Workers from Tarkhalan
On average, the expedition hired 150 workers per day. All were Sunni Muslims, most from Tarkhalan. Fewer than half were Bedouin Arabs, and only a few Kurds were hired from other villages. Arabic was the language  of communication.
In his letters home, Starr frequently expressed his affection for the workers, and years after the expedition, he could still recall the names and stories of men he had grown to know in the few seasons he was in Iraq. In one letter he wrote,
“Contrary to most reports we found the Arabs and the Turkoman with whom we worked so closely possessed of a simple honesty and loyalty that draws you to them in friendship in spite of our inherent race prejudices. I feel as though I had some real friends in that miserable little dung heap of a village.”
 The local population also appeared to have genuine concern for the members of the expedition and was even prepared to defend them from attack. After one New Year’s celebration, which naturally included drinking by members of the expedition, numerous shots were fired exuberantly into the early morning air. Several armed workers quickly arrived to fight off the imagined robbers; it was, after all, a symbiotic relationship. The expedition brought income to the village, and many families were able to buy donkeys after working on the project.
The expedition also marked holidays with drinking, dancing, and music from a phonograph or performed by the locals. Starr once described the local dance:
“It was really one of the most interesting sights I have seen since I have been here. The primitive expressionless face of the man who played monotonously on his little flute; the flashing eyes and glistening teeth of the leader beating his drum (gasoline can) urging on the rest; then the long row of men stamping in rhythm, their faces expressionless with a far-off, almost hypnotized look, in their eyes. The urge of the dance is a strong one, and once the music started even the kitchen boy could not keep out of it.”
|
