but it seems to be proved b j the evidence of the popular
dialect.prevalent through all these countries.*
Throughout Iran,, the two classes- of inhabitants now
described, are distinguished by their physical types. Even
in the northern parts of Persia, where the boundary of the
empire has never been an effectual barrier against-the inroads
of barbarians, and where, in successive ages, -Scythians,
Parthians, Mongolians, and Turks, have found for themselves
and their posterity a new country in the .plains
of Khorasan, the difference of aspect in .the people
of the towns is immediately striking. The traveller who
enters the towns and villages of Khorasan, is'surprised-by
the contrast'of features and expression which the long
visaged, -and lank Kisilbashes present, when compared
with the broad-faced nomades of Turk istan.* . The Kisilbashes
are the native Persians of jfhe towns, so designated
by the Turkomans and Usbeks.
Of the lliyahs or Ilat.
A most remarkable circumstance in the history of the
population of Iran has been, in all periods, the great
number of nomadic-tribes who, without settled habitations,
wander over the country. In this respect Persia may
almost, bear a comparison with Arabia. But the nomades
of Arabia are supposed to be of the same race and language
as the settled inhabitants, while, in Persia, many of them,
especially in the northern and western-parts, are foreign,
to the old agricultural population,* Persia lying Exposed
to incursions in various quarters, from the mountainous
tracts and desert plains by which it is in part surrounded,
while Arabia is shut in by a sea border. The tribes in
Persia who are classed together with the nomades, though
* In a collection of vocabularies, published by the Bombay Geographical Society,
there is one of the Baraki language, spoken by the tribe of Baraki, who
inhabit part of the country of Loghan, N.E. of Ghazna. They are, according
to Mr. Elphinstone, included under the class of Tdjiks or Pars6wans. The
words of this vocabulary are, in a large proportion, Persian, butrit contains a
mixture of Sanskrit, Pushtu, and Arabic.
it appears that many of them have now become settled
and hayflftaken possession of. large* districts of country,
a r e -termed I&V» IliyS*, the Arabic' plural of Iliykh.*
Many of tHe#fè#avelïéto$ Persia, as Otiseley, Morief,
Eraser, and Dupré, H H H H H j M and hav®
given hs much ‘Fhformatioh T^peCting their manners and
benbral character.^As'^bhMof 'these tribes have any
written metborialgf, 'their h is to r y '; is^for the most part,
very uncertain and -’ obscure, and‘ the ' data which have*
1 fe-S yet1, been e f f e c t e d f o t ; l » c i ^ t i o n i , at*e V e r f defective.
Mr. Morie'f' has 'given aiF a b tó u lk fé ^ th e principal I liy a l
.races, o f which he enum%rMs';-eighteen in different parts
o f I r a n ; but he h ^ JEfèntïoned only th e mosif*numerous
and cohspicu’ous tribes, atid Ke has classified thenr according
to* their language and origin. This had’ bfém p r ev iou sly
attempted by Mi Jouannin, interpreter?*»^^
embassy in Persia, who has lik èw is ë ^ iv e n a more èx-
tended"catalogue o f their names and afiodésp The writer
la st mentioned reckons seventy^three Ils, or Hats, or
“ Tribus Militaires,” which he divides ' according to their
languages, into tlïe sè - four > classes,^-first, the Turk-zeban,
.those o f fth e Turkish language, who- are Turks, or Turkey
mans; K6rdls^ m;
thirdly, the Arab-zeban, speaking Arabic, and of Arabian
origin; fourthly, Ldr-zebafi, tribes who speak the idiom of
Lfiristan, a mountainous" province m tketsouth of Persia.
To the former belong thirty-nine; tVthe second, ten; to the
third eight; to the fourth, sixtee’n tribes. But even
t h i s classification seëtos hardly to take in all thé military
tribes »of Persia. Some, said to be of northern or Turkish
origin, now speak | É M language. Other tribes,
as the Baiuches, are, perhaps, immemorial inhabitants
of Persia We know, from the accounts left of that
country by Xenophon and Herodotus, that the population
was divided in ancient times, and that it contained some
nomadic, as well as*other agricultural tribes; and several
of thé Iliykh nations may be descendents of the ancient
Written also Eel, ll, Eelaut.