volume 2 - Robert Bedrosian's Armenian History Workshop

2i8 Departure from GMrdn.
happened. Without waiting to hear the cause of the
shot they threw themselves on the soldiers and a sort
of free fight took place between them and the soldiers.
When the row was at its height, Muhammad and I
got into our makhlufas ; ^ the camels rose at once and
we were soon outside the courtyard. As we were
coming out I saw that the soldiers had opened my box
of food and were making free with its contents, and
though, considering that we were three or four days
from Mosul, it was a serious matter for us, we decided
to abandon it and to make our escape from the town as
soon as possible. Muhammad having decided upon
this course of action as soon as he entered the town,
had noted the way we had to take, and having turned
his camel's head in that direction we followed the path
by the river down to the plain, and in an hour we felt
that we were beyond pursuit. At 2 a.m. we overtook
our soldiers and the animals, and we camped where we
found them until daylight.
We' left our camp at 9 a.m., November 21st, and made
slow progress that day, for neither ourselves nor the
beasts had slept much because of the cold. Two hours
later we passed the village of Jaddalah, and some of
the men came and told us sad tales of Ayub Beg and
his soldiers, and their atrocious behaviour. An hour's
easy riding brought us to the village of Wardi, where we
halted for a short time and drank of the beautiful water
which an abundant spring supplied. As we rested there
we heard further tales of Ayub Beg, and though the
Arabs had no love for the Yazidis as such, yet they called .
down the curse of Allah upon him for his savagery
{wukMsMyah) and lack of humanity We could now
see the town of Sinjar quite distinctly, and we pressed
on as fast as possible, for we all were very hungry and
hoped to obtain a new supply of food there. About
one hour from Sinjar we passed a wretched Yazidi
village, and the women came out to us and we heard
more tales of Ayub Beg. According to them, he and
^ A special saddle used in riding camels ; Arab, h's^.