‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [‎219v] (445/722)

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“ Though the highest of the military tribes of Persia are proiH of being'
called plunderers, they hold in abhorrence the name of thieves. Ihe cause
of this distinction is obvious. The difference between force and fraud
implies that between strength and weakness. There are, however, some
of the lesser clans whose occupation is avowedly theft; but even these
pretend to honour.
“The inhabitants of Persia have always been famed for their great hospi
tality to strangers; but the chiefs of the warlike tribes of that country are,
beyond all others, remarkable for the manner in which they perform this
courteous duty.
“ The tribes of Persia, as well as those of Arabia, boast that when once
they pledge themselves to give protection, their word is inviolable.
“ The attachment of the tribes of Persia to the families of their chiefs is
considerable. They will seldom consent to obey any other person, and
instances often occur where an infant is carried into the field in order that
the services of those who consider him as their only lawful leader may be
obtained. If a general levy of the tribe be required for the service of the
sovereign, it is effected with difficulty and delay; but a call connected with
their own safety, or that of their chieftain, is promptly obeyed. On such
occasions the signal to assemble flies, to use their own phrase, ‘ from tent
to tent, from hill to hill/
“The wand°ring tribes of Persia maintain a constant intercourse with
the principal cities and towns of that country. They generally carry on a
petty commerce in horses and sheep, which they breed, and in carpets,
which are wove by their females. In return for these, they receive grain,
cloth, monej, and articles of hardware. The unwarlike part of the
population of Persia are termed ‘Tajik/ which word means a person of.
civil occupation. But this class are not confined to cities. They are
oftgn attached to the wandering tribes, by whom they are employed
to cultivate their fields and to tend their flocks. The tribes of Persia
have not, however, at present many subjects of this description. They
decrease as the government advances in vigour, and can release them
from a dependence upon their rude masters. It is remarkable that all the
Tajiks in Afghanistan, and part of Tartary, speak the Persian language;
and this fact, while it aids us in fixing the ancient limits of that
empire, appears to support the conjecture that, though these countries
have been overrun at different periods by martial tribes, those races of
their inhabitants who pursued the occupations of civil life have remained
unchanged amid the revolutions to which the countries they inhabit have
been exposed.
“ The ceremonies practised by the wandering tribes—on the circumcision
of their male children, on giving a name to a child, or in the burial of the
dead—are substantially the same as those of the citizens of Persia and of
all other Muhammadan countries; but they continue to preserve at the
funerals of chiefs and soldiers of high reputation the usages of their more
remote ancestors. The charger of the departed warrior, carrying his arms
and clothes, accompanies the procession ; and it is not unusual for those
who desire to show their respect for the deceased to send a horse without
a rider, but with arms upon his saddle, to swell the train of the mourn
ing cavalcades. Every trace of these rude rites is interesting, as it
marks the origin of customs that are still observed by the most civilised
nations.