"بلاد فارس. ملاحظات عن السير الذاتية لأعضاء العائلة الملكية والأعيان والتجار ورجال الدين، أعدَّها المقدم هـ. بيكوت، الملحق العسكري في طهران." [ظ‎‎٥‎٠] (١٢٦/١٠٥)

98
KHOKASSAN.
the Merv and Herat districts for some time, hut afterwards settled
in the Turbat i Haidari district, which w T as an almost independent
state in the early part of the nineteenth century. At that time
they were a very powerful tribe, but gradually their number
declined. This decline v r as the result of rebellion, continued
persecution from the Turkomans, and famine. Ishak Khan Karai,
who was then chief, gained great power and w r as in open rebellion
during the reign of Fath Ali Shah. In 1815, he and his son
Hassan Ali Khan were killed at Meshed by Muhammad Wali
Mirza. The second son, Muhammad Khan Karai, then rebelled,
but was coerced by Hassan Ali Mirza, Shuja es Saltaneh, in 1819.
In 1829 he again rebelled and took possession of Meshed; he was
subdued, how 7 ever, by the troops of Ahmad Ali Mirza, son of Fath
Ali Shah and governor general of Khorassan. He then remained
in a semi-independent state, and never properly acknowledged the
authority of the Kajars. After his death, the chiefs of the Karai
tribe lost their former independence, and gradually the hereditary
chiefship was abolished, and the tribe was put under the governor
of the Turbat i Haidari district.
Their leading khans are Ali Ndki Khan, Shajl vl Malk, and
Abdur Reza Khan, descendants of Ishak Khan. The former is
Sartip of the Karai Battalion, and is about 55 years of age.
22. KARISHMAR TRIBE OF KHORASSAN—
This tribe is also called Fayuj and Gharibzada; but it is generally
known as Karishmar in Khorassan. The name is a corruption of
“ ghair i shumar ” (out of the count). They are gipsies ; and it is
said that about 12,000 families of them were brought to Persia
from India by Bahramgur, to act as singers and dancers. They
are scattered all over Khorassan, and number several thousand
families. The whole of this tribe is under the Shah’s Shatirbashi,
who collects their taxes and governs them through his deputies in
each province. The chief in Khorassan is Ali Akbar Khan Sartip,
son of Hajji Hashim Khan, now dead, a relative of the Shatirbashi
who lives at Meshed. He is about 30 years of age.
23. KAVVAM UT TUJJAR, HAJJI MUHAMMAD—
One of the leading merchants of Meshed. Is a British subject.
Age 25.
24. HAJJI MIRZA MAHMUD KHAN—
Is a native of Teheran, who came to Khorassan in 1857, and has
remained in Meshed ever since. Has been several times governor
of Turbat i Haidari.
Is at present Beglerbeggi of Meshed, and also chief of the
city police. Age 65.