| Chapter 1: | The Homeland and Origin of the Independent Assyrian Tribes of Tiyari and Hakkari |
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They were difficult for strangers to use, but the Assyrians were accustomed to carrying the elderly and personal loads with confidence. The patriarch Mar Shimun had a notable experience with using one of these bridges when his carrier threatened to throw him into the river unless he let him smoke before mass.42 Regular roads were unknown; the tracks of mules and other domestic animals were all that marked the paths—which were rocky, treacherous, and narrow—running along the mountain slopes or between the mountain bases and the banks of the swiftly flowing rivers.43 Hence people used to measure the distance between places by the time they took walking through.
The Chamba Bridge and the Connection With Kochanis
As has been mentioned, Chamba, the centre of the Upper Tiyari, stood on the bank of the Zab River. Here the Assyrians built another bridge across the river, which measured 150 feet in length and 3 feet wide, rising 20 feet above the water level.44
As the see of the patriarchate and residence of Mar Shimun, Kochanis was constantly visited by Assyrians from all districts. Many Kurdish aghas (landlords or chiefs) also attended his daily audiences to discuss issues between their peoples. Those who came from the Jelu district had to pass the highest mountain in the region called Tor d’Jelu, meaning the mountain of Jelu. They reported that the path was completely unmarked, since it went over solid rock and was thirteen thousand feet above sea level; even the mules had to stop and carefully check the safety of the road before taking a step forward.45
4. The Independent Tribes
The independent Assyrian tribes were living side by side with their Hakkari Kurd partners in the emirate of Hakkari. In the middle of the nineteenth century, the western observers found the tribes living in a compact body in their homeland. Among some prominent tribes mentioned by Ainsworth were the Upper and Lower Tiyari, the Tobi (Techoma—Tekhoma), the Jellawi (Jelu), the Piniyniski, the Al Toshi, the Artoshi Bashi, the Bazi, the Sati, the Ormari, the Julamergi, the Dez, the Siliyahi, and the Berwari.46