'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎198] (233/714)

PERSIA
MacGregor upon the strategical significance of the position at
Sarakhs, as commanding the approach up the valley of the Heri
Strategical to Herat. 1 This advantage has now passed entirely
from the Persians' into the Russians' hands. The Persian
value
garrison of Sarakhs, which consists of one wing of infantry—about
300 men—and a small detachment of artillery, is practically isolated
in the big overgrown fort which it could in no case defend. The
telegraph wire from Meshed is usually interrupted or broken ;
and the Russians have probably only to appear upon the other side
of the river and fire a volley of blank cartridge, to ensure a
precipitate stampede.
Sarakhs is the extreme north-east point of the Persian frontier,
and in fact occupies an angle sharply pushed out into the desert.
Eastern Here we turn south, following the valley through which
frontier flows the Heri Rud, the river supplying the boundary
tirst between Persia and Russia as far as the Zulfikar Pass, and
afterwards between Persia and Afghanistan. Here also we touch
the northern skirts of a belt of country lying upon or near the
border lines, and inhabited by various tribes of mixed origin and
alien religion, who, though subjects of Persia, profess a somewhat
reluctant allegiance to her rule, and constitute a ciitical item m
the politics of the frontier.
It is in the Meshed district which extends to the Heri Rud that
we first encounter these foreign elements. Round the capital the
Iranian element is in the ascendant; but as we approach
Meshed . j i i
district frontier we come across colonies or detachments who D6-
lono- in race and religion to the C liehar Aiinak (lit. I bin Settlements),
or wandering tribes of the Afghan border. 2 These are the Jamshidis
and Hazaras. The former are of Persian origin, but the greater
part of the tribe long ago left Persian territory and settled in
Afghanistan. The remnant were brought back after the siege of
Herat in 1857, established at Kanegosha, near Meshed, and required
1 Bvssia in Central Asia, p. 121.
2 The Chehar Aimak were originally, as their name implies, four tribes, viz.
the Jamshidi, Firuzkuhi, Timuri, and Taimuni. Later on two other tribes, the
Hazara and Kipchak, were included in the designation. The Firuzkuhis, Taimums
and Kipchaks, the two first of whom are said to be of Persian origin, are now not
found in Persia. Members of 'the other four branches are. Dr Bellew's classifi
cation is different. He gives the original Chehar Aimak as the Timuri, Taimuni,
Dahi, and Suri; the Jamshidi and Firuzkuhi as subdivisions of Timuri, and the
Hazaras as synonymous with the Dahi.