Monday May 31. [31 May 1909] We left Kerkha at 5.45 and forded the
Tigris at 6.35. At 7.5 we came to Holan, at 8.45 to Satli Keui - all this
across flattish country all cultivated. At 10.5 we passed Sadi Keui on
the right. We had already sighted the minarets of Diarbekr
[Diyarbakir (Amida)] far away, now they were quite close, and the
great walls standing up on the high Tigris bank. We forded the river
again - it was rather deep and came into mulberry gardens, through
which we rode and up a paved road into the Mardin gate at 11. I went
straight to the Consulate and found that Mr E Rawlins had gone to
meet me by another road. She greeted me most kindly (she was a
Miss Kappus the niece of L¸tticke) and insisted on my staying with
them though her baby is not 4 weeks old. I found 2 month's post
waiting for me and while I was reading letters, Mr R. came in. In the
evening appeared Miss Baldwin who is a nurse come out to help Dr
and Mrs Ward (Americans) to found a hospital, a nice woman.
Diarbekr is much disturbed. A massacre was only avoided by a
miracle. The local committee intercepted a telegram from C'ple
[Istanbul (Constantinople)] to the Ferik on Ap 17 ordering
disturbances. A member of the committee showed a copy 3 weeks
later to Thomas Effendi. For a few hours the town was in a panic. Mr
R. walked through the streets quieting the people. The Ashraf are
very anti Xian and anti Constitution. They have looted Ibrahim Pasha;
all the Kurdish tribes turned against him as soon as he fell. The very
men who are appointed to judge the case of Abd ul Hamid and his 2
brothers are at present riding on the former's best mares which they
have taken. Yet the Committee from C'ple appointed after the fall of I.
Pasha found the sons guiltless and so reported. I. Pasha was a great
protector of the Xians and had many prosperous Xian villages many
of which are now looted. Went to see the acting Vali who was the man
who instigated the massacres in the Kizil Bash country - Devsim - the
other day.