their history. An Aramean nation or a number of Aramean states undoubtedly existed in the tenth century B.C. This body subsequently acquired considerable power and founded colonies all over Mesopotamia and Syria. Damascus and Hamath, both in the latter province, became the greatest centers of Aramean power, owing to the natural resources of the districts around their sites as well as to their commanding position on important trade routes.

It seems established that the vast territory designated by the Assyrians by the name of “Mat Aram,” or land of Aram, did not necessarily contain Aramaic populations. It was more probably conquered by Arameans, who imposed their language on the subjugated peoples. Soon after the capture of Damascus by the Assyrians in 732 B.C. the Aramean nation disappears from history. Aramaic, however, survived and was even adopted by the victors.[253] But, in common with other Semitic languages, it could not withstand the advance of Arabic. The only locality in which it is now spoken is found northeast of Damascus in the environs of the villages of Malula, Bakha and Yubb Adin, where the natives still use a dialect similar to the Palestinian Aramaic spoken thirteen centuries ago. There is reason to believe that this sub-group of Syrians represents today the old Aramean stock in as pure a degree as is consistent with the secular mingling of peoples which has taken place in the region.[254]

THE YEZIDIS

The Sinjar range of hills stretching in a westerly direction from Mosul is the only upland of importance in the Mesopotamian valley. The largest compact mass of Yezidis are domiciled in this hilly country. A minor group occupies the Samaan mountains in Syria.[255]

The appellation of devil-worshipers which generally accompanies the name of Yezidi conveys a totally erroneous impression regarding their beliefs. They recognize, in fact, a benign deity, the Khode-Qanj, who reigns supreme over creation but with whom is associated an inferior divine essence, the Malik-i-Tawus, or Peacock King, who is lord of all evil and whom they consider necessary to propitiate in order to avert misfortune. But the ceremonies and sacrifices performed in honor of the subordinate deity do not interfere with the primary worship with which the God of Good is revered.[256] This interpretation of divinity bears deep analogy to the Iranian cult which revolves around the central figures of Ormuzd and Ahriman, respectively the good and the evil principle. The language of the Yezidis, which is akin to Kurdish, brings added evidence of the eastern derivation of their culture.

According to their own traditions the Yezidis came originally from the districts of the lower Euphrates. Certain Sabean features of their religion indicate intimate contact with Semitic populations. Little is known about their curious religious celebrations, to which strangers are never admitted. Their practice of bowing before the rising sun is a clear relic of Zoroastrian influence. They also perform rites which have analogy to Christian commemorations. In a land overrun in all directions no simple feature of the views they hold can account for their origin. The religion of the moment was imposed by the dominant element over all the peoples of Asiatic Turkey. Hence a given group merely shows successive strata of religious invasions.

The sturdily-built Yezidi is active and hardy. His energy sets him apart from the lithe-limbed and easy-going Arabs. His vigor and fighting blood saved him from the frightful persecutions for which the particularly obnoxious feature of his dual deity was responsible. Byzantine bishops and Arabian mollahs in turn reserved the wildest thunder of their intolerance for the Yezidi, whom they execrated beyond all others among heretics and unbelievers. This hatred of the presumed worshiper of the devil has not yet been outlived, and a devout Mohammedan will today spit upon the ground and mutter a curse whenever the abhorred name crosses his lips.

The Yezidis enjoy fame as agriculturists who know how to exact good yield from their mountain farms. They live a retired life and rarely allow strangers to travel through the Sinjar range. The modern armament of Turkish expeditions has cowed the present generation into a submission which their fathers would have scorned. But they still remain unwilling tax payers who rely on the natural disinclination of Turkish tax collectors to mountain-climbing.

THE NESTORIANS

The Nestorians, a Christian sect, are descendants of the followers of Nestorius, who seceded from established orthodoxy in the sixth century. They inhabit scattered villages in a region which changes from mountain to plain as it extends west of the Persian frontier to the Tigris river, roughly between latitudes 34° and 38°. On the north they rarely venture beyond the Bohtan river. The mountainous tract produces a manly set, who have more than held their own against the martial Kurds. Poverty and dependence mark the lot of the plainsmen in spite of their industry as agriculturists.

To say that the inhabitants of Turkey have religious nationality is perhaps the happiest way of accounting for the presence of large numbers of independent communities owing political allegiance to the Sultan. The bond of faith in the case of the Nestorians is one of remarkable strength, because this community represents the persecuted remnant of the ancient church of central Asia. Owing to its situation on the very outskirts of early Christianity the church became engaged in propagating the Gospel on a scale exceeded only by the see of Rome in the sixth and sixteenth centuries.[257] Consciousness of this tradition has not forsaken the Nestorians of the present day. The great influence wielded by their patriarch or religious head, the Mar Shimun, as he is called, is a relic of former authority.

The speech of the Nestorians is a Syriac dialect in which Persian, Arabic and Kurdish words have found place. Religious services are conducted, however, in the uncontaminated language. The Nestorians call themselves Syrians and refuse to recognize any other appellation. Owing to this fact much confusion has arisen in the minds of travelers who have attempted to describe them.

THE CHALDEANS

The Chaldeans are racially akin to the Nestorians, with whom they formed a single religious community prior to the seventeenth century. The hope of obtaining relief from Mohammedan persecution induced an important section of the old community to join the church of Rome at that time. In recent years, however, many have forsaken Roman Catholicism and formed a new sect which is known by the name of New Chaldeans. Protestant communities of this people as well as of Nestorians and Jacobites exist.

THE JACOBITES

The rugged limestone district around Midyad is the home of another mountain people known as the Jacobites. Banded together by the ties of religion they form a community of husbandmen living aloof from their neighbors of divergent religious views. They are described as of warlike nature and independent spirit. Language also differentiates them from other Ottoman groups, a Syriac dialect differing considerably from Nestorian being in use among them.[258] In Turabdin they speak an Aramaic dialect known as Turani. The Jacobites are noted for their aptitude for business. The important colony of traders founded in the eighteenth century in the vicinity of Bagdad owes its origin to the desert traffic and the Indian trade by way of Basra.

This people traces its religious origin to the teachings of Jacobus Baradeus,[259] who, in the middle of the sixth century, traveled through Asia Minor and consolidated scattered groups of Monophysite recusants into a single body. They constituted a large sect during the Middle Ages, but defections, notably in favor of the Roman Church, have thinned their numbers considerably since then. At present they muster hardly more than 15,000 individuals.

THE SABEANS

We are still in the dark concerning the history of the Sabeans, a people of Semitic origin who profess Christianity. That they once formed a powerful nation is attested by numerous ruins and inscriptions. This state began to decline in the first century of the Christian era and had completely disappeared by 500 A.D. They call themselves Mendai and are often known by the name of Christians of St. John. The community is small, numbering hardly 3,000 souls, mostly goldsmiths and boatbuilders who ply their trade in the Arab encampments of the Amara and Muntefik sanjaks in the vilayet of Basra. They talk a Semitic dialect and dress like the Arabs, from whom they can scarcely be distinguished. Their original homeland is believed to have been Yemen.

FIG. 64--Kurd children of the Armenian borderland. The poverty
of the land is reflected in their appearance no less than in the
arid background of the photograph.]

FIG. 65--A family of sedentary Arabs in Mesopotamia.]

FIG. 66--In the desert of Syria. A tribe of Anezeh Arabs moving
from an exhausted pasture to a fresh one.]

THE ARABS

The Arab folk, sparsely distributed over the Syrian desert and forming the majority of the inhabitants of the featureless downs of Mesopotamia, represent the ebbing of the last tide of Semitic invasion. In the sandy waste of their western extension, their tribes, shifting perpetually from seat to seat, like the dunes around which they roam, consist of Bedouin or “tent men.” The contribution of these nomads to society is as insignificant as the yield of the unproductive lands of their wandering. Towards the east, however, where two mighty rivers bring fertility and life to the soil, the genius of the race blossomed untrammeled and gave Mohammedan civilization to the world.

The purest living representatives of the Semitic race are found among these Bedouins. Civilization pursued its steady growth around their tent homes without affecting their lives. Better favored belts encircling the Syrian desert attracted the human migrations which took place in western Asia. From the last outliers of the hill system fringing the southern Taurus to the northern confines of the Arabian peninsula, the patriarchal state of society prevailing today differs little from the condition in which a dreamer well past middle age found it fourteen centuries ago and brought it within the pale of modern thought by inspiring it with the enthusiasm of his own belief in a single God. Stripped of his religion and of his rifle, the Bedouin stands today before the historian as the living image of long remote ancestors whose invasions caused profound upheavals in the societies established east and west of his present tramping ground.

But the Arab settled in the long elongated plain watered by the Tigris and Euphrates can never lay claim to equal purity of stock. He lives in a land which by virtue of a great twin river system gave rise to the oldest civilization of the world. Its inhabitants, whether aboriginal or invaders from the table-land on the east, derived more than mere sustenance from proximity to these mothering watercourses. Surrounded by desert and mountain, this region naturally became a seat of population. Its native element, already much mixed, was assimilated to a large extent by the Arabs since the period of their appearance in Mesopotamia.

The floating masses of Bedouins have successfully resisted Turkish effort to induce them to abandon nomadism. Occasionally, as in the belt of Tauric precipitation or along the borders of the zone of Mediterranean rains no less than under the benign influence of Mesopotamian rivers, they become sedentary. They are then known as _fellaheen_. But the change is incompatible with their immemorial restlessness and implies loss of caste in their own eyes.

TABLE I

NAMES AND PEOPLES OF SOME NON-TURKISH VILLAGES IN ASIA MINOR

Peoples designated as follows:
Alevi Al.
Armenians Ar.
Avshars Av.
Chaldeans Ch.
Circassians Cir.
Greeks Gr.
Karapapaks Kpk.
Kizilbash Kz.
Kurds Kd.
Nestorians N.
New Chaldeans N. Ch.
Tatars Ta.
Turkomans Tkn.
Yezidi Yd.

Name of Village Peoples
Aghje Kaleh Kd.
Agh-ova Kd.
Aivali Gr.
Ak-bunar Cir.
Akdam Ar.
Akhlat Kd.
Akstafa Kpk.
Alaklissia Gr.
Alexandropol Ar.
Alkosh N. Ch.
Altea Gr.
Angora Ar.
Arabja Keupri Gr. & Cir.
Ardia Cir.
Arji N.
Atess N.
Avviran Gr.
Bazarjik Kd.
Berar Ar.
Bey Ch.
Birgami Kd.
Chateran Ar.
Chevirme Kd.
Chukh Ar.
Deliler Kd.
Derendeh Ar.
Diz-deran Kd.
Ekrek Ar.
Feshapur Ch.
Funduk Cir.
Furinji Kd.
Garib Kd.
Garni Ar.
Gemerek Ar.
Gunderno Ar.
Gunig-kaleh Ar.
Gurgujeli Tkn.
Gurun Ar.
Haik Ar.
Hamsi Gr.
Hanefi Al.
Harras Kd.
Helais Kd.
Hornova Ar.
Hoshmat Ar.
Inevi Tkn.
Instosh Ar.
Isbarta Gr.
Isoghlu Kd.
Jenan Kd.
Jessi Kd.
Kaialik Kd.
Kainar Cir.
Karachu Kd.
Kara-geben Ar.
Keklik-oghlu Kd.
Kelebesh Gr.
Kemer Av.
Keupri Tkn.
Kezanlik Cir.
Khakkaravokh Kd.
Khasta-Khâneh Av.
Khusi N.
Kinskh Kd.
Kizil-doghan Gr.
Kilisse Ar.
Kochannes N.
Koch-hissar Ar.
Kojeri Ar.
Koshmet Kz.
Kotni Kd.
Kula Gr.
Kwaneh N.
Maden N.
Madrak Kd.
Mansuriyeh Ch.
Melendis Gr.
Mervanen N.
Misli Gr.
Mush plain Ar.
Nerdivan Kd.
Nerib Kd.
Nigdeh Gr.
Niksar Gr.
Norchuk Ar.
Omar Kd.
Orbülu Kd.
Pekarieh Ar.
Pingan Ar.
Porrot Kd.
Pulk Ar.
Rabat Kd.
Redvan Yd.
Samsat Kd.
Sekunis N.
Semil Yd.
Serai N.
Shabin Kara-Hissar Ar.
Shahr Ar.
Sha-uta N.
Sheik Adi Yd.
Sheikh Amir Kd.
Sheikhan Kd.
Shen Kd.
Shernak Kd.
Sultan Oghlu Tkn.
Tadvan Ar.
Takvaran Kd.
Tashan Ar.
Tashbunar Cir.
Terzili Ar.
Thorub Ch.
Tokat Ar.
Tomarze Ar.
Top-agach Ar.
Tor Tkn.
Ulash Ar.
Uzum Yaila Cir.
Vurla Gr.
Yakshi-khân Ta.
Yalak Av.
Yarzuat Ta.
Yeni Keui Kd.
Zara Ar.
Zela Ar.

TABLE II

CLASSIFICATION OF THE PEOPLES OF ASIATIC TURKEY

TABLE III

THE CHRISTIANS OF THE TURKO-PERSIAN BORDERLAND

I. _Mosul and the Valley of the Tigris (by families)_[262]

District of Mosul.
City of Mosul 2,000 R. C.[263]
City of Mosul 1,200 J.
City of Mosul 400 R. C. s.
Telkief 2,000 R. C.
Bagdair 700 J.
Bartila 300 R. C.
Batnai 400 R. C.
Tel Uskof 450 R. C.
Alkosh 700 R. C.
Dohuk 150 R. C.
Bait Kupa 300 R. C.
Mar Yakob & Sheus 100 R. C.
-----
Total 8,700 8,700

District of Sapna.
Mangeshie 200 R. C.
Dihie 30 P.
Daviria 100 R. C.
Tinn 70 R. C.
Aradin 200 R. C.
Haszia & Benata 50 R. C.
Bibaidi 30 N.
Diri 40 N.
Dirginie 35 N.
Lower Barnai, Maisie,
Chamankie, etc. 120 R. C.
----
Total 875 875

District of Zakhu.
Zakhu 100 R. C.
Bait Daru 90 R. C.
Peshawur 110 R. C.
Bersiwi 70 R. C.
Sharnish 50 R. C.
Margu & Baiju 95 R. C.
Wasta 80 R. C.
---
Total 595 595

District of Bohtan.
Tilkuba 60 R. C.
Jazera (Jezireh) 150 R. C.
Mansuria 60 P.
Hassan 70 N.
Shakh 30 P.
Mar Akha 30 P.
Mar Yohannan 10 P.
A few other villages 50 N.
---
Total 460 460

District of Zibar.
Esan 30 N.
Argin 7 N.
Shushu & Sharman 25 N.
Shaklawa (in Akra) 500 R. C.
Akra 300 R. C.
---
Total 862 862

District of E. Berwar.
Aina d’Nuni 50 N.
Duri 35 N.
Ikri & Malakhta 40 N.
Bait Baluk 20 N.
Four villages,
including Halwa,
Khwara 50 N.
Dirishki 20 N.
Maiyi 25 N.
Haiyiz 30 N.
Bishmeyayi 20 N.
Iad 20 N.
Tashish 30 N.
Musakka 20 N.
Three small
villages 25 N.
Jadeda 15 N.
Chalik 30 N.
Kaneba Labi 20 N.
---
Total 450 450
------
11,942

II. _The Highlands of Kurdistan_

Tyari 5,000
Tkhuma 2,500
Baz 800
Tal 700
Diz 600
Jilu 2,500
Berwar (Qudshanis included) 900
Lewan (west of Julamerk) 300
Serai (45 miles east of Van) 300
Eleven villages around Serai 400
Norduz (on Van-Julamerk road) 200
Albak (near Bashkala) 300
Gawar 400
Six villages in Nerwan & Rekan 200
Shemsdinan & Bar Bhishu (estimated) 200
------
Total families 15,300 15,300
------
Grand total 27,242

Total individuals at six to a family 163,452

FOOTNOTES:

[214] Fully one-third of Armenian consists of words of Persian stock. Some Armenian philologists point to the existence of a small remnant of highly ancient words which cannot be traced to Aryan forms and which probably represent the survival of a language indigenous to the Armenian highlands.

[215] H. R. Hall: The Ancient History of the Near East, London, 1913, pp. 31-79.

[216] R. Dussaud: Les civilisations préhelléniques dans le bassin de la Mer Egée, Paris, 1914, pp. 414-455.

[217] D. G. Hogarth: The Nearer East, New York, 1902, p. 102.

[218] D. G. Hogarth: Ionia and the Near East, Oxford, 1909; J. L. Myres: Greek Lands and the Greek People, Oxford, 1910.

[219] In many of these Anatolian communities Greek is written with Turkish characters.

[220] G. de Jerphanion: La région d’Urgub (Cappadoce), _La Géogr._, Vol. 30, No. 1, July 15, 1914, pp. 1-11.

[221] In the Levant they are called Mezzo-Mezzos.

[222] J. Garstang: The Land of the Hittites, London, 1910, p. 318.

[223] Many Moslem immigrants from eastern Europe are also found in Asia Minor. Bosnians, Albanians, Pomaks and, in general, members of every Mohammedan community in the Balkan peninsula consider Asia Minor as a favorable land in which to settle.

[224] R. Leonhard: Paphlagonia, Berlin, 1915, pp. 359-373; J. W. Crowfoot: Survivals among the Kappadokian Kizilbash (Bektash), _Journ. Anthrop. Inst._, Vol. 30, 1900, pp. 305-320.

[225] The distribution of Kizilbash villages in the Yechil Irmak valley is shown in G. de Jerphanion’s Carte du Bassin du Yéchil Irmak, 1:200,000, Paris, 1914.

[226] J. G. Frazer: The Golden Bough, the Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, London, 1911, Vol. 2, p. 126, footnote 2.

[227] H. F. B. Lynch: Armenia, London, 1901, Vol. 2, p. 430.

[228] Earl Percy: Highlands of Asiatic Turkey, London, 1901, pp. 89-90.

[229] C. Wilson: Handbook for Travelers in Asia Minor, Transcaucasia, Persia, etc., London, 1911, p. 68.

[230] The gipsies of Syria are known by the name of Nawar, or Zotts.

[231] Cf. inset on accompanying map entitled “Part of Asiatic Turkey showing Distribution of Peoples.”

[232] The Mexican parallel is too striking to be omitted here. The southern end of the plateau of Anahuac, on which the waters of Lake Texcuco receded within historical times, is the center of the stage of Mexican history. Surrounding this open land numerous narrow valleys were peopled by independent tribes which eventually banded together under the leadership of the community living near the central body of water. This lake confederacy became Cortez’s most powerful opponent when the conquistadores undertook their memorable expedition. Cf. F. J. Payne: History of the New World Called America, Oxford, 1899, pp. 450-463.

[233] D. G. Hogarth: The Ancient East, New York, 1914, p. 74.

[234] Notably _t_ is entirely eliminated from the third person singular.

[235] Handbook for Travelers in Asia Minor, Transcaucasia, Persia, etc., London, 1911, p. 75.

[236] _Petermanns Mitt._, Vol. 42, Jan. 1896, p. 8; and for details V. Cuinet: La Turquie d’Asie, Paris, 1891-94, Vols. 1-4.

[237] The Armenian population of Turkey is divided by creed into three distinct communities. The vast majority--probably about ninety per cent--belong to the Gregorian sect of Christianity. Adherents of the Roman Catholic faith are found chiefly in western Asia Minor. Protestant congregations have sprung up around the educational institutions maintained by British or American missionary societies. Let it be noted here that many Mohammedan communities in Armenia consist of Armenoid individuals whose membership in the fold of Islam is the result of forcible conversions since the rise of Ottoman power. The Dersimlis, who inhabit the region between the two main branches of the Euphrates, have the reputation of being crypto-Christians of Armenian blood. Moslems of Armenian origin are also known in the village of Karageben on the Tehalta river east of Divrik. In Russia the Armenians number a scant million souls. Half of this community is scattered in the valley of the Arax and in the Erivan province.

[238] F. von Luschan: The Early Inhabitants of Western Asia, _Ann. Rept. Smithsonian Inst._ for 1914, pp. 561-562.

[239] “Rarely of unusual stature ... complexion dark” is Wilson’s description. Handbook for Travelers in Asia Minor, Transcaucasia, Persia, etc., London, 1911, p. 64.

[240] Mark Sykes: The Kurdish Tribes of the Ottoman Empire, _Journ. Anthrop. Inst._, Vol. 38, 1908, pp. 451-486.

[241] B. Dickson: Journeys in Kurdistan, _Geogr. Journ._, Vol. 35, No. 4, April 1910, p. 361.

[242] De Torcy: Notes sur la Syrie, _La Géogr._, Vol. 27, No. 3, March 15, 1913, pp. 161-197; No. 6, June 15, 1913, pp. 429-459.

[243] L. Gaston Leary: Syria, the Land of Lebanon, New York, 1913, p. 10.

[244] R. Dussaud: Les Nossairis, _Bibl. de l’École des Hautes Études, Sciences, Philosophie et Histoire_, Paris, 1900, Vol. 129.

[245] J. Garstang: The Land of the Hittites, London, 1910, pp. 15, 16.

[246] About forty towns and villages are held by the Druzes in the southern Lebanon. In the Anti-Lebanon districts they people eighty villages and share possession of about two hundred with their Christian kinsmen, the Maronites.

[247] Hakem was a Fatimite caliph of Egypt, who ruled in the early eleventh century. He incurred the hatred of his subjects by causing the incarnation of God in himself to be preached in Cairo by Darasi, his chaplain. Both became so unpopular that they were forced to escape from the capital to the Lebanon, where they succeeded in imposing their doctrines on the mountaineers. The name Druze is believed to be derived from Darasi.

[248] In recent years the Maronites have submitted to the authority of the Vatican. In return certain privileges, such as that of retention of Syriac liturgy, have been accorded to them. They constitute a veritable theocracy, all tribal and community affairs being handled by the clergy.

[249] The French military expedition to the Lebanon, undertaken in 1860, was caused by the massacre of over 12,000 Maronites by the Druzes in that year.

[250] This group comprises about 90,000 souls in Syria and 40,000 in Mesopotamia.

[251] E. Aubin: La Perse d’aujourd’hui, Paris, 1908, p. 418.

[252] The Elephantine papyri discovered on the island of Elephantine in southern Egypt between 1903 and 1906 contain Aramaic texts of great historical value.

[253] O. Procksch: Die Völker Altpalästinas, Leipzig, 1914, p. 30.

[254] At the end of the pre-Islamic period the region west of the Euphrates to the eastern slopes of the Lebanon mountains was known to the Arabs as “Beit Aramyeh,” or the land of the Arameans.

[255] H. Lammens: Le Massif du Gebal et les Yezidis de Syrie, _Mélanges Faculté Orient. Univ. Beyrouth_, 1907, pp. 366-407.

[256] W. B. Heard: Notes on Yezidis, _Journ. Anthrop. Inst._, Vol. 41, pp. 200-219.

[257] A. P. Stanley: Lectures on the History of the Eastern Church, New York, 1909, p. 58.

[258] H. Trotter: _Geogr. Journ._, Vol. 35, No. 4, 1910, p. 378.

[259] F. J. Bliss: The Religions of Modern Syria and Palestine, New York, 1912.

[260] The figures for Armenians and Greeks require revision in view of the systematic efforts of the Turks to extirpate these two peoples. The massacres of the entire Greek population of villages of the Ægean coasts and atrocities of a most inhuman character perpetrated on the Armenians of inland communities have largely depleted the ranks of these two Christian subject groups.

[261] Hellenes, or subjects of the King of Greece, number about 20,000.

[262] Figures supplied by Dr. W. W. Rockwell, Editor of the American Committee for Armenian and Syrian Relief. See Rockwell: Pitiful Plight, second ed., pp. 66.

[263] Abbreviations; R. C.: Roman Catholic Uniats, “Chaldeans.” R. C. s.: Roman Catholic Uniats, “Syrian Catholics.” J.: Jacobites. N.: Nestorians, “Assyrian Christians.” P.: Protestants.

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