466 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. V., No. 122. 



the latter, of Mongol-Turkish. Of 

 these four tribes, the Dshemshidis are 

 the most important. They were for- 

 merly much more numerous than now. 

 To-day they number about six thou- 

 sand families, of which four thousand 

 dwell at Kushk, a place near the 

 sources of the river of the same name ; 

 a thousand at Bala-Murgjib ; and a 

 thousand at Kurukh. Most of them 

 lead a half or wholly nomadic life, and 

 have adopted Turkish manners and 

 customs, although favorable political 

 circumstances might easily turn them 

 into peaceful, industrious citizens. 



Next to these come the Firuzkuhis, 

 whose territory extends from Bendi- 

 Turkestan on the north, to the sources 

 of the Hari-Rud on the south. They 

 are also of Iranian origin, and fall into 

 two distinct sub-tribes, — the Derzais 

 and the Mahmudis. They comprise, 

 in all, eleven thousand families, and 

 their chief town is Kila Nau ('New 

 Fortress'), which really lies in the ter- 

 ritory of the Hazaras. At the present 

 time the tribe of the Derzais dwells in 

 the mountain region, while the Mah- 

 mudis occupy the lowland. The Tei- 

 menis, fifty thousand families strong, 

 live in the region lying south of the 

 Hari-Rud, and, in spite of their unmis- 

 takably Mongolian origin, have become 

 completely settled, and even enjoy the 

 reputation of being excellent culti- 

 vators. The fourth member of the 

 Tshehar-Eimaks is the tribe of the 

 Teimuris, who inhabit the western 

 part of the Baghiz district, and are at 

 home at Pul-i-Khatun, Germ-ab, the 

 pass of Zolfikar (a cut of which is here 

 reproduced from the London illus- 

 tratednews), and along the whole east- 

 ern boundary of Persia. They number 

 about fifteen thousand families, and 

 form the ethnical element, so to speak, 

 which first brought about the difficulty 

 between the two European rivals. 



Taken all in all, the inhabitants of 

 Herat form, indeed, the best possible 

 element for the designs of a foreign 

 conqueror; for they have been accus- 

 tomed for centuries to foreign rule, 

 and, with slight exceptions, are hos- 

 tile equally to the Uzbek on the north, 

 the Afghan on the south, and the Per- 

 sian on the west. Their greatest po- 

 litical ambition, the independence of 

 Herat, has seldom been realized ; and 

 if now, when European conquest is 

 extending to this part of central Asia, 

 either the Russians or the English 

 should succeed in becoming estab- 



