HAZARA, according to Bellew, is from Hazar, a thousand ; it means a division, a disposition by thousands, and is so applied by the Persians, by the mountaineers of Ghor, and by the Afghans, to the Mongol tribes occupying the mountain country of Ghor, lying between Kabul and Herat in one direction, and Kandahar and Balkh in another. He says (p. 205) it is the equivalent of the Tartar toman or tuman. Hazara tribes occupy the whole range of the Paropamisus, or the mountains extending between the Hindu Kush or Caucasus and the city of Herat, to within a few days' march of Kandahar. The Hazara districts between Kabul and Bamian are collectively called Bisut, and mallia or tribute is enforced from them by the authorities of Kabul. In the mountainous country between Kabul and Herat, the habitations of the Hazara tribes are at heights between 5000 and 10,000 feet above the sea. Some of them clahn to be of Turk origin • others in appearance very much resemble the Gurkha. They have the same high cheekbones, the same small eyes, very little beard, and these no doubt are of Tartar origin. Some profess the Sunni, others the Shiah form of Mahomedanism. A tribe inhabiting the country to the east of the Taemuri of Khaff, between it and the great range from Khairabad to Rosanak, are violent Sunni. These are of Tartar origin, and are predatory, selling their captives to the Turkoman, and plundering up to *rat. Of Hazara between Kabul and Herat, some claini descent from Toghiani Turk.
The Doh Kundi Hamra assert their origin from a Koresh tribe of Arabs. The Deli Kundi muster 12,000 fighting men.
The Faoladi of Gujaristan are said to be so called from a daughter of Afrasiab.
Tho Deh Zangi Hazara, who were reduced by Murad Bey of Kunduz; are Shiahs, and from them most of the Hazara slaves are procured. They are rich in flocks, and their cavalry have been estimated at from 12,000 to 28,000.
The Jaguri Hazara, who can assemble 5000, occupy the country bounded north by Gujaristan and Gul-Koh, east by Karabagh, Mukur,. and Resana, South by Arghandab and Warazan, and west by Mahstan, 60 miles by 40 miles of beautiful and fertile valleys, and number about 50,000 souls. They are a short but well-made race, beardless, with flat nose, and some of their tribes follow the custom called Kooroo-bistan, which consists in lending their wives to strangers for a night or a week.
The Faoladi Hazara number 1000 families. They dwell between Kabul and Bamian.
The Deh Chafran or Zard-alu, near Karabagh, are about 3000 families.
The Shaikh Ali, east of Bamian, from 8000 to 5000 families, occupy between Bamian, Ghorband, and the Helmand.
About forty other tribes are mentioned by Elphinstone, Burness, Wood, Leech, Lvmsden, who estimate their numbers up to 300,000 souls.
The Hazara assume as their titles, Ikhtiar, Khan, Mehtar, Sadiq, Sultan, Turkhan, and Vali. Grain is scarce ; their bread is tasteless ; and their food consists of the flesh of their sheep, oxen, and horses, with cheese. In
years of scarcity they voluntarily sell their children to the Uzbak slave dealers. The Shiah Hazara detest and persecute the Sunni Afghan, Aimak, and Uzbak, yet revere Ali and all Synds. They speak a Persian dialect, and are friendly with the Kazzilbash and Parsivan. Almost every tribe is at war with their neighbours, and with the Aimak and Uzbak, and even the chiefs of their own race carry off many into slavery. Hazara do all the labouring work of Kabul. Their country yields lead and sulphur. They breed dumba (tailed) sheep and horses. Their animals have the fine shawl-wool with which they manufacture carpets and the fabric called Burrick. Hazara Zeidnat was a tribe in the fertile Kala.Nao district, at the Murghab and Panjdeh rivers, who claim to be the original Hazara, and assume the title of Sar-i-khana. Their chief has jurisdiction over 28,000 tents. They are supposed to be 'Aimak. They had immense flocks and herds of sheep, goats, buffaloes, and camels. In 1847, Yar Muhammad marched aga;nst and defeated Karimdad, the chief of this tribe, and removed 10,000 families to Herat; and the Persians, after the capture of Herat in 1857, removed the whole tribe within Persian territory, and deprived them of all their baggage and cattle. They could assemble 4000 cavalry and 3000 infantry. Ferrier, in his Caravan Journeys (pp. 194-237), mentions that he fell among the Aimak Hazara on the Murghab river, and other tribes about Dev-Hissar, more to the north and east. He says their women take part in every war, manage the horse, the sword, and the fire lock. Their courage amounts to rashness, and they are more dreaded than the men for cruelty and fierceness. It is, and, so far as they know, has always been, a national custom. Here we have an intelligible explanation of the Amazons of Alexander, and the female hosts' of Nemuchi. In an attack by the Firoz Kohi on a Hazara tribe near Singlah, in which he was engaged, he says it was a remarkable sight to see brave and energetic Tartar women under fire amongst, and as forward as, the men ; they fight also on horse back, and ride or act under any circumstances as well as the other sex. He says 'more than one of them would, I have no doubt, meet any European horseman on more than equal terms : the dexterity with which they manage their horse is extra ordinary, and their courage is not less great. They take part in every war, and the vanquished dread their cruelty more than that of the men.' —Cal. Rev. No. 64, p. 433 ; Vigne's Personal Narrative, pp. 113-171 ; Masson's Journeys, ii. pp. 217-295 ; E. I. Rini. Papers, Cabool and Afghanistan, pp. 135, 136 ; Yule's Cathay, ii. p. 540; Ferrier, Journeys, pp. 194, 222, 237 ; MacGregor ; Bellew, p. 205 ; Campbell, p. 54.