Note 4 — Chapter VII · FROM BITLIS TO MUSH—MUSH

The ride to Mush on the following day occupied four-and-a-half marching hours. Our average course was a little north of west. The plain in the neighbourhood of our station was some five to six miles broad, and villages became both larger and more frequent. The same line of high hills still composed the northern barrier, and the Kurdish mountains that on the south. Ice lay upon the puddles during the early morning, but was soon melted by the sun. The marshes continued but were less obstructive; they afford food to large flocks of wild geese. The villages in the plain appeared to be for the most part Armenian, but some Armenian villages are in part inhabited by Kurds.4 We halted for a meal in one of the largest of these, the Armenian settlement of Khaskeui (Fig. 153). It is a typical Armenian dwelling-place, resembling a series of ant-hills; but my illustration does not comprise the knot of venerable trees which adjoin it, an unwonted landmark in the expanse. In Khaskeui there are no less than 300 houses and 2 churches, besides ruins of more ancient sanctuaries. But the school had been closed by order of Government, and only one per cent of the peasants could read or write. I found the priest an ignorant man;—poor fellow, he had been lately imprisoned on a summons for withholding taxes. If only Armenian patriots would see to the reform of the rural clergy, what an inestimable harvest the race would reap! The inhabitants of this village were a good example of Armenian peasantry—such broad shoulders, and massive hips! They were fairly well-to-do, some in easy circumstances (Fig. 154). One is impressed by their resolute look.