1854.] On the Ballads and Legends of the Punjab. 73 



Alexander's enlightened policy caused him to marry a daughter 

 of Darius, and to persuade his followers to intermarry with the 

 Persians. Thus in Persia the Greeks were naturalised and the two 

 races were interblended. There can be little doubt that his suc- 

 cessors in Baktria and Ariana pursued the same sound system. And 

 thus we see Eerdoosi, the sole historian of Persia, take advantage 

 of this intermixture of races, to represent Alexander as a native 

 Persian and his conquest as a mere change of Sovereigns. 



Now the family of Cyrus the Great (Kykhcoosroo) after their loss 

 of the Empire, retired to the patrimony of Roostum in Sceistan 

 where their descendants* yet remain, and it seems probable that 

 during the Parthian and the succeeding dynasties, this illustrious 

 family ruled their own hereditary province as tributary Princes. 

 But in any case, it seems likely that the Greek and Perso- Greek 

 Princes of Ariana would ally themselves with a house so illustrious, 

 and which the Persians had invested with something of a sacred 

 character. This was a natural means of consolidating and perpe- 

 tuating their authority. The issue of such an union, unable to 

 derive themselves from Alexander (the only Greek whose name 

 survives in their traditions) would inevitably trace their genealogy 

 through the maternal stem, and claim to be offspring of the so- 

 styled Kings of Kings. The amalgamation of the two races, would 

 soon be as complete as that of the Normans and Saxons, whilst the 

 name Gukkur may very well be a corruption of the name Grekoi. 

 The Gukkurs it is true, suppose this name to be derived from one 

 of their Sooltans, Gukkur Shah, whose tomb is at Cabul. But we 

 read of the Gukkurs as powerful chiefs, bringing into the field 

 30,000 of the choicest troops as early as the age of Mahmood of 

 Ghuzni, i. e. 400 years prior to the existence of Sooltan Gukkur 

 Shah. 



Let us assume a parallel instance, and suppose an obscure Captain 

 of William the Conqueror's army to have succeeded to the throne 



* Two of them called upon the British Envoy at Heraut in A. D. 1839 when 

 I was Asstt. Envoy there. One of them Julalooddeen Khan was a man of remark- 

 able personal beauty and stature ; so much so, as to arrest general attention when 

 he went abroad. Humza Khan, the eldest, was 7th in descent, since the family 

 had been driven into Sceistan. 



