The larger ships used by the Lazes are from 200 to 300 tons; they are very quaint, and resemble ancient galleons. There is very little discipline among the crew, and everyone has a say and advice to give to the captain, who is much on the same level as his men. A large number of Lazes come to Constantinople, and engage in the shipping trade or as stevedores, but others form into guilds for digging and carrying on operations in connection with housebuilding, and are very industrious and hard-working. Their hours of labour often extend during the summer season from five in the morning till eight at night. They, in common with all labourers in the East, are not engaged by time, as with us, but, like those labourers mentioned in Scripture, at a fixed charge for the day. Another people strongly resembling the Lazes in appearance, but inhabiting the mountainous regions to the south of them, all the way up to and into Persia, are the Kurds, of whom you have probably heard a good deal in connection with the Armenian massacres. Their country is called Kurdistan, and is drained by the tributaries of the Euphrates and the Tigris. Several of its mountains rise to the height of 6,000 to 7,000 feet. Kurds are also to be found in all the hilly districts of Armenia and Mesopotamia. They are a sinewy, dark, well-formed race, with a fierce look which betrays an equally ferocious character. They owe but slight allegiance to the Turkish Empire, and are under the rule of chiefs, more or less independent, who organize robber bands to plunder or blackmail caravans. They possess remarkably fine horses, which are greatly in demand for the Turkish cavalry. The Kurds themselves are great riders, and with their long javelins, bows, or muskets, are a terror to their neighbours. They are also experts in the use of the sling. During the recent Armenian massacres they were allowed a free hand, and their cruelty and rapacity were such as to defy description. The ex-Sultan, Abdul Hamid, incorporated a number of them into a division of cavalry, commanded by their own officers, which constituted his bodyguard, and he paid them largely, and dressed them handsomely, but since his dethronement they have been disbanded as too insubordinate. It is the boast of the Kurds that their country gave birth to the great Saladdin, who in the twelfth century fought against our Richard Coeur de Lion in the Holy Land.