ON THE NOMAD TRIBES OF ASIA MINOR. 545 
their names and propensities. The Afshars to the south are much mixed 
up with the Armenians, having old Armenian words in their dialect of 
Turkish, and names of a distinct Armenian provenance. In Persia they 
talk Tatar-Turkish, but to the south their dialect is little different from 
that of the other nomads amongst whom they live. 
The Afshars, who were encamped just inside the ruined walls of 
Anazarba, bnild themselves wicker huts made very dexterously out of the 
reeds which grow in the neighbouring marshes; most of them consist of 
two rooms, with a partition in the middle for the calves; the floors are of 
mud, and in wet weather, as it unfortunately was during most of our time 
there, these tenements are exceedingly disagreeable. In spring-time, 
when they go up to the mountains with their cattle, they set fire to these 
huts and rebuild them again the following winter. 
One of the most notable points about these nomads are the magnificent 
dogs they possess—huge animals resembling St. Bernards and intensely 
savage. During our stay we never dared to go out alone, without one of 
the tribe, man, woman, or child, to protect us. They feed them on butter- 
milk poured into holes in the ground, and at night-time they are trained 
to prowl] about and patrol the encampment at a certain distance, 30 as to 
give ample warning of the approach of an enemy; for in this part of 
Cilicia there are many robbers from the Kourdish and Circassian tribes. 
They cut their ears short, so that they may hear better, and they are 
exceedingly attached to them. ‘Better shoot one of their children than 
one of their dogs,’ I was warned when threatening to shoot one if attacked. 
The nights we spent in these huts were miserable; it would seem that 
the Afshars never sleep, and all night long they were watching their 
cattle, driving them from the reed houses, which they tried to eat, and no 
peace of any sort could be got. At early dawn the noise of the churning 
began, and quiet only appeared to reign during the absence of the flocks 
at their pasturage. 
The Afshar is very different from a Yourouk; he is not so tall or well 
built, he is swarthy, has a round and often hairless face, and small, narrow 
eyes ; a face which often reminded us of the Chinese type, and it would 
seem that he has come from far in the heart of Asia. 
The women are fat and stumpy : they wear down their backs long plaits 
of false hair, which they make out of cotton or silk, and then dye to suit 
the colour of their own hair; on to this they fasten odds and ends of silver 
ornaments, and they call them owrmeh. Their faces are always unveiled, 
except a bride, who conceals her face for the space of a year, and most 
of them have their noses bored; into the hole they puta clove, which 
puzzied us for a long time, for it resembled a nail—the idea being, | 
imagine, to sweeten the breath. They wear red drawers, go about with 
their feet always bare, and have embroidered jackets. Modesty seems to 
be a thing unknown amongst them; several times we saw women stark 
naked by a stream washing themselves and their clothes, and the presence 
of men in the vicinity did not appear to disconcert them in the least. 
For fuel they use nothing but the reeds from the neighbouring marsh, 
which they put damp on to their fires, and they go off like a fire of mus- 
ketry, rather alarming us at first at night-time, when we never felt sure 
that a body of Circassian robbers was not upon us. In other encamp- 
ments we found them using tezek, ov dung cakes, for fuel, in making which 
the women are principally employed. 
ee they use curious large wooden amphore, hollowed out of 
. NN 
