In regard to their dwellings, the Yezidis are divided into two classes: Ahl al-ḥaḍar, the people of the villages or cultivated land, and Ahl al Wabar, the people of the tents. The villages are built of clay, stone or mud, and unburned brick. A village consists of about sixty houses. A house is divided into three principal rooms, opening one into another. These are separated by a wall about six feet high, upon which are placed wooden pillars supporting the ceiling. The roof rests on trunks of trees raised on rude stones in the centre chamber, which is open on one side to the air. The sides of the room are honeycombed with small recesses like pigeon-holes. The whole is plastered with white plaster, fancy designs in red being introduced here and there. The houses are kept neat and clean. They say that cleanliness is next to heaven. Now, the people of the tents are, like the Arab Bedouins, nomadic, having no houses and no permanent place of abode. They form but a small portion of the Yezidis, and are called Kotchar. VI THE LANGUAGE The language of the Yezidis, in common with the Kurds, is Kurdish, which belongs to the Iranian group of the Indo-European or Indo-Germanic stock. This Kurmanji possesses a number of dialects not differing much from one another, except the zaza dialect, which is spoken in eastern Mesopotamia by the Kurds, called Ali Alla. The main characteristic of the Kurmangi are the great brevity of its words and the simplicity of its grammatical forms. It is fairly rich in vowels, and richer in deep guttural sounds. Though Kurdish is the general language of the Yezidis, their religious mysteries are in Arabic. Both languages are spoken by those living in the Sinjar hills and in Šeiḫan. VII OCCUPATION Generally speaking, the Yezidis are an industrious people, but they do not engage in business. This is due to their belief that any form of business leads to cheating and lying, and hence to cursing Melek-Ṭâ´ûs, _i. e._, the devil. Their usual occupation is agriculture and cattle-raising. The Yezidis of Sinjar, who constitute almost the entire population, raise fruit, such as figs and grapes; also almonds and nuts. Jabal Sinjar is famous for its figs. Those who live in the Russian territory, like the sweeper class of India, are mainly engaged in menial work. But those in the districts of Reḍwan and Midyat are given to housebreaking and highway robbery; they are the terror of those regions.