To Mesopotamia and Kurdistan in disguise

by Ely Banister Soane

I called Hama, whose long form I could see in the yard, and giving him the money before the priest, told him to scatter it to the poor, and so I scored again, for I knew the old trick; he sought to make me take the money, and relying upon a native cupidity, had presented me with a trust which gave me the power of retaining the cash. He saw that I had seen the catch, and smiled quietly, looking at me in a curious way, and I, waiting for no further comments, left him.

Outside again I mounted the mule, and the emptiness of the saddle-bags recalling to mind the rejected sugar, I asked Hama what he had done with it.

“Why,” he said, “when the dog refused it, I took it to the coffee-house here, and pretended I had brought it from Halabja for sale. They bought it for seventeen krans, and here’s the money,” and he showed me the krans in his hand, and expressed his satisfaction at so profitable an ending of the affair. Yet he was boiling with indignation at the reception I had met from the Shaikh ul Islam, and upbraided me for wasting my time upon such a person, recommending me rather than suffer the indignities he had put upon me to relinquish my quest of the unpaid debt—a piece of advice I told him I would take with pleasure.

RETURN OF UTHMAN PASHA

When I arrived at Halabja in the evening, I found that Uthman Pasha had arrived from Sulaimania with all his suite, and that Shaikh Ali of Tavila had also come in with a huge procession of hangers-on, from Gulanbar, where he had been staying. So full was the place now that I was glad that I had, two days before, shifted my quarters to a room below the reception-room of Lady Adela, where in a back verandah I lived a secluded and peaceful life, undisturbed by anyone except the people of Lady Adela coming to fetch me for secretarial duties, which I had taken up almost regularly for her by now.

By this time I was hoping to be able to leave Halabja soon, for there was nothing to do save act as Persian writer to Lady Adela and the Pasha, which I did not particularly want to do, as it would make departure more and more difficult as time went on. I had enquired into the possibilities of making a corner in “run,” and had partially succeeded, being now possessor of the bulk of that commodity in the district. It was not yet, however, delivered, so I made Mansur the Christian my agent, and began to look around for fresh occupation elsewhere. When I announced my intention of leaving to Lady Adela, she protested loudly, as did Tahir Beg, and swore that she would keep me. She wanted me to teach Persian to her two young sons—rowdy boys of twelve and sixteen—who never rested at home a day, being ever in the saddle or in the mountains. Then Tahir Beg, too, had his obstacles to place in the way. As a final inducement Lady Adela tried to keep me for the purpose of entering into a business agreement with Uthman Pasha, a lure which also failed, though so well meant, for I was not disposed to create a responsibility from my part to other persons which might hold me when I wanted to leave the country. So I engaged a mule in a caravan shortly to leave for Sulaimania, and began to take farewells of my acquaintances. I was the more resolved to go, seeing that some little time before, when I had had the idea to go to Khaniqin to buy sugar wholesale I had been opposed by the same arguments as were now tendered to keep me from Sulaimania. But the caravan delayed and delayed, and every morning’s promise of departure became a new dalliance at noon. Meanwhile the Shaikh ul Islam turned up suddenly, and came to see me. I was hardly disposed to receive him civilly, and Hama was for openly insulting him, but this was obviously undesirable, so he was received with as much reserve as possible. I had expected to see him in a revengeful mood, for he would have heard by now how well I got on in Halabja, and his jealousy would—if his antagonism were actuated by that feeling—flame into possibly open opposition. But I found him all honey and smiles; he was meek, and a little inclined to be servile. Why he adopted this attitude I did not see, except that he must have resolved to accept me at my own valuation, and, finding me popular, submitted to public opinion. At any rate it was not worth while to go into such details and theories, as I was leaving, and told him so. Immediately he raised a hundred objections: I should find trade bad in Sulaimania; I should be harassed by the Government; I should lose in my transactions with a people noted for their craft and deceit; I could never live among so rude a populace, and so on, to which I gave no reply. Hama supplying one in the vigorous manner in which he was roping a box the while.

So at last the priest took his departure, and I was relieved. As he went out the muleteer came in, and swore he would get away to-morrow early, if he left half his goods behind him. I was taking back to Sulaimania several loads of “run,” worth about fifty pounds in all, contained in sheepskins. As the weather was warm the stuff was semi-liquid, and we had to sew the greasy skins in gunnies for transport. Each skin was slipped into a coarse sack, of which the mouth was sewn up. Then an edge each of two sacks was sewn together with strong cord, and a kind of saddle-bag thus formed, which it was possible to hang over a mule’s back. This job took till fairly late, when the Shaikh ul Islam suddenly came rushing along like a madman.

LEAVE HALABJA

“I thought my counsels had prevailed,” he said, pouring out the words; “I imagined you were remaining, and now I hear you are leaving to-morrow. It is better far to stay here, why leave comfort and peace for the rush of Sulaimania? Will you not stay? Will not the counsels of reason prevail against your impetuosity?”

“No,” I said, “for I am going. I have hired the animals, and did I wish to stay it would now be impossible.”