volume 2 - Robert Bedrosian's Armenian History Workshop

2l6 Ghirdn and AyM Beg.
bank. About two o'clock we were overtaken by a
violent thunder-storm and were soon wet through. The
lightning was magnificent, and the peals of thunder were
followed by falls of stone from the projecting edges of
the strata on the sides of the hills.
We arrived at 'Iran, or Ghiran, also called Skeniyah,
at 3.40 p.m., and made arrangements with a Yazidi to
shelter our beasts and baggage in his courtyard whilst
we looked about for a lodging for the night. The
houses were built of stone, and were covered with good
substantial roofs made of layers of small trees and
brushwood which were held in position by slabs of
stone. The river 'Iran ran along one side of the town,
and we found its water cool and refreshing. There was
a great deal of noise and confusion in the town, and
the cause of both was a body of Turkish soldiers who
had arrived there a few days before, and had been
plundering the houses and robbing the people ever since.
When the natives found out from Muhammad that I
was an Englishman, they sent two of their number who
could talk Arabic to us to tell us about the behaviour
of the soldiers, and to ask me to invoke the protection
of the British Ambassador to the Porte on their behalf.
A few questions elicited their whole story. An infamous
ofiicial called Ayub Beg had been sent by the Porte
with a considerable number of soldiers to compel the
Yazidis to embrace Islam. This Ayub had gone on to
Balad Sinjar leaving soldiers to carry out his instructions
in every town and village where^ there were Yazidis.
Twelve soldiers were then in 'Iran, and they had
terrorized the people for some days past. They demanded
food from every house, and if it were not forthcoming
they entered the house by force and helped
themselves ; they broke open the corn bins and fed
their horses lavishly, and often wasted as much as they
used. They waited until the men had gone to look
after their flocks down in the plain, and then they went
to the houses and raped the little girls, and tore the
clothes off the old women to see if they had money tied
up in the corners, and then drove them out naked into