GHALCHA, GHARCHA, a name applied by the Turki slpeaking population to the group of tribes about the sources of the Oxus and the mountainous regions near them. These fall into three parts: (I) Yhdghah, held by the Yidakh tribes, south of the Dorah Pass over the Hindu Kush, in the British sphere of influ ence, (2) Wakhan, the Wakhi tribe's seat on the upper Pan j, Sanglich and Minjan, on the valleys of the Waroj, in Afghanistan, and (3) Shignan, Roshan, about the confluence of the Panj and Oxus, Sarikol on the eastern slope of the Pamir, and Yaghnob, on an upper affluent of the Zar-af shan—all in the Russian sphere.
Doubtless Iranian by origin, the Ghalchas are classed as an out lier of the shortheaded Alpine race, and the form Gharcha suggests that they may be akin to the Gharjis of Gharjistan. They differ from the Tajiks of Badakhshan in type. They are tall, with hair black, chestnut or red, eyes brown to bluish grey, oval faces and nose slightly aquiline. Converted at an early date to the Shia creed of Islam they still profess it, which fact separates them from their orthodox neighbours. Wakhan used to export musk, gold, sil ver and slaves, and Minjan, lapis lazuli, from mines still worked, but little else is known of them, excepting their dialects which differ in each of the regions mentioned. Of the languages four distinct forms are known : Wakhi, spoken in Wakhan, Shighni or Khigni in Shighnan and Roshan, Ish Kashmi and Murjani or Murgi. These tongues possess some forms in common with the Dardic languages (q.v.), to the south, thus linking the latter with the Iranian tongues. Persian is the second language of these bilingual people.
The Encyclopaedia of Islam, II, 1914, and the Linguistic Survey of I India, vol. x. PP. 455 sqq. and vol. i. (1927), give full bibli ographies.