'The sheep of the country are the Cape sheep,
having a kind of apron tail, entirely of rich marrowy fat, extending to
the width of their hind quarters, and frequently trailing on the ground;
the weight of the tail is often more than six or eight pounds' (FELLOWS'S
Asia Minor, p. 10). Leo Africanus, writing in the 15th century, regards
the broad tail as the great difference between the sheep of Africa and
that of Europe. He declares that one which he had seen in Egypt weighed
80 lbs. He also mentions the use of trucks which is still common in North
Africa."
XVIII., p. 98. "Camadi. - Reobarles. - In this plain there are a number of
villages and towns which have lofty walls of mud, made as a defence
against the banditti, who are very numerous, and are called CARAONAS. This
name is given them because they are the sons of Indian mothers by Tartar
fathers."
Mirza Haidar writes (Tarikh-i-Rashidi, p. 148): "The learned Mirza Ulugh
Beg has written a history which he has called Ulus Arbaa. One of the
'four hordes' is that of the Moghul, who are divided into two branches,
the Moghul and the Chaghatai. But these two branches, on account of their
mutual enmity, used to call each other by a special name, by way of
depreciation. Thus the Chaghatai called the Moghul Jatah, while the
Moghul called the Chaghatai Karawanas."
Cf. Ney ELIAS, l.c., pp. 76-77, and App. B, pp. 491-2, containing an
inquiry made in Khorasan by Mr. Maula Bakhsh, Attache at the Meshed
Consulate General, of the families of Karnas, he has heard or seen; he
says: "These people speak Turki now, and are considered part of the Goklan
Turkomans. They, however, say they are Chingiz-Khani Moghuls, and are no
doubt the descendants of the same Karnas, or Karavanas, who took such a
prominent part in the victories in Persia.
"The word Karnas, I was told by a learned Goklan Mullah, means Tirandaz,
or Shikari (i.e. Archer or Hunter), and was applied to this tribe of
Moghuls on account of their professional skill in shooting, which
apparently secured them an important place in the army. In Turki the word
Karnas means Shikamparast - literally, 'belly worshippers,' which implies
avarice. This term is in use at present, and I was told, by a Kazi of
Bujnurd, that it is sometimes used by way of reproach.... The Karnas
people in Mana and Gurgan say it is the name of their tribe, and they can
give no other explanation."
XVIII., pp. 98, 102, 165. "The King of these scoundrels is called
NOGODAR."
Sir Aurel Stein has the following regarding the route taken by this Chief
in Serindia, I., pp. 11-12: -
"To revert to an earlier period it is noteworthy that the route in Marco
Polo's account, by which the Mongol partisan leader Nigudar, 'with a great
body of horsemen, cruel unscrupulous fellows,' made his way from
Badakhshan 'through another province called PASHAI-DIR, and then through
another called ARIORA-KESHEMUR' to India, must have led down the Bashgol
Valley.
