45. 



iastern Persia) 

 By W. Ivanow. 



Qainat l ( 



The Gypsies of Eastern Persia are a wandering folk, scat- 

 tered through many villages, living exclusively in tents. During 

 the winter, however, many families will hire small houses or 

 occupy ruins. And often they resort to a certain definite place, 

 as for example Serbishe near Birjand. At other times they 

 are all only to be met with in large numbers on some extra- 

 ordinary occasion, such as a wedding, when they come into the 

 neighbourhood of the towns. Although they differ from the 

 Persians in their features and not seldom in the colour of 

 their skin, I am unable to agree with Mr. Sykes (' Ten 

 thousands miles in Persia'), who saw them in Kerman 

 province, that they seem not to be of Aryan origin. There are 

 unmistakable signs of admixture of non-Aryan blood ; it would 

 be impossible to ignore the influence of other peoples upon 

 them during the time of their wanderings. We should expect 

 traces of Semitic , Turkish and even Dra vidian influences. 



They exhibit a great variety in their features, but the com- 

 monest type seems to be a round face with a large, broad, 

 seldom hooked, nose, thin lips and a thick growth of coarse 

 hairs. Many of them recall vividly the Semitic appearance 

 of those Arab tribes, who still inhabit the Central Desert of 

 Persia, and there is sometimes a strong likeness between the 

 faces of Gypsies and of Arab kammdls (coolies) of Birjand. 

 I may remark that the Gypsies, as far as I could learn, inter- 

 marry with Arabs far more than with Persians, who despise 

 them. As a rule they are of excellent physique, sober, hard- 

 working people of the meanest intellectual capacity. 



Of their history in these lands hardly anything is known. 

 Still there are some interesting points besides well-known allu- 

 sions in the Shahnamah and in DeGoejVs work, based on 

 Hamza Isfahani, worth mentioning here. 



Southern Persia, still almost unexplored, contains many 

 races, or rather fragments of races, which might in varying 

 degrees have influenced the Gypsies. Such are the Brahuis 



Qufs or Qufj, Qufij 



(per hap 



i 



1 I am much indebt. ■< I to Mr. A. F. Scholfield, for help with my 

 English. 



