'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎199] (234/714)

POLITICS AND COMMERCE O-E KHORASAN
199
to furnish a meicGiiary force to tlie Persian GrovemmGnt. A border
guard is still recruited from them; but, though of Persian descent
and speaking the Persian language, they are credited with a very
dubious fidelity. The Hazaras, on the other hand, never were a
Pei sian i ace. They belong to the T uranian family, as their
Mongolesque features, their crooked eyes, and paucity of beard in
dicate. Some of them are settled in the Meshed district, but the
greater number further south at Mohsinabad, in the district of
Bakharz. By far their most extraordinary feature is that, though
Persian neither in blood, religion, nor affinity, they speak the
Persian tongue. They profess the Sunni Mohammedan faith ; and
although supplying a force of 450 cavalry, entertain feelings of
very questionable loyalty to the Sovereign power.
Next in succession to Meshed, on the south, come the border
districts of Jam, or Turbat-i-Sheikh-Jam (i.e. the Tomb of Sheikh
^ arn ' a ^ 0Ca ^ Sa " lt i mmen se sanctity, who was buried
harz, and
here), Bakharz and Khaf, which are at present united under
a single Persian governor of Arab blood, who bears the title
of the Nasrat-el-Mulk, and who from the three districts supplies a
quota of 1,025 cavalry. The bulk of the population under his rule
also belong to one of the Chehar Aimak tribes, but to neither of
those hitherto mentioned. They are of Arab origin, and are called
Timuns, a name winch they are said to have derived from the
great Timur, who originally deported them from their native
country in a rage because they had plundered his mother when on
a pilgrimage to Mecca, and who then handed them over as subjects
to an eminent Seyid, to whom also he gave his own daughter in
marriage. There are settlements of Timuris in other parts of
Khorasan, notably near Mshapur and Sebzewar; but the bulk of
the tribe are found in the three border districts, now under dis
cussion. The ill-judged and oppressive policy of the Persian
Government has alienated the sympathies of these along with the
other nomad tribesmen. Indeed, Persia has almost as much reason
in these parts to mistrust her own mercenaries as had the Roman
Empire to doubt its legions of Goths and Gauls. I should add
that the Timuris, like the Hazaras and Jamshidis, are Sunni
Mohammedans.
Further to the south lies the extensive and important district
of Kain, which includes ten heluks or petty governorships, and
stretches as far as the desert that separates Khorasan from Kerman.