'Report on Sistan and the Country Between It and Mashad' [‎16r] (36/118)

They consisted of Sarbandi, Shahreki, Nahroe Baluch, Cayani, Sanju-
rani Baluch, and Tawk Baluch (servants of the Sanjurani).
As mentioned in the foregoing- history, these tribes rebelled against Mir
Alum Khan shortly after the departure of the Commission. His chief oppo
nents then were Ibrahim Khan of Sanjurani, Ahmad Khan of Lash Juwain,
Kamal Khan of Bandar, Sharif Khan Nahroe, and Malik Abbas Khan of
Cayani.
Of these the first three have during the lapse of time and in consequence
of the award of the Commission become indubitably Afghan subjects. All
Ibrahim Khan's villages west of the river were confiscated, and Afghan and
Persian Sistan have become quite distinct.
Sharif Khan went over to the Afghans, and Malik Abbas Khan was
banished to Khorasan.
Thus there are now no Sanjurani and Tawk Balueh, and very few
Nahroes in the country.
There are Sarbandis, Shahrekis, and Cayanis still in Sistan; but as
clans they have well-nigh ceased to exist. Their chiefs are of no account,
and none occupy a higher position than that of village kadkhuda. They
themselves are being merged into the general population.
In some cases these people did not dare to tell me what they were. They
said they were Sistanis, and I could not recognise any difference in their
appearance.
The only exception I noticed was a band of fine-looking Shahrekis
working in the fields near Dashtak, of better physique and fairer-skinned
than the rest of the people, and they bitterly complained that they had had to
exchange their swords for the plough-share.
To enter into more detail, as far as I was able to gather, the Sarbandis
now number about 2,000 families.
- They are scattered all over the country. Their chief is Purdil Khan,
kadkhuda of Daolatabad, and the principal villages that contain a proportion
of Sarbandis are Daolatabad, Huseinabad, Banjar, Tokil, Palji, Chiling,
Gosheh, Kaleh Nao, Akbar Abbas, Dodi, Sihkuha, and Warmal.
The Shahrekis perhaps number 1,000 families. Their chief is Ali Khan,
son of Muhammad Ali Khan, and he lives in Malik Haidari.
The principal villages in which they are to be found are Malik Haidari,
Jazinak, Dashtak, Khamak, Wasilan, Kaleh Kang, and Gori.
The Nahroe villages in 1872 were Burj Alum Khan, Kaleh Nao
Skaiifabad, Kimak, Abbas Ali, God, and a few others.
When Sharif Khan went overdo the Afghans, he was given some land
about Kaleh Path, and he took a number of Nahroes with him. In 1885
Mr. Merk reported that there were some 2,000 Nahroes between Kaleh Path
and Nadali. Sharif Khan was related by marriage to Mir Alum Khan,^ and
on that account probably the Amir of Afghanistan afterwards removed him to
Kabul, where he died four years ago. His sons returned to Sistan and sought
the protection of Alum Khan, who gave them the village of Khwaja
Muhammad. That and the village of Malik are the only Nahroe villages in
Sistan at the present time.
They number about 100 families. Mklik Abbas Khan, Cayani, was
given a village near Sarakhs, where he settled, together with other poor and