shepherds of Iran. I shall not attempt to collect all the
names of these hordes, hut shall mention the most remarkable
races. The following are some of fee Iliy4h tribes,
supposed to have a Turkish origin, or to have pome from
Tfirkistan
1st.—The K&j4r.’are said to he descended'from Turkish
hands who ..migrated from Turkistan, as followers of
Ogfis Kh4n, grandson of the great Tchinggis. To this
tribe belongs fee present reigning family of Persia. They
have taken. root in Kazwin, and in the-territory of
Erivan, where they are settled colonists, or, Shehr-Nishins,,
and count altogether four hundred families*, or houses.
The' whole number is estimated at _ three thousand eiosht
hundred-persons. ‘They have feqirchief places™of residence
at Asterabad and Tehran. They occasionally resume, their
wandering habits.
2 nd.—:The" AfsMrs who call themselves; original, Turko-
mhns, consist of two branches, tlre Sh4mlu and','iKirklur
of the latter of which Was the celebrated Nadir i^Shgb.
They count about twenty thousand houses; „ principally
reside in towns, at ^Abiver, the birth-place, of Nadir,,.nr
at Kelht, which he peopled and strengthened* ,,
3rd and 4th.—The A'imhk and Hezareh, are-iwo-nomadic
races in the eastern parts of Iran, who are oftCn( identified
or confounded; they are, however, ..of different Moham?
medan sects, the first being Sunnites, the latter, ;Shiites.
Each tribe reckons fifty thousand houses. Tlie Aim4k
inhabit extensive tracts in the southern parts of Khorasan,
the Hezhreh mountainous districts, in .fee neighbourhood
of Kandahar and Kabul, and parts of Seistan. ' Mr. Morier
supposes them to be of Affghan origin, but this is contrary'
to the opinion of other well-informed writers.
Mr. Elphinstone says, that the Eimauks and Hazaurehs
are the mountaineers who inhabit branches of the Paropa-
misan chain between Kabdl and Herat, having the ITsbeks
towards the north, and the Durani and Ghilji to the
south. The countries occupied by both reach three-hundred
miles in length, and two-hundred in breadth. He thinks
them allied in origin, though long divided. He says, that
t h i r general language is a Persian dialect, t a t with a great
admiiture of Turkish words. They resemble the Mongoles
in ’their physical character«* This he attributes to the
vicinity of “ Thrki” hordes. Sultan Baber speaks of
Turkoman Hazaurehs, amp-says, that many of them spoke
t ta ’Mongolian language hf-his .tim ® Howeter, they are
now quite ignorant of fcflfcilt is probable that they were
originally a mixed people, wh®: followed the great Mon-
golian inroads into central Asia, • and in part Turks, m
part Mongoles, It that^some bribes of Aimakj
strongly resemble 'thedJsbëks f§ feeir physical character*.
1 The Hezârfehs live in villages, and, in general, resemble
the Affghâns in their manners. They are fond of music
and choral singiiig, and playing oa'the.guitar. Ibvis m
the country nf' fee'Hezârehs-that the celebrated idols of
Bamian aie found: Their form of. goVernment is despotic;
a^rcumstaice by'which they are-strongly distinguished
from the-free Affghâns, fand as strongly associated with
the Turkish race. „
Sir A. Burned,1''"who travelled through the country ot
fee.Hezârehs, says, feat they are Tartars by descent. They
/inhabit a cold-region, ten-feousand feefoabove fee level
of fee sea; where the1 ground is covered with snow six
months m the year. Burnes adds, that they are a simple-
hearted péople, and differ much from fee Aflghans. “ In
their physiognomy they more resemble tlm Chmese, and
have, like them", square faces and small eyes». >t jjj|
A late traveller mentions fed Hezârehs among fee
inhabitants of mountainous tracts, between Herat and
Kandahar. * He found them on parts of-the Toorbut range.^
They are partly Sunnites, and in part of the sect of^ Ah.
The Sunnites are in fee Toorbut range. ,The; Shiite Hezarehs
inhabit the mountains between Herat and Kabûl. He says,
“ they have fee features of Tartars ”—meamng„doubtless,
the Mongolian features.^ -1
* Elphinstone’s Kâbul—482. ,
t Sir Alex. Burnes, Travels into Bokhârâ, p. 178»
t Lieut. Andrew Conolly, Journey to the North of India. 1888, vol. 1. p. 282.