THE CAUCASIAN FAMILY. 11 



The inhabitants of Afghanistan, on the skirts of Persia, are also of the 

 Caucasian family. They are spare in person, strong and bony. Their noses are 

 prominent and aquiline, their cheek bones high, their faces long. Their manner 

 is singularly hospitable to strangers, at the same time that their lives are mostly 

 spent in predatory violence on the neighboring provinces, or passing caravans. 

 Their customs resemble those of the Arabs, from w^hom they claim descent ; for, 

 although they despise a Jew, they call themselves Ben i Israel — the children of 

 Israel, vs^hence some vs^riters suppose them to be Jev\^s converted to Mahomedan- 

 ism.* 



Koordistan^ to the east of the Tigris, and proximate to Persia, is inhabited by 

 two sorts of people, the clansmen, or military Koords, and the peasants, or cultiva- 

 tors, the latter being literally the bondsmen of the former. "The peasant," says 

 Mr. Rich, " is in a moment to be distinguished, both in countenance and speech, 

 from the true tribesman ; nor would it be possible for him to pass himself for his 

 countryman of nobler race. The difference in physiognomy between the clans- 

 man and peasant Koord is perfectly distinguishable. The latter has a much 

 softer, and more regular countenance ; the features are sometimes quite Grecian. 

 The tribesman is more what is called a hard-featured man, with a thick, promi- 

 nent forehead, abrupt lines, and eyes sunk in his head, which are usually fixed in 

 a kind of stare. Light gray, and even blue, is a common color for the eye."t 

 They treat their women more kindly than either the Turks or Persians, and have 

 a better idea of domestic comfort ; yet they are haughty and cruel, fond of war 

 and pillage, and fight among themselves when they have no common enemy.J 



3. The Pelasgic Branch derives its name from the Pelasgi, who are first 

 mentioned in history as the inhabitants of Thessaly. Enterprising and migratory 

 in their habits, they spread over all Greece, and passing thence into northern 

 Italy, gave birth to the Etruscans. For political reasons they assumed the name 

 of Heltenes, and were the lineal progenitors of the Greeks or Acheans. It has 

 been observed by a late writer, that the Greeks had no sooner obtained the 

 elements of literature and the arts from the Phoenicians, than they advanced 

 rapidly to the highest state of civilisation, until they may be said to have become, 

 in their descendants, the masters of the world. We are taught even from our 

 infancy to study their letters and their arts, which are justly regarded as models 

 of perfection, seldom equalled and still more rarely surpassed. 



* Barnes, Trav. in Bokhara, II, p. 32. Wolff, Miss. Res. p. 157. 

 t Residence in Koordistan, p. 89, 320. 

 t Ibid. p. 150. 



