It was natural that when Uthman Pasha married into the aristocracy of Persian Kurdistan, the Turks were much offended, for his first wife had been recommended by the Turkish Government, a person of whom they thoroughly approved, and through whose influence they hoped to make Uthman Pasha more Turkish in his sympathies than before. That he should have, upon her death, married a member of the contumacious Ardalan nobility, who had always been, and ever are, loyal to Persia, was a blow to Turkish prestige in Kurdistan which the effendis have resented ever since; and when Lady Adela acquired much of the power they had given to Uthman Pasha, they furiously bit the fingernail of impotence, and thought of many futile schemes for breaking her influence. This lengthy diversion from the narrative was necessary to explain the nature of the people among whom I found myself at Halabja, a place unique in Turkish Kurdistan, in being the residence of such powerful Kurdish people as Uthman Pasha, Lady Adela, Tahir Beg, and Majid Beg, and in being absolutely in the possession of the three huge mansions in which they lived. The morning after my arrival broke to the sound of clinking tea-glasses outside the door of my room, and opening it I was confronted by a couple of retainers bearing the apparatus of tea “à la persane,” a big brass samovar, a basin to wash saucers and glasses, and the little waisted Persian tea-glasses and china saucers themselves. The bedding was rolled up and carried away, and hot sweet tea served, three glasses being the orthodox number. During the space between the glasses one smoked, and a decent interval was allowed to elapse between their presentation. The ceremony over, the paraphernalia was carried away, and the day being officially commenced, I set out to see Lady Adela.