NA TURE 



[Jan. 8, 1885 



east the numerous communities often collectively known 

 as Dards ; on the north side the Badakhshi, Wakhi, 

 and Shugnani, to whom, with the other kindred high- 

 landers of Roshan, Darwaz, and Karateghin, beyond the 

 Oxus, Ch. de Ujfalvy has applied the collective term 

 GALCHA. That all are fundamentally of one stock there 

 can be no doubt, although much uncertainty prevails 

 regarding their position in the Aryan family. 



The northern group(Badakhshi, Wakhi, Shugnani) have 

 long been brought within the sphere of Iranian culture. 

 Some are Parsivan, that is, Parsi-zaban, or " Persian- 

 tongued " ; others, especially in Wakhan, still retain 

 much of their primitive speech, which appears to be 

 intermediate between the Indie and Iranic members of 

 the Aryan family. But all are at least nominal Moham- 

 medans of the Sunni sect, and recognise the supremacy 

 of the Amir of Kabul. In view of future political intrigue 

 on this extreme north-east frontier, it w'll be desirable to 

 bear in mind the close affinity and common sympathies of 

 all these communities on both sides of the Upper Oxus. 



Even more interesting, and in some respects more im- 

 portant, is the southern group of Siah-Posh Kafirs, who 

 occupy the upland valleys between Kohistan and the 

 Swati district, and even visit the northern pastures west 

 of the Dora Pass, crossing the Hindu-Kush at an altitude 

 of some 16,000 feet. In these mountain fastnesses they 

 have hitherto succeeded in preserving intact not only 

 their primitive speech, usages, and religion, but even 

 their political independence. Although included within 

 the limits of the Amir's possessions, no Afghan ventures to 

 penetrate into their territory, which till quite recently was 

 almost a terra incognita. By Major Tanner, and the few 

 other Europeans by whom they have been visited, they 

 are described as of a pure Caucasic type, with regular 

 features, blue and dark eyes, hair varying from brown to 

 black, and altogether the most European in appearance 

 of all Asiatic peoples. With the British rulers of India 

 they claim kindred, trace their descent from Alexander 

 the Great, differ from other Asiatics in the use of chairs 

 and tables, and speak a pure Aryan dialect, showing 

 marked affinities to Sanskrit. Some few in the extreme 

 south and west have become assimilated in speech and 

 religion to their Afghan neighbours, and these Safi and 

 Nemchi, as they are called, serve as the medium of com- 

 munication between the two races. For obvious reasons 

 the masters of India should cultivate the friendship and 

 alliance of the Siah-Posh highlanders, who, from the 

 name of their most powerful gait, or tribe, sometimes 

 take the collective name of Kamoji. 



The south-western slopes of the Hindu-Kush north of 

 Kabul are held by several little known tribes vaguely 

 known as Kohistani, or " Hill men." They occupy the 

 whole district between Kafiristan and the Koh-i-Baba. 

 They are mainly Tajiks, that is, Iranians, probably de- 

 scended of Persian settlers in pre-Mohammedan times, 

 and still speak a rude Persian dialect. Although now 

 Mohammedans of the Sunni sect, they appear to be an 

 unruly people, owing a reluctant allegiance to the Amir, 

 in this and some other respects differing from the other 

 Tajiks found dispersed in settled communities elsewhere 

 in Afghanistan and throughout the whole of Central Asia. 

 The name, referred to the root tdj = crown, is supposed 

 to mean " crowned," indicating the imperial race that 

 once held sway from the Bosporus to the Indus. But 

 the sceptre has long passed from Iran to Turin even in 

 Persia itself, where the reigning dynasty belongs to the 

 Qajar tribe, of Turkoman stock. 



As already stated, both slopes of the North Afghan 

 highlands are in almost exclusive possession of Mongolic 

 peoples from the Koh i-Babato Herat, east and west, and 

 from Afghan Turkestan southwards to the Ghor uplands. 

 Here both branches of the Mongolo-Tatar group are 

 represented, the Mongols proper by the Hazarahs and 

 the Aimaks, the Tatars by the TURKOMANS and the 



KataGhAni USBEGS. With the Hazarahs are some- 

 times grouped the Jemshi'dis and Firuz-Khoi of the 

 province of Herat. But both of these numerous com- 

 munities appear to be fundamentally of Iranian stock, 

 although the type has to some extent been modified by 

 contact with the surrounding Mongolo-Tatar tribes. 



Thus it appears that, as above remarked, the Afghans 

 proper nowhere occupy any territory along their northern 

 frontier, but, except at Herat, have everywhere been 

 driven into the interior of the plateau by the intruding 

 Central Asiatic races. It is further to be noted that 

 although they hold the Usbegs of the Tirband-i-Turkestan 

 escarpment and of the Turkestan lowlands in military 

 subjection, they have hitherto failed to reduce either the 

 Aimaks of the Ghor district or the Hazarahs of the Koh-i- 

 Baba and Safed-Koh ranges. The direct route from 

 Herat to Kabul through this region has not only never 

 yet been traversed by any European explorer, but is 

 absolutely inaccessible to the Afghans themselves. Hence 

 it is that the military and trade route between these two 

 points is deflected a long way southwards to the Helmand 

 basin and to Kandahar, whence it laboriously creeps up 

 through the Ghazni highlands to the Kabul valley.' Hence 

 also the vast strategic importance of such places as 

 Kandahar and Girishk on the Helmand, which depends, 

 not, as is generally supposed, so much on the lie of the 

 land, as on the ethnical conditions of its inhabitants. 

 The future masters of the Aimak and Hazaran tribes 

 will not only secure the rich prize of the Ghor region, 

 with its untouched mines of gold, silver, copper, lead, 

 iron, coal, sulphur, rubies, and emeralds, but will also 

 command the direct and natural route from Herat to the 

 Indus, vid Kabul and Peshawar. 



Meantime, these Aimaks and Hazarahs, neglected by our 

 statesmen, continue to interest our men of science alone. 

 Their flat features, tawny complexion, scant beard, oblique 

 eyes, and prominent zygomatic arches, betray their 

 common Mongolic descent, while the somewhat rude 

 Persian dialect generally spoken by both implies long 

 contact in their new homes with Iranian culture. Both 

 are also Mohammedans; the Aimaks of the Sunni, the 

 Hazarahs of the Shiah sect, in this respect differing from 

 all other Mongolian tribes, who are exclusively Buddhists. 

 Another proof of Persian influence is the settled life of the 

 Hazarahs,'- who have long ceased to be nomads, and now 

 occupy permanent villages of small thatched houses. Of 

 late years they have begun to migrate towards India, 

 where they find employment on the public works. 



The Aimaks, or Char Aimaks, that is " Four Hordes," 

 so named from their four main divisions, occupy, besides 

 the Ghor country, extensive tracts on the northern slope 

 of the border ranges, on the hills encircling Herat, and 

 teyoid the frontier in Khorasan. Some communities in 

 tie Herat district have preserved their mother-tongue, 

 and their chief tribe even still bears the Mongol name of 

 Kipchak. They also retain the old Urdu, or tents made 

 of felt or skins, and usually grouped round a central 

 tower or stronghold occupied by the chief. They are 

 described as altogether more savage and ferocious than 

 their Hazarah neighbours, and are even said to drink the 

 blood of the slain in battle (Elphinstone). 



With the fall of Merv all the hitherto independent 

 Turkoman tribes passed under the sceptre of the " White 

 Czar,'' except the Sariks and the Salors. Soon after 

 that event the Sariks of the Merv oasis gave in their sub- 

 mission to the number of about 10,000 families. When 

 that district was invaded in i860 by the Tekkes, the 

 Salors, its original masters, withdrew higher up the 

 Murghab valley, where they are still found within and 

 about the Afghan frontier, on the route between Merv and 



1 The direct route is little over 360 miles, the detour by Kandahar ahout 



J Probably so named from the Persian kazttr^a. thousand, in allusion to 

 tribal subdivisions. 



