They themselves claim Arab origin, a pretension not unusual among some of the smaller Kurdish tribes, and unsupported by any evidence for, and contradicted by much against, its possibility. For some years past they have allowed the Kurdish shaikh, or religious leaders, of the Qaradagh, their district, to attain a great ascendancy, and these have, by continual urging and exhortation, achieved their end of saddling the tribe with an iron-bound habit of religion quite foreign to the real Kurd of the mountains. Religious fervour, among Sunnis in particular, is inseparable from a great respect for Arabic language and lineage, with which the Sunni Turk and border Kurd almost invariably evinces a desire to identify himself; very much as Mr Smith or Mr Jones seek to prove a pure Norman descent which their names and antecedents do not necessarily indicate. So we see Hamavand, Baba, Shuan, and Jaf, all claiming Arab descent for their leaders, while yet very proud of being Kurds to-day. All these tribes are fond of indicating their dress, an adaptation of that of the Arabs, which they have adopted to the exclusion of the old and fantastic Kurdish dress, and point to it as being something to show their connection with the Arabs. On the other hand, however, there are far more weighty evidences to prove that they are Kurd and nothing but Kurd, chief of which is their dialect, which is a well-defined and pure Kurdish tongue, the only Arab words in which have been imported. These words are usually the names of implements which, before the crafts of the Arabs were known to them, may not have existed. From earliest memories of south-western Kurdistan the Hamavands have been in rebellion against the ruling power. Like every other small tribe, there is but the most meagre history to be gleaned, and that of the most recent only. They came originally from Persian territory, where they lived near the frontier at Qasr-i-Shirin. Here they became such an intolerable nuisance under their leader Jawan Mir Khan, that the Persians, in a vain hope of keeping them quiet, offered them the post of Wardens of the Marches at a fixed salary. This Jawan Mir Khan accepted, and redoubled his raids, becoming so unbearable that he was captured and executed. He was succeeded by his son Hama Beg. Upon his accession to the chieftainship the Turks claimed the tribe. Needless to say, the Persians gladly handed over this thorn in their flesh, requesting the Turks to remove their subjects with all expedition. They were then given the present country in the Qaradagh district. [Sidenote: HAMAVAND ANTECEDENTS]